#i have been keeping tabs from afar but this just might make me come back and bully some writers into explaining themselves

[fangirling-mess]

are you fucking kidding me?

[yoo-jeongneon]

the sticky tab series | sticky tab one: 6B

× minors/ageless/empty blogs dni. you will be blocked. ×

× series masterlist × main masterlist × × <- previous × next -> × seventeen (ot13) x gn!reader genre: mystery, thriller, drama warnings: journalist!reader, former journalist!jun, explicit language, smoking, written as a journal entry in the first person, discussions about journalism, dates given in dd/mm/yyyy word count: 748 taglist: @hipsdofangirl × @strawberri-uyu × @asyre × @minhui896

name: wen junhui date of birth: 10/06/1996 date moved in: 12/02/2018

When I stepped into his apartment, the first thing I caught was the scent of tobacco mixed with a dried out reed diffuser. I couldn't possibly say what the scent was, but something tells me it was earthy.

Speaking of tobacco, one of the first things I learned is that Junhui is a smoker. I'm not, so I declined his offer. He wasn't rude about it - he spared me a 'suit yourself' and just sat down on his leather three-seater.

I sat on the matching two-seater. Comfortable, but judging by the wear it was likely a few years old. The dried diffuser was on a side table pressed against the wall on the other side of the room. The kitchen was to my left and there was a pair of double doors that opened out to a balcony.

Junhui apologised to me for what the man from 4B wrote in his letter, though he admitted while he knew a note had been mentioned, he didn't believe the man actually went through with writing and leaving it. The second he heard me mention his apartment name, it twigged in an instant. "I should've known that bastard would actually do it. Like I said he's got a propensity for pissing me off."

He asked me why I came to the building, informing me that he saw me arrive from his apartment window, pointing to the set of double doors. I explained my reasoning and he seemed surprised.

"No one ever comes to Drawbridge. People just snap pictures from afar then run off to write bullshit about it." It didn't surprise me that the residents here knew of the reputation. He took more hits from his cigarette as he continued. "And you told me you were ready to turn and leave when you realised people lived here, but you picked up the phone."

He caught me with that. It is true that I had picked up the phone. I fell silent for a while as he studied my expression.

"I get why you did," he said, "you're a journalist at the end of the day. Like I said, I share your experience. I was a freelance journalist at one point. No matter what, we'll take any chance to get a story."

I couldn't believe I was sitting here, having this conversation. I did not expect to turn up to find out there were thirteen residents. I also didn't know at the time what was to come..

I told him, "I am not here to, as you said, 'drill holes in your walls'. In fact, I will be ready to leave after this conversation."

Junhui stared at me then. "I appreciate you not wanting to do that. Though I must admit, it might quell some rumours about this place.."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what of you trying to keep your solitude?"

"I can wish for solitude while wishing the reputation didn't exist."

That struck a chord. I wondered how many other residents here felt the same way. At the time, I considered I wouldn't be getting those perspectives.

"I suppose.. as long as you don't go ahead and make this whole situation public in the way only a journalist would-" He gave me a knowing look; I held back from rolling my eyes. "..Then I suppose I can tell you a little something, former journalist to current journalist."

I didn't know how to respond. Initially, I wasn't going to take him up on his offer, but I already felt that I'd made a vow.

I pulled out my journal, to which he smiled. It was rather frustrating in its smugness but.. it was clearly the smile of understanding.

'I share your experience.'

Details of note from our discussion:

junhui was the fifth person to move in

junhui took 6B as he felt it had the nicest kitchen

project drawbridge almost didn't go through

several investors were sceptical of its tenancy power

junhui doesn't know who lived in 7B

7A is the only person who knows about it (and he hasn't shared that info)

junhui doesn't get on well with 6A

junhui stopped being a journalist in 2021

3A doesn't talk to him because of his experience in journalism

people have made small efforts to remove the 'silent dweller' name from searches after learning what the project name is

3B was the last person to move in

× yoo-jeongneon ×

[katyasrussianaccent]

you're so golden (corpse x reader)

Summary: You're a faceless youtuber that sings cover songs. What happens when a certain faceless streamer slides into your DMs after you cover one of his songs?

Author's Note: Don't hate me! This was gonna be a cute chapter but then I decided against that. Credit to @moontwinkles for the spilling scene idea. Let me know what you think!

Masterlist

The sound of your alarm wakes you from your slumber with a suddenness. Bleary-eyed, you roll over to turn it off, letting out a small sigh as your body and brain start to awaken. You’re going to meet Corpse. You’re going to meet Corpse. It bares repeating in your mind; the prospect still not quite registering.

You haven’t had the greatest sleep, your mind racing most of the night; skittish little thoughts that had you tapping your toes on the mattress in agitation as you struggled to turn them off. Sunlight streams through the cracks in your blinds, a warm glow painted in stripes on your wall. It was going to be a good day, tiredness be damned.

You get up, stretching your arms out as wide as possible and relishing in the relief as your muscles unclench themselves. There’s a little spring in your step as you walk to the bathroom, to wash your face and brush your teeth. You aren’t nervous as you pick out your favourite outfit, instead you feel excited. It’s funny how little scraps of fabric and thread can impact your mood so much, but you smile at your reflection, the feeling of confidence is nice, albeit rare.

The rumbling in your stomach signals that you need to eat something before you leave. Nothing too fancy, just some toast and a glass of juice. You can feel the nerves start to grow a little, the food sits heavy on your tongue, forcing you to swallow it. You grab your phone, scrolling as you chew. You go onto Corpse’s twitter, smiling at the picture he’s posted.

Out of curiosity, you go onto his likes. You always find his likes interesting; the random things he’s added gives you more of an insight to his thoughts and feelings. You chew the inside of your cheek as you scroll down past girls with perfect skin and bodies; your previous confidence now feels a little misplaced.

Deciding against letting it ruin your mood, you close the tab and go to grab your bag before locking your door and heading to your car. You text Rae to let her know you’re leaving and she replies almost immediately to wish you luck. Sitting in front of the steering wheel, you exhale as you start the engine and begin to drive. This was really happening. When Corpse had asked to meet, you were shocked. While you had discussed it, you had been under the assumption it would be a while before it happened. You just hope you don’t make an idiot of yourself; a tendency you had when you were nervous.

While you love the city, there’s something about driving on the open road. No noise, just the sound of tires on concrete. The scenery remains the same; nothing but trees and the occasional house far in the horizon. You’re meeting him in Santa Barbara; a place you’ve been to once in your life, so it might as well be brand new. It’s halfway between both of you, and while it’s still a few hours drive, you’ve got good music and some sunshine to keep you happy.

The drive flies in and before you know it, you’ve arrived. You’re meeting at a cafe that sells bubble tea; it was Corpse’s recommendation. It’s a charming little place, with white table and chairs on a cobbled patio area. The building itself is white brick, plant pots decorate the window sills and there’s a small crowd of people waiting in line. You turn off the engine, and grab the perfume out your bag, the smell of peaches invading your nostrils. With one last look at yourself, you exit your car and make your way to the cafe.

You’re not sure how you’ll find him, being faceless and all. A quick scan of the people around you, your eyes zero in on a figure dressed all in black, leaning against a wall that’s slightly in the shade. There’s butterflies in your stomach as you look at him from afar, your feet apparently unable to move on their own accord. He stands out amongst the brightly coloured outfits of everyone else, and you can see the sun glint against the chains on his jeans.

“Hi,” you greet, your hand going up to half-wave at him. He’s handsome; pale skin and cheekbones that disappear under the fabric of his mask. A mop of black curls are atop his head, falling out in different directions, and he brushes one off his forehead as he looks at you.

“Hey,” he replies and you smile a little. There’s a thick fog of awkwardness between you as you both take each other in, though trying not to look so obvious about it. You feel under scrutiny as his eyes move over you, and you meet his gaze before you both look down at the ground, a faint blush on your cheeks.

“How was the drive?,” you ask at the same time he does, causing you both to laugh. “Oh. Uh yeah it was good, thanks, how was yours?”

“Yeah it was good,” he replies, his eyes still on the ground.

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

You scream internally as your eyes dart around, looking for something, anything to break this awkwardness. It shouldn’t be like this, you have such great chemistry on the phone and online, but there’s nothing right now. Is it you? There’s a niggling in your brain that says he was fine until now; until he saw you.

“We could go, uh, into the cafe? Get some food?” he suggests, breaking you from your self deprecating thoughts. You nod and you follow him to the door. He opens it and you dodge out the way as it narrowly escapes hitting you in the face. Corpse mutters an apology as he walks in, his eyes glued to the ground.

You order together; you get yourself a boba tea and a burger and Corpse does the same. He pays without saying anything to you, and while the day’s isn’t going quite as you pictured, the gesture makes your cheeks warm. You desperately hope it gets better. Maybe you’ve misread the situation and the chemistry you felt you had was just friendship on his part. Friends flirt all the time, and it doesn’t have to mean anything.

Your food arrives and you sit in relative silence as you eat. The times you do speak is stilted, full of one word answers and obvious observations. You go to reach for your boba as Corpse goes to grab salt, and the movement of his hand plus the crampedness of the table pushes your own hand back towards you, knocking the cup all over your neck and chest. Corpse shoots up in a speed that shouldn’t be human, his hand full of napkins as he comes towards you. The liquid is cold against your skin, and you look down to see your outfit now ruined, the fabric sticking to you in wet patches.

“I’m such a fucking idiot, I’m so sorry,” Corpse says, his tone panicky as he dabs at your neck. He continues to dab, his hands pressing at the neckline of your top and if this was another time, you’d feel all fluttery at his hands on your skin. But it’s not, you’re uncomfortable and the day has sucked so far and all you want to do is go home. He discards the napkin onto the table and grabs another, his fingers warm against your collarbone as he presses the tissue. He doesn’t realise that he’s travelling downwards to your chest before he presses once, twice, before retracting his hand back like he’s been burned, the napkin falling to the floor. “Uh fuck, sorry, I didn’t realise I - “

“It’s fine,” you reassure him. “I’ve always wanted apple scented boobs, guess I can check that off my bucket list.” It’s a failed joke but humour is a defence mechanism for you, even if it’s not very funny. Corpse widens his eyes a little, his gaze fixed on the napkin that’s on the floor.

He hands you some more napkins and you clean up a little more. Your skin feels sticky, and you smell of artificial apple; but the apple isn’t sweet, it’s bitter and slightly unpleasant.

“Uh, I should probably go home and get a shower, I feel like I fell into a vat of sugar,” you say, standing up and grabbing your bag.

“Oh, yeah, I’m so fucking sorry, I’m so clumsy,” Corpse replies. You can tell he feels awful, and while you sympathise, he’s not the one that’s just had almost a full cup of boba spilled on him.

You shake your head, “It’s fine, really. I just feel really gross. Don’t worry about it.” You smile in what you hope comes across as reassurance.

“Let me walk you back to your car,” he says. You nod and walk out together in silence; something you had gotten used to throughout the day.

“Have a safe drive back,” you say as you get to your car.

“I will. Let me know when you get home?” he asks, and you nod.

“Shall do. Goodbye Corpse,” you say, opening the door and waving at him through the window. He waves back and you watch him through the rearview mirror as he disappears out of sight. You feel like an idiot for believing this was going to be good, like you ever had a chance with him. You’d been saying it since the start; that it wouldn’t work, you had nothing in common, nothing to talk about. And you were right. Sometimes you hated being right.

You turn the engine on and sit there for a second, your head pressing against the steering wheel. What a waste of time this was. Grabbing your phone, you tweet quickly.

“Oh well, let’s go wallow in self pity,” you whisper before driving off.

Taglist: @genshinglitter @fanworrior @cherry-piee @mirahg @clara-bee @clubfairy @youretheonlyonewhomakesme @more-like-reyna @boiled-onionrings @moneybagmgk @brendalopez99 @delicateavenuenacho @dreamsofficialwife @hydrate-tion @oi-itsemily @letsloveimagines @softforqiankun @evilunicorns4minions @captain-willowwitch @afuckingunicornn @theroyalbrownbarbie @buttersnitzle @officiallyunofficialperson @aha-red @frostbitelokii @butterfly-skinnylegend @sofianunes10 @ghostfacefricker6969 @alienvarmint @helena-way07 @woah2pointo @jasmine2042003 @youhyakuya @adore-holland @hyunjinhugs @finahja @lupinpetersclearwaterodairparker @only-corpse-hands @remugoodgirl @gowhiteboygo-poggers @open-minded-chip-101 @daveedfanfics @justakpopstans @majasophieanna @mxjetlagcity @strawberrydonkey @meowtella @lizzylynch1 @chesca-791 @anescapefromtheworld @unded-bride @majasophieanna @adorkably @lost--in--the--moon @euphoricseokjin

[marktuansvevo]

got7 reacts to something theyve never experienced before in a relationship

warning(s); slight cursing, sexual content in bam’s part

mark; being jealous

mark understood why his past partners could be jealous of him in his line of work. as long as it didn’t get out of hand, he thought it was cute. he was never the jealous one in the relationship. he didn’t even know what jealousy felt like....

....until tonight.

you were mark’s entire world. you excited him, you built him up like no other. never before could he see himself spending his life with someone before you came along. you made the world brighter to him.

but now he was only seeing red. 

you had been a trainee and never debuted, which you weren’t too upset about, you had a boyfriend you loved and a career with less physical and time demands than being in the entertainment industry. this meant that you knew a lot of other bands, stray kids being one of them. chan was, quite frankly, your best friend during your trainee days, so when you saw him at this afterparty you were attending with mark, you threw yourself into his arms.

mark just watched you from afar.

and his blood boiled.

chan spun you around in his arms, the biggest smile on his stupid, handsome face. “yah!! y/n! mark didn’t say you’d be here.”

you giggled, trying to keep your tears at bay. you put your hands on his face, poking his dimples. mark scoffed at the blush that was forming on his friend’s face. “god, chan i missed you so much.”

“bro, you look constipated,” bam snuck up behind him. “dude, your face is so red right now.”

mark rolled his eyes. “these parties are so annoying.” he didn’t take his eyes off of you as you caught up with chan, who still had his hand around your waist.

bam followed his line of vision. “shit, you’re not constipated, you’re jealous. yugyeom, come look at him!”

mark walked away from his intoxicated friends and up to you. you smiled at him before returning to your conversation with chan. 

“y/n, we have to go,” mark said lowly, smiling a sickly fake smile at chan, who immediately dropped his hand from your waist. 

“why, baby, we just got here? are you not feeling good?” you asked. he wanted to feel bad, your voice was laced with concern.

“something like that. see you, chan.”

as you got in the car, you smiled at him, poking his cheek. “somebody’s jealous, huh?”

“huh? of chan? i don’t know what you’re talking about,” he clenched his jaw, not making eye contact with you as he steered his car out of the parking lot. you were giggling now.

“you’re cute when you’re jealous. maybe i should make more time for chan.”

“y/n!!!”

jaebeom; wearing disguises in public

jaebeom never thought he would have to dress up in a disguise to go out in public. and jae would never want to put you in such a position. it was draining, and you, as his girlfriend knew that he despised it.

but you wanted to go to a concert with him.

and you wanted to stand in the pit with him and be part of it. don’t get you wrong, you loved when he bought you suite seats or could watch his shows from backstage, but you wanted to sway to ariana grande in th pit with your boyfriend.

“cmon, jae, i think everyone is going to be paying attention to ari. we can skip the opening act?” you suggested.

“y/n, i don’t want to take a chance...im sorry,” he pouted at you. you sighed, trying to figure out what to do.

“what about disguises?” he said. “like, we could wear our halloween costumes?” you were giggling to yourself, but your boyfriend seemed like the idea.

“i could wear my jesus wig and you could paint a beard on me?” he said with serious eyes.

“jae, you hate going out in disguises.”

“true...but, babe, this will be fun. you could wear your sailor mars wig, it’d be cute,”

okay, this was a really cute idea and you were warming up to it...if it made your boyfriend more comfortable to be out in a crowd of so many people, you were down to try it out.

“this really feels like halloween in july,” you giggled as you used mascara to draw a beard on his chin.

“do I look like jesus??” he asked childishly.

“well, you don’t look like im jaebeom of got7, that’s for sure,”

“you look like an egirl,” he laughed at himself. “don’t hate, you know you love it,” you said. “we look so cute, let’s take a mirror selfie and post in later,”

“no, then people will be on to us,” your boyfriend sent a pout in your direction as he looked at his makeshift beard in the mirror. “I look sexy as fuck in a beard,”

“super sexy aegyo please?”

the two of you arrived at the arena, not be noticed by anyone, but jae was still on edge, so you held his hand tight as you made your way into the pit.

“im so excited!!” you shouted over the noise. he shook his head before leaning in to kiss you. the two of you danced the whole night away to arianas crooning, his arms around you as you swayed to her pretty, soothing voice. the two of you let the world fade away while ariana sang honeymoon ave in the background.

jackson; his significant other saying ily first.

it was no secret that jackson was stock full of love and kindness. he had had other partners before you, all with him ending up getting too attached, or scaring them away when he said “I love you” too early.

he did not want to scare you away, and honestly, he had known he loved you two months into dating, but he didn’t want to scare you away, so he never outwardly said those three little words to you.

he wasn’t expecting you to say it, first though.

you had invited him over for dinner and a movie, just wanting a chill night in with your boyfriend. he brought the wine and promised to give you a back massage, so really, what more could you want on this chilly thursday night?

“what’s been going on, honey? you know you can tell me anything,” jackson whispered into your ear as he helped you out of your clothes.

“I feel like I deserve to oversee my department at work. i have the most education of all of them, more experience than them, and generally, I am more optimistic than my superiors….,” you sighed, letting him rub just under your shoulder blades, which had been itching all week.

“mmm?”

“i think they might be scared of powerful women who like to wear hot pink fendi suits to work,” you smiled, knowing he would be offended at your joke. you could almost feel him pouting.

“so the reason you can’t get the job is because your superiors don’t like the suits your boyfriend buys you? wow, what a way to hurt a guy’s pride…,” he followed your lead on the joke, trying to make you laugh because he knew this was really getting to you. “baby, I think you should go to their boss and see if you can get a promotion…tell them everything you told me, okay? i know you’re not only the best woman for the job, but the best person for the job…period,” he said, making you feel so overwhelmed with emotion. none of your previous partners had ever revered you the way jackson had. you felt so incredibly blessed and in love, you couldn’t help yourself.

“god, jackson, I love you so much,” you whispered.

the movement of his soft hands on your back stopped abruptly at your words. ‘oh god, was it too early to say that?’

“j-jackson…im sorry-“

“ive been waiting to say that to you,” he breathed against your lips, closing the distance that was between them.

“jackson wang….you love me?” you could feel the tears building. the man of your dreams was in love with you, too.

“i love you,” he whispered reverently.

“say it again,” you begged. he said it like a mantra.

“i love you, i love you….i love you..”

jinyoung; moving in together

jinyoung thought you were so cute. you were ecstatic to move with jinyoung. you had been living in your shared apartment with your mom your whole life and we’re excited to start a new chapter of your life. jinyoung didn’t think you were taking in the fact that moving is one of the most stressful things a person can go through.

he didn’t want to rain on your parade, though.

the two of you got settled into your new apartment after a long day of unpacking. jinyoung kissed you as you laid onto your new king sized bed. “im gonna grab takeout, you want your usual?” he asked sweetly, squeezing your hand. you just nodded, squeezing his hand back.

you watched as jinyoung walked out of your shared bedroom. that’s when the dam broke. you were so overwhelmed. you didn’t know how to make warm water happen in your shower, you didn’t have your wifi set up, and you forgot your favorite teddy bear at your moms. you missed teddy and your wifi and your mom.

“hey, i ordered you two egg rolls and they gave us three - hey, baby, are you crying?”

“no,” you replied lamely. “I miss teddy,” you wailed miserably.

“teddy...the...stuffed bear?” he asked.

“i slept with him every night for the past 20 something years.”

“baby...we can get your bear in the morning...,”

“we don’t have netflix set up so how am i supposed to sleep tonight?”

“y/n...,” he chuckled. you frowned harder now that he was laughing at you. “moving isn’t as exciting as it looks. tomorrow, we will fix the wifi, okay? and we can visit your mom and rescue teddy.”

“okay...okay. im sorry, im just a bit overwhelmed,” you confessed.

“its gonna be okay, honey. it’s a lot to take in, i know. but you can hold me instead of teddy, and ill sing you to sleep,” he whispered, the takeout now long forgotten. before you could fall asleep, he pulled his iphone out of his back pocket and pulled you into his chest to take a selfie. “there. now we have a picture of us in our bed for the first time.”

“i love you, you sap.”

even though you called him the sap, the next day you went to the pharmacy to get the photo printed and frame it. when jinyoung came home from the market that day, he eyed the frame on your bed stand, smirking at you.

“oh, so im the sap, hmm?”

youngjae; picking up the tab

it was the first date the two of you had been on since youngjae had been on tour. he told you to get dressed up and that the two of you would go out for a fancy dinner and catch up on everything. this is why you loved him, because while you wanted to hear all about his stories of life and tour abroad, he always wanted to hear about everything that was going at home, to see if you were alright.

youngjae looked dazzling in a black checked suit, while you matched him with a little black dress that made him groan when you stepped out of the bathroom. “can we skip dinner?” he’d ask cheekily. you rolled your eyes at him before kissing him on the cheek. “we aren’t skipping dinner, and we definitely won’t be skipping dessert,” you winked before leading him to the car.

the two of you ate dinner together, him holding your hand and looking at you with stars in his eyes as you told him stories that had happened while he was away. you ordered appetizers, drinks, shared an entrée, and youngjae even ordered you a slice of apple pie for the two of you to share.

“baby, I’m going to go use the restroom,” youngjae said before kissing your hand. “’kay, don’t get mugged, please,” you teased him. he shook his head at your playfulness. you watched as he left before frantically waving your arms at your waitress. she ran over to you, checking if you were alright.

“I just wanted to wonder if I can pick up the cheque really quick? I wanted to pick it up for my boyfriend as a surprise,” you spoke in a hushed tone, making the waitress giggle. she nodded her head before handing it to her. you handed her your credit card, thanking her before your boyfriend had any suspicions of what you were up to.

youngjae came out of the bathroom as soon as the waitress set the cheque down. you were applying your lipstick so you couldn’t snatch it in time. you watched as his pretty brown eyes scanned the receipt, looking confused as ever. “is this a joke? what kind of waitress lets the girlfriend pay?”

“jae,” you giggled. “you don’t always have to pay for dinner. I wanted to treat you…I missed you so much,” you confided, watching his expression from anger into warmth.

“oh, thank you honey, you are so sweet and thoughtful, I love you so much,” you let him wrap his suit jacket around your arms before planting a kiss to your forehead. “but that will be the last time you ever do that.”

“shut up, i like doing nice things for you,” you pouted.

“since you paid for dinner tonight, i have to put out, right?”

he ran to the car before you could slap him in the chest.

bam; his s/o borrowing his clothes

remember how joey never shared his food? well that’s how bam was with his wardrobe. he was very particular about his clothing, not letting people borrow them at all. yugyeom used to steal his clothes just to be petty and piss his best friend off. he had never let past partners borrow his clothes, and nothing was going to change, it wasn’t his fault, it was an obsession. if you were sure of one thing, it was to not steal your boyfriends clothes.

but one day, while he was gone from work, you thought you would take pictures of yourself in only one of his blazers to tease him.

you weren’t expecting him to walk through the door while you were trying to take self timer pictures of yourself.

“baby? what are you doing?” bam asked, laughing as you let out a squeal of surprise.

“i..i wanted to surprise you...,” he tsked, pulling away to look at his blazer. “i know you don’t like me wearing your things..,” you stammered as he circled you.

“you have such pretty things, though, bam,”

“you look so sexy in this,” he purred. “you were trying to get me worked up while im trying to work?”

“u...uhhh,” you couldn’t think coherently with you boyfriend acting so domineering. you gasped as he slid his hand up to your cunt, rubbing your clit in little circles. “bam...please...,” you groaned. 

“keep the blazer on,” he said as you writhed in his grip.

“its gonna get all sweaty though and then you’ll yell at me,” you teased him as you followed him to the bed. 

bam just groaned. “baby, im sorry I haven’t let you borrow my clothes before but you look better in them than me. now, let me fuck you and i promise you can have anything you want in that closet.”

he knew exactly how to shut you up.

yugyeom; his s/o buying him flowers

yugyeom was always so stressed during comeback season. you always scolded him when he forgot to eat, or wasn’t staying hydrated enough, but you were so proud of him. seeing the smile on his face and the way he walked a little taller was so worth it.

he was still busy during comeback season, coming home late after all the videos he had to shoot for publicity.

one night, yugyeom had gotten home around midnight to a bouquet of pink roses and a handwritten note from you. it read; “I am so proud of you, my love. congrats on breath… I can always feel your love,” he blushed and giggled to himself, thinking, “isn’t the guy supposed to buy the girlfriend the flowers?” he wandered into your shared bedroom to see you sprawled into his side, with your book in your hands, a soft snore leaving your lips. he nudged you, not intending to wake you up, he could thank you in the morning. but he did accidentally. “yeom?” you whispered. 

“shh, baby go back to sleep,” he shushed, changing into his pjs. 

“did you like the flowers?” you asked, suddenly awake now. 

“theyre really pretty, baby, but aren’t I supposed to buy you the flowers?” 

you narrowed your eyes at him. “not my boyfriend being a sexist,” 

“yah! y/n stop it, I didn’t mean it that way!! I love them, you remembered I said I love roses,” he was pouting now, pulling you into his chest to spoon you. his voice got quieter now. “no one’s ever remembered my favorite flowers…much less bought them for me,” he paused, kissing the back of your neck before closing his eyes and falling fast asleep.

he was whipped.

[obwjam]

“I watched you from the walls for years, you really can’t embarrass yourself further in front of me.” With Scott Lang please :)

“I watched you from the walls for years, you really can’t embarrass yourself further in front of me.”

yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes A THOUSAND TIMES YES

from this post

———————————————————————

Times were tough at the Lang residence. Scott wasn’t allowed to leave the house, his daughter was only allowed to visit on weekends, and worst of all, he worried about his future. How could an ex-con like him find work again? How could he possibly put behind everything he had been through in Germany? Often times, he sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, TV off, staring blankly at the wall.

Other times, he danced.

He wasn’t very good at it, but hey, who was watching? Scott would rev up his ever-growing 80s playlist, crank his speakers up to ten and let his arms flail and his legs go wild. For an hour and forty-six minutes, he would dance and sing and act out fight scenes he had choreographed in his head until he was just about ready to pass out.

Today was an especially stressful day. Cassie was sick and didn’t want to come, so for the first Saturday afternoon in a while, Scott was alone. There really wasn’t anything good on TV, and he had a nightmare the night before. If the good vibes wouldn’t come to him, he would make them himself.

He was maybe an hour into the playlist when he closed his eyes, spun around on one socked foot, struck a pose, and opened his eyes to the most confusing sight he had ever seen.

You were, in a word, fascinated with this human. For whatever reason, he never left the house anymore, which made borrowing close to impossible, but he was boisterous and goofy and just the right amount of weird. Eating cereal and crying at black and white Spanish movies at 10 p.m. was not normal human behavior, but it was normal for this one.

The dancing was especially entertaining. It was like a free show every day. The music was catchy and you had learned the words. Sometimes, you even danced with him. You discovered this crack in the old wood that allowed you to sit in its threshold and observe the human.

You were so caught up in the music that when Scott’s eyes landed on you, it took you a few seconds to realize what was going on.

Though Scott was staring right at you, he still couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. A tiny person? In his house? He squinted — no, it wasn’t Hank or Hope. They didn’t appear to be wearing a suit, either. Just some makeshift clothing. Was this a new Avenger with shrinking powers, sent to spy on him? Was it the government?

For some reason, you weren’t very scared. Years of watching the human from afar told you that he was a very relaxed person. He wasn’t overly excitable and didn’t seem to have a malicious bone in his body. You certainly didn’t mean to be seen, but it also didn’t seem like the worst possible thing that could have happened. It almost felt inevitable.

Scott stared at you, mouth agape and a thousand thoughts swirling around his mind like a hurricane. He realized he was still stuck in a ridiculous pose, so he put his arms back to his side and straightened himself. He should have figured there were real-life tiny people. Why else would Hank want to build shrinking technology?

You were staring back, mouth also agape and equally fascinated by what was in front of you. But Scott didn’t think you’d break the ice, so it was up to him.

“Um... hi,” Scott said, awkwardly giving a small wave. “What are you doing in my house?”

You tilted your head. For a human, he didn’t seem to be very surprised at what he was seeing. You lifted your arm and grabbed onto the wood for support as you spoke up. “Uh... I live here.”

“You live here? Last time I checked, I live here. Oh, no, they didn’t take my house away, did they?”

“What?” you blurted. “Who’s they?”

“Woo didn’t send you here, did he?”

“Woo? Woo who?”

“Jeez, you don’t need to act so excited about it.”

“Hold up!” you yelled, throwing your hands up. Scott pressed his lips together. “What... what are you talking about?”

“You’re government, aren’t you? Here to keep tabs on me, make sure I’m not breaking the Accords?”

“Government?” You blinked in disbelief. “You think I work for the government?”

“Well...” Scott started to attempt an explanation, but couldn’t really find one. “Why else would you be here?”

“I told you. I live here.”

“...so you’re not government.”

“Oh brother,” you mumbled to yourself, taking an exasperated seat. “Um. No?”

“...You wouldn’t happen to be an Avenger, would you?”

“An Avenger? Am I missing something here?”

“Well excuse me for trying to come up with an explanation as to why there’s someone sitting on my wall who’s two inches tall!”

“Hey, I’m four inches, thank you very much,” you scoffed.

Scott ran a hand through his hair. This wasn’t going very well at all. You sighed and took a breath. You could understand why he’d be so flustered.

“No, I’m not government. Or an Avenger. I’m just... a regular borrower.”

Scott stared at you blankly, trying to piece together what a borrower could be, before it dawned on him and his eyes went wide. “Oh wow. You’re really just that small!”

“I didn’t think that was even in question.”

“Gosh, sorry, that’s really embarrassing of me.” He let out a laugh. “An Avenger. What was I thinking?”

His laugh made you laugh. “I watched you from the walls for years, you really can’t embarrass yourself further in front of me.”

“Oh, trust me, I’ve done a lot of embarrassing things in my life. Being put in a maximum security prison’s definitely up there. I’m used to small jails, you know?”

You gave him a quizzical stare.

“This ankle monitor is pretty bad, too, though I— wait a second. Did you say you’ve been watching me for years? ”

You gulped. You thought he either didn’t hear that part or didn’t care.

“I—um, I mean, I was just — I was speaking metaphorically—”

Scott’s expression immediately softened. “Woah, hey, I’m not mad!” He realized he was gazing down at you, and he lowered himself ever so slightly to be at your eye level. Now, he could see the way you gripped the wall protectively. “I’m just... confused. What do you mean you’ve watched me from the walls?”

“It means I live in your walls!” you cried, not realizing how shaky your voice had gotten. You steadied your breathing before continuing. “That’s what borrowers do. We live in the walls of houses.”

“Like mice?”

You sniffed a laugh. “Yes, like mice. Which I help keep away from here, mind you. When was the last time you saw a mouse around here?”

“Oh, gosh, I can’t even remember. Years ago.” You smirked and raised your eyebrow, and once it clicked, Scott’s eyes lit up.

“That’s so cool!” Scott smiled. You knew he was a quirky human, but even you were a bit surprised at how nonchalant he was being. “Do you use those little toothpicks that look like a sword?”

“There are toothpicks that look like swords?”

“Oh yeah!” Scott grinned. “They’d be perfectly your size, actually.”

“Huh. Y’know, that might actually be helpful to shoo away beetles and spiders.”

Scott grimaced. He had gotten used to ants, but spiders is where he drew the line. “Oh, gross.”

“It’s just a part of the job,” you shrugged. There was an awkward pause before you spoke again. “I, um. I’m sorry for startling you.”

“No, no,” Scott shook his head, “I’m sorry for making you listen to the same music all the time!”

“No, it’s fine, I... I actually kinda like it,” you blushed. “Usually, borrowers keep themselves hidden. Most humans aren’t as... entertaining as you.”

Scott smiled, not even realizing that maybe that wasn’t a compliment. It felt exhilarating just to have a face-to-face conversation with someone who wasn’t his family or was legally obligated to talk to him.

“You wanna come to the living room?” he asked suddenly. You furrowed your brow. “It’ll be more comfortable than sitting on that ledge.”

“Well, I can’t exactly sit on the couch,” you said slowly, meekly gesturing at yourself with your head.

“You can sit on the table, it’s fine! I’ve got snacks.”

“Snacks...” you repeated. Even though this went against every single borrower code you knew of, it felt stupid to pass up this offer. If the human wasn’t going to hurt you, then why not make him your ally?

“Sure, why not,” you said finally, standing up. Scott couldn’t help but stare at you in awe.

“Here,” he said, standing back up to his full height and sticking his hand out in front of you. “I can carry you there!”

“Oh...” you said, staring at the hand hesitantly. “I can just walk, you know—”

“Psh! That’ll take too long. Trust me.” You didn’t know why he would know anything about that, but frankly, his weird choice of words was the last thing on your mind. Scott took notice. “Oh, you’re... sorry, I didn’t mean to assume. It’s just right across the hall, we don’t have to go far at all. It’ll be fine.”

You gave him a skeptical look, but at this point, you didn’t have much of a choice. This is what you wanted, anyway.

“I guess this is the one drawback,” you muttered, keeping a firm grip on the wall as you lowered yourself onto his palm. “Humans can’t take no for an answer.”

“What was that?”

“Oh, uh, I—I said. Quite the view from up here.”

“Hah, yeah, I know!”

There it is again, you thought. That weird choice of words.

The trip to the living room was, as promised, short. You were only in his hand for about 15 seconds before you hopped off onto the familiar sight of the coffee table. The bowl of peanuts and candy was filled to the brim, as usual, but you supposed you should act like you’ve never been here before.

“So,” Scott said, reaching into the bowl and popping some M&M’s into his mouth before flopping onto the couch. “What’s your name? I bet you already know mine.”

“I’m (Y/n),” you said, eyeing the bowl. “Can I...”

“Oh, go ahead!” Scott smiled. He watched in delight as you grabbed a peanut that was larger than a football. You bit into it like an apple, and Scott could hardly suppress his grin.

“This is amusing for you?” you asked with a smirk. Scott immediately shook his head, but the smile was still present. “Yeah, I guess I probably look hilariously small to you.”

“Well... only a little.” Scott leaned back into the couch cushion. “So you’ve really been inside my walls this whole time and I had no idea?”

“Yup,” you said with a mouthful of peanut. “Been here for a long time.”

“How do you even live? Eat? Bathe?!”

You turned your gaze to the table. “You won’t like the answer.”

Scott thought about it for a moment, but it didn’t take long for him to connect the dots. “Oh. Oh.”

“Yeah,” you blushed. “But it’s either take crumbs off your counter or starve, so. I choose not to starve.”

“Well, you’re welcome to have dinner with me from now on. I cook just for myself anyway, it’ll be nice to have some company.”

“About that... why are you here all the time? You used to only be here at night.”

Scott sighed deeply. “It’s a long story.”

He seemed uncharacteristically upset about that, so you cleared your throat and pivoted back to what he was saying before. “You’d really let me eat with you?”

“Sure, why not?” Scott seemed genuinely surprised that you would even ask.

“I mean, this has gotta seem a little... weird to you, does it not? In fact, I — well, there are a lot of stories about humans discovering borrowers, and they’re not often pleasant. You... you don’t really seem to care.”

Scott pursed his lips. “That’s another long story.”

“Oh.” Jeez, what is up with this guy?

“I mean, if you’ve really been... in my walls all this time...” He shuddered before continuing. “Then you know how lonely it’s been around here. Heck, it probably gets really lonely all by yourself in the walls, too.”

You nodded.

“Well, I’ve got a lot of questions for you, and I know you’ve got a lot for me... I won’t force you to stay if you don’t want to, but I think — it might be nice to get to know each other, right?”

You gave Scott an almost incredulous look. Maybe all those human tales were just old folk stories of days past, meant to scare children into staying close to home. You were hardly nervous that Scott had any malicious intent. You just almost couldn’t believe this was happening.

“What about your daughter? Isn’t she supposed to be coming this weekend? I’d rather her, uh, not see me.”

Scott sat up a bit. “You know about Cassie?”

“Um. Lived here for years, remember?”

“Right, right. Uh, n-no, no, she’s sick, she’s not coming. Huh.” Scott shook his head. “Wow. You must know, like, everything about me, then.”

Your face flushed red. “I mean, yes and no. I don’t just sit and stare at you to pass the time. It’s-it’s actually pretty strange for me too. We’re not supposed to talk to humans. It’s kind of the big number one rule.”

“What normally happens?”

“Well.” You paused, looking up at Scott’s expectant face. It was hard to hold eye contact, and your gaze flickered back to the table. “It’s a long story.”

Scott huffed a laugh. “I get it. Looks like we both have our own baggage.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Look, if you wanna... go back into that hole in the wall, you can. I told you, I won’t make you stay. But the offer is always there. I’m probably just gonna order a pizza tonight. You ever had pizza?”

You pursed your lips. Should you really be telling him all the things you’ve stolen from right under his nose?

Scott sighed. Maybe this wasn’t the weirdest thing for him, but he knew he couldn’t say the same for you. Your sideways glances had grown increasingly nervous ever since he brought you to the living room. You carried yourself well, but it was clear you were uneasy about all of this.

Wordlessly, Scott placed his hand down in front of you. He frowned when you winced at it.

“It’s quicker if I just bring you back,” he said sheepishly.

You picked your half-eaten peanut off the table and cleared your throat. “I-I’m sorry. I think I underestimated how odd this would feel. You... you’re just, really different than the human I lived with growing up. In a good way.”

Scott smiled weakly. “Just wait ‘til you get to know me.”

You laughed as you climbed onto his hand. You sat down for balance as he stood up, unable to take his eyes off you. You stared straight ahead as he took the short journey back, and in a few moments, you were right back where you started.

Staring at each other.

“Well (Y/n), it was nice—”

“You know,” you said, raising your voice to cut him off. “I have had pizza before. But I’ve never tried ice cream.”

Scott gasped. “Never had ice cream?! Lucky for you, I’ve got some chocolate in the freezer— oh. Oh! You... you want to have some dessert later?”

You smiled amusingly. “You catch on quick.”

“Yeah, it’s a specialty of mine,” Scott said, stretching his arms in the air. “Gosh, it’s already 7:30. How about ice cream at 9?”

“I, uh, don’t have a clock with me,” you admitted. “Why don’t you just... knock when you’re ready?”

Scott chuckled. “Knocking on the walls to my own house? People’ll start to think I’m crazy.”

You blinked at Scott, Scott blinked at you, and you both burst out laughing. For a moment, you forgot that Scott was a hundred feet tall and he forgot you could fit in his palm. It shouldn’t have been that funny, but it was. It all was.

Scott wiped a tear from his eye and sighed. “Oh, man. Okay. I should order before they close. See you soon?”

You smiled. In between the bad jokes, the awkward silences and the fits of laugher, you decided all this weirdness was worth it.

“Yeah. See you soon, Scott.”

[gaming-universe]

This One’s On Me || Russell Adler

-PART ONE-

Warnings: Swearing, blood, gore, mild adult content.

Summary: As Hudson’s personal informant, you had been keeping tabs on Perseus from afar for a long time. That was until some of his operstives showed up in the Netherlands. There, you come across Hudson’s team. And at the helm is the one and only Russell Adler. The two of you haven’t seen each other since Vietnam, and a reunion is long overdue.

Authors Note: This is very short, but I’ve had this planned for months and needed to get this out there so here is the first chapter. Gif by @collinnmckinley​ this gif oh my god 👌​

You had been staring at him from across the bar all night. A flirtatious glance here, and sly smirk there. It was becoming hard for Adler not to notice you.

He had a mission to do, he couldn’t let himself get distracted by you. But god, you looked so goddamn beautiful under the neon lights. He could hear Mason talking to him distantly, his words going in one ear and out the other as he watched you stir your drink with a sultry gaze in his direction. He could tell from the teasing smirk on your lips that you knew exactly what you were doing to him. His increased heartrate, his slightly heavier breathing. Gracefully and teasingly slow, you got up from your seat across the bar and gave him a sly wink, before turning on your heel and making your way towards the door.

The urge to follow you was overwhelmingly tempting. If you were here, it meant that whatever Hudson had you doing in Russia had been dealt with, and you were now assigned to help him with his mission. But god, he wanted nothing more than to follow after you. He felt so pathetic, but chasing after you all these years was what kept him alive. He kept going because he wanted to see you again. “Adler, are you even listening to me?” Woods scolded, lightly punching Adler’s shoulder with an annoyed huff. The Adler turned to face the man beside him with a bewildered gaze, clearing his throat somewhat to try and cover up his absentmindedness. “I’m listening, just...excuse me for a second” He spoke calmly, getting up from his seat much to the confusion of Woods and Mason, who watched him intently as he made his way towards the bar door.

He had to follow you, goddman it, goddman him. Goddman you. As he stepped out into the alley, there was no trace of you, no sign or shred of evidence to point him in your direction. Where the hell did you go? There was no way you could just disappear, the other end of the alley was a dead end. Then without warning, he was shoved harshly against the alley bar wall, grunting slightly as the air was knocked from him. Adler found himself chuckling, laughing to himself as he couldn’t believe the fact that he had allowed himself to drop his guard so easily. And all because of you. “You’re meant to be inside” He heard you say softly, your footsteps echoing off the walls as you moved to stand in front of him with your arms folded across your chest. He laughed again, lifting his head away from the wall to stare down at you with a smirk. “Come back in and join me then...” He spoke lowly, loving the way your eyes sparkled with giving in to his demand “you’ve never been one to resist before”.

Your delicate laugh caused a small shiver to run down his spine. He hadn’t heard you laugh for years, you had always been whisked away from him before he could even get a moment of you to himself. He watched intently as you approached, the two of you so close now that you gently placed your hands against his chest, humming in thought as you looked him up and down with that same sultary look you wore back at the bar. The things you did to him. You looked back up at him with a devilish grin, a mischievous sparkle in your eyes as you stood on your toes and leaned into him. “I just might take you up on your offer...” You whispered, your lips ghosting over his cheek slowly “but you have a mission to do, and you know I’m not one to jeapordize something so important-”

The shocked squeak that emitted from your lips as he grabbed your hips was mesmerising, the sound of your breath quickening as he pulled you flush against him was music to his ears. “Come on, just a few minutes...” He replied, knowing that you would give in to his touch, give in to him as soon as he began to press gentle ghosting kisses along your neck. he felt you relax into him, a deep, longing sigh leaving your lips as he felt you give in. But as swiftly as you had pushed him against the wall, you slipped out of his grip, leaving Adler wide-eyed in disbelief as he watched you step backward into the alley, grinning wildly as you brushed the hair form your face. “I’ll see you back in Germany...” You trailed off, spinning on your heel and disappearing into the night.

Adler was left alone, dumbfounded, and yet, he found himself wanting you even more.

[threecrowsinatrenchcoat]

Let's Keep Dancing On the Broken Glass

Dukeceit Week Day 1: Anniversary/Birthday

Remus is bored at work, and can’t help but gaze longingly across the bar at Cute Blonde. And can’t help but also notice the random douchebag who won’t take no for an answer. 

AO3 Link: [here]

Word Count: 1387

Warnings: Alcohol mention, generally creepy behavior from a random bar patron.

@dukeceitweek <3 

-

Remus could make a Cosmopolitan in his sleep. Seriously. He was on number thirty-two for the evening, and he still had a couple hours left to last call. So he was pretty sure the involuntary eye roll when Douchebag #4 ordered said Cosmopolitan was perfectly warranted.

(Besides, the guy had been here all night and hadn’t tipped once. He could get over himself.)

“Enjoy,” Remus said when it was done, handing it over with his best fake customer service smile. The guy took it, didn’t tip- again- and stalked off.

It was a Friday night, so Mindscape was bustling. They certainly weren’t the busiest spot in town, but their reputation as “the local queer bar who will gladly toss a homophobe out on their ass,” a reputation well-earned, garnered them a healthy amount of traffic. 

But, as Douchebag #4 took his dumb Cosmo and wandered off, Remus found himself a moment’s reprieve from the steady onslaught of customers. He let his gaze trail across the crowd, and the myriad of different types of people here. He liked to people-watch; if he was incredibly bored at work, he liked to make up stories about the people he saw. He’d guess at their lives, their jobs, what occasions they might be at the bar to celebrate- or to try and forget. And, if he was especially bored, he liked to ask those people and see how close his stories were to reality. 

Douchebag #4 was here with his friends, Douchebags #1 through #3, so Remus was a little surprised to see him head towards the back of the bar instead of their table. Remus tracked his path with idle curiosity until he realized which table he was going to.

It was Cute Blond’s table, as Remus had dubbed it because, well, of the cute blond. There were others too- a young guy who dressed like a dad, a jeans-and-polo nerd, and a mid-2000s emo- but Remus liked Cute Blond best. It was somebody’s birthday, though Remus hadn’t figured out who; but despite the event it was the quietest and most polite table of the night, with the four of them chatting amicably over the occasional round of drinks. 

They all glanced over as Douchebag #4 approached and made his way over to Cute Blond. They were way too far away for Remus to hear what was being said over the din of the music and other patrons, but he didn’t miss how Cute Blond’s easy smile turned brittle when the Cosmopolitan was offered. He shook his head, a clear dismissal- because obviously Douchebag #4 didn’t have a shot in hell with Cute Blond, Remus thought proudly. 

Douchebag #4 didn’t take the hint, though. He stepped closer into Cute Blond’s space, which made the whole table also move closer, almost defensively. Douchebag #4 said something. Emo Guy snapped something in response. Cute Blond put up a hand and, whatever he said, it was enough to make Douchebag #4 back off with a huff. But not before setting the Cosmo down on the table. 

Remus relaxed a bit as Douchebag #4 made his way back to his own table. Remus was not above throwing someone like that out, but Roman made him fill out an incident report every time he did, and paperwork was just below homophobia on his list of things he hated. So he didn’t. But Cute Blond’s table still looked a bit ruffled, so Remus stepped away from the bar and made his way over.

“Virgil, really. It’s fine,” Cute Blond was saying and god what a voice. 

“It’s not fine-” Emo Guy started, but he broke off abruptly when Remus approached. 

“Hey,” Remus said awkwardly. Cute Blond turned to look at him, and Remus was momentarily distracted by his mismatched eyes. And his freckles. He had freckles.

“...Yes?” Cute Blond prompted.

“Oh. Uh.” Why did he come over here? Oh, right. Remus gestured to the Cosmo, sat ignored at the edge of the table. “I can clear that for you, if you want. I’m guessing no one wants it?” 

Cute Blond’s eyes softened, though Emo Guy was still eyeing him suspiciously. Cute Blond slid the glass across the table toward Remus.

“Thank you,” he said. “You guessed correctly.”

“Let me know if he bothers you guys again, alright?”

“I doubt that will be necessary,” Cute Blond replied, with a glance toward Emo Guy. Looking back to Remus, he added, “But thank you.”

Remus really didn’t know what to say to that, so he just gave a hurried, “Yeah, sure thing,” in response, grabbed the unwanted Cosmo, and retreated back to the bar. 

He hoped that might be the end of it. He served some more customers. He switched the music to something more chill and moody to wind down the evening as the clock turned over from midnight to 1 a.m. And when Douchebag #4 appeared at the bar again, he tried not to grimace.

“Cosmopolitan, but send it to that table, from me.”

Remus didn’t even have to follow his gesture to know he was pointing to Cute Blond’s table. 

“I don’t think he’s interested, man,” Remus sighed. 

“I didn’t ask your opinion, just make the damn drink,” Douchebag #4 snapped. And, well. That was just the wrong move entirely, bud. 

“Hm, you know what, I think you’ve had too much tonight,” Remus said with a grin. “I think I’d better cut you off. For your own health.”

“Excuse me?”

Remus shrugged. “We could lose our liquor license if you end up at the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Best stay on the safe side, y’know?” 

“Oh, fuck you.” Douchebag #4 whipped around and stalked back to his table. Remus tried not to feel too smug. 

And failed.

The night wore on. Eventually, as 2 a.m. loomed, Remus switched off the music to announce last call. And in between the flow of people ordering their last drinks or closing tabs, Remus caught sight of a familiar flash of blond hair through the small crowd, as Cute Blond made his way toward the restrooms. Which was probably a weird thing for Remus to notice, but the guy was cute, sue him.

But what also caught his attention was the other familiar face, trailing some distance behind, heading in the same direction. Remus frowned. Douchebag #4 followed Cute Blond into the restroom. Alone.

Now, Remus had worked as a bartender since he was 18. He knew by now to trust his instincts. And right now, his instincts were saying that guy was bad fucking news. 

“Here, you’re all set.” Remus handed the credit card and receipt back to the customer he’d been helping. To the guy next in line, he said, “Sorry, I’ll be right back.” And then he power-walked to the restroom.

He pushed the door open quietly and immediately heard Cute Blond’s sharp voice. 

“I thought I made myself perfectly clear-”

“C’mon, don’t be such a prude.”

“I’m- hey, get your hands off me-”

Remus came around the corner quickly, just as Douchebag #4 grabbed Cute Blond’s wrists and crowded him back against the wall. The creep looked like he was going to say something more, but whatever it was, they never got to hear it; because that was the moment Remus’ fist met his face. 

-

It was a rare night off for Remus, and yet here he was, at Mindscape, as always.

At least this time, instead of watching from afar, he was sitting at Cute Blond’s table. And Cute Blond was sitting in his lap.

“Gosh, I haven’t been here since your birthday, Janus,” Patton was saying. “Is the air hockey table new?”

Remus grinned. “Yeah! Finally talked Roman into it.”

Janus chuckled, and settled himself more comfortably against Remus’ chest. “Mostly I just come here for the cute bartender.”

Remus cast a look to where Roman was tending the bar, and looked back to Janus with an expression of mock-outrage. “Who? Roman? Jannie, hate to break it to you, but he’s taken.”

“Yeah, he is,” Virgil growled. Next to him, Logan rolled his eyes.

“Shame,” Janus sighed dramatically. “Guess I’ll have to settle for the one who punched a creep for me.”

Remus grinned. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he said. And he leaned down and kissed his Cute Blond. 

[anti-plexus]

Tim Wright (Masky) x Reader:

Title: Stalker

Pronouns: She/Her

Warnings: Murder, stalking (duh), and some very mild suggestive content.

————

————

It was only supposed to be a surveillance mission, simple. He had to watch you, god knows why, and acquire information. He never expected all of this to end with him becoming infatuated with you. You were a killer, just like him, so it made sense as to why Slender wanted to keep tabs on you. It was intriguing, watching the way you killed, it made him feel inspired. But he would never engage with you, only watch from afar as you lived out your life.

————

Screams rang out through the deserted building. You chortled and wiped your bloody fist on the sleeve of your sweatshirt. "Do you like that, hun~?" You asked your victim, an older man who had multiple child abuse charges under his belt. "P-Please! S-Spare me!" The man pleaded, clutching his bloodied face. "Hmm... how about no." You grinned wickedly. "B-But I haven't done anything w-wrong! I-I'm innocent!" Your smile faltered as you felt a rush of rage at his words. HOW DARE HE!! 'You... you think you're innocent?" "Y-yes-" A crooked giggle burst out of your throat. "Hahaha! I smell a liar, buddy." "N-" BANG! The man slumped over, life draining from his frail body. You chuckled flatly. You tipped your gun up and blew away the smoke emitting from it. "See you in hell, you fucking piece of shit." —————— Tim had to give it to you, that was fucking awesome. You were on the first floor of the building and he had been on the second, watching as you annihilated the man and burned the body. He noticed you looking around as if you knew he was t- "Shit...." He muttered when you began to climb the rickety ladder that connected the first and second floors. Tim ducked behind some old cargo boxes as you arrived on the second floor. Your head swiveled around, taking note of your surroundings. After a little bit of staring, you headed off in the opposing direction from Tim's position. He breathed a sigh of relief. Now it was time to get the fuck out of t- "And who the hell might you be?" Your voice appeared from behind him making him whip around rather violently. "Don't be a pussy and tell me why you've been following me for the past seven months." Tim was nearly speechless. "I...." You cocked your head inquisitively. "Come on, pretty boy, spill the beans." At that moment, Tim was nearly delirious with relief that his mask was covering his face, for it hid his pink cheeks. That little 'pretty boy' nickname had him going.... "You always like this, pretty boy? Spacing out in front of a killer ain't very safe." You advised, hazardly twirling your gun in between your fingers. Tim remained quiet, watching your every move. He honestly didn't know what to do, you were a peculiar person. But he eventually managed to answer your previous comment. "I think I'll be ok, you're not the only killer here." "Oh? So that means you're a stalker AND a killer." "Hey! I'm not a stalker-" "Bruh." You deadpanned. "You've been following me for almost a year! If that's not considered stalking, then I don't know what is!" "Touché..." Tim admitted, to which you laughed. "But seriously," Your tone hardened as you stared him down. "Why the hell are you stalking- er, following me?" Tim took a breath, he knew he probably should just come up with a plausible lie to tell you, but part of him wanted to tell you the truth. Maybe if he did that, you would trust him... "Well, I was instructed to." "By who?" "Someone called S-"  BRIIIING! BRIIING! Tim coughed awkwardly as he fished his phone out of his pocket and held it to his ear. "Yes?" ... "Wait... you want me to..." ... "Yeah, I know, but-" ... "Yes, sir. I understand." And with that, he hung up and proceeded to stare at you. "What?" You asked, slightly unnerved by his staring. Tim scratched the back of his neck. "Well, uh, my 'boss' want's me to kidnap- I mean, bring you to him." "Do you know why?" "I think he wants you to work for him... otherwise he would have had me kill you months ago." You contemplated your options, you could either run away, or find out who "The Boss" was. Hell, maybe this would even benefit you. "Well... would I still get to kill people?" "Absolutely! It's essentially what we do!" Tim excitedly informed you, and you shrugged. "Sure, I'll give it a shot." Tim grabbed your hand and dragged you over to the ladder. Once you both had climbed down, Tim lead you to an old Toyota Camry. "Hop in- wait... what's your name?" He asked sheepishly. You giggled at the question. "I'm (y/n). What's yours?" "Masky, but

you can call me Tim." "Sure thing, Tim." You affirmed. Tim smiled beneath his mask as you both entered the car and drove to your new home. ———————— *Nine Months Later* "JEFF!!" You screeched as you chased the poor man down the halls of the Slender-mansion. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, YA LITTLE BITCH!!" But Jeff only laughed. "You'll have to catch me first, fuckwad!" Oh, you were mad. Ever since you arrived at the mansion and became a proxy, Jeff had it in his heart to make you suffer. In the beginning, his form of "Torture" had just been annoying, like stealing your weapons or teasing you for no reason, but it had slowly evolved into perverted schemes aimed at your very sanity and modesty alike. But this time, he had gone too far. You had come back from a rather exhausting mission and found him in your room, going through your panty drawer. You, like any sane person, were chasing him to reclaim the stolen clothes he carried in his arms and atop his head. Jeff made a sharp turn into the living room and launched himself onto the couch, right next to a startled Masky. You gasped as all your panties went flying everywhere. "What the hell, J- Wait... are those...?" Masky stared at your panties, trying to figure what the hell was going on. "Yes, Tim. Those are MY panties." You snarled before grabbing Jeff off the couch and slamming him against the adjacent wall, effectively pinning him while you held your gun to his head. It was at that moment that Jeff realized he fucked up. "So, any last words, Jeff~?" You asked in a sing-song voice. Jeff was silent for a second, before he started screaming at Tim to, "Get your psycho-ass girlfriend off me!", to which Tim responded with a shrug and a, "She's not my girlfriend." "Well, she should be! You two bitch-ass psycho's are perfect for each other!" You growled at Jeff, digging your gun deeper into his hair. "Says the person with a kill count of 600+." Jeff smirked. "And I enjoyed. Every. Single. One." "What is going on in here?!" You turned, only to come face-to-face with Slenderman. You immediately released Jeff, put your gun away, and bowed to Slender, just as Tim was doing. "You may rise, children." Slenderman said after a few seconds. "But one of you must tell me why (y/n)'s panties are scattered around the room and why there is a man-sized dent in the wall." "I-" You were just about to explain when Tim interrupted you. "I believe Jeff stole (y/n)'s panties and then she chased and confronted him here, hence the dent in the wall." Slender sighed exasperatedly. "I see... no matter, you all WILL clean up this... uh, mess. I expect that this won't happen again, right?" "Yes, sir!" You and Tim acknowledged, but Jeff only scoffed. "I can't make any promises, SiR, that's some sexy shit right there." He commented, pointing at your panties. You were just about to lunge at Jeff, but Tim hooked his arms under yours and held you against his broad chest. You blushed slightly, your anger forgotten. Slender, who seemed satisfied that you and Tim had answered, proceeded to leave the room, muttering something about, "Those god-dang horny teenagers." Jeff snickered before plucking one of your panties off the floor and tossing it to you. "It's a shame you own this kind of stuff, sweetheart," He grinned at you devilishly, and you could have sworn you heard Tim growl under his mask. "Because it makes you look like a shitty-ass whore." And with that, he was gone. "Holy fuck, I hate that guy...." You muttered. "Same here." Tim agreed from behind you. Suddenly, you felt something hard poke your ass. "Hey Tim, can you let me go? Your phone is poking my ass." You could feel Tim's body stiffen behind you, but thought nothing of it. "O-oh, sure, (y/n)" He complied, releasing you before taking off his jacket and quickly turning around. "Tim? You ok, dude?" You asked as he tied his jacket around his waist backward, which was kinda strange. Weren't jackets supposed to be tied with the sleeves hanging down in the front? It almost looked like Tim was trying to

hide something.... "I'm fine, (y/n). It's just getting kinda stuffy in here." He explained, turning to face you. "But we should probably start cleaning up." "Agreed." You sweatdropped as you began picking up the scattered panties, before you realized how uncomfortable this must be for Tim. "Hey, I got this if you're uncomfortable." You said, smiling at him. "No, it's ok. I'll help." Was his answer, to which you shrugged. "Ok, but if you get uncomfortable, I can-" "No. It's ok, (y/n)." "Well, thanks. I appreciate it." "Anytime." ———————— You sighed in relief once you shoved all your panties back into their drawer, that mother-fucker Jeff had taken at least 13 of them. "(Y/n)." Came Tim's voice from behind you. "Hm?" "You can't just shove them in the drawer," He chided. "You have to FOLD them first." You deadpanned. "Sorry, dude, but I don't have that kind of energy right now. I'll fold them later-" "Then, I'll help you." Your face positively EXPLODED with red. "W-what?! I-it's ok, r-really!" "No, it's not. Don't be embarrassed," He calmly explained. "This is a life skill you need to learn, (y/n)." "I-I already know, I-i'm just t-too tired right now!" You stuttered, a blushing mess. "Then, I'll help you, so you don't have to do it later." Tim insisted, stepping toward your drawer and opening it, taking an (f/c) panty out and folding it, then neatly putting it in the drawer. Reluctantly, you began folding the panties, too. Tim was right, it didn't take too long, but you couldn't help but feel flustered because of what was going on. "There, all done." Tim said as he returned the last panty to your drawer. "Thanks for the help, Tim." You said. "I probably wouldn't have done it at all without you." Tim laughed. "You're welcome, (y/n)- Oh shit-!" But he never got a chance to finish, because he tripped over a hazardly placed rope you forgot to pick up. CRASH! You felt the air being knocked out of your lungs as Tim crashed on top of you with an, "Oof!". "T-Tim!" "Sorry, (y/n). I tripped." "Eh, it's fine... are you ok, though?" "Yeah, I'm good-" Tim opened his eyes and realized where his face had landed. Right smack-dab in the middle of your chest, and from the way your face looked, you had realized that, too. "H-holy shit, (y/n)! Did I h-hurt you?!" He asked, unburying his face from your chest. "I-I'm ok..." You blushed even more. "B-but could you get o-off me?" "M-mhm!" Once Tim had gotten off you, you couldn't help but burst out laughing, much to Tim's annoyance. "Hey! What's the big idea?" He asked incredulously from atop your bed. "I'm not sure," You kept laughing. "This whole situation is just hilarious." "Har har." "No, seriously! Everything that just happened was so random, I can't help, but laugh!" You explained. Tim thought for a moment. "But I don't think it's very funny," He murmured. "Could you please stop laughing?" You tried. You did, but more laughter just kept bubbling up from your throat everything you tried to stop. "I can't stop!" You informed him while laughing, tears had begun to accumulate in your eyes. "I can help you stop." "How-" Tim moved so fast he was just a blur, and before long, you felt a pair of lips on your own. The kiss was short, but it shut you up rather effectively. "I..." Tim smirked and kissed you again, tossing his mask over his shoulder. This time, the kiss was heavy and passionate. You wrapped your arms around his neck before you two separated for air. "It seemed my method worked." Tim teased, his eyes slightly glazed over with lust. You didn't even answer, for you immediately kissed him again, pushing your tongue into his mouth and wrestling tongue-to-tongue with him. Tim soon realized that you would win the tongue battle at this rate, so he reached down and gripped your ass in his hands, causing you to gasp and giving him the opportunity he needed to win the tongue battle. You made a small noise akin to that of a moan when his tongue entered your mouth, and began to explore, as if he was trying to memorize it. You were so

into it that you didn't notice your bedroom door opening. "Hey, (y/n)- Holy shit!" You heard someone yell, and immediately stood up, along with Tim. The voice's owner belong to none other than BEN, who stood in your doorway awkwardly. "What is it, BEN?" Tim asked. "As you could see, me and (y/n) are busy at the moment." To which you blushed heavily. "Well," BEN began. "I went into the living room a little bit ago to play Nintendo, and I found this hanging from the ceiling fan." He explained, holding up one of your (f/c) panties. Tim immediately snatched the panty from BEN, folded it, and placed it in the drawer. "Thank you, BEN. You may go." Ben looked at you, then Tim, then back at you before slowly turning around and shuffling out of your room, mumbling something about, "Those two frisky weirdos." Suddenly, you felt something wrap around your head and your vision went dark. "Tim?" You asked, fumbling around trying to find him. "So, wanna finish what we started~?" Came a sultry voice from behind you, to which you gulped nervously. "W-what do you mean b-by that-" You understood what he meant a couple minutes later. (A/n: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )

————

That was really long 😅

Still, I hope you guys enjoyed :)

[littlefreya]

that last anon got me thinking like, august pushing you away, bc he doesn't wanna admit he has fEELINGS EW and you try to accept it bc once august wants to disappear.. i mean.. you prolly can't find him, but his past connection to you puts you in some kind of danger and uh oh. that is the woman hE LOVES GET THE FUCK AWAY yea anyway i just want august burning shit down to get to his girl and like... you weren't expecting him to save you but here he is... here... he is.. in love...

Yessss! We have the same twisted concept about romance :X

August wouldn’t come anywhere near you, he’ll push you away, trying to make it clear he wants nothing to do with you, that he never liked you at all. 

He’ll break your heart. But what did you expect? 

And of course, he’ll still keep tabs on everything you do from afar, the guy is (a corrupt) CIA agent so I won’t be surprised if he hacked your computer, bugged your house and put cameras at your workplace too. He’ll spend his nights looking at your from the distance, still not admitting to himself that what he feels for you is love. He’ll just tell himself he is curious. 

If you’ll date some guy, don’t be surprised if he never called back. He is probably lying in the ditch somewhere...It will only be when you’re life is in danger when this dark knight will appear out of nowhere and start setting the world on fire just to get to you. He will go berserk, full of rage like he’s never been before just to make sure you’re safe.

You will be shocked, looking at him terrified, he might be covered in blood, an infuriated glare on his face. 

Once he’ll start making his way toward you, you might start screaming, but then he will put his arms around you ever so tenderly and stroke your hair, whispering in your ear “You’re safe now, I won’t let anything ever happen to you”  

[bush-viper-cutie]

“Final Exams Week” || YEAR 3 – Ch.33 (HP au)

                              Chapter List

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Day posted: 12/4/2020

Word count: 3, 416

Relationship: EVENTUAL severus X oc (slow burn)

Rating: E for everyone

Warnings: none

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A/N: This is my first fan fic I’m writing mainly as a way to practice. This is a retelling of the hp books with an inserted character. Although most every character will be written about, this is mostly for the pro snape fandom. Please do not fear, although this is a severus x oc story, it is an incredibly slow burn as I do not intend for them to get together at all until after the final book events. Chapters will be posted twice a week.

This derivative work follows the events of the Harry Potter books by Jk Rowling and is intended as a fun way to practice my writing. Thank you for reading :D

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Heather ran her tongue against her front teeth and squinted at the words on the page. The sun was shining down on her stolen potions book and no matter how she moved her head to block it, the glossy ink kept blinding her. She sighed and let her head fall back against the rough bark of the tree she was leaning on.

“Angelina said she’d work all summer to afford a firebolt – ”

“The team would be unstoppable then!”

Heather quickly stuffed the potions book in her bag and stood to face Harry and Ron as they approached. “Won’t you act the least bit disappointed you lost the Quidditch Cup? For me? Just for show.”

Ron nearly tripped and slid down the small hill in his attempt to suppress a laugh. “Just face it Heather. You saw how fast Harry was. Next year Gryffindor will win every match, the Quidditch Cup, and the House Cup. And the year after that, and the one after that. There’s no stopping the firebolt!”

“As if.”

“Catch!” Harry tossed a can of iced pumpkin juice at her. “We’ll get you a firebolt over the summer and then maybe Slytherin might be able to keep up.”

Heather caught it and dropped back onto her spot facing the lake. “You know we can’t afford it. And since we can’t, I think a week of gloating is quite enough from you two. You’ve only won a measly match.”

“Says the losing team,” Ron laughed.

Harry and Ron sat beside her and took out their textbooks.

“I can’t believe it’s almost June.” Harry flipped through the pages of his textbook lazily.

“How’re we supposed to study for our exams with all this homework?” Ron turned the pages one by one while staring at the giant squid as it propelled itself out of the water, twirled, and splashed back down.

Tiny waves crashed on the lake shore as laughter could be heard from the other students basking in the sun on the grassy castle grounds.

Heather picked at the can of ice cold pumpkin juice with her nail, wedged it underneath the tab, and plucked it up hearing the tantalizing fizz. She smiled and pressed the opening to her lips.

“WHAT are you three doing!”

Ron, Harry, and Heather screamed as Hermione came out from behind their tree.

“You should be studying for exams!” Hermione handed them each a paper with their study schedules along with their exam times.

Harry waved his textbook in her face. “We’re already doing that.”

Hermione pushed the book away and placed a single hand on her hip. “Not out here. There’s too much distraction.” She dragged the three of them into the castle and forced them to sit down in the much quieter Great Hall during study hour. “Now you can ask the Professors any questions you have.”

Heather, Harry, and Ron grumbled as the summer air blew through the doors.

Heather glanced at Hermione’s exam times and frowned.

‘Monday:

9 o’clock, Arithmancy

9 o’clock Transfigurations

Lunch

1 o’clock, Charms

5 o’clock, Care of MC

11 o’clock, Astronomy

Wednesday:

10 o’clock, Herbology

Lunch

1 o’clock, Defense Against DA

1 o’clock, Ancient Runes

3 o’clock, History of Magic

5 o’clock, Potions

5 o’clock, Muggle Studies’

“Hermione. I don’t think Snape will let you leave early to take your Muggle Studies exam or arrive late from it.” Heather watched Hermione stuff the paper in her bag and push her hair behind her ears.

“Of course not. That’s silly.”

Ron pulled a face. “Then you’ve copied the times wrong.”

“No.” Hermione snapped. “And might I remind you, you’ve got two essays due tomorrow. Now… I NEED to study so no more interruptions – Where’s my copy of ‘Numerology and Grammatica’? Have you seen it?”

“Yeah, I used it for a bit of bedtime reading last night,” Ron mumbled.

Heather pulled the book out from under a stack of five and slid it roughly across the table to her. How could Hermione not trust them? After everything they’d been through? What. Was she afraid of spilling her punctuality secrets?

Hedwig flew down and landed on the large stack of books besides Heather. She pulled the letter out of her beak and handed it to Harry to read while she smoothed down Hedwig’s fluffy white feathers.

“From Hagrid.” He turned the note over and flipped it open. “Buckbeak’s appeal… Its set for the sixth of June. That’s next month…”

“That’s the last day of exams,” Hermione said from behind her book.

“Well they’re coming up to the school for it with a Ministry official… and an executioner.”

Hermione gasped.

Ron took the note out of Harry’s hand and turned it around to read for himself. “That’s not bloody fair!”

“Mr. Weasley!” Professor McGonagall gave them menacing eyes from the High Table.

“It doesn’t sound like they’ll be very willing to hear Hagrid out.” Heather gripped her quill tight and poked holes into her parchment. “Not fair at all. Poor Buckbeak.”

“It’s Malfoy’s fault.” Harry looked around for him, ready to stare daggers.

“Yeah, and I’ve got a stack of handwritten Hippogriff research scrolls to shove down his throat. Where is he?” Ron stood, searching with Harry for their target.

“Do not make things worse with him,” Heather warned.

Although she managed to settle them down to study that day, she could not help the growing hostility between them for the next several days. However subdued Draco had been after the Slytherin Gryffindor match loss was all in the past now. Draco had regained his confidence after hearing from his father about Buckbeak’s scheduled beheading, thinking it was all thanks to him, and was now parading around the castle with Lockhart’s same pompous attitude.

After his daily dose of bragging, gloating, and boasting he took extra time from his busy schedule to sneer at them from afar, whisper rude comments about it in the corridors, and even pass taunting notes to Harry and Ron during classes.

‘Ignore him’ was all Heather and Hermione were saying until exam week began, and an unusual silence fell upon the castle. Even Percy was going around shushing anyone who disturbed the quiet of the corridors.

“People are studying!” he hissed at a group of second years before going back to soundlessly reciting charms and spells on his way up to the Gryffindor common room.

“He’s almost as bad as Hermione,” Ron noted, turning around to watch Hermione bump into student after student from behind a leather-bound book so large it hid even her bushy hair.

Harry eyed Heather as she doodled in her art journal as they walked. “How are you managing to not have a mental collapse like them?”

Heather scoffed. “For the same reason the Slytherins and Ravenclaws never worry over exams. Slytherins are always studying and Ravenclaws are always OVER studying – It’s not impressive they could pass next year’s exams, it’s annoying. They should stop bragging.”

They sat all of Monday’s exams and by late dinner the whole school was spent and puffy eyed. Heather sat with Pansy and her friends who were all talking about the tasks for Transfigurations, particularly the one that involved turning a brick into a crow.

“Yours looked like a raven.”

“Did you see Cindy’s magpie?”

“I heard Neville’s was still red – ”

“I heard Neville’s was still a brick.”

Heather rolled her eyes and turned away. Almost everyone at the table was bragging about their results, which would be fine if she wasn’t a little insecure about her transfiguration and charm skills. As much as she tried, Hermione was always better and got the spells faster than Heather did. The only reason she wasn’t more worried about her skills on those subjects were mostly due to Ron and Harry and their consistently horrible attempts.

Draco turned to Heather and smiled. “Know what I Saw in the crystal ball?”

“Was it Hermione smacking you again?”

He frowned and stabbed his fork into his potato salad. “No. That pigeons head rolling around those pumpkins. Got perfect marks for that too.”

“That’s funny. I saw YOUR head rolling around the boy’s urinals. Perfect marks on that prediction as well.”

Draco set down his fork and slid his wand out of his sleeve and pointed it at her, hidden from view of the High Table. “Is that a threat, Potter?”

Heather scoffed and leaned forward. “It is if you don’t stop talking about murdering that poor creature.”

He laughed and nudged Goyle beside him. “Hear that? She thinks she can take me.”

Heather had better things to do than sit around the table entertaining Draco and the two goons beside him. She still had Astronomy to study for and got up to join the several other students who were gathering at the astronomy tower to go over star charts and planet paths.

The test was on the last century only and as much as she hated when Harry cheated, even she knew he’d need her answers to pass. What star constellation was visible during the mountain troll attack of Hogsmeade in 1901? What planetary alignment led to the invention of self-tying brogues? The easiest part was the final question which asked what the current visible stars, constellations, and planets were.

After the test Professor Sinistra collected their telescopes and let them hang around for a few minutes while she put them away.

Ron’s hair danced in the wind as he leaned over the stone half-wall and squinted through the darkness at the grounds. “Er… Harry? Did YOU remember to put our Salamander away after the exam?”

Harry pulled him back and leaned over the wall, holding his glasses securely to his face as he looked down. “I’m sure Hagrid will notice the small fire…”

Heather looked down and saw tiny flames growing in the bushes on the outskirt of the forbidden forest. “Is there ever a year where you two WON’T damage the school in some way?”

“What did we do first year?” Harry pulled them back and together headed down the tower stairs.

If they still had their invisibility cloak Heather would have suggested going down to tell Hagrid about it and also taken the opportunity to check in on him – which they hadn’t been able to do for several weeks due to the strict rules on Harry and her because of Sirius Black. The strict rules wouldn’t be much of a problem, except the cloak was still down in the one-eyed witch’s tunnel which was under constant guard of Snape, Filch, and Mrs. Norris after their last talk and Heather’s outburst in Snape’s office.

She didn’t think there was anyone as naturally suspicious and distrustful as Snape was. The way he could smell out trouble and deceit and stay on his intuition was impressive in some ways and just downright annoying now that she disliked him.

The next day was spent studying for Wednesday’s exams in the common room during the morning – since Harry and Ron had stayed up late and were fast asleep during valuable studying hours – and the library and study hall in the afternoon with Hermione as frantic as ever.

“Oh! Why is there so much to know!” Hermione gathered all her notes and pulled at her hair. “I-I’m going to go splash water on my face.” She stood with a thick pile of notes in her hand and walked away from their table towards the large Great Hall doors.

Heather bit her lip and ran to catch up to her. “I’ll go with you. I could quiz you with those notes while you dunked your whole face in water if you wanted.”

Hermione stopped her and shook her head. “Oh, no, that’s alright Heather.” She stood waiting for Heather to turn around and march back to Harry and Ron.

“I don’t mind.” Heather crossed her arms.

Hermione nodded slowly and handed her the stack of notes. “Wonderful.” She walked out of the Great Hall and down the corridor towards the girl’s bathroom.

Heather looked through the notes and found the ones for Ancient Runes. “What’s – er – the symbol with the bug and two lines mean?”

“Too easy. It’s the letter ‘B’. Give me actual sentences.” Hermione turned the cold water on and ran her hands under.

“Hermione. How are you going to take this exam at the same time as Defense Against Dark Arts? In fact, how have you been attending this class at all?” Heather stared at Hermione reflection and watched her look around the sink.

She frowned and turned off the running water. “I – well – You’re supposed to be quizzing me. I have six exams tomorrow – ”

“You’re keeping a secret. I know it Hermione. I can understand why you wouldn’t tell Harry and Ron… but me? Last year you got upset that – ”

“Yes I know! But… I’m sorry, I’m just not allowed to tell. I swore I wouldn’t.” Hermione took back her notes and looked down at her shoes. “You can go back. I’m staying here for a minute.”

Heather clenched her jaw and ignored the tightness in her chest that made her want to tear up. Before she had friends she’d always found it easy to hold back tears. Now it was hard to not show her emotions around them, even when she was hurt and sad. “Just tell me. Please? You’ve hardly been around while somehow being around and if it’s because of this secret so why not just let me know? We’re best friends.”

Hermione looked up with watery eyes. “Then why don’t you share your secret first?”

Heather looked around at the dirty tiled floor and up at the streaky mirror. Should she come clean about the raskovnik growing in her charmed pot? She’d have to explain then about the stolen library books as well…

“I know you and Draco hung out over the summer. You went to his house. I overheard it.” Hermione wiped at her eyes and huffed. “He’s always using the word mudblood, always fighting with Ron and Harry, and now he’ll be responsible for Buckbeak’s death… and you’re friends with him. Harry doesn’t even know you’ve been INSIDE his house.”

“It was only a few days! I swear! I hated it there but I NEEDED to. You don’t understand how it is in Slytherin. Flint doesn’t even want me on the team for being a girl. I have to keep up the drills and beat all those stupid boys who are all so much stronger than me! I don’t even know what I’ll do next year if Flint doesn’t get held back again and some other idiot becomes team captain.” Heather pressed her palms to her eyes and sniffed. “I have to prove I’m not weak because I’m a girl. I have to prove I’m not weak because I’m a half-blood. I have to prove I’m not a house traitor because of Harry.” Heather wiped her nose on her sweater sleeve and sighed. “I don’t get to relax comfortably in a house that just accepts me… Everyone’s always watching me, waiting to see me trip up and prove them all right… And then I’m stuck all summer in a house that forbids magic? I’m sorry Hermione… please understand? I know how horrible he is to us. But I needed his help.”

“I… do. I’m sorry I know it must be hard not being in Gryffindor with us. But who cares what they think? They’re all just a bunch of blood-purists. You have us aleways. And we don’t judge you or anyone else like that.” Hermione hugged her and pulled away.

Heather nodded and wiped the few tears that had escaped. She was relieved Hermione forgave her. Maybe if Harry found out, would he too? Although it might be harder after Buckbeak’s appeal depending on the outcome. “What’s your secret then?”

Hermione sighed and hugged her arms. “I really can’t say… yet… Look, I swear I’ll tell you on the train. But you can’t tell Harry or Ron… ESPECIALLY not Ron. He could mess up the whole world and even worse, get me expelled.”

Heather nodded and they sealed the deal with a hand shake. She walked back into the Great Hall and a minute later Hermione followed and was back to her usual frantic self.

The next morning was the Herbology exam which had them out in the sun baking to crisps in the greenhouses. Defense Against the Dark Arts exam was after lunch and Professor Lupin had made them some sort of obstacle course outside.

“Oh no…” Heather’s eyes swept across the transformed grounds closest to the lake at the small pool labeled ‘Grindylows’, the field of potholes labeled ‘Red Caps’, and the patch of marsh labeled ‘Hinkypunks’.

“The end of the exam is hidden. Full marks to those who come out the right tree.” Professor Lupin smiled and signaled the start of the exam.

They waded through the pool – holding their socks and shoes in one hand and their wands in the other – then jumped over the Red caps, squished through the marsh while Hinkypunks shouted misleading directions, and headed into the trees. Heather stayed on the marked path and tried to figure out the correct tree. There was a large tree the width of Hagrid’s shack with a large hole carved out the side. It looked hungry, with its gaping mouth showing the darkness that would engulf anyone who entered.

Harry was the first to crawl in with Hermione, Heather, and Ron following in right after. With wands up they fought the new boggart that was shoved into a hollowed branch. For her turn, Heather swallowed as it slithered out from its hole in the darkness and dropped to the ground just beyond the light of her wand.

“Riddikulus!” Heather shouted, before it could manifest into anything. A bouncing red and gold ball rolled into the light. She shot a simple spell at it and it shot back into its hole, wedging in tight.

Almost everyone had received full marks, except poor Neville who had to face his grandmother telling him Snape would be his new grandfather. He was so shaken up several students had to help walk him up to their next exam, History of Magic.

Heather was fairly certain she’d passed all her exams so far, and was now worried about potions.

“After this we’re free!” Ron skipped down the corridor. “The last exam of the year!”

Heather could still hear herself shouting at Snape to shut up and the look of pure rage on his face. She was going to fail. She knew it. He hadn’t even given her detention for that – nothing. He was waiting for this exam to get back at her and Harry.

“We’re going to fail this one.” Heather shook Harry’s arm as they walked down the dungeon stairs. “He’s going to give us low marks out of vengeance!”

Harry pushed her away. “What’s new?”

“He’s never done that to me! You, I understand, but I always get high grades! Second to Malfoy – ”

Hermione huffed. “I thought you were second to me.”

They took their seats near the back of the classroom.

“No… Second to Malfoy but I’d be first if he’d just let me ‘study’ with him – ”

“Silence.” Professor Snape stood from his desk and began explaining the exam.

They were afforded two whole hours to brew a Confusing Concoction which turned into the biggest, messiest disaster Heather had yet seen. Cauldrons were erupting with goo, over spilling with sticky liquid, or hardening into chunks that melted out the cauldron bottoms.

It took Heather almost the full two hours to complete the potion and in the end she wasn’t sure if it was supposed to look like yellow cake batter in there. Snape peered in and grinned before marking his notes and tisking vindictively. He then stepped over to Harry’s cauldron and waited as Harry desperately tried to thicken his up enough. Snape stood tapping his notes with his fingers and the second the bells tolled, scribbled something suspiciously like a zero and walked away.

They left the dungeons feeling empty and relieved that everything was over. Heather and Hermione were starting to poke fun at Ron and Harry’s attempts when their attention was caught by the two men waiting at the bottom of the Entrance Hall stairs.

Cornelius Fudge and a black-hooded man with a large blade stood looking at all the students as they ran to the Great Hall for late dinner.

~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

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[jarofrebuke-transcripts]

Jar of Rebuke Episode 1 Unofficial Transcript

Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot

INTRO

The following audio recording is classified documentation for Case [audio distortion] with the Enclosure. Unauthorized access to this information will lead to immediate intervention. Progress further if proper clearance has been given.

JARED

Dr. Daman has suggested that I start an audio journal of some kind, something outside of my therapy sessions to help me track my progress or whatever. Considering I don't have much of anything that's mine anymore, she suggested that this might actually be a good way to reclaim some of my individuality. Maybe talking about what I do know of myself might help me remember more. So I guess I'll start with what I know. My name is Dr. Jared Hel. I'm a field researcher for the Enclosure. I specialize in studying the particularly dangerous creatures around here. For some reason, no matter their effect on others, nothing is permanent on me. Gods, the amount of times I've died this last year is probably more than I should ever care to admit. I guess it's a blessing in disguise though, it's job security, for one thing. A scientist who can't die no matter how dangerous the entity he's studying? I think I'm set. Sure, I may bounce back from death with a few more scars but they're relatively healed up and I'm rarely ever in much pain when I wake up. Though, to be fair, if the Enclosure just left these creatures alone I’m sure this wouldn't even be an issue in the first place, but no... they just gotta meddle.

I started working at the enclosure, what, two years ago? Though I've really only been on the field for less than a year. Apparently, I worked at a different research site for some other organization before that but I don't really remember anything from before two years ago. I supposedly transferred here to research a particularly dangerous subject, the one that... um... well the one that killed my team. And me, I guess. The most frustrating thing is the lack of remembering- I don't remember any of their names, their faces, nothing. I had to relearn absolutely everything and no matter what I relearn I never remember. It's so infuriating knowing that there's a whole childhood and more that I have yet to recollect anything from. I feel so left out of reminiscent conversations, you know? Well of course you know, I'm practically talking to myself here. All I know of myself before the incident is what was on my work file- top of my class graduate from IU, but I don't remember a damn thing about my time there. Apparently there's a lot of fields around there, though I guess that's not too different from the towns around here. Born and raised in those corn fields, according to my records. No documented family to speak of. But from what other folks in the lab have shared about their families- maybe I’m not missing out on too much.

When asked about getting in touch with the folks from the other facility that I worked at they didn't seem to think that it would be too helpful. Hell, how would they even know who to put me in touch with? Wasn't like they would have documented my friends or anything. So again, nothing. Story of my damn life. And of course there's Todd. Oh I’m sorry, Dr Todd Carmen. He's currently head of operations at the enclosure. He's, uh, I'll say he's a character. Not as unique as he thinks he is but certainly not boring, but just because something isn't boring doesn't mean that it's entertaining. He has a fashion sense that I would have never personally considered wearing, but um that shade of orange with his pale complexion? Simply bold choices in my opinion. But I'm sure he'll get himself sorted out someday. Besides all that though I guess it's not too bad. Job security with benefits- apparently a lot of jobs don't offer health insurance. Though with our line of work it's kind of necessary, to keep us alive.

Uh, what else do I know? The Enclosure is an organization based out in the middle of absolute nowhere that researches the various anomalies, but really only bothers with the particularly dangerous ones. Like, really dangerous ones. I mean bigfoot, mothman, that sort of stuff they really just leave to their own devices for the most part. Sure they hurt and even I guess sometimes kill people, but not a lot of people, and enough people already know about those things to not really hide them away now. Wichton is like two hours from any other town. It's guised as a farming town. Uh well no, it is a farming town but the enclosure has taken it as its guise. Most of the facilities are underground, deep underground. They paid off all the townsfolk back when they were building to not ask questions. And considering they built it during a massive economic depression, no one asked questions, the townsfolk took the money. But there's still some circulating rumors about us to this day, of course. As long as we keep the particularly dangerous creepy crawlies underground with us they've got no reason to worry too much. Sure, sometimes things sneak out and make weird noises in the fields at night but country folk are superstitious folk, and if nothing else it's what these people have known all their lives. Suspicious lights, weird noises and mutated deer don't even faze these people. The Enclosure picks its battles when it decides what to tackle, that's for damn sure. Not like they're an international brand or anything, they only have the resources to stick to these neck of the woods, and with all the anomalies in these parts, not really surprised that they settled here. Been here for nearly 100 years and have very little idea why it's such a supernaturally charged area. Some say it might be the fact that folks are so superstitious that it basically invites the energy here. But others think there's a reason, but it ain't my department to figure that out. The hardest part of the job is getting things into the facility. But sometimes the hot shots up top decide to just have us study those things from afar since taking them out of their established locations seems impossible. So many ladies in gray and white dresses all over the place, we can't exactly make a support group for them here or anything! Not when they're out busy haunting dunes or lakes or crying by the side of the road or whatever. Not really hurting anyone all that much, so they've mostly just been left alone. We keep tabs, but we also don't always interfere. Oh and being the sacrificial lamb is a bit annoying, but I bounce back quickly enough. Death has gotten less disorienting over time, but no less annoying.

What did I do today? Well... I had a shorter day, shift-wise, so I went in at like 6 a.m, then got out around one-ish. I was supposed to leave closer to noon but I ended up having to stop at Dr. Rahal’s office for a bit for my headaches. They've been getting worse and we don't really know why. At least they come and go in waves, so I get some peace at times. It's always nice to see Dr. Rahal though, he's been the nicest to me since I started at this place, from what I can remember at least. He's one of the Enclosure physicians who I've been seeing. From anything to work related injuries that aren't too severe to these headaches. I swear I've never met a guy in my life who can smile so genuinely and be so sincerely happy over just about anything. It'd honestly be annoying if it weren't so sincere and if he also weren't so genuinely nice. He's really trying to help with these headaches but medicine doesn't really ever help and the medical scans showed nothing that would indicate any issue. I mean, not that they let me see the medical scans. I guess I wouldn't understand them anyways, even if they did let me.

Dr. Rahal thinks that it's likely stress so that takes us back to therapy with Dr. Daman. Had a session after work, which was when she suggested that I really start this up. She's suggested it before but I kind of dismissed the idea until today. She made a very good point- what's the harm in doing it? I mean, it can't make the headaches worse and even if it doesn't help me remember anything, maybe getting things off my chest could help in some way. Therapy was uneventful, not like much happens in a week, just the usual work stuff mostly. Though I have started going out after work a bit more often, even if it's just to a local shop or to grab a bite to eat. Dr. Daman suggested a few months back that I socialize a bit more, and it's been kind of nice. Weird, but nice. I've mostly stuck to myself outside of work, honestly. Well, besides those community events that you're basically ostracized if you don't attend or you get bombarded with those calls of “where were you last night? We were so worried about you, are you okay?”, even if you don't remember giving them your number. I like to go to a restaurant in town called the Royal Cow, they make the best in-house ice cream. They built it to look like one of those red farm houses which matches most of the buildings in town, but their mint chocolate chip ice cream is basically the best ice cream I've ever had. They also make really, really good sugar cream pie. Get it when it's still fresh, it's a little warm, melts in the mouth. I mean it basically cures any hankering for a sweet tooth. So that's what I ordered- a fresh slice of sugar cream pie. But that was my dessert. They do also have some pretty good not-sweet foods. Their lunch menu is alright but their breakfast food is really where it's at. And they do that breakfast all day thing, so I got their breakfast platter which is really, really good food.

On my way home, I bumped into Darius. He's the son of some local farmers in town. His dads have an apple orchard, on top of everything else. The Enclosure actually keeps tabs on their farm, because no matter what his dad John plants, apples always grow. I mean no matter what John plants. He could plant pumpkin seeds in the fall but no apple trees are gonna spring up and I'll be damned if those aren't the best apples. I mean sometimes crab apples grow instead, he can't really control what kind of apples grow, but John has found a way to make crab apples into really good apple pies and ciders and stuff. I've heard they make good jams and jellies, but he perfected a crab apple pie. He said it's “just a lot of love” but I think there's something with those apple trees. But again, not my department to figure it out. Darius and I made small talk. The weather, mostly. So mostly just complaining about how it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so humid or if we just had a nice breeze, but the shade does help. He always makes excuses to talk to me. I'm not complaining, but that does seem to be a thing around town is everyone makes excuses to talk to everybody. Like the one time that Holly stopped me in the middle of the road to chat when we were passing each other. It's a community norm, I guess, but Darius always wants to talk again. I'm not complaining, he's a really nice conversational partner we can chat about just about anything with certain obvious restrictions. He knows I work at the Enclosure, but folks in town seem to think it's some hoity-toity but shady government job. I don't really think we're tied to the government, per se, but whatever lie they've told the towns is just what I stick with. Whether or not they believe that is entirely another story. He knows I'm a scientist, but he thinks i'm more of an environmental natural scientist instead of a supernatural scientist. I guess whether or not he believes that is an entirely other story too, but we don't really talk about work much. On my end I don't bring it up and while he does talk about working on the family farm from time to time, especially because they expect for him to take over, he tries to find other things to talk about. He's gone back to school recently. They recently in town set up a sort of trade school, I guess, where if anyone's considered a master in town they can teach classes to teach other people in whatever skills they have to share. Seems Darius is taking a bit of a Home Ec class, I guess, sewing and cooking and things like that. He said that he's great with his hands in the field but he really wants to round out his hand skills. He then awkwardly chuckled after that but I don't understand why. I mean it's completely respectable to want to be able to stitch up your own clothes or actually have a nice dinner besides the reheated leftovers left on your doorstep or to know what to do when your microwave catches fire. Honestly, I don't really know what all they teach in those classes. I'd never even heard of something like a Home Ec class until Darius told me about it. I wonder if I ever took one. If i wasn't so busy with work I would actually look into taking classes. I like to learn and Darius even said that he'd be more than happy to help me with anything if I needed it which is nice. But I'm a really fast learner. I actually get bored a lot because of it. I don't see why anyone would need five months or years of training or educating. No, I can see why. I also just know that I am the anomaly. When I forgot everything and had to relearn how to read I was at a 10th grade reading level. By what, just a few weeks? And then I was at college level again in a matter of a month. But even though I was relearning stuff quick I never remembered anything. I never remembered books I've read before the incident, I never remembered learning how to read the first time, I just was quickly relearning how to read. I don't even know if you would consider remembering how to read. I mean I'm never remembering anything. I don't even remember the creature that I was working with in the incident. And no one will tell me anything, because they said they want me to remember organically, or something like that. They said they feared something like a trauma, whiplash? I really don't understand it and it just pisses me off more than anything. But Dr. Daman won't budge. No one will let me look over any files of the incident or files on the other lab techs who died. They slapped this key around my neck and said, “here, to keep your brain in check. Oh, you literally remember nothing? Well tough luck, see this therapist and see what happens!” Ugh. They said if it weren't for my weird powers then the incident would have killed me too. They said they don't know why I have this ability to rebound from death like it nearly never happened but they sure are willing to use my ability for work.

Right, the key. Uh, when I woke up the first thing the doctors did was have me wear it around my neck. It’s on some sort of sturdy red cord. I've never taken the thing off in years. You would think that it may have faded a bit or that the cord would have worn, but no. Cord is still sturdy and the key is just as shiny as the day they gave it to me, which isn't that shiny, it was a bit tarnished already, but hasn't gotten any more tarnished. It's supposed to keep my brain in check after the effects of, well, the incident. Dr. Daman says that if I take it off, I risk unlearning absolutely everything that I've learned in the last two years. I don't know why the key is supposed to be the thing that does this, but this is the only time that death has ever made me lose everything, so I figured what's the harm in wearing it. Not like it hurts to wear or anything.

Darius has asked me about it before though. Not when we first met or anything but after multiple times of running into each other he finally asked. I get asked about it a lot but I just say that it's a familial trinket and they tend to just leave it be. But darius had asked after we'd shared a few drinks at a local bar and even though I have a bit of a high tolerance for alcohol and never stay drunk long, he seemed to ask at just the right moment for me to open up a bit more, I guess. I said it's a comfort item, which I guess isn't exactly the whole truth, I actually honestly hate this thing. A constant reminder of all the things that I've forgotten. But I guess there's slight comfort and knowing that because of this key everything that I've relearned will stick. They say it's important to understand all that you don't know, but I know all too well that I've got at least 20 years of things that I don't remember. But hey, with this key I guess i can rebuild that. I must have seemed uncomfortable about this question where he was satisfied with that answer because Darius let it go after that, but I catch him staring at it sometimes. He's asked what I know about skeleton keys, and all things considered I didn't know much, at least didn't remember. He told me that his dads both told him about the powers that keys hold, not just to lock things but even more importantly to unlock them. That a skeleton key could lock or unlock any door to a given building, no matter what other keys people had, commonly used by cleaners and inn owners and stuff like that. He really seems fixated on the idea and I guess the symbolism is a bit striking with my current situation considering... whatever. The less he knows the better. It would be nice to talk to someone outside of the enclosure about more personal stuff from time to time but I can't go around spilling secrets.

Right, my day. Uh, lunch, talked with Darius, uh... after about 15 minutes of “all right I should get going”-s and taking a few steps apart, starting to have talked about other topics and repeating the process, I finally started home. On my way home I drove past some corn fields and various other pastures. The Enclosure gave me a house near the edge of town because after a year of rigorous relearning I didn't want to live in their communal housing anymore. It's not too far from Darius's family orchard and farm which is nice. Nicest farm in the area, in my opinion. There's no real rivalry between the farmers, at least nothing too intense. But something about those trees in the distance out of my window is really relaxing. All the cattle I passed on my way home had moved to face the same direction near the fences and stared into the distance mindlessly grazing. That and the clouds rolling in were very strong indicators that there was going to be a heck of a storm tonight. I didn't listen to the weather announcement this morning but the sky's only gotten darker now so i'm ready to sleep like the dead tonight. But when I was pulling into my driveway I saw something rustling in the bushes by my front door. I thought maybe it was a squirrel or a rabbit or something but then two tiny hands parted the leaves and I saw one of those black-eyed children just sitting there staring at me. I normally only see them at night. I guess it was waiting for me to come home to loiter on my doorsteps or something, I don't know. When I got out of the car I was surprised when it actually climbed out of the bush and just rigidly stared at me with those lifeless black eyes. I got my stuff out of my car and made my way to the door, but it was kind of standing in the way. I just slid on by it with a muttered apology and slipped inside before I could start whispering requests for entrance. Never making that mistake again. No matter how much I want to let them in my house got all sorts of messed up last time and I got a heck of a scolding at work when they found out. I don't shoo them away, but I don't let them in anymore. It was really weird, they normally only come knocking or waiting by the sides of the road at night, I had never seen one in the middle of the afternoon. Once I got settled in I pulled out a book, a crossword book I was gifted at the last community bonfire. I blow through these things really fast but I really like them, so Christine gave me like five of them, all different, claimed that she found the most difficult ones that she could find, which is really sweet. She even wrote little notes on the inside cover of each of them so I've ended up actually keeping them when i'm done so I can reread her notes when I need a little pick-me-up. Whether a crossword book or a little box of treats she always writes uplifting notes and anecdotes inside any gifts she gives anyone, all signed with the most beautiful cursive- “with love, Christine Torres”. She really mothers everyone in town, at least that's what I've noticed. This one is a real toughy, which I like. That's mostly what I've been up to since I got home. I decided that I'd take a break from doing, well, this. Dr. Daman was adamant about me giving it a shot so here we are. Me, myself and I. Oh sorry, hold on, work email. (Whispered: who am i even apologizing to?) Well now, wait a minute. A new lab partner? Dr. Gia Castillo. Why the hell did they give me a new lab partner? I guess I'm meeting her in the morning. I hate it when Todd pulls this, but I’ve got no say in the matter. The usual. But I hate sudden change.

I'm tired, I'm reheating some food Mrs. Weddington gave me and going to bed. I can hear the thunder starting to get louder and that kid outside tapping on my door so I guess I should try and get some sleep. Guess I'll talk to you later? This is actually kind of nice, saying whatever I want without worries. (little laugh) I'm already dreading tomorrow. Well this is Dr. Jared Hel, signing off, I guess.

[tapping sounds, and sounds of thunder, as we fade into the outro]

OUTRO

Jar of Rebuke is written and produced by Casper Oliver, who is also the voice of Dr Jared Hel. The intro is read by Vanessa Rosengrant, and credits are read by Ashley Craft, who has also created the podcast official graphics. Music was created by Luke Menniss, spelled m-e-n-n-i-s-s, who you can find and support on Bandcamp, Spotify and Twitch. Find us on Twitter, Instagram and anywhere else you get your podcast fix for more Jar of Rebuke and also to get updates on upcoming official merch for our show. Support projects by this crew on Patreon to further other queer-lead projects and get neat perks. All donations are appreciated and will grant further clearance to special Jar of Rebuke content. You can also make one-time donations on Ko-fi.

[pynkhues]

What’s you top 5 unpopular good girls ships?

I am eternally blessed, anon, because all my ships for Good Girls are pretty popular, haha. I’m all about Beth x Rio, Ruby x Stan, Dean x Suffering, Boomer x Grievous Bodily Harm! Even my non-canon ships like Annie x Nancy or Annie x JT are pretty popular! 

So instead, I’m offering you five crack ships and I’ve written the scenarios where I think they could work, because I am a glutton for punishment, haha. One of them I actually want to write, but I’m not going to say which, because I don’t want anyone to peer pressure me into writing it, hahaha. (I have way too many WIPs!)

Below a cut to save your feeds.

1. Krystal x Lucy

Okay, SO, I accidentally wrote them into the pornstar au, and ever since the thought came to me, it’s latched on like a parasite! I love the thought of them both having someone in their corner in the way that we sort of know they don’t? Lucy really needed somebody who could fight for her and was more clued into the world than either herself or Max, and Krystal pretty clearly needs someone who’s kind to her. Plus Krystal would edge out some of Lucy’s cutesyness, while Lucy would ground Krystal, and idk! I just think they’d be cute!

Okay, scenario though – I’m thinking the Hill’s have a Christmas party. Lucy and Max have recently broken up and Beth feels bad for her, so invites her to be her plus-one (or, well, plus seventh after Rio and the kids), and the gesture’s a nice one, but Beth is instantly distracted by helping Ruby get the food out or with Jane and Marcus inevitably causing havoc, and so Lucy ends up wallflowering, watching everyone else just - - know each other, right? 

And maybe Krystal sees her and maybe she’s a few drinks in already, so it’s not like it takes much to grab another cup of spiked eggnog and tumble against the wall beside Lucy. And maybe it’s awkward at first, because Lucy’s sort of weird, but maybe Krystal kind of likes that, and maybe Lucy compliments Krystal’s ugly snowman earrings, and Krystal really does think Lucy’s reindeer sweater is cute, and maybe Lucy falls a little in love when Krystal sings bawdy Christmas songs, her arm slung over Ruby’s shoulder, and Krystal falls a little in love when Lucy is unfairly good at drunk pictionary, and maybe it feels like they’ve known each other a lot longer than a night (and maybe they want to make sure they will). 

2. Mick x Mary Pat. 

Okay, okay, okay. Hear me out. 

So it finally happens. Rio finds out who Mary Pat is, what she’s done – that she’s Beth’s rotten egg – and y’know, Rio isn’t playing around anymore. He wants to send Beth a message, and what better way to do that than to handle the third person she couldn’t after Turner and Boomer? So he sends Mick off with an order.

And so Mick watches for a few days – keeps an eye on her schedule, her routine, carving out a plan to handle her as smoothly as possible (he’s not Rio after all, he doesn’t hand guns to women he’s just kidnapped, y’know?) – and starts to get a sense of her. Sure, maybe he feels a little bad. She has a lot of kids, y’know? And always seems pretty frazzled, at the end of her rope, but sort of sweet. She goes to church, sings in a choir, makes pancakes from a box, sure, but she adds both choc chips and blueberries which is a pretty good combo, and maybe it’s hard to believe she’s swept up in all of this, but then it was hard to believe Mrs Boland and that sweet girl from Paper Porcupine had been too. 

Still, Mick knows what he’s doing, y’know? 

He’s not Rio. He’ll finish the job.

So he steals into her house late at night, moving down to her bedroom, intending to take her outside, handle her away from the kids at least, when suddenly a wild Mary Pat appears! Brandishing a huge knife. 

Mick staggers back! Alarmed, and Mary Pat thrusts it at him, knowing exactly how long he’s been watching her and what does he think she is??? NEW to this??? She worked with the FBI! Okay, not --  not worked with them, but y’know, an agent was on her case for a while, and Mary Pat is not as stupid as her Uncle Larry told her that one time, and okay, Mick thinks, staggering back into his seat, eyes fixed on the knife Mary Pat is waving around at him. 

You wanna talk this out? 

It’s the wrong thing to say, because no, she doesn’t especially, and they just sort of stare at each other for a minute, trying to figure out what happens next when Billy wakes up and trots down the hallway, and he’s had a bad dream about the bad man, and for a minute, Mick thinks he’s talking about him, but then Mary Pat says something about how Boomer won’t ever step foot in this house again, and with the way she’s holding that knife, Mick is inclined to believe her. 

And then, well, Billy asks for pancakes. 

So that’s how Mick ends up eating pancakes with Mary Pat and three of her four kids at 2 in the morning, and y’know, he’s not a total asshole. He’s going to stay and help her clean up afterwards, and maybe it’s sort of nice, now that she’s put the knife down (although it is still in reaching distance, and honestly, he respects that), now that his gun’s back in his pants. 

And well, he can’t exactly kill a woman who just made him pancakes, so he figures next time, only next time, Mary Pat’s already cooking, and then the time after that, she’s already set him a plate, and maybe the time after that, she kisses him, and maybe the time after that, he kisses her first, and at least when Rio asks, Mick can just give him a look, because it isn’t like he doesn’t have his own batshit crazy mother of four he can’t kill. 

3. Rhea x Phoebe. 

So, y’know. Phoebe’s good at her job. 

Phoebe knows how to do a stakeout, to keep tabs, to collect intel. She revels in every part of the chase, every part of the puzzle, every part of the game of it all, because she knows that what she’s doing is right, she’s cleaning up the streets! Making the world a better place! But - - okay, she’ll be the first to admit that she already finds her marks exhausting.

Not so much Hill and Marks. They’re sort of fun to keep tabs on (and lowkey, Phoebe really does maybe daydream sometimes about what it might be like to sit on the couch and watch bad reality shows with them, drinking cheap wine and creamy, herb crusted cheeses). Even Boland is kind of awesome when she’s not with him. 

Because the thing is, as soon as Boland and the Big Kahuna are together, everything just gets a little - - hm. What’s the word for it? 

(”Nothing like watching a crime lord pull pigtails,” Henry had said on one stakeout, headphones on as they’d watched from afar as Big Kahuna had swung in close to Boland, said something that made her flush red and try to stamp on his foot. “Can’t wait until they graduate to passing notes. At least then there might be something we can use.”) 

And, well. It’s not like he’s wrong.

So maybe she starts to get bored of watching the highschool antics of them (as has everyone else, she thinks, if the looks on their faces is anything to go by - including the hitman clearly trying to take one, or both of them out [and please, a little part of Phoebe thinks, watching as Big Kahuna drags a finger across the back of Boland’s knuckles, and Boland wait until he’s gone to order the most expensive liquor in the bar to Big Kahuna’s tab]). Maybe that makes her dig a little deeper. 

Maybe that’s how she finds herself watching an under-9′s soccer game in a fold-out chair beside Big Kahuna’s baby mama. (She tells her she’s researching, so it’s not technically a lie, even if the cover of starting to coach a team of her own in the fall is a thin one).

And okay, maybe they hit it off. Which is kind of cool, Phoebe thinks, because it turns out Rhea is kind of cool (how she put up with Big Kahuna is a total mystery to her), and y’know, she’s actually pretty? LIke, pretty pretty. And nice, and totally normal, and maybe they get a coffee after the game, and catch a movie on the weekend, and maybe sometimes Phoebe forgets to fish about Big Kahuna at all, but that’s an easy mistake to make, and maybe Henry gives her a Look when he hears about it, but it’s nothing, Phoebe thinks.

She’s just doing her due diligence. 

Being thorough, y’know? 

I mean, who even knows when information could come out, and Phoebe’s just laying the groundwork anyway, she thinks, watching the line of Rhea’s neck, the purse of her lips, blinking rapidly when Rhea leans across the table, the curve of her breast visible beneath the thin fabric of her shirt, and says: “I know you’re a fed.” 

And Phoebe splutters as Rhea keeps leaning forwards. 

“I’m not going to tell you anything about him.” 

And what can Phoebe say except okay, something in her chest tightening at - - at what, Phoebe has no idea. Just knows that Rhea’s so close she can feel the other woman’s breath on her cheek.  

“I just want to be clear about that,” she tells her. “If we’re going to do this.” 

And Phoebe blinks, owlish at Rhea, pulse rapid and mouth dry as she asks: “Do what?” 

And well, it turns out Phoebe likes Rhea even more when she’s kissing her.

4. Greg x Dr. Josh.

Okay, so maybe two things happen. 

Maybe it’s a party of something when Annie finally turns around and tells Greg about kissing her therapist, and honestly, Greg shouldn’t be surprised. This is what Annie does, after all, and telling her off never really gets him anywhere, so he pours them both another drink, and - - sure, maybe another. 

Then maybe a few more. 

Because it’s just like they’re in this loop, y’know? Him and her. Like she fucks up and it’s not like she expects him to clean up after her (he’s not Beth), but it’s like there’s something in Annie where she needs him to know about it, and that just really gets to him sometimes, because like, Annie’s not his responsibility just because they have a kid together. Besides, he has Nancy now, so it’s not like he needs Annie, and even thinking about Nancy sort of makes him want to go and find her, so then he’s drunkenly stumbling around this party, looking for that cape of perfect blonde hair, and okay, maybe that’s when the second thing happens.

Annie. Nancy. Closet. Necking. Maybe a shirt’s off? There’s a lot of like - - like mouths and hand stuff and Greg slams the door shut and maybe goes and lies on the grass outside for a while. 

And okay, maybe it’s not a surprise either. Maybe this is also what Annie does too, but still, he stews on it, and then stews on it some more, and so what if he interrogates Ben for this therapist’s address, because like - - hadn’t Annie been going to him for months? How could this guy make everything worse. 

And sure, maybe storming into the guy’s office, drunk on anger this time instead of beer, isn’t the best idea, but he’s just - - pissed, y’know? And maybe he yells at the guy about where he gets off, kissing patients. Making his patients kiss his wife, and okay, the guy’s pale at first, but then is sort of nice, and they sit on the beanbags and talk for a bit about Hurricane Annie, and actually, he’s finished work for the day, so maybe they should go get a beer or whatever? 

And maybe later, when Josh drops a nervous hand to his knee and awkwardly closes the distance between them, when Greg’s kissing back, he does sort of wonder if he and Annie won’t always be pulling from the same pool. 

5. Turner x Noah. 

Come on. We all saw s2. There’s no way Turner didn’t offer a, ahem, hand to help Noah get over Annie. 

[for-ests]

Lost In Your Light: Peter Parker x Reader (Part 4)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 

[ my masterlist ]

word count: 3, 127

CHAPTER 4: HER SECRET 

Y/N's heart was pounding loudly against her chest; her cheeks inflamed with a crimson shade as she walked back home.

She exhaled roughly, staring at her hands, in complete shock that she had just healed Spider-Man. 

The girl touched her face and tried not to smile. It was cold, the air was thick and brisk, yet she couldn't feel it. Her heart was too warm.

She was excited, basically bubbling with pride. Astonished, shocked--and it was wonderful.

Y/N felt like she was going to explode. She needed to talk to someone about this. She had to... but there wasn't a single soul that could know. She was alone with this secret. About her power, and about Spider-Man.

The girl came to her front door, still forcing herself to not smile. She stood on her tiptoes and reached for the house key, fumbling with it before unlocking the front door as delicately as she could.

She closed the door without error.

Y/N hurried upstairs to her bedroom and flopped onto her bed.

She curled into a ball, holding her face in her hands and almost squealing. She wanted to so badly but she knew she had to be as quiet as possible.

There was another person like her. He had confirmed her thoughts by saying so himself.

She remembered his voice, sweet and young, but also old and wise. Every world that spewed from his mouth contradicted her previous assumptions. His voice was higher than she would have thought. He was shorter, more boyish, yet still lean and muscular. Peter. 

His hands flashed through her mind next; they were rough and calloused. When she healed him, it was different from the animals she had helped before him. She felt his emotions, his wants and needs. They were connected in those seconds, and she relished in the way his skin pricked with... desire?

Y/N's eyes shot back open. That's what the feeling was. She had felt what he was thinking, what he wanted. 

No. It couldn’t possibly be her. She was just projecting her own feelings onto him. 

Yet, he was gentle with her.

The girl blushed, looking at her hands and fantasizing the way his would fit perfectly with hers.

Whoever he was, she needed to see him again.

✭✦✭✦✭

Going back to school the next morning was a lot harder than Y/N would have thought.

Scratch that. It wasn't hard, it was terrible.

Of course all she could think about was Peter. Whoever he was, wherever he lived. She wouldn't know, the only Peter she'd ever known was her second cousin who lived in Wisconsin. Spider-Man was definitely not him.

Y/N didn't even know what Spider-Man looked like, but the connection she felt couldn't have been one sided. It felt like it was meant to be, no matter how hard she tried to deny it.

She was walking down the main hallway of school, keeping her head down as a blush spread across her cheeks. Just the thought of him was enough to send her senses into a frenzy.

Her body felt warm. She turned the corner, face starting to burn. Then came the nausea. 

Y/N suddenly did not feel well. Why was she feeling so hot? The warning signs resided within her gut, similar to the feeling she received when she connected the telepathy link with an injured animal.

She began to walk faster, weaving through the students with a sort of urgency. The girl didn't know if anyone could tell, but she needed to get to the bathroom.

Her hands started to tingle.

Y/N cursed.

The bell rang, and the last few students shuffled into their classrooms.

The girl ignored the warning bell and disappeared into the bathroom.

Thank God it was empty.

She practically dove into a stall, throwing her backpack on the floor and sitting on the toilet. Her breathing was ragged, as if she had sprinted for ten miles.

What was happening to her?

She held her hands in front of her. Eyes wide, she studied the faint, wisp of pale yellow light. It wasn't as golden as before. A small, but noticeable detail.

Please go away. She thought, squeezing her eyes and trying to summon some sort of willpower. But nothing happened.

Y/N felt like crying. Why was this happening now? Usually she could control it. She'd never had an outburst problem. She tried to calm herself down, but the sound of another student's heels echoed in the small bathroom.

The panicked girl clamped her mouth shut and shoved her hands under her shirt. The power started to glow brighter. Was someone in trouble?

Y/N peaked her head through the crack and gasped. The girl who entered the room was bleeding.

As if on instinct, Y/N flushed the toilet and rushed out. She examined the wound from afar, eyebrows knitting together as she realized how minor, and non-life threatening it was.

Her hands had stopped glowing. Tranquility rushed over her, as if signaling she was making the right decision. 

A little more at ease, Y/N managed to speak. "Are you okay?"

The stranger lifted her head and nodded, her dark curly hair bouncing with each movement. She was pressing a handle of crumbled paper towels on top of the cut. It was just a laceration. She pulled the towels back to show Y/N. "Yeah, I was in chem and a flask broke. It stings like a bitch, but I'm sure I'll be fine with a band-aid."

Y/N inwardly cringed. Band-aids were literally useless, and only meant to keep children from itching their scabs. What this girl really needed was some disinfectant and stitches. It looked pretty deep, but only skin wise. 

Of course Y/N didn't say that. She knew she could do so much better than what the school nurse could provide. But she wasn't willing to risk her safety for a glass injury on someone she didn't know.

"That's terrible. Need me to do anything? I'm Y/N, by the way, I'm not sure if we've met before." She said as casually as she could.

"Thanks." The stranger smiled. "If you don't mind helping me clean it quick? Since it's on my right arm I'm not sure if I can do it thoroughly with my left."

"No problem!" Y/N grinned, trying to push the strange feeling away. The cause for her outburst wasn't because of this cut. Something else was wrong with this girl.

"I’m Kenzie by the way." She added, watching Y/N grab more paper towels out of the dispenser.

"Nice to meet you." Y/N chuckled, holding Kenzie's arm under the sink and carefully wiping the blood away. Her fingers ached for skin on skin contact, knowing she could easily make the whole injury disappear.

But she didn't.

"You might need stitches." Y/N noted, eyebrows furrowing together as the bleeding refused to stop. It had subsided, but a wound this size should have been closed already. She had treated them countless times. No wonder Y/N had such a weird feeling rising in her stomach.

Kenzie examined the wound. "I was thinking so too."

The girls both looked at each other and smiled. "Nurses office." They said in unison. Kenzie knew this was the best way to get out of school for the rest of the day.

They giggled. Y/N washed her hands again and took a deep breath. She had to calm down, she was making this a bigger deal than it needed to be.

Kenzie bent down and grabbed her backpack. The weight of everything inside seemed to tire her out. Y/N eyed her as she dispensed more towels. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She breathed heavily. "I've just been really tired lately. It's weird. My bones hurt even though I haven't done anything to make them."

"You should make a doctors appointment." The comment slipped between her lips before she could process it.

Kenzie looked surprised. "Why?"

"Your blood isn't clotting quickly enough." She said. It didn't matter, she needed to get help. Whatever it was, Y/N couldn't tell. And she couldn't heal it. "Being tired for no reason, and feeling inexplainable pain in your bones is never good."

Kenzie looked dumbfounded, but she managed to nod. "You're right."

Y/N’s eyes widened slightly. Why did she say that? Now she had to cover it up with something that still wouldn’t explain her supposed knowledge. "My father is a doctor. Sorry for coming on strong, it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Again, you're right. Thanks Y/N, I'll see you around."

Y/N watched the girl leave. The tension in her fingers dissipated along with Kenzie’s aura. Something was terribly wrong with her.

Y/N picked up her backpack and exhaled.

She needed an explanation of this manifestation growing inside her.

After an hour of psychology class, Y/N made her way through the halls and up the stairs to her biology teacher's room. The whole hour had been a blur, as she was still trying to process what had happened in the bathroom. It was the only thing on her mind.

Since it was lunch passing hour, the classroom was empty except for Mrs. Anderson. Y/N peaked through the window and saw her old teacher hunched over a laptop. She seemed disgruntled.

No matter, the teenager had to try and figure out what was happening to her.

Y/N shuffled into the classroom timidly. "Hi Mrs. Anderson." She greeted, shutting the door quietly behind her. "I know it's been a year or two since you had me in class, but I have a question that I don't know who else to ask."

Mrs. Anderson smiled warmly, clicking out of a tab before shutting the laptop. "What can I do for you, Y/N?"

She pulled out her notebook. A bit nervous to share her findings with someone else. But she needed a professional’s point of view. Y/N needed answers.

Mrs. Anderson was the right person to ask. She was just an AP biology teacher, but Y/N also knew she was a geek. Mrs. Anderson was someone who researched conspiracy theories and magic. She was skeptical, but believed in them. She believed even if one couldn't see.

"It's about healing."

"What type?"

Y/N would have laughed if the question didn't correlate with her life and soul.

"The unthinkable, Mrs. Anderson." There was a hint of profoundness that escaped into Y/N's tone. But her teacher didn't seem to notice.

She nodded. "Keep going."

"It seems like a myth, and probably is one." Y/N added for good measure. "But if biological healing can stretch its boundaries, is the human body able to speed up the process of mendification? Can a wound be closed by just one touch?  Is there any proof of someone healing someone else by thought or contact alone?"

The girl expected her teacher to look at her like she was crazy, but all Mrs. Anderson did was lean back in her chair with a serious expression.

Y/N knew she had asked the right person, even if she had rambled.

"Who is this question aimed for?"

Y/N couldn't say her. She couldn't say a friend or family. "Spider-Man?" She squeaked, shoulders relaxing as Mrs. Anderson nodded like it made sense.

And theoretically, it did. He was a superhuman and everyone in New York knew it. The question was why. How did it happen? What exactly were his powers? Y/N remembered having that exact discussion two years earlier in this class. That idea alone was a good backup.

But now that Y/N had discovered her powers, many unanswered questions emerged. Everything she and others had believed could be proven false. Spider-Man was a freak accident, Y/N wasn’t like him. And there might be others like her.

"Theoretically, if we are talking about Spider-Man I would say yes. But we know that his powers resulted in a spider bite. But then again, we don't know if that's the cause for his quicker healing abilities. We also don't know if anyone can reach his potential naturally. There may be biological traits involved with the evolution. I honestly don't know."

-"Ever since the aliens invaded, and Nordic Gods helped us save our planet, nothing is certain. As far as I'm concerned, anything is possible, and everything we thought we knew was just a brush on the surface of the endless possibilities."

Mrs. Anderson took off her glasses and sighed.

"If we look at history, healing abilities are prevalent. All types of cultures and religions who wouldn't have had contact all report it. From African Voodoo doctors, to wizards and potions in Europe. I do believe it exists, whether humans are able to wield it or not. I wouldn't be surprised if someone came forward with that ability, but no, there isn't any physical proof of it happening. Maybe except Jesus Christ?" She laughed. "I'm sorry sweetie. If what you're looking for is a yes or no, I am unable to give you a scientific yes or no. Only my wacky opinion."

Y/N smiled. "It's okay, your opinion is the best thing I've got so far."

"Then I will continue. In theory, if one is able to unlock that power, assuming it is inherited genetically, one can possibly manipulate the healing process. That would call for a great power, and even greater concentration. To demand cells to repair themselves faster, could possibly get rid of incurable diseases."

Y/N scribbled her teacher's word down in the notebook she had brought.

"I'm having a hard time believing this is for a Spider-Man project." Mrs. Anderson's words stopped the girl mid-word. She put her pencil down.

"You're right, it's not. But for now let's just say I am curious."

"I would be questioning it in a different world, but in this day and age, you can do whatever you want. Like I said before, anything is possible. If you believe something exists, it just might be. When I first started teaching, Aliens were fictional."

Y/N closed the notebook, trying to suppress the grin spreading along her face. "Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it."

"No problem Y/N, I would ask to catch up but it looks like you have to go. Stop by another time okay? Not too many of my students have brilliant and thought provoking questions like you. I miss having you in my class."

"I miss being in your class, no joke. Physics is killing me right now."

Mrs. Anderson smiled. "Some of our brains are just wired for biology and only biology. "

The warning bell rang.

"Now get to class okay?"

Y/N stuffed her notebook in her bag and exited the classroom. She wished she could tell her teacher everything, if anyone would have been excited about it, it would have been Mrs. Anderson. But for now, no one else could know. Nobody but Spider-Man.

✭✦✭✦✭

Peter Parker rummaged through his locker, chuckling to himself when he finally found the sheet of homework he had been trying to frantically locate for the past fifteen minutes. 

He had to skip his lunch period to do so, but he had already been slacking in his math class due to his personal reasons, aka, Spider-Man problems. 

“Did you finally find it?” Ned rounded the corner to catch up to him, noticing that his friend was holding a crumbled up piece of paper. 

“Yeah.” Peter scanned its contents, breathing a sigh of relief. He had even completed it, how could he forget? He gave himself the rest of his lunch period to finish it. 

Ned laughed as he peaked over Peter’s shoulder. “I don’t think I would ever forget something like that. Why the hell are you so smart?” 

“I don’t think that makes me smart.” Peter managed to smile, even if his mind was racing with all the other tasks he had to complete. 

“Well, I for sure couldn’t do it.” 

Closing his locker, Peter shut its door and slumped against the wall. “Not true.” He sighed, sliding down until he was sitting with his knees tucked into his chest. Ned followed suit, shrugging to himself. 

Sometimes Peter got into his own head. Now was one of those moments. 

Due to the particular hour in the school day, most students were in class. Only a few lingered, passing by to attend to their own activities--not paying mind to the two boys huddled against a bay of beige colored lockers. 

“Alright.” Ned crossed his legs, folding his hands in front of him to act like a professional therapist for his own amusement. “Out with it. What happened last night?” 

“I met a girl.” Peter shook his head, trying incredibly hard to not let his emotions get the best of him. He hadn’t felt so strongly about a girl in years. Hell, even this didn’t feel like the childish crushes he had his freshman year. A moment like this was rare, a moment he finally let himself feel something unwarranted, something that had nothing to do with his persona, or the avengers. 

“You meet girls all the time.” Ned reminded, still not hinting at Peter’s infatuation. 

“This ones different.” He breathed, still trying to fathom all the events that had unfolded last night. “She’s like me.” 

Ned’s mouth dropped. “A girl Spider-Man?” 

Peter punched his friend’s arm and rolled his eyes. “No you idiot, she has powers.” 

“Oh.” Ned pondered. “Cool, what kind?” 

“She literally healed me.” Peter said, lifting his shirt to show Ned the fresh scar that ran along the side of his torso. “With her own hands.” 

“That’s doooopee.” He laughed, poking at the healed wound. “Did that hurt?” 

“No.” Peter glared.

Ned’s attention finally averted back to Peter’s previous words. He had met a girl, one he seemed to think was cooler than the rest. “Was she pretty?” 

“Yeah.” The brown haired teenager awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. “Like insanely.” 

“Well, did you meet her as Peter or as Spider-Man?” 

The boy’s expression fell. “As Spider-Man.” 

“Don’t get your hopes up then. Babes love dudes in uniform. And only uniform.” 

“You’re insufferable.” 

“I’m just honest.” Ned pulled his backpack from his side to his lap, fiddling with the key-chains that decorated it. “What are you gonna do?” He asked, concocting multiple scenarios in his head that could help his friend win over a beautiful girl’s heart. 

The idea that she could change the world, affecting science and medicine as he knew it, didn’t once cross his mind.  

Peter sighed. “I don’t know.” 

I just need to find her again. 

✭✦✭✦✭

Tag list!

@spn-assemble-seven​ @eridanuswave​ @fallisflame​ @used-avocado​ @pluckypete​ @vanillanestor​ @averyfosterthoughts​ @wherewecomealive​ @magicalturmoil @lust-for-pan​ @keep-bears-wild​ @selintugmen​ @undiadeestos​

[flutteringphalanges]

Summary: It is public knowledge that Zoe Van Helsing is the last of her blood line. Not to mention that, in a sense, Count Dracula is too. However, after an unexpected night of passion, both their lives dramatically change when Zoe becomes pregnant. Two unconventional parents, one extraordinary pregnancy. What could go wrong?

Rating: M

Pairings: Zoe Van Helsing/Dracula implied Agatha/Dracula

Read on FFN and AO3

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter! Feedback is greatly loved and appreciated! Love you all! -Jen

                                                  Chapter Eight

It was the blaring of a car horn that brought Zoe back to reality. Her head was spinning as she blinked wearily around, trying to gauge her surroundings. The events that led to this moment had yet to resurface as she realized that she was oddly strapped into the backseat of someone’s car. Trying to sit up, the doctor squinted at the tall figure who sat almost hunched in the driver’s seat. It was dark and the heat was blasting at an ungodly, uncomfortably high level. Where was she and what the hell was going on?

“La naiba!” The familiar voice hissed, hitting the steering wheel hard. “Ticăloși englezi!” 

Zoe’s brows knitted together as she eyed what was causing such a fuss. The red glow of a light. A stop light. They were stuck in traffic. Fighting her dizziness, she managed to prop herself up on one of her elbows. When the back seat creaked in response, the man suddenly whipped his head around. Dracula. He frowned deeply, his expression almost frightening. Try as she might, the doctor couldn’t discern the vampire’s current emotion. Whatever the case, he was less than thrilled. 

“Stop moving and just stay still.” He finally spoke authoritatively. “We’ll be at the hospital in just a few minutes if all of these damn cars get out of the way!” He slammed his fist against the wheel and Zoe could almost swore she heard something crack. “Lay back down.” 

“Hospital?” She mumbled, brows knitting in confusion as she tried to piece together what happened. When she suddenly remembered, her stomach sunk. The pain was indeed gone, but she felt nothing. Was she supposed to feel something? “I fainted…”

“You’ve been out cold for over five minutes.” Dracula replied, faint anxiety lacing his tone. “I didn’t trust the emergency medical services to get to the Foundation fast enough. It seemed only fitting I do so myself.” When the light turned green, the vampire hit the pedal hard causing the car to lurch. “What happened?! Are you in any pain?! I don’t smell blood. But I’m not writing anything off simply because of that.”

Being bombarded with the man’s questions only aided in her growing headache. Not to mention she wasn’t fond of his probable “well intended” kidnapping. She placed a hand on her stomach and focused hard. How she wished they were big enough to where she could be put at ease feeling them move. But he smelled no blood and she didn’t feel wet. Weren’t those obvious signs of miscarriage? If she had only experienced pain, maybe…

“I feel fine.” She managed to muster out a reply. Surprised by how weary her voice sounded. “Just...out of it.” 

“Evidently.” Dracula muttered, rolling his eyes. “Were you feeling ill at all today? Did something happen at your oncology appointment? I knew I should have had Frank gather intel--” 

“Intel?!” Zoe said, her voice suddenly gaining volume. “How...you’re having your dotting lawyer follow my every move now?!” She attempted to sit up, but the motion made her nauseated. “You and I have an agreement, but that doesn’t extend to you spying on my every move!” 

“Technically, you’re keeping tabs on me.” The vampire shrugged. “And I’m only concerned in the well being of yo…” He paused, lips pressing into a firm line. “I’m just taking an interest in the safety of my children and their development.” 

“Oh, I assure you.” Zoe snapped as they pulled into the mostly empty parking lot. “When it comes to them, I take everything into account!” 

“Well if that were the case, maybe we wouldn’t be here.” Dracula said coldly, taking a parking space close to the building. “Stay here while I get you a wheelchair. Try to walk, and I’ll carry you inside. Your choice.” 

The doctor’s jaw dropped as the Count stepped out of the vehicle and slammed the door shut. Unbuckling herself, Zoe’s eyes watched as the glare from the street lights lit up his figure as he walked towards the hospital. Even though she knew it was him, it still was a little eerie. His size was intimidating. Part of her couldn’t help but wonder if the babies would inherit that. That was, if they were still okay to begin with. 

“At least you came to your senses and decided to wait.”

Zoe jumped in surprise at the sound of Dracula’s voice. Apparently, her mind had wandered far enough to where she hadn’t even realized his return. Reluctantly, she allowed him to help her into the wheelchair. Perhaps in any other circumstance, this display of obedience would’ve amused the Count. Yet right now, he felt anything but. 

“If you’re not going to let me get up, at least take my license and insurance card to the front desk and sign me in.” The scientist frowned from their position in the lobby. “And don’t threaten anyone to get me seen faster. If you get kicked out, I’m not going to argue your case to get you back in.” 

“No one could remove me from the premises if they tried.” And for the first time since she awoke, a flicker of a smirk crossed his features. “Public places don’t require invitations.” 

“That’s a real pity.” She snorted, folding her arms over her chest. “I would’ve liked to see what would happen if they did. Would you burst into flames if you weren’t fast enough? Fly backwards…?” 

Dracula gave her a lopsided sneer before taking a hold of her identification cards. Zoe watched him from afar, her hands now resting on her stomach. The longer she sat there in the clinic, the more concerned she began to grow. Before she had tried to push the worry aside, but now it felt real. She sucked in a breath as Dracula approached, her cards in one hand and a hospital bracelet in another. 

“Hold out your wrist.” The vampire said, undoing the sticky side of the band. “They’re going to bring you back in a minute.” When Zoe opened her mouth, Dracula rolled his eyes. “I didn’t threaten them. Based on your medical history and symptoms, they want to get you checked out sooner rather than later. And,” he added lightheartedly. “It just happens to be a slow night. Just our luck.” 

“Right…” She pursed her lips. “Luck.” 

There was something unsettling being in the emergency ward at night. As she was strapped up to machines, an IV placed into her arm, Zoe found herself staring up at the ceiling trying to count the many tiny holes in the tiles. She could feel Dracula watching her from his seat. But much to her relief, he didn’t say anything. When the doctor entered the room--not her usual one, accompanied by a very tired looking resident luggy an ultrasound machine, they both perked up. 

“Dr. Sahli.” The man smiled, reaching out to shake both of their hands. “I hear you had some concerns about your pregnancy?”

“Yes.” Dracula cut in before Zoe could. “There was an incident at work. She fainted for a few minutes.” His eyes flickered onto the scientist. “I thought it best we come here due to the circumstances.” 

“I see.” The doctor nodded, beginning to set up the equipment. “I’ve pulled up your file, Dr. Van Helsing. I think you made a good call coming in.” He muttered something to the resident that Zoe couldn’t pick up. “Any other symptoms besides the fainting?” 

“Just sharp pain.” Zoe admitted, inhaling as her abdomen was exposed. “That’s gone away, but the dizziness is still there.” She stiffened as the gel was squeezed onto her stomach, eyes unable to meet Dracula’s. “Do you think...something could be wrong?” 

“Let’s not try to get ahead of ourselves and worry.” The older man smiled, placing the probe against her skin. Carefully, he began to move it around until the most reassuring sound in the world filled Zoe’s ears. Heartbeats. “Just what I was looking for.” 

The scientist watched in awe as the two little humanoid beings moved about on the screen. At times, she almost swore they were kicking each other. She yearned for the moment where she could feel the movements back. But there they were. Wiggling. Alive. Still blissfully unaware of the world outside. 

“I don’t see any fetal distress and amniotic fluid levels look fine…” Dr. Sahli mumbled, panning across the monitor. “I’d say this was nothing more than a scare. But based on your high risk pregnancy, I’d like to run some tests and keep you overnight.” The man stated, setting the probe down. “Overexertion and dehydration could have some part in what happened. I just want to make sure everything is fit as a fiddle before sending you off.” 

“Am I allowed to stay with her?” Dracula inquired, Zoe throwing him a glare. “I am the father.” 

“I don’t see why not.” The innocent doctor smiled, not noticing the furious stare the expectant mother was giving the vampire. “I’ll let the nurses’ station know once we get Dr. Van Helsing settled.” 

“Oh, and one more thing.” The Count said, causing both the doctor and resident to glance up. “Is it too much to request a room without windows? I have rather sensitive skin, a rare condition, and I think Zoe will rest better with less light anyway.” He gave a wide smile. “I’d much appreciate it.” 

                                                    XXX

“I don’t want to be here.” Zoe grimaced from her hospital bed. “And I don’t like you being here.”

“You’ve expressed that several times now.” Dracula sighed, flipping the page of the magazine he was reading. Family Life. She recognized the title from her visits to the doctor. Cast aside on some table with the hopes that someone would pick it up for a peek. “But as I have clearly stated each time, I have no plans to go anywhere. I’m staying put.” 

“I need to tell Jack what’s going on and let him know I won’t be in tomorrow.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “And somehow explain that you won’t be. Not to mention that somehow someone is going to have to bring my work to me.” 

“You will be doing no such thing until you’re cleared by a professional.” The vampire replied coolly. “The doctor said you need to take things easy. While I find science positively fascinating, you scrutinizing over papers about lab work you can’t actually go in and physically see doesn’t excite me. You’ll only stress yourself further by fixating on what’s out of your hands.” 

“Since when did you become a psychologist?” The scientist snorted, looking bemused at the vampire. “And a simple laptop would suffice for me to do what I need. I’d just need the proper clearance to gain access to the files and contact the laboratory for a digital copy of the test results…” The more that she thought about it, the further she realized how tedious this all was. “I just need my work computer. That’s all.” 

Dracula stared at her for a long moment, his dark eyes fixed on her face. Then, without a word, he picked his magazine back up and started flipping through it again. It was as if their previous argument had never occurred. In retaliation, Zoe beamed an empty, plastic cup in his general direction. Without even looking up, the vampire gracefully dodged her attack. 

“I should have never told you I was pregnant in the first place.” She grumbled, glowering as he seemingly ignored her. “Then I wouldn’t have to put up with any of this.” 

“I would have found out eventually.” The vampire shrugged, still focused on one of the colorful pages. “I have a way of discovering secrets. A talent if you will. You learn as much when it comes to yourself.” The corners of his lips twitched into a small smirk. “We all have skeletons in the closet, Dr. Van Helsing.” 

“And yours are supposed to be released from their confines!” Zoe shot back. “We have a legal binding contract to work together, and I don’t like games.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Especially right now.”

“Your great, great aunt would be so disappointed.” The Count chuckled. “She was rather talented at chess...well, in her mind.” 

The scientist stiffened at the mention of Agatha. In a way, she felt as if saying the name would summon a demon. Or a ghost to say the very least. Glancing around quickly to make sure they were still alone, she turned back just in time to notice Dracula eyeing her oddly.  

“Are you alright?” He inquired, any reminences of mocking having left his tone. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

“Fine.” She answered curtly. “Just tired.”

“Then try to sleep.” Dracula suggested, setting the magazine aside. “There’s no telling when your lab results will come back and the time of your discharge. You might as well rest as well as you can.” He paused, before adding. “If anything, sleeping will make the time seem to go by faster.” 

“Am I to assume you’re just going to sit there and watch me the whole time?” Zoe inquired, her tone unpleasant. “That is possibly the least relaxing thing you can do for me right now."

"You won't even know I'm here." The vampire assured her as he readjusted his position. "Besides, I think you'd prefer I stay here with you rather than roam the halls of this fine establishment." He gestured to the air. "Who knows what smells might capture my attention. Why, if I remember correctly, I do believe we are over an operating theater. Surgical procedures can be rather bloody…"

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't dare."

Dracula gave her fake, sheepish grin. "...Well now, knowing what I can and can't do, I suppose there is no harm or foul taking a quick trip to the blood bank. Technically I wouldn't be harming anyone so there goes any concern for breaching my contract."

"I should've let them destroy the house with you in it when I had the chance." Zoe spoke, fingers digging into the thin fabric of the blanket. "Fine. Be that way if you really are so desperate."

"Oh, there is no desperation." Dracula said with a content smile over his victory. "Just...well intentions…"

"Bite me." The scientist grumbled, letting her head fall onto her pillow.

"Not something I would advise you to say to a vampire." Dracula chuckled, his attention now on a new magazine. "Goodnight, Zoe. Get some rest."

If it weren’t for the twins and today’s exhausting events, Zoe would’ve tried her hardest to retaliate against the Count’s insistence. But her body betrayed her. The tendrils of sleep wrapped around her in a vice like grip. 

No longer could the good scientist fight it as she found herself pulled down into the deep, dark abyss of unconsciousness. So far gone that not even her dreams could reach her. A place lost to her mind. A place lost to her. Only uninterrupted slumber. Something she truly needed. 

                                                      XXX

Uninterrupted. If one considered a few hours of shut eye that. Zoe awoke to the sound of two people quietly talking--which clearly wasn’t soft enough as it woke her up. Blinking back sleep, she made out Dracula standing in the doorway speaking to Dr. Sahli. The vampire’s expression was unusually serious, similar to that of someone trying to absorb a lot of information at once. She noted the file folder in the doctor’s hand, the papers waving inside whenever the man made a gesture. 

“So everything came back normal?” Dracula asked slowly. “No abnormalities?” 

“None.” The doctor reassured him. “We ran multiple tests. It isn’t the cancer or something else. Just as I explained earlier, I think that after ruling everything else out, we can safely assume that what happened to Dr. Van Helsing was as simple as dehydration and overexertion. Does her job have a tendency to be stressful?” 

“Only when she makes it that way.” The vampire replied, rolling his eyes. “So they’re all healthy? Her and the twins?” Even though Zoe was pretending to be asleep, she could feel Dracula’s gaze on her. “These are unusual circumstances.” And he wasn’t referring to her cancer or other risk factors. “Both babies are well?”

“Perfectly fine.” The doctor smiled. “I took the liberty of taking a few extra tests just to confirm. One I noticed hadn’t been done on her files was NIPT--a noninvasive prenatal testing. Since she’s high risk, I wanted to just check a few things out…” He paused. “There were a few things I noticed though.”

Dracula frowned. “I thought you said everything was fine?”

“It is, it is.” The doctor said, gesturing with his hands. “Just some of their genetics...well, they were a little odd. But nothing that seemed amiss. I could do further testing, put in an order for her to have an amniocentesis procedure done in a few weeks. But that carries some risks. And while I didn’t go into depth, nothing I saw was linked to any known diseases or disorders.” 

The vampire nodded his head thoughtfully, processing every word the man said. After hearing the doctor speak about the twins’ DNA, Zoe decided it was time that she woke up. Forcing a yawn, she propped herself up in the bed. Both men turned to face her, the doctor looking rather surprised while Dracula seemed unimpressed. Evidently she wasn’t as good at playing pretend as she thought.

“I’m sorry if we woke you, Dr. Van Helsing.” The doctor apologized. “I was just discussing with your husband--”

“We’re not married.” She interrupted quickly. “Anyway, if these are my results, I’d like to be the one to hear them first hand.” 

“Right. My apologies.” The man nodded, moving over to her bedside. Like the leech he was, Dracula followed close behind. “I’m not sure how much you heard, but all your test results came back clean. I ran some extra labs and saw some unusual genetic...well, I’m not sure what you’d call it. But it doesn’t seem to be anything harmful. I offered to run more tests--”

“That won’t be necessary.” Zoe said curtly, eyeing the folder as if she planned to snatch it at any given moment. “But if I could have a copy of the file, I’d much appreciate it.”

 If there was an oddity in her children’s genetics, it wasn’t anything any medical professional would know about. Vampire DNA hadn’t been written into any textbooks. Zoe wasn’t concerned about them having a condition from these unknown markers. No. She needed to know what she was dealing with. What they had apparently inherited from Dracula. 

“I can have one made.” Dr. Sahli promised. “...There was one other thing I was able to take a look at if you had any interest?” Dracula and Zoe looked at each other before the doctor continued. “I was able to determine your twins’ gender.” 

Zoe looked taken aback. “This early? I didn’t think it was possible.”

“Well, when I ran the NIPT, it allows you to determine the gender based on what DNA found in the bloodstream. Or rather, their DNA found in Dr. Van Helsing’s blood. It’s more complex than it sounds, but that’s besides the point.” He smiled at the two wholeheartedly. “Are you interested to hear?”

Dracula and Zoe looked at each other once again. For the first time, it almost seemed as if the vampire was waiting to hear her opinion. She was tired, but Zoe felt a sense of eagerness begin to bubble up in her stomach.

“I suppose if you have them.” She said after a moment. 

Dr. Sahli grinned. “Then, in that case.” He glanced from one parent to the other. “I’m pleased to inform you that you’re expecting boys.” The doctor chuckled, shaking his head. “And identical ones at that. Quite a handful indeed.” 

And then, like a tsunami, a new wave of emotion hit her.

Anxiety. 

Identical twin boys. 

Two babies with unidentifiable genetic traits gifted to them by their vampire father.

Oh God. 

[milkybonya]

Heartstrings (pt.4/4)

Warnings: angst !

Pairing: Drummer!Jinjin x reader

Summary / Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

[a/n]: i thought i should wrap this series up >< i lost focus but i still wanted a clean ending of sorts :D thank you to anyone who actually read the whole thing? i’m sorry if it was a little rocky (lol) and all over the place, but i hope it brought you even a bit of joy <3

He confessed on the day before Astro’s debut. The two of you had grown to realize your feelings, but Jinjin wanted to earnestly confess to you. He chose to do so on the day before his group’s debut because he wanted to add another good thing to his week.

You were roaming around your city centre with him. It was the end of February and strangely enough, winter decorations were still up. You pointed this out to Jinjin who laughed softly, making his frame shake underneath all of the soft layers he wore.

As you stood before a deep brown bench that was conveniently placed under a thin tree, you realized where you were. 

Right in front of this bench was where Astro were set up the first time you saw them perform. It was when Jinjin’s eyes first found yours.

“You know where we’re standing now, right?” Jinjin asked in his deep voice.

You nodded slowly, turning to face him.

“I never told you, but the reason I stared at you so much from that first day was because... you were beautiful,” he said, staring right into your eyes even though his nervousness was lowering his head.

“You were beautiful and you are beautiful,” he continued. “And I like you.”

You knew this day would come. You were waiting for it, but you still weren’t ready. Jinjin waited patiently for you to says something.

“I like you too.” That was the only thing you could muster up enough courage to say, but it was enough to encourage Jinjin to confidently grab your hand and guide you around the bench.

“You know,” he said. “I wish I confessed sooner, but I’m also okay with having confessed today.”

“Why’s that?” you asked, gazing at the straight cut of his jawline as he looked forward.

“This might be the last day that we can hold hands freely like this,” Jinjin finally admitted. “Even though everyone is aware of our debut, so we can’t even be doing this now, this might be the last time.”

“If you don’t feel comfortable, we can-”

“No,” Jinjin said. “Please let’s hold hands. Our label hasn’t said anything about dating and we don’t even have a big fanbase anyway, so let’s not worry for today.”

“Okay,” you said, smiling.

Even though you both laughed wholeheartedly while window shopping, even though the cool air felt nice on your heated cheeks, even though it felt nice to intertwine fingers, to walk side by side and to exchange glances, the fact that this might not last still gnawed at the back of your head.

It was only a thought, but some thoughts just don’t go away.

-

When Astro debuted, they began to have a busier schedule and they attracted more attention. Jinjin would tell you about how they were getting recognized more often. 

You and Jinjin continued to see each other while you could, having stay-at-home dates, sometimes risking going out in public. Once, you had been seen with Jinjin while on a shopping date - it was lucky you weren’t holding his hand at that time. The fan greeted Jinjin and asked who you were.

“They’re a good friend,” he said. The fan didn’t think much of it, and there was nothing on social media about you just yet, so you were fine.

But there was one evening when you were at the sea with Jinjin, watching the waves lazily move around, caressing the sand.

Someone had recognized the sweater Jinjin was wearing. They had noticed your head on Jinjin’s shoulder and they snapped a photo from behind, showing only your backs.

“Rookie group already has a dating scandal?”

“Astro’s leader caught on a date”

These were just a few of the articles that were released. You didn’t understand why people were so pressed about a rookie group and who they were dating, but Astro’s fanbase, although small, was very strong.

Luckily, Jinjin was able to come forward and say that it wasn’t him in the photo.

“Yes, I wear that sweater a lot, but that isn’t the only sweater in the world. The faces are not even visible in that photo. I can assure you that it isn’t me,” he explained.

That was just the beginning, though.

A few years passed and Astro was beginning to build their reputation. You were still dating Jinjin but being a lot more careful. He would often drop by your house with food, planting kisses all over your face before the two of you would eat together while sharing a meal.

The manager wasn’t aware of your relationship with Jinjin, so the two of you continued as you were. On the rare days when you went on a date to a bookstore or anywhere in public, you were careful to hide your face and not show too much skinship. 

Sometimes you would carefully hold his hand though, making him smile as he scanned the books on the shelves.

An article dropped later like a bomb out of nowhere.

“Astro’s Jinjin dating since predebut”

A fansite had been continuously stalking Jinjin and keeping tab of everywhere he went, snapping photos of him and even of you. The article talked about how Jinjin went to your house a lot, how we was always seeing you.

This time, the article gained a lot of attention.

People were angry and worried, demanding answers. Astro’s manager had to pull Jinjin aside to have a meeting with him. Jinjin confessed to everything, making the manager angry.

“So that photo of the two of you on the beach was real too? You should have ended the relationship there and then!” he told Jinjin.

People started coming for your social media accounts, too. Even when you went on private, some people still managed to find you, so you deleted everything altogether. People claimed you were taking advantage of Jinjin, dating him for his fame and money, only using him, being inconsiderate of his status.

Jinjin called you many times a day to reassure you.

“You know what they’re saying isn’t true, right? I asked you to stay with me; I dragged you into this,” he’d say.

But it was all a bit too much, and you stopped seeing Jinjin for some time. You stayed at home and only let your closest friends visit you.

You took that time to take care of yourself and try to think about everything.

The manager was telling both of you to end it, but Jinjin wanted to hold on. It was a lot, it was too much.

But thanks to the love of your friends and the rest of Astro who would call you from time to time, you came to a decision.

“Jinjin, let’s just take a break for now. I still love you and I always will, you know that, but for your image and career and for my mental health, I think it’s best if we don’t see each other and only call each other from time to time.”

It broke your heart to say it, but it had to be done. Jinjin was serious when he responded. His voice was low and cracking as he tried to hold back tears, but he accepted what you wanted.

You took the time to travel, getting your mind off things and making the most of your life. Jinjin would call you every day at first, but by the end, he rarely called once a month.

You could still feel his love from afar, though. Every song Astro released felt like it was about you, and you still supported them no matter where you were.

“[y/n], you’ve got to see this video from Astro’s concert!” read one of your friends’ text messages.

Curious, you opened it up to watch the video. The members were on stage and Jinjin was talking from behind his drum kit.

“You know, we’re all going to be married someday,” he said, making the crowd go ‘aw’.

“and I already have some idea of who I want that to be. Will you support me?” Jinjin asked. To your surprise, the crowd wildly cheered.

“Are you going to say our fans’ name? Will it be Aroha?” Moonbin asked, looking back at Jinjin.

“Aroha have half of my heart,” Jinjin said, smiling awkwardly.

“Only half?!” MJ exclaimed.

“But this person has the other half,” Jinjin explained. “Will you support me, Aroha?”

The crowd was loudly cheering.

“I hope that you can meet this person one day, they mean the world to me,” Jinjin said. His eyes were shining under the stage light and his face crumpled up as though he was going to cry. Eunwoo quickly rushed up to him to give him a hug.

“Roha, Jinjin has loved this person for a long time,” MJ said, staring into the crowd. “And he had to let them go so that he could spend more time loving you all, but now he misses that person very much.”

A fan yelled: “Marry them quickly!”

The members all laughed.

“Yes, I’ll make sure to do an express marriage,” Jinjin said, laughing.

“Who is it?!” someone else from the crowd yelled. All of the members looked at Jinjin.

“This person... was in articles before,” he explained. You could tell he was unsure about how much he could say.

“[y/n]!” someone yelled.

“Yes, that’s right!” Sanha said excitedly, but Jinjin looked worried.

“I’m not sure if they would feel comfortable with what I’ve told you today, so maybe we should move on to the next song,” Jinjin said, rubbing his eyes.

But the crowd suddenly started chanting “marry them!” even while Astro started to perform. The video ended there, and your eyes were full of tears.

You found yourself unconsciously scrolling through your contacts and pressing on Jinjin’s name.

“Hello?” he answered the phone.

“Jinjin, it’s been a while. It’s me,” you said.

“[y/n]?!” Jinjin yelled. “Is it really you? I’ve missed you!”

“I missed you too,” you laughed. “Do you still want to get married?”

[spidercakes]

ABO prompt if you will - Tony is an alpha but Peter is a beta. They can’t be together as laws prevent alphas from mating with betas so they pine in silence. Peter gets kidnapped by Ross who is trying to figure out how Peter got his Spider-Man powers and one experiment changes Peter into an omega. When he is rescued, he is in heat and throws Tony into rut and the alpha claims his omega.

This prompt: implies smut

Me: ok, angst.

I mean, its still technically what you asked for minus the smut but also there’s like many angst.

*

Its not, Tony has decided, that they don’t want to. Its more like they can’t, not really, not without a level of backlash at every level that would make a relationship impossible. Its not exactly reasonable to start a relationship with someone full well knowing that everyone, including the damn government, will do their damndest just to tear you apart. Tony has no idea why there are laws preventing alphas and betas from being together, there’s no reasonable explanation for it. Omegas might be more fertile and have an easier time with alphas reproducing but its not like betas are infertile. And also he and Peter wouldn’t be a reproductive couple anyway.

Beyond that the reasons get even more senseless given that betas are just as capable of dealing with heats as alphas, and its not like alphas can’t survive without omegas in heat- they make it through most of their lives without that. That particular set of laws are, Tony has gathered, little more than forcing people to fit into the hegemonic mold of acceptability and he’s never been fond of that, but he’s also not stupid. Generally speaking any alphas and betas who test that shit see betas in jail for an extended period of time, not alphas. And he can’t do that to Peter. If either of them should end up in jail its him- first of all he’s actually broken like a stupid amount of laws in his lifetime and Peter hasn’t, and also he’s the older one. He’d miss out on less in prison, but the laws are designed to punish betas for not falling in line, not alphas or omegas.

So he gets stuck watching Peter from afar, working with him in the lab, and trying his best to avoid him blowing up in the field. “You know we wouldn’t say anything, right?” Bruce asks softly, disrupting his line of thought. Across the lab Peter is trying and failing to teach Dummy to fetch.

“Wouldn’t need you to. Since when have I been known to do anything subtly?”

Bruce sighs because they both know he makes a point. Its not like he hasn’t thought of that either, and Peter absolutely has. Came to him a couple months ago insisting they could manage it and Peter he’s sure could. But Tony has never been known for his ability to keep secrets or keep anything from the public eye. He literally decided to throw out Pepper’s cue cards and proclaim himself Iron Man because that felt less difficult than playing like he wasn’t. There’s no way Peter wouldn’t end up in jail over his stupidity.

*

When Peter goes missing it takes them a day to notice. Its not entirely unusual for him to disappear from the public eye for a day or two thanks to school and its exam season so Tony hadn’t thought much of it until May showed up at his door. “So you haven’t talked to him either?” she asks, clearly on the edge of panic.

Tony is too but he’s also not totally stupid- Peter isn’t exactly easy to contain with his abilities and hurting someone with super healing permanently is difficult. He once tested out a few theories on Steve and the guy is next to immortal. He can be killed, Tony is sure, but not through any normal means and that includes aging. Peter’s genes share a lot in common with Steve’s now, so he suspects he has a lot of the same resistances not that he’d ever dream of testing that out on him.

“May, I once watched someone drop an entire building on him and he mostly crawled out pissed off. I’m sure he’s fine, we just need to figure out where he is.”

“Is that actually supposed to make me feel better?” she asks and Tony sighs.

“My point is that he’s durable, exceedingly so. Causing genuine, permanent damage is nearly impossible. Its why we tend to send him out with Steve and Bruce- the three of them are stupid strong, hard to kill, and their collective intelligence makes them hard to deal with strategically too. Trust me May, wherever he is it might not be pleasant, but he’ll more than likely be fine when we pick him up.” Psychologically? Probably not, but he doesn’t want to freak her out and they’ve all, in some way or another, been held captive and tortured. At this point its like an Avengers rite of passage. That’s at least half their hero origin stories.

“How are you going to find him?” May asks and Tony sighs.

“His suit has tracking in it partially to keep tabs on him but also to keep tabs on the suit itself- that kind of technology wouldn’t exactly be put to any good use in the wrong hands. If we’re lucky no one has turned the tracking off. If we aren’t we’ll see where it went before he disappeared and go from there.” There’s also the added benefit of seeing where Peter ends up the most, where all of them do. It tracks villain patterns well so Tony will cross reference the rest of their tracking against Peter’s too, see if any data points stick out.

*

Bruce looks at the screen in front of him while Tony paces. Bruce is more than capable of tracking a wayward spider suit, a literal child could do it if need be, but Tony is stressed. “Ping is coming back,” Bruce tells him. “In uh… Florida? He have anything going on there?” he asks.

Tony walks over to the computer and pulls up where, specifically, he is. “No. We’ve all heard him refer to Florida as the smelly armpit of America so I don’t see why he’d go there on his own either,” he points out.

Bruce sighs, “I maintain that the smelly armpit is Texas, but you make a point. The suit shows a pretty much direct travel path too, which is unusual. How the hell would someone manage to get someone with his abilities that far in a straight path? It doesn’t even look like Peter fought back.”

No, it doesn’t. He went from one spot to the other, no zipping around in between to indicate a sign of struggle. He pulls up Peter’s vitals around the time he went missing and frowns. “What the fuck?”

Bruce leans in and frowns too. “Stasis?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re telling me you think he was instantly frozen?” Tony asks, eyebrows drawing together.

“Not instantly, looks like he reacted but not in time. And the information is from his web shooters, not his suit. Don’t think he would have been in it at the time. Isn’t it pretty much frozen proof anyway?”

Not exactly, but for the purposes of this conversation yes so Tony nods. “Okay. Given the time of day he was probably about to patrol but why the fuck would anyone freeze him? Why the hell would that be a solution to how to kidnap Spiderman?” Seems kind of stupid, convoluted too. Yes he would be exceedingly difficult to get a hold of given that he’s flexible, strong, and not exactly lacking in intelligence and fighting ability but freezing him? That could go wrong in so many ways. The fact that it didn’t is probably a weird fluke.

Bruce frowns, looking over the information again before pulling up his location. “Tony. I could be wrong, and I’m probably not, but I’m pretty sure that’s one of Ross’ beach houses.”

Tony squints, “who the hell is stupid enough to take their victim to their house? Can’t be Ross.”

“The freezing would make sense if it was Ross,” Bruce says. Tony raises an eyebrow, unsure how Bruce figures that. “He has most of out data on our genes, he’s already tried to experiment on me like five times, and Steve was at his least dangerous when he was frozen. And he’d have enough information on Peter to know they work in really similar ways. Freezing makes sense if its Ross otherwise what kind of idiot would decide to try and freeze a super person with no guarantee that it would work? If not for the information that being frozen essentially stuck Steve in a suspended state of animation, which would make it a lot easier to run a few tests on him, then that makes no sense.”

He says that like villains make any sense at all. The last couple Tony has personally dealt with rode his ass because his father was a dick and because he was kind of mean and didn’t talk to the guy on a roof. Villains are people too, and people make no god damn sense. But he does make a point about the freezing thing, with knowledge of Steve’s suspended animation it would make sense to try and recreate those conditions and hope for the best. It might be common knowledge that he was found frozen in the ice and lived, but its not common knowledge how that happened. There are whole fan theories about it that proper everything from the correct assumption that the serum made him able to withstand extreme cold with a lowered heart rate and slowed brain activity to conserve energy to aliens. And clearly whoever took Peter wanted him alive otherwise what kind of dipshit tries to freeze their victim to death, then panics and takes them to Florida? Though, Tony supposes, that does seem like a Florida man thing to do.

“Do you really think Ross is that bad at strategy? What if it failed? What if Peter didn’t react to freezing the same way Steve had? What if he chose a different route that day for patrol? Ross might be a dumbass, but is he really that stupid?”

Bruce laughs a little. “Sometimes I forget how often you and Steve run every available option through your heads before you do something. Ross isn’t stupid by any means, but he has Peter’s patrol schedule and around this time of year he doesn’t break pattern, can’t because of exams. Strategically its a good time to move on a plan that requires him to be in a certain spot when you know he’s far less likely to deviate from his normal plans. And Peter might be super, but he’s not going to not have a reaction to being flash frozen. If Ross’ goal is to experiment on him if he managed to escape the freezing he still learned something. Its unethical science, but its not exactly bad science.”

Yeah, he’ll agree to disagree there. Tony knows a thing or two about winging it when it comes to experiments and it never goes well. Okay, it never goes well for him. Everyone else seems to not have problems with it but he’s got bad luck. Still makes him weary of that kind of thing and also Bruce has a vested interest in pointing the finger at Ross. Tony doesn’t think he’d do something like that on purpose on account of unlike Ross he’s not a shitty person but still. its worth it to verify Bruce’s suspicions. He runs the address and turns back to Bruce, “you seriously think Ross would be dumb enough to drag Peter’s ass back to his house? Come on, even Ross can’t be that stupid.”

“Its under his mother’s name, I think. Its still not smart, but its close to a secret army base in the area. Peter might be there, not the house.”

“But they left his suit in the house?”

“Ross might not be dumb enough to do that but a tactical team might be,” Bruce points out.

Yeah, alright. Address results return and sure shit Bruce isn’t wrong, including the bit about the house being under Ross’ mother’s name. Except the woman is dead so it shouldn’t be but that’s a whole other bag of shit Tony doesn’t give a damn about.

“Is he really this stupid?” he asks Bruce.

He shrugs, “he tried to shoot me with a gun he knew wouldn’t work given that I’d survived being bombed at that point so yes, I think he’s that stupid.”

Tony sighs. “I guess I should be grateful for it but something about this feels too easy.” Nothing these days is ever this easy for him, usually its Steve that gets all the luck so something is going to go wrong, he knows it.

*

Steve lets Bruce take the lead because he knows Ross the best but it doesn’t work well when he keeps deferring to Tony. Probably because he knows Peter’s suit’s information best, and the information they got from the web shooters, but still. That and he probably has the most vested interest in getting Peter back. But Bruce’s suspicions are right in that he’s not in the house- his suit was, and one of his web shooters, but Peter was nowhere to be found.

“Are you sure your scans are accurate?” Steve asks him and he knows he can’t see his face in the suit but he glares at him anyway. Steve’s cheeks turn a little red. “For a mask that thing has a surprising amount of judgement on it,” he mumbles.

“We’ve found him,” Natasha says over the comms. “Bruce was right about that army base- Clint, don’t you dare piss on- oh my god, someone get here and deal with this,” she mumbles.

Steve frowns and Bruce sighs, concentrating for a moment before he turns green and gets considerably larger. Tony’s mostly glad that the pants he made to accommodate worked and no one has to risk being exposed to Hulk dick ever again. And if Natasha isn’t concerned he assumes Peter is okay, if likely shaken. Or still in stasis. That’s probably the most preferable option, all things considered.

*

“He’s loopy,” Natasha tells him, leaning against the door frame and Tony frowns.

“Can you smell that?” he asks Steve, who looks red enough for Tony to assume that’s a yes.

“Smell what?” Nat asks, looking between the two of them and Steve sighs.

“Shit. Neither her or Clint have a strong sense of smell. Budapest,” he says in way of explanation not that Tony believes it. They say that to everything and fuck sakes he knows, he knows that’s Peter.

He pushes past Nat into the room they’ve found Peter in and his brain is already fuzzy but he forces himself to focus through the smell and attraction. Peter has bigger shit to worry about than Tony’s biology to react to his. Shit. Peter notices him fast too, perking up as he sees him and when Tony gets to him he reaches out, circling his arms around Tony and pressing his face into his neck. Tony swears for a moment he sees white and he doesn’t mean to let out a small, strangled moan in response but its almost impossible not to all things considered.

“Hey, Tony,” Peter murmurs, voice at his ear and Tony counts to ten to try and refocus.

“Hey, baby. Lets get you out of here, hmm?” He pulls away, or tries to, but Peter pulls him back fast.

“No, don’t go. Please,” he asks, voice small and eyes wide.

Jesus Christ.

*

Bruce looks over at Tony, who looks half lost himself let alone Peter, who is happily curled into his lap, face at his neck smiling away deliriously. Every time he sees some poor omega in heat he’s a little happier he’s a beta because it looks awful. “Do… do you think you can reverse that?” Steve asks.

His self control is remarkable, Bruce will give him that. His senses have to be going haywire at the moment and Tony is having a hell of a time holding back. Granted out of the two of them Bruce supposes he expects Steve to have the better self control anyway. He looks over at Peter though and winces. “I… don’t think I can,” he says not because he can’t, he’s sure he could figure it out eventually. But after so long of watching him and Tony dance around each other  it seems cruel to pull them apart when they can actually be together now.

“How the hell does that happen?” Steve murmurs.

Bruce shrugs, “no idea. Presumably some type of gene therapy but it looks like the rest of his biology is the same, including the altered bits. I don’t see why Ross would want to turn a beta into an omega, there’s no real use for that.” And of all the eugenicist ideas that have stuck around the idea that betas are useless and should be either eliminated or turned into omegas or alphas isn’t one of them. Now the assumption is mostly that they should just stick to being with each other because omegas and alphas belong together and betas don’t fit into that binary at all. There’s no real reason Ross would have done this except by accident and that’s one hell of an accident. The Nazis spent years on it and they never figured that out either, and god knows his own experiments went terribly.

“What did he want with him to begin with?” Steve asks.

Good question but they don’t have all the answers at the moment. Right now there’s like five different police agencies crawling all over that army base looking for motive and evidence. “As far as we were able to tell he wanted to know how Peter’s powers worked, and yours. But I suspect he chose to capture Peter because he’s the easier target. You’re well versed in military strategy and Peter is a stressed twenty two year old- he’d be my choice too.”

“And off the record?” Steve asks, correctly assuming that Bruce has his own theories.

He sighs, “off the record I assume he picked up my research where it left off. We found one of those spiders Oscorp had, the one that turned Peter into what he is. It looked different from the one Peter drew out for us.”

Steve snorts, “are you sure that’s not because Peter isn’t exactly a good artist?”

Bruce smiles too, looking over to Peter, who’s still curled up in Tony’s lap looking content. Tony looks like he’s given into his urges to actually react to Peter and he’s got his arms curled tightly around him, face tucked into his hair as he gently runs his fingers up and down one of Peter’s arms. “Could be that, but I doubt he got the colors wrong. They look cute together.”

He looks over at Tony and Peter but something looks off in his expression. “Yeah, I guess they do,” he murmurs.

*

Tony knows he should leave Peter be, stick him in a warm bath to cool his skin some and leave him alone but he can’t. Peter doesn’t want him to either and its hard to say no to him when he’s wanted him for so long. Peter has had an interest in him for longer, probably since before they met given that he wasn’t exactly unknown to Peter before then. He’d been so gangly and adorable and green, but full of promise and someone had to get the damn kid out of crime fighting pajamas. May might have lost her shit when she found out but Peter was Spiderman before Tony and he’d be Spiderman without him though he suspects Peter would have grown a brain cell or two and made himself a suit.

And then he got better, seemed to learn from everyone else’s mistakes and he grew up too. He stopped being so gangly and filled out, and his voice started to sound more like an actual person’s and not a squeak toy and he’s smart. He’s always had a thing for intelligence but with Peter its different than the way he usually is. Normally he likes the showy types, not unlike himself though usually they don’t present that showiness in the same way. Pepper was brilliant and had no problem showing off, but she never actually stated that’s what she was doing. She’d just do something better than everyone else and give them a look. Rhodey was the same way, except he had no problem rubbing someone’s nose in it if he felt like they didn’t get the point enough. Even Christine Everhart fell into that given that she’s tenacious and kind of an asshole, but genuinely better at reporting than most.

Then there’s Peter, who’s so quiet about his intelligence, who mostly just uses it to help people and make other people’s lives easier. Its a soft show of the way his mind works but its just… hard for him to get out of his head, the way Peter consistently manages to find easier and faster ways to evacuate people out of cities, or respond to whatever calls for their help they get, or new features for his suit that help him do his job better. People like to think of Steve as the golden boy but the truth is that he’s jaded and stubborn and sometimes that makes him mean and hard to work with. Peter is the one everyone should look toward but he’d never say so himself, even if Tony is sure he knows its true.

“Missed you,” Peter murmurs, curled right into his side, one leg thrown over Tony’s hip and his arms curled tightly around him. Every time Tony moves a little Peter clings harder and that’s adorable even if he’s sure that’ll leave bruises in the morning.

“I missed you too,” he says, running his hand up and down Peter’s back. Poor thing starts to get fussy if Tony stops, irritated that he’s no longer being scented. “Are you okay?” he asks. Its the first time he’s gotten the opportunity to ask and he can feel Peter smile.

“I can finally be with you, so yeah.” Fuck, doesn’t that just break his heart. He curls his arms tighter around Peter, earning a soft noise of happiness for it and Tony feels his heart squeeze. He’s wanted this for so long and he can finally have it so he huffs out a laugh and releases Peter from his grip. He gets a dirty look for it but Tony quickly tilts Peter’s head up and kisses him to remove the frown. Peter lets out a surprised noise and presses himself into Tony, shifting fast so he’s straddling him and Tony has no idea how they ever managed to go this long without doing this anyway.

*

When he wakes up Peter isn’t there and something doesn’t smell right. He frowns, wrinkling his nose and getting up. He feels hungover, which he knows is stupid but taking care of omegas in heat takes a lot out of someone and more out of the omega, so he has no idea where Peter has gotten off to. Can’t be far but he’s not in the bathroom so Tony decides to check the kitchen only to find him absent of that space too. He does find Steve though and he looks weirdly guilty.

“What’s up with you?” Tony asks, somewhat irritable.

Steve looks away for a moment and sighs, “whatever… whatever Ross did didn’t stick,” he murmurs and no. No. This can’t possibly- he just got Peter, he can’t give him up now.

He turns and walks out of the room fast, hoping he’ll manage to find Peter in the lab.

*

Bruce looks pained and Peter doesn’t have the patience for it because he felt his fucking heart break this morning and he has no time for Bruce’s pain too. “Please, you have to be able to do something,” he says, voice cracking.

He shakes his head though, taking a small step back. “Peter, the last time I did anything like this I turned into, as Tony not so delicately put it, a giant green rage monster. Do you seriously want to take that risk?”

Peter throws his hands up, “well I might as well!” he yells. “Because I’m tired of living like this, always skirting around my feelings because I’m a beta and I can’t date anyone who isn’t! Its bullshit Bruce and you should know that!” He’s the only other beta in the Avengers, he figures if anyone can relate is has to be Bruce. No one else has to deal with all the stupid weird laws that they have to follow to properly fulfill their role in never shaking up the alpha/omega binary that people think makes some type or equilibrium or something- he doesn’t fucking know. But he does know its all a bunch of garbage and all because people don’t like betas dating alphas or omegas, there’s no other reason to act like that.

“Peter,” a soft voice says from behind him and he turns to find Tony there. He turns back around immediately and squeezes his eyes shut because he can’t deal with this right now. “Hey,” Tony murmurs and Peter can feel his arms circle around him. He wants so badly to hug him back but he won’t, not when he knows Tony will just leave him and he can’t do it, he can’t deal with that. “Peter,” Tony says, “baby, I love you.”

He feels his breathing slow a little as he sinks into Tony’s arms but he doesn’t turn, doesn’t respond. He can’t because Tony is telling him that to make him feel better, not because he’s actually going to stick around in their barely even was a relationship. Bruce, on the other hand, looks uncomfortable and Peter wants him to leave as much as he wants him to stay.

“You’re just going to go,” he tells Tony, “so do it.”

Tony’s arms tighten around him some and he hears Tony let out a shaky breath. “I should,” Tony says, voice cracking a little, “because you’ll be the one punished for this if anyone found out but-” his words cut out for a moment and he takes another deep breath. “But I can’t, I can’t leave you.”