#if you call her short she cries and spontaneously combusts

[moonrabbits-sys]

what the friggle fraggle (wip)

name: halloween species: bat height: 4'11 pronouns: she/her some fun facts: her wings are folded into her clothes cuz they didnt make bat friendly clothes yet her name was inspired by cosmo chainsaw man (cosmo says halloween liek thats her only word) the boots beside her is demonias i used em as a reference for her boots but i gave up halfway thru and turned it into amy rose boots i gave her luigi socks

[lillaydee]

One More Try

Landlord Joel Miller / Reader

They say a woman is tested when her man has nothing. But a man is tested when he has everything. What happens if you both passed the test, but your partners did not?

WARNINGS:

Unplanned Pregnancy, Soft Joel (The Last of Us), SO MUCH FLUFF, Joel Needs a Hug (The Last of Us), Alternate Universe - No Cordyceps Outbreak (The Last of Us), Protective Joel (The Last of Us), Joel is Bad at Feelings (The Last of Us), Hurt Joel (The Last of Us), Reader was pregnant before meeting Joel, Slow Burn, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Mentions of Miscarriage (Not OC), Landlord Joel, No Outbreak AU

SERIES MASTERLIST

---

You kicked the door closed, your hands letting go of the two large suitcases you had been wheeling up the five flights of stairs. You were soaked to the bones from the rain, your sneakered feet sore and squelchy from your very long walk. You took all your clothes off, glad for the warmth radiating from the heater in the small study room you had rented for your doctorate. You opened one of the suitcases, found that some of the clothing was not completely soaked and pulled on some dry ones. Small victories, you thought. You scanned the room, mentally calculating for spaces to hang your wet clothes, hoping some clothes will be dry enough for you to wear the next day.

After some strategic thinking and making do with what you had in the cramped space, you managed to get all the wet clothes hung one way or another. You sat on the single sofa at the corner of the room, feet propped up on the small coffee table the last candidate had kindly left you, wrapped the crocheted blanket around your body, and fell asleep.

A small shake woke you. Your supervisor Professor Frank Anthony’s worried face appeared in front of you. Relieve floods it when you responded. He gave you a bottle of water, and two pills. You are burning up, he says. What the hell happened? You cannot think. You just felt like shit that’s been dumped onto the highway and driven over again and again. When you didn’t answer, Frank searched for his phone, and called someone. You fell back asleep.

When you opened your eyes again, your fellow candidate and best friend Maria was in the room with Frank. Both looking at you like you might spontaneously combust. You felt better than you did, but you knew without a doubt that you still had a temperature. How could you not? You walked almost 10 miles in the rain, dragging two full suitcases behind you, needing the walk to clear your head. What happened? Frank asked again. An overwhelming feeling of helplessness overpowered you, and you broke down.

---

Maria was packing your stuff. You were going back home with her, she said. No, she will not take no for answer. But you couldn’t do that, she lived with her boyfriend in a studio apartment. Frank offered you a room at his house while you looked for a place, but you said you didn’t want to intrude. You were perfectly fine right there. You will finish this doctorate if it’s the last thing you did. You just needed to find a job, and a place to live. You’ll be fine.

You cried in Maria’s lap for hours that day. Frank came up to tell you he had started the process for you to be his research assistant, just so you can start over while you look for other jobs. You only had your dissertation to complete, he said. You could do this. Maria’s phone rang, and after a few minutes of talking, she came back with good news. Her boyfriend’s brother owned a building of short-term rental apartments just outside the university compounds, she said, and one was available for you if you moved in today. The rent was cheap, and it’s close to the university, which was perfect seeing as you no longer had a car.

You were desperate. You had a headache; you wanted to throw up, everything that had happened since yesterday evening was just bubbling up in your chest threatening to come out of your mouth. But this would mean one thing less for you to think about. You quickly agreed.

When Maria drove up to the apartment building, the two of you were greeted by her boyfriend Tommy. He hugged you tight, telling you how sorry he was, and that they will help you get through this. He helped you with your suitcases into the building, up the stairs to the first floor, and into the first door on the right. Apartment 1A. The door was wide open, a man inside with a basket of cleaning supplies and a mop bucket, finishing up on mopping the linoleum floor.

It’s a room. A bathroom immediately across from the door, next to the small built in double door closet, an open floor plan living/sleeping area that housed a queen-sized bed, a love seat and a coffee table, and an eat-in kitchen separated by a collapsible door. It’s a hell of a difference from the posh condo you were just living in yesterday, but at least you will have a roof over your head.

Maria helped you unpack while the other man continued doing some last-minute cleaning. Tommy had gone to get some food for the three of you. Silence and depression must have oozed from you, enough to make Maria stop unpacking and sit with you on the love seat, her hand holding yours. The two of you just sat there quietly, eyes on each other, Maria silently telling you she will be here for you no matter what.

The man broke the surprisingly comfortable silence. He told you the only window in the room was stuck, but he will be back the next day to fix it. Also, the laundry room was downstairs, just to the left of the mailboxes, and if you needed anything, he lived right below you, just knock on his door or call him, and he will help you out in any way he could. Maria looked at him disbelievingly, as if she couldn’t believe her ears.

You thank him, asking for his name. He gave you his card.

“Joel, Joel Miller.”

And he quickly left the room, avoiding Maria’s judgmental eyes. Miller, oh, this is Tommy’s brother, you think.

When Tommy returned, the three of you ate silently, the two of them not knowing what to say to you. Tommy was quietly seething, unable to believe the man you dedicated the last ten years of your life to would do this to you. Before he left, he told you to call him or Maria, or even Joel if you needed anything. But you remember, you no longer had a phone. He even took that away from you.

When Maria took you to get a new phone, your credit card was declined. Your account had been frozen. The clinic you went to for your fever told you your health insurance had been cancelled. You had to use the cash you had to pay for a new phone and decided that buying Tylenol was cheaper than getting checked up.

He had worked fast. You had not even been out of the house for 24 hours and he had taken every comfort you had away from you. You went to sleep that night with your pillows wet from your tears. Ten years. And he just pulled the rug out from under you.

---

You met Max when you were at the teacher’s training college. He was a barista at the café you frequented, his good looks and charm quickly capturing your attention. You were inseparable since then, and when you graduated, he moved with you to the small town you were teaching at. Work was scarce for him, so when he told you he wanted to go back to school and earn his degree in business management, you fully supported it. He went to school during the day, and bartended at night, while you took a waitressing job at the same place he worked at after school ended, and a bookstore during the weekends to make ends meet.

When he graduated, with well-paying jobs still being scarce in a small town, he persuaded you to move to a bigger city, where job prospects for him would be better. You moved to the city with him, where he quickly got a job at a small marketing company, his pay was not much and both of you had to take other jobs to make ends meet. You were still teaching at a school just on the edge of the city, doing your master’s degree part time. He fully supported your decision to further yourself, knowing that you have bigger dreams to teach at a university one day. You lived in a small one-bedroomed apartment, not much, but just enough for the two of you. Your life was going well, despite money being tight.

When the company he worked for went out of business, he told you that a couple of his coworkers were getting some money together to start their own company, some of the clients from their old job had already agreed to be their first clients. It was all a go, except he needed help with some seed money, he’s about ten thousand dollars short.

Your late mother had been a frugal woman, being a single mother had made her very careful with money, a trait she had passed down to you, along with her savings when she passed. You have the money, but it would wipe out your savings. Your conscience was telling you no, do not give him the money. Be careful! But you were in love. And he really was all you had left, so you gave it to him. Max was grateful, he worked hard, money was tight that first year, but things were looking up. His earnings increased, you both could afford to let go of your other jobs, and you managed to graduate with a master’s degree on time, with no loans to your name.

As time went by, his company started doing very well indeed. You expressed your desire to pursue your doctorate, and he was more than supportive. He suggested you become a full-time student, after all, you did support him when he needed you, so why not quit your job? He could easily support both of you. His income was now more than ten times yours anyway, you have access to the joint account, might as well go full on. Let him take care of you, please? So, you did. You enrolled at a university a little over ten miles from your new shiny luxurious condo and became a full time PhD candidate.

Max, being so busy with his company flourishing, was seldom home. He bought you nice things, took you on vacations, all in the name of thanking you for being there for him when he had nothing. But being raised in a humble home, you weren’t looking for luxuries, only his time and attention, which he promised you will have once things settle down a bit. Being home alone in a big condo that had a foyer bigger than your entire first apartment together was unnerving, so you rented a study room at the university, a small room where you could do your work comfortably, without distractions whenever Max told you he would be late coming home.

And that was where Frank found you this morning.

You had arrived home the night before to your two suitcases outside your door, Max and his smirking secretary Esther demanding you hand over your keys, jewelry and phone. You came to this house that HE bought with two suitcases of clothes, he said. You leave with them only. Leave everything he bought for you behind. You were blindsided. You did not see this coming. Despite him being busy, his attention to you had never wavered. He was the same loving man you met all those years ago. Sexually, he had never given you doubt that he was still attracted to you. So, you asked him, why?

He said he wanted wife material. Someone to wait for him at home, not someone who was so ambitious they couldn’t stop getting degree after degree. What was the point of spending the rest of his life with someone who could only think about furthering themselves and not giving themselves fully to him? He wanted a wife, a family, and Esther was willing to give him that, he said, while she smugly caressed her lower stomach.

Oh. Oh…

He had always said marriage can wait. Babies can wait. Let’s focus on the business and your studies first. Get yourselves sorted, and then we can talk marriage and family. But clearly, he just didn’t want them with you. You reminded him through tears that you had always been there for him, that you had helped build his business from the ground up. He smirked, went inside, came back out and tossed a wad of cash at you.

Ten thousand dollars.

And shut the door.

---

Joel was folding his laundry when you came in, your laundry just bunched in your hand instead of a basket, having only moved in with your suitcases. He rushed towards you with a spare basket, and you thanked him quietly, your face still pale and your body weak. You still had a temperature, but you just wanted to get yourself sorted. You did your laundry quietly, mentally calculating the amount of money you had, silently budgeting, trying to figure out how to stretch the amount unceremoniously thrown at you as much as you can. The RA position Frank had gotten you will help, but not much. By your calculation, you had another year at the most before your dissertation was completed, so you needed to figure out how to get by until then, so you can graduate on time.

You just felt so stupid. You let him handle everything, thinking that your love was strong enough, that you were a solid couple. You let him talk you into quitting your job. Into having a joint account that you no longer contributed to since you were no longer working. You stood there, leaning against the folding table in the laundry room, watching your laundry go round and round in the machine.

Joel watched you silently. He wondered what you were thinking about. He had been where you were, albeit the situation may have been different. He remembered the first few months after Laura pulled the rug from under him, how hopeless he had felt, how stupid, how meaningless life had been. If not for Tommy and Maria, he would have drowned at the bottom of a bottle long ago. He wanted to say something to you, to let you know everything will be alright, but it was not in his nature to speak to women he hardly knew, let alone one in your situation. He was a man of action, not one of many words.

He watched you as you looked at your laundry in the machine, eyes looking but not really. He knew you were not really there. He knew how impossible it was for someone in your situation to think about other things, no matter how hard you tried. He worried for you, which was not like him. He only knew your first name, rental agreements hadn’t even been signed yet, Tommy insisting all that can be taken care of later. Joel placed all his laundry in his basket before taking another glance in your direction.

You were not there.

He walked around the table, and saw you on the floor, passed out.

Joel didn’t hesitate, picking you up and taking you to his truck. He called Tommy on the way, driving the four miles to the university emergency room – why does this place have to be so huge???? When they asked him for her insurance information, he told them he would pay for the treatment, giving them your first name, placing his credit card on the counter. He waited nervously outside while they checked you out, filling in the situation to Tommy, Maria, Frank and his husband Bill when they got there.

The doctor came outside, calling for Joel. All of them stood up, Joel stepping forward to talk to the doctor.

“Your wife is fine, Mr. Miller. She is just dehydrated and has a slight temperature. She can leave in a little bit. You can go in to see her if you want, but first, congratulations Mr. Miller, you are going to be a father.”

---

You couldn’t process it. You were pregnant. How? You were on birth control. Just your luck to still get knocked up despite your efforts to be safe. And the father of your child had just dumped you for his secretary, who was also pregnant with his child. Shit, you should get tested. Who knows where else he’d been dipping his wick. And you need to get insured. Shit. You had no insurance. How much was this going to cost? And oh God, you’re going to have a baby. How much do babies cost? How much would the check-ups be? You still hadn’t paid the deposit and first and last month for your apartment. And now this too. Shit. Why did they take you to the ER? Did they call an ambulance?

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

You couldn’t catch your breath. The machines started beeping. Shit, calm down. No, no, no, no, no… more procedures, more money down the drain. Money you didn’t have. You quickly pull the heart rate thingy off your finger. But the beeping didn’t stop. The wires on your chest. You ripped those off too. No. No unnecessary procedures. You knew what was wrong with you. But the nurses were there at the first warning of the machines, they pushed your shoulder onto the bed when you tried to get up. No. No, no, no, no, no. You saw the needle. Shit. How much would that cost you now? No. No!!!

Everything went dark.

When you opened your eyes, you were no longer in the treatment room in the ER. You were in a room, a ward, and it was dark outside. There was only one bed, there were still wires on you but none on your chest, thankfully. Just that blasted heart rate thingy pinching your forefinger. You pulled it off. Your throat felt so dry, despite the hanging IV bag that was uncomfortably connected to your hand. You needed to pee. You took a deep breath and forced yourself to sit up, your feet hanging off the bed. You stood up, one hand on the IV drip stand, took a step and immediately felt woozy.

A pair of warm hands suddenly appeared on your waist, steadying you. You turned around, your eyes meeting a pair of sleepy brown eyes that you had only seen a couple of times. His clothes crumpled, his hair tousled and his face showing evidence of uncomfortable sleep all over.

You took a step back from him, almost toppling over in the process, but he tightened his hold of you, one hand letting go of your waist and taking your arm instead. He told you not to freak out. It’s only him. His voice was rough from being awoken so suddenly, but you suddenly relaxed. Something about his voice was so calming to you, but you couldn’t put a finger on what it was.

Once you had steadied yourself, he let go of you. You went to the bathroom to relieve yourself, and when you came out, he was sitting in the chair to the left of the bed, which explained why you didn’t notice his presence. He helped you back to bed and gave you some water. You were so thirsty you drank three full glasses before you placed the glass down on the cabinet next to your bed.

“What happened? Why am I warded?”

“You had a panic attack. They had to sedate you, keep your overnight to make sure you’re alright.”

“I’m pregnant,” you said slowly, remembering what happened.

He nodded. You covered your face with your hands, tears falling so suddenly even you were surprised by its presence. Your knees came up to your chest, and you hugged them, rocking your body slightly, processing the realization. Joel got up to his feet, his hands twitching, as if he wanted to comfort you but didn’t know how. He let you cry. His eyes averted slightly, giving you some privacy, flicking back towards you every now and again to make sure you were alright. He finally settled back down when you wiped your face clean with your gown and took a deep breath.

“Why have you stayed here with me Joel?”

“They wouldn’t let Maria stay – she’s not family. And since I brought you in, they thought I was the father. Someone should stay with you, make sure you’re okay.”

Oh.

“It’s okay if you want to go, Joel. I’ll be alright. I’m not your responsibility. I’m sure you’ll be more comfortable sleeping in your own bed.”

“I’m already here,” he said with a shrug. “Are you going to tell him?”

“I don’t know.”

The two of you sat in comfortable silence for a while, before he told you to lie back down and get some rest, but not before he made you drink more water. When you woke up, Joel wasn’t there. The nurses were fussing over you, taking your blood pressure, checking your temperature, before a doctor came in with more nurses and some interns, an ultrasound machine wheeled in behind her.

“Good morning, Julia, I’m Dr Servopoulos, but you can call me Tess. I’m here to do your ultrasound. Would you be okay with my interns being here to learn?” she asked, a smile on her face.

You nodded. Tess pointed at one of the interns who began to read your patient history, when Joel came back in, a paper bag in one hand, a tray with two to go cups in the other. He stopped when he saw the crowd of doctors around your bed.

“Oh, I’ll wait outside,” he began retreating.

“Is he the father? If so, he can stay,” Tess said, looking at you.

You looked at Joel, remembering what he told you last night. You nodded. You offered him your hand. He didn’t hesitate, taking it after placing the bag and cups on the chair he spent the night in. You knew this was not appropriate. You had only known him for a couple of days. But you were really scared, you didn’t want to be alone for this. You will apologize to him later, you thought. But he didn’t seem to mind, sandwiching the hand you offered him between both of his. Why did this feel so right? His hands were warm, the comfort they brought spreading throughout your body, and suddenly you didn’t feel so scared anymore.

When Tess lifted your gown up to prepare for the ultrasound, Joel averted his eyes, he moved further up to stand beside your head, his hands still clasping yours. You looked up at him, your face scrunched slightly when an intern squirted cold gel on your belly before the fart-like sound of the almost empty bottle made you snicker like a child. The young lady was persistent, determined to get every last drop of gel from the bottle, making more and more fart noises, causing you to lose control and started laughing out loud. He lost it when you snorted, letting out a full belly laugh along with you, making you forget you didn’t know this man at all. The doctors couldn’t help but laugh along. Even Tess, who must have done this a million times, was wiping tears from her eyes.

When the tiny bean of a baby appeared on the screen, you stopped laughing.

“There’s your baby Mom, Dad,” Tess said, pointing at the screen.

You felt all your problems melt away. You had a baby in your belly, this was real. You were pregnant. You felt Joel’s hand tighten around yours, and you squeezed back without thinking.

“Looks like you are about seven to eight weeks along,” Tess continued. “Let’s see if we can hear the heartbeat.”

She clicked on some buttons and maneuvered the wand around a bit and the room was suddenly filled with the whoosh whooshing sounds of your baby’s heartbeat.

Your sight suddenly went blurry. Uncontrollable tears filling them to the brim. Despite the tears, you couldn’t help smiling. You couldn’t take your eyes off the screen. You were pulled from your haze when you felt a pair of whiskered lips touch your temple. You looked up at Joel, a wide smile on his face, his teary eyes glued to the screen, just like yours were.

After you were cleaned up, Tess talked to both of you about pre-natal care, telling you your due date, and setting up the next appointment. The whole time, Joel’s hand never left yours, and you were in no hurry to let go either. His presence was welcomed. He calmed you down, although you had no idea why.

After the doctors left, the two of you settled back down, Joel finally letting your hand go. He brought tea for you, and some pastries from the café downstairs. After he helped you eat your own provided breakfast, he put the cups and plates away, before sitting back down, and began apologizing to you.

“What are you apologizing for?”

“Getting carried away,” he said, his eyes on his own feet, referring to the kiss on your temple. “Thank you for letting me share that with you. It was a special time. I know you would’ve preferred to share that with the father and not some strange man you have just met,” he said quietly.

It was then that it hit you, you didn’t even think about Max throughout all that wonderful experience. It was as if your body and soul had accepted that you would be alone in this, even if you hadn’t decided if you were going to let him know about the baby yet. You assured him it was alright and thanked him in turn for being there for you. He didn’t need to, but he did, and you had a wonderful first check-up as a result.

Maria and Frank called, wanting to come by to check up on you, but you had already been discharged, so they agreed to come visit at the apartment instead. Joel took care of the bill and took you to your new home. He made a point to keep the bill out of your reach. When he cut the engine and ran out to open your door for you, you took the bill out of the console and quickly hid it under your shirt. You needed to pay him back. For your own peace of mind. When Frank and Bill and Tommy and Maria arrived, Joel left the five of you to talk. Only then did you open the envelope. The bill was over several pages, along with a copy of the ultrasound. You took it off the clip, and studied the bill.

Your heart skipped a beat at the amount displayed. For one night? Shit. What are you going to do?

Maria took the bill, looked at it and gave it to Tommy, who glanced at it before pocketing it. But they all knew what you were thinking. Bill, ever the no nonsense lawyer that he was, looked you straight in the eyes and asked you if you were going to call Max. He told you that it would be entirely up to you, of course, but they think you should, and see how it would go from there. If he agreed to take responsibility, at least you wouldn’t be burdened by the medical costs and anything else the baby needs alone – lord knows that man could afford it. But if he didn’t, then maybe that’ll just hammer down the reality of what an asshole he really was, and you could move on from there, with their help.

In your heart, you knew you wanted to tell him. He was the love of your life for ten years. This was the baby you two made together, with love. You may not have planned this, but the love was real, at least on your part. That night, you thought about what it would have been like to find out about the baby if you two were still together. Would he have been happy? Would he have hugged you and kissed you and cried tears of joy? One part of you would like to believe so, but your mind kept flashing back to the way he dumped you. Without warning. Cold. Smug. Uncaring. He didn’t even care that you wouldn’t have any way to contact an uber or a taxi, he didn’t care that it was raining and cold. It was as if the last ten years didn’t happen. And ten thousand dollars was all he thought you were worth after all those years you helped support him. And you couldn’t get the sneering look in his eyes when he tossed the money at you, like you meant nothing to him, not even yesterday’s garbage.

But Bill was right. He should know. It was his baby, after all. And even if you were heartbroken, you didn’t have the heart to keep a baby away from its father. So, if he decided to be in the baby’s life, you would let him.

So there you were, with Bill, Frank, Tommy, Maria and Joel by your side, standing in front of his condo entrance. The guards wouldn’t let you in, their faces apologetic, but they were only doing their jobs. When he drove up, Max got out of the car aggressively, asking you what you wanted. Didn’t he make himself clear? You were no longer welcome there. Behind him, Esther got out of the car, her face clearly annoyed that you were there.

“I’m pregnant, Max.”

He froze. “What?” His eyes searched your face and body, he took a tentative step towards you. “You’re pregnant?” a small smile graced his face.

For a moment, you thought he was going to hug you.

But his smile faltered, and his eyes turned cold again. “How do I even know that’s mine? Or that you’re not lying? You spend all day on campus. How do I know you haven’t been whoring around? How do I know you’re not just saying this to trap me?”

You couldn’t believe your ears. He’s the one who left you for someone else, but he’s accusing you of sleeping around? No. You can see Tommy and Joel taking a step towards you in your periphery, but a blurry figure got in front of you first, and a resounding smack hit your face.

Esther was screaming at you, calling you a gold digger. A scorned woman. A used up old bitch. Why couldn’t you just accept that he doesn’t want you anymore? Why would you break up a family? Let it go, bitch, let it go. He’s mine now. Go and hide among your books and let us live our lives in peace. How dare you try to take him away from me? As if you could ever. Look in the mirror, slut!

At this point, Maria pulled you away, walking you to her car. Joel, Tommy and Frank followed. Bill handed a stunned Max his card, telling him to contact his office when he made up his mind. Esther was still screaming. Throwing her shoe your way, calling you every name in the book. But you didn’t even hear her at this point, Max’s accusatory words lingering in your ears.

Bill came to see you in your study room a week later, an envelope in his hands. Max had contacted his office. He enclosed a cheque with enough money to pay for your studies, health insurance and rent for a whole year, which would be enough for you to get back on your feet, under the condition that you sign a document relinquishing him of all his fatherly commitments to the baby you were carrying forever.

You didn’t even blink when you signed the document, despite Bill and Frank’s protests. Were you proud that you took his money? No. But he had hurt you so much at this point, you just wanted to be rid of him. Why worry for someone who didn’t want you anymore? Your mother raised you alone. You could do it too. You had a life to start living again, a doctorate to finish, and a baby to grow and eventually, raise.

Alone.

Part 2

[potionsprefect]

Innocence

Pairings: Ethan Ramsey x Victoria Clarke

Word count: 3.2k

Summary: An incident brings up painful memories for the Ramsey’s

Category: angst

Warnings: mentions of violence, do not read if you are not comfortable with this topic

Luke and Lily Ramsey grew up knowing just how important their parents were at that their jobs made a difference to a lot of people. It inspired them to pursue a career in that path, something Ethan and Victoria had no say in whatsoever.

The twins wanted to help people the way their parents did, knowing how what they did was a worthwhile job. Luke had chosen the path of his parents and wanted to become a doctor whilst Lily opted for an E.M.T path, the excitement and adrenaline thrilled her. They had already made their plans.

Today was just another day, Luke and Lily were at school and were going to meet their parents at the hospital. Luckily, it was Friday and the weekend was nearly upon them. Just a few more hours and they could get out of this uniform. Victoria always used to pick them up but the older they got, the more they nagged her to let them make their own way home. And at sixteen years old, having your mum turn up to pick you up from school was embarrassing in their eyes.

Lily walked to her locker before reaching inside for her science book and pulling it out. Just one more lesson, Lily kept telling herself, then it will be the weekend. As she went to shut her locker, someone got there before her, slamming it tightly. The sensation made Lily jump before she looked to her right.

Anna Martinez was glaring at Lily with such fury, Lily wouldn’t be surprised if she spontaneously combusted.

“What do you want Anna?” Lily sighed, hugging her book to her chest.

“Don’t ask questions Ramsey. That’s not your job. Remember the last time you asked a question.” Anna glared.

Lily winced uncomfortably, her hand clutching her side where a large bruise currently was, still not fully gone away. That was 2 weeks ago.

“I’ve come to ask you if you’ve completed the little task I set you.”

Lily shifted uncomfortably. Anna Martinez was Teresa Martinez’s granddaughter, the woman who died after being given a potential cure for Rhodes disease by Lily’s mum. Anna never got the chance to meet her as she was born after Teresa had died and she wanted to learn more about what had happened. She had asked Lily to get her old chart which was filed away deep in the hospital drawers.

Lily knew she would be breaking all the rules if she did and her parents would be in a lot of trouble. She wouldn’t risk her parents careers for anything or anyone, not even Anna Martinez. When she refused, she had a rough encounter with her fist.

Lily hadn’t told anyone about what happened. Her attitude had definitely changed however, she became more short tempered and snappy than usual and brushed off several concerns with a simple “I’m fine, I’m just stressed about school.” Lily didn’t want to cause a fuss, she never had before and she certainly wasn’t going to now.

“No I haven’t and I’ve already told you I’m not going to.” Lily said.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s unethical, mad and downright stupid, just like the person who came up with the idea.”

Anna gripped Lily’s arm tightly, her face red with anger. “Nobody calls Anna Martinez stupid.”

“Oh am I the first one. What an honour.”

“Shut your mouth Ramsey.” Anna sneered.

“If you want the information you’re gonna have to kill me.” Lily hit back.

The anger in Anna boiled over and she gripped Lily with both hands and pushed her up against the lockers, the sound echoing throughout the hall. “Don’t tempt me Ramsey. You’re not as strong as you make yourself out to be.”

“Please let go of me.” Lily tried not to let her voice tremble but a slight whimper left her lips.

“See? Not as strong.” Anna said before letting go.

Lily let out the breath she was holding as Anna backed off.

“Why do you only pick on me? Why not my brother?” Lily asked.

“Because Luke Ramsey doesn’t care about anyone but himself. And Lily Ramsey is too much of a chicken to stand up for herself. Watch your back.” Anna sneered before stepping away and walking down the corridor and round the corridor.

Lily could feel tears threatening to spill from her eyes, she quickly wiped them to avoid anyone asking any questions. She then quickly hurried to her lesson, not wanting anyone to wonder if anything was wrong.

— — — — —

“Lily are you alright?” Lily’s best friend Ashleigh asked her after the lesson had finished.

“Yeah why wouldn’t I be?” Lily replied.

“You looked tense all lesson. Has something happened?” Ashleigh asked as the two girls walked to their lockers.

“I’m fine honestly.” Lily said with a wide smile even though it was fake.

“Damn I’ve just realised I left my pencil case back in class. I’ll see you later.” Ashleigh said heading back the way they came.

Lily continued to the lockers where she put away her remaining books. She then text Luke to meet her outside the entrance so they could head to the hospital. As Lily headed towards the doors, she suddenly felt a hand grab her arm and yank her into a empty classroom.

Lily whipped her head around and saw Anna alongside two other girls who all looked at her with fury in their eyes.

“Bad move to mess with me Ramsey. Very bad move.”

Everything then went black very quickly.

— — — — —

Luke knew Lily wouldn’t appear on time. She never has been one for being punctual, which was unusual considering she had inherited every trait from their dad and Ethan was always known to keep a tight schedule.

Luke just wanted to get to the hospital so they could meet their parents and then head home. He didn’t know why his mum and dad wanted them to come to the hospital when they could just go home and wait for them there. Sometimes, they could end up being delayed and Luke and Lily will be sat at the hospital until at least 8 or 9pm.

Luke sent a text message to Lily before deciding to go back inside the school to see if he could find her. It wasn’t like Lily to avoid answering messages on her phone, she was always on the bloody thing.

“Luke! I was just about to message you! Have you seen Lily?” Ashleigh, Lily’s best friend caught up to Luke, out of breath.

“No I was just about to go look for her. She was supposed to meet me outside so we could go to the hospital. Do you have any idea where she might be?” Luke replied.

“She was heading to the lockers. I had to go back and get my pencil case and when I came back she wasn’t there.”

“Let’s search for her. She has to be here somewhere.”

The two looked round the corridors for any sign of Lily, checking in empty classrooms and passing by teachers. Despite an extensive 10 minute search, they hadn’t found Lily.

In a corridor in another part of the building, Lily Ramsey was stirring. She was lying on the floor, it was impossible to get up.

Every inch of her body was screaming in pain yet Lily couldn’t muster the energy to cry out. Instead she just gave a small whimper.

Her head was pounding and she could feel something sticky trickling down her face. But as much as she tried, she couldn’t move her arm.

“Any sign?” A voice outside the door said.

“No none.” Another voice said. Lily recognised that one immediately. It was Luke’s.

“Where else could she be? Did she have a detention to attend?” The first voice said. Lily then realised it was Ashleigh’s.

“Not that I know of.”

Lily needed to get their attention. With as much energy as she could, she tried to slide closer to the door. Her voice was cold and raspy, they wouldn’t have been able to hear her.

Her right wrist was in a lot of pain and as she looked down at it, it was bruised and bent at an unusual angle. With her other hand she tried to knock against the door as hard as she could, the sensation causing a lot of pain, Lily cried out in anguish.

“Did you hear that?” Ashleigh’s voice said.

“Yeah. It sounds like it’s coming from this classroom.” Luke said. Lily heard footsteps get nearer and someone on the other side tried to open the door. “It’s locked.”

“I could’ve sworn I heard a noise. Wait here and I’ll go find someone to bring a key.” Ashleigh said and Lily then heard retreating footsteps.

It wasn’t long before the footsteps came back and Lily could hear the sound of a key being put into the lock. The door swung open.

“Oh my god! It’s Lily. Go and get help NOW!” Luke hurried over and crouched down beside his sister. Ashleigh’s face was a mix of horror and despair as she hurried back down the corridor.

“Luke...” Lily managed to draw a slight breath, she could feel herself slipping in and out of consciousness.

“No Lily no. Don’t you dare fall asleep. You have to stay awake you hear me? You have to stay awake. Who did this to you?” Luke trembled, his hands cradling his twins head and his eyes stinging with tears.

“Anna...” Lily whispered desperately trying to stay awake. “Tell M-Mum and D-Dad that I’m s-sorry.”

“What? Who’s Anna? And why would you want me to tell Mum and Dad that?” Luke asked.

“M-Martinez.” Lily said. Her eyes then flickered shut.

“Lily? Lily stay awake!” Luke shook her but she didn’t wake up.

Ashleigh came running back with the Principal Joseph Banks.

“What’s happened?” The Principal asked, his eyes wide.

“I don’t know. I asked her who did this and she said someone called Anna Martinez.” Luke replied, a tear rolling down his cheek.

“Right I’ll call an ambulance.” Principal Banks said pulling out his mobile.

“It’s gonna be alright Lily. You’re gonna be alright.” Luke said looking down at his sister.

He knew there was gonna be hell to pay. He would make sure of it.

— — — — —

The emergency call came through and Sienna, who just so happened to be near the phone picked it up.

“Bloom Edenbrook go ahead.” Sienna said making notes for the emergency coming in.

As the words were relayed to Sienna, she nodded her head, writing on the chart. She put the phone down and put on the protective gear as she headed out to the ambulance bag to wait for the patient. She didn’t have to wait long before the ambulance rolled up and the doors flung open.

“16 year old female found beaten in a classroom, multiple injures...” The paramedic explained but Sienna’s eyes were solely fixed on the young man getting out of the ambulance with the patient.

“Luke?! What’s happened?” Sienna said but as her eyes trailed to the patient, her heart stopped. “Oh god.”

Lily Ramsey was lying on the gurney, battered and bruised.

“Aunt Sienna! I found her in a locked classroom. I don’t know what’s happened. Please Aunt Sienna, help her.” Luke cried.

“It’s okay, we will I promise.” Sienna laid a comforting hand on Luke’s shoulder to try and stop him trembling. “The Ramsey’s are upstairs. Take her inside.” Sienna nodded to the paramedics who continued on into the hospital. “Can you tell me what happened?” Sienna put an arm around Luke’s shoulders as they walked into the hospital.

“We we’re meant to come here after school to meet Mum and Dad. I was meant to meet her outside the school but when she didn’t turn up, I went looking for her. That’s when her friend and I found her.” Luke explained as the two walked into the hospital.

“What’s going on? I’ve just seen Lily being wheeled in.” Jackie came up to the pair of them.

“She was attacked. Can you go find them?” Sienna replied. Jackie nodded before heading to the stairs.

“I don’t understand why this is happening.” Luke said, fresh tears rolling down his face.

“It’s all going to be okay. Your sister is strong. She wasn’t even scared when she had to have her appendix out all those years ago.” Sienna comforted him.

“Luke?” A voice said. The young boy looked up and saw his parents rushing towards him, concern and panic on their faces.

“What’s happened?” Ethan asked.

“I found Lily beaten up in a locked classroom. She said it was someone called Anna Martinez.”

Ethan sat down next to Luke and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

“I need to see her.” Victoria said striding to the room where Lily was being treated.

“Victoria you know you can’t treat her.” Sienna raced after her.

“She’s my daughter!” Victoria whipped her head around, tears in her eyes.

“And she’s been looked after by the best.” Sienna reassured her. Victoria, feeling the stress fall upon her sobbed into Sienna’s arms.

“She’s my baby Sienna.” Victoria cried.

“I know.” Sienna rubbed her back soothingly. She looked over to the trauma room where doctors were moving fluently to treat Lily.

Just why would someone want to do this to her?

— — — — —

Victoria glanced at the clock on the wall. It read 12:56am. She hadn’t left her daughters side all evening and was determined to stay until she woke up.

The doctors that treated Lily said she had sustained multiple injuries but should wake up soon. She had broken her right wrist and had multiple bruises all around her body but luckily, she had no head injury and so was expected to make a full recovery.

What Victoria couldn’t understand was when the doctors explained that she had old bruises on her body that were not sustained in the attack. That meant someone had done something to her before and Lily hadn’t told anyone.

“You need to sleep.” A voice said from the doorway. Victoria looked round and saw Ethan walking into the room.

“I’m not leaving until she wakes up.” Victoria said, wiping the tears from her cheeks furiously.

“You won’t help anyone if you don’t rest, least of all Lily.” Ethan laid a hand on her shoulder.

“She needs someone to be here when she wakes up.”

“She’ll wake up in the morning. It’s been a long day. Come home.” Ethan wrapped his hand in Victoria’s and gently pulled her up out of her seat.

Victoria sighed, knowing Ethan was not going to give up and that she wouldn’t win. “Okay fine. Where’s Luke?”

“He asked if he could stay round Ben’s tonight to clear his head and I said he could. He said he’d come by tomorrow morning.”

“Okay that’s fine. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like seeing her like that.” Victoria sighed tears falling again.

Ethan wrapped her up in a tight hug before heading towards the car and driving home.

When they both sank into their bed that night all the events of the last few hours caught up with the couple. They were both so exhausted they don’t remember how long they were awake for.

— — — — —

Victoria and Ethan made their way back to the hospital at 6:30am, Luke joining them not long after wanting to know if his sister had woken up yet.

“How is she?” Luke asked as he entered the room.

“She’s not awake yet. Are you ok?” Victoria stood up and gave her son a hug. Although it was more like him hugging her because he was so tall.

“Yeah. Just tired.” Luke gave a faint smile.

“I know it can’t have been easy for you. I’m proud of you for how you’ve handled all of this.” Victoria smiled.

“Thanks Mum.”

“Looks like someone else has something to say.” Ethan said from Lily’s bedside.

Victoria and Luke looked towards Lily’s bed where she was stirring, trying to open her eyes.

“Lily? Lily can you hear me?” Victoria said stroking her daughters head.

“W-what happened?” Lily squinted at the bright light.

“You were attacked sweetheart do you remember?” Ethan asked getting out his stethoscope.

“Yeah I r-remember that. I mean how d-did I get here?” Lily tried looking around but grasped her head in pain.

“You were brought here in an ambulance. Lily what happened?” Victoria asked.

“I... I was heading out to meet Luke and then everything went black.”

“Do you remember who did this to you?” Luke asked. For the briefest of moments she was conscious she has told Luke who did this to her but he wanted to hear it in front of his parents.

“I... yeah I do. It was Anna Martinez.” Lily sighed.

“Who is this girl?” Ethan asked.

“She-she’s Teresa Martinez’s granddaughter.” Lily began to cry.

Victoria and Ethan looked at each other horrified. Luke looked between his parents waiting to see who would react first. But before either could utter a word, Lily spoke again.

“She asked me to get access to her file so she could understand what happened to her grandmother. The first time I refused, she punched me in the ribs, the second time, she trashed my locker and the third... she did this. I’m sorry Mum, Dad.” Tears were rolling down Lily’s face.

“Oh Lily.” Victoria leaned forward and gently pulled her daughter into her arms as the young girl sobbed into her shoulder. Ethan gently ran a hand through Lily’s hair as he comforted her.

“You don’t have to apologise for anything Lily. None of this is your fault. You did the right thing refusing to listen to her.” Ethan said as Lily moved to hug him.

“Ethan? Can I have a word?” A voice said from the doorway. Sienna was looking at Ethan as he walked out the room.

“You gave me a big fright sis. Don’t ever let me see you like that again.” Luke sat down in the empty seat next to Lily’s bed before hugging her.

“I’m sorry. On the bright side at least you got practice for the real thing.” Lily winked.

“Lily!” Victoria cried out.

“What? If I can crack a joke I’m definitely feeling better.” Lily laughed a little.

“That you definitely are.” Ethan walked back into the room chuckling. “Although don’t you ever scare me again like that young lady.” He said in a serious tone.

“I’ll try not to.”

“What did Sienna want?” Victoria turned to Ethan.

“Just that Lily’s vitals are all normal and that she’ll be kept here for observation. And that the police are round at Anna Martinez’s house. Sounds like someone tipped them off.”

“She can’t hurt you again, don’t worry.” Victoria squeezed Lily’s hand.

“It’s not that. What am I going to do all this time in here?” Lily teased.

“Trust you to make a joke out of all of it.” Luke rolled his eyes.

“I think you’ll find it’s sarcasm. And there’s only one person who I learnt that off.” Lily looked at Ethan with a grin.

“Well at least you’re feeling better.” Ethan rolled his eyes with a small smile.

Lily smiled. With her family by her side, she knew she would recover from this. Anna would be punished for what she did and everything would go back to normal. Lily might have the scars to tell a story in the future, but at that particular moment, none of it mattered.

All would be okay in the end.

— — — — —

I promise I will write family fluff next time! I had another brain wave at 12am and this was the idea 😂🥺

Hope you enjoy this. Let me know if you would like to be tagged

Tag list: @ohchoices @openheartfan @queencarb @genevievemd @iemcpbchoices @choicesaddict5 @schnitzelbutterfingers @alina-yol-ramsey @stygianflood @malakemads-blog @gryffindordaughterofathena @magicalshepherdtreeprofessor @openheartfanfics @rookie-ramsey @sophxwithers

[tarithenurse]

Spark - 2

Fandom: Enn Enn no Shouboutai / Fire Force. Pairing: Shinmon Benimaru x fem!reader. Content: Canon compliant themes + more. A/N: After reader’s little sister combusted, reader has been making it from day to day on her own, under the radar. She should never have come to District 7.

2. Detected

The smoke hurts your eyes and makes your nose sting. Everyone knows how differently fire can smell...except this kind. It’s always the same: a sweetened whiff of barbecue carried on the sulphuric smoke that makes everyone want to scream or gag – preferably both at the same time.

Spontaneous combustion.

Following your nose and the dark pillar of smoke rising towards the otherwise perfect sky, you have to dodge people running the other way as well as the debris from the destruction of both humans and the infernal. Why? There’s no time to stop and ask, but the locals are destroying the nearby houses as if there wasn’t enough devastation already.

No, what stop you is the thin wail of the infernal. Broken. Scared. “Mommy,” it calls out on repeat, and now you can see the small, bright figure staggering out of the smouldering house with little hands stretched out in front of it. The nearest people stop mid-movement to stare...then the next plead for mom sends then running. It’s cruel. As if it isn’t bad enough when adults burn, not even toddlers or babies are safe from the flames.

“Mommyyy,” the little one cries.

You had decided to help evacuate, but now your feet are carrying you slowly towards the infernal. The human features of the face is gone, reducing it to a canvass of black and orange hues and allowing your imagination to fill in the gaps until a long-lost smile turns towards you for a second.

“Mommy,” but the voice is not your sister’s and it’s the gruelling infernal staring at your again.

There are no tears for the heat to evaporate this time as you allow the miniature infernal into your arms. The cobble stone under your feet are sizzling hot. Strips of clothes fly towards the sky while blackening and shrinking into ashes and embers – a part of you sighing over the fact that you’ll have to scrounge up a new outfit somehow. Shushing the toddler infernal, the cacophony from before is reduced to whimpers and the roar of the fires around you.

“Move away from him,” a voice instructs from behind you. Calm. Authoritative. Shinmon Benimaru. “It’s time.”

But as you do as told, the flaming bones refuse to let go completely. “Mommyy!”

“It’s alright...we can look for your mommy now.” It’s a lie, bitter like the smoke on your tongue.

Maybe the infernal knows. Maybe the toddler’s need for his mother is stronger still. Either way, your hand almost swallows the fire of what should have been a pudgy fist and the two of you turn your backs to the captain of the 7th company.

There is no prayer. No Latôm to send the soul to rest. Just near soundless footsteps and a wish for the child to find mom and dad. Then the fires dies and the toddler crumbles and turns into dust and ashes.

You keep walking without looking back.

After the scorching heat the air feels cold on your bared body. Well, almost bared: about two years ago, you snug onto Company 6’s grounds and stole a few scraps of old fire resistant material – enough to make a crop top and booty shorts. Not exactly comfortable, but your best decision so far despite the risks of getting caught.

“Hey!” Shinmon still sounds like he’s in charge despite the annoyance in his voice. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Away.”

“You’re not leaving Asakusa until I say so.” Yeah, he’s annoyed.

The moment the heavy hand lands on your shoulder, you break into a dash.

Then the world is turned off.

[meet-me-in-the-pouringrain]

Good evening I’m currently crying about the Cullen Family dynamic I have concocted in my head.

- Carlisle and Jasper sitting down together to better educate their old asses on the social conducts / normalities today.

- Esme and Rosalie taking nature walks together and just talking. Mother - Daughter day. Sometimes, if she wants, Alice joins them.

- Emmett fully starting all out battles be it Nerf, snowball or water balloons early in the morning and all of them throw caution to the wind and join in. It usually ends in couple v couple with Edward off to the side in a huff until Bella joins and fuckin obliterates every single one of them.

- Jasper, Emmett and Edward (when he’s not being so annoying) embrace their brotherly relationship. They wrestle, argue, throw things and fight but it’s usually all in good fun. Until Eddie gets pissy then it’s real.

- Carlisle bonds with the kids when they are turned and makes it a point to do it as often as he can after. With Bella, he sits and discusses Literature for hours, with Alice they discuss her visions and he helps her delve into her past, Emmett (don’t tell Esme) he helps him Scheme, Jasper ^^^^, Edward they barely talk now that Bella is in the picture but when they do they could be up there for hours talking about whatever. He tried with Rosalie but she scares him.

- Esme makes it a point to spend time with the kids too. She and Emmett discuss their farm lives and debate over easier methods, Alice tries to style her differently every summer, Bella and her cook, Jasper usually prattles on for hours about horses and whatnot and Esme smiles patiently unwilling to tell him her farm was a vegetable one and not animal. Sometimes he just wants to be near her because she had the Best Vibes , Rose and her bond over their trauma at first but it slowly morphs into idle chatter about nothing. Edward, in my head, clings onto Esme more than anyone thinks because she reminds him of Elizabeth and usually is just around her while Esme is busting herself with design or painting.

- They honour Esme’s Jewish heritage along with Carlisle’s Anglican beliefs every December and have a mix of the two holidays. Rosalie, Bella and Alice spends hours every November making a menorah for Esme from scratch whereas Emmett, Jasper and Edward tackle the Christmas decorations. Emmett is on light duty. Alice spends hundreds of dollars buying matching clothes and pyjamas for all the Cullens.

- Esme and Bella spends hours in the kitchen whipping up Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner for the pack. Esme also makes various meals for Bella to take to Charlie while they still lived in forks.

- Whenever Carlisle decides to scold one of the children for one stupid stunt or other someone is guaranteed to bite back “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned”

- Emmett calls Esme “Momma” and Carlisle “Pops”. He’s the only one who refers to them that way. But Renesmee called them Nana and Poppy.

- She has nicknames for everyone. Rose is Rosey, Jasper is Jassy, Alice is Alley Cat (Alice thought of it herself and was so proud she tried to get every one to use it. Nobody does) Emmett is Emmy. Bella is simply Mom and Edward is Dad.

- Edward is fucking nice to Rosalie in my head and they have a tradition every December to personalise baubles for the other. 2008 had Rosalie make “Listen to Rosalie next time” whereas Edward made one that stated “you were right”

- Fun Fact! Vampires can smoke weed and drink alcohol in my head. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper definitely were/ probably still are smokers. Alice claims it helps her ignore visions when she doesn't feel up to it, Jasper says it helps ignore the emotions emitted by everyone. As soon as he heard that, Edward jumped on the bandwagon and immediately regretted it.

- They can also drink. One bottle of alchohol and they’re all bladdered. The venom sobers them up quickly but hell if Emmett doesn’t make it hard.

- Jasper and Emmett started a weed farm and did in fact start dealing at their school. Once Esme caught wind, however, all hell broke loose because. "You're hundreds of years old Jasper, you should know better!" "What about Emmett" "HE'S EMMETT"

- The Cullens are forced once a month by Esme to have a game night. Not monopoly though, she's still mad over the fact they had to move from Boston because Rose threw Jasper out of the window.

- Alice in retaliation makes them all have a movie night once a month. Once they had a vampire marathon. They put on Dracula, Interview with a vampire, Hotel Transylvania for Nessie and finally They binged Buffy the Vampire slayer. After the first five episodes, Carlisle almost spontaneously combusts and Edward convinces himself that somehow Angel was modelled after him. Bella threw the TV out of the window.

- Renesmee once suggested a huge game of hide n seek. Her and Jacob (who did NOT FUXKING IMPRINT THANK YOU) were the seekers. She found Carlisle and Esme after a few minutes, her parents after 10, Rosalie an hour later, Alice they didn’t find for a week, Jasper was about two weeks and they still hadn’t found Emmett after a month. He convinced Seth to go with him so Alice couldn’t cheat and they each phone at least once a day. He just giggles and hangs up.

- Rose eventually snaps and she and Leah (look I feel she’d get along best with Rose idk why) head out to find him. She comes back a day later with a sheepish and petulant Emmett behind her.

- Edward has written piano pieces for every woman in the coven. Esme actually has about 20 because Edward’s indecisive ass couldn’t sit still when it was the three of them but she’s memorised them all and hums a tune or two when she’s painting. Rose has 5 because he found his music calmed her in the early days, Alice has two and Bella + Nessie have just the one. Edward cries daily about it.

- Emmett was the one who instigated Mothers/Fathers day. He asked Rose and EmoFuck one day what they did for them and Edward had a panic attack while Rose zoomed out the house to go get Esme a bunch of flowers. They celebrated it ever since.

- Bella + Alice + Emmett blasting “Am I a Man or am I a Muppet” on repeat both out loud and in their heads just to fuck with Edward.

- When hunting, Esme has a tendency to climb a tree and just sit and wait for her husband to walk past. As soon as he’s in her eyesight she ‘falls’ onto him/next to him. She fake breaks her leg and he reverts into Doctor Cullen. The coven in absolutely mortified by this and the two love it. They embrace their embarrassing parents act willingly.

- The Cullens have a naughty corner. The two most frequent users are the Choas triplets; Alice, Emmett and Bella. Carlisle has been put in the corner multiple by Esme for his own stunts- such as turning Rosalie for Edward- and once Esme was put in the corner by Carlisle. They won’t disclose what she did but the next time they were all together in town, a group of Drag Queens came up to Esme and asked where she got her body glitter from.

- The Cullens learning from their past mistakes with the Werewolves and being godsends to the communities they live in. Esme baking and cooking food and donating the lot of it, Rosalie helping out at preschools and kindergartens and being called “Miss Rosie” by half the kids, Bella tutoring students in English, Alice donating clothes to women’s shelters, Edward giving music lessons, Carlisle donating money to those in need. Emmett being that guy who protects all the women from creeps, Jasper helping the quiet kids out with confidence boosts, Renesmee just being an all round kind person and the one who can make friends anywhere.

- When they leave Forks for the last Time, Carlisle donates a huge check to the Tribe with a letter giving gratitude and apologising for everything. Billy cried and Sue had to take the cheque and spread it amongst the tribe.

- Jacob continued phasing for the next 20 years, he regularly takes trips to wherever the Cullens are living to visit Bella and Ness. Whenever it happens, Alice buys him a whole suitcase full of shorts and jeans, Esme bounces of the walls in excitement, Emmett loses his shit and Bella is insufferable but they don’t seen Rosalie or Edward of a day for however long he stays. He eventually stops phasing when Billy passes.

[duraxxor]

Shadowlands: Chapter 1 - Division

Icecrown had often been a referred to as the capital of the Frozen North. Hues of blue decorated by the overcast of frigid snow. Remorseless and more often than naught, it often filled one with a sinking depression. Over the past several years, it had become a monument to undeath. The citadel spires erect in honor of the Lich King. However, much like many areas, the Frozen Throne was once a prison to the first Lich King, Ner'zhul. The Maw itself was originally designed to keep the Jailer imprisoned. But it had long become more a staging ground for something more sinister. Unlike it's mirror opposite, it was completely devoid of any sort of life and beauty. An undying husk plagued by hellish fire and nightmarish shadows that seek only to steal any soul, innocent or sinful of heart. The cycle had been shattered and now their was an rising flux of evil within it's heart... 

" Alphus... Daevara... time to awaken... " A hallowed voice called to him, possessing soulless depth that lacked any heart. Deprived and withered of any sort of remorse for this soul. The flow grating across one's mind like nails to a chalkboard, screeching and gnawing away. Dura's eyes slowly came an open, tugging at his arms as he realized he was in a shackles with his back flat against a metallic wall. The first vision of this formless creature before him haunted his mind as he couldn't make out a face or even a pair of eyes to stare into. Jaw falling open as if he had truly seen a ghost of sorts. "... how curious... you do no show fear but... curiosity... do you not fear the immeasurable pain that is to befall you from the unknown, child? " The voice flowed a testament to mock the mortals weakness of being caught in the first place. Wings of black smog finally painting a memorable picture that slowly caught Duraxxor up with where his story left off.

" Fear? " He questioned the very notion of such, his voice also having grown hollow. The fact rung across his eardrums as he cast a glance across the entire landscape. Never in his lives did he believe himself to find such a grotesque landscape that rivaled even the Scourge. "... What is this? Why am I being restrained like some animal? "He tightly tugged at his bonds, feeling as if the metal was barbed and pulling away at his very soul threads. " What is their to fear? I fear no pain of what is to come? This... land.. where am I?" 

The specter of death stepped over towards a small table off to the side as the harsh cries of some other individual echoed across the landscape, moaning it's displeasure to held prove a point in the words that were about to be uttered. " You are in the Maw... there is no hope. No escape. And you will yield yourself to his will or be consumed by the endless darkness. " The formless armor stepped forward, bearing a blade in arm that pulsed with tethers of anima, fibers of soul magic that was as common in the Shadowlands as mana was back on Azeroth. Another wailing cry echoed from the opposite direction from the last as the feeling of dread tried to creep along Dura's neck. 

Alphus' glare focused on the weapon, noting the magic that imbued the blade before he looked at the specter's helm, treating the eye sockets as a something to stare into. " You seek to torture me for eternity? Then you are sadly mistaken... I will not yield to any pain... there is work to be done and it is your meddling that has delayed the death of one who is worthy... " He hadn't forgotten about Lindeara, a being of chaos that would do whatever it takes to see her plans come to fruition while sabotaging any in her path. He wondered if these creatures had captured her and planned to torment her soul in this land. " Where is she? " 

" It matters not where anyone is... you will yield... whether as a whole being... or a broken one... " The being didn't hesitate or show any caution in her movements as she thrust this sword directly into the center of Dura's pectorals, feeling something tear into him like he had never felt before. It was as if his own soul had spontaneously combusted from inside, burning away. His veins began to start flowing with with erratic magics as he reeled back, crying out in something that truly hurt him.

" You... You wretch... ed! Gaaahhh! " He felt his form start to twist and writhe as bat wings tried to sproud out involuntarily while his features began taking on the form of a bat-like creature, shrieking as the pain began to get worse. He flailed and writhed like an animal that had been caught in a trap, helpless and bleeding out from his wounds. " I refuse... to yield! So much... left undone! " Despite his protests, all he gained was the symphony of cries that followed all over the hell bound lands and the growing pain of the blade being removed and reapplied all across his body. The actions felt as seconds had suddenly turned into hours, days, it almost felt like months were falling away, withering him from the inside out as he felt his body start to grow weak and heavy. " I... will not... yield... " Duraxxor continued to weakly protest, angrily staring at his captor despite the amount of puncture wounds that leaked the energies of his very soul, already tinged with a crimson flow. 

" This one.. shows great promise.. my master... he has already been touched by the power of anima.. " His captor commented, as if to be speaking with another person who was not currently present. Quietly, silence passed between him and this cold creature wielding a sword as a tool. " Of course, master... It is as you say... as a whole or as a fraction.. " The being pulled the blade out, giving Dura moment to linger on the pains of this torture, the winged creature of a man quivering from the consistent trauma being inflicted upon his bodily soul. The specter watched as he lifted up his head and bore his twisted gaze into their form, rumbling with a growl before it was cut short by a sudden slash of the blade that cut right through him as if he were nothing more than sliced bread. A jagged crack suddenly forming across his entire torso.

" What's... happen.. ing!? " Duraxxor could barely audibly speaking as he writhed agony, feeling the tethers that kept himself slowly spread apart. Like a paper husk, we was being split into pieces straight to the central fibers. Discoloration began to settle on his features as he soon found he was losing himself. The images of his life cycling through at a sporadic rate as the pain ignited wildly. His body slowly began to lose physique and he found that even has face was splitting into three sections as he bellowed out loud enough for the other denizens to feel the amount of agony he was enduring. The overly dramatized No following forth before the Duraxxor we knew finally shattered like glass, leaving the chains connected to three individual massses of energy that retained no shape. These shards of what was once the Myotis now writhed in agony in an attempt to rebuild and take on physical forms. A single fragment taking form in a serpentine-like creature that billowed and snapped it's jaws while lashing it's tail wildly like a whip. The second fragment, flapped two limbs that began to form, sharp teeth now shrieking as it flopped around due to being grounded. A full coat of fur beginning to form on the majority of it's body like a grizzled fruit bat. Then finally, at the epicenter of, the last piece began to take on the form of a humanoid. A younger, frail elf that possessed pale features, two snake bite piercings, and a gaze that bore no fruit and was as clear as glass. This new being was gasping for air and naked, possessing quite the panicked look as he felt his throbbing within his chest much like a living organ. Looking around, the creatures and their captor had finally disappeared, leaving what was left of Daevara alone to their own devices.

" What's going on? Why... who are you? " The elf looked to each of the creatures with unfamiliarity and a shivering fear about what was transpiring. 

" Reeeeeeeeeek! What is this?! Why did we fall apart?! " The bat creature screeched and continued to roll around on the ground, making matters worse as the chains started to wrap around his wings. 

The serpentine finally managed to coil up defensively and calm himself, peaking from between his his coils as he hissed at the two. " There is no need for panic... it would appear that our soul has been split asssssunder... I do not undersssstand what hasss happened... but now.... we are trapped together... but sssseperate.. " 

The bat finally ceased his movements as he tried to straighten himself up as he looked over towards the elf and speak. " Hey, you, you look just like us as a kid... does that mean you're the main part of us? Why are you so weak and frail? "

The elf finally sat up, curling his body to hide his shame before he finally answered his bat companion. " I... I don't know... I just feel this... vulnerability... I don't... feel like.. myself... what is... happening to... Me? Us? You? I don't even know... " Confusion showed about his features as he looked between the two.

" How the hell are we going to get out of here? What if we are stuck like this forever?! " The bat piped up as he wildly flapped his wings around, gusting air before he found himself whiplashed by the serpent's ridiculously long tail. " Ow! "

  " Would you calm yourself, you gutter snipe... do you want to catch the attention of more denizens of this place... we have to remain calm until we formulate a plan to rid ourselves of these chains... we are all a part of this until we figure out how to fix it... " The serpent appears to be the voice of logical reasoning out of the entire trio before he coiled himself around the elf protectively. " She will come... someone will come... don't forget this... " 

The elf looked towards the crimson serpent as if he was providing some insight and guidance to the situation before he nodded. " Very well... we will hold out as long as we can... until then.. let us... keep one another company, my friends. " He reached over to his left side and actually pet the bat creature along his head before he spoke further on the matter. " I shall call you... Randdu... and Sphula... " He gestured to the serpent with his other hand for the second name before he gestured to his own chest. " For now... I am simply Daev.... and we will figure out how to escape and settle the score... this i swear to you both... "

[theundercovermarvelfan]

(Still finishing up the 31 prompts for the Whumptober Challenge for @whumptober2019!)

Using another alternate prompt for today!

tw: plane crash, drowning, open water

Day Twenty-Eight - Waterlogged

Warning alarms blared at him from every direction, several different bright red lights flashing at different intervals. 

“I know, I know, I fucking know!” Clint snapped as he pried one hand off the controls long enough to flip the three switches and smash the two buttons in order shut down the alarms, all while his eyes remained trained out the windshield. 

“Hawkeye, report!” Steve sounded winded over the comms. 

“Critical damage,” Clint ground out as he struggled to keep the controls level in order to keep the Quinjet from taking a nosedive. An explosion uncomfortably close caused the jet to jerk and Clint groaned with the effort of keeping the failing chunk of metal and technology in the sky. “Two bogies in pursuit.” His gaze swept the area, trying to figure out his best option. “Gotta take it out over the water.” He yanked the controls with all his strength and banked a hard right toward the ocean. 

“Can you eject?” Natasha asked urgently.

Two more near miss missiles rattled the jet. “Negative, not an option. I eject and they’re just gonna pick me off in the air.” 

“Stark--”

“Suit’s grounded, Cap,” Tony said before Steve could even ask. “Repulsors are offline.”

There was a heavy silence over the comms. as the realization hit all of them. Clint was on his own. And this jet wasn’t staying in the air much longer. 

Clint was forced to pull his focus back to the situation at hand as another missile detonated just passed the nose of the jet. Clint wrenched the control back toward him, forcing the nose of the jet upward and sending the worst of the explosion under the belly. He decided to deliberately ignore the smell of smoke that was suddenly a little too potent for comfort. 

He was now well over the ocean, the enemy jet still in close pursuit. There wasn’t much that could be done. He was out of ammo. The jet was failing. 

But he could at least take one of these bastards with him. 

He eyed his back radar and mapped out his strategy. He reached out and yanked a lever for the emergency shutoff for his last remaining engine on the right side. With all the power directed toward the left, the jet made an otherwise impossible spin in midair, the now dead right side dipping drastically. With no time to react, Clint’s left wing smashed into the wing of one of the enemy jets, shattering it and sending the aircraft spiraling away. 

Unfortunately, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The Quinjet spun out violently as it fell like dead weight out of the sky, and there was nothing that Clint could do at that point but brace for impact. 

The jet hit the water at a sideways angle, and Clint was thrown so hard against his harness that he could almost hear bones cracking. Air was ripped from his lungs and for a long moment all he knew was crushing pain. This, his ingrained survival instincts kicked in. He jerked his sidearm out and fired several shots into the windshield as he unhooked his harness with his other hand. The jet was angled back and to one side as the water began to drag it down. Clint grabbed a lifevest from under his seat and then he launched himself up and out of the broken windshield, ignoring the bite of the glass that still clung to the opening. 

Clint barely had time to gasp in a shallow breath clean air before the jet was swallowed by the ocean, creating a powerful downcurrent that immediately sucked Clint underwater. It was like the water itself had forcibly grabbed him and was dragging him viciously down to it’s depths. 

Instincts screamed at him to claw his way back up to the service, but after a moment Clint managed to regain his wits. Instead, he kicked and pumped his arms as hard as he could to propel himself horizontally away from the current. After what seemed like an eternity, he downward pressure finally vanished as he made it out of the downcurrent. 

He blindly felt the lifevest that he had miraculously managed to hold onto. His hand finally grasped the tab and he pulled it, triggering the automatic inflating mechanism. As the vest inflated he was pulled back up to the surface, and as he burst through he gasped in wheezing, desperate breaths. 

His lungs were still screaming as he desperately wheezed in air when the water around him suddenly seemed to explode. He looked around frantically as several more pockets of water seemed to spontaneously combust around him. Finally his eyes when to the sky, and spotted the other enemy jet rocketing by over him, firing down at him. He watched the craft bank sharply to come back around, and he was forced to let go of the precious lifevest — it was bright yellow and might as well have a target painted on it — as he took as deep a breath as he could manage and ducked back down under the unforgiving ocean. 

Bullets tore through the water around him, and all he could do was hold his breath and hope that none would find purchase. His lungs were on fire, but he forced himself to stay under until he was on the verge of passing out before he finally kicked his way back upward, breaking the surface and was immediately consumed by an agonizing coughing fit that tore through his chest. 

Finally, the panic of oxygen deprivation began to wane and he was able to take in his surroundings. He immediately searched the sky, and was unbelievably relieved to find that it was empty of enemy aircraft. With any luck, they would just assume that he was dead. 

He shifted his gaze back down to the water and could have cried with relief when he was able to spot a glimpse of yellow bobbing on the surface a short distance away. Clint flexed his protesting muscles as he carefully swam the distance, reaching out several times for the vest, only to have the waves pull it just out of reach. He groaned in frustration, and then used the last of his energy to lunge forward and finally grasped the lifevest. 

Clint didn’t bother even attempting to put the vest on, insteady just threading his arms through it and hugging it to his chest. He knew that it wasn’t protocol, he knew that if he were to lose consciousness the vest would easily slip away, but he just couldn’t find the energy. 

Then he took stop of the rest of his body. His throat and lungs felt like sandpaper as he heaved in painful breaths. Every muscle in his body felt like it was on fire, a fire that was burning down to his bones. His gaze looked down and finally spotted the gashes on his arms from the broken windshield of the jet. He stared vacantly at the dark red water that floated around his arms, slow to comprehend what that meant. 

He glanced around at the dark ocean water, squinting as if he could force himself to see past the surface to what might be lurking underneath. If he went through all of that, only to be eaten by a shark, he was going to be pissed. 

And then, all he could do was wait. He knew likely a couple miles at least from shore, and there was no way that he’d be able to make that swim in his state. The team had to have a general idea of where he went down, and he knew they’d be coming for him. They had to be coming for him. Right? Unless the battle had gotten the best of them. What if they hadn’t survived without Clint providing air support? 

He wasn’t sure how long he was left there to float aimlessly in the vast ocean, but tremors were beginning to overtake his body, painfully cramping his muscles, when the sound of an approaching jet registered in his foggy brain. He couldn’t help but tense, remembering the enemy jet that had fired on him. He honestly wasn’t sure that he’d be able to hold his breath long enough to fool them again. 

But as the jet approached, he recognized the Quinjet model and the relief that swept through him almost caused him to pass out. He was barely able to keep a grip on the lifevest as he tracked the jet. For a moment, it looked like it wasn’t going to pass over him, but then it banked back around and came to a hovering stop overhead. 

Clint watched blearily as a hatch opened and a figure was lowered down to him. It took longer than it should have for him to recognize Steve. 

“Clint!” Steve called over the drone of the jet. 

Clint didn’t have it in him to response, so he tried to communicate his appreciation in his gaze as he watched as Steve was lowered into the water just a short way from him. Steve made quick work of the distance. 

“It’s okay, Clint, I got you!”

Steve worked quickly and efficiently as he hooked Clint into a harness that was attached to the same line that Steve’s harness was on. As he finished, Steve raised an arm and waved up at the jet. Then he wrapped his arms around Clint and pulled him close in order to support him and take as much pressure off of the harness as he could as the line was retracted and they were both lifted out of the ocean and up into the air. 

“Clint, are you okay?” Natasha gasped even as she helped haul Clint up into the safety of the jet. 

Clint coughed raggedly as he braced his hands on the floor of the jet, just marveling at how solid and dry and still that it was.

“That… really… sucked,” Clint wheezed. 

A warm blanket was wrapped securely around his shoulders. Natasha knelt in front of him and Clint rested his forehead on her shoulder, taking comfort in her familiar, calming presence. 

“It’s okay,” Natasha assured him. “We’ve got you. Everything’s okay now.”  

[atlas-of-a-human-soul]

Can’t make you love me (E.D.)

Summary: Being only friends with a guy you’re in love with is hard enough, but seeing him make out with another while missing her birthday reminds Y/N why she doesn’t celebrate birthdays.

Warnings: best friend fluff, angst and swearing

Word count: ~ 2000

Part 2  Part 3

I looked around, spinning in circles with a wide smile on my lips. Trying to take it all in, I giggled loudly before swinging my arms around Grayson in gratitude. Not only did he manage to surprise me with a birthday party, but he also decorated their entire house in my favorite color, blue, and fairy lights as he knows I love sparkly things.

„Gosh, you're really going for the best friend award of the year!“ I squealed, untangling myself from my best friend in the whole white world. He always gave the biggest, warmest hugs! It's also why I call him Gray-bear.

„I just wanted your sweet twenty to be SWEET!“ Grayson exclaims, returning my smile with one of his own, happy I enjoyed this night as I insisted on no parties for months now.

„You're just...I love you Gray bear“, I felt my eyes water, so I rubbed them lightly to stop any tears from falling.

„Are you actually crying?“ Grayson couldn't help but tease me, swaying his body left-right to make me laugh.

„I never cried because I'm happy before.“ I admit before adding with an index finger pointed at his chest: „No one can know this happened!“

Grayson raises his hands in mock surrender, nodding.

„My lips are sealed.“

Content with his answer, I hook my arm with his and walk into the small crowd while carefully examining each face.

Grayson leans in and whispers:

„He's not here yet.“

„Who?“ I tried to play dumb, but Grayson could see right through me. He knew before I did: I loved his brother. And not in a brotherly way like I loved him, but the crazy for you – feel my heart is gonna burst – want to marry you sort of a way.

„Ethan will be here soon. He's coming back from New Jersey, remember?“ Grayson reminds me and I nod, tight-lipped and slightly dejected.

Ethan stayed back to deal with the skate park building while Grayson flew back to prepare everything for their video – and my birthday, I suppose.

„That's okay. I got you!“ Kissing his chin quickly, I wink and pull him by his shirt to the center of the room.

We danced like two crazy people, neither able to keep up with the beat and Grayson's neck getting all stiff as Ethan once pointed out. Once you notice he does it, you cannot forget it.

After an hour, completely drenched in sweat with make up smudging, I was in dire need for refreshments. Grayson plopped on the couch while I maneuvered through the crowd and went toward the pool house, knowing Grayson left extra supplies over there. After all, the kitchen was swarming with people, some I barely knew since the party gradually grew.

Just as the fresh air hit me, giving me goosebumps and cold sensations all over my body, I freeze.

Parked in front of the house, leaned on the hood of a car stood Ethan.

And he wasn't alone.

A girl stood between his thighs, his hands grabbing at her hips and pulling her in like she was the air he so desperately needed. She held his face in her hands, a pleasurable moan escaping her as Ethan tilts his head left and I finally see his eyes are closed.

It felt like someone knocked the very breath out of me. My heart was beating a mile a minute, breaking with each second that passed into pieces that would never quite fit perfectly again. I felt emotionally bankrupt. There was nothing left to feel, nothing left to say, nothing left but the void that enveloped my mind in swirling blackness.

Turning on my heel, I walk into the house without lifting my head. I walk like a zombie, ice running through my veins, chilling me to the bone. It was like drowning in a frozen lake; I’m pounding through the ice to get to the surface for a breath of fresh air, but the coldness penetrates deep inside, chaining me to the water all the while pulling me under.

I stood still in the hallway, staring at my own feet feeling lost.

A hand on my shoulder snaps me back to reality and I’m met with Grayson’s concerned face.

„You okay there, little one?“ He always joked about my height although I wasn't THAT short at all. I always smiled and rolled my eyes when he called me that, but I couldn't muster up enough strength to do so at the moment and he knew...he knew I was broken.

Without a question, Grayson cups my face and bores his eyes into mine, his intense stare forming a small bubble of sorts where only he and I were allowed to be inside.

„Who do I need to murder in cold blood?“ Those words elicit a broken laugh on my behalf, a tear escaping me as the sound fills our little bubble.

„It's nothing. Just...me being stupid.“ I sniffle, licking my bottom lip while averting my gaze to the left.

Grayson follows my eyes, craning his neck to keep eye contact at all costs.

„I called you to help me figure out how to turn on the dishwasher...can't get worse than that. Hit me.“ Grayson raised his eyebrows, expecting an answer and I knew I had to respond.

„Ethan is out there, latched onto some girl and I just...“ I couldn't stop my bottom lip from quivering, hating myself for being so pathetic.

„I just wanted him with me for my stupid birthday. THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I DON'T CELEBRATE THEM.“ I shout, trying to free myself from Grayson's arms and to my surprise he lets me. I didn't even look at him for a reaction, opting to pace around him while my brain spontaneously combusted in the process.

„And I was going to ask him how he feels tonight! HOW STUPID AM I? Why did I ever think I ever had a chance?! He sees me as his annoying friend to tease about how uptight I am.“ I kept rambling, getting dizzy while walking in circles until Grayson grabbed a hold of me, steadying me before letting me stand on my own in order to prevent me from fainting.

„I know you've been into him for years, Y/N. I see the way you look at him and how you go out of your way to help him whenever he needs you. And I know my brother...unless you do confess, he'll never admit to feeling anything and HE DOES feel something for you. He does! Just be honest with him. Okay?“ Grayson believed he was talking some sense into me, but I was losing it internally.

I nod in response before giving him a short hug.

„Please get me something to drink?“ I ask sweetly, blinking a little faster than usual.

„I hate when you do that! It's like puppy eyes, but cuter!“ Grayson groans, leaving me to my own thoughts.

I sneak to the backyard, opening the door to leave. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't.

I needed time to heal before letting myself see Ethan again without crying. I loved what Grayson did for me, but Ethan didn't even bother showing up for my birthday?! He literally sat outside and made out with some girl and I was the last thing on his mind. Even if he didn't like me, I was supposed to be his best friend. And it hurt to know I wasn't a priority in his book. It hurt to know I wasn't important enough to even come in and say hi.

After all, I can keep being there for him and prioritize him over anything, but that won't help me. I can't make him love me. It's the bitter truth I needed to face.

**

„Hey, where's Y/N?“ Ethan finally stumbled upon his brother, looking a little worried. But his worrisome face didn't even match the look on Grayson's.

„She disappeared completely. I can't find her anywhere, E.“ Grayson talked fast and panicked, the glass in his hand shaking.

„Why the fuck would she disappear from her own party?!“ Ethan rolled his eyes, annoyed more than worried now.

Grayson's face contorts into a scowl, narrowing his eyes at Ethan.

„She saw you making out with some chick out there and she ran the fuck off with a broken heart you asshat!“ Grayson let the secret spill and upon that realization, both brother's stared at one another with wide eyes.

„Why would that even matter? Broken heart? What are you talking about?! Have you been drinking?“ Ethan rambles, trying to ignore the pang in his heart he couldn't understand. He didn't know what it meant, only that he didn't like the feeling.

„Because she loves you and you broke her heart!“

„Nonsense! You're speaking nonsense! We're just friends. Look, I'll text her right now!“

To: Dove – Even seeing the nickname he had secretly put for her in his phone and mind made his chest constrict.

Where r u? I wanna wish u a happy b-day!!

It didn't take a second for three dots to appear in the bottom, indicating Y/N was writing a message. Ethan smirked, making Grayson roll his eyes this time around.

From: Dove

Home. I'm not feeling well.

Although Ethan would be packing and going to the store to get her something to recuperate, he didn't buy the excuse. He needed an explanation. But his phone lit up again and his heart dropped to the floor.

From: Dove

I need some time for myself. I'll call you guys when I find some peace of mind. Love you.

Grayson sat down, running his fingers through his hair with frustration. But Ethan could only focus on that 'Love you' part of her text, over analyzing every word and every memory he had of her.

„You really had to make out with someone tonight? Instead of being here for her?!“ Grayson bit his lower lip, trying hard to contain his anger as it bubbled to the surface.

„You're being ridiculous. I'm going over to see her and give her my gift and you'll see you totally misread the situation.“

He didn't wait for Grayson to stop him, practically running to his car. His legs made him hurry to lessen the time between seeing Y/N and making sure she's alright. He needed her to be alright. And more importantly, he needed to know if Grayson told him the truth. Did she truly love him? If she did, could he possibly salvage their friendship? Was this the end of everything?

Those questions left him almost paralyzed in fear in front of her house. He never had issue knocking on her door before, but this time his knock held a deeper meaning.

He walked to her door with fists forming, knocking exactly eight times until she opened the door without even checking who was on the other side.

She stopped short, drawing in a sharp breath at the sight before her; Ethan with a large, blue bag and blue roses in hand.

Her favorite color and favorite flower.

„You really need to check the door before opening, hon.“ He smiles, hoping to see one in return. But he doesn't.

Y/N doesn't move her eyes from him, but she doesn't say anything and that alone makes him uneasy. This is a girl that never stops talking and she was so quiet it gave him chills.

„I didn't meant to be so late tonight. I just...I'm sorry okay? I really messed up and I promise to make it up to you.“ Ethan was the only one speaking until Y/N raised her hand, palm turned to him, stopping him from talking.

„I know he told you. I see it in your eyes. You pity me...You want to make sure we're still friends?“ Y/N gnaws on her inner bottom lip and it's visible to Ethan's watchful eye who was taking great care in noticing any changes in her facial expressions. Her dejected, even irritated tone had told him she was not only hurt but angry as well.

„Is it true? Do you?“ Ethan asks quietly, swallowing thickly. He's terrified of her answer more than anything else in this world. Time stands still and the world stops moving as her lips part to give him the answer he both needs and fears.

„Ethan, I can't make you love me. But I need some space to heal. I'm thankful you took time to come here and give me these,“ She takes the presents from his hands without so much as glancing at them.

„And I hope you realize I do want to keep our friendship. Just give me time.“

'Have I lost her forever?' All his fears came to life.

Ethan wanted to speak, to say any damn thing. His lips opened and closed, but no sound left his lips. There was nothing he could say as his brain went dark when she told him she couldn't make him love her. She admitted her feelings. He completely shut down and there wasn't a single coherent thought inside his mind.

„Goodnight.“

So, she closed the door still unsure if their friendship will survive this, leaving an utterly confused Ethan outside her door with a single question arising inside his heart and mind: Do I love her too?

Tags: @accalialionheart @xalayx

[panda-noosh]

Hiraeth {part two} {demigod!Lance x reader}

Words: 7k

Summary: Your life changed forever that day in the forest. The day the voices got too much. The day that single word brought you to what felt like the very brink of death - that was until Lance McClain, son of Poseidon, arrived to take you home.

Genre: percyjackson!au - angst

Notes: part 1 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5 - part 6 - part 7 - part 8 - part 9 - epilogue -yeehaw, the drama has started. 

-----

Hiraeth - (n) a homesickness for a place you can’t return to, or that never was.

Chapter 2

  Lance stayed by your side when the two of you were finally called for dinner by a most uncertain sounding camper. The girl – Lance later informed you that she was a child of Apollo – had been ordered to merely poke her head inside of the Hades cabin and tell you and Lance that dinner was ready; she had done so, but not before giving you a look that told you she was about to burst into tears simply by stepping foot inside of the cabin.

  Lance's jokes died down. He didn't try and make light of the situation, didn't try and take away any of the shock you were feeling as you walked beside him towards the feasting area of the camp. Your hands were trembling, and you plunged them into the pockets of your coat in any attempt to hide them from prying eyes; what would people around you think if they saw how terrified you were right now?

  Because that was truly the only word you could think of to describe the feelings coursing through you right now, the only logical explanation for the feeling of pure weakness slamming into you. You had lived your life on the streets, had almost been kidnapped on multiple occasions, had been forced to sleep on the cold brambles of a forest almost everyday for the past few years – but this was by far the most mortified you had ever been.

  Lance led you over to the Hades table once the two of you finally reached the feasting hall. Twelve other tables were lined up, filled with chattering people, all of whom paused their conversations to look at you and Lance when you entered.

  Lance placed a hand on the small of your back, pushed you through the gawking crowd a little quicker. “Just ignore them. They do this every time I walk in.”

  You nodded slowly and allowed Lance to lead you over to an empty table on the far side of the hall. It was a direct contrast to the other tables which were spread out before you; they were packed full, some people even being forced to drag extra chairs over just to fight for a space upon the bench. The table you sat down at, though, held no such privilege, as it was completely empty.

  Lance winced as he sat down next to you. “I really shouldn't be sitting here, you know. My table is over there.” He nodded towards another empty table set beside your own.

  “You can go and sit over there if you want,” you mumbled. “I don't mind.”

  “No. No, it's alright. I like the company.” He nudged your arm gently, but you paid him no attention. “Besides, it gets a little lonely. I'm sure Chiron won't mind if I give our newcomer a bit of a run-down on how meal times work.”

 “I'm not really all that hungry.”

  Lance frowned. You could feel his worried gaze pouring into the side of your face, could tell he wanted nothing more than to tell you to suck it up, because every single person in this camp had been through the exact same experience you had just been through; being told the deadbeat parents they always believed they would never figure out the identity to was actually an Olympic god.

  And it still felt so surreal, even though you had pinched yourself a thousand times just to confirm it wasn't a dream – a nightmare.

  Lance didn't say much after that. He simply stood up, went over to the buffet and stacked two plates full of food. He placed one in front of you, sat down, and started eating from his own.

  “I scraped a little bit into the sacrifice fire for you,” he told you through a mouthful of rice. “That might entice Hades to come forward a little sooner.”

  You raised a brow, head shooting over to look at him. He didn't seem to realise what he had just said, as he continued to stuff rice into his mouth, curiously glancing around at the campers.

  “Come forward?” you repeated. “What are you talking about?”

  “The claiming,” said Lance, as if it was obvious. He glanced over at you, noticed your confused expression and sighed, setting his fork down and turning his full attention to you now. “A claiming is basically whenever a god finally – well, claims their child. It's a big deal around here, and it's not usually very subtle.”

  “Have you had yours?”

  He nodded, but seemed to almost wince at the memory. “Mine was awful. Dad must have thought he was being a prankster or something – trying to keep up with the kids, you know? He ended up doing it whenever I was doing my introduction speech to the camp. Nobody knew who I belonged to – I was just the five year old who walked in with bruises, not knowing where he was. Chiron ended up making me introduce myself to everyone, and it was then that good old Poseidon decided to inform him of my parentage – it was traumatic.”

   You narrowed your eyes. “What happened?”

  “This massive trident thing started glowing above my head,” he explained. “Obviously, everybody else knew what it was but me, and they all started freaking out. 'A child of one of the Big Three!' You could have sworn I'd just spontaneously combusted in front of them all with how panicked they got.”

  He scoffed and shook his head, diving back into the rice he was eating with a casual aura glaring off of him – you continued to stare at him, hand trembling. How had he gotten over such a thing? How could he sit beside you now and talk about such a moment with little care in his voice at all? You were certain that if something like that were to happen to you, you would be traumatised forever.

  You swallowed thickly and turned back to the plate in front of you – there would be no point in dwelling on it now. No point at all. What was done was done, and you couldn't help who your father was. You would just have to try and push through, just like Lance had been doing all these years.

  Dinner continued. Conversation from the other tables was loud and boisterous, but you and Lance were fairly quiet. Every now and then Lance would nudge your elbow and point out something he believed to be humourous, and you would put on a fake little laugh just to make him happy – in reality, all you wanted to do was curl up and sleep, forget this day had even happened. Maybe you would wake up back in the brambles, a headache still splitting through your skull. Maybe this was a dream, and you were just struggling to get out of it.

  As dinner drew to a close and the sun slowly started to descend behind the mountains, Chiron stood up from the table that was placed at the front of the hall. You hadn't even noticed him sitting up there until now, though now that he had made himself known, you were unsure how you could have missed him at all. Sitting next to him was a shorter man in a Hawaiian shirt, a greying beard and curly dark hair – he seemed to be scowling up at the centaur before him, taking frequent sips out of the wooden mug he had.

  “Half-Bloods!” Chiron suddenly cried, making you jump. The camp immediately went quiet and directed their attention to the centaur. “I hope you all ate plenty, for training will continue tomorrow and you will need all of your energy for next weeks game of Capture the Flag.”

    Howls erupted from the Ares table, a boy standing up on the chair and yelling, “We're gonna destroy you!” to nobody in particular.

  Lance leaned in and whispered, “The Ares kids get a little bit excited about Capture the Flag.”

  You dumbly nodded.

  Chiron continued. “Alright Sebastian, settle down, settle down. Although Capture the Flag is a big topic of conversation lately, there is something else I know you are all extremely curious about – our newest camper.”

  You clenched your jaw as heads span around to look at you. A few people even went as far as to stand up on their seats in an attempt to get a better look at you.

  “This is Y/N L/N, an unclaimed Half-Blood who came upon us today thanks to Lance McClain, son of Poseidon.” Lance grinned, waved as if he was waving to a crowd of fans. “You will all treat her with the utmost respect and I hope you can all find it in your hearts to welcome her with open arms – we all know what it feels like to join Camp Half-Blood for the first time, and it is nothing short of a scary experience.”

  “How can you expect us to welcome a child of Hades?” a voice yelled out over the crowd. Immediately a bursting symphony of agreement fled over the hall, enticing an entire conversation that blocked out Chiron's speech.

  You wanted to disappear.

  You huddled your arms into your chest, trying to make yourself as small as possible as the protests continued. Lance placed a gentle hand on your arm before ruining the gentle moment by swinging his head over his shoulder and yelling at a Hephaestus kid to mind his own business.

  “Everyone! Everyone!” Chiron barked, slamming his hoof against the wooden ledge he was seated upon. “Y/N is unclaimed as of right now, meaning none of us have a right to claim her to be the child of the Underworld ruler – but if that is the case-” He knew full rightly that was the case. “-then we will continue to treat her with just as much respect as we would treat anybody else. This is not up for debate! You all know better than to judge a person based off of their parents actions!”

  “She can raise the dead, Chiron!” someone yelled. “I don't mess with that kind of black magic!”

  Your eyes widened. You weren't sure where the panic stemmed from, but it burst within you at a moments notice and there was no catching it. Lance's hand tightened on your arm as the exclamation settled – he had clearly meant to tell you that little nugget of information later on.

  You span around on the bench to face him with wide eyes as Chiron continued trying to settle the crowd down.

  “Raise the dead?” you hissed.

  Lance winced, tried to cover it by awkwardly smiling at you. “Surprise?”

  You tugged your arm out of his grip. You felt like water was rising above you, slowly dragging you under, slowly clawing away at your oxygen supply until there was nothing left. You stood up from the bench before you could stop yourself, before you could realise that you were currently standing amongst a group of demigods who could so easily put you down with a simple flick of their wrist.

  “Y/N, please-” Lance started, reaching up to grab you.

  You stumbled away from him, and the crowd grew quiet, turned to see what you were doing. You didn't care. You looked up at Chiron just the once, dared him to say anything, before you were spinning on your heel and marching away from the dinner hall.

  You got as far as the Athena table before your head started to hurt.

  It might very well have been the worst pain you had ever felt in your life. Blinding, white hot, as if somebody was continuously splashing flames against your forehead. You cried out, gripped your temples tightly in any attempt to ease the pain that was coursing through you, but it was no use. It continued to fight against your grip, forcing you to your knees. Despite the camps previous protestations against you, you were surprised to find a few of them rushing to your aid, calling out for somebody to get a medic.

  “Let the Apollo kids through! Let them through!”

  But it was Lance who crumbled to your side. He wrapped an arm around your shoulders, tugged you into him and started whispering soothing words in your ear; you could hear him. You could hear him, you realised, because there were no voices. It was just pain. Just pure, unfiltered pain and you had no idea where it had come from.

  An Apollo kid kneeled down on your other side and gently took your head in her hands. She ran her fingers along your forehead, concentrating, tongue peaking out of her mouth. You had an urge to pull away, to tell her to leave you alone, but you had to admit that the touch she currently wielded upon your skin was bringing you some form of relief.

  But then her blue eyes widened, and her hands were falling from your face. She stumbled back, very nearly trampling over the shoes of the people circling you. Even Lance's grip seemed to falter across your shoulders, but he made no attempt to pull away from you.

  “Oh gods,” the Apollo girl whispered.

  “What? What's wrong?” you asked, before another strike of pain darted through your forehead, causing you to keel over. Lance tried to hold you up, but his grip was weaker now and it was clear he was feeling the same sense of shock as everybody else surrounding you. “What is it?” you cried. “What is happening?”

  Lance's hands zoomed up from your shoulders and to your jaw; he tilted your head upwards, forcing you to look at the blinding light above you – it wasn't the sun. It had definitely not been there before.

  Through the prickle of tears, you could just barely make out the symbol glowing, big and bright, above your head – a skull and crossbones.

   Chiron stepped down from the dais. Everybody fell silent, but you could still hear the pantings of scared campers.

  “You have been claimed,” the centaur said, a slight hint of disappointment evident in his voice. “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, daughter of Hades – god of the Underworld.”

  ---

  You didn't sleep well that night.

  All alone, curled up in the Hades cabin with the covers draped over your head. You were trying to block out the noise of the draft wafting in from the under the door, the sharp scream of the wind outside; Lance had told you that the weather was controlled entirely by Chiron, and you had half a mind to get out of bed and tell Chiron to stop making it so drafty.

  But you didn't, because you felt as if you could barely move.

  Your stomach was made of lead, it seemed like. Your legs were still weak from the pain that had coursed through you only a few hours prior, and, quite honestly, you just didn't want to leave the confines of the cabin. That meant facing people – people who very clearly didn't want to see you.

  The next morning, you didn't leave your cabin until a few hours after you had awoken. You could hear the other campers filing out of their cabins, making their way to the breakfast buffet which you had hastily decided to skip – you would get something later on, whenever the dining hall was less packed full of people who thought you were going to kill them.

  It was only whenever the darkness of the cabin started to gnaw at you did you finally get out of bed, get dressed into the orange shirt and trousers that had been left for you, and head outside.

  The camp was in full spirits. People were sword fighting to your left, people were messing with the elements to your right. Chiron was wading between people, grinning and giving them pointers on how to hold a gods damned spear.

  You nearly guffawed, very nearly stumbled over your own feet at such a bizarre sight – these people couldn't have been older than eighteen, and yet they were marching around with weaponry in their hands, slicing at the air as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

  “Shocking, huh?”

  You span around, nearly slamming into Lance. How he had snuck up behind you without making a noise was beyond you, but you decided not to question it. Instead, you folded your arms over your chest and ran your eyes down his figure.

  He was dressed in an orange shirt that matched yours, his blue jacket draped over his shoulders. He was eating a churro, and holding a still fully-intact churro in his other hand.

  He noticed you staring at it and quickly thrust it in your direction. “I noticed you didn't come down for breakfast this morning.”

   You gratefully took the churro from him and nibbled on it as you watched the campers fighting in the fenced off area in the middle of the camp.

  “You're gonna have to start doing that eventually, you know,” Lance said.

  You scoffed. “I'm okay, thanks. I don't think I'd work well with a sword in my hand.”

  “Well, it doesn't have to be a sword,” he said. “You could have a dagger, or a spear, or a trident, or a -”

   “Or a pitchfork. Those are most commonly seen as symbols of death.”

  Lance pursed his lips, immediately making you feel guilty for bringing the mood down; you shouldn't be speaking to him in this way, with so much hostility. He was one of the only people in this camp who were truly still supporting you, who didn't shiver every time you looked in their direction.

   You sighed and nudged him gently, similar to the way he always nudged you. “Sorry. I'm still a bit . . . Shook up over what happened yesterday.”

  “At dinner?”

  You nodded. “I just don't understand why it had to happen there. Surely Hades – my – my dad – has a bit more kindness towards his kids than that.”

   “My dad did the same thing. They're very strong gods, Y/N, meaning they make very strong children.”

  “I must have got more of my mothers genes-”

  Lance suddenly grabbed your elbow, forcing you to look at him. His face had morphed into a stern expression, his sharp jaw clenched and the veins in his neck protruding from the tanned skin. “Don't say that. I know this is weird for you, but this is your life now – this is who you are. There's a reason people are so scared of the children of the Big Three. We're powerful. Once we lodge ourselves into our powers properly-”

  You shrugged your arm out of his grip. “I don't want to lodge into my powers. From what I've heard, I have the ability to raise the dead, and that doesn't sound like something I'm particularly excited to do.”

  “They were being dramatic whenever they said you could raise the dead,” Lance mumbled, sheepishly taking another bite of his churro. “You can control the dead – you're not making them come back to life or anything. It's skeletons who are under your control.”

   Your mouth ran dry. You fought off the urge to laugh at him, because you knew he was telling the truth. That was all he had been doing since the day he met you – just because it sounded unbelievable, didn't make it a lie.

  “The sooner you start training, the better,” continued Lance. “How about me and you go down to the lake after lunch today and see what you can do?”

   “I can't do anything,” you replied. “I didn't even know I had powers until yesterday.”

  “Well then we'll start you off.” He smiled down at you, as if the idea of your life changing forever was something that amused him. “I'm a good teacher, I promise.”   ---

  The lake glistened. At the moment, it was the only comfort you were being given as you nervously waited for Lance to make his appearance.

  You had agreed. Foolishly agreed to let him train you in the art of godly powers. Lunch had just ended, and you had spent the time pacing the camp nervously, not having the confidence to show your face amongst the other campers just yet – you weren't sure if you ever would.

  They had every reason to be terrified of you, of course. You knew that. Apparently you held a power that they could only dream of, and because of your parentage, they were terrified of you. Again, you couldn't blame them. If you were in their position, you would be scared as well.

  You folded your arms and stood over the edge of the lake, half tempted to slip your shoes off and dip your toes in. You could see the tiny little fish swimming around, darting to the surface every now and then before splashing back amongst the soft waves with a splash.

  You smiled. It was peaceful. There was nobody here to disturb you, nobody who was terrified of you. It was just the fish, and the moon, and the soft sway of the-

  Your thoughts were cut off as the lake suddenly exploded.

  You cried out, stumbling back so hastily that you ended up tripping over your own feet and crashing onto your backside in the dirt. The water exploded up around you, rained down on your head until – for the second time in two days – your hair was draped over your eyes in soaked sheets.

  After the water had splashed back into the lake, you could make out the sound of Lance's hysterical laughter behind you.

  “I had to!” he exclaimed. You scrambled back onto your feet, turned to face him with a glare. He was doubled over, one arm looped around his middle, one hand pressed against his knee. “I'm sorry! I'm sorry, okay? I just – The opportunity was too perfect to miss!”

   You grumbled under your breath, slamming your hands into his shoulders. He chuckled at the action, slowly straightening himself back up and giving you an apologetic smile that you merely scowled at in response.

  “Alright, alright. Let's get started,” he said, a hint of humour still evident with every word. “We should probably start by doing nice stretches.”

  You raised a brow. “Stretches?”

  He paused, looking at you curiously. “I don't really know what powers you were granted when you came out of the womb, meaning we have to be prepared for anything. You could very well injure yourself if we're not careful. Now, this is a stretch I like to call the Cockroach-”

  “Can we not just – I don't know – mess around with some tactics and see which one works?”

  Lance frowned, pausing in the odd pose he had taken up. Upon seeing that you hadn't been following his instructions, he quickly scrambled up and ran his hands down his blue jacket, coughing awkwardly. “Right. Yeah. That sounds like the best option.”

  “Show me how you work your powers,” you said, stepping away from the lake and allowing Lance to take centre stage. He shot you a wary glance before stepping forward, and you could make out the soft hue of pink that was slowly crawling up his neck.

  You hid your amused smile behind your hand, watching him closely.

  You had to admit that Lance was powerful. He worked the water so well, as if it was made for him, as if he had formed every lake in the universe and knew exactly how each of them worked. He had closed his eyes, took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders back – and then he started.

  It was like watching a water show at the zoo or something. It oddly brought you back to childhood, and you realised that it wasn't entirely down to the water that was currently forming shapes around you – it was Lance as well. It was the energy he gave off, the pure and raw joy he seemed to radiate at all times, but now more than ever. He was always smiling, always telling little jokes to make people laugh, but you had never seen the man look so. . . at home.

  He moved his hands fluidly in front of him, and the water rose up into the air. It was in sheets at first, before he crossed his hands over his chest and the droplets crashed together, forming the shape of a dolphin leaping out of the water. The figure wiggled in the air for a moment before Lance put his hands back to his side and it delved back into the lake, disappearing for good.

  And then he was creating more shapes – wolves grazing through mountains, a kitten playing with a ball of yarn, a centaur that looked suspiciously like Chiron – that one made you laugh, a real laugh that you hadn't heard from yourself in a very, very long time.

  But Lance kept his eyes closed, and you were too in awe to stop him. Your fingers were itching to do the same, to work the water even though you knew you couldn't – whilst Lance had the beautiful abilities of manipulating the water into gorgeous shapes, you would soon find yourself doing the complete opposite.

  Your powers were ugly, and his glistened.

  It took a few minutes for Lance to finally come back to earth. His eyes popped open and he let his hands fall to his sides, the water dropping from the air and landing with a splash back into the lake. He turned to look at you, nervously scratched the back of his neck and gave you a sheepish smile that told you he very rarely showed off his powers to people – you had no doubt in your mind that nobody ever really asked.

  You started clapping, slow and truthfully. Lance flushed a deep red colour, waved his hand in front of his face as if telling you it wasn't a big deal, but you couldn't stop the smile from arising on your cheeks.

  “That was incredible,” you said. “You're incredible.”

  Lance grunted. “It was nothing. That's not gonna help me if I'm under attack.” He turned back to the water, clicked his fingers, and immediately the water started swirling around at a speed you could barely comprehend. It blew your hair out of your face, sent tiny droplets of water spraying across your skin. You could taste the salt water, crinkled your nose up but continued to watch with curiosity nonetheless.

  “A whirlpool,” Lance explained. “I know you have those in the mortal world, and they're very dangerous.” He clicked his fingers again and the whirlpool froze. “I don't do that often. Chiron warned me it wasn't the best for my reputation to start showing people the height of my strengths.”

   “He isn't exactly wrong.” You stepped forward, craned your neck to get a better look at the water. “I think it was beautiful, though.”

   Lance was silent for a moment. You continued to look down into the water, curiosity getting the better of you. It was funny how you could change mood so quickly, how you had once been dreading the idea of working your own powers, but now that you had seen Lance do it so well, you suddenly craved to feel the same way.

  Lance coughed, breaking the silence in his usual, awkward way. “Alright then. Let's get started with you, shall we? Stand in front of me and don't break eye contact. Whatever you do, keep your eyes on me.”

   You nodded, unsure as to what he was doing but refusing to question it. You stood in front of him, let your eyes burn into his blue ones. He narrowed his own, raised a brow, tilted his head – testing you to make sure you never once broke the eye contact.

  You giggled as he quickly zoomed to the left. Your eyes followed him and he grinned.

  “Good. Now, what I want you to do is conjure up an image that makes you angry – any image at all. A memory, a person's face – think of Keith, for example. Keith Kogane. The guy with the ugly hair and the red jacket.”

  “I don't know who that is.”

  “Lucky you,” mumbled Lance, before shaking his head and getting back to business. “I need you to think of something that just infuriates you. Strong emotions are key for bringing up somebody's powers.”

  There was plenty that made you angry, you realised. You thought long and hard, the different experiences you had been through in life flashing through your mind, reminding you of all the times you could have very easily slammed your fist into a wall.

  But there was one memory that was immediately brought to the forefront, a memory that immediately made true anger swell in your very being.

  It was the one memory you had left of your mother – the memory of her drinking as your young self stood in the doorway, begging for her to make dinner. She had acted like she hadn't even heard you, continued to take a swig of her drink, before she had turned to you and spat, “You aren't my daughter. I didn't give birth to a mutant.”

  Lance must have noticed the flash in your eyes. He nodded slowly to himself, placing his hands on your shoulders as he continued to give instructions. “Now I need you to channel that anger all throughout your body. It might sound confusing, but I know you can do it. You'll feel it – all of us Half-Bloods do. It's strong, unlike any human emotion. Do you understand?”

   You nodded. You understood perfectly. The memory you had chosen was dancing on the brink of your brain, and you understood, even though it was nothing you had ever experienced before. You clenched your fists, felt the anger spearing through you, trickling through your very system like the water Lance had just manipulated.

   Mutant. Mutant. Mutant.

  Your stomach clenched. You gritted your teeth. You had never let your anger go on for so long, so harshly. You were usually so adamant to stop it, never wanting trouble that was unnecessary.

  But now it was being let free, and you thought about your mother and the shit she had put you through purely because of your father.

  It was her fault you had been alone your entire life. It was her fault you had never known who you were, where you came from, where you belonged. Because as you stood on the edge of this lake now, with anger spearing through you and Lance nodding enthusiastically in front of you, you realised that this very place was where you should have been the entire time. With people like you. Proving to them that you could be an equal, even though your father was a god who provoked such fear in people.

  And then something popped.

  You heard it dimly in the back of your head, and it immediately startled you back to reality. Your fingertips tingled, every bone in your body vibrating beneath your flesh.

  You backed out of Lance's grip, suddenly afraid of hurting him somehow, even though you were completely oblivious to what you had done. Lance was grinning from ear to ear, his eyes twinkling.

  You continued to back up, back up, back up, until your heel crashed against something and you fell backwards with a yell.

  You crumbled to the floor, eyes immediately darting to the thing you had fallen over – and what you saw made your heart fall to your stomach.

  It was a single bone, sticking up out of the mud. It looked to be the bone of a finger, as if a skeleton had tried crawling out of the ground but had gotten stuck just as they reached the surface.

  “No,” you croaked out. “No, no, no. I didn't do that, did I? That was here when we got here, wasn't it?” Your eyes snapped up to Lance, who was looking at you in shock, as if he had fully expected you to love the idea of yourself causing skeletons to crawl up out of the floor. “Lance, please tell me-”

    “I told you it was dark magic!”

  Your eyes snapped up to the path that led out of the lake. Standing there was a tall man with long, white hair tied up in a ponytail. He wore a purple jacket and the same orange shirt underneath, a fairly well-beaded necklace strung around his neck.

  He was looking at the bone at your feet, half in horror and half in amusement.

  Lance was immediately standing in front of you, kicking the bone back into the mud and covering it with soil. You watched him do it, feeling horrible –  was that truly the hand of a dead person? Lance had just kicked it back into the dirt as if had been nothing.

  “Get back up to camp, Lotor,” Lance growled. “There's nothing to see here.”

   “Well clearly that's a lie,” 'Lotor' sneered. “She's just tried bringing the dead back up! When Mr D finds out about this, he's going to be-”

   “Mr D knows that Y/N needs to train. He isn't going to do anything.” Lance smiled then. “He already thinks you at the Ares cabin are pretty wimpy anyway. Wouldn't want to throw your siblings under the bus any more than they already are, would you?”

  Lotor's lips curled into a snarl as he kept his eyes firm on Lance – Lance knew he was stronger, and Lotor knew that too. Although he had yet to back down, he had yet to make a move, either.

  Finally, Lotor scoffed and swung his head back, the stray strand of white hair being pushed back by the movement. “You should watch who you spend your time with, Lance. This might very easily come back to bite you in the ass, and we both know your father isn't too keen on protecting his off-spring.”

  With one final glare in Lance's direction, Lotor turned on his heel and headed back up the path.

  You leaned forward and pressed your head in your hands. “They all think I'm doing dark magic.”

  Lance sighed. You heard him kneel down beside you, felt his skinny arm once again wrapping around your shoulders. “Don't listen to Lotor. He's just angry because his dad isn't one of the Big Three and he doesn't feel special – Ares sleeps around with mortal women all the time, which means Lotor is one amongst many. He's just angry that Chiron doesn't pay him as much attention as he does to us.”

  You nodded slowly, trying to understand what Lance was saying but failing to do so. Lotor didn't seem like the type of man who was just pushed off to the side – he had a sense of authority radiating off of him that had almost stunned you when he first appeared, very nearly made you feel as if you were about to be told off by a superior.

  “You did a good job today, though,” said Lance softly. You looked up and gave him a grateful smile, despite the horror you still felt at the idea of you unearthing a dead, decomposed body. “Not many demigods are able to grab onto their powers so early. You must have been really angry.”

  He chuckled nervously. You gave him the benefit of the doubt and laughed along with him, even though you didn't feel humourous or joyful in the slightest.

  “I think we should wait until later on until we do anything else,” you said. “At least until the other campers have gone to sleep.”

   “You don't really care about what they think, do you?” Lance asked, helping you up as he did so. “Y/N, you have every right to train with your powers – just as they do. They can't stop you.”

   “I know that. I know.” You ran a hand through your hair. “I just don't want the campers to be any more afraid of me. Whilst I have a right to train, they also have a right to not live in fear, you know? I've only been here a day – I'm trying to make a decent first impression.”

  Lance pursed his lips and continued to stare at the back of your head as the two of you descended from the lake.

  ---

  Lance all but forced you to join him for dinner the previous day.

  You had been avoiding his training sessions all day, instead busying yourself with trying to rack up a few more clothes from the other cabins – the campers had been too afraid of you to say no, and had given you everything you needed upon you asking for it.

  But now, you sat beside Lance at the Poseidon table, trying your hardest to avoid the glares being sent to the back of your head by Lotor and his friends over at the Ares table, which was always the loudest at dinner.

  Lance chewed on a piece of steak, letting out soft 'mm's' of appreciation. You picked away at your own meal, finding it too difficult to eat anything that you had to chew – you felt as if your throat had closed up completely.

  Lance stuck his fork in your face, a piece of steak pierced through the tongs. “Want a bite?”

  You pushed his arm away. “I'm good.”

   “You have to eat something.” Lance groaned, set his own fork down and picked up yours. You watched on in amusement as he pierced a piece of asparagus and brought it to your lips – you couldn't hold back your giggle, giving Lance the perfect opportunity to slip the asparagus into your mouth.

  You chewed on it, shaking your head. “I'm not a baby.”

  “Until you start acting like an adult, that's how I'm gonna treat you.” He roughly bit at his steak again, gravy spewing down his chin. “I did not travel for four days straight to find you, just for you to arrive at Camp Half-Blood and starve to death. It's not happening.”

  “You must feel real good knowing you've basically saved my life.”

   Lance shot a glare in your direction, mouth still full of steak. “I don't appreciate the sarcasm.”

  You giggled, but continued to eat your dinner – he was right. At the end of the day, eating was the best thing you could do. Years of malnutrition should have had you mauling the food in front of you – you had a chance to repair your damaged body, and you needed to take it.

  Dinner went on. You and Lance continued to joke around, him finishing his meal and immediately beginning to complain about how he would have had more if he wasn't forced to scrape half of his meal into the sacrifice fire up at the front.

  You listened to his complaining until they were drowned out by the screaming.

  Your head snapped up, fear slamming through you instinctively. It seemed as if the rest of the camp didn't have those natural moments of debate, as almost immediately, Lance and the rest of the campers were jumping out of their seats and barrelling down the hill towards the noise.

  You swallowed thickly before following close behind them; they were all heading down to the lake.

  “What's going on?”

   “Is anyone hurt?”

   “Let the Apollo cabin go first, just in case!”

  You lagged behind, standing on your tippy-toes at the back of the crowd in your attempts to see what all the hassle was about.

  The gasps confirmed something for you – this was not a false alarm.

  A girl in a green jacket suddenly threw herself forward into a man in yellows arms, gasping for air. Tears were streaming down her face, and as soon as the man in yellow wrapped his arms around her, she broke down. She buried her face in his shoulder and started wailing, too overwhelmed to describe what she had just witnessed.

  You risked stepping forward, and immediately regretted it.

  Because laying by the edge of the river was a dead body.

  Dead in a way you had never seen before, and you had seen plenty of dead bodies in your time. Living on the streets made it difficult to avoid seeing dead bodies, hidden behind alleyways, bodies of your friends who had gone one day too long without food. But this was unlike anything you had ever seen.

  It was the body of a man with ginger hair and a ginger, curled moustache. He was sprawled out in the dirt, and there were black veins crawling up his body, attacking his arms and his neck until his face almost looked inhuman. His mouth was open as if he had been screaming, his eyes wide and the glasses on the edge of his nose shattered.

  Chiron pushed forward. “Coran.”

  “What happened to him?” Pidge, the girl in green, wailed. “I was just – I was walking down here to go and feed the serpents, and he was just there!”

  “Who is responsible for this?” Chiron bellowed, as if he genuinely expected an answer. “This was not an accidental death! The gods will have seen the culprit-”

  “We don't need the gods help.”

  All eyes snapped over to Lotor, who took a big and bold step forward into the spotlight. Lance reached out and grabbed your hand – you hadn't even realised he had come to your side.

  Lotor turned and faced the crowd. “This was the work of dark magic – we all know there's only one person here who has the ability to kill, whose father prides himself on death – this was the work of Y/N L/N, daughter of Hades.”

    “Shut your fucking mouth!” Lance suddenly yelled, and for the first time, it was you who had to tangle your hands with his own, tugging him back before he could throw himself towards Lotor. “Chiron, you don't believe a word he says, do you? That douchebag has had it out for the kids of the Big Three since he stepped foot inside of this gods damned camp!”

  “Stop yelling, Mr McClain.”

   “Not until he admits he's just being a jealous little prick!”

  “Lance!” you exclaimed, tugging him back roughly. Lance stumbled into your chest, his breathing heavy. He never once took his angered glare off of Lotor, who was simply shaking his head in faux disappointment.

  “You see, Chiron?” he said. The centaur had his head bowed, looking down at the dead body at his hooves. “The children of the Big Three are as we always suspected – uncontrollable, dangerous. Lance loses his temper and starts yelling to the heavens almost as soon as somebody disagrees with him. Is it really that big of a stretch to think that the daughter of Hades has the same temper, that perhaps she took things a little too far?”

  “She hasn't even known she's a Half-Blood for more than two days,” Hunk, the man in yellow, spoke up. “I find it hard to believe she's already capable of killing a man.”

   Lotor grinned now. “Funny you say that, Hunk. I happen to have bore witness to her unearthing a skeleton only yesterday afternoon – she's a lot more powerful than we've given her credit for.”

  Chiron's head snapped up. Your body froze, horror flooding through you – oh gods he was right.

  “Is this true, Miss L/N?” Chiron asked, voice wavering.

  You swallowed the golf ball sized lump in your throat, head snapping left and right, as if begging the other campers to step in and help you – you didn't know what to say. Did you confess and make yourself seem powerful, or did you lie and make yourself seem guilty?

  It was Lance who eventually answered for you. “Pointing your fingers at the new girl purely because she's powerful is a bullys move. You know that, Chiron. You're better than that.”

   Chiron whinnied. “I don't know what to think right now, Lance.”

    “You need to start looking into the real evidence!” Lance barked. “Hunk was right – Y/N hasn't even known she's a demigod for that long. She had a strike of luck yesterday with her powers, but even then she was only able to unearth a finger from a skeleton – she's most definitely not at the level to kill someone!”     “This coming from another child of a Big Three god,” Lotor sneered. “You protect each other because you're both outsiders. It's obvious to see.”

   “If you don't shut your gods damned mouth, Lotor-”

   “Enough!” Chiron barked, holding up a hand to silence the arguing demigods. “I will look into this. Until I can rule out the suspects, Y/N is at the top of my list.”

  “Chiron-” Lance wailed, but you stopped him by placing a hand on his chest. He inhaled deeply, stepped back and bit down into his bottom lip, clearly trying to hold back his temper.

  Chiron shot you an apologetic glance, the last piece of hope he was going to give you that he didn't truly believe Lotor's claims – but you couldn't blame him for keeping you under close eye. You were the new arrival, had the power to kill if you so wanted to. Even though you had yet to learn such a skill, would never want to learn such a skill, it made sense why Chiron would think of you as the lead suspect.

  “Everyone back to their cabins for the night. Training is cancelled until tomorrow morning,” said Chiron. “Somebody help me move this body.”

[johnny-and-dora]

call me, maybe

"There’s this one second where they’re just half-smiling at each other awkwardly and she’s the only thing that even matters in the room and maybe even in the entire world and it’s, uh, nice, as seconds go. One of the better seconds he’s had, definitely."

or, the one where jake peralta is already falling fast and hard when amy santiago asks for his number (for work purposes only, obviously) and something that vaguely resembles his idea of flirting ensues. read on ao3 read the headcanon that inspired this fic

“Can I have your number?”

“Wh-what?” Jake looks up from his computer, swivelling a little too quickly in his chair, squinting as his eyes finally adjust to see her standing over him – Amy Santiago, the Nine-Nine’s newest detective and his newest pain-in-the-ass. Like usual, her arms are folded, and her shiny black hair is drawn into the neatest ponytail he’s ever seen - but her natural condescending expression (she’s spent the last few weeks talking down to him like he’s a child because of that one time he got a gummy worm stuck in her hair) is replaced by a half shy one that he doesn’t think he’s seen since the first time they met.

He prays to every imaginable deity out there that she hasn’t noticed how his cheeks have flushed a heavily embarrassing shade of pink as he slowly realises what she said.

He kind of just stares at her for a second, trying to process what she’s asking of him – Amy Santiago wants his number. Amy Santiago, who has spent most of her time at the Nine-Nine so far stressing out over his eating habits (“Peralta, for the last time, fruit flavoured sweets are not part of your five-a-day”), complaining about his barely legible handwriting (“Could you maybe make the case files, I don’t know, not look like they were written by a child?”) and making almost as many felony arrests as him, which he absolutely cannot have.

Amy Santiago, who he has already spurned a stupidly competitive rivalry with in a worryingly short amount of time - and that’s the only reason why he thinks about her a lot when he should be doing paperwork. And while he’s out in the field. And when he’s lying in bed at night.

Amy Santiago, his new desk mate and new colleague and new pain-in-the-ass, who he absolutely definitely does not have a kinda sorta thing for.

God, he really has to stop using her full name. It’s definitely getting weird.

“Your phone number, weirdo.”

“Why do you – er, why?” She looks at him like he’s an idiot, which has become another frequent occurrence in a remarkably short space of time. Jake has an ominous feeling it’s going to happen a lot in the next few years they’re inevitably going to end up spending together, and he prickles with irritation at the thought of the overwhelming presence of Amy Santiago (seriously, he has a problem with the name thing) in the – in his - near future.

This is why he prefers his life of working alone as much as possible and drinking in silence with Rosa - It’s almost the end of the day and he’d probably already be on his way to Shaw’s right now if he wasn’t constantly being told off by this tiny high maintenance Latina detective that just sort of...never stops.

“For the case, remember?" "Right. Yeah, of course. The case." He says slowly, firmly pushing down the slight pang of disappointment he gets once his brain finally kicks into gear and realises she only wants his number for work. Obviously.

"McGinley set us both on that double homicide and you’re not getting all the credit like last time. We should be working together, that’s why we’re partners.”

“I got all the credit because I did all the work, Santiago.” He bites back, half joking - but she just folds her arms even tighter, raising an eyebrow, and the second he sees the fire in her eyes he knows he’s made a mistake.

Three of the perps they’ve had the pleasure of interrogating together have confessed pretty soon after getting that look. He’s pretty sure one of them even cried.

(God help him if he ever actually tries to ask her out.) (Which is never going to happen, because this is all just a stupid crush.)

“I was the one who got all the witness statements and did all the paperwork - all you did catch the guy, and you showed up ten minutes late to the bust with Starbucks!” She says hotly, and he’s almost ready to argue with her for the fifth time this week, a thousand retorts and jokes already in the forefront of his mind that he just knows will make her do that adorable thing where she gets really angry and her face scrunches up and she won’t stop furiously pointing for some reason.

But it’s Friday, and he’s tired, and he’s just closed almost all of his cases and finished up most of the paperwork (no, he hasn’t been making more of an effort to make it neater to impress her), and for some reason he really doesn’t want to argue with Amy Santiago today. Not because he likes her, obviously, but because she’ll probably win and he doesn’t want to ruin his good mood. So he relents, just this once.

“Okay, okay! I’m...sorry.” “You – wait, you’re what?” “I’ll... give you my number.”

“Oh. I mean, yes. Good. Thank you.” She says, clearly surprised at the apology, still adorably flustered but with the fierceness of her heat fading.

He can tell, he just knows, that she had a thousand retorts to counter his that she’s now filing away for another day too, and for some reason that makes him smile. A few weeks of working together have proven they both have a talent for driving each other crazy, but they’re definitely equally matched, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like a bit of healthy competition. He’s been getting bored solving all the good cases around here by himself anyway.

“No problem.”

There’s this one second where they’re just half-smiling at each other awkwardly and she’s the only thing that even matters in the room and maybe even in the entire world and it’s, uh, nice, as seconds go. One of the better seconds he’s had, definitely.

“I...uh, I actually don’t know what my number is, but you can give me yours? If you want.” He breaks eye-contact once he realises he’s been staring for way too long and nervously rambles a bit, suddenly feeling intensely awkward, fumbling for his phone and looking like an idiot. The Peralta speciality.

She just nods, and he can tell she’s itching to roll her eyes at him and get critical again, but he’s glad she holds back. He pulls out his phone, presses ‘New Contact’, and hands it to her, trying not to watch as she types her number and name in carefully.

Their fingers touch for half a second when she hands it back - and he hates more than anything in the world that it makes him quietly feel like he’s about to spontaneously combust.

“Okay, great. Thanks, Peralta.” She turns on her heel to walk away, but he clears his throat, because apparently he’s intent on building bridges today. Plus (not that he’d ever tell her) if she stopped talking to him like he’s a child and criticising his perfectly normal eating habits, he thinks they could actually be good friends.

“Uh, Santiago?” “Yeah?” “...I’ll text you. If I...figure anything out. About the case. We’ll work it together, I promise.”

“Okay.” She smiles at him, properly this time, which is a nice change - and it doesn’t exactly help the whole overwhelmingly irritating massive huge crush thing that he’s currently dealing with, but he can’t really bring himself to care.

After she’s gone, he stares long and hard at her contact name. ‘Amy Santiago’ - her full name, like she’s somehow worried he’ll forget, like it isn’t currently his favourite phrase in the English language. The capital letters, lack of a nickname and the horrifyingly distinct lack of any emojis make her name stand out a mile against everyone else’s on the list, and he considers changing it for a second until he slides his phone back into his pocket, adrenaline and butterflies and pure energy buzzing in his fingertips.

Sue him – he likes her. As much as he hates to admit it, they do work well together - and he’s pretty sure she’s either going to drive him completely insane or his stupid crush is only going to grow and grow until he does something either very brave or very very stupid. He smiles quietly as he closes up his last case of the week, brainstorming all the ways he can prank text her later.

He can't say he knows where they’re eventually going to end up, of course - but he’s pretty curious to find out.

[minijenn]

Tearing Me Parting

It wasn’t often that Garnet had felt this way.  This feeling of uneasiness was rather foreign to the fusion given her ability to see into the future.  While it was true that future vision could only provide glimpses into possible future, it had always given her some sense of what to do and what to expect.  However, recent events had made feel a little uneasy about the future.  From Stanford’s recent return, Peridot’s rather sudden change of alliance, Pearl’s reckless actions with fusion and the Gems finally confronting a threat they never thought they would see again, things were becoming a bit…complicated.  It was for that reason why Garnet had decided to sequester herself into the Temple for some much needed meditation.  The Gem leader thought that this time spend recollecting her thoughts would help her prepare for the undoubtedly shaking future.

The one thing that she didn’t account for was the unexpected visitor that she would receive.

Garnet was rather startled when she opened her eyes.  Rather than the room she used to have some privacy, she was met with a sight that she was all too familiar with.  She was standing in the middle of a landscape that once was used as a battlefield during the Gem war thousands of years ago.  However, unlike the usual ones that were teeming with life and greenery, the one she was at was completely barren.  The sky was grey and the ground beneath her was a lifeless, dirt brown that stretched on for miles.  Broken weapons were scattered across the field, which gave the Gem leader a grim reminder that this was a battle that the Crystal Gems had heavy losses here. 

Before the fusion could further comprehend what was going on, she felt a slight chill.  It was if the frigid winds that draped the field were swirling around her.  Frantically looking around, Garnet became even more unsettled when what appeared to be Gem shards rain down from the sky.  While at first the shards appeared to be falling at random, it became clear to Garnet that the shards were falling around her in the eerie shape of a triangle of all things.  Finally, the fusion heard a laugh.  A laugh that she until recently thought that she would never have to her again.  It was then that it was clear to her who was behind this madness.

“Come out already,” she growled.  “There’s no use hiding anymore!”

As if on cue, Bill Cipher materialized out of thin air in front of her.  The dream demon looked exactly like how Garnet last saw him which, in retrospect, was a sore sight to look at.

“Well well well,” Bill said rather mockingly.  “Sure has been awhile huh, Fuse Box?  How’ve you been?  Still leading those Crystal Chumps around, if you can even call that leading?”

The fusion wasted no time in summoning her gauntlets; more than prepared to use them in a fight.  “Leave now Cipher!  You have to right being here!”  she screamed.  In that moment, Garnet was rather glad that she had her shades on.  Bill probably couldn’t see it, but there was legitimate fear in all three of the fusion’s eyes.

“Yeesh, you need to calm down there, Fuse Box.” Bill stated in rather non-caring tone.  At this, he then summoned his cane right out of his hands and began spinning it around.  “Truth of the matter is I’m not really here to talk to you.  I’m here to talk to THEM!”

Before Garnet could even question what he meant, the sadistic triangle shot a bright yellow blast from the end of his cane.  What followed was some of the worst pain that she had felt in her rather long existence.  The pain slowly spread through her entire body from arms to her face.  Oddly enough, this was something oddly familiar to her, as of recently.  Before she could realize what it was, Garnet was covered in a blinding light and then split apart.

Ruby and Sapphire both flew in opposite directions from each other.  They were both dazed and confused about what was happening and why they were suddenly apart.  Sapphire was the first one to regain her sense.  The blue Gem looked up to Bill, laughing in the air, then down to Ruby who was looking disheveled from the recent events.  “Ruby!” she cried out to her partner.

“Sapphire!” Ruby panicked and started rushing towards the blue Gem.  “Don’t worry, I’m right her-“ Before she could finish, blue ethereal chains shackled down Ruby and Sapphire to the ground by their arms and legs.  The worst part of this predicament was that, no matter how much they reached out, their hands were mere millimeters from each other.  Knowing that the only being that really put her at peace was just out of her reach drove Ruby absolutely crazy.

Before the pair could cry out to each other more, Bill decided to float down to their level; hands on his sides.  “Ah ah ah, no touching now.  Don’t want to send the children a ‘controversial’ message!”  Bill stated, laughing at how neither of the Gems would understand what he was implying.  The demon then floated down to Sapphire and getting uncomfortably close to her.  “Now I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced yet, Ice Box.  Name’s Bill Cipher!  Nice peeper you got there!”  Bill then raised one of his claw-like fingers to lift Sapphire’s bangs, revealing her sole eye.  “Depth perception soooo overrated, am I right?”

“LEAVE HER ALONE, YOU STUPID TRIANGLE!” Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs.  Seeing the demon so close to the blue Gem made her struggle even more against her chains.

Bill rolled his eye at the red Gem’s temper tantrum and float back into the air.  “Yeesh Short Fuse, it’s not like was trying to steal away your stupid girlfriend.  You that insecure about yourself that you think that anyone would steal her away?  That’s sure is pathetic!  Though Ice Box might be that kind of girl.  Ha ha!”   

Before Ruby could confront the dream demon on such a terrible remark, Sapphire finally decided to speak up.  “Ruby don’t!” she warned her. “He’s just trying to make you angry.  Just try to ignore him.  I know your stronger than-“ before the elegant Gem could finish, a new set of chain were summon to completely cover her mouth.

“Stronger Than Me?!” Bill interrupted. “Save the over dramatic songs for the crazy shippers, Ice Box, cause I need you both to focus on what I have to say.”  Seeing how they had no other choice, the pair reluctantly gave the triangle their attention.  “You see, I’ve been making important plans as of late.  Making deals with both new and old friends.  Now I’m starting to deal with some…obstacles that might get in the way.  And I know that Fuse Box is going be a BIG obstacle.  So, do you know what I’m going to do?”

Ruby may not have been the smartest Gem on the team, but even she could figure out what would happen next.  The thought alone caused hot tears to well up in her eyes.  It was one of her worst nightmares and, if she was rather honest with herself, would prefer being shatter instead of the alternative. “N-no…please don’t.” was all the red Gem could mutter.  Sapphire could only bow her head in absolute dread.

“That’s right!  I’m gonna leave you two right here, just like this!  Course you’ll be just a statue in the physical world.  I highly doubt the rest of those Crystal Chums or those Mystery Twerps will figure out what’s really going on though.  But enough about that, think about how great this will be for you two!  Spending the rest of eternity, just staring at each other!”  Bill then decided to float right next to Ruby.  “How does it feel, Short Fuse?  Looking at Ice Box like that, all trapped and sad?  All that time and sacrifice for her completely washed away!  I’ve seen some big screw ups in my day, but this one’s a doozy!  You don’t deserve her affection, all you deserve is to see her SUFFER!” 

That was the final straw for fiery Gem.  At that last sentence, it appeared that her entire body spontaneously combusted into flames.  Bill start to back away as the fire started growing.  “Oh for crying at loud Short Fuse,” Bill said rather annoyed. “There’s no other way out of this.  Just give up!” 

“I AM NOT GIVING UP!  YOU THINK THAT THIS IS ENOUGH TO KEEP ME AWAY FROM SAPHIRRE?!  I DEFYED FATE FOR HER!  I BETRAYED HOMEWORLD FOR HER!  I LOVE HER!  AND WHEN I GET BOTH OF US OUT OF HERE, YOU’RE DEAD!  YOU HERE ME?!” Ruby yelled at the top of her lungs.  Sapphire was feeling rather conflicted about this.  On one hand, she hated seeing her act this angry and hateful.  But on the other hand, she couldn’t help but be moved by her passionate words.

Bill just stared at Ruby for a few moments.  He looked rather annoyed, but it also appeared that he was contemplating something as well.  Finally, the dream demon did something rather unexpected.  “Hmph, you might have point, Short Fuse.”  he said as he snapped his fingers.  The chains that bounded the two Gems suddenly disappeared.  Ruby’s flames disappeared and she wasted no time in rushing over to Sapphire and embracing her.  She even gave the blue Gem a delicate kiss to show her overwhelming affection for her.

However, Bill then decided to interrupt the tender moment.  “You two are more trouble than you’re worth, you know that?  Frankly, I don’t have the time or energy to deal with your gross, sappy love.”  Both of the Gems could only glare at the triangle for insulting what they held so precious.  “Hmmmm,” Bill mused. “Maybe I’ve been going about this the wrong way.  Maybe I should aim for someone a bit more…. fragile. Maybe I should go visit a rather recent fusion who could really benefit from a visit from yours truly.”

Both of the Gems were rather confused about what the demon just said.  Over the years, they never really came across any fusion that were especially unstable.  Sugilite was the first one to come to mind, but they hardly doubted that’s who Bill was talking about.  However, Sapphire finally then realized who the demon was referring to.  A rather new fusion that was still feeling a little uncomfortable with his new existence.  “Nooo! the blue Gem cried out.  “You can’t do that to Stepper!”

“Oh, I think I can, Ice Box.  I think it’s about Pine Bud finally realize how hard reality can really be!  Pine Tree and Rose Bud have been thorns in my side for long enough.”  The dream demon started to float back into the air.  “What’s that saying: Kill two birds with one stone?  Well I don’t think I’ll do that right away!  I wanna see the look on Pine Bud’s face as he’s suffering!  Who knows, maybe he’ll do the job for me?  And to think, I would have never come to this conclusion if it was for you two!  Well, I better get going now!  I need to come up with some BIG plans for Pine Bud.  Until then, I’LL BE WATCHING YOU!”

And with a bright flash, Bill Cipher had disappeared. 

Garnet woke up in a cold sweat and completely out of breath.  She frantically looked around to confirm that she was back in the Temple.  She then looked down to her hands to make sure who she really was.  Indeed, both of her gemstones were resting in her palms, so she closed her hands and wrapped herself in a tight self-hug. “It’s okay, I’m right here.”  She reassured herself.  The Gem leader just encounter something that threated her very existence.  Something that almost destroyed what years of love, care and respect had built up.  However, while she was safe from that threat, others weren’t.  Steven and Dipper were both in grave danger, and she couldn’t help but feel guilty for somehow putting them in that danger.

“I’m right here.”   

[kawsofhobi]

Get To Know Me Tag

I was tagged by @blumiin ||  @tvehyungs-gf || @mygucciman || @kingkookies to do the get to know me tag (took ages but here we go || thank you💖)

I will tag: @kimtae95s || @the-third-guy-from-the-left || @squeaky-jiminie || @wacksfullyloaded || @1kimjoon || @namjooniewifey || @panda0627

RULES: You must answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people (y’all know I never tag the amount it says, but I’m close enough)

THE LAST: 

01. Drink: Water 02. Phone call: My mom there was a storm and she was calling to check up on me because she knew I’d be scared 03. Text message: Lina (wacksfullyloaded) 04. Song you listened to: Broken Clocks by SZA 05. Time you cried: Couple weeks ago, I’d say 06. Dated someone twice: Guilty as charged 07. Kissed someone and regretted it: Never been kissed *laughs sadly* 08. Been cheated on: Nope  09. Lost someone special: Indeed 10. Been depressed: Yes 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: I don’t drink to that point

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14. Turquoise, White, and Black

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: Many actually 16. Fallen out of love: Hmm...I don’t think I’ve fallen in love before but if we’re talking about crushes, than yes, I do that all the time 17. Laughed until you cried: Last night 18. Found out someone was talking about you: Yes 19. Met someone who changed you: Mhm for the better 20. Found out who your friends are: Oh heck yes 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: I don’t have a facebook nor have I kissed anyone

GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Can I change this to ig so I can answer it lmao if I change it then I know a large majority of them 23. Do you have any pets: Yes, I have two dogs 24. Do you want to change your name: Nope  25. What did you do for your last birthday: I went shopping with a new friend I’d made then went out to dinner with my sister 26. What time did you wake up: 11 which is super late for me especially since I had to be somewhere within the next hour 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Being scared to tears by the storm that hit last night 28. Name something you can’t wait for: to finally have my summer vacation start 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: A few hours ago 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: Can I say my social anxiety? I want to be like I was when I was younger and was more extroverted (in a way) 31. What are you listening to right now: Say Yes by High4 32. Have you ever talked to a person named tom: I...do not know and if I have, I don’t remember 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: My friend the heat 34. Most visited website: It’s either Tumblr or Youtube 35-37. Questions were lost  38. Hair color: Dark brown  39. Long or short hair: Mine? Long although it looks short because of the curls/waves 40. Do you have a crush on someone: I do not 41. What do you like about yourself: The freckles :”) 42. Piercings: I have my first piercing on my ears. I want to get my second and possibly the one that Jimin has at the top of his ear I don’t know names of piercings, I’m sorry 43. Bloodtype: I don’t know actually 44. Nickname(s): Clo, Clover, Clo bear 45. Relationship status: Single 46. Zodiac: Capricorn 47. Pronouns: She/her 48. Favorite TV show: I really like the science/history documentaries (nerdy, I know) but I also watch Chrisley Knows Best, House Hunters (gosh, I love HGTV), and a bunch of different animes 49. Tattoos: I don’t have any yet, but I want to get “after all hardships comes happiness” on my wrist and a dreamcatcher on my back 50. Right or left handed: Right-handed 51. Surgery: Nope nope 52. Piercing: ^^^ 53. Sport: I did track, softball, basketball, volleyball, and dance 55. Vacation: Hawaii possibly? 56. Pair of trainers: Nike

MORE GENERAL

57. Eating: Nothing at the moment, although I’m about to finish the rest of my burger from lunch  58. Drinking: Good ol’ h2o 59. I’m about to: spontaneously combust fghjklvbhj I’m about to start writing an au 61. Waiting for: Monday because I’m seeing a movie with my sister 62. Want: To be cuddled 63. Get married: that’d be nice 64. Career: Veterinary

WHICH IS BETTER 65. Hugs or kisses: I like hugs 66. Lips or eyes: eyes 67. Shorter or taller: preferably taller 68. Older or younger: preferably older 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: well...ultimately it doesn’t matter. Maybe nice arms? I don’t really care when it comes to those things  71. Sensitive or loud: porque no los dos (in reference to him)? (in reference to me) sensitive 72. Hook up or relationship: relationship 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant?

HAVE YOU EVER: 74. Kissed a stranger: STOP ASKING ME ABOUT KISSES I’VE YET TO DO THIS 75. Drank hard liquor: I don’t like hard stuff 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: I would lose my glasses all the time as a kid 77. Turned someone down: many times 78. Sex on the first date: Not about that life, man 79. Broken someone’s heart: I don’t think I have 80. Had your heart broken: Nope 81. Been arrested: Nooooooo~~~ 82. Cried when someone died: Yes 83. Fallen for a friend: Haha yeah

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 84. Yourself: Sometimes 85. Miracles: Yeah 86. Love at first sight: I can’t say no but I can’t say yes either 87. Santa claus: Okay, sweetheart, in all reality, Santa would scare the shit out of me if he was real. Breaking and entering into all these homes no, I do not 88. Kiss on the first date: depends on how it went 89. Angels: Yes

OTHER: 90. Current best friend’s name: Paulina’s pretty cool (in terms of online friends), (irl friends) Hannah & Michaela 91. Eye color: Fluctuates between black to dark brown to a brown, just depends on what my body wants 92. Favorite movie: My Neighbor Totoro, Jungle Book, Coraline, Spirited Away, and a lot more that I can’t think of

[buckyismyaesthetic]

Punk (Chap. 4)

Summary: You’re head over heels for your best friend Bucky and hate the nickname he gave you as it doesn’t exactly scream romance.

Word count: 1878 

Warnings: Cursing, low-self esteem, chubby!reader x bucky, idk….

A/N:  Sorry for the long wait.  I needed some time.  I’ve got the next few chapters just about ready to go…and I’m gonna try and make them hurt ;) yay angst!

After Natasha successfully slammed you to the mat for the sixteenth time in a row you finally cried ‘uncle’ and ended the hour long workout/torture session.  You’d come here to kickbox and beat the holy hell out of a bag but a certain spider had other ideas.

“I deserve this,” you groaned.  Your chest heaved as your lungs strained for breath. The amorphous blob of a sweatshirt you insisted on wearing while exercising was soaked with sweat and made you feel as if you were slowly cooking in one of Hell’s saunas.  “This is why I hate exercising.”  Nat extended a hand to pull you to your feet but you shook your head dramatically on the mat.  “No, just leave me here to die.  I quit.  You go out and fight the good fight.  I’ll save my skills and start a nice, quiet dart league or somethin’.”  Natasha rolled her eyes and kicked your leg. “No, seriously.  I retire my knives to you.  My guns, throwing stars, all of it.  Take care of Ferd for me.  Tell him his mummy loved him,” you wailed with a huge fake sob.

Nat chuckled as she sipped from her water bottle. You did this every time she beat you; abandoned your position on the team, gave away your possessions, forced someone to take care of Ferdinand after you were gone.  Granted, hand-to-hand wasn’t really your strong suit. You were a sniper…of sorts.  A deadshot.  A bulls-eye artist.  Basically, you always hit your target….except when it came to love…

Speaking of love… “Aw, come on. You can’t die on me, Punk.” Bucky’s throaty chuckle caught you off guard and you scrambled to your feet, blowing out your cheeks at the nickname. Punk  Uuuunnnngggghhh.  He was leaning against the door to the training room, shirt soaked with sweat and clinging to his torso.  The ripples and panes of muscle became more defined with each breath.  God, he was so rude!  Who did he think he was?!  Just walking around looking like that?! Ugh.  He was all sweaty and slightly out of breath, but his eyes were bright and he looked like he was fucking glowing.  Who looks like that after they run twenty miles in an hour?!

You, on the other hand, looked like a boiled potato. After an hour of having your ass introduced to the floor on loop, your face was bright red, you had underboob sweat stains, the deodorant you had obsessively applied earlier had failed about forty-five minutes ago, and sweat was running down from your hair in long rivulets.   Why were you so gross?  Nat wasn’t sweating like a pig and she had been working out just as hard as you. You sighed inwardly.  Everything you did just seemed to fall somewhere on the ‘disgusting spectrum’.  Usually leaning towards ‘ugh’ or ‘blegh’ but right now you were done right ‘oh dear lord’.

“Hey, B,” you mumbled quickly, trying to fix your rats nest of a ponytail and wiping the sweat from your brow.

“Hey.  Glad ta see you’re still alive,” he chuckled at you, giving you a flash of those pearly whites.  “Just stopped in ta let ya know that the food’ll be here in thirty.  Best get cleaned up.”  And with that he waved and walked out of the gym.

“Let’s save water and shower together,” you whined at his retreating form.

Nat barked in laughter.  “Oh my god, you should’ve said that!”

“Aaaahhhh-bsolutely not.”

“Oh come on!  That would be the perfect way to flirt with him.”

“No, that would be the perfect way to watch me spontaneously combust.”

“How about we try flirting tonight?” the red head suggested.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” you teased.

“Yeah, how do you think I got ‘im?” She quirked an eyebrow up at you.

Touché.

“Get off the fucking counter!”  Tony hollered.  He was trying to unpack the Chinese food bags but a certain fat, black cat was sticking his nose in containers of Chow Mein, knocking packages of duck sauce onto the floor, and yowling obnoxiously at the billionaire. “One of these days, cat, I’m gonna—”

“Tony, if you lay one finger on Ferdinand I will carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey.”  You strolled into the kitchen wearing your typical post-shower attire: wet hair in a messy bun, flannel pajama bottoms, and a New York Rangers hockey t-shirt.  Ferdinand purred loudly at you and you cradled him like a baby in your arms. “Did that mean old man yell at my precious little baby?” you cooed.  “My poor lil pumpkin.”

“Just keep him away from me,” Tony muttered, glaring at the cat in your arms.  “And off the counters!”

You gave him a dramatic salute.  Bucky came up from behind you and pulled Ferd from your arms. “Hey, buddy.”  The cat began to purr like a speed boat as the super soldier held him.  “You causin’ trouble?”  He walked over to the dining room table and cradled Ferd in his lap as he began to spoon boneless ribs onto a plate.

“B, don’t give him any food!” you scolded, knowing full well what he was about to do.  “He’s too fat.”

“Y/N! You’re gonna give him low self-esteem!” Bucky cried dramatically and you couldn’t hide your smile.  “Poor Ferdinand,” Bucky cooed, slipping the cat a piece of pork.  “Your mama is always fat-shaming you. Doesn’t she know that looks don’t matter?!  Tsk Tsk. Well, I love ya for who ya are, buddy.”  He gave the cat a loud smooch and sat him on the floor to go beg for scraps from the other team members.

“Buck,” you whined, seeing Ferd lick the pork from his lips.

Bucky merely sent you a toothy grin.  “Come on, Punk.  He was hungry!  Come eat.”

With an inward cringe at the nickname you grabbed a bowl for you soup and looked around the table.  Nat and Clint had appropriated some portion of the other’s chair as they ate.  Wanda was pouring drinks and passing them down.  Steve and Tony were calling out orders and handing out steaming cartons of noodles to their owners.  Sam managed to steal the open seat next to Bucky, much to your dismay, and you were forced to sit between Thor and Vision, far away from your favourite super soldier, at the opposite end of the table.

Conversation buzzed around you, but you didn’t really feel up to participating.  This happened sometimes, lately more often than not.  Something just seemed to happen to you when it came to….eating.   Now, you loved food.  It was kind of obvious actually.  Half the time you planned your next meal while eating the current one. But lately, and you weren’t sure exactly when it started, every time you ate something, even something you really liked, like pizza or ice cream or spaghetti, you felt….guilty?….bad?…ashamed?

With every bite you felt like you were somehow doing something wrong, something forbidden.  An obsessive need to count calories occasionally seized your mind. Half the time it felt like you spent more time reading nutrition labels than actual books!  And those feelings were only amplified when you were forced into eating around the others.  You felt like some sort of zoo creature around them.  Oh look, meal time at the hippo pond!

You popped half a dumpling into your mouth. Ferdinand rubbed up against your leg under the table, hoping that food would fall from the sky.  Absently, you began to push your noodles around the plate, losing your appetite as the others munched away happily on crab rangoons and sesame chicken.  Angry, self-loathing thoughts bubbled to the surface in your mind.  Were the others looking at you while you ate?  Judging you for the food you put in your mouth?  Look at Y/N, shovelling it in like garbage truck.  Were they as disgusted be you as you were?  Did they think of you as fat slob with no self-control? Because that’s how you felt.  Because even when you tried to be good and not eat so much, eventually hunger pangs tore through you and you just had to eat.  And you didn’t always want salad or veggies.  Sometimes you wanted cookies or peanut butter or candy.  It was just so hard to—

“Y/N, are you going to eat that?”  Thor interrupted your inner turmoil and pointed to the untouched egg roll on your plate.  You shook your head and he grabbed it with a muffled ‘thanks!’ and shoved the entire roll in mouth.

You looked up and locked eyes with Sam.  He mouthed, ‘you good?’ and you nodded putting a false smile on your face, not wanting to explain your loss of appetite.

“Who’s ready for desert?”  Steve asked a few minutes later and was met with smatterings of approval.  You helped Vision clear the plates, hoping to slip out of the kitchen and ditch desert without being noticed.  Your self-control could not resist apple pie.  It was your kryptonite.

“That’s the last of them,” Vision said turning off the sink and grabbing a set of desert plates and a cake knife.  He gave you a small smile and walked back to the dining room as you dried the last of the bowls.  You were just about ready to make a break for it when you turned around just as Bucky strolled into the kitchen.  His dark hair was still slightly wet from his shower earlier causing his short curls to glisten in the light. God, he’s so fucking perfect.  You licked your lips and quickly turned to put the last dish on the rack.

“Told ya there’d be pie,” he whispered as he grabbed the vanilla ice cream from the freezer, letting the cold air sweep over you. You shivered.  Please let him think it’s just from the cold.  “Come on, Punk.”  Merhhh.  “I know you can’t resist,” he teased with a twinkle in his eye that you couldn’t quite decipher.  Great, he’s gonna lead the pig to the slop trough.

You sighed, torn as to what to do.  If you rejected the pie he’d ask you who you were and what had you done with Y/N.  If you ate the pie he’d see you eat the pie.  He’d see you shovelling in spoonfuls of warm, mushy apple and crispy crust mixed in with sweet vanilla ice cream all the while sporting a blissed-out look on your face.

But either way, he knows you’re fat.  The evidence was right in front of him, staring him in the face.  Might as well eat the pie, hate yourself, and avoid any awkward questions.  Bucky didn’t need to hear you whine about how grotesque you were.  He didn’t want to hear about that.  Nobody wanted to hear about it.  It was your own stupid, gluttonous fault that you were this way.  Nobody felt sorry for you.  With a sniffled sob, you trudged back towards the others.

When you at back down at the table, Bucky gave you an enormous grin and handed you a plate with the biggest slice of pie and three scoops of ice cream, more than any of the others, and it took all you’re strength not to burst into tears.    The biggest slob had gotten the biggest slice.

TAG LIST:  strike-through means the tag doesn’t seem to work.  If your tag doesn’t work for some reason, send me a message and I’ll take a look.

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[gayshippingiselementary-blog]

Tony’s Secret

{read it here on ao3 http://archiveofourown.org/works/13270350}

Tony had only ever told three people about his secret. His aunt Peggy, Rhodey and Pepper were the only ones he trusted enough. They all took it amazingly, and Tony cried without fail each time. Now it was second nature for all of them. Peggy of course was much to old now to hang out and do Tony’s nails, but she would periodically send him cute jewelry and makeup in the mail. Rhodey and Pepper however had a strict strategy for making sure Tony didn’t feel ashamed of himself for being himself. They all went shopping together all the time; Pepper was in charge of helping Tony pick out clothes and Rhodey was responsible for telling Tony he looked ridiculously hot and bantering with Tony when he got self conscious.

When the Avengers move into the tower, it becomes a lot harder for him to keep his secret. Tony’s heels all become ‘gifts’ for Pepper because he can’t exactly tell the team that he likes to wear cute dresses and heels and wear makeup. The amount of ridicule he would get from Barton was deterrent enough. His dresses and makeup had to be placed in a safe controlled by JARVIS just in case someone manages to get into his bedroom. The only times he feels comfortable are when all of the Avengers are out of the tower.

Tony smiled when he got the alert that he was alone in the tower. He pulled his makeup bag out of the safe. Tony smeared foundation on his face and then powdered his cheeks with a nude blush. He used his steady hands to paint on the perfect cat eyes and then swiped mascara across his lashes. He turned his lips red and then headed towards his closet. He slipped on his lace underwear and then pulled on tights with a black line running up the back. Next, was a pair of black short shorts and then a burgundy bomber jacket. Tony grinned as he slipped on black heels and began to parade around the tower.

He squealed when he saw Rhodey standing in his living room. He threw himself into the taller man’s arms.

“Hey beautiful!” Rhodey greeted. He lifted the smaller man causing Tony to squeal in delight.

“Rhodey! When did you get back?” Tony exclaimed planting a lipstick kiss on the taller man’s cheek.

“Hey, stop that. I came straight here.” Rhodey said with a roll of his eyes. They both knew that Rhodey always went to see Tony as soon as he got done with his missions.

“Golly gee you’re going to make a poor housewife blush.” Tony drawled draping his arms around Rhodey’s neck lazily. Rhodey walked over to the couch and dumped Tony on it.

“I can see the black bags under your eyes even with makeup.” Rhodey chastised.

“Liar. My makeup is perfect.” Tony retorted, sticking his tongue out.

“Just sleep please… I know you don’t sleep very well when I’m out on a mission.” Rhodey begged.

“That’s pretty self-centered Rhodey.” Tony said with a roll of his eyes.

“I’ll buy you that cute crop and those heels you’ve been wanting.” Rhodey ran his hand through Tony’s hair. Tony sighed but closed his eyes obediently.

“Hate you.” He mumbled sleepily.

“Yeah yeah love you too squirt.” Rhodey replied fondly. Rhodey didn’t know how long he sat there playing with tony’s hair before he fell asleep himself.

Rhodey woke up to the sound of whispering. The avengers were standing in front of him with huge eyes. He suddenly realized the position he was in. The blanket except his head, which was pressed into Rhodey’s neck, covered most of Tony’s body and his heels were sitting on the floor.

“Dude! You had sex in Tony’s living room. He’s gonna be so pissed!” Clint exclaimed with a delighted giggle. Rhodey suddenly realized that none of the avengers recognized the small bundle pressed against him. This could go very wrong very fast. Tony made sighed and wiggled before tucking himself back into Rhodey’s body. Tony absolutely could not wake up while the avengers were there.

“You guys should go.” Rhodey whispered. He knew that he looked a little bit frantic.

“A secret girlfriend!” Clint shouted. Rhodey threw his head back with a groan. No way Tony was sleeping through that. Sure enough Tony rose up and dragged his hand over his face sleepily. The avengers were frozen in shock. Steve’s face turned a steady bright red. “Why the fuck are you wearing makeup?” Clint asked.

Tony froze his eyes widening in horror. Rhodey knew that look. If he didn’t resolve this quickly Tony was going to start crying.

“He lost a bet. But the idiot fell asleep before he could take it off.” Rhodey lied easily. Tony hummed in acknowledgement before snuggling back into Rhodey’s shoulder. Rhodey shot the genius a fond look.

Bruce laughed before turning and dragging Clint out of the room despite his many vocal protests. Steve looked like he swallowed a lemon and sulked away. Rhodey wondered what that was about, but was distracted when Natasha cleared her throat.

“Tony.” She said quietly. Tony looked into her eyes shyly.

“Yes?” He asked.

“I think you look very pretty.” She said with a soft smile before turning and leaving.

“Did that just happen? Do you think she…knows?” Tony wondered.

“Well she’s Natasha so probably, but Tony she seems supportive. I think that you should tell the rest of the team. I don’t think that they’ll take it poorly.”

“Yeah well… not everyone is a sugary sweet as you Honey Bear. I need them to respect me. I can’t. I can’t risk it. I need this team.”

“I think you should consider telling them at your birthday. It’ll be a party with only them. You can wear one of your elegant dresses with that lipstick I know you love. Natasha is going to be there to support you and so will Pepper and I. I think that’s the best time, and I know you miss casually dressing up at home.” Rhodey prompted softly.

Tony mumbled but didn’t contradict what he was saying. He did miss being able to wander around his skirts. Maybe he should tell his team. Natasha was nice about it. He should ask her. Rhodey seemed to be able to read the look in his eyes because he shot him a stern look.

“Shower first then emotional conversations. I don’t want to hear you bitching about your messed up skin when you leave your makeup on for two long.” Tony rolled his eyes, but pecked Rhodey on the cheek before disappearing from the room. Rhodey groaned before burying his face beneath the blanket. Tony sure was a handful.

Tony slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a band shirt before setting of to find Natasha. Natasha was lounging in the dining room, when Tony found her. She sent him a smile.

“I’m… thinking about telling the team. Rhodey thinks I should do it on my birthday. I’m just worried…”

“Tony. Bruce is going to accept you no matter what just like you did with him. Clint might be an asshole, but he really likes you and I’ll smack him if he says something stupid. Thor isn’t around a lot, but I’m pretty sure Asgard doesn’t really do gender the same way we do anyways. Steve is too besotted with you to care about anything. I think if you showed up in a dress, Steve might spontaneously combust. So… what are you going to wear to the big reveal?”

“I’m not sure yet…”

The two of them end up picking an elegant red dress for Tony to wear along with sparkly gold heels. Natasha picks a tight blue dress and black heels. By the end of it, Tony is thrilled about coming out to his team. His birthday is at the end of the week. He doesn’t have to wait long now.

A week later Tony was standing in front of his mirror freaking out. His hands were shaking really bad, so Natasha did his makeup while Pepper curled his short hair around his face.

His breaths were coming out in panicked gasps as his hand tightened around Rhodey’s.

“What if he thinks? I’m a-a-a freak. He’s from the forties. I can’t…  I really like him and maybe it’s better if I don’t come out tonight. It’s not that big of a deal. I can just go put a suit on and-” Tony stuttered.

“Nope, Baby girl you are ready for this. You shouldn’t have to hide who you are.” Tony’s face turned as red as it always did whenever anyone referred to him with a feminine nickname but he made a small contented noise. Rhodey gave Tony a dazzling smile. Tony blushing bright red over being called pretty or baby girl was always so cute to see.

Music was playing in the living room as they walked in. Tony was completely hidden by Rhodey’s body. Steve and Thor were drinking wine and laughing in the corner. Bruce and Clint were sitting on the couch looking at the four occupants who had just entered the room.

“Happy Birthday!” They cheered.

“Tony, why are you hiding?” Bruce asked, his voice laced with concern.

Tony stepped out from behind Rhodey with a bright red face. His hand laced together with Pepper’s.

“Damn. You lost a bet on your birthday. That’s harsh Rhodey.” Clint said.

“No… no, I-I have something to tell you.” Tony could feel his heart pumping in his chest. His eyes flashed to Steve’s. Steve looked concerned but his eyes kept flicking up and down Tony’s body. He felt his face heat up. “I’m uh gender fluid. Sometimes I like to wear dresses and makeup and I’m uh girl sometimes… I use male pronouns all the time, but um I’m a girl right now. I know it’s weird but I’ve always been this way and…”

“Tony. You look beautiful. Happy Birthday.” Bruce interrupted his ramblings with a soft smile.

“Yeah man… I mean… shit, I’m already fucking it up. Also I am going to unapologetically hit on you because your ass in that dress is ten out of ten.” Clint said with a smirk and a wink in his direction. Tony threw his head back and laughed. Thor nodded his agreement.

Tony kissed Rhodey on the cheek before walking over to Steve. Thor floated over to the other side of the room to interact with Natasha. Steve had a pink blush on his cheeks.

“You look um really pretty Tony.” Steve wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“Are you tongue tied, Cap?” Tony teased.

“I have a hard time talking to pretty dames.” Steve mumbled, but Tony heard and his face lit up with a bright red blush. Steve seemed entranced by Tony’s blush and ran his finger over his cheekbone, which only made him blush harder.

“I really like you Steve”

“Me too.”

Steve hands cupped Tony’s face and their lips meet. Tony’s hands came up to clutch at Steve’s broad shoulders. They broke apart to breathe and Tony rests his head on Steve’s shoulder.

“I’ve liked you for a really long time, god Steve. Please can we… can we kiss again.”

“Yes, Tony, Sweetheart, yes.” Tony practically leapt into Steve’s arms, and even though he could hear the others groaning and laughing, he couldn’t seem to care.