#i will end up doing this lab. it’s just gonna take a lot of coaxing.

[of-galaxies-and-black-holes]

uh mh um uh um.

[luckycharms1701]

Ok. I wanna ask something. It’s ok you don’t have to answer this but I wanna ask how would the Turtles be like when they are in season? Like way before their s/o came into the picture? Like their emotions and how to handle it? You can make it SFW or NSFW or both.

sorry this took so long anon-chan! not gonna lie, i hadn't really thought about how they would be in mating season, so i had to think a Lot 🤕

you didn't specify, so i did bay because they were easier for me- i can try my hand at rise if you want though

i imagine that going through a mating season without a mate is very, uh, distressing. so these might be a liiiiiittle on the angsty side

i think this is pretty sfw, just mentions of jerking off and the like

Mating Season Headcanons- Bayverse Turts

Leo:

tries to meditate his way through it every time, even though it Never Works

but maybe this year he'll be good enough, enough of a ninja, to do this...

everyone in the lair knows when he gives up on the meditation because for once the banging isn't coming from Raph's room

he doesn't handle the loss of control very well, so he tends to be super cranky- constantly complains about smells and noises

he does, however, learn from his mistakes sometimes, so he uses plenty of lube when it comes to dealing with the physical aspect

Raph:

he's just kind of resigned to it- they're turtles, it is what it is

that doesn't mean that he doesn't get emotional though- man of passion right here

he isolates himself, for two reasons: because he's a little more volatile than normal and he doesn't want to take it out on his brothers and because he tends to get sad and he doesn't want them to know that

he jerks off a little roughly whenever he gets the urge to go out and beat some baddies up- he would never forgive himself if he really lost control

sometimes, when he's taking care of yet another erection, he'll imagine....... what if...... but when it's over he shuts those thoughts down harshly (dashing away tears that no one will ever see)

Donnie:

oh he's so annoyed- he has too much to do to deal with this

Everyone steers clear of the lab during the day, because he will just take care of the urge whenever it comes (no matter how visible he is) and then continue what he's doing

at night, though- he indulges at night

he's invented a number of toys, and he'll take his time at night to play with every one of them

like the only time he gets any sleep, because his body can't deal with his normal schedule and all the hormones at the same time so he just passes out all the time

Mikey:

man yearns

he's able to ignore the desire for a s/o most of the time, he's too busy having fun- but when it's thrown in his face that he doesn't have one and likely never will....

avoids jerking off until he's literally crying from the urge, because he really doesn't want to do this alone again

Donnie gives him some toys, and they help a little

near the end of it he's mostly enjoying himself- he can never coax such powerful and heady orgasms out of himself any other time

[mostly-marvel-musings]

Typical Stark - Chapter 9

A/N: A series nobody saw coming indeed. We’re approaching the final chapter now. There’s a LOT happening in this one.. Leave a comment, like and reblog if you enjoyed it!

Pairing: Tony Stark x Reader

Warnings: 18+ fluffy smut, lil bit of angst?

Word count: 2.3k

Typical Stark Masterlist

.

“Oh my fucking God! Don’t stop!” you cried, fingers gripping the sheets beneath you like vice while Tony’s fingers curled inside your tight heat, finding just the spot that made you see stars.

He held your hips in place, nipping the skin over your pubic bone to keep them from involuntarily rising above the bed. The way your body reacted to him, the way your walls clamped around his fingers, the sweet, sweet sounds that left your lips, the man was enjoying every last second of it. He kept at his ministrations until you were pushed over the edge for the second time that night, gushing all over his fingers while your thighs shook with the pleasure that pulsed through.

With a sudden change of position, he laid on his back, taking you with him; gently but firmly guiding your core over his mouth until you were left straddling the man’s face. You didn’t think you could take it, but Tony seemed too determined to deny it.

“Tony, I don’t think I can…” your voice betrayed you there, lust laden and weak, you sounded too unlike yourself.

“I know you can, sweetheart. You’ve got another one in there for me. Come on, you said I’m your favourite toy, didn’t you? Use me.” His big brown eyes swum with such passion and want, you found yourself lowering your hips and carding your fingers through his soft hair, using it like your anchor.

Tony’s mouth latched onto your oversensitive clit, sending waves of pleasure down your body, the familiar pressure building deep within your belly. The man was too skilled.

You hadn’t experienced the kind of desire or pleasure with your previous lovers. Tony was attentive and giving in bed, smug, sure, but un-fucking-believable. Nothing would ever come close.

Gripping your thighs firmly, he lapped at your cunt, allowing you to ride his face as you pleased, his tongue expertly coaxing yet another orgasm out of you. You came loud and hard, grabbing the headboard for support while your body went lax against him.

“You’re unreal, you know that?” you whispered, cheeks reddening looking at his glistening lips as you fell onto your back, unable to do much else given how spent you were.

“Oh I know. But I am all yours.” He murmured, climbing back in bed once he was done cleaning up.

“That you are. All mine.” you agreed, draping your sheets over the two of you and snuggling close. Your heart swelled with pride every time Tony mentioned he belonged to you, and you to him.

What started as a simple wine and dine date for two of you two weeks after you moved in together had turned into a rather naughty night.

Not that you were complaining.

.

“Okay, I can be there in twenty minutes? Give or take.” you spoke assertively on the phone to Nick Fury, pacing about in the living room of your shared apartment while your boyfriend followed you like a puppy, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Certainly. I’ll see you there, boss.”

Once you were done, you were met with expectant doe eyes which instantly brought a smile to your face.

“I’ve been summoned to HQ. Something about classified files that need urgent sorting. And no, nobody with a lower pay grade can do it. Fury insisted it has to be me, so it looks like it's gonna be a long day for me.”

You answered one of Tony’s questions that you saw forming in his genius brain, walking over to the man to kiss the pout off his lips.

“Fiinee. I’ll be in my lab blowing things up. Text me if you need saving.” he winked, rubbing your arms up and down before pulling you in for a kiss goodbye.

“I will. And don’t miss me too much, Stark.” you murmured, toying with the ends of his slightly longer hair.

“That I can’t do, sweetheart.”

.

At the headquarters, you were assigned with sorting archived hard copies of Hydra files since there was a data breach in the system, Fury needed all hands on deck and it was very well going to be an all-nighter.

Tony texted you every so often, keeping you entertained in between your otherwise boring work at hand.

That was until a sudden interruption outside. A flurry of people and hushed murmurs and discussions made you hurry downstairs to where Fury was.

The large screen promptly displayed what the furor was about; a hostage situation at the Grand Central Terminal caused several panicked citizens to scramble out of the place while several gunshot sounds echoed, which you hoped to God weren’t aimed at any innocent lives.

Nick Fury stood with his hands behind his back, as usual, watching the scene unfold calmly, almost like he were watching a movie.

“What’s happening, boss? Who are these men? Hydra?” You exclaimed, watching in horror as more bullets were fired followed closely by screams and shrieks of the people they had captured.

“Looks like it. Don’t worry, Y/L/N, I’ve got the lead of my boy band taking care of them.” He nodded, giving you his signature look.

As if on cue, your boyfriend flew in, landing right outside the station in a pose that almost made you roll your eyes. Such a show off.

Soon after, you watched Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff jump into action, carefully guiding the hostage civilians out to safety while Stark zoomed in and out of the footage available for you.

It was always a thrill watching Iron Man in action, the man was a sight and he knew it. Before you got to know him, you’d roll your eyes at his ostentatious nature, this time around though, you felt a sense of pride as you watched your man take down the bad guys.

And then, something happened in a fraction of a second that felt like an eternity to you.

Tony had half stepped out of his suit and taken one step down the stairs when a bomb detonated. The blast flung him in the air and you could do nothing but watch as he landed in rubble. You felt the air being knocked out of your lungs as he lay there unconscious, injured, barely breathing.

He had to be alive. He had to be.

Getting out of HQ and to the infirmary where Tony was brought in was all a blur, you were on autopilot and it all seemed to be happening too quickly and too slow all at once. He had been taken into emergency surgery, shrapnel had damaged his arc reactor and it had to be removed.

You paced outside the operating room, trying your level best to keep it together and not crumble on the floor.

He would make it, he had to.

Tony had been strong enough to survive in a cave in Afghanistan, he would be strong enough to survive this as well. You kept repeating it to yourself.

The doctors walked out of the operating room a couple of hours later, giving you a squeeze on your shoulder.

“He’s fine, Miss Y/L/N. A broken rib and several contusions to his body. We had to remove the arc reactor from his chest along with the shrapnel that had been lodged all those years ago. His heart is safe now. He’s resting.”

After what seemed like a long, long while, you breathed a sigh of relief, thanking them for saving his life. Your heart thumped as you made your way inside the ICU, you’d always hated hospitals. They rarely brought happy memories back.

It would still be a couple of days before he was permitted visitors, a glance through the glass window was all you were allowed for now. Tears pooled in your eyes at the sight of him lying in bed with tubes and IVs hooked onto him. All the bandages made him look smaller in the bed as he breathed evenly, eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his battered face.

But he was alive.

…

You refused to move from his bedside, now that the doctors had allowed you inside, you spent your time reading to him, holding his hand and feeling his pulse, hoping he’d open his beautiful brown eyes for you.

Grabbing a coffee for yourself, you looked at your reflection in the mirror you passed in his room, dark circles under your eyes conveyed lack of sleep.

“Hey gorgeous.”

Tony’s croaky voice reached your ears before you turned to see him offer you a weak smile. Tears that you had strictly kept at bay for so many days threatened to spill from your eyes as you hurried next to him, taking his hand on yours.

“Tony! You’re awake. How–how’re you feeling?” you cried, letting the tears fall freely as you kissed the back of his hand softly.

“Besides the fact that I’m bruised like a peach, I’m fabulous. I missed you.”

You chuckled at his admission, allowing him to wipe your tears with slightly trembling hands. Perching yourself on the edge of his bed, you leaned down to give him a soft kiss against his lips, feeling him smile against yours.

“Have you slept at all? You look terrible.” he commented with a smirk, albeit his voice was full of worry.

“You’re one to talk, Stark. You need a good scrub down, and a shave.” You teased back, running your fingers over his stubble, your heart full of love as Tony leaned into your touch, turning his head to kiss your palm.

“I was so scared, Tony.” you whispered, a few unshed tears escaping down your cheeks as you touched your forehead to his.

“I’m right here, honey. Right here with you.” he murmured, cupping your face tenderly, reassuring you of his presence while you nodded.

He was really here, with you. And he was safe.

.

Your fingers were tracing the scar that now marked the former housing place for Tony’s arc reactor, a reminder of all the things he’d been through. Tony laid his head against his hand while the other caressed your back, pressing kisses against your hair while you two caught your breath.

Under normal circumstances, Tony was chatty after sex, either talking about the randomest of things or you’d be convincing him for a little nap. However, his energy felt different today, nervous, almost apprehensive. You could sense it by the way his foot tapped against the entangled sheets and the way his fingers stopped midway along your naked skin, as if pausing to think before he resumed.

“Tones…”

“Yeah?”

“What’s wrong? You’re awfully quiet today.” you murmured, placing your chin under your hand as you looked up at him.

“Nothing’s wrong, um. I’m good, growing old maybe. I’m tired.” He tried making a joke but you weren’t buying it, giving him a look that made him sigh and sit up against the headboard.

“I’ve been thinking. That blow-up made me realize how fleeting time is. I couldn’t imagine what you must’ve gone through, what I would’ve done if God forbid you were in my situation, you know? God knows our jobs aren’t exactly ‘safe’.”

His hold on you tightened unconsciously, making you press a soft kiss against his cheek, encouraging him to continue.

“I love you more than I could ever imagine loving someone, Y/N and I don’t want to spend any more time apart. Waking up next to you is my favorite thing in the whole world, hearing about your day, ranting to you about mine, and the sex? I mean, I

could go on and on and on…”

You giggled, stopping his rambling by covering his mouth with your hand, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Tony gently peeled your hand away, kissing the back of it before holding it over his heart, letting you feel his steady heartbeat. You swore your heart was about to beat its way out of your ribcage any minute now, given where Tony’s speech was going.

“Basically what I’m trying to say is, my former battery-operated heart belongs to you now. You’re my home. So Y/N Y/L/N, would you do me the honor of dancing with me naked in our bedroom right now?”

Your breath almost hitched until he said what he did, taking you by surprise yet again.

Did you even hear it right?

“What?” you sounded too unlike yourself as Tony stifled a smirk, wrapping the sheets around your bodies and guiding you out of bed, pulling you flush against his chest and gently swaying you both.

“I want to do exactly this, now and forever. You and me. What do you say? Think you can handle me for the rest of your life?”

His eyes held all the honesty you were looking for, big brown orbs swimming with love as he flashed you his winning smile, waiting for you to answer.

“Oh, I can handle you alright. I love you Anthony Edward Stark. But only for the mind-blowing sex.” you teased, letting out a yelp when he playfully slapped your butt.

He dipped his head down to meet your lips in a kiss that made you swoon. All the words unsaid were conveyed in the kiss and all the unasked questions went answered. .

“What? No ‘typical Stark’ this time?” Tony mumbled against your lips, carding his fingers through your hair and brushing your nose with his.

“Shut up and kiss me, Stark.”

“Yes ma’am.”

…

What do we think???!!!

[manjiroscum]

HARUCHIYO SANZU KINKS

Warnings: f!reader, sexual themes, mature language, unprotected sex, consensual cuckolding, consensual non-con, overstimulation, use of sex toys, office sex, sound kink, roleplay, hints of gun play, degradation, and use of pet names. Minors do not interact.

Note: for my bby aly @sanzuchi💕 i hope this cheers u up

ROLEPLAY

Sanzu Haruchiyo wished he had his phone with him right now to record the glorious view in front of him. How could he easily forget that tonight you were gonna treat him to a little show? Of course, he wasn’t gonna stop you from bouncing on his thick cock, tits pressed against his face, rubbing his cheeks, to grab his gadget sitting by his pants discarded to the floor along with the plastic stethoscope you had as a prop. Playing as a sexy doctor threw him off when he entered the bedroom, bones exhausted from executing traitors of Bonten quickly amended themselves at the sight of you—black lace lingerie and stockings underneath the white coat. Coaxing him to come closer so you could administer a quick check-up that ended up with you sucking on his dick. Ruby red lips parting on his red tip, slowly inching your way down and feel him throb around your mouth.

It was truly a scene straight out of an erotic video and one Haruchiyo would completely rewatch if only he had the initiative to film this. Yet, even if he could, his azure pupils would be far too busy drinking up your form quivering above him, whimpering while questioning your supposed patient for the night about his well-being. Hands busy cupping your breasts free from the bra, squeezing and pinching the perk nipples. Only the lab coat was left on you.

“I-Is the treatment working, Mr. Sanzu? Ah, I pride myself in knowing what m-my patient needs, you see.”

“Doc, I think my dick still needs more of a squeezin’. I’ll probably feel a lot better if you let me cum inside your pretty pussy.”

CUCKOLDING

Screaming into the soft pillow soiled with your mascara, tears and drool, the huge cock drilling into your fluttering damp hole was too much to take. This was your sixth orgasm pulled from you, and you swore you couldn't even remember your own name. Rindou was far bigger, meatier, than your boyfriend. Bullying its way into your tight walls that was housing his throbbing shaft. Mind hazy at the absolute bliss, you almost failed to recall that Haruchiyo was in the same room, watching from the couch to see if Rindou was as good as the rumors set him out to be. And really, he wanted to see too if the younger Haitani could please your greedy pussy that was always aching to be wrapped around your boyfriend's cock.

“Shit, this cunt won't stop clenchin’ around me.” Rindou groaned, setting on a new pace that had you whimpering, fisting the sheet around you as if to hold onto yourself unless you get lost in the euphoric high Rindou’s cock was gracious to give. “She's like a cheap whore! Where did ‘ya find such a good pussy, huh?”

“A great magician never tell his tricks, Haitani. And even if I do tell you, my girl’s pussy is one of a kind.” Hand rubbing his leaking tip, Haruchiyo then sneered at Rindou. “So, I suggest you keep fucking her ‘til she's dumb ‘cause this will be the first and last time you ever will. Just remember, don’t cum inside her.”

SOUND KINK

The gun clicking loudly against his ear was close to nonexistent. The tip still drenched with your spit, having been lodged into your mouth seconds ago while you were kneeling on the floor. Glossy eyes silently begging for him to fuck you or at least use your throat like one of his pocket pussies. Haruchiyo would have to admit though, that no matter how many bullets he placed into people’s skulls and how addicting it was to listen to them scream, his hearing skills have never failed to pick up the slightest whine that escapes your lips when he rubbed your clothed clit with his shoe. The sound shot up his spine and to his nerves, creating a tingling sensation that had his cock twitching under his pants.

The buzzing of the pink egg-shaped vibrator pulled his gaze from your teary eyes, down at your panties soaked with your arousal. The toy he placed inside your pussy hard at work. According to him, you had to be a quiet beauty for you to be able to cum. Yet, Haruchiyo was making it hard for you to stay silent. Hard enough that you were close to calling it quits and just mewl aloud, letting the other members of Bonten know in the room next door that you just came on your underwear.

“Be a good slut and stay quiet, okay? You don’t wanna anger Mikey, do ‘ya? Don't wanna let them hear you cry out like a bitch in heat, yeah?”

CONSENSUAL NONCONSENT

Mourning at your Versace dress now resembling shredded paper by the fax machine, you sobbed into the mahogany desk that was damp with your tears as Haruchiyo ripped your panties off like it was band-aid. At the sight of your plush ass revealed to him like a gift for Christmas, a yelp escaped your lips when he spanked it, jiggling at the action. And soon, Haruchiyo entered your pussy without warning, moaning into the air unashamedly as his cock splits your folds in half. It stung a little, eliciting another sob from your lips that Haruchiyo was quick to scold you for by thrusting into you abruptly.

“Shut it, bitch. Cocksleeves are not supposed to be cowards especially towards cock!” He hissed, resuming his hips pistoning against yours. Papers were scattered around the floor and the desk underneath you was creaking like a squeaky floorboard while Bonten’s number two rammed his cock into your tight warm walls, cumming after a few seconds yet never ceased his onslaught. A whine bubbled out of your throat at the thick milky semen mixed with your slick running down your thighs and onto the floor, some staining your boyfriend’s paperwork. But Haruchiyo didn’t care.

Tonight, he'd rather paint your gummy walls purely white again and again than to do sign those papers. Would rather fuck you stupid, creaming around him, and have you slightly regretting that you offered him the chance to than to finish his work.

🎐taglist: @wakaslut @ranilingus @bxnten @novaresque @noekoi @kazuwhora @festive @marism @wakasa-wifey @zuuki @stffychn @keijisprettygirl @cryptred @tobidabio @leavemealonebutinpink @blueparadis @kamisoria

[marvelsbetch]

Peter Parker’s field trip part 3

-Peter's POV-

After lunch Owen grouped us all

back together, including Wade, and took us around more labs. There was nothing particularly special about any of them until the corridor we were walking down became all too familiar. We stopped infront of a door to a lab, the door to my lab. Oh God.

"Now, for those of you who don't know and haven't guessed it yet, your class mate Peter works here. This is his lab and I was wondering if he would allow us to see what's inside. Peter?" Owen announced looking directly at me.

"Fine but you have to swear not to touch anything and not discuss anything you see with others." I warned them as I swiped my card and held the door open to all of them.

They all filled in and started looking around cautiously and with amazement. Many people noticed the prototype suits on mannequins at the back of the room. I was helping Dad, Pops, Bucky and Wanda with new designs for suits as well as trying to improve mine. It's been a challenge but we're making steady progress.

"Peter, Mr Stark has told me to ask you to open your connecting doors." F.R.I.D.A.Ys voice rang out across the room.

"Oh dear lord." I sighed and moved to open one of the other doors in the room that connected mine and Dads lab.

There was also a door connecting to a storage closet filled with various building parts. The other doors lead to a bathroom, Pops' art room, The training room and a testing room. There was lots of doors but thankfully I labelled them all.

"What do y-" I started but cut myself off when I opened the door and saw the guardians stood in Dad's lab. Frick!

"Mini Peter!" Drax yelled pulling me into a very tight hug. What's with the bone crushing hugs today?

"What're you all doing here?" I asked pushing Drax away from me.

"Can't we visit our favourite earthling without a reason?" Peter asked putting his arm around me.

"You sound like Thor." I told him shrugging his arm off.

"Don't insult me like that." Peter told me jokingly serious.

"How come I don't get any love?" Wade asked appearing behind me.

"Hey! What am I here for?" I asked him trying to sound offended.

"Beside you." He said putting an arm around my waist and resting his head on mine.

"Hands off Wade." Dad warned with a scowl on his face glaring at my boyfriend.

"Alright Stark, alright." Wade said sarcastically and put his hands up before slowly backing away.

"Don't push me, I'm already letting you stay in my tower, and sleep in his room for that matter." Dad gestures to me with an angry look on his face.

"Moving on, why're there a bunch of gawping teenagers stood behind you?" Peter asked gesturing to my class.

"Well, this is my science class from school. They're gasping because no one believed me when I said I had an internship here but I've proven to have more than that." I explained taking Wade's hand in mine much to Dad's disappointment.

"Anyway, what're you doing next? When're these losers leaving?" Peter asked putting his arm around my shoulders.

"We're visiting the training rooms with Steve, Nat, Clint, Bucky, T,Challa, Wanda, Vision, Strange and Loki." Dad explained making me groan and put my head on Wade's shoulder in annoyance.

"And then they're staying the night and visiting Avengers Tower tomorrow." I told him from Wade's shoulder.

"Avengers Tower?" Drax asked confused.

"It's kind of like our mother ship. It's where we're briefed and de-briefed about our missions and meet up for various things. We used to use this tower but it's less used now." Dad explained.

"They still use it sometimes though. Say, for example, to embarrass me." I said sarcastically lifting my head up.

"Aww, come on Pete, don't you love seeing us all day?" Dad teased grabbing my cheek.

"Not when your soul purpose is to embarrass me infront of my class. Other times, I couldn't thing is anything better." I told him making him smirk.

"Come on then, let's go see everyone train." Dad said clapping his hands together and leading the group through one of my doors and directly into the training room.

"Ah, Midtown I presume. Welcome to the Avengers training room." Pops introduced gesturing to the room around us.

There was treadmills, weight lifts, cross trainers, workout bikes and much more. Over in an empty corner Strange, Wanda and Uncle Loki were practicing their magic where as every one else was doing normal physical training.

"So, who wants to fight an Avenger?" Aunt Nat asked looking across all the students in front of her. "You, with the stupid grin. Come up here." Nat instructed pointing to Flash. Oh dear lord.

Flash confidently made his way up to Nat and just stood there doing nothing. Nat showed him a proper fighting stance and told him to attack. The next few seconds was Nat pinning Flash to the mat before he could react.

"I wasn't ready." Flash breathed out from the floor.

"No one is. That's why she's good at what she does." Pops told him smirking at me. "Why don't you have a go?" He asked me.

"No I'm good. Do you want to?" I asked gesturing to the mat and Nat.

"Oh come on kid. Live a little." Pops coaxed with a smug grin on his face.

"Fine." I sighed detaching myself from Wade and standing in front of Nat. I got into a fighting stance and we started fighting.

After 10 minutes of back and forth between me and Nat I eventually pinned her to the mat to the astonishment to my class.

“Well Peter, good to know nothing's changed." Pops grinned passing me my water bottle and a granola bar.

"Thanks Pops." I said with out thinking.

“Right, now we're gonna teach you basic self defence. We'll split you into groups and go from there." Pops explained turning to my class when an alarm went off.

"Code Green! Natasha and Peter to Dr Banners lab please." F.R.I.D.A.Ys automated voice rang out.

Me and Natasha took off running as fast as we could to Bruce's lab and stopped in front of the door for a brief moment. We could hear crying? Slowly, we opened the door and found Hulk sat on the floor crying.

"Hulk?" I cautiously asked stepping forward.

"Spider Boy!" Hulk yelled pulling me into a tight hug. "Hulk miss his spider boy!" He cried.

"Okay big guy. Why were you crying?" Natasha asked placing her hand on his arm.

"Lonely. Bad Human kept me trapped." Hulk explained as more tears fell.

"Okay buddy, put me down and we can hang out with you for a bit. How does that sound?" I offered.

"Thank you spider boy." Hulk said giving me one last squeeze, breaking my last rib and placing me on the floor.

"So, what do you want to do?" Nat asked sitting on the floor next to Hulk.

"Play outside!" Hulk whined. When did he become so child like?

"Okay, wanna play tag?" I offered thinking back to childhood games.

"Tag?" Hulk asked.

"It's where we run around and touch people gently. The person you touch is then 'tagged' and you must run away from them. You understand?" I explained.

Hulk slowly nodded so Nat took him outside while I called Dad to explain what happened.

"Hey kid, you okay?" Dad asked with my entire class looking at him.

"Yeah he was just lonely and in a mood with Banner. Me and Nat are gonna play some tag with him if that's okay. We'll either be on the roof or balcony." I explained to him.

"Okay stay safe." Dad told me before waving.

"I will. See you later." I said waving back and hanging up the phone.

-2 hours later-

After playing tag with Hulk for way too long we managed to get Banner back. The only think was, we promised Hulk to speak to him later. While my class will still be here. Hopefully he doesn't get scared or feel threatened and we can have a nice and calm conversation with him. We walked back to the training room but no one was there so I called Dad to see where he was.

"Hey, where've you all gone?" I asked.

"We're in the penthouse. How was playing tag with Hulk?" He asked.

"It was fun. We promised we would speak to him later so we need to talk to the class and explain otherwise he may feel threatened or angry." I explained to him getting into the elevator to take us to the penthouse.

"Okay, I'll gather everyone and you three can explain to them." He said.

"Right I'll see you in a minute." I told him before hanging up.

We got to the penthouse and found my whole class plus teacher stood in the living room like they were waiting for something. I walked in with Nat and Banner on either side of me and they all looked visibly shocked.

"Okay, quick announcement if you're all going to be staying the night. What happened before was a 'code green' that means the Hulk. Now, not every time he's here he's angry, so for instance today, sometimes he's just lonely. We managed to get Banner back but promised we would speak to him later so if anyone hears a code green do not freak out. Don't go up to him or anything but don't freak out. That's what'll make him intimidated and angry and that's when people get hurt. Do I make myself clear?" Nat asked giving each individual a piercing glare.

"Yes Miss Romanov." They all said simultaneously.

"Now, you have one hour before food to explore the penthouse. Any door with a red square is a prohibited area, it's mainly bedrooms though. Have fun and don't break anything." Dad warned.

As soon as he finished everyone scattered and tried to find something interesting to look at. Me, Wade, Ned, MJ, Dad, Pops, Nat and Banner all just sat on the sofa and started a movie. As time went on the rest of the Avengers along with Thor, Loki, Shuri and T'challa came in and started to watch the movie with us. We briefly heard and saw my class mates walking around and looking at things in the hallways. They were all very interested in the littlest things.

An hour soon went by and we called everyone back in to talk about food and what we should order. We ended up with Pizza cause who doesn't like that? We ordered 35 because there was a lot of us and I needed like 4 to myself, it was 15 margaritas, 5 Hawaiian, 5 BBQ chicken, 5 vegetarian and 5 meat lover. All large and all delicious. True beauty. We all sat in the living room and no where else would fit us all and ate in pretty must silence.

"So Peter, how come you know the Avengers?" Christie asked.

"The internship. I work closely with Mr Stark and just met everyone from there. It stared with working in projects all night to having sleepovers and it all progressed from there." I explained. It felt weird to call Dad Mr Stark again after all this time of calling him Dad.

"Patricia, how did you get the internship. Stark Industries don't usually hire teenagers." Mrs Robbins asked trying to be polite but made one big mistake. Patricia.

"Well I found Videos of Peter's work on YouTube. I'd also bumped into him at Oscorp at one of your other field trips." Dad explained with emphasis on 'Peter'. Mrs Robbins seemed uncomfortable with Dad's use of my name.

"Well what type of thing do you work on?" Al asked.

"All sorts. Started with building small robots to help with small mundane tasks then working on bigger robots with Mr Stark and then working on suits and weapons for everyone. Now I'm designing them as you all saw before. Btw Wanda, I need you to come to my lab at some point this week to check hour suit out." I informed.

"Okay, maybe after food we could go." She offered taking another bite of a BBQ chicken pizza.

"I can do that." I agreed and finished my slice of margarita.

"Well, why you?" Flash asked clearly annoyed. Shoot.

"What do you mean why him?" Pops asked getting angry.

"Well, with all due respect, why did you hire him? He's nothing special, just a charity case at the end of the day." Flash huffed and Pops' face went red with anger.

"Charity case? What do you mean by that?" Wade asked trying to moving me from his lap but I didn't budge. I knew he'd kill Flash.

"Like with his Aunt, they didn't have money and skips out on school with stupid excuses. You're probably only talking to him cause you feel bad, no need to lie to us." Flash explained and Banner's face turned green.

Everything else happened so fast. First Wade practically threw me off of his lap onto the floor where Ned caught me. Then Banner stormed out of the room yelling and turning green. After that, Dad got up from his seat and lunged forward but Pops caught him and was holding him back in a hug type situation. Nat pulled a knife out. Bucky smashed a pizza. The sofas were floating. There was thunder outside. Loki was evilly smirking. Shuri was holding T,Challa back. Sam was seething in the corner. Clint reached for his bow and arrow. Wade pulled a katana out of god knows where. It was all happening.

"Everybody outside now!" I yelled at the adults and dragged my Dads and Wade out the room behind me.

They all came out and I was immediately attached with question after question after question. Nat was asking if I wanted her to kill them. Dad, Pops and Wade were agreeing with her. Thor was threatening to bring the whole of the Asgardian army. Banner was still no where to be seen. Things really went down hill fast.

"Come on Baby. He made you feel like shit, let me teach him a lesson." Wade tried to persuade pulling me close and putting his hands on my waist.

"No Wade. You're not killing him. You've been doing so well, you've gone a whole 2 months without killing anyone. Don't throw that all away for him. Come on baby, calm down and help me with everyone else." I pleaded looking into his eyes and placing my hands on either side of his face.

"Fine but if he says one more thing not even Hulk could hold me back." He sighed bringing me in for a brief kiss.

"NOT IN FRONT OF US!" Dad yelled all anger seemingly averted to Wade.

"Geeze old man, calm down it was just a kiss. Not as if I fucked him right in front of you is it?" Wade told him sarcastically.

"Stop before your killed." I warned him.

"Mmmm. You're no fun." Wade told me.

"This is all beside the point. Banner's Hulked our and Hulk is not happy about Flash. He's coming straight towards everyone." Nat warned looking at something F.R.I.D.A.Y shown her.

"Oh god." I said as everyone rushed back into the living room to find my class huddled in a corner with Hulk slowly advancing.

Me and Nat ran out infront of them and our hands up to indicate for him to stop. Hulk looked between me and the group with confusion.

"They're mean to spider boy. Why be nice?" Hulk asked.

"Because it's what we do. We're nice to people despite them being mean to us because otherwise we'd be as bad as them. We don't want to be as bad as them. We want to be better. Do you understand?" I explained to Hulk slowly.

"Yes I understand spider boy." Hulk slightly sulked and walked over to a different side of the room where he turned back into Banner.

"How can you do that?" Someone asked hesitantly.

"Do what?" I questioned confused.

"Calm him down. I thought only black widow could do that." They explained baffled.

"Well you thought wrong." I simply told them with a shrug as I walked back over to the couch and sat on Wades lap much to my Dad's disappointment.

"Okay then, what movie should we watch?" Pops asked trying to change the topic and succeeding.

"Okay this is how we're doing it. If you want horror move to the right side of the room. If you want comedy stand to the left." Dad spoke. The majority, including myself and Wade, moved to the right.

"Okay, Annabelle Creation to the right, It to the left." The majority stayed at the right.

"It's settled." Pops announces turning the tv on and playing the movie.

Everyone found somewhere to sit, Dad on Pop obviously, then everyone else who lived at the tower, Ned and MJ squeezed onto the couches. The rest of my class sat on the floor that was covered in blankets, pillows and other types of bedding. It looked quite comfy but nothing was as comfy as Wade.

"So, Parker, how come you're buddy buddy with all of the Avengers?" Flash asked once the movie begun.

"I told you, I'm Mr Starks personal intern and so I met everyone." I lied.

"It's so weird to hear you call me Mr Stark again." Dad pointed out making us all laugh but confused my class.

"Don't start calling me Steve again, too weird." Pops requested earning a few more laughs.

"Alright Cap'ain." I said making us again, laugh a little.

"So, Peter, how did you get your internship?" Al asked.

"Well, it's a long story." I told him trying to think of one on the spot.

"I secretly sent out a message to collages and High schools near by and asked for their most brightest and promising students. I got almost two hundred responses but one from Midtown high stuck out. A boy who couldn't do PE to save his life but could do a university level science equation in his sleep. Sounded like me when I was younger so I spoke with him and after a few trials including him and some other candidates I went with Peter. One of the best decisions I ever made." Dad informed them, lying slightly, making me blush and look down.

"How did that lead to all of this?" Al further questioned gesturing to me and the rest of the Avengers.

"Well, with being his personal intern I followed him everywhere and into meeting for both Stark Industries and the Avengers. He also let me stay here when my aunt had to work late, this then turned into me spending the weekend here most times and some school night. With me spending so much time here I met them all, I was a little awkward at first but got used to them and then the jokes started which turned to minor pranks which turned into Parnell wars which turned into me finding a family in the most unsuspected way." I spoke fondly smiling at the memories of first meeting them and the first prank pulled, Clint decided it would be funny to put shaving cream in all of my pockets and shoes.

"Wow, must be amazing, knowing you can come here at whatever time you want and have the Avengers back you. You're a lucky kid Parker, I'll give you that." Al said.

"I know I am." I spoke, mostly to myself as I took Wade's hand in mine.

"How did your relationship start?" Hayley, a girl from my class, asked.

"That is an interesting story that I'm sure Wade would love to tell." I said smirking slightly.

"Well, I have a tendency to brake in the tower and one time I ran into the living room escaping Stark and found Peter sat on this couch watching Star Wars surrounded my blankets, pillows and junk food. I walked over, sat next to him and had a lovely conversation with him about Star Wars and Star Trek, it was very engaging. Then Stark ruined it by kicking me out and giving me a lecture on communicating with his intern. I clearly didn't listen and came here more often to speak to him, on one of my trips my crush grew too strong and plucked up the courage to ask him out. He said yes much to Starks distaste. We went on a date, shared a kiss and decided to make it official, this was 8 months, 4 days, 32 minutes and 54 seconds ago." Wade told them smiling widely as he pulled me into a deep and loving kiss only to separated by my Dad flicking Wade's ear.

"Wow, that's so sweet." Hayley fan-girled.

Soon enough, nine thirty rolled around and we were all sent to bed, my class was showed to their shared rooms while me and Wade snuck off to my room where he followed through on his earlier promise.

To be continued...

[softboywriting]

Hard To Love | Nathan Bateman | Ex Machina

Summary: You’re Nathan’s personal assistant. He’s an insufferable bastard. Both of you have unchecked tension and feelings for each other. What could possibly go wrong? [swearing] [sexual themes/situations] [arguments] [exhibitonism - implied] [pining] [Dominant!Nathan] [Nickname use - pet name/non derogatory] [Nathan being Nathan] [nsfw - kissing, lap sitting/grinding, heavily implied masturbation!f reader] [F!reader/Nathan]

Word Count: 7k

|Masterlist In Bio|

Nathan is...well... Nathan. Insufferable, workaholic, egotistical. He is a lot to handle and doing so isn't always easy. You had a lot of breakdowns, screaming matches, some nearly coming to blows. But you didn't give up and you learned to work around him, and coax him out of moods, serve him back the same dry humor and disinterest. After finding out he had gone through four assistants, two that never made it past their first week, you knew you couldn't give up on him. There was a diamond in the rough and you were going to find it because despite all of the hard times, you care for him. He's a fucking bastard, but he's your fucking bastard.

"It's been six months." Nathan says over breakfast one morning.

You look back from where you're cleaning up the pans you used to make his vegetable omelet with soy egg substitute. His favorite. You had taken over cooking from Kyoko three months ago when she began to malfunction. You're not sure what happened, or if maybe Nathan staged the malfunction to give you more to do. You suspect the latter.

"Six months? Really?"

"Don't act like you don't count the days."

"I don't actually." You set your plate of food on the table and he reaches for one of your toasts. He has his own, well, had. He ate it already but he has egg left so he wants more toast. "I stopped months ago."

He chuckles softly. "I still don't know why you won't quit."

"Why do you want me to?"

"I don't."

"Then why do you bring it up?" You raise your eyebrows and he shoots you a look over his vitamin water. "Cat got your tongue?"

Nathan folds his hands, elbows on the table as he shakes his head. "Most people in your position, having dealt with what you have dealt with, would be itching to get as far away as possible. Surely you must be mentally unstable to stay with me, gaining some sick pleasure from our fights and shit. I almost feel bad."

He almost feels bad, as if he were to blame for nothing. Typical. "And if I am fucked up? Gonna fire me?"

"Fuck no."

You smile over your coffee. Decaf. He won't have regular in the house after he nearly went into cardiac arrest from an over abundance of caffeine. He did it to himself. Slugging back redbulls with his vodka after drinking his pre-work out mix that had far more than he needed in it. He may be a technical genius but he can be such a fucking moron.

"You like me." You tease, rubbing your barefoot on his leg under the table. "You would miss me if I left."

He snorts indignantly but does not deny your observations.

"How was the food?"

"Perfect." He sits back, foot bumping yours now, running up the side. "Don't know how you do it."

"Perfect? Wow. High praise from you." You swat his foot away with yours and he starts trying to pin it down by stepping on it. "Better than Kyoko's?"

Nathan hums. "I programmed her with cooking skills from top chefs across the internet. Technically she should be the greatest chef on the planet. So the fact that you can make me food that is better floors me."

You hook your ankle around his and he lets out a little grunt. "Cooking is an act of love. Yes you can program an AI to make things perfectly but technical skill doesn't equate to preferred taste. Come on, Nathan, you're smarter than this."

"Questioning my intelligence now?"

"Every day." You jerk your leg back as he lifts his other foot to trap it. "Cheat! You cheater! One foot only!"

Nathan lets out a boisterous laugh, head falling back, hand over his chest. "You get so worked up over that!"

You roll your eyes and stab your eggs viciously. "Fuck off Nathan."

"No need to get so mouthy."

"Mouthy." You scoff. "Rich coming from you."

He stands, catching your chin in his grasp. "I got you to break."

"You- oh God damn it." You jerk away, arm extending to shove him.

He chuckles proudly to himself. "I'll be in my lab. Find me if you need me."

"Gonna let me in today?"

"I might."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later."

____________________

Nathan could have the AI clean the house, but then you would run out of things to do. Honestly your job could be done by any one of his creations, humanoid or not. You don't actually need to be there at all, and yet Nathan keeps you around. For a man who is hell bent on privacy and secrecy surrounding his work, you have no idea how he has let others in. He laughs when he says that he had the men who built the complex killed after the fact. Surely it's a joke. You think. Though you've never asked, never dared to investigate the truth in his words. It's best you don't know.

The house doesn't need cleaning that often. Just laundry, dishes, some sweeping and mopping should you or Nathan track in mud after a hike. Most chores take a few hours out of one day a week. Your title is assistant and yet you don't actually assist him. Not in his work anyway. You feel like your title should be maid or housekeeper. It's fine, you really don't care because he pays you so generously that you would do whatever he needs you to.

"Kitten!" Nathan's voice comes from the intercom system built in the house. "Come to the lab, kitten."

You scowl at the nickname. He dubbed you Kitten your second day at the complex because he thought your wandering around perplexed by the maze like design of the house was akin to a new kitten trying to find its way in the world. You suppose there could be worse names he could call you, and there are ones that have come out in screaming matches, but kitten has stuck.

"Lab. Now. Come on."

"Fuck." You groan, tossing aside your book you were getting very into.

"I heard that."

"Of course you did." You lift your badge and scan the door to your room to head out into the hall. One of the AI walks by and you think her name is Lily. She's beautiful. Unfortunately her programming has failed and she cannot speak. "Hi Lily."

Lily raises her hand in greeting.

If she is out then that must mean Nathan has been working on her. You turn away from the AI and walk down the hall to the junction that splits left to Nathan's room and right to another hall that goes to the lab and test rooms. The lab door is open, the light blue on the access pad.

Nathan spins around in his chair. "Kitten, you've made it."

"As if I could get lost."

"I have something to show you."

"Do you? I thought you didn't want me involved in your work."

Nathan gives you a hard look. "Do you want to fucking see it or not?"

"I don't even know what it is."

He grabs a small item off his desk and brings it to you. "This is it. My newest AI."

You take the small flash drive from him and turn it over in your hands. "This is a new program?"

"Yes. My best work yet. I'm going to build her this week."

"Exciting."

"Please show some enthusiasm for fucks sake." He snatches the device from your hand. "I'm kind enough to share this with you, you could at least say thank you."

"I never asked."

Nathan slaps the flash drive down on the desk and stares at you. He is not used to being served his own cold attitude and he never will be. Since you started going toe to toe with him, he has been on top of his game. It's like you engage his mind beyond his massive ego. "You're insufferable."

"Likewise." You smile and he smiles back. The pissing match has ended. "I need to get groceries soon."

"You know what I like."

"Of course I do." You fold your arms over your chest and he averts his eyes for a moment. You know he's staring at your breasts, pushed up in the tank top you had chosen to wear while deep cleaning your bathroom earlier. "But what do you want?"

"Loaded question, kitten."

"Going that route today?"

"Maybe." He saunters towards you and catches your hair between his fingers. "I want... something sweet."

You raise your eyebrows. "You're craving sugar? Are you ill?"

He chuckles. "A little. Just in the head."

"Seriously."

"Yes I want something sweet. Get me some donuts." He puts his hands on his hips. "Get yourself something too."

"I always get myself stuff. Do you think I only buy your groceries?"

"It's my house, of course I think you buy my shit."

You reach out and touch his beard, fingertips gliding along his cheek. You don't miss the way his eyes flutter at your touch. "Do you need your beard oil? The conditioner stuff? Looks dry."

He grabs your hand and curls his fingers around yours. "Yes, I do. But don't touch it."

"Possessive today huh?" You smirk and he groans irritably deep in his throat. "You live for my touch."

"I live for you to leave me the fuck alone."

"Then fire me."

"No."

"Then suffer." You bring your other hand up and pat his opposite cheek. "Does physical affection bother you Nathan? Does touching another human bother you so mu-"

He backs you against the wall and pins your wrists. His face is only inches from yours, body pouring heat onto you. It sparks something deep inside and you feel heat pooling in between your legs. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" He murmurs, grip tight on your skin.

"Don't you have some issues to work out?"

"Fuck you."

"You'd like to."

Nathan drops your wrists at that and retreats into the lab, the door closing and locking behind him. It drives him mad that you're not one of his AI that he can order around and do what he pleases with. You like to think that's why he keeps you around, to remind him that he's human and he needs someone that isn't an algorithm to keep him sane. Maybe he also let a little piece of you crave out a chunk of his icy cold heart.

You rub your wrists and look at the reddened skin. They might bruise. You straighten your clothes and head back to your room. You'll need to wear something more appropriate to the store. It's cold out these days.

_____________________

"Do you get lonely?" Nathan asks one evening over drinks in the lounge.

You put down your laptop and give him your attention. It's the first time he's spoken to you in two days since the wrist grabbing incident. "Lonely?"

"Yeah. Do you miss relationships? Hook ups?"

"Not really. I was never super social to begin with."

"Right."

"Why?"

"Just curious." He takes a long drink, emptying his tumbler. "Why do you think I want to fuck you?"

You feel your cheeks redden. The way he is staring at you makes your arousal rear its ugly head. Staring shouldn't turn you on. He hasn't done anything. "I think you're desperate."

"Desperate?"

"Yeah. You decommissioned Kyoko months ago, Lily doesn't have a vagina and yes I know this because you told me in a drunken stupor ages ago. So you haven't fucked anything or anyone in months."

"You think I need to fuck?"

You stand and walk over to him, knocking his knees open to stand between his legs. "Nathan, just fucking admit that you want me. That you keep me around because one day you'll grow a pair of balls and ask me to sleep with you."

His hands come up and grab your hips. He pulls you down and you straddle his lap, thin pajama pants hardly acting as a barrier between you and his cock in his gray sweats. "I keep you around because you piss me off." He grips your ass and you roll your hips against him. "You piss me off and make my blood boil like no one else."

"So you hate me?"

Nathan brings your head down to meet his. "I couldn't hate you if I tried."

"Then what are we doing?"

"We're having a moment." He grabs your hair and you snap at his nose with your teeth in response. "Behave."

You let out a moan as he begins kissing up your throat. "This was your plan all along."

"Do you ever shut up?"

"No."

"Then I'll make you." His hand closes around your throat, applying just enough pressure to make you stop talking. "Why do you have to be so in my head? Why..." He kisses your shoulder, biting the junction between it and your neck. "Why did you have to show up?"

"You hired me." You whisper and he drops his hand from your throat in favor of sliding it up your shirt. "You selected me."

He rolls his hips up against you, biting down on your skin to elicit a yelp from you. "You're damn right I did."

You grind down against his cock and he grabs your hips to still them. You let out a soft whine from the lack of pleasure and he grips harder.

"Get up."

Your heart sinks, and you stare at him in confusion. "What?"

"Get up. We're not doing this." Nathan pushes you off of his lap and you stumble to your feet.

You straighten your clothes and walk around the coffee table to grab your laptop. You can't say you didn't expect this. It was a long shot to begin with and you initiated it so you knew he would shut it down. Still, it hurts. His rejection isn't disinterest, it's personal protection. He won't let anyone that close to his heart.

"Good night, Nathan." You mutter as you head for the doors to the inner workings of the complex.

"Night, Kitten."

_____________________

It is three days before you see Nathan again. Locking himself away isn't uncommon practice. It's a Thursday when you see him out on the deck with the punching bag. You happened to catch a glance when you were preparing breakfast as you had every day. He didn't eat with you, but you still made it for him and left it under the warmer. The plate was always gone when you came back, so at least you know he is eating.

You grab a few grapefruits from the basket on the counter and start juicing them. It'll be a nice surprise for him. You grab a cup from the cupboard and tilt the juicer to dump its contents for you. It looks good, smells tart but it is not your type of juice. Fitting for a man like Nathan. Bitter, tart and sort of hard to swallow. You rub a bit of the squeezed rinde around the top of the glass and grab the sugar dish to sprinkle some around the rim. A little sweet to lessen the bite, a representation of you in this metaphor.

"Kitten, good morning." Nathan says as you approach with his juice and a towel. "What's this?"

"Grapefruit."

He raises his eyebrows. "Fresh?"

"Yep." You hand him the glass and he inspects it suspiciously. "No poison. Promise."

A smile creeps it's way across his face as he gulps it down. He takes a moment at the end to lick the sugar clean from the rim, keeping his eyes on yours the whole time. It's far more sexual than you think it should be, and it was never your intent to get this response.

"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." You pass him the towel and take the glass.

Nathan scrubs the towel over his face and rests it around his neck. "I'm going for a hike later."

"Okay?"

"You're going with me." He turns back to the punching bag and starts his routine back up. "Be ready at nine."

You sigh. "Alright."

_____________________

Nathan's idea of a hike and your idea of a hike vary greatly. You view a hike as wandering around the forest along trails and seeing the beauty of nature before you. Leisurely pace, breaks, maybe a snack or two and some photos for the memories. Nathan however thinks hikes are treacherous climbs up cliffs and rock jumping across rivers and streams. He goes as quick as possible as if he's trying to get somewhere and he's going to be late. It's hardly relaxing.

"Come on, why are you so slow?" Nathan barks from atop a rock some several yards ahead of you.

You're panting, legs pushed to their limit from the half an hour long uphill climb you've just endured. You have no idea how he isn't even winded.

"Fuck off Nathan!" You huff, grabbing a scrubby looking tree for support as you haul yourself up over a broken chunk of the path. A game trail, not even a proper walking path.

He laughs, his voice echoing off the cliffs surrounding you. "You can do it, Kitten! Get that little ass up here!"

You finally reach him, your lungs threatening to explode. "First of all, this isn't a hike it's a rock climbing marathon." You hold a finger up to his face threateningly. "And second, my ass isn't little."

"Oh I know." He folds his arms over his chest.

"So you stare at my ass a lot then?"

"I'm a heterosexual man. Of course I'm going to look at your ass."

You roll your eyes. "Thanks for the objectification."

"You're welcome."

"Can we take a break here? My legs are killing me."

Nathan stretches his arms up and back. "This is why I brought you with me."

"Why?"

"So you can get some exercise. Your stamina is shit."

You glance to the drop off below then back at him. "You wanna keep insulting me?"

"Facts are not insults."

"I will push you off this cliff, Nathan."

He steps away from the edge and closer to you. He doesn't say anything about it. Doesn't apologize for the comments about your stamina and needing to work out more. He reaches for your face, plucking something off of your cheek. "Eyelash."

"Make a wish."

"Wishes are for children." He flicks his finger off to the side.

"I wish my boss would get his head out of his ass." You smirk triumphantly. "Is that a child's wish?"

Nathan flicks his eyes up and down your face, eyes settling on the bite bruise peaking out from under your sweatshirt collar. You had forgotten about it until this very moment, when you realize he hadn't seen it yet. "Is that mine?"

"Of course. Who else has been biting me out here in the middle of nowhere?" You reach up to touch it and he shoves your hand away to pull the fabric aside for himself.

"No one else can touch you."

Heat blossoms in your stomach at his jealousy tinged words. Possessive Nathan really does it for you. But he isn't your boyfriend. He is your boss. "I'm not yours Nathan."

His fingertips ghost over the nearly healed bruise. "Yes you are."

"I'm not."

"Then why don't you leave?"

You shove his hand off your shoulder and he gives you one of his famed deadly glares for doing something he doesn't like. "You don't want me. So I can't be yours."

"It's not that I don't want you, I can't have you." He turns and starts walking away, resuming the hike. How very like him. He says something stupidly cryptic that only makes sense to him. Whatever. You're not here for his affection and approval. You're here to be his assistant.

____________________

"I'm out of alcohol." Nathan states plainly, looking into the cupboard that usually has a few bottles of his favorite liquors. "Where is my shit?"

You look over from the fridge and smirk to yourself. "I thought you were on a detox again."

"I'm done with it. Where..." He turns and looks at you. "You didn't buy anything."

"Nope. I was told not to."

"By who?"

"You."

He purses his lips and looks around as if thinking about when he would have ever said that to you. He looks perplexed and you feel so smug. "Since when do you ever listen to me?"

You laugh softly. This is your fault now? Following his orders and not buying alcohol? Really.

"You're my boss. I usually follow your orders."

Nathan kicks the cupboard closed lightly. "Stop that."

"Stop what? Following your instructions?"

"Stop fucking with my head." He leans on the counter and takes his glasses off to dig his palms into his eyes. "You're so fucking irritating."

"Sure am." You gather some utensils from the counter that you left to dry and begin to put them away. "I live to make you suffer."

Nathan pulls his hands from his eyes and stares at you, eyebrows furrowed. It's like you're a puzzle and he's trying to see the solution. "Sometimes I wonder."

"You're being a baby."

"Excuse me?"

You walk over and stand in front of him, hands on your hips, mimicking his pose when he explains things to you. He doesn't fail to notice this as his eyes sweep over you in assessment and he raises his head as if challenging you. "You're only saying I'm irritating and making you suffer because you can't drink. It's been what? A week?"

"Eight days."

"A week. I'm sure you can make it another two weeks."

"You're fucking joking."

"Nope. I'm not going into town for groceries again until absolutely necessary. It's a three hour flight there and then back, remember?"

Nathan clenches the edge of the counter top with white knuckles.

"Get as pissed as you want." You lean in close and he nearly moves back. You know he won't back down from a challenge. "Maybe you'll have to face your demons sober. Maybe you'll figure your shit out."

"I didn't hire you to be my fucking therapist."

"Yet here I am."

Nathan pushes off the counter and grabs the bottle of water you set out for him before he goes off to lock himself in his lab for God knows how long. Ever since you came on to him he seems to be jumpy around you. You don't know why he won't just admit that he likes you, that he wants you. He is going to get blue balls sooner or later. Well, maybe not because he can jack off but actual sex isn't the same and you know he has a sex drive through the roof. You used to hear it at all hours of the morning before he deactivated Kyoko. You'd be lying if you said you didn't get off on it a few times.

_____________________

Days and days pass without a word from Nathan. Ten is now the most you've ever gone and after five you start to wonder if he is even in the house. Maybe he went for a walk and fell in the river. Maybe he pissed off his AI again and it finally strangled him. You would have no idea because the place is so huge and quiet for the most part. Aside from living quarters the complex is soundproofed. One would think Nathan's room beside yours would be for privacy but it's not. The freak. He wants people to hear him.

At the twelfth day mark you actually begin to worry. A twenty day sober Nathan may be a new kind of animal and you're not sure if you truly want to interact. Distance makes the heart grow fond though and while he is insufferable you do care for him and wish to see his stupid smug face. It's a risk but one you need to take.

The light on the lab door is red. Locked. You raise your key card and it buzzes, remaining red. He's denied your access to the lab. Shocker. You press the com button on the wall but it doesn't connect. He's shut that off too.

You lean your head on the cool cement wall and sigh. One more day. You'll give it one more day. If he doesn't show his face you'll get the override key card that resides in the hidden box in the bathroom. You found it ages ago, by pure accident. You've never used it and he has no idea that you even know about it. But you'll do what you have to do.

______________________

Morning of the next day you find yourself in bed, looking around the soft cream colored walls. An idea comes to mind. A dirty, dirty idea. You know Nathan has cameras in every room. He's too anal about protectng his work not to. Plus he has major trust issues.

You lean over the side of the bed and pull open the nightstand drawer. Inside is a small vibrator that you brought with you when you moved in. There's another box in there too. One that was there when you opened the drawer the first night. On the top it says "For your needs, because you're only human."

Of course you opened the box out of curiosity, Nathan had said everything in the room was for you so it wasn't snooping. In the box was a dildo, some lube and a little bullet vibrator. You had never used them, finding the gift too personal and odd. Complimentary soap? Normal. Complimentary extra blankets and pillows? Thoughtful. Complimentary sex toys? Insane. Until you got to know Nathan, you thought it was the weirdest thing ever. In fact, you forgot about the box after a while as you hadn't had the urge to get off until recently. Today however, you're going to make a show of it in hopes of getting his attention.

You dump the contents of the box on the bed and pick up the dildo, wrapping your fingers around it. It's life like, fleshy and soft but firm enough for it's intended use. It's bigger than you might usually prefer but nothing you can't handle with some extra time. And you've got nothing but time. You take a glance around the room, not seeing any obvious surveillance cameras. This may be for nothing.

You make quick work of your pajamas, toss aside the blankets and prop yourself against the headboard. You decide to keep your gaze fixed on the television, imagining it's where he is watching from. You close your eyes and let your hands start to wander, doing thier thing while your mind runs wild.

Time passes slowly as you work yourself over, adjusting to the dildo and working yourself into a heated frenzy. It would be easier if you had something to watch, some porn or something. You're not intent on making yourself come, but you will if it comes to that. You just want to put on a show to draw him out. That's what you're telling yourself anyway.

The power goes out, darkening the room and thrusting you into silence. The back up system announces its engagement and the emergency lights come up red. You sit up and lean your head back against the headboard. Great. You toss the toys aside and get up, pulling on your pajamas. You go to the door, punch in the code for manual override during power failure. Nathan is such a nerd. It's not a specific number but rather the theme to Star Wars.

The door clicks open and you go out into the hall. No one in sight, not that you really expected anyone. "Nathan!" You call out, heading for the lab door. Everything is eerie red and you don't like it. "Power is out!"

No response.

"Nathan James Bateman!" You sing song as you slide your card on the lab door. It buzzes. "I know you hear me you fuck!"

"Power restored. All systems active."

The hall turns white, back to the bright daylight simulated lighting. You lift your key card up in hopes that the system turned off his lock out coding for your card. Sure enough it turns blue and the door clicks open. Relief washes over you as you step into the darkened office where his computer is set up, notes on the wall, security feeds pulled up on two of the monitors. The door to the actual lab is open and you walk through into the bright area.

"Nate?" You call out, the nickname slipping out as your voice wavers a bit when you don't see him anywhere.

"Kitten?"

You spin around and see the man you seek emerge from a doorway. It's the server closet where the breaker box is. "Hey."

"How'd you get in here?"

"The power failure reset the lock codes."

"You can leave."

"Nathan, you haven't been out in almost two weeks. I'm starting to get worried. What are you eating? Are you sleeping?"

"I'm fine."

You give him a once over. Wrinkled clothes. Disheveled beard. Hair grown out longer than you remember, still buzzed but not so close. His skin is dull and lifeless. "You look like shit."

"What's new?"

"Oh come on. You're more vain than that. What are you doing in here anyway? Why the power failure?"

"Fuck off."

"What an original come back. I've been trying to get your attention for days. The fact that it took a power outage for me to get to you is sad." You walk up to him and touch his chest, there is a little bit of dried blood smeared on his shirt. A cut on his hand most likely. "Nathan, talk to me."

Nathan pushes away from you and goes to his design table where there are blueprints laid out for an AI.

"Nathan."

"Leave." There is no venom in his tone. If anything he sounds pleading.

You decide to make a bold move and wrap your arms around his shoulders. He stiffens, hands stilling on the table, pen falling from his fingers. "Please talk to me."

"Just go. I don't want to talk to you."

"Fine. Dinner is at six." You pause at the doorway to the office area. "Did you hear me?"

"Six."

"Good."

_____________________

Things fall back into a normal rhythm in the days following. You do your work and he does his. You eat together, go for walks, talk about his progress on the new AI. Everything seems to be back to it’s usual flow, how it always happened after big arguments or falling outs.

So while you’re sitting in the lab watching him work one day and he asks you about the dildo in the bedside table you're thrown for a loop. It’s far from his usual choice of topics and you had actually forgotten all about it. His mentioning of it brings back the memory of when you were laid out on your bed, literally masturbating to try and get his attention. Christ what a desperate move that was. Stupid.

"So have you opened it?"

"The dildo box? Yeah I've opened it." You try to remain casual as you discuss something so personal. You definitely aren’t thinking about how good it felt.

He smirks. "Used it?"

"No." A bold lie. He has no idea. He never saw you in your bedroom. At least you don't think he did. Why would he ask about it if he had? Why is he asking about it at all?

“You’re a shitty liar.” He turns around in his chair and faces you, pushing his glasses up off the end of his nose. “Did you like it?”

“I haven’t used it.”

“Do you want me to bring up the video? I will.” He stands and heads to the office. “Come on, come here.”

You slide off the table and walk behind him in your shame, cheeks hot. You knew you shouldn’t have lied. Of course he was testing you. It's Nathan for fucks sake. He gestures to his rolling chair and you take a seat while he leans over the desk and clicks around on files on the desktop. “Is this really necessary?”

“Yeah. It is.” He opens a play back window and you can see the view of your room. No surprise. You try to figure out where the hell this camera is based on the angle. It seems to be the top left corner above your closet but as far as you remember there is nothing there. “Oh, there you are.”

“Nathan.”

“No, no watch.” He points to the screen as you toss and turn on the bed. He speeds up the playback as you get into the drawer and get the box out. You deliberately clear the bed, undress, get back on the bed.

You roll your eyes, looking away from the screen and he places a hand on your head and turns it back to watch. “So? I’m masturbating. Whatever. You do it too. If I wasn’t supposed to use the damn thing why did you leave it for me?”

“Oh I don’t care that you used it.” He clicks a little audio icon beside the playback screen. “I just want to know why you lied about it.”

“I am embarrassed? I don't make a habit of talking about my-”

“Nathan.” Your voice plays back on the audio coming from the video playback and you wish you could sink into the floor and disappear. “Nathan, harder please!” Of course he has audio on the fucking cameras. Of fucking course he does because why not right? It’s his house, his research facility.

Nathan looks at you over his glasses. “You’re embarrassed about talking about masturbating or you’re embarrassed that you think of me when you do it and I found out? Actually don’t answer that because this looks deliberate.” He takes a seat on the desk, blocking the view of the monitors. “Now, are you going to lie to me again, or tell me what this is about?”

“I wanted to get your attention.”

“Well you got it honey.” He clicks a button on the keyboard and it stops the playback.

“I wanted your attention to get you out of the fucking lab. It had been almost two weeks since I had seen you and the only way I can reach you from outside is through the cameras. So I thought, maybe there is one in my room because you’re a fucking control freak. Low and behold I was right, but it didn’t work how I planned it to.” You fold your arms over your chest and he chuckles. “What’s so funny?”

“You.”

“Me? How is any of this funny?”

“What kind of person thinks that masturbating on camera is going to get someone’s attention? No, seriously, why wouldn’t you try flash signalling the cameras in the halls? Set up a cue card with a message? Who says I’m gonna fuck myself for my bosses attention?”

You take in a deep breath and clench your jaw. He’s right, kind of. You hate it but he is. In any other situation you never would have done this. So why did you? Why did your brain go straight to exhibitionism? Because it’s Nathan and you’ve got it bad for him and you wanted him to see you. He’s got your brain just as fucked up as he has his own.

“It was wrong, I’m sorry. Is that what you want to hear?”

“Nope.” He kicks his legs hanging over the desk. “I wanna know if you liked that dildo.”

“It was fine I guess.”

“Not too much?”

“Nathan, why do you fucking care?”

He hops off the desk and shakes his head as he heads into the lab. “I’m curious is all!”

“You’re a freak!”

“And yet you still like me!”

“I’m starting to wonder why.” You push up out of the chair, close the playback on the computer and leave the office. You’re covering that stupid camera and throwing that dildo in the trash chute. You should have known he’d get some weird complex out of watching you say his fucking name while plowing yourself with a toy. In a weird way it turns you on, but it also pisses you off because he won’t actually admit that he liked it. He won’t ever admit anything.

_____________________

“Can I ask you something?” You say to Nathan as he sits beside you on the couch. You’re in the lounge together, dinner long over, watching a movie as you wind down for the evening. He’s got his arm around the back of the cushions and your legs are pulled up under you, feet pressed against his thigh. You’re close, but not too close.

“I don’t know. Can you?”

“Don’t be a dick for ten minutes please.”

Nathan holds his hand up in defense. “Ten minutes. Shoot.”

“Promise you won’t be a dick? For real?”

“Yes. Ask me the damn question.”

You take a deep breath, knowing what you’re about to ask is going to be rough on him. “When we were on our hikes a few weeks ago, you said it wasn’t that you don’t want me, it’s that you can’t have me. What does that mean?”

Nathan stares ahead at the movie on the tv over the fireplace. A moment passes, a moment that is too long and makes the room fill with awkward tension. You expected this.

“Gonna stay quiet for the ten minutes you aren’t going to be a dick?”

“Shut up.” He says softly, no venom in the words.

You stare at him expectantly, awaiting a better answer than just shut up. “Seriously, would you just-”

Nathan’s arm comes up from the back on the couch and his hand catches the back of your head, dragging you closer to him as he presses a kiss to your lips. Your blood boils in the best way and you chase his lips as he pulls away. “That’s all it takes to shut you up?”

“Answer my question. Ten minutes aren’t up.”

“I can’t have you because you’re going to leave. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day you’re going to leave.”

“I’m not leaving Nathan.”

He scoffs. “So if I stopped paying you to be my assistant, you would stay?”

“Yes.”

"You're fucked up." He shakes his head. "You're fucked up and it's my fault."

You stare at him at a loss for words. Did he just admit fault for something? Are you hearing this correctly? Is Nathan Bateman, tech genius and egotistical maniac admitting he has done something? Holy shit.

"I did this to you. I made you stay here and endure my mood swings and drinking and all my shit. I stockholm syndrome'd you and I didn't even realize it." He leans his head back and closes his eyes. "You don't deserve this."

"Nathan, you didn't make me stay here. I chose to stay."

"Where the fuck were you going to go? Run off into the woods for days and days until you hope to find someone? What option did you have? I trapped you here. I've kept you caged in this house like an animal."

You lay your hand over his and he grabs it, threading your fingers together. "You don't think someone could actually love you, do you?"

"What?"

"You don't think someone could fall in love with you because you're insecure. You push people away, you push me away because you think it's easier than letting yourself feel something for someone."

Nathan looks pissed but he holds his tongue.

"I'm not trapped here, you aren't twisting my arm and making me stay here against my will. I know what I signed up for, I know what I signed in those contracts. I could have told you to fuck off and shove your head up your ass months ago and taken a helicopter back into the city. I could have just run away on any one of my dozen grocery runs in the last several months. But did I?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"I don't fucking know."

You lay the hand not held in his, on to his cheek and turn his face to make him look at you. "Because I love you, Nathan."

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do. You're a real son of a bitch sometimes and I want to break your nose and choke you to death every once in a while but I care. I care about you, about your work, about your life. I want to be here, I want to be a part of your life Nathan. You don't have to be afraid. I'm not going anywhere."

Nathan gets up and you hold your joined hands tightly.

"Don't run away damn it!"

"I'm not! Would you let go!"

"I swear to fucking God if you lock yourself in that lab again I am going to get a battering ram."

He takes his glasses off and presses them into your palm. "Take these as collateral. I'll be right back."

You sit back on the couch and glare at his form as it disappears into the house. You clean his glasses carefully with the edge of your shirt and set them on the coffee table. He has to come back for them, he's as blind as a bat without them.

Nathan returns shortly with a small box. "I made these." He hands you the box and you open it as he puts his glasses back on. Inside are two black bands, rings.

"I don't understand."

"I made them because I know I can be difficult." He plucks one from the box. "They track the wearers vitals, change colors based on varying indicators, and they will work no matter how far apart they are."

"You made high tech mood rings."

He shoots you a glare. "I made them for you." He places the ring in his hand into your palm. "So you will know that I'm alright when I'm working long hours. I know I'm not the easiest to read and I don't have the easiest time expressing myself sometimes."

You put the ring on and it lights up a soft pink color. The moment Nathan slips his over his finger you can feel a soft steady pulse coming from the ring. "Is that your heartbeat?"

"Yeah." He holds his hand out and you can see his band is the same color pink. "I'll give you a breakdown on all the colors and functions later, but pink means the body is at ease."

"Do you love me? Just tell me, straight up no games."

"Yeah." He cups your cheek and brings you in for a kiss. "I love the shit out of you."

You break away from his kiss and press your foreheads together. "Can I ask just one more question?"

"Fire away."

"Is the dildo a mold of your dick?"

A smile spreads across his face and you already know the answer before he says it. "It is."

"You're a freak."

"And you absolutely love it."

You smile as he presses his lips to yours and pulls you over into his lap. "I guess I do."

The end

Please reblog if you read or like. Thank yo so much for reading! -A

Header by the lovey talented delicate-venus

*****Note: none of my works should be posted anywhere outside of my linked accounts. I do not give permission to repost with or without credit to my accounts. Please notify me of any reposted works.*****

[themurphyzone]

Nova Ch 10

AN: I think that reunion with Snowball went pretty well!

Ch 10: White Dwarves

AO3 Link, FFN Link

Terran Date 2015.4.26

I’m stuck in a backwater lab with an idiot who believes you can transform a rock into gold by spray painting it. Nothing else worth reporting. 

o-o-o-o-o

Pinky winced as Brain slammed his hand against the computer mouse, saving the oddly brief recording to the computer. He didn’t bother with his usual sign-off either. Just buried his face between his hands and growled to himself. 

Brain had been in a foul mood ever since the tea party, snapping whenever Pinky tried to ask a question and making messes without bothering to clean up after himself. He wasn’t the only one affected by Snowball suddenly leaving. Madame Daisy was still pretty miffed about Snowball’s lack of etiquette when he didn’t say goodbye to the other guests or say thank you to the host. And Brain hadn’t done those either. 

Maybe Pinky should’ve warned them about Madame Daisy being a stickler for tea party etiquette. 

But more importantly, the deadline for RSVPing was tomorrow at 8 pm and they still hadn’t called Lamont Manor. More than once, Pinky brought it up in conversation and left post-it notes as reminders, but Brain always shut the topic down and shredded the notes into confetti. 

It stung when he did that, but Pinky shook it off and saved the itty-bitty scraps. One never knew when they’d need good confetti. 

Pinky’s ears twitched towards the cage at the sound of Brain’s groan. Brain had already drained a full water bottle and was steadily working his way through a second. While Pinky was happy his alien friend had gotten used to water, mostly so they could play Marco Polo and waterski with popsicle sticks, maybe there was such a thing as too much water. 

“Brain?” Pinky called, nearly slipping on a puddle. He frowned. There were several puddles and no sign of Brain at least trying to keep this side of the cage neat. “Er, don’t you think that’s enough? Awfully hard to sleep if you have to keep getting up for the bathroom.”

“Just leave me alone,” Brain muttered. He sipped from the tube again without taking his glare off Pinky. Water dribbled down his chin. 

No, he was absolutely not leaving Brain alone! Pinky stomped his foot, startling Brain when he tried to sneak another drink. 

“That’s it!” Pinky shouted. He tugged his ears and released them with a sharp snap. “I’m gonna give you tough love whether you like it or not, mistah!” 

Before Brain could react, Pinky snatched him away from the water bottle and tucked him under one arm like he was cradling a football. Brain kicked and squirmed in his grip, trying to smack him with his tail, but Pinky had a firm hold. With his free hand, he pulled a fedora off the coat rack as he marched out of the cage and over to the stereo. 

It was a little worn from age, but it still worked alright. 

He dropped Brain, who let out a little oomph when his stomach hit the counter. Smacking the play button with his foot, Pinky kept one hand on his fedora as he counted the beats until the main melody began. 

“Just say narf! Just say narf!

Don’t you know to be glad? Just say narf!

Every day is a joy and so-” 

The music shut off. 

Surprised by the lack of background music, Pinky checked behind him, arms still thrown above his head with the fedora hanging from one hand. 

Brain stood in front of the stereo, his hand over the stop button. “Just what in Orion’s belt are you trying to accomplish with this display?” he snapped, crossing his arms. 

“You’ve been a grumpasaurus rex ever since the tea party! So I’m cheering you up with one of my favorite songs!” Pinky protested.

“You can’t cheer me up by manhandling me and saying nonsense!” Brain yelled.

“I said narf, not nonsense!” 

“They’re synonymous!” 

“No, they’re not! They agreed they could date other people and they still have a trusting relationship! And you wanna know what else? They actually clean up after themselves too!” 

“GAH!” 

“TROZ!” 

Their noses were just a few inches apart, chests huffing and puffing like they were about to blow the Three Little Pigs’ houses down. Brain broke away from the staredown first, clasping his hands behind his back as he sulked.

Pinky counted one Mississippi, five Mississippis, and seventeen Mississippi’s, his hand against his racing heart as he breathed in and out to calm down. And why did they only count Mississippi? Why not Alabama, Georgia, or Papua New Guinea? 

Brain was a closed book at the best of times, it seemed. One of those heavy textbooks with lots of big words, not a happy, colorful picture book like Pat the Bunny. 

But he wasn’t a good actor, though he pretended to be above happiness, fear, and sorrow.

“You know you can talk to me, right? About your feelings or world domination or secret crushes. Anything you want,” Pinky said, wringing his tail in his hands. It looked like a very sad, wiggling worm under his fingers. The smooth surface under his fingers helped a little, but it didn’t replace a full snout hug from Pharfignewton. “I...I was just trying to help.” 

“World domination is the only topic worth discussing out of everything you said. Emotions are irrelevant,” Brain said. There was still a bite in his tone, but not much. He rubbed his arm, feet shuffling uncomfortably. “So you were truthful about wanting to...assist during my period of inactivity?” 

Pinky tilted his head. “Why would I lie about wanting to help? That would be mean, Brain.”

“Helping is just another way of ensuring someone owes a favor. Or it would be mutually beneficial to all parties involved,” Brain replied. His sharp gaze snapped back to Pinky. “Our deal is just one example out of many.” 

“What about helping you cause I wanted you to feel better?” 

Didn’t that count? He didn’t know why Brain was making it all so complicated. 

“As I stated before, your song was nonsense and your method was invasive.” Brain shot a disdainful glare at the stereo. “But I can’t entirely fault you for your intentions, however misguided, though I suggest having a concrete reward in mind next time.” 

Pinky grinned and let go of his tail. “Oh, that’s easy! Lemme grab a chunk of concrete off the street!” 

Brain sighed, stomping over to a top drawer, perching on the edge of the counter as he slid it open. “That won’t be necessary, Pinky.” 

“Looking for something, Brain?” Pinky asked. 

“I can find it on my own!” Brain tried to wave him off, but overbalanced and fell into the open drawer, landing on his stomach with a muffled oomph. He spat a scrap of paper out of his mouth, kicking a red pen aside as he rolled onto his back.

Pinky’s fingers drummed on the counter as he peered down at Brain. A light cherry color coated his sagging cheeks. 

“I’d rather direct my focus somewhere else for the time being.” Brain wasn’t making eye contact with Pinky. Which was a shame, because his eyes were the prettiest shade of pink. “I don’t require anything else after you point me to the cleaning supplies.” 

Pinky blinked at him in surprise, but they were getting somewhere now! He could do a cartwheel, kiss a cockatoo, and dance the Macarena! Maybe not in that order, or all at once, but there’s a first time for everything! 

A smile spread across Pinky’s face, and he couldn’t help but laugh when Brain’s head began to resemble a lumpy tomato.   

o-o-o-o-o

Several hours later, Pinky yawned as the first rays of sunlight gently crept across the bed. The distant sounds of cars caught in traffic on the nearby bridge combined with the gentle thrum of lab technology formed the usual background noises, greeting him with a new day. Freeing his legs and tail from the blanket, he dipped into a luxurious, catlike stretch, arching his back and raising his rear end and tail as high as they would go.

“Wakey-wakey, Brain! Narf!” Pinky exclaimed as he shook Brain’s shoulder.

Brain mumbled to himself and buried his head into his pillow, curling into a very tight cocoon to block out the light. If Brain wanted to hatch into a pretty butterfly, he needed all the rest he could get, so Pinky left him alone.

But it was worth a shot, even if Brain wasn’t a morning mouse.

Pinky ate a plateful of food pellets for a quick breakfast, then washed it down with water. The area around the water bottle was puddle-free and mostly clean, save for a stubborn stain on a cage bar by the floor. But that spot gave Pinky plenty of trouble too, so he didn’t hold it against Brain.

He coaxed a drop of water out of the tubing and splashed it on his face, then squeezed through the cage bars, hands behind his back as he strolled over to the cap Snowball had given him.

He’d spent most of his time decorating it with whatever he could find for the past few days. Glittery, colorful letters that spelled Pharfignewton were glued across the brim, give or take a few letters. Her name was so long that it didn’t fit and the ‘ewton’ was on a separate row beneath the rest. Feathers, ribbons, and encouraging messages on sticky notes covered the blue fabric.

It was coming along nicely. Pinky backed up a few steps, sticking out his tongue and placing his fingers together like he was taking a picture.

“Just needs a little something,” Pinky murmured, tapping his chin to get the idea muscle in his head working. It usually worked best after he ate, so coming up with something should be a cinch!

Then he snapped his fingers together, a little lightbulb flickering overhead with a satisfying click. Wait, no, no. That was just the light turning on cause a sleepy scientist trudged in, dragging his feet to the kitchen. He didn’t see Pinky waving good morning to him.  

Hopefully the man liked decaf, because they were all out of regular coffee.

Pinky folded red tissue paper into a rose, then repeated the step with purple tissue paper. “Thank you, DIY craft videos on Youtube!” he hummed.

He needed more roses to go all the way around. Kentucky Derby hats were always decked out with pretty roses. Oh, he could arrange the roses into a pretty red-purple-red-purple pattern!

And toss some glitter onto the roses too! Can’t go wrong with glitter!

He dumped a generous amount of pink glitter on his rose and glued it to the hat.

More scientists trickled in, shuffling off to the kitchen in search of coffee and once again ignoring Pinky and his pretty hat. They didn’t seem too keen on coming today. He couldn’t imagine why. Monday was such a lovely day and it never got the appreciation it deserved.  

Since they had a bad habit of moving items around so Pinky could never find them, he hid his unfinished hat in the back of a large drawer. Nobody ever looked there anyway.

He hauled himself out of the drawer. As he climbed back to the counter, he paused to admire the calendar picture of Mickey Mouse giving flowers to Minnie. Beneath it, the box for April 27 was circled in glittery blue.

Right, wasn’t there something they were supposed to do today?

RSVP BY 8 PM! NARF!

Right, they still had stuff to do if they were gonna have the best weekend ever! They still had to find costumes for the masquerade ball! Especially the masks! Masks were the most important part!

And they had to call soon, or they wouldn’t be able to go.

“Brain!” Pinky shouted as he ran inside the cage, snatching up the invitation card from the corner. Brain was out of bed and trying to eat a food pellet, though his expression was pinched from the dryness of his breakfast. “Oh, that brand is pretty dry. That’s why I saute it in three-and-one oil first. Anyway, you’re already up?”

Brain scowled and swallowed his morsel with difficulty. “How can I possibly sleep with all this racket?”

A cupboard slammed down the hall, followed by loud profanity that would’ve made Pinky’s grandmother clutch her pearls and faint.

Apparently, nobody wanted decaf.

Pinky held the invitation close to a scowling Brain. “See? We’ve gotta call now or they won’t let us in! Then we won’t be able to swim in the chocolate fountain or admire the ice sculptures!”

Brain shoved the card away from his face. “Heaven forbid we miss those banal activities,” he replied, pressing two hands to his cheeks.

“Exactly!” Pinky’s tail twitched in anticipation. “And we still need fancy outfits and masks!”

Brain took another food pellet, grimaced, and tossed it back into the bowl. Then he sighed and rubbed his temples. “This is a rather asinine plan, Snowball,” he muttered. “Come again?” Pinky asked. He could’ve sworn Brain said Snowball’s name.

Which was weird, because Snowball wasn’t even here. Unless Brain named the food bowl Snowball. That made more sense.

“Never mind, Pinky,” Brain sighed. “Forgive me for my reservations.”

“But we haven’t made those reservations yet,” Pinky said. Brain didn’t reply, too focused on valiantly keeping his breakfast down. Then Brain drank from the water bottle, careful not to splash too much. Once he finished, he headed to the cage door, and Pinky dutifully followed. He hopped from toe to toe as Brain unlocked the door with a bent paper clip. “Can I place the call, Brain?”

“This is a delicate operation, Pinky,” Brain replied. “We must use our given aliases so that we won’t be found out prematurely. I can’t risk you blabbing our true identities, so I’ll speak to our less than gracious host myself. Now, hand over the card.”

It was true.

He wasn’t a good liar at all.

Pinky held out the card, but before Brain could take it, a balding man with a bad combover and rumpled labcoat tried to yank him out of the cage by his crooked tail. The scientist yelped in pain as the orb sparked in his hand, leaving red marks on his skin. Startled, Freed from his grip, Brain leapt forward and tripped over himself. Pinky dropped the card and caught Brain by the shoulders before he could slam nose-first into the metal floor.

The red orbs on Brain’s antennae glowed for several seconds before fading away. Then Brain regained his footing and gave Pinky a brief nod as thanks, quickly pulling away to recollect himself.

The contact ended all too soon.

The man flicked his hand to get rid of the shock, muttering to himself as he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves.

“What’s going on?” Brain snapped. “We have important business to conduct!”

“Don’t worry, Brain. It’s just Maze Monday!” Pinky said, fixing his messy tuft as best he could without a mirror. He had to look his best for maze running! “We’ll call afterward!”

The scientist reached in again. Though Brain defiantly stood in the corner away from him, it was no use and he was pulled out of the cage. He dangled in the scientist’s gloved hand by the tail, grumpy at his current position.

Pinky was next. He swung from the scientist’s other hand as he was lifted into the air, pumping his legs back and forth like he was on an upside down swing. Giggling, he reached out and tried to touch Brain’s ears, though he was several inches short.  

With one mouse dangling from each hand, the scientist walked out of the room and carried them down the hallway. They passed the college interns who were more interested in selfies than work, the security guard who was always shouting about evil rodents and their master plan to hoard the world’s entire cheese supply for themselves, and a bored female scientist who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else but here.

The scientist entered a room on his left. Along the wall, several guinea pigs rested in their cages. Pinky waved to them, but since he didn’t have any food, the guinea pigs weren’t interested.

They were dropped at the start of a large cardboard maze. The scientist adjusted the cameras mounted above the maze, then left the room.

Just him and Brain now.

“Your scientists display a disturbing lack of regard for our tails,” Brain grumbled, rubbing the soreness out of one zigzagged bend. “Not that Selenians were any better.”

“But if they hold the tip just right, you can swing around like a little monkey!” Pinky said. “I mean, my rear gets a bit sore too, and sometimes you might crash into a wall, but it’s still loads of fun! Haven’t you ever tried it, Brain?”

“While that activity is suitable for inane creatures, it doesn’t befit a future world emperor to behave in such an embarrassing manner.” Brain dusted off his jumpsuit, though it was recently washed and wasn’t particularly dirty. “But I digress. We must focus on surviving this perilous maze so that we may RSVP to the event in time.”

Perilous?

But he didn’t see any pearls anywhere. It was just cardboard and metal as far as the eye could see. Pearls would’ve brightened this drab maze a lot.

There were four directions to pick from. Pinky scratched his head. Which one?

The left path looked fun, but the one behind and in front were dimly lit. Which left the right path. And since it was right, that meant it was the right way!

“Let’s go! The right path is always right! Zort!” Pinky exclaimed. He walked to the right path, but Brain hauled him back by the elbow.

“Don’t assume the direction and the certainty of success are one and the same, Pinky,” Brain said firmly. “We have to take precautions.”

Pinky didn’t think they had to be careful though. There wasn’t anyone else here. Unless the guinea pigs counted, but they weren’t in the maze.

His usual strategy was to run around silly-willy until he found the snack at the end. But in all his years, he’d never actually found the snack. Usually he just ran into walls and daydreamed about cheese until a nice scientist got him out.

And cheese kept the spookiness away.

“There’s nobody here but us,” Pinky said.

“There’s nobody visible in this maze but us,” Brain corrected. “If we’re not careful, we could fall victim to traps. Enough arguing, Pinky. We’re taking the left fork.”

There weren’t any forks to take, nor anything to eat using a fork, but at least Brain was nice enough to drag Pinky down his second choice instead of the dimly lit paths.

Brain stuck close to the walls, grabbing Pinky’s wrist to ensure he did the same. As they came upon a T-section where they could either turn left or right, Brain carefully held his antennae back with his free hand and poked his head around the corner. Pinky tried to lean over Brain to see what was so interesting, but a sharp nudge kept him back.  

“Whatcha looking for?” Pinky asked. “Besides cardboard.”

“Bright, confined areas are the safest,” Brain said. “It’s not a complete guarantee, but you can at least watch for disturbances on the floor or wall. We’ll head right. I can’t see the end of the left corridor from here.”

He let go of Pinky’s wrist, but gave him stern instructions to stay along the wall. It was just like giving the wall a really long hug, and Pinky licked the wall to thank it for hugging back.

Huh. So cardboard tastes like cardboard then. Not bad, but it could definitely use some parsley.

Halfway down the corridor, Brain’s breath suddenly hitched. He stared at the floor in front of them, where one edge of the cardboard was a little higher than the other. The line spanned the entire length between the two walls.

“Don’t get too close,” Brain said, pushing Pinky back before he could step on it. “Remember, strange patterns in the structure might reveal the location of a trap.”

It looked like a normal ledge though. Completely harmless.

But if the trap only worked when they stepped on it...then the trick was to not step on it!

Brain let go of Pinky’s wrist as he pondered their next course of action. Taking his chances, Pinky backed up several paces, keeping his eye on the line he couldn’t touch.

Then he sprinted forward, ignoring Brain’s shout for him to stop.

Pinky leapt as high as he could, easily clearing the line. Though he couldn’t quite stick the landing and toppled forward as soon as he touched the ground.

Still had to work on his weak ankles.

Hopping to his feet, Pinky turned to a flabbergasted Brain. Ha! He loved that word. Flabbergasted! Too bad it was a bit long for a catchphrase.

Instead of being impressed, Brain glared at him.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous your stunt was?” Brain shouted. “You could’ve been severely incapacitated!”  

Pinky stretched his legs to test his ankles, but they felt alright. No harm done.

“Narf! But my ankles are fine! See?” Pinky shook his ankles so Brain could see they weren’t hurt.

“And if there was a motion sensor?” Brain snapped. “Did you consider the possibility of spikes, projectiles, or electrocution?”

“Um…”

The scientists wouldn’t be mean enough to put those in a maze. Of course, sometimes they’d forget to take him out when he couldn’t find the exit, and he’d lay in the maze alone and listen to the lab’s scary nighttime noises, but he’d never seen spikes during these tests before.

“Thought so,” Brain said. There was something odd about the way his hand twitched towards his tail.

Like he had personal experience.

“Have you ever been caught in a trap before?” Pinky asked before he could stop himself.

Too much?

Brain folded his arms and lifted his chin, pink eyes narrowing at Pinky. Probably not then. Brain was too smart for that.

And definitely clever enough to find his way to the exit and not get stuck overnight.

Then Brain turned around so Pinky could see all the zigzags in his tail.

“Electrocution trap,” Brain said, his ears lowering. “An overload of electricity can be fatal for my species, though we’re naturally resistant to smaller shocks. I was...less experienced back then.”

There was more. Brain wasn’t telling him how much it hurt.

But Brain tensed, a silent warning not to push any further.

“They didn’t leave you in the maze overnight, did they?” Pinky asked. Brain went dangerously still.

Oh, there he went running his mouth again! Why couldn’t his mouth be good and stay zipped?

“Sorry, Brain. You don’t have to answer. It’s fine, really!” Pinky hastily corrected himself. “But if they did-”

"No, they didn't," Brain said, surprising Pinky with how much he was revealing. "They kept a strict count of all their test subjects, and preserving them was far more preferable to losing a valuable limited resource. Small mercies, I suppose.”

“Oh. Well...that’s good.” Pinky rubbed the back of his neck. He was glad Brain never had to deal with that. He wouldn’t wish it on anybody, not even that stubborn stain he could never rub out from the cage bars. “Poit.”

Brain turned back to Pinky and looked at the line between them. Then he hopped over it, bracing himself for a shock. When no electricity appeared, he seemed surprised, though he immediately tried to school his expression into a neutral one. He walked past Pinky and refused an invitation to hug it out.

They had to turn left at the next intersection since the right led to a dead end. Then they reached an open room with a cardboard path and a metal path. Brain chose the metal path, but stopped where the rough paper met cool metal. Pinky stopped behind him.

“Pinky?” Brain said. He didn’t turn around. “Were you left in a maze overnight?”

“Sometimes,” Pinky admitted. Was he worrying Brain? He didn’t want Brain to worry! “But it’s not so bad when you imagine all the cheese you’ll eat at the end, even if you never reach it. But cheese keeps the ghosts away, you know. They don’t like the smell.”

If he imagined cheese, he wouldn’t imagine long, crooked witch fingers trying to pluck him out. Or the loud air conditioning system which clicked on and off every few minutes, the ghostly breeze echoing down the hallway. Or how he called for his parents and Sis to come share a yummy feast with him, though they never came.  

“That’s horribly negligent on the humans’ end.”

And that was all the talk Brain allowed on the matter.

o-o-o-o-o

The maze was a lot longer than they thought. Just when Pinky believed they’d reached the cheese, there was always some new twist that set them back.

What time was it? Though he couldn’t see the clock, it had to be around lunchtime right now. Pinky’s stomach growled, sounding a lot like Brain in one of his moods.

He’d give an arm and a leg for a few food pellets. Or some cheese. Even a leaf.

Brain was tiring out too. His footsteps were heavier and slower. But he kept at it.

Right, focus on the goal. Focus on the yummy cheese.

What kind would they get? Moldy? Blue? Provolone? All of those sounded pretty good, but Pinky thought his stomach was calling for pepperjack. Oh wait, no, maybe it was gorgonzola.

His stomach grumbled again. Okay, it was definitely muenster this time.

They came across a path with a thick sheet of metal on top. So dark that they couldn’t see a thing in front of them. Brain took a deep breath and stuck a hand in the darkness. They only saw his wrist.

His fingers were completely swallowed by the inky, hungry darkness.

Brain took his hand out.

Oh. Not swallowed then. All his fingers were still there.

“We’ve exhausted all our options,” Brain said, pounding his fist into his hand in determination. But even that gesture couldn’t hide how he stuck to the wall like glue. Pinky didn’t blame him. It was awfully dark in there. What if they went in and were never found again? “Taking this path is absolutely necessary if we’re to make it out of this labyrinth in time.”

But they couldn’t see the traps. It wasn’t safe.

Unless…

“Brain, your orbs!” Pinky exclaimed, gently tapping an antenna. “If you make ‘em glow, we won’t get lost or fall into a trap!”

Brain didn’t look so sure. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Not a terrible suggestion for once, Pinky. Unfortunately, it’s not something I have voluntary control over. It’s a hormonal response that occurs when I’m...well, happy.”

“So we’ll just have to make you happy enough for your orbs to glow,” Pinky said.

With what? Brain raised an eyebrow, the silent question obvious. 

Then Pinky snapped his fingers. He knew what to do! He'd sing Just Say Narf! 

Except he was trying to make Brain happy, not himself. 

A no-go then.

Cream cheese and blueberry bagels? Out of reach. 

Pinky tapped his chin. This was harder than he thought. 

Brain sat against the wall, eyes squeezed shut and hands rubbing circles into his large forehead. “Statues, parades, my jewel-encrusted cummerbund…” he murmured.

He was doing one of those smartypants things. Too smart for Pinky to understand. 

Brain growled and opened his eyes in irritation. “Cease your staring at once, Pinky. I’m trying to concentrate.” 

“On what?” Pinky asked. 

“World domination of course,” Brain said, smacking his ear like he was dumping extra thoughts out of his chubby head. “Accomplishing a goal would naturally bring anyone contentment.” 

Pinky zipped his lip and threw away the key, then sat against the wall across from Brain and waited. 

Yet Brain’s orbs didn’t glow. 

Pinky drummed his fingers against his leg. When he drummed all the songs he knew, he tried to lick his elbow. Except his elbow didn’t want to be licked. He leaned in and stuck his tongue out as far as he could, but it was a very stubborn elbow.

After an eternity, Brain finally spoke, his voice full of cautious hope. “Are they glowing now?” 

Pinky shook his head, and Brain slumped against the wall in defeat. 

The clock ticked on.

“There’s gotta be other things you like besides world domination,” Pinky said. It made sense to have a lot of likes and favorites, and not just on social media. 

“Those ‘other things’ are frivolous at best and distractions at worst,” Brain replied. “Taking over this world would make me happy, so there’s no logical reason as to why it’s not working.” 

Maybe it was happy, but they had to think happier. No, they had to think happiest! 

Brain said ‘this world’. Right, he was a Selenian. Funny how it seemed like he’d been here forever instead of just a few days. 

A Selenian. Brain never revealed much about where he came from. Just that he wanted to leave it all behind. And he only spoke about their technology. But there was more than that, right? 

“Narf! It’s funny, Brain,” Pinky said, holding his toes as he rocked back and forth. Brain looked at him, confused. “You’ve gotten to know a lot about this planet, but I don’t know much about yours! There’s gotta be something about New Selene that makes you happy!” 

“Nothing about that desolate wasteland sparks any joyful feelings,” Brain retorted. “Snowball and I are much better off here. Terra’s knowledge of space is much less advanced than Selene’s, but once we’re co-rulers that’s a problem easily rectified.” 

“But there has to be something you did for fun.” 

Brain looked away. “You’re prying. But if you’re truly interested…” 

“I am!” Pinky exclaimed, nodding eagerly. “Please tell me!” 

Brain’s ear twitched as he listened for signs of anyone coming. But none appeared. “I’m going to regret this...but fine. However, everything I’m about to tell you does not leave this maze. Promise me.” 

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my-ow!” Pinky jabbed his eye a little too hard. 

Brain watched him for a moment longer, so Pinky tried to make himself look like a captivated audience. Finally, he gave in with a sigh. 

“Selenians have an oral storytelling tradition called Lor Altal. The loose translation to your language is ‘swapping hearts’, and given their predisposition to sordid, melodramatic affairs, I’d say it’s an accurate name,” Brain explained. “On the mother planet, it’s normally performed on the last day of the month. But explorers and scientists, including those of New Selene, often turned it into a weekly session as a way to remind them of home.” 

“Didja hear any Lor Altals on New Selene?” Pinky asked. He laid on his stomach, propped his head on his elbows, and kicked his feet in the air. 

“...yes.” 

Why so hesitant though? 

“Snowball and I...we used to sneak out of our cages for the weekly Lor Altal. When we were younger. Before they abandoned New Selene. The ones we’d listened to were...well, they could become very elaborate with song, dance, and costume. New Selene’s were more basic, but interesting.” 

“Ooooooh,” Pinky said. This definitely sounded fun fun silly-willy! “You know any good stories, Brain? Can you tell me? Please please please?” 

Brain scratched his head. “Well, there’s one that I...no, perhaps I shouldn’t be thinking about these things. Lor Altals don’t matter in the pursuit of world domination.” 

“I don’t mind!” Pinky said. Brain was so silly, insisting that he couldn’t like stuff outside his goal. He liked cream cheese and blueberry bagels, didn’t he? “I wanna know your favoritest out of the lot!” 

“You do?” Brain asked in surprise. He didn’t seem to believe Pinky. 

“Of course!” Pinky grinned. 

Brain’s cheeks flushed, but he accepted that they weren’t going anywhere. Besides, if Brain really liked these Lor Altal stories, then his orbs would glow and they wouldn’t have to be scared of the dark!

“...alright. This Lor Altal tale is called Heikro var Silda. It’s one of the most well-known stories, starring Selene’s historical figures,” Brain said, gaining more confidence with every word. “The characters were embellished from real life, but the background is mostly the same.”

There was a spark in Brain’s pink eyes now. It intrigued Pinky. 

“Three thousand years ago, before Selene’s industrial and technological revolutions, the entire planet was embroiled in a long and bitter civil war, spearheaded by two rival households, alike in prestige and influence.” 

“If they add honey, maybe it wouldn’t be so bitter?” Pinky suggested.

“Try not to interrupt, Pinky. Setting the mood is important in these stories,” Brain said, breaking out of his narrator voice. And boy did he have a lovely narrator voice! 

Pinky rezipped his lip and let Brain continue. 

“The eastern hemisphere was the domain of the House of Syar'i, of which the fair maiden Silda belonged. The western half was controlled by the House of Alkair, of which the handsome lad Heikro was selected to rule. Caught between the two powerful households, the Selenians were fearful of the violence that ensued whenever they clashed, for both commanded large networks of armies, assassins, and spies. Now, on one fateful day…” 

Soon Brain was completely engrossed in the story, just as Pinky was enthralled to hear Brain give the performance of his life. Well, Brain wasn’t the best actor Pinky had ever seen. Sometimes he was a bit flat and sometimes he was a bit hammy, but the passion in his voice made the story absolutely thrilling.

It was the type of passion someone only had when they truly loved something. 

Some breaks were necessary for Brain to rest his voice for a few minutes, others so Pinky could get a translation for the Selenian language when Brain accidentally used a different tongue after getting caught up in the story. 

Brain’s voice grew softer as he laid out Heikro’s plan to sneak into a banquet thrown by the House of Syar’i to scope out their plans for an invasion of an Akair-controlled port city. And poor Silda, having to marry someone she didn’t love but doing it for the sake of her parents! That poor girl oughta be happy! 

Pinky clasped his hands together at the moment Heikro laid eyes on Silda’s beauty and was instantly smitten, forgetting that he needed to report his findings to his council. And Silda was taken in by Heikro’s broad shoulders and sturdy build. It was love at first sight! How romantic!

“Then Silda bid her parents and their guests good night, and retired to her chambers. But Heikro, who longed to see more of the maiden’s ethereal charm, could not bear to stay away for long. Under the cover of darkness, he crept around her residence, where he found a restless Silda on her balcony. She couldn’t slumber peacefully, for her maidservant revealed the man she kissed was none other than an esteemed member of the House of Akair.” 

Pinky pounded his fist against his knee. “She needs to elope with him, that’s what! Narf!”  

“‘Nova suprhi li ihmin var altal’, he called to her.” 

“Oh, there’s that altal word again. He’s saying something about hearts, I think. That’s so sweet!” Pinky exclaimed. Realizing his mistake, he covered his mouth. “Sorry, Brain! Continue!” 

But instead of continuing, Brain leaned against the wall. Oh. He must’ve gotten tired.

“I’ll let it pass this time, Pinky,” Brain said as he rubbed his throat. “I might’ve overdone it anyway. Next time, I’ll pick a better stopping point.”  

His voice sounded a little raspy. Though Pinky really wanted to know what happened next, keeping Brain’s voice in working order so they could make the phone call was more important. 

“What did that last sentence mean?” Pinky asked. 

Brain regarded Pinky for a long moment. “It’s a favorite quote among many Selenians. But it’s rather saccharine, I’m afraid.”

“I’m not,” Pinky said. 

“If you must know, it means ‘new stars shall be born from our minds and hearts’.” Brain’s voice was so soft, Pinky had to strain to hear it. “As I said, it’s saccharine.” 

“It sounds so poetic!” Pinky smiled. And romantic too!

Brain didn’t say anything. His orbs cast a gentle red glow over his shining pink eyes.  

Egad, his orbs! They were glowing now! Even the one on his tail!

“Brain, you did it!” Pinky cheered, trying to do a cartwheel. But he landed flat on his face instead, though he popped right back up. “You found what made you happy!” 

Brain touched the orbs on his antennae, awed by their appearance. Then he turned towards the dark pathway, gesturing for Pinky to follow.

They didn’t have to worry about traps or getting stuck anymore! Pinky skipped along behind Brain, who walked at a brisk pace.

A soft red glow lit up the metal walls around them as they plunged deeper into the maze. But there were no lefts, rights, or confusing turns. Just straight ahead.

“Thanks for being here with me, Brain. It’s not scary anymore,” Pinky said gratefully, taking Brain’s hand in his own.

“Keep walking, Pinky,” Brain replied, keeping his eyes forward. If anything, the light grew a little brighter. “We should be nearing the end of the maze.”

Pinky sniffed the air. He could’ve sworn he smelled cheese.

Hold the phone! He smelled cheese!

And there was an opening ahead of them!

Pinky’s stomach growled as they stepped into the light, and lo and behold, there were two lumps of cheddar right in front of them!

Even Brain was smiling as he chomped down on the cheese.

Pinky dug in. And it was the best cheese he’d ever tasted in his life!

o-o-o-o-o

It took a long time for the lab to clear out after they finished the maze. The scientists were shocked by Pinky clearing the maze for the first time. He couldn’t blame them. 

He astounded himself too. 

Brain’s light had dimmed long before the lab closed, annoyed by the constant poking and prodding. They wanted to know who spliced him with butterfly DNA because of his antennae, though multiple people thought he was spliced with a mosquito since he bit any curious fingers that strayed close to his face. 

“Those ignorant fools will be bowing to me soon enough, Pinky,” Brain proclaimed as he dialed the number on the invitation. “Hold the card up.”

“Hurry, Brain!” Pinky urged, shooting a fearful glance at the clock. They only had thirty minutes left! 

Brain punched the number into the phone, then hit the call button. 

“Please work!” Pinky begged the phone as it rang. He wanted to wear fancy clothes and mingle and swim in the chocolate fountain so much! 

The phone rang once, twice, then the call finally went through. 

“Hello, this is Harold, butler of Lamont Manor,” a voice with a charming British accent said. “May I ask who I’m speaking with?” 

Pinky bounced from toe to toe in excitement, though he tried to curb it when Brain held up a hand for him to stop. But he couldn’t help his tail twitchies. 

“This is Mr. Clarke,” Brain said, using the name on the card. “My spouse and I will be coming to the ball on Sunday.” 

“I see,” Harold said, his tone changing into one of disgust. That was a little odd. “Another new spouse then, Anthony?” 

New spouse? Brain mouthed in confusion. 

Pinky shrugged. 

“Mrs. Clarke is on the invitation. She’s allowed inside too, correct?” Brain asked.  

“Assuming she’s still your wife by Sunday, yes,” Harold said. “I’ll put your names on the guest list. Try to do something about that awful rasp of yours, will you? Good night.” 

The call ended. 

“The real Mr. Clarke sounds like a delightful fellow,” Brain muttered. 

“I’m sure it won’t be so bad, Brain!” Pinky grinned. Now all they had to do was find fancy stuff for the ball! “You’re gonna be wearing a mask anyway!” 

“I suppose,” Brain sighed. 

“No supposing!” Pinky shook his finger at him. “Besides, you haven’t finished your Lor Altal story yet! You know, it’s funny how it reminds me of Romeo and Juliet. With the feuding families and star-crossed lovers and all! Except much happier, cause Reikro and Silda will help bring about peace to the planet of Selene and live happily ever after!” 

Brain didn’t make eye contact with Pinky for the next few hours.

My original plan was to have them mistaken for feeder mice after they finished the maze, and they would’ve been plopped into a snake enclosure with a snake named Gladys. Pinky would’ve been caught in the coils (Gladys is nonvenomous and would kill by constricting rather than venom), and Brain would rescue him. 

Ultimately, I decided to cut this idea out and have them run a maze instead, which is tedious but not life-threatening. Since the maze is light on danger, I decided to focus more on Pinky and Brain interactions here, and include the Lor Altal oral storytelling tradition, which has been mentioned in previous chapters as an aside. Plus, I believe this story would benefit from Pinky learning more about where Brain came from, since previous chapters have placed the focus on Brain learning about Earth. 

The storytelling is an aspect of Selenian culture Brain likes but never got to fully enjoy. Since Brain seems to have a hidden interest in acting and theatre, given the number of his schemes that involve cinema, broadcasting, and in one case, Broadway, I decided to incorporate that bit of his character here.  

Brain’s story is just an abridged Romeo and Juliet IN SPACE!

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Drifters ch.2 (spicyhoney)

Summary:  Edge doesn't exactly have a plan, here, now that he's hit the goal of getting to Underswap. Luckily, an unexpected person is ready to take over.

Tags: Spicyhoney, Violence, Rescued Child, Medical Experimentation, Babybones

Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Stretch had never struck Edge as the person to turn to during any sort of emergency. His laissez-faire attitude about life was one generally matched by his own brother and by Sans, but Red at least understood when some urgency was necessary, at the very least in the interest of staying alive. Unfair as it was, Sans was also given something of a mental pass for simply looking so much like Red and if he’d been thinking clearer, Edge might have chosen a flight plan to Undertale instead. Typing in the coordinates for Underswap was more an automatic reflex on his part than any direct decision; he was simply here more often and while he might not mind sharing a bed with Papyrus, putting it to use the same vigorous way he often did with Stretch didn’t have quite the same appeal.

So it was something of a surprise for Stretch to immediately take over.

Once it became clear that questions would have to wait, he got moving immediately, his slippered feet going far faster than Edge had seen before. In short order, Edge and the baby were wrapped in a heavy blanket that was ripped right from Blue’s bed going from the cheery rocket ship pattern. Red was firmly tucked into another, snoring underneath it before the blanket was even settled.

“i gotta hit the store real quick, we don’t have anything in the fridge for a baby,” Stretch panted as he made another mad dash down the stairs, this time directly to the front door. He didn’t wait for an answer, already kicking off his slippers and stuffing his feet into his sneakers, the door slamming loudly behind him.

Well. That was…unexpected. Edge might have more room to spare for astonishment and perhaps a touch of guilt over his assumptions if he weren’t so exhausted; such emotions would simply have to wait.

The house was silent except for the baby. Now that she was warming up, her little pleading snuffles were slowly resuming in volume.

He drew back the corner of the blanket, carefully keeping his hand out of reach of her tiny grasping fists before she tried stuffing his fingers back into her mouth. As uncomfortable as the gnawing had been, he was more concerned with her accidently hurting herself on his sharpened fingertips than her little teeth.

It was the first chance he’d had to really look at her since that first moment in the lab and he took the chance to study her carefully. Her eye lights were pale white, offering no hint to the color of her magic. Perhaps they’d stay that way, Stretch and Sans’s were white when they weren’t using their magic, or perhaps they’d change as she grew older and they would be more like Blue’s…or his own. It was possible, she was from Underfell, but there was no sign of that in her. Her teeth were blunted, except for the little points of her canines, and her skull softly rounded, giving her the appearance of chubby cheeks.

She was merely a child, a skeleton child, there was nothing remarkable at all about her, and Edge knew very little about children. That was a fact very quickly proven when her small face suddenly screwed up into a ball of anger and she began to scream.

“Don’t do that…!” Edge began, then trailed off, cursing his own stupidity. Yes, a stern talking-to would certainly calm a bawling child. He shifted her awkwardly in his arms, giving her into a little bounce as he tried to coax her instead, “Shh, shh, it’s all right. It’ll be all right, baby.”

The child was having none of his lies. Her hands were clenched into tiny fists, her little face sufficed with bright pink that had nothing to do with her magic and everything with the purity of her anger as she shrieked her rage for all to hear.

Exhaustion gave way to panic. LV maddened Monsters attacking him, Edge could handle, a howling baby was far, far out of his area of expertise.

At the other end of the sofa, his traitorous brother didn’t even stir, not even when Edge gave him a kick. He only lay with his mouth open as his snores competed with the baby’s screams in volume, and Edge couldn’t even accuse the bastard of lying; he’d used a lot of magic in their escape and was as exhausted as Edge, more so.

Tears were beginning to roll down the baby’s chubby cheeks and humiliatingly, Edge felt a faint prickle of his own tears. He hadn’t cried since he was a child himself, how ironic that it was another child dragging it out of him. That was all he needed, the two of them blubbering together on Stretch’s sofa for him to find, while his brother snored away, that would certainly be an impressive sight. Why had he ever thought for even a moment he could manage this, he knew next to nothing about babies. All he’d done is drag the child from one horrible situation to another.

The door opened just as he ran a hasty arm over his sockets, wiping away any revealing moisture as Stretch stepped inside, juggling numerous bags in his arms as he kicked the door shut.

“okay, back, sorry it took so long, the dogs dug some baby gear out for us, said they’d bring more later…woah, hey, what’s all this?” Stretch dumped the overflowing bags by the door and before Edge could protest, whisked the baby into his arms, settling her on his hip with a practiced bounce. “c’mon now, princess, got a broken volume control? you’ll be waking up the folks in new home if you keep up at that level.”

The screams faded into pitiful hiccoughs as the baby looked up at Stretch with wide sockets and when he gave her a playful little chuck under the chin, she let out a watery chuckle. Stretch grinned back at her. “that’s more like it, sugar butt. let’s get you something for that empty tum, yeah?”

If he hadn’t been so relieved, Edge might have resented how easily Stretch took over. As it was, in only moments the baby was propped up in a nest of pillows, gurgling happily as she drank from the bottle Stretch gave her. She was swimming in one of Blue’s t-shirts, the arms rolled up enough to let her easily grasp the bottle. Her eye lights were following Stretch’s fingers as he broke up a cinnamon puppy into bite-sized pieces into a small plastic bowl with colorful animals painted on the side.

Edge frowned. “Isn’t she too young for that?”

"nah," Stretch said carelessly. He slid from the sofa to the floor, long legs folded under him as he set the bowl in easy reach for little hands. “we’re born with teeth, may as well use 'em.”

"Nonetheless, the sugar—"

“relax, edgelord, these ones are meant for her age,” Stretch reassured him. “i promise, i’m not about to turn your little sweetheart into a sugar fiend on you. not until she learns how to brush, anyway.”

The baby was already inspecting the bowl, her discarded bottle close by as she happily stuffed bits into her mouth, smearing crumbs over her small face. Not that he’d expected Stretch would do anything to harm her, but the promise, unnecessary as it was, was comforting. It did bring up another point, however, ‘his little sweetheart’ was entirely his responsibility, he’d chosen this, and now he needed to find their path, in whatever direction it might lead.

Stretch was watching the baby eat and his smile might be careless, but his watchful gaze was not. The instinct to come here was the right one so far, Edge could only hope it remained so.

"I must ask that you let us stay here for a while," Edge said stiffly. "If not my brother and I, then at least the child. We…can’t go home right now." Or ever, but that wasn’t information that needed shared just yet. If he couldn’t care for her, at least he trusted that the Swap brothers would. Sleeping in the rough in Underswap would at least be relatively safe, certainly in comparison to their universe.

Stretch’s head whipped around, his mouth dropping open as he stared at Edge. "are you serious right now?"

The question stung. He’d assumed Stretch wouldn’t mind caring for the child for at least a little while. "Yes, of course, I am. She's an infant, she needs a roof over her head. She can't possibly—"

"shit, you really are,” Stretch interrupted, and his expression was torn between irritated and incredulous, “yes, dumbass, you're staying with us, why is this even a question? you ain’t getting off that easy. besides, you really think you'd be able to get little miss here away from blue when he sees her?"

Edge smiled reluctantly, already imagining Blue’s starry-eyed excitement when he saw the baby. "I suppose not."

The baby chose that moment to add to the conversation, offering a loud, razzing, “brrrr!” and spraying Stretch with a fine mist of slightly used cinnamon puppy crumbs.

“thanks, kid.” Stretch said wryly as he wiped his face on his sleeve. He crawled over to one of the bags and pulled out a stack of cloths, using one to wipe the baby’s face clean despite her vigorous protests, “so. you gonna tell me where the snow princess came from?”

"She's not mine,” Edge said automatically, then winced. “I mean, she is, she’s my responsibility, but she’s not mine, not in that way."

Stretch slanted him a glance, “yeah, uh, i saw you two days ago.” His faint smirk was fraught with memories of that particular meeting. “you weren’t hiding a baby bump under your shirt then. unless you not only solved the problem of getting pregnant but also how to bypass the waiting period, i figured she wasn't. sooooo?”

It was lightly said, but he’d seen Stretch’s smile falter when he was changing the baby’s clothes, peeling away her plain, sterile blanket to reveal the similar gown she was wearing beneath it. Not the cozy warmth of pajamas that a child should wear or even a borrowed shirt like the one she was in now, but a hospital-style gown with brusque ties in the back for easy access.

The story needed told, but Edge found he didn’t want to tell it. The scars he knew were on Stretch’s lowest rib were faded, scrubbed and sanded down until the numbers were barely visible. But they were still there, just like his brother’s were, and both were a match the fresh ones that were stark on the child’s own fragile rib.

In her little pillow nest, the baby was beginning to drowse and Stretch took the bottle, pulling it from her sleepy mouth and wiping away a trickle of milk. He tucked a blanket gently around her, not the discarded one from earlier, but one from the seemingly endless depths of those bags, soft and fluffy, cradling her tiny, precious skull in fluffy warmth as she slept.

But the pointed lack of further questions were a quiet demand of their own, giving Edge time to answer, but still needing one.

Edge slipped down to sit on the floor next to Stretch, wrapping up in the warmth of his borrowed blanket as he stared down at the baby. Watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed easily, safely asleep for perhaps the first time in her extremely short life.

“It started this morning,” Edge began, slowly, and kept his gaze on the baby, watching as she slept on, completely unaware of the turmoil she’d caused in his life, in all their lives. “When my brother said that he had something important to show me.”

tbc

[my-whumpy-little-heart]

Tied to a table troupe rating/rant GO I am enabling you

Nemi how dare you expose me like this you’re fantastic. Sorry this took so long.

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know | AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Listen, if there’s any trope that I love just as much or maybe even more than permanent marks it’s being restrained against a table. Wanna know why?

1) They’re! So! Fucking! Vulnerable!!!!!!

Being tied down to a table leaves a whumpee so open and vulnerable. There’s no way to curl up or make themselves smaller or protect any part of their body that isn’t being pressed against the table. You can restrain them with hands by their side or pulled up above their head, or limbs stretched far apart or 

They don’t have a full range of vision either. Depending on how well you restrain your whumpee’s head, they’ve got a maximum of full side to side vision and possibly some brief looks above their head if they can handle the vertigo inducing feeling of tipping your head back nearly upside down to get some extra perspective. but with enough restraint, you can take that away from them, and even their side view if you’re adamant about it. 

Just force the whumpee to stare upward, only seeing the whumper when they’re close enough, and not having a clear idea of what’s gonna happen to them. They’re so open and vulnerable to whatever is going on, and not knowing what to expect makes them even more so!

And of course, if you gag or muzzle them that adds a whole other level. They can’t even have a conversation where the whumper is condescending and vague about their questions of what the hell is going on, and just have to watch in wordless silence (or muffled shouting, whichever suits your fancy) as the whumper mills around before finally standing to face them, taking action on whatever their plans are.

There’s a lot more to go on from here, but I’m putting a cut because this got a little long! Head below for more excited table content.

2) Hi Hello Yes That’s Absolutely Terrifying In My Personal Opinion

Listen I think I just need an entire section to talk about this sensation. Being tied to a table is an inherently inferior position to someone else, because everyone around you can loom over, look down on you, and no matter how much they get down on your level you still feel lower than them. You have absolutely zero control over what they do and that in and of itself is so scary!

Even being tied to the table with nobody around is bad. There’s really no easy hope of escape from that, assuming it’s done well so there’s no wiggling out from under the bonds, and the whumpee is just left to. sit there. and imagine what in the world they’re tied down like this for. because tied down completely flat is such a unique, particular situation. And it’s not easy to convince yourself that someone would choose that exact position without a specific plan in mind.

So much room for terror to brew, the cold of the table to seep into their bones, and the nature of the position they’re stuck in to really sink in.

3) Med!whump (content warning that this section will be all about medical based whump, and fixating on ‘lab rat’ type whumpees! skip to number four if that’s something you’re not comfortable with!)

Ohohohoo yes, medical whump has a special place in my heart, and the trope of being restrained against a table has a lot to do with that! 

Day after day, a whumpee is taken out of their cell and used for experimental purposes. There are different places they’re taken within the lab, but all the worst things happen on the table. 

One of my favorite parts is the compliance, or lack thereof. Someone new to the facility seeing that table for the first time, being coaxed up on it through their fear by threats of the awful things they’ve already been through. Trembling against it at having to hold still, even as they’re tied down so tightly that it’s uncomfortable. And then watching the whumper in their element, preparing different implements that they can’t quite catch a glimpse of until they set a folding table with everything readied right near the whumpee’s head. 

What’s on there? What ideas does it give the whumpee? How long are they left to lay there, stewing in their fear before anything even happens to them?

But let’s also imagine every time after that. The first experience on the table was so horrific that the next time they’re brought there, even if they’ve learned to be obedient, they panic. They fight every step of the way, throwing themself back against the whumper’s hold. And they were probably prepared for the whumpee’s resistance, whether that was by restraining them further, bringing an assistant to help them, sedating them partially beforehand, etc. And so they wrestle the whumpee up on there, forcing them down, maybe having to bash their head against the table so they go limp for a second...

Oh, and either way please don’t forget the blinding light directly overhead that makes it painful to keep their eyes open, but shutting them hardly does anything to block it out. It’s disorienting and will probably give them a headache, but it’s all worth it so the whumper can properly see what they’re doing (and also be silhouetted by the light so the whumpee can’t see their face as well to read them)

4) Seriously, They Can’t Fucking Move

That’s it. That’s the entire point. Whumpees throwing their entire weight against the straps and not being able to go anywhere. Not being able to adjust and shift their weight, forced to lay the exact same way against the table for hours on end, probably getting uncomfortable with the pressure and hard surface. Good stuff!

5) Some tropes go best in pairs!

Take a knife (or your bare hand if you’re looking to freak them out and not immediately hurt!) and trace it across the whumpee’s exposed body, not even cutting at first. running it across planes of skin they can’t see, leaving prickling shivers in its wake while they wait tensely for the pain. The whumper telling them to just relax, tensing up is gonna just hurt them more, but they can’t relax when the knife moves so unexpectedly, running over wherever it pleases.

Choke a whumpee against the table! They’re being so good and holding so still that it’s nearly irresistible to just wrap hands just above the strap or collar holding them down to the table and tighten, cutting their breath off completely while they have no power to stop you. They pull against the restraints as hard as they can but they won’t be able to claw at the hands keeping the breath from their lungs.

Oh, and instead of pressing them into the table, you could always push them off it too! I’m talking twist a hand in the whumpee’s hair and pull their head forward against the neck restraint until they’re choking on whatever breaths they draw and then slam their head back down against the table. 

Electrocute the whumpee on a table. Kneel above them and beat the whumpee on a table. Interrogate the whumpee on a table. Brand the whumpee on a table. Cane the whumpee on a table. Waterboard the whumpee on a table. jUST TIE YOUR WHUMPEE TO THE TABLE AND GET WHUMPING ALREADY IS THIS TOO MUCH TO ASK-

[writefightandflightclub]

u know what i wanna know? how nathan deals with depressed or just bad day so. most of his fics are smutty goodness with the so taking care of him but like, how would he handle his so emotional influx???

Ok, Anon. Here goes a very mini headcanon. I’m upsettingly tired rn but I tried my best! 🧡 Thanks for your question!

GIF by our fave @damerondjarin

Ngl, Nathan is rubbish at this, to begin with.

He doesn’t have the time. He works a lot. He’s self-absorbed and self-destructive. He hasn’t been around people too much lately. He doesn’t really like dealing with emotions (his own or others). He can be selfish and narcissistic and petty and superior and a bit of lot of a dick.

However, once you break down his walls, there are certain things that come more naturally to him than he ever would have expected, and he finds his own ways to take care of you, even if he does deliver then with a characteristic Nathan charm. I mean, he’s not exactly mushy, but he’s pretty smitten with you, and we all know that once Nathan’s in, he’s all in. No going back.

He is detail-oriented and naturally observant. He never forgets anything (unless he was drunk). He always remembers when you have something stressful coming up and will try to surprise you. He doesn’t sleep much, and it turns out that when he’s wide awake in the lab these days his thoughts wander to you. And his brain naturally seeks out ways to make things better for you. Whatever you do, just don’t call him romantic. Or sweet. Or adorable.

We know he has a brain on him. He’s good at instinctually connecting the dots too and spotting patterns which no-one else would, so once you’ve spent enough time around each other, he’ll know your habits and routines inside out. (If you menstruate, he even counts your cycle in his head and is always armed with chocolate or a hot water bottle when you need it). He’ll know your triggers and your moods and any early warning signs that you’re approaching a slump, or he can read that you’re having a bad day just from the way you stir spaghetti and hold tension in your shoulders. He knows the things that piss you off and calm you down better than you know them yourself; in fact, he’ll know them infuriatingly well, to the point where you’ll sometimes argue with him before realising he was right all along.

If someone else pissed you off or did you wrong, they’re gonna regret all their life choices right about now because DAMN. Nathan Bateman is coming for them, and he’s not the kind of guy you want to mess with. He’s too powerful and petty and morally ambiguous for that, and he WILL get payback. Sometimes you have to talk him down, like the time someone cut in front of you in a queue and he insisted he was going to hack them and make the rest of their life miserable in a range of terrifying ways. (What did I tell you? He goes all in. He’s intense!) Sometimes, though, maybe you do let him help you out, like when that sexist dick at work stole your work and then got a chance to present it to the board. When his PowerPoint was replaced with a (shockingly elaborate and philosophical) slideshow on teenage mutant ninja turtles he did NOT look impressed. Neither did the board. Don’t mess with Nathan Bateman’s SO, fool. It’s not gonna end well.

While he teases you sometimes, he’d never do so if you’re really down, or if you’re having a bad day. In fact, if you’re ever really down he will be there for you. He’ll even drop his work for you because you come first. He wouldn’t do this for just anyone, but you’re just... different. Not that he’s soft for you or anything. Of course not(!) Don’t look at him!

Nathan would do anything within his power for you, even if he had to remake the whole world while he was at it. He would crush anything or anyone in his path if it made you happy- from the laws of logic to physics to maths if he could manage it (and he probably can, somehow). Usually though there’s a (much) simpler solution.

He’ll snuggle you up in a blanket on the couch and stroke your hair as you watch your favourite comfort movie for the 5th time that week (or day) if that’s what you really need. He pretends he hates it and that he’s just writing code in his head while you watch, but by the second viewing he has all of the words memorised and you know he secretly loves it. To this day he swears that was NOT a tear in his eye, thank you very much.

It took him some time to learn that he couldn’t always “fix” everything. He was used to solutions and his money or his brain or his body can usually solve most things. But, if there’s one person that appreciates the mysteries of the human brain it’s Nathan. He knows that not everything can be solved instantly. And he knows when to just listen and hold you, and stay by your side until things get better, whether you need to wait an hour or a day or months or years. He reminds you that he’s not going anywhere, no matter what you’re going through. He’ll always encourage you to take care of yourself in small ways, like reminding you of your meds, if you take them, or coaxing you into the shower if you struggling to get out of bed. But if there’s anything you can’t manage right now he understands and he’ll help if he can.

Nathan can get creative helping you unwind too when you need it. He has certainly tried and tested many of his own ways to switch his over-active mind off. He can guide you through a high-octane sparring sesh if you need to let some frustration out on the bags. Need a spa day in his luxurious bathroom? Consider it done! Rousing hike through the wilderness followed by a soothing and romantic picnic in nature? Done too. If you drink alcohol, he can suggest a nice dinner and a few glasses of wine to relax you. If you want, he can get very creative in the bedroom too, whether you need to burn off some stress or simply feel loved he’s got you.

Basically, he loves you and he’ll always be there for you.

Although sometimes the thing pissing you off most is HIM, let’s be honest. But, he always knows how to make it up to you, when he stops being a dick.

[capcarolsdanver]

Faking It (Part 4)

Summary: This was a request for a Carol Danvers fake dating fic that will be a multi-chapter series, likely 4 parts! Who doesn’t love a fake dating fic?

Stories come out about Carol and her.. sexual escapades. This could potentially be PR trouble for the Avengers so Tony and Steve convince Carol that maybe the best way out of this mess is to convince the public she is in a committed relationship.. with the reader, her best friend who has feelings for Carol, but believes her feelings aren’t reciprocated. What could possibly go wrong??

Pairing: Carol Danvers x Reader A/N: Okay, we all know this took way too long. I’m still not even entirely sure I’m happy with this chapter even after rewrites and edits but I’m not gonna have you guys wait any longer so this is what I’ve got for you! A head’s up, this part is long. Like, looong. As this is the final part to the series I really would appreciate any feedback people have for this part and the series as a whole! Also may consider writing an epilogue maybe sometime but that depends on feedback from this part! Really hope you enjoy this and I’d like to thank everyone who has read this series and liked/reblogged it! Please do not repost my writing anywhere without my permission. PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

“So. How’s it going with Carol?”

You and Nat are both lazing beside each other on the large couch in the open entertainment area of the compound, a blanket thrown over you both while some movie Nat had put on plays on the large screen on the wall.

A handful of the team had left earlier that afternoon for a mission, so you and Nat had decided to wait in the open room for them to return, knowing they’ll pass you on their way back into the compound. Carol was included in this mission and you were maybe a little too eager to see her return.

“Everything’s going according to plan,” you reply with a shrug. “We’re going to Tony’s party together on Saturday night.”

“Aw, cute,” she teases and you can’t help but chuckle at her.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?” All you can do is shake your head at her. Nat glances at you before watching the screen again. “Seriously, Y/N. Don’t you think that by now you should be able to admit your feelings for her? With what you’re going through, I think you should be allowed to vent and talk to someone about it.”

You remain silent for a long moment.

Out of everyone here, Natasha has always been the one who can read you so well, often times even better than yourself. So, you obviously know that she would have picked up on your feelings for Carol shortly after they developed, very likely before you had even known about them.

And Nat has always been one of your closest friends here besides Carol, so you know that anything you speak to her about will be kept between the two of you.

That’s what gives you the confidence to whisper a quiet “You’re right”, Natasha’s eyes flying from the screen to look at you again. She stays quiet but she doesn’t move her eyes from you.

“At least before all of this I could try to ignore it. But now- it’s impossible.” Your shoulders slump as you voice your thoughts. “I mean, we kissed, Nat. And it was so much better than I could have imagined.”

You let out a tired sigh and run your hand across your face. “I should have never agreed to this. How could I have expected this to end well?”

“Hey, listen. Things might not be how they were before this whole thing started, but why does that mean it has to be a bad thing?”

You look at Nat skeptically and she offers you a confident nod.

“Let’s go over the facts, okay? You and Carol have been flirting with each other for forever, though you’ve been trying to convince yourselves that it’s just playful banter. She practically melts every time you smile at her, which is a lot. I wish I’d never noticed the amount of times she’s undressed you with her eyes when you don’t look. And she literally took it upon herself to become the softest girlfriend imaginable without even realising that there was a camera on her.”

You blink at Nat as she lists things off, your mind racing at her words.

“So let’s face it. You both have feelings for each other. And correct me if I’m wrong but I think you might finally be starting to realise her feelings too, just like the rest of us always have.” Your blush is answer enough for Nat. “So who says that you both can’t come out of this with an even better relationship than you had before?”

You open your mouth to respond, but approaching voices make you stop. The returning Avengers walk into the room, voices booming and laughing loudly. You can’t make out a single word as they loudly chatter over the top of each other.

Amongst the group, Tony spots you and Natasha on the couch.

“There’s our best girls!” He says, grinning at the sight of you both. This causes Carol to glance in your direction too, finding your eyes already on her.

You smile and wave at her, though you feel a little dejected when she does nothing more than glance at you and Nat, giving you what barely qualifies as a smile and nods.

“You all made it back in one piece, then?” Nat asks.

“Depends on what you define as ‘one piece’,” Bucky replies cheekily, holding up his metal arm.

Nat snorts in response. “You’re an idiot.”

“Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m pretty beat. I’m turning in for the night,” Steve announces. The rest of the team nod in agreement, aside from Carol, who thinks she’s being subtle about looking at you, and Tony.

“I think I might head to the lab for a while. I’ve got some things to work on,” he says.

“Alright, suit yourself. See you all tomorrow,” Steve waves and heads in the direction of the team’s private rooms, the rest of the group in tow.

Carol seems unsure of what to do, moving to take a step after the group as she watches them walk away, but ultimately staying put where she is.

You hear Natasha let out a light laugh next to you and your eyes leave Carol’s form as Nat pushes the blanket off her lap and stands up, shooting you a quick wink.

“Need any help in the lab?” She asks, catching up to Tony.

“Sure. Although, I don’t know how much help I’m gonna get from you in there,” he jokes, earning himself a shove from Nat as they both laugh.

Carol watches them leave, keeping her eyes on the empty doorway for another moment before turning back to you. She finds your form somewhere in the pile of blankets you’ve been left with on the couch.

You sit up and adjust your position on the couch, acutely aware of her eyes on you the entire time.

“Well, are you gonna come sit with me, then?”

“Do you want me to?” Your brow furrows on its own accord at her cautious tone.

“Of course I do.”

She walks over to the couch and stops short, oddly quiet as she glances at you. You pat the spot next to you where Nat had just been and she smiles at you before sitting down.

“The mission went well, then?”

She nods. “Yeah, it went as smoothly as we could have hoped. It was pretty tiring, though. I’m definitely just glad to be back here now,” she says, her voice softening, and she maintains eye contact with you despite to hint of pink appearing on her cheeks.

“Yeah, me too,” you say.

You both just smile at one another until Carol eventually breaks the eye contact to look at the screen.

“So what are you watching?”

“Oh,” you say as you glance at the screen now, too. “I don’t actually know. Something Nat picked out that I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention to, to be honest.”

“Right.” There’s a beat of silence and you can how lost in thought Carol seems to be. “So what were you paying attention to, then?”

“Hmm?”

“Well, something obviously had you distracted,” she alludes and you catch onto what she’s implying pretty quickly.

“You’re still jealous of Nat?” You say it in a teasing tone, though you’re too busy studying Carol’s every move and expression to bother with the accompanying teasing smirk.

She shrugs, struggling to keep her eyes on you.

“You two just seem very close lately.”

“And you and I don’t?” You shoot back gently, curious to see how far you could push the particular topic.

At her stuttering, blush filled response, you touch her arm and she stops and looks at you.

“Nat and I aren’t together, if that’s what you’re wondering. Never have been and never will be.”

At this point, you aren’t sure if you imagine the relief that crosses Carol’s face or not, but it gives you the confidence that you need to get your next sentence out.

“Besides, as much as I love Nat, she’s well aware that she’s not my favourite.”

Carol is once again lost for words. She blinks at you a couple times before a rare shy smile graces her face.

“Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way.” You reach across Carol for the remote and turn off whatever movie Nat had put on, going back to Netflix’s main page. “What do you want to watch?”

You hand Carol the remote and she begins searching through the selection of movies. While she does, you throw the blanket over her too, unable to hide your own smile.

“Ooh, I love this movie!” She says, landing on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and hitting play and you both fall into a comfortable silence as the movie plays. This goes on for another 20 or so minutes before you glance at Carol, who you only just now realise looks absolutely exhausted.

Her eyes are still happily glued to the screen, though, so you don’t bother to try to coax her to go to bed. You instead move to rest your head on her shoulder and she throws an arm over you to pull you closer. You happily shift your body to melt further into Carol’s.

You’re not really sure how much more of the movie plays before your eyes close and you drift off to sleep.

————————

“Well isn’t this just the cutest thing?”

You’re pulled out of your slumber from the voice coming from somewhere above you. You barely react, though, scrunching your face and shifting your body a little, eyes remaining tightly shut.

“Quick, Nat. Get a photo.” This has you opening your eyes.

Clint and Nat are both standing over you, wide grins on their faces as they look down at where you and Carol are still huddled together on the couch. There’s blankets still covering you both, and you’re practically lying on top of Carol.

“What the fuck are you two doing?!” You growl as quietly as you can manage, glancing down at Carol to ensure you don’t wake her up as you careful manoeuvre yourself into a seated position.

“Oh, nothing. Just documenting this moment so on your wedding day you two can look back at how this all started and laugh,” Nat says, pointing her phone at you and taking several photos.

“I’m actually going to kill you,” you hiss, feeling Carol stir next to you.

“What the hell is going on?” She rubs her eyes and attempts to focus on the scene she’s suddenly found herself in.

“Why don’t you tell us, Miss “We’re not a real couple” Danvers,” Clint quips.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you wanted to die today,” Carol snarls back, her face immediately shifting into a harsh glare towards Clint.

“Alright, we’ve both already had our lives threatened, so I think it’s time we leave you two alone,” Nat laughs. She winks before she turns away and you grab a cushion from the couch and throw it after her as her and Clint walk away.

“Sometimes I forget that we’re surrounded by assholes almost all of the time here,” Carol deadpans and you chuckle, moving aside to allow her to sit up.

“Sorry I fell asleep on you last night. I’m starting to make a real habit of that, huh?”

“I don’t mind,” she says, that same smile from last night returning to her face. You smile back and for a long moment you both just sit there smiling at each other until your grumbling stomach breaks the silence.

Carol laughs at you. “Time for breakfast, then?” She teases, standing up and grabbing your arms to help you to your feet too. “Come on.” You both head towards the kitchen and when you enter the room, you stop at the sight of a familiar figure already behind the counter.

“Thor!” You exclaim, racing the rest of the way into the kitchen. Thor turns around and is greeted by you practically tackling him into a hug, though he doesn’t even slightly budge from the force of you colliding with him. Instead, he happily throws his arms around you too, beaming.

“Y/N! I missed you!”

Carol leans against the bench and looks on fondly.

Thor is practically like a big brother to you so you absolutely love it whenever he returns back to Earth from whatever space adventures he’s been on. When you two separate, Thor notices Carol too.

“Ah, Carol! Good to see you!” She smiles and nods. As you watch their somewhat awkward interaction, you can’t help but chuckle at the memory of when Thor once tried to hug Carol in greeting and got photon blasted halfway across the room.

They get along just fine. Pretty well, in fact. Carol always speaks highly of Thor and vice versa. But Carol just isn’t particularly affectionate with anyone besides you. And maybe Peter on the odd occasion.

She tends to not really expect it and usually reacts poorly, always offering a sheepish apology to whoever happens to be on the receiving end. But that had never really been an issue with you, which you’re glad about because you are definitely a hugger.

And if Carol really had to, she’d admit that she actually enjoys that about you, despite her general distaste of physical forms of affection.

“Woah, that’s a lot of pancakes, Thor,” you say, noticing multiple stacks on plates across the counter. Thor had always been a sucker for his favourite breakfast food since his first visit to Earth and whenever he comes back he can’t seem to get enough of them. He’d spent days upon days trying to perfect his recipe and make the perfect pancakes.

“Oh, please help yourself!” He happily offers and you and Carol thank him before grabbing a small stack of pancakes each.

“Were you gonna eat all of these on your own if we hadn’t shown up?” Carol asks Thor, who already has half a pancake stuffed in his mouth. He blinks at her, chewing on his food and swallowing it.

“…No,” he eventually replies, not even slightly convincing. You and Carol both laugh and he just shrugs before shoving the other half of his pancake in his mouth. “What can I say? I have a large appetite,” he mumbles out around his mouthful of food.

“When did you get back?” You ask.

“Early this morning.” You nod before noticing a shift in Thor’s expression. “You know, I noticed you on the couch this morning as I walked in. I almost said hello then until I realised you were both asleep.”

It’s not exactly a question he asks, not even an implication. It’s really just a statement. But the smile on his face tells you he thinks he knows what’s going on.

It’s honestly something you’ve always loved about Thor. The fact that he never outright voices his speculations about people’s personal lives, unlike the rest of the Avengers. Of course you always tell him everything eventually anyway, but until that happens he always gives you the space he feels you need to avoid making you uncomfortable.

Given the situation, though, you know you better give him the heads up before his welcome back party.

“Yeah. There’s definitely some things we need to catch up on,” you chuckle nervously.

“While you two do that, I’m gonna go get ready for the day. We’re still heading out today, right?” Carol asks, standing from her seat at the breakfast bar.

“Yeah,” you confirm.

When you last spoke to Steve and Tony, they were happy with how well you and Carol were doing and asked you to just make one more appearance out somewhere leading up to the party.

“Okay, I’ll meet you by the front in, like, 3 hours?”

“Sure,” you say and you and Thor watch as she leaves.

When you look back at Thor he has a cheery smile on his face, and you spend well over an hour explaining the situation, even confessing your feelings for Carol to him. You ask him about his most recent adventures, too, but being the type of guy he is, he’s more interested in listening to what you have to say and offering you advice.

You seriously couldn’t have picked anyone better to refer to as your big brother.

You eventually go your separate ways so you can get ready and catch up with Carol again. You check your watch on your way. You’re a little early but knowing Carol, she’s likely already there waiting for you.

You stop short before you walk through the walkway to the lobby of the compound when you hear Carol’s voice in conversation with someone else in the room.

“Do you think you’ll miss being able to flirt with as many women as you can at the party, then?” You recognise the other voice as Rhodey’s.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Carol replies. “I mean, I usually find these parties a lot of fun. This one won’t be like that, though. I’m being made to stay on my best behaviour,” she jokes.

“So then what about Y/N? She’s holding you back from having fun?”

“It’s not that,” Carol says. “It’s just.. Tony’s parties are usually where I get to let loose, you know? I get to forget about all my responsibilities, forget about all the missions gone wrong and just enjoy myself. But this whole situation with Y/N.. it just kinda feels like I’m being kept on a leash.”

You’d be lying if you said Carol’s words didn’t sting. Ever since this whole mess of a situation began, you felt like things with Carol had been shifting. That things were different, even better now than before, like Natasha had said. But it sounds like maybe Carol doesn’t quite agree with you.

Had you really been wrong this whole time? Had Nat and the others swayed you into thinking that Carol shared the same feelings as you? Did Carol really think that you were holding her back from being happy and having fun?

Had you really been so blinded by your own feelings for so long that you had just been imagining Carol’s longing looks, more frequent touches, more caring nature towards you? Even when the cameras were nowhere to be scene.

Maybe she was just playing along to spare your feelings until she was told she could be done with this.

All these thoughts hit you at once, and despite how overwhelmed and hurt you suddenly feel, you take a deep breath and approach the doorway, taking heavier than usual steps to make your presence known before you enter.

“Hey, there you are,” Carol smiles. You offer her a short smile in return, though it doesn’t quite make it to your eyes, and you walk up to the front door and wait for Carol to join you. She approaches you, eyes watching you carefully. “Are you-“

“Let’s just keep this simple today and get it over with, yeah?” You say, eyes still remaining ahead as you reach for her hand.

She looks you over, concerned, but nods in response. “Yeah, okay.”

You lead her along in silence, which is how most of your simple walk goes. You smile at all the right times, but you manage to keep the talking down to a minimum and the second you return to the compound you bid a short farewell to Carol and leave her standing alone, confused like never before.

————————

You manage to keep to yourself for the most part over the next day or so, though as the party approaches you know you can’t really continue avoiding everyone. Especially since you and Carol had already agreed to get ready together in your room.

As promised by Tony, Happy delivered your outfits to your rooms in time for the party. Carol is currently in your bathroom getting ready while you look yourself over in your mirror, smoothing your hands over the front of your dress. You’re wearing a navy a-line dress, with spaghetti straps and a side slit exposing the skin of your leg. Simple yet beautiful.

Your bathroom door opens while you admire your dress in the mirror and your eyes drift to the reflection of the doorway as Carol hesitantly steps through. Your breath is taken away from you as you look her over.

She’s wearing a navy suit jacket and a pair of tight trousers that match your dress, a white blouse underneath, the top button left undone. You feel your brain short circuit as you look at her. Again, the outfit itself is simple but it works so well. Especially on Carol.

Tony was right; Happy is good. You’ll have to compliment him on his unexpectedly good eye for fashion the next time you see him.

She joins you in front of the full length mirror, staring at her own form and nervously adjusting the jacket.

“I’m pretty sure this is the fanciest I have ever looked heading to one of Tony’s parties,” she admits. You chuckle and double check your makeup in the mirror, happy with what you’ve done. Carol seems to be doing the same but is evidently not pleased with some of her makeup, grabbing her eyeliner to attempt to fix it.

“Here,” you hold your hand out and she passes her eyeliner pen over to you. Carol has never really been as into makeup as you, which obviously makes a lot of sense with her being up in space so often. But you’re always more than happy to assist whenever she needs help with it.

She’s gotten much better with it on her own over the years, though, what with her increase in social events with the Avengers. As a result, you only have to fix her eyeliner a little on each eye before you pull back and check your work.

“Perfect,” you say, putting down the eyeliner and turning to the mirror once more. Looking at yourself and Carol next to each other, it’s striking just how good you both look together. You may be biased, but everything just seems to fit so well.

You feel eyes on you and catch Carol’s gaze in the mirror.

“You look beautiful,” she breathes out as if she’s only just looked at you in your dress for the first time.

You can’t help it, but the words you overheard her say replay in your head. You feel your walls build up around you, telling you to be cautious to spare your own feelings.

“Thanks, so do you.” You reply somewhat stiffly. You can’t seem to do anything about the tone you speak in, so instead you drop your eyes from her and scan the room for anything else you might need, acutely aware of the step Carol takes towards you.

“Are you okay?” She asks and her hand comes to rest delicately on the side of your neck, her thumb stroking your cheek.

“Yeah, of course,” you say a little too quickly for Carol’s liking and you step back out of her reach, her hand falling back to her side. You spot your phone on the edge of your bed and pick it up, checking the time. “We better go. You ready?”

You barely give Carol room to answer before you open your door and step out into the hallway. She swallows thickly as she watches you, trying to figure out what’s changed in the last day or so to have you in such a cold mood.

When she steps out of your room to join you, she’s also greeted by Tony. He has a huge grin on his face and he whistles when he sees her.

“Wow, look at you two. Stunning.” He smiles at you like a proud dad. “So, listen. It’s a welcome back party, right? I know it’s still kinda fancy but it’s about as casual as my parties will ever get. There shouldn’t be too much pressure on the two of you.”

“Got it,” you nod.

“Obviously there will still be a lot of eyes on you. But that’s kind of the entire point. Just act like any regular, happy couple and we’ll be all set.” Tony says. “See you in there.” He smiles encouragingly at you and walks away, presumably to join the party.

Carol offers you her hand, which you take, and she walks you towards the large hall that Tony has designated for the party. You’re glad he chose one that was further away from the bedrooms. It gave you plenty of time to attempt to calm your nerves.

You walk through the large open doors and immediately it feels like all eyes are on you. It’s a feeling you aren’t at all comfortable with, but you just try to ignore it the best you can.

“Y/N!” You hear being called from the bar and look to see Thor enthusiastically waving you and Carol over. Carol nods at you and you walk hand in hand towards the bar.

The second you get near Thor he engulfs you both in a hug which Carol couldn’t have avoided even if she tried. He lets go of you with a massive smile on his face.

“Carol, may I interest you in a proper drink?” He holds up a flask of Asgardian alcohol for her to see and her face lights up until she glances at you.

“Uh, I better not tonight, actually,” she mutters. And again, her damn words from the previous day are right back in your head.

Thor doesn’t hide his surprise at her answer. “Later, then?” He asks hopefully.

“Maybe. We’ll see.”

Thor nods and sees Steve approaching the bar, eagerly pouring a drink for him and handing it over to him. Carol looks more than tempted to reconsider Thor’s offer but instead pulls you away by your linked hands to join another conversation.

This goes on for the next couple of hours, moving between groups to chat and give a pretty convincing appearance as couple of the year. You eventually find yourself standing against the wall with Carol, observing the partygoers.

“It’s going well so far, right?” Carols asks.

“I think so,” you say with a shrug, though you’re honestly unsure quite how to gauge how well it’s going just yet.

“Have you actually noticed any reporters?”

“I’m not sure. There’s been a lot of eyes on us the entire night so far, though, so I figure that’s a good thing.”

“Yeah. Do you think we should be acting more couple-y?” Carol asks, facing you more directly. She moves her hand to your waist, looking at you in question.

Of course, you lose yourself in her eyes, allowing yourself to enjoy this feeling for just a moment. You’re only human, after all.  But it doesn’t take long for her words to repeat in your head once more, and not even the way Carol glances down at your lips can get you out of your own head.

Before she can kiss you, you lean forward to press a quick kiss to her cheek.

“I think we’re doing okay,” you offer a small smile and pull away. “I’m gonna grab another drink and go talk to Wanda if that’s alright with you?”

“Oh. Sure, that’s fine.”

“I’ll come find you soon,” you say, squeezing Carol’s hand for good measure before you leave her to watch after you in total confusion as you walk away.

————————

“Hey, Thor. That drink still on offer?”

“Yes!” Thor says excitedly. Carol leans against the bar next to him and as soon as he’s done pouring her a drink she takes a sip.

“Oh, Jesus. I forgot how strong this shit is,” she winces and Steve laughs from the other side of Thor.

“I know, right?” He says, holding his drink up before drinking what’s left in his glass.

Carol knows to pace herself with this stuff. It affects her like absolutely nothing else. Usually, when Thor is there to offer it to her, she goes hard and ends up waking up in the bed of a total stranger with no recollection of what happened, though with a pretty good idea.

That can’t happen tonight for obvious reasons.

As Thor launches into one of his insanely eventful stories, she rests her arm on the bar and sips her drink, surveying the room until she spots you. You’re standing with Wanda, laughing at something the other woman has just said.

Something stirs inside Carol as she loosely follows along with Thor’s recounting of his journeys, all the while periodically looking for you amongst the many people crowding the room. She watches you excuse yourself from Wanda, heading over to talk to Sam and Bucky.

Somewhere in the middle of Thor recounting the events of a very graphic battle that he was apart of, Tony joins the conversation. Carol nods at him, taking another sip of her drink and doing another scan of the room. She eventually finds you in the crowd.

Having excused yourself from Sam and Bucky, you’re en-route to another group when a beautiful woman shows up seemingly out of nowhere, touching your arm to get your attention. Carol immediately freezes, her eyes locking in on the action. You stop to chat with the girl, a soft smile on your face that Carol regrettably realises she hasn’t seen all night until now.

Hey eyes stay glued to you, Thor’s stories long forgotten. Tony moves over to stand next to Carol.

“You two have done well tonight, you know?” He says, his eyes on the party in front of him.

“You’re not playing it too strong, too. The perfect amount of PDA in my opinion.” At the lack of a response, Tony turns his head to look at Carol. She clearly hasn’t paid attention to a word he’s said and he curiously turns to see whatever has Carol’s attention.

He sees you, laughing at something the unknown woman has just said. She takes a step closer to you as you take a sip of your drink. He looks back, studying the expression on Carol’s face for a moment.

“Wait a second, what exactly is happening here, Danvers? Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”

Carol’s eyes finally move from you, snapping to Tony’s.

“What? No. I’m just worried about our cover.”

Tony arches a disbelieving eyebrow. “Uh huh, I’m sure that’s exactly what you’re worried about.”

Carol glares at him, a common occurrence these days, but then her eyes are back on you, unable to help herself. She furrows her brow when the woman places her hand on your arm and keeps it there and she finally can’t watch anymore.

“Alright,” she says, grabbing her glass and downing the rest of her drink with a wince. “Nice chat, Stark, but I’ve gotta go.” She slams her glass back on the bar counter before storming off towards you without another word. Tony watches her leave.

“Yep. She’s got it so bad.”

You are so focused on the woman standing right in front of you that you jump when an arm appears at your waist.

“Hey babe,” Carol greets. She presses a kiss to your cheek and turns to the other woman, offering her nothing short of the fakest smile you’ve ever seen.

“Sorry, do you mind if I steal my girlfriend for a minute?”

To the woman’s credit, she does look a little sheepish as she steps back. “No, go right ahead.”

“Thanks,” Carol says with a bite to her tone, grabbing your hand and dragging you through the party and to one of the smaller balconies attached to the hall.

When you’re sure you’re out of sight and out of earshot from at least the majority of the party-goers you rip your hand out of Carol’s grasp and sharply turn to her, stopping her in her tracks with your glare.

“What the hell, Danvers?”

“What? I can’t just have you potentially blowing our cover like that.”

“Oh, please,” you scoff. “Our cover is just fine. Nothing was even happening. I was just talking to her.”

“Just talking? It looked like more than that to me. She was on her way to being all over you.”

“All over me like you usually are with as many random girls as you want? So now I can’t even have a regular conversation with just one girl?”

“I haven’t even looked at any other girls tonight, let alone flirted with them. And since when do you chat to women at Tony’s parties, anyway?”

You weren’t expecting the accusatory tone in Carol’s voice, and it makes you see red. You’ve done so well to keep your feelings at bay since you’d overheard Carol talking to Rhodey, but she’s finally tipped you over the edge now.

“Okay, I think I get it now. You can’t have fun and let loose like usual so now you want to make me feel like shit for talking to someone new. Is that right?”

Carol is completely caught off guard by your anger. It would have been hard for her not to notice your cold demeanour the last couple days, but now she knows for sure that all has been directed at her.

“Y/N, that’s not it-“

“Are you sure? Because I know you think I’m the one keeping on a leash but right now it’s feeling a lot like it’s the other way around.”

“What?” Carol blinks at you, trying to make sense of your words.

“Well that’s what you told Rhodey, right? You’re being held back. You can’t have any fun. You’re being kept on a leash.”

“Y/N,” Carol starts.

“Don’t try to deny it, Carol. I heard you say it.”

Everything actually makes sense to Carol now. She isn’t sure how she hadn’t pieced it together before that you’d possibly overheard her. At least now, though, she knew she could clear things up for you. Thank god, because she’s now gotten a taste of being in your bad books and she isn’t particularly enjoying it.

“I won’t deny it. I do feel like I’m being kept on a leash,” she simply says. You scoff again and shake your head, already getting ready to walk away before Carol grabs your arm to keep you in place.

“But I never said you were the one holding me back. Hell, you’re the one thing keeping me sane through this whole thing.”

You maintain your harsh glare, though you stop trying to pull your arm from her.

“I just,” she lets out a short breath and looks at you. “I’m not used to having my every move monitored so closely. I’ve never had to behaviour particularly well at these things. It’s weird and uncomfortable and it’s hard for me to deal with but you’ve helped me a hell of a lot with everything.”

Your glare softens at the vulnerability that Carol has on show for you. She’s always struggled to express her feelings. She can’t find the right words and says things the wrong way half the time and you feel stupid that you hadn’t just asked Carol directly about what you’d overheard, given her track record with miscommunication.

You’d been too in your thoughts about your feelings for Carol and her possible feelings for you that you’d read things so wrong. You made an assumption and made things so much worse. You cringe at this situation you’ve somehow managed to cause. You’re just glad it hadn’t been a lot worse and that Carol was so forgiving of your occasionally petty behaviour.

“You know better than anyone that I don’t really respond well with being told what to do.”

You chuckle lightly at her and her face brightens at the sound.

“So you’re saying that you do have fun with me, then?” Carol laughs, thankful to not have your glare aimed her way anymore.

“You already know I do. In fact, I really liked the parts of the party that we spent together tonight. You know, despite you looking like you’d rather be anywhere else but with me the entire time.”

You roll your eyes at her, not at all surprised that her smart ass comments were already making an appearance again.

“That’s not true,” you laugh and then grow serious again. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you.”

Carol blinks at you and you watch her reaction with bated breath. “Do you mean that?” She asks softly and you smile at her and nod timidly.

“It could ruin everything we have but I don’t think I can keep hiding the fact that I want to be near you all the time anymore.”

“Well I can’t really blame you for that,” Carol says, a hint of a smirk on her face and you let out a laugh and smile widely at her when she almost casually places her arms around your waist.

“Shut up, Danvers,” you mutter.

“Make me,” she promptly replies and you only wait a quick beat before you’re pressing forward and capturing her lips with yours.

If you thought your last kiss was amazing, then this kiss was something completely new all together. The fact that you’re kissing Carol because you both want to, and not because of some fake narrative, has you smiling into the kiss, knocking your teeth with Carol’s.

You pull back, both laughing, before her arms tighten around your waist and she leans in to meet your lips again. She’s tentative with her movements at first; you both are really, but like last time, you both grow more confident and she ends the kiss with a nip to your bottom lip.

“You know, I hated seeing you with that other girl,” Carol admits.

“Yeah? Well, imagine how I felt having to watch you leave with all those women at literally every party Tony throws.”

Carol bites her lip, regret on her face. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you place your arms around Carol’s neck. “We’re here now. Let’s just leave the past in the past, okay?” You peck her lips reassuringly.

“Okay,” Carol whispers against your lips, stealing one more quick kiss. “Should we go back in?”

You sigh and drop your head to Carol’s shoulder for a second. “I suppose we probably should.”

“Come on. They want to see a happy couple. Let’s show them a happy couple,” Carol says and you lift your head and smile shyly at her, your mind still racing to catch up with these unexpected turn of events.

“Sounds good to me.”

You run your hands down Carol’s shoulders, down her arms until you reach her hands and you take them in your own. Carol lifts one of your hands to her lips and presses a kiss to it, earning a blush from you and she’s unable to fight the cheesy grin that makes its way onto her face.

She walks you to the door and holds it open for you. “After you, my lady,” she says and you laugh.

“Are you going to be this cheesy and chivalrous forever now?” You ask.

“Depends. Do you want me to be?”

“I just want you to be you,” you reply as Carol follows you through the door and takes your hand again.

“And what about you? Are you going to be cheesy forever now, too?” She teases and you chuckle in response before Nat calls you over from the group she’s standing in and you’re removed from the moment you and Carol are sharing together.

Not a problem, you think. You’ve got plenty of opportunities to share even more of these moments with Carol now.

——————————

This time, when you wake up in Carol’s arms, you don’t flinch away. Instead, you wear a sleepy grin on your face and press a soft kiss to her jawline, watching her stir for a moment before she settles again, a soft smile adorning her face.

You happily snuggle closer to her, pressing your face into the crook of her neck and drifting back to sleep without a single worry on your mind for the first time in weeks.

***** Series Taglist: @lovelylittlelionx @desaulniersbriannes @outofcontextavengers @traveler-at-heart @saucy-sapphic @mysticpansy (tag didn’t work)

[yikesharringrove]

Hi! Could you please write about Billy having PTSD/issues with panic at school like having a PTSD episode in class or basketball and Steve helping him get somewhere private and helping him calm him down and having dad Hopper pick him up?

Read on ao3!

The Hawkins police force was surprisingly, well, good.

For small town cops who mainly sat around snarking and smoking, they caught on to the violence in the Hargrove-Mayfield home fast.

Billy was in town no longer than a month before his dad was being placed into custody. He supposed it may have had something to do with a little redhead spitfire and a police chief who spent a few nights a year fighting monsters with the best of ‘em.

But nevertheless, it took a few home visits and one instance of Claudia Henderson witnessing Neil slap Billy in the parking lot behind the gas station for Neil to get arrested.

The rub was, Billy was still a minor, and Hopper didn’t really know if Susan could handle this boy, this 5′10″ ball of muscle and rage.

So he took the kid in.

He had experience in angry kids who were abused their wholes lives, who knew nothing but hurt. So he cleaned out the spare room in the cabin, helped Billy move his few duffle bags in there, his weight racks, his two boxes, just barely unpacked only for him to be moved again.

The first few days, Billy was quiet.

Didn’t really talk to him or El, mostly kept to his room. Not that Hopper didn’t try, it was difficult. El was easy to coax out, with the promise of some Eggos, she’d be wide-eyed and in the kitchen, nearly plastering herself to Hopper’s back as she followed him around, the hungriest little shadow.

Billy would smile tightly at Hop, obviously not trusting his huge stature.

When Billy had moved in, he and El had a talk. They were both going to try their best not to yell, to make loud noises, sudden moves. Hop had seen Billy flinch at cabinet doors being shut too hard, a beer can being crushed. Hop tried his best not to touch the kid without warning after one such incident when he reached out to clap him on the shoulder. Billy had squeezed his eyes shut, his chest heaving, braced for a blow.

El infiltrated before he did.

She asked Billy to help her with her reading. Noticed Billy was always flying through new library books, could demolish books in one sitting. He helped her with word definitions, vocabulary. Hop even came home one night to hear Billy in El’s room, reading to her softly.

Billy became fiercely protective of El very quickly after that. He had asked Hopper about her past, heard about her coming from the lab in general terms from Harrington, but Hop was candid, told him about the abuse, solitary confinement, the forced killing. Billy hardly left her side after that.

That’s another thing that came with Billy; the Harrington brat.

Apparently, at some point in the tunnels, the two had set aside their differences, had become friends even, good enough friends for Hop to come home to find the Harrington brat on his couch, braiding El’s hair, laughing at the television.

Turned out he wasn’t much of a brat as he once had been. Hop figured a brush with The Upside Down could straighten out even the shittiest kid, the kid that would mouth off to Hopper when he found him and his friends doing illegal shit at the quarry, throwing parties and getting into fights.

He now would just kinda, be there. He and Billy would talk quietly to one another, Hop once overheard actual giggles coming from behind Billy’s closed door one night.

And then El decided she liked him too, so it was a done deal.

Hop wasn’t sold on Harrington until December.

Neil’s trial was coming down the pipeline. He had been in custody for some minor charges, but the trial was for the long-term abuse he had been doling out to Billy.

So Billy had to testify. And Billy was a wreck about it.

Hop noticed him drawing into himself as the date came closer and closer. He would lash out sometimes too. Never at him or El or Harrington, but sometimes he would be doing homework and get tripped up a little and throw the textbook, swearing up a storm. He would listen to louder and louder music, would lift weights and chain smoke like nobody Hopper had ever seen.

The most explanation he got was when he heard Billy in his room with Harrington, talking softly through the door about the trial. He heard Harrington tell Billy he was proud of him for standing up, that he was strong. Hop smiled, and agreed with Harrington silently, moving on to plant himself on the couch for a while, the television loud enough he couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation (or when it dissolved into breathy moans).

But Harrington proved himself to Hop the next Wednesday.

It was only three days to the trial. Billy was shaky at best. Steve had been over most nights, had been talking him through his testimonials, practicing with him. When it would be too much for Billy he would coo praise into his hair before distracting him nicely.

But Billy was sitting in class, in his AP Chem lab to be exact, when someone dropped their textbook. The big monster made a loud smacking thud on the tile floor and billy was off.

His breathing was shallow, coming in too rapidly to fill his lungs. He fled the class, ignoring the teacher shouting his name as he all but ran.

He was so lucky to find Steve wandering the halls, swinging the hall pass on his finger as he avoided his English class. He grinned when he saw Billy, the smile giving way to concern when he noticed Billy’s wide eyes, the way his hands shook.

He pulled Billy into the library, shutting the blinds on the study room, the one they designated as theirs after a few too many panic attacks.

Steve could smell a bad one a mile away. He got Billy sitting, planted himself on the table in front of him, careful not to touch, and just, talked.

Billy had told him once that he liked it when Steve just made noise. It gave him something to focus on. Steve would keep his voice soft, delicate, and just rambled on, explaining the plot of some movie Billy didn’t care about in extreme detail. Billy was able to just focus on the sound of his voice, was able to focus on the overwhelming safety he felt when he thought Steve.

It took Steve until the end of the period to get Billy calm enough to head out, collecting Billy’s things from the lab, explaining to the teacher with his most charming smile that billy had fallen ill, a terrible flu causing him to run out and spew in the nearest restroom.

He checked back in with Billy before asking the sweet librarian if he could use the phone, gave her his big eyes and most I am the sweetest boy in the whole world smile he could muster.

He asked for Hopper when the tired secretary picked up with Hawkins Police, how may I direct your call?

Hopper sounded gruff on the phone, chided him for skipping class when Steve said hey Chief, it’s Steve. But he went silent at the mention of Billy’s name. When panic attack and bad one and library cut through, Hop was off the phone and in his truck, sirens on, speeding towards his kid.

He didn’t bother stopping at the office. He was Chief of fucking Police, he didn’t need to check-in or whatever. He found the library quickly, explaining to the woman at the circuit desk that his kid’s friend had called him, that his son was sick.

He checked every study room, opening the doors slowly after a few soft taps, knew sometimes Billy got tense when the doors flew open.

He found them in the last one, the shades on the window drawn. Harrington was perched on the table, talking softly to Billy, stroking through his hair.

Billy was sitting in a chair, his face planted onto Harrington’s leg as he shook. Harrington smiled a little at Hop, just kept talking, kept running his fingers through the curly hair.

“Hey, Kid. I’m gonna check you out for the week. When you’re ready, we can go home.” He hesitated when he moved to put his hand on Billy’s shoulder. Harrington took his wrist, moved Hop’s hand up, gently set his on Billy’s head, replacing where his had been skirting through Billy’s hair.

Hop just set it there gently for a second, giving Steve a thankful smile before pulling back, checking both boys out of school for the week. Figured if Billy was gonna sit tense at home, it may be easier for him if his best friend was there, his best friend that obviously knew exactly what Billy needed in his moments.

So he took them both back to the cabin, let Steve get Billy set up on the couch under a few blankets, sat with them on the armchair through a few episodes of some cartoon none of them were paying much attention to, El sitting on the floor, leaned against Billy’s legs.

Steve hadn’t stopped touching Billy once since Hop had seen them. He was holding Billy’s hand now, his thumb gently rubbing Billy’s skin.

They ate dinner together, Steve chattering away like he did, although he looked a little harder now. What he once thought was a nervous tick on Harrington’s part, was obviously helpful for Billy who would throw Steve looks through his lashes, would stare at him like he hung the stars in the fucking sky.

That was the first moment he realized why the kids called Steve their mom, he took care of people, had been taking care of Billy right under Hop’s nose.

He cornered Steve after Billy went to bed. Offered him a smoke on the porch.

“Kid, tell me about Billy. How do you help him like you do? He doesn’t trust me, which I understand, but if he continues not, then I can’t do shit for him.”

“I mean,  he does trust you. He just hasn’t figured you out yet. With his dad, he knew he was angry just from the way he would breathe. He doesn’t quite know what you’re about, if you’re gonna be mad at him for the same shit his dad always was. If he breaks a glass, are you gonna slap him or make sure he didn’t hurt himself? He’s weary. Doesn’t wanna test your limits.”

“But, he knows I wouldn’t hit him, right?”

“He doesn’t know that. The only father he’s ever had slapped him around his whole life, Chief. Now he has you, and you may not have given him a reason to be freaked, but he’s defensive, careful. Doesn’t wanna give you a reason.” He took a drag, making a face at the cigarette. Hop smoked strong stuff, the menthols Steve kept behind his ear were mainly just for show.

“But, if he’s, you know, like he was, how do I help.”

“He likes noise. The first time he had one in front of me, I started nervously talking and doing the dishes and he called it my benign chatter or something. He said he just focuses on the sound of me and because the noise is connected to someone that’s, safe, he feels safe.”

“But, if he doesn’t feel safe with me, how does that work?”

“He feels good with El, maybe she could practice reading aloud to him, or something until he’s there with you.”

“Okay, that could work.”

“And you can’t touch him until he’s ready. He’ll freak if you lay a hand on him. I was sitting there for a long time, but once he put his head on me, that means he wants touch, just soft. He likes his hair being touched a lot.” Hop huffed a bit of a laugh.

“He’s like a scared cat. Exactly like a scared cat.” Steve laughed too.

“It took me a while to figure this shit out, Chief. You’ll get there. He just doesn’t know where he stands a lot of the time. Kinda sees the worst in people. Makes sense, though.” He stamped out the barely smoked cigarette.

“You’re a good kid. Kinda had it out for ya for a while there. But I’m glad he’s got a friend like you.” Steve’s smile was really, odd. He wouldn’t look Hop in the eye, but then again, the kid could never hold eye contact for long. Hop kinda got the feeling Billy wasn’t the only one with some father issues.

“Uh, thanks, Chief. I should, uh, I should get home I guess. I’ll tell Bill I’m going.”

Hop stayed on the porch, mulling over what Steve had said.

Steve headed inside, kissed Billy goodnight and promised to be over tomorrow, pulled on one of Billy’s jackets and leaned over, muttering at him you’re safe here, Bill before giving him one more kiss.

Hop came home early the next few days, always walking in to find Billy and Steve pressed against one another on the couch, El usually pressed to Billy’s other side while they all watched t.v.

Steve waited outside the courthouse during the trial, hugged Billy tight when he came racing out, whooping and yelling the bastard’s goin’ to the slammer, Pretty Boy!

They all ate ice cream for dinner, the rest of the brats celebrating along with Max. Billy even hugged Hopper, briefly and with one arm, and went right back to Steve’s side after, but it was a start, and Hopper liked where this was leading.

[i-am-a-closet-fanfic-fiend]

Stardust and Starfish ~ Chris Beck x Reader

A/N: Hi my lovelies! I hope you’re all doing well in these crazy times. I hope you are staying safe and healthy.I apologize for the radio silence. I’ve had a lot going on, and I haven’t been able to really write anything. But I’m trying to chug along, and I’m focusing on finishing out my WIPs, so hopefully I’ll have more to share with you soon. 

Without any further ado, this is a fic for my Whippersnapper Daughter @captainscanadian​ ‘s CBC 1K Writing Challenge, which I was supposed to complete a million years ago, but I didn’t quite manage it. So here you are love, I hope you enjoy. This is my first time writing Chris Beck. I’ve never seen the Martian. I literally only know that he’s a fluffy space nerd (at least based on fics), so hopefully this is okay. 

Enjoy!

Prompt:  “Hey we kissed once in kindergarten but I haven’t seen you since and I couldn’t remember why you were so familiar.”

Rating: T 

Warnings: Language, I think that’s it. 

Word Count: 3251

Ahh graduation. A time of endings. A time of beginnings. A time for throwing caution out the window and kissing boy you’ve had a crush on all year.

You were clutching your diploma as you dodged around the other graduates looking for one classmate in particular. You finally spotted him munching on a handful of goldfish by the refreshment table.

“Hi, Rocket!”

“Hi, Bubbles!”

“Oh there you kids are. Come on. Get close. We need a picture.”

“Smile, Chris!” his dad coaxed before shuffling the two of you together.

“Big smiles!”

You each threw an arm around the other grinning wildly.

“Say, I’m ready for first grade.”

“I’m ready for first grade!” you both chorused.

“Well, we should get going. We’ll go get your stuff. Say goodbye to Chris, sweetie.”

“Okay, Mom!”

You hugged him tight.

“I just wanted to say that I really like you and I really like your book of stars.”

“Thanks! I really like your book about the ocean!” He grinned, blue eyes lighting up.

Before you could chicken out you leaned forward and pecked him on the lips like you’d seen your mom do with your dad whenever she said goodbye.

Chris squeaked in surprise and went rigid and red as a tomato. Before either of you could say anything your mom returned with your backpack.

“Y/n, honey, time to go.”

“Okay. Bye, Chris! Have fun at camp! See you next year.”

“See you,” he waved absent-mindedly, still wide-eyed.  

“Come on, we’re gonna be late,” your best friend whined as she waited for you to finish feeding your starfish.

“We’ll be fine. The talk doesn’t start until five.”

“It’s four-fifty.”

“Seriously? Shit okay. This is the last tank.”

You tossed in the mix of their food, scrubbed your hands before following AJ out of the lab.

You raced to the auditorium halfway across the campus, grateful for the reserved seats Casey had promised you. You looked around for the postdoc in question once you’d settled in, and you spotted her at the edge of the stage chatting with the distinguished speaker, Dr. Chris Beck.

“You’re staring,” AJ whispered. “Are you crushing on the guest speaker too?”

”He just seems really familiar,” you muttered back, squinting.  

“I mean he has been all over the news for the past few years.”

“No, it’s like I’ve met him before.”

“Maybe you saw him during your sting at Yale?”

“Maybe,” you shrugged.

You weren’t totally convinced but it made the most sense, even though you were pretty sure that your times didn’t overlap.

Before you could think too much more about it, the dean of the medical school started introducing him. Not that he needed it.

You, and nearly everyone else, were completely captivated by Dr. Beck. When it was announced at the end of the talk that Dr. Beck would be taking the equivalent of a sabbatical at the university and teaching a short seminar series starting in the Spring the excitement was palpable.

“I can’t believe astro-hottie is joining the faculty,” AJ giggled.

“I know right. That’s going to be fun.”

The crowd was slow to exit the auditorium, and you were surrounded by excited chatter.

“So do you want food first or should we try to score an intro?”

“Food. I’m sure he’ll be swarmed for a while. Besides, Casey is his host, I’m sure she’ll get us a chance to talk to him.”

“Perks of being friends with astrophysics postdocs.”

“True.”

After the formal dinner with the grad students and postdocs, Chris was enjoying himself so much that some of them continued the evening at a pub just down the road from the campus. He had been happily listening his company discuss some of his more interesting results when he happened to notice you walk in. You had changed into a short black dressed and donned a deep blue leather jacket against the cold.

Casey noticed his distraction and silently cheered. Clearly the newest faculty member was interested in her friend, and judging by your reaction to him at the reception you were interested as well, so she excused herself to join you at the bar.

“Hey, Case. How’s it going?” You greeted her.

“Good. Didn’t expect to see you two here tonight.”

“We were supposed to go to the new restaurant down the street, but they lost our reservation,” AJ explained.

“So, we decided to keep it low key,” you continued.  

“Gotcha. Well, do you want to join us?”

“Who’s us?”

“A few of the ones who went to dinner and Chris.”

She glanced over her shoulder and you and AJ followed her line of attention.

“Oh, so it’s Chris now?” you smirked, though it faltered when he caught your eye and smiled.

“He told us to. He’s really chill actually. You should come hang out,” she pressed.

“We’d love to,” AJ answered for you.

“Great. Grab your drinks and come over.”

She happily flounced back to the table, rejoining the conversation.

“AJ,” you hissed.

“What? Are you gonna tell me you don’t want to hang out with hunky space doctor you made goo goo eyes at all afternoon?”

“I did not make goo goo eyes at him.”

Your best friend rolled her eyes.  

“Yes you did. Y/n, come on. Live a little. It’s just a few beers with a bunch of grad students.”  

You looked at them, listening intently as he spoke. It looked more like a study group than anything which put you at ease.

“They’ve been talking for like five hours. I’m sure it will break up soon and then we can just hang out with Casey.”

“Okay. That sounds good.”

“Good,” she grinned before leaning on the bar to order your drinks.

You discretely checked out your hair in the mirror behind the bar and swiped on a bit of lip gloss.

“Don’t think I didn’t see that,” AJ smirked as she handed you your gin and tonic.

“Shush.”

You bumped your hip against hers as you made your way to the table.

There was a pause in the conversation as you approached.

“There you are. Come sit.”

AJ had already taken the one open seat next to James, the med student she had been crushing on, which left you to join Dr. Beck on the bench seat. He scooted over to give you more room when you sat down.  

“Thank you.”

“No problem,” he smiled shyly.

You momentarily got lost in his eyes.

“Did you three meet earlier?” Casey asked, breaking you out of the moment.

Heat clawed up your neck in embarrassment. Though you were relieved to see Dr. Beck seemed equally flustered. He cleared his throat twice as he bobbed his head in the affirmative.  

“Yes, Y/n and AJ right?”

“Yes. So, Dr. Beck, what were you all discussing?”

“First of all, please call me Chris. And second, we were discussing my research on the effect of zero gravity on muscle development.”

“Fascinating.”

You were easily caught up in the conversation as he explained his results and discussed data sets. His passion for research seemed to pour out of him. The discussion was lively, although you found yourself dominating the conversation. It contrasted nicely with your own research on technology for deep sea research. You were so invested that you didn’t notice the others leaving. At least not until they rang the bell for final call and you actually paid attention to your surroundings.

“Umm, when did everyone leave?”

Chris looked as confused as you were.

“I have no idea. I guess I am boring. I hope they don’t do that when I start lecturing next semester,” he chuckled.

“I’m sure they won’t. You’re an excellent presenter. Probably they got tired of me monopolizing you. Sorry about that,” you sighed as you played with a straw wrapper.

“Please don’t apologize. I was actually hoping to get a chance to talk to you.”

“Really?”

You wanted to smack yourself for the hopeful tone.

“Yes. I was disappointed when you left the reception early.”

“Oh, well, one of the octopuses next door escaped and that’s no good for anyone in the department.”

“I can imagine.” He smiled crookedly as the few patrons remaining started to pay their tabs.

“I guess we should go,” you pointed out reluctantly.

“Yeah. We should,” he agreed.

You both closed out and exited the bar.

“So, do you want to split an Uber?” he offered.

“I don’t live far. I was actually going to walk it.”

Chris looked appalled.

“It’s three in the morning.”

“I’ve done it before,” you argued.

He appraised you closely, trying to determine how stubborn you were. The conclusion… very.

“Can I at least walk you back then?”

“You don’t have to,” you assured him.

“I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight if I don’t know you made it home safely. Please?”

He pouted at you. Who could resist those blue eyes?

“You really don’t…”  

“I want to,” he admitted. “I uhh I’m not quite ready for the night to be over.”

Your answering smile was wide.

“In that case, I could use the company.”

“Excellent. Lead the way,” he offers you his elbow.

You looped your arm through his and started walking back towards your apartment.

You made the five minute walk in companionable silence. The feeling of familiarity had deepened over the course of the evening and you felt like you were walking with an old friend.

“Well, this is me,” you sighed, not ready to say good night.

“It was really nice getting to spend time with you, Y/n.”

“You too.”

“I know it’s late, and I’m sure that you want to get to bed, but would you mind terribly if I waited inside for my uber. I’m not sure how long it will be to get someone willing to go all the way to Hartford.”

“They have you staying in Hartford while you’re here?”

“They offered me a hotel room in New Haven, but I opted to stay with my folks. Wasn’t planning on closing down a bar after my talk,” he smirked.

You debated for a moment.

“I have a guest room. You are welcome to stay if you like. I have to go to Hartford tomorrow, so I could drive you back if you want.”

“I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not. I promise. You’re never going to get an uber that far this late.”

“If you really don’t mind. That would be great.”

“Come on in.”

You unlocked the door and flipped on the lights, leaning on the edge of the couch to take off your boots.

“Are you hungry or thirsty?”

Before he could respond, your stomach growled for an embarrassingly long time. He bit back laughter.

“Well apparently I am.”

You looked at your stomach as if it were a traitor.

“I could eat.”

“Alright, let’s see what I have. It’s been a while since I went food shopping.”

Chris smiled as he took in the warm surroundings, and he found himself drawn to the art on the walls next to your desk. He could hear you rummaging around in your refrigerator while he tried to figure out why he recognized the image.

“So I threw in a frozen pizza and I’ve got Oreos.”

You shook the pack at him as you planted yourself on the couch.

“Excellent.” He grinned, joining you on the couch and taking a cookie. “That print is amazing. Where did you get it?”

“It’s figure 3A in my Nature paper. I had it blown up when it made the cover.”

“That’s why I recognize it. That was an excellent paper.”

“Thank you. It certainly has been a highlight of my career so far.”

“So what drew you to marine biology?”

“I was obsessed with the ocean as a kid. And adventure books. I wanted so desperately to explore the part of our world that’s so vast and unknown. I wanted to work on a submarine or at least at sea.”

“So how did you end up in a lab on land?”

“I did a semester at sea which was amazing but permanent spots on research ships and subs are few and far between. But I am also working with the engineering department on deep sea equipment.”

“Hence your expertise in muscle mass in high pressure.”

“Precisely.”

You chewed on an Oreo thoughtfully as you regarded him.

“So, why did you become a space doctor? It’s not the most traditional job in the world,” you mused.

“I suppose it isn’t. Well I wanted to be astronaut first. Like you, I was obsessed with space from really early on. But as I got older I grew to love physiology and anatomy over engineering for example. For a little while, I thought I’d have to give up my dream. And then I realized they had flight surgeons.” He smiled at the memory. “So I worked my butt off and ended up actually going into space.”

Chris shifted leaning his head back and looking up as if he could see the stars through your ceiling. You propped your head in your hand as you leaned on the back of the couch.

“Is it surreal being back on earth?”

“That’s a good word for it.” He let his head loll to the side to look at you. “I’m glad to be home, but it’s so strange. Sometimes I spend all day in my room because I forget I can leave. And noises of the city – that’s trippy after months in space.”

“I bet.”  

Your conversation flowed easily as you scarfed down the pizza. The sun came up and you were still talking.

You’re not sure how or when, but you must have fallen asleep talking, because you woke up tucked under a blanket on your couch to the smell of pancakes.

“Good morning,” Chris called, when he saw your head pop up.  

“Morning. What time is it?” you asked, rubbing at your eyes.

“A little after eleven.”

“How long have you been up?”

“Since around eight.”

You stopped mid-stretch to stare at him.

“We didn’t fall asleep until like 5.”

“I’m still used to really short sleeping shifts. I hope you don’t mind. I made breakfast.”

“I do not mind at all.”

After washing up and changing into some fresh clothes, you enjoyed breakfast together.

“So what do you have to do in Hartford?” he asked, taking the clean plate from your hands to dry it.

“Going to visit my sister and my favorite baby nephew.”

“Aww. How old is he?”

“Four. So not actually a baby, but…”

“I get it. What time do you need to leave?”

“Around one.” You shrugged. “We’ve got time.”

“Thank you for letting me stay. Last night was wonderful,” he added, quietly.

“Yes, it was.”

“This might sound strange, but I feel like I’ve met you before.”

You froze, water spilling off the plate.

“Sorry, that was weird,” he mumbled quickly avoiding eye contact.

“No. No, it’s not that.” You dropped the plate into the sink and turned off the water. “I thought the same thing when I saw you.”

“Oh thank god.”

“AJ was convinced it was just because I’d seen you on the news. But if you feel it too…”

“But where we would have crossed paths?”

He crossed his arms as he considered it.

You spent the next twenty minutes trying and failing to find a single place you might have run into each other.

“Junior Leadership Conference?”

“In D.C. in 2014?”

“Yeah.”

You racked your brain.

“It must be that, right?”

“I can’t think of anywhere else.”

“Huh.”

You both watched each other, not quite believing it, but also unable to come up with a better answer. You let it stand as you got ready to drive to Hartford.

“Do you mind grabbing the books off the front table?” You grabbed your keys and your bag. “I don’t want to forget them.”

“Sure thing.”

He shuffled through the pile of children’s books, smiling when he came across the National Geographic First Big Book of the Ocean as you walked to your car.

“Oh these books were awesome.”

“Which one?”

“Big book of the ocean.” He held it up for you to see. ”I had all of them, but the space one was my favorite when I was a kid.”

“I’m shocked,” you deadpanned as you started the car.

He mock glared at you.

“No but seriously, I took the space one with me everywhere. I was obsessed. In kindergarten, the other kids started calling me-“

“Rocket,” you murmured.

“Good guess.”

“Not a guess. I know how we know each other,” You announced, desperate to look at him, but keeping your eyes straight ahead. “You went to Aldrin Elementary for Kindergarten didn’t you.”

“Yeah. Wait,” He looked at the book in his hands before opening to the back cover.

“Rocket and Bubbles,” he hummed, running his fingers over the crayon scrawl. “I can’t believe it. It’s you.”

You glanced at him at a stoplight. He had a fond look in his eyes.

“I knew you were familiar. But I don’t remember your name being Chris. Even before we started calling you Rocket.”

He bit his lip rocking slightly in embarrassment.

“I convinced my mom to let me go by my middle name Richard, which I made into Ricky, because there were four other Chris’ in our class.”

“Oh my god. That’s right. You were Ricky the Rocket. We thought we were so funny.”

Neither of you could contain your smiles.

“What happened? Why did you leave?”

“My dad had to move to Boston for his job. We didn’t find out until like a week before school.”

“I thought about you for the longest time. I was so bummed when you didn’t come back.”

“I was too. I cried all the way to Boston.”

“And now, all these years later.”

“Together again.”  

You reached over and took his hand, and he twined your fingers.

You were both quiet for the rest of the ride, lost in thought. You only spoke to ask directions to his parent’s place, which you remembered quite well.

“Can I take you to dinner sometime?”

“I would love that. Tomorrow night?”

“I’ll be there with bells on.”

You bit your lip as you both hesitated, before you leaned across the armrest and kissed him. His eyes went wide and his cheeks turned pink, and you suddenly didn’t know how you ever failed to recognize him.

“You looked the same way the first time I kissed you,” you giggled.

“Not my fault you keep surprising me.”

“You’re cute when you’re mmf.”

You were cut off by his lips on yours. The kiss was passionate and you felt yourself melting into it as his hand cradled the back of your head.  

“You were saying…” he smirked at you when you both pulled back panting.  

You started to respond when you looked over his shoulder.

“That your mom totally just saw us making out in my car.”

He glanced over his shoulder before letting his head drop in embarrassment when his shocked mother turned on her heel and hurried into the house with her groceries.  

“On that note. Six o’clock tomorrow?”

“You’re on, Rocket.”

“See you, Bubbles.”

He pecked you once more on the lips before getting out of the car, whistling his way up the walk.

You smiled to yourself as he waved from the porch and you drove off.

This was going to be an adventure. Your biggest yet.  

A/N: Yeah, so this ended up very differenlty from how I planned, but I hope you all enjoyed! I had fun writing Chris Beck. Congrats again on the milestone that was like 3 milestones ago lol. Love you @captainscanadian​

Tag lists are open! 

Permanent Tag List 

@iamwarrenspeace​ @jayzayy​ @bexboo616​ @neoqueen306​ @santheweird​ @rowenaravencalw​ @buckitybarnes​ @prxttybirdz​ @sergeantjbuckybarnes​ @captainsamwlsn​ @broitsmydick @ailynalonso15 @nyxveracity​ @queenoftrash97​ @walkingtravesty97​ @lamia-maizat @memyselfandmaddox​ @lowkeybuckyb​ @whiskey2011​ @averyrogers83​ @lovingpeterparker @buckybarneshairpullingkink​ @beansparker​ @coralphantomninja​ @xxashy999xx​ @thisismysecrethappyplace​ @ravennightingaleandavatempus​ @paintballkid711​ @whosmarisaaarw​ @silverkitten547​ @yknott81​ @thefridgeismybestie​ @crispy-kitten​ @isabelcrichards @greyeyedsmile14​ @loving-life-my-way​ @geeksareunique​ @rachelsficcollections​ @captainscanadian​ @palaiasaurus64​​

[molluskwritesfic]

The Waif ~ Chapter Two

As an alien science experiment, she remembers nothing. Knows no one. With nowhere else to turn, Claudia must rely on the Doctor and his companions for help. She's mutating. The Doctor knows more than he's telling. But why does the Time Lord seem to hate her so much? Rated M.

Masterlist - Fanfiction.net - Ao3

Prologue - Previous Chapter - This Chapter - Next Chapter

Chapter Two: The Box

The room Claudia was in was impossible. 

Or at least she thought it must have been, but she couldn't exactly consider herself to be an authority on things that should and shouldn’t exist. But it definitely wasn’t anything like she had seen before in her short life. 

Rose had guided her through long hallways of the facility and into some kind of storage space. Within the closet, amongst the neatly packed boxes of papers and scientific equipment, sat what Claudia could only think of as a blue wooden shed. 

At first, she had been too afraid to set foot in it. It was too similar in size to the glass cylinder she had just escaped and it had taken Rose several minutes of coaxing before Claudia was willing to cross over the threshold and into the bizarre world beyond.

And it was a world all its own. Inside the box was easily the largest room Claudia could remember being in. The floor was metal, much like the grating of the floor of the tank. But the light was warm, organic. The room stretched up into a massive dome, held up by coral struts. At the center of the room was a console, covered on all sides by a wonderful assortment of buttons, levers, and other strange devices. 

“It’s beautiful,” Claudia breathed as she wandered further into the ship, plucking up the courage to brush her fingers along the smooth metal of the console. 

“Yeah, isn’t she?” Rose agreed, grinning at the other girl’s simple, childlike wonder.

“She?” Claudia echoed, accepting the pronoun without much thought. Why shouldn’t the beautiful place be a She? “What’s she called?”

“The TARDIS.” The blonde answered, her tongue poking out between her teeth. “She goes anywhere. In time, too.”

“Time?” She accepted it instantly, as she had everything else despite the gut instinct hat she should have thought it impossible. 

“Brilliant, isn’t it?” Rose circled the console, running a hand along it as she went. She made it back in front of the other girl, studying her with kind curiosity. “And you said your name was Claudia?”

“Yeah.” Her voice came out smaller than she wanted it to. “Maybe.”

“So, where are you from? How do you know the Doctor?”

“I don’t know,” Claudia shrugged, trying to hide how vulnerable the questions made her feel. She liked Rose. Her lack of memories made her feel tainted. The last thing she wanted was for her to think she was crazy. Or defective. 

“You don’t know what? The Doctor?”

“No.”

“But he knows you.” It was a statement, not a question.

Claudia shrugged and stared down at her toes, not sure how else to respond. 

Rose nodded thoughtfully. Claudia wasn’t sure if the blonde believed her or not, but she seemed willing to leave it for now. 

“What about where you’re from? Where’s home?”

“Don’t know,” she admitted quietly, fiddling with the hem of her sleeve. 

“What, you haven’t got a home?”

She shrugged again, not meeting Rose’s penetrating stare.

Rose shifted uncomfortably, but persisted. “What about family?”

Claudia forced herself to look the other woman in the eye. “I don’t know.” 

“You don’t know?” Her eyes narrowed and a skeptical grimace twisted her pretty features, as if she was having trouble understanding how someone could just not know about their parents. Claudia cowered, feeling naked under the blonde’s judgemental gaze. “How d’you mean?”

“I mean: I don’t know.” She tried her best to seem indifferent, but only managed to come off as a sheepish child. 

“You can’t remember?” 

“No.”

“So what can you remember?” Rose said in a slow, calm tone that Claudia found oddly belittling. 

“Not much. I was on the side of the road, a few days ago, but beyond that…” She tried another shrug, as if it were no big deal. “There’s nothing.”

Rose nodded slowly, a flicker of mild alarm and concern replacing her skepticism. “Nothing?”

Before Claudia could elaborate, the Doctor burst through the doors. He bounded lightly across the room, footsteps clanging loudily on the grating, coming to a stop at the console, where he began pressing buttons and pulling levers in a flurry of motion.

“Hang onto something. It’s gonna get a bit bumpy,” Rose instructed Claudia, who, while confused, immediately snagged onto the railing.

With an onslaught of terrible sounds, the entire place began to shake. The center of the console heaved like a great beast as her passengers were tossed about the room.

“Don’t worry, it’s meant to do that,” Rose assured, tossing a smile at the frightened Claudia. She then lunged to grab hold of the console, making her way to the Doctor’s side, where she asked, “What happened?”

“Ship’s losing orbit. I’ve got to lock onto the Storm Drive before it enters the atmosphere.” At Rose’s confused expression, he elaborated, “Great big old science vessel needs great big power cells. If they hit the surface they could wipe out half the planet.”

“Must be Tuesday,” Rose grinned. She did that a lot. Claudia wondered if her face ever ached from it. 

The Doctor returned it, but it seemed to be more of an afterthought than as an expression of how he was actually feeling. 

With a flourish, the Doctor slammed a final lever into place and the room stilled.

“There we go! Timaltian vessel out of Earth’s orbit, safely on it’s way to the sun.”

“The sun?” Rose argued. “Isn’t that a bit extreme?”

The Doctor shrugged, evidently unbothered. “If I just leave it, it would be an open invitation for them to come straight back and pick up where they left off. Can’t have them sending your lot into a panic now, can we?”

“What about the people?”

The Doctor began fiddling with the console. “They’d all evacuated by the time I rerouted the power. Whatever they were doing, they had it all packed away in the escape pods and halfway across the solar system before I could get anywhere near it. So…” he spun on his heel to face Claudia, his eyes hardening inexplicably. “That brings us to you.”

Claudia fidgeted with the sleeve of her dress. It was identical to the one she woken up in. Dinstral had provided a new one every couple of days, passing the fresh one through and collecting the old through the small window in her tank. She’d been a bit embarrassed at changing in front of other people, but had gotten used to it quickly. She’d had to.

“What were you doing on that ship?” The Doctor asked with a sharpness that Claudia didn’t feel was justified. 

“I don’t know,” she responded quietly, hating those words more and more as time wore on. Even she was beginning to wonder if those were the only words she knew. 

“What do you mean you don’t know?” The Doctor snapped, causing her to flinch slightly at the tone. “What kind of rubbish answer is that? You were there, in the lab while they were experimenting. Surely you’d have been able to pick up on something. Or are you just thick?”

The outburst shocked both of the young women equally, but Rose wasn’t as limited by the same uncertainty as Claudia.

“Doctor! What the hell’s gotten into you?” The blonde snapped, coming to Claudia’s defense. “She said she’s got no memory past a couple weeks ago. So if she says she doesn’t know, she probably doesn’t know. Alright?”

The Doctor didn’t apologize but at least seemed to realize that he’d been out of line. He took a step back and frowned before reaching into his jacket and pulling out a slender silver tube with a glowing blue light at one end. He held it out and waved it around Claudia’s head.

“Human. Female. Twenty three, give or take,” the Doctor mused, half to himself. “Odd. Very odd.”

“How’s that odd?” Rose inquired. 

“What?” The Doctor rocked back on his heels awkwardly. “Odd? Why would that be odd? Human. Perfectly normal human.”

“You said it was odd,” Rose pressed, not about to let it go.

“Did I say odd?” He fumbled. “I meant to say not-odd. Completely average.”

Rose rolled her eyes but let it drop. The Doctor returned his attention to Claudia.

“So what did you notice?” He asked, more controlled this time, though she didn’t miss how his eyes refused to rest entirely on her face. She tried not to feel hurt by it, but what Mr. Stray had said about being crippled flashed in her mind.

“Assistant Dinstral would come by sometimes to give us injections and start an Optimising cycle,” she explained quietly, her voice so low that it was nearly swallowed up in the spacious room. “But other than that they left us alone.”

“‘Optimising’, what’s that?”

She tried to explain it the best she could. It was pathetic, at best, but the Doctor seemed to grasp the gist of it.

“Cellular remodulation through harmonic resonance? Could be. Science is a bit shaky, mind you…” The corners of his lips twitched up at the pun, earning a small smirk from Rose. “But could be. What about those injections?”

“They were green,” Claudia offered, though she knew it wouldn’t be much help. 

“Right, because that really narrows it down,” he sighed sarcastically. “Were there any others or was it just you?”

“There were three of us. There were four, but…” Claudia trailed off at the memory of the young boy convulsing as he was suffocated by gases. 

“But?”

“They… terminated one,” she admitted bitterly. 

Rose grimaced but the Doctor didn’t bat an eye. “Because the experiment went wrong. What for?”

“Umm… they said he was aggressive.” She shuddered, remembering the blood that had been drying on his mouth and chin. “I think he killed someone, on Earth.”

“That’s what brought us to the ship,” Rose added. “The killing. Human experiments set loose on Earth. That’s how we found you.”

“There were people that found me before I was brought to the lab, they thought that I had killed someone,” Claudia murmured.

“Did you?” Rose asked sharply.

“I don’t remember hurting anyo…” Claudia hurried to explain.

“I doubt it matters,” the Doctor interrupted. “What else? Anything useful?”

“Solane said something about how they weren’t trying to make mindless killers,” Claudia voiced her thoughts aloud, hoping he would find some part of it helpful. “And Dinstral argued because he was the first test subject to accept the serum, or mutation, or something like that. Sorry, I don’t remember it very well. It’s been a while,” she added apologetically.

“That’s alright. You’re doing brilliant,” Rose comforted.

The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair, lost in thought. “Mutating. But into what?” Not for the first time, he turned to study her through narrowed eyes. “You said that you don’t remember anything past a few weeks ago. Does that mean you don’t remember what happened a few weeks ago, or that you don’t remember anything at all ever?”

“There’s nothing. Past a few weeks ago, I might as well have not existed,” Claudia admitted quietly. “I don’t even know my name. I made this one up.”

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully and reached into his jacket. He produced a small plastic case that opened with a slight pop as he took out a clear cigar shaped tube with little black cubes on each end. 

“I need a blood sample,” he explained and at Claudia’s nod, he pressed one end to her upper arm.

Claudia winced as an unseen needle pierced her flesh and watched as the clear section was filled. She was used to having her blood drawn after her time in the lab, so the sight of her own blood didn’t make her stomach turn.

“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” The Doctor commented, holding the sample against the light of the console. He stood there stiffly for a moment, and she thought maybe he was deliberating on something. 

Finally, he met her eyes, and his expression left Claudia both bewildered and breathless. She couldn’t even begin to decrypt the complex emotions swirling in his eyes, much less understand the cause of them. She managed to pick out pain and anger, but the rest were far too deep for her to comprehend.

Then he started, shaking off whatever train of thought he’d been on. He turned suddenly and vanished down a corridor. Claudia took a step, intending to follow, but was stopped by Rose.

“Let’s just leave it for now, yeah?” The blonde draped her arm across the other girl’s shoulder. “You’ve been locked up as a science experiment for weeks. What you need is a hot bath and a good night's sleep. We can figure out all the details later, right?”

As desperate as she was for answers, Claudia had to admit that sleeping on a bed, a real bed and not a cold metal floor, sounded heavenly. Then she realized that she had never slept on a bed before, nor had she taken a real bath. Then she was confused again.

Rose smiled sweetly and took Claudia by the arm to guide her deeper into the impossible ship. As interested in exploring as she was, Claudia couldn’t push the mental image of the way the Doctor had looked at her out of her mind. It made her feel disoriented and exhilarated, but inexplicably like she’d done something wrong.

“I’ll show you around later,” Rose was saying, ignorant to Claudia’s whirling thoughts. “This place is massive. It could take days to see all the main rooms, and you look like one good push would do you in.”

“That bad?” She had no idea what she looked like, only that she was tired. The adrenaline that had been pounding through her system was fading fast, leaving her drained and just a bit shaky. 

“Nothing some proper sleep can’t fix,” the blonde reassured with another warm smile. 

They took a few turns and when Claudia was thoroughly lost, Rose showed her down a narrow corridor. There were doors on either side, all metal with a name plate displaying the occupant’s name in swirling gold letters. 

“Are all these people here?” Claudia asked, startled. She skimmed some of the name tags. Names like Ian, Sarah Jane, and Adric jumped out at her, making her feel a bit overwhelmed at the thought of having to memorize that many people.

“No,” Rose hummed, not giving the doors so much as a glance. “Lots of people have stayed with the Doctor over the years. I’ve just been here a year, and already we’ve had Jack and Adam travel with us. Adam only stayed for one day, and his room’s still here.”

“What happened to them all?” Claudia felt the urge to flinch at the name Jack. The chances of it being the same Jack that had threatened her in the park were hilariously slim.

Rose shrugged, suggesting that she hadn’t given it much thought. “Dunno. Probably had just been visiting. Suppose they just went home.”

Something about that didn’t sit right with Claudia. Looking up at their names, crafted with such care, she couldn’t help but think that they all had been important.

“What about you?” Claudia couldn’t help but ask, reaching up to trace her fingers along the name Jo. “Are you visiting, too?”

“What makes you say that?” Rose demanded shrilly, causing Claudia to turn to see the blonde staring at her haughtily. “Do I look like I’m temporary?”

“I don’t know,” Claudia said honestly, unhappy that she’d already managed to offend the closest thing she had to a friend. “Sorry, I didn’t…”

Rose sighed heavily through her nose. Her shoulders slumped slightly, and Claudia couldn’t help but think there was more to the other girl’s anger than her clumsy comment. 

“S’alright. Anyway…” Rose nodded at a door without a name engraved on it. It was right next to a door that said Jack and directly across from one that read Rose. “That’s mine, there.”

Claudia couldn’t help but notice that Rose’s name was in exactly the same script as all the other names in the hall. 

She blinked the thought away, deciding to puzzle over the other names later, and instead focused on her own door. She looked to Rose briefly, not wanting to do something wrong. 

At the other girl’s nod, Claudia reached out and grabbed the handle. The smooth metal went from icy cold to warm and tingly in less than a second. Claudia yanked back her hand, holding it protectively against her chest in case the door randomly decided to bite. 

Rose laughed quietly. “It’s not going to hurt you. Look.”

Claudia watched in fascination as lines began appearing, melting into the metal like an invisible force was stamping them into the door. After a moment, Claudia was written proudly in elegant gold letters.

“That’s me,” Claudia said dumbly, causing Rose to laugh again. 

“Course it does. It’s your room, isn’t it?”

“My room,” Claudia repeated, staring at her name in awe. A small flame of happiness flickered in her chest. My room. 

“Are you gonna open it or not?”

Claudia shook off the bizarre sensation of having something that was hers long enough to actually turn the handle and open the door.

“Blimey,” Rose mused, following Claudia through the threshold. 

Blimey, indeed. The low-lit room was fairly large, and absolutely every surface was covered with a variety of pillows, blankets, cushions, wall hangings,  paintings, and carpets, none of which contributed to any form of theme or color scheme. Cushy, dysfunctional, organized chaos. Not to mention the sheer number of plants scattered about the room, sitting in ornate pots, sitting on the floor, perched on every table and dresser, and hanging from the ceiling. 

Not that it was messy or disorganized. In fact, the clashing colors and surfaces came together rather nicely, creating a warm, somewhat boho environment. A maximalist grandmother’s haven, emboldened by the smell of sugar cookies and eucalyptus that wafted faintly through the air.

“Nice. But busy, though,” Rose commented. 

“I love it,” Claudia declared, beaming as she fondled the lace of a throw pillow between her forefinger and thumb. The carpet was thick and squishy under her bare feet, a wonderful change from the cold metal or tile floors she was accustomed to.

“Course you do,” Rose laughed. “The TARDIS builds rooms for each person. She must’ve known how you’d want it.”

“How does she know?” Claudia flopped down on the small velvet couch, bouncing lightly on the burnt-orange surface and getting back to her feet. 

“She telepathic,” Rose explained, bemusedly watching as Claudia tenderly stroked the silky leaves of a tropical plant with a certain amount of reverence that made the blonde wonder if she’d ever seen a plant before. “Gets inside your head.”

“She’s inside my head?” She touched a finger to her temple experimentally to see if she could feel the machine’s presence.

“In a good way,” Rose said quickly. “It’s a bit weird at first, but you get used to it. Now, look…”

Claudia snapped to attention, blinking at Rose with wide eyes. 

“...Bathroom’s there.” Rose pointed to a door just off to the side of the room. “Closet just over there.”

“I don’t have any clothes,” Claudia said quietly, looking down at her plain white frock and shoeless feet abashedly. 

Rose smiled kindly. “That’s alright. The TARDIS keeps it stocked. There’s a main wardrobe, too. Stuff from all sorts of time zones. But she keeps all the daily stuff in the personal closets.” Her smile broadened. “We can always go shopping, too. There’s this one moon, and it’s entirely made of shops. Me and the Doctor went a while back, but it’ll be nice to go back with someone I can shop with.”

“The Doctor doesn’t shop?”

“He tries, but he gets bored easy. Honestly, you turn your back for two seconds and he’s getting kicked out for starting an argument over the proper use of some sort of space toaster.”

Claudia grinned. “Space toaster?”

Rose beamed back. “Yeah. Now, what d’you say you start getting settled? I’m sure the Doctor’s got a lot planned for tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Claudia said simply. She ambled over to the bathroom. The light turned on automatically, revealing the dark stone tile and the smooth curves of the sink, toilet, and footed bathtub. 

“This is nice,” Rose commented from where she was leaning in the doorway. 

But Claudia wasn’t paying attention to the bathroom’s aesthetics. Her focus was on the large mirror over the sink, where an unfamiliar young woman was staring out at her. 

“That’s me,” she said stupidly, studying her own face.

“Yeah?” Rose said, uncomprehending. She frowned. “Did you not know what you look like?”

Claudia shook her head. She’d caught a few obscure glimpses of her own reflection in the glass windows of shops when she was wandering around on Earth, but those had been faint and distorted. Now, she got the opportunity to properly study herself for the first time.

She was of medium build and average height, with dark hair that came to just below her shoulders and olive skin. Her eyes were soft brown and a few freckles dotted her button nose. 

Average, in all, but Claudia thought that she might be pretty. She liked the way her plump lips curved and the shape of her ears. Rose had been right earlier, she did look a little worn. There were circles under her eyes and her cheeks lacked any sort of healthy color while her hair was frizzed out and lifeless. 

Claudia turned back to Rose, realizing that the younger girl had been strangely quiet. The blonde was watching her with a slightly sad expression, something akin to pity dancing in her eyes. 

Claudia didn’t like it.

“Do you need anything else?” Rose asked after a moment, brushing back a lock of yellow hair from her face. 

“No, I think,” Claudia said softly, turning back to the mirror.

“Then I’ll just leave you to… rest or whatever. You know where my room is, if you need anything.” 

“Rose.” Rose turned back, eyebrows raised expectantly. “Do you think he… you know… Can he… fix me?” The question was tinged with desperation. 

That’s how she felt. Broken. She was half a person without her memories. The scientists had known that and had seen her as nothing more than an experiment. A lesser being. 

Claudius. Crippled. Lame.  

“If there’s anyone who can help you, it’s the Doctor,” Rose insisted. “I know he was a bit rough earlier, but he will, you’ll see. Tomorrow, we’ll get it sorted, alright?”

Claudia nodded, comforted by the other woman’s conviction. 

Rose left Claudia to bathe and sleep. An hour later, Claudia, clean and warm, drifted off to sleep on her bed, covered in way too many blankets and pillows. For the first time, she felt completely safe. Her last thought before sliding into unconsciousness was of her imaginary mother and father. They waited for her in her dreams, calling out to her and making her feel loved.

[stevesnailbat]

fear of the (un)known | steve harrington

chapter one : lost and found

summary: Grace, or 007 as she had been called, finally escaped Hawkins Lab after seventeen long years. But, freedom is a lot harder than she thought it would be to maintain.

warnings: mentions of abuse/torture maybe?, angst, not much in this chapter

word count: 2.0K

She had been trying to find someone, some life, some civilization for so long that she had begun to forget what other people’s voices sounded like. The sound of trees rustling in the wind and animals running past her was all she knew anymore, but she was craving something new. It had been two days that she had survived in the woods, but it felt like years at this point.

Escaping the lab wasn’t a challenge, but what came after was the hard part. She spent weeks planning how she’d leave, how she’d make herself look normal enough to sneak out under the oblivious guard’s noses. The planning, the packing, the stealing, it all paid off in the end. She was able to hide normal clothes behind the poor excuse for a bed that she had for a day or so, long enough for her to gain the trust—more like manipulate the trust—of one security guy. One person, that’s all she needed to deceive in order to get out. And that’s exactly what she did.

She hated manipulating people’s minds with her powers, but it had to be done. She was desperate to finally be free. After hearing about 011 escaping far before she did, it was all she could think about. Sure, the poking and prodding had pretty much stopped after Brenner disappeared, but it was still a living hell in the lab.

So, she made it out into the real world with a little manipulation. But, she was finally free, for now at least. She had the ability to do what she wanted. Well, she’d have that ability as soon as she could find somewhere to stay other than the woods.

Still, she pressed on. Through the wind and cold, she survived in her flimsy sweatshirt and grungy sweatpants. She knew she couldn’t stay out there for much longer, but each turn she took had the same trees and the same leaves. The sun had set for the second time now and her mind was tired from trying to pay attention for any form of life besides the damn squirrels.

It was night two when she saw light for the first time, meaning she was near some kind of building. As she got closer, she realized she was on the back end of some neighborhood. It wasn’t where she wanted to seek refuge after living in the woods for almost two days, but it sufficed. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure of where she’d go to find help. That help she needed really fell right in front of her without any hard work, though.

When she got near the closest house, she saw a covered pool and some chairs near it. The backyard of the home was illuminated by a dim security light. Something was off, though. It was like someone was outside, or getting ready to walk outside as she approached from the darkness that was the woods.

Her instincts were right. As she stepped onto the concrete near the far end of the pool, the sliding glass door of the home slid open. She noticed the boy as he casually walked outside, flicking a lighter on and off as he made his way to one of the pool chairs. He had deep bruises along his face and she couldn’t help but wonder where he got them from.

In the moment that she had of staring at the boy from afar, she panicked. She told herself that she wasn’t ready to interact with people just yet, that she should just run into the woods again and stay there for a while. When she stepped backwards, the boy’s head snapped in her direction. He stood up and shoved the lighter into his pocket, trying to focus on wherever the noise came from.

He seemed harmless, just a little scared of what was unknown in the darkness. She wanted to see what he was thinking or to tell him that it was fine. But she had sworn up and down to herself that she wouldn’t do it anymore, that she wouldn’t read people’s thoughts or play with their minds unless she absolutely needed to. So, she stood frozen in her spot in the shadow, hoping he wouldn’t see her.

“I can see you, whoever you are.” he said in a warning tone, taking another step towards the darkness. “You should probably just come out or I’ll come over there.”

His voice sounded threatening, but frightened at the same time. He seemed to be on edge from the moment he had walked out. She wanted to listen in so badly, but she knew she shouldn’t, she couldn’t, she wouldn’t. She was already exhausted anyways, using her powers might make her pass out at any moment.

To ease the boy’s fears, she stepped out of the darkness hesitantly. She needed help and he needed relief from his fear, so she decided the situation was safe enough. His expression immediately softened when he saw the frail girl in front of him. It took him a moment of staring to realize that the girl was around his age, mainly because of dirt and despair covering her face.

“Who—Who are you?” he stammered, staying a safe distance from the girl while trying to get a better look at her. “Holy shit. Are you alright?”

She couldn’t manage to squeak any words out at first, only opening her mouth to close it once more. The pure terror that was in her eyes concerned him, but he tried to stay calm. He watched as she tried to speak, but couldn’t think of words to say. Tears pooled in her fear-filled eyes as he took a step towards her, making her backing up timidly.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, I just need you to tell me who you are.” he coaxed calmly, putting his hands in the air as a sign of peace. “Did you come from the woods?”

She nodded slowly, the words she wanted to speak stuck in her throat.

“I—I need help.” she croaked out eventually, pointing to the house as she did.

“Help? Are you hurt?” he implored, examining her body from afar.

“I walked for two d—days.” she stammered, her bottom lip quivering in fear as if he’d hurt her if she told him the truth. “I am tired.”

He knew it was wrong to take a complete stranger into his house, but something about her was pulling him in. It was stupid of him to be helping her, but it seemed like the right thing to do in the moment. She looked so helpless and scared when she first saw him, he couldn’t just leave her out there.

The boy’s bedroom was quaint, a lot more homey than the so-called bedroom that she’d been living in. When he took her into the house, she refused to sit down. She was hesitant as she followed him in, so she stayed far away from him.

Steve rummaged through his drawers until he found some new clothes to replace the tattered, muddied ones that she had on. He reached his hand out to give them to her and she flinched slightly, thinking that he was coming towards her.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise.” he said with a weak smile, trying to make her feel safe as she reached for the clothes. “Do you want to shower?”

“No.” she snapped, eyes wide as she hugged the clothes against her chest; she didn’t trust him enough yet to let him out of her sight for that long.

“Okay, I—I’ll get a washcloth for you to clean the dirt while you change.” he replied, walking towards the bathroom attached to his bedroom.

She turned to quickly put the clothes on after he left the room, listening to the water run from the bathroom. The clothes she had taken off were folded on top of his dresser when he came back out. He handed her the cloth and watched her closely, trying to finally get a good look at her.

“What’s your name?” he asked, his voice gentle as he spoke.

“Grace.” she whispered, having to wrack her brain for her real name that she hadn’t been called it in years.

“Well, Grace. I’m Steve.” he said with an uneasy smile, watching as she scrubbed her cheeks and neck thoroughly. “Why were you out in the woods for two days?”

She shrugged in response, not knowing how to answer the question without giving herself away. He sighed in defeat as she shrugged, running his fingers through his hair nervously.

“Okay, you don’t have to answer that—I guess. I’ll let you stay here tonight, but you can’t stay after then, okay? I’ll help you find your way home or I can take you to the police station for help—“

“No!” she exclaimed, the fear that had nearly dissipated was present in her eyes again. “I don’t—don’t have a home.”

He locked eyes with her for a moment, searching for some kind of sign within them to tell him that she was lying—but she wasn’t. She didn’t have a home to go to if he would have left her. Steve watched as she lowered the washcloth from her face, his eyes locked on her hands. Something dark had caught his eye a moment before—a tattoo. The number 007 was etched on her wrist, the same way that El had 011 on hers.

“Holy shit.” he mumbled under his breath, making her eyes go wide when she saw realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

Panic rose in her chest and suddenly, she felt the urge to vomit. She could see the fearful expression he held in his eyes, but knew he was trying to keep calm. He began to pace in front of her for a moment, not knowing what to do with himself. She felt tears spring to her eyes once more as thoughts of what was going to happen ran through her mind. For a moment, she thought about her powers, about using them to get out of the situation. But, Steve’s voice stopped her thoughts.

“Okay, okay. So, from the tattoo on your wrist, I’m gonna guess that you escaped the lab. Am I right?” he asked and she nodded meekly as fearful tears slid down her cheeks. “So you—you probably have powers, actually—I don’t wanna know right now because it’ll freak me out if I know what they are.”

“I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise.” she pleaded, repeating the words he had said to her earlier.

“That’s good to know.” he scoffed. “God, this is crazy. But—we can’t do anything about this right now. I know someone who can help you, I think. We can go see them in the morning and get this shit figured out, okay?”

She nodded, keeping her mouth shut to stop him from changing his mind. He didn’t seem angry, but frustrated instead. It made her want to cry that she had been so foolish, that she had exposed herself so easily. Steve walked to the bed and grabbed one of his pillows, tucking it underneath his arm along with a blanket from the end of the bed.

“I’m gonna sleep downstairs in the living room and you can have my bed.” he said, watching as she shook her head again at his words. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Please.” she said, the look on her face was desperate.

“Okay, I‘ll sleep on the floor.” he replied, setting his pillow down next to his bed.

Neither of them said anything as they laid down, because neither of them knew what to say. Grace laid down in the bed and faced the wall, her exhaustion taking over almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Steve, on the other hand, was wide awake. He had just finished fighting demodogs a day ago, he really couldn’t seem to catch a break. His mind was raging with thoughts of why this girl trusted him so much and why shit like this always happened to him. The only thing that was keeping him sane in the moment was the fact that she’d be safer tomorrow, once he took her to the cabin.

tags: @sourapplebaby @harringtown @hystericalmedicine @charmed-asylum @queenofthehairharrington @a-magey @lemonypink @daddystevee @karasong @heart-eye-harrington @batbatsupermanme (let me know if you want to be added/removed from the taglist!)

[foursideharmony]

Collateral Damage (Part 2)

Summary: Roman gets into trouble while questing in the Imagination. Rescue arrives, but will the rescuer be all right?

Word Count: 1,372

Relationship(s): Platonic LAMP, with some extra Prinxiety focus

Warnings: It's a whump/hurt/comfort fic, sooooo... Pain, blood, loss of consciousness, description of wounds, general unhappiness, swearing, poison, sickness, clinic/hospital setting, arguing (mild)

“...ncey! Roman!”

Roman came to with a start. Virgil was bent over him, close to panic.

“Oh...there you are, Phase Two,” Roman mumbled with as much pep as he could muster, which was next to none.

“Phase...what are you talking about? Are you delirious?”

The ache of his wounds came back in a rush, and Roman winced. “Not yet.” He tried to push himself up into a sitting position, failed, and weighed the pros and cons of just passing out again.

“No! Stay awake, Roman! You need help and I don't know how to get you back by myself!”

“Right,” Roman said with a little more force. He focused through the pain and summoned a small glass bottle. “Here, give this to Logan when we get back.”

“Didn't you hear me?” Virgil said, coming down off his fright enough that his voice stopped resonating. “I don't know how to get back, Prince Pain-in-the-Butt! I only got here in the first place by following your beacon! Which, by the way,” he added, poking Roman's nose (which was one of the few parts of him not pulsing with pain), “don't set up little magic whatevers that are going to involve the rest of us without telling us first. It's just rude, okay? Come on—can you stand?”

“I guess I'm about to find out,” said Roman.

It took a long time for them to get him upright, and at every step there was more pain and a brief spell of lightheadedness. Roman was sure his ribs were at least bruised, if not cracked, and his thorn-inflicted wounds felt like fire.

“You look like crap,” said Virgil. “Seriously, you're pouring sweat. What did he do to you?”

“I'll be fine as long as you give Logan the bottle,” Roman said.

“So we're going with cryptic? I hope this means you're saving your detailed explanations for how to get back to the mindscape from here.”

“Oh. Right,” said Roman. “That's easy—it's through the red door.”

“Okay, and where is the red door?”

“Wherever you need it to be.”

“Roman!”

“Find a corridor and explore until you see it. It shouldn't take more than a minute or two.”

“O...kay... Come on, then. We're walking now.”

Roman, leaning hard on Virgil for support and now also direction, concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other and let himself drift...

~~~~~

Virgil was worried. First of all because that was his job, and second of all because anyone would be worried in these circumstances. Roman had gone unsettlingly quiet. He was still walking, more or less—his legs were moving and his feet were hitting the floor at approximately the right angle—but his lack of response suggested that either he wasn't properly conscious and was moving on autopilot, or had withdrawn into himself to prevent losing consciousness altogether.

It was probably for the best. Roman had obviously been in a lot of pain while they were talking, which meant he was probably hurt pretty badly, and Virgil didn't think he could pick the prince up and carry him without aggravating his injuries. He wasn't bleeding too badly, but the wounds looked very irritated, the surrounding flesh red and swollen. He was developing a waxy pallor to go with the sweating, and that set off all kinds of alarm bells.

Virgil shifted, shouldering more of Roman's weight, and gently steered him toward the nearest archway leading out of the hall. Sure enough, it was a corridor, and Virgil turned the first corner he came to and there was the red door, at the end of the adjoining hallway. “Small favors,” he muttered, all but dragging Roman toward it in his haste to get him to safety and help.

As soon as they were through, in Roman's room proper, Virgil began calling to his fellow Sides, using the Tempest Tongue deliberately, this time, to instill the necessary dismay. “Logan! Patton! We have an emergency here!” He continued to guide Roman out of the room, and the other two met them in the hallway, converging from wherever in the mindscape they had been.

“Oh no, Roman!” Patton wailed. “What happened to him?”

“The Duke,” Virgil said simply. “I didn't see everything, but it took a lot just to get him standing, and...” He dropped his voice for no reason that he could identify. “...I think he's been poisoned.”

Patton made a horrified gasp.

“Roman?” Logan said firmly. “Respond if you can hear me, please.”

“Mmnn,” went Roman. “M'here. Ow.”

“What do we do?” Patton squeaked.

“Firstly, we remain calm,” said Logan. “Secondly, we should move Roman to a location where we can more readily evaluate and treat his injuries.”

“Where's that?” said Virgil. “I don't think we should try carrying him downstairs. It's been worrying enough getting him this far in the shape he's in.”

“Hmmm...” Logan mused. “I know just the place.” He made a sweeping gesture, and the hallway swiveled around them, blurring...and reformed as no less than a medical examination room. Logan's black shirt collar and striped tie peeked out from between the lapels of a white lab coat, and there was a stethoscope slung around his shoulders. Patton and Virgil found themselves dressed in clinical scrubs—Patton's were light blue with a pattern of cartoon dogs dressed as healthcare personnel, and Virgil's were lavender with black bats and spiders.

“Oh,” Virgil said in a small voice. “The Mind Palace clinic.”

Roman lay on the examination table, having settled back into a fitful unconsciousness. Patton immediately went to the cupboards lining one wall of the room and began stacking a tray with rolls of gauze and antiseptic pads sealed in their packaging. Logan manifested a clipboard and began looking over the ailing prince and making notes.

“His temperature is up,” he observed. “I believe you are correct, Virgil. His symptoms are consistent with the presence of a toxin in his bloodstream, and the inflammation of these wounds suggests the vector. Well done.”

Virgil suddenly remembered the bottle Roman had given him and fumbled with his outfit until he found it in a pocket. “I think he knew. He said to give you this.” He set it on Patton's tray as the Moral Side carried it over to the table, getting a good look at himself in the process. It was small enough to fit comfortably in the hand and contained about an ounce and a half of what looked like soda water mixed with a few pinches of gold and silver glitter. It was stopped with a cork, and there was a piece of card attached to it via a slender red ribbon looped around the neck.

Logan picked it up and peered at the card. “Antidote #2,” he read. “Unfortunately, there seems to be no information regarding dosage or even method of administration.”

“I'm no expert or anything,” said Patton, “but if the poison is in his blood, shouldn't we give the antidote to him the same way? Like a shot?”

“It isn't quite that simple, Patton, to say nothing of the concerns regarding timing and—”

“Guys,” Virgil cut in. “You're missing the obvious. This is one of Princey's magic potions. It's not gonna take rocket surgery to figure out.”

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Rockets are manufactured objects, not living creatures. The practice of surgery does not apply to them.”

“I mean this is simpler than you're making it out to be. It's a potion in a pretty bottle. Get him to drink it.”

Now the Logical Side frowned. “Under the circumstances, that would be...extremely reckless.”

On the table, Roman whimpered in his swoon.

“Okay, you two, enough. Let's not forget what we're actually doing here,” said Patton. He briskly stripped the wrapper off an antiseptic pad and went to work cleaning Roman's scratches. Roman flinched at the touch of the stinging medicine, and Patton leaned down to him. “Roman? Kiddo, can you wake up for us for just a minute? We need to ask you something.”

After a bit more coaxing, Roman opened his eyes a crack. “That's it, just like that,” Patton said in a voice brimming with warmth. “I'll make this quick for you, Roman...we have your antidote but we don't know how we should give it to you. Can you please tell us? Are you able to do that?”

Roman blinked a few times, as if processing Patton's words. Grimacing heavily, he propped himself up on one elbow into a half-sitting position and reached the other hand out half-blindly. “Bottle,” he croaked. Logan quickly handed it to him, and the prince flicked the cork out with his thumb, downed the contents in only a few seconds, and let both the bottle and himself fall—it smashed on the floor, while he flopped back onto the table.

“Told you,” Virgil said quietly.

Shaking his head in a way that was impossible to interpret, Logan joined Patton in resuming treatment of Roman's injuries. Virgil found himself at loose ends—there wasn't really room for a third clinician at the examination table, and without a physical activity to perform, he had no way to distract himself from the unnerving atmosphere of the setting. He found himself backing against the counter where the scrub sink was and drumming his fingers against the hard surface. The hollow-backed stainless steel rang like a cymbal.

“Virg?” said Patton without taking his eyes off his task. “Are you okay over there?”

“Yeah...it's just...I don't have anything to do, and I'm...not digging the whole hospital thing.”

“You are not obligated to stay,” said Logan. “We have this well in hand.”

“I just don't feel right, leaving while Roman still needs help.”

Now they did look up. “You did help him,” said Patton. “You pulled him out of danger and brought him to us, so we can help. Go ahead and get some rest; you're looking pretty worn out.”

Apparently it had taken the observation by another Side for Virgil to notice his own exhaustion, but he suddenly felt his energy take a nosedive. “Yeah,” he agreed, rubbing his face with the heels of his hands. “The rescue took something out of me.” He threw a two-fingered salute and sank out.

He arrived in his room, back in his usual casual attire and bone-weary. He didn't bother to shuck off his hoodie or even kick off his shoes before flopping face-down onto his bed.

After a moment, he rolled over onto his back, wiped sweat from his brow, and dropped off asleep.

To Be Continued...

Taglist:

@today-only-happens-once    

@hitmewiththatfanart33   

@maryann-draws 

@ghosttb0y    

@raygelkitty

@theladyoffangorn

@justanothernerdyfandomblog

@imbadatnames8d