#i just piled in all the crap i have in my camera roll

[seat-safety-switch]

My neighbour had had one of those roll-away dumpsters on his lawn for awhile. In case you're unfamiliar, people often have a lot of trash generated from home renovation projects. They do not want to drive to the dump constantly to throw this stuff out. Instead, you can call someone who comes and drops a dumpster on your driveway, and then when it's full, you can call them again to get it picked up and taken to the dump. The very icon itself of suburban make-it-someone-else's-problemism.

People get really mad when you throw garbage into a dumpster that you didn't pay for. For instance, the local Tim Hortons has put up threatening signs falsely claiming that they have security cameras pointing at the bins at all times. This might be because I once disposed of an entire Subaru EJ25 engine and slightly dented 4-speed automatic transmission, along with most of its fluid, into their dumpster. If you ask me, this is just whining, because that stuff was all made out of aluminum and shouldn't have counted too far on their weight limit anyway.

And yet, I don't want to drive to the dump. Partially, this is because of the exorbitant dump fees: in an attempt at "greening," or more likely to not have so many dumbasses coming to throw out a single tire, they charge a minimum of thirty bucks to throw out anything under a hundred kilos of crap.

Thirty bucks! I can buy a lot of cool junk for that. And they don't even let you take old bicycles out of the garbage pile for that money to try and recoup your cost. Once, I saw a dirt bike, and they wouldn't let me take it. It became a whole thing, which is the main reason I can't go to the dump anymore: they have my picture posted everywhere. So borrowing my neighbour's dumpster is the next best thing.

Here's the tactic you want to use: watch the bin for a few weeks. Check what days there's a lot of stuff being thrown out. These things naturally ebb and flow. There will be an initial burst of enthusiasm as they rip their kitchen to bits, being replaced with a crushing realization that they have ripped their kitchen to bits. It's during that lull that you throw your shit into the dumpster, and cover it up with construction debris from the previous effort. Demoralized, the homeowner won't look in their bin for at least another week, until they are forced to finish the job or hire someone competent to do so, who will start refilling the bin again.

Or, you can do what I did, which is wait for the truck that picks up the dumpster to show up. While the operator is busy loading it up, you throw your stuff into the bin and drive away as fast as you can. The neighbour can't get mad, because the pickup's already been paid for: you're just extracting some extra value from it. The driver can't chase you, because he has a dumpster full of your old shocks and axles halfway loaded onto his truck. And the cops can't get you for illegal dumping, because it sounds like a whole bunch of paperwork and to be honest they're probably too busy arresting folks who start a fistfight at the dump over a pretty sweet dirt bike.

[pugh-bug]

First Christmas

Yelena Belova fluff x female reader

Could also be read as x any gendered reader as neutral language was used incidentally

This is just a super short fluffy fic I was thinking about while in my room staring at my Christmas tree thinking about Yelena and Nat. I’ll definitely be writing more Yelena stuff btw, she’s my wife afterall. Merry Christmas for anyone who celebrates🎄if this season/month is difficult for you I hope it passes as quickly and smoothly as possible and if not have an amazing time doing whatever you get up to x

———————————————————————

It was Christmas Eve, the first you’d had since meeting Yelena, and you wanted her to enjoy it fully. Whilst she was out you’d decorated the flat with an inordinate amount of rainbow Christmas lights. In each corner you’d placed tacky light up snowmen and on each table you’d placed various ornaments and trinkets from your personal collection of Christmas crap. As for the tree, that had been tricky, but you’d managed to put something quite nice together with the help of too much tinsel and ribbons.

When your phone flashed that it was 8pm you admired your handiwork, feeling satisfied and hopeful that Yelena would be cheered. There was always that worry she’d climb into bed without saying a word, covered in cuts you’d have to clean while she retreated into her head but when the door opened you knew it was a good night.

“Y/N!”

You struggled to search her face for signs of injury, distracted by her beauty that never failed to dazzle you. She dropped her bag, refusing to take her wide eyes off the decorations you’d laid before her. “Did you rob a toy store for me?”

“No but I would.”

You watched her reactions intently. “Do you like it?” Without hesitation Yelena beamed at you, outstretching her arms for a hug. “I love it, you are so sweet.” Her Russian accent shone through as she spoke in your ear, hugging you tightly.

“I made snowman cookies,” you gestured to the nearby plate as Yelena clapped her hands in approval. “And I’ve got a load of Christmas movies we can binge, if you’re up for it.” As your girlfriend excitedly flipped through the pile of dvds you’d brought out to play you glanced at the presents under the tree.

Yelena had only recently opened up to you about her childhood and how her parents weren’t really her parents and that Christmas wasn’t real for her, just for show. It had broken your heart to hear her so quietly recall opening empty boxes only to pretend to celebrate Easter a moment later for the camera. She deserved real presents, real memories and a real Christmas. You’d bought her a lot, you knew that, probably too much but she deserved it. She was your girl.

Yelena rolled her sore neck in a circle, trying to crack it. When it did she turned to look at you - watched you watching her every movement and smiled knowingly. “Pyjamas?”

“Trying to get me out of my clothes already Y/L/N?”

She was even more beautiful when she smiled, her large eyes lit up. They were so intense and emotive but soft and calming all at once, you felt a surge of love towards her as you watched her change. Neither of you had said it yet but the feeling was there and only growing stronger. As had become ritualistic, you kissed every scar on Yelena’s body before doing the buttons for her. Something about helping a Black Widow assassin with basic tasks made you both feel comforted. Safe.

“Elf or Home Alone first?”

Yelena shrugged and you remembered that of course she’d seen neither.

——————————————————————

You managed to make the cookies last until half 11 at night, then it was time to break out the quality street tin while you half watched Elf. “These are a-ma-zing.” Yelena grinned before scoffing several orange creams as you had the last green triangle. You beamed at her, feeling endlessly lucky that she was yours at all.

“I got you something…”

She can’t help it, her eyes narrow in suspicion. Why would you be giving her something?

“I know it’s not officially Christmas yet but it almost is.” You pulled out the bag from under the tree and passed it to Yelena whose eyes were glazed over. A bag? Just for her? Of…presents? She hesitated, looking at you for permission just waiting for it to all be either a joke or a dream.

“Open them, they’re yours.”

Her heart sang at your words. She opened the first enthusiastically: lipstick and lip liner for the bolder makeup she’d been enjoying recently. “I love this colour!” You grin, watching her open the earrings and heels next. Everything you bought was bold and beautiful, like her.

“If you don’t like them I’ll take them b-“ but before you could finish Yelena’s body hit your own as she pulled you into a forceful hug. You were sure in that moment, as her hair got caught in your earring and her fingers gripped your back, that she’d never held you so tight. “Merry Christmas.” You whispered, still holding her. She hadn’t told you but ever since the two of you had met, Yelena had been half expecting you to find some excuse to leave - that you’d find yourself unable to accept her or see her as a normal girlfriend. Nothing could have been further from the truth. She was everything and more.

“I love you.”

Shit.

You’d said it aloud. Hugging her back, burying your flushed face in her plaited hair you prayed for a do over. A pause button until she turned your head to face hers and kiss you gently. “I love you too.” she beamed. Something damp dripped onto your fingers that cradled Yelena’s face, that was when you realised she was crying. All of your body screamed at you to ‘fix this’ ‘help her’ but Yelena only rubbed your knuckles and kissed your other hand, a warm smile on her lips. “Finally, a good Christmas.”

——————————————————————

Masterlist

Resources 🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩

[layce2015]

Supernatural (Dean Winchester x Female!Reader)

Criss Angel Is A Douchebag

Masterlist

"This, this isn't a trick, okay? I, I, I don't do tricks. This is a demonstration about demons and angels, love and lust..." a guy with short dark hair and dressed in all black and wearing eyeliner rambled on as he does some sort've card trick for an audience.

"What a douchebag." Dean grumbles. "Agreed." I said as I noticed a camera man and a person holding a microphone nearby. "—all that stuff mixed up in my head." the guy said as Sam leans towards us.

"That's Jeb Dexter." he said. "Who?" I asked. "I don't even want to know how you know that." Dean said to Sam. "He's famous, kind of." Sam said. "For what? Douchebaggery?" Dean asked and I snort at this as Jeb continues on with his ramble or demonstration that he was doing.

"—but whatever happens, no matter how messed up it gets, don't touch me, okay? For your own safety." he said and he inhales then he exhales, shaking his head, then imitates something like a seizure. With one hand he grabs for the cards in his other hand and scatters them, flinging them in the direction of the window behind him.

"Go back to hell, demon!" He shouts and the card that sticks to the window is the ace of diamonds. Jeb drags his hand over the card to show that it's on the far side of the glass. "Is this your card?" he asked and the audience began to applaud.

"You've got to be kidding me. A fake demon possession?" Dean said, disgusted, and he walks away, Sam and I follow him. "I can't believe people actually fall for that crap." Dean grumbles. "It's not all crap." Sam defended. "What part of that was not a steaming pile of BS?" I asked Sam. "Okay, that was crap, but that's not all magicians. It takes skill." Sam said.

"Oh, right, right, I forgot. You were actually into this stuff, weren't you?" Dean asked him and I turn to Sam. "Were you really?" I asked Sam, who stays silent. "Did you have like a deck of cards and a wand?" I asked, teasingly, and Sam rolls his eyes. "I was thirteen. It was a phase." Sam said and I chuckle. "That's adorable, Sam." I said.

"Just—it bugs me. You know, playing at demons and, and magic, when the real thing will kill you bloody." Dean said. "Like a guy who drops dead of ten stab wounds without a single tear in his shirt?" Sam asked and Dean smiles. "That's what I'm talking about." he said and we head off.

The lady that was Vance's assistant was tossing a bunch of metal rings into a mostly-packed trunk. Vance was the man Sam told is that died with ten stab wounds. She turns to face us as Dean asked. "So did your boss have any enemies that you know of?"

"Vance had plenty of enemies." She replied as she leans down and grabs the end of a series of tied-together handkerchiefs. "How so?" Sam asked her. "He would steal from other magicians. All the time." the assistant said.

"What would he steal?" I asked, curiously. "Stage effects, closeup techniques, anything he could get his hands on." she replied. "Is that enough to get him killed?" Dean asked her. "These guys take this stuff pretty seriously." she said and she moves a cloth off a white rabbit. "There you are." she said as she bends down to pick up and pet the rabbit.

"Did you find anything weird in Vance's stuff? Well, weirder?" Dean asked the assistant. "Matter of fact, I did." she said and she puts the bunny in a bag then pulls out a Rider-Waite tarot card: the Ten of Swords. The image on the card is of ten swords sticking out of a man's back.

"I'm guessing this didn't belong to Vance." Sam said. "He hated card tricks. Never wanted them around. Let alone in his precious cape." she said and she hands over the card. Sam looks at both sides of it and I come up to his side. It looked like a perfectly ordinary tarot card.

"It's a lame gig. I'm in a fleabag hotel doing this man-of-the-people crap, and freaking Angel's in Vegas doing Cirque du Soleil! That should have been mine." Dean and I hear Jeb shout into his phone while we approach at an adjacent table with two older men sitting in.

"All right, boys, get it in gear, I don't got all day." Jeb shouts to his crew and they start moving while Dean and I come upon the old men, Vernon and Charlie. "You Vernon Haskell?" Dean asked and the two me turn to us.

"Who's asking?" One of the men asked us, who I suspected was Vernon. "Federal agents Ulrich and Hetfield." Dean said as he and I show Vernon and Charlie, out FBI ID's. "Looking into the death of Patrick Vance." I added while Jeb talks into the camera then turns to the old man standing next to hi..

"I'm Jeb Dexter. This is Devil Twist. We're chilling at the International Magicians' Convention, which is a dope chance to tip my hat to the wicked cats who came before me. Smoking hot effect last night, Jim." He said. "Jay." the old man said. "Huh?" Jeb said, confused. "My name is Jay." Jay said and Jeb waves his hand. "Yeah, whatever. We can loop it later." Jeb said, dismissively. 

"What a douchebag." Vernon mutters. "Couldn't agree more." Dean said while I pull out out the Ten of Swords card out of my jacket pocket. "This familiar to you?" I asked him. "Should it be?" Vernon asked me and I wasn't really liking the way he was talking to us, like we were keeping him from something important.

"Well, we heard that you used tarot cards in your act." Dean said. "My act?" Vernon said then he laughs. "That was a long time ago. I haven't touched a deck in years, you know..." he then holds up his shaking hand.

"Do you know someone that might use them now?" I asked him and Vernon thinks for a moment. "Well, there was a guy down on Bleeker Street." he said. "Oh, yeah. He, he peddles that kind of specialty stuff." Charlie pipes up.

"Did he have a problem with Vance?" Dean asked. "Matter of fact, Vance crossed him about a year ago. Probably cost him fifty grand in royalties." Vernon said as Charlie nods.

"You know the exact address?" I asked them. "Four twenty-six Bleeker." Vernon replied. "Ask for Chief." Charlie adds. "Chief." Dean repeated and I nod to the men. "Thank you." I said and we walk out of the building.

That night, we walk along the street till we come to a neon sign saying 426 and I stop. "Dean, I don't know about this..." I said as I nod towards the bars on the door. "This seems excessive for a magician." I said. "He could be paranoid." Dean suggests and he knocks on the bars on the door. The chain-link door swings open, revealing a young man who eyes us.

"We're, uh, here to see Chief." Dean said. The man raises his eyebrows and opens the barred door. We walk inside and the man leads us downstairs. "Stay here. Don't touch anything." The young man tells us then he leaves.

"Um...this doesn't seem like a place for a magician." I said as we look around and see graffiti on the walls and the bass line of music is audible. A door opens and we turns to face it only to see a large man climb the stairs, backlit, and the music is more clearly heard.

The man, Chief I presume, is wearing all leather and carrying a flogger, which he slaps into his other hand a couple times. "Two in one night? Oh, ain't I lucky? You two are really gonna get it tonight." He said and I was lost for words at this while Dean says. "There's been a misunderstanding. I, uh, think we've been had." 

"Oh, you ain't been had till you been had by the Chief." Chief said and Dean frowns. "Oh, and before we get started, what's your safeword?" Chief asked us and I roll my eyes while Dean swallows. "Look, Chief, my partner and I are doing an investigation and we were mislead by a couple of guys who obviously thought it would be funny. So..." I said and I open my jacket, revealing my holstered gun. "If you want to keep doing this lifestyle, I'd suggest you let us go...please." I said and Chief looks between us.

Later, we walked out on the street and the door slams shut behind us and Dean let's out a exasperated sigh, places his hands on his knees and leans forward while I had my hands on my hips. "God, that was awkward." He said and I nod. "Yeah...I mean, right off the bat, a flogger? Kinda going in strong there." I remarked and Dean turns to me. "Personally, I'm more of a tie me to the bed type of person..." I said and Dean looks at me, bewildered.

"Come again?" He asked. "Although, I think silk is a better option to use in bed.” I remarked then he grabs my arm. "Wait a minute." Dean said and I turn to him, seeing the look of shock and confusion on his face. "What? Didn't I tell you I dabbled into that lifestyle at one point?" I said. "No. You never mentioned it. In fact, I remember you and me being handcuffed at one point and you mentioned this wasn't your first time in handcuffs but you said it wasn't like that." Dean said, in a accusatory tone, and I chuckle.

"Yeah, I haven't been handcuffed in that way before, it was with either a rope or a tie." I said. "And why am I just finding this out? I mean, when did that happen?" Dean asked and I smile then walk up closer to him. "Wouldn't you like to know, big boy." I said with a cheeky grin then I winked and walked towards the Impala.

*3rd Person POV*

"Wouldn't you like to know, big boy." (Y/n) said as she got up close to Dean. He felt a rush of excitement at her words and when she winked at him, it made his heart thump harder in his chest and his legs started to shake.

Can she be anymore perfect? he asked himself as she starts to walk away, her hips swaying from side to side. He had this urge to just pick her up and carry her off somewhere, like some caveman, and maybe try out the whole tying her up to the bed routine with her.

Unfortunately, they had a job to do and he clears his throat, shakes his head and follows after her to the Impala. But he made a mental note to himself that he has to remember to grab a tie the next time he and (y/n) got a room to themselves.

*(y/n)'s POV *

Later, Dean and I meet up with Sam at the entrance of the theater, where a magic show was about to start. "Find anything interesting?" Dean asked him. "What? Uh, no. You guys?" Sam asked. "Nothing we want to talk about, or think about, ever again." I said and I turn my head to Dean and gave him a quick wink. He bites his lips and I smirk before we head inside and see Vernon and Charlie standing together, talking amongst each other.

"The Chief, huh?" I said to them as I stomp towards them, angrily. "What's the matter? Chief not yours or your boyfriend's type?" Charlie asked, mockingly, and he smirks. I smirk back.

"You know, I could have you both arrested for obstruction of justice." I threatened. "How? You're no Fed." Vernon said. "We con people for a living, girlie. Takes more than a fake badge to get past us." Charlie said and I clench my fist and was about to raise it but Dean grabs my hand and he and Sam start to laugh.

"You got us. Yeah, we—we are actually—aspiring magicians." he said and I furrow my brow at him. "Yeah, we -- We came to the convention 'cause we thought we could learn something." Sam said. "Yeah, get some ideas for our new show." said Dean.

"Ooh, what kind of show?" Vernon asked us. "Well, it's-- It's a --" Dean said, thinking, then I speak up. "It's a brother act." I said. "Yeah. Yeah, you know, with the rings and doves and...rings. And she's our lovely assistant." Dean said as he puts his left arm around me and I nod with a fake smile on my face but I really wanted to deck these old farts in the face.

"You want to learn something? Stick around." Charlie tells us and he directs us to watch the stage to see another older man appear on stage. I recognize this man as he was the one talking to Jeb earlier today about the show, I believe he said his name was Jay.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you're about to witness is a feat so daring, So dangerous, even the great Houdini dared not attempt it. I give to you...The executioner!" Jay said as he presents a stand with a noose above it. "Now, sir, as you can see, this jacket is the real article." Jay said to the young assistant, who shows off the jacket. Then he puts the jacket on Jay and made sure it was on tight then he placed the noose around Jay's neck.

"Thank you, sir. You may take your seat." Jay said and the man goes to his seat. "Now, I will have one minute -- 60 seconds --To escape certain death. Let's see if I can do it." Jay said and the curtain falls and Jay's silhouette is seen struggling to get out of the straightjacket.

"I don't think he's gonna make it." Dean said as we watch the silhouette struggle. Then the light behind Jay goes dark and a second later he pushes aside the curtain, unharmed and free. "Oh! That was amazing! That was freakin' amazing!" Dean said, excitedly, as he and the audience applaud. "That was...not humanly possible." Sam said. "Even by magician standards?" I asked him and he nods at me.

"Looks like this guy Jay was a pretty big deal in the '70s." I tell the boys as we sit at the motel and I look through my laptop. "Which in magician land means what, exactly?" Dean asked. "Big enough to play radio city music hall." I added.

"What got him stuck in their where are they now? File?" Dean asked. "He got old." I said. "Okay, so maybe incredible Jay is using real magic to stage a comeback." said Dean. "It's possible. Some kind of spell that works a death transference." Sam said.

"How does the tarot card mix into it?" I asked Sam. "I don't know." He replied. "Man...hope I die before I get old. Whole thing seems brutal, don't it?" Dean said. "You think we will?" Sam asked.

"What?" Dean asked. "Die before we get old." Sam said. "(Y/n) and I both have already." Dean said and Sam scoffs. "You know what I mean, Dean. I mean, do you think we'll still be chasing demons when we're 60?" he asked. "No, I think we'll be dead...for good." Dean said and I noticed Sam looked perturbed.

"What? You want to end up like -- Like Travis? Huh? Or Gordon, maybe?" Dean asked. "There's Bobby." Sam points out and I snort. "Oh, yeah, there's a poster child for growing old gracefully." I chuckle. "Maybe we'll be different guys." Sam said and Dean begins to eye Sam.

"What kind of Kool-Aid you drinking, man? Sammy, it ends bloody or sad. That's just the life." he said. "What if we could win?" Sam asked. "Win?" Dean and I asked him. "If there was a way we could just...put an end to all of it." Sam said and I look Sam over.

"Sam, is there something going on you're not telling us?" I asked, worried. "No." Sam said, quickly. "Sammy." Dean said, warningly. "No. Look, I'm just saying...I just wish there was a way we could...go after the source. That's all. Cut the head off the snake." Sam explained. 

"Well, the problem with the snake is that it has a thousand heads. Evil bitches just keep piling out of the Volkswagen." Dean said and Sam sighs, sadly. "Yeah. Guess you're right." he said, downtrodden, and Dean gives a slight sympathetic look to him.

"Why don't you go see if you can track down Jay? (Y/n) and I'll see what we can dig up on this tarot card." Dean said and Sam nods then leaves.

"You're being quiet." Dean said as I continue to help him research on the tarot card, sometime after Sam left. Well, I was supposed to research but I know I've read the first couple of sentences way too many times as I start to get lost in thought.

"I just...guess, I was just thinking about what Sam said." I said. "Oh God, not you too." Dean groans. "I just don't know if I wanna die young, that's all, Dean." I said, annoyed. "You have already." Dean remarks. "Yeah, and thanks to you, I got a second chance." I said.

"You really want to keep doing this until you're really old?" Dean asked and I shake my head. "No, I'm saying more to the fact that...maybe one day, to retire and try to have a normal life." I said and Dean sighs and shakes my head. "It's just a nice dream, is all." I said, shrugging. "I mean, you must have thought about it at least once."

Dean sits there, stay silent, as he looks down and I scoff and try to concentrate on the research. "You remember, a few years back, when the Djinn captured me?" He asked and I turn to him. "Yeah...you said that it was your wish to have your mom live. And you had a perfect life, besides the fallen out you had with Sam." I said.

"Well, there was one thing I uh...kinda kept from you." He said and I look over at him, curiously. "In that dream, you and me had a life together. We had a house, you were a nurse and it was just this little perfect life we had together." He explained and watch him as I listened to him.

"And when we actually got together, that dream has come up in my mind every now and then. And...I'm not gonna lie, I kinda do want that life with you, (y/n), more than anything. But...I just know that with the life we lead, it's probably not gonna happen." He said and I frown and look down.

There was a long silence between us and I hear him flipping through a book before I let out a sigh. "If we did live that life..." I said and he let's out a heavy sigh. "(Y/n)..." he said, exasperated, and I turn to face him. "Just...indulge me for a bit, please." I said and he closes his mouth. "What would our apple pie life look like?" 

He thinks for a few moments then said. "We'd have a house, for starters." And I chuckle. "Well, I sincerely hope so." I chuckled, snarkily, and he narrows his eyes at me. "Please, continue." I said then his eyes move off to the side as he thinks.

"We would have at least three or four bedrooms." He said. "Three or four bedrooms?" I said, questioning. "Yeah. One for you and me, one for Sammy and the other two...maybe for the kids." Dean said, shrugging, and my heart stopped at this.

"Kids?" I asked, shocked. "Yeah, why not? Unless you don't..." Dean said and I shake my head. "No, no, I do want kids one day, I just didn't know if you wanted them." I said. "Of course I do. Especially you being the mother...you'd make a great mom." He said and I felt my cheeks heat up at this and I give a small smile.

"Yeah, and you'd be an okay father." I teased and he gives a fake offended look. "What do you mean an okay father? I'd be a great Dad!" He said and I laugh. "Oh yeah, I can see it now. You making our child listen to Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd..." I listed off. "Those are great bands." He said and I laugh. "I could see you showing off how to fix the car and, if we had a boy, I could see you teach him how to pick up chicks." I said. "He'd be learning from the best." Dean said and I laugh while he smiled.

"And if we had a girl, I could see you showing her how to use a knife to protect herself." I said. "If she's gonna be looking anything like you damn right I am." He said and I chuckle then shake my head. 

"And then we'd have a nice big backyard and have BBQ's every other weekend. Have friends and neighbors over." I said then I look over at Dean and I give him a sad smile. "It's a nice dream." I whispered and he gives a small smile and nods. "Yeah, it is." He mutters and we look at each other and there was this bittersweet feeling between us.

I use to think that I would never get that life because of the way I'm living right now. But...ever since Dean and I got involved with each other, the more frequent that ideal life comes to my mind and my dreams.

I want to hope that'll it happen but...I'm not so sure.

"Hey." Sam said to us as he meets us in the lobby. We had heard that Jeb, the douchebag magician, was found hanged in his room by the maid of the hotel. So Dean and I went to check it out before we went and met up with Sam. "Maid found Jeb hanging from the ceiling fan. Police think it was a suicide." Dean said and he pulls out another tarot card, this time of the hanged man. "I beg to differ. Pulled a little sleight of hand myself." He said as he hands the card to Sam. "On Dexter's body?" Sam asked. "Yeah, so Dean and I were thinking if this spell is a death transference, then these cards work like black-Magic targets." I said.

"Any connection between the victims?" asked Sam. "Jeb was a total douche bag to Jay yesterday." I said. "What about the first vic? Uh, Vance?" Sam asked. "Asked around. Apparently, Vance was heckling Jay at the bar the day he was killed." Dean said. "Okay, so Jay sneaks a card into Vance's pocket, does the table of death..." Sam said. "And Vance takes 10 swords to the chest." Dean finished. "Then Jay slips a noose and Jeb doesn't." I said. "Hell of a trick." Sam said and I nod.

"Yeah, I think it's time we had a little chat with Jay. Any luck tailing him?" Dean asked Sam who then looked nervous. "He slipped me." He said and Dean and I look at him. "He's a 60-Year-Old." Dean said. "He's a magician." Sam said and I sigh. "C'mon, boys." I said and we leave.

We follow Jay to his hotel room and we enter and aim our guns at him. "Up against the wall!" Dean ordered and Jay turns to us, startled, and raised his hands. "God, who are you? What do you want?" he asked. "Now!" Dean shouts and Jay goes up against the wall.

"We know what you've been up to." Sam said. "You been working some real bad mojo to jump-Start your act." I said and Jay looks between us, confused. "What? I don't know what you're talking about." he said. "Look, we know you put a spell on those tarot cards." Sam said. "Messing with real magic?" Dean said.

"Real magic? Come on, there's no such thing as real magic." Jay said. "Oh, is that so?" I asked, doubting. "Yeah, believe me. I've been around this stuff my whole life. It's all just --It's -- It's illusions. It's tricks. It -- It's all fake." Jay said. "Jeb Dexter strung up --was that just an illusion?" Dean asked and Jay seemed surprised by this.

"What? Something happened to Jeb?" he asked. "He was found hanged in his room. Right after you slipped the noose last night." Sam said. "I don't know what you're talking about. Please...Just let me go." Jay pleads and I turn to the boys, lowering my gun.

"Something's not right." I said. "Usually they're whipping some badass hoodoo at us by now." Sam said and we all nod.

Minutes later, Sam and Dean tied Jay to a chair. "What do you want to do?" Dean asked as we turn our backs to Jay. "All right, so, if it's not him, who is it?" Sam asked. "Even if Jay's not working the magic, he's still getting the reward. His shows are selling out." I said. "All right. So, then, whoever it is, they're obviously in Jay's corner." said Sam.

"All right, so we got Vernon and Charlie on the list. Anyone else?" Dean asked. "Uh...We could always ask him." I said and we turn around and see that Jay had escaped from the chair and is gone. "Guess we should have seen that one coming." Dean said, exasperated. "Come on. He couldn't have gotten that far." Sam said and we leave the room.

"No way he could outrun us." Sam said as we walk out onto the lobby. "Maybe he vanished. I mean, he really is good." Dean suggested. "Or he found a back door." I said. "That's them!" A voice shouted and we turns to see Jay coming up behind us as the police come into the lobby.

"Those are the three nut jobs that just broke into my room!" Jay shouts and the police run towards us and cuffs us. Great! I thought, miserably.

After spending a day in jail, the officer then told me and the boys that we were free to go. "Why?" Sam asked them. "Charges against you three were dropped." The officer said and the boys and I share a look before we walk out.

Later, we make it to the hotel lobby where we see Jay standing by, waiting for us. "Jay. Thanks for dropping the charges." Sam said. "You mind telling us why you did it?" Dean asked and I noticed that Jay looked very upset. "We have to talk." he said.

Minutes later, Jay took us to a bar and we all had drinks while he tells us that Charlie had died after Jay had done another death-defying stunt. "I was just a kid when we first met. All I knew was how to cheat at cards. Charlie got me out of more scrapes than I can count. Hell, I would have been dead by the age of 20 if it hadn't been for him." Jay explained then he sighs. "...he was more than my friend. He was my brother."

"I'm sorry, Jay." I said, sympathetically. "Look, I should have listened to you guys when you told me that my show was killing people." Jay said. "Well, you weren't the one pulling the trigger." Dean said. "Yeah, but someone did, and I want to find out who did this to Charlie, so I'll do whatever you guys say. Just tell me what to do." Jay said. 

"Jay, whoever's doing this...They like you. They're probably close to you." Sam said. "Did Charlie and Vernon get along?" I asked Jay. "No. No, it's not Vernon." Jay said, shaking his head disbelieving. "He's the only one that makes sense." Dean said.

"Charlie and Vernon were your family, Jay." Sam said as Jay looks between us. "And now Charlie's gone." I said. "Yeah, but...they butted heads sometimes, but Vernon could never do something like this." Jay said. "See, the thing about real magic is it's a whole lot like crack. People do surprising things once they get a taste of it." said Dean and Jay looks at us and sighs. "You better be damn sure about this. Vernon's all I got left." he said.

*3rd Person POV*

Vernon picks up his phone. 'Yeah? Yeah, okay. I'll be there in two shakes. I got something to tell you anyway." He said and he leaves. Seconds later, Sam, Dean and (y/n) enter Vernon's hotel room. "Wow. It's like a...magic museum." Sam said, awed at all of the props and posters. "You must be in heaven." Dean said as (y/n) looks around the room. 

"This guy doesn't travel light." she remarks. "He's been on the road his whole life. Probably everything he owns is in this room." Sam points out. "Let's get started." 

"Just talked to the head of the convention. Headliner gig is yours." Vernon said to Jay as he walks up to him after arriving at the convention building. Jay turns to him with a look of disappointment on his face.

"What? You don't want it?" Vernon asked him and Jay looks down and sighs. "A day ago, if you told me I'd be standing on this stage..." Jay said as he paces the stages then stops and turns to his friend. "No, I can't do it, Vernon." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Vernon asked. "Charlie's gone." Jay said, upset. "Charlie would have wanted you to go on. This is your shot. It's our shot." Vernon said. "Really? This is what Charlie would have wanted?" Jay asked as Vernon looks at him, confused.

"Charlie's dead." Jay said. "Hey, he was my friend, too, you know." Vernon said, defensively. "It's a hell of a way to treat a friend." Jay said, accusatory. "Again, what are you talking about?" Vernon asked and Jay walks up to him.

"You killed him, didn't you? And for what? So that I -- So that we could be back on top?" He asked. "That's insane." Vernon chuckles but noticed that Jay was serious. "No, you're scaring me." He said.

"First it was Vance, then it was Jeb . Even if you thought you were doing it for me, how in God's name could you kill Charlie?" Jay asked him, angrily. "Oh, you are crazy." Vernon said. "You used me, and you used my act to do this to him. If you think --" Jay started to say but a voice speaks up. "I wouldn't be so hard on him, Jay. He didn't do it."

"This is just a bunch of old-Timey magic stuff --None of it magic." Dean said as they continue to look around Vernon's room. "No herbs, no candles, and no tarot cards." Sam said, downtrodden, as (y/n) picks up a poster and her jaw drops and her eyes widens.

"I'll be damned." She said. "What?" the boys asked her. She holds up the poster to them to see a familiar man but he was younger looking. "Look like anyone we know?" she asked them and their eyes are just as wide as hers.

"Sweet Mary and Joseph." Vernon said, shocked, as him and Jay look at the young man that approached them. "Charlie." Jay said, confused, and the man smiles. "It's really me, Jay." he said.

"How the hell..." Vernon said, confused,  and Charlie chuckles. "God, you forget what it feels like to be young. It's amazing." Charlie said. "How old are you?" Jay asked. "Oh, it depends on what you mean by old. Right now, technically, about 28, but I've been around a lot longer than that." Charlie said.

"How long?" Jay asked him. "Long enough to have shilled for Barnum. And he gave me something." Charlie said and he holds up a book. "What's that?" Jay asked, nodding at the book. "The grimoire --A book of real magic. At first, I thought it was a scam, but then I tried one of the spells, and it worked. In fact, they all worked. So when I got to the end and there was one for immortality..." Charlie explains.

"My God, Charlie." Vernon said, shocked. "And my show, the things that I can do." Jay said. "Different spell. But it gives you a little taste of what's possible." Charlie said and he pulls out a deck of tarot cards and Jay goes to reach out for them but Charlie pulls back. "Oh, no, I wouldn't touch those, Vernon. They're --They're still radioactive." He said.

"You killed Vance and Jeb Dexter." Jay said. "What, you think this is a parlor game? You were being humiliated by those punks. A washed-up old man who couldn't even defend himself." Charlie said, getting angry.

"You used me to do these terrible things." Jay yells. "I used them to give you a gift. And you wanted it, Jay. I saw it in your eyes." Charlie said and Jay shakes his head. "No, I never wanted this." he said. "You were ready to kill yourself. I saved your life." Charlie said and this makes Jay stop in his tracks while Vernon gives Jay a shocked look 

"Is that right, Jay?" He asked Jay, who doesn't respond. "I was there for you, like I've always been. Like I'll always be. Come with me, both of you. You think the first time around was good? The second time's even better. All the know how, none of the aches and pain." Charlie said. "No, I won't do this. I won't." Jay said. "I've never made this offer before. But, then again, I've never had friends like the two of you before. Let me do this for you." Charlie offered the men.

"And who else has to die so that we can live forever? What's the price tag on immortality?" Jay asked and Charlie doesn't answer. "This isn't right, Charlie, what you're doing. You know that. Somewhere, you know that." he said. "I know I don't want to come back alone, to start all over, alone." Charlie said then Vernon turns to Jay.

"Jay...We can be young again." He said and Jay couldn't believe Vernon was buying into this. "The three of us together -- Vital and alive...forever." Charlie said, smiling.

"Not so fast!" a voice calls out and all three men turn and see Dean, Sam and (y/n) walking in. "I ain't Guttenberg, and this ain't Cocoon. Immortality. That's a neat trick." Dean said. "It's not a trick. It's magic." Charlie said, smiling, then two nnoose appear behind Dean and (y/n), drop around their necks and lift them up.

Sam shoots Charlie but Charlie catches the bullet in his teeth. "Hey, bullet catch --Been working on that." Charlie said after he pulls the bullet out of his mouth. "Get him!" Dean gasped as he and (y/n) get strangled. 

Sam goes towards Charlie but he disappears then reappears behind Sam. "Let them go -- Now!" Sam yells. "Just leave me and my friends alone. All right, I will give it up --The spells, the hexes. This is the last time. I promise." Charlie said then he pushes Sam onto a the sword-table.

Sam gets strapped in then looks up to see the swords hanging above him, the rope holding it getting slowly cut. (Y/n) and Dean were choking and gagging as the noose ties tighter and tighter around their necks.

Then Charlie clutches his stomach, where he is now bleeding. Charlie looks over and sees Jay had stabbed himself in the stomach, holding a tarot card. "Jay...You picked these strangers over me?" Charlie asked Jay as he falls back and then he dies.

Sam's restraints latch off of Sam and he gets off of the table before the swords land down on the table. The nooses let Dean and (y/n) go and they fall on the ground and begin to cough. "You guys okay?" Sam asked as he walks up to the two. "Yeah." (y/n) coughs. "Yeah, I'm all right." Dean said while Jay stares at the dead body of his friend before he tears up, Vernon watched all of this in shock.

*(y/n)'s POV*

The boys and I walk over to Jay at the bar the next day, Jay was sitting and drinking which I can't blame him after what he had to do. "Hey, Jay. We wanted to thank you for what you did yesterday." Dean said. "I killed my best friend yesterday, and you want to thank me?" Jay said, venomously.

"Where's Vernon?" Sam asked him. "Oh, he's gone. He said he didn't want to speak to me again after what I did to Charlie." Jay said, upset, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. "Listen, Jay...you know Charlie was never gonna give up what he was doing. Ever. You did the right thing." I tell him and he looks up at me. "Are you sure about that?" He asked me and I don't respond 

"You know, Charlie was like my brother. And now he's dead... because I did the right thing. He offered me a gift, and I just threw it back in his face. So now I have to spend the rest of my life old and alone. What's so right about that?" Jay asked and he gets up and walks out. "Jay...your cards." the bartender said as she points at the cards. Jay looks at them then sighs. "Throw them away." he said and he walks out while the bartender looks at the cards, sadly.

"Well, I don't know about you, but...I could go for a beer." Dean said and I let out sigh and nod. "Yeah, me too." I said as I rub my eyes. "I'm gonna take a walk." Sam said and he walks out. Dean and I share a look before we go to the bar and order our drinks.

We drank a few rounds in silence until Dean speaks up. "Have you thought of names?" He asked and I turn to him. "What?" I asked him. "Names...for our kids." He said and I furrow my brow. "Why are you..?" I asked but he turns his head to me. "Just...indulge me for a bit." He said and I slowly smile. 

"Well...I've gone back and forth with some names. I've thought for a boy it's between Jack or Jared..." I said and Dean nods a bit. "Jack sounds good but Jared...I don't know sounds like a name for a weirdo." He said and I chuckle. "And for the girl...I like Claire or Jolene." I said and Dean turns his head to me. "What?" I asked. "Isn't Jolene a song?" Dean asked and I nod.

"Yeah, I know the song is about homewrecker but...I liked the name when Dad introduced me to the song during one of our trips onto another job for him." I said and Dean smiles. "Either way, all those names are pretty good." Dean said and I look at him. "Wait, really? No sarcasm?" I asked, surprised. "No sarcasm." He said and I stare at him for moment then I turn back to my drink.

"Course I think I can come up with better names." Dean said and I turn my head back to him. "Like what?" I asked. "Dean Jr." He said, giving a sarcastic smile, and I snort out a laugh. "One Dean Winchester is enough." I said and Dean laughs and sips his beer.

"Having a kid named after you, not gonna happen…although I think you gave me an idea to name our kid after their Uncle Sam." I said, jokingly, and Dean chokes on his beer. "Nope...not gonna happen." He coughs and I laugh. "Don’t let your brother hear you say that, you could hurt his feelings.” I teased, feigning sadness. "Whatever." Dean said, dismissively, and I giggle before we go back to enjoying our drinks.

"Now, about that whole you being a tied to the bed kind've girl..." 

"Oh God." I groaned.

@rach5ive @kitsun369 @itzabbyxx @cevans-winchester @ellie-andthemachine

[melomato]

Art Gallery Date with Hyunsik

Bias Moodboard Tag

Tagged by @hanniebear 💖

tagging @itsmultifandomtrash @notsosubtlekpop @sundropsoo @soocculents @lisayah @10starsmuzie @s-kydive and anyone else that wants to do it!!

[writingdespair]

Hi! I'd like to ask for Junko headcanons w/ a person who's her complete opposite? They are really proper and refined, and they find life and people in general to be very interesting. Basically the opposite of her belief that everything is boring. Thank you!

Anon, please forgive me! I failed to notice where it said headcanons. I was already finished once I realized my mistake. I hope you still like this request regardless.

CW: toxic relationships

Junko Enoshima with a partner with opposite beliefs

“Isn’t it beautiful, Junko? The world is so amazing.” You stand before a wall of pictures. For years, you have strived to take in the world. Animals, buildings, nature, people. Humanity’s beauty, captured on your wall.

Your girlfriend scoffs. “You see this stuff everyday. It’s boring. Aren’t you tired of this whole ‘humanity is wonderful’ crap?” Junko drags a single, long nail down a picture of your classmates, leaving a scratch.

“Oh no, never. I could never find the world boring. There are ways to find beauty in everything, no matter how ugly they may be.”

Picking up her decorated school bag, Junko rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Text me when you’re ready to have some real fun.” She pinches your face between her fingers, leaving a chaste, almost bitter, kiss. Not once looking back at you, she leaves.

A small smile graced your lips. “Don’t you see, Junko?” You whisper to your closed door. “Everything can be beautiful.”

The sun is beginning to set on the horizon. Many students of Hope's Peak Academy trickle out through the gate. Positioned with a camera, you fail to notice the moral compass heading your way.

“Excuse me! School has ended. I am most certain you are not a part of a club, (Name). It is against school regulation to hang around after hours!” He rants.

“Ishimaru, good afternoon.” You look away from your camera to meet his glaring, red eyes. “I was just waiting for Junko. She seems to be running a bit late today.” You peer around the courtyard.

“Enoshima has already left! I will let you off with a warning this time. Please do not let it happen again.” 

Confusion crossed your face before settling into a serene smile. Junko was always a wild card. “Thank you for telling me, Ishimaru. I will be off now.” He gives you a low bow before marching away. 

You flip through the camera as you walk through your neighborhood. All wonderful shots to add to your collection. It always warmed you to see how beautiful people could be.

A text tone pulls you from your thoughts. Pulling out your phone, you flip it open to see a message from Junko.

‘Meet me in your backyard, sweetie. I have a surprise for you! ~<3’

You gazed lovingly at your phone. She loved to surprise you with the money she made from her modeling gigs. Though they ranged from a new camera to a box of bugs, you found beauty in every single one. 

It made Junko sick.

Walking to the small backyard of your house, the smell of gasoline hits you. It’s pungent and nauseating. “Junko? Are you there?” 

Her familiar, grating laughter fills the air. You look up from your phone to see Junko and many large stacks of pictures. Your pictures to be exact. Junko had left school early to take down every single photograph from your room. Every single precious memory. Every single flash drive and backup you possessed.

“You finally made it! Geez I felt like I’d be here forever.” Junko pouts as she plays with a box of matches.

You take a hesitant step forward. “Junko, darling, what- what are you doing?” Your hand reached out attempting to halt her movement. As you step closer the gasoline smell gets stronger and stronger.

She strikes a match, holding the flame just in front of her. “It’s your surprise, silly!”

“Junko wait!” 

It’s too late. Her perfectly manicured fingers drop the match into the gasoline soaked pile. Years of your hard work bursting into a fiery mass. Dark smoke billows into the air.

Your eyes darken with grief. You crumple to the ground, not caring about the stains left on your uniform. Your shoulders shake as tears begin to spill down. “Why? Why would you do something so cruel?! You know how much those pictures meant to me!”

“Hyahaha! Of course I did! That’s why I got rid of them.” The black leather of her boots enter your vision. Her cold hands gripping your damp face. “That’s right, baby. Show me your despair!” Junko practically spat in your face. “But don’t worry, I saved one picture.”

From her uniform pocket, Junko pulls out a photo. One you took on your first date. You were both smiling. It was a wonderful day that you had to capture.

With shaky hands, you reach for the picture. A hopeful smile adorning your face.

A look of hope soon crushed as she rips the picture to shreds before your eyes. The fire grows brighter as Junko throws the scraps into the burning pile.

“I love you, sweetie!” She wraps her arms around your shaking frame. “I love you so much!” She yells over your pained sobs.

[batsandbugs]

The Great IKEA Game

Chapter 4: The Three Stooges 

AN: At least it hasn’t been two months again 😅. Let’s check in with the other batboys and see how they’re handling Damian and Marinette’s chaos. 

Chapter 1 Chapter 2  Chapter 3

Tim wondered when his day took a solid dive off the cliffs of normal and into the waters of weird.

It probably started when Dick dragged them out of bed at eight in the morning – on a Saturday – piled them into the car, and drove them an hour and a half out of the city to an IKEA. If they had actually been there to shop they would have either burned the store down or killed one another. 

Not that those things were off the table yet. 

Tim had work, actual work, that he could be doing. But no, instead he was playing a demented game of hide-and-go-seek, which was careening into an all-out war. The destroyed shelving units, shopping carts, and forklift were unmistakable evidence of that.

How had the demon spawn accomplished this in less than a minute?

Bruce would kill them, once he came back from off-world.

That is if Alfred didn’t get to them first.

“Uh, order 177? Shit, my pay isn't enough for this.”

The words shook Tim from his stupor. He walked over to the counter.

“Hi,” he said, flashing his most charming CEO grin. “I have a quick question?”

The server's fixed smile contrasted with his dull eyes.

“I need to know what way the boy who ordered this headed.”

“No.”

Tim sighed, “Look, it’s important. My brother-”

“I mean, no, it wasn’t a boy.”

Tim paused. “Huh?”

“It was a girl, a teen girl. Black hair, big blue eyes, French accent. She was sitting over there,” he waved at an empty table. “But I think she walked away before that happened.” Referring to the giant train wreck occurring a few aisles over.

“Oh,” said Tim. “Thanks.”

“Do you want the order?”

Tim held back an annoyed sigh.

“Sure.”

So that’s how he, Jason, and Dick, sat at the abandoned picnic table, staring at the abandoned meal bought with Damian’s credit card. Jason grabbed a couple of fries and shoved them in his mouth.

“That’s evidence, nitwit,” hissed Tim.

Jason ignored him, stabbing a meatball with the plastic fork. “What? It’s going to go to waste. Girlie obviously ain’t coming back for it.”

“We should be more worried about how a random girl used Damian’s credit card!”

“She could have stolen it?” offered Dick.

“Demon spawn would have broken her arm before getting pickpocketed,” countered Jason, eating another fry. Silence. A weird glint appeared in Jason's eye. He turned to Tim. “What did you say the girl looked like again?”

“Black hair, blue eyes, French accent.”

“Shit,” muttered Jason.

“What?”

“I think I ran into her earlier, about an hour and a half ago. Asked her if she had run into demon spawn – she sounded confused and tourist-like. But maybe…”

“Maybe she’s working with him?” offered Tim.

“Could be.”

“Damian? Working with another person? A stranger?” Dick shook his head. “Doesn’t sound like him.”

Jason shoved another fry into his mouth. “The brat’s a competitive little shit, if he thought teaming up would help him get ahead, he’d do it in a heartbeat.” He pointed a fry at Tim. “Can you look at the security footage?”

“I’m already two steps ahead of you,” Tim said, flashing his phone with the hacked in security camera footage on-screen. Jason and Dick huddled in close as a small girl walk on screen and stood at the counter.

“Yep, that’s her. Can you ID her, Timmy?”

Tim rolled his eyes, “This is a smartphone, Jay, not a laptop.”

“I thought Mr. World’s Second Greatest Detective would be prepared for anything.”

“Well excuse me for not having facial recognition software, on my phone.”

“Guys chill.”

“Shut up, Dick,” Jason and Tim said in unison.

The footage played out and they watched the girl order two meals and pay with Damian’s credit card. They switched to another camera when she left and sat at the picnic table. A few minutes later Jason and Tim walked into frame.

“Look, there! She tenses. Look at her body language, she’s panicking. She knows who you two are.” Dick looked shocked that, yes, Damian had teamed up with a partner.

They watched the girl panic, although she managed to keep her body from reacting too much. She placed her phone to her ear and walked away from her spot.

“Who is she talking to?”

“Maybe Damian was watching out of sight?”

“Shoot, Tim, she’s out of frame. Do we have another angle?”

It took another minute or so, but Tim found the right security camera catching the mysterious girl leaving the food court. As she walked away the image on the screen flickered, and a moment later the shelving units fell.

“Oh crap,” swore Jason. “Do you think she has magic? Fuck, it would be just our luck if demon spawn teamed up with someone dangerous.”

Dick shook his head. “It could be a coincidence. We didn’t see her do anything. The chaos could have been a coordinated effort between her and Damian.”

Tim wasn’t so sure. “Come on Dick, you’ve been in the game long enough to know just because something looks one way, doesn’t mean it's true.”

They watched the girl hurry out of sight, this time it was much more difficult to follow her progress through the store. She would randomly duck in and out of showrooms, coming out differently than how she came in. If the three boys hadn’t been trained in stealth and detection for years, they would have had a challenging time tracking her.

Jason whistled low. “Who is this chick? I’m impressed. She has serious skill.”

Finally, she ducked into a showroom and didn’t come out. Tim couldn’t find a camera giving them an unobstructed view, but it didn't matter. They had a destination.  

“This was ten minutes ago, they could already be long gone,” said Dick.

“Or they could still be hiding there,” countered Jason.

“We’ll find out when we get there.” They walked out of the cafeteria and past the closed aisles. The forklift that had been buried under the collapsed shelving unit was being unearthed by a flock of bewildered employees.

“Ten bucks says she has magic,” said Jason.

“Yeah, no.” Tim was good at math and the odds of everything happening just as she left was too big to be a coincidence. “I’m not stupid enough to take that bet.”

“Come on you guys, let’s focus here,” chided Dick.

Walking back through the showrooms Tim kept an eye out for any sign of his brother or his accomplice, but it was as if they had disappeared into thin air. Arriving at the last location they had spotted the girl, they waited for a touring couple to leave before descending on the tiny, boxed room like the detectives they were trained to be.

It didn’t take long to discover the lasered off vent.

“Shit,” groaned Jason. “They could be anywhere by now.”

“Tim can you-”

Tim had his phone in hand, “I’m already on it. I’ll have the vent layout in a minute.” He felt insulted they even needed to ask.

Jason peered into the vent, “Damn, I think we’re too big to follow.”

 Dick sighed. “I miss my vent crawling days; they just don’t make them as big as they used to.”

“That’s what she said,” snickered Jason.

“Focus you two,” Tim snapped. “I’ve pulled up the air duct plans.” He flashed the screen to his two brothers who settled down. “This particular vent runs a couple of places. We have one entrance at the back of the store in the storeroom. Then another veering off near the daycare center, and the last which comes out near the unloading dock.”

“I’ll take the one next to the daycare center,” said Dick. “I’m the only one who isn't demented,” pointing to Jason, “or sleep-deprived,” pointing to Tim.

“Hey!” exclaimed Jason.

Tim sneered, repressing a Damian-like growl, “I wouldn’t be so sleep deprived if you hadn’t dragged us out of the house at eight in the morning. I arrived in from patrol at three.” He hadn’t had coffee in hours, and the weight of his body pressed on him like a panini maker.

Dick ignored them. “Jason can take the one at the loading docks, and Tim you’ll be able to bypass security and get into the back the easiest.”

“Sounds good to me,” grunted Jason.

“Alright,” agreed Tim. “The second any of us spots them, text the group chat, will box them in from there.”

They nodded and headed off their separate ways. Despite the tiredness in Tim's bones, there was a heady rush of the hunt thrumming in his veins. Damian, and whoever he had decided to pair up with, were going down.

Tag List: (Closed, sorry!! I’m so glad you all like it though.)

@multplelifes @bluesimani @justhugefangirl @nik-nak-3@redscarlet95 @purplesundaze @incredulous-reader @k-poplunardreams @our-preciousss @blackmagicforever @vgirl-10123 @lozzybowe @wannajointhecrabcult @dast218 @chaotic-mess-of-a-life @fidget-eep @kawaiigiantjudgefish @queenmj10@tumbling-down-hills-and-stuff @crazylittlemunchkin @fandom-writer642 @nach0ava @ladybug-182 @sam-i-am-0222@spyofthenightcourt @how-to-fuction-properly@emotionalsupportginger @dreamykitty25 @tomanyfandomsonmy-mind @mystery-5-5 @theatreandcomicfreak @weird-pale-blonde-person @whatthechickenfriedfuck @myazael@pawsitivelymiraculous @urbanpineapplefarmer @karategirl119@consumeconstantly @hauntedstudent99 @ertyzeta @thornalchemist23 @iloveitwhen @animegirlweeb@byronsacademics @i-wanna-be-a-ninja @moonlitjiminie@iglowinggemma28 @constancetruggle @catgirlkittypryde @waffelyunsure @maskedpainter @lilkymilky @unhappyraspberry @avengerthewarrior @quotesandanime @tbehartoo @clumsy-owl-4178 @g-arya @chocolateherringtacofan @jalaluvsu @crazyrandomrebel @fatimaabbasrizvi @thenillabean @goblinwhoships @bluefyoto94 @nerinalith @loopingtangent @demonicbusiness @hecate-hallow @themcclan @tropestropestropes @paintedhope7 @whitetiger1249 @glitchon @vulpixmina @kitkat81804 @kissa-chan @beautiful-disasters-sunshine

[let-them-read-fics]

Saranghae

Requested by Anon: “Can i make a request for Blackpink RoséXFem!reader one shot/imagine where y/n always thought she was the one that said I love you first but she realizes rosé said it in korean when y/n was first learning it the first few months they were dating. like rosé says it and y/n is like wait what does that mean? and rosé teases her and doesn't say anything (holy crap this is long, sorry. i hope that makes sense. I asked someone else if they can write it but I dont think they're going to) thank you very much if you do🥺❤️”

Pairing: Rosé x Fem!Reader

Word Count: ~ 2,300

Warnings / Misc. -- Fluff, Happy Ending

Disclaimer: This writing is a work of fiction, and no disrespect is meant for those mentioned herein.

A/N: To the anon who requested this: Thank you! This is actually a really sweet ask, so hopefully I did it justice. I stuck with the gist of the prompt, but I added a little twist to it. I hope you enjoy; let me know what you think. Happy reading, everyone!

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

~~~ Flashback: A Few Months Into Your Relationship ~~~

“Baby, come grab the door, please!” You request, your hands busy holding the two steaming cups of hot cocoa you prepared for Rosé and yourself. At the sound of your voice, she sets down the notebook that she had been writing in, and makes her way to you. She appears in the doorway with a wide smile, her face lighting up when she spots the drinks. 

“How’d you know I wanted some?” She takes her mug from you, being careful not to move too quickly and spill it, and lays a kiss on your cheek -- her way of thanking you.

With a nonchalant shrug, you make your way across the room, saying over your shoulder, “It’s my superpower, duh. We’re just in sync like that.” The giggle that leaves her lips makes your heart flutter, and you can’t help but smile back.

Now armed with your beverages, the two of you sit back down on the floor next to each other, getting prepared for your mini lesson. The fluffy material of the carpet comforts you, and you settle in.

~~~~~~~

Rosé repeats the phrase one more time, slowing it down for you, enunciating the words as clearly as she can. Your gaze is set on her lips, taking note of how they purse and pout with the different syllables. You try again, albeit incredibly slow and choppy, but eventually the words manage to come out intelligible. She celebrates the win, quickly standing and pulling you up along with her for a victory dance; after all, it was a pretty tricky phrase for someone just starting out. She knows how competent you are though, and she wanted to give you a challenge. 

As the two of you stand there, doing a little dorky jig together, she takes a second to think. She is totally smitten with you: these past few months have been some of the happiest times of her life, and she owes a lot of that to you. There’s no one she’d rather have by her side like this, staying up well into the night to teach Korean to. She loves that you’re eager to learn more, and she’s ecstatic to be the one that gets to help you on that journey. It really is a special thing to her, and she doesn’t take it for granted. Time spent with you is heaven, regardless of what the two of you are doing. 

Rosé is pulled from her thoughts by the quiet sound of you yawning. Her heart nearly melts at the sight of your face all scrunched up, paired with the little wiggle that you do. She pulls you in, smiling as you nuzzle your face into her neck sleepily. “Rosé, I’d love to keep practicing, but I’m about to pass out.” Her hand comes up to run through your hair, the other one wrapped around your body to keep you close. “We should be going to bed anyway, babe. We can pick back up tomorrow, if you’d like.” She kisses your forehead tenderly as you just simply nod, your body too tired and brain too fried to do much of anything else. 

Once she’s tucked you in, making sure you’re comfortable and warm, she crouches down next to the bed. The lights are dimmed now, the only source of illumination being the moonlight that glitters in through the blinds, kissing your skin just right. Sitting there, face to face with you, she realizes that you’re her person. The one that she wants to wake up next to every morning and fall asleep wrapped around every night; the one to go on late night drives through the city with, stopping wherever your hearts desire; the one to hold through the bad times and comfort through the sad. You mean the world to her, and she can’t help but declare it.  

“사랑해, Y/N.” 

Despite only being half conscious, you’d never ignore the sound of her voice. “Mmm?” You mumble groggily, the noise making her laugh. She makes a mental note to add that to her list of favorite sounds. “Nothing, angel. Rest now.” With that, she goes to stand, but you catch her wrist before she can go. “No, tell me. Pleaaase?” Your eyes are open now, but just enough for her to see that beautiful sparkle in them. “Tomorrow. Now shhhh.” She leans down, placing a hand on your cheek to caress it, as she presses her lips to yours in an attempt to silence you. Her plan works, and she gives you a few more pecks before going to pick up and organize the books that were still strewn about on the floor. Not even a minute later, the sounds of your soft snores carry over to her ears, and she just shakes her head in amusement. 

~~~ The Next Day ~~~

“Alright, ready baby?”

“Do your worst.”

“Next up is… 사랑해.” Her eyes hold a hint of mischief, and you furrow your brow as you try to place where you’ve heard that. 

“Wait, wait, wait. Have you said this one before? It sounds familiar…” Now, deeply confused, you rack your brain. She plays innocent, though, having no intention of bringing up what happened the night before. With you being none the wiser, she’s content with teasing you for now. 

“Oh, that’s gonna drive me insane. Roseanne! What does it mean?” She chuckles at your frustration and use of her full name, but she doesn’t give in. Clearly, she gets a kick out of this. 

“Just start guessing, babe.”

~~~ Present Day, At The Blackpink Dorm ~~~

“Guys, I have the perfect game for tonight! Somebody was talking about it at the studio today: it’s called the Newlywed Game. I wanna see how well the lovebirds can do.” Lisa informs as she walks through the front door of the dorm, making her way into the living room where you and the girls are sitting. 

“Oh you’re on, Manoban. I know Rosé like the back of my own hand.” A smug expression takes over your features as you smirk at Lisa, standing up and playfully challenging her. 

“Oh yeah? Jennie and I are so gonna beat you.” She matches your energy, coming eye to eye with you, and she struggles to mask her grin. With the way she’s moving her lips to hide it, she kinda looks like a fish. 

Jisoo is next to speak as she goes to stand between the two of you, pretending to hold you back. “Hey, hey, break it up. Save it for the game.” Lisa sticks her tongue out at you, which prompts you to brush past Jisoo and tackle her onto the sofa. Jennie shouts, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” And soon, all of you are piled together in a heap of fake punches and throws, laughing loudly. 

{....} The Game {....}

“It’s neck and neck as our couples head into the final round; whoever wins this, wins the game.” Jisoo announces to no one, gesturing and looking to imaginary cameras around the room. “Contestants, are you ready?” Everyone nods in affirmation, and you give Rosé’s hand a loving squeeze. 

“Who was the first to say, ‘I love you’?”

At the question, you look to Rosé with a cocky expression on your face, absolutely convinced that you’ve got it in the bag. She scribbles her answer down on the white board -- yes, surprisingly, the girls had a few of them laying around the dorm -- and looks up at you with a smile. 

“Reveal your answers in 3...2...1…” Jisoo calls out in her best host voice, successfully creating suspense as she holds onto the numbers, dragging the count down out. 

“Now!”

Everyone flips their board around, and it seems as though time stops for a moment. Lisa and Jennie have the same answer, and you look to see what Rosé put -- despite being confident that you already know. Your jaw nearly drops to the floor as you read her name on the board.

“WHAT??” You exclaim, utter disbelief coursing through you: your whole life is a lie, it’s official. The other team is cackling by now, and you send them a mocking smile. 

Eyes now focused back on your partner, you say, “I totally said it first. Remember, that night after dinner with your parents back in Melbourne?” You hope something will click at that, her memory magically being jogged. Alas, that never happens. Everyone gets comfortable on the couches in preparation for the story she’s about to tell.  

“We hadn’t been dating super long, but it was when I was teaching you Korean back at your place. We cut the lesson short because you got sleepy, so I put you to bed. I couldn’t help myself though; you just looked so cute all cuddled up like that. I hadn’t expected for you to actually hear me, since I thought you had already passed out, but you asked me to tell you what it meant. I was stubborn and didn’t, of course,” You narrow your eyes at her, ready to stick up for your past self, but your heart secretly soars at how precious that story is.

“I love you, a lot, Rosé; but I hardly think that that counts, considering I was practically unconscious,” you say, putting emphasis on the word. The inner gamer in you is on full display, and you’re not ready to admit defeat yet. 

“Nope, we won, fair and square.” Lisa declares, exaggeratedly tossing her hair over her shoulder. You look to Jisoo, hands clasped together, eyes pleading, but she hands the victory to the other team. 

With a roll of your eyes, you tut at the loss; in no time, though, the feeling of Rosé’s arms snaking around you has you abandoning your little pity party, opting instead to smile at her. You pull her in for a kiss -- there’s no one you’d rather lose with, after all. Her lips turn up in a smile, and you can taste the cherry gloss on them. Eventually, the two of you decide to spare the others from your love-fest, and pull away. You keep an arm around her, your other hand busy being held by hers, and she lays her head on your shoulder. 

The playful atmosphere still stands, and Jennie goes to rub it in. “How’s it feel to lose, Y/N?” 

Dramatically, you look off into the distance, pretending to be in deep thought, before looking down at Rosé, and say, “With you, I can never lose; you’re the greatest prize I could ever ask for, Rosé.” The other girls let out a chorus of boos at your cheesy line, and Rosé lets out a little squeal as she scrambles to hide her blushing cheeks. With each laugh that she lets out, her body shakes against you, and you laugh right along with her. 

“Have I told you how adorable you are?” She asks, gazing up at you through her lashes. 

You purse your lips at her own cheesiness, and say, “Once or twice, I think. But tell me again.” 

Over the course of the night, she does just that -- multiple times, might I add -- and the 5 of you revel in each other’s company. Given their busy schedules, the opportunity to spend multiple hours with each other can be pretty rare; so, all of you thoroughly take advantage of the night. Karaoke sessions, Netflix binges, dance battles, food breaks, tickle fights -- anything you can think of, you guys probably did it. 

As things wind down, everyone is nodding off, and you take that as your cue to go. You remove your arms from their position around Rosé, the action drawing a whine from her, and you lay her back against the couch so that you can bid the girls goodnight.

“Sweet dreams, Y/N.” Jisoo says, voice laced with exhaustion, as she flips the small pillow in front of her over to the cool side. 

“Night, loser.” Lisa’s grin can be heard through her words, and you lightly smack her as you go by.

“Sleep well, Y/N. We love you.” Jennie is the most awake of any of them, and she reaches up to give you a hug. 

“Goodnight guys, we’ll see you in the morning.” Arms are thrown up into the air as a sign of acknowledgement to your statement, and you make your way back to Rosé.

She’s curled up against the side of the sofa, her hair falling gracefully over the armrest. Not having the heart to wake her up, you opt to scoop her up into your arms, smiling as she drapes hers around your neck. Her skin is warm against your own, and you take comfort in the feeling. Somehow she always manages to be so, so perfect, without even trying. As you make the journey back to her room, you’re careful to not bump into anything. She shifts a bit in your arms, and your heart nearly stops when she lazily mumbles your name in her sleep, a cute smirk on her lips. Nothing feels better than this.

Now in her bedroom, you slowly lean against the door until it shuts, and the soft sound of it latching behind you echoes across the silent space. You lay her down and pull the sheets up on her -- just as she had done that day, all those months ago -- and press a kiss to her cheek. “사랑해, Rosé.” As you climb into bed next to her, she rolls over to face you. A small smile plays on her beautiful lips as she says, “I heard that; I love you, too, baby.” A content sigh leaves your lips as you beam at her and pull her into your embrace. You wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Thanks for reading!!!

[waveypedia]

This is why we can’t have nice things- Chat Noir and Ladybug

It’s You, My Dear

Ladybug sighs and slaps her hand against her head. “This is why we can’t have nice things, Chat.”

Chat flashes his famous Cheshire grin, wide and proud, and locks his hands behind his back, rocking on his heels to burn excess energy. “This is just an expression of my artistic genius.”

“There’s flour all over my kitchen,” Ladybug deadpans. “The kitchen that took me an hour to set up so we could cook together.”

“And now I’ve helped you decorate!” Chat replies, grinning,  “Don’t crap on my creativity, M’Lady!”

“I would never crap on actual creativity,” Ladybug sighs. “This is just a mess.”

“But it’s our mess,” Chat gives Ladybug his best winning smile.

Ladybug boops Chat on the nose, causing his mouth to open in a small, perfect ‘o’. “No, it’s yours.”

Chat chuckles softly and brushes some flour off of his suit. They float to the ground like tiny snowflakes, revealing the darkness of his suit underneath. “All right, My Lady. I concede. You’re by far the better cook out of both of us. I’ll clean up, and you cook up a purr-fect feast.”

Ladybug snorts and gently slaps a layer of flour off Chat’s shoulder. “I spend a lot of time baking, Kitty, don’t be discouraged.”

Chat Noir simply laughs and brushes more flour off of him. It coats the floor. “I don’t mind if my cookies aren’t perfect. It’s fun to make them. A good friend taught me how!”

Ladybug smiles wistfully. Her train of thought arrives at the familiar Adrien station, like always, and she remembers the day a couple years ago when she taught Adrien how to bake chocolate chip cookies. But, of course, the two instances are completely unrelated.

She pushes away the nostalgia of that sweet summer day and consciously focuses on the here and now. She could make these cookies in her sleep (and she has), but right now, Chat deserves her attention.

He’s gotten most of the flour off of him now, so he looks much more like himself than Chat Blanc (although, whenever those heartbreaking memories surface when Ladybug looks at flour-covered Chat, all she has to do is look into his eyes. His beautiful, un-akumatized, green eyes. That’s her kitty.) and is sweeping up the flour on the makeshift kitchen floor - which is really a rooftop. Flour soars off the roof and into the streets below, causing passing Parisians to look up, point, and shout with excitement. Ladybug waves at them, and they eagerly wave back. She smiles at the phones with cameras pointed at her and imagines Alya’s future blog post.

But that doesn’t matter right now. She and Chat step away from the roof, and after a little while, the novelty wears off. The consistent subtle murmur of passerbys’ chatter from the streets fades into the background, and Ladybug turns back to her cookies.

“Almost done, Chat,” she calls over her shoulder.

“Wonderful, M’Lady,” he replies, spreading out the checkered picnic blanket. It’s her parent’s, soft and worn from use, and she takes it out on picnics with her friends all the time. Granted, they’re usually in a park rather than on a rooftop. “I think my friend has a picnic blanket like this. She likes to throw picnics.”

Ladybug hums in response as she takes the first batch of cookies out of the oven. “Oh, really? This is my parents’. I think it used to be popular.”

“My friend’s picnic blanket is her parents’, too,” he replies absently. “It must be.”

Ladybug piles the cookies on a plate and sets them next to the picnic basket on the blanket. Chat Noir is seated already, with his legs dangling off the rooftop, gazing at the horizon in the distance. His expression is soft and thoughtful, and his eyes are filled with a million thoughts she can not discern. It’s endearing.

Ladybug sits down next to him. “Are you ready, Kitty?”

His smile is back in full force as he snaps his head over to meet her gaze. “Of course, Bugaboo!”

Ladybug rolls her eyes, but busies herself with setting out plates for each of them. He statches a piece of cheese for his kwami for later. 

She savors the way his eyes light up with delight.

They sit in comfortable silence for a little while as they enjoy the food. Parisians stroll along the streets below, mostly unaware of the heroes perched above them, save for a few sharp-eyed denizens who are rewarded with waves and winks for their efforts. After a while, Chat leans his head against Ladybug’s shoulder, letting out a soft sigh.

Ladybug snorts and pushes him, but gently. “You’re too tall for this, Chat.”

His only response is to hum contentedly and snuggle in closer, causing her to giggle despite herself. His neck is twisted almost sideways to fit on her shoulder, but he doesn’t look uncomfortable in the slightest.

She shoves him a little harder. “Chat, c’mon. You’re going to get a kink in your neck.”

“I sleep in class all the time, My Lady. I don’t mind it.” But he obliges, rubbing his neck. 

Ladybug sighs good-naturedly. “That’s not good, Chat.” She’s aware that she’s a hypocrite, but only sometimes. She tries not to be. It’s hard enough to keep her grades up with all her… extracurricular activities.

Chat shrugs nonchalantly. “Sometimes I have to get up really early for pho- for my job,” he explains. “And of course the midnight akumas. I swear, does Hawk Moth ever sleep?”

Ladybug laughs at that. Tension she didn’t even realize was there fades away, floating into the wind as Ladybug’s giggles tinkle like bells and Chat grins wide at the validation. “His sleep schedule must be so messed up. Maybe that’s why he’s like that.”

“A lack of sleep does make me quite a grumpy cat,” Chat muses. “But I can say with certainty that I’ve never gone on a homicidal violence spree and tried to steal jewelry because of it.”

Ladybug giggles again. “Good job on beating Hawk Moth, then.”

Chat smirks and sighs contentedly, picking up a cookie. He sighs with pure delight as his teeth sink into it.

Ladybug watches him, smirking, ignoring the growing valley of joy in her chest at the validation. Chat’s initial reaction whenever he eats sweets is always the same - pure bliss, over the top, but always genuine. It never fails to make her smile.

She’s noticed before that Adrien reacts similarly whenever she brings in baked goods, and she knows full well he’s on a very strict diet (one that always seems to leave him tired and drained, no matter how much she tries to hide it). Chat’s home situation is probably similar, especially based on the little details he’s let slip out, which makes her blood boil. So she’s made it her mission to fill both boys up with all the treats they can handle.

It’s the little things.

“These are wonderful, M’Lady,” Chat says softly. He won’t meet her eyes.

Ladybug fights the smile growing on her face and shoves him playfully. Her feelings, and the mood, are threatening to take a turn down a road she’s terrified to explore.

Adrien. Adrien. Adrien. Remember Adrien. Do not fall for Chat Noir. Don’t ruin what you have.

“You’re just saying that,” she teases, even though she knows he’s not. The guilt stings in her stomach, settling with the homemade food she’s eating.

“Why, M’Lady, I meant what I said! These cookies are simply purr-fect.”

Ladybug placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. “You got flour all over my makeshift kitchen.”

“These cookies are all the better because you made them, My Lady,” Chat smiled back, unfazed in the face of Ladybug’s annoyance, but with a touch of genuinity. 

Ladybug huffed in response and spread out the picnic blanket. “Sit down already. You’re going to fill yourself up on cookies.”

Chat put the cookie he was about to bite into down and cast a longing look at the cookie platter, but sat down without complaint. “You’re a wonderful cook, My Lady!”

Ladybug smiles softly. “Thank you, Kitty.”

They lean against each other, foreheads touching, and watch the sunset. Oranges and pinks flush Paris  in auroric flames. Ladybug’s hand tingles from where it’s brushing Chat’s and the cookies. 

“You know,” Chat says softly, so softly Ladybug isn’t sure if she’s imagining his voice or not, “You say we can’t have nice things, but this seems pretty nice to me.”

A grin slowly worms its way up Ladybug’s face. “Yeah,” she replies, equally as soft. Chat’s ears twitch. “I think so too.” In more ways than one.

Their hands brush closer and closer until their fingers close around each other. Somehow, inexplicably, she knows Chat hears her unsaid words.

“Pretty nice,” she echoes, half to herself, as they sit on the rooftops of their city and watch the world go by. All they have is each other. All they need is each other.

The sun sets, and the world turns to shades of gray, and still they sit. Ladybug pulls out the hot chocolate, kept warm in the thermoses her family swears up and down by. They stay long after color bleeds out of the world, shoulders touching, hands entwined, heads leaning against each other despite the height difference. 

It’s nearing midnight when Ladybug shifts her asleep foot and breaks the proverbial blanket over the two of them. A pang of regret resonates in her heart, but as she shakes life into her cold limbs, she knows it’s for the best. Parting is never easy, even if it’s just for the night.

With her kitty, she’d rather always be with him. Every goodbye hurts.

Chat stands up and stretches, curling up his back and tail just like a real cat. Ladybug’s mouth quirks into a teasing smile, and she reaches out to give him a quick scratch under the chin, relishing in the way his eyes close in pure safety and contentment. She presses her fingers slightly closer to feel the purr that rumbles through his body, steady and sure.

They divvy up the remaining snacks (Ladybug sneaks him half her share - he needs it more than she does. Even if all of her conceptions of his home life are mistaken, blown out of proportion, based on what she knows of Adrien’s, she does live above a bakery. But she’s fairly certain she’s not wrong on this one, despite how much she hopes she is.) and part ways for the night. Chat gives her a tight hug, and he’s so warm, just like a real cat. Ladybug melts in his embrace, and wishes they could stay there forever, frozen, untouched by the world moving around them. She knows he’s thinking the same thing.

Alas, it does have to end, and they part ways with a wave and a few nonsensical words shouted to the wind with the adrenaline from movement and the cold air kicking into their tired bodies. Ladybug begins the trek home, her limbs moving mechanically through the familiar movements as she soars over Paris in a way most people could only dream to.

When she’s safe in bed, with her diminished share of snacks tucked safely away in the cupboard, Marinette clutches her cat pillow to her and bundles up in her blankets. She thinks about how they don’t quite compare to Chat’s warmth.

Tikki, curling up on Marinette’s pillow, smiles knowingly.

~

these guys are really fun to write fluff for 

title is from my dear from red velvet! lyrics from this song actually inspired me to make a doc filled with title ideas (mostly song lyrics, which is what i’ve been drawing a lot from lately) and i’ve been saving this one since june 😳 i think it fits here

[abbynx]

La Squadra Housemate, College AU Part 1

Genre: Platonic

This has been in my drafts in like... forever and i got sick staring at it. Enjoy the culmination of my delirium induced by sleep depravity!

It was one of those days again. The empty feeling settling between your chest, as you resume to your daily activities, head on autopilot because that's just how repetitive your days were, just slaving away in your desk, be faced with things to do such as the essays, the math equations, essay analysis... The lessons and lectures were different everyday, and yet all the same. You didn't even cared to take a break anymore, knowing full-well of the works which awaits you so why delay it? It's not like your homemade snack will make you feel any better. 

Another term paper finished, time to pass it tomorrow and have the professor tear it in front of you just in case you had a minimal typographical error, before you resort to picking it up to see where the hell did you go wrong. It ached the first time, but as time goes by, you just simply move on and comply, hurting inside but what's the point of getting it all out? A waste time, that is. You've been over it and quite frankly, it was getting so excessively pointless. 

Setting the paper aside, you went to get a hold of another one of the work next in line with a sigh. Exhaustion lingers on with the emptiness within, powered by forced determination to finish everything within your plate and burn yourself out in the process. I mean, isn't this the way to success all of them have been saying? If you resume to do this and go through the route of life, then you'd end up walking everywhere with an IV tube up your arm. 

There was a knock at the door you didn't hear and acknowledged, until the person from the other side of the door lets himself in. 

 "Hey Y/N, I said Illuso made some overcooked crap downstairs. Get your ass down and take a break." Sorbet would usually leave upon relaying the message in mind, but he remained standing by the doorway anticipating for your response, an acknowledging nod would be enough to send him on his way but your unresponsiveness prevailed.

 "Y/N! How many times do we have to call you, huh?! Get your ass down or we'll eat without you!!!" Ghiaccio's shrill voice boomed from downstairs, prompting Sorbet to wince and lift a finger up to his ear to plug it up. 

 "Go ahead, I'll catch up later." Your recent attitude alone has gotten all of your housemates concerned but they let you be because days like these were inevitable amidst the hectic days in university, but it's been weeks since you let your works take a hold of your reigns. 

 "Oh no, you don't. you're not sneaking in the kitchen at three in the morning to eat cold pasta. Come on now, take a break for once." Sorbet approached you, hand on your shoulder. "It's been weeks since you took your sights off those damns books. Just eat, okay?" 

 "I don't know, Sorb's... I have things to do and get done-- you know that, right--?" 

 "I know and it's tiring. Come now, just take a break for a moment. I promise you'll feel better." 

 For a moment you contemplated and reconsidered rejecting his offer, seeing his point but you were in dire need to be responsive with your work. You took a deep heave of breathe, lifting your palm up to cup your forehead, thumb brushing over your temple pulsing with headache you've yet to soothe. He's right, you haven't eaten anything at the duration of the day, as you've barely left your study desk in your room.

 "Okay. Just wait a moment, I'll be there--" Sorbet interjects sharply by pulling you by the wrist before you can touch anything on your desk, knowing full-well you wouldn't leave it alone unless someone were to physically drag you off it.

 "Ah Y/N, good to see you out of your cave." Proscuitto remarks with slight scrutiny, setting a plate on your usual spot on the dinner table. 

 "What's taking you too long anyways? Are you--" Formaggio positions his hand above his crotch, making a jerking off motion, which warrants him a smack from Sorbet. 

 "They were studying, you perv." The dark haired housemate narrows his glare at Formaggio as he seats himself on his usual spot, beside his boyfriend Gelato.

 "Says the one who got caught jacking it off in the hallway." Illuso scoffs, leaning his back against his chair. 

 "Oh yeah?" Formaggio challenges, leaning on the dinner table, clenching on his fork. Before anything can escalate, Risotto clears his throat. 

 A small laugh slips from your lips as you pulled yourself a seat between Ghiaccio and Melone. For a moment you forgot about the paperwork waiting for you back in your room, but it can wait. It's not like they'll leave. Sorbet was right, a quick break or two will make you feel better. 

~0~

 Sorbet bit his lip to fight his anxiety back, his clammy hand hidden at the depths of his shallow pocket to feel around its content whilst Formaggio starts the game. Here's to hoping nothing too terrible happen. 

 "I'm passing this phone to someone with the shortest temper." Formaggio bites his bottom lip in front of his front camera, rubbing his chin before passing the phone to Ghiaccio. 

The cerulean blue haired narrows his gaze at the phone owner, before recording himself. "I'm passing this phone to someone who's too obsessed with themselves." 

 Illuso raises his brow at the current phone holder, a hand instinctively landing atop his chest, before he gets ahold of the phone and pressed record once again, "First of all, I'm not obsessed with myself and second, I'm passing this phone to someone who planted a fake positive pregnancy test in the bathroom for fun." 

 "It was for scientific purposes!" Melone exclaims, before claiming the phone. "I'm passing this phone to someone who dropped their cookie but instead of throwing it out, gave it to me and watched me eat it." The lilac head playfully tosses the phone back to its owner, in which he catches it just in time it hits the wall. 

 "Pfft, it's your fault you fell for it." Formaggio cackles. "I'm passing this phone to someone who belted out G10 in the shower when the lights blacked out." 

"You're never gonna let me live that down, aren’t you?" Pesci reaches for the phone with red in his cheeks. "I will be passing the phone to someone who's the sanest in this household—"

 "BOOO! BORING!" 

 "Oh shut it," Sorbet smacks Formaggio, before collecting the phone from Pesci's grasp. "I'm passing this phone to someone who thinks pineapple on pizza is superior." He rolls his eyes, before passing it to his boyfriend. 

 "Um, sir— it does taste great! You're lucky you're cute, otherwise I would've torn you apart." Gelato snatches the phone from his boyfriend before focusing on the camera. "I'm passing the phone to someone who doesn't know how to cross the road because they're scared." 

 "Ugh, rude!" You took the phone from the blond with a roll of your eyes. "I'm passing the phone to someone who left me on the other side of the busy highway to cross a busy road." 

 "You were too slow, that's why. I'm passing the phone to someone who screamed at us for a solid minute, accusing that one of us stole his glasses whilst his glasses rested on his head." Risotto hands the phone to the person who has yet to receive the phone. 

 "I'm passing the phone to someone who burned the whole kitchen at three in the morning because they left to stove on to cook peanut butter because we ran out of peanut butter." Prosciutto hands you the phone.

 "I'm passing the phone to someone who was petting and cooing at a pile of laundry thinking it was a cat." You glared at Prosciutto, before passing the phone to Formaggio. 

 "What? It was finals and I barely got any sleep!" He whines, before sighing. "I'm passing the phone to someone who has been passed around like this phone." 

 A choked gasp pried itself away from your throat as soon as he hands you the phone with a grin. "Well I'm passing the phone to someone who accused me for taking their red lacey thong but it turns out we own the same product." 

 "Wow, you're bold, I like you." Melone chuckles, before taking the phone. "I'm passing the phone to someone who was hungover during finals and managed to pass." 

 "Pretty impressive if I do say so myself." Sorbet smirks at his achievement, proudly reaching for the phone. "I'm passing this phone to someone who faked smoking at a party to impress a girl." 

 "Well I don't smoke! I don't like how it tastes!" Pesci insists. "I'm passing the phone to someone who got out of the house with his shirt inside out and backwards and didn't realise it until he was going home." 

 "I'm passing this phone to someone who cried when I pranked him with a fake electric razor." Melone smirks as he passes the phone to Illuso. 

 "I'm passing the phone to someone who's first instinct to nonchalantly say 'Nice' before going back to his business after receiving a nude pic from his then girlfriend." Ilusso gives the phone to Ghiaccio.

 "I'm passing the phone to someone who doesn't pick their hair clumps in the bathroom after taking a bath, clogging the shower drain." 

 "Well, I'm passing the phone to someone who screamed at the professor after he said Venice." 

 "I'M PASSING THE PHONE WHO THINKS IT'S OKAY TO SAY VENICE INSTEAD OF VENEZIA!" 

If it weren't for Illuso's quick response, the phone would've crashed against the wall and permanently putting it into a broken state. "Heh, okay then. I'm passing the phone to someone who has been with my man Gelato through thick and thin." 

 Sorbet gulps, his heart hammering in his chest as he reaches for the phone. His hand that has been hidden in his pocket since the very start of the game finally came out, with a small, black velvet box. Gelato glances at his longtime boyfriend, confused for a moment until the blond saw the little box resting within Sorbet's grasp. In shock, the blond's hands shot up to cover his lips and nose, his onyx gaze watering. Everyone in the room has their thoughts race rapidly with incoherent thoughts. 

 "I'm passing the phone to whom I want to marry and be with for the rest of my life, because without him I feel so empty and alone." Sorbet hands the phone to his longtime boyfriend, before taking a knee and opening the box. "Will you marry me?" 

 It would be a miracle Gelato would come to thank later as he didn't know he would still be able to respond despite being so deep in cloud nine. The entirety of the squad stood behind Sorbet at the edge of their seats, watching their carefully crafted plan unfold before them. 

 "Oh, yes. YES!" With the key word uttered, the once tensed room burst into excitement, jumping and screaming whilst the couple slipped on each others engagement rings before engulfing each other into a passionate embrace.

 "WHOOO YEAH! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING 'BOUT!" Formaggio cheers amidst the screams of excitement. 

 "Oh you guys, c'mere!" Sorbet caught you and Risotto's necks, before pulled in for a hug. Soon the others joined in for a group hug, almost squeezing the couple in the middle but it was all so worth it.

[fitzs-trained-monkey]

Chapter Three: If We Have Each Other.

~When the world's not perfect When the world's not kind If we have each other then we'll both be fine. I will be your brother and I'll hold your hand. You should know I'll be there for you. I will always be there for you~

"Dude, we are in some serious jelly," I proclaimed as I paced around the small perimeter of the tree house.

"And that jam!" Isaac added from where he remained sitting at the table.

"Tight spot."

"Indeed!"

"Up a tree!" I supplied.

"Lost in the grass!" He offered. I swung around, shaking my finger at him.

"I'll tell ya what's grass, our- AAH FRACKLES!"  I had stepped on a stray nail in one of the floorboards. Hobbling my way back into my chair, I thunked my head against the table.

"But look at the bright side." Isaac leaned back in his chair. "Seeing as how our grand-theft-hairbrush is going viral and all, there is still a chance that me flipping the camera off could become a meme!" He pointed out. Slowly, I raised my head to stare at him.

"Are you kidding me right now?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Consider it, Marty! All it took was five years being dead and now I'm finally fulfilling my life-long dream! If I'd known it was this easy, I would have killed myself a long time ago and spared me all that drama and emotional damage," Isaac smirked. I shook my head, my gaze drifted back to the Vader figure and snow globe sitting side-by-side on the shelf.

"Please don't talk like that Isaac," I sighed. Isaac's face fell.

"Sorry, I-I wasn't thinking," He apologized. I nodded.

"It's okay." It wasn't, but what more could be said when you didn't want to speak?

"Hey," Isaac spoke softly, ducking his head to get me to look at him, "Even if things go sour, I'm gonna be here for you. Just like I promised. Through thick and thin, remember?"

"Through thick and thin."

Smiling weakly, I repeated our life long mantra. I took a deep breath and focused back in on the problem.

"Alright, man. We gotta figure out a game plan. That video is gonna bring every hunter and their mom up here to ice our, or my, gluteus maximus. And if they know about the minimart then they know about the hospital. So, what's our play?"

"Well, I say you use your Sweet-Talkin' thing and talk any o'those alcoholic weirdos out of it," Isaac suggested. I shook my head.

"Isaac, you know how much I hate doing that."

Although it was a tempting idea, that wasn't something I wanted to mess with. If you start playing with the dark things, the dark things start playing with you. That wasn't a concept I liked, but Isaac would never understand that.

"I'm just saying it’s an option! And an easy one at that," Isaac pushed. I glared at him.

"I'm not doing that."

"It might come to it, Marty. I'm just saying as a plan C it-"

"The answer is no! Moving on." My tone killed and buried the subject. Isaac raised his hands in surrender.

"Fine. But misinformation is still our strongest tool. We should use it. Tell anybody who asks that it was all done on a computer," He conceded.

"Alright, that's plan A. What's plan B?"  Isaac's face twisted in thought. I let him do any and all planning when it came to telling a lie because he was so much better at making it convincing than I was. Isaac was the king of spouting believable bull crap. In fact, he would have made and excellent demon. That guy could probably get an angel to sell its soul for a box of holy doughnuts. When the idea hit Isaac's brain, I could almost see a light bulb light up above his head. He leaned forward, exited.

"Okay, I got it. We make up some BS story about a gay black dude who got chopped up by the ferry or something and the hospital wouldn't help him because all the doctors were racist homophobes, and it was the 50's." He nodded at me very seriously. Like I said, Isaac was king.

"That's is the worst, most ridiculous and stupid story I have ever heard," I told him. Isaac's nodding grew more excited. "It's perfect. They'll buy every word. Just one thing though, what about the mini-mart?" I pointed out.

Isaac opened his mouth before closing it again. Then he opened it. Then he closed it. Open. Closed. Open. Closed. This happened several more times before he finally came up with something good.

"So, our gay black guy was also a nice hobo dude and after he died he started stealing crap to give to his hobo buddies." Isaac gave me a thumbs up. I nodded.

"Okay, sounds good, sounds good. How do we explain me?" I splayed my hands. Isaac huffed and rolled his eyes, leaning back again and tucking his hands behind his head.

"Well, that’s easy. The camera never even caught a glimpse of your face, so you're his anonymous theft buddy slash item distributer!" He explained. I grinned at my fantastic phantasmal co-conspirator.

"Excellent, and of course nobody knows who the thief is. Especially not, innocent little me!" I chuckled at his brilliance.

"Exactly!" Isaac smirked.

"It's perfect! Except one last thing. We're gonna need some eyes and ears in on this. Someone to alert us when someone fishy comes lurking about," I said. Isaac nodded seriously.

"You're right. But who can we trust around here?" He asked. I could feel the smile split across my face.

"I can think of only one man for this job. A man as trustworthy as he is slimy. A man scrubbed clean by his own filth. A man so wonderful, words do him no justice!" I declared dramatically. Isaac was confused for a moment before realization dawned. His face fell.

"Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"I think I am." I grinned. Isaac just sighed.

"Marty, no."

"Marty, yes!"

- 45 minutes later-

"Yo! Danny, my man! How's life?" I called out. Dan-the-Dope-Man looked up from...whatever it was he was doing outside Copper Harbor's one and only pharmacy. The pharmacy which he, in fact, owned. Honestly, I didn't want to know exactly what he had been doing behind the pile of cardboard boxes that were stacked up against the moldy brick. I figured it was better if I didn't. Dan smiled a grin that was missing two teeth.

"Marty! My worst customer and only friend! Life's good!" He greeted me, kicking a few of the boxes over to hide whatever suspicious activity it was that he had been up to. He winked and walked over to me, pushing his absolutely disgusting blond hair out of his face. "But, you know, business is betta'," He concluded.

I could never tell how tall Dan was, in this form especially. See, Dan-the-Dope-Man was a shapeshifter, though of course, no one else in the town knew that. That's how he was the owner of the pharmacy as well as a drug dealer. His other form, Jonathan De’ Santos, was the tall, 40-year-old, honest-looking Hawaiian man that ran the pharmacy. In this form, however, Dan was a somewhere-in-the-upper-five-foot-range Caucasian guy from Brooklyn with a thing against bathing. He said that the grungy, sewer-rat look was better for his side business. I wasn't sure how much of that I bought, but then again, who's gonna buy drugs from the guy who's supposed to make sure you don't destroy yourself with them.

"I bet it is!" I said, taking a step back when he reached me because, like I said, the guy had a thing against hygiene.

"This is a terrible, terrible idea," Isaac muttered, leaning on the wall to my left. I couldn't reply to him because although Dan knew what I was he didn't know about Isaac. So all I could do was give him a rude gesture behind my back. He saw it and stuck his tongue out at me.

"What can I do fo' ya, Marty?" Dan always pronounced my name as 'Mawty' at least in this form as it had a Brooklyn accent.

"Well, o' Danny boy, I have some rather bad news to deliver," I continued, "There might be some hunters coming to town soon."

Dan frowned; his eyes narrowed at me as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Well, that ain't good. Whatt'id ya do, Marty?" He asked. Sometimes Dan could be like my older brother, even if he didn't realize it.

"Woah, woah, woah! Who said I did anything?!" I defended. Dan just raised an eyebrow.

"You're always showin' off and ya know it," He said simply.

"He's right, you know," Isaac interjected. I wished I could tell him to shut his eidolic cake hole. It wouldn't have made much of a difference if I could, as he would still have continued talking, but the principle remained the same. Isaac was annoying. He needed to shut his mouth now and again. But I couldn't say that right now because he was a flipping ghost and ghosts are invisible. Mostly.

Ignoring Isaac, I opened my mouth to try to argue with Dan but quickly closed it again when found that I couldn't, because he was absolutely right. Now, I couldn’t admit that to him because Isaac was right here and that would be saying that he was right about something, and that was a thing I would never hear the end of.

"In regards," I started again.

"You'd just say 'regardless'," Isaac chimed in. I had to physically bite my tongue to keep from screaming at him to shut up.

"Regardless," I corrected. Isaac chuckled. I really needed to get myself some iron gauntlets or something so I could give his apparitional arse an involuntary appendectomy. Or just an iron ring so I could punch him in the face.

"Regardless, it wasn't me. This time. It was some attention seeking moron with a computer. That combined with my little hospital trips and you get something fishy looking." I finally managed to finish my sentence without Isaac chiming in.

"Well then ya betta' keep ya head down, Marty. I don' wan' ya gettin hurt." A dark look crossed over Dan's usually upbeat face. "Or worse," He finished.

"I know Danny, which is why I need you to do something for me," I said. Isaac sighed and face palmed but I ignored it.

"What?" Dan asked.

"I need you to watch out for any newcomers asking weird questions. I've got a plan if any hunters get too close to us, I just need to know who and where they are," I told him.

See, the pharmacy, the mini-mart, the bar, and the barber shop all sat across from each other at a four way intersection. Thus, Dan would have an excellent view of any hunter's first two targets. The origin of the supernatural activity, in this case the mini-mart, and the bar. He would be the perfect spy. Dan looked at me strangely.

"Say, Marty, you ain't plannin' on gankin' any a' dose' suckas' now are ya?" He asked, caution evident in his voice. I sighed, shaking my head internally. This was just another downside of being what I was. Everybody thinks you're a murderer. Though I knew I was far from innocent, I had never killed anyone. At least, anyone who didn't deserve it.

"Come on, Danny. In all the time you've known me, have I ever, er, ganked anyone?" I asked him, spreading my hands as if to catch the obvious answer.

"Well, no. But people can change," Dan pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

"Dan, I'm not gonna kill anyone. There, ya happy?" I said, only mildly aggravated. Isaac decided it was time to speak up again.

"You may not. But I will. If it comes to that. I won't let anybody hurt you, Marty. Not again. Not when I can do something about it."

I knew he was saying this now so I wouldn't be able to argue with him. Then I would forget and if he did kill someone Isaac would say he'd said he would. I ground my teeth together and reminded myself that it wasn't going to come to that. I wouldn't let it.

Meanwhile, Dan thought about what I'd spoken aloud.

"Yeah okay, but if anybody comes sniffin' I'm skippin', kay?" He agreed. I nodded.

"Okay, take care of yourself, Danny."

"You too, Marty." I smiled at him and began to walk away. Isaac pushed himself off the wall and trudged behind me, complaining loudly.

"Make sure you take care of yourself too, Issac! I'd hate myself if anything happened to you, Isaac! I wouldn't be able to survive without you, Isaac! Thanks Marty, your friendship means everything to me!" He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Ugh! Why do I even bother?"

I smirked giving him the sign for 'I love you' behind my back.

"Aw shut up!"

But I knew he was smiling.

~So, I'm thankful for my sister even though sometimes we fight When high school wasn't easy, she's the reason I survived. I know she'd never leave me and I hate to see her cry. I just wanna tell her that I'm always by her side. I just wanna tell her that...

The worlds not perfect, but it’s not that bad. If we've got each other and that’s all we have I will be your brother and I'll hold your hand You should know I'll be there for you When the world's not perfect When the world's not kind If we have each other then we'll both be fine I will be your brother and I'll hold your hand You should know I'll be there for you.

I will always be there for you.~

Lyrics from: If We Have Each Other by Alec Benjamin

[malethirsty]

Beach Body Ready - Kevin Owens (Body Worship) / Kinktober 2020

Summary: When Lana accosts your boyfriend Kevin about his weight, you set about to make it right, in ring and out of the ring. 

Warnings: Smut M/M (21+), Bareback (Wrap Before You Tap!), Exhibitionist, Fatshaming, Homophobia, Daddy Kink

Inspired by: https://twitter.com/MaleThirst/status/1211597784073113602 & a request on AO3 from Cam.

A nude beach. You had moved in with your boyfriend Kevin Owens next to a nude beach! After seeing a massive load of people heading down to the beach the morning after you’d moved in, you of course went down the road to find out what all the ruckus was about, soon coming upon a vacated changing room, with it connecting to the beach, filled with individuals frolicking around naked. For someone whom hadn’t had their first time yet, seeing nude bodies not only there but appearing in your window after that every morning, afternoon and evening, with everything all exposed was quite daunting. It wasn’t that you were prudish, far from it. You were waiting for the right time with Kevin, and you didn’t want the beach getting to him and arousing him, so that if you didn’t fuck him, he’d go out and fuck someone else. Thankfully Kevin was the gentleman you first knew when your friend Sami had introduced you both, and nothing between you was ever spoke of the beach… Until this evening.

You’d shown up to RAW to support Kevin as he had a match on tonight, so following hyping him up in his dressing room, he made his way up to the ring, and you stayed behind in gorilla, watching on the monitors. Whilst watching Kevin hype up, Bobby & Lana passed by to make their way to the ring, which wasn’t unusual given the two were together, what was unusual was Lana giving you a skank look on her face, like she smelt shit or something. Bobby stayed at the entrance whilst she made her way out to promo for him, you had groaned and turned away from the screen to block her out as she’d become so agitating as of late, but the moment she had referred to Kevin as a quote ‘Pizza eating, basic, basic, man, who couldn’t get with a woman, so ended up with a pathetic fag’ that your button was not only pushed by the Russian wrestler, but SLAMMED down. Kevin was equally as angered on screen and made his way forwards aggressively, but at that moment, Bobby’s music sounded, sending him back toward the ring, you however were not so sated. Alongside your insecurities with sex, Kevin also carried a level of baggage with him as well was the perception of disapproving passers by, like how some gaze at you both hand in hand walking down a street (sometimes even coupled with a homophobic shot under their breath), the way some who’d flirted with you in public couldn’t believe you were wasting your time dating Kevin, or some who went into the comment sections of various websites and commented various things about Kevin’s weight and your relationship. Whilst you were often quick to anger, Kevin had a built up verbal strength he had attained through years of wrestling work, and would often deal away with detractors, but you knew it had to affect him as much as you, a badass he might be, but badasses have hearts as well. 

The thought of Kevin being broken alongside you, being paired with Lana’s venom swirling around however had pushed you over the edge. Lana had life so easy, people weren’t going to be racist on the street for fear of being knocked out, online commenters probably slid into her DMs, hoping her jungle fever would benefit them ‘Maybe she would understand if she pulled her head out of her ass’ you thought bitterly, she more than anyone should know about prejudice, but clearly not. You would have quite liked to have rushed Bobby in that moment and show Lana her man wasn’t all that, but he was bigger than you and would likely knock you into next week, so you tried to calm your breathing and instead focused your energy on the screens. This worked for a while but soon got ruined, as the camera crew, for reasons best known to them, continued to cut to Lana standing on the stage, shouting random things, clearly trying to coax Bobby to a victory. Having had about enough of her antics, an idea hit you, one where you could get her back while helping Kevin get one over on Lashley, so you made your way out of gorilla and down the hallway, soon spotting whom you were looking for. You made your way towards Asuka who was sitting alongside Kairi atop some boxes, titles on their shoulder as they strategised in Japanese on how to outsmart their weekly opponents. You got behind Asuka and tapped her on her shoulder to gain her attention, she quickly turned and the humorous look she had on her face soon vanished, you must have looked in a really angry mood “Hey Asuka, mind if I have one of your Green Mist pills? It’s for Lana.” You said rather pointedly gesticulating to the screen where Lana was now grabbing rolls of her skin with a gormless expression on her face. Everyone knew about you & Kevin’s relationship, knew how nice you were, and how nice you made Kevin when he was around you, so much so that it didn’t cross Asuka’s thoughts to disobey, she removed her title and rummaged in a bag on the back of it, pulling out one oval shaped pill, placing it into your hand “Pop it in now, it dissolves when you get to the stage, remember to spit clear into her face.” She advised, and thanking her for her advice, you popped the pill into your mouth, letting the liquidly wasabi concoction fill your mouth and made your way tight jawed to the stage. By this point, the gorilla was next to empty, most people casually waiting around, uninterested in the match going on. Pushing the curtains aside, you made your way out onto the stage amidst a ambivalent crowd whom were getting tired of the direction the match was taking, which soon turned to cheers as they realised that you had made your way out. Lana thankfully figured it was for her, and so continued to shout louder, not noticing you were right behind her. 

Adrenaline met blurriness in the next few moments as you grabbed Lana and spun her to you. Taking a deep breath, you spat forth the green mist into her face, landing a considerable lot in her eyes, causing her to shriek as the burn started to take affect. Looking up, you noticed Bobby had noticed and had furiously attempted to exit the ring, but Kevin had caught him with a roll up and hit the three count to pull off a victory to the cheering delight of the crowd. Kevin’s music filled the arena and you stood and watched with pride as Kevin roared his approval and soaked up the energy of the crowd, even pointing to you with a massive grin on his face. You exited shortly after, a rush of confidence from both the crowds response, your vengeance being sated and Kevin’s grin, completely bypassing the officials in the back with towels for Lana, whom surprisingly did not admonish you ‘Probably tired of Lana’s crap as well’ you thought, as you made your way to Kevin’s dressing room to wash the remaining mist from your face and rinse your mouth out. You’d only finished rinsing when the door opened and Kevin walked in “Hey Kevin” you said, in a cheery manner as if you hadn’t just ferociously sprayed wasabi chunks over Lana’s face and likely incurred the wrath of an angry Lashley, ‘The right move’ you thought as Kevin strode over to you and gave you a deep kiss “Hey Babe, thanks for what you did out there, I really needed a push and you spiked my adrenaline.” You suddenly felt bold and looked down at his shorts and responded “Not the only thing I’ve seemed to have spiked”. Kevin blushed bright red, the usually cocky wrestler at a loss for words, it was as if something had clicked, now was the time, but you wanted to do it on your own terms “Y/N. You sure you want to do this?” “Fuck yeah I’m sure.” You said boldly, launching yourself onto Kevin and kissing him again, this time wrapping your legs around his frame, holding yourself up, moaning into the kiss as Kevin grabbed your ass. You pouted as Kevin made to move you from him “Y/N, can we do this somewhere else? You’ve got Lashley on your tail, and if we do this here, they’ll probably catch us.” Nodding at his suggestion, you grabbed his hand and together made your way through the backstage area and across to your car, piling in and shutting the door.

No sooner had the doors been shut, Kevin’s lips were back on yours. “Come and ride me in this car” Kevin groaned out whilst cocking his fingers towards him in a ‘come here' but you shook your head “Not here, but I know a place, and tonight we need to go there.” Kevin sunk into his seat, whilst obviously upset that he didn’t get you to ride him in the car, he was still excited to see what you had planned, so you made your way to your intended destination, trying your best not to speed, but with a horny Kevin next to you, desperately wanting you, coupled with your own nerves about how the night would play out, it was difficult to adhere to the rules of the road. Somehow, someway, a while later, you stopped, it took Kevin one look out the window to notice where you were, as if the nudists walking across the road towards the beach was any indication “Y/N, you sure we can’t do it at home? I really don’t want to fuck you on the beach, I know everyone else there is naked, but it’s not a good idea when your me, everyone will stare and-.” You got out of the car and crossed over to Kevin’s side, opening the door and leaning on it to shield him from view of any passers by to not make him more uncomfortable “No Kevin, I’m not gonna fuck you on the beach, it’s close by, but not where anyone can see us, come on, follow me.” You extended your hand and after a few seconds of deliberation, grabbed your hand and pulled himself out “Lead the way baby.” He said, giving you a kiss to the cheek, and taking this as a sign of confidence, you led Kevin down the road. You passed a few people on their way to the beach, but rather than stopping and staring in a negative way, their eyes were alit, some looking at you and some looking longingly at Kevin, the idea of being adored by the beach patrons was exciting and also a good prelude to what you intended. 

You soon made your way with Kevin into the vacated changing rooms, and once he had made his way in, you shoved him against the door and kissed him feverishly “This is where I was thinking, no one comes in here and on top of that, you can make as much noise as you want and no one will notice, the walls are soundproof.” Clearly wanting to test this out, Kevin stretched your legs so they wrapped around his form again, covered your head and tossed you both against the wall, continuing the passionate kissing, only breaking it to remove your shirt and resuming as he tugged your pants off, leaving you bare for him. “Goddamn, you look fucking beautiful Y/N. I’m so damn lucky.” As he made to surge forwards, you gripped onto his shirt and tore it right down the middle, his torso now exposed “Same here, fuck you’re hot, knew you would be a fucking stud.” “That’s not how I pictured that shirt breaking but fuck I’ll take that over ripping it myself.” The self depreciating shot Kevin made caused you to remember in that moment why you’d picked the changing rooms, so you grabbed his hand and dragged him further in “Y/N, what the hell? I thought we were fucking there against the wall!” But you took no notice and finally got him where you wanted him, in front of the sinks, where a mirror stood overlooking them, encompassing a landscape view, you and Kevin clear as crystal in the reflection “Kevin, I know it’s my first time, but I want this to be about you as much as it’s about me. I know more than anyone that you have some level of insecurity about yourself, having been wrestling for years against hard asses, you’d have heard comments about yourself a lot, it’s why you grip my hand tight if someone gives us a look walking the street, why you’ll wear baggy clothes to bed, you didn’t want me to see you naked.” “Y/N, I wore them so you didn’t get the impression I was trying to rush you.” Kevin tried to wave away, but you knew he was trying to deflect cause you had worked out his intention with his choice of bed wear “Kevin. Fucking. Owens. I’m literally about to fuck your brains out and your trying to deflect shit, let me get this out please!” Kevin fell silent as you continued, “The point is, you have a heart and each shot at your weight stings it, well I’m gonna try and do my best to fix that tonight, as you fuck me, as much as you want to watch me fall apart on your cock, I want you to look into this mirror and appreciate the man staring back, the man who deserves everything in this world and more, cause that’s who you are Kevin Owens.” 

You finished your explanation, chest rising and falling, as if you’d been pent up trying to say this for a long time. Kevin also looked stunned “I don’t know what I did to deserve you Y/N, but I’m so fucking lucky I have you in my life.” You smiled back, he hadn’t rejected your offer of a sentimental fuck, so you could go ahead “It’s not luck Kevin, you are who you are, that’s why you got me, and I appreciate the gift I’ve gotten in you, from your sweet lips” You kissed him yet again, slipping in some tongue work before dragging your tongue down him “your facial hair” you flicked your tongue over his moustache in a teasing manner, causing his breath to catch, you dragged it down his beard “your pretty neck” you made sure to nip at him as you trailed your mouth down, leaving a hickey behind, 'those beautiful rosy nipples” you moved your hand to one whilst biting down on the other “Oh God!” Kevin groaned, throwing his head back at the treatment you were giving his sensitive buds 'your stomach” you mimicked the ministrations from his facial hair on his stomach, pressing your hand to the hot skin, Kevin’s heat radiating onto you. Anticipation was ripe in the air as you moved your hands down to each side of Kevin’s sports shorts, the moment stilling as excitement coursed through you, as you pulled his shorts down, his hard cock sprang up, catching you in the face, it was long but very thick, you knew it was going to be a task taking it all in, but you’d come this far, hadn’t you? “Your ass” you continued, one hand gripping onto his fat cheeks, "but the important things I’m focusing on this evening, are your balls” you licked a line right up them to the loud cries of the man above you, all leading up to “and your cock” tension finally tackled, you took his cock into your mouth.

Kevin’s hand flew to the wall to hold himself up as you began to suck his cock, first focusing on tracing his veins, before focusing on the head, giving it kitten licks, making his cock pulsate and drawing moans from Kevin “Oh fuck! Yeah, take it in your mouth, oh! So damn good” Drawing from the confidence Kevin was imbuing into you, you began to get sharper with your attention, now paying extra attention to his head and swiping your tongue across his slit, which proved too much for the wrestler, who gripped your head and started to push you along the length of his cock, causing you to make slobbering gaggy noises amidst his cries of utter pleasure “That’s right, take it, such a good fucking slut for me, Goddamn you know how to suck dick Y/N!” You lapped up the salty taste of his precum, looking up as you did so to see he was doing as you had asked him to do, he was staring at himself in the mirror, moaning as he admired the sight before him of you on your knees, sucking him off. Determined to not let him cum in your mouth, rather your ass, you moved your hands up to tug at his nipples causing him to divert his attention back down to you. You pulled off his cock and stared up at Kevin “Fuck me, please.” Kevin acknowledged your request “Spread out, hands on the sinks, ass facing me.” You obeyed, getting up and leaning down, letting Kevin get a good view of your asshole. Kevin hummed in appreciation, before placing his dick onto your ass crack “Gonna give you it slow alright. It’s not gonna be like how I finger you, it’ll be big, so relax as much as you can for me.” Taking his advice you drew steady breaths in and out of your nose, bracing yourself for the inevitable pain that would give it’s way through to utter pleasure.

Kevin pushed the tip of his cock in, and you gasped at how much it was different from how his fingers were, wider and thicker, it sent a burning sensation through you “Relax baby, it’s gonna be alright once I get it all in.” You listened to Kevin and relaxed your muscles as he pushed more and more of his length in, it was already a massive cock, so even as the burn ebbed away, you wondered how much more he had in him. Soon after this, Kevin let out a groan as he finally got all of his cock inside you, his balls resting comfortably on the bottom of your ass. “Fuck, you’re so damn tight.” Kevin moaned into your ear “I’m gonna have to make sure not to damage your walls cause fuck, I want you to grip my cock like this every single time!” As he nibbled on your ear, you smirked at his compliments, everything was working out, you needed only a couple of things left for him to do “Remember, eyes up and above all, move, fuck me already KO” That seemed to be the spark that ignited Kevin as he moved away from your ear and started to move, slowly at first, so you continued to get used to his massive length inside you “Fuck Y/N, you feel so good for me, clenching round my cock so good, you want me to go faster babe?” You nodded your head quickly, and suddenly felt his strong hand gripping your neck as he pulled out, aligning the crown of his dick with your asshole and began to thrust back in, his ass wobbling as he slapped back into you, moaning erupting from you as your walls stretched back around him and withdrew as began to fuck you roughly, more possessively. 

“Kevin, oh fuck yes! Fuck me! Fuck me harder!” You cried out, and Kevin did exactly as you asked him, going deeper and harder than he had done before, colliding full on with your prostate, making you cry out so loud, you were certain that if the walls were not soundproof, the entire nude beach would have heard by now. “Yeah, scream for me Y/N, tell me who owns this pretty ass I’m fucking with this big dick.” “You are Kevin, you are daddy!” Your face suddenly blanched, that was supposed to be private, something you only uttered when you stroked yourself in privacy “So I’m your daddy am I Y/N?” Kevin asked, stilling himself to stare down and ask you “I-I don’t know what came over me, I’m” the rest of your words were lost as Kevin pulled out and yanked you up so he was staring at you deep in the eyes “I know what came over you, you knew who owned you, body and soul, more importantly, who owned your ass. You knew who was giving it to you good, probably the best you’ll ever have, and you wanted to show appreciation to the man who was fucking you to heaven, so I’ll ask you Y/N, who’s your daddy?” You were quite shocked at his words that you stood stunned for a moment, it was only when Kevin said “Tell me, if you don’t this stops right now, I won’t put my dick back in.” That you let your submission fall from your mouth “You’re my daddy Kevin, you know how to dick me down the right way.” “Good boy” Kevin responded back, before grabbing onto your neck and bringing your lips together for a searing kiss, slipping his tongue in for good measure, tangling it up with yours. You soon broke it to groan “Fuck Owens Fuck” cleverly twisting his tagline to fit your moment, Kevin smirked and chuckled at your wit “Get up onto the sinks then” he demanded, and you placed your hands up onto the bench and pulled yourself up. As soon as you finished that, Kevin grabbed onto your legs and pulled them to the sides to slide up into your ass again, both of you crying out in sheer satisfaction, cries of “Fuck Kevin!” And “Fuck Y/N!” Wrent the air as Kevin began to pound into you again “Oh yeah! You love daddy so much, fuck you’re so amazing!” He let out as he battered against your G-Spot. This time you were able to see how Kevin looked above you, so strong and yet so blissed out as he fucked into your tight ass, you also got to see him glance into the mirror as he admired himself. You smiled beneath him, you knew that the thought you gave into your first time payed off, that he was loving himself as he bucked into you.

“Kevin, Daddy, I’m so fucking close” you cried out after a while, as a familiar hot coil began to grow in your stomach, signifying you were ready to burst “Yeah, it that right?” Kevin grinned “YES!” You cried desperately, you couldn’t be held back, not tonight, and so when Kevin pulled out again, you whined in desperation, you wanted him inside you as he came, but your complaints were for nothing, as Kevin grabbed you and spun you round so now you could see yourself in the mirror as well, flushed red and utterly spent from how he had fucked you deep. You barely registered how you looked before Kevin slammed back in, hitting your prostate and making you cry out of a mixture of desperation and lust “I want you to look at how pretty you are while I make you come from my dick.” With each pound he gave to your ass, you saw his raw dominating power on his face, and seeing that level of passion as he fucked you was your undoing. You yelled out your erotic release as you came, shots of your cum decorating your torso as Kevin stuck his hand out, catching the several shots that had missed, catching them in his hand and slurping it up into his mouth. He kissed you once again, your salty taste filling both of your mouths as Kevin’s tongue danced around your mouth, sharing your cum. Kevin soon broke the kiss as he neared his own release “Y/N, I’m gonna cum, right in your ass!” He cried out “Do it daddy, fucking come for me” you returned, this was exactly the push Kevin needed to fall over the edge and with one massive “OH FUCK YEAH! He emptied himself into you, his warm load coating your ass, as he growled and moaned in pure ecstasy as he came down from his high. 

You stayed like that for a while, taking in each other, your scents, how both of you looked above and below each other, sharing light kisses between each other as well. “Y/N, you were amazing.” Kevin finally breathed out, you were too breathless to respond, you nodded your head as acknowledgement. When you’d finally caught your breath back, Kevin pulled out and you made to stand up, only to wobble “Woah babe, I really put a number on you huh?” He said, staring at you with his hand under his chin as he admired the work he had done “Kevin, this isn’t a laughing matter, my legs are fucking mush!” You cried out exasperated, the words settling between you as you both burst out laughing at the situation. “Kevin, seriously, I’m gonna need some help back to the car.” You finally said, after you’d gotten your breath back “We’re not going back to the car baby.” Kevin said as he pulled you to him with one hand and supported you as he made his way out of the changing rooms “I’m ready to spend some time on this beach.” “What? Seriously? After we’ve fucked!” You said, shocked at Kevin’s level of daring “You were the one who dragged me to the changing rooms to fuck you!” He countered “and besides, we don’t have to mingle, we can rest of the sand, have our afterglow in the sunset, all that magic shit you wanted, after all, you deserve it, especially for making it about us both.” This was such a beautiful gesture from Kevin that you simply nodded as he lead you out of the changing rooms and onto the nude beach, which was packed as onlookers basked in the sunset, none more content however as you & Kevin Owens. 

[bamby0304]

The Hart III: Secrets

Chapter 19: Smoke and Mirrors

Series Masterlist

Summary: Three months… Dean was gone for three months and now he’s back. He’s back and he truly has no idea how much things have changed. Life moved on while Dean was in Hell, and now things are complicated. With new faces and troubles right around the corner, will the trio find a way to come back together? Or has all hope been lost?

Warning: Angst. Magic.

A/N: I won’t be doing taglists anymore, so if you want to know when I post stories follow @bambys-library​ :)

Bamby

EPOV

Hands shoved into the pockets of my 'FBI' coat, I followed a step behind Sam and Dean as we walked down a street in Las Vegas. But we weren't here for fun. No gambling for us, unfortunately. No. This was all about a job.

As we crossed the street, we neared a gathering people standing around a man dressed in black leather, and ripped jeans, with dark hair and eyeliner.

"This, this isn't a trick, okay?" the man told the audience as he shuffled some cards. "I- I- I don't do tricks. This is a demonstration. About demons and angels. Love and lust. All that stuff mixed up in my head."

"What a douchebag," Dean mumbled as we came to stand with the crowd.

I looked to the side, glancing at the camera person and microphone person as they focused on the man.

"That's Jeb Dexter," Sam noted.

Dean looked up at him, confused. "I don't even want to know how you know that."

Sam just shrugged. "He's famous, kind of."

"For what? Douchebaggery?"

I held back a laugh at Dean's disapproving attitude. "It's entertainment, Winchester." I smirked, looking up at the older brother.

He looked down at me, surprised for a moment before he returned my grin with a smirk of his own.

Jeb's voice pulled our attention back to him as he kept talking to the crowd. "But whatever happens, no matter how messed up it gets, don't touch me, okay? For your own safety, " he warned before inhaling deeply.

After a moment, he closed his eyes and exhaled, focusing as he shifted on the spot. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head, letting the air out again.

Suddenly he gasped as he began to shake as if having a seizure. With one hand, he grabbed the deck of cards that sat in the other hand as he opened his eyes enough so we could only see the whites.

"Go back to hell, demon!" Flinging the cards at the window behind him, we all watched as one of the cards stuck to the glass. The ace of diamonds. Reaching forward, Jeb ran his hand over the card, only to reveal that it was on the other side of the glass now. "Is this your card?" he asked a woman in the audience.

Applause broke out in the crowd.

"You've got to be kidding me. A fake demon possession?" Dean shook his head as he turned to walk away. "I can't believe people actually fall for that crap."

"It's not all crap," Sam argued as the two of us followed Dean.

"What part of that was not a steaming pile of BS?" Dean asked, gesturing back to Jeb and the people surrounding him.

Sam gave a short nod, agreeing with Dean there. "Okay, that was crap, but that's not all magicians. It takes skill."

Stopping in his tracks, Dean turned to his brother, grinning. "Oh, right, right, I forgot. You were actually into this stuff, weren't you?"

A smile spread across my lips. "Really?"

Turning to me, Dean was clearly enjoying the fact he was embarrassing his brother. "I mean, he had like a deck of cards, a wand and everything," he told me.

I had to fight back the laugh bubbling in my chest. Sam Winchester, an aspiring magician. Now that's something I would have wanted to see.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dude, I was thirteen. It was a phase."

Shaking his head, Dean shrugged. "Just... it bugs me. You know, playing at demons and, and magic, when the real thing will kill you bloody."

"Like a guy who drops dead of ten stab wounds without a single tear in his shirt?" Sam noted, talking about the case.

Dean gave a sharp nod as he started to walk again. "That's what I'm talking about."

DPOV

In the victim's hotel room, Liz, Sam and I were in the process of asking his assistant some questions while she packed up all of Vance's- the victim's- things.

"So, did your boss have any enemies that you know of?" I asked.

The assistant nodded. "Vance had plenty of enemies." Leaning down, she grabbed the end of a series of tied-together handkerchiefs and began to pull them out of a bag to wrap them up.

"How so?" Sam questioned.

The assistant shrugged. "He would steal from other magicians. All the time."

"What would he steal?" Liz asked while I frowned at the handkerchief rope that just kept coming out of the bag as if it would never end.

See, this is one of the reasons why I didn't like this kind of magic. I just didn't understand why it was so interesting. A never-ending rope of handkerchiefs? Where's the magic in that? How is it supposed to be entertaining?

That's another thing. Magic is not supposed to be entertaining. It's dangerous. Deadly. Real magic? It ends in death, and torture and mayhem. Real magic? It's messy and gross and bloody.

"Stage effects, closeup techniques," the assistant answered, the rope finally coming to an end. "Anything he could get his hands on."

Pulling my attention back to the assistant, I asked the next question. "Is that enough to get him killed?"

"These guys take this stuff pretty seriously," she noted as she reached over to remove a cloth from a table, revealing a white rabbit. "There you are." Bending down, she picked the rabbit up as I spoke again.

"Did you find anything weird in Vance's stuff? Well, weirder?"

"Matter of fact, I did." Putting the rabbit in a bag, she then pulled something out of a pocket of a cape before showing us the object.

It was a tarot card, the Ten of Swords. The picture on the card was of a man lying on the ground with ten swords sticking into his back.

"I'm guessing this didn't belong to Vance," Sam noted as he reached forward to take the car.

The assistant shook her head. "He hated card tricks. Never wanted them around. Let alone in his precious cape."

EPOV

While Sam was off doing some research, Dean and I walked into a theatre to find a possible lead. Up the front, on top of the stage, hung a sign. The Incredible Jay over the Table of Death. Under that sign of Jeb, on the phone, clearly annoyed and pissed.

"It's a lame gig. I'm in a fleabag hotel doing this man-of-the-people crap, and freaking Angel's in Vegas doing Cirque du Soleil! That should have been mine." He shook his head, even though the person on the other end of the phone couldn't see him. Hanging up, he sat down at a table, across from an older man while the camera crew hovered. "All right, boys, get it in gear, I don't got all day."

Dean and I moved to a table near Jeb's where two older men sat, watching the interview between Jeb and the other older man.

"You Vernon Haskell?" Dean asked as he sat behind the man he was addressing.

"Who's asking?"

"Federal agent, Ulrich. This is my partner, Agent Hetfield," Dean introduced as the two of us pulled out our FBI IDs. "We're looking into the death of Patrick Vance."

Our attention was pulled back to Jeb as he started the interview. "I'm Jeb Dexter. This is Devil Twist. We're chilling at the International Magicians' Convention, which is a dope chance to tip my hat to the wicked cats who came before me. Smoking hot effect last night, Jim."

"Jay," the older man corrected.

Jeb frowned at him, clearly confused. "Huh?"

"My name is Jay."

"Yeah, whatever." Jeb waved Jay off. "We can loop it later."

Vernon shook his head at the younger magician. "What a douchebag."

"Couldn't agree more." Dean grinned as I held back a chuckle. "Is, uh," he pulled the Ten of Swords card out from his pocket, "this familiar to you?"

Turning to give the card a glance, Vernon shrugged as he focused on Jeb and Jay again. "Should it be?"

"Well, we heard that you used tarot cards in your act," Dean noted.

"My act?" Vernon let out a humous laugh. "That was a long time ago. I haven't touched a deck in years, you know..." He held up his hand, showing us how shaky it was.

"Well, do you know anyone who might use them now?" I asked.

Vernon thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Well, there was a guy down on Bleeker Street."

"Oh, yeah. He, he peddles that kind of specialty stuff," the man with Vernon added.

Dean looked to the two men. "Did he have a problem with Vance?"

"Matter of fact, Vance crossed him about a year ago," Vernon answered, voice slightly hushed. "Probably cost him fifty grand in royalties," he added, the man next to him nodding confirmation.

"Would you happen to know where this person is?" I asked as Dean tucked the tarot card back into the pocket of his jacket.

"Four twenty-six Bleeker," Vernon answered without missing a beat.

"Ask for Chief," his friend added.

"Chief?" Dean asked, getting a nod in return. "Thank you." He gave Vernon a pat on the back as the two of us stood, leaving.

...

"Stay close to me," Dean told me as we walked down the creepy looking street, heading for the building Vernon and his friend directed us to.

I wasn't feeling too good about this. The lonely street. The sirens in the background. The dark night. The unending possibilities of danger lurking in every corner of the place. It just wasn't sitting right with me.

Coming to stop at the door of the building we were looking for, Dean knocked on the bars of the door before taking half a step back so he stood closer to me.

The chain-link door inside swung open, revealing a man dressed in black, who looked the two of us up and down.

Trying to play it cool, Dean moved another inch or so closer to me as he spoke to the man. "We're, uh… here to see Chief."

Raising an eyebrow, the guy looked us over once more before opening the door without a word. Stepping to the side, he gestured for us to enter, which we did.

The moment I stepped over the threshold, Dean's hand found its way into mine. I was startled for a moment but didn't question or stop him. I knew he was just being his protective self, so I let him hold my hand as we moved through the dark and mysterious building, following the man as he took us down to the basement.

As we came to a stop, the man turned to us. "Stay here. Don't touch anything," was all he said before he walked off.

Once we were alone, I turned to Dean, shaking my head. "I don't like this."

Looking around, I tried to ignore the gut-wrenching feeling inside me that was screaming at me, telling me to get out of there. The graffiti on the walls, exposed pipes, and dark atmosphere, it all seemed to increase the suspicion growing inside me.

Suddenly some music started playing in the background. We could hear the thumping of the bass get louder as a door opened, the light on the other side streaming in. Another man walked into the room, climbing the stairs, the light coming in from behind him making it hard to get a good look of the guy. That was until he stepped closer...

The was dressed in all leather, carrying a flogger which he used to slap his hand a few times. "You are really gonna get it tonight." He grinned at the two of us.

Dean moved a little closer to me as he tried to explain our way out of his. "There's been a misunderstanding." He grinned, just as embarrassed as I suddenly felt. "I, uh, think we've been had."

"Oh, you ain't been had till you been had by the Chief." The Chief smirked for a moment before he quickly added, "Oh, and before we get started, what's your safe-word?"

Oh, my God...

SPOV

Sitting in the motel room, doing some research on my laptop, I looked up at the sound of a knock on the door. Getting out of my seat, I walked around to go check to see who might be here. As I looked through the peephole, I let out a sigh, seeing Ruby on the other side.

Opening the door, I looked down at her. "What are you doing here, Ruby?"

Arms crossed over her chest, she looked as annoyed as I felt. "I should be asking you the same thing," she countered, pushing past me and into the room.

Closing the door, I followed her to the middle of the room. "I'm working a job."

"The whole world's about to be engulfed in hellfire, and you're in Magictown, USA."

I let out a short, bitter laugh. "You got something against magic?"

"That would almost be funny if thirty-four seals hadn't been broken already." She gave me an exasperated look. "Thirty-four, Sam. That's over halfway. The angels are losing this war. Every day is one day closer, and if someone doesn't do something soon-"

I cut her off, "And that someone is me?"

"Who else would it be? Lizzie?"

"Leave her out of this." If I didn't want anything to do with the end of the world, there was no way I was letting Lizzie deal with it. Not the way Ruby was talking about. "Look, I don't know where these seals are. I don't know squat. So why don't you tell me where you'd like me to start?"

"Well, you can quit dicking around here, for one. Bigger fish, Sam. And if the seals are being broken, you might want to go after the one doing the breaking."

"Lilith?"

"Cut the head off the snake. You're the only one who can stop her, Sam." She stepped up to me. "So, step up and kill the little bitch," she said as she passed me to stand on the other side of the room.

"Oh, I'm game, believe me," I assured her as I moved to where she'd been standing before. "It's not the psychic thing I got a problem with."

"Yeah, I know what you got a problem with, but tough. It's the only way."

"No." It was that simple.

"You know, this would all be so much easier if you'd just admit to yourself that you like it. That feeling that it gives you."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I don't, huh? Fine." She moved to leave, only to stop herself. "It's simple. Lucifer rises, the apocalypse starts. You think that you have blood on your hands now? People are gonna die, Sam. Oceans of people. So, you just let me know when you're ready." This time, she didn't stop, she just left.

DPOV

Back in the theatre, Liz and I headed over to where Sam stood, waiting for us. Liz and I hadn't really talked about what happened at the Chief's. It was awkward. Not because something happened, nothing happened, really. Once we explained the situation, the Chief was pretty understanding. Apparently, people got tricked into going there a lot.

No, the awkward part was what happened after. When Liz and I were in the dark street again. Standing there, in silence, thinking over what had just happened, and all the memories it brought up. Memories of us.

There was no point in denying my feelings anymore. I liked Liz. I knew. Sam knew it. I was pretty sure Liz did, too. So, standing there, in the ally, by ourselves... yeah it had been awkward.

"Find anything interesting?" I asked Sam as we reached him.

He turned to us. "What? Uh, no. You?"

I shook my head. "Nothing I want to talk about, or think about, ever again." There was no way I was telling him about the Chief. So, instead, I started towards Vernon and his friend as they stood closer to the stage. "The Chief, huh?"

They both turned to Liz, Sam and I, Vernon's friend smirking at us. "What's the matter? Chief not your type?"

I grinned back, but was clearly unamused. "You know, I could have you both arrested for obstruction of justice."

"How? You're no Fed," Vernon stated simply.

"We con people for a living, son," his friend added. "Takes more than a fake badge to get past us."

I let out a nervous laugh, our cover was blown. "You got us. Yeah, we- we are actually- aspiring magicians," I lied.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, we- we came to the convention 'cause we thought we could learn something."

"To get some idea for our new show," Liz finished.

Vernon looked intrigued. "Ooh, what kind of show?"

"Well, it's- it's a-"

When I stumbled on thinking something up, Sam saved the day. "It's a brother act."

"And I'm their assistant," Liz quickly added.

I went on with the lie, trying to make it sound believable. "Yeah. Yeah, you know, with the rings and doves and... rings."

Before anyone else could say more, applause broke out in the gathering audience as someone spoke into a microphone, introducing an act. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Incredible Jay."

"You want to learn something? Stick around." Vernon's friend gestured to the stage where Jay- the guy who Jeb had interviewed earlier- stood.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Jay addressed the audience, "what you're about to witness is a feat so daring, So dangerous, even the great Houdini dared not attempt it. I give to you...The Executioner!" Suddenly, a noose fell from the roof as the crowd 'oohed' and 'ahhed'.

...

Jay was now strapped into a straightjacket, the noose around his neck as someone from the audience checked to make sure that he was in fact, securely strapped in.

"Now, sir, as you can see, this jacket is the real article. Thank you, sir." Jay nodded to the man. "You may take your seat." Once the man was off the stage, Jay addressed everyone again. "Now, I will have one minute, sixty seconds, to escape certain death. Let's see if I can do it."

A curtain fell in front of Jay, so only his silhouette can be seen and he began to struggle and a time started to tick away.

He continues to try and escape, but as far as I could see, he wasn't getting anywhere. He was still firming strapped into the jacket.

"I don't think he's gonna make it," I mumbled to Liz and Sam.

The timer kept ticking down. Twenty-five seconds. Twenty. Fifteen. Yet he still wasn't out. There was no change.

As the clock reached ten seconds, Liz's hand grabbed mine, squeezing it tightly. I looked over at her, seeing her eyes wide with fear and anticipation. Turning back to the stage, I watched as the timed clicked to zero and the bottom under Jay fell away, leaving him hanging.

People cried out, gasped, stood and looked away as the lights changed so we could no longer see the silhouette.

But the curtains were then pushed aside, revealing Jay, standing there, unharmed and out of the noose and jacket.

People cheered and applauded the act as Jay gave a bow.

"Oh! That was amazing!" I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. "That was freakin' amazing!"

But Sam shook his head, looking at the stage, confused. "That was... not humanly possible."

Bamby

[s-horne]

Stony and maybe superfamily au, when tony died he became a star(a star like a god or celestial being of a star) and can only come to vist at night. It's bittersweet, but steve and peter are always glad to see him.

7.30pm

“You ready, kid?”

Steve closed his book and put it down on the table at the end of the couch. He looked over to see Peter standing in the doorway, dressed in his pyjamas and swiping at his eyes.

Steve had the urge to bundle his son into a hug and hold him close, to try and hide him away from the pain of the world as though he were a young, inexperienced child.

“Yeah.” Peter’s voice was rough with sleep. Even though it had been years, there were times when Steve still couldn’t get used to hearing Peter’s deep voice. Peter was still a child to him. He shouldn’t have a deep, low voice like an adult. He was too young to be an adult. “You?”

“Yeah. Blankets are in the car already and the coffee is just about ready.”

“Awesome. Want me to grab your coat?”

Steve heaved himself off the couch with a groan. “Please. And I had a sweater somewhere.”

“By the door already. The blue jeep?”

“No, black. Your–,” Steve paused and coughed. “We’ll take your dad’s.”

“Right. Sick. Can I drive?”

Steve snorted. “Not a chance, kid. I’ll drive. You can pick the music.”

A deep sigh left Peter, but his lips curved upwards anyway. “Fine. Guess that’s a fair trade.”

“Go get your coat,” Steve said with a fond roll of his yes. “You terror.”

 *

9.00pm

It wasn’t a long drive out of the city, from where they’d moved. They tried to make it once a month, battles permitting, just to wait and see if their star would appear. More often than not, it didn’t, and Steve and Peter would wake up huddled together on their picnic blanket with empty flasks of coffee and snack wrappers at their sides, hearts just as hollow.

“Usual spot?” Steve asked, heaving two portable chairs from the jeep’s trunk and slinging them over his shoulder.

Peter gave him a scornful look. “Like we’d ever go anywhere else.”

They’d picked their spot after many months of deliberation. For the first year, they had visited the countryside nearly every two days, checking out different spots to see which gave them the clearest sight of a completely uninterrupted night sky. They’d decided on the clearing at the top of the second hill around the first of Tony’s birthdays that they’d had to celebrate without him.

It was the most beautiful spot; lush and green in the summer and wonderfully frosty in the winter. When it was bitterly cold and snowing, they didn’t stay out all night long, going back a few times a month instead of just once and huddling around a small camp fire.

Despite the bitter temperatures, the winter sky was Steve’s favourite. It was so much darker, a deep, almost shining black that stretched with no end in sight. The stars that shone were like specks of glitter, standing indifferently but able to be connected to a neighbour to create bold outlines of famous constellations.

It made sense that Tony was among them, Steve thought. Not for the first time, either. It was one of his most common thoughts when he just sat back and stared up above him.

*

10.15pm

“Reckon he’ll come out tonight?” Peter asked, hands wrapped tightly around his flask of coffee. He had taken his coat off, but had a thick blanket draped over his shoulders. His shoes were off already and his socked feet shuffled on the picnic blanket.

“I don’t know.” Steve wishes he had a way of predicting when Tony would appear for them, but science had always been his husband’s thing. Not his. “Sorry, kid.”

Peter shrugged as he reached into his bag, fishing around for a bit before removing a bag of Cheetos with a triumphant cry.

“No worries. Hey, did I tell you about my meeting at SHIELD on Wednesday? No? Right, so, Ms. Hill was there with…”

*

11.42pm

Peter had fallen asleep somewhere around the 11pm mark, his hands clutching a bag of Twizzlers and his face half-obstructed by the cover for his foldable chair. The sight left a smile permanently etched on Steve’s face.

The wind had started to pick up a little, but Steve was content to stay there, watching. Waiting. Keeping guard over his boys as he waited ever so patiently for his love to return to him. He had time.

All the time in the world.

*

1.00am

“Oh!” Peter cried suddenly, voice a little hoarse with sleep. “We missed it. Crap, sorry!” Peter threw himself at Steve, hugging him tightly. “Damn, was I asleep? I was, wasn’t I?”

Steve chuckled softly, holding Peter tight. “Don’t worry, kid. You needed it.”

Peter pulled back slowly. “Happy birthday,” he said, looking at Steve as he sat back into his own chair. “I hope you get everything you want. I didn’t bring your present out here. Thought we could go out for dinner tonight and I’ll give it to you then.”

Putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder, Steve nodded. “Thanks, Pete. But you’re here with me right now so, I’m good.”

*

1.14am

“Snap!”

Steve laughed at the outrage on Peter’s face.

“That was mine,” Peter cried, reaching for the pile of cards that Steve took for himself.

“You wish,” Steve snorted, whipping them out of Peter’s grasp. “You’ll have to be quicker than that, Spidey-boy.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed and he leant forward, Tony’s fierce determination written all over his face. “Bring it, old man.”

* 

2.23am

Steve reached down and gently pushed some of Peter’s hair away from his face. When Peter’s nose screwed up and he batted the hand away as though it were a pest, Steve laughed.

“I tried to be nice,” he said before he dug his toes into the soft flesh below Peter’s ribs.

Peter squealed and rolled to his side, eyes suddenly wide open.

“Oh, my God. What’s happening? Are we being attacked?” Peter sat up, looking around him. There was a red patch on his cheek where he’d been lying on the rough material of the chair cover and his hair was a mess.

Steve wished his baby wasn’t so damn old.

“No, you stupid boy. Wake up. You might want to see this.”

In an instant, Peter spun around and almost gave himself whiplash as he threw his head backwards to stare up at the sky.

“Where – I can’t, wait. No, I can’t see it. Can you – oh.”

Peter’s voice trailed off, sounding a little choked up and Steve could sympathise.

“I take it you’ve found him?”

Steve had. It had been almost a year since Steve had last seen Tony’s star, but there he was. Brighter than Steve had remembered, but just as big and as attention-grabbing as Tony had been in real life.

“Hey, dad,” Peter whispered and Steve felt his heart constrict and then grow twice its size. “Good to see you.”

They lapsed into silence, both of them staring up at the sky with equal looks of awe written across their faces. Memories of their time together flooded Steve’s brain; pictures of them laughing at the camera, snapshots of Peter with Tony throughout their lives, from child through to teenager. It pained Steve that he would never have a new sight to commit to memory. 

Soon, the memories got too much for him and he felt like he was drowning. His heart was almost too big for his chest and he felt as though he were about to explode. 

“Tony,” he murmured, relief and love hitting him all at once. “God, how I’ve missed you.”

Tony’s star seemed to shine brighter somehow, sending rays of light into a wide circle around itself. 

“I didn’t know if I’d see you tonight. I hoped, just like I hope every night.”

Beside him, Peter was quiet. Steve knew that he had a raft of things to tell Tony. Even though they had had a small memorial garden set up for Tony shortly after his funeral, it was always a different feeling to speak to Tony’s star. It wasn’t quite Tony himself, but it was close enough.

“You look beautiful, Tony,” Steve said, leaning back in his chair and drinking in his fill of his husband. “So, so beautiful.”

“He’s bright,” Peter commented. His voice sounded a little choked up. “Brighter than last time.”

“He’s making up for the months he missed.” Steve reached out without looking and curled his hand over Peter’s shoulders. “Was just storing up all of his strength.”

“I missed him. Miss him.”

“I know, kid.” Steve didn’t even want to blink, didn’t want to look away from Tony for even half a second. “I miss him as well. But we still have a piece of him. However small.”

*

4.56 am

“–and so that’s why Carol isn’t allowed in the accounts department of SHIELD.”

Steve had heard the story a hundred times in a hundred different retellings by a hundred different people, but he chuckled nonetheless. It was the way that Peter told it that really got to him; the way that he went off on small tangents and spoke in such a way that was entirely reminiscent of Tony. 

Peter’s voice was nearly hoarse with talking for however long straight. It was clear that he was making the most of having Tony around, even high in the sky and thousands of lightyears away. 

Suddenly, Peter yawned widely. “Man, I’m not as young as I was,” he said, stretching his arms up over his head and wincing. 

Snorting, Steve rolled his neck. “You’re not the only one.” He didn’t have much to show for his old age, but he felt it. He felt even older whenever he noticed how old Peter was or when it hit him that yet another year had passed without Tony by his side. 

“Oh, I never told dad about Rhodey! Right, so get this,” Peter said, turning away from Steve and settling back down on the picnic blanket, looking up at the sky again. His eyes found Tony’s star easily and he sunk into his tale, face animated and hands flying through the air to punctuate his story. 

It was another tale that Steve had already heard, but he was more than content to lie back and let Peter’s voice wash over him. Life, in that moment, was very close to perfect. As perfect as it would ever be again.

*

5.28am

The sun had started to rise. It was the moment they’d been dreading all night – or, well, morning. Soon, Tony would fade into the bright sky, his light blending in with the yellows and oranges that would streak across the cloudless horizon.

“That was longer than last time, right?” Peter asked, voice quiet and a little broken. “Seemed to go a lot quicker, though.”

“Yeah.” Steve didn’t turn his head, choosing instead to continue looking up at his favourite star until he could see it no more. He knew his eyes would start to burn as the sun got higher and higher, but he couldn’t bear to look away. “It did.”

Lapsing into silence again, they listened instead to the dawn chorus and the breeze picking up through the trees behind them. They knew they only had around two more minutes before the sun rose fully and the stars were no longer visible.

“He’ll still be there, won’t he?”

Steve smiled despite the lump in his throat. “Of course he will. He’s always there. You just can’t see him.”

“Can talk to him, though.”

“Course.”

The sky was alight with colour. White faded into a pale yellow, which in turn shone into a deep orange and blended out until eventually the sky was finally blue.

“Goodnight,” Steve couldn’t stop himself from whispering, not caring how his voice broke. Peter sniffed beside him and Steve noticed out of the corner of his eye how Peter turned away and busied himself with tidying up. “Goodbye, sweetheart. I’ll see you again. Soon.”

There was a warmth that flowed through Steve and he knew that it had nothing to do with the rising sun. It went from his head to his heart and right down to his toes, flooding his body with a happiness he knew came from only one place.

Despite his very best efforts, there was a sadness there, too. As beautiful as the effect was, the light that the new dawn cast meant that the stars were entirely eclipsed.

No more Tony.

*

6.15am

There was no point in staying there for any longer, but Steve couldn’t find it in himself to move. Even with Tony was gone from view, Steve still had Peter and a flask of almost-warm coffee left to drink.

“Another game of cards, Pete?”

“Sure.” Peter yawned so widely he nearly swallowed his head and Steve laughed loudly. “Oi! You may laugh, but I’m still awake enough to whip the pants off you.”

Steve snorted and shuffled to the edge of his chair, gesturing at the pack on the picnic blanket as Peter swivelled around to find it. “Prove it.”

*

6.59am

“What’s the rules about eating sugar for breakfast?”

Steve chuckled, not opening his eyes as he heard Peter rummaging around in one of their bags. “You’re an adult now, kiddo. Pretty sure I can’t tell you off for eating Twizzlers before 10am anymore. You’re in charge of your own teeth. Use your discretion wisely.”

“Right. Well, in which case, I’m using my discretion to say happy birthday.”

Steve peeked out of one eye, laughing and sitting upright when he saw what Peter was holding out to him. A chocolate cake clearly designed for only two people, twice the size of a single cupcake and no more. There was some lopsided icing threatening to slide right off its top onto the floor and a half-tied ribbon around it.

“In hindsight,” Peter said, “I probably shouldn’t have tried to make it myself.” He shrugged and handed it over to Steve, producing a knife from somewhere. “But it’s the thought that counts. Pretty sure Dad would agree.”

Smiling, Steve swallowed, turning the cake this way and that to have a good look at it from every angle. It definitely wasn’t an even shape and it seemed to be missing part of its base, but Steve’s heart could have beaten right out of his chest at the gesture.

“I’m sure he would,” he said, looking back up at Peter and feeling his smile grow. “It’s perfect. Good use of discretion, kid.”

“Happy birthday, Pops.”

Above them, a twinkle of light shone down, a tiny fleck of white in an otherwise perfectly blue sky.

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Becoming A Stark (4) Peter Parker X Stark! FemReader

A/N: So this is the longest chapter I’ve written for this so far! And it’s one of my favorites. Also my mom surprised me with a Nintendo Switch to make up for the fact that I haven’t been allowed to leave the house since March so I’m hoping to get another chapter of this out this weekend but there’s also Animal Crossing now so.......... As always let me know your thoughts on this or if you want to be tagged whenever I post a new chapter!

Word Count:  8346

Warnings: Mention of drug and alcohol abuse, swearing I think

Chapter One || Previous Chapter || Master List

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” Tony’s voice is painted with the smile he wears as Pepper walks into the living room.

“You saw me two days ago.”

“Two days too long.” He says before kissing her cheek. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“That’s because this is just a stop. I’m not staying. I’m picking up Y/N.”

“You’re taking Y/N…?” He trails off in confusion.

“We’re going to get mani/pedis, do some back to school clothes shopping, and maybe get dinner. I want to get to know your daughter better.”

“She seems fine with hanging out with everyone except me.” Tony says dejectedly. 

“You’re an acquired taste.” Pepper teases before placing a quick kiss on his lips. “Give her time. She hasn’t had even a week of having a father yet.” 

“What time will you be back?” He asks, already knowing that he’ll have to fill his afternoon by himself.

“Six or seven maybe?” Tony glances at the Stark Phone that he’s actually started carrying with him now that it’s more personal. Natasha had snapped a picture of Y/N at, apparently, your favorite place in the whole city, which looks like a big book store. You’re not even looking at the camera, you’re carrying a ton of books and yet reaching for another one, but you’re smiling which is more than he can say for the past few days. When Natasha sent it to him, he immediately made it his background and lock screen. It may not have been a week, but you’re definitely becoming his world. “I’m going to see if she’s ready to go.”

You take one last look in the mirror, trying to decide if this is the outfit you want to be seen out in the world with famous Pepper Potts. Maybe you should change and dress up, but you’d rather be comfortable if you’re being honest. So instead of a dress or a romper, you’re in a pair of ripped denim shorts, a Rolling Stones t-shirt that you found at a thrift store a few months ago for so cheap but it’s in such good condition, and tie dyed high tops. You had thrown your hair into a ponytail with a red scrunchy only because the humidity was too much today. There’s a knock on the door. “Come in.” Jerk It Out by Caesars is playing over JARVIS, but he turns it down as Pepper walks into your room. You are in the middle of putting on the heart shaped pendant that Nana had given you for your thirteenth birthday as Pepper stands across your room.

“You ready to head out?” You glance back at the mirror once more time as you see Pepper in a red cocktail length dress.

“Do I need to dress up?” You ask, suddenly worried that your shorts and t-shirt won’t cut it in Pepper’s world.

“Honestly no. I probably should change. I came from a business lunch at this overly posh restaurant. If you’re good waiting like five minutes, I’ll go change.”

“Yeah I’ll be fine.” You grab a bag from your pile of bags, throw your wallet, a testing kit and then wander down to the kitchen to grab some low snacks.

“Rolling Stones?” Tony asks in mock surprise. “Couldn’t wear something like AC/DC or Black Sabbath? Have some taste if you’re really my daughter.”

“If you’re having doubts, I’ll go home to Nana and Pops.” You say as you throw the applesauce pouches in your purse.

“Nope. Not happening. I’ll forgive your subpar music taste, but we’ll get working on music education soon.” You just roll your eyes. You weren’t going to admit to him that you already listen to AC/DC a good chunk of the time and when in the right mood you listened to Black Sabbath.

“Y/N Miss Potts wants to know if you want her to grab you a pair of sandals for your pedicure.” JARVIS asks.

“I’ll grab a pair.” Turning to make your way back up the stairs, you walk back into your room. Grabbing the first pair of sandals you see. As you walk out your door, you see Pepper walking towards you in a loose white top, denim shorts, and a pair of sandals. “That’s the most laid back I think I’ve ever seen you.” 

“That’s because you see me coming from SI most of the time and I have to dress up for that. But we’re going for comfy and casual now.” She smiles at you. “Did your dad see your shirt?”

“And give me crap for my subpar music taste? Yeah.”

“I had a feeling he might.” 

“That’s why he’s not invited.” Pepper laughs.

“It’s not because we’re going shopping and for mani/pedis which he would be miserable at anyway?”

“That too. But still, if he hates on the Stones, he’s not invited.” Pepper lets out another laugh as the two of you walk back into the kitchen. 

“What joke did I miss out on this time?” Tony asks.

“You had to be there.” You say instead of explaining. 

“It’s nothing.” Pepper says, leaning over to place a kiss on his lips. 

“I can’t tell if you’re corrupting her or the other way around.” Tony says as the two of you walk towards the elevator. “Maybe I should come along for supervision.”

“Bye Tony.” Pepper says, rolling her eyes before telling JARVIS to take them down to the garage. “So where do you normally go for back to school shopping?”

“Well we never had a ton of money, so Nana and I usually hit up the thrift stores. But I find great deals like this,” You motion to your shirt. “Four bucks and it’s basically brand new. Well as brand new as an old shirt can be.”

“Where are your favorite shops?” 

“We’d go to Buffalo Exchange if we were looking for more like dresses and stuff. Like that one I wore to dinner I got at the Buffalo Exchange on the lower East Side. But there’s also a handful of good mom and pop thrift shops in Queens and Brooklyn if you’d rather head over that way. Bayside Thrift Shop is a good one in Queens or there’s Out of the Closet in Brooklyn.”

“Which one do you have better luck at?” Pepper asks as they walk to where Happy is waiting for them.

“I’ve always had great luck at Bayside.”

“So lets start there and then we can head to Buffalo Exchange before mani/pedis.” Pepper suggests. 

“Where are we heading?” Happy asks as you and Pepper slide into the backseat. 

“Bayside Thrift Shop in Queens.” Pepper turns to you. “Want to put some music on while we drive over?”

“Really?” 

“Nothing you put on can be worse than what Tony puts on when he’s in a bad mood.” She says with a smile. 

“Um ok. JARVIS can you play my June playlist?” You ask before he can list that you have a playlist called Tony Stark Can Rot. For some reason you feel like she wouldn’t like that as much.

“Certainly Y/N.” The first notes of Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses start to play and you relax into the seat. If you had headphones in, it would feel like all the times that you, Betty, and Astrid had gone between Queens and the main island during the summer. The biggest difference was you weren’t crammed into the humid subway car and sitting to your right was your dad’s girlfriend, who was the farthest from the evil stepmother character from the thousands of books you read growing up. In fact, she is sweet and kind, someone you could find yourself loving easily. 

You turn your head towards the window and focus on the passing sights of NYC as you head towards the area you had lived your whole life. You could point out the hospital you had been born at if you turned down the right streets. If you went up a few blocks you would pass your elementary school, your middle school, and the school you’d be starting at in a little over a week. Your whole life up until a few days ago centered on this area of New York. That bodega was the first one you had been able to run to on your own and that’s the street you take to go the back way to Betty’s old apartment. “Missing home?” Pepper asks, seeing you staring out the window with longing.

“This place is all I knew for the longest time. I spent more time in Queens than I did in Manhattan.” You say with a shrug, not wanting to sound ungrateful, but you miss home. 

“You’ve gone through a lot this week. It’s ok to miss it.” Pepper’s hand rests on yours and gives it a little squeeze. “Queens can always be home, even if you’re living in Midtown.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever give Queens up.”

“Even when I’m in Malibu, I miss New York like crazy. It’s definitely home.” You listen to what Pepper’s saying as Happy turns the familiar path to head towards your favorite thrift store. He pulls into a lot across the way from the thrift store before getting out to open the door for you and Pepper. “Now, will you show me your favorite thrift shop?” Pepper asks.

“Easily. This place is meant to be shared.” You can’t help but smile as the three of you cross the street.

“What do you like the best about Bayside?”

“They tend to have a lot of graphic tees. Both of like the band variety but also just like sassy variety. And I could live in tees if I didn’t have to wear other clothes sometimes.” You admit as you open the door and hear the familiar chime. You see Anita at the counter as you walk in.

“Y/N! We thought we were going to miss you for back to school shopping.”

“Never! I have to come to Bayside.” You say, being completely honest.

“Where’s your Nana?”

“I brought my… Pepper this time.” You say motioning to your dad’s girlfriend, but not knowing how to introduce her.

“Well any friend of Y/N is a friend of ours. We thought you might be coming by, so I set a few things aside that you might be interested in.” Anita reaches behind the counter and pulls a stack of about four t-shirts out. Pepper watches as your face lights up. “We just got them in.” You lift the top couple up to look at the bottom couple. 

“These are awesome!” The black and grey shirts look similar to things that Tony would wear, but Pepper keeps that to herself. 

“I’ve got them. You keep looking.” Happy says as he takes the shirts from your hands.

“Happy, I can carry them-”

“It’s clothes, they’re not heavy. I’ve got it.” 

“Thank you Happy.” Pepper trails a couple steps behind you as you finger through the shirts handing. The first to get pulled off the rack is a Nirvana shirt with a yellow smiley face on it. Then a blue tie dyed Pink Floyd 1973 tour shirt follows it. 

“That’s one your dad can’t even try to say he was at. Three year olds weren’t allowed.” You roll your eyes, but you can’t help but smile at Pepper’s comment. You find another more classic looking Pink Floyd shirt hanging on the rack a few shirts back that you add to your pile. 

“If I had been wearing that would he have said I had better music choices?”

“Probably. He’s just judgmental when it comes to music.”

“The Stones are classics!” You argue as your hands run through the racks to fall on a Sweet Child O’ Mine Shirt. “Oh this one is a winner.” It has a faded look to it and you love that in your shirts.

“Definitely so.” Pepper takes it from the rack and hands it to Happy. “To be fair to all your tastes, I think this one is needed though,” she says pulling another Rolling Stones shirt from the rack and you smile at it.

“They are my favorite.”

“Tony would die if he heard that.” You shrug. “Wanna try these on?” Pepper motions towards the pile that Happy is holding.

“Sure.” But then an Eagles Hotel California Tour 1977 shirt catches your eye. “One more for the road.” You say before snagging the shirt. You try on the shirts you had found before getting to the stack that Anita had put aside for you. You look at the four finally. The first was a grey Pink Floyd 1972 Carnegie Hall T-shirt?! Holy shit! Your mind might explode. Then there’s a black Aerosmith shirt with a boombox with wings that says ‘Let the Music Do The Talking’ which is such a big mood. Underneath that one there’s a black Nirvana Unplugged in NYC shirt which you have been looking for forever since you love that album. And last but not least there’s a classic looking Guns N’ Roses printed on black shirt in a gold font. Anita knows you well. Four of your favorite bands and to be honest four of your new favorite shirts. So far all of the shirts fit pretty well, or even fall on the large side which is how you like your t-shirts. 

Pepper knocks on the fitting room door. “I found a couple things I think you’d like Y/N.” You open the door wearing the Guns N’ Roses shirt. “Oh I like that one.”

“Really?” You’re surprised that Pepper would be into band shirts.

“You think I could date your father and not be into what he considers some of the greatest musicians of our time?” Pepper smiles at you. “But also gold is just a good color for you and your skin tone.”

“I’m not going to be Iron Man at any point.”

“Wouldn’t want you to be. However I did grab these shirts because I think your dad’s reactions will be worth it.” You look at them and laugh. 

“He’ll never let me leave the tower wearing them.”

“So wear them around the tower to bug him.” You close the door and try on the two shirts. The first is a tank top that you probably never would have looked at had all of this not happened. But Pepper was right. Tony would react to it, hopefully. Across the black fabric printed in white the shirt reads ‘I’m A Female’. Then in pink it reads ‘Fe = Iron, Male = Man” before finishing in white ‘Therefore I Am Iron Man’. You open the door to show Pepper.

“If I walked into the kitchen one day wearing this telling him I was going on a run, how much of a heart attack would I give him?” Pepper doesn’t have a chance to answer before Happy does.

“He will lock you in the tower. And possibly never let you leave.” Happy states, knowing how protective Tony is even after only knowing this kid for a few days. 

“Worth it.” You and Pepper say with a teasing grin.

“Can I take a picture? That might be my favorite shirt so far.” Pepper asks. You nod and then, shocking even yourself, you throw your hand out in the standard Iron Man pose and Pepper snaps the photo. “I love it.” You smile and turn back into the dressing room before the flush takes over your face at the affection from your dad’s girlfriend. You shake your head, pushing the thoughts that want to invade your mind out of your head as you lift the last shirt up to change into it. 

This one is grey and in white letters say ‘Screw Your “Lab Safety” I Want Superpowers”. Your dad was going to hate it for sure, knowing so many scientifically modified people. But you love it. Plus it’s so comfy. You roll the sleeves a bit and then open the door to show Pepper and Happy.

“He’s going to hate that one as well.” Happy says the moment he sees it.

“Or he’ll laugh and say show it to Steve.” Pepper says, cocking her head to one side. “Either way, we’re getting it.” In your head you know you shouldn’t buy all the shirts that you tried on, but even if you let Pepper pay for the two that she found, the remaining ones should only come up to about thirty dollars, and you think you have that much in your wallet. You collect all the clothes in the dressing room, which Happy immediately takes from you, and you follow Pepper and him towards check out when your eyes fall on the most beautiful jean jacket you’ve ever seen. 

It was a medium wash jacket, that had been loved just enough that it was no longer stiff. It had some wear and tear in some spots, but it was loose enough that it would sit perfectly on you. You have to try it on. Pepper sees you debating about the jacket, but can’t figure out why you’re debating. “It’s a gorgeous jacket. Try it on.” You take it off the hanger, gently as if it was a child instead of a jacket, and slip it over your shoulders. Rolling the cuffs up a couple times so it didn’t hang over your hands you look down at the jacket, loving that it hits an inch or two below where your shorts do. “Now that is how a jean jacket should fit.” Pepper says, smiling that you found something you clearly loved on this trip. You slide it off your shoulders and the price catches your eyes. Yes, thrifting can be great, but the jacket is still fifty dollars even at the thrift store. You don’t have that much. 

“I don’t need it.” You say, not wanting to bring up that you can’t afford it even if you did need it.

“I’m not taking no for an answer on that. A jacket that looks that perfect on you has to come home with you.” She places her hands gently on it and lifts it from your hands. 

“Pepper, really I don’t-”

“Tony can afford it and it needs a good home.” Then it hits you, Pepper’s not going to make- no let you pay for any of this.

“You found many things today.” Anita says looking at the pile Happy and Pepper had made on the counter. “This is going to look the best on you.” She places a hand on the jacket that Pepper had added. 

“She pulls it off like no one else.” Pepper agrees. Anita and Pepper chat about the weather and honestly you’re not sure what else because you just watch as the number climbs. You’ve been coming here for years and never seen the number go that high. Your heart falls into your gut when the jacket gets added. Looking in your purse, you know you have about forty dollars to your name and that wouldn’t cover even half of that right now. But Pepper hands over a black card, similar to the one that Natasha used the other day, and doesn’t even stop the conversation. It’s like this money thing doesn’t even bother her. But it definitely bothers you. Anita puts the clothes into a cloth bag and hands it to you. 

“Thanks Anita.” You smile at her, but you don’t know when you’ll be back. All you’ll remember now is feeling uncomfortable for spending Tony’s money here. Happy opens the door and you follow Pepper out of the shop. Pepper is trying to make small talk but notices you looking nowhere but the ground. She takes the bag from you and hands it to Happy. 

“Can you put this in the car?” 

“But-”

“Five minutes?” She says. And technically, Pepper is his boss, so Happy nods.

“I’ll be right across the street.” She smiles as he walks across the street. 

“So wanna talk about it?” She asks, bumping shoulders with you.

“Talk about what?”

“Why the ground is so interesting?” Pepper takes a pause trying to give you a chance to speak. “Or maybe about why you went so quiet in one of your favorite places?” Normally, you’d just keep it to yourself but for some reason, you don’t think Pepper will judge you.

“We, uh didn’t have a ton of money growing up. Whatever money we did have went to making sure we could afford rent and my insulin and making sure that there was food on the table. So once I was about eleven, some of the other people in our building would let me run errands for them or watch their younger kids and they would pay me some pocket money for doing it. And that pocket money I saved in a jar throughout the year so that once I could go back to school shopping and twice a year I could buy Nana and Pops something nice from Christmas and their birthdays. We didn’t really celebrate many holidays, but the ones we did we celebrated really small. Santa would bring me clothes while my friends would get touchpads and toys and I didn’t question it because I knew that while their families didn’t have to worry about whether or not you were going to have to choose between buying medicine you needed to live or putting food on the table.

But Nana and Pops tried to make it so I didn’t feel that. So when I got the chance to go to The Strand or Bayside, it wasn’t picking everything that caught your eye because I was the one paying for it. So I would buy one or two books or shirts because I couldn’t afford to spend all that money if I wanted to buy Christmas presents too.” You play with Queenie’s tubing, not wanting to look Pepper in the eyes as you continue. “But in the past three days, Natasha, Tony, you, whoever, have made it clear that Tony’s made of money and that he’s fine with spending it on books, phones, clothes, whatever he or anyone else wants. But there are people out there that aren’t that fortunate. 

The money that Natasha spent buying me books the other day could have paid for my Nana’s medicine for a month. Or how much you just spent on clothing for me could have bought me clothing for the whole school year and bought Nana and Pops Christmas presents. Hell I looked up how much my new phone cost Tony and it could have paid for four months of insulin. That’s sixteen vials. But more importantly that’s nearly 1500 dollars. And I bet if I lost it, he would have a new one waiting for me.” Pepper lets you continue the rant, and doesn’t let you know that he added more upgrades to your phone than the baseline one that does indeed cost as much as your medicine does. But what she would rather talk about is why does your insulin cost that much? “You guys might not care about money, but it makes me sick every time that you drop this money on me. I’m not worth it.”

“First of all, you are definitely worth it and so much more. Tony has money just wasting away in the bank and likes to waste it on the people he loves. That means he’s going to drop money on you. But coming from the lifestyle you grew up in, it’s going to take some getting used to. Plus in his mind, he has fourteen years of Christmas presents and birthdays to make up for.” Pepper watches as your eyes go wide and knows that this might be the wrong thing to say. “But Tony is also up for doing things for charity. So maybe you can come up with an initiative that he can throw money towards for you. Like maybe fighting to lower the cost of insulin for others? Because while it’s not a problem now for you to afford it, why should it cost so much for others? Tony would definitely like to fight that. And that is something that SI can also get behind as well.” You look up for the first time since finding the jean jacket back in the shop.

“Really? SI would get behind something like that?” You ask, not understanding why a tech company would get behind something like the cost of insulin.

“Tony wants to look into manufacturing things to make diabetics' lives easier, which I told him he needs to talk to you about before doing anything. But your name is part of the company. You’re a Stark now. So anything that SI does, takes an interest in what you have an interest in. So yes, the cost of insulin is something that SI will fight for too. Help me do some research on who to support and we can start the battle as one of your first introductions to the world as Tony’s daughter?” You nod, knowing this is something you’ve always wanted to help with but never had the power to do anything about. 

“Thank you.” You say, before doing something without thinking- you throw your arms around her. Her arms wrap around you, but she’s not sure what she’s being thanked for. 

“What for?”

“Listening. Being here. Being human?” You say, joking about the last one, but it feels right.

“Of course. I don’t know how to be anything else.” She says and pulls on your ponytail a bit. “Now you want to show us around your neighborhood a bit before we head back to Manhattan?”

“You want to see it?” You ask, surprised that Pepper wants to see Queens.

“It’s part of what makes you you, so yes.” Happy finishes crossing the street to be back with the two of you.

“There’s a really great coffee shop up this way. Or if we go down this way there’s an amazing sandwich shop called Delmar’s. Oh and Pops goes to play chess at this park down that way.” You point out three different ways. 

“Coffee sounds like a plan.” Pepper says. You drop your arms, not wanting to hold on to her longer than you’re allowed to but Pepper keeps an arm around your shoulder as you walk towards the coffee shop you love. It was always a treat when you got to go, but the smell alone was something you had missed. They make all their syrups from scratch and you could spend all day there reading if you were allowed. 

As you walk, you point out the book shop where you sold the books you were done with to make some extra money, the apartment building that you, Nana, and Pops lived until there was a rat infestation, and the bodega that you used to go to to stock up on low supplies. You wave to some people that you know by face alone and smile at the feeling of being home. It feels nice to share this world with Pepper, and almost makes you wish Tony was here to show him what home feels like to you. It’s not throwing money around on things you don’t need. It’s the feeling of the sun on your skin as you walk around the streets you’ve known all your life.

At the coffee shop, Pepper buys you and Happy coffee, yours iced and his hot, as well as an iced tea for herself. “So I was thinking, we could go to Buffalo Exchange to try and find you some bottoms to go with the shirts we found for you, or maybe a dress or two? That way you have some clothes until the rest of your stuff gets moved from Queens?” You don’t say anything, but you know she’s right. You only have a few more sets of outfits and half of them aren’t appropriate for school. You force yourself to take a sip of your coffee as you nod your head. “We don’t have to Y/N. We can hold off.”

“No, we should. I don’t have that much stuff left at the tower and some of it is more wear at home type stuff.”

“Do you want to make a stop at your Nana and Pops house and get some more stuff?” Pepper asks.

“Can I?” You miss your Nana and Pops so much it hurts.

“Of course. Tony isn’t trying to keep you from them. And we’re already in the area.” You can’t stop the grin from exploding on your face. You know that Nana and Pops won’t have much more baggage you can put stuff in though so you turn to Marcie, who’s working at the counter. 

“Hey Marcie, do you guys have any boxes that you haven’t broken down yet?”

“Actually yeah. We got shipments in this morning of some stuff. What size are you looking for?”

“Big enough to put some clothes and stuff in.”

“Ah moving apartments again?” Marcie had helped you with boxes when the rat situation happened. “Rats again?”

“Not rats, but something like that.” You say with a teasing smile. She walks to the back and grabs the couple bigger ones.

“Will these work?”

“Those are perfect!”

“You can have them on the condition that you still come and get coffee occasionally.”

“Deal! I’m going to go to MSST so I’ll still come by!”

“Then the boxes are all yours.” She hands them to you and Happy offers to take them from you. Marcie looks at him with confusion but you wave it off.

“Thanks Marcie!” You say before returning to the table where Pepper sits.

“I’ll bring the car up,” Happy says. “Be back in five minutes.” 

“Thanks Happy.” Pepper says as Happy takes the boxes with him as he leaves the shop.

“You seem to know all the people at your favorite shops.” Pepper comments.

“New York is more like a small town when you think about it. We all go to the same businesses over and over again. Why shouldn’t we know the people who’s shops we frequent?” You shrug. “Plus Marcie is the best person to get boxes from when you have to move buildings. Then you don’t have to pay for them.” Pepper and you both drink your cold beverages as you sit waiting for Happy. 

“Have you ever traveled anywhere?” Pepper asks, wanting to get to know you better. You shake your head.

“I’ve uh never left New York. We never really had the money.” You glance out the window. “I don’t even have a state ID, much less a passport.”

“Well we can get you an ID sweetheart, that’s easy. And knowing your dad, he’ll want to get you a passport since deciding to take last minute trips is one of his favorite things. But if you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?”

“You’re not going to like plan a trip, right? Because you’ve spent plenty-”

“Y/N, I just want to get to know you. Now if Tony asks you, I would answer on the bet that he wants to take you wherever you answer.” 

“The kid in me wants to say Disney World because who doesn’t want to go. But I think the actual answer would be the Grand Canyon. I’ve always wanted to see if it’s as big as it looks in pictures. And the third choice would be London. So many writers lived there and I want to see what inspires them to write the way they do.” You look back at your coffee. “I’m not the best at picking just one place.”

“Never said you had too.” Pepper says, trying to catch your eyes. “I think all three are wonderful ideas. Maybe we should go there, but leave Tony at home to finish the deadlines he never touches.” You look up at her with surprised eyes. “Ok, maybe he can finish them before the trips and then come along because if I steal his kid for that long, I’ll never hear the end of it. He might take my job away for stealing you for that long, if it didn’t mean he would have to start doing work again.”

“Really?”

“You’re all he talks about these days. And I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. He’s not someone that’s easy to get to know. And I would say he’s definitely an acquired taste, but once he’s in your corner, having Tony Stark have your back is sometimes greater than having Iron Man. I hope you get to learn that. Because I know he desperately wants to show you how much he already loves you.”

“But he barely knows me.”

“There’s this thing about being a parent, so I’ve heard, where you love your kid so much from the moment they enter your life. That’s how he feels, and how he’s felt about you since the moment he saw you for the first time. Every night since you entered his life he said to me ‘God Pep, I didn’t know I could love a kid so much.’ And I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.”

“But I’ve kind of treated him like garbage?”

“And you think you’re the first teenager to ever say things to their parents like that? You have a better excuse than most though. Most aren’t thrust into having parents as late into life as you were, but you’re dealing with a lot. Most people also aren’t dealing with having Tony as a father. I give you props for that alone.”

“You’re the one dating him.”

“Yes but that’s different.” Happy pulls up outside the coffee shop. “Come on. We have all the time in the world to debate who has it worse in regards to Tony.” Pepper teases you. You turn and wave to Marcie.

“Bye Marcie!”

“Good luck with the move!” She waves before returning to the order she’s in the middle of taking. You follow Pepper towards the car and climb into the backseat. Happy drives you towards the apartment he had taken-picked you up from less than a week from. 

“Would you feel more comfortable if I stay in the car?” Pepper asks as you pull up and Happy puts the car in park. If it was Tony, yes. But you like Pepper. You want her to see the place that you think of as home so you shake your head. 

“Plus I want you to meet my Nana and Pops.” You swing the door open before Happy even has a chance to open the door for you. You’re too excited to see Nana and Pops. Usually you would just run up the six flights of stairs to the apartment, but you’re not going to subject Pepper and Happy to that just because you don’t want to wait for the slow elevator. So instead you bounce on the balls of your feet as you wait for the elevator. If not for your fear of elevators dropping, you would have continued bouncing the rest of the way up. But finally, finally, the elevator arrives and you count the three doors as you pass towards home. It’s weird to not have your key so you knock on the door. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” You hear your Pops voice and you could almost cry. He opens the door and you don’t wait a moment before flying into his arms. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” He pulls you away to say something, probably like ‘there’s no way you’re my granddaughter. You’ve gotten too big,’ but you push against his arms to wrap your arms around him again. “I’m right here. Not going anywhere. I got you.”

“Who’s at the door Lou?” Your Nana calls and it sounds just like coming home now.

“It’s me Nana.” You say even though the sound is muffled by your Pops’ chest. 

“Is that you babydoll? What are you doing here?” Your Nana rounds the corner and then you're out of your Pops’ arms and into her’s.

“We’re sorry to just surprise you. But we were in the area and Y/N has been missing you.”

“Never apologize for bringing her ho- to visit.” Your Pops voice is a little rougher than normal. “You must be Pepper Potts.”

“Yes, nice to meet you. And this is Happy, or um Harold Hogan, our head of security.” In the back of your mind you place the fact that Happy’s real name is Harold of all things, but right now you’re too focused on the fact that you’re home. “Y/N also needs to get a few more clothes and things so Happy has some boxes for her to put some stuff in.”

“That’s fine. She’s always welcome to come and get things. This may not be as fancy as where she lives now, but it will never stop being her home.” Pops voice rings out and Pepper can feel that he’s not welcoming them in like he welcomes you. 

“Pepper, will you come help me get the stuff in my room?” You ask. You know Pops probably isn’t happy with the way things are working out either, but leaving Happy, he can at least go over the security plan or something. Leaving Pepper seems just mean after how nice she’s been to you today.

“Sure honey.” Pepper smiles at you. She follows you down the hallway to the door where your name is printed in block letters on a piece of computer paper. “I like this.”

“Thanks, Betty made it for me.” You pull it off the door. “Do you think I can hang it on my door at the Tower?” Pepper nods.

“If you want to, I don’t see why you can’t.” You open the door and Pepper follows you into the room that is about a quarter of the size of your room at the Tower, yet feels more at home than the Tower. “So what is coming with this time?” Pepper knows that at least with most of the books and if you want any of the furniture, they are going to have to get a few men to move it. 

“I’m thinking mostly clothing and maybe some of my books. Not all of them, but at least a few of them. Oh and there’s a blanket I’ve been missing.” You walk over to the dresser in the corner and open the bottom two drawers, which are filled with mostly distressed jeans and shorts. “All of these.” You say with a laugh.

“How about I work on putting those in this box while you get the blanket and pick out some books?” Pepper suggests. You shrug, it sounds like a good enough plan. Walking over to your shelf, you have to stop yourself from calling out to JARVIS to ask him to put on music and instead pull your phone and put on your playlist instead. Have you really gotten that used to living at the tower? Before you can get to the shelf, you spy the quilt you want sticking out from the under bed boxes. 

You pull it out and hold it close. Part of you wants to unwrap it and drape it around your shoulders, but you know that you’d be wasting precious time doing that. So instead you trace your fingers over the different triangles of fabric. Pepper looks up and sees what you’re looking at. “Is this the blanket you were missing?” You nod and she comes to take a seat next to you on the twin bed that you grew up in. “It’s beautiful. Was it handmade?” Pepper asks, but doesn’t make a move to touch it since it’s clearly special to you.

“My, uh, mom made it.” With everything that has happened in the last week, Pepper hasn’t actually heard anything about your mom besides Tony talking about how your mom was a one night stand. “She was in a recovery program the first three months after I was born to try and get her recovered. Alcohol and drugs. Part of her recovery was making this quilt. Something to focus on as she went through withdrawal. It’s part of the reason I was placed with my grandparents. I was born two and a half months early and addicted to crack. So she wasn’t that fit of a parent. But they hoped that with rehab she would get better and come home. It, um, didn’t work like they hoped. She relapsed and they found her on the streets six months later dead of an overdose.” You don’t look up as you trace your favorite triangle, the peach colored one. “This is the only thing I have of her. I’d like to think she made it for me, but I think I know deep down, she only made it because the program made her.”

“She would have been lucky to know you.” Pepper says, wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“But she didn’t so…” You trail off. “But I have Nana and Pops. And I have Tony now. And I guess you and the Avengers too.”

“You got bonus family galore.” Pepper holds you close. “I got you and I’m not letting go.” She whispers into your hair as she places a kiss there.

“Thanks Pepper.” You lean into her side, before placing the quilt into the box at your feet. “I’m glad you got me.” You admit. 

It doesn’t take much longer to pack up the clothes and books you want from the room you love. There’s still other things you’ll need to come back for, but you can do that another day. You have the things you need to get you through at least the beginning of school. Before you know it, Happy is taking the boxes down to the car and you’re wrapped up in your grandparents’ arms once again. “You’re welcome anytime babygirl. You have your key for that reason.” Your Nana says into your hair. 

“I know Nana.”

“And if you need a break, you come on over. Being Stark’s daughter isn’t the end all be all.” Pops’ voice is aimed more at Pepper than at you, but you nod. 

“I know Pop.” You kiss both their cheeks. “I love you both. So much.”

“We love you too babygirl. Always have, always will.” Your Nana runs a hand through your hair. “Get going. You probably have big fancy plans for the day.”

“Still the same girl you know.” You say as you walk towards where Pepper stands. You follow her towards the door, but take one more look at your grandparents before you both start making your way downstairs. As you get outside, Pepper looks at you.

“Do you want to do more thrifting and mani/pedis or you want to call it a day? You still have next weekend? We can always do more back to school stuff then.”

“Do you mind if we don’t? I’m kind of exhausted.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I did. Plus we can order food to the Tower and maybe watch a movie or something instead. Calm night instead.”

“That sounds awesome.” You say as Happy starts the drive back to the Tower. Going back to Manhattan took a little longer than normal, just because of the time of day. You scroll through social media, trying to take in your last day as Y/N Y/L/N. Tomorrow the news breaks about you being Tony’s daughter, so you’ll take the calm before the storm. Pepper is reading over things on her own phone, probably SI stuff if you had to guess. “Pepper?”

“Mmm-hmm?” She answers as she scrolls.

“Will the explosion from the news tomorrow be bad?” You ask before adding. “Like you dealt with when Tony announced he was Iron Man. Will this be that bad you think?” Pepper puts down her phone and looks at you.

“I don’t think this will be bad news. I think there will be questions, but that’s why SI has been putting together a lot of press packets for different situations. If the press tries to spin it in different ways, we will be ready. The most important thing we have stated in all of this, is that while Tony didn’t know about you until recently, he is very happy to be your father and he is doing everything in his power to provide the best home for you.” Pepper pauses looking for signs from you on which way you were feeling. “For now, how you feel about everything is going to stay silent because of your age and such, but eventually, if you feel up for it, we’d love to publish something about you and your dad together.”

“Why about me?”

“Because the public will want to know, but also because you are one day possibly going to be a face of SI. If that’s the path you wish to take. Again this isn’t a decision you have to make anytime soon. Right now, the focus is keeping you out of the press as much as possible.” Happy pulls into the garage as Pepper says all of this. “But I think the public is just going to be interested in learning about who you are because you are an extension of Tony and they like knowing about him.”

“I can understand that. But I don’t even feel like I know him all that well yet.”

“You will in time. I promise.” Pepper says as she walks with you towards the elevator you had left only a few hours earlier. You had grabbed the clothes from Bayside, but Happy said he would get the boxes and take them to your room for you. Upon arriving to the living room, Tony is surprisingly waiting for you and Pepper.

“My two favorite ladies, back already.”

“Finished early. Figured we could do a night in instead.” Pepper explains as Tony gives her a kiss on the cheek.

“Did you have a good day kiddo?” Tony looks towards you and you nod before turning to Pepper.

“Thanks Pepper.” You say before giving her a quick hug. “I had a lot of fun today.” 

“Of course. I had fun with you too.” Pepper’s arms wrap around you, squeezing you back. And for a moment you can’t help but wonder if this is what it feels like to have a mom. Yours was out of your life moments after you were born. You let yourself relax in her arms for a moment before you feel Tony’s eyes on the two of you. 

“Uh, I should go put these things away.” You pull away from Pepper and make your way towards your room, canvas bags in tow without saying anything to Tony.

“It’s not fair Pep.”

“What?”

“She hugs you.” Tony whines as he plops down on the couch. “All she does for me is make playlists called Tony Stark Can Rot. How is that fair?”

“Now how would you know what her playlists are called?”

“I asked JARVIS to play some of her music so I could know more about her since she refuses to hang out with me. He asked which playlist and started listing them. To be fair it has some great music on it. But still, I would never make a playlist called Y/N Stark Can Rot.”

“You don’t name your playlists.” Pepper points out.

“Not the point.”

“The point is you're jealous that she’s closing herself off to you.”

“Maybe I am. She’s my kid. I want to know her. I want to do everything for her and with her. But everything I try backfires.”

“So don’t try so hard.” Tony’s brows pull together as he looks up at Pepper. “You suggested her friends coming over for dinner and that worked really well.”

“Yeah worked really well in that she told me about a teacher that hated her enough to throw scissors at her.”

“She also acknowledged that you’re going to be here for her from now on. That’s a success. So try doing small things like that. Don’t make huge gestures. Don’t you dare buy her a gigantic bunny. Try to let her get to know you. And don’t try to buy your way into her life. She hates that.”

“You literally took her shopping today.”

“We went thrifting.”

“What? All of that needs to be washed immediately!” Tony starts freaking out.

“This right here?” Pepper motions towards him, “This is the kind of reaction that will push her farther away. She loves thrift shops. She told me and we went to her favorite ones to look for clothes. She opened up about her life before us Tony. That picture on your phone. That’s a moment she shared with Natasha. You need to give her a moment to open up to you.” Tony notices Happy walking by with a couple of boxes. 

“What all did you buy her today?” 

“We stopped by her grandparents’ house so she could pick up some more stuff. She mentioned she was getting low on some stuff.” Pepper motions towards what Happy is carrying. “She really misses them. I think we need to give her time to see them too.”

“I’m not keeping her from them.”

“I’m not saying you are. I’m saying I think we should schedule times so she doesn’t feel that way. Also I told her that SI would start a charity fund to fight the cost of insulin.”

“Not against that but why?”

“She was feeling really uncomfortable about how comfortable we all spend on a day to day, based on her background with money.” Pepper says, not really explaining.

“That tells me less than nothing.”

“It’s her story to share. You’ll have to wait until she wants to share it with you.” Pepper kisses his cheek. “But you have an amazing kid.”

“I know that. I just want to know her like all of you know her.” Tony says frustrated. 

“Give her time.”

Permanent tag list: @wormonastringonastick

Becoming A Stark Tag list: @persephonehemingway  @iamaunicorn4704  @furiouspockettoad  @daughter-of-stark  @eternalharry  @huntective-kyeo @riiis-stuff

[savannahsdrabbles]

Ocean Song - Part 8

rating: PG 

notes: 1.7k words. A03 link can be found here. Also thank you to @rusty-wayfarer and @starfiretheninja for beta-reading.

Salt.

His head perked up and he inhaled greedily, scent glands tingling as he drank in the thick, sharp scent of ocean air. His senses had alerted him a while ago that they were approaching the shoreline - even before the humans had verbalized their own realizations - but the increasing smell of the water and the deep rumble of churning waves still made his heart beat all the faster. A primal desire deep within his bones yelled louder and louder with each plodding step, urging him to hit the ground running and not stop until he could feel shifting sand between his toes and icy spray on his skin.

He was fairly certain that he could successfully make a break for it at this point – most of the feeling had returned to his limbs, despite Girl not being able to remove the “collar” as planned. She’d stated her intent to do so after she and Boy finished covering their car with branches, hoping to disguise it while they were gone and cover their tracks. Once she’d seemed satisfied, the girl squatted before him and pulled the egg from an unseen place in her pelt.

“There’s only one button on it,” she’d reasoned out loud as she rolled the object in her palm and glanced nervously at his neck. He hadn’t liked her expression – why was she so hesitant now? Just remove it! “When I clicked the controller last time, it seemed to turn the power off. So maybe clicking a second time will make it release?”

She’d been wrong.

The moment her fingers left the surface of the egg, he felt his body begin to shut back down. Thankfully she’d been able to undo the process before his panic could fully set in, but the experience had still left him rattled and wanting to either smash the egg or bury it deep within the earth.

After that plan had failed, she and Boy decided that they would take turns standing behind him and prying at the collar with all of their might. He’d cringed away from their outstretched hands at first, giving small growls of warning when they reached for his throat, but reluctantly relented when Girl mentioned that the sooner they could get it off, the sooner they could get moving. He settled on clenching his teeth and curling his claws tightly into fists as the humans both attempted to jam their fingers into the small gap where skin met collar.

After a few minutes of them tugging and him mentally screaming, Boy gave a sigh and announced that he should be able to get it off using tools from “the Marina”.  Girl had seemed to agree, and the next thing he knew, he’d been scooped back up into Boys’ arms and the trio began their slow journey down the cliffside.

The majority of the long walk had consisted of the two humans quietly talking between themselves while he squirmed anxiously in Boy’s arms; this was better than being held still, but it was still far from what he would consider comfortable. He’d tried to distract himself by listening in to their conversations initially, but gave up after only a few minutes. He’d long prided himself as being the best interpreter in his family, but now he felt like he was only catching a third of what was being said. What in the world were they even going on about, and why did it take so long for each Human to speak? Surely their communications could be much more efficient if they simply focused on vocal inclinations – why waste time sounding out long phrases that could just get lost amongst the waves?

In an effort to keep his mind calm, he took this time to reflect on either Human’s voice; he focused on memorizing their sounds and taking note of how exactly their tones changed as he spoke.

Boy was definitely the louder of the two and seemed to be more aggressive – though not quite in a way that made him fearful; he wasn’t like the Humans from earlier. He simply seemed to dive into his words and actions headfirst, not stopping to consider the potential consequences. This theory was proven correct several times during their walk, when Boy would suddenly take off running and launch himself over piles of leaves and twigs. The turtle clung to the front of his pelt each time, chattering nervously as he was jolted about and nearly dropped on multiple occasions. However, despite the Human’s abrupt movements, he couldn’t help but feel secure in his arms. Being held steady by calloused hands had become a traumatizing part of this whole ordeal, but this was… different. In more ways than one, Boy reminded him of Strong Brother.

Girl, on the other hand, was different; if he had to choose between the two of them, he felt more inclined to trust her. Her calm, caring and sometimes worried manner was comforting. She was clearly strong and could be loud as well – was this just a universal trait in Humans? – but she seemed to be more reserved with her volume. Her hands were also smaller and gentler than Boy’s. Even when she’d been breaking him out of the moving prison, her tone and hands had stayed soft and kind, promising him that everything was going to be okay. She’d kept all of her promises so far – they were out of the terrible place, away from the two “goons” as she referred to them, and were heading towards the ocean.

The longer they walked, the calmer he could feel himself becoming. Even if he could only understand a portion of what was going on, he couldn’t help but feel safe. Still, he felt hungry to know more.

Speaking of hunger.

He curled slightly inwards, arms wrapping around his stomach as a loud grumble echoed from within his body.

“What was that?” Both humans froze in their tracks, heads swiveling around. He stiffened as well- were they being pursued? What was happening?

His stomach gurgled a second time, ignoring his shushing and attempts to stay still and quiet. Two pairs of eyes instantly fell on him.

“Holy crap- was that your stomach?”

He blinked in surprise. Wait – they were startled by him? Did Humans not have hunger sounds?

“Y-yes,” he finally answered in Family Tongue. “Need eat.”

The two teens stared back, blinking. “Um… come again?”

“Food.”

More blinking and glancing between each other.

He sighed tiredly. It had been a long day, and he didn’t know the correct Human Spoken Word translation. Why couldn’t they just understand? He patted his lower plastron with emphasis and spoke again, this time dragging out the sound. “Hungryyyyyy.”

The Humans hesitated, and for a moment he felt like he was going to cry with frustration. Then Girl finally spoke up, patting her own stomach and cocking her head. “It’s probably been a while since he last ate – maybe he’s hungry? Is that it? Are you hungry?”

The turtle bobbed his head in excited relief, patting his plastron again. “Hun-gerr-ee.”

“Right – hungry!” Girl laughed, and he felt his heart skip a beat and clench all at once. Her happy sounds reminded him of Small Brother. It felt like it had been a lifetime since he had last heard the orange speckled turtle laugh. “Well, we should be reaching the marina any minute – there’s usually a couple of shops that are still open at this hour, so I’m sure we can grab something to eat.”

“Speaking of which,” Boy suddenly squatted and sat his passenger on the ground, then stood back up and rolled his shoulders. “Ugh – my back is killing me. No offense dude, but you weigh a heck ton.”

The turtle shuffled his feet on the pine covered ground and cocked his head thoughtfully, considering the words. He wasn’t sure what they meant, but he could tell by the tone that they seemed despairing. After a moment, he nodded and pursed his lips in an imitation of the Human’s expression. “’Fense, Dood.”

Another surprised laugh bubbled out of Girl’s mouth, which she quickly stifled with her hands.

Boy shook his head, but his large grin and shaking shoulders betrayed the laughter that he was holding back. “I’m sorry – that was kind of rude. I was going to say, though, we’re getting close to the marina now so we should probably figure out what the plan is.” He pointed at Girl. “How about you guys stay here while I go rent the boat and grab us something to eat? I can text you or something when I’m ready, and you guys can come meet me at the docks.”

“Sounds good to me,” Girl nodded, then hesitated. She gestured in the direction they had been headed. “Wait –what if someone sees him? I know there’s probably not much of a crowd right now, but there’s bound to be security cameras and at least a couple of people that would freak out. Maybe we should cover him up?”

To the turtle’s horror and fascination, Boy reached down and grabbed the bottom of his pelt, then yanked it over his head to reveal a second layer underneath. Before he had a chance to gawk any further, Boy leaned over and dropped the outer pelt into his lap. “Here – take my hoodie.  It might not totally fit over your shell, but at least it will get you semi-covered.”

He stared down at the material in his lap, still pondering whether or not he should fling it away in disgust, when Boy suddenly turned, pushed through the bushes, and vanished into the night.

“Wait – where he going?” he whined softly. “Why leave?”

Pine needles crunched nearby as Girl joined him on the ground. She crossed her legs, resting her elbows on her knees and chin in hand, then leaned forward as she spoke softly. “I’m not sure how much of that you understood, but Casey is going to go get us a boat, okay? Then he’s going to text me – err, tell me when he’s ready - so that we can go join him at the water.”

“Water.” he repeated, bobbing his head. “Cay-cee go to water?”

Girl grinned, a small huff of air escaping her nose as her cheeks curved upwards. “He is. And speaking of Casey and I, let’s have a talk.”

[give-seconds]

Survival of the Fittest

Summary: Welcome to the Badlands of Montana! This will be the setting of our game. What’s the name of the game? Simple, make it out alive. In which you and Jaemin are kidnapped and forced to try and find your way out of the Badlands. 

I promise there is a reason I made y/n the way I did!!

If you don't know what the badlands are (me three months ago), then I suggest you look it up! Just so you have more of an idea what it looks like.

Warnings: This is about kidnapping, so if anything about that stresses you out then this is not for you. There is no gore!

Na jaemin x genderneutral reader

---Part 1 

“Welcome, subjects 24 and 25.”

You open your eyes, immediately closing them upon staring straight into the bright sky.

Why is it so bright?

“My name is Theos, and I will be overseeing your time here.”

And why is that voice so loud?

“It’s time to open your eyes, number 25. I know you’re awake.”

Groaning, you slowly sit up ready to tell whichever of your roommates was making so much noise to quiet down. Bringing a hand to cover your eyes, you slowly open your eyes.

Holy crap. This is definitely not your dorm room and the man staring back at you is definitely not one of your roommates.

“It is my pleasure to inform you that you both have been chosen to partake in the game of the century.”

“Where is that voice coming from?” you ask the man in front of you.

Without saying anything, he points to somewhere behind you. Following his finger, you turn around to see a PA system speaker on a pole.

“Enough small talk, let’s cut to the chase, shall we? If you look around, you will notice that you aren’t in your dorm room or at home. I welcome you both to the Badlands, which will serve as our setting for the game. The badlands we are in consists of 11,538 acres of rocky, dry land with the highest altitude being 2,415 ft. The badlands are home to snakes, turtles, bighorn sheep, ferrets, and birds of prey. The name of this game is to make it out of here alive.”

You feel your stomach drop as you become painfully aware of what’s happening. This man, Theos, is forcing you and this other guy to partake in some twisted experiment.

“Please don’t make us do this, we’ll die out here,” you plead. You’ve watched enough Criminal Minds to know this rarely works, you always rolled your eyes at it. But now you understand, you have to do something to try and get out of the situation.

“Now now, number 25, do you really think I’ve brought you both here just to die? I’m not a monster. If you’ll both look to your left, you’ll see some rocks placed on top of each other to form a sort of small shelter. Under there you will find a backpack with some supplies inside.”

You and the man exchange a look before he picks himself up, walking over to the pile of rocks. He crouches down, bending his head to look into the gap before reaching his hand in and pulling out a red backpack. Standing up, you walk the few steps to where he’s standing.

“Inside the bag, you will find a flashlight, two bottles of water, two protein bars, two oranges, and one watch. How fast or how slow you use these is entirely up to you, but there are six other backpacks along the way out. The weather during this month ranges from 56 degrees Fahrenheit to 78  degrees Fahrenheit, with rain coming at least nine days. The current time is 2 in the afternoon.”

“This is crazy, you can’t do this to us. Just let us go, we don’t know what you look like so we can’t turn you in. If you let us go now, I’ll pretend this was all some dream. I’m sure they’d do the same, right?” The man next to you says, looking at you to confirm his offer.

“Right, of course, I would. We haven’t been hurt yet, no harm no foul.”

“Along with speakers being placed around,” the voice continues, ignoring your pleas. “You are both wearing chokers that hold small cameras. This is so I can monitor your progress and determine your results. Each backpack from now on will have new chokers that you’ll put on so the camera doesn't die. Failure to do so will result in punishment, which can include any of the following: second degree burns to the bottom of the foot, food or water removed from the next backpack, taking away shoes, and so on. I would name the rest but I think you both get the idea right?”

You numbly nod your head, feeling your throat burn from holding back tears. One wrong move and you were dead.

“Now that you are both familiar with the rules, our contact will be minimal. I sincerely wish you both the best of luck, you seem like the most promising batch. Without further adieu, let the games begin!”  

After the voice cuts out, you feel your breath leave your body. Taking a few steps away from the man, you crouch down to hug your knees. Closing your eyes, you focus on your breathing.

In two three four, out two three four. In two three four, out two three four. In -

“Are you okay?”

You snort, opening your eyes and standing back up to face him.

Before you can even say anything, he shakes his head. “Sorry, that was a dumb question. You just looked a bit more… not okay.”

You laugh humorously, feeling some tears fall. “Let’s not worry about me and worry about getting out of here. I’m sure you’re just as not okay as I am, so why don’t we just do our best to get out of here as soon as possible? I’m y/n.”

“Jaemin.”

You nod your head, shaking your hands to try and relieve some of the nerves. 

Looking down, you finally notice that you’re both wearing the same thing: black tennis shoes, black jeans, and a pastel yellow hoodie. “What are we wearing?”

“I don’t know, but these must belong to Theos,” he mumbles. “We should take off these hoodies, if it’s two in the afternoon it’s gotta be the hottest it’ll get today.”

“Right.”

As you pull off the hoodies, you see that underneath you’re both wearing white short-sleeve shirts. Tying your sweater around your waist, you scan the area around you. He had put you two on white flat, cracked ground surrounded by hills of rock on three sides. On the fourth side is a path of sorts that leads out to more rock hills. All there is is rock.

“I think our first course of action is to get to the top of one of these hills. Maybe we can see which way we need to go?” Jaemin suggests.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

Jaemin reaches into the bag, pulling out the watch before slinging the backpack over his shoulder. “Can you,” he starts quietly, turning the watch over in his hands. “ Can you help me put this on? I’ve never been very good at doing these.”

You smile softly, reaching out for the watch with shaking hands. Jaemin watches you put the watch on, mumbling a quiet thank you once it was attached.

“Which one looks the most climbable?” you ask, scanning the hills again.

“Mmm, maybe that one?” He points to a hill on your left. “It’s just as steep as the other ones but it looks like it has a lot of places to grab. Plus, from there we can get to the hill behind that easier, don’t you think?”

“Okay, then that one it is.”

You walk towards the hill, looking up to the top of the hill. This is not going to be easy.

“I’d say the one behind it is about 200ft, but hopefully once we get to the top of this one it’ll be easier to climb,” Jaemin comments, looking up next to you.

“Okay, then I guess we have to be extra careful not to fall.”

He chuckles softly. “That’s an understatement.”

With that, you both grab hold of a rock and pull yourself up. The angle is steep enough where you can’t walk up it, but it isn’t too steep to the point where you need climbing gear to do it safely. So after about 30 minutes of struggling and slipping a handful of times, you and Jaemin make it to the top of the hills.

“I don’t know how many more times I can do that,” you huff, interlocking your fingers on top of your head.

“Well, hopefully, we’ll know which way to go from here so we won’t need to climb any more mountains,” he answers, equally out of breath.

“Speaking of which, you look that way,” you say pointing the way you had climbed up. ”And I’ll look this way.” You point to the area behind you.

He nods his head and turns around to look in the direction you pointed.

When you turn around, you’re met with the unsettling view of rocky hills for as far as you can see. You walk as far to the edge as you can without falling off, hoping to see some sign of humanity.

“I don’t see anything,” you whisper, feeling the dread you have been pushing down start to spread.

“Me either, maybe if we check the other sides? I’ll go to the one down there.”

Before you can say anything, Jaemin is walking off and turning around a stone wall.

Sighing, you turn and look off the edge to your left. Again, you’re met with the unsettling view of rock. And while you know Jaemin is just around the corner, you can’t help but feel alone. You’ve never been afraid to be alone before.

In two three four, out two three four.

“Y/n! I think I see something.”

Shaking your head, you take in a deep breath as a final effort to combat the fear. “Coming!”

“You see that over there?” He points his finger off to the right. “There’s a green patch with white specks, I think those are houses.”

After searching the area where he is pointing, you find a patch of green. You feel your eyes widen. “Oh my god Jaemin, I think that’s our way out.”

You would have to walk over many mini hills if you guys went in a straight line, but that would be better than getting lost all over again.

“Okay okay,” he says, grinning. “Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. We need to figure out a plan on how to get there.”

You nod your head, sitting down on the edge. You pat the spot next to you, looking up at him. “I say we walk at night and sleep during the day. That way, we can keep our body temperature high enough to the point where we won’t freeze and I think the snakes won’t be out then -it’ll be too cold for them.”

He nods his head, taking a seat next to you. “Then during the day, we should sleep in shifts. You know, watch out for snakes and such. What do we do about backpacks? What if we miss one?”

Second degree burns, no shoes, no food or water, probably death. “We can’t miss one, so we won’t. We’ll just pay extra attention to what’s around us.”

You know you don’t sound very convincing, but that's the most optimistic you can afford to be.

Clearing your throat, you push yourself up. “Come on, let’s start walking.”

“I thought you wanted to walk during the night?”

“Do you think you can sleep right now?” You ask, dusting off your pants as best you can. Why, out of all the colors, did this sicko pick black?

“Fair enough,” he agrees, standing next to you and giving his pants a quick brush off.

“Back down the mountain we go?”

“Down we go.”

~~

“So what kind of a name is Jaemin?” You ask, breaking the five-minute silence since making it back down the mountain.

“Korean.”

“Korean?” You couldn’t help the surprise in your voice. “No offense, but how does a Korean family find themselves in Montana?”

“It’s a long story.”

“What if I told you I was free for the next,” you bring your wrist up in front of your face to mimic looking at a watch. “Day or two. Enlighten me.”

He chuckles. “Alright, but you have to promise me that after I say the first sentence you won’t interrupt me.”

“Exciting, bring it on.”

“Is that how you promise someone? By challenging them?”

“Sure, why not? But enough about me, I’m ready to not interrupt.”

He playfully rolls his eyes. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it. There isn’t any nice way to word it, and I always find it a weird thing to say, but my mom was a mail-order bride.” He turns his head to look at you, waiting for you to say something. After you give him a look conveying the message ‘I’m not saying anything so you can continue’, he turns his head to look straight ahead again.

“My dad was married to this one girl, her name was Ruth and from what he told us she was the nicest human alive. She was a humanitarian and helped with a bunch of fundraising projects. Anyways, they were only married for three years before she passed away from cancer, and one of her last wishes was for him to get a mail-order bride. She knew how many women went to abusive husbands and if she could help one last person, there was nothing that could stop her.”

“So as you know, my mom was the lucky woman. They decided to apply for this one visa that requires you to be together for at least two years before you actually get the visa. During those two years, my dad would send money over to Korea so she could take English classes. Once the two years were up, they got married in Korea, adopted me, and moved back here to my dad’s hometown. Four years later they adopted my sister.”

Listening to the story, you can’t help but feel as if this is something you aren’t supposed to know. Something too personal for someone like you to know.

“I’m sorry," you blurt, rubbing your hands together nervously. "I pushed you to tell me something way too personal.”

“Oh no, don’t be.” He waves his hand dismissively. “I tell all of my friends that story as soon as I feel close to them.”

“But you just met me.”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I feel like by the time this is over, you and I are going to be really close.”

“Do you,” you hesitate, running your fingers along the fabric of the choker. “Do you think we’re going to make it out of here?”  

He doesn’t answer, turning his head to look at all the surrounding rock.

It isn’t until you lose your footing, and he instinctively reacts, ready to catch you in case you aren’t able to catch yourself, does he answer. “We have to, so we will.”

He’s looking at you, actually looking at you. No one ever looks at you like that, they’re either looking at the wall next to you, at the ground, at the person behind you, at anything that isn’t your eyes for more than three seconds.

But not Jaemin.

“We should get some water,” you whisper, walking behind him to open the backpack. “Are you okay sharing? It’ll make us more aware of how much water we’re drinking.”

“Are you diseased?”

“No," you laugh, grabbing one of the plastic water bottles and zipping up the bag. "No, I am not."

“Then yes, I am perfectly fine sharing a bottle with you.”

“Good.” You take a drink from the bottle before passing it to him. 

“So what about you, are you from here?” He asks, taking a drink of the water.

“Oh no, I came here with my ex-husband.”

You laugh as he chokes on the water, earning the reaction you were looking for.

“What?” He turns his head away from you to cough a few more times before turning back to you, eyes wide with shock. “But you can’t be older than me, and if you are it isn’t by much. What year were you born?”

“I was born in 2000.” You take the water from his hand, walking behind him to put it back. “We got married when we were 18.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just surprised. I don’t - I don’t really even know what to say to that.”

You pat the backpack twice before continuing to walk forward. You smile slightly as you hear him rush the few steps to catch up with you. “There isn’t much to the story. Just that I’ve basically been alone my entire life and he said he could get me out of the hell hole that is my hometown. His family is wealthier than mine, not that that’s a hard feat, and he said if I married him then he would buy me a plane ticket out here.”

You’ve never told anyone this, not even your mom and step-father. But you want someone to know this about you, and as this might be your last chance to tell anyone. It’s now or never.

“Were you guys in love?”

You laugh. “Oh God no, we got divorced like five months later. I’ve never been in love, but I didn’t have to be to know that that was so far from love. It was purely me taking advantage of a situation. Now don’t ask me what Sam, my ex, got out of it. I couldn’t give him anything. In all honesty, I think he saw me as some sort of charity project.”

“I’m sorry -”

“Don’t be, if I had the choice to go back and fix it, I wouldn't have.” You don’t need him feeling sorry for you. You’ve worked too hard to give into other people’s pity now.

Jaemin nods his head, glancing down at the watch. “It’s 4:30 now, when should we eat?”

“Well if we’re walking until morning, should we just flip flop our day? At like nine we eat breakfast, at one we eat lunch, and at six or so we eat dinner. That should keep us going decently.”

“Why do you have to be so rational?” he pouts. “I was hoping you’d say we can eat right now.”

“Suck it up, pretty boy. Think of this as an enforced diet.”

He visibly perks up, pout turning into a smile. “You just called me ‘pretty’.” 

You scoff, rolling your eyes. “In what circumstances have you heard ‘pretty boy’ used as a compliment?” 

“Never, but ‘pretty’ is used all the time to compliment people.” 

You smile at his childless. “Whatever floats your boat, buddy.”

----

So this was supposed to be posted as one long thing, but I don’t know about you guys but I hate reading long fics. So this won’t have a lot of parts! I don’t know why, but this fic means a lot to me. But at the same time, I am really nervous to post this and I’m not sure why. I got this idea when my dad took me and my sister on a road trip and we saw the bad lands. I have been working on this for a while now and I really hope you guys like this. Thank you to @mozartwasajungkookstan for helping me edit! I would love to know what you guys think, as always have a good day/night!

Masterlist | Main Masterlist  

Part 2

Taglist: @drydrops891