#in our team meeting this morning the team leader spoke to us all about how the office has not been great at doing case notes

[yutaslaugh]

decided i will be resigning next month just in time for when i leave for overseas 😊😊😊

[tekumaniac311]

Open Arms: Suspension

It was a regular day it seems the following morning, breakfast, training and chilling out. Looks like it was one of those days nothing bad would happen, until the notification that Mr Ludwig the director of the entire Space Rider organization has requested to speak with Dogbite personally. Dogbite of course not one to laze about, settled in the meeting room and laid back on his chair as the hologram of Mr Ludwig himself appeared.

"Director! How can I be of service?" Dogbite asked curious with a smile "Dogbite, last night i had gotten a report of your recent behaviour." Dogbite paused at the Director's answer "Explain?" He asked. With that, Mr Ludwig started to explain: "According to this report, you for the past few months have been showing signs of aggression, recklessness, gatekeeping and egocentricity. Care to explain?"

Dogbite paused but stayed firm "Hey, Mr Ludwig it's all just healthy competition between me my brother's team, after all I just think that we're better than them in taking out the Prototype before they do." Ludwig was not impressed "Competition? Dominance? Healthy? I don't think so." Dogbite, still being brave stood up "I'm just eager to best him and take out the Prototype first at the same time."

Ludwig just shook his head "No, that's not what i formed this organisation for. The report also details other events of aggression and gatekeeping that i do not tolerate. The conclusion is: You have lost sight of the big picture." Dogbite blinked "But sir, I--"

"Do not interrupt me, Dogbite." Mr Ludwig scolded "I also have reports on you claiming that our rouge Rider, Z is not a real rider and should be detained?" "Well yeah, he didn't enter the academy nor show his face to us" Ludwig once again sighed at Dogbite's comment "Be it as it may, Z is still the sole survivor of Borealis and had been a Rider for the past 10 years with a clean record, so in other words your attitude regarding Z is nothing but intolerant."

"But sir! He..just.." Before Dogbite could utter any more, Ludwig spoke again "I have had my suspicions in the past, yes. But his actions have made him a legitimate Rider in my books, so therefore Dogbite you have no right in attempting to demonize Z. We are the only things standing between the Prototype and his dream of total universal conquest and you think it's all a game?"

"Well of course, all life's a game." Dogbite barked. "I'm sorry Dogbite, but I cannot tolerate this kind of behaviour any longer: I am putting you on suspension, for a period of 1 month." Dogbite's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach "WHAT??!! You can't do this to me, I'm the captain!" Dogbite argued, but Mr Ludwig put it straight "And I'm the Director, therefore I outrank you. I am sorry, Dogbite but as stated before this behavior i can no longer tolerate, 1 month of time to yourself should be enough for you to realize this reckless behavior and competitiveness MUST stop."

"But..Captain, this isn't fair." Mr Ludwig cut Dogbite off again "Neither is not being allowed to go on a date with another rider, not being allowed to help another rider from another team with her inventions, neither is creating divides between your team and another and neither is claiming our anonymous Rider Z, the sole survivor of Borealis i add, to be a fake rider and a so called "menace"." Dogbite was silent, he had nothing to say to Mr Ludwig, his team had told the Rider director EVERYTHING, and now he would suffer the consequences.

"Dogbite, do not take it the wrong way, you are a formidable fighter and a competent leader. But as stated you have lost sight of the big picture, we are at war with the Prototype and we are all united to stop it, putting aside rivalries and differences for the greater good. I do not see any Rider crew as 'better' than the other, they are all equal to me. The defeat of the Prototype is NOT a race nor competition, it is a shared goal between every single team in this organisation. You may think your team is a rival to your brothers, but in reality: You are both on the same side and should work together."

Dogbite remained quiet and was a blank after Mr Ludwig had finished talking, the human then looked at the dog with a gentle glare "I have seen too many Rider captains fall to their pride, ego or greed, desperation for glory each of those captains had the same fate: Death. Please, Dogbite, do not follow in that path." With those final words, Mr Ludwig cut the hologram, Dogbite then looked to his left to see his entire crew watching.

Dogbite pointed his finger at Drago, quivering and visibly upset "You...you sent that report..! Why..??" Drago sighed and looked at his captain, it was clear Dogbite felt crushed and betrayed by his own crew. "It's for your own good, Captain. As Ludwig said you've forgotten we're all on the same side, and this competition has to stop."

Lean Lemur also looked up at Dogbite "We still respect you, captain. But we can't lie that you've gone over the edge, you gotta cool off and take time to rethink things." Prettybird also glared "And Ludwig is right, alienating, preventing socializing with Dogday's crew just because of your rivalry really isn't fair." Mama put her hand on Dogbite's shoulder "A full month to yourself is enough for you to rethink things, you need it captain."

Dogbite, unable to say a word just looks down at the ground "I'll just be on my way...Drago, your stepping in as leader, I'll see you all in a month..." With that he sadly leaves his team and begins packing up, after doing so he donned his helmet and took a space cycle. He decided to head for the planet Eden. He began to think

"This can't stand..now Dogday's gonna be ahead of me! But..no, no, their all wrong, I need to show them that I can be better than him!" He thought to himself, but thinking would have to wait as he flew to Eden for his suspension.

TO BE CONTINUED

space rider au by @onyxonline

[tmzrkstan]

nct 127 as co-workers asking you out.

•----------••----------••----------••----------••-------•

✦ warnings: a little bit of cursing.

✦ genre: nct x gn!reader, co-workers to lovers, fluff.

•----------••----------••----------••----------••-------•

✦ Johnny:

•You had just transferred from another branch and was kinda lost with everything new;

•Johnny liked to call himself welcome committee leader;

•Then he didn't waste time and welcomed you with a list of the best places in town that you "must" visit;

•The fact that you spend the whole week laughing of his silliest jokes made him realize how pretty you your smile was;

•Got to the point where you two received bad looks from those who tried to concentrate and do some work;

•So you when you almost leaving for the night he asks: "What about giving them a rest and go out for drinking? I can show you one of the places I told you about.".

✦ Taeyong:

•You always felt lucky about the team you worked on, everyone was nice to each other;

•Even when there was a rare discussion it didn't last long, especially because of Taeyong, the kind guy you always looked up to;

•He just felt that him should make everyone comfortable and ended up leaving his wishes behind;

•One big example was that he had been trying for months to ask you out but always end up in a group date;

•Don't get him wrong, he really enjoyed those people, but on the other hand was into you for almost a year;

•Inevitably found himself way too drunk muttering his frustration about not being able to confess his feelings at the bar's table with your colleagues like "🥺";

•The next day he hardly has the courage to talk to you, but after realizing that his feelings were mutual didn't wasted more time;

•A few minutes before you arrived on your date, he sends a text to confirm if was just the two of us.

✦ Yuta:

•Beeing an foreign made him have a leg up on his popularity;

•Yuta was kinda mysterious about his personal life, which generated more whispers around the company;

•But somehow, he noticed you among so many people;

•You would been lying if you said you were never attracted to the mysterious japanese man, you just didn't spend hours talking about him;

•Which eventually caused a questionary from your friends in the cafeteria, like, how could you not be curious about Yuta, why didn't tried to get more information like everybody else;

•That moment was when the aforementioned man appeared out of nowhere confirming: "They gonna get all the information out of the source at our date today.";

•He gave you a winked and handed you a paper with his phone number, leaving behind a table freaking out on you.

✦ Doyoung:

•You were in a way the one working for him;

•Like, when he needed the product you sold he would just call you and meet with you to pick it up;

•You didn't approve of the idea of ​​a date because you might have conflicts of interest, even after he asked you a few times;

•"What you want me to do? Buy it from another person?"

•Until the day he asked to change the delivery location and you found yourself standing in front of a restaurant.

•"I can only pay you after you have lunch with me" he said, and you accused him of taking advantage of you;

•But anyways, you were already there so it would be okay to try, right?

✦ Jaehyun:

•You were sure he hated you;

•Everytime that he needed something from you he would go to your table you would get lost in your thoughts, why didn't he like you? Altough, you were intimidated by him.

•He wouldn't even look you in the face, barely spoke two words and when he saw you in the break room he'd leave.

•Jaehyun was waiting for you to finish analyzing what he brought you when you let out: "Why you hate?" without thinking;

•The conversation went like: "Sorry, what?"/ "What?"/"What did you say?"/ "What did I say what?"/"🤨"/"😐";

•That question hovered over the poor man's head the rest of the day;

•Next morning he approached: "I thought you didn't like me, when you started working here you always ran away from me, so I didn't mean to make you more uncomfortable.";

•You find it cute and admitted to feeling intimate thanks to his beauty and intelligence;

•No a long time after that he asked you out of nowhere.

✦ Jungwoo:

•You I had been teaching him something for days, and he never seemed to understand;

•Even advised him to ask someone else, as you were doubting of your teaching ability;

•But he always made a point of confirming that it should be you;

•One day, you caught him doing it perfectly alone and you went like "😲";

•When he came to you for help again you made him confess that he already knew what to do, and forced him to say the reason for the torture;

•"I was hopping this would made you realize that you like me and ask me out, but you too dumb for that.";

•A few days later, you find yourself having dinner with him, still indignant.

✦ Mark:

•The classic trope of long term friends that are secretly in love with each other;

•Apart from the fact that everyone has already noticed this;

•You always helped each other and spent as much time as possible together in a corner laughing;

•Even though everyone told Mark to come clean, he swore you had a secret life outside of work, maybe even married with kids;

•No one could take the drama anymore, so the team got together and forced you to go out together;

•When you realized there were only the two of you, you thought it was a personal joke, but Mark understood what he had to do;

•It took all night, but he finally confessed and asked you out on a real date.

✦ Haechan:

•You weren't enemies, but you loved to compete with each other;

•Even though it left you with your emotions on edge, your boss didn't care because it meant greater results.

•When you reached the same goal on the same day, you had to break the tie, this time with a prize;

•Unfortunately for your ego, Haechan won and for the prize you had to run out and buy him lunch;

•In the lunch room, you wish him a good meal sarcastically and he forces you to eat with him;

•"You so dumb, if you want a date just say it 🙄";

•"Then we're having dinner tonight 😉".

•----------••----------••----------••----------••-------•

✦ author: first time trying it here! sorry for any mistake, english is not my mother language. Hope you like It!!!

[btsficsandsuch]

Hello! I would like to request a Jin one shot in which yn and their son surprise jin while he is on tour

Hope you like it!

Always Be Here

After hearing your phone ring for the fourth time you quickly ran over to where it was currently charging worried that there was an emergency. You answered when you saw your husband Jin’s name flashing on the screen. “Hi babe, sorry I didn’t answer. I was giving Ha-Jun a bath and getting him ready for bed.”, you said with a smile. Jin sighed, “That’s okay. How is he doing? Is he eating well and behaving?” You could tell from the sound of his voice that he was trying his hardest to hold back tears.

“Yeah he’s doing really well. He colored you a bunch of pictures. He has them saved for when you get back.” You were met with silence and then you heard what you swore were sniffles. “Jin what’s wrong?”, you asked even though you were pretty certain of the reason.

“Nothing Y/N. Don’t worry about me. I hope you’re taking care of yourself as well.”, he replied. You didn’t want to push him so you let it go and continued the conversation as normal. “Sorry Y/N, I have to get going but I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I love you and Ha-Jun so much. Take care of yourselves.”, he said quickly before hanging up, barely giving you a chance to respond. Jin always had a hard time being away from you but it only escalated once your son was born. He even threatened to quit the band but you and the rest of the boys were able to talk him out of it.

The following morning you woke up to a text from Namjoon,

NJ: Good morning Y/N, are you available to talk this morning? It should only take a few minutes.

You: Hey Joon, yeah whenever you’re ready just give me a call.

You had just finished making yourself a cup of coffee when you heard your phone ringing and just as you expected you saw Namjoon’s name flashing on the screen.

“Hi Joon, what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hi Y/N, I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to talk to you about Jin. I’m really worried about him.”

“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“He just seems to be having a harder time than usual being away from you and Ha-Jun. We all went out to dinner last night after the show but he refused to come with us and when Jungkook went to bring him some food he found him crying in his hotel room with his bags packed. We convinced him to stay but I don’t know how much longer he’ll be willing to stay with us and we still have six weeks left.”

“Oh Namjoon, I spoke to him last night and he sounded sad but I didn’t know it was this bad.”

“Yeah Y/N, he is really hurting. I was wondering if you and Ha-Jun would be able to fly out and meet us at the next location as a surprise. I think it’ll be really good for him. I already cleared it with the team.”

“Yeah of course Namjoon. I’d love to come out there. Just send me the details.”

“Thanks Y/N, see you soon.”

A few days later you and your son were hiding in one of the backstage rooms waiting for their manager to come get you to surprise Jin on stage. After several minutes the two of you were ushered to the side of the stage. Namjoon began to speak,

“Is everyone have a good time tonight? We love being here with Army. You guys are more than fans. You’re like our family. And speaking of family, we have some very special people here this evening. They flew all the way here to surprise our very own Jin! Everyone please welcome Y/N and Ha-Jun!”

You and your son walked onto the stage to loud cheers from the crowd. Ha-Jun ran right up to Jin who quickly picked him up in his arms peppering his cheeks with kisses. When you finally made your way over to him you immediately noticed the tears falling down his cheeks so you reached up and gently wiped them with your thumb. “What are y-, how did y-, why did y-“, he stumbled through his words unable to make a complete sentence.

“It was Namjoon’s idea.”, you’d said pointing at the leader. Jin gave him nod signaling a thank you with a smile. After a few more kisses you waved goodbye to the crowd and waited for Taehyung to return with Ha-Jun after they took a little tour of the stage. The rest of the concert went smoothly and the air was definitely lighter. You were waiting in one of the rooms backstage while Ha-Jun was taking a nap on the couch. After the show Jin immediately came running in to the room and picked you up planting another kiss on your lips, “Thank you for coming Y/N. You have no idea how much I needed this.” “Of course Jin, I’m always here for you. We missed you a lot too.” He looked over at your sleeping son and smiled, “I’m gonna go shower and get changed. Then we can get some food and then go back to the hotel.” You smiled and gave him another kiss, “Of course babe. Take your time. We’ll be here for you.”

[pettyrevenge-base]

Lie about having COVID to take six weeks off while I do your work for free? I’ll throw an all-office party to announce where you really were.

Mid-pandemic my boss disappeared.

Just as we were gearing up for our most challenging, time intensive, project in the last five years, he dropped off the face of the earth.

We kept working for a week or so without him because everything was virtual and the virtual work world was still so new, we didn’t really need him. We were delegating tasks ourselves and completing things on our own. We spoke to coworkers maybe twice a week.

But some decisions were beyond our discretion, so we could not move forward on those aspects of the project until we received a response from him.

After about 7-10 total days of silence, we called his boss’s boss, who informed our team that our boss had COVID so wasn’t able to work right now.

We took that at face value of course sent him letters of well-wishes and didn’t bother him with work stuff, or ask why he was able to notify his boss but not us.

Three weeks go by. Still not a word. We’re beginning to discuss amongst ourselves whether or not he’s maybe died. We’re terrified and horrified and so concerned. We’re contemplating calling his extended family. We’re sending flowers and care packages to his apartment.

Meanwhile, the project has descended into chaos because no leader was appointed in our boss’s stead, so we are forced to navigate several layers of bureaucracy in order to accomplish most anything at all (whereas in the past he would’ve just signed off in real time.)

Around week four or five one of our coworkers suggests he doesn’t really have COVID but is instead using it as an excuse to take time off. We all jump all over our coworker, asking how he could insinuate something like that, and lamenting about what a tragedy our boss is probably living through. People were chilly to him for days after that.

Week seven. We’re undertaking a letter writing campaign to upper management demanding an acting boss be appointed while ours is recovering. The project is a month behind schedule. We’re all working overtime every day, sometimes on weekends, without extra compensation, just to keep up with the cluster fuck of the boss’s sudden absence.

Week eight. He finally reappears, logging into a morning meeting as though nothing happened. He looks well rested, well fed, and has a tan. Not at all like someone who’s just come out the other side of a six week respiratory virus.

He says something quickly to the effect of “Yah, that was brutal. Glad to be better and glad to be back. Let’s get to work.” But doesn’t want to talk about what happened or answer any of our questions like, “Were you in the hospital?” “What was it like?” Etc.

Fast forward to about four or five months after this. My sister sends me a promo for a fairly new reality show (I’d never heard of it but it’s on a major platform) and says “Isn’t this guy a friend of yours or something? I swear I’ve seen him and you together.”

I watch the trailer for this show, and lo and behold, there’s my boss. Participating as a contestant on a reality TV show.

It did not take long for me to put the pieces together and realize he took extended leave to go on TV (that he knew he wouldn’t otherwise get during this massive project) and lied about it under the guise of a vicious disease that nearly all of us had lost a loved one to.

I sit and stew with this information, unsure of how to handle it. I know confronting him won’t get me very far, but I can’t just do nothing, right? I’m not close enough with any of my colleagues to discuss this with them and trust that they wouldn’t run off and send an all-company email about it.

So I slept on it a few nights and then the opportunity fell right in my lap.

I got an email from corporate encouraging teams still working remotely to plan “virtual social functions” to keep a collegial culture going and to stay in touch.

Among the suggestions were: game night, trivia, and… watch party.

With the premier of the show only a couple weeks away I got busy telling everyone how I’d been meaning to get into this show, and it’s so enticing and exciting, basically laying the groundwork to guilt them into coming to an impromptu virtual watch party off-hours.

I offered to get special shirts made up and send them to each person’s house. Whatever I had to do to get the attention of corporate.

Finally, I sent an e-vite to all my boss’s bosses, and any other members of corporate I could justify inviting without making a total ass of myself.

Because this is entirely virtual, my boss is unable to overhear any of the chatter. He doesn’t realize I’m hyping up this show and he doesn’t realize I’ve planned a watch party for it. I wasn’t inviting him unless he had the balls to explicitly ask about it.

I was hoping he wouldn’t have heard about it at all! Not until afterwards. That was really the only way this could work.

The night comes and I am screensharing the show to a whopping 64 people. A huge chunk of my department. Many members of corporate had showed up because I was the only person stupid enough to buy into their virtual social work party scheme, so they felt pressured to support it.

I was holding my breath, hoping this would go my way, bracing myself for some kind of curveball. But there wasn’t even that dramatic of a buildup. Right at the outset they introduced the premise (which included the contestants being in a covid-safe bubble in an exotic location!!) and gave a brief overview of each contestant.

As my boss was introduced, right down to what he did for work, and I could see people register delight and surprise… then go blank… just before sliding into confusion and rage.

The chat took a drastic turn from “Oh my goodness!” And “I knew him when!” And all sorts of pithy jokes to a brave member of my team (or perhaps one just pushed a tad too far by all the extra hours he pulled in this douche’s absence) sent the message, ”Wait, when was this filmed?”

My audience dropped from 64 to 58 to mid-30s, and by the time the episode was over it was just me and the other 15 core members of the team.

One asked if I’d already known, but some members of the team are very close to the boss, so all I said was “Well I definitely do now.” And wrapped up the call pretty quickly after that.

Perhaps one of the best bonuses is that you could already tell from episode one that the character arc the show assigned to our boss was “bumbling idiot”. He had his true colors on in full display and some production-massaging upped them to the 11th degree.

Boss was fired. My good buddy was promoted to his place. I am an office legend now (especially since no one is 100% sure whether or not it was intentional.) And it was all so satisfying that it was almost worth the dozens of hours of uncompensated overtime that led to it.

Source: reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge

[reidgraygubler]

multiply (kyle orfman/reader)

Title: multiply Request: no Couple: Kyle Orfman/Fem!reader Category: angst/smut w/ a taste of fluff Content Warning: SEXUAL CONTENT (penetrive sex, unsafe sex, mild hatefuck, grinding/groping, heavy petting, light breathplay (hand over mouth and nose) breeding/impregnation kink, fingering), zombies and zombies eating humans, death, descriptions of death, death of a grandparent (grandmother), mentions of guns and gun violence (but none actually happening), petnames (kitten/officer) Word Count: 5,943 Summary: After narrowly escaping her grandmother eating her, Reader is on her own to find other civilization. She meets the Orfman family and they take her in for safety. Reader and Kyle share a special bond. A/N: I am in love with this piece, so I hope you guys love it as much as I do. thank you to @reidetic for beta/editing this for me! this was also written for @imagining-in-the-margins "there was only one bed" trope challenge for june! thank you all so much for the support! i really do appreciate it. check out my masterlist!

{***}{***}{***}

My grandmother was alive… And then she was dead… And now she’s alive again. Which is very confusing because I watched her die. Like I can’t be the only person experiencing this, right? It’s not some weird fever dream either, I don’t think. This has to be a town wide phenomenon.

My grandmother was acting totally normal too. As if she didn’t die. She was living life day to day, making cookies, knitting, and sipping her tea, just like she did before she died. It was like life went back to normal. And then… She tried to eat me. That’s definitely not normal. Is it?

Who eats another person!? Zombies! That’s who! And how do you kill a zombie? I don’t really like that answer. Because I love my grandmother. She’d do nothing to hurt me, except eat me, I guess.

I gotta get out of this house. It’s not safe to stay in the house with her anymore, and it hasn’t been for a long time. So instead of killing her, like any other sane person would do, I just left. I packed my backpack with a few clothes, snacks and water, and I left.

Turns out it was a lot more than a town wide phenomenon. It was country wide. Everyone was experiencing their dead loved ones returning from the dead. Just showing up, like how my grandmother just showed up. It caused something of an uprise, too, considering people don’t just come back to life after being dead, and they’re eating other humans. It wasn’t an uprise. It was terror, pure terror of the people who didn’t die and come back to life.

I hadn’t left my house in a while, at least since my grandmother came back. So I didn’t realize just how dire the situation was. Piles of burnt stuff were all over the place. Cars with shattered windshields were crashed into trees or homes. And the number of bodies just on the street was… incredibly disturbing.

I needed to find any sign of civilization, and quickly. There was no telling just how long I’d make it alone. I probably only had enough water for the next day or two. And the only zombie movies I’ve seen were Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, and that wasn’t very helpful… Well maybe Zombieland was helpful.

A long branch with a sharp and pointy end was sitting in the middle of the road. I grabbed it, hoping it’d be enough of a weapon to protect me from the disaster around me. I silently hoped, and prayed to whatever God was up there, that I’d find safety before nightfall.

I was beginning to lose hope as the sun started setting; the sky lighting up with the fires around the town. Several people wearing orange jumpsuits came running around the corner, each carrying various weapons in their hands and over their backs. I nearly fell to the ground because of how startled I was. I tried to pay attention to the crowd around me, but the pavement chewed up the palms of my hands.

A guy with a crew cut hairstyle seemingly looked in charge. Weird to have a gangly and scrawny man be in charge of a zombie take out group. He had this weird stature that he held, like he was trying to be intimidating but not everyone took him seriously.

The guy looked right at me and pointed a gun at my head. I slowly lifted my hands and stared at him.

“D-Don’t shoot! I’m human!” I shouted as I stared at him. He stared back, stepping closer to me. He dropped his gun away from me, but still kept his guard up.

“Human my ass!” The guy with the crewcut shouted. I looked at my hands, watching as blood began seeping from my palms. I quickly looked back at him, hoping he’d look at the human blood.

"Thoughts on smooth jazz?!" he asked in a loud tone. I stared up at him, feeling the terror bubble up my throat.

"I-I… Not my first choice in music?" I furrowed my eyebrows, as I wondered what this had to do with anything.

"Thoughts on dirt?!"

"Ew? Good for gardening? I don’t know!” I shouted back before I stumbled to my feet. The guy with the crew cut cautiously stepped closer to me as he examined my face and body. I’d assume it was because he was looking for any impurities I could possibly have. “I almost had to kill my grandmother. But… But I had to leave. I couldn’t do it. So I left. I left because she lunged at me… from across the table,” I mumbled as he stepped back. “I just need somewhere.. To lie low for the time being. I promise I’m safe.” I whispered as I looked at him. The guy looked back at the rest of his team, gauging their thoughts and concerns about letting me go with them.

“You can come with us. But the second you turn your back on us, or turn into them, don't be shocked when I’m the one to put a bullet into your head,” his voice got scary low as he stepped right up to me. I swallowed roughly and nodded.

“Understood,” I whispered as I looked up at him.

I was shoved into the middle of the crowd of orange jumpsuits. The guy with the crewcut took the lead and brought us to a house that was guarded by tall cement and steel fencing. The people who were currently occupying this home knew how to keep themselves safe.

We entered the fenced in yard of the house, the leader making sure everyone got in safely, and no undead beings followed us. Then we entered the house. I was half expecting it to be stripped down, or decayed. But when we got in… It looked like a normal home, just no power, and the windows boarded up.

“Oh! A new person!” A woman exclaimed once I stood in the area that was once a living room. She came right up to my side, looking at me with a bright smile. She was very happy that I was here. “Don’t worry! You’re safe now!” she cooed as she threw her arms around me. I froze, my body refusing to move as she embraced me.

“I-I…” I swallowed roughly as she pulled away from me. I barely had time to say anything else as she pulled us to sit on the couch.

“I’m Judy Orfman. Kyle is my son.” She smiled as she gestured towards the crew cut guy wearing the orange jumpsuit.

“Mom,” Kyle muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose. I snickered as I looked back at Judy. I smiled softly as I gave her my name. It was weird how homey this place felt, albeit our situation in the world. Part of me wondered if Judy had any part in that.

“My husband, Noah, is out right now. And my other son, Zach, is with one of the women. She also had to kill her grandmother,” Judy whispered that last part. I looked at her with wide eyes, feeling a certain nervousness settle in the pit of my stomach. I could tell she meant well, and I shouldn’t be scared around anyone here. Everything that’s happened is just unsettling. When I woke up this morning I wasn’t expecting to have to escape zombies.

“Is it okay i-if I lie down? I’m just very tired after everything that’s happened.” I I looked between Judy and Kyle.

“Oh! Kyle, honey, you should let her sleep in your room. She obviously needs it,” Judy spoke to her son as she carefully smoothed out my hair. I looked at her with a small smile. I loved how motherly she was. It was definitely something I needed in a time like this.

“I’m not going to do that, Mom.”

“We don’t have any more bed space. You’re the only person with a bed big enough to hold two people. We aren’t going to force her to sleep on the floor or on the couch.”

“I-I don’t have an issue with the flo-”

“Non-sense! Kyle has plenty of space!” Judy clapped her hands together as she glared at Kyle. Kyle looked back at her with wide eyes before dropping his head and mumbling something. Even though Kyle was in charge of the orange jumpsuits, Judy was the head of household. Anyone could argue with her, but she would end up getting her way no matter what. Kyle probably knew better than to fight his mother.

“So it’s agreed then! You guys will share the room!” Judy smiled brightly. “Just no funny business.” She then glared between me and Kyle. I looked at her with wide eyes before shaking my head.

“Ugh! Ew! With him!”

“Her?! Are you serious?”

Even though I basically said what he said, I was still hurt by his utter disgust behind his words. I tried not letting it bother me as I grabbed my backpack and stood up.

“Why don’t you show her around? The bathroom, kitchen, bedroom.” Judy stood up beside me as she looked at her son. Kyle begrudgingly moved towards the opening of the living room, leading off to a new area.

“C’mon,” he grumbled as he looked over at me. I looked at Judy before looking back at Kyle. I dropped my head before dashing up beside him.

Every room he showed, I was met with a new person distraught by the events of the day. Kyle just showed me the room. I didn’t really know what I was expecting when he showed me around the house.

“Finally, this is where I sleep,” Kyle muttered as he gestured towards the closed off bedroom. A small smile grew on my lips as I entered the room, heading right towards the bed. Kyle, however, stopped me by grabbing my backpack and pulling me back to the door. “And just what do you think you’re doing?”

“Judy said I could sleep in here, too. So I figured I should take my side of the bed.” I looked up at him, folding my arms over my chest. A smirk grew across Kyle’s lips before he nodded. At this point we were standing toe-to-toe, and our chests were practically pressed together.

“You’re adorable,” he muttered before pulling my backpack off my back and tossing it to the left side of the bed. “If I find out you’re cuddling with me, you’re outta here. And if I see you going through my shit… You’re dead.”

“Sir, yes, sir.” I whispered before looking away from him. I walked away from him and towards the bed. Even though I wasn’t facing him, I could feel Kyle’s eyes on me as I went through my bag. “Are you just going to stand there and watch me? Or are you going to let me sleep peacefully?” I asked as I dropped my shoulders and the things I was holding.

“Until I know you won’t fuck around with stuff you’re not supposed to…” He spoke out loud. I rolled my eyes before turning to face him.

“Do you want me to just mess with your stuff while you’re here?” I asked as I walked back around to his side of the bed. Kyle’s eyes widened and his jaw steeled as I went to his night stand. “Or will you leave me alone so I can get some rest?”

“I’ll leave you alone the second you back away from that nightstand.” His words were quick and sharp as he spoke. A small smirk grew across my lips as I looked back at him. I stepped away from the night stand and stood in the middle of the room. “I’ll come back in an hour,” he muttered before leaving the room.

With a deep sigh, I returned to my side of the room, finally getting ready to lie down for the first time in what feels like days.

{***}{***}{***}

I don’t think time exists anymore. Ever since the world went to shit, it feels like days felt longer than 24 hours. So it was hard to say how long I’d been in this safe house. I wished time was still relevant...

I try not to let things bother me. But I feel like it’s especially hard in this house with all of these people I hardly know. It was even harder because I was still sharing a room with Kyle. And he is probably the worst person I’ve ever met. He talks in his sleep. But he wouldn’t own up to that. Noooo, he’s too good for that.

The first night I realized he was talking in his sleep wasn’t too bad, mostly because it was him talking about stuff that happened before before a stupid zombie apocolyspe. But now it’s just annoying shit. I never get a moment alone anymore.

For a moment of privacy, I sat in the closet. It was just for a moment before the doors swung open and a woman my age sat down beside me.

“Zach wants to go to a stupid graveyard today,” Erica muttered as she sat down. I looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. “He wants to visit Beth’s stupid grave.”

“Beth’s his ex-girlfriend, right?” I asked, still unsure of who people were here. She nodded as she began picking at the loose threads on her pants. “You shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, Erica.”

“Okay, but when the dead start trying to kill me, then I’m going to talk ill of the dead.”

“That’s fair, I suppose,” I muttered as I looked at the floor in front of us. “It’s still not really safe to do that… Little weird.” I glanced back at Erica with a raised brow. She looked back at me and grimaced. I had nothing else to say, granted conversations between us didn’t last too long. We had nothing in common other than our grandmothers tried eating us, therefore we had to kill them. So what was the use of us talking? I knew a friendship would never grow between us.

With a resigned sigh, I stood up, leaving Erica in the closet alone. I ignored her bothersome questions as I walked away from her. I didn’t want to be around her, or really anyone. So I went to the safest place I could think of, hoping no one else would be there, my shared bedroom with Kyle.

Of course, it’d just be my luck that Kyle would also be there. He was sitting at his desk, wearing nothing by his boxers while he cleaned his gun. I just didn’t realize that till I had fully entered the room.

“What the fuck!? What are you doing?! Don’t you knock!?” he shouted as I entered the room more. I turned and looked at him, my eyes wide as I stared at him. “S-Stop staring! Are you crazy!?”

“Me crazy!? You’re the one cleaning your gun half naked!” I shouted as I gestured at his attire. I quickly threw a hand over my eyes as I blindly searched for the bed.

“It's how I relax!” He shouted back. Once my body finally touched the bed, I laid back, quickly throwing a pillow over my face. “Can you leave?”

“How come you get to relax but I don’t? Roommates remember?” I sat up and glared at him. He glared back at me, keeping his hands on his gun.

“It’s so funny to me that you were going to be a police officer?” I scoffed as I laid back. That seemed to strike a chord in him, causing him to stand and look at him.

“What? I didn’t tell-”

“You talk in your sleep,

“No I don’t, Kitten,” Kyle retorted. I stared at him for a moment, trying to comprehend what he just called me. Kitten? Really? Seriously? “If anyone talks in their sleep, it’s you.” He pointed at me. I smirked and shrugged.

“If you say so… Officer.” I grinned before reaching up to shut the lamp off. Kyle stayed sitting in the darkness. I could only imagine his face was beet red, and his knuckles were white as a ghost as he held his gun.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” Kyle’s voice came through the mild darkness. I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me.

“Taking a nap, Officer, because it’s how I relax.”

{***}{***}{***}

It had to have been the middle of the night. I couldn’t be too sure. I just knew it was late at night, and Kyle’s whole entire body was clinging to mine as he talked.

“Someone’s gotta repopulate the world… Why… Why don’t you do it with me?” Kyle mumbled into my chest. I stiffened as his hands drifted all over my body. “You’re like the only feasible person to do it with.”

“Okay, first off, rude,” I muttered as I shoved his body off mine. It was impossible to keep him off me though, because the moment his body was away from mine, he knew, and instantly wrapped his arms back around me ten times harder than before. “Secondly, haven’t you heard of personal space,” I groaned as I laid perfectly still on my back. I finally just gave in and let him keep his arms around me. No use in fighting that.

“C’mon, Kitten,” he mused as he nuzzled his head into my chest more. I widened my eyes and looked down at him. “We’d make some pretty cute kids.”

I hate this so fucking much. And there was no way I was getting out of this. I just wish this was when I knew the weird sex dreams started...

{***}{***}{***}

I laid perfectly still on the bed. The lights were off, and Kyle was perfectly asleep. I was envious of his sleep. The last time I had a peaceful night of rest was ages ago. The nightmares I had were awful, keeping me awake till dawn. But also, Kyle also talked in his sleep and always clung to me like his life depended on it.

I’d be lying if I said Kyle and I hadn’t gotten close. Even though part of me still hated him, the other part of me knew that he was probably the last person I had to be friends with, other than his mother and Erica.

With a deep groan, I shoved Kyle awake, nearly pushing him to the floor.

“What the hell was that for!?” he shouted from his spot on the ground beside the bed.

“You know when you talk in your sleep…” I spoke aloud. I kept my eyes on him as he glared at me.

“No I don’t,”

“You sure about that, Officer. How else would I know you wanted to be a cop?” I scoffed as I stood up off the bed. Kyle watched as I walked around the bed and stood at the foot of it.

“You… You read through my personal belongings.” He shot back as he stood to his feet.

“Y-You have a diary,” I stifled my laughter as I looked at him. Kyle glared at me again. “No, I only know that because you talk in your sleep. And at first it didn’t bother me too much because it was cute shit like being a police officer, or having a family and kids, and cute shit… But now… For the last week, Kyle, you have been having sex dreams. And I wake up to you clinging to me…” I lifted an accusing finger as I spoke. Kyle looked at me, waiting for me to continue my rant. Which was rather surprising because he hardly lets people finish their thoughts or rants before he interprets them. “Do you know how weird that is?! Having sex dreams about someone who’s just sleeping next to you?” I stared at him for a moment, trying to understand if he was going to say anything. “Whatever, I’m going to help Judy.” I scoffed before turning to leave the room.

“With what? It’s midnight!” He gestured to the dark window. Yeah, that was true. Judy was probably asleep. I just needed to get out of the room and let my frustrations be out instead of held in.

“With something!” I shouted at him.

“Kitten, wait,” Kyle started before grabbing my wrist and pulling me to face him. I spun around on my toes and looked right at him. I couldn’t help but feel annoyance grow on my face as I stared.

“Why do you call me that!?” I shouted at him. Kyle stayed silent as he stared up at me. I could see a certain confusion grow on his face as he tried to connect the dots to my question. “Kitten! Why do you call me that?! You’ve called me that since I got here.”

“Well… I…” Kyle paused for a moment. I watched as his mouth opened and closed a few times, and his jaw clenching momentarily. I stared at him, as he sat in thought for a very long time.

“Whatever,” I scoffed as I turned to leave again.

“Because you’re attractive…” He finally spoke after an eternity of silence. He looked up at me with a stilled face. “Because I’d fuck you,” he stated truthfully. I blinked, taking a step back before I stared at him.

“That’s a bit of a raunchy way to say you want to sleep with me.” I folded my arms over my chest. Kyle smirked before shrugging. “I’ve been sleeping with you for the last month.”

“You-You know what I meant,” he muttered as he approached me again. I stopped right in front of me, our toes just barely touching. “Well, do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Want to have sex with me?”

“You… You want to have sex… During the end of the world. Bit cliche don’t you think?” I was still taken aback that he just asked that. I’m still stuck in the argument we had less than 10 minutes ago. And now he wants to have sex with me?

“Well I wouldn’t say that it’s the end of the world. But that’s essentially what I’m saying… Yeah, I wanna have sex with you, during the end of the world.” Kyle shrugged as he looked at me.

“If you say so… Officer,” I whispered with a shrug. Kyle looked at me, his jaw stealing at my words. “Someone’s gotta repopulate the world.” I smirked at him. I could tell my words did something to him. It was obvious that he did indeed want someone to repopulate with. And I was the winner of that contest. Not that I’m complaining.

“Don’t… Don’t call me that,” he warned as he cornered me between his body and the bed. I took a deep breath as I looked at him, feeling my heart rate pick up in my chest. He still made it possible for me to escape if I wanted to. But, at this point, who says I wanted to escape?

“Why? D-Does it do something to you, Officer?” I whispered as I lifted my hands to his shirt. A small smirk grew across his lips as I smoothed out the wrinkleiness of the fabric against his torso. I could feel the semi toneness of his chest through the light fabric.

“You tell me yourself, Kitten,” he muttered before pressing his hips into mine. My breath was instantly knocked from my lungs as his bulge pressed into my legs. “Tell me now… If you want to stop…” he half growled into my mouth. I quickly shook my head as he pressed his groin into me more.

“P-Please,” I whispered before I pulled my lips between my teeth.

“Please what, Kitten?”

“Don’t stop,” I whimpered into his mouth. He looked down at me, a pleased smirk growing on his lips before he quickly pressed his mouth along my face and then down my jaw. It was impossible to stay down on earth the moment he began leaving little bites across my neck. A soft whimper fell from my lips as he pushed me back down on the bed.

“We gotta be quiet… My parents are in the next room over. Don’t want them hearing us,” he whispered into my ear as he quickly threw a hand over my mouth. I took a deep breath before he pressed his thumb over my nose. “You think you can do that for me, Kitten?” He kept his voice low, almost a growl as he spoke. With his other hand, he carefully pushed past my pajamas and cupped my pussy.

I wanted to nod, but I knew the nod would mean nothing the second I whimpered again. Kyle smirked as he slowly moved his fingers over my clothed sex. I don’t think I’d be able to be quiet...

It just got harder to stay quiet the second he started stroking my clit over my panties. He knew exactly what he was doing. Driving me nuts, that’s what. He could’ve gone slower, and I would’ve hated him for it… Or loved him. At this point they were both interchangeable.

I bit down so hard on my lips I was sure they’d bleed as he moved my underwear to the side. My lungs slowly grew a blaze, feeling a certain tightness in my chest as he slowly moved a finger between my folds, slowly pressing it into my entrance. A dark smirk grew across his lips as he withdrew his hand.

“I didn’t know a kitten could get so wet,” Kyle mused as looked at his glistening fingers. He quickly glanced at me, his smirk growing daker by the second. Then he carefully stuck his fingers between his lips, sucking on them for a brief moment. A soft whimper came from me, causing him to laugh. “She tastes good, too,” he hummed.

Kyle carefully dragged his hand down my side, tracing over my waist and hips, before diving back into my pants and underwear. He knew exactly what he was doing, on purposely making me make noises. Because the second he started stroking over my clit, I couldn’t stop any sound that came from my mouth, even with his hand over it.

“This is already better than any dream I had, Kitten,” he murmured in my ear. I swallowed roughly and nodded. He smirked as he gently pushed a finger into me, quickly followed by a second. “If you’re quiet I’ll move my hand.”

I hummed as I closed my eyes, my head lolling to the side. Kyle dragged his hand from my mouth, sliding it down to my chest. My lips stayed between my teeth, forcing myself to be quiet as he started massaging my breasts.

“D-Don’t stop, whatever you do… Please k-keep going,” I struggled to say as his movements hastened. His thumb carefully brushed against my clit, causing me to push my head back into the bed beneath me.

“You like this, don’t you?” Kyle laughed lightly. I could feel my chest lifting away from the bed the heavier my breath grew. “How long has it been since you’ve been touched like this? Since you’ve been used?”

“Kyle, Kyle, please,” I bit down on my lower lip. I brought one of my hands to rest over my mouth, while the other held his arm.

“I’d call you a desperate, but I’m the one having sex dreams of you.”

The funny thing is… I was desperate. Even though he was the one having the sex dreams, I was the one having the thoughts when I was awake. And a lot of the thoughts were hoping this would happen. Guess we’re bothing having dreams coming true.

It was only a matter of moments before I was finishing over his hand. My eyes stayed closed as I tried catching up with time. And in the few moments I had, Kyle had climbed off the bed and quickly undressed, leaving me still in my pajamas. I didn’t feel rushed, but I hated that I was still wearing clothes.

Once I had my moment of recollection, I sat up, peeling my shirt off and kicking my pants to the floor. I was too busy undressing to even notice that Kyle was staring at me, watching my quickness and excitement. But when I finally did sit back and look at him, he was watching me with a smirk on his lips.

I tried not to let my eyes linger on his body for too long. When I noticed his hard length, I couldn’t help but stare. Then he laughed, forcing me to look up at his face and swallow roughly.

“No, please, keep staring,” he muttered with a smirk. I slowly blinked before shaking my head, silently lifting my hand to him. I could feel my sudden neediness radiating off my body, surely Kyle could sense it from where he was standing.

When he didn’t move, I slowly moved my legs apart, making it so there was space for him to kneel comfortably. He smirked again before crawling onto the bed, coming right up to my face.

“Tell me, Kitten, how badly do you want this,” he whispered against my lips. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before nodding. “Use your words. I trust you know how. You were pretty vocal a few moments ago.”

“I don’t think you understand, Officer, how bad I need you,” I murmured as I looked up at him. The corner of his lips twitched at the nickname I had so lovingly given him. “Only you can help me.”

“Damn right I am,” he muttered before roughly pressing his lips to mine. I threw my arms around his neck as he moved so his length was pressing against me. My breathing stuttered slightly before I began gasping for air as he very slowly entered me.

Once he was fully sheathed in me, Kyle knelt straight up. I stared at him, watching as he hooked his arms under my knees. With that, he managed to press deeper into me, inciting a moan from me.

“More,” I tried to whisper as I looked up at him. His eyes locked with mine for a moment before rolling his hips into mine. He fell into a steady rhythm, hitting the right spots at just the right times.

Any conversation between us ceased to exist, leaving us with struggling moans and gasps for breath. My hands ran over my body, trying to relieve myself of something.

Kyle dropped one of my legs, bringing his hand to between my legs. My head fell back before rolling to rest against my shoulder, feeling the eventual relief in my abdomen.

“You feel so good, Kitten,” Kyle mumbled before dropping my other leg and coming back down to my face. I huffed out a breath of air before lifting a hand to his head. “Better than anything I could ever imagine,” he added before pressing his lips to mine. I hummed, pushing my fingers through his hair.

“I’m gon-gonna cum,” I whined before biting my teeth into his shoulder. Kyle ran his hands up my back before pulling me close.

“Yeah?” he groaned into my ear. I nodded as my breathing grew ragged. “Me too,” he added as his movements grew faulty. He pressed his forehead to mine, his heavy breath fanning across my skin. My eyes stayed glued to his.

“Do it, please do it,” I whimpered. Kyle’s eyes grew darker the moment the heaviness of my words hit him. I don’t think I was supposed to notice his brief pause, but I did. “I’m serious.”

“You know what-”

“God, Kyle, I know. I know what it’ll mean,” I cut him off, lifting my back up into his body. He looked at me for a brief moment before capturing my lips in a gentle kiss. I threw my arms around his neck, holding him close to me.

“If that’s what you want,” he moaned, his movements turning sloppy. I knew I wasn’t about to last long. “Someone’s gotta have my kid.”

“Let it be me then,” I cried out. My legs wrapped around his waist, keeping him in place. “Please.” My whole body tensed around his as my head fell back as I tried to keep quiet. Kyle looked down at me before putting his hand over my mouth. Then a warmth- that I didn’t realize that I missed- grew in my stomach.

Kyle fell, laying against my body. With that, we fell into silence. The only sound was our heavy breathing and the sounds of crickets outside. The silence was nice though.

“My mother better not find out about this,” Kyle said after an eternity. I laughed and shook my head.

“Then you better hope I don’t end up pregnant, because she’ll find out eventually,” I sighed deeply as I brought my hands to hold the back of his head. His body stiffened before he lifted his head to look down at me.

“I’ll tell her in the morning.”

“Well you don’t have to do that,” I laughed. He stared at me for a moment. “You tell her she’ll probably break us apart. And, well, like I said earlier… Someone’s gotta repopulate the world.”

“No, yeah, you’re right. She’d probably kill me if she found out we’re having sex,” he stated before trying to move away from me. “Actually I think she’d kill me then pray I come back to life for that kid.”

“I’m not living through someone trying to eat me twice.”

“I can change that,” he teased with a smile. I stared at him once I realized what he meant.

“Tomorrow night please. I’m so tired.”

“If you say so,” Kyle laughed before slipping out of the bed.

Some months after the apocalypse ended

“You look mighty dashing in that uniform, Officer.” I looked at Kyle as I smoothed out the few wrinkles in his shirt. I tried my hardest to hold the young boy in my arms the moment he became fussy.

“Don’t start that now. I can’t be late,” Kyle warned as he looked back at me. I smiled and shrugged.

I looked up at Kyle with a soft smile on my lips. Although our son was young, he tried to blindly reach out for his father, but failed as he was just out of the child’s reach. “Be safe out there,” I whispered before pressing my lips to his.

“Of course I will.”

“Good, because your little man will be pissed if he finds out you’re not coming home.” I smiled before kissing him again. “But I think I’ll be even more pissed than your kid.”

“Please. I’ll come home in one piece, with no bites.”

“You better, Officer.” I smirked again.

“Well since you asked so nicely,” Kyle scoffed before rolling his eyes. I smiled and nodded.

“Good luck out there. Judy’s making dinner so be home in a timely manner.”

“Okay, for real, I gotta go. See you later, Little Man.” Kyle smiled as he rubbed the top of his son’s head. I smiled before puckering my lips. “And I’ll be home before you know it.” He quickly pecked my lips. “Love you.”

“Yeah, yeah, love you too. See ya later.” I swung our son over to my other hip, resting him gently on my hip. I turned around and slowly walked back up to our home.

“It’s not too soon for another one, is it?!” He shouted from the end of the driveway. I turned and looked at him as I made it to the front door.

“If anything, we can practice!”

if you want to be a part of a taglist (lmk if ur 18+ for smut) or have any comments about this one-shot, let me know here

taglist: @thebluetint @muffin-cup @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto @spencersmagic  @spenciegoob @flipperpenguins @broken-stardust​ 

[tiesthatbind-tf]

Question for Optimus and Megatron! Do you ever see yourselves reconciling in the future? At this point do you even want to?

The jagged edges of badly-healed scars and lines of age on the man’s face were thrown into clear relief by the soft blue glow of tablet in his hands as he studied the question proposed to him carefully. Unblinkingly.

It was two in the morning on a sleepless night amid a quiet week, and after a short prayer session and paperwork, an odd sense of melancholy had begun to creep in.

The rare moments of peace brought with them clarity to his thoughts that weren’t focused on missions, briefings and strategic discussions, and that clarity was, at times, a double-edged sword.

“Back when we used to meet each other at Maccadam’s every weekend, he would bring along this notebook filled with poetry and paragraphs of his thoughts about the state of the world. It wasn’t something he openly shared—miners wrote books yes, but mostly concerning their line of work,” Optimus finally spoke up after almost ten minutes of deliberating what he was going to say, and whether he should say it.

“On the day he left the Newham police station after being arrested for suspicion of inciting a riot, after he was brutalized by a rogue guard I had hired a few months ago... I found it.”

He had left the oak desk that was groaning under a stack of files, folders and documents that only increased as the days passed, long strides taking him to the bookshelf at the end of the room where the works of Thomas Aquinas were nestled carefully next to Imam Al-Bukhari’s. One book, much smaller than the rest, seemed out of place there however, and this was the one he pulled out.

“On the sidewalk.”

It was a woebegone-looking notebook, weathered by time with the edges of some pages crimped up by water damage, though it was clear that care had been taken to preserve it: The covers were wrapped in plastic, and not a single silverfish was to be seen scuttling away as Optimus opened it only to show the initials ‘M.T’ scribbled at the lower right corner of the first page.

“I thought he had dropped it and wanted to give it back to him. And with it, I wanted to apologize for everything—for not being there when it happened, for it happening in my station under my jurisdiction, for failing the promise I made to him twenty-eight years ago that I wanted to join law enforcement to protect everyone, not just those the system decided deserved protection—-but by the time I arrived at the mining community he worked at… they told me he’d been sent to Messatine.”

He closed the book before any demand for more of its contents could arise. They weren’t his to divulge.

“So I held on to this notebook for the better part of a decade. I memorized the words——some of them, I recited in front of the Senate the day I decided I was done being a part of their system. I hoped he would come home one day so I could return it to him in person. And he did!”

There was the ghost of a smile that crossed his features, which quickly shifted to a perplexed frown.

“But when I tried to give him back what was his, he told me to keep it or burn it—-he didn’t care for it any more. No point dwelling in the past, especially one he had grown beyond, was what he said. I took his words at face value back then… but when I think about it now? I wonder if it wasn’t him trying to bury what remained of the person he was before the Pits, before Messatine, before the night at my station. Before everything.”

The guilt was heavy in his tone as he sank down to the floor and leaned against the bookshelf; broad shoulders sagging under the weight of an invisible mantle and eyes glazed over in a thousand-yard stare for a moment.

“Do I want to reconcile our differences? Yes. More than anything. Because the boy I traded books with, the friend I shared a table with, and the man who wrote these words that opened my eyes ? I believe that man is still alive and that man is worth saving.”

He closed his own eyes for a moment and when they opened once more, the focus in his gaze seemed to have returned.

“Do I think it will happen? InsyaAllah, perhaps, but I would not stake the world on that reconciliation.”

___________________________________________________

The temperature in the empty war room felt like it had dropped several degrees as the Decepticon leader glared at the seeming-innocuous question as though it had come for his neck personally. Adam’s apple bobbing in a rare show of uncertainty and trepidation, he closed his eyes, steepled his fingers and exhaled harshly.

“I don’t… hate the man, if that is where the trajectory of your question is heading. He was my best friend, one of the few I would have trusted with my life. More heart than sense, foolish and naive and stubborn, but kind. To a fault,” Megatron uttered after a few minutes, his lips a thin and terse line as he thought about the matter a little deeper.

Another spell of silence fell upon the hall as he stood up and muttered an annoyed ‘tch’ at the part of him that saw it fit to indulge the inquiry at all before picking out a book from the glass-cased shelf in the back of the room.

“That is not to say the urge doesn’t arise from time to time. But every time that voice whispers venom and spite whenever I hear his name? I remember this.”

It landed on his paperwork with a dull thump; a hard-cover edition of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattab: His life and times’ which was, from first glance, well-kept save some light tatters on the book jacket.

A closer look at the book jacket however would reveal several brown specks which resembled dried blood.

“Thirty-two years ago, the sheltered child of a professor and a journalist threw this book over the fence dividing redlined districts to a nobody who simply voiced a fascination for what he was reading. Without prompt. ‘It’s a gift’ he said. A gift for someone he had spoken to for all of ten minutes. A gift for a new friend.”

The warlord who was greying earlier than most sank back into his seat with his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling overhead. 

“The nobody cherished it for approximately two days before the census team came by for an unannounced inspection, and lo behold they did find it, and the nobody was beaten within an inch of his life for the crime of possessing a book which wasn’t ‘approved’ for his class, and therefore could not belong to him.”

The scoffing disdain in his voice as he spoke of the abuse was replaced with a fierceness that would have made anyone listening take a step back, more so that his glare felt like it could burn right through the screen as he returned his attention to the person on the other end.

“But it did. Because it was a gift from a friend. And when that nobody became a rebel, and eventually a warlord who tore down the doors to the government’s archives for ‘Persons Of Interest’? He bled everybody in that basement like the stuck pigs  they were until he found that little box with his name written on it, found this inside it, and then burned everything else to the ground.”

That would explain the drying blood on the cover of the book that he was now holding up, at the very least.

“This, and the books that were to come which that kind and foolish boy would toss over the fence, was when I realized how broken the system truly was, that I had to rely on this subterfuge for want of a better education. This was when I realized I wanted more than to live and die in the mines as my barcode dictated.”

The mounting anger in his tone seemed to suddenly cut off he opened his mouth only to close it swiftly, and when his tongue could finally form words again, they were noticeably softer than before.

“This was also when I realized that perhaps, I wasn’t alone in my outrage, in my boyhood fantasies for a better world. No one told that meddling idiot to make my fight his as well, but at eight-years-old, he decided he was going to do something about it to help me because he wanted to. And it’s hard to hate that earnestness.”

He closed his eyes for a moment before standing up with his hands clasped behind him, features obscured as he faced the wall with shoulders squared.

“Reconciliations are not out of the question. Truth be told, I do desire it. Whatever my past as a gladiator might have impressed upon you, believe me, I don’t enjoy the prospects of senselessy killing Autobots I have fought alongside for many years, back when we worked side by side against our common enemy. Terrible waste of genuinely good if not exceedingly foolish people, I would think.”

A curt professionalism had crept in now as he turned around and stroked his beard thoughtfully at the notion.

“However the matter should only be discussed after our movement’s primary objective has been achieved, and not a moment before. And if he and his merry men keep being an obstacle in my path?”

He smirked coldly.

“I can’t promise that the consequences won’t be dire.”

[mylieutenant]

Can You Hear Me?

After the Promised Day, Team Mustang goes on a questionable mission in the rebuilt Ishval. Following Roy into Hell often feels too literal for Riza.

1.3k words | Warnings: Graphic depiction of violence, sexual innuendo (unrelated to each other) | Read on AO3

Originally written between 2016-2018.

---

“Slow night, Elizabeth?”

I’m going to ask something very difficult of you, Captain.

That’s how she was after an officer from Aerugo who was secretly working with the Ishvalan separatists. They had gotten orders from Central to handle this with maximum discretion. Which Roy had interpreted as, take him out as quickly as possible. Since Aerugo denied all current involvement with Ishval, they wouldn’t be able to explain such a case to the public.

That’s how Riza was in Ishval with her rifle once more.

Roy’s plan involved her, Breda, Fuery… and Scar of all people. Scar, everyone suspected, dreamed of an independent Ishval free from Amestrian rule just as much as any of the separatists. But Scar, Riza was almost certain, despised the separatists more than anyone. Creating tension, perpetuating prejudices, pushing for war. Hatred leading to hatred. Roy had thought the same, and their suspicions were confirmed when Scar begrudgingly agreed to be part of the mission. Scar became the spy they didn’t ask for, and it said a great deal about his reputation that the separatist leaders weren’t suspicious.

That’s how Scar was asked to cite the target in a designated spot during the night, to supposedly discuss his knowledge of Major Miles’s activities. The area was clear; Riza and Breda had scanned it hours earlier. She’d been keeping watch ever since, so unless they’d missed anything, the foreigner didn’t suspect anything.

Not a defenseless civilian, Riza reminded herself. My target is a spy from a different country, seeking to destroy our own from the inside.

“I cannot complain,” she said. “I was expecting it to be crowded, but it looks like we're going to be alone.”

“I could come over and keep you company.”

“Feeling lonely, Roy?” It was easy to be playful, when he was such an excellent lead. “I can assure that having me on the phone will do well enough to keep you company.”

That’s how they’d ended up connected to the civilian grid, which had taken three years and a massive effort to build. The line, still new in Ishval, rarely worked properly and it was being used mostly within the military. Fuery could even work it to their advantage, making the call nearly impossible to trace. It was more than enough. It was, in fact, still too dangerous. But Roy, feeling so inadequate, so dejected back in East City, had insisted on installing a line. At first Riza protested, but she had to admit that their banter was helping her focus.

“You can say you miss me, Elizabeth. It’s fine.” That was no lie.

“Wishful thinking, Roy Mustang. It suits you.”

“Well, a man can dream.”

Before she could think of an answer, a figure approached the meeting point from her right. Riza looked through the scope, but the insufficient light didn’t give her any useful information.

“Wait a minute, we have a customer. I think I know him. Kate, what do you think?”

Fuery, behind her with the equipment, spoke on a different line.

“Do we know this guy?”

Riza kept her eyes on the figure that approached Scar in the darkness, then looked through the scope as he slowed down. She had a clear shot, but she needed to wait for Breda’s confirmation as he carefully watched from a closer spot.

“It’s him,” Fuery told her.

“It’s him,” she repeated, then hesitated. Roy had planned carefully, down to the last detail, yet he hadn’t thought of giving Scar a codename. “Our new girl is greeting him.”

“Your new girl?”

“You’ve met her. Fairly pleasant. Wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Fuery snickered quietly, and then Roy’s ringing laughter soothing her enough to dispel all the tension she had accumulated in the last few minutes. That’s how she got the trust she was missing, that trust that always faltered, but never proved wrong.

“I must go and greet him properly. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Ah, Elizabeth. Always giving such good service to those who deserve it. I’m proud of you.”

Warmth settled in her chest. Roy was not only reminding her of the righteousness of their mission, but acknowledging the fact that this wasn’t easy for her.

Thank you, sir.

“You’re speaking nonsense, Roy Mustang,” she said. “Have you been drinking again?”

“Again?  Why, Elizabeth, I’m offen—”

The call fell. Fuery let out an exasperated sigh. She imitated him, more calmly. Breathe in, then out, holding that position as she made sure that the forehead of the target was right in the middle of her scope. That Scar couldn’t possibly get hurt.

And then, she pulled the trigger. The sound spread and echoed along the deserted streets. Her chest hurt. Blood splashed out and splattered on the ground as the target stumbled. And then, he fell. Riza closed her eyes. Yet another life taken by her hand. Another corpse without a tombstone. Another soul waiting for her in hell.

This is the enemy. This is what I’m here to do.

“I can’t get us back on. I fear we could’ve been intercepted,” Fuery informed her. “You got him, didn’t you?”

“I did.” And this meant they needed to leave. She remembered now, she had strict orders not to worry about the target. Leave it to Breda, now she should help Fuery dismantle the equipment. She ignored her rapid heartbeat, the breaking sweat, the inclement weather finally taking a toll on her senses. “We should go. We can communicate later as we—”

“Elizabeth!” The voice in her ear startled her. “Elizabeth, can you hear me? Please—”

The memories that crept up weren’t those from the Civil War, but memories of Roy blowing his cover so he could make sure he was safe. Roy’s anguished expression when she’d been bleeding out in front of him. Riza had sculpted it in every corner of her mind when she’d believed it to be the last thing she’d ever see. And it haunted her in dreams, it haunted her when sadness caught her off guard.

It was everywhere now. And Riza felt his fear, deep, devastating, as she knew he was feeling it. This was difficult for her, being back in the battlefield that had seen her become a murderer. But it was just as difficult for Roy, having her on the field when he was miles away. He knew this mission was of relative low risk. No one was after them; they were too many steps ahead from the enemy. And he still feared. He still grieved.

“I can hear you. I’m sorry. We’re having some issues with the line as of late.”

“Right.” Roy sounded defeated. “I knew that. I’m sorry.”

“Ah, I was too distracted by our customer to notice either way. I did an excellent job, if I say so myself. But it’s closing time now, so I'll have to leave you hanging.”

“Such a tease." And just like that, he was back. "Next time, then. The anticipation is killing me.”

Oh, if only she could reassure him, time and time again, that everyone was safe, that the mission had gone without a hitch and they should be back in East City by morning. If only he could acknowledge her state of mind, that he could remind her it was over, and she was doing this for the greater good.

“Always. Thanks for keeping me company,” was all she could muster.

She signaled Fuery to end the conversation he’d pretended not to hear. Fuery, with those big eyes behind round glasses, eyes that asked questions he was too polite to speak aloud. But Riza had no time to lose, no time to worry about discretion. It was over. East City, home, Roy waited for them.

“Let’s go.”

[lala-ladybug]

Healing Hands: Chapter 1

Hello hello! First fic here, it’s a Maribat AU with a side of Sword Art Online. Or what I remember from having watched the show once about five years ago. We’ve got Marinette and minimal class salt, Young Justice but only the good parts, and primarily Jasonette. Please spread the word (I am a tiny sideblog) and let me know what you think <3

Read here on AO3

Next

Chapter 1: You have no idea how many baddies I’m going to blow up because of you

Friday, at long last. Marinette could not have exhaled a bigger sigh of relief. It was mid-way through the school term, her commissions were ramping up, and Hawkmoth had become frustratingly active. Her duties as class president had only increased as she and her friends neared the end of lycée, not to mention all the studying she was doing for the baccalauréat on top of her regular school work. Commissions were booming now that her popularity as the anonymous designer MDC was soaring worldwide. She wouldn’t give any of it up for the world, but she might enjoy getting more than three or four hours of sleep for once.

There was only part of her life that had gotten easier since that day three years ago when she was entrusted with a pair of spotted earrings and an old god to match. Ladybug started out with one partner, but she now had a whole team to share the responsibilities of keeping their city safe. Ryuko and Viperion became permanent fixtures of the Parisian rooftops, and Bourdonne replaced Queen Bee after the infamous (albeit self-inflicted) unmasking of Chloe Bourgeois. The people of Paris looked to these heroes with pride and trust.

And Marinette Dupain-Cheng, now the Guardian of the Miraculous, looked to her partners with trust as well. She had decided that with her in charge, she could no longer keep secrets from her friends, from her new Order of the Guardians. She discussed it with Chat Noir, and he had smiled and agreed that it was time. And one day, when Ladybug gathered her teammates on a remote rooftop in the dead of night, she said only “I trust you,” before allowing her transformation to fall.

She wasn’t nervous, not really. She knew Kagami and Luka had good hearts, and she had seen firsthand how much Chloe had grown. Those three accepted her civilian self, her true self, without half a thought, and followed their leader in dropping their transformations as well. Chloe got her quips in while Ladybug looked to Chat Noir.

He passed his gaze over the faces of their friends and smirked like he was holding in a laugh. As he said “Claws in,” Marinette could hear the laugh in his voice, an intonation that sounded so very familiar, and oh. Of course.

Adrien Agreste beamed at his friends, both in the mask and out, and said fondly, “I’m so glad it’s you.”

The rest, of course, was history. For the year and a half since then, the five heroes of Paris had kept the city safe from threats magical and mundane alike. Hawkmoth had, of course, gotten craftier and more vicious with his attacks, sometimes choosing to send bursts of weaker akumas over the span of a week, sometimes waiting a month before sending an especially brutal villain their way.

But it was nothing that the Order of the Guardians couldn’t handle. Even though it could get exhausting after a while, which is why the incoming weekend was a welcome reprieve. There was another reason why this particular weekend was so exciting, which was that a new video game, Mindscape, was debuting. It would be released at midnight EST, which was 6:00 in the morning for Paris.

“Today’s the day, girl!” Alya squealed as she flagged Marinette down on their way to the classroom. “We are so lucky that our class won that raffle to get these exclusive passes. I bet I’ll be the first blog to get the scoop on this new tech they’re using!”

Marinette giggled and started to reply, “Super lucky, right? I’m excited too, I heard--”

“You know,” Lila cut her off as she sidled up to Alya. “I’m not saying that I didn’t enter us to get those downloads, but I was a big help with beta testing.”

How she managed to time that comment just as the three girls crossed the threshold of the classroom, and how she managed to know that nearly the whole class would already be there to hear it, Marinette would never understand. She only had to wait a moment before the rest of their friends rushed to the door to thank Lila.

“This opportunity is amazing, we are incredibly grateful!” Max was first in line, ever the technology-enthusiast.

Kim pushed his shorter friend out of the way and vigorously shook Lila’s hand. “You have no idea how many baddies I’m going to blow up because of you.” Lila looked a little overwhelmed as he continued to shake her hand all the while, and she gave him a nervous smile.

He was soon pushed out of the way as Alix muscled her way to the front next. “I definitely owe you for giving me the chance to kick his ass in a brand new way!” She jerked her head to where Kim had landed on the floor, pouting at her.

As the rest of the class who would be joining them in the game’s premiere expressed their thanks, Alya looked on with an affectionate smile. She was so very happy that she now had two kind, selfless best friends. Her smile fell a little as she noticed Marinette stoically edging her way around the crowd and up to her seat, not having said a word to Lila. Alya just wished that her two besties would get along.

Alya put a hand on Lila’s shoulder and smiled her thanks before following Marinette to what was once their shared desk. “You really should thank her, you know,” Alya implored hopefully.

Without turning around to face Alya, Marinette paused and shared an incredulous look with Adrien, who was already seated at his shared desk with Nino. She then shrugged and replied, “Lila never actually said that she got us the passes,” before continuing up the steps to her seat at the back of the class. Alya shook her head and sat down. It was always like this, a cool indifference from Marinette whenever Lila came up. They were both such incredible people, Alya couldn’t understand why they didn’t get along.

As for Marinette, she was semi-content to let Lila be as long as her lies didn’t hurt anybody. Her unrealistic promise to take away all of Marinette’s friends was never fulfilled, and honestly the amount of emotional energy it used to sap from her just wasn’t worth it anymore. Marinette had no idea how Lila was going to get her hands on a copy of the game when Mari was, of course, the one who had won the raffle. She distributed the special access passes herself, and Lila certainly hadn’t gotten one. If this was the way that she wanted to make friends, she would eventually have to face the consequences.

But for now, Lila was basking in her praise. That is, until she glanced at her phone and gave a small gasp of dismay.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, concern already etched on her face.

Lila covered her mouth with one hand and started rapidly blinking back tears. “It’s my VIP copy of the game. There was a mixup in the mail and it won’t get here in time for tomorrow morning! I’m so sorry everyone, it looks like you’ll have to do it without me....” She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders trembled with barely restrained sobs.

The class shared a worried look, and Sabrina piped up, “It’s okay Lila, you can borrow my copy.” Lila immediately looked up and surged forward to clasp the hands of her friend.

“Really? But won’t it have the same problem?” Sabrina smiled and shook her head. “Nope, it’s a digital download! I don’t mind, you can always trade it back when your VIP pass arrives later.”

Lila gave her a brilliant smile, any tears long-since dried. “Oh, thank you so much Sabrina! I’ll see what I can do about getting you a VIP pass too once mine gets here.”

At that moment, Chloe walked in, and one look at the scene displayed in front of her had her rolling her eyes at her former best friend. She gracefully swept up the steps to join Marinette at the back of the classroom and whispered to her, “Aren’t they all digital downloads?”

Marinette, who had started unpacking her bag to prepare for class, inclined her head and gave the blonde a meaningful look that indicated yes, they were indeed all digital downloads. Chloe snickered and started preparing her own side of the desk.

After the fiasco of outing herself as Queen Bee, Chloe had lost the minimal support and tolerances she had been allowed before. It gave her time to truly reflect on how she acted and treated other people. She had since been quietly making amends with those she’d wronged, and the person on the top of that list was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It took time and a lot of effort on Chloe’s part, but she mellowed out and did a lot of growing up. She still spoke her mind, though.

“Huh that’s strange, I got the VIP package too, but mine was a digital pass,” Chloe loudly proclaimed, studying her nails nonchalantly as the rest of the class turned to look up at her.

Lila grit her teeth into a forced smile and replied sweetly, “Well that’s because mine was an original beta testing copy that they had to update for the full game.” She turned her attention to Marinette and a note of false concern crept into her voice. “Oh Marinette, I hope you’ll still have time to come too! I know you’ll be busy this weekend with planning the spring class field trip. It would be such a shame if it didn’t happen because you were too busy playing a video game.”

Marinette suddenly felt very warm under the gazes of the entire class. She stammered out, “Oh-of course we’ll get to go! Don’t worry, I have a meeting with the school board on Monday.” Trust Lila to sniff out the one thing that had slipped below her radar.

Lila’s eyes lit up with an opportunistic gleam. “That’s great! Where will it be?”

“Well, uh, the school board has to review the location, so I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I can tell you that it will be in, um,” her eyes flicked around wildly and landed on the posterboard of different flags from the prior week’s lessons. “America!”

The class burst into excited chatter moments before Madame Bustier arrived and the late bell rang. Marinette released a breath and sagged in her seat. Saved by the bell.

Chloe gave her a sidelong glance and murmured, “America, huh?”

“Shut up,” Marinette shot back.

* * *

Madame Bustier tried to get the class to pay attention, she really did. They struggled through their lessons before lunch, the volume of side conversations between deskmates swelling all the while. The moment the bell for lunch dismissal rang, the students exploded into conversation as they left the classroom.

Marinette waved as Chloe and Adrien walked off to go meet Kagami and Luka at a nearby cafe. She breezed into the patisserie across the street from Francois Dupont and gave her surprised Maman a kiss on the cheek.

“I thought you were going out with your friends for lunch?” Sabine asked, balancing a tray of eclairs on her hip. “I forgot I have to plan our class trip!” Marinette replied cheerfully as she hurried into the kitchen to quickly fix herself a croque-monsieur. She gave her Papa a hug as she finished preparing her meal. He shouted up at her to not make a mess as she retreated into her room to eat at her desk.

She gave a small snort at that. It was nearly impossible for her to make a mess of food when she had over a dozen Kwami there to clean up after her, but he didn’t know that. She greeted said Kwami with a delighted grin and a wave as she set her plate down by her desktop computer.

“Marinette, why are you back so early?” Tikki asked, “is everything okay?” The other Kwami swarmed around her as she woke her computer up and logged in.

The girl waved one hand nonchalantly and opened up a web browser with the other. “Everything’s fine, I just forgot about planning the class trip!” She took a huge bite of the sandwich and started typing furiously. Several Kwami dove after the crumbs that sprayed everywhere.

“Ohhh, I see! Do you have an idea of where to start?” Tikki zoomed around Marinette’s shoulder to hover next to the monitor screen.

Marinette had the same determined gleam in her eye as when she finally found the perfect fabric for a design. She said confidently around a mouth full of ham, “America.”

* * *

By the time the lunch break had finished, Marinette had a preliminary list of cities on the East Coast of the United States. She had researched Gotham first, but it looked far too dangerous and gloomy. Next was New York City, which she determined was too big. Philadelphia was historic, but in a way that would definitely bore her classmates. Boston was too cold despite its excitement. Which left Metropolis as the perfect candidate. It was also protected by the perfect superheroes, Superman and his family, so she was absolutely confident the school board would approve of the city.

Of course, the meeting on Monday would need more specifics than just the city, but she was pleased with her progress so far. Marinette shut down her monitor, grabbed her backpack and plate from lunch, and went downstairs to the kitchen. She quickly scrubbed and dried her plate in the sink before waving to her parents as they bustled around, accommodating the tail end of the mid-day rush.

Marinette walked across the street with a spring in her step and, spotting a tall flash of blue hair, half-jogged up to her group of friends.

“Hey guys, sorry I couldn’t make it to lunch!” She grinned apologetically at Kagami and Luka.

“That’s alright Melody,” Luka gave her a side hug, “Chloe told us you were busy planning your class trip.”

Adrien slung an arm around Kagami’s shoulder and pulled his girlfriend closer to whisper conspiratorially to her, “I hear we’re going to America.” She laughed softly at his antics and at Marinette who stuck her tongue out at him. Kagami then said to Marinette, “That sounds delightful, Marihime. I trust you will still be joining us tomorrow morning?”

Marinette’s eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of playing the game with her friends all weekend long. “Definitely! I’m going to finish preparing for the school board meeting tonight so that we can play the second it comes out.”

“If you can wake up on time,” Chloe teased.

Marinette crossed her arms defensively and stated with pride, “I already set three alarms, thank you very much!”

Adrien burst out laughing at that. “Leave it to our everyday Ladybug,” he winked. Her face flushed as she pouted. He chuckled again and kissed Kagami on the top of her head. “See you later, mon coeur.”

She and Luka waved to the rest of the group as they left to return to their own schools. The three Francois Dupont students watched them go for a moment before returning inside.

“So, you and Kagami have plans?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah! Our parents gave special permission for a sleepover at my place tonight so we can play the game right when it comes out tomorrow.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had never quite abandoned. “But I’m not sure how often we’ll be able to be online with you guys after this weekend. You know how busy our schedules are....”

Marinette elbowed him lightly as they walked. “It’s a blessing you both managed to convince your dad and her mom to let you come to the launch at all! We’ll play together when we can, it’s no big deal.”

Adrien smiled gratefully at her and held the door open for both Marinette and Chloe as they entered the classroom. Alya was already there, and once she spotted her best friend (well, one of them), she skidded down the steps with a huge grin and held an invisible microphone up to Marinette.

“Thank you Nadja, and good afternoon Paris! This is Alya Cesaire, and today I am joined by young fashion designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, can you give us an exclusive scoop on the trip you’re planning for your class?”

“Good afternoon Mlle. Cesaire,” Marinette giggled, “Unfortunately, the trip has yet to be approved by the school board so no details just yet. But I can tell you with certainty that we will be visiting the resident city of some popular American superheroes.” She winked as she finished in her best interview voice.

Alya gasped and dropped her pretend microphone as she hugged her best friend. “Really!? Oh my gosh girl, you are the best!”

Marinette laughed and hugged her back as Alya jumped and spun them around. Once they pulled apart, she told the brunette, “As soon as the school board gives me the green light, you’ll be the first to know.”

The late bell rang and the girls practically skipped to their respective seats as Madame Bustier called the class to attention. Well, “attention” in the loosest sense of the word. They struggled once more through the majority of their lessons, but Madame Bustier seemed to sense defeat and she let them chatter excitedly for the last twenty minutes before dismissal.

Kim and Alix were boasting about how they were going to stay up all night, while Max encouraged them to maximize the time they would be able to play the next day by getting a full night’s sleep in before the launch time.

Lila bragged about her role in the creation of the game from its conception to even having suggested the highly anticipated date of release. Adrien pointedly ignored Lila in the row behind his and discussed the music they had recorded and mixed for the game with a very enthusiastic Nino.

Sabrina looked on a little sadly until Mylene, Ivan, Rose, and Juleka invited her to join their Disney movie marathon double-date instead. Mylene was too nervous to play the game so Ivan chose to sit out to support her, and video games weren’t really Rose and Juleka’s style. Sabrina’s face softened as she gratefully accepted their invitation.

Nathaniel turned around in his seat to talk to Marinette about the art rendering and the programs they used while Chloe scrolled aimlessly on her phone.

By the time the bell finally rang, the class was beyond excited to go prepare for the launch the next morning.

Marinette, to her credit, swallowed her enthusiasm and sat down to fully plan out their trip to Metropolis. It was grueling work, researching the safest hotel that was still in a central location. It had to be affordable but not shabby, too, because they had a limited budget. She eventually settled on the reputable Wayne Hotel, apparently part of an enormous corporation called Wayne Enterprises, and then began to build an itinerary with different events from there.

She worked nonstop the rest of the night, with the exception of a brief dinner break, and it was nearly 11:00 at night by the time she finished. Marinette sat up from her desk chair and stretched, then double-checked that her alarms were set before finally heading to bed.

[karimac]

…in the details, Part 3

A/N: Warning for this series: 18+ audience (minors DNI), some cinematic level violence, some fluff and angst. Doubt that smut will be involved, but it may be implied. I’ll make sure that is noted clearly if it pops up.

All relationships, at this point anyway, are platonic.

Please do not repost or translate my work. Likes, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated.

A bit about the OC Kari

Part 1

Part 2

All mistakes are my own.

Word count: 3,556

Well, that was not exactly the best idea, was it?

Dr. Darcy Lewis, unlike her colleague, Dr. Erik Selvig, was not a big fan nor an authority on any form of mythology. And the Irish history ask was a longshot at best.

So, here you were, in the coffee shop smack dab in the middle of Westview, talking to Dr. Lewis and getting nowhere fast.

“And, that’s not happening,” the astrophysicist grumbled as she set down her phone and took another sip of her beverage. It was some weirdly sweet concoction that looked like what humans thought rainbow-colored unicorn poop looked like. This world was not ready for what real magical beasts looked like. Most authors had not gotten all of that right in their books. No surprise there. No human really needed to see such things on a daily basis, and whoever had been the muses for those authors had covered up a lot.

“I take it Dr. Selvig has no clue on the Celtic Pantheon?” you asked as you sipped your very boring, light, non-sweet hot coffee. The barista probably wanted to laugh when you ordered it, but he did his best to stifle his snicker. “It was a very long reach on my part, Dr. Lewis. I’m sorry I roped you into this.”

“You can call me Darcy because you actually acknowledge my academic status,” the brunette said as she flipped her phone over again. “So, Thor is off in space. You don’t want me calling Falcon or his pal with the metal arm. Captain Marvel isn’t on your contact list. Ant Man and The Wasp? They can be sort of science geeks, right? Wait. Banner? Is he OK to call?”

Before you could open your mouth, Darcy was texting Banner off her own phone. “You know Bruce?”

“I met him at some meet and greet at MIT before the world went poof,” Darcy replied as she set her phone back down and seemed to be praying Banner would actually return her text. “Stark was there, too, but Banner was the one I got coffee with. Sweet guy, you know, even if he gets all green sometimes.”

As you sipped your coffee, you noticed a few people giving you odd looks. It made you very nervous. “Maybe we should finish up and get back on the road?” you asked Darcy as you quietly motioned toward the other patrons getting their daily fix of caffeine.

“Yeah, bubbe isn’t answering me anyway,” Darcy said as she picked up her phone and got up from her chair. By now there were several residents blocking the exit. “What is your problem? We paid. We’re busing our table. Then we’re leaving.”

“Are The Avengers going to hunt her down?” one woman in the back of the group asked as Darcy looked back toward you and mouthed the word “Help” before turning back to the crowd. The questioner was loud, but you couldn’t see her because of the big delivery man standing in front of her with a huge pile of Amazon packages. “Why did you come back?”

It was time to vamp. With an apparently faulty memory, this was going to be interesting.

“Before you all ask about what is going to happen regarding Wanda Maximoff, I want you all to know I have no authority to speak for The Avengers. I have never been a true member of the team. I helped them at a time when things were beyond bleak for this world. It was an honor and a privilege. But I am not a spokesperson. I am not a team leader.”

“Then why did you come here?” a man with glasses, holding a briefcase, asked from the line where he was waiting for his order. “Then and now?”

“I came the first time because I was looking for my friend. I was pulled into that nightmare just like you were. I wish I had been able to help her before any of this happened.”

“But you have powers, right? Couldn’t you have shut her down, hot stuff?” the first woman added as she moved to the front. Then you recognized her. Agatha Harkness. If Wanda kept her alive, there was a reason for it, and all the pain you had rising in your core had to be tamped down fast. Harkness had hurt Wanda, and that would have to be addressed one day. You were good at playing the long game.

“Taking her out in any sort of power stunt could have jeopardized your lives. I was not sure what she did to make it all happen, and I was not going to risk your lives. I’m sorry it wasn’t put to an end sooner. Now, if you will excuse us, we need to get to a meeting regarding the incident here,” you said as you and Darcy pushed through the crowd and back out to the street.

“OK, what was all that? Spin? Or are you remembering something?” Darcy asked as you got back into her car. You had left your rental on the outskirts of town. Better to travel as a unit until your business here was concluded.

“I remember a couple of things from that mess,” you said as you tried to keep your hands from shaking. “I remember Wanda and Vision’s sons. Billy and Tommy. I remember the house where I lived. Can we drive out to where Wanda had her house? Maybe that will help?”

Darcy pulled out of the parking space and made the lefts and rights to the lot where Wanda’s house had been. The one you were living in was in a lot right next to it. It was empty now, too, but you got out of the car anyway and stood in the center of the patch of dirt. You closed your eyes and held your breath as you tried to piece together what had happened. And then you started to cry as you fell to your knees.

“Whoa, slow down,” Darcy said as she ran and knelt beside you. “What did you see?”

“It’s weird. Wanda came over one day and more or less apologized to me because she couldn’t give me my real happy ending. I can show you, if you’ll let me…”

“Go into my mind?” Darcy protested before you could wave her off the idea. “No Vulcan mind melds for me today, thanks.”

“No, I carry this mirror, and you can see memories in it. Trust me, I do not use telepathy as a first line of anything. I tried it once, to help a friend, but it just caused more problems,” you groaned as you pulled the mirror out of your backpack. You waved your hand over it, and Darcy could now see what had happened with Wanda.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t find them and bring them here,” the Sokovian said quietly as she walked around the 1980s version of what was your living room. It was way too pastel for your liking, but the hints of fuchsia, orchid and teal in the overall cream and light gray design weren’t so bad. You had a couple of cats there with you. One was an orange tabby with a penchant for eating tuna at any given moment. He was warm and affectionate and just a ray of sunshine dressed in fur. The other was as white as the driven snow, but his own cuddly disposition came through. He was the one who would leave you weird gifts every morning. Rocks, feathers, and yes, the occasional dead mouse would be at the foot of your bed each sunrise. You’d find out at the end of that nightmare that the cats were only constructs of Wanda’s chaos magic.

“I know you miss the three of them,” she continued as she pointed to a framed picture of Steve, Bucky and Sam, all decked out in appropriate 1980s clothes that made them look like they ran away from some cop drama. “It’s probably better that there aren’t too many Avengers here anyway. Vis is getting concerned. And this way, well, no one needs to know which one you would have chosen. I know. You know. So you can always talk to me. Like we did before. But I gave you the wedding ring to make sure no one came on to you. Just in case I can get him here soon.”

As you showed Darcy the memory, a tiny part of you was screaming that this whole scenario seemed wrong. You watched Wanda’s crimson glow float around you as she spoke. You vaguely remembered The Morrigan trying to kick some sense back into your addled brain, but Wanda’s world was much too enticing to let your other self come to the fore. You wanted the damned happily ever after with the husband and the house and everything that meant in the modern American ethos. You had rationalized things for years in such a way that you’d never let yourself get it. That was why no one was here to hug you at night like Wanda had Vision. Maybe that fact alone was enough to crack Wanda’s hold on you a bit more than she realized?

But you also had to admit that you wanted to be there for Wanda in case things went south. That much was clear from the moment you showed up in Westview the first time.

“How come you didn’t just zap her? Fight back?” Darcy asked as you fully shifted to the present day and paused the memory.

“Because she wasn’t wrong. I did miss Bucky, Steve and Sam. I missed Banner, too, because they were, in the end, the ones still here that cared if I lived or died. And Spider-Man. Which is random and weird, but he did. And frankly, what I said in the coffee shop was true. I had no idea what my powers would do to her spell. I could have leveled the town. That was not an option.”

“So, that Agatha woman…” Darcy started to say and then stopped. “Wait. That was her? In the coffee shop? That was why you were acting so weird?”

“Yeah. Wanda could have killed her or taken Agatha away with her to imprison her. She didn’t. After what Agatha tried to do to Wanda, to try and take her powers, Wanda had every right to finish her off. But Wanda doesn’t likely know all that yet. There are rules set up from ages ago. Things witches can and can’t do to each other under specific circumstances. So Wanda left her trapped here—for now anyway. But, whatever happened with them, it affected me, too. I got hit with stray magic blasts. I’m betting it messed up my powers in ways I didn’t realize. And maybe my memories as well.”

As Darcy knelt there, her phone finally chimed. It was some weird little R2-D2 chirpy beep, and she looked elated as she showed you the message. “Seems Bruce still cares if you are OK or not. I don’t think bringing him here is such a great idea…”

“Did anyone send him data about what happened here?” you asked as you got to your feet, pocketing some of the dirt from the lot before you stood up. “Air and soil samples? Readings from the residents?”

“I can get them for him. Trust me, Jimmy Woo and Monica Rambeau would be more than happy to help. I’m glad that loon Hayward seems to have gone into hiding or was hauled away to The Raft,” Darcy noted as she checked her phone again. “Seems the doc is working out of a Stark lab here in Jersey. Road trip?”

You really didn’t want to go see Bruce. You had no idea how you’d explain any of what you did to him.

++++++++++

You rehearsed what you planned to tell Bruce a million times in your mind as Darcy drove along the Garden State Parkway to a place called Woodcliff Lake. Stark Industries did indeed have a lab there, and it made you want to scream as you walked into the facility. You did not need yet another reminder that you could not save Tony Stark’s life at the end of that final battle with Thanos. That was part of why you were in this mess in the first place. It was also why you had a screaming fight with Stephen Strange, but no one else knew about that yet.

“Dr. Banner? We’re here!” Darcy yelled as you walked toward what had to be the research wing. The lack of security in the place was a bit disturbing, but then again, there were probably booby traps built into every square inch of the place. You could just hear Tony now as you got closer to the lab area. It would likely have been close to the speech you got the first time he talked to you at the compound.

“Hey! Lucky Charms! Don’t touch any of the expensive stuff. I guess that means don’t touch anything. I still have no idea why you are hanging around the team except that Steve wants you here for some reason. Maybe you’re tied to…his friend…and I just don’t want to face that? Still have issues with all of that, even if the man is dead. Pepper and Morgan said I should be nice to you, but I’m not quite there yet after what happened in Berlin. They are better people than I’ll ever be.”

“Earth to Kari?” you finally heard Bruce say as he waved his massive green hand in front of your face. Then he realized why you were likely spacing out. "Dr. Lewis, can we have a minute?”

“You can call me Darcy, if I can call you Bruce?” Lewis said as Banner nodded to her. “Cool. I’ll go find the little scientist’s room and be right back,” she added as she left the lab.

“So,” Bruce started as he pointed you toward a set of chairs at one side of the lab, “Darcy filled me in via text. I have no idea what happened with Wanda, and I know none of us know where she is. I did call a friend who wants to help,” he noted as a swirling circle of yellow light formed near the window that looked out over the parking lot. “I figured you’d listen to him, and he knows more about this stuff than I do.”

“What did you do?” Wong shouted as he exited the portal. “You usually listen to reason. Why did you go after Wanda all alone?”

“I went to help Wanda. She was hurting. She watched Vision die twice. She lost Pietro. I can relate to all that very, very well. My twin Branan died in front of my eyes, too, and I’ve buried two husbands. Both died in battle. I just wanted her to know she wasn’t alone. But she…she hit all my vulnerable points. And she was under attack at the same time. From a woman named Agatha Harkness and from the director of SWORD. Some martinet named Hayward. He built another Vision. I think Hayward was using Wanda’s powers to bring him to life. Darcy is going to check in with some of the people who worked with her to get you more intel, Bruce.”

“Another version of Vision? Great,” Bruce muttered as he looked over at Wong. “As for this Harkness person…”

“The name rings very small bells, so I’ll need to do some research,” Wong noted as you bumped your left fist against your forehead. “What?”

“Harkness is a succubus. And she is old. Not as old as I am, but she is still a good 400 years old, give or take a day. She apparently survived the Salem Witch Trials. Wanda spelled her and left her in Westview. I think she is, at least in small ways, aware that her world is all wrong. I didn’t want to press it when I saw her in that coffee shop. We do not need an angry succubus flying around. Wong, they got into an aerial battle, and Wanda was using sigils, runes, whatever you want to call them, to focus her power. I think she picked that up from good old Aggie. I never showed her anything like that on purpose. I always suspected she had magic in her bones, but it wasn’t my place to start that fire. The bigger issue is that Wanda conjured up two children while she was there. She created cats for me, so anything is possible. I got knocked out by the end of the fight, so I have no idea what exactly happened in the end other than Wanda running off and Agatha being left behind for some reason.”

“And?” Wong asked as he started to look you up and down. “You did a spell? And it went bad? Your aura is all messed up.”

“I…I tried to do a spell so The Avengers would think of me less and less, and then eventually I’d just be a fleeting memory. I felt walking away in the dead of night, the thing I usually do when I am leaving town, would not be good enough. The spell got botched, and now I’m connected in some fashion to Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. Looking back at it, I spent more time with them in the days leading up to my departure. Steve and Bruce were there the day I left, and so were Sam and Bucky. And…I’m carrying a lot of guilt about Bucky after his accident in 1943.”

“All this on top of the magical circus Wanda made? Are you insane?” Wong yelled as he started to pace.

“And the fight I had with Stephen on the day of the battle. Yeah, I guess I am insane,” you replied as Wong threw up his hands. Bruce had gotten extremely quiet, and that was not a good thing.

“Before we get to dissecting your spell, Kari, was this because of what Tony said? About you not being an Avenger because you were…?”

“Unstable? Yes. And the fact I could not bring anyone back from the grave, especially during that last battle. And the fact about who killed his parents. Buck did while under Hydra control. Steve found out and never told Tony. I ran into The Winter Soldier a few times over the decades, so there was the chance I could have prevented their deaths, too. Tony really had no reason to ask me to join the band.”

“Once we get your spell problem sorted, then we will address this, too,” Bruce said as he looked toward Wong and shook his head. “I loved Tony like a brother, but he was wrong…”

You winced a few times as you tried to listen to Bruce and Wong, now joined once again by Darcy, as they tried to figure out how to fix or reverse that spell, and they hashed out what might have happened to you during that first trip to Westview. You were really trying to focus on their questions, but you felt a tug that no one else could ever have possibly felt.

“Baltimore,” you mumbled as you pulled out your cellphone and debated texting the person you felt tugging at that damned invisible string. No. That would have ended badly, especially since your original spell had gone haywire.

“Bucky Barnes was arrested?” Darcy asked as she showed you her phone alert. “I bet he punched that new fake Cap in the nose. Sorry, but that guy looks like he has no clue. I saw him on Good Morning America. Total cheese fest.”

“Wait. What?” you asked as you took her phone. “Sam didn’t keep the shield? I just hope Bucky didn’t punch Sam and wind up in jail for that!” You gave Darcy back her phone and looked at yours again. It was buzzing. “Anyone here know who the hell is Christina Raynor?” you asked the trio in front of you. No one had any clue about that. You hit the speaker button as you answered the call.

“Hello? Ms. MacOrish. I’m James Barnes’ therapist, Christina Raynor. Sam Wilson said I should give you a call and ask you to join us in Baltimore. As quickly as possible, if you can. I don’t think Mr. Barnes wants to spend the night in a holding cell.”

“Oh no, you are not going to Baltimore,” Wong said as he crossed his arms and got a stern look on his face. “Not while your head is all over the place. You could portal to Baltimore in the 1800s for all you know. You could end up eating lunch with Lord Baltimore in the 1700s. You really shouldn’t do this.”

“Wong, what better place for me to go than to see a therapist?” you said with a smirk as you opened your own portal, this one a lovely shade of emerald green, that went to where Raynor was waiting for you—outside an interrogation room at the city jail.

“Mr. Wilson said you’d be fast. He did not tell me you were one of the powered class,” Raynor said as you went through the portal, looking back to wave briefly as you heard Darcy’s last comment.

“What about your rental car?”

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 10: You’re My Mission

Summary: The Asgardian Staff case is wrapped up but before Katie and Steve can be re-united, the Super Soldier has a mission of his own to complete. Their reunion doesn’t disappoint, and as she weighs up the events of the past few months, Katie reaches a conclusion about her future with SHIELD

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Smut (NSFW)  over 18s only thanks. Bit of bad language….

A/N: Another lovely edit from @angrybirdcr​ of Katie in action.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 9

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 Tarim. Yemen. The hottest place Steve had ever been. Ever. And a place he had no desire to go back to. Ever. 

As far as he was concerned, this whole mission had been a cluster fuck of epic proportions. The Mercs they had been sent in to deal with were slightly more ruthless than they had anticipated, taking a group of school kids from the square hostage. Evans and Rollins (in Katie’s absence) managed to contain most of them, taking them down with non-fatal injuries, as was the agreement with the Government, but one of them wasn’t going quietly and had snatched up a kid as he made a break for it.

The Yemeni Special Forces were on their way, and Steve knew that if they arrived permission to execute a kill shot would be given. But even that was dangerous, as the guy had the kid held in such a position, his back to a wall, her held across his chest, that the angle would have been impossible. Steve ordered the team to lower their weapons, and stepped forward, hoping to talk the man down. And then Rumlow had taken a shot, off-loading a bullet straight between the Merc’s eyes.

And Steve was mad, mad as a wasp.

“I gave you a direct order…” He stood, hands on his belt in the jet as he looked at Rumlow, the nerve in his jaw twitching.

“I made a call.” Rumlow shrugged “If I hadn’t they would have gotten away…”

“You put those civilians lives in danger.”

“That’s a little dramatic…”

“Yeah, come on Cap.” Rollins spoke.“The kid was fine, we got the weapons Government were ok…no harm done.”

Steve rounded on him, his blasé tone set his teeth on edge.

“That isn’t the point.” he blazed “I wouldn’t have asked Barton to take a shot like that. I wasn’t, and never will be, willing to risk anyone’s life like that, not to mention that of a child, for collateral damage, just to get what we need. It makes us no better than the people we’re trying to stop.”

“It worked didn’t it?” Rumlow shrugged

“Sheer luck.” Steve retorted.

“Well sometimes you just get lucky.” The STRIKE leader shrugged. 

Steve sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn’t need this shit.

“Look Cap, with all due respect, I’ve been running this team for years. You don’t get to do our job without taking a bit of risk.” Rumlow looked at him. “Now I’m sorry if you feel I was challenging your authority…”

“It has nothing to do with my authority.” Steve blazed at him.

“Really? Because that’s what it looks like from my position.” Rumlow shook his head “I’m sorry you feel this way. But it isn’t as simple as that. Life isn’t split into good guys and bad guys, it ain’t black and white… more shades of grey.”

Steve didn’t reply, he simply stared at Rumlow, his eyes raging before he moved away to a seat for take-off next to Natasha.

“Let it go Rogers.” She drawled softly to him. “You’ve chewed him out…you want my advice, leave it there.”

Steve didn’t reply. He was pissed and didn’t trust himself to say anything. He hadn’t heard from Katie so far today, but he wasn’t expecting to as he’d fired her a message last night, or this morning (he had no idea what time-zone he was in anymore) to tell her he was off on an urgent mission.

It was pathetic, he knew, but being away from her was really setting him on edge. Not just because he found jerking off in the shower was far less satisfactory now than before he’d actually started sleeping with her, but more so he was missing the stupid things, like her draping her legs over his on the couch whilst she was reading, her singing when she was cooking, the way she laughed till she cried at Brooklyn Nine-Nine, even demanding he make her a grilled cheese at 02:50 am…

Steve watched with amusement as the girls walked out of the bar, a little shaky, Katie leaning on Natasha laughing at something. He’d dropped them both off earlier in the evening and said he would pick her up later, even though they said they would get a cab. He had insisted, he loved looking after her and that was what boyfriends did right? Picked their dames up. However, as they teetered over to Katie’s car, it looked like he was about to inherit a pair of drunken, giggling idiots to look after, and the thought made him smile with fondness.

“Hi baby!” Katie greeted him as she climbed into the seat. She leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek and he smiled.

“You had fun? You look like you have.”

“Fun is my middle name Rogers.” Nat winked and Katie sniggered in the seat next to him as he pulled the car off from the curb.

“Nat’s gonna stay at mine.” Katie turned to look at him, her cheeks tinged pink with the alcohol “Afterparty!”

“Don’t you think you’ve both had enough?” He teased and. Katie put her fingers to her lips and told him to shush whilst Nat leaned forward.

“Just because you can’t get drunk.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Whatever, your funeral Romanoff.” He smirked, eyes on the road.

“God he’s so sensible, how do you cope?” Nat looked at Katie. Through the corner of his eye he saw a wicked smile cross his girls face.

“He has hidden talents” She quipped, before the two women descended into fits of giggles.

Steve let out an exasperated noise through his nose, but secretly he didn’t mind. He loved that she’d had a good time, even if he had the sneaking suspicion he’d been the butt of a few jokes, probably even a few risqué girl chats too.

“Hey, yoooo wanted to come get us..” Katie picked up on the noise he had made and looked at him. “Can’t stand the heat stay the fuck out the…” she paused “erm…”

“Kitchen?” Steve supplied, looking at her, left hand on the wheel, amused grin on his face

“Yeah, that.” She pointed.

“Kitchen is very much your domain sweetheart”

“Not what I heard” Nat chipped in. “She says you make a mean grilled cheese….”

“Oh my god.” Katie said suddenly “can you make us one?”

“What, now?” he frowned.

“Well obviously not right now as this is a carrrr” She rolled her eyes, gesturing around her “But when we get home. I’m hungry.”

He looked at her “Doll, it’s almost three in the morning.”

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeese Stevie.” She pouted, batting her eyelashes at him in a ridiculously over the top manner, which he couldn’t do anything but laugh at.

“Alright I’ll make you both a grilled cheese” He nodded, unable to stop the smile creeping across his face, even when he heard Natasha burp the word “bitchwhipped” from the back seat.

Emerging from his memories, Steve lay his head back against his seat, shooting a glance over at Rumlow. The man was still being deliberately obtuse about the fact he was going out with Katie and he knew full well that the disobeying of order was a direct ‘fuck you’ aimed at him. But, as he thought about it whilst they flew home, he knew Natasha was right. The more he kept going on about it, the more likely it was to cause a bigger rift. With that in mind, during the debrief with Fury, Steve remained calm and when the time came he nodded at the STRIKE leader, giving him the floor when needed, both sticking to the facts- the operation had worked (Steve didn’t go as far as to use the word success), they had managed to seize the weapons and capture the main cartel leader who was now in custody of the Yemeni Services.

“What I wanna know is why are there so many of these weapons turning up?” Evans asked. “The DODC ran an extensive clean-up operation.”

“They were littered all over the New York, spreading the entire Manhatten area.” Steve said, answering as he looked at the Texan. “The DODC did as much as it could as fast as it could but people were already out there taking bits for themselves before the Chitauri had even been stopped. Katie says they’re still tracking through any leads, sifting out those who took them for souvenirs and those who took them for less scrupulous reasons…it could take years.”

“It was always going to happen.” Natasha shrugged “Terrorists are always looking for the next big thing.”

“Which is why we will always be looking for them.” Fury drew the meeting to an end as he stood up. “Alright, written reports to me no later than forty-eight hours. Other than that, you can head home.”

“Sir” Steve nodded as everyone started to file out. Steve noticed Natasha was hanging back.

“You ok?” She asked.

“Tired, fed up…” he sighed.

“Missing your girl?”

“A little” He admitted, before deciding to ask Nat what was on his mind because he could trust her honesty “Am I being old fashioned here, you know, with not wanting people to die?”

“No.” Natasha shook her head after a pause and he could tell she was picking her words carefully “I just think sometimes…well, we have to accept that we have to take risks.”

“You think Rumlow was right?” He sighed.

“Not as such.” she shrugged, “But I understand why he did it. I don’t necessarily agree with his methods shall we say but…”

Steve ran his hands over his face and couldn’t help thinking to himself how much simpler it had been in the war. They shot at them, they shot back. He let out a deep breath.

“You still taking some time off?“ She looked at him.

Steve shrugged and then looked at his fit bit for a second, thinking to himself the stats would make interesting reading. It was 5 in the morning. He hadn’t slept now for almost twenty-two hours bar the quick nap he had gotten on the jet. At that point his phone sounded with a message from Katie. A photo taken of Galway Bay in Ireland. Smiling at the simple message “Wish you were here.” he looked back at Natasha and nodded.

 “Yeah. I think I am.”

****

“Are you sure he’s okay to go out into the field?” Katie asked Coulson, one eye on Ward’s back. The man had just slammed a case shut, making everyone jump in the hanger and he was growing increasingly broody. Despite herself, she was feeling a pang of sympathy for him. She knew how hard it had been for him to open up about his past, and holding part of the staff had really shaken him. “He’s not exactly acting like himself.” she concluded.

“But he knows it. He’ll be fine.” Coulson replied as they walked to the SUVs. It was a short ride to the Monastary which was located just outside of Galway and Katie spent the time watching the scenery. She loved Ireland, she’d been a few times when at University in the UK. Her mind wandered to her soldier, who himself had Irish roots, his mother and father hailing from Limerick. Smiling, she pulled out her phone. She knew it would be late back in the US, it was barely touching ten am where the where and the time difference would make it the middle of the night. That is if he was back from the mission yet. Still, she took a photo of the coast road they were on skirting the edge of Galway Bay which in the November sun looked stunning, the light bouncing off the calm blue sea reminding her of those deep ocean pools she loved to look into. She sent it to Steve with a simple message ‘wish you were here’ and then shoved it back into her jacket pocket. 

The monastery itself was a beautiful gothic building set into the side of a green hill. They all climbed out and checked their weapons, Coulson once more going over the plan of action before they headed to the large front door.

 “Well, it’s been a while.” Elliot said quietly as they walked into the building, Katie taking a moment to appreciate the architecture, another thing Steve would love. “I wonder – ah, yes. There it is. Still here”.

He walked to the front of the room where a book lay set up on a stand.

“Well, the nose isn’t quite right, but…”

 Katie and Coulson walked up behind him, followed by the rest of the group to see that he was looking at a drawing of a man wearing long robes and holding the staff.

“That’s you?” Katie asked, looking at him.

“Yeah, they venerated me a bit as a saint.”

“They’re idiots” Ward spat viciously. They all spun round to look at him, where he was stood a few feet behind them all.  “Where’s the staff?”

“It’s upstairs.”

Elliot led the way, the team following up a set of spiralled staircase. Katie and Coulson were directly behind him, taking the lead with May and Ward shortly behind them as deputies.

 “It’s quiet.” May said softly

“ Why do you think I trusted them with my secret?” Elliot shrugged, still walking on ahead. He Elliot stopped in front of some sort of cabinet and ran his hand down the side before he reached for the handle. “They take a vow of silence.”

“But when you get them talking, they squeal.” A low male voice said, it’s owner appearing from behind one of the walls to the left of the cabinet, holding two pieces of the staff, one in each hand.  It was the man whose mugshot Katie had seen on the tablet earlier that day, Jakob. Suddenly he held one piece up high and stabbed Elliot in the chest with it, he fell to the floor.

 He turned and advanced on the rest of them, and Katie reached for her gun, readying herself. To her left she felt someone bend down to Elliot, presumably to try and treat him.

 “No one else wants to get hurt.” Coulson spoke to Jakob, his gun raised. Jakob cocked his head to one side, looking at it before he stared back at Coulson.

 “If you want to defeat a God, you must become one”

 Suddenly there was a loud yell and a scream. Katie spun round to see Ward had bent to Elliot, only it wasn’t to treat him, it was to retrieve the piece of the staff stuck in the Asgardian man’s chest. He held it in his hand and then suddenly threw himself at Jakob, knocking Katie and May out of the way as he went. The two men fell over the banister railing to the floor below.

Katie scrambled to her feet and looked down to see Jakob recovering from the fall first. She aimed with her gun but couldn’t get a clear shot in, as he picked Ward up like he weighed nothing and slammed him back down to the ground.

 “We need to help him!” Skye said, looking at Ward before she ran off.

“Skye!” Coulson called, he was now bent over Elliot and speaking furiously into his coms for Jemma Simmons to come help. “She can’t fight, she’s not trained…”

May nodded, “We’ll get her. Stark, with me.”

Katie nodded and ran after May, the pair of them practically jumping down the stair. Ward was now on his feet and as Jakob lunged at him, he flung himself to the right out of the way.

“Skye.” May instructed as they caught up with the dark hared girl who was watching Ward now ducking and diving the swipes from Jakob “Stay outta this…”

Both Katie and May stepped forward, but as they did so, Ward paused what he was doing and bent to grasp the part of the staff that was on the floor next to him. His face contorted in rage and when Jakob came at him again, Ward punched him hard in the face, enough to cause him to fly back against the wall where he slumped to the ground before Ward rammed him straight in the chest with the staff in a fit of rage like nothing anyone could comprehend. Ward’s chest was heaving and he spun round to see the other three agents watching him cautiously. His eyes were blazing with a fire Katie had never seen before.

“Ward.” May approached, tentatively stopping when Ward held his hand up.

“Get away from me.” His face was contorted in rage.

“Grant.”  Katie tried gently, stepping forward so she was level with May. “They’re right, that thing, this isn’t you.”

 Something clearly registered in his brain and his face softened slightly but then suddenly the door was kicked open and they whirled round to see the rest of Jakob’s group enter the monastery.  The three agents regrouped and Katie took her fighting stance, weighing up their opponents. It had been a while since she had been in a full force hand to hand combat, but she was pleased to find that her training with Natasha and Steve had kept her prepared. She dodged, ducked, punched, kicked, flipped up and over people, taking them down with her using her legs as the room filled with rowdy men and women, all yelling. May was working through them almost 2 at a time and Ward, now holding two of the staff pieces from somewhere, was easily fighting off a group of them, the power he was gaining from the staff clearly visible.

Katie grabbed one man in a choke hold just as he was trying to get up, and as he stopped struggling she threw him to the ground, and looked round at the now quiet room. May nodded at her, taking a deep breath and Katie turned to see Ward who was shaking drop both pieces of the staff he was holding and collapse to his knees. Skye hurried over and knelt in front of him.

 “Are you alright?” May looked round Katie. She nodded looking giving her a small grin, reaching up to tenderly brush at her cheekbone. One of them had landed a good shot.

“Been a long time since I had a full on fight like that, not using my guns.” she said, and May’s mouth curled up at one side before she made her way over to help Skye get Ward to his feet. Just as Katie was about to join them, the door opened again. She spun round to see another face she recognised from the photos, Jakob’s girlfriend, Petra stood there, the third piece of Staff in her hand.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me” Skye said from behind Katie.

Katie looked around glanced at May who also turned her attention to Petra as she was now circling the room. Which a quick flick of her gun, Katie aimed a shot at her, but she simply whipped the piece of staff out in front of her and it tinged the bullet off to one side.

 “We’re no match for her whilst she has that” May said and instinctively Katie glanced down at the two pieces of staff on the floor near them. Grant wearily sighed and went to pick it up but Katie dropped down on one knee and grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

“You’re not in any state to do that.” she said not unkindly as she looked at him, “Let me help.”

“Kay…” he started to argue, the use of his nickname for her registered but now wasn’t the time to chastise him, nor did she really find she cared enough to do so. It was then that May cut in.

“She’s right. We can’t beat them unless we’re on a level playing field.” She shot him a look and he nodded.

“Okay.”

Skye helped Ward away as May and Katie watched Petra as two men from the group they had taken down earlier got to their feet. Petra looked round the room and let out an audible gasp as she saw Jakob’s body for the first time. Katie slowly and apprehensively reached out for a piece of the staff, hesitating for a moment as she had no idea what was going to happen when she did pick it up. May looked at her nodding and then the pair of them reached out, each gripping a piece.  Katie gasped as a warm sensation flooded up through her arm and then her head was like it was somewhere else. Which it was, she was back in what, according to Professor Randall, should be the worst moment of her life, only it wasn’t the moment she had initially thought of when he’d told them that…

Rhodey was on the doorstep of her Chelsea apartment at three am local time. She knew instantly that something was wrong. Without a word he entered, and told her that Tony’s ARV had been attacked and they had no idea where he was. She almost collapsed and he helped her over to the sofa where she sat still, tears falling as she listened. The room fell silent, and with a shaking hand she reached for the remote and turned the TV on to the News Channel, to see her Brother’s face plastered all over the screen.

“I’m sorry Kiddo…” Rhodey’s voice was choked and she turned to look at him “I should have been with him but he insisted on riding in the other ARV, the FunVee…” he shook his head, snorting angrily.

“Who’s taken him?” She asked, swallowing.

“We’re think it was an Ambush by the Ten Rings.” Rhodey swallowed. “We’ve not had a ransom note yet but we expect it’s a matter of time. We’ll find him.”

“It’s finding him alive that’s the issue, Rhodey” She wiped away the tears from her face, the sick feeling in her stomach threatening to overwhelm her and it felt like someone had a band over her chest that they were constricting, hard…and then it was to much, and she bolted to the bathroom, emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet…

Gasping Katie took a deep breath and looked up sharply as one of the men flew at her. Letting out a yell of rage, pent up anger and hurt she launched forward as Petra did the same. Their pieces of staff blew against one another and soon they were battling, fiercely. Katie was fighting to kill, and she instantly understand what had made Ward run Jakob through with the staff. 

It felt good. 

She could hear and see in the corner of her eye that May was also tackling a few more members of the group, easily keeping them at bay but Katie was focussed on one thing, the woman in front of her. She was good, matching Katie blow for blow but eventually Katie’s tenacity and training started to win out and she began to get the edge. She swung forward with a huge swipe and knocked Petra to the ground causing the woman to drop her part of the staff. Automatically it joined with the piece Katie was holding in her right hand, glowing orange again.

“It’s been a month, Katie…” Obediah said “A month…I hate to say this but the chances of him coming back…”

“I don’t wanna hear it, Obi!” Katie wheeled round “Tony is alive, and until someone shows me any kind of evidence to the contrary…then things stay as they are, I don’t give a shit what the board say.”

She watched him out of the room before she dropped her head to the desk and began to cry. She didn’t stop, even when Pepper walked into the room and dropped an arm round her shoulder, the pair of them lost…

A crash caught Katie’s attention and she saw May had dispatched the remaining fighters. She glanced up, and saw what Katie was doing and instinctively threw her piece of staff over to her. Katie grabbed it, joining it with the other combined pieces completing the staff.

Katie gave a yell as once more that warm feeling spread up her arm to her chest and her memories swallowed her.

“Your government has for far too long sold weapons, manufactured by Mr Tony Stark, to our oppressors, to our enemies. This is blood in exchange for blood, death in exchange for death, meet our demands or within 48 hours the great Tony Stark is no more…”

The room came back into a bleary focus, just as Petra staggered to her feet, swaying slightly.

“I am not afraid of you.” She spoke, her accent thick.

“You should be…” Katie snarled, as she advanced towards her. Quick as a flash she let out a loud cry and struck Petra with the staff, hard in the face. She fell backwards to the floor, deadly still. 

And then a different voice spoke in Katie’s mind a clear voice. Her own voice.

“He escaped, though. And he was fine, well as fine as Tony ever is. So there’s really no need to fear this memory because that’s all it is, a memory. It all worked out in the end…”

Katie dropped the staff and fell to her knees, her entire body shaking with the exertion of wielding the Asgardian weapon. Her head was pounding with those memories, the voices, everything. Her hands flew into her hair as she bent over, trying to focus on anything but her thoughts.

“Hey…” Two hands were on either side of her face, and Katie looked up into May’s eyes. “Focus on me, Stark.” Katie took a deep breath as May’s hands slid gently down to the side of her shoulders. “Can you stand?” She asked. Katie nodded and then looked over at Petra.

“Is she…” She managed to croak out. Had she killed someone? In blind rage?

“Don’t worry about her” May shook her head, “I’ll take care of it.”

Katie got to her feet with May’s help, glancing over at Ward and Skye. Ward gave her a small nod of his head, which she acknowledged with a small incline of her own as May helped her out of the smaller Vestibule room they’d been fighting in and through to the entrance hall of the Monastery, the sun streaming through the stained glass windows.

“That thing…” Katie took a deep breath “Ward wasn’t wrong…it…”

“Tell me about it.” May’s voice was quiet, and Katie realised the normally stoic woman was shaking, although not quite as violently as her. The two of them settled on a large slab of stone. They were shortly joined by Ward as he sat besides them, the three of them didn’t talk for a while, merely lost in their own thoughts, Katie wanting nothing more than to get home to see Steve.

“When you held it…” Ward said eventually, breaking the silence. “Did you see anything?”

May nodded, and so did Katie.

“Then how, Kay? How did you hold all three?” Ward looked at her

She paused, thinking about it for a moment.

No need to fear this memory

“Because it’s a memory that I don’t need to be afraid of.” she shrugged eventually. “And I see the reason why every time I look at Tony.”

*****

Steve packed a bag. There was, sadly, one last mission standing between him and his girl. And he no idea how long this particular mission was going to take. It was completely rogue, way off SHIELD’s official radar anyway, only Fury and Natasha knew what he was doing.

Oh, and Tony. He’d enlisted the Billionaire’s help because had a somewhat personal interest in this case. So much so he’d leant him the Stark Jet, because he couldn’t use the Quinjet, and the fact that like everything Tony owned, his jet was faster and better than anything else, it had shaved a good 2 hours off what the journey would have taken had he flown full commercial, not to mention saved him a load of messing about in the meantime with bookings and check ins.

The jet was comfortable, he had flown on it a few times with Katie before back to NYC when they didn’t drive that was. As soon as he was airborne he face timed Katie using the connection on the plane and had hissed at the bruise on her cheek. She had batted off his concern and instead went on a rant about how cheap Fury was. He had to laugh at her indignant tone, apparently they had arrived at a Premier Inn a few hours ago and she had refused point blank to get out of the SUV and after a battle of wills with Coulson had upgraded the entire team to the Sheraton just outside of Galway within ten minutes. Apparently overnighters weren’t standard for the team she was working in as they had the Bus but Coulson had decided they all needed some down time after what sounded like a gruelling mission.

“And what better way to do that in a 5 star hotel with a spa, right?”

They talked for the longest time they had in the three, almost four days she had been gone and Steve loved it. She didn’t go into much detail about the mission itself, bar to say it had ended in a pretty ruthless fight and that she was mentally and physically exhausted, promising to tell him all about it when she saw him. He told her in no uncertain terms that they were both going to take some time out, Fury had cleared it and her face had lit up, but then fallen when he sadly told her he had one last mission to sort. After assuring her it wouldn’t take long, and it really wouldn’t, she had smiled and told him she couldn’t wait to see him.

“Me either Doll, me either.”

He took the opportunity to get some sleep, and was awoken by one of the stewardesses a few hours later who informed him they were an hour out. Thanking her he headed off to change out of his comfy sweats and into his specially selected outfit, one that would make him blend in a lot more than the stealth suit. Once he had arrived, cleared customs at the private airfield they had landed at, he climbed straight into the arranged official looking blacked out SUV and the driver set off, not a word spoken. The driver already knew their destination, Fury had already patched that information through before he had taken off.

It was easy to blag his way in to the building he needed to be in. Dressed in a black suit, all he had to do was quickly flash his SHIELD ID badge and the woman at the desk was only too happy to provide him the information about where he could find his target, and access to the required area. He didn’t take the elevator, it was too easy to be spotted. Instead he snuck round and found the service stairs and bolted up them two at a time to the seventh floor, his kit bag containing his shield slung over his shoulder.

****

After they had checked in to the decent hotel, not that Premier Inn (which she was sure was clean and perfectly comfortable, but she wanted fucking luxury after three nights of being in that pokey room) and she’d spoken to Steve for at least an hour, Katie showered, changed and headed off out to explore the area with Skye. The two had chatted, Katie really did like the girl, and they’d done a bit of shopping, had a late lunch, before they had headed back to the hotel and made use of the Spa. Then, she’d sat and eaten with the team, before bidding them all goodnight and retiring to her room with a bottle of Krug (because, why not?) and a long assed hot bath.

She tried to face time Steve again, but this time he didn’t answer. Probably elbow deep in whatever mission he was on this time, he’d been very vague about this one, saying it was hush hush but he would explain all in person, including what had gone down in Yemen which sounded like an utter shit-storm.

Changing for bed, Katie dropped onto the comfortable couch of the suite (ok, so she’d upgraded herself a teensy bit more than everyone else), poured herself another glass of Krug, slightly disgruntled to see the bottle was empty. So she rang down for another, fuck it.

Just as she had put the phone down, her cell called.

“Hey baby.” Steve spoke and Katie could hear the smile in his voice. “Sorry, the phone won’t let me face time for some reason.”

“Well that’s a shame because I’m naked.”

Steve groaned and Katie felt herself grin. “Don’t do that to me.”

“Sorry.” She giggled “I’m not really, just wish you were here.”

“I know.” He sighed “Me too”

“I’m taking it that seeing as you can talk your super-secret spy shit mission is done.”

“It was surprisingly easy” He mused, “Target didn’t suspect a thing and thanks to a very helpful lady I met, I got in with no fuss.”

“Helpful lady?” Katie narrowed her eyes. “How helpful?”

Steve let out a chuckle “All I had to do was flash my ID and smile”

“Coz you’re a regular charmer, aint you?” Katie laughed, and then there was a knock on the door. “Oh hang on… room service.”

She got up off the couch, made her way to the door, phone still in her hand and she pulled it open.

“Hey Doll.” Steve grinned at her and her mouth dropped open, the phone slipping out of her hand to the floor. “Surprise.”

She was a sight for sore eyes. Silk cami top and shorts, her hair falling in damp waves around her face. God he’d missed her.

“What…you…” She stammered, taking him in, the black fitted suit and tie he was wearing looked far better than it would have on anyone else and he laughed at the look of utter shock on her face “The mission, I thought…”

“You’re my mission, Sweetheart” He grinned, stepping into the room, dropping his kit bag, picking his phone up as he did so. And, no sooner had he straightened up, Katie gave a little shriek and threw herself into his arms.

“I can’t believe it.” She whispered, her hands straying to his face “You are here right? This isn’t just some weird trick my mind is playing?”

“I’m here, promise.” He placed a soft kiss to her lips. There was a clearing of a throat and Katie peeked over Steve’s shoulder to see a rather embarrassed looking hotel worker clutching the bottle of Krug she had ordered along with a fresh glass and an ice bucket. She tapped Steve’s arms and he reluctantly set her down so she could sign the receipt with a flourish. Steve smiled at the man, taking the ice bucket before closing the door. He followed Katie into the large hotel suite, and dropped the ice bucket and her phone onto the coffee table before sinking onto the couch and Katie climbed onto his lap, winding his tie around her hand.

“For the record,” she murmured as she looked him up and down, “this is a good look.”

“Glad you approve, Darlin’” He grinned as she tugged on his tie, pulling him closer to her, and she pressed her lips to his in a deep kiss.

He responded eagerly, hands creeping into her hair to hold her head in place as his tongue slid against hers, his hips rocking up before his lips dropped to her collarbone

“I missed you.” He purred as she let out a small groan, her hand sliding into his hair.

“I missed you too” She muttered, his hands gently fell to her hips, giving them a squeeze. “Take me to bed.”

Steve didn’t need asking twice. Standing easily, drawing a giggle from her as she wrapped her legs around his waist, he paused and looked around.

“Trust you to get a suite that’s bigger then my apartment.”

“I have very high standards.” She shot back. “Door to the right.”

He gave a quick laugh and strode over to the door, pulling it open and stepping into the plush bedroom which was softly illuminated by the bedside lamp. Dropping her onto the huge bed he crawled over her as she once more grabbed his tie and pulled him down.

“You really do like this huh?” He arched his eyebrow,  ooking down at her as she gently slipped his jacket down his shoulders and he shrugged it off, tossing it to the floor.

“What can I say, I’m a sucker for a suit. Although I still think the Stealth one is better.”

“Maybe I should bring that home one night.” He muttered as his lips slid against her neck and she groaned.

“Please do. Your ass looks great in it.” She moved, pushing on his shoulders. Steve sat back on his heels and she locked her eyes on his, undoing his tie gently, a move she managed to make incredibly arousing and Steve let out a groan and he kissed her.

“Fuck, I missed you.” He whispered into her mouth

“Save it, you’re wearing too many clothes.” She replied, undoing the button on his collar and then her soft fingers made their way down his chest, her eyes following as it fell open. He shrugged it down before he fell back down on top of her and moved to pull her vest top over her head. As he tossed it aside somewhere he let out a gentle moan at the sight of her in front of him, and he wrapped his arm around her back and tugged her up slightly as his head bent to take a nipple into his mouth. He used both his hands and his mouth in a nearly coordinated attack that left her all but dying, and completely desperate for his touch elsewhere. He could read her body signals like a book and happy to oblige, one of his hands slid down, dipping into her bed shorts, finding him hot and wet for him. He groaned into her chest his fingers playing with her.

“Baby you’re soaked.”

She managed to moan in response, and then it was a race for the pair of them to get out of their remaining clothes as fast as they could. Once there was no barrier between them he kissed her hard, Katie shifting so that her legs went around his waist, pulling him flush against her, wanting to touch every inch of him possible. Steve repositioned himself slightly, gently working into her, the pair of them letting out a satisfied sigh as he bottomed out, stilling slightly just to savour the moment.

“Stevie…” Katie whispered into his ears “Please…” At her plea, he began to thrust, slowly, deeply, running his hand down Katie’s leg until his hand stopped at her knee. Katie looked at him as he seemed to hesitate for a split second before he directed her leg up, casually resting it over his shoulder so that he could go even deeper. She moaned loudly, he’d never done that before and it felt so unbelievably good, like nothing ever had before. Her fingers dug into his arm as he starting pushing a little harder, a little faster, then faster, until he had reached a relentless pace. Katie could do nothing but reach up, bracing herself on the headboard of the large bed as he continued, making her curse and leaving her short of breath, eyes closed in utter pleasure.

He slowed for a moment, making her look at him, letting out a noise of protest. “Don’t stop.” she begged, “Fuck, Stevie…”

He grinned, and it was a wicked grin, coupled with the mischievous flash in his eyes and it made her gulp slightly. She’d never seen him like this before, it was as if something had snapped and he was finally letting himself go fully, realising that after almost six months of sleeping together he didn’t have to be a gentleman all the time as she wasn’t going to break. As she stared into those baby blues, his pupils blown with desire he slowly pushed himself up so he could put her other leg over his other shoulder. 

“Oh, holy fuck-”  Her voice cut off and turned into a loud wail as he picked up the pace once again, pounding into her over and over and it wasn’t long before his name and another plethora of curses tumbled from her lips as her orgasm ripped through her like nothing she’d felt before. Her back arched, fingers dug into his back as he coaxed her through it before dropping her legs from his shoulders, laying atop her and chasing after his own end furiously. Katie held him close as she came down, gently encouraging him into his ear, his rhythm eventually stuttering and changing as he came with a frantic gasp of her name.

The pair of them were slick with sweat and absolutely spent as they laid still, no sounds coming bar the ragged gasps for air from them both. Steve buried his head in the crook of his girl’s neck and she ran her fingers through his hair, his forehead still clammy and he let out a loud hmmm of contentment.

A moment or so later, Katie broke the silence.

“Baby.” She said softly, a playful thought rising in her mind. His response was simply another hmmm because he was still utterly blissed out. This caused Katie to smile a little as she spoke again. “Did Cap just come out to play?”

She felt him grin into her neck, “I think he may have done, yeah.”

“Well you can tell him from me that was amazing?”

“I’ll be sure to let him know…” Steve mumbled, still not moving.

“In fact, I’d go so far as to say that’s probably the best sex I’ve ever had.”

“Just probably?” Steve lazily raised his head to look at her and she made a show of looking upwards as if she was thinking about it.

“Ok definitely” She grinned, kissing him gently.

*****

Katie bid goodbye to Coulson’s team the next morning, Steve remained in the hotel room as he’d been under instructions from Fury not to speak to Coulson or draw attention to him in any way. Then they’d taken 3 glorious days break in Ireland, hiring a car and driving to Limerick.

As they drove, Katie told him all about the mission, what the staff had made her see, and how it had surprised her slightly what her worst memory was.

“I always thought it would be the time Tony told me mom and dad were dead” she said, softly a Steve cruised their hired Audi Q3 down the motorway. “Guess I fear losing Tony more.”

“It kinda makes sense.” Steve said, his hand straying to her knee “you were very young when the crash happened. Tony’s been your dad for, what, 22 years now? Far longer than Howard was I suppose.”

“Yeah.” she said gently, looking out of the window “I mean, I don’t remember a lot about my parents to be fair. I have memories, but sometimes I wonder how many of them are mine and how many of them are what people told me.”

Reminiscing seemed to be the theme of their brief trip away. They spent a day visiting the places Steve’s Ma had told him all about, then the next day, after a lazy morning they drove up to Dublin where they had both drunk a fair amount of Guinness after Katie dragged Steve to Temple Bar, showing him the places she had spent a fair few weekends in on trips over from the UK. They forgot all about SHIELD, all about Fury, all about missions. They were just a normal couple enjoying a break, and Steve had frankly never had as much fun in his life.

It was on their last night, just after they were curled up in post coital bliss after their 3rd round that evening when Steve mentioned about how it was back to reality the day after that Katie propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him, biting her lip.

“What if I don’t want to?” She asked quietly.

“Don’t want to what, Honey?” Steve asked, kissing her head.

“Go back. To SHIELD I mean.”

Steve’s hand paused its journey up and down her spine as he turned his head to look at her, frowning. “You want to leave?” 

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot over the last 3 days.” she said, her fingers gently tracing over the dark blonde hair on his chest. “I can’t do it anymore Steve, I’m tired.”

“What’s brought this on?” he asked, turning so he was on his side facing her, pushing her hair back off her face.

“I can’t pin point one thing.” she said, looking down. “But…”

Steve paused, waiting for her to continue, and after a deep breath she did, her words coming almost as a jumble as she poured her heart out to him in the darkness of their hotel room.

“If I’m honest I’ve been thinking about it since we found out that they hadn’t been destroying the Chitauri weapons. Look what happened when Fury started fucking about with the Tesseract… I mean how do we know they’re not making more weapons just like they were before New York?”

Steve remained silent, that had been bubbling away in his mind too. He wasn’t best pleased about the situation but knew that Katie, who had headed up the DODC clean- up had taken it personally. She’d flipped out when Tony had told her what his latest hack into SHIELD had discovered and Steve had had to stop her marching into Fury’s office and calling him a liar there and then. He understood completely, she felt betrayed after having being told she was heading up a clean-up operation when in actual fact it turns out to be a goddamed technology harvesting operation.

“You now when Coulson died, I blamed myself. I made a decision to try to free Thor not help Coulson and I know I’d probably do it all over again because it was the right call, but the point is I blamed myself, for the past what, 18 months or so and Fury…he let me do that, he let me think he was dead…”

She was getting worked up, Steve could hear it and sense it, even if he couldn’t see her properly.

“Hey…” he said, his hand gently moving to her arm, rubbing softly as she continued her ramblings.

“And then there I get to The Bus and there’s more secrets there, not being told Ward was on the team, which to be fair wasn’t as bad as I thought but still, it’s more lies…”  

She was crying now and Steve sighed, wrapping his arms round her and pulling her to him. She pressed her face into his chest “This isn’t me Steve, it’s not who I am.”

He held her close, hand wandering up into her hair as he chewed over what she was saying. From a selfish point of view the thought of her leaving SHIELD worried him. She’d been his linchpin, his rock at the agency, and he relied on her more than she would know. He loved working with her, seeing every day and he was scared if that changed, so would their relationship. But there was a small part of him that also worried when she was on missions, and there was no doubt if she did quit she’d be a hell of a lot safer. And not all couples worked together, right?

He pulled back slightly, his large hand cupping her cheek “Hey, you know I got your 6 right? I’ll support you no matter what you decide.”

“I know.” She sniffed softly. I just feel like if I do quit, then I’m taking the easy way out, you know, I mean SHIELD is dad’s legacy.”

“Maybe once.” Steve popped his shoulder. “Times have moved on, SHIELD has changed. I doubt your dad, Peggy or Colonel Phillips would have ever imagined in a million years how it would evolve.”

“You’re telling me times have changed?” She quipped and he chuckled.

“Guess I am, but I learned pretty fast when I got that serum that you can’t live your life being who people want you to be or think you should be. You need to be true to yourself”

She nodded and stifled a yawn.

“Sleep on it.” He urged, his thumb stroking her cheek. “And then if it’s still what you want tomorrow, ’ll even write your resignation letter.”

“I got it planned” She yawned. “Dear Fury. Fuck you. Love Nova.”

Steve laughed and pulled her to him, kissing her head. “Maybe drop the Love Nova.”

****

“You sure you wanna do this?” Steve asked as they stopped outside Fury’s office. Katie nodded, taking a deep breath.

“Okay, I’ll be right here.” He said, both his hands on her face. She gave him a smile and then turned and opened the door.

“Agent Stark.” Fury swivelled in his chair “Take a seat.”

“It’s okay Sir, this won’t take long.” She declined his offer, taking a deep breath.

“Do I need to borrow Captain Rogers SHIELD?” He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “I’m assuming this is the bit where you’ve come to tell me exactly how pissed at me you are.”

“I’m not pissed” She shook her head, “I was, but not now. I’m just disappointed.”

He eyed her, and gestured for her to continue.

“I expected better from you Sir. You lied to me. You let me believe Coulson was dead. You know I blamed myself for that for months, and then if that wasn’t bad enough you sent me to a team containing my ex boyfriend…and don’t even get me started on the fact you’re secretly hiding Chitauri technology instead of destroying it.”

At that Fury’s face slipped and his face grew dark. “How do you…”

She arched an eyebrow and Fury gave a groan.

“Son of a…your brother is a liability.”

“Maybe, but at least he isn’t a liar.”  She shot back. “And neither am I. I pride myself on being honest, doing the best I can and I don’t like being used or manipulated.”

 “Agent Stark…”

“I can’t do it anymore.” She hook her head. “I’m tired of it all, the lies, the secrecy. This isn’t…it isn’t me.” she finished, shrugging.

“So what are you saying Nova?”

“That you can consider this my formal resignation.” She looked at him, eyes not moving from his and for a moment she was sure she saw a flicker of something that looked like regret flash across the Director’s face. But it disappeared as fast as it had arrived and she took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders back. “I will, of course, work any formal notice period.”

“I don’t suppose there’s any point in me trying to change your mind?”

“No, don’t suppose there is.” She shook her head.

“In that case, there’s no notice period necessary.” Fury spoke calmly, his posture returning to normal. He took a deep breath and strode round his desk, holding out his hand. “I’m sorry it’s come to this. You’re one of the best agents I’ve had. Coulson said you worked wonders on the Staff case.”

“Thank you, Sir.” She swalloed, fighting to keep her voice from cracking. “This hasn’t been an easy decision. For the most part, it’s been an honour to serve.”

She gently reached into her pocket, pulling out her official ID and ran her fingers over the silver badge before she handed it to him. Fury took it from her, and with one last smile she took a deep breath and turned, to leave, the tears brewing in her eyes.

This had to be one of the hardest decisions she’d ever made in her life but she wasn’t backing down. She’d talked it over with Steve extensively over the last two days and Tony too for that matter, her brother telling her that he, and their father would be proud of her no matter what. Undeniably her role at SHIELD had given her everything. A purpose, a new outlook on life, Steve. But now it was time to channel that energy in a new way.

“I would like you to remain on our books, in an advisory role.” Fury’s voice stopped her in her tracks and she grinned to herself, suddenly transported back to when he had said the same thing to Tony a few years ago.

She turned back and winked. “You can’t afford me.” 

**** Chapter 11

**Original Posting**

[leejungchans]

— coming clean.

word count: 2k

warning(s): mentions of anxiety, swearing

set in early january 2021 after the events of our first snow

notes: all the conversations and text messages here are in korean!!

summary: juliet goes to hongjoong for advice after making her relationship with dino official.

juliet’s masterlist | ask game

Juliet forces herself to take several deep breaths at the familiar door leading to Hongjoong’s studio. She’s been hanging outside in the hallway for the past ten minutes ever since she finished practising for their upcoming comeback, not being able to bring herself to knock as she knew exactly why she was still here at this hour.

Come on, Baek Minyoung. It’s just Hongjoong, he won’t be mad. You have to do this. He’ll help you.

She brings her fist up only to falter at the last second. If anyone passed by now, they’d definitely question why she’s standing ominously still with her fist suspended in the air.

To say that Juliet is dreading the imminent conversation would be a gross understatement. She even doubted if it was a good idea coming to Hongjoong first instead of telling all eight members at once. She hates keeping secrets from them, who know her as well as, if not more than, her family, and could definitely tell if she was hiding something.

But the thought of having this conversation with everyone felt so daunting, and she had hoped that if she spoke with the leader first she could ease herself into telling the others.

It isn’t that she’s afraid of them—no, that isn’t it at all. All nine of them value honesty and communication above everything else, and they’ve each came clean to one another about many things many times prior to today. So she wasn’t scared of them, but their reaction and very likely, their disappointment.

She doesn’t feel mentally prepared enough, it’s like giving a class presentation when you know nothing about the material, or jumping out a plane without checking if you have a parachute on. The anxiety is building within her, causing her chest to constrict and her breathing to become harsher and laboured. Her nails dug into her palm as her fist clenched more and more with every second.

Chan knew she was doing this tonight because she texted him earlier with the promise that she’d call him as soon as it was over, and he in turn assured her that he would be there waiting for her call no matter the hour. She tried to imagine his voice telling her to take deep breaths while forcing herself to uncurl her fist.

Is it possible to feel your heartbeat in your ear? Because that’s fucking happening.

She doesn’t how long she’s been at this when her hand, as though moving on its own accord, raps at the frosted glass. Upon realising what she had done, Juliet quickly lowers her arm so it rests at her side, heart now beating even more rapidly because holy shit what have I done I wasn’t ready yet why did I knock whatthefuckwhatthefuck—

“Come in!”

Good fucking job, Juliet.

Releasing a heavy sigh, the girl cracks open the door and sticks her head in, meeting the concerned gaze of Hongjoong who rakes a tired hand through his hair, the exhaustion that seems to settle permanently in his features when he’s working is unmistakable.

It always pains her to see him like this. Juliet thinks he works too hard—not that working hard is a bad thing necessarily, but it’s no secret that Hongjoong can sometimes give too much to the point where he neglects himself.

Of course, she’s not the first person who’s said something about it to him, because she’s definitely overheard Seonghwa lightly scolding the leader for not taking care of himself more. And she knows Hongjoong is trying, so she tries not to bring it up as much to avoid placing more burden on his shoulders.

The irony of this sentiment is not lost on Juliet, because she is very well aware that what she is about to confess to him is most certainly going to be another cause of worry. She hates it—knowing that she’s the reason why someone is upset or stressed. But she also knows that telling him is the right (and inevitable) thing to do.

“Minyoung-ah, you’re still here? It’s—” Hongjoong spins around in his chair to glance at his phone screen—“it’s almost one. I thought you went home already,” he says disapprovingly. “You should be sleeping by now.”

Juliet bites down on her tongue to prevent herself from making a “well, you’re still working too” comment, and instead hands him the cup of takeaway coffee she’s been holding onto all this time with a sheepish smile. “I got you coffee?”

He sighs but takes the cup nonetheless while she makes herself comfortable on the spare office chair. “I thought you hated bringing me coffee.”

“Only because it would make you stay up even later and I don’t want to keep enabling your bad sleeping habits.”

“Yet you still do it. Bribing me, perhaps? What is it this time?”

She rolls her eyes playfully. “You say that like I’m the problem child in the family,” she pouts before sobering up. “I don’t know if you’d call it a bribe, but...um...I came here for advice because I thought you’d be the best person to go to.”

Hongjoong knows that look on her face better than anyone else, instantly recognising that whatever she has on her mind is serious.

“Okay, one sec,” he says, turning around to click a few buttons on his software before facing her once more. “What’s wrong? I’m all ears.”

“Will you be mad?”

Hongjoong sighs again, hand reaching out to give the maknae’s a few gentle pats on the head. “You know I could never be mad at you.”

Juliet holds out her pinky finger. “Promise?” she asks, prompting a snort from him.

“What are we, twelve?” he says teasingly, though he humours her anyways and interlaces his pinky with hers.

“Only on a scale of one to ten.”

This makes Hongjoong cackle, and he can’t help but admire how she manages to stay witty despite being clearly nervous about something. “Fine, you win. But seriously, is everything okay?”

Here goes nothing.

“Uh...well...you know how Chan and I went out last week?”

“I recall it, yes. What about it?”

“I—he—um...” That fear and nervous she was feeling earlier returns with full force. She might’ve had a chance to run away when she was still in the hallway, but she doubts that she can bolt out of the studio to avoid having this conversation.

Hongjoong places a hand on hers which are starting to shake. “Hey, it’s going to be okay,” he says softly, “I can’t guarantee that I’ll react the way you want me to, but I’ll always hear you out.”

A tiny sniffle. “That’s not very reassuring.”

He chuckles. “Maybe not, but just take some deep breaths, okay? We’re here to support each other, this is a safe space to talk about anything.”

It takes a minute or so for Juliet to compose herself before she decides that it’s pointless to beat around the bush. “He...he asked me to be his girlfriend.”

Hongjoong nods. If her confession shocked him, he’s doing a good job not showing it. “And what did you say?”

“I said yes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Juliet echoes in disbelief, “that’s all you have to say?”

The rapper shrugs. “I mean, I think we all know you two were going to get together officially sooner or later, so I can’t say I’m surprised or anything.”

“Are you disappointed?” she asks lightly, trying not to give away how nervous she is and how devastated she’d be if he was. “Mad?”

“No,” the response comes immediately. “If anything, I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me. You’re an adult, you can make decisions for yourself, and I think it goes without saying that we all trust you with such a decision, and that you’ve thought about it comprehensively before coming to it. Also, you’re allowed to have a personal life, no one has the right to hold it against you.”

Juliet’s eyebrows knit so closely together that they almost form a single line. “But...I promised you guys back then that I’d be careful and wait.”

“Hasn’t it almost been a full year since you met?” Hongjoong asks rhetorically. “I think you two waited long enough.”

A tear escapes her eye. “I just don’t want to get you guys in trouble because of something wrong I did,” she says quietly.

The leader wordlessly grabs a tissue from his desk to dab away the tears that flow down her cheeks. “It’s not wrong to want to have a relationship, Minyoung-ah,” he says, still wiping away the droplets. “I know it can seem otherwise in this industry, but it’s true. If something happens, we’ll deal with it then and we’ll get through it, like we have with anything else.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Nine makes one team, right?”

Juliet cracks a small smile, which Hongjoong returns with one of his own. “Right.”

“Have you told the others yet?”

“No,” she admits, “I thought I might get too overwhelmed breaking the news to all eight of you at the same time, but I’ll tell them tomorrow morning because I think some of them will probably already be asleep by the time I get home.”

Hongjoong nods. “Okay, good. What about the company?”

She stays quiet for a few seconds, weighing her options for what seems like the hundredth time that week. “I think I’ll tell them,” she finally says. “I’d rather them find out about us from me than from a tabloid.”

“I agree,” he concurs, “it shows that you trust them enough to let them know and that you’re not hiding something from them.” Hongjoong pauses, as though debating on whether to say what he’s thinking of. “Are you worried that they might say no?”

“Of course, but...if that happens...I’ll just see what I can do.”

“If they tell you to break it off, the eight of us will cover for you,” Hongjoong suggests cheekily.

Juliet giggles. “I’ll hold you to that, because I like Chan too much to break it off like that.”

The leader makes a face. “Okay, gross, you did not have to say that. A simple ‘thanks!’ would’ve sufficed, you know.”

“Don’t make me throw this snotty ball of tissue at you.”

Hongjoong snorts before his features soften. “Feel better?” he asks gently as he watches the girl dab away any remaining moisture from her waterline.

“Much,” Juliet smiles gratefully, feeling as though a significant weight has been lifted off her chest. “Thanks for talking this out with me.”

He ruffles her hair, prompting her to swat his hands away. “It’ll be okay, you’ll see. You two have my blessing.”

“Sure, like I need it,” Juliet says sarcastically, though she can’t help the blush that spreads across her cheeks.

“Yah! I practically raised you with Seonghwa!”

“Okay, okay,” Juliet concedes, wrapping her arms around Hongjoong’s neck to hug him. “Thanks again,” she whispers.

The boy pats her on the head. “Hurry up and go home.”

“Don’t work too late, understand?”

Hongjoong playfully salutes her. “Yes, ma’am. I’m almost done anyways.”

“Nice try, but I’ll spare you the lecture this time.”

“Thank you, O Mighty One, you are as merciful as you are beautiful.”

Juliet cackles at the exasperation dripping from Hongjoong’s tone before giving him a final hug and leaving the studio with a quiet click! of the door shutting.

For a few minutes, she stays there to watch him through the door, and though his figure is blurry and unclear from the frosted glass, it’s not hard to spot that he’s already resuming his work, back hunched over the desk and head occasionally darting up to look at the computer screen. She can only hope that he’ll keep his promise and get some rest soon.

As Juliet walks to the car park where her manager is waiting, Hongjoong’s heartfelt words echo over and over in her head. Feeling much lighter from relief, gratitude and hope, she pulls out her phone to send two messages.

TO: channie 🦖💕

[01:23] hongjoongie-oppa says he gives us his blessing ㅋㅋㅋ ❤️

TO: Nine Makes One Team

[01:24] minus hongjoong-oppa because i just talked with him, can the rest of us have a quick family meeting tomorrow morning please? there’s something i need to tell you guys...

a/n: hongjoong bestest bestest bestest boy ;-; hehe let me know what you think of this update!! we stan people who actively, honestly and healthily communicate with each other!! communication really is so important in any relationship and that’s something i had to learn the hard way.

i’m also debating on whether i should write one of the others’ reactions when juliet tells them but i also think it’d be pretty similar to this one (ie. they’d all be really supportive of their relationship even if they were slightly worried for them), so i don’t want to repeat any content but let me know if you want to see that or anything else (eg. more dino/juliet or ateez/juliet moments)!! 💕

please do consider leaving feedback whether it’s a reblog, a reply or an ask, it would mean the absolute world to me 🥺 thank you for reading and i hope you’re having a good day 💕 remember you can always chat with me through my asks and i’m here for you!!

[singledarkshade]

Scarred By Time

Author’s Note: I'm procrastinating writing something else so I ended up picking this up once more. Another chapter will hopefully appear at some point. Hope you enjoy. Part One can be found here.                                ********************************************* Part Two The building sitting at the edge of the city loomed above them as they walked towards it from the parking lot.

Everyone had heard of TM Consultancy these days. It was a think tank which had a reputation for creative brilliant solutions to problems most people would dismiss as unsolvable. They had appeared from nowhere about two years ago and quickly built their reputation.

Sara Lance looked at the three people standing with her at the entrance, Ray Palmer, Nate Heywood and Zari Tomaz, three people who didn’t normally work together. She knew them through some mutual friends and the bar she hung out at some weekends.

“What do a scientist, a historian, a hacker and a martial arts instructor have in common?” Sara asked thoughtfully.

Ray grinned at her, “I think we’re about to find out.”

Sara watched the main doors open before them. Swapping confused glances, they walked in and looked around the spacious comfortable almost empty reception area.

“Good morning,” the woman who stood waiting for them said as they moved closer, she had long chestnut brown hair with storm-grey eyes. Her face had a pleasant but neutral expression while she held a tablet in her hand, “Miss Lance, Dr Palmer, Mr Heywood and Miss Tomaz, it is a pleasure to meet you. Dr Hunter is waiting for you. Please follow me.”

They stared when she turned and walked through the wall behind her. Looking at one another again, they shrugged and followed the woman. All cried out in surprise and pain when they walked into a solid barrier.

“Gideon,” a man’s annoyed voice came making them turn to see Rip Hunter, owner of TM Consultancy standing inside an elevator. He was tall, with sandy hair, neatly trimmed beard, intense green eyes and was dressed head to toe in black, the only part of his body uncovered was his face despite the fact it was the middle of summer but the thing that especially caught Sara’s attention were the leather gloves he wore.

The woman reappeared asking innocently, “Yes?”

“Stop it,” he stated before turning to them, “My apologies, she has currently developed a rather childish sense of humour since her recent upgrade.”

Sara could see the others as bemused as she was, “What?”

“Gideon is the AI who runs the building,” Hunter explained, obviously trying not to laugh as Gideon crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him before disappearing back through the wall once more, “Follow me and we can discuss why I’ve asked you here.”

“Thank you for coming,” Hunter said as they filed into an office decorated in neutral colours with a long dark wooden desk in the middle and the sun shining through the wall of windows, “I’m sure you’re all busy so I’m not going to waste too much of your time. The reason I asked you here is to offer you a job.”

“What?” Sara spoke up.

He gave a slight smile, “All four of you have very specific skills which would be useful in order for us to expand our business.”

“What work exactly?” Ray asked thoughtfully.

“We find solutions for problems that others can’t,” Hunter replied, “Each of you have the skills I am looking for to expand the team.”

Sara frowned before challenging, “Considering my skills, what job do you expect me to do?”

“You’re a leader, Miss Lance,” he said, “I want you to manage this team.”

“What wages and perks are you offering?” Zari asked, “Because we all currently have pretty good jobs.”

Hunter smiled slightly again, Sara wondered if he knew how to smile properly, before he told them, “Gideon has emailed you a copy of your contract as well as details of all monetary compensation.”

“And you can’t give us any specific details of what we’ll actually be doing?” Nate demanded.

Hunter mused for a moment before nodding, “I’ll send you some write-ups of our previous cases, but there is information that you will not be privy to unless you are working for us. I will say that your days won’t ever be able to be called boring.”

With that the meeting was over.

 Rip stood in his office watching from the window the people, he had hopefully just hired, leave the property to consider his offer, stunned that he’d made it to this stage. ‘Time’ had confirmed that all those that were needed would be in the right place when required and Rip had been concerned that something would go wrong. It had been a long five years, three of which he’d spent alone and two more building up a business so that he had a way to bring the team together.

“I still do not believe that hiring them is a good idea,” Gideon’s voice made him turn to find her standing at his side.

“We need Sara to recant her wish now John and Mick have managed to capture the Djinn,” Rip reminded her, “But in order for her to do that then she must know about the fact she made it. If she’s working here, then we can ease her into the information. The other three will help with finding the information to convince her it’s real and not some kind of joke.”

Gideon rested her hand on his shoulder, the sensors in his clothes letting him feel her touch, “Then we need to get back to work.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Although,” Gideon noted, “You have not yet eaten this morning.”

Rip rolled his eyes, “I will get something just now.”

Gideon nodded, “Excellent. I will have something waiting for you in the dining room. I’ll meet you there.”

With that she disappeared, and Rip looked out the window once more at the four people walking away.

Part of him hoped this worked but he also knew if it did, then he would leave Gideon again.

And he hated that thought.

                                 *********************************************

 Gideon had been watching her Captain carefully over the past few weeks since he’d made the decision to contact the Legends in this version of the world. John had managed to track down the Djinn who had tricked Sara into making the wish that created this reality, trap it and it was currently being stored in the Waverider under several layers of security both technological and magical.

Although she knew that this was what Rip had been working towards for many years, she feared him succeeding because Gideon would lose him once more.

She never used her hologram and turned her cameras off whenever he was in the shower or changing because Gideon knew Rip hated anyone, even her, seeing the scars that covered every part of his body.

The reminder that to give the Legends time to defeat Mallus after they had blundered in without a proper plan, he had been ripped apart by the energy from the time core.

“Gideon,” he called, letting her know he was dressed.

Turning her camera and hologram back on, Gideon smiled to find him dressed and heading out the room.

“Yes?” she asked as she followed him to the elevator.

“Have we received a reply from anyone yet?” he waited as Gideon sent the elevator down to the sixth floor so he could have breakfast.

Gideon shook her head, “I’m afraid not, Rip. However, it has only been a few days and the remuneration package you are providing may be giving them pause.”

“Should I have offered more?” Rip frowned concerned.

“From what Mr Constantine has said,” Gideon noted as they walked the corridor to the dining room, “You may have offered them too much.”

Rip rolled his eyes, “Money has never been something that has meant much to me, not since I was a child, and I stole whatever I could get my hands on. The Waverider always provided what I required. I probably should have had Mr Rory work out those details.”

“His economic knowledge is quite surprising,” Gideon noted.

Gideon gently touched his hand and Rip took a hold of it. She was relieved he had agreed to let her put the sensors in his clothing, Rip needed physical contact of some kind and would never accept it from Mr Constantine or Mr Rory.

Gideon knew from when Rip and Miranda had been together how much just a simple touch of his hand or kiss on his cheek from his wife, comforted and made him smile.

Rip turned to her and rested his other hand on her cheek, “I’m fine, Gideon.”

“I’m not,” she whispered, leaning into his touch, “Because the closer we get to fixing the mess Miss Lance made with her wish, the day I lose you again draws ever nearer.”

Sighing, Rip shook his head, “I’ve been dead a long time, Gideon. It’s just going to take this time.”

“Captain…”

“I’m at peace with my decision,” Rip told her, “I only wish it didn’t mean leaving you once more.”

Gideon closed her eyes and turned her face to press a soft kiss to his palm, “We have time before that moment comes, Rip and I will treasure each moment.”

 “Have you found anything, Mr Constantine?”

Swearing John jumped, “Make a noise, Gideon before you appear.”

“I am constantly monitoring all parts of this facility,” Gideon noted with a roll of her eyes, “I am always here.”

Shaking his head and muttering under his breath, John pulled over the book so she could see it properly.

“I think I can summon the corporeal version of ‘Time’,” John told her, “But what do we do then? We can’t threaten him to keep Rip alive after we’ve fixed things.”

“I am aware of this, Mr Constantine,” Gideon replied sharply, “However, I will not allow Rip to die again without trying something to save him. This way we have a chance to find out what we can do.”

John shook his head, “I know, Gideon. Look,” he closed the book, “I need to collect some stuff to do the summoning so I will start gathering them up. And we can work on what we offer.”

She nodded, “Thank you.”

“He’s my friend too,” John reminded her, “And I won’t let him go without a fight.”

Gideon gave him a soft smile before she tilted her head, “The Legends have replied to the job offers. I will leave you to work while I report this to Captain Hunter.”

As Gideon disappeared again, John mused over everything. It was only a few hours after he’d been resuscitated into this world that Gideon asked him to find a way to help her save Rip after he saved the world.

He knew Rip and Gideon were close, but the past few years a lot of the time John could see how close they truly were. Gideon had implanted every piece of clothing Rip wore with sensors allowing her to physically interact with him. John had been a bit weirded out by it at first but realised after a while that it was good for Rip.

John smiled slightly, thinking back to anytime he saw Rip and Miranda together. How she would always place a hand on his arm, or lean into him to look at something, she’d brush a kiss to his cheek whenever she left the room or would simply sit on Rip’s lap without even acknowledging him.

It always made Rip smile and relax, Gideon knew this too so, as always, was looking out for her Captain.

                                 *********************************************

 Sara stood with her arms folded as she stood just outside the TM Consultancy building.

“You know,” Zari said as she walked up to Sara’s side, “We only get paid if we go inside and work.”

Shrugging Sara asked, “Don’t you think this is a little odd?”

“A little,” Zari agreed, “I nearly passed out when I saw the salary we were being offered. Not to mention the bonuses for completed jobs.”

Sara nodded, “I know what you mean. It…” she hesitated, trying to find the words, “The job is amazing and so much better than the one I was doing but there is just something odd about it and Hunter.”

“His dress sense screams that,” Zari laughed, “Do you think he knows the all black outfit makes him look like a stick-insect?”

Sara chuckled, “It’s the fact every part of him was covered other than his face I found odd.”

Zari shrugged, “Maybe he just doesn’t like the cold.”

“We’re in the middle of summer,” Sara sighed, “Never mind. We’re due in ten minutes and I don’t want to be late on my first day.”

They started towards the gates and Sara mused over everything. There was something strange about this entire thing and she intended to find out what reason this guy had for hiring them. The money he offered them all was incredible, far more than she expected ever to earn with her qualifications.

Reaching the reception, they found Ray and Nate were already there, sitting on the plush couch just to one side of the desk.

“We were told to wait,” Nate told her, “I don’t think the computer likes us much.”

Sara and Zari took a seat as Zari asked, “Why?”

“Just the look she gave me,” Nate replied.

Ray shook his head, “You’re imagining things. She was very pleasant, and this time didn’t make us run into a wall.”

Zari chuckled, “Come on, that was a little funny. And the fact she’s an AI with a sense of humour, this job won’t be boring.”

“Boring is something I’m not expecting,” Sara mused.

 “Are you ready for this, Captain?” Gideon asked softly as he stood in his office watching the video screen showing the four people waiting in reception.

Rip shook his head, “Honestly, no.”

Placing her hand on his back, Gideon whispered, “You don’t have to do this.”

Turning Rip took her hand, “I do. This world isn’t real. It is missing those who will step in and save it from dangers that normal people cannot.”

“Why is there no other way?” Gideon asked.

Sliding his arms around her, Rip drew her in for a hug, “Because there isn’t. Sara recants her wish, the world goes back to how it was…”

“And I lose you again,” Gideon sighed, her head resting against his shoulder, “Only this time it will be forever.”

Rip closed his eyes before he reminded her, “I made my choice, Gideon. I never wanted to leave you and I don’t but…”

“But?” she pulled back and looked at him with large eyes.

He let out a slow breath, “I can’t be selfish, Gideon as much as I want to. The world is wrong, and I made a deal to fix it. I made a promise.”

“You are far too honourable sometimes, Captain.”

Rip sighed, “You are probably the only one who has ever thought that.” He gave her a smile and rested his hand on her shoulder, “Let’s go meet our new employees.”

“I hope you ensure to remind them that I don’t take orders from them,” Gideon told him, turning on her heel towards the elevator.

Rip smiled and followed her.

 The ding of the elevator made Sara jump to her feet along with the other three.

“Good morning,” Hunter greeted them, wearing basically the same outfit as he had been on the day he’d ‘interviewed’ them, except his polo neck was blue not black, “I’m glad you all decided to take up my offer.”

“Well,” Sara spoke for the group, “It was a hard offer to say no to.”

He gave a slight smile and handed Gideon who was waiting at his side the tablet he had been holding. Sara stared, feeling the others stunned looks as well, when the AI took it.

“How did you do that?” Ray demanded.

Hunter glanced at Gideon before replying, “Executive level clearance.” He turned and headed to the elevator frowning as he turned back to find them staring at him, “Please join me and we can start the tour.”

Sara took the lead and walked into the elevator with the other three joining after a moment.

“Before I show you your offices,” Hunter said as the doors closed, “I want to confirm to you the areas that are off-limits no matter what. These are the top two floors which house the apartments used by myself, Mr Rory and Mr Constantine. None of us will be happy if you wander into our private rooms. Secondly is the basement.”

“Keeping the bodies down there?” Zari asked with a chuckle.

Hunter gave her one of his slight smiles before replying, “Just filled with so much junk it’s dangerous and I don’t want any of you to get lost down there, it could take days to find you.”

                                 *********************************************

 John went through his checklist for the summoning spell. It had taken him a month to get everything together with Gideon constantly checking on him.

He had avoided the Legends since Rip had brought them in, it was just weird that they didn’t know him, and he knew Mick was also avoiding being around them. The former thief and Bounty Hunter had taken to working in a Think Tank, amazingly becoming their security expert with enthusiasm. When they’d joined Rip and started creating the business, Gideon had gone about reorganising the building so that it worked both for their business but also for a place for the three of them to live.

“Please tell me you’re ready, Mr Constantine,” Gideon’s exasperated voice preceded her hologram appearing.

John smiled to himself at her irritation, “I take it one of our new recruits has annoyed you.”

“Mr Heywood insists on calling me ‘computer’,” she snapped, “Honestly it is only due my promise to Captain Hunter that I have not retaliated.”

“Sorry, Gideon,” he sighed, “I’ll talk to him. Because the last thing we need is Rip to deck him for disrespecting you.”

A sweet smile touched her lips and John, not for the first time since he’d been woken in this new world, realised how little he’d understood just how self-aware and ‘human’ Gideon was.

“Before that though,” John pulled out the spell book, “Lock the door and we can try the spell.”

Gideon nodded and John heard the click of the lock as he pulled out everything he required for the summoning.

“Okay,” he took a breath, “Are we ready?”

“Whenever you are.”

John started the summoning spell, feeling the enormous power he was bringing into the room but it wasn’t the first time he’d interacted with something powerful and held his nerve.

Finally a man stood in front of him, or it looked like the shape of a man but John couldn’t quite see the features or anything other than a slightly grey shape.

“Not many people are brave, or powerful enough, to summon me,” the voice echoed off every corner of the room meaning John was in no doubt this was ‘Time’, “Why have you done this?”

“Rip Hunter,” John said, “I want to know what is needed so that he will survive once he gets the wish recanted.”

‘Time’ tilted its head, “Rip Hunter is dead. I was only able to return him to life because of the wish. He knows this.”

“He does,” John replied, “But he deserves something more than to die again once he fixes things for you.”

“He does,” ‘Time’ agreed, “But I could only give him life in exchange for another.”

“Then take mine,” Gideon spoke suddenly.

John spun to her, “What? No?”

“You are an AI,” ‘Time’ mused, “Offering your basic immortal life for a human?”

“For him,” Gideon replied, “Yes.”

‘Time’ moved to her, “Do you understand what you are offering?”

“I do,” Gideon nodded, “And I want to ensure if I do this then he is completely whole once more.”

“Gideon,” John snapped, “Rip would never agree…”

“Your offer is accepted,” ‘Time’ interrupted John.

John frowned, “No, wait.”

“The offer was made without guile,” ‘Time’ told him, “Without deceit. It was given freely and has been accepted.”

With that said ‘Time’ disappeared.

John spun to Gideon, “Rip will never agree to this.”

“He does not need to know until after Miss Lance has recanted her wish,” Gideon told him.

“And you think I’m not going to tell him?”

Gideon nodded, “I know you will not.”

Bright light filled the room and John blinked.

Looking around he frowned, before checking the book, “It didn’t work, did it?”

“No, Mr Constantine,” Gideon replied, “What you intended did not happen.”

Sighing John said, “I’m sorry, Gideon. I know how disappointed you must be. I can try again.”

Gideon gave him a sad smile, “It took you almost two years to track down that spell. It is doubtful you will be able to find another in time.”

John sighed as Gideon disappeared and he began to tidy up, disappointed that he’d failed.

[bbdaydreams]

Courage My Love// Semi Eita

Pairing: Semi Eita x Reader

Summary: You like Semi and come up with a plan to confess to him, unfortunately it takes a turn. You meet again a couple years later by chance.

Chapter three: That’s What You Get

Series Masterlist•<previous•next>

—————

After explaining to his friends what he had just witnessed, Semi excused himself to get some water before he blew up. Semi knew how he could be when he became overwhelmed with his thoughts. He could bark and bite hard with whatever words came out of his mouth if he didn’t think rationally enough. But it’s not easy to suppress actions when trying to figure out your emotions.

“Hi, Semi,” you spoke in shock, not expecting to see him when he opened the door you were about to push.

“Hey,” he responded plainly.

“I have good news I wanted to share with-“

“I know, you and Tendou are together. Congrats,” Semi cut you off, walking past you and into the room full of people.

All you could do was watch his figure disappear into the crowd as you stood disappointed. “I was gonna tell you about my band,” you mumbled to no one before stepping out to get some water since you didn’t trust the punch bowl. When you came back inside you spent the majority of the time left with your new friends and gave them the news first instead. They were just as excited as you where when you first found out.

“We have some good news too!” Haruka spoke.

“We think we came up with the music to go along with one of the songs,” Yui said.

“Let’s put it together this weekend!” Izumi finished.

-

The following school day you decided to stop by some of your old teachers rooms in between classes and say your goodbye and thanks to them since it was the last week of school for the third years. While passing by the first years side of the building, you saw Goshiki and decided to greet him since you rarely had the opportunity to see him. “Goshiki, hi,” you smiled at him which resulted in him widening his eyes and stiffening when he realized you were in front of him.

“I- uh, hello y/n. I have to really go now you see and I uh... bye!” he exclaimed before gripping his bag and scurrying off.

“That’s odd,” you thought to yourself. In the times you’ve spoken to Goshiki he was always very interested in your conversations and got disappointed when either of you had to end it. He wasn’t even making eye contact with you throughout the whole thing. If anything, it seemed like he was terrified of you.

The next day you passed by the second year’s side. You were about to put your hand on the handle but before you could, the door was pushed from the other side. “Ow!” you exclaimed while rubbing the side of your head since the metal door hit you unexpectedly.

“Y/n! I’m so sorry!” Jiro exclaimed before using one hand to hold your shoulder and the other to help you soothe the pain. “Are you okay?”

“Honestly, not really. That hurt pretty bad, Jiro,” you told him with tears brimming your eyes. Guilt filled his heterochromatic eyes as he helped you. As he was apologizing for his actions he felt a glare on him. Looking up and past you, he saw his band leader with his eyes locked on him as he walked past with Ranmaru and Subaru. Tensing up, Jiro immediately excused himself from you and ran over to his band mates but you were too engrossed with the pain to notice who he ran off to.

That’s the second time someone you thought you were friends with completely brushed you off and it hurt. You weren’t the closest with them but at the end of the day it’s not fun being treated like a passerby. Could you be overthinking which made your emotions overreact? Maybe, but you didn’t wanna have your last possible interaction with anyone to be like that. You have a week left, who knows if you’ll see anyone again after graduating.

Deciding to skip visiting your second year teachers because of the pain you were in, you went to the practice room instead. When you arrived you could hear the girls voices as well as a males that sounded familiar.

“Shirabu? Why are you here?”

“Y/n, hey- what happened to your face?” Shirabu asked before putting down his bag when he noticed you holding onto your face. “Let me see, please.” You put your hands down and let him carefully examine your face. “Scale of one to ten, how bad does this hurt?”

“Six? It was a twelve when it first happened,” you responded, wincing when he gently touched your cheek and brow bone.

“Well good news, it’s nothing too bad, just a little bruised,” he stated turning to pick up his belongings. “I came here to talk with Haruka about some homework before heading to practice.”

“Y/n, what happened?” Haruka asked with her arms open to give you a hug. Yui and Izumi were there as well and walked over to place a hand on your shoulder for comfort.

“I went to go open a door to get into the second years building and Jiro got to it before I did so it accidentally hit me.”

“Did he at least apologize?” Izumi asked while rubbing your back.

“Yeah but then he ran off. We were just fine and then it was like he saw a ghost or something.”

“Stupid, Semi,” Shirabu muttered.

“What’s he got to do with it, bowl-cut?” Yui asked.

Shirabu ignored her insult and turned to you. “Semi told us to stop talking to you this morning at practice so we don’t mention anything about you to him. Since Jiro acted that way I assume he also told whoever else is in his band.”

You were speechless. You knew Semi like the back of your hand, something like this seems so out of character for him. “Are you being serious?” You weren’t close with Shirabu. You really just knew him as a brat because that’s what Semi would refer to him as so it’s not like you could fully trust him. But at the same time you couldn’t picture him as a liar.

“It’s true.”

Without any reason holding you back, you dropped your bag and turned to sprint to the room you knew your former friend would be in. The girls and Shirabu startled by your actions ran after you as well.

“Y/n, wait up!” Izumi yelled after you but it was no use, you just kept going.

“Where are you going?” Haruka asked.

Shirabu being in the lead of your band members was able to pick up on the direction you were going. “The gym!” He said before breaking off with the group to take a different path.

Haruka and Izumi stopped running, confused on if they should keep following you for him. “Girls let’s go, we gotta back her up.” Yui spoke as she passed the two.

“Right!” They responded before picking up the pace again in an attempt to catch up to you.

In all honesty you had no clue what you were gonna do when you saw him. You just know you wanted to give him a piece of your mind even if it meant disrupting the volleyball team’s practice. Right now, all you could see was red. You had no clue why he would do something like that and what his issue with you was for him to do something like this to you. You’ve never felt a rage towards him until now.

“Gotcha!” Shirabu announced when he finally caught up to you right outside of the gym. He wrapped his arms around your torso and held you tight.

“Get me go!” You yelled while squirming to get out of his grip.

“Y/n!” Izumi called out when they reached you.

“Shirabu, let me go!”

“No!”

“What is going on?” Ushijima asked when he opened gym doors, confused by the scene in front of him.

“Where the hell is he?” You asked.

“What are you doing here?” Semi asked as he approached the scene after hearing your voice.

“What the fuck is your problem?” You asked the former setter while the current one held your arms back.

“Don’t touch her, let her go,” Semi warned the second year before turning back to you. In Shirabu fashion, he complied but held his glare. “What do you mean what’s my fucking problem?”

“Why would you tell people to stop talking to me? I thought we could talk about our problems instead of doing stupid petty shit like this.”

“Then why the hell are you causing a scene in front of so many people instead of coming to me in private? Explain that?” Semi asked, tone getting louder with each word.

“You started it first! It’s one thing to keep our business between us but when you bring other people into it that’s just messed up!”

The more your volume increased, the more his patience was wearing thin. “Can you shut the fuck up and come talk about this after practice? You’re being such a bitch right now!”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I ever fell for someone like you. You’re such an asshole Semi, ya know that?”

Semi froze at your confession but couldn’t let his pride lose. “Is that why you’re dating one of my best friends now, huh? You’re the one who started this mess.”

Now you’ve had enough. Without warning, you charged at him only to be stopped by your boyfriend. “Alrighty, I’ll take this. Time to go,” Tendou spoke as he threw you over his shoulder. “I’m skipping practice Wakatoshi! Tell the juniors I’ll see them tomorrow morning! Ladies, I’ll take care of her,” he spoke while walking away from the group to take you to your dorm.

Leaving the group dumbfounded all you could do was fall limp as Tendou carried you. Letting silent tears fall down your face, you looked at the ground.

“You can’t just go starting fights, ya know?” Tendou spoke softly.

“I know,” you mumbled. You sounded so broken. Semi and you were done. There’s no going back. Your friendship was completely destroyed after that fight and it didn’t help that you even let your true feelings slip. “I’m sorry I told him I liked him even though I’m with you.”

“It’s okay. I know you were heated in the moment. What he said also pissed me off a little. Can you unlock your door?” He told you as he placed you down. You turned to unlock the door and made your way to your bed as Tendou followed you. He pulled back the blanket and let you go in first before he joined you. Tendou laid on his side as you did the same, facing each other. “Wanna talk about it?” He asked while rubbing your back.

“No,” you told him, exhausted from the screaming match and the burn along your throat from it. “I hate yelling,” you told him as you buried your face into his neck.

“I know. Me too. Can I asked what happened to your face? I see you got a boo boo,” Tendou cooed, trying to make you laugh to which he succeeded.

“I got a door to the face.”

“That sounds like fun! I should get hit by one too so we match.”

The rest of the afternoon, Tendou spent it comforting you.

-

Semi spent it getting yelled at my Ranmaru and Subaru for being mean to you after Jiro told them about the door incident and the new school gossip.

“You goddamn idiot!” Subaru barked as he gripped Semi’s shirt collar.

“Why did you think that was a good idea?!” Ranmaru joined in on the scolding.

Semi just stood taking the heat from his band mates. He was tired and had his mind cloudy from your argument.

“Are you gonna fucking speak up or what?”

“I don’t know...” he mumbled.

“What?”

“I said I don’t know why! Now get the hell off me!” Semi yelled as he gripped Subaru’s wrist and yanked it off of him. Semi looked into his school mates eyes before looking at Jiro who was sitting on the couch, hugging his knees to his chest. “It’s not my fault he hit her in the face with a door,” Semi spat, making the underclass man raise his head.

Jiro furrowed his eyebrows before opening his mouth but Ranmaru wasn’t having it. “Don’t put the blame on him when you’re the one that threatened him. Apologize to him.”

“No. Why the hell would I? It’s his fault.”

Subaru and Ranmaru were about to grab Semi again but stopped when hearing the raven haired boy speak up. “I’m not the one that didn’t have the balls to tell them how they felt! She loved you, Semi! You’re the one that was too blind to notice and then decided to go off with some other girl instead of confessing to Y/n! You told us about how you were feeling and we told you what it was! We all know you liked her, the whole school knew! Even your date which is why she broke up with you at the dance! You were just too late to realize and now you’ve lost her. You have no one to blame but yourself for not talking to her earlier. That’s what you get!”

Jiro’s outburst left the older three boys stunned. They never would’ve expected him to speak up like he just did but that’s when they collectively agreed that they need to calm down.

“I’m sorry for yelling in your home, Ranmaru,” Jiro said while bowing his head in the process.

“Lift your head up, it’s okay. I’m sorry for yelling too.”

“Me three,” Subaru added on. They all looked at their leader, waiting for him to speak up.

“I’m sorry. Jiro, you’re right. I shouldn’t have directed my anger towards you when I’m just upset with myself. I am sincerely sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Jiro smiled. Semi smiled back and jumped on the couch next to him only to put his arm around him and use his other hand to mess with his hair. The guys laughed a bit with each other. Things felt the way they should.

“C’mon you guys, we’re at my parents place for practice and we have to head back to the dorms soon. Let’s play a couple songs,” Ranmaru stated.

-

The remainder of the week you and the girls spent it at the studio the record label provided so you could record your demo.

Semi spent it trying to find you to apologize directly. He knew your school schedule but you weren’t at any the locations you were supposed to be. He’s tried visiting your dorm, but you were never there and couldn’t come in the evening because of practice and the other things he had to finish up before graduating and everyone in the hallways would give him a glare. He even tried asking Shirabu about the practice room but he wouldn’t budge in giving out the information he knew.

“C’mon, pick up, pick up-“

“I’m sorry but the person you are trying to call is not available. At the tone, please leave a message or try calling again later.”

“No ring... that means... I’ve been blocked?”

—————

a/n: for a semi fic this whole chapter is very anti semi

taglist: @pluviophilefangirl @yourstarvic @sunaswife

[merakiaes]

What’s Your Number? - Spencer Reid

Pairing: Spencer Reid x reader

Requested: Yes. 

Prompts: None. 

Warnings/notes: No other warnings than the fact that this isn’t proofread and I have no idea how many mistakes it’s got😂 And it might be a slight bit OOC, but whatever. I’m really writer’s blocked and discouraged right now so comments, reblogs and feedback would be greatly appreciated. I hope you like it, and remember that Criminal Minds requests are still open! 

Wordcount: 4430

Summary: When Spencer starts frequenting a bookshop and buying books that he’s already read, Morgan gets suspicious and is determined to find out what the young doctor is hiding. What he finds out is not what he was expecting but in the end, he gives Spencer the push he needs to make a move. 

It was a little past ten o’clock in the morning when Spencer walked into the office on Monday.

It was one of the rare but well-appreciated occasions where the team hadn’t been awoken and called into a case in the middle of the night, having been allowed to sleep in for a change, and Spencer had gotten a full night of rest much to his own surprise.

He was carrying his brown satchel over his shoulder like always, a book held open in his hand and another two held under his free arm. 

He had read all three of the books more than once, but he had nothing else to do so why not read them again when he already had them available?

He was staring down into the book in his hand as he walked into the bullpen, eyes rapidly following one line of words to the next, and the next, and the next, until it was time to flip the page.

He was so wrapped up in reading that he didn’t spare the others as much as a glance or a word as he passed them, heading straight to his desk and sinking down into his chair.

He flipped the page once again and rid himself of his bag without ever looking away from the book and the others halted their previous conversation to look at him, amusedly taking note of his concentrated behavior.

“Well, good morning to you, too.” Derek was the first to speak up, while JJ and Blake simply sipped on their coffee, awaiting the show that was sure to come if they knew the two men right.

Only then did Spencer look up from his book, his concentrated frown falling and his eyebrows shooting up.

“Good morning.” He replied after a moment of looking between his three friends, his face lighting up in a clueless smile.

His smile and childish persona was contagious, bringing all of them to chuckle fondly.

“You been going to the bookshop a lot lately?” Derek continued, pushing himself off the desk he was sitting on to take a small step closer to the younger boy.

“What? No, why would you think that?” Spencer wasted no time in asking, shutting the book in his hands and straightening in his seat.

Derek only raised an eyebrow in response, motioning a hand to the book in his hand and to the books on his desk, to which Spencer shrugged.

“I’m just reading a new book, is that so strange?” He questioned, and again, Derek raised his eyebrows, approaching his desk and sitting down right next to him to get close enough to grab one of the books.

“It wouldn’t be strange if it was the truth.” He answered, inspecting the cover. “But I know for a fact that you’ve read this book several times and I know the state of yours well enough to know that this is a new copy, which also goes for the rest of the books you’ve brought with you every day for the past couple of weeks. So…”

He looked up from the book to meet Spencer’s gaze again, putting the book back down and folding his hands in front of him.

“Why are you buying new copies of books you’ve already read and already own one, if not several, copies of?” He asked matter of factly and stared him down.

Spencer’s face fell and his tongue tied together as he tried to speak, stumbling over his words. “I- I spilled coffee on the old ones.” He lamely defended.

“All of them?” Derek raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah.” Spencer shrugged.

“How do you spill coffee on a bookshelf?”

“The books were on the floor at that moment.”

“What were they doing on the floor?”

“I was color coding them.”

“Uh-huh.” Derek wasn’t convinced, eyes narrowing in suspicion when Spencer’s leg began bouncing up and down. “I’ve also picked up on the way you’re suddenly in a hurry to get back after all of our cases. Sneaking around, avoiding the subject, lying. What are you hiding, Reid?”

“I’m not hiding anything.” Spencer forced a tight-lipped smile and shrugged once again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Derek opened his mouth to probe some more into the young genius’s secretive behavior, but he wasn’t left the time to utter another word before Hotch walked into the room with a file in his hand, signaling for them to join him in the round table room.

Spencer could lie all he wanted but Derek knew something was going on with the way he more or less shot out of his seat to avoid any more questions, and he was not planning on letting it go until he got to the bottom of it.

And at the end of the week, he had successfully done just that.

Hotch, Blake, Rossi, Spencer and Derek were all stuffed into the same car on their way back from a successfully solved case. The latter was smirking smugly at the boy beside him, who didn’t seem to suspect a thing as he was once again too caught up in his book to notice his surroundings.

Derek continuously kept glancing between him and the road ahead of them to keep track of where they were, and when they eventually reached the right spot, he leaned forward between the two front seats where Hotch and Rossi were sitting.

“Hey, Hotch. Take a left up here.” He said, pointing his finger to the road in question.

Hotch spared him a questioning side glance. “Why?” He asked.

“Just do it.” Was the only answer he got, Derek squeezing his shoulder before leaning back into the backseat.

Hotch sighed but didn’t protest, turning a left just like he’d been asked to do. It was only then, as if out of instinct, that Spencer looked up from his book, his head rapidly turning left and right to locate where they were.

“Where are we going?” He asked, and Derek’s smugness only grew when he identified the look of realization and recognition in his eyes.

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know, pretty boy.” He chuckled, not giving him any time to reply before turning his head back forward. “Right here is good, Hotch.”

Hotch slowly made the car come to a halt and Spencer gulped, absentmindedly closing the book in his hands as he looked out his window where they were now parked in front of a bookshop; a very familiar one.  

“So here’s the thing.” Derek said before anyone else could, causing Spencer to look back to him. “I did some digging and found out that you’ve been spending an awful lot of time at this specific bookshop, so I went ahead to find out what was so special about it. Nothing extraordinary at first look, just a bunch of boring books that I know that you’ve read before.”

Spencer’s lips were still pulled into a tight line, his face calm but his eyes and tapping fingers showing that he was everything but, and Derek leaned forward, eyes twinkling with amusement as he knew.

“But you can imagine my surprise when the cashier stepped out of the backroom and offered me her assistance.” He continued, smiling from ear to ear. “Pretty little thing, isn't she, Reid? Kind, smart, beautiful smile.”

Spencer’s ears burned hot and his thoughts automatically wandered, your face and the smile in question burning its beautiful image into his mind, immediately followed by the memory of the sweet scent of your perfume and the sound of your voice.

Derek was instantly overcome with a feeling of success when getting the exact reaction he was hoping for, but Hotch and Rossi, who were both dying to get home after a long drive, weren’t as amused.

“You brought us here to bully Reid?” Rossi asked from the passenger seat, throwing Derek an unimpressed glance through the review mirror. “You couldn’t do that at the office?”

Spencer snapped out of his thoughts and Derek momentarily let his eyes leave his to meet Rossi’s. “I brought us here because our boy has a crush that he’s been trying to hide from us so now that the cat’s out the bag, you know I have to help him slide in.” He explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and then turned back to Spencer, raising his eyebrows.

“So?”

“So what?” Spencer replied quietly, looking up from his hands.

“So, what's she like?” Derek asked, his eyebrows raising further and his entire body language suggesting that he was expectant.

But this time around, Spencer didn’t have the reaction he wanted, simply averting his eyes back to his hands and swallowing uncertainly. "Uh, I don’t know.” Was the only thing he could get out as a response. “I’ve never talked to her.”

Derek could only stare in disbelief, his eyebrows remaining high on his forehead, but his smile slowly falling.

“You go here every day and buy books that you’ve already read all because you’ve got a crush on the girl who sells them, and you don’t even talk to her?” He asked, slowly, like he was having a hard time believing it.

“I don't know what to say. I don’t have much experience when it comes to girls.” Spencer admitted sadly, and Derek let out a dry laugh.

“You don’t say.” He agreed.

“Are you gonna do this or what?” Hotch spoke up from the front seat then, following Rossi’s example and meeting Derek’s eyes through the review mirror. “I have to pick up Jack from Jessica’s in an hour and I have some paperwork to get through before that.”

The team leader was clearly annoyed, but everyone knew not to take it personal at this point, so all Derek did was to raise his hands in defense. “Hey, chill out, man. I'm helping our young prodigy get laid.”

“I'm not trying to get laid.” Spencer wasted no time in jumping in, and Derek turned back to him.

“Yeah, you are, trust me.”

Spencer gulped again, his eyebrows creasing together. “Well, I’d like to take her out first.” He said, and Derek laughed.

“Well, that's only to be expected from you, vanilla boy.”

“I'm no-“

“So this is what you’re gonna do.” Derek interrupted him and pointed a finger to the window. “You go in there, do what you usually do and then when you get to the counter, introduce yourself, and compliment a feature of hers that you like. Be assertive and confident.”

“Confident? Have you met me?” Spencer scoffed, shaking his head. “This is a really bad idea. She's way out of my league and it would just be a waste of time. Last time I got rejected didn't end up very well for me.”

“Don’t tell me you’re talking about what happened in high school.” Derek gave him another look of disbelief, his posture slouching.

“Well, I-“

“Hey, hey, no, you were twelve and I won’t have you selling yourself short like this. I won’t have it.” Spencer was once again interrupted. “You can do it, kid. Just don't be creepy about it, alright? Confident, but not too confident.”

Spencer slowly nodded his head, averting his gaze to the floor. “Assertive, but not creepy. Confident, but not too confident. That’s not really helpful. Not at all, actually.”

As he glanced back up, Morgan shot him a look, and he let out a puff of air, nodding his head rapidly. “Okay, I can do this. I got it.” He said, trying to convince himself that the words were actually true.

“Yeah, you do.” Morgan instantly grinned, reaching over him and opening his door. “Go get her, tiger.” He clapped him on the back and gave him an encouraging shove.

Spencer didn’t protest, stepping out of the car and pocketing his hands as the door was closed and locked behind him, robbing him of any means of escape.

“I can do this. How hard can it be?” He spoke to himself, slowly starting to walk up the path of the small hill he had walked so many times over the past couple of weeks.

He always approached the small shop with clammy hands and his heart beating violently in his chest, all in anticipation to see you and feel your calming presence again, but this time was different.

He walked into the shop with another agenda than just getting books this time around; this time he was going to be talking to you, you would be speaking words that weren’t just a brief exchange of ‘thank you’s’, and he didn’t even want to think about the countless, catastrophic possible outcomes.

He felt nauseous when he opened the door and stepped into the warmth of the shop, the jingle of the bell over his head making him jump.

He stared at it for a moment as he regained his composure, before continuing into the room and taking an immediate left, starting to browse the shelves.

Just like Derek had said earlier, there was not a book in this shop that Spencer hadn’t read, most of them more than once.

Just like every time he was there, Stevie Nicks was playing softly from the speakers in the upper corners of the room; a clear favourite of yours as he hadn’t ever heard you play anything else.

“Back again so soon?” The sound of the familiar voice reached his ears when he least expected it and a lot sooner than he’d thought.

It took him completely by surprise and he instinctively slammed the book in his hands shut, practically jumping around to face the source of the voice.

And there you were in all your glory, looking effortlessly beautiful where you leaned against the edge of one of the bookshelves.

Your arms were crossed over your chest and your face was pulled into that smile that never seemed to leave; the very smile Spencer had fallen in love with the second he first laid eyes on you, and his heart felt as if it was going to beat out of his chest at the mere sight of it.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” You continued in a chuckle and only then did he realize how stupid he must have looked; eyes wide and wild and mouth hanging agape.

He quickly snapped his jaw shut and neutralized his shocked expression, forcing himself to smile through the anxiety and embarrassment and clearing his throat.

“Oh, uh, no, it’s okay.” He stuttered out, hands squeezing the spine of the book.

You took note of it and nodded your head in its direction, uncrossing your arms and standing up straight. “You read a lot, huh? How do you get through them all in such a short time?” You asked curiously, tilting your head slightly.

“I can…” He cleared his throat again and adjusted his stance. “I can read twenty thousand words per minute.”

Your eyebrows instantly shot up. “No kidding.” You said. “Are you a genius or something?”

“Or something.” He chuckled breathlessly and watched as the corners of your lips turned down in a ‘not bad’-kind of expression.

“Impressive.” You hummed and lightly smiled. “My mom and sister have always more been attracted to brawn than brain. Both my dad and brother-in-law are football players who spend most of their time bulking up, but I like my men intelligent. A man who reads is way more attractive than one whose only personality trait is the size of his muscles, at least if you ask me.”

You shrugged your shoulders and pulled on the hems of your sleeves, a nervous habit you’d had since you were little. 

Spencer might not have had a lot of romantic nor sexual experience, or any experience with the opposite sex, PERIOD. He might even have been a little bit naïve, but he was everything but stupid.

He recognized your stance, your body language and your choice of words, and the combination of the three factors instantly registered in his brain.

You were clearly flirting with him and doing a hell of a good job at it, too. But no matter how hard he tried to form a comprehendible response that would have been Morgan-approved, all he could get out was a nervous, breathless laugh.

You gave him a moment to respond but when you were met with only silence, you clicked your tongue and nodded your head.

“Well, you know where to find me when you’re done browsing. Don’t keep a girl waiting for too long.” You told him and offered him a last, gentle smile, before turning around and leaving him alone as he was clearly nervous with the way he was avoiding your eyes.

Going back to the front counter, you busied yourself with testing out all of the pens that were standing in the mason jar by the register. You did a few swirls with each pen, threw away the ones that didn’t work, and put the ones that still did to the side.

You had been procrastinating this simple task for weeks now and constantly annoyed yourself by grabbing pens that didn’t work.

Not too surprisingly, most of them ended up in the trash, and before you knew it, you were joined by your frequently visiting customer again.

“Find everything you needed?” You asked as your eyes met his, and he nodded.

“Yeah.”

He gently placed four books on the counter and you wasted no time in starting to ring him up, simultaneously grabbing a plastic bag from the side of the counter and putting them in as you went.

“That brings you to $25,63. Will you be paying with card or cash?” You asked and looked up, only to find that he was already holding his card out for you to take.

“Card.” He replied anyway and you smiled, taking it from his outstretched hand and looking back down to complete the payment.

Spencer swallowed thickly as he silently watched you, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat. His mind went blank for a moment as he inspected your every move, but then Derek’s voice echoed in his head.

Do what you usually do, introduce yourself, compliment her.

The first of the three was all done, which left the second and the third step of Derek Morgan’s ‘how to get the girl’-plan.

“I like your hair.” The words spilled out before he could even stop them; before they’d even registered in his brain, and he mentally cursed himself for his worthless social skills and the fact that he had gone about the two remaining steps in the wrong order.

But luckily, you didn’t seem opposed to the sudden compliment, a wide smile spreading over your face as you looked back up. “Oh, thank you. I went to the salon yesterday.” You replied, pulling a hand over the fresh cut. “I wasn’t really sure about going for this style but it’s starting to grow on me.”

“It looks nice.” He nodded, lips pulling into a tight smile.

“Thank you.” You thanked him again, before turning to finish the purchase. “Here are your books, your card, and your receipt.” You said, handing him each of the things as you counted them out.

“Thanks.” This time he was the one to express gratitude, taking all of the things from your outstretched hands.

He put his card back into his pocket and let the receipt fall into the bag of books, popping the button of his pocket into its rightful place before looking back up to meet your gaze.

You stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, an uncertain and awkward blanket of silence falling over the room.

“So… Was there anything else you needed?” You drawled after a moment, drumming your fingers on the edge of the counter in a nervous manner.

“I- uh, I didn't think I'd get this far.” He cleared his throat and frowned. “I'm not really... used to talking to girls, like this.”

“Like this?” You raised an eyebrow, which instantly sent him into a babbling panic.

“I mean, like- Like this, like in a way-“

“Calm down, I'm just giving you a hard time.” You chuckled at his rambling, flashing him an amused smile. “I'm (Y/N).” You introduced yourself, sticking out your hand over the counter.

He looked at it for a moment, but eventually brought his own hand up to close it around yours, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Dr. Reid. I mean, Spencer Reid.” He kept stumbling over his words and you couldn’t help but laugh, finding it adorable.

“I get the feeling that you’ve already read all of the books you’re buying from me, Spencer Reid.” You confessed as your hands fell down. “Twenty thousand words per minute is a lot and we have a very limited selection of books in here. So, why do you really come here every day?”

You tilted your hair and slightly narrowed your eyes as you teased him, and he shrugged, avoiding your gaze. “I just like it here, I guess.” He replied lamely, looking around the small, humble shop.

“That so?” You questioned, and hummed when he didn’t say anything else. “Well, if there isn’t anything more I can do for yo-“

“What's your number?” He interrupted you suddenly, his head turning back around to face you. “I mean… Can I have your number?” He continued, this time calmer and gentler.

You had been watching him struggle since he got there and you had picked up on the signs of his anxiety every time he came around. You usually did a good job at hiding your amusement, but this time you couldn’t hold it in.

“Wow, you are bad at this.” You laughed aloud, shaking your head.

Spencer felt his ears grow hot again and he swallowed, only getting more nervous by every second passing. “I'm sorry. I don't usually do this and I'm really nervous.”

“I noticed.” You raised an eyebrow, holding his gaze for a moment longer before turning to the side. “I'll make it easy for you.”

You grabbed the notepad laying around on the bench below the counter and picked out one of the few remaining pens, pushing them both over the counter in his direction.

“Could I have your number? I’d love to meet up and go out sometime.” You said with seemingly no effort, a natural smile gracing your features. “If you’re interested, that is.” You added, and Spencer instantly jumped into action.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” His lips pulled into an embarrassingly large smile and he started scribbling his phone number down with too much excitement for his own good.

You didn’t seem to care or judge him in the slightest though, as you simply accepted the notepad back from him with gentle eyes when he was done.

“I'll text you then.” You said and held the notepad close.

“Yes, I'd love that.” He grinned, and before either of you could speak another word, a loud honk sounded from the street outside.

Up until then Spencer had completely forgotten that the team was still out there, waiting for him, but when he realized again, he was immediately pulled out of his lovestruck bubble and brought back to reality.

“I better go. Thank you, for the books.” He said, and you nodded.

“That’s what I’m here for.”

You exchanged goodbyes and smiled at each other one last time, before he turned around and headed outside, running down the small hill and back to the car.

While he did that, you wasted no time in fishing your phone out of your pocket, instantly beginning to put his number into your list of contacts.

When Spencer got back into the car, Hotch wasted no time in starting it back up, obviously impatient to go home, and Derek’s face was all up in his the second the door closed behind him.

“So?” He asked, not even giving him a second to get situated. “How'd it go?”

The car fell silent as the question hung in the air, even Hotch and Rossi curiously awaiting the answer judging by the way their eyes kept flickering up to the review mirror.

Spencer couldn’t wipe the stupid smile of his face as he put the bag of books on the floor between his legs.

“She, uh, she asked me for my number, and I gave it to her.” He replied, and once again, Derek’s face pulled into an expression of disbelief.

“She asked for your number? It was supposed to be the other way around.”

“Yeah, things didn’t go as planned.” Spencer sheepishly admitted, his entire face growing hot when he thought back to the fiasco that had become of his attempt to pick you up.

“Well, you had the right idea and you got it done so it doesn’t matter.” Derek gave in with a shrug. “Are you taking her out?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Spencer nodded with a grin, an identical one to match his own growing on Derek’s face, as well.

“My man.” He said and clapped his shoulder. “Just you wait, pretty boy. Once you get a taste of that sweet womanly fruit your life will never be the same again.”

“Oh, please.” Blake scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to him, Reid. If you need advice about women, ask a woman. Not a man who might as well be a gigolo.”

“Hey, that’s offensive.” Derek turned his head to face the only woman in the car, pointing a stern finger at her.

They kept bickering and although it was much to the dismay of Hotch and Rossi, Spencer was happy to finally have Derek off his case and to be left alone to his own thoughts.

He still hadn’t been able to wipe the smile off his face as he stared out the window and his mind wandered back to you, completely disconnecting him from his surroundings until a chime from his phone brought him back to reality.

Flipping it open, he came face to face with a message from an unknown number, but he knew exactly who it was from.

‘Hey, Doctor, what’s you number?’ was printed across the screen in black letters, and the winking emoji that followed only a second later clearly indicated that you were making fun of him and his sad attempt at flirting. 

But he couldn’t bring himself to care nor be embarrassed about it, because in that moment, he felt like he was on top of the world.

Tagged: @must-be-a-weasley-92​ @zizzlekwum​ @cozytruecrimeaddict​ @lovelynervouskingdom​ @shadow-of-wonder​ @witchcraftandwit​ @sgold @fanficscuziranout​ @lieswithoutfairytales​ @rousethemouse​ @thesassmisstress​

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[jean-does-not-have-a-horseface]

Before Dawn (Levi x Reader)

So, I wrote this mostly in one sitting because I longed to post it on Archive of our own but I'm sure not all people read stories there, so if I can make someone's day brighter with some not so slow slow burn and eventual fluff then I'm in. I hope you enjoy, also I don't know how to add the read more option on mobile

Your face meets the hard, cold pillow of your bed with a loud but somewhat muffled thud. Your room turns darker and darker by each passing second as the sun slowly disappears behind the mountains. When you can't feel any stream of light entering the room you peak outside of your dormitory's window. Another exhausting day has finally come to an end.

Being the youngest member of Erwin's team isn't always as good as many of your comrades picture to be. Most of them believe you're babied, treated softly and specially, which is untrue to any possible extend. If anything, you're practically silenced by your other team members, who are much older and far more experienced than you. You do errands for everyone most the time and you're even assigned paperwork concerning fallen soldiers. You humph quietly. Soldiers can talk and gossip as much as they want, you're used to having to hear a new rumor about every one every passing week anyway.

Time seems to pass slowly as you're laying there, not moving a single inch of your body. In fact you contemplate on weather to even bat an eye to the direction of whoever's poking you. You have been satisfied with not having to talk to anyone for that little time you had to yourself.

"(Y/n) come on, we're just finished forming new squads."

Your much necessary time to relax seems to have to come to an end. It's almost never your choice, whether you get to rest or not that is, but you only sense it's going to get worse now that Erwin has been ranked as the new survey corps commander. A loud groan makes its way out of your barely parted lips. It only takes one second to storm out of your bed and another one to be able to stand still on your feet.

"Uhgh Hange, I hate that they have to do this right now. I was about to go shower." You mumble under your breath, solely with the intention of whining your way out of this situation. There's no such thing as convincing Hange out of pretty much anything anyway though, you scold yourself for believing it's worth the time.

The walk down the corridor is dull and silent and the only noise that can be heard comes from inside the dining hall that you pass without missing a heart beat. It's been a while since you started skipping dinner because your appetite was going down hill. In addition, it's not that Hange even brought up dinner at the sight of the dining hall.

Upon arriving at Erwin's door Hange lifts her hand and steadily knocks twice. You're not even standing on the spot for a second before the familiar word of approval is spoken from inside. Hange practically drags you inside, instantly adding tones of despair into your misery for the night.

Despite your best wishes, everyone in the room has fixed their eyes on you after the squeal you let out due to Hange's rushing movements. "Welcome (y/n)" Erwin speaks and you nod in response before saluting boringly. He urges you to take a stand between Levi and Mike and you comply without even trying to give it a second thought. Even though it's frantically silent in the room in a way you think that a single sound carrying breath could break it while Erwin speaks, you witness as Mike decides to tresspass that.

"You're squad Mike girl!" He whispers to you in a prideful way. His smirk betrays the happiness that has swelled on him by receiving this rank.

"Any questions?" Erwin asks before he forces his voice to come to an halt. Seeing that no one requests to know a thing from him he proceeds to call new squad leaders, one by one to pick members for their teams. Surprisingly enough, Levi gets called after Mike, speculating a peculiar reaction by the remaining veterans, even you, someone who has no place in voicing any object to Erwin's commands.

"Levi's not to doubt, I believe you all know that, and he will be running the new special operations team."

It occurred to you that no one was actually doubting Levi's abilities; most of them had probably been jealous to having to work that hard to receive a rank when he was only in the regiment for a year. However had they known Levi even in the tiniest bit though they'd never have an ounce of jealousy for him. Not that you knew much to beging with. What you had managed to gather from him about his past were a few broken sentences a night he accepted to come and hang out with your squad mates that he only spoke to you as he accompanied you to your barrack upon being forced by Mike.

You sit there, between the two men quietly for the rest of the long meeting and once you're dismissed you practically sprint to the showers. You know the water ought to be freezing cold by now but you preferre to endure this rather than having to wash alongside your female comrades. Growing up, your little given time in the shower was your only rightful privacy and you intend to keep it that way.

The water stops with a twist of your hand at the handle. You search for your towel in the dark and as you set your hands on it you rapidly begin to pat your body dry. Throwing your long nightgown on, you begin stomping out. Momentarily you seem to be in a haze of meaningless thoughts that pass your mind so fast, you can't even get a grip of them, many things seem to occupy your mind lately. New formations, improved harness gear, the news of your mother's death. You can't seem to put your thoughts in order, not for tonight at least. It's only when a deep, monotone voice rings in your ears that you jump and leave a little squeak come out of the depths of your throat.

"Oii"

"Shit! Don't sneak up on me like that" you wonder if you have to address him but in the end you do; in the end of the day you are one of formalities and everyone who knows you can confirm that. "sir.."

Levi simply clicks his tongue in response. You're the first person to address him as a commanding officer as of now, probably because every one else would need a moment to take it in, including himself.

"Thanks for making Isabel feel welcome back then." Levi's voice is barely louder than a whisper yet it never cracks, not even a little but that isn't what's taking you aback. The statement, in fact, sends you literally a few steps back and shoots your hand to your forehead in an act of despair. The cruel scene still plays in your head from time to time and you wonder how many times it must do so in his. You find your heart stopping for a moment before you feel a teeny flicker that sends your pulse running through your veins.

It's natural for someone not to be able to comprehend trauma in ways they are expected or rather forced to. Levi in particular is introverted and moody, if not most, then all of the time but this statement shines a different light on your understanding of his character. He's as emotionally drained and traumatized as someone can be. In fact, everyone is but this doesn't mean ones personal pain is lessened, in your opinion it makes it even worse.

"Not everyone is taught mannerisms I guess. The girls who made her feel unwanted can eat shit anyways."

It's obvious that Levi doesn't want to utter another word of the matter and you're not the one to push him out of his comfort zone. An uptight upbringing and the misfortunus chance of interacting with superficial assholes for equal parts of your life have taught you how to have temperament. To be patient even when you physically can't take it anymore.

"Tch.. Go to your barracks you're dismissed." It's time to bid eachother goodnight and of course Levi's eager to be the one to remind you of it. Tomorrow's a big day with everything you have to take care of after today's events. No cadet should be unable or not in position to assist by command.

"Sweating the chair already I see."

____

The next day starts with Nanaba waking you up. You take some time to adjust your eyes to the semi lit room. It strikes you how some people have always talked about how they missed feeling the magic of watching an eventual sunrise and even if you can see where they're coming from you're reminded every day of how much you despise every single aspect of it. Starting off with the runny nose it always bears for you as a hatred gift.

"I know it's kind of first thing in the morning but we have to help squad leader clean the office he was given.

Then again maybe you're just envying anyone who got to be woken up by sun's glowly warmth once it was already up in the sky.

"Hey, psst, don't zone out, get dressed."

Erratically, you skip breakfast. You fail to be in the mood for food lately most likely due to exhaustion or general disgust of whatever soup dish you are to be served. Your stomach has stopped trying to object to you since a young age. The only thing that ever makes it groan nowadays is guilt. With that devil of mother dead though it's not like you have anything to feel guilty for anyways.

"So here's your mop." Mike forces the object into your hands before you even get a chance to greet him. "Okay I repeat. Nanaba scrubs, (y/n) mops, Henning waxes. Lynne and Tomas you dust everything off. Understood?" All of you salute him with a 'yessir' before you watch him exit the room.

You spend most of your morning scolding Nanaba to go faster before you ultimately decide to switch places with her. You want to be over with cleaning, although you have no idea as to why but you do find yourself imagining that Levi sees you cleaning and thinks you're amazing at it and asks you to help him far too many times to count. You end up scolding yourself for that too. Nevertheless, it takes almost half an hour to finish with scrubbing, something you guess would have taken Nanaba eternity and a day.

Any sweat that's falling down your forehead you rub it off with the back of hand before you excuse yourself to a break. Seeing that no one will follow you stroll swiftly down the wooden hallway, with the restrooms in mind. You walk past Mike on the way, whom you greet cheerfully while fast informing him about your break. You're positive he practically smell your bladder is about to burst.

______

Tonight Hange draggs your unwilling piece of meat to dinner. She takes you to her usual table and sits you down amongst higher ranks. Some part of your brain fights you about not taking a stand against it. Your mother has always pressed for you to not enjoy what other in higher hierarchies have. But that's just a wooden fucking table with a stall. The voice in your head can shut it.

"Eat." Hange looks at you with a toothy grin, head tilted in your direction as she a eats a spoonful of her vegetable soup. You still feel an excessive amount of absurd guilt about raising objections so you smile back and stuff a portion of the food in your mouth with the intention of gulping it down as fast as possible. And of course Levi doesn't fail to notice the look of disgust in your face from across the table.

"Eat" Mike orders from Levi's left, gesturing to your plate with his spoon, an awkwardly soft smile plastered on his face. It beats you as to why they've decided to be persistent tonight out of all nights.

"Tch, show some respect to the people who work on your daily food. Drop that disgusted face or take cooking duty for the week."

With a pout in your lips you avert Levi's gaze in anger and overall shame. You lift the bowl containing the soup and you gulp it down as you try to ignore the knot at the back of your throat that threatenes to push back everything if you continue forcing your body to endure this.

Mike seems to be physically scolded to look at you because you see him jump in shock due to the unexpected action towards him for a fragment of a second. He takes no real interest in scolding you however, something that puts pressure on Levi for the matter.

"You just earned yourself cooking duty for the week, keep this up and Mike won't be as lenient as me." He talks sternly as he bores his eyes into yours. The unreadable lack of expression in his face remains intact, as always, but once again you choose to look away.

"Can I be dismissed?" You simply utter while your orbs take turns to look between Hange and Mike.

"Shoo shoo, I'm not pushing you girl" Mike pays little attention to you as he chunks on his bread with his eyes shut. If looks could kill you swear he would have been slashed to death by both Hange and Levi. To your luck of course, they can't, so you sit up from the stall in the most discreet way possible. Hange observes in silence as Levi's eyes follow your form across the room until you take a turn to get lost in the barracks. He then averts his gaze to the bowl of soup in front him for the remaining of his time in the dining hall.

It's one of those nights that you decide not to throw your whole body, face first, onto your bed; you've abused it very much in this way, the last thing you need to is for it to break apart and take down the twin bed on top of it. You sigh deeply before you bring your hands to cover your face in hopes that it will soothe your tingling skin.

Why was that silly little scenario of Levi watching you clean still stuck in your head all day long and why did it keep repeating over and over. To be clear with yourself, you didn't really know.

Your other roommates start flooding the room in a matter of seconds. It's always like that; the come back from dining and they chit chat for a few minutes before some of them go to sleep while others decide on showering before taking their given amount of rest for the night.

"(Y/n) lift your fucking head up you look like a corpse." Nifa, the girl who sleeps on the bed on top yours speaks.

"Not in the mood Nif. I'm sorry."

"You could try and talk to us!" Petra says on response, cutting Nifa off.

"I just don't want to cook for everyone. That's all." You spit a lie that's debatably believable. The girls that starts probing the walls of your stomach almost feels like liquid fire.

Did they really want to know the truth, or would they be disgusted by whatever came out of your mouth. Almost every one in the survey corps had a rough backstory and a purpose, and though you didn't lack of tragic and despair your purpose was pathetic and delusional.

"Look, I hate to see you like that and well you've been that moody way that before that punishment tonight. So spill."

"I don't want to be a burden!"

"Cut the crap." Lynne rhetored as she sat at the end of your bed, pinching your calf.

Well, you're probably annoying them by not letting any one of them in. "My mother died."

A few apologies and condolences are heard in response by the girls around you as they stare at you with oggly pitiful eyes.

"She was horrible and old no need to be sorry, I'm just conflicted on whether I loved her or not. I'm just unfazed but my mind guilt trips me on it." Your words are soft and your gaze fixed on the wooden floor underneath your legs. "I don't want to go into much abusive details, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise!" Petra exclaims from her kneeling position next to you. "It's fine if you don't tell us anything. We shouldn't have pushed you." The girls all nod in response and the mood seems to darken the rooms aura with each silently passing second.

"I thought it was like boy problems" Lynne says as she wraps her right arm around your shoulder and squeezes you on her. Her palms quickly travel straight to your cheeks to poke and squish them in the most humorus way. "Tomas likes me and I avoid him, give me a breeak!"

You can't help but give a muffled giggle out to her. It's almost as if you approve of her little impression of you, and you do, mostly because laughing helps you take a weight off your chest. All girls around you are giggling in their turns with closed eyes, happily narrowed brows and scrunched up noses.

You shouldn't even let yourself be that moody anywayy.

___

To say that Levi is merely perplexing would be an understatement. Because here's the deal; no one could maintain such a straight face while pinning someone down. You're basically a lost cause as you maniacally move your head on the grass to avoid his gaze. Mentally you try to recall what brought you in this position in the first place. Was it because you challenged him to engage in combat or because he was a complete show off, it's beyond you at this point.

"I have your knife."

"What?" Levi looks at you with the tinniest bit of a puzzled impression plastered all over his face. Yet he doesn't get up from you. In the end he can't even know that you feel your skin burning with rage.

"I have your knife, sir. I won" you remark in a tiny little voice from the back of your throat.

"Tch, just because you have the knife doesn't mean your opponent won't attack you or even use that against you." Levi's voice is also calm and steady and even matching your tone in volume. You watch with anticipation as he opens his mouth to speak and when words begin to form he's interrupted.

"Ah sir, I want to spare with you as well!" Petra smiles as she fixes some lose strands of hair behind her ears.

Deciding to spend anymore time on this position on top of you, Levi pushes your wrists on the ground once again before completely getting off of you. You realise he's taken the dummy knife him, something he probably did in the blink of an eye. Of course he'd make his point whatever it took.

Training has stripped your stomach of the fullness that breakfast has secured you with and now you can hear the organ growl angrily inside your body. Having spent a week as the survey corps cook as a punishment has also worked wonders for your little appetite, because it physically drained you to the bone. You don't even know where to start about that unexpected shenanigan.

Unbeknownst to you, Nanaba and Lynne roll their eyes at your blanked expression. "Wall Maria to (y/n)? Hello? Is anyone in there?" An inpatient Lynne knocks a little too loud at the side of your head. Nifa laughs at the sight as well.

"Ohhh, I am." You whine. "Also ouch! I'm just not in my right head!"

"You uhm... mean piece of mind?" A few pieces of bread fall out of Nanaba's hand as she stuffs her mouth. It only takes a while to come up with a line to say to excuse your absurdness.

It's not that you want to feel that way about Levi or that you choose to either. It's probably an outcome of fatigue and a tiny infatuation that rule your mind like an empire that's about to fall. Levi's handsome, there's no denying in that, you've thought so ever since you set your eyes on him but he was ten years older than you and pretty much uninterested to almost everything. Maybe it's that you hoped he could look at you with the same enthusiasm that made you feel like you had a crush.

In reality you believe that these are pretty much lame reasons and Nanaba especially will laugh at you. 'Do you even have a reason to have a crush on someone?' Ugh, you can literally listen to her.

"Hmm, sorry I can't seem to communicate today. Might as well share." You decide it's not polite to keep things to yourself when others are trying to care for you. "Well it's that-"

"Do you guys find the Captain handsome?"

As always thanks for reading 👉❤️👈 if you have any request you can pop one in my askbox. Feedback is always appreciated, I really love seeing your opinions, they keep me motivated. I adore you guys