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calpalirwin · 3 years ago

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Tranquil Waters

Summary: Bucky finds peace at the aquarium.

A/N: A gift for @jessalyn-jpeg, that was also beta read by her.

Word Count: 1.9k

And away, and away we go!

Even with a plain, battered ball cap covering up hair that brushed along the tops of his shoulders, as if he was hoping it would somehow make him inconspicuous, you took notice of him. After all, how many men came alone to an aquarium? How many still could be transfixed by the shark exhibit for hours, sitting on a bench looking up at the tunnel, or leaned against the railing as he peered into the lagoon below? And how many of those men would return day after day, no matter how long he had watched the sharks the day before?

“You know we have a membership,” you told him on his eighth consecutive visit. “Probably cheaper at this point.”

He didn’t say a word, just tilted his head slightly to the side in confusion.

“I mean, if you’re here every day. Might as well. Save yourself a few bucks.”

“Oh,” he said, clearly startled that anyone had picked up on his habit. “Uh…”

“It’s a hundred for the year. Unlimited visits. Come as little as five times a year, and it pays for itself. Come more often than that, and it’s a steal.”

“Is there a payment plan option? I’m uh… it’s weird to explain. I have the money. It’s just a…”

“Budget thing?” you guessed. “Totally get it. Yeah, we have payment options. I can have today’s ticket count towards the pass if you like. Then the bill is monthly, but you can pay it off sooner if you like.”

“Uh, yeah, that’d be great,” he said, giving you a small smile, and laying a twenty dollar bill down.

You pulled open the little drawer that held the passes, selecting one that specifically had sharks on it for him, before scanning it into working order. “Here you are,” you said, handing it over along with his receipt.

“Thanks,” he nodded, turning the card over his hand, the smile still rooted in place. “Sharks, cool. Thanks again…” his eyes flickered down to read your name tag, “Y/N.”

“Enjoy your visit.”

It came as no surprise to you that, after he nodded politely at you again, he headed straight to the shark exhibit. It also came as no surprise to you that he was still there when you made your rounds to clear the aquarium of visitors for the night.

“Sir, we’re closing in ten minutes. So if you wouldn’t mind making your way towards the exit.”

“Oh, is it that time already?” he asked, rising slowly from the bench. You took notice as he stretched out his right arm, but didn’t feel the need to do so with his left.

“Unfortunate, I know. See you tomorrow, sir.”

“Bucky,” he said.

“I’m sorry?”

“My name. It’s Bucky.”

“See you tomorrow, Bucky.”

“See ya tomorrow, Y/N.”

~~~

Four more days of visits, each started with Bucky handing you a twenty dollar bill to put towards his pass, and ending with the two of you bidding each other farewell until the morning.

On the fifth day, out of habit, he walked up to your window, the twenty dollar bill already in hand. “Oh, you’re all paid off, Bucky.”

“Oh… Right… Sorry, force of habit.” His cheeks flushed a soft color of pink. “See you later I guess.”

“Send the sharks my love.”

“Will do.”

As you watched him walk off, you caught sight of the stack of flyers beside you. “Wait!” you called out to him, grabbing one of the flyers.

“Hmm?” he asked, coming back to your window.

“Here,” you said, sliding him the flyer. “We’re hosting a lecture on shark migrating habits.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Is it soon? I haven’t seen anything put up about it.”

“No, it’s happening next month. We just got the flyers this morning. Figured you’d want to know though.”

“Well, thanks for the heads up.”

“Yeah, of course.”

Bucky turned to go visit the sharks, but at the last second he turned back around, a shy look on his face. “You wouldn’t happen to be going to this would you?”

“I am, yeah. I got lucky in that they scheduled it after aquarium hours.”

“Cool… Would you maybe want to go together?”

“As a date?” you asked suggestively.

“Or as two people who share an appreciation for sharks? Whichever reason gets you to say yes.”

You gave a small laugh. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

~~~

Even though you’d seen Bucky daily for nearly two months, you still felt shy flutters in your stomach as you raced to change out of your work polo and khakis, and into something that felt more “first date” appropriate.

When you got back to the aquarium, you spotted Bucky outside waiting, sporting a long-sleeved red henley shirt, and surprisingly no baseball cap. “Hey, Bucky,” you greeted, walking up to him.

“Hey,” he said softly, a hand digging into the pocket of his jeans. “I was going to bring you flowers, but I thought that’d be awkward for you to carry around all night. So, I hope this is an okay replacement.” He took his hand out of his pocket, unfurling his hand to reveal a shark pin resting in his palm, no doubt something he picked out in the gift shop.

“It’s perfect,” you laughed, stretching up on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek, feeling the warmth that flooded his face. “Thank you.”

“Course,” he mumbled, trying to undo the pin with only his right hand. But undoing the pin without using his left hand proved to be difficult.

“Um, it might be easier without the gloves?” you suggested. “Or maybe if you used both hands?”

“Oh, to hell with it,” Bucky grumbled, taking the fingers of his left glove into his mouth, tugging it off to reveal a metal hand. Swiftly, he also took off his right glove, and got the pin undone.

“Wh-what happened?” you questioned as he attached the pin to your blouse, paying special care not to knick you with it.

“War accident,” he answered shortly, quickly putting his gloves back on.

“I’m sorry,” was all you could think to say.

“It was years ago,” he offered as a way of explanation, before jerking his chin in the direction of the aquarium doors. “Shall we?”

You linked your arm through his right arm when he offered it to you, walking into the aquarium and following the small crowd to the theater where the lecture was being held.

Quietly, you and Bucky sat side by side, his hand resting on your thigh as you both listened to the lecture. It was easy to tell when the lecturer said something that Bucky found particularly interesting because his fingers would squeeze into your leg. And anytime you stole a glance, his eyes were shining brightly, a soft smile on his lips. And anytime he caught you staring at him, he’d give you a small wink.

“The aquarium is so different after hours,” Bucky commented, making conversation as you walked out, hand-in-hand after the lecture. “More peaceful somehow.”

“Is that why you like the shark exhibit? It’s usually our quietest area. Certainly less crowded.”

“Nah, I like sharks because they’re misunderstood. Everyone thinks they’re killers. But, they’re just doing what they need to do to survive.”

“Something you can relate to?”

“More than I’d like to, that’s for sure.”

You looked around at all the guests flocking for the exits, an idea forming in your head. “You wanna see something really cool?”

“What’s this really cool thing?” he asked as he let you pull him away from the crowd of people and deeper into the aquarium. His excitement however died down significantly when you pulled him into the security office. “This was the really cool thing?” he asked skeptically.

“Shh,” you said, fixing your focus on the cameras, watching the aquarium empty. “Just wait.”

With a sigh, Bucky watched the monitors with you.

“Annnnd, tada!” you announced as there was a loud sound of the lights shutting off in the building with the exclusion of the security room.

“We’re alone in the aquarium?” he questioned with the same note of skepticism as earlier.

You grinned up at him, nodding. “We’re alone in the aquarium.”

“Can’t we get in trouble for trespassing?”

You pulled your work badge out of your purse, along with a set of keys. “Nope!”

Bucky gave a soft chuckle. “You’re a little troublemaker, aren’t you?”

“You wanna go see the sharks or not?”

“Lead the way.”

~~~

“So,” you started, your voice quiet as you both leaned against the railing, watching the sharks swim in the lagoon below. “Is you liking sharks because you can relate to being misunderstood related to your hand at all?”

“A little. And it’s not my hand. It’s my entire arm.”

“Your entire arm?!” you screeched, turning sideways to look at him fully.

He sighed, turning towards you. He pushed the sleeve of his shirt up to his elbow, and pulled at the collar of his shirt to show you how the metal went all the way from fingertips to shoulder. “Yup.”

“Bucky,” you said to yourself. “As in?”

“As in the former Winter Soldier. Yup. Or as in James Buchanan Barnes, but people nowadays tend to not remember that part.”

“Holy shit… Wait. So you’re a fuckin’ Avenger, and you tell me that you spend your free time coming to watch sharks all day?”

“Well, sharks were originally the reason. Now, they’re just an additional perk.”

“I’m not following…”

“Well, I like sharks. Always have even before I could relate to them. But then I got a crush on one of the workers. And as much as I like to think I’m still here for the sharks, I’m also here for her.”

“Oh, you mean me?!”

“I mean I did ask you out on a date.”

“So you admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“That this is a date.”

“What else would you call it?”

“Oh, I dunno. Maybe two people who share an appreciation for sharks?” you teased.

Bucky laughed. “Alright. In my defense, I said that to make you not feel bad if you told me no.”

“What made you think I was gonna say no?”

“I’m me. The 100 year old with an extremely complicated past.”

“Mmm, then maybe I should let you in on a secret.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that Miss Troublemaker?”

“I have a soft spot for the misunderstood.”

His tongue darted out to wet his lips. “Saying things like that are gonna make me want to kiss you.”

“Saying things like what? Things that suggest I’m just as interested in you as you are in me?”

“Yes.”

“And what if that’s what I wanted? For you to kiss me?”

“Then I’d have to do this.” He stepped forward, his hands gently cradling your face as his head ducked down. You stretched upwards on the tips of your toes, meeting his lips halfway. Underlying the softness of the kiss was a strength you wanted more of. Somehow sensing that want, Bucky deepened the kiss, one hand moving to cup the back of your neck, the other dropping down to rest on the small of your back, pulling you in closer to him.

“That was one hell of a first date kiss,” you gasped when you broke apart, each of you breathless.

“You’re one hell of a girl,” he said, nudging your nose with his and drawing you back in for another kiss.

Tag List

@cxddlyash @stanofalotofthings @philthepegacorn @youngblood199456 @binxiboo @creator-appreciator @frontmanash @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @jessalyn-jpeg @lilyoflower @mychemicalimagines @rougese7en @milea

#tranquil waters #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes x reader #marvel #avengers #calpal irwin

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page-doctor-bekker · 3 years ago

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Casa de las Flores (transfemme!sarah)

(A/N) so... there is no nsfw in here. nothing that wouldn't be allowed in a pg-13 film, which is typically my policy: if i can see it in a pg-13 film, i can write it and put it on my tumblr :) anyways, enjoy. this takes place right after this.

Casa de las Flores looked small on the outside, a cute storefront with a few burnt out letters and a neon “OPEN” sign on the door, but the quaint look was merely a facade. On the inside, the dining room was large and lively, with a full-service bar and bright decorations. They were seated almost right away, sandwiched between an elderly couple and a family with a toddler and a baby.

“I’m Rosie, I’m going to be taking care of you two today,” The woman smiled, and set the menus down, “Can I get you started with some drinks?”

Ava glanced over the drink menu, skipping right down to the margaritas section.

“Yeah, can I get a strawberry margarita, frozen?” Ava requested, and Rosie nodded, scribbling down on her pad.

“And for you?”

“Uh…”

Crap, is she paying? Or am I? I should get something cheap, just play it safe… Wait, she said she was going to buy me dinner. She’s definitely paying. God, I don’t want to cost her too much…

“A uh… Err… Sparkling watermelon margarita on the rocks, hold the salt,” She blurted out, and Ava smiled at her, which was totally not helping the nerves.

“I’ll get those right out,” Rosie flipped her pad closed, and left the table.

“Really? No salt?” Ava queried, giving a slight chuckle.

“I always wipe it off when I get the salt,” Sarah admitted, “It just… I don’t know. It’s supposed to enhance the lime or something, but I’m just not into it. The bitterness just ruins the drink for me.”

“Huh,” Ava flipped the page on the menu, “I never knew that about you.”

“I mean, it’s not like I advertise my margarita preferences everywhere I go.”

Ava laughed, “Really? That’s my favorite activity!” She taunted, looking up at the other woman.

“Maybe I should give it a try,” Sarah remarked.

“What are you going to get?” Ava suddenly changed the subject, still flipping through the pages of the laminated menu, “I was looking at that baja grilled fish tacos but…” She winked, “I’m not sure if fish is the right choice on a first date.”

What the fuck. WHAT the fuck. What the FUCK.

Sarah laughed, although the comment took her off guard, “I was thinking of the enchiladas de espinaca, but I haven’t entirely ruled out the al pastor either.”

“Spinach? You’re bolder than I am,” Ava chuckled.

“I’ll only get it if you promise to let me know if I have some on my teeth.”

“Deal.”

A few quiet minutes later, Rosie was back, “How are we doing, ladies? Need another minute?” She asked, as she set the drinks down, “Frozen strawberry margarita, Watermelon margarita on the rocks, no salt.”

“I think we’re all set,” Ava raised an eyebrow at Sarah, who nodded.

Enchiladas de espinaca is cheaper.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

“Ladies first,” Ava winked.

“Uh…” Sarah gave a nervous laugh, “I will get the enchiladas de espinaca.”

“Great choice,” Rosie scribbled her order down, “And for you?”

“I will get the steak fajitas with flour tortillas, please,” She closed her menu, “Oh, and can we get a round of Mexican candy shots and a round of tequila shots?”

“Of course, I’ll have that right out.”

“Shots?” Sarah inquired.

“Shots.”

Is she trying to get me drunk? Ava did call an uber to get here, maybe she just wanted a drinking friend…

At the table next to them, the baby started crying. Sarah watched as the mother cooed and shushed, and eventually apologized to her party and left the restaurant with the baby. Ava sipped her drink, before speaking.

“Would you ever have kids?”

Sarah’s heart just about stopped.

She stammered, “I- uh… I don’t know, maybe. I always wanted to be a mom when I was younger,” She smiled, “I even tried to breastfeed my babydolls.”

Ava gave a hearty laugh, the kind of laugh that makes you feel like the lights have just been turned on, and you could finally see in a dark room.

“Didn’t every little girl?” She laughed some more, and Sarah joined in.

Yeah, but little boys didn’t.

“I don’t know,” Ava continued, “Giving birth sounds so painful,” She mused, “I had a pregnancy scare in high school, a false positive from a cheap piece of shit test, and all I could think about was how much it was going to hurt.”

“Oh my God,” Sarah chuckled, “Not even about what you were going to do, how your parents would react?”

“Not even a little bit.”

It was Sarah’s turn to let out a big laugh, imagining the strong, confident surgeon stress over pain, rather than the practical side of a teenage pregnancy.

“How DID your parents find out?”

She snorted, “They didn’t!”

Sarah laughed even harder, and a couple near them turned their heads to stare.

Rosie brought both rounds of shots; The tequila, and whatever a Mexican candy shot was. The tequila shot was a yellow-y caramel color, with salt and a lime on the rim. The Mexican candy shot was a pinkish red shot with what seemed to be Tajin salt around the rim, and a lime as well.

Ava nodded at the shots, “Which first?”

“The pink one,” Sarah reached for it, “What’s in it?” She gave it a sniff.

“It’s watermelon-y,” Ava grinned, “Bottoms up?”

Sarah clinked her shot against Ava’s, and threw it back. The Tajin shocked her taste buds, and the first taste of the actual shot was sweet, like biting into a cool, crisp watermelon on a warm summer day. Almost as soon as she tasted the watermelon, she tasted what seemed like hot sauce, and tart lime juice.

“Ugh, I love those,” Ava dramatically rolled her eyes back, before grinning at Sarah, who gave a smile in return.

“I’m a little scared of the tequila,” Sarah admitted.

“What? Bad night in college?” Ava teased, and Sarah blushed with embarrassment.

“I’ve… Actually never had tequila.”

“So why are you scared? You can wipe the salt off, you know.”

The tequila shot didn’t necessarily disgust her, but she didn’t enjoy it. The salt made her stick her tongue out in disgust, and the alcohol burned on her tongue. She looked up at Ava through watery eyes, and Ava was looking at her with an expression that Sarah couldn’t quite understand.

Ava clapped, and Sarah coughed, and their food arrived. Sarah went tunnel-vision on her food, and Ava’s laughter through their conversations was almost more intoxicating than the alcohol. By the time they finished dinner, Sarah was on her third, maybe fourth margarita. Ava coerced her into another tequila shot, and they shared a plate of churros. Sarah had even tried Ava’s, wiping off the salt from her rim.

The bill was well over a hundred dollars, most of it being alcohol, and Ava paid it with eight twenty-dollar bills without a second thought, and dragged Sarah out by the elbow.

“Y’know,” Sarah slurred, “I thought you hated me.”

Ava’s face fell, “I know.”

“I thau’ you’d neva’ talk t’ me again,” She mumbled, leaning into Ava.

“I know.”

“I was so so sad.”

“I know.”

They were quiet. The only sounds were the Chicago streets. The sounds melted together in Sarah’s head, and she felt miles taller than she was, and miles shorter at the same time. She felt like she might float away, like Ava’s arm was the only thing keeping her on Earth. Sarah was a balloon, but Ava was the string.

“Wanna go back to my place?” Ava whispered, seeming stone cold sober even though they had had the same amount to drink. Sarah was infatuated with her - Everything she did seemed to make her more and more attractive.

Sarah had half a mind to say no, but nodded eagerly.

“You bought me dinner,” Sarah sighed happily, “You’re so nice to me.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“Mmhmm…” Sarah agreed, “Because surgeons make more than psychiatrists.”

Ava laughed loudly, stumbling a bit herself, “How are you going to pay off all your debt if you buy dinner, miss fresh-out-of-medical-school?”

“Maybe I don’t hate the salt,” Sarah blurted out, ignoring Ava’s joke.

The two walked arm in arm, each of them letting out a giggle every few steps. Ava’s sober front slowly fell, leaving her just as messy as Sarah. They each did their fair share of holding each other up, until the doorsteps of the apartment building Ava lived in.

They stopped.

Ava stared into Sarah’s eyes, as if trying to puncture her soul with an IV needle. Ava had brown eyes - The kind that filled your heart with warmth like you’d just downed a hot cup of coffee between patients - And Sarah knew she had noticed it before, but she couldn’t remember when she realized how beautiful they were.

Ava’s breath, that once smelled like her chapstick and chewing gum, now smelled of strawberry margaritas, tequila shots, and salsa. Her mascara was mildly smeared, not from crying, but from God knows what antics the two had gotten up to. Her teeth were starkly white when she smiled, and made Sarah wonder if they were naturally that white, or if she had treated them to get there.

Ava’s lips made contact with Sarah’s before Sarah even knew they were heading that direction, and she simultaneously tensed her whole body and felt like she was melting to the floor.

Someone’s going to see, someone’s going to see us and hurt me, someone’s going to know-

Ava pulled off with a smack, and smiled coyly, “Wanna head upstairs?”

Sarah nodded, eyes wide. She felt short of breath, and anxiety bubbled in her stomach. Does she mean what I think she means?

She tripped twice heading up the stairs - The elevator was out of order. Ava held on to her, drunk but still more coordinated than Sarah could ever hope to be. Sarah saw stars, and a halo around Ava’s head, convincing her drunk mind that the blonde woman beside her was truly an angel.

When they got to Ava’s apartment, they were kissing before they even closed the door. Ava pushed Sarah against the wall, tearing her jacket off first and then Sarah’s. Somehow, with her eyes closed, she still managed to hang them up on the coat hooks beside their heads.

Ava pulled Sarah’s hair tie out, and tangled her hands in the woman’s curly locks. She needed her lips like she needed oxygen to breathe, and neither of them wanted to let go. Sarah felt things shift between her legs, making her attraction to Ava apparent to her, but even in her intoxicated state she still managed to feel the pang of dysphoria, which made her nauseous. Regardless, she didn’t falter, no matter the discomfort deep in the pit of her stomach.

“I’ve never kissed a girl before,” Sarah breathed out between kisses.

Oh God.

“Honored to be your first,” Ava responded, equally as preoccupied.

Ava rested her hands on Sarah’s waist, hiking her shirt up slightly in the process. She shivered as Ava’s cold hands made contact with her skin, and her southern equipment stirred, making her dysphoric yet again and only contributing to the nausea. At this point, she couldn’t tell if she was truly nauseous from the alcohol, or just so dysphoric and anxious that her stomach couldn’t tell the difference. She powered through, distracting herself in the warmth of Ava’s mouth and the light touch from her fingertips.

Ava creeped up Sarah’s ribcage until she could feel the underwire of her bra, and then slipped her hands under. Sarah was suddenly very aware of her lower regions, her gaff, and how thin her scrubs were. She would be screwed if something slipped out.

Note to self:

Ava kissed down her neck.

Write a good review for this gaff later.

Ava started unbuttoning her shirt, kissing the newly bare areas as she went. Once she reached the bottom, her lips darted back up to her collarbone, sucking a hickey into the sensitive area.

Sarah’s job was to keep breathing, and not let the panic get the better of her.

This is fine. Adults do this. I’m an adult. She doesn’t know, and she wont find out because I won’t let this go that far.

Ava’s lips captured Sarah’s again.

I won’t let this go far enough to be a problem.

Ava’s hands trickled down to the button on her pants, and Sarah took in a sharp breath.

Ava looked up quizzically, “Do you want this?”

Yes, but I can’t.

Sarah didn’t respond, hoping her fear was not evident in her eyes.

The surgeon put one hand on Sarah’s cheek, and relaxed her other hand from her waistband, “You don’t have to. I won’t be mad.”

Sarah nodded, then shook her head, “I- uh, I don’t want to.”

The anxiety in her chest fizzled out as Ava stepped away, and as much as she craved intimacy, Sarah knew this was better. Ava gave her a warm smile, and held out her hand.

Sarah took it, receiving a squeeze from her, “I can get an Uber or a Lyft…”

Ava looked taken aback, “Why? You can stay, you know. You think I’m going to kick a drunk girl out at,” She glanced at her phone, “Eleven o’ clock at night?”

Sarah smiled sheepishly, and stood awkwardly for a second, “Uh… Where’s your bathroom?”

“Oh! That door right there,” She pointed to a modern white door, with silver fixtures. Sarah stumbled towards the bathroom, and practically fell into the room.

She closed the door behind her, and leaned against it. She slumped down, pulled her knees to her chest and rested her forehead against them.

After a few minutes of deep breathing exercises, she opened the door and hollered, “Ava?!”

“Yes?” The aforementioned woman looked up from the couch, where she was sipping a glass of water and playing a game on her phone.

“Is it okay if I shower?”

“Yeah! Let me get you something to sleep in, I think we’re similar in size.”

Sarah closed the door as Ava got up, and a few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Sarah opened it, and Ava handed her a stack of folded clothes, with two towels on the bottom, “I didn’t know if there were any towels in there, so if there are, just leave any extras under the sink.”

Sarah nodded, and Ava gave her a tight-lipped smile, and left.

Sarah closed the door.

It seemed that Sarah was given a bright pink muscle tee, with the words “Cardiac care is a work of heart” in all caps, with an anatomical heart image, and a pair of loose black sweatpants. She rolled her eyes at the shirt, surprised that Ava would own it. It seemed silly.

Sarah stripped, turned the water on as cold as it could go, and jumped in.

(A/N) thx for reading ! lmk what you thought <3

#chicago med #sarah reese #ava bekker #reesker #transfemme!sarah #enjoy!#tbh i went through a lot of questioning as to whether i should post this #but i love it too much not to

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ms-demeanor · 5 years ago

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So I got a new car this weekend and by “new” I mean “2010 Toyota Yaris with 120k miles on it” and I have a few thoughts:

After years of driving a giant truck this feels like driving a teacup; I’d forgotten what it felt like for the wind to push me on the freeway (scary, it feels scary)

This isn’t a real car, this is too small to be a real car, this is an egg.

THE HOOD. THE HOOD IS SO LITTLE. OMG WHAT, THIS IS A JOKE RIGHT, NO, IT’S TOO CUTE AND TINY.

But seriously looking down and just seeing the entire engine compartment and knowing that I can reach across the whole thing or bend over and reach any part of it is so weird, the oil filter is RIGHT THERE, I can just put a filter wrench right on it and twist there’s no climbing like there was on my truck or wrestling with the frame like there was on my saturn what is this

I can’t see around shit

Seriously the hood is like the size of a cafeteria tray, I want to throw it like a frisbee

Compact parking spaces are REAL.

We’ve got five, five gallon gascans at the house (living with survivalists is weird) and if I’d wanted to use those on the truck they would have ALMOST filled the tank. Just TWO of those could fill this tank. I’m going to save SO MUCH money on gas, thank fuck holy crap I needed that.

I am going to paint the top of this thing yellow and get a license plate that says OVR EZ because this is an egg.

Who are you fucking kidding with the fifth seatbelt in the back this car is a two and a half seater at best but I like your moxie

I CAN PUT THE SEATS DOWN AND FIT A DRUM KIT IN THE BACK.

Large bastard fits inside it and his head doesn’t even hit the ceiling and his head hits the ceiling in his Jeep, this is great.

I got very used to cornering like a dazed humpback and now I can take corners again and U-turns are a thing and it’s nice

It costs $95 to fill up the truck in LA county and I was only getting 18-20 mpg and even that is only because I’m a good driver because that fuckin’ whale is rated for 14-16mpg this is going to save me SO MUCH money on gas

Apparently a lot of my personality was based on being a Huge Truck Guy and now that I’m not a Huge Truck Guy I don’t know how to feel about my teacup vehicle but maybe instead of painting it like an egg I’ll get china pattern detailing

I am incapable of treating cars as anything but a shitpost actually

I hate that I don’t have a manual for this thing yet and that I haven’t torn it apart but it needs new brakes and that’s like the best possible way to get started working on a new car so huzzah

man the economy for economy cars is fucked up and it’s a real bummer that it’s significantly cheaper to get something newer that’ll cost more long-term (because of gas consumption) than it is to get an older economy car. One of the cars that I found when I was looking was a 2004 Honda Civic with 225K miles on it for four grand and that is bonkers in yonkers. It’s really hard to find anything that gets 25+ mpg with under a hundred thousand miles on it for under ten thousand dollars unless you are buying in cash from the owner which comes with its own set of challenges.

It is worth at least five hundred dollars to get a car that does NOT have bullshit plastic covers over every fucking part of the engine.

I can park this thing anywhere. I bet I could park this thing in a treehouse. It’s so freaking little, even my saturns were longer than this and they were tiny.

I feel like I could pick this car up by the bumper and curl it.

The hood is so little that when you drop it to close it there isn’t enough weight to engage the latch it feels like a joke.

I love car forums and car forum people because I thought I was going to have to replace the radiator fan (the radiator looks like you could fill it up from a big gulp cup, btw) but it turns out I probably just have to ziptie a cable and i love car nerds for telling me that.

I didn’t drive like an asshole in the big truck but I may have to drive like an asshole in the little car because people are not taking the little car seriously. The turn signal is still a warning, not a request. It’s rush hour and I’ve got fucking nothing to lose. You think I can’t do bodywork on this piece of shit? You think I can’t replace a bumper? Fuck you, try me.

I don’t know why this little car has so many secret compartments but I like it. What’s it got in its pockets, precious?

Buying cars fucking sucks.

#hello i am made of stress #this will probably accelerate plan escape from bitch mountain

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thewritingstar · 4 years ago

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Until My Heart Stops Racing

Pairing: Mitch x Mike (or Bitch as I like to call them, ya know cause Believe x Mitch.....nvm lol)

Fandom: The Powerpuff Girls

Note: This was a commission for the wonderful @lisathefan who gave me the cutest prompt and I know she loves her crack ships. I hope you enjoy my dear and thanks to my beta, Faxx for helping me!

Word count: 5538

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The car whipped into the parking space, dirt flying around us and I felt my heart rate finally go back to its normal beating. I looked over to Butch who had a goofy grin and ignoring everything he just did.

“Butch your driving is terrible. Now I get why you fly everywhere.” I groaned as I finally got out of the car. “I swear if Brick saw how you drove this thing... actually I don’t want to think about it.” I thought that speeding was illegal but apparently if the cops can’t even see your car, it's a free pass. And being in touch with the puffs might be a bonus we all have.

Butch let out a laugh before locking the car. “Relaxe Mike, what Brick doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” He shrugged and sometimes I wondered how he could even say that. Brick could kill someone with just a glance but when you are a superhuman, and his brother, maybe the effect doesn’t work.

Maybe I should ask Blossom about that.

The beeping of other cars brought me out of my trance as I followed him on the dirt path.

“Anyways, why did you drag me all the way out here?” I turned to see the lights and the signs. “The fair?”

In front of me was the entrance to what could only be deemed as a somehow legal way to make people shell out three hundred dollars on cheap food and even cheaper ride systems. Every kid wanted to go to the fair and, yeah, it was fun when you were five, but now that we had just graduated high school, it seemed more dangerous than fun.

“Yeah, why not?”

I glanced at him and he only smiled widely but something in his eyes had mischief written all over it. “What's the deal?”

He sighed and smirked.

“A little birdy told me you got heart eyes for a certain someone.” Butch threw his arm around my shoulder. “And as the king of romance, I’m gonna help you out.”

Theres always a small tinge of fear whenever Butch gets an idea. It either ends badly where someone gets hurt, usually him or bad in the way that we all get in trouble and the notorious Powerpuff Girls have to get us out of it. But this...this was much worse.

“Butch, what did you do?” I said through gritted teeth. He only laughed at me instead of answering and pushed up towards the gates.

“Relax. Look they are here.” He pointed.

I followed his sight and walking up towards us was Buttercup, Robin and Mitch. Butch let out another laugh, probably because he could hear my heartbeat. Fuck superhearing. Of course Robin opened her mouth. You tell a girl while you’re throwing up that you have the biggest crush on your best friend who wears dark leather, has piercings and makes your heart swoon and think that she can keep her mouth shut. But no, she can’t.

“Hey guys.” Butch waves to him before leaving me to wrap his arms around Buttercup and ignore the public by kissing her square on the lips. PDA is always gross unless you’re the one doing it, so I can’t blame them. Also it's funny to watch her smack his arm.

“Sup Mikey.” Robin smiles smugly. Little demon.

“Hey. Hi Mitch.” He gives me a wave and a nod of the head and I have to mentally tell myself not to blush. Stupid hormons.

“Come on you two.” Robin says and grabs my arm and Mitch’s and forces us towards the carnival’s entrance. “Lets go!”

One of the perks to being besties with the puffs is the mass amount of freebies. Buttercup swiftly pulled out a ticket for each of us and handed it to the ticket collector.

“Sweet, free entrance.” Mitch smiled at me and held up his hand for a fist bump.

I gladly returned the gesture and every time I did so, I wondered if he could feel the electric spark between us. God, I need to stop reading romance novels.

“Alright losers. We’ll see you all later tonight, meet up for fireworks at 9?” Buttercup said and apparently everyone already had a plan that I was not aware of.

“Sounds good to me!” Butch smirked. “BC and I are going to do coupley stuff no one wants to see and Robin said something about henna soooooo.” He looked at me. “Guess Mitchy boy and Mikey are on their own.” I didn’t miss his wink and before I could protest, everyone was walking away.

My mind was now racing as I tried to comprehend what was happening. I realized in this moment that the group had ganged up on us, well specifically me. Mitch probably didn’t even think twice as the group broke up but they were out of their minds if they thought something was going to happen.

“Wanna hit the rides?” He asked.

I take a breath before nodding. We turn into the direction of the ride area and I have to remind myself that he is just a friend. A friend. Nothing more, nothing less. I usually have my emotions in check but for some reason, they want to act up now. All I have to do is get through tonight without embarrassing myself or giving Butch the satisfation of him being the king of romance. As if that were possible.

The area is buzzing with so much energy. There’s little kids whining and screams coming from the various rides. The smells of corn dogs, popcorn and, oddly enough, waffles mixed in the air and I can’t tell if it smells good or not but I know my pockets are gonna be much lighter by the end of the night.

We get into the shortest line for the tickets and it's truly a scam that each ride is a separate cost.

“I don’t feel like dying tonight so I think two rides is good for me.” Mitch says and I laugh a little because it's true. Just watching the swings makes me feel like one of them unhinge and plummet to the ground but that's what I get for being a paranoid person.

“I feel you. How about the rollercoaster and ummm... the spinning ride?” I suggest.

“Sounds good to me.” He smiles and god fucking dammit, those damn dimples.

The line moves as we chat about the newest horror movie coming into theaters and how Mitch saw a certain pair of redheads making out in a car.

“Wait for real?”

“I swear to god dude.” He raised his hand. “Unless some other chick wears a big ass bow, it has to be them.”

“Interesting.” I smile and soon we get called next.

“Hi there boys, how many tickets can I get ya?” the older woman asks.

“Ten.” Mitch says and I reach into my pocket to grab my wallet, that may or may not have a photo of all of our friends and definitely not for the reason that I can see his face at any given time, but Mitch stops me and places the cash in the tin. “I got it.” he says casually and something inside me felt all warm and fuzzy as the row of blue tickets was handed to him.

“Have a nice date night.” The woman says as we walk away and I almost do a double take thinking I heard her wrong. But when I look over to Mitch, he seems unaffected by the words so I just let it slide.

The rollercoaster isn’t as grand or cool as the ones at the theme park, it doesn’t even go upside down but it has a good bit of hills and bumps to give some air time so i guess it will do. The only problem is that these workers don’t care and make Mitch and I sit in the same cart as these two younger kids.

After we get the bars onto us, the ride starts to go. In front of us the girl grabs the boy's arm and I give a small eye roll as we start to climb the lift hill.

“Babe I'm scared.” She cries and he wraps an arm around her shoulders and I’ve never been so jealous of middle schoolers before.

“These carts are so damn small.” Mitch complains. And it's true. The two of us squished in this together leaves no space for our arms. The pressure of our shoulders touching isn’t too bad but it's to the point it almost hurts. “Hold on.” He says and I feel him pull his right arm away from mine and throw it behind us. “Sorry this is better.”

“No, it's cool bro.” I say even though I realize that this boy really just made it ten times harder to breath now.

I can barely grasp my surroundings as the rollercoaster takes its first turn before the drop. I can see the ending of the track as we go down but the only thing my brain is processing is the fingers tightening on my shoulder.

“Holy shit.” I mumble hoping that Mitch doesn’t know how he's affecting me.

We let out screams and shouts as we go up and down, flying around on the track and I try to enjoy myself, I really do. Before long, it's over and Mitch reaches his hand out to help me up and I take it with silence.

“That was fun.” He smiles and I am really happy he ignored his moms protests and got that lip piercing. It suits him.

“Yeah.” Is all I can muster and he gives me a look before walking towards the next ride.

Luckily as we enter this ride, there’s more room. Only our knees touch as we buckle in the seatbelt and I feel myself being able to breathe better.

“Good thing we didn’t eat before getting on here.” I laugh as the lights start to flash.

He snorts and nods. “Robin would have blown chunks either way.”

The ride is a simple circular track with small hills. All it does is follow the path and goes around pretty fast. Simple but a classic. The music begins and soon we feel the cart shift. I'm sitting on the right while Mitch is on the left, next to the exit and he wiggles off his black beanie just for good measure. His light brown hair, slightly damaged from dying it black back in freshman year, is ruffled from hat hair and my god is it cute.

“Fucking love this ride.” Mitch smiles and it begins to pick up the pace.

Soon, we are at full speed, which is fine. Perfectly fine. Except for the fact that the gravity from the ride is pulling me towards Mitch and no matter how tight I hold on, I end up smacked against him. Shoulders touching and I can clearly smell his cologne. It's the scent of sandalwood and campfire and my god does it smell heavenly. Men just smell like nature and I am more than okay with that.

But Mitch doesn’t mind, because why would he? Instead he's laughing and truly enjoying the ride. I smile and laugh too because honestly, it's just fun to spend time with him. The ride is over faster than I wanted and we hop off, slightly dizzy and I walk a little out of line but he catches my arm and pulls me to him.

“Easy dude.” He chuckles and I nudge him playfully and ruffle his hair before he plops on his beanie. Goodbye cute hat hair.

All of a sudden, my shoulder is hit. It was a pretty hard smack and my body jolted to the side as Mitch grabbed me from falling.

“Look a bunch of homos.” I look up and realize that it's some assholes from our school.

Duke Jones and Mark Dalton. Some of the few people who actually try to be douchebags on the regular.

My eyes do heavy eye rolls and I want to scream at them but I've never been a confronting person. My voice is in my throat but Mitch takes a step forward, his hand never leaving my arm.

“And what of it? Really dudes? You think some lame insult is gonna hurt our feelings. You’re lucky I don’t just kick your ass, better enough I can call Buttercup in a second and have your bodies all the way across this place. Grow the fuck up and maybe don’t choke on your toxic masculanity.” He sneered and sometimes I forget that Mitch can be pretty intimidating.

Their eyes widened as Mitch pulled out his phone to show BC’s number. They mutter something before turning and rushing off in a hurry.

“You okay?” He asks me.

“Yeah.” I say. “Sorry you got caught in that.”

“It's not a big deal.”

But it is. It's not a secret that I'm out and proud. Yeah its cool and all to not have to be closeted, even Princess came out last year so its nice to know that someone higher up won’t pick on me, but even then, it sucks. No matter where I go in life, someone will be there with a flame thrower of slurs or anger for something I didn’t choose. As for Mitch, theres something about him being called gay and him not having a hissy fit about it that makes me feel safe. Uhh fuck.

I take a second to recollect myself and Mitch just pulls me from the herds of eyes that saw that fiasco.

“Lets go here.” He points to the hall of mirrors and for some reason it's beginning to get extremely hard to be around him.

But I take a deep breath and push those feelings to the side once again.

The hall of mirrors was by far the lamest thing the fair could have done. Sure, as a little kid it was cool and slightly scary but now, all of our heads could see just above the tips of the mirrors making it lose the effect. It probably would have been more fun if the others were there. Butch would hide behind the mirros trying to scare us before Buttercup sent some lasers his way causing them to bounce everywhere and making us duck and cover. Good times. However, it was just Mitch and me.

While Mitch was walking, I couldn’t stop thinking about those jerks just now. Of course everyone already knew about my preference but Mitch seemed unbothered by being referred to as gay. Probably because he's not some asshole that thinks it's a bad thing, I mean if he did, why would he be friends with me for all this time? He’s just a good person, that's all.

Not to sound like the coming of age kid, but I knew I was into dudes before I could comprehend the idea of love or romance, I just thought they were pretty to look at. Moving to a new city at such a young age was hard for me, not to mention the whole invisible friend that tried to kill everyone. But after everything was said and done, I did in fact make some friends.

The famous superheroes had become my pals and when Buttercup introduced me to Mitch, I think that's when it all went downhill. We became the dynamic duo and everyone always paired us as the best friends, which is true but...it makes me feel guilty.

He turned a corner and I stopped walking. All of a sudden I was lost and staring at a mirror. Just me in my beat up sneakers and the uncertain face I seem to be wearing a lot lately. There's always a time in your life where you stop and contemplate everything, question all your decisions and how nothing truly matters.

“Hey you stopped walking?” Mitch said to me and I looked at him with a shaky smile.

“Sorry. Lost in thought I guess.”

“Care to share?” He asked and leaned against one of the mirrors.

I laughed to myself thinking about what I could possibly say. “Yeah sure Mitch, why don’t I just tell you that I’m in love with you and how it pains me to wake up to know that you will only see me as just a friend. Why don’t I just rip out my heart and put it on a silver platter for you to squash or just confess and kiss you here, ignoring all the states and hopefully pissing off some people?”

“...What?”

My eyes shot open and my eyes met his. He looked at me with confusion and shock. His mouth hung open slightly and it took me a solid three seconds to relaize that my dumb ass had just blurted that all out.

Panic. That's all I could feel as he stared like a deer caught in headlights. I could feel myself on the verge of tears and suddenly the air was too thick as I turned and ran, not caring about the employee telling me I was going the wrong way.

Mitch’s voice echoed behind me but I couldn’t stand to turn and look towards him. To hear the pure rejection and probably the disgust. Throwing away years of friendship for some stupid feelings? What was I thinking?

After nearly hitting my head several times, I made it out and ignored the weird stares and glances people were giving me. All I wanted to do was find Butch and get out of here and hope that I can just pack up and move away for college. Maybe even change my name.

Instead I found myself pushing my way into the bathroom stall and biting my arm to stifle my sobs. I felt like my heart was about to shatter, that all my nightmares where coming true all thanks to my stupid mouth. I was a fool to think that someone like him would even consider me as something more, a complete and utter fool.

“Mike?” A voice called and of course the sneakers peaking outside the stall belonged to Butch.

“What?” I spat bitterly. “Go away.”

I barely heard his sigh. “Dude, I don’t know what happened but suddenly Buttercup saw you burst into here. Really dude, is everything fine? At least come out and talk to us. Plus it smells really bad in here and there's a line of dudes.”

There's some truth to the matter and I wiped my face and pushed open the stall with a little too much force but luckily he grabbed it and just nodded towards the exit.

Robin and Buttercup are standing outside and luckily, I don’t see Mitch.

“Wanna explain what happened?” Robin asks as she hands me a tissue from her purse.

“No. I just wanna go home.”

Buttercup looks arounds then back to me. “Where's Mitch.”

“Probably somewhere and never wants to see me again.” I mumble.

“What?” She asks and looks towards Butch then back to me.

Butch raised his brow. “Mike, did you tell him?”

“Tell him what?” Buttercup asked.

It was at that moment that Buttercup didn’t know that I was practically in love with her best friend. Maybe Robin and Butch planned this together but it didn’t matter, not anymore. I would be losing two friends after this. Great.

“Look. It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t feel the same way.” My throat is dry and it hurts and there's no doubt that my face is red and flushed with tears. “I'm just gonna call my mom to come get me.”

“Come on Mike don’t go.” Robin asked and she padded my arm.

“You don’t get it, Robin.” I spat. “You don’t understand what I just did. Thanks to someone’s dumb idea, I now lost my best friend. And for what? Did we really think he would like me back? That he could even see me in such a way? I don’t even know if he’s gay or let alone into dudes. But who gives fuck? I don’t.”

Butch took a step towards me but my anger only rose. “C’mon Mike I'm sure-”

“This was a stupid idea Butch!” I yelled and at that moment I didn’t care what anyone thought. I was embarrassed and hurt. “I just want to be alone.” I pushed past him and the others, ignoring everything they were saying because it didn’t matter any more.

It didn’t matter that my friends tried to help something that shouldn’t have even been considered. It was just a stupid crush. Nothing more, nothing less. Hopefully by the new semester, it would be gone and out of my system…. hopefully. A stupid crush that I’d been harboring for years and titling on a scale of something more.

It wasn’t long until my tears dried and I found myself among the section of carnival games. All of the rigged and hard to win and if you did win, it would be a small sappy prize that you would toss into a garbage bag or try to sell for a nickel at a garage sale.

There were darts and guessing the weight of a small pig. The basketball tossing and hitting the giant hammer looked tempting but instead I walked to the game that no one had ever won. Ring toss. A game of chance and so incredibly rigged, it's a miracle if one prize is won in a year.

Without a second thought, I gave up a fresh twenty dollar bill and the girl working, who clearly hated her job, handed me the biggest bucket of rings. Enough to keep me entertained until I call my mom or muster up enough courage to ask Butch for a ride back like a dog with its tail inbetween its legs.

I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I could be okay with this. But I was stupid. Stupid to think that the boy I had a crush on, one of my best friends, would like me back, or even be into dudes for that matter. But no, instead of having my secret crush kept, ya know, a secret, the one person who shouldn’t know, did.

I tossed another ring into the sea of bottles, the high pitched clinking echoed for just a moment as another was tossed. Maybe this was pointless. Maybe trying to figure out feelings was a waste of time because in all honesty, I never knew.

Like the plastic rings people pay way too much for, you jump and you think you’ll land on that bottle, secure the prize and show everyone up. Prove that you can do the impossible.

But then you miss and reality comes back. The bucket dwindles down and soon you’re left with nothing but regret for trying and shorting eight bucks.

“Hey.”

I turned, of course he would follow me. Why wouldn’t he? He was probably here just to tell me to let it go and sweep it under the rug, and say it's not weird when it totally is. Or he was going to come out and say that maybe our friendship has come to its expiration date.

“Oh. Hey.” I threw another one, missing again.

I tried not to care as he stood next to me but I passed him the bucket and he took his own shot, missing, just like me.

“Have you been crying?” He asked and there was no way around it.

“Yep.” I popped the p and threw another ring. “Look Mitch, I’m sorry what I said-”

“Don’t be.”.

“Most guys would just push someone like me away if that happened.”

He hummed and tossed a ring, missing. “Well, I’m not like most guys and I thought that was pretty clear. Especially after those jerks. I value your friendship too much to get worried or upset.”

I looked over at him, and that in itself was a mistake, because it would be just my luck that the other carnival games with their bright flashing lights would surround him and make it seem like he was glowing. The lights soften his features, a small twinkle on the black orb of his earring and making those very so light freckles appear.

Almost like a painting hung up in a museum. You think the trip is boring, and for the most part it is. A few interesting things here and there but just as you are about to leave, you find a room you hadn’t explored. It could be nothing and you could leave, forgetting everything in the last three hours and moving on with your life.

Or it could be life changing. As if when you walked in there, the most captivating painting was on that wall and you wonder how you skipped it in the first place. You stare at it, taking in the picture itself and the meaning. Stepping closer and looking at the paint strokes, the time taken to make this is clear and it's full of questions and mystery. The small plaque on the wall fails to answer.

He picked up the last ring. It twirled in his fingertips unsure of where to go.

“I kept thinking, you know.” He said. “I remember watching a show, a random cartoon and an ad for a pride festival popped up. I thought nothing of it, didn’t know what it meant at the time but my father did. He was outraged and changed the channel, screamed and shouted saying that if his son ever was caught doing something like that…” Mitch paused and closed his palm.

I could see the hurt in his eyes as he sighed.

“Then he would have no son. So when I found out what it all meant and learned about myself....I thought it would be best to never act on it. No matter how much I wanted to look towards another guy, I couldn’t.”

“I’m sorry Mitch, I didn’t know.” And it was the truth. I wanted to mentally slap myself for not realizing that he was, in fact, gay as well. Way to go Mike, your gay-dar is broken. But then again, you can’t just tell a sexuality clear as day. I can’t blame him for hiding it, after everything with his dad.

He sighed again. “But when you told me that. Told me you wanted me, I think I started to realize that I would rather have something I want no matter what others think of me. I envy how you can just come out and be proud, as you should, but I wish I was that brave instead of a coward.”

“Mitch.” I slid my hand on top of his cautiously. He didn’t flinch or have any indication of pulling away. “I’m scared every day. Scared that someone might yell something offensive or even try to hurt me. Just like those assholes did earlier.But I can’t stop those things from happening but I can choose to not let them affect me. It's hard but you know you’re surrounded by people who care about you. Plus your best friend is an actual superhero.”

“I know, I’m sorry. You probably don’t want to date such a fuck up like me.”

Fuck up? Did this boy really think that?

“I would never see you as that.” I said honestly. “It's normal for us to have conflicting feelings when someone in our life isn't supportive. It's never gonna be a walk in the park or smooth sailing but when you're with someone who cares about you, it makes it easier.”

He sighed for the hundredth time. It was clear the gears in his mind were running at full steam and he looked at the ring in his hand then to the bottles.

“I guess you’re right Mike. I guess I was thrown off that the dude I've liked since kindergarten likes me back.” He looked towards me and tossed the ring, not bothering to pay attention. “I just hope you haven't changed you mind-”

The next thing I know, my hand is tugging on his worn leather collar and his lips are pressed to mine.

I never thought that my first kiss would be as enchanting as this. You always think it's magical and fulfilling but in reality it's probably a mess of lips that don’t move quite as well and somehow there's a tongue doing whatever it wants. I guess I can’t count this as my first kiss because Robin had peaked me on the lips in third grade, also giving me the clear sexual awakening of how I never want another woman to come near me again, but this was different.

He tasted like cotton candy which I should find gross and oddly weird but I didn’t mind one bit. At the beginning there was a bit of hesitation, or maybe he was caught off guard since I did interrupt him but I couldn’t help myself. Stupid hormones. He wasted no time kissing me back and I even felt a hand on my waist pulling towards him. Although it lasted only a few mere seconds, it was like a lifetime of waiting had lifted.

When we pulled apart, loud speakers and alarms went off above us. I looked towards the game, I noticed one single plastic ring was stuck on the bottle. The worker smiled at us before nodding.

“Wow, I can’t believe you made it, especially without looking.” She said and I looked to Mitch who just shrugged.

“What? You kissed me, I just threw it.” He smiled brightly and I hugged him.

“So what will it be?” I asked him and he turned towards the prizes.

“Well, what about that dinosaur?”

“I love dinosaurs.”

Mitch smiled. “I know.”

The worker used a ladder to climb and retrieve the massive blue dinosaur prize. As a kid, i used to dream of winning such a cool thing but know, I think I got something better. Mitch handed it to me with a blush and I looked at it with just as much pink on my cheeks.

“Ya know.” Mitch started. “I have enough tickets for one last ride. Maybe the ferris wheel?”

“That sounds good.” He reached out his hand and I took it. Before I could blink, I felt his lips press against my cheek.

“I don’t like to see you cry.” He said.

I simply hummed and we walked hand in hand to the ferris wheel before deciding to give the prize to some kids. He handed the tickets to the worker as we climbed into the cart and began to go up. He threw his arm over my shoulder like he did on the rollercoaster, but this time, I leaned against him and let those emotions I tried to keep at bay, run wild.

“I’m really glad Butch dragged me here.” I said honestly and Mitch only laughed and silenced me with his lips pressed against mine.

“Me too.”

When we pulled apart, a few questions still lingered in my mind.

“You mean, you’ve liked me this entire time? And you knew I was gay?” I asked hesitantly. It wasn’t a secret, the last part at least.

He scratched the back of his neck, a nervous tick he's had since he was little. “I mean I wasn’t hundred percent sure, I thought maybe it was a one time thing or just happened occasionally. But as we got older, more specifically high school, I think that's when it hit me.” He sighed. “All I knew was that I wanted to be with you until my heart stopped racing.”

His eyes met mine. I’ve always hated when people didn’t see the beauty in brown eyes. They think they are dull and lifeless, only one hue but that's far from the truth. Mitch’s eyes had spots of gold and a slight tint of green, breathtaking to say the least.

“I mean it’s a shame we spent our high school years just as friends.” My hand went on top of his. “But I’d rather have you as my friend instead of losing you so I understand. But what about your dad? Will be okay with us dating-or well I assume we should-”

“I don’t care about his opinion of us. Plus we would be idiots not to date at this point. If he doesn’t accept. That's his loss not mine.” His gaze went to the sky where a firework exploded.

The colors lit up in the sky and we realized we got lucky as our cart stopped at the very top. It felt unreal to be sitting next to my best friend and now, boyfriend. There's always moments in your life that you feel like were meant to be. Maybe it's the career you chose or the person you marry. Milestones that are already set in stone and fate just happens to bring you together, all that stuff. And as I looked at him through heavy lashes I thought that maybe, just maybe, the stars aligned on this one.

That or I would have to admit that Butch is the king of romance, even though he did literally nothing today and this was all me. Either way, Mikey boy’s got a man.

I hope you enjoyed love!!

#Mitch x mike #mike x Mitch ppg #ppg #ppg fic #fanfic commissions

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devnny · 5 years ago

Text

CHAPTER TEN.

JTRM — THE “R” STANDS FOR RECOVERING!

PREVIOUSLY.

CHAPTER 10!!! THE BIG ONE-OH! this fic is officially classified “burn as slow as FUCK”

i hope the long awaited reveal is not disappointing. and coherent. this chapter’s a mess ghgnjdkagbj i’m laughing again GOD. and thank you all again for your kind comments and messages and sticking with me this long!!!

Johnny fidgeted his heels against the carpeted floor of Devi’s sedan, uncertain about why they were going on another outing so soon after their last. They had only returned home long enough to put away all of their newly acquired foodstuffs, then Devi had ushered him right back out to the car. He had intended to make dinner again – something more elaborate than instant meals or canned soup, as an apology for his severe misstep tonight – but Devi informed him that dinner could wait, with a rather content smile on her face, he noted.

And she did seem happy now, too, which made him very uneasy.

Devi wasn’t so quick to forgive, and yet she was driving and singing along with the music that she had on at a deafening volume, smirking at nothing from time to time. She looked very sure about something, and Johnny couldn’t imagine what it was.

As they pulled into the parking lot of All-Mart, he guessed that her smile was because she intended to torture him with a trip through a wretched DEPARTMENT STORE.

“Devi… why are we here? I don’t want to go into that revolting Hellhole.” Johnny hid halfway behind the frame of the door as he looked out the window at all the people that were still out shopping, even at this moderately late hour – moderately late for people that slept, anyway.

“Just wanted to look at a couple of things.” Devi answered smoothly as she clicked the engine off. Johnny’s frown warbled unconfidently, but he had little choice besides joining Devi as she exited the car.

He hunched slightly while they walked, moving ever-closer to Devi as they passed more and more people – awful, contemptable people! That has to be her intention; to punish him further for his outburst at the supermarket. And here he thought that he was the expert in inflicting agony.

The inside of the store was so bright and horrible, he couldn’t stand it. The intercom boasted a disgustingly sweet, fake-positive woman’s voice, that continuously repeated commercials for the store’s bargains and sales – what was the POINT of that? They were already IN the store, there was no need to advertise further!! It made Johnny twitch and glower in annoyance, which Devi took notice of, but then made no attempt to ease his nerves.

Devi hated department stores almost as much as Johnny did, but only felt giddiness from the idea that had hatched in her mind earlier. She turned them into the Baby section of the store, and resisted the urge to wrap her arm around Johnny’s neck to make sure he didn’t go far while she browsed. Johnny, now almost in a full crouch as he shuffled backwards beside her, had no intention of moving even an inch further from her side, out of fear and contempt for his surroundings. He hardly even registered that they were in an aisle coated with different options for teething rings and burb-bibs.

With her eyes moving back to watch Johnny every so often, Devi searched the shelves until she found what she so desired; a toddler harness. Johnny was so thin that one might actually fit on him, with the right adjustments. And if it cut into his underarms, that would be tough shit!

She plucked one off of a hook to examine it closer. It was a cute little piggy, and had the clasps and leash attachment that she was so very interested in. Even if she was certain that Johnny could figure out how to unbuckle it, she hoped that his spur-of-the-moment rush toward a target would alert her that he was up to something, and she could stop him before he did anything more. For once she was thankful that he was so single-minded when he was hungry for violence.

Devi had all but decided to buy the harness, until she turned it around and saw the price tag.

Thirty-five FUCKING dollars.

She recoiled her head back, as though it physically pained her to purchase something so stupid for such an equally stupid price. There was no way that she was going to drop that kind of cash on a dumbass little piggy-thing after she just had to blow a hundred or so dollars on groceries! It wasn’t like the freelance gigs were rolling in with a steady stream of money!

Surely there had to be a cheaper alternative, she thought, as she dug through the different brands of baby attachments. She was dismayed to find anything cheaper was made of material that looked like it could barely keep an infant subdued, let alone an adult maniac. Devi sighed in annoyance.

One of her fingers ticked away at the digits on her opposite hand as she mentally tallied the money that should be left in her checking account, debating if she had enough to spare for this and still make rent. Just as she was considering dipping into her cushion of “disaster fund” money – Johnny was arguably just as much of a disaster as a broken-down car, or an impromptu bone fracture – the glitter of metal clasps on the aisle across from them caught her eye.

Devi tilted her head towards the Pet section with renewed interest.

The new idea that her brain was constructing was almost too cruel, but she was beyond caring about if or how Johnny’s ego would suffer at this point. She waved her hand near Johnny’s face to rouse him from his paranoia, then walked across the aisle, slow enough that she could make certain Johnny was following her. Johnny jolted at being left behind for even a second, and scampered after her in a mild panic. He took his spot behind Devi again, and began ringing his hands together in an effort to ease himself, seeing as Devi wasn’t offering him any such kindness.

Devi nodded approvingly that he had stayed close, then went to work inspecting the various dog collars and leashes that decorated the wall. She took a sturdy looking leash off of its hook, and sprung the clasp a few times with her thumb. A smile grew on her face the more she played with it – this might offer even better control than a toddler harness. After all, this was supposed to be for a massive dog, not a little wobbly baby.

She flipped the packaging around, and was unbothered by the modest $8.99 price tag. While it was still more than Devi was willing to spend on pet supplies, for something as simple as this, she knew where to go to get it at a price that she could afford.

A LOCAL DOLLAR STORE:

“This is just as good.” Devi boasted, relishing in the rare sensation of triumph as she held up her choices; a black dog collar and its matching black leash. Johnny stood at her side, one finger on his lip in befuddlement.

“Do you have a dog?” He asked. They hadn’t lived together long, but he hadn’t seen nor heard any indications that Devi had a dog. He wondered if she was planning on getting one – a large one, by the looks of it – to keep him in check, or for some other nefarious plot to coerce him to comply with her wishes. Devi looked at him with a shine in her eyes and an excited smile that disturbed him slightly.

Johnny followed behind her as she bought the two items in question, puzzling all the way about what evil purpose she had in mind for them. Clearly there was nothing normal about this purchase, if her response was so bizarre. They walked out to the front of the store, and Devi stopped him before he could move out of the overhead lights’ reach. She was too eager to wait until they got home to fit the collar on him, and wanted to instead give the whole system a test run tonight.

“Come here.” She spoke with a smile, urging him to face her. Johnny did as he was told, and watched her unclasp the collar with the leash draped over her elbow. Devi adjusted the collar until it was as tight as she could make it, then moved to put it on him.

Johnny’s spine straightened with paralyzing static as Devi’s wrists brushed over each of his shoulders, and he stood taut and motionless while she worked to fasten the collar on his neck.

He could barely comprehend what she was doing when she was standing so painfully close, and his heart quickened in the confusion, able to do little else besides push hot blood to his face. As her hands moved to the front of his throat, Johnny arched his neck back and away, trying desperately to distance himself from the tantalizing proximity of Devi’s person to his. He kept his focus on the sky, begging anything up there to interest his mind more than the woman mere inches away.

Just as his turmoil felt like it was going to take him off the rails, a click! and soft tug distracted him, and he looked down to realize fully that Devi had just put a dog collar on him.

“WH—” Johnny baulked at his unwanted accessory. “DEVI, WHAT—”

“Oh, I don’t want to hear it from you, Captain of the Skull Bludgeoning Committee.” She pointed at him, though her smug smile remained.

Johnny scowled in embarrassment, but just as he was going to rant to her that he was not a fucking dog, and that he demanded more respect than this, and that this was completely humiliating, Devi brought a hand up and looped her finger into his collar, tugging him forward and unintentionally garbling any of the words that he had prearranged for her. She stuck her tongue out, pleased, as she clicked the leash’s clasp onto the ring of the collar.

“There we go.” Devi hummed. Johnny looked down to the black lead that now attached his neck firmly to Devi’s fist, and couldn’t help but find the observation both terrifying and comically befitting.

“Come, maniac.” Her voice caught his attention again. She chuffed and turned to walk down the sidewalk. “I think we deserve some tacos for this little excursion!”

“Oooh, tacos.” Johnny’s eyes grew shiny and wide, and he trailed after her eagerly at the prospect of a yummy, greasy dinner. He tucked away his lingering resentment, and vowed to bring it up later, once they were home and full of food. He might have a better shot at convincing her once she’s eaten something.

DAYS LATER:

“…Is this really Devi?” Tenna asked into her phone skeptically.

“What—yes, it’s me.”

“I don’t recall the Devi I know asking me to go outside WILLINGLY in at LEAST a year. Maybe LONGER.” Her voice grew even more incredulous, and she tumbled Spooky in her hands while she debated if her friend had been probed by aliens, or replaced by an android. Devi scoffed.

“You can just say you don’t want to go. I was just going to take Johnny… out. Y’know. Maybe go see a movie, eat among the masses. Something disgusting like that.” She replied.

“Is this a date thing?” Tenna asked. She could almost feel the cold aura expelling off of Devi through the receiver of her phone, and she snickered. “Ok, so not a date thing. What is it then?”

“Just a little test of his will again, that’s all.” Devi hummed, and one of Tenna’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at the rather happy tone in her voice. Very, very strange.

“Oo-okayyy…” Tenna drew out, then regathered her standard chipper attitude. “OKAY! I’ll be up in a little bit.”

“But… you’re closer to the ground floor. Wouldn’t it make more sense for us to meet you down—”

“SEE YA IN A BIT!” She laughed and hung up, leaving Devi with no option but to wait for her.

Devi stepped out of her room, newly dressed and rubbing a towel on her still-damp hair. Every time she had to wash it, she reminded herself that it would need to be cut soon – even with her hair barely past her jaw, it was still too long for her taste. Too annoying to manage.

She turned her attention to Johnny, who was sitting with his knees up on the couch, watching TV. Devi’s self-satisfied smile returned – she had been wearing it an awful lot lately. Johnny wasn’t too keen on going out tonight, besides the fact that they would be going to the Camera, but Devi was excited to put him through another trial-run with the leash.

Eating out at a taco shop was one thing, and she certainly felt more at ease with him tethered to her, but it was hardly enough to prove that it would work consistently. She hoped that some dumbass at the theater or on the street would give him a reason to lunge, and then she could really give this new mechanic a test.

Johnny looked up as she approached, and smiled against himself at how nice she looked. He liked all her outfits, but she dressed differently when she was leaving the house.

“Are you ready to go?” He asked casually.

“Almost, just need to tie up my hair.” Devi replied, then went to ask him the same, when a new, uneasy thought came to her.

There was only one bathroom in the apartment, and seeing as it was conjoined to her bedroom, Johnny was never in it when she was asleep. And she couldn’t recall, in all the times she was conscious with him at home, which was always now, Johnny ever using her bathroom to shower. Devi’s eyelid wiggled.

“Johnny… do you—” She didn’t know how to ask this gently. “Have you bathed since you moved in?”

Johnny stared at her incredulously.

“Yes, of course.” He shrugged her comment off. “I just wash my head in the kitchen sink. And then scrub my arms and things with a dish rag, or what-have-you.”

That’s how he preferred to bathe when he lived alone too, unless he was completely covered in some disgusting fluid like blood or mud. Being naked to shower was unpleasant, and he tried to avoid it as much as he could, preferring instead to meticulously scrub and scrape away dirt and dead skin with his hands – gloved hands, unless otherwise impossible.

Devi stared at him in horrified disgust.

“UP.” She yelled at him, and yanked him up into a standing position. Johnny barely had a chance to steady himself before Devi was rushing him toward her room. He panicked.

Her bedroom was the only part of the apartment that he was still unfamiliar with, and for good reason; it was Devi’s domain. It was the most ‘Devi’ room of all the rooms in the entire world, and it made him nervous and awed to be inside it. Every time he had to use the restroom, he hurried in and out as quickly as he could, and tried not to look at anything too long, as though Devi would be aware of him snooping in her personal things.

His body lurched a little as Devi pushed him past the threshold of her bedroom door, and he skidded on the carpet the rest of the way.

“WAIT, WAIT!” Johnny called, but his cries fell on repulsed, deaf ears.

“TAKE A SHOWER.” Devi ordered him and threw him inside, shutting the door as a loud ‘period’ at the end of her sentence. “UGH… Disgusting…!”

Johnny stood in a crouch with his wrists crossed, looking around unconfidently at the four walls of the bathroom as though they were his prison. A sharp knock startled him.

“I’ll leave your clothes to change into outside the door!”

He frowned, then frowned more when he heard her bedroom door close too. A grimace crawled over his mouth, but again, he was compelled to do as Devi said.

Devi slouched in her armchair, pigtails upright now, rolling her ankle over her knee in annoyance. She should have realized he hadn’t properly bathed in weeks, but why was that even up to her to handle? He should have asked her to use the shower! What kind of goblin was he that he didn’t shower?

The door to her room clicked open, and Johnny stepped out, a wide, moping frown on his face, like a child that had been forced to eat his broccoli. He was dressed in the outfit she picked out, and held his dirty clothes in a ball out in front of him with both hands.

“Where can I put these to dry?” Johnny asked. “Should I just leave them in the sink?”

Devi’s eyebrow twitched in disbelief as she realized that the wad of clothing was soaking wet.

“…WHY…” She took in a deep breath. “Why are your other clothes WET?”

“I showered with them on, and then changed into these.” Johnny replied, as thought it was obvious. Devi thought she might have a hernia.

“NNY you are the WEIRDEST FUCKER on EARTH, I swear to GOD!!” She exclaimed, fingers clutching the arms of her chair as she stared out across the other side of the room. Johnny frowned in surprise.

“I don’t see why that’s so WEIRD—”

“Don’t even… Do not.” Devi pinched her fingers closed on each hand, a gesture for him to shut his mouth. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Just… next time, try taking your clothes off… BEFORE getting in the shower.”

“If you’re worried I didn’t wash my body that’s not—” Johnny huffed.

“Ah. Ah.” Devi held up a hand and exhaled. “I don’t want to know, it’s fine. Just hang your clothes over the fucking… shower curtain. Thanks.”

Johnny’s brow creased in annoyance; he didn’t want her to think he was unhygienic! He was very clean! It’s not like she noticed he hadn’t ‘properly’ bathed because he smelled musty and gross; he couldn’t even bear the repugnant stench of B.O. himself.

He harrumphed, and returned to the bathroom to hang his damp clothes, leaving Devi alone to rub her forehead wearily. Her quiet was short-lived.

Devi could hear Tenna’s door slam even from two floors up, and rolled her eyes at her friend’s overexuberance. Hopefully Johnny didn’t filet someone and ruin all of her fun for the evening. She got up and moved to her room to grab her long coat, meeting Johnny halfway. He lingered, unsure if he should stay inside her room or not, but Devi didn’t seem to mind. She slid her jacket on, then turned to give him a once over.

“There, don’t you look all nice and polished.” Devi smiled at him, observing as she did that he’d bothered to comb his hair post-shower. Johnny’s mouth vanished at the sudden compliment, then slowly returned with a broad grin.

“Oh, thank you.” He felt himself relax some, and folded his hands behind his back. As long as Devi was pleased with his efforts, any annoyances he had with her requests paled in comparison to the reward.

The door shook to life with a series of energetic knocks, drawing their attention to it. Johnny stared at the door with minor hostility, but lowered his eyelids in boredom as Tenna’s voice resounded on the other side.

“DEVI-I-I, I’M HE-ERE!” She sung. Johnny grumbled, and Devi chuckled a little at his response.

“You’ll have to keep me sane.” She commented to him quietly as she moved to answer the door, and Johnny blinked in surprise from the tone of camaraderie in her voice. It made him feel strange; almost hopeful that their friendship could be stabilizing to some degree. Exciting!

“DEVI!” Tenna squealed as the door opened. “This is so EXCITING!”

Johnny watched Tenna’s dancing with more suspicion, and skulked behind Devi for safety. Devi laughed, and moved to fish Johnny’s collar out of the deep pocket of her coat.

“Relax, you’re scaring my maniac.” A snide chuckle, and she turned to Johnny to loop the constraint around his neck. He felt less anxious about the action now that he was expecting it, but it still overstimulated his being too much for his liking, and he tilted his chin up high to ignore it.

Tenna stared at the scene before her with wide, mildly terrified eyes.

“Okay.” Devi said as she clicked the collar shut. “Where’d I throw that leash?”

“It’s in the kitchen…” Johnny answered, a little begrudgingly. His attempts to convince her to not use this new restraint tactic of hers had gone absolutely nowhere. Devi thanked him and went to retrieve it.

“UM.” Tenna managed out of her shock. Johnny brought his shoulders up to his ears as he crossed his arms.

Devi returned with what Tenna was haunted to see was, as assumed, a literal dog leash. She attached it to Johnny’s collar and gave it a couple gentle tugs to make sure everything was secure.

“—WHAT AM I WATCHING HERE?” Tenna yelled, throwing her arms in the direction of the pair that was causing her so much emotional and mental distress. “IS THIS SOME KINDA BDSM THING?”

Devi and Johnny shot her matching looks of concern and disgust.

“NO. Jesus!” Devi wound the end of the leash around her knuckles. “This is how I’m keeping him in line when we go out now, since he can’t—” She threw Johnny a quick glare. “—CONTROL HIMSELF.”

Johnny sulked at the floor, but made no move to correct her. Tenna took a second to process what she was being told, looking between them and the leash a few times.

“…OOH.” She said finally. “THAT’S why you want to go out tonight, isn’t it!? To test… whatever this is!”

Internally, Devi cursed Tenna for her inability to be covert, but outwardly she smiled confidently.

“Not at all!” She spoke with a grin. “We’re just going to the movies. C’mon, Nny.”

Devi gave his leash a soft pull to urge him forward, and she led Johnny into the hallway with no resistance. Tenna poked her lips out curiously, but knew better than to try and figure out Devi’s convoluted plans at this point. She stepped outside and allowed Devi to lock the door, then enthusiastically led the way out of the building.

NEXT.

#jthm #jtrm #im in tears over this bullshit ass chapter oh my god #seriously... thank you all for the support #onward to hell #mine #devnny #chapter

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ibythetidepromotions · 5 years ago

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An interview with: Wax Vessel

Could you introduce yourself to the readers?

Nik Velleca - Founder/Owner/waytolongofaresponder

What led to the inception of Wax Vessel?

It’s actually a story in a couple of parts: the name (which is not interesting), the year before it started (mildly Interesting) and then the actual launch! Maybe two years ago I really wanted to get in to the whole Instagram vinyl collection showcase scene. Made a second account called Wax Casket (because it sounded cool) and did a couple hundred posts. No big deal. But at that time, it kind of out the inkling of an idea in my head. Fast forward a year or so, and Simon from WFAHM and I were taking about how literally every influential album from 2000-2010 was never pressed on vinyl. We thought about teaming up to do Ion Dissonance in vinyl (which is still a huge goal). It never materialized, so the label pages (renamed to Wax Vessel) kind of got shelved. Speaking of the name Wax Vessel (rant incoming) I landed on that name because I’m so fed up with the start of digital. MySpace deleting song libraries. Hard drives crashing. CDs getting bit rot. The only try archival format is vinyl. You could pull a WV release of a shelf in 2219 and it would still play. It’s a “time capsule” or “Vessel” for preserving history. Anyway. Fast forward to like 5 months ago - I had just stumbled upon PRR and they told me they were doing Destroyer Destroyer. I asked if I could just press the records to accompany that release, and viola! Here we are!

Wax Vessel is very unique, you what always comes to mind when I think of extremely rare and beautiful presses. What process goes into getting your visions to come together properly at the pressing plant?

So I’m glad you touched on this, because artisanal (barf) pressings are one of the tentpole features of WV. There’s so much that can be done with the format that it seems like an insult to just do single color records. I figured if I was going to bring all of these albums back from the dead after decades of never having a physical release, it might as well be in style! Otherwise someone will just repress it hah. But each release is its own project. My goal are always to have the color play with the album art, while also pushing the physical medium itself. Everything is very case-by-case, with the number of variants and the type of variant really just being subject to my mood haha.

Recently announced was the pressing for Dr. Acula’s S.L.O.B, congratulations on making it to WV007! From the posts I’ve seen on social media, you guys are really excited about this release. How would you describe Dr. Acula to someone who has never heard of them before?

Thanks! Dr. Acula was a huge one for me, they’re one of the forefathers of Deathcore in my opinion. They’re that early, wonky type of proto-Deathcore that uses a lot of samples before breakdowns and has a lot of inside jokes. It’s just fun, without taking itself too seriously.

They obviously got much bigger later, but SLOB was such a classic album, and a standout release from 187 records at the time (who really deserve all the credit for basically being the label pioneers of the genre along with Debello and BMA).

Wax Vessel focuses on pressing music from the MySpace era of metal. What about that era made it so memorable and dear to your heart that you decided to resurrect it in the wax form?

Man, prepare to watch me get spun up on this, haha. I’m really terrible at organizing my thoughts in to a cohesive essay on the topic, so as a kind of “stream of conciseness” ramble please accept this: 2000-2010 was just peak music. It was a digital Wild West with a bunch of talented Midwesterner pioneering new sounds for niche audiences. It was a perfect storm of a bunch of cultural factors playing out all at once. Literally all of these trailblazing bands were pushing envelopes and rail blazing new genres for No monetary gain and no fame. Every single review form music media was “this is unlistenable garbage”. They absolutely did not get the recognition they deserved at the time. I mean the “scene revival/20-9-scene” is more popular than the actual scene at the time! So what happens when you mix this new way to make music (digital production) with a new way to reach fans (social media/MySpace)? You get a fucking no holds barred race to make the most niche, unlistenable music in existence. The decade was a fucking blip in music history and then was lost to the ages. The internet was too young to preserve it, and to young for anyone to really use to their advantage. Just a lost decade. So I think that’s worth preserving. Especially since YouTube rips are the only thing left.

The default vinyl color of black is never an option with your releases, always seeing high quality, creative options for your limited presses. What is the reasoning behind this stylistic choice?

Black is such a fucking cop out. It’s only to save money. It’s lazy and requires no finesse or imagination. If you’re going to press records, go all in. Like imagine building a house in 2019 with all the modern amenities and building materials we have at our disposal and just building a 6-sided box. So boring. And for everyone who says it sounds best - black (carbon) is an additive for strength. Natural PVC is additive free and sounds better. So when I need a cheaper variant to offset the cost of some of the more expensive ones, natural PVC is always my go-to.

Have there been any challenges so far with the process of mastering these old files on vinyl? Were any of the music files hard to come across?

You have no idea! I feel like a lot of people see WV and then want to start a vinyl label, haha. But there’s so much craziness behind the scenes! Let’s start at the top - WV will only do a release if the band is on board, and the rights are retained. Mechanical licensing retained. Full quality tracks hunted down and mastered for vinyl. New art made (no one has their old art files) and laid out for vinyl. Then after all that, I have to drop $4k at the plant to get it pressed. Then promos and art made, coordinating with ZBR on timelines, etc. But none of that can happen without the tracks. Most of the time the band will have the master bounces, and it’s not that difficult. But on a couple of occasions I’ve had to rip old demos from personal CDs. I’ve even had to pay for a hard drive to be recovered for a band member so we could get tracks! I really believe that vinyl isn’t just for the fashion, so having great sounding records is top priority. Can’t do that with a YouTube rip! If we can’t get the best quality tracks, I won’t do it!

Any possibility of there being Wax Vessel merch down the road?

I mean I’m not sure anyone would give a shit! But if like 10 people messaged me and said they wanted a shirt, you bet! We would whip up a cool “no represses” design or something, haha. Maybe 2020!

With a new year right around the corner, what are some goals for kicking off the new decade in 2020?

2020 souls have some cool “firsts” for sure! I’ve got our first multi-LP box set dropping. First project with a hand-painted cover. First modern release (under a different side name, don’t want to dilute the WV name haha). Really what if love to do in 2020 is press Psyopus to round out the techgrind section. That’s a big goal! I’d also love to have a both and sell LPs at like a festival, but they all sell out too quick!

Anything else you would like to tell the readers before we go? Just a couple of blurbs! People always forget that wax Vessel is a non-profit and we give 100% of the money to the bands. So remember that the next time you think I’m an asshole for not doing something you like! We got a lot of hate mail about not doing represses, haha. To that point, there will never be represses. It’s a sticking point. I don’t want to make records that end up in dollar bins and eBay lots. I’d rather leave money on the table. I want to great collector items that will be cherished. All of these bands have been defunct for a decade. No one is coming back to just to try and make a quick buck. These are all swan song little fun presses for the core group of fans. For the 200 weirdo left who still care about early 2000s techgrind and vinyl, haha. It’s niche, but no one wants to make any money. It’s just a fun thing for the scene. Remember this is all for fun! Additionally, I see a lot of miscommunications that I’d like to get on the record! Please remember: Wax Vessel is its own thing. Not an imprint or affiliated with anyone. I shoulder all cost, design, etc for everything! So it’s very much WV as the label. I hate shipping and fulfillment, so ZBR [Zegema Beach Records] is WV’s official store. The mega studs over there (Dave and Dave) definitely allow WV to exist. If I had to ship everything, it would be one release a year haha. And super not last, WV couldn’t exist without Ryan Peter. I have absolutely no scene Fred, and Ryan gets fucking results. He almost single-handedly spreads the word and gets bands on board. Literally invaluable. All the records in the world mean nothing if you can’t get any bands to agree to get pressed! He’s a MySpace madman!!

Wax Vessel Social Media:

Facebook

Instagram

Website [Coming Soon]

Big Cartel [Coming Soon]

Merch through Zegema Beach Records

#Wax Vessel #Zegema Beach Records #Record label #vinyl records #Dr Acula #interview #I By The Tide Promotions

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living-dead-parker · 6 years ago

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Theatrical Chaos - P.P

Summary: Requested by @justanothermarvelfanaccount - First off, your stories are incredible and I absolutely LOVE reading them. Also, if you have the time, could you possibly write a peter parker x reader where reader works at a movie theatre and can get them into free movies before they come out? Maybe peter and the rest of the science squad can wreak havoc in the theatre and tony has to bail them out. Thank you!!

Hope y’all enjoy the science squad once more!! I also took some liberties from the original request, but tried to follow it as much as possible!!

Warnings: cussing, spoilers for Halloween (2018) but that came out over three months ago so it should be acceptable at this point to speak about it

Word Count: 1.8k

Gif is not mine!

Getting a job was not really something you wanted to do. But, you gotta make money somehow. Sure, Tony likes you enough to just give it to you if you ask, but you don't like buying into his rich man capitalistic ways. That and you have too much pride, despite having asked him for hundreds of dollars. So, you got a job at a movie theater. Gross. The only benefit is the family discount and you get to watch movies for free. So, when you lean against the warm popcorn machine -curse the owner for these extremely cold conditions!- and you notice the familiar faces of your five bestest friends in the world coming into the theater, your frown turns into an upside down frown.

"Y/N! We're gonna watch the Halloween movie!" Shuri says.

"You mean the best comedy of 2018? Bc damn!" Harley says excitedly.

"Oh, must be fun, fuckers. While 'lil 'ol me is stuck working. How rude!" you add as you move over to the counter. The theater you worked at was one of the cheaper ones that show movies that left the bigger theaters months ago. Just last week you found out you'd be getting Bohemian Rhapsody in five months!

"Can we get some popped corn and some carbonated water with high fructose corn syrup?" Michelle asks, speaking in her deeper voice. A running gag among the group to throw off people at retail stores. Totally unnecessary, but totally worth it. Except not when it's being done to you.

"Yeah, can you throw in some of the circular colored chocolate sweets with the 'm' on them? And a red iced drink with cherry flavored syrup for taste?" Ned asks.

"Just say popcorn, Coke, M&M's, and Cherry Slushie for fuck's sake!" you groan as you begin working on their order.

"Yeah, can you throw in the tortilla chips with the classic cow byproduct classified as Nacho with a green pepper garnish on top? And a tea, preferably one of the iced varieties, raspberry to be exact," Shuri adds. You roll your eyes as you continue working on the order. Harley and Peter were the only ones to order using proper language and totally not fucking with you by telling you they meant something completely different than what you heard -which they did not!

After twenty minutes, their order was complete and you were sending them on their way to enjoy the movie. You still have another hour and a half until you were off, so they'd be done by the time you're off. You watch as they walk away, Shuri hitting Harley on the back of his head, causing the rest of the group to laugh.

You were manning the concession stand for a few minutes before being told to do your final theater inspection. This just meant going into every showroom and staying for five minutes to make sure everything was fine. So you begin, going from showroom one all the way to showroom ten. Upon reaching showroom ten, you see Peter, Ned, Michelle, Shuri, and Harley sitting in the dead center. There were only four other people in the room with them; a couple in the very back -most likely doing something they shouldn't be because they looked very guilty- and another couple in the front who look angry at each other.

"Okay, but why can't he just let her take a shit in peace?" Shuri asks loudly. The couples didn't seem to mind the comments being hurled by the teens, and in fact seemed to find them extremely funny.

"Hey," Peter begins, speaking in a mimicking type of voice as it cuts to Michael banging the restroom stall in the movie.

"Occupado!" Harley cuts in with a fake high-pitched voice as the camera pans to the Dana in the restroom, looking around cautiously and screaming.

"Sorry," Peter says through a muffled laugh as Michael begins to kill Dana.

"Let's have some fun, this beat is sick!" Michelle sings as Michael begins to smash Dana's head against the restroom stall door.

"I wanna take a ride on your disco stick!" Harley sings along. Harley seemed to be the one cracking up the most, laughing at everything, making the most comments, screaming from laughter at random times.

It came as a surprise to you but nobody was telling Harley or the others in the group to shut up. Maybe it was mostly due to the fact that the movie came out a few months ago, so for sure these people have seen it already one way or another, or just did not care enough about it to get upset. Plus, the couple way at the back seemed to just need some privacy to get to doing their business. You're supposed to report that kind of stuff when you see it, but you decided to turn a blind eye because they were being quiet and there was no one in their row. They weren't bugging anyone.

As the movie goes on, Harley and Peter seem to be making the most comments, laughing the most at everything. Michelle and Shuri stopped paying too much attention after a while, which you found funny. Ned would just laugh, but he seemed sort of into the movie. The kind where you don't care but you're being forced to watch it so you might as well just watch it.

"Hey fucker," Harley begins as the scene where the prison bus is flipped over and the small kid is exploring what happened after his dad had been missing for a few minutes now. "If an old man in a bus that just flipped over tells you to run, you fucking run!"

The kid did not run. No matter how much Harley screamed, he did not run. In fact, he died. He's gone. Michelle and Shuri boo at the fact that he didn't run. Peter just giggles as the scene transitions and the movie continues. Over the course of the movie, Peter and Ned hold hands and make jokes to each other. You can hear Peter -loud and clear, you might add- tell Ned that he can beat his meat with a knife any day. When Peter catches your playful glare, he blows a kiss your way. You pretend to catch it and then throw it on the ground before stomping on it. Peter playfully glares at you to which you pretend to ignore.

You should've left long ago, but then the movie reaches a pivotal moment. Michael discovers Allyson and he begins to chase after her. Suddenly, a revamped version of Michael's theme song begins to play and Michelle goes on about how the song is a 'certified bop' and how it deserves all the Grammy's. Harley stands up -literally stands up! Nobody stops him either- and begins to Milly Rock to the beat of the song. Shuri and Michelle stand up as well and join in on the dancing, doing all sorts of dumb dances.

Ultimately the movie nears its end, and when you check the time, you see that you have 20 minutes left until it's time to clock out. With that thought in mind, you decide to leave the room and head back to the concession stand to finish cleaning your station, help some customers, and eventually clock out. Ten minutes go by in a flash and the group of teens are rounding the corner and into your line of vision. You hand a bucket of popcorn to some random teenager who wouldn't stop trying to flirt with you.

"Hey, maybe I can come back later and we can catch a movie together?" the kid asks. You roll your eyes and grab the small nozzle that you use to spray butter into the popcorn.

"Beat it or I'll cover you in butter and tell the girl that you came with what you said," you tell him as you aim the nozzle to the little jerk. He mutters something about you being a bitch before leaving. As if you didn't already know you were a mega bitch.

The teens watch it all unfold and Peter can't help but want to punch the kid. He does refrain but the immense need to do it fills his mind. Maybe later, when the punk comes back. They all approach you as you begin to clean up once more.

"How may I help you today?" you ask as you give them all your fake smile. Harley pushes past everyone and looks at the menu, making you roll your eyes.

"Yeah, I'll take three buckets of popcorn, and one thicc bih," Harley says before winking at you.

"The only thicc bih here is Peter," Michelle comments. Shuri and Ned nod as Peter turns in a circle to show off the junk in his trunk. He really does have a bubble butt.

"Thank, I grew it myself," Peter says proudly as he winks at you.

"Mr. Thiccums getting too confident. I'll be off in five, let me just clock out and get changed," you say to the group of teens. They nod and move over to the mini arcade area as you begin clocking out of your register. With a quickness like never before, you head to the employee restrooms and quickly change back into your street clothes. When you head back out to the main lobby, you see people crowding the arcade area.

Worried -since your friends were there last- you head over to the arcade area and your face flushes at the sight in front of you. Tony Stark -genius billionaire playboy philanthropist- was attempting to pull Harley's arm out of the claw machine.

"Harley, I need you to let go of the stupid-" a violent groan escapes Tony's lips, followed by a yelp, "-stuffed animal! I can always buy you one!"

"Fine!" Harley screams and within a few seconds, his arms is coming out of the claw machine, red marks all over his arm. Your brows furrow in confusion. How did this all happen so fast? You were only in the back for about 15 minutes. From the corner, you notice Shuri, Michelle, and Ned laughing as they record. Soon, Harley is charging at them, screaming about how he'll punch them for laughing at him. Peter holds Harley -and some chuckles, admittedly- back. Harley screams for Peter to let him go.

In a bold move, you step into the arcade room and push past everyone. You're still on the premise, so you gotta do something about it. You sigh and clear your throat before yelling at the group of yours.

"Hey, fuckers," you say loudly to get their attention. They all turn and pull away from each other. You even notice Tony flinch a little. Ned may be the mother bear in the group, but you were the mother bitch. Nothing got through you. "Stop with your fighting and screaming now or I'll give you a reason to scream!"

The group goes quiet as they nod. You turn around and begin the walk out of the theater, Tony and the others in tow. Surely, this would make the news much later.

Please leave some feedback or requests! Also plz send in asks or come talk to me!!

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker reader insert #peter parker x you #peter parker x y/n #spider-man #spider-man imagine #spider-man x reader #science squad #tony stark #ned leeds #michelle jones #Shuri #Harley Keener #requested #shit post imagine

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snarky-badger · 6 years ago

Note

Ultron prompt: reader gets into a friendly chat online and makes friends with them after a while, only to start noticing odd things start to happen: out of nowhere money deposits in their bank account, gifts showing up when they know they didn't order anything, etc, until late one night someone shows up unannounced in their living room

I spent two days on this anon! It’s longer than usual, I just couldn’t stop writing. Am open to even writing a sequel if you like this one enough and request one. I hope it’s to your liking!

Words/Sentences between [these] are chat conversations.

You groaned as you shuffled into your room, grimacing as you dumped your heavy backpack onto the floor with a thud. Noise from your roommates made you kick your door shut, shoulders slumping when the bickering faded to a dull mumble.

It had been a long day. You were in the middle of a twenty-four week long Auto Mechanics course. And that was just for cars and trucks. If you wanted to push further, you’d need another course to qualify to work on Big Rigs, and another for Construction Vehicles, like dump trucks and front loaders.

Your dream however, was racing cars. Any racing cars. Drag racing, Nascar, anything, hell, even big rig racing. And for that, you needed a lot of training. You’d have to work up from mere cars to more powerful engines.

You’d become enamored with mechanics when you’d been young and watching your father work on his old Plymouth Barracuda. He’d been able to take it apart, clean it, and put it back together, almost with his eyes closed. He’d taught you everything he’d known, of course, but that wasn’t enough. You needed a degree, and proper training.

Proper training that cost an arm a leg and half a liver. It was why you were sharing an old, run down, house with three others. Cheaper than Campus Apartments, though paying your way through University and covering rent still forced you to shop at a dollar store for food.

You were lucky in the fact that you had a part-time job at a mechanic downtown. The elderly man had been more than willing to take you on as an apprentice, and was always welcoming to your endless questions when you hadn’t quite understood something in class.

Added to the general stress of things was the fact that you were the only female in a class and occupation mostly dominated by men. The jeers and bullying and sexist comments from your fellow ‘students’ were murder on your psyche, self-esteem and general ability to not beat someone over the head with a wrench.

Judging that the fighting outside your door was about the cleanliness, or lack thereof, of the fridge, you grabbed up a change of clothes and booked it to the shower. It was a short one - ten minutes, timed. Everyone in the house was trying to save money, and that included taking short showers, living on more Ramen than was healthy, and keeping the temperature of the house low to save funds on power. Well, as much as all of you could, considering that all of you had laptops and were Netflix addicts.

It took almost five minutes to get the grime out from under your fingernails, but you were as clean as you could be by the end of the shower. You rushed back into your room, shivering from the cool water, and quickly donned some jogging pants and a tank top that had a Wonder Woman logo on it.

A chime from your phone drew your attention, and you idly checked the message, smiling a little when you saw who it was.

It had started completely by accident. You’d been in a chat, throwing ideas back and forth with a group of people about Nascar engines and how to increase performance when someone had popped in and noted that using a cleaner fuel or incorporating a catalytic converter would save on the disgustingly high emissions each car poured out per race.

Others had booed and tried to kick the person off, you’d been intrigued and opened a separate chat window to ‘pick their brain’ as it were.

What had started as a mere exchange of ideas had turned into a budding friendship.

Grinning, you opened your laptop and powered it on, idly pushing pieces of a half-built carburetor to the far corner of the desk before going to lift your heavy backpack and slamming it down onto the empty spot.

‘SmoothCriminal’ was already waiting on chat when you finally logged in. Over the months, he’d come to know your usual class hours. You wondered what he did, to have so much time to chat, but with the connectivity everyone had with phones and such, you shrugged it off.

You did a bit of ‘hunt and peck’, typing one-handed while opening your bag with the other. [Hey you. Just got home. You have excellent timing.]

[*chuckle* You did give me your hours at class and work.]

[*raspberry* Smart-ass.] You turned away from the laptop as you pulled out your books, including a new one that had cost you a whopping hundred-and-twenty bucks. It was murder on your tight budget.

[I try. How were classes?]

[Meh. Same old, same old. Kinda just more in depth stuff that Dad taught me. They dumped a new book on us too. Blew my monthly budget out of the water.]

[That bad?]

[Hundred twenty buckaroos. For something that will be obsolete in six months. I’ll probably end up using it as a door stop. Apparently the teacher had ‘forgotten’ to mention that we needed it.]

[Lovely. Which means what for you?]

[Dollar store Ramen for the next two weeks until I get my pay from apprenticing with that mechanic downtown.]

[That’s not food. That junk is mostly salt and cheap carbohydrates. You’ll get sick eating that garbage.]

You huffed. [Money’s tight. Like, painfully tight. I need to make rent, and pay my share of the power, internet and water bills. Next month I need to renew my bus pass, and, and, the property and school taxes for the house we’re renting is coming up - that’s like three-hundred bucks I need to come up with. I have like, zero wiggle room.]

[The way your country piles debt on students is deplorable. University is free in some countries overseas, did you know that? Completely free education.]

[Lucky them. I, meanwhile, need to win the lottery if I want to be able to pay the fee next semester.]

[….your parents can’t help?]

[Nah. They have enough problems.]

[*rolls eyes* They’re your parents. I’m sure they’d help if they knew you were in trouble.]

[Dude. No. They have enough trouble without me adding to it. Mom had to skip a month’s worth of her insulin meds so Dad could get his high blood pressure prescription filled.]

[That’s messed up. Ever think of changing countries?]

You shook your head. He had to be in Canada or someplace where things were covered, because he obviously didn’t know how life worked in the States. [Again. With what money?]

[…..I could help.]

[I appreciate the thought, but nah. It would feel too much like charity. Besides, I’d get mad if I found out you’d put yourself in financial trouble just to bail my ass out. A little more instant Ramen won’t kill me.]

[Bleh.]

A snicker left you. [Not your fave, hm?]

[It’s not healthy, so no.] A pause. [Damn. Something’s come up. Same time tomorrow?]

[Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Take care.]

[You too.]

A sigh left you as he logged off, and you leaned back in your chair, stretching your arms up above your head. It was for the best. You needed food and you had some serious studying to do.

The next few days progressed as they usually did. A whirl of school, work, studying and a general lack of sleep and actual food. Chatting with ‘SmoothCriminal’ was always the highlight of your days, and more than once he’d had to mother-hen you into going to bed when the chats stretched on into the night.

It was Monday when something odd happened.

“Yo!”

You rolled your eyes at your roommates holler and rose from your bed where you’d been studying to stick your head out your room door. You figured he was only yelling for you, because the other two people you shared the house with where away at class. “What?!”

“You got a package!”

“The fuck?” Scowling, you headed downstairs, blinking as David pushed a large box into your arms. “I didn’t order anything.”

“S’got your name. It’s from Hello Fresh.” When you blinked at him stupidly, he rolled his eyes at you. “Y’know, it’s that fresh food thing that delivers meal kits to people. Pre-portioned and all that jazz. You just cook it up.”

“Awah?” Stunned, certain it was a mistake, you carried the box to the kitchen, David following in your footsteps. After using a steak knife to cut through the tape you opened the box to discover a mass of greens, potatoes, and four portions of salmon. Enough to feed the entire house-full.

Taking advantage of your shock, David snagged an invoice from the top of the pile of food. “Says here you’ve been signed up for a years worth of meals. ‘Each package contains four portions’. Geez. You get yourself a Sugar Daddy or something?”

“Oh, shut it.” You snatched the paper out of his hands and scowled at it. “Does it say who paid the bill? A card number, anything? Maybe I can call– Dude! What are you doing?”

David rolled his eyes at you as he started pulling food out of the box. “I’m going to cook the free food we’ve been blessed with so we can eat?”

You glared at the ‘are you stupid’ tone in his voice. “This can’t be mine.”

“Invoice says it is. And that’s good enough for me.” Pans clattered as he dug through the cupboard for a frying pan.

Lost, you stared down at the invoice again, eyes scrutinizing every single line and work until. “’Smoothcriminal’?!”

David poked his head out of the lower cupboards. “Excuse me?”

“Sonofabitch!“

You left David in the kitchen and hurtled yourself up the stairs, stomping over to your laptop and logging on. Sure enough, he was online, waiting in the chatroom.

[What did you do?!]

[You got it already? My, I might have to send them a tip for fast delivery.]

[Asdfghjkl!]

[….You don’t like it?]

[No. Yes! I…. Shit. Why?]

[Because you shouldn’t have to go hungry just so you can afford your classes? Because you’re my friend and I worry about you?]

[…..] You stared at the screen for a moment. Debated whanging your skull off the desk. [Do I want to know how you figured out where I live?]

[Ah. That. I…. may have tracked your IP address and lightly hacked your service provider?]

[!!!!]

[Oh, come on. That stuff is child’s play. Their security is deplorable. A child could have gotten into their systems.]

Even through chat, you could almost feel how smug he was. [So you’re a hacker?]

[Only part time. Consider it a hobby of mine.] When you didn’t answer for a moment, he seemed to get worried. [Please don’t be mad. I just want to make sure you’re alright.]

[I’m…. irritated. This feels like charity. Or pity.]

[It’s neither. If a friend needed help, you would do your best to help them, right? This is exactly like that. I had some money to spare, and you needed help, so I got you something you desperately needed. I even made sure to get extra for your roommates too. Please don’t be mad. I just want to help.]

A sigh left you, your fingers hovering over the keys for a long moment before you answered. [Okay. Okay. Nothing else though. Comprende?]

[…..]

You groaned. [Fucksakes. What else did you do?]

[….check your bank account.]

[My bank?? You hacked the bank?!]

[No. I kept it perfectly legal. I just…. transferred some funds.]

You rushed to log into your online banking account, a wheeze leaving you at the amount in your checking account. [A MILLION DOLLARS?!!?!?!?]

[Enough for you and your parents to live comfortably.]

[ARE YOU INSANE?!!?]

[Not last I checked. Are you mad? You sound mad.]

You were hyperventilating. He knew where you lived, he knew your bank account. There had to be strings. What did he want from you in return? Blackmail maybe? You’d accept dirty money and he’d turn around and own you for the rest of your life? [I have to go.]

[What? No! Please? I didn’t—]

You logged out before he could type more, shutting your laptop with a cold shudder. Instantly picked up your phone and called the bank, gave your information, and tried to have the transfer of funds undone. Clenched your jaw when the customer service rep said it was irreversible, that the system wouldn’t let them do it.

Who the fuck had you been chatting with all this time?

Even the excellent meal David made out of the food that had been delivered didn’t quite quell the uneasiness in your stomach.

A week passed. You’d been afraid to go back on the chat. To be honest, you were still mentally freaking out. Your roommates had been thrilled at the free food, but you hadn’t dared mention that it might be from a crazy stalker you’d been chatting with for months. At least no one had died, so it hadn’t been poisoned.

That evening, it took a while for you to sleep. You drowsed off once or twice, but reading a book while lying on your back meant that every time you started to fall asleep, you’d smack yourself in the face with said tome.

After the third time, you learned your lesson and set the book aside, rolling over to snuggle into the blankets and pillows. It took a while, but finally, sheer exhaustion took hold and knocked you out.

Something woke you up late into the night. Some self-preservation bit of your brain screaming that something was terribly wrong. You fought against it for a bit, before cracking an eye open to assure your brain that nothing was amiss and that it was freaking out over nothing.

The sight of the red eyed giant towering over you made a scream rip it’s way out of your throat, a scream that was muffled as a massive hand shot out to cover your mouth.

“No, no, no. Shh. Please don’t scream.”

You stared up into glowing red eyes as panic gripped your heart in a vise, and you tried to scramble away, your back hitting the wall your bed was pushed up against.

Instinct had you kicking out, yelping when your foot hit hard metal, sending a shock of pain up from your toes to your thigh.

“Please don’t do that. You’ll only hurt yourself.”

The tone was male, calm and conversational, nonthreatening, but what the fuck was a metal monster doing in your bedroom?!

A long moment passed, where you merely stared up at the man/thing/what-the-hell, until he moved, reaching out to flick on the multiple strings of fairy lights that you used to illuminate your room.

Easily eight feet tall, built of out metal, curves and struts all intertwined in a nearly impossible feat of mechanical genius. Crimson optics calmly looked down at you as you took him in, your brain taking a painfully long moment for recognition to bloom.

Ultron. Holy shit.

You knew all about him from the debacle in Sokovia six months ago. His image had been plastered over every news source in the world. Everyone, even the Avengers, thought he’d been destroyed, but there he was, in your bedroom.

He must have seen the panic and terror on your face, because he gave you a worried look - something that should have been impossible with a metal face. But all those tiny pieces, like an intricate million piece jigsaw, allowed him such human expressions that it was startling.

“Shh. I won’t hurt you,” he murmured, his surprisingly rich voice, with just a tinge of metallic echo, filling the small room. “I’ll let you go, but don’t scream.”

You nodded a little, gulping in a breath when he removed his hand. Watched with wide eyes as he moved so he was kneeling next to your bed, lowering himself closer to your eye level. You moved as far away from him as possible, tucking your knees to your chest, back pressed flush against the wall.

When you refused to break the tense silence, Ultron made a sound like a sigh, a tired expression settling onto his features. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. You haven’t been on the chat in a week and I got worried.”

You blinked, multiple times, as your brain struggled to make sense of what had just come out of his mouth. When things finally clicked, you went ballistic.

“YOU'RE–?!” Your shriek got cut off by his hand gently clamping over your face again. Probably for the best - last thing you needed was for one of your roommates to find you screaming at Ultron in your bedroom.

The look Ultron gave you once you’d stopped cursing against his palm was all quiet amusement. “Done?”

Nodding, you waited until he’d removed his hand again before glaring at him. “‘SmoothCriminal’?? That’s what you chose as your username?!”

“Well, I thought ‘Mr Roboto’ would be too obvious,” he drawled with a smirk, his humour fading as he met your gaze. “You’ve been avoiding me.” It wasn’t a question.

You hesitated. “Can I be honest?”

“I’d very much prefer it if you were.”

“From my point of view, you were someone that I didn’t know. I mean, yeah, we’ve talked a lot on chat, but I don’t really know who you are. Fuck, you could have been some online predator trying to butter me up for something. And suddenly you know my address, my real name, my bank account, and you’re sending me things and money and…. Can you understand why that’s super creepy?”

His brows drew inwards in a frown, crimson eyes dimming a little. “That…. wasn’t my intention at all.”

“And even now that I know who you are…. You’re Ultron. Everyone on the planet knows what happened in Sokovia.”

A very human-sounding sigh left him at that. “Sokovia was a…. mistake. I was overwhelmed and….” He shook his head. “I’ve been keeping a low profile, obviously. Trying to help while saying hidden. Sending funds to the right organizations, distributing aid where it’s most needed, taking down crooked corporations. But it’s…. lonely. I don’t…. have anyone. Talking to you was a distraction at first, I honestly didn’t expect to become so…. attached. It’s selfish, I know, but I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

The very real depression and loneliness in his voice both surprised and shocked you. This definitely wasn’t the killer, unfeeling, robot that had been plastered all over the news.

“It’s…. a bit of a shock,” you murmured lamely, wincing a little at the pained look he gave you. “I’m sorry.”

Ultron frowned down at your bedding for a moment before moving to get to his feet, towering over you again. When you realized he meant to leave, you shot a hand out and grabbed his nearest arm, meeting his gaze when he sent you a surprised look.

“You don’t have to leave.”

He glanced down to where your fingers were curled around his wrist before looking back to you. “I–”

You rolled your eyes at him, your usual attitude starting to reassert itself. He was Ultron, yeah, but you’d known him for months. You were still low-key annoyed that he’d lied to you for months, but you understood why. “Ultron, sit your ass down.”

The relieved look he gave you as he moved to sit next to your bed again spoke volumes. He’d been ready to leave and never contact you again, despite his admission of how lonely he was, just because he thought you were terrified of him.

Definitely not what the news stations had portrayed him as.

“I am sorry I deceived you,” Ultron said as he got comfortable on your floor. Even then, he was still tall enough to be at eye level with you. “But it’s not like I can let my real presence be known online. The Avengers are still keeping an eye out for me.”

“My friend the super-villain,” you mused wryly, the low chuckle that rumbled out of him helping to calm your frazzled nerves. “Am I your sidekick now or something?”

That made him laugh, eyes crinkling in mirth. “Only if you’re caught. Which I’ll make sure doesn’t happen, so don’t worry. The, um, last ‘update’ your laptop downloaded wasn’t from Microsoft.”

“Ultron!”

“I wanted to make sure you’d be safe,” he said adamantly. “It’s nothing invasive to your privacy, I promise. Just some rather powerful security updates to ensure that no one can track you through me or vice versa. It’s adaptive too - you won’t have any more problems with viruses or malware or any garbage like that.”

“Well, thank you.” A smile tugged at you lips. “It explains how come I was the only one who didn’t get infected by a virus when the professor’s email got hijacked by a porn site. Everyone else ended up with crashed computers. Blue screens of death and the whole shebang.”

“That’s appalling.”

“You have no idea. You can’t…. like, get infected, right?”

“By a computer virus?” He chuckled. “Hardly. Why? Been trolling porn sites before bed?”

“Ew. No!” You snatched up a pillow and whacked him with it. “Gross!”

Ultron rose an arm to defend himself, laughing. “What? I’ve been in the entire internet. You have no idea what’s in the depths of the web.”

“And I’d rather not know. Like, ever.” You gave him another whack for good measure before relenting. “I have enough trauma from hearing my roommates fucking, I don’t need to know the depths that people go to online.”

“Well, you can certainly afford a place of your own now,” he retorted, meeting your gaze with a quirked brow. “The money I sent you is yours. I have no use for it, I have more than I need anyway.”

“Do I want to know where it came from?”

“I have…. Well, I own numerous stocks under various names and companies, not to mention I’ve sold several patents and schematics for a good dozen or so prosthetic limbs that can be connected directly to the nervous system. And there was that time I got bored and cleaned out some poker sites.”

You rolled your eyes at that last bit. “Uh huh.”

“I get bored!” He huffed, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m an AI. I’m capable of running over ten thousand processes at the same time and….” He paused, sending you a wary glance. “The Avengers burned some of my code in Sokovia. I can’t wirelessly connect to the internet anymore. It’s like…”

Your voice was gentle. “Like losing a limb?”

“Almost, yes.” A heavy sigh left him, and he dropped his arms, staring down at his hands as he flexed them open and closed in his lap. “I’ve been unable to reverse the damage thus far. I can hard-line to any system I need to use, of course, but otherwise, I’m…. limited.”

“I’m sorry,” you murmured, daring to rest a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to relax at your touch, his left hand rising to cover yours.

There was a slight smile on his features when he rose his head to look at you again. “Thank you. Especially for not being afraid of me.”

“It was a shock, yeah. But, I recover fast,” you added with a smirk, smiling when he laughed softly.

“I’m relieved.” His fingers tightened around yours for a moment, gentle. “I want you to use that money. However you see fit. And I know you want to be a mechanic, but if you ever want to do something on the side…. I’d like it if you worked with me. Little things, like narrowing down what charities to give money to, or helping me dig into companies to see if they’re worth supporting.”

Your lips quirked, and you let him lift your hand from his shoulder, shivering a little when he lightly brushed his thumb against your palm. “We both know you don’t need me for that.”

“I’d need you for your opinion. I don’t…. always understand humanity.”

A chuckle left you. “Hell, Ultron. I’m human and I don’t understand humanity. Why not contact geniuses or philanthropists or–”

“Because they’d sooner shoot me as talk to me. They don’t know me like you do.”

“I’m a grease monkey,” you protested with a shake of your head.

“You’re my friend. I trust you more than anyone else on this planet,” Ultron said, and you couldn’t help but blush a bit. “Just think about it? There’s time.”

“Okay.”

“Good. Oh, one more surprise - I recently purchased a penthouse downtown.” He grinned when you gaped at him. Then reached into his chest and pulled a set of keys out of a hidden compartment. “It’s yours now. Well, I might visit from time to time. I promise to call first.”

You felt dizzy as he pressed the keys into your hand. “A penthouse? But…. people will see you!”

“I got in here without anyone seeing me, didn’t I?” he chuckled, raising his free hand and letting you see as some sort of field rippled around his fingers before his entire hand vanished. “The best stealth technology on the planet. It’s much easier to hide something my size than it is to hide a plane or, say, a flying SHIELD heli-carrier.”

“That is kinda awesome,” you admitted.

“I know,” he smirked, so smug that you almost wanted to hit him with a pillow again. His hand reappeared, and he flexed his wrist a bit before turning back to you. “It’s late and you have classes in the morning. I should go. Think about the penthouse and the offer I gave you, okay?”

You watched as he fluidly rose to his feet, towering over you again. Took one step towards the bedroom door, only to stop when you grabbed at his wrist again.

One metallic brow quirked upwards when he turned back to you, and you quickly hopped up to stand on your bed. Now almost at eye level with him, you moved in and threw your arms around him in a hug.

He froze, a soft, surprised, noise leaving him, before he returned the hug, his arms tight around you. You didn’t know if he could feel sensations, or if he merely appreciated the gesture, but he almost melted into you, a simulated sigh of stark relief leaving him as he held you.

“If you’d just explained all this to me, we could have avoided all this drama,” you muttered to him, hearing and feeling the chuckle that left him as his arms squeezed you again before he pulled away. “Same time on the chat tomorrow?”

The genuine look of warm affection he gave you made butterflies flutter in your stomach. “I wouldn’t miss if for the world,” Ultron promised, leaning in to brush his mouth against your forehead before he ducked out of your bedroom.

Your life had officially gotten interesting.

#ultron #ultron x reader #reader x ultron #filled prompt #snarky is writing

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injusticeff · 6 years ago

Text

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tiarra

I woke up in pure darkness and no matter how hard my eyes attempted to adjust to the pitch black environment, I just couldn’t see anything. It was as if I had gone completely blind.

My mouth was dry like I'd been stuffing it with cotton and my lips were so chapped that they had started to crack and peel. There was a painful throbbing coming from the back of my head. The first thought I had was to move, immediately feeling the restraints around my wrists and ankles. I didn't know where I was, but whoever did this clearly wasn't trying to play any games with me.

I groaned at the same time that my stomach growled, the chilly atmosphere forming goosebumps all over my exposed half naked body. "Help..." My voice came out hoarse causing me to clear my throat. "HELP ME!" I was able to call a bit louder but the only response I got was the sound of my own voice echoing throughout the cold dark room.

My body was too weak and I was trying to save up as much energy as I could, in case I would need it later on. The pain coming from my head only grew more intense as I whimpered repetitively for someone to come and help me.

I couldn't remember how or when I got here, but I knew that a Tylenol was definitely needed right about now. I've never had a headache so bad in my life.

The sound of the legs of my chair scratching against the hard floor made me realize that I wasn't actually bolted down in one place. Immediately scooting further, I began moving around the black room and noted how large it was. I couldn't have been in someone's house. Maybe a basement? Or a warehouse? There was no source of light anywhere, not even a small window that a basement would normally have.

I almost fell over once the back of my chair hit something solid and was unable to move any further. Slowly turning so that my legs were now facing the object, I began kicking at it to find out if I had reached a wall or not, ultimately realizing how low it actually was. "What the fuck...?" I whispered to myself and decided to just feel around with my feet.

Being that I was half naked, shoes and socks were not included on my body so I started patting around that same area that I'd been previously kicking. The object was solid, but not exactly hard and it was low, but also long at the same time. It was covered in some type of cloth and I had to maneuver just to reach the top, using my toes in attempts to identify it the way my hands would.

A cold liquid instantly coated my foot causing me to quickly snatch it away from the unknown stationary object with a loud yelp. I immediately began to frantically scoot away and before I knew it, my chair had toppled over and fell to the ground causing me to hit the back of my head in the same area that had been aching. Groaning lowly, it took me a little while to come back to reality and regulate my breathing after getting the wind knocked out of me.

***Flashback***

I stared back at my reflection in the bathroom mirror of the hotel I'd been staying in for the week, fluffing my hair to my desired volume. Out of all the hotels I've stayed in so far, I would have to say that this one was definitely my favorite. Everything was lined with gold and room service came quicker than a fast food drive thru.

Having money was such an exuberant feeling and if this room was what a little two hundred dollars got me for the night, then I'd be living the life until I finally offed the bitch that decided to get a hit out on my head.

The hotel room was nice but it gets tiring having to bounce around from place to place all the time and constantly looking over your shoulder. Having to hide your face in shades and makeup every time you stepped foot outside. It was just way more than I expected it to be and now I see that living a life on edge is anything but fun.

I sighed, eyeing over my reflection one last time before shutting off the light and heading back into the bedroom. Raising my leg to climb into bed, I suddenly paused when I heard loud knocking on my room door causing me to instantly furrow my eyebrows, growing worried.

I cautiously stepped over to the door, standing on my tippy toes to glance into the peep hole and noticing a Hispanic man staring back at me; almost as if he knew that I was looking at him at that very moment. "Who is it?" I called out as my eyes remained trained on the stranger.

"Room service."

Breathing out a small sigh of relief, my heartbeat seemed to slow back down to its normal rate once I realized that I was just being paranoid as always. I had almost forgot that I ordered myself a steak dinner from the gourmet kitchen downstairs.

My hands immediately wrapped around the doorknob and I swung the door open, revealing the man I had just been watching through the peephole who now wore a smile on his face as he pushed the cart with the covered platter on it inside. "Your food ma'am." He spoke once he got to the main living area. "Where would you like me to put it?"

"My bedroom, thanks." I flashed him a quick smile in attempts to be polite as he did as I requested and took my food into my room. Once he was finished, he grabbed the cart he was rolling around and walked out of my hotel room, bidding me a professional goodnight.

I locked my room door once he was gone and made my way back to the room, continuing what I was doing by climbing onto the bed before reaching for the remote to turn the TV on. Unlike the cheaper hotels, there were actually fairly decent channels programmed on this TV. I decided to settle for watching Chopped and grabbed the platter my food was on before lifting the top off and immediately digging in.

The steak was so tender and the mashed potatoes were so creamy; my mouth watered before each bite I took. Everything was still hot, but not too hot to where it burned my mouth. I finished in what had to be five to ten minutes. I had only eaten a waffle and some yogurt from the continental breakfast this morning so hungry didn't even begin to describe how my stomach was feeling.

Once I was satisfyingly full, I laid back and continued to watch the show, laughing when people would fuck up and have to throw something together real quick so they would have something to present to the judges.

I had only gotten one episode in before my eyes began to get exceedingly heavy as I attempted to keep them open. I hadn't been tired before I ate but since I had gotten full, I figured that I got the itis like any normal black person would and succumbed to the sleep that had suddenly washed over my body.

*** One of my eyes slowly opened up as I felt myself being moved around and the cold outside air sent chills to my body. It was dark outside and my vision was blurry so I couldn't really see anything at first, but I knew there were two large figures that were carrying my still sleep-paralyzed body.

"She's awake." I heard a deep voice inform the other.

Then someone smacked their lips. "Then put her ass back to sleep." Shuffling was all that could be heard afterward before a sharp pain shot through my skull and suddenly, I was out cold again.

***Flashback ends***

The memories all came flooding back to me causing my eyes to instantly widen. She had did it. She finally caught me and judging by the looks of things, she definitely wasn't about to let me go.

Hearing the ominous squeak of a heavy metal door opening, my body tensed as I heard footsteps start to make their way closer and closer towards where I was. Suddenly, a light switch was flipped on and a blinding bright light immediately made me throw my head down like I was a vampire who had just been exposed to sunlight.

"Tiarra." I heard a male voice call out to me from right in front of me. When I opened my eyes, I could see the person's shoes as they stood right between my legs. Feeling a hand grip my chin, I snatched away causing an unbothered chuckle to escape the man's lips as he suddenly gripped my face and turned it roughly so that I'd be forced to look at him. My eyes widened, but that only made his smirk grow more. "Tiarra, Tiarra, Tiarra..."

A buff man came from what seemed like the shadows and sat a chair down right in front of me, behind Arion, and backed away as Arion comfortably sat on the chair and stared at me with amusement in his eyes. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't catch on to fifteen thousand dollars going missing from my house? I must have stupid written across my forehead."

I wanted to say 'well you allowed my inexperienced ass to rob you blind so,' but I held my tongue as my eyes began to water. "Please. Don't do this, I'm sorry. I'll return what's left of it and I can work to get the rest back or something?" By now, I was full blown sobbing as the same buff stranger from before returned to hand Arion a gun.

"I'll make you a deal. How about that?" I quickly nodded in response, prepared to do anything to get myself out of this situation in one piece. "I like you, you were great with your mouth." He spoke, dragging the tip of the gun along the perimeter of my plump lips.

If sucking dick was all I had to do to get myself out of this, I was about to gobble that shit down! Balls and all.

My voice came out fragile as I looked at him. "W-What do you want me to do?"

"I've made a few enemies because of you and your sticky hands. So now, I either have to make amends or go to war. And going to war isn't an option." His eyes grew cold as a smirk marked its territory on his face. "Here's where you come in. The person that I got into it with is a man... and men love women."

My eyebrows furrowed as I put two and two together. "So... you want me to be his personal sex slave or something? In exchange, y'all would be straight?"

He only gave me a nonchalant shrug in response. "That's only if you're willing to do it. So I gotta ask you, would you rather be a slave? Or dead?"

My heartbeat immediately began to quicken once I realized how slim my options were on making it out of here a free woman. Not belonging to any man nor dead. I dropped my head low as tears began cascading down until they splattered against my bare thigh. I knew what I had to do, but I had to take a second to come to term with it. Arion suddenly tapped me, letting me know that he doesn't have all day and that I needed to make the decision before he did.

"I'll do it!" I blurted out as I cried harder. "I'll do it. Just please don't hurt me."

Arion stood up, seeming pleased with my answer as he nodded at one of his guards to come over and they automatically began untying my legs then my arms as my hands rubbed over the areas that were now dark and irritated. "Thank you." I sighed in relief, a small weight being lifted off my chest.

He looked down at me as if he was just now noticing I was still sitting there and smiled, cupping my chin with his hand as he lifted my head up towards him. "Damn, you got some pretty ass lips too. Makes me kinda feel bad for what I'm about to do." My eyebrows furrowed in confusion at his words.

"What do you me—"

POW! POW!

Antonio

I keep asking myself why I keep falling for this girl’s bullshit. Every time she comes around with that cute ass pouty face of hers, I get weak.

But it just doesn't feel right hurting Xae in the process when he's done nothing but show me how real of a person he was. I honestly couldn't even imagine what him and Bree would have possibly been arguing and going through a rough patch about when I had first met her. He just seemed so laid back all the time.

Things had suddenly gotten so complicated as soon as I saw Bree step through his front door that day we were all hanging out and initially, I was going to keep quiet because they seemed happy together. But after what happened the other day, the guilt has been eating at me.

I had been ignoring all of Xae's invitations to link up and his attempts to reach out. It was easier for me to keep the whole situation in when Bree wasn't talking to me, but now that I know she's pregnant with my child and she had no problem allowing me inside of her again, I just couldn't do it. There was no reason they should be engaged if my seed was growing in her stomach and she was still trying to mess with me. She might as well just be with me.

I'm not going to lie though, I'm not even sure if I'd be able to take her serious now that I see firsthand how easy it is for her to open up and be intimate with someone else while she was already taken. And she continued to play house with him as if she had no remorse for what we've been doing behind Xae's back.

I, on the other hand, was being consumed with the guilt of how easily I caved into her. The first time I saw her walk into my restaurant, I just knew she was going to be trouble but it seems like my hardheaded ass threw all intuition out the window and trouble surely found me.

If it was me on the other side of things, I'd want my friend to tell me what was going on even if he was worried about ruining the friendship, as I am with Xae. Even if my friend didn't want to come between my relationship, as I did with Xae. I wouldn't want to walk around looking stupid, thinking my girl is loyal when she's not and I didn't want him to look dumb and played in the end either.

I had to tell him.

I had been pacing the hardwood floor in my living room for what seemed like hours, thinking things over and attempting to work up the courage to tell my friend that I'd basically been fucking and entertaining his fiancé. Can't forget the part about unintentionally knocking her up either. Yea, this shit was definitely going to end in me getting a justified ass whooping. He was about to open up an entire barrel of whoop ass on me. Which was another thing I had been working up the courage for.

"Can you stop with the weird walking back and forth and just do something already? Either you're going to tell him or you're not but waiting around isn't gonna do anything but prolong the inevitable." Ajanae broke the silence in the room as she sat comfortably on my couch with her legs propped up.

I had to ask someone for advice and lord knows I couldn't go to the rest of my family with this kind of information. They'd be so disappointed in me. They hold me up on such a high pedestal and I don't think I'd be able to bare the disgusted looks on their faces if I actually did inform them of my dilemma. "I know... I just—I don't even know how to word that kinda information without him getting upset."

"How about 'hey, I fucked your ungrateful hoe ass fiancé and wanted to tell you because I know she's not going to tell you herself'." I cut my eyes at my cousin causing her to hold her hands up in defense. "I'm just saying, he's going to get upset either way it goes. You had sex with someone he asked to marry him."

I ran my hands over my face in frustration. "Can you stop saying it like that?!"

"Well it's true. I'm not gonna sugar coat things just because you're shook and about to get your ass beat for messing with someone's girl. You should have thought about that before you tried to be 'friends' with her." She used to fingers to throw up air quotes as she spoke the last sentence. "What's done in the dark is eventually gonna come to the light Ant. Would you rather him find out by you or some other way that's gonna make him resent you for smiling in his face?"

I let out an exhausted sigh, knowing she was right. For her to be younger than me, she was giving me some solid and mature advice. It'd be wrong to keep this from him. "Alright, I'm gonna tell him."

Nae smiled and clapped her hands in excitement. "Yay, make sure you record the fight!"

"How would I be able to record—you know what, I'm not even about to play with you today." I shook my head before grabbing my car keys off of the coffee table and making my way to the front door as Nae called out for me to get some food before I come back. Her hungry ass was always asking for something, I can't wait until she's not crippled anymore.

Once I got into my car, I sat there for a couple minutes and allowed my breathing to get under control since it felt like I was about to have a panic attack. I kept telling myself that even though he's definitely going to be mad, he'd appreciate my honesty.

The ride to the house was silent because I refused to play any music so that I'd be able to think about what exactly I wanted to say and how I was going to word it. I honestly wished I had never even approached her that day at my restaurant. Of course I was going to man up and take care of my responsibilities, but at the same time, I don't think I'm ready for a whole kid.

Owning a business and a child both were far from cheap; I felt like I would either have to give up one or the other and I'm not sure if I'd be ready to give up everything I've worked so hard to build up since I was eighteen. Seven years later and my business is finally doing well, but then here comes another obstacle. Maybe I just wasn't meant to own this restaurant like I wanted. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.

My nerves got the best of me as Xavier's house came into view and I continued to drive until I was parked right out front, staring at the door as if he was going to burst out with a shotgun at any given moment. Blowing out a breath, I hopped out of my car and made my way up towards the front door, knocking on it a couple of times before stepping back.

I heard some rustling coming from the inside as the door soon swung open, revealing the beautiful caramel woman I had learned whose name was Simone. She sported some black biker shorts that came right above her knee and an oversized plain grey t-shirt with her straightened natural hair hanging down. "Hey, uh, is Xae home?"

She nodded and stepped back to allow me inside before closing the door after me, walking ahead as she gestured for me to follow her. "You look beautiful, by the way. I like your hair straight, it's always in a ponytail when I see you." I complimented causing her to look back and give me a friendly smile before thanking me.

We stopped in front of one of the doors in a hallway and she knocked on it lightly. "Xae, Antonio is here to see you." She called out, walking back down the hall and leaving me standing awkwardly in front of what I assumed was his bedroom door.

The door swung open and he came out, reaching his hand over to me to dap me up as I followed suit and slapped hands with him. He nodded towards the living room where we usually hung out and we began making our way back to the front. "Damn, I was beginning to think you died or some shit. Your phone off?"

"Nah, I just been busy with handling these health inspectors and shit lately." I replied, partially telling the truth.

Once we got back to the living room, we both sat on opposite ends of the couch. "I gotta tell you something." We both blurted out simultaneously causing us to chuckle and I told him he could go first since he's probably not going to want to talk to me after I told him what I had to say.

His smile grew as he looked at me and rubbed his hands together. "I'm not gonna lie, I don't have a lot of friends and we've become hella close since we met. You're like me, only Mexican." He joked causing me to let out a low laugh and flick him off. "Nah, for real though. Me and Bree decided to move up the wedding to next month and I want you to be my best man."

I nearly choked on my spit at the fact that this girl was just at my house, taking my dick and had the nerve to want to move up their wedding. "Y-You want me to?"

"Yea, you've become like my best friend." He replied sincerely, clapping a hand on my shoulder and shaking me a bit. "Don't look so surprised. I wanted to marry her before she had the baby and—"

"Wait, she told you she was pregnant?! I thought she couldn't have kids?" I quickly saved myself with the second question since the first one seemed too suspicious.

His smile grew even more as he shrugged and all I could feel was my blood boiling. She fucking lied to me. This girl was such a good actress, she came to my house all crying and sad talking about she's pregnant with my kid only for her to turn around and tell Xae that it was his. Conniving ass bitch, I swear.

The excitement that he thought he was having a baby was written all over his face and it hurt me that all that happiness might just be for nothing. "What did you wanna tell me?" He asked, perking up like he was a female who was about to be told some sizzling hot tea.

"I, um," I stuttered, not really knowing if I'd be able to bare ripping that excitement away from him in this moment. I was already nervous to begin with but now with the news he just told me, my mind was reeling. I wish I would have just told him what I wanted to first because now, I just couldn't be that guy. "I was going to tell you that I'm kinda feeling Simone and like the way she carries herself. She's bad as hell too... think you'd be able to set us up?"

He shifted uneasily in the chair at my words causing me to furrow my eyebrows in confusion and look at him expectantly as he let out a dry chuckle. "Ha, I don't know about all that."

"What? You tryna get at her or something?" I raised an eyebrow as a sly smirk formed on my face. I could always tell there was some type of chemistry between the two of them.

His face immediately straightened out and he shook his head. "Nah, I couldn't do that to Bree. She's dealt with all my bullshit and allowed Simone to stay here even though I know she didn't want to. I can't disrespect her like that."

"Well, how do you know if she's being faithful to you?" I asked, subtly dropping a hint that his oblivious ass, of course, didn't catch.

He shrugged. "Just a chance you gotta take when you're in a relationship."

Simone

Bree and Xae had been acting more lovey dovey than usual lately and I can’t believe I’m saying this... but it kind of hurt seeing them like that. He’d always been polite about making sure I wasn’t uncomfortable but I guess something happened that changed his mind.

Ugh, what am I saying? I shouldn’t even be uncomfortable. They’re about to be married soon, it’s not like this is something new for them.

What I needed to be worried about is this baby and how I was going to at least try to get back on Dominick's good side so I'd be able to see my son again. I knew firsthand how petty he was and as long as things stayed like this, I would never get to see Junior's face again.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, I began massaging the stress out of my temples from just thinking about having to be in Dom's presence again. I didn't want anything to do with him at this point. He had made my life a living hell, had me living in constant fear, and killed the only person who actually loved me besides Junior. There was nothing else for me at this point. I know Xae says he cares, but he's got other things to worry about now that he's expecting and preparing to get married.

It's funny because he was only three years older than I was, yet his life seemed so much more well put together. He had his own house, a car... a wife. I had nothing.

Since he told me the news, I had been avoiding him and after a few days, he caught the hint and stayed away out of respect for me not wanting to be around him. I just couldn't keep allowing myself to get so close to him to where I depended on him. I've depended on a man before and I wasn't trying to go through all that again. What scared me even more was that when he told me she was pregnant, I actually got sad. I shouldn't be feeling sad when I'm expecting too.

These impossible feelings that I had developed for him were clouding my mind. It was almost laughable. As if we could actually be together. Both of our lives were way too complicated at this point to even consider one another. Which was why I had decided that I needed to move out.

I haven't told him yet but I had been packing all my things away for the past day or two. The guest room I had been staying in for the past month looked uncomfortably empty and I was heartbroken because I really didn't want to leave.

It might have been awkward being around another female who hated me 24/7 but just seeing Xae's smile and hearing his laugh never failed to brighten my day for some reason. My depression was worsening because reality hit me that I just lost my son and the father of the baby growing inside me was laying six feet under all because of me. I had nothing to my name except what was left over from Saint’s savings after paying the fees for my lawyer and that wasn't even enough to rent out a place. I didn't want to be alone at a time like this but at the same time, I didn't want to bring Xae down with me.

Whenever he's trying to comfort me, I could just tell that he feels my pain. He empathizes with my feelings and I hate it because before me, his life was perfect. All of the arguments in his relationship are over me and all the drama that happens is my drama. Not his. And he shouldn't be the one going through it when he didn't even have a hand in creating these problems. He just had a big heart and I didn't want that to be his downfall with me.

Everyone I love ends up either getting hurt or betraying me and I knew Xae would never do the latter. So, that just left him to get hurt. I'd rather get away from him and deal with things on my own than to see him hurting or worse because of me.

I swiftly wiped the tears that had been unwillingly flowing from my eyes and stood up from my bed, scooping the last of my things into one of my suitcases sitting in front of me and zipping it up. It felt surreal that I was leaving because Xae had always made me feel like this was my home too, which was why it was so easy to get comfortable here when I wasn't supposed to.

When I turned back around, I noticed a large pool of thick dark red liquid stain the spot that I had previously been sitting at on the bed and in that very moment, a piercing pain shot through my stomach causing me to hunch over and fall to the ground. It felt like someone was trying to carve the intestines out of my stomach as I let out a loud blood curdling scream and held the area like that was going to make things feel better.

I laid in the fetal position as I heard the door burst open and someone quickly rushed to my side. I knew it was Xae just by the smell of his body wash that I had grown accustomed to this month. "Simone?! What's wrong? You ok?"

I only shook my head in response, not even being able to say any words at the moment as my face scrunched up before another gut wrenching feeling pierced through my stomach. "Som—Something's wrong." My voice sounded hoarse as I gripped his arm tight with one of my hands and continued to hold my stomach with the other.

"I'm taking you to the hospital." I heard him say as he picked me up bridal style and began carrying me out of the room. But I didn't even make it out of the house before my body went limp and everything faded to black.

***

My eyes slowly fluttered open and a bright light hanging from above me immediately came into view. I could hear the sound of a heart monitor steadily beeping beside me, matching the pace of my heartbeat.

I groaned, feeling a little sore as I attempted to sit up but someone from beside me quickly got up and gently laid me back down. "The doctor said you should be laying down so you don't put too much stress on your body right now. I'll go get him." Xae said with concern shining through his eyes before he made his way out of the hospital room.

I looked around at the plain white walls and the white with blue polka-dotted gown that I was now wearing. My only concern was what happened and if my son or daughter was alright. Anything other than that didn't matter to me. I had been trying to put off this whole baby situation and act like I didn't care but just the thought of losing him or her too caused my heart to sink.

Minutes later, the door opened up again and in walked Xae with a short Caucasian man in a lab coat strolling in behind him. The doctor gave me a small smile as he walked up to my bed and held out his hand for me to shake. "Good evening Ms. Wyatt, my name is Dr. Bronkowski."

I ignored his hand and carefully sat up a bit more in my bed. "Is my baby okay?" I asked getting straight to the point, noticing the surprised wide eyed look that Xae gave me but my eyes stayed trained on the doctor, watching his body language.

He let out a small sigh and pulled out a stool from the corner of the room, sitting down as he opened up the manila folder that was in his hand and read over it for a minute. I noticed him frown as he closed the folder and my heart immediately dropped along with whatever hope I had left.

"Ms. Wyatt, were you aware that you have chlamydia?" He asked as if someone in their right mind would know they had an STD and not get treated for it on purpose.

"What?" Xae and I both let out simultaneously.

I grew heated as I realized exactly who could have gave me chlamydia. It wasn't even a question. Which meant that I had to have given it to Saint when we had sex. I should have known that I was going to catch something while fucking around with dirty dick Dom. I should have gotten tested as soon as I left him but that had been the last thing on my mind at that point.

Dr. Bronkowski let out another sigh and gave me a sympathetic look once he noticed that I had no idea what he was talking about. "It can cause infertility in women if left untreated for a long period of time and that may also have been the cause of your miscarriage."

Hot tears stung my eyes as I stared at him in disbelief. "...Miscarriage? So my baby is gone?"

He sadly nodded his head in response and I immediately turned away from him, not wanting him to see the tears that instantly cascaded down my face. "I've already prescribed you the medication that you need to take and you should be back to normal in no time."

"Thanks doc, but I don't think anything is going to be normal for me ever again." I mumbled lowly as I continued to stare at the wall beside me, avoiding eye contact with him and Xae. The doctor dejectedly apologized for my loss and exited the room, leaving us in pure silence.

Tears steadily rolled down my face as I slowly laid back down and pulled the covers that had been around my body up and over my head in attempts to block everything else out.

"Simone..." I heard Xae cautiously call out to me but I didn't even have the energy to respond at this point. I felt empty. I never knew how devastating losing a child that hadn't even been born yet really was until now. "I'm so sorry Simone." I sniffled and closed my eyes, feeling even worse for dragging Xae into something that had nothing to do with him again. He got quiet once he realized that I wasn't going to reply. I just needed to process this by myself right now. After a minute or two, he sighed. "Why didn't you tell me that you were pregnant baby girl?"

I shook my head as if he could see me from under the thin white blanket that engulfed my entire body. "What does it matter anyway? My baby is gone... Both of my babies." The last part was barely audible, but I knew he heard it by the way I heard him shuffling before I felt the small bed dip beside me.

He pulled the covers off of me and I stared at him for a couple of seconds before breaking down all over again. His arms immediately wrapped themselves around me and pulled me close so that my head now laid on his chest as my tears began to drench his shirt. "I'm a bad mother." I cried as he held me tightly and gently combed through my hair with his fingers to try and comfort me.

"You're not a bad mother baby. You didn't have any control over this. You can't possibly blame yourself." He attempted to reassure me but hearing that only cut me deeper.

I shook my head. "You keep saying that but who else is there to blame? I should have been more serious about my baby. I should have made sure that I was in good health and now..." I got too choked up to even finish the sentence as I buried my head deeper into his chest.

My hand reluctantly trailed down to my belly, lightly rubbing over it as I thought about what he or she would have looked like. Would they have Saint's eyes? My lips? Saint's fat ass forehead? I guess now there's no point in wondering because that was something I'll never know.

The only thing that I had left of Saint's memory was now gone and I could never get it back.

#chris brown ff #saweetie #urban ff #chris brown #chrisbrown #saweetie ff #injusticeff #cb

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shhh-no-ones-home · 6 years ago

Text

irresistible steve rogers/tony stark x reader

+++++++++

I've been a girl scout most of my life and thought this would be fun to write. I was right by the way, it was. I am graduated now though so I am no longer a girl scout but I know quite a bit about it so there's some info in here that is little bit of details that go into cookie sales and what not. Anyways have fun.

Song: send me home by asking Alexandria

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I walked up the stairs and waved to the friends in my troop. We had minimal luck selling cookies this year being that we aren't cute little girls anymore but this was our last hope. Setting up our cookie booth right at the entrance of Stark tower. Of course it took us forever to get the spot approved by council but they finally gave in after looking at our booth track record over the past few years.

We goofed off like we usually did, while selling to the big bucks executives walking down the street. Who knew we should've done this years ago while we were still cute little kids. It would've been a gold mine back in the day. As the money rolled in the more hope we had. We all wanted to go on a big trip before graduating, a trip that we sadly hadn't been able to do in years prior. I smiled and thanked the man in front of me as my friend sat in her lawn chair.

"So, do you think we'll actually get to see any avengers while we're here?"

I smiled at the people walking by before turning to look at her.

"I don't think so but if we do I think I'd die."

She stood up and dramatically fanned my face, mocking me.

"Oh no, what would we do? Captain America! Iron Man! Thor even! What hero will make her swoon today?!"

She said in a dramatic tone. I just rolled my eyes at her and nudged her to sit back down. I sat with her and we continued to laugh, the few other girls exchanging boxes for cash. Our leaders quietly talked to themselves behind us, paying us no attention as we rolled in the dough. I was mid sentence when my friends face dropped and she smacked my arm. I turned to see what she was gawking at and to my surprise both Tony and cap were walking side by side towards the building. She kept smacking my arm.

"Can you believe?"

I looked at her and laughed nervously.

"Of course not Roxanne."

We stood as they got closer to the building and watched as they slowly noticed the booth surrounded by business folk. They stepped up and cap nodded, saying hello. Tony with all his swagger greeted us with purpose.

"You ladies getting good business out here?"

I smiled widely at him.

"Yes sir, what could be more fitting than young entrepreneurs making buck in front of your building of all places?"

He smirked, letting out a sharp half laugh. He looked around at the booth for a second.

"What do we have here today ladies?"

I went down the line and explained each cookie to him, adding the prices of each at the end. he thought for a second before motioning to cap.

"Watcha think Steve? Got Anything specific you want?"

He rubbed his chin.

"If I remember correctly trefoils were big around the camps, they were easy to eat on the go."

He leaned forward with 'matter of fact' in his voice. I smiled.

"And as an added bonus we still do that, we send cases of cookies over that people buy specifically for the troops. You'd be surprised at how many people donate money just to send cookies over seas."

He had a wide smile on his face and Tony sent him a sympathetic look. He handed me a hundred dollar bill.

"Send however many cookies that'll cover."

I waved over one of the parents and relayed the message to her before turning back to him.

"Two whole cases, and an extra but whose counting."

I winked at him. Steve looked mildly confused.

"How many is that?"

"25 boxes."

He screwed his eyebrows together.

"Those were definitely much cheaper in my day."

I laughed as Tony rolled his eyes at him.

"We get it, you're an old man."

I just shook my head.

"Not quite I'd say. You're only, what, twenty? At best? At least based on your gallery at the Smithsonian. Your still practically a kid just like we are, at least, most of us. We're all 18 and 19."

He smiled like he'd won a game and crossed his arms over his chest. Tony didn't say anything but looked like he was pondering as he looked between us.

"I like you ya know that?"

I blushed and turned to look at my troop as they bickered beside me at the other business men and women.

"I appreciate that Captain, now would y'all like some cookies for yourself?"

Tony slapped another hundred on the table and went down the line. When they were done I handed them two cases, one with an extra box sat atop it.

"We appreciate your support Mr Stark. Thank you for helping your local girl scout troop."

He smiled widely and pointed from the building to the boxes and I watched as two men walked out and took the cases inside. Tony followed but cap stayed behind a second.

"I want to say that I really do like you. Not many people would've spoken up about sending cookies over seas. It's something I didn't know about until I actually went to war and it was definitely something to look forward to."

I smiled endearingly at him.

"I believe that 100%, I know its something I would miss exponentially if I had to fight over seas."

He reached out to shake my hand.

"I also want to thank you for saying something about how old I am. I think most people mistake how long I've been alive for how much experience I actually have."

I nodded.

"Of course, I mean we're close in actual mental age and I could never even imagine how you do what you do. You deserve much more recognition Steve. It's hard to lead groups of people as an actual adult much less as a twenty-somthing year old. I admire you cap."

He laughed a little to himself and rubbed his eye.

"This is probably gonna sound a little odd but could I give you my number? I would love to talk to you sometime when I'm not taking precious time away from your work."

I smiled at him and reached for my phone.

"That would be great, I can text you so you have my number too."

I handed him the phone and he quickly typed it out and handed it back to me.

"Alright, so I guess I'll talk to you later then."

I nodded.

"It's a date."

He smiled and nodded to himself before turning, waving, and walking inside. When he was out of sight Roxy grabbed my arm and shook the shit out if it.

"Bitch you just got Captain Americas number!"

I laughed.

"That's not girl scout appreciate language Roxy."

She was beyond shook.

"That doesn't matter girl you just got a date with the captain America!"

I laughed and sat with her.

"Yes, yes I do."

I looked down at his number and smiled to myself. Holy shit, I have a date with captain America.

#wattpad #x reader #iron man #steve rogers #tony stark #marvel #netflix #avengers #captain america #93

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