toxxicognaths

[introspectivememories]

excerpts from my months old wip "think i'll miss you forever (like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky)"

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

two can keep a secret

Character: Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

Summary: What is the difference between a secret and a lie? Jason Todd is in love. But will his relationship survive when Y/N realizes she doesn’t know him at all?

Word Count: 9,500+ [One Shot]

Warnings: Violence, mentions of rape, domestic violence, and murder

She is the first thing he thinks of when he slowly comes to.

Not her face, like some glowing angel that you always see in those stupid movie montages, where the protagonist’s wife or girlfriend tragically died and he’s thinking of her.

No, Jason is thinking about how pissed Y/N’s going to be when he misses date night.

Jason didn’t need to go out to a fancy restaurant or cocktail bar to be content. Doing absolutely nothing with Y/N was more than enough for him. But she deserved more than that – not that she ever said so. Jason was the one who insisted on taking her out every so often. So he sucked it up and did anything to make that woman smile. It didn’t hurt that Y/N was too talented at dolling herself up.

Y/N was probably sitting with her hair curled and her makeup done to perfection (after watching a YouTube tutorial for a look she had been wanting to try for weeks). Or, depending on how much time had passed, she had given up and bitterly changed into her pajamas.

The other unfortunate fact was that Y/N still didn’t know that Jason had a double life. She had zero idea that her boyfriend of a few months was also the infamous Red Hood.

So, yeah, Y/N was going to be pissed, thinking that Jason simply forgot about date night or just completely blew her off.

Just when Jason was fighting the migraine to open his eyes, someone kicked his shins roughly.

“I know you’re awake,” someone sang to him.

Jason blinked and squinted, realizing that his helmet was still intact.

Well, that’s one positive.

He looked at the man standing just a few feet away from him. Decked out in a fancy green suit, horned rimmed glasses, and that stupid little bowler hat.

The Riddler.

Jason always found him to be mostly an inconvenience. But clearly he’d done something to piss off the annoying genius, because this was a lot of effort on his part.

“What the fuck do you want?” Jason growled, knowing his voice sounded even more dangerous with his helmet distorting it.

Riddler smiled and put his arms behind his back. “You have become rather troublesome, Red Hood.”

“Oh, how the tables have turned,” Jason answered with sarcasm.

But Jason hadn’t been interfering with the Riddler for quite some time, so he was still rather confused what was going on.

“Our mutual friend is quite tired of you meddling with his business. Also, it’s not cheap to replace all of his goons you keep murdering.”

Jason tilted his head. “You’re gonna have to be a bit more specific.”

Riddler narrowed his eyes with slight annoyance. “Why the Clown Prince of Crime, of course.” Jason’s body tensed at the name and the Riddler noticed immediately. “He figured if you came back from the dead once before, there’s a chance you could do it again.”

Then the Riddler stopped his pacing and did a dramatic gesture to himself. “Which is where I come in. You see, he thought it would save him some time and effort to simply hire me.” He moved closer to Jason. “He figured if he couldn’t kill you…maybe you deserve a different punishment.”

Jason audible sighed. “Am I supposed to be scared?”

While it sounded like a joke, there was a truth to the question. Jason stopped fearing death long ago. And once you’ve died and come back to life, there’s nothing really that scared Jason Todd anymore. Which was why he had become the ruthless and merciless antihero of Gotham.

Batman would hurt criminals enough to break them. Red Hood would simply kill them.

Though after fighting his family became too much, Jason finally agreed to stop his massacres. But the criminals of Gotham didn’t need to know that. And Jason would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy how much they shook at the mere sight of him.

“Oh, I’m sure we can figure out how to return some fear into that ice cold heart of yours,” Riddler whispered in Jason’s ear before pressing a button.

A swinging light bulb flashed on.

No, no, no, no. no.

Below the source of the light was Y/N, tied to a chair by her hands and feet. A rag was across her mouth and tied at the back of her head. She was only in her underwear and a baggy t-shirt – Jason’s t-shirt. Further proving that she had been ripped from her bed and brought here against her will.

Jason completely controlled his reaction to seeing his girlfriend being held captive just 20 feet across from him. But in reality, his heart was about explode out of his chest.

Not this. Not her. Anything but her.

“What is this?” Jason asked, trying to sound as devoid of emotion as possible. The less she seemed to mean to him, the less Riddler would want to use her against him.

“I think you know exactly what this is, Red Hood.” Then Riddler practically skipped to Y/N’s side, who looked confused and terrified, clearly having no idea why any of this was happening to her of all people.

“Your quarrel is with me, Riddler. There’s no need to involve an innocent civilian.” Jason’s voice was cool and even.

But he ignored Jason and pulled a pistol out from the back of the waist.

Jason couldn’t remain calm any longer. He started struggling against the ties.

“Don’t worry. The fun has just begun. You get these three riddles right and I won’t hurt her – at least…not yet.”

But Jason was looking at Y/N. She was looking back at him, which did little to reassure her. She didn’t know who he was and his helmet wasn’t designed to comfort people.

“Hey, it’s gonna be OK.” He tried to tell her as softly as he could.

For some reason, she nodded. But Jason knew her well enough to see his words had little impact on her. Tears started streaming down her face and her entire body was shaking as she felt the cold metal of a gun pressed to her head.

“Shall we begin?” Riddler asked with a creepily joyful smile.

Jason waited. But as the Riddler was distracted, he was able to maneuver his arms to press the panic button on his wrist to send out a distress signal to the right people. It was his first time using it, always too proud or stubborn to ask for help.

But if Y/N was involved, none of that mattered anymore.

The Riddler’s eerie tone brought him back, “When you have me, you feel like sharing me. But if you do share me, you don’t have me.” He took in a deep breath. “What am I?”

Jason’s chest was heaving with anger. He should’ve been more careful. He should’ve stayed away from Y/N. He was a curse, a disease. Anyone that got close to him just ended up in danger. And he should’ve known better than to think he could be happy without consequences.

“Clock’s ticking, Red Hood.” He cocked the gun. “What am I?”

“A secret,” Jason growled.

“Surprise, surprise. There does seem to be some semblance of a brain underneath that stupid helmet of yours.”

Y/N closed her eyes in relief, causing more tears to escape and slide down her cheeks.

“When you have me more, you can see only less. What am I?” The Riddler asked.

Jason thought on the next riddle as he tried to find one of his knives hidden in his sleeve. But even when he grabbed one, it would take far too long to cut through this thick rope that kept him tied down.

“Darkness,” Jason answered confidently.

The Riddler seemed annoyed now. “One more riddle and then we’ll move on to another game. Or maybe we won’t, if you get it wrong.” He shifted so he was directly behind Y/N and facing Jason as he pointed the gun at the back of her head.

“The person who built it, sold it. The person who bought it, never used it. The person who used it, never saw it.” He tilted his head. “What is it?”

Jason finally found the edge of a knife. He subtly started cutting at the ropes on the back of his chair, praying he could buy himself enough time to get him out.

The Riddler lifted the gun to the ceiling and shot it, causing Y/N to jump and let out a yelp.

“I’m waiting!” He snapped at Jason.

“A coffin!” Jason growled. “Put the gun down and let her go. You’ve had your fun.”

The Riddler laughed. “Oh, you think that this was the main attraction?” He put the gun down, but moved to grip Y/N’s chin roughly.

“Secrets, darkness, coffin,” Riddler listed the three answers aloud. Then he turned to Jason. “What do all of them have in common?”

Riddler moved back behind Y/N and leaned down to whisper in her ear. The feeling alone caused a chill to go down her spine. “You’ve been lied to, my dear. The decision to bring you here was not random at all. That I can promise you.”

“Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone,” he sang loudly, his voice echoing in the warehouse. Then he danced back to Y/N and pulled down the rag around her mouth, finally allowing her to speak.

“Red Hood, question for you. How many people have you killed?”

Don’t do this, Jason begged in his mind. 

He didn’t answer.

The Riddler didn’t appreciate this and quickly walked to Y/N, smacking her across the face with the back of his hand.

Jason struggled against his restraints.

Riddler whipped back to him. “Answer the question!”

“I don’t know,” he barked back.

“You don’t know because there’s so many?” Riddler challenged.

“I don’t keep track,” Jason answered quickly, knowing his silence would only cause Y/N more pain.

“More then 10?”

“Yes.”

“More then 50?” Riddler asked with an evil grin.

“Yes.”

Riddler turned to Y/N. “It’s actually 83.”

It was the first Jason had heard the number. But he knew better than to question it.

“You call yourself a hero. But looks to me like you’re just a murderer,” the Riddler cooed with a sneer. 

Jason hung his head in shame. “I’ve never called myself a hero.”

Riddler ignored his comment and turned his attention fully to Y/N now. “Now this next one is for you, dear. And it’s a tricky one.” The Riddler took in a deep breath. “I hurt the most when lost, yet also when not had at all. I’m sometimes the hardest to express, but the easiest to ignore. I can be given to many…or only just one.”

Y/N swallowed, repeating the words over and over again in her head.

“L-Love,” she finally stuttered out, but seemed sure of her answer.

The Riddler smiled at her response. He turned to Jason. “You sure know how to pick ‘em, Red Hood.” Then he shifted his weight. “Or should I say Jason?”

Jason saw the confusion on Y/N’s face from the comment.

“Tell me dear, did you know you were in love with a murderer?”

Y/N was discombobulated by such a question.

But before she could figure it out, the Riddler rushed to Jason and ripped off his helmet. When he saw that Jason was wearing a domino mask underneath, he rolled his eyes. “All you bats and birds are so paranoid!” Then he ripped that off, too.

Y/N’s eyes widened at the sight of her boyfriend.

But Jason didn’t catch it. He was too busy hanging his head, scared to meet her gaze.

“Surprised?” The Riddler asked her with glee.

Her tears started again. But they weren’t just from being scared now. They were tears of betrayal.

“Oh, sweetheart. Don’t cry,” the Riddler mocked.

“You did what you wanted. Now let her go,” Jason growled.

He tugged at his ropes, but his knife wasn’t cutting fast enough.

“Let her go?” The Riddler was baffled. “Who said anything about letting her go? I said I wasn’t going to hurt her if you cooperated. But killing her is the only way I can hurt you, Red Hood. Don’t worry, I shall make it quick!”

With that he raised his gun to her head once again. Y/N squeezed her eyes shut, truly believing this is how she was going to die.

“NO!” Jason screamed.

But right before pulling the trigger, Riddler’s grip was knocked away by a batarang.

Jason felt sick with relief when he turned to see Batman and Robin making their way to the Riddler.

Riddler was not a fighter. He always made a run for it.

But when he turned to do so, he was met with Nightwing blocking his path.

Jason felt someone drop behind him and realized that Red Robin was getting rid of his restraints.

Riddler looked around him with crazed eyes, realizing he was about to be outnumbered five to one. “This is too many vigilantes for my liking. Time for backup.” He pulled out a button and pressed it before Dick could rip the unknown device from his hands.

An explosion erupted in the warehouse, catching everyone off guard.

Tim had just finally released Jason from his restraints when the impact hit.

Jason saw as Y/N’s chair was knocked off its legs, taking her to the floor with it. Her head slammed against the hard concrete floor.  

As soon as the explosion settled, Jason sprinted to her.

When he reached her, she was knocked unconscious. “Y/N! Come on, beautiful. You’re OK. You’re OK.” 

But the words were to convince himself. He felt for a pulse and let out a sigh of relief when it was still strong.

Ever so carefully, he untied the ropes that held her to the chair. He ripped his jacket off his body and wrapped it around her shoulders. She seemed so small like this – so vulnerable. He’d tried so hard to keep her away from this darkness. And seeing her like this was the horrid reminder for why he’d lied to her about who he was.

His family watched with concern as Jason stood with her limp body in his arms. By some miracle, the blast missed all of them. It was used as more of a distraction than as an attempt to take any of them out.

Jason slowly walked to Bruce.

“Take her. Please.” His eyes desperate at first, but then they darkened. “There’s something I have to do.”

Bruce’s jaw tightened. “We had a deal.”

But he still gently took Y/N out of his arms.

“That was before her,” Jason answered as he took a final glance at Y/N.  

“Jason, don’t do it,” Dick urged.

“Keep her safe,” was all Jason said before turning from them and running after the man that had put his love in danger.

“What shall we do with her?” Damian asked coldly as he eyed the young woman he was seeing for the first time.

“We’re taking her back to the manor,” Bruce told his sons.

“Is that wise?” Damian countered.

“He’ll need her. And she’ll need to know everything,” was all Bruce said as he started carrying Y/N to the batmobile.

————————

Y/N wasn’t awoken by people screaming from the streets below or the garbage truck coming too early to throw every neighbor’s trash can around at 5AM. She couldn’t hear the blasting of her window unit air conditioning.

No, instead she heard birds chirping outside and the wind rustling countless trees.

Did she even have a single tree on her block?

She squinted her eyes open and the night came rushing back to her.

Goons storming into her apartment, ripping her from her bed and throwing a bag over her head. Y/N just remembered thinking, “I’m just glad Jason wasn’t here. At least he’s safe.”

But Jason was far from safe. He was Red Hood: the infamous anti-hero that half of Gotham thought was a murderer and the other half swore he was just as much of a hero as the the other masked vigilantes.

How did she not see it sooner?

The random cuts and bruises. Constantly missing dates. Late-night texts when she had already fallen asleep. Always being exhausted when he was present.

But it was easy to ignore all of this because when they were together, things were good – no, things were amazing.

No man had ever made Y/N feel more seen and loved and appreciated. In fact, before him, Y/N had come to terms with being alone for the rest of her life. She made peace with it, had no problem with it.

But then Jason came stumbling into her life. And he didn’t accept Y/N being unloved the way she did. It was the thing that made him get over his own self-hatred and constant need to punish himself. If he wasn’t going to love Y/N for him, then he’d love Y/N because that’s what she deserved.

And Y/N felt that.

But he wasn’t who she thought he was. He had lied to her over and over again. When she was concerned over his injuries, he made up story after story. When she asked where he’d been after skipping a date, he used work as an excuse.

Did Y/N actually know Jason Todd at all?

Or had she only seen what she wanted to see?

Did the man she love even exist?

These were the questions racing through Y/N’s mind as she awoke in a bedroom that she didn’t recognize. Bedroom – if that’s even what she could call it. It felt more like a palace. She’d never slept on softer sheets or a comfier mattress. The room was bigger than her entire apartment. And from what she could see in the ensuite bathroom, it looked like it belonged in a five-star hotel.

Y/N’s observations paused when she saw Red Hood’s leather jacket tossed on top of the fancy chaise lounge on the other side of the room. No, not Red Hood’s leather jacket. Jason’s. It was the only indication that he had been there.

Am I in Wayne Manor? Y/N asked herself.

At least Jason hadn’t lied about that, explaining his afflicted relationship with his family casually a few times. But in a way that always told Y/N he didn’t want to talk about it in depth.

The leather jacket then caused Y/N to look down at herself. She was wearing a white t-shirt and grey cotton sleep shorts. Clearly they were mens. Someone had changed her while she had been asleep – or…unconscious.

Fuck, her head really hurt.

Having enough of being confused, Y/N slipped out of the bed and decided she was going to hunt down an explanation.

The bedroom was placed in a long hallway. Taking a 50/50 chance, Y/N decided to go right instead of left.

She walked as quietly as possible, still feeling uncomfortable in such surroundings.

After she stepped down the most extravagant staircase she’d ever seen, she heard sounds come from around the corner. It sounded like movement in a kitchen.

When she reached a doorway, she saw an elderly man dressed as a butler. As he was cooking, he caught Y/N’s presence from the corner of his eye. He quickly turned and gave her a comforting smile.

“Ah! Ms. Y/L/N, your timing is impeccable. I was just finishing up breakfast.”

But she remained unsure of the situation.

“Oh, I do apologize. Where are my manners? I am Alfred Pennyworth.” He quickly stepped to her and offered his hand. “I am the butler for the Wayne family.”

“So…this is Wayne Manor?” Y/N asked after awkwardly shaking his hand in the doorway, completely forgetting to share her own name. But he cleary already knew it.

He smiled at her. “Yes, Master Wayne brought you here after last nights…theatrics.” Before either of them could discuss the “theatrics” he slyly mentioned, he pulled out a chair at the table in the kitchen. “Please, sit. You must be famished.”

This man hardly looked threatening, so she decided to follow his instructions.

Alfred quickly placed a large plate with a full English breakfast on it, a mug of steaming coffee, and a glass of water. Then he offered her a bottle of advil.

Y/N looked up at him with a curious glance.

“I can only assume your head is aching quite a bit. From what I was told, you took quite the fall from the explosion.”

At least Y/N knew she hadn’t imagined the nightmare. It was real. She quickly took two of the pills and chugged the glass of water.

Alfred didn’t hover, instead continuing to work on more breakfast.

But Y/N’s breakfast was quickly interrupted when Bruce Wayne walked into the kitchen.

He eyed her carefully, hiding his surprise at her being awake. Casually, he went to the coffee pot to pour himself a cup.

“How are you feeling?” Bruce asked her.

Y/N was surprised how genuine his concern sounded.

“Confused,” she blustered out without meaning to.

Bruce smirked. “I meant your head.”

She cleared her throat. “Right. Ummm…just a terrible headache. But I think I’ll live.”

“Good.”

To her shock, Bruce sat across from her. He drank his coffee as his eyes raced across the tablet in his hand.

Y/N took a few bites of food before she had the courage to ask one of the many questions that were racing around her head.

“Where is Jason?” She asked slowly and carefully.

Alfred seemed to tense at the question and hesitated before saying, “Master Jason thought it best to give you some space.”

Y/N didn’t know what to make of his answer.

Bruce seemed to be studying her.

Y/N wanted to shrink under his scrutiny, but fought the feeling and met his gaze head on, as if challenging him.

“He’s in the cave,” Bruce told her evenly.

It seemed no one was trying to hide their family secrets from Y/N.

“I’d like to see him.”

Bruce and Alfred shared a look and what seemed to be a silent conversation.

After a moment, Bruce stood up. “I’ll take you.”

Y/N jumped out of her seat to follow him.

Next thing she knew, Bruce was taking her through a secret passage and there was a dark and dreary staircase in front of her.

Bruce gestured for her to go forward, silently telling her he wasn’t coming with.

As soon as Y/N started down the cold staircase, a shiver went down her spin. The temperature immediately dropped.

When she reached the bottom, she looked around and found Jason sparring with a man she recognized as Dick Grayson.

Jason did a double take as soon as Y/N took a step away from the staircase.

Dick followed his gaze and his face dropped.

The two men shared a look and their sparring ended.

Dick walked to her and gave Y/N a charming smile as he held out his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Y/N. I’m Dick.”

Y/N forced a shy smirk and shook his hand, but said nothing.

Now it was just Jason and Y/N.

Y/N’s arms tightly held herself because of the freezing temperature of the batcave, and because she didn’t know how this conversation was about to end.

“Hi,” Jason said awkwardly.

“Hi.”

“How’d you get down here?”

Y/N shrugged. “Bruce.”

Jason looked her up and down before quickly turning and grabbing the sweatshirt he had discarded before working out and sparring.

He handed it to her, making sure not to get too close. “Here. It gets fucking frigid in this stupid cave.”

Y/N quickly put it on. But she didn’t miss how Jason tried to keep his distance.

“I’m not scared of you,” she muttered.

He cocked an eyebrow, but she could still see the hurt in his face. “Really? Because you’re not looking at me like I’m the same person.”

“Because you’re not,” Y/N snapped.

Y/N imagined this conversation would be filled with rage. She thought she’d start yelling at Jason and then she wouldn’t be able to stop. She’d tell him how disappointed she was in him, how he was just like every other man who had hurt her. Her hands would be quivering in fists at her side. The anger…it would consume her.

So imagine her surprise when her bottom lip started trembling and tears started streaming down her face. And she could do nothing to stop it.

Little did she know that watching this hurt Jason more than her anger ever could.

He took a step toward her. It was his instinct – an instinct that was so hard to fight in this moment.

“You know…it’s really hard for me to let people in – no, it’s hard for me to let men in. I don’t trust them. I stop doing that a long time ago. But you – fuck – I don’t even know why now. But I did let you in. I really did. I told you things I’ve never told anyone. I trusted you. I…I loved you, Jason.”

Jason looked in more pain than ever before. His eyes watered from seeing the woman he loved breaking down like this. And it was no one else’s fault, but his own.

“But you hid this whole part of yourself. You lied to me. Every excuse you made for your bruises and cuts, you were lying. Every time you canceled a date, you were lying. And I’m realizing that you lied to me about your life more than you ever told me the truth.”

She tried to wipe away the tears, but they were coming down too fast.

“Was the Riddler serious?” She accused. “Have you killed all those people?”

“I have.”

Y/N studied him for a second. A part of her hadn’t expected him to admit it. She was waiting for him to give her another lie. After all, it came so naturally to him.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” She practically whimpered.

“Yes,” he answered quickly. “I just…I didn’t know how. I was scared.”

Was there even anything he could say that would make her hate him less?

Jason ran a hand through his hair. “Y/N, I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you. And I should’ve kept you safe. You almost–” He felt sick. “You were almost killed last night. And it was because of me.”

Y/N’s eyes went dark. “Did you kill him? Did you kill the Riddler?”

Jason’s jaw clenched and his hands turned into fists at the mentioning of the criminal’s name. “No, but I should’ve.”

In truth, he almost had. It hadn’t been hard to catch up to the bastard. Jason beat him to in an inch of his death. But not before he confirmed that no one else knew of Y/N’s existence. No, he didn’t kill the Riddler. But he beat him so badly that he would be in the coma for the rest of his days – unable to speak, meaning no one else would ever know about Y/N.

“I don’t do that anymore. Bruce and I…we have a deal.”

“He’s Batman,” she wasn’t asking. “And your brothers…” she didn’t need to finish.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me.” His head hung low. “I don’t deserve it. And I never deserved you in the first place. I always knew that. It’s probably why it was so hard to tell you. Because I knew the moment I did… you’d see me for the monster I really am.”

Y/N’s eyes were red now and her nose congested.

“You don’t owe me anything. But I just…I need to tell you this before I never see you again,” Jason quickly said, sensing this was their final goodbye. “I love you. I didn’t even think I could love someone the way I love you, Y/N. You…you’ve made me better. And you’re probably the only reason I was able to stop myself from killing that son of a bitch last night.”

It was Y/N’s face Jason saw when he was beating the Riddler. And then he realized, in some twisted way, that such a death would also be on her hands. He could handle having blood on his hands forever. But would never do that to Y/N.

Then Jason’s word turned so, so quiet. “But I also know I can’t ask you to stay after everything I’ve done to you.”

And for a moment, the two of them just stared at one another.

Y/N tried to wipe the last of her tears away once again. “I think I should go,” she mumbled.

“You can’t go back to your apartment. It’s not safe there anymore. Bruce offered to let you stay here for as long as necessary. I’ll leave,” he quickly added. “So you don’t have to worry about being around me.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I’m not staying here,” she said with a surprising amount of conviction. “I’ll stay with friends or something. But I don’t want to be here.”

What Y/N meant was that she didn’t want to be surrounded by the secrets Jason had kept from her. She didn’t want to be reminded of how little she actually knew him.

Somehow Jason seemed to realize that.

He took a cautious step toward her. “For what it’s worth, you do know me. I know you think that’s a lie. But no one sees me like you see me, Y/N. No one.” He pointed up. “Not even the fucked up people that call me their family.”

His words struck in a way she wasn’t expecting. But she made sure he didn’t know that and controlled her expression, staying as emotionless as possible.

Jason sighed, knowing this was their end. “Alfred will take you anywhere you want to go.”

He wanted to tell her more. He wanted to ask – no, to beg – to hold her. Just one last time. But he would never ask that of her. How could he?

So he just watched as Y/N slowly turned and made her way back of the stairs.

Jason wanted to memorize her face as if this was the last time he’d lay eyes on her. But he knew himself better than that. He’d make sure she was safe, add her to his patrol as if it was normal addition to his vigilante life. Y/N didn’t deserve to be at risk for the rest of her life because she made the mistake of loving a man like him.

————————

1 MONTH LATER.

————————

Y/N didn’t realize how hard it would be. She thought she could just go back to the life she had before Jason ever fought his way into her heart. But it took her a month to understand that was never going to happen. She’d never be able to just forget him.

She thought anger would take over and make her hate Jason. Hate was always easier than love. And Y/N was banking on that.

But after everything Jason did, Y/N still couldn’t find it in her heart to hate him.

Because, at the end of the day, they still loved each other.

Despite his secrets and his lies, Y/N knew that Jason had been telling the truth about his feelings for her. He really did love her. She had felt it every day. Even at the beginning of their relationship – before they realized what they were feeling was love – Y/N always felt how much Jason cared for her.

That was why all of this was so hard for her.

Take away the lies, the secret vigilante life, the killing. Take it all away. And Y/N knew she had never met another man that made her feel the way Jason did – or…had.

That was really what Y/N had finally realized over the past weeks. She had thought it was betrayal and fear. 

No. 

She now understood that what she was feeling was a broken heart. 

It was a first for her. One had to be in love in order to get their heart broken. And the only man Y/N ever loved was Jason Todd.

As the understanding washed over Y/N, she was staring out the window. She’d made herself a cup of coffee, but had been so lost in her thoughts that she’d let it grow cold. Then she felt a tickling down her cheek and realized that she had started crying. 

Suddenly there was a quick knock at the front door of her apartment.

Y/N squinted in suspicion at the sound and sloppily rubbed the tears off her face.

She slowly walked to door, but stopped a few feet away, and just stared at it as her heart rate increased.

After Riddler’s men broke into her home and ripped her from bed, she had been anxious and cautious about any and all unexpected visitors. She hadn’t been sleeping. Either she couldn’t fall asleep or if she did, her night was infested with nightmares.

“Y/N? It’s Dick Grayson,” a voice called from the other side of the door.

She let out a small sigh of relief. How long had she been holding her breath?

There was a part of her that was screaming to still ignore the uninvited guest, despite it being someone she knew. But how well did she actually know Dick Grayson?

Except the other part – the part that could admit she missed Jason – wanted to speak to anyone that was from the part of her life she was trying so hard to forget.

Ever so slowly, she opened the door.

“Hi,” Dick beamed at seeing her appear. His smile and eyes were warm and friendly in a way that none of the other boys were.

“What are you doing here?” Y/N asked with a bit of rudeness.

She didn’t appreciate him giving her a scare. Especially because her two best friends that she now lived with were out of town for the weekend.

“I was hoping I could talk to you,” he gave her a shy but hopeful grin. Then he held up a tray of coffee and a paper baggie. “I brought you a latte and some doughnuts.”

Y/N eyed him. Her first thought was that maybe something had happened to Jason. But Dick’s delivery proved that wasn’t the case.

Her only invitation to Dick was a widening of the door and making room for him to walk past her.

This seemed to make him happy though.

Y/N directed them to the little breakfast nook that was flooded in the morning light.

She didn’t waste any time. “Did Jason send you here?” 

“No, Jason doesn’t know that I’m here,” Dick clarified as he slid one of the lattes to her side of the table.

Her nerves were the only reason she picked it up and started sipping, just trying to give herself something physical to do while Dick stared at her from across the little table.

“Is he OK?” She mumbled without looking at him.

Her pride wanted to her to shut up and not ask. But she couldn’t stop the question from spilling out, even though all evidence pointed to Dick having no bad news to share.

“He’s fine,” Dick quickly assured her. “Well…physically, at least.”

“What are you doing here, Dick?” She repeated her original question.

“It should be Bruce here, really. But he…” His words died out and then he cleared his throat. “Well, these types of things aren’t exactly his strong suit. Tim wanted to come, too. But I didn’t want to…overwhelm you.”  

“And what ‘type’ of thing is this exactly?”

Dick took in a deep breath and then leaned forward, placing his forearms on the table.

“You deserve to know the story – the whole story. I’m not here to get you to forgive Jason or to change your mind about leaving him.” He rubbed his face. “But I just want you to know the truth about him before you live with those decisions.”

Y/N’s heart was racing now. She felt sick.

Was she even ready for this conversation?

“So, is that OK?” Dick asked her carefully.

After a moment, Y/N finally nodded her head.

Dick took a deep breath.

He knew where he needed to start. And he wasn’t just about to share Jason’s secrets, he was about to tell Y/N all of their secrets. But it was what needed to be done.

Dick told her about Jason living on the streets, how his dad abused him, and his mother was a drug addict that couldn’t protect her son. Little Jason Todd turned to crime to take care of himself and get enough money to take care of himself and his mom.

Dick smiled as he told her how Jason tried to steel Bruce’s wheels on the batmobile. That was the moment that Bruce knew he couldn’t leave such a desperate child on the streets. Then everything happened so quickly. Next thing Dick knew, Jason had replaced him as Robin and Bruce had a new sidekick.

“I should’ve been there for him more,” Dick confessed. “Jason didn’t just need a home and a parent… he needed a brother, too. And I take responsibility for not really being there for him. If I’m being honest, I was bitter. It was hard for me to see how quickly Bruce could just…”

“Replace you?” Y/N offered softly.

Dick swallowed and nodded.

This was the hard part. Now he had to explain how Jason died, how the Joker tricked a child who was desperate to find the truth about his mother. How a dead boy became a resurrected man.

Dick knew he couldn’t gloss over the gory details. Jason deserved better. He didn’t need to have his secrets protected from the first woman who loved him. He needed to be seen and still loved.

Dick watched as Y/N shifted in her seat, trying her best to compose herself as Dick told her about Jason dying so horribly and then being resurrected. Joker’s maniacal laugh flashed in Y/N’s mind. As Dick spoke, she could almost feel the warmth of the explosion that he’d set for Jason. 

It was all so terrible.

How Jason was able to overcome it all left Y/N in awe of him.

“Jason has never really fully been himself since before…everything,” Dick said. “But it wasn’t fair that any of us ever expected that after what happened to him. I know there’s still so much that he’s never told any of us. And I’m not sure he ever will.”

Dick explained Jason’s rebellion from the family and his war with Bruce. Dick was the one that got emotional now, as his eyes glossed over, remembering how angry and ruthless Jason had been.

“Bruce has one rule: no killing.” Dick sighed and rubbed his face. “Jason thought he was being what Gotham needed. He was tired of watching criminal after criminal beat the system and repeatedly get set free. We eventually had to make a deal with him. We couldn’t stand by and let him continue on the way he was.”

Dick gave her a nervous look. “I can only assume that the hardest thing to wrap your mind around is the–”

“Killing,” Y/N quickly interrupted harshly.

Until now, she had remained quiet but engaged. Never interrupting or adding unnecessary responses.

“Yes,” Dick replied before tightening his jaw.

Y/N couldn’t look at him now. “I know–” She had to pause because her voice was shaking so much. “I know he did it to protect people. And I know – in his mind – that they deserved it, because they were bad people.”

“I might not agree with Jason’s views or his past actions. But one thing is for sure: Jason Todd has never killed an innocent.”

“I just don’t know if that’s enough,” Y/N said with teary eyes.

“I understand,” Dick nodded.

There had been a part of her that always knew Jason was fighting demons. But she could’ve never guessed how bad it had truly been for him.

How could he hide all of this from her?

Y/N couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer. After hearing Jason’s life story, how could she? Tears silently ran down her face. She wasn’t embarrassed to cry in front of Dick. He had such a calming presence about him.

Dick just let her consume everything he’d spent the past hour telling her. He just wanted to be there for her as she processed it.

So he sat there and let her cry. And eventually she got a hold of herself.

“You’re forgetting the most important part of this story,” Dick told her with a shy smile.

“I am?”

Dick nodded. “You.”

She scoffed at that.

“I’m being serious, Y/N.” Dick leaned forward again.

Y/N didn’t know what to say to that. She wasn’t one to share her emotions and feelings freely. So she wasn’t about to open up to her ex’s older brother, whom she hardly knew.

“He loves you, Y/N.” Dick insisted.

“None of you even knew about me,” Y/N tried to argue.

“That’s not true. Just because he didn’t tell us directly doesn’t mean we didn’t know about you.” Dick smirked. “We’re a nosey bunch. When we noticed a change in him – a good change – we did a little investigating.”

Y/N couldn’t find it in her to tell Dick that Jason made her change for the better too.

So she changed the subject to what was really stopping her from running back into Jason’s arms despite all the lies and secrets.

“How did you get over it?” Her voice was so quite that it was almost a whisper.

“Get over what?” Dick squinted.

“The killing.”

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Police Officers kill people every day.”

Y/N made a look of disgust. “Law enforcement in this country is corrupt. I figured a man who felt the need to wear a mask and become a vigilante was well aware of that.”

Dick winced. “Why do you think Gotham is so hard to clean up?”

She stayed quiet.

“Soldiers have killed more people on a single tour than Jason has,” Dick continued.

“Soldiers are following orders,” Y/N countered. “Orders from authority whose ethics and motives are often questionable.”

“Exactly.” Dick’s back straightened. “We’ve normalized both of those things. But I can assure you of one thing, Jason has no ulterior motives. There is no systemic prejudice that controls his actions. Just right and wrong, good and evil.”

Then he rubbed his face, wondering if he wanted to say the next part. “When things with Jason were bad – really bad – and I thought I would have to be the one that put him behind bars, the one thing that gave me hope was knowing that Jason had rid the world of evil. That doesn’t mean I condone his actions…but it helps me sleep at night.”

Silence filled the apartment. Y/N was still processing the information. And Dick didn’t want to force her to talk or speak just to fill the silence.

Slowly, Dick rose from his seat.

“I don’t want to intrude any more than I already have,” he told her gently.

There were those classic Wayne manners that both Bruce and Alfred had ingrained in him. It reminded Y/N of Jason. Even though Jason had a dark, sarcastic sense of humor and quite the temper, Y/N couldn’t remember a time when the man didn’t say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ – not to mention all the old-school gentlemanly gestures that always caught her off guard.

Y/N followed Dick to the door.

He hesitated. “Thank you for listening, Y/N.”

She just nodded.

“Like I said when I got here, I’m not telling you what to do. All I ask is that you consider everything you learned.”

She nodded again. “You’re a good brother, Dick.”

He chuckled darkly at that. “Jason would disagree with you on that. I’m lucky if he even calls me his brother most of the time.”

Y/N managed to force a shy smirk on her lips for his benefit.

Then Dick was reaching into his pocket for a piece of paper. He slowly handed it over.

She looked down to see what appeared to be an address. “What’s this?”

“The safe house Jason’s been hiding out in since you last talked.” Then he gave her one final nod. “Goodbye, Y/N.”

————————————— 3 WEEKS LATER. —————————————

Jason had been on autopilot these past couple of months. He let his work take over his life. To make matters worse, he barely added eating and sleeping to that mix. The only reason he managed to get himself to eat was to keep his strength up… so he could keep working.

Right now was the one of the few times his exhaustion was so heavy that he managed to get a couple hours of sleep.

That is until one of the alarms for his safe house went off.

Someone had triggered the sensor for the floor.

It could easily be a homeless person. It wouldn’t be the first time. But that assumption went on the window when Jason heard a polite knock at his front door.

Completely silent, Jason moved out of bed and grabbed the gun that sat on his nightstand.

Quickly he tiptoed to the door and waited, half expecting someone to start shooting. It wouldn’t have mattered, seeing as the door was made out of bulletproof steel.

Without making a sound, he made his way to the peephole.

When he spotted who was on the other side, his body moved on reflex alone. He instantly put the gun on safety and whipped open the door.

His guest jumped a little in surprise.

“Y/N,” Jason gasped.

Once she got over the scare, she seemed to take in his appearance.

Jason looked awful. There were shadows under his eyes. His hair looked greasy from the lack of washing. And because he was “working” so much, his body was littered in more injuries than usual. He stood completely shirtless in black boxer briefs.

But the only thing Jason was embarrassed about was his autopsy scar that was on full display for her.

Yes, Y/N had seen and felt it. But it was always in the cover of darkness. If they had sex in daylight, Jason always found a way to keep a shirt on. It was always effortless and subtle. Plus Y/N was so preoccupied with the passion between them that she never really considered how self-conscious he was about it.

Once again, Y/N was wondering why she normalized things like that instead of pushing Jason to open up about things he was obviously hiding.

She had assumed they were scars from his childhood. He had told her his dad was abusive and his mom did nothing to protect him. Y/N thought the scars were from an incident – an incident that was too traumatizing for him open up to her about.

But they were autopsy scars… Because Jason had died once.

“Did I wake you?” She asked him gently.

“No,” he quickly lied. Then he shook his head, still processing that she was standing in front of him. “Come in,” he hurriedly added.

She game him a grateful nod and walked past him.

Her eyes quickly took in the safe house. It looked like an industrial loft. But what she was really locking on to was the multiple tables covered in weapons and gear.

After all that time of Jason’s vigilante life being hidden, now it was all completely on display for her to see.

“Are you OK?” Jason quickly asked her.

She nodded.

“How is your new place?” He then asked.

“Fine,” she offered.

“Your roommates are OK?”

She nodded again.

“Are you sleeping alright?”

“Jason,” she said it sternly, in a tone that she knew would make him finally stop with the frantic questions. “I came to talk to you.”

This took him aback.

Then he looked around him. There was a fold out table a few feet away from them.

“Here,” he muttered before rushing forward and moving what appeared to be a dozen knives and multiple guns.

He pulled out one of the chairs and motioned for her to sit.

Then Jason seemed to finally realize his state of undress. “I’ll…just give me a second.”

Y/N would’ve laughed at his adorable franticness. But she was too busy feeling nauseous and anxious.

She turned her back to him changing since the loft style gave little privacy. 30 seconds later, Jason was moving back to the table and sitting across from her in a black hoodie and sweatpants.

Y/N gently cleared her throat. Her gaze couldn’t meet Jason’s as she said, “Dick came to see me.”

Jason’s face darkened. “I’m sorry. He shouldn’t have done that. I’ll ta–”

“No, it’s fine.” Then she shifted in her seat. “He came to…uhh…he came to talk to me about you, actually.”

That wasn’t what Jason was expecting.

“He told me everything,” she stated. “I mean, everything you never did.”

The true meaning of her words slowly washed over Jason.

He leaned back in his chair, his massive form making it squeak.

Y/N took in a shaky breath. “Jason…I’m-I’m so sorry.”

He shifted his weight.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Y/N.” He told her quietly.

Usually Jason’s death and resurrection was a joke. He loved making his family cringe, shrink, and become uncomfortable with his dark humor about it. That was just how he’d grown to deal with it all.

But he couldn’t do the same for Y/N.

A few beats of silence passed between them.

“I miss you,” Y/N finally told him.

Jason’s eyes widened at the confession. “I miss you, too.”

Silence again.

“Was I just part of a cover?” She quickly asked him.

“No,” he immediately answered.

“Was our relationship even real?”

“Yes, Y/N. I promise you that it was.”

Y/N bit her lip. She came here with no plan. And now it was starting to feel very real. She knew what she needed to know and she knew what she needed to say. But she wasn’t sure how to get there.

“Do you still love me?” She whispered.

Jason flinched at the question – not because of the answer, but because she felt the need to even ask it.

He nodded.

“After everything that’s happened,” she began, “what would a relationship between us even be, Jason?”

This was not the follow-up question he was expecting.

“What do you want it to be?”

But what he really wanted to say was it could be anything she wanted. He would do absolutely anything to get her back. Anything.

Still, he didn’t want to push her. So he let her take the lead.

“No more lies,” Y/N demanded. Jason opened his mouth, but she cut him off. “I know you can’t tell me the details of the nightly occurrences from your…other life.”

“It was to keep you safe,” he tried to explain. “The less you know, the safer you are. No one can try to use you for information.”

Y/N nodded in understanding. “I’m saying no more lies about where you are or why you can’t make something. And no more hiding injuries.”

Jason nodded firmly, trying to mask his eagerness.

“But more importantly…No more lies about your past. Dick may have told me everything he knew. But I know there’s missing parts and it’s only his perspective.” Then she hesitated, “And I’d…I’d like to hear it from you.”

Jason felt sick by the idea. He thought maybe he’d gotten out of such a request because of his nosey brother.

“You might not like what you find…” he warned her.

But Y/N was already shaking her head. “You know me inside and out.”

Jason did a weird half shrug, half nod. “I like to think so.”

“Don’t you think I deserve the same?”

Jason knew he had a point. But he loved everything about her. Y/N’s flaws weren’t even flaws to him. They were just what made her the woman she was. And that so happened to a woman he was deeply in love with.

But his sins? They were what convinced him that he was unlovable – a monster.

“You do,” Jason agreed with a mumble.

Y/N struggled to swallow with how dry her throat had suddenly become. “You had made a deal with your family – a deal you almost broke because of me.”

Jason knew what she was really asking. She didn’t even really know what she wanted.

“You want to know about the people I’ve killed,” he said low and even.

But she didn’t answer.

Jason leaned forward on the table and thought over her request. He rubbed the scruff on his jawline and chin.

“One was a man who was trying to rip down the pants of 5 year old girl in an alley of the Narrows.” His expression and tone was numb as he started listing them. “Another was an abusive husband that pushed his pregnant wife down a flight of stairs, causing her to have a miscarriage and almost die.”

Y/N felt sick as she listened.

“The last person I killed was Gotham’s number one human trafficker. When I asked him – with a gun to his head – how he had such a lack of remorse, he said, ‘These sickos are going to find their fun one place or another, I might as well make a buck off it.’”

Y/N could tell as Jason shared these stories that he felt no remorse for his executions.

“Bruce would tell you that every one deserves a chance to change. Or he’ll tell you that we’re not the law, we’re just enforcing it.” Jason shook his head. “But I’ve seen thousands of rapists, murderers, and – god knows what else – get freed time and time again. They may get locked up for a bit, but most of them find their way back on the streets. The system is broken. I know it. You know it. And Bruce knows it.”

Then his eyes darkened. “And before you ask, I wouldn’t take any of it back. Truthfully, I believe the world is a better place without those fuckers in it.”

As harsh as it sounded, Y/N appreciated the honesty. And perhaps there was a part of her that agreed with him. 

Jason was right: she did know the system was broken, just as much as he did. But she wasn’t in a position to execute the same justice as he could.

“Can I ask you something in return?” The softness in his voice surprised Y/N.

She nodded her head.

“That morning at the manor…you said you weren’t scared of me.” He paused. “Were you telling the truth?”

“I wasn’t scared of you – at least, not like you’re implying. I felt–” She searched for the right word. “Defenseless. Because you knew me, but I didn’t know you anymore. Does that make sense?”

Jason nodded. “And what about now? After knowing all I’ve done.”

To his surprise, Y/N reached across the table and gently grabbed one his hands. She held it in her grasp, tracing the lines in his palm. The skin was rough and scarred.

After so long without it, the feeling of her touch caused a shiver to go down Jason’s spine. 

Y/N knew these hands had killed dozens of people. But she also knew that they’d been nothing but gentle with her.

“You’ve never hurt me, Jason.”

“I never would,” he answered quietly, almost with a certain desperation.

She nodded, already knowing that.

“No matter what happens with us, I don’t ever want you to be scared of me, Y/N.”

Then she was crying and jumped from her seat. Without even thinking, she was on the other side of the table, throwing herself onto Jason’s lap, and wrapping her arms around him. Jason pulled her even tighter to him, cradling her face to his neck.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. For everything. I just…I just want you back. OK?”

Y/N pulled away and Jason wiped the tears from her cheeks. She nodded and gave him a teary smile, “OK.”

Their relationship wouldn’t mend itself just like that. They were going to have to work at it. But with all their secrets on the table, they knew what they were fighting. And from now on, they were going to face them together.

----------------

Yeesh. That one was a lot. 

Let me know what you think!

(If you have criticisms about how I wrote Jason, I’d love to hear them, just don’t be a fucking asshole about it. There’s a right way to give feedback and there’s definitely a wrong way.)

[yandere-mha]

Could you do yandere dabi x hawks or yandere villain hawks x reader

Sorry I took so long with answering this ask! I love Hawks sm but tbh it’s hard for me to imagine canon Hawks with yandere Dabi (although villain Hawks with hero Dabi might be an interesting pair 👀). I’m gonna go with the yandere villain Hawks option if that’s cool. My personal version of Villain!Hawks is actually technically a vigilante, but he’s still a villain in the eyes of Hero Society.

TW: EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE, KIDNAPPING, AND TORTURE MENTION AHEAD.

MAJOR MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD.

READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

Yandere Villain!Hawks:

I can imagine that if Hawks had not been saved by Endeavor, it would have been very easy for him to follow in his father’s footsteps... in a way.

His father was uncaring, negligent, and abusive. Because of this, Hawks has a deep-seeded hatred for him. Because of this, he has a personal vendetta against villains both as a hero and as a villain himself.

He would almost be like the opposite of Stain. Instead of being a hero-killer, he would be a serial killer of villains... and it’s personal. Thieves in particular will get a particularly drawn out death.

A major difference between Villain!Hawks and hero Hawks is that since he was never saved, he doesn’t view heroes with much optimism either. This is why you’ll have the best chances of charming him if you’re either a civilian or an extremely genuine and honest hero. Otherwise, you’d better start writing your will. 

One of the most noticeable aspects of hero Hawks is his ability to hide his true feelings. He puts on a mask of warmth and an easy going nature when in reality, he is very cold and constantly on edge. He notices any little change from trembling hands to increased heart rate but you’d never be able to tell. This is still true for Villain!Hawks but he wants you to know that he knows everything and it can feel like he can read your thoughts. In a way, he can. Hero Hawks doesn’t want for you to fear him while Villain!Hawks think it’s a necessary sacrifice to keep you safe and he doesn’t particularly try to make you feel at ease around him. He’s not your friend, he’s your protector.

Something Villain!Hawks has in common with his hero counterpart is how intensely protective he is of his darling. This is still the same little boy who saved civilians from a car crash out of pure instinct. He doesn’t want to hurt people he has nothing against and he will protect those he deems as innocent to the death, but those he considers innocent are few and far in between. He hates hero society as a whole and he’s willing to kill almost anyone participating in it - which is pretty much all of society.

Unlike Hero Hawks, he will not be swayed by your tears or your pleading and he becomes much more domineering. He hates to make you cry but his eyes are so flat and cold that you’d never be able to tell. He might softly swipe away your tears, but he’ll still keep you pinned to the wall with his feathers anyway. He’ll even scold you like a misbehaving child for knowing better than to piss him off like that.

Speaking of which, he is very stern and will not take any disrespect from you. He doesn’t use his feathers on you often but when he does it’s so quick and shocking that it takes you a second to realize what just happened. He would never seriously injure you, but he’s not above slicing your pretty skin up to teach you a lesson of respect. He doesn’t like to go beyond startling you if he can help it.

He is the decision maker in this “relationship” and everything he says goes. He fully believes that he knows what’s best for you and there’s no changing his mind. Don’t defy him. Don’t make him hurt you. This is for your own good. 

Hero Hawks feels guilt over keeping you caged but villain!Hawks will feel nothing at all. You’d never survive all the shit the world has put him through so he’s going to make damn sure that the world doesn’t have the chance to. He can’t let you become like him.

His face almost always carries a slight grimace and he never smiles, shouts, or cries. He knows everything about you but you never know a thing about him. It’s hard to tell whenever he has a change in emotion but change they do. You’ll usually only be able to figure this out when those emotions get too intense for him and everything bursts out of him like putting a nail gun to a water balloon.

The worst part about this man is how much he distrusts you and how little privacy you get. He’s always watching you. Even when he’s not in the same room you feel his bright yellow eyes locked on to you.

He sleeps with his arms wrapped tightly around your torso, partly to feel close to you but mostly because if you even have the thought of leaving him, his eyes will shoot open in a crazed glare. Sometimes you wonder whether he only pretends to sleep.

[patt-writes-stuff]

Pink (Hawks x gn!Reader)

Pairing: Hawks/Takami Keigo x gn! Reader

Word Count: 4.6k

Warnings: cursing but that’s about it!

Genre: Fluff, slight angst, Romantic/Relationship

Tags/Aus: boss x secretary, pining, slow burn, slight cannon divergence probably

Summary: 5 times your boss, Hawks, made you flustered + the one time you made him flustered

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! This is my fic for the Attack on Academia server’s Secret Santa Event!! This is for @sugacookiies​ !! and I really hope you like it!!! 

~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸

Event No. 1

“Thank you so much for coming today, we’ll be sure to get back to you soon,” the lady who had been interviewing you said, smiling at you. You bowed your head slightly, thanking her for her time with a small smile on your face.

After exiting the room and closing the door, you took a deep breath, as if to calm your still very present nerves. You had been up for a job as a secretary at pro hero Hawk’s agency, something you were more than thrilled about.  

Growing up, you’d always been immensely intrigued with the world of pro heroes. Your room had been decked out in hero figurines and posters, the whole nine yards. Hell, even your comforter was hero themed at a certain point in time. It had just always fascinated you how these people would use their quirks for the good of humanity and to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.

Sadly, your quirk, MoodLocks, wasn’t very useful in crime-fighting. All it did was allow your hair to change colors depending on your mood. It was pretty, of course, but you had a hard time controlling it and it could never help you beat an opponent. If anything, it would give the villain an insight into your thoughts and put you at a clear disadvantage.

So, as time passed, your childish fantasies of becoming a hero did as well. It didn’t bother you anymore, as you were more than happy with the career you’d chosen. Your love of heroes was still very much present, hence why you were so nervous about today’s interview. If you got the job, not only would the pay be incredible, but you’d also get the chance to help an actual hero. Maybe you’d even get the chance to meet more of them!

You were pretty sure you had made a fairly good impression so hopefully, you would indeed get a call from the agency soon.

Walking out of the agency, you couldn’t help but let out a yawn. You’d stayed up far too late last night googling commonly asked job interview questions so you wanted nothing more than to get back to your apartment and catch up on some much-needed rest. Maybe you and your roommate could order in.

“Oh God, I am so sorry that was my fault. I just finished this super stressful interview and I’m super tired so I was not watching where I was going-” your babbling came to a sudden halt as you looked up, brain losing all ability to form coherent thoughts.

Right before your very eyes was the man who’s “a bit too fast” in all his red-winged glory. You’d seen him in interviews online, of course, you kept up with most pro hero interviews, so you knew he was handsome. However, the cameras most certainly did not do the man justice. His yellow glasses were resting on his forehead, pushing his messy (and very soft looking) blond hair back. His gold eyes seemed to be looking right into your soul, calculating yet calm.

God, you wished you could make your eyeliner look remotely similar to his.

He raised an eyebrow at you, and you realized that you’d been staring for what you could only describe as an uncomfortably long amount of time.

Before you could embarrass yourself further, the winged hero placed a gloved hand on your shoulder. He looked at the top of your head, an intrigued expression adorning his face before morphing into an easy smile, he spoke, “‘S no problem, chickadee. Good luck with your interview.”

And just like that, the hero went along his merry way.

Curious what he’d been staring at, not to mention the nickname, you looked up at your hair, which had previously been a bright shade of orange due to being anxious, was now very pink. You blanched at the thought of having lost control of your quirk so easily, in front of a cute guy pro hero who might be your future boss no less.

‘Well,’ you thought, ‘at least I can say I met Japan’s #2 hero even if I don’t get this job.’

~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸

Event No. 2

Much to your surprise, and pleasure, you had indeed received a call from Hawks’ agency about a week later. After several follow up interviews (much more than you were expecting, honestly, but you suppose it made since he’s such a high ranking hero) a very thorough background check, you had gotten the job.

When you had gotten the job, you had been hoping that the blond would have forgotten your first encounter, since you had literally malfunctioned right before his very eyes. The chances of him forgetting weren’t exactly small, after all. You were sure he met plenty of people every day and your interaction had been incredibly brief.

A month into your job as his secretary, you seemed to be in the clear. Sure, he knew about your quirk, since he was your employer and the ever-changing array of colors in your hair aren’t exactly subtle, but seeing as he hadn’t mentioned it so he’d probably forgotten.

You’d stayed at the agency long after your shift was overdue to a couple of low-ranking villains attempting to rob a bank. It had been an easy win for Hawks, he was in and out of there long before his sidekicks had even gotten there, but the villains had caused a lot of unnecessary damage to the building, so there was a ridiculous amount of paperwork.

You couldn’t wait to get home and change out of your stuffy work clothes and into the comfiest pair of PJs you owned. Your roommate, always a sweetheart, had been kind enough to save you some leftovers from her dinner so all you had to do was warm it up, eat, shower, and crash on your bed.

Whilst you were getting ready to head home, your boss had decided that it was only fair to walk you home, seeing as it was late. You had insisted that he didn’t need to do that, even showing him the can of pepper spray you carried around your person at all times. Still, he’d insisted, and who were you to say no?

The winged hero had originally offered to fly you home, but you’d profusely told him it wasn’t necessary. So, the two of you ended up taking the train. The two of you got a couple of weird stares from your fellow passengers, seeing as the flying hero was taking a train instead of y’know… flying and his wings took a significantly large part of the seat the two of you were occupying (it seemed uncomfortable but he didn’t mention it). Hawks seemed to either not notice or not care, opting instead to have an animated conversation with you about the best fried chicken places in Fukuoka. It was mostly him talking, but you’d add to the conversation every once in a while, and sometimes people would interrupt and ask for an autograph, which he’d sign with a carefree smile on his face.

“You don’t have to walk me home, sir,” you told him after the two of you had exited the station closest to your apartment.

“What kind of hero would I be if I let a civilian walk alone across the dark streets of Japan?” He asked you, tone light and teasing. “Also, didn’t I tell you to call me Hawks? Sir makes me feel old.”

You rolled your eyes playfully at his words, turning to the left towards your apartment. You’d get there soon and a small part of you wanted to keep the banter going for as long as possible.

“I don’t think that would be very professional of me, sir,” you said playfully. He laughed and the two of you settled into a comfortable silence while you walked.

After a moment, he shoved his hands into his coat pockets and he spoke up, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, how exactly does your quirk work?”

“Oh well, y’know, it changes color depending on my mood, so red means I’m angry, blue can mean I’m sad or calm, pink means I’m flustered or embarrassed, purple means I’m scared, etc.”

“So your hair went pink the first time we met because you were starstruck by my devilishly good looks?” He asked in a faux haughty tone. “Don’t worry, I don’t blame you.”

The asshole remembered your first encounter.

Your hair turned pink and you celebrated inwardly as you approached your apartment. As you opened the glass door to the complex, Hawks laughed at your hurry.

“Good night,” you stated, tone indignant at his laughter, as you made your way inside.”

“‘Night, Pinky.”

~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸

Event No. 3

Working for the red-winged hero himself was both everything you were expecting it to be and completely the opposite of it at the same time.

The hours were crazy, something you were anticipating considering villain activity had been increasing and your boss was a busy public figure. What you were certainly not anticipating, however, was that Hawks would be such a teasing little shit.

Not only had the man remembered your first encounter, but after you had explained your quirk to him (he’d asked you about it despite it being in the agency’s records since you had applied for the position, you guessed he’d done it as a way to break the ice) he’d taken it upon himself to fluster you to get your hair to go that embarrassingly bright shade of pink.

He’d call you all sorts of nicknames ranging from pinky to songbird (your favorite was by far Pinky since it feels so personal. Not that you’d ever tell him that). He’d also gotten into the habit of trying out all sorts of ridiculous pick up lines on you. The greater majority of them were bird-related, of course. Those never really got you but they did make you laugh.

The one that probably got you the most was when he’d bring you your favorite drink or lunch from a place you’d mentioned you’d like offhandedly, saying he had just been “flying by” and remembered your conversation.

You didn’t mind his flirtatious banter in the slightest. He never crossed any boundaries and kept things professional when it came to business. It was pretty fun to see what nicknames or pickup lines he had up his sleeves.

The only downside was that you’d begun to develop a slight crush on the red-winged hero. It would never lead to anything, you were well aware of that. He was not only a famous hero who was constantly under public scrutiny, but he was also your boss.

It can’t hurt to dream though.

“What’s got you so distracted?” An all too familiar broke your very him-centric train of thought. You looked up from the paperwork you’d been blankly staring at. You’d been trying to multitask between eating and doing paperwork so you wouldn’t have to take any work home. After much insistence from your roommate, who was well aware of your crush on Your boss (she’d teasingly gifted you a pair of Hawks themed PJs on your birthday), you had finally given in and agreed to let her set you up on a date with a former schoolmate of hers.

“Nothing, just thinking about a date I have tonight,” you lied, looking up from your desk to meet those lovely honey-colored eyes you spent more hours than you’d care to admit thinking about. You scanned his body language, trying to gauge his reaction. Not that you could ever get a read on him. More often than not, it was impossible to get a read on him under the visage of carefree indifference he was so well known for. In the almost half a year you’d known him you’d never once seen the hero lose his cool or show any emotion other than the ones he wanted to portray. It was kind of unfair seeing as he could get a picture-perfect look into your thoughts and emotions just by looking at the color of your hair and here you were, left grasping at straws.

He seemed to have no outward reaction other than his shoulders tensing and his eyebrows scrunching up a bit in mild distaste. It was gone so fast you were sure you must have just imagined it.

“Pinky’s got themselves a date?” he said after a moment, a slightly forced teasing tilt to his voice. He crossed his hands and placed them on the taller part of your desk and leaned his weight on them, staring down at you with a cheeky grin.

“I guess so,” you said, fiddling with your chopsticks as you continued, “I’m kind of nervous though. I haven’t got on any dates since I started working here, I’m a little rusty.”

“How come you haven’t gone on any dates?” he asked, staring at you with an intensity you weren’t quite expecting from him. “Had a special someone in mind?”

The roots of your hair went white in surprise before you managed to school them into going back to your natural hair color. It was brief but he had surely noticed.

“I’d go on lots of dates if my boss gave me more days off,” you said, pushing past the momentary lull in the conversation and giving him a pointed look.

He let out a laugh, a real and genuine one, unlike the ones he’d let out during interviews or out in public. The thought made your face heat up. It made you feel special. Even if he didn’t see you in the same way you saw him, he at least trusted you enough to be real around you. That was enough for you.

“You’ve got nothing to be nervous about, kid, any person would be lucky to land a date with someone as beautiful as you,” He stated, looking at you with a certain emotion behind his gaze that you couldn’t quite decipher. “If your date happens to go south, just give me a call and I’ll pick you up. After all, what kind of hero would I be if I didn’t look out for my secretary?”

You looked at his retreating form, your hair as pink as bubble gum and heart threatening to beat out of your rib cage. He’d just called you beautiful. He’d also said that anyone would be lucky to date you. Did that include him? Did he like you?

“Hey Hawks,” you called out, surprising both him and yourself. Despite him telling you to just call him Hawks instead of ‘sir’, you’d stuck to calling him sir for the sake of professionality. “Thanks for the offer.”

~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸

Event No. 4

You let out a tired sigh as you watched the number of floors go up on the tiny screen atop the doors of the elevator you were currently in.

When you had signed your contract to work at Hawks’ agency, you were aware that you would need to be accessible 24/7, however, you thought that if he did contact you at an ungodly hour, it’d be for something important, perhaps something along the lines of a press scandal or a massive villain attack that you’d need to start filing paperwork promptly so that the agency could report the casualties or cost of the destruction. You had highly doubted Hawks, Japan’s literal #2 hero would call his secretary at 3:00 a.m. in the goddamn morning and order them to bring him a bucket of fried chicken from fucking KFC.

You clearly hadn’t known the man at the time, you thought as you stared at the red and white bucket in your arms.

The elevator dinged, alerting you that you had arrived at your destination. Making your way through the hallway, you tried to figure out why your boss would be so cruel as to make you get him fast food when he had two perfectly capable wings that could take him to and from the nearest KFC faster than you ever could. You bet it’d even be warmer.

You’d need to download UberEats on his phone.

Before your fist could make contact with the door, it was swung open, surprising your half-asleep brain. Before your eyes there was a very awake looking Hawks, his eyes zeroed in on the bucket you were holding

“Hey there, chickadee,” he said in a teasing tone, resting his arm on the door frame in a very attractive manner. God, if you were just a bit more coherent and a little less sleep-deprived, your hair would be the most embarrassingly bright pink color imaginable.

Thankfully, you weren’t and you could hear your bed calling your name from across the city, so without bothering to answer, you shoved the bucket of chicken into his arms before turning around to speed your way back to your at this point cold bed.

Before you could get very far, however, Hawks had grabbed your wrist with your free hand.

“You’re not leaving already, are you?” He asked you, letting go of your wrist.

“It’s 3 in the goddamn morning, Hawks,” was your deadpan answer.

“C’mon, you wouldn’t let your poor boss eat all alone would you,” you could tell his tone was meant to be light and playful but it was lacking his usual flare.

Your concern for the overgrown pigeon won out, and with a defeated sigh, you walked into his apartment, Hawks trailing behind you, visibly pleased that you stayed.

Despite all your time working for Hawks, you’d never actually been inside of his apartment. You had come here several times before to drop off documents he needed to sign or a new schedule (because the Hero Commission apparently couldn’t send emails directly to him) but you had always left the things at his building's front desk.

Hawks’ apartment was… emptier than you had expected it to be. It was nice, the furniture was obviously high quality, not that it was surprising considering he was a high ranking hero, but it lacked a personal touch. It had no pictures or knick-knacks in sight. It felt more like a house instead of an actual home.

“So, how’d your date go?” Hawks inquired once the two of you settled in his living room, him on the couch and you in the armchair next to it. He picked up a piece of chicken, offering it to you. However, it was far too early to even think about consuming food, so you politely declined.

“It was fine. He was nice,” you answered.

To be honest the date had gone well. He’d been nice, a complete gentleman. He’d taken you to a nice restaurant, he was great in conversation, he’d even walked you home but at the end of the night, the two of you had agreed that there was just no chemistry between the two of you whatsoever. You had decided to just stay friends.

“There won’t be a second one, though,” you added after a beat of silence.

“Good,” your eyes widened at his words and suddenly you had an epiphany.

Hawks had been jealous. He was jealous because he liked you. That’s why he had asked you to come here.

Before you could voice your thoughts, he spoke again, a sly smirk on his face, “By the way, I love your pajamas. I wasn’t aware you were such a fan.”

Your hair turned pink, as it often did whenever Hawks was around when you looked down at your clothes. In your haste to get Hawks his food so you could go back to bed, you had forgone changing clothes. You hadn’t realized you were wearing the Hawks themed PJs your roommate had gotten you as a gag gift. They were mustard-colored with lots of cute red feathers and tiny Hawks chibi heads scattered around the fabric.

He would never let you live this down.

~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸

Event No. 5

Following the KFC event, the two of you hadn’t spoken about the situation further. At this point, you were well aware of his feelings for you, and you hadn’t exactly been subtle about liking him. The two of you just hadn’t spoken about it. You weren’t official but there was an unspoken rule that neither of you would go on dates with other people.

You were fine with it. Really, you were.

Except that you were definitely not okay with it and you were very much upset that he had just answered that he was single when the lady that had interviewed him had asked him if he was seeing anyone.

Rationally, you understood why he said no. You weren’t official and saying yes would just throw the media into a frenzy while they speculated who he was seeing. You remember how crazy everyone went a couple of months ago when pictures of Mirko and Hawks in their street clothes hanging out started circulating on Twitter. They were trending for weeks, and you had had to answer call after call, explaining that no, they are not dating and no, they don’t have time to go on the 8:00 a.m. news to answer questions about what it was like to date as pro heroes.

On the other hand, you were tired of dancing around each other. You were aware that dating a pro hero would come with hectic schedules and even some danger, but you didn’t care.

“So I was thinking you could come over and we can watch that hero documentary you told me to watch- hey are you mad at me?” Hawks asked, brows furrowed as in confusion.

“No, I’m not angry at you,” you answered, putting your stuff away and heading to the agency’s doors. You were more than ready to go back to your apartment and there was a pint of your favorite ice cream waiting for you in the freezer with your name on it.

“You totally are,” he scoffed, following after you.

“No, I'm not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I am not.”

“Yes, you are.” Your overgrown pigeon of a boss insisted, mimicking your tone, “If you’re not angry then why is your hair red?”

With a sigh, you spoke, failing to hide the snarky tone to your voice “So what if I am angry? Why do you care? It’s not like we’re dating or anything.” You walked out onto the sidewalk.

“Oh, that’s what you're upset about?” He asked, realization dawning upon his features. When you didn’t answer he kept talking, “You of all people know why I didn’t say anything.”

“I know. It’s just- nothing, never mind. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” You told him, looking away with a defeated sigh.

You were about to walk away before he stopped you by placing his glove cladded hand  

“At least let me take you home,” it wasn’t much of a question, but you nodded anyways.

All of a sudden, you let out a shrill scream when he picked you up bridal style, hands instinctively clasping on to his coat to assure you wouldn’t fall.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking you home,” he explained as if it were obvious. Before you had a chance to argue he set off into the sky.

You couldn’t hear anything but the wind in your ears and his heartbeat, but you finally understood why he loved flying so much. Exhilarating was the only word you could use to describe it. And cold. It was also really cold. You understood why he walked around with such a heavy coat now. You snuggled more into him, trying to get some more warmth, which caused Hawks to tighten his hold on you. The affectionate gesture alone had your hair going a shade of pink.

You got to your apartment building much faster than you ever would by taking the train, something that you regretted a bit since it meant he’d let go of you.

“Look, Hawks,” you started, “maybe we should-“

“Keigo,” he said, effectively cutting you off,

“W-what?” You spluttered, caught off guard.

“I want you to call me Keigo,” he said with a sense of finality, looking into your eyes with an emotion you couldn’t quite read, or at least one that you were just choosing to ignore. It’d just make what you were about to suggest harder.

“Look, Hawks,” you started, opening the door that led to the stairs, “I really like you, hell, maybe even more than that, and I want to be with you but I don’t want to be whatever we are right now forever.”

Ignoring the way his wings physically dropped at your words, you closed the door behind you and headed to your apartment.

~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸

Event No. 1

Once you got home, you immediately stripped out of your work clothes and into your Hawks-themed pajamas (because they're the comfiest, not because they remind you of him, obviously) and you’d taken out your ice cream and went to town on it. Your roommate had noticed the dark blue that had taken over your hair but you’d brushed her off, saying it was nothing to worry about. She’d been doubtful, but she had a night shift so she left, but not before making you promise to call her if you needed to.

You’d spent the rest of the evening eating your ice cream and watching tv before deciding to get some sleep so you would feel at least a little less sorry for yourself tomorrow.

You were currently in your room, scrolling through your phone on your bed before calling it a day when you started to hear a tapping sound. You’d ruled it out to be some tree branch knocking against your window due to the wind. However, the longer you ignored it the more incessant it became.

You nearly fell out of your bed when you realized it was Hawks, your boss, the #2 pro hero of Japan, tapping on your window while squatting on your fire escape.

You got up, heading towards your window and unlocking it before pushing it up.  You helped him in before sitting down on the bed and motioning for him to do the same. An awkward silence filled the air, neither of you was quite sure of what you should say.

“Hawks, what are-“ you started before being cut off by him.

“Look, Pinky, I love you so much it scares the shit out of me,” he declared. Your hair went the brightest shade of pink it had ever been at his words.

He played with the embroidered design of the throw blanket you kept in your bed. You don’t think you’ve ever seen the red-winged hero so vulnerable in all your time knowing him.

“But there’s a lot of crap that comes with my job and I could never forgive myself if I brought you into it and you got hurt. So-“ before he could finish speaking, you grabbed onto his coat’s collar with both of your hands and crashed your lips against his.

You’d waited almost an entire year for this. One thing was for certain, it was well worth the wait. You loved every single thing about him. And he loved you. That was all you needed.

After a beat, you pulled away, choosing instead to cup his cheek in an adoring manner. The two of you looked at each other with nothing short of pure unadulterated adoration.

“I love you Keigo,” you spoke his name for the first time, “as long as you’re by my side I don’t care about what happens.”

His reaction was, for lack of a better word, cute. His honey eyes were wide in shock, his face as red as his wings, and his aforementioned wings were puffed up in shock. Now you understood why he loved teasing you so much.

“So, do you wanna watch the documentary?” You asked him, walking out of your room and into the living room with a victorious smirk.

~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸~🌸

[ksyescribe]

Visitor (Shouta Aizawa x Reader)

Prompt: A certain Pro-Hero’s taken a liking to you. So much so that he visits you in the dead of night after particularly difficult patrols.

Ship: Shouta Aizawa x Reader

Content: Fluff, That’s it I was feeling soft,

A/N: I had this idea WEEKS back but when I tried to rewrite it from the first draft to now it just didnt work out. Like I don’t know what the hell it was but it wasn’t coming together. BUT today that hurricane rain came in strong as hell and inspiration struck. Does it flow? I think it does. Does the tone stay consistent? Probably not but it’s part of the learning process. And honestly I loved writing it so whatever :’) I hope you guys enjoy it

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

Few things in Shouta's life truly brought him peace.

He could list them off on one hand if he needed to: the cat cafe that sat on the outskirts of town, a good cup of coffee, the small cabin he owned in the mountains down south, and of course you.

Standing in the doorway to your kitchen, as you busied yourself with making two cups of coffee, he remembered why.

Things were simple with you. When he watched you like this, it was easy for him to pretend just for a second that the two of you lived an ordinary, domestic life. Together.

It's not that he didn't enjoy his hero work, quite the opposite; in fact, he loved it. But when you were around, it was almost as if he craved to settle down, start a family, and just live a normal life like any other civilian could.

But he knew better.

He wasn't a chart-topper hero like All Might or Endeavour, but he still made enemies for himself as he worked. Which meant no one close to him was safe from them as long as he was active.

Hell, his colleagues didn't even know of your existence. But that was mostly because Shouta only visited you in the late hours of the night. After rough patrols, when he needed to destress, he came to you.

It wasn't often. He didn't want to make it a habit of relying on you in case things went south. But, there were nights where his body ached to be with you, and he just couldn't turn himself away from your cozy apartment.

While he lost himself in thought as he watched you, you smiled to yourself as you whipped up some small snacks to go along with your coffee.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up."

The soft tone of his voice broke him out of his trance. It sent small tremors down his spine as a feeling he can only describe as "comfort" settled in the tired crevices of his body. He raised an eyebrow at your back, "How did you know I was here?"

You press your lips together, preventing a full-blown smile from spreading over your lips. Truthfully, you'd heard the click of your balcony door opening earlier. That, paired with the unknown feeling which had been sitting in the pit of your stomach, had alerted you of the Pro-Heroe's arrival.

Breathy laughter fell from your lips, "Just a feeling."

His eyes narrowed at your back as you put the last finishing touches on the drinks and food items at hand.

"What? Like a sixth 'Shouta instinct' or something?" he snorts.

Now, you let out small giggles, "Yeah, something like that."

And then you turn around, and for Shouta, the world stops.

He really should be used to it by now. Really, he should.

It's not like this is the first time he's seen you. He's seen you plenty of times before, but for some reason, it's almost like every single time is the first time.

His eyes drink in the contours of your face. The way sharp edges contrasted with softer curves. The shape of your nose, the quirk of your lips, the way your eyes light up when your gaze lands on him.

God, he's always overwhelmed when he sees you for the first time. His body screams at him to reach out and hold a hand against your face. He wonders if you'd nuzzle your face into the callouses of his hands or if you'd just simply smile at him, content to have him touching you in some sort of way.

The grip he has on his biceps tightens as he crosses his arms tightly to avoid reaching out to you.

He doesn't have that luxury.

You barely notice, still giving him a full-lipped smile as you move towards him with a full cup of coffee. In his 'special' mug nonetheless.

It's a simple little kitten mug you had picked up in some bookstore you'd been browsing. He'd been caught off guard when you presented it to him the first time, that he couldn't help the full-body laugh he had let out.

"I couldn't get a cat, no pets allowed in the apartment." You had said with a small shrug, avoiding his gaze, "Thought this would be the next best thing."

It had quickly become one of many items deemed as "his" within your apartment.

"Every night I get that feeling, you show up," you say as you elaborate on your previous statement.

You're standing in front of him now, an arm's length away, waiting for his hands to reach out so you can pass the mug to him.

"Every, single, time," you say as you push the mug into his outstretched hands, fingers brushing against his for a mere moment.

He inhales sharply as he feels your fingers brush his for that small second. Just that tiny brush has his skin on fire. His hands felt electric.

You look at him with wide eyes and an even wider smile as you hear him take a deep breath. You mistakenly assume it's to smell the coffee, "It's a new brew! It smells just divine, doesn't it?"

Shouta's not fond of overused cliches, but he can't help but think of the word "sparkle" as he looks into your eyes. The light reflecting off them showcases your intense joy. It felt infectious. He can feel himself soften even more as he takes in your expression. Your face practically radiates happiness as you look up at him expectantly.

"Yes," he breathes out, "Divine."

Your eyes widen a fraction at his reaction, a small trembling breath slipping past your lips. Your eyes drop as you feel your cheeks begin to heat up at the implications of his words. He can't possibly be talking about coffee with that sort of tone, right?

Clearing your throat quietly, you step back, turning around to collect your mug from the counter.

His fingers tighten around the mug as he watches the space between you grow again.

He hates it.

Hates keeping you at arm's length. He wants you with him.

Every second of every day. He wants you at his side.

It's a realization he's come to over the past few months of this arrangement. Coming to your apartment past midnight. You welcoming him with open arms, even going as far as feeding him.

He's fallen for you.

Despite the dangers of his life. Despite what he's done to keep this "relationship," the two of you have as platonic as possible. You've somehow managed to burrow yourself deep into his heart. In all honesty, he's not sure he wants to remove you from there.

It's why he hasn't stepped foot inside your house for the last few weeks. He needed to put some distance between you. Something to reduce the effect you had on him.

But now, standing here in your kitchen again. It seems like the distance only made his feelings stronger.

He's hopelessly in love with you, and he isn't sure what he can even do about it.

His attention is once again captured by you, as you gesture towards the table. Taking the hint, he moves over, seating himself in one of the unoccupied chairs. You across from him in the other, placing down a plate with food in front of him.

Silently, he dips his head in a small bow, thanking you for the food.

"Itadakimasu," you mumble before taking a sip of the dark liquid. Shouta mimics your actions, relishing in the warmth that the coffee provides him.

It's perfect. Sweet with just a tang of bitterness to keep him grounded.

The two of you sit silently. Picking off items from the plate as you continue to sip your drinks.

You're the one who breaks the silence.

"Did" you pause before continuing, "did I do something?"

Shouta pauses for a mere second, his lips centimeters from the rim of the cup as he takes in your stuttering inquiry. Then, he takes a sip before raising an eyebrow at you, "What do you mean?"

You gaze down at the dark liquid, your fingers fidgeting around the mug as you gather up the courage to speak again.

"I just," you let out a small sigh before continuing, "Before tonight, you hadn't passed by in weeks."

He watches as you bite your lip, eyes fluttering closed for a moment before opening them once again. Your gaze finding his.

"I just wanted to know if I did anything to offend you..." you trail off hesitantly.

Once again, Shouta's reminded of how beautiful your face is. Even with concerned features, the beauty doesn't leave your face at all.

His head begins to shake, "No. You didn't do anything. Trust me."

Already, the creases of worry begin to disappear from your face.

"Then, what is it?" you ask as you tilt your head at him.

He brings the mug back up to his lips. Taking long sips, he buys some time to think of an excuse. What can he even say to you?

"I..." he trails off, racking his brain for anything. God, he's usually so fast with his kids, but it seems like that's nonexistent with you.

But he doesn't get a chance to respond before you blurt out, "If it's because of me, I promise that you aren't an inconvenience!"

You lean forward on your elbows as you speak quickly but quietly, "I swear! I may be quiet because it's past midnight, not that there's anything wrong with you showing up at this hour, but I promise I really enjoy your presence. I mean, it's nice to have someone to talk to. It gets lonely around here, and I'm always looking forward to your visits. I really like you, you know?"

Shouta manages to keep his expression passive, but he can't help but inhale sharply at your declaration.

Your eyes widen as you realize what you let slip out. That sets you off on another talking spree.

"O-Oh my god I didn't mean to. I just, I mean, you're a wonderful person to be around. You're good company to have around. Not that anyone's saying you're not good company. I just, oh god, I'm so sorry for making this awkward. You don't have to say anything I promise I'll just drink my coffee in silence and you can lea-"

Shouta's hand on your wrist causes you to stop abruptly. He holds your gaze over the rim of his cup as he takes another drink. He's not saying anything, but still, you feel your cheeks burning. God, he probably thinks you're an absolute idiot.

Quietly he places the cup down, raising an eyebrow at you, "So, you like me?"

If possible, the warm sensation on your cheeks gets stronger. He's trying to get a reaction out of you, and it's working.

"I-I..." you stutter out weakly. But he's already shaking his head at you, a sly smile on his face.

"It's okay, kiddo," you scowl at the despised nickname he calls you, "I'm fond of you too."

"I'm only five years younger than you!" you retort back.

"Is that what you decided to focus on?" He strokes long lines along your wrist as he smirks at you, waiting for you to counter.

You're so thrown off that you can't respond. Instead, you open and close your mouth as you try to formulate a response. Your brain's still trying to process his confession.

He tilts his head at you, "So, you want to know why I haven't been coming around these past few weeks?"

Not trusting your voice, you nod slowly at him.

"Well," he clears his throat, his eyes dropping to where his hand is resting on your wrist, "there's no reason for me to beat around the bush, so I'll just come out and say it."

Your eyebrows pull together as you look on curiously, sensing the shift of his tone.

"I stopped coming around because I felt like I was getting too attached to you." His eyes flick back up to yours, watching as you try to decipher what his words mean.

You knew that Shouta was an independent man. Lived alone, worked alone, fought alone. He held everything he needed to survive and fight within himself. So you can understand that distancing himself from something when he became too dependent would be logical. But, you didn't think that applied to people too. Regardless, why would depending on people be such a bad thing?

He watches as you lose yourself deep in thought. You're mouthing inaudible words as you confusingly work your way through the ideas in your head. He figures you'll need a helping hand to make sense of it all.

"What I mean to say is," he watches your eyes meet his, "I started to develop feelings for you. Knowing my track record, with villains and all, I thought it'd be best to put some distance between us."

Immediately you're sitting up straighter, the mood in the room shifting quickly.

"That isn't your decision to make." Your eyes bore into his, all traces of playfulness and nervousness disappearing from your face, "I know what your work entails. I know it's dangerous, but I don't care. I'm the only one who gets to decide if something is too dangerous for me to handle. You don't get to do that for me."

In his grasp, you turn your hand over, as you slide your pal up to meet his. He watches as you interlace your fingers together. Your fingers filling the gaps between his perfectly.

"And I already decided a long time ago that being with you is worth it." You squeeze his hand reassuringly as you finish talking.

His gaze trained on where you're joined together. There's an indescribable emotion unfurling deep within his chest. His eyes flit back up to meet yours, determination shines clearly within them.

"I have enemies. People who want to harm me. They'll come for you too."

"I know," your gaze never wavers, "and I don't care. Let them come for me."

He'll die before he lets any of them come near you.

"I'm constantly working. If it's not school, then I'm patrolling."

"I know, and I don't care. My schedule's changing weekly. It doesn't bother me."

"I can't give you a normal relationship."

"I don't want normal. I want you."

Empty mugs and dinnerware sit between the two of you. Your hands are still joined together in the middle of the table.

You hold each other's gaze, attempting to decipher the emotions that swirl within your eyes. Shouta's hesitation shines brightly within his. He's not sure if he wants to drag him down into this world with him. Your determination doesn't falter, but now there's hope that mixes with it. You're not scared of this. He's a good man, and you'd risk anything to stand at his side.

"It seems like you've thought about this a lot."

You nod at him, "I have."

He nods silently, eyes flickering back to your hands, "Well, since it's your choice, what do you want to do? Now that you have all the facts, that is."

You take a deep breath, a smile finding its way onto your lips, "I want you to go out on a date with me."

He lets out a breath of laughter. You sure don't waste time. "I'm free next Saturday. But let me tell you, I'm not particularly fond of those over the top places."

You snort, waving him off with your free hand, "Luckily for you, I'm not either."

You give his hand a small reassuring squeeze, glancing at him, "Saturday at 8?"

"Saturday at 8."

[thewriterwithnoplan]

Fire, Brimstone and the Glory of Gotham (Part 1)

Summary: Bart Allen always seems to know something about something. Strange facts or secrets or theories gifted to him from his soulmate. This ‘gift’ along with his forbidden speed wielding abilities, get him landed smack bang in the center of the Gotham Resistance - an army fighting against the Reach with the help of villains and assassins. Tangled up with the Council of Robins - an elitist group of heroic descendants - and their fearless leader Y/N Drake AKA Commander Apocalypse, Bart must navigate this new environment like a minefield. Because one wrong step could bring his life and the lives of every last human being, to a short and bitter end. Pairing: Bart Allen x Reader Word Count: 2377 Warnings: Probably swearing.

The Reach liked to say that Humans had brought this upon themselves. With their medalling heroes and their strange customs. They liked to blame the Earth itself for being so enticing with its meta-humans and its soulmates. It had only been a matter of time before an alien race had discovered the true power human's harbored and decided to take it for themselves.

Sometimes Y/N wondered if the Reach would have left them well enough alone without soulmates. Not that she'd ever wanted a soulmate or even given the concept much thought. But the arrival of the Reach had put humanity at an impasse, and it was common knowledge nowadays that soulmates were not something to celebrate.

In fact, many couples despised each other or went as far as getting rid of their soul bound. Significant others or relationships of any kind were far too dangerous in the modern era. Why would you want a soulmate when the most they could do was give you more to worry about? Honestly, Y/N couldn't see the appeal and that was perhaps the only thing that had kept her alive all these years.

"Ready?" Mari' Grayson – Y/N's closest thing to a sister – nudged her softly, green-glowing eyes innocently curious. The H/C haired girl kept her eyes trained dutifully forward, watching the digital numbers flash above them, announcing their acescent through the elevator shaft.

"Kind of feeling the mode actually," She answered honestly.

Y/N hated choosing ceremonies. Hand-picking someone to put their life on the line in order to help them in their war against the Reach. But it was one of her most important jobs as Commander of the Gotham Resistance. If she chose wrong and they accidentally divulged secrets to a spy, the entire operation could come crumbling down. It was one of the few things that Y/N despised about her life; the fact that she had to send people to their deaths and the fact that said people were willingly lining up for it.

"Have you seen the line up yet?" Mari' asked as she repositioned her tiara and brushed off her purple vigilante outfit, appearing far too old to be a mere ten years old. "Riding Hood says there'll be mostly civilians like usual, but apparently one of the descendants is going to come. Crash, huh?"

"A descendant? As in, child of one of the old heroes?" Y/N frowned at the too eager nod she received from Mari', "Haven't seen a new one of them in a good few years. Speaking of Riding Hood where is Jocelyn? I thought one of the Todds would want to be here especially if there's supposed to be a descendant."

"Uncle Jason has them off patrolling Star City." The young girl shrugged, raven curls bouncing with the gesture. "Apparently the Arrows called in a Code Blue."

"They saw Blue Beatle, and nobody thought to tell me?"

"They asked specifically for the Todd's help." She murmured timidly. "You know how the Arrows get, but Uncle Roy and Lian trust them."

"Still Mari' we've talked about this," Y/N sighed as she straightened out her own outfit – mostly consisting of black with red and yellow highlights, "Jocelyn may be eldest, but I was elected as Commander."

Mari' gave a small apologetic smile as the pair continued to stare at the many, many levels of the Batcave. Once upon a time – according to Mari's father, Dick Grayson – there had only been a few small levels that they mostly used as a base of operations. It was still a base of operations, but desperate times had called it into service for more than that.

After the destruction of the Mount. Justice, Bruce Wayne had gone to work on the cave. And thank the gods he had. The rebellion didn't just work out of the Batcave, they all lived there. They had been forced to after the destruction of Wayne manor. It was the only home that Y/N had ever known. She'd been raised here, trained here, had run the Resistance from within the cold stone walls for years.

But it was times like these that she didn't recognize the compound. Perhaps it was because she was so very different from the starry-eyed girl that had bounced the halls like Mari' herself could. Sometimes she envied the young girl for her innocence – even if she was prone to violent joy like the rest of them. Y/N would never admit it but sometimes her mind wandered, and she found herself contemplating what it would be like if she wasn't the second oldest.

"We'd likely all be dead," The boy behind them chimed, making Mari' jump out of her skin. Even Y/N had forgotten that Dorian Wayne was there. "Yeah, people do that a lot."

"Again Dorian, stop reading my mind."

Gods sometimes Y/N fucking hated Dorian. Don't get her wrong the boy was basically her sibling – as was Jocelyn and Mari' – but he could drive her crazy sometimes. His Telepathy could get rather pesky in a domestic situation, so it was lucky that they were barely ever off the battlefield. Besides, Y/N would have to deal with Dorian anyway even if they hadn't been almost siblings. The fact that the boy was heir to the League of Assassins always seemed to work in their favor despite the fact that Dorian was a dumbass.

"Rude." He hissed lightly, although she knew that he put up with them too. From what he'd told her, the Resistance's compound was a much better place to be raised in comparison to the League of Assassins. Even if they were constantly in battles or at these choosing ceremonies or sitting through lengthy council meetings.

Dorian frowned at her, "I was being serious though. If you weren't the commander, then the Resistance would probably have been moded years ago."

"That's crash of you D." Y/N gave a dry chuckle. "But I'm just the face of the Resistance, the Council is a collective it's not just me pulling the strings."

"Bullshit," He grumbled like a small child – unsurprising for his fourteen years. "We all listen to you. Mari' follows you like a puppy and Jocelyn... Bad example but if she listens to anyone it's you."

"Thank you, Dorian."

"It's true," Mari' grinned up at her, "Whenever Daddy stops by, he says that the Old Heroes would have liked you. He thinks you're the perfect leader for the Council of Robins."

"Sweetheart." Y/N sighed deeply as the young girl sniffled softly. It wasn't often that Dick Grayson – the Golden boy and first Robin – was seen or discussed but whenever he came up it was a sore subject. Ever since that first day when he had swooped in, dropped Mari' off and disappeared they'd all made it clear how they felt about him. But the Council – meaning Dorian, Jocelyn, and Y/N – knew how important that relationship was to Mari'. It didn't make it hurt any less.

They'd all been there though. Mari' was just the latest one to be dumped at the compound where all sorts of meta children seemed to end up. Although Mari' was still one of the lucky ones, children - like the ones they were going to be choosing from – often didn't have parents and had to fight to get a place in the Resistance. Even meta-humans and descendants of the old heroes had to earn their keep. Mari' was more fortunate than she knew, being born into her position on the Council of Robins was probably the only thing that had kept her alive all these years.

Y/N sighed and pulled the young girl - who was still unnervingly small for her age - to sit on her hip. Dorian and Y/N began cooing at their fellow Robin, talking about how proud of her they were. It was something they all did for each other, especially since only Jason had stuck around for his child. Neither of the elder council members seemed to hear the elevator ding over their coddling but they certainly realized after the doors opened. Eight young faces stared at the three Robin's as they swiftly straightened and exited the elevator.

"Not a word." Was all Dorian bothered to say to them as he settled into a highbacked office chair. Despite the fact that the black leather half-swallowed him, he still managed to make the gesture look threatening. Y/N stifled a laugh as she gently set Mari' down and took her own seat.

"Now," Y/N said calmly, "As most of you know, the Resistance houses all those who can make it here-" A few tense shoulders slackened in relief but then the girl added sharply, "However. Those of you who are here to join our fighters will not be so easily accepted. If you would like to take a place in the Resistance step forward."

One of the boys stepped forward eagerly, almost vibrating with excitement. The others seemed less than sure as they glanced between one another. Only three more stepped forward before the remaining four were escorted out and to whatever room that Alice Pennyworth - their head of care and communication - had assigned them.

Y/N glanced at the four left - the over-eager-brunette-boy, a stoic-blond-girl and a pair of twins who stood far too still to be natural. Dorian frowned at her, motioning to his head as if to say; let me read their minds. She sent him a harsh glare, the last time he had tried to read anyone but his family's minds - who he got into far too easily - they'd ended up as drooling messes on the floor.

Noticing that her cousins were caught up in a glaring competition Mari' spoke for them, "What makes you special?"

"I am Kun and this is Lou." The first twin said softly, "We hail from Metropolis."

Someone sucked in a sharp breath at the mention of Gotham's sister city. Metropolis was said to be a dead zone for anyone foolish enough to go anywhere in the vicinity. Once upon a time, it had been protected by the Superfamily who had run an operation much like the Council of Robin's.

Whenever Damian Wayne and Jon Kent visited, they often spoke about how it had once been the Sunshine city. Nowadays Gotham was the only safe place - save Star city thanks to the Arrows but they didn't run anything like the Resistance, they protected it mostly for spite. So, coming from Metropolis was skill enough.

"I spent three years in the pits," The red-haired girl huffed. It suddenly made sense why her body was mostly muscle even when her face seemed hollow. Kids who got caught by the more merciful Reach members were sent to the pits where they mined for them or fought each other for entertainment.

The over-eager-brunette-boy sped forward a few steps as he blurted, "I'm the last descendant of the Flash!"

Silence rolled over the room as the three other contenders winced. Descendants were usually their most sought-after members. Often, they got accepted immediately after a blood test. But a child if the Flash? Yeah, Y/N didn't think so, she sent Dorian a look that said as much. He nodded once and drew the sword from across his back. Mari' jumped slightly, skittered off her seat and leaped onto Y/N’s lap.

“Children of Flash are enemies of the Council of Robin’s,” Dorian gave a savage grin as Mari’ buried her head in the crook of her Y/N’s neck, “Leave Gotham or we will be forced to call in a full response.”

A full response. Not something they did for just anyone but speedsters? Hell yeah, they were going to call everyone they knew. The Council of Robin’s had lost far too much at the hands of the Flash and his descendants. It had been one of the Flash’s descendants – Y/N had never cared to learn which one - who had chosen to check on his soulmate instead of saving countless civilians. The decision had left Jocelyn’s mother, Nightingale, Mari’s mother, Starfire, and Y/N’s own mother – Wandera – at the mercy of the Reach’s very worst members.

The Council of Robins - and the Gotham Resistance by extension – liked to call it the Spitfire complex. It could happen to anyone if you thought about it, but those with the power of the speed force seemed programmed that way. They fell madly, irreversibly in love. Y/N thought it might have been nice had they not been living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where that sort of bullshit could get them all killed. Spitfires were dangerous, they often went insane if their other half passed – so Y/N wasn’t taking any chances.

“Wait n-” The boy protested only to be cut off by Dorian placing his katana at his neck.

Y/N nodded to the girl and the pair of twins, “You three are dismissed, training starts tomorrow at eighteen hundred.”

“Thank you, Commander.” The girl breathed in relief, that tough exterior breaking for a moment as she ducked her head in thanks and followed as Alice returned to lead them to their quarters.

Y/N’s eyes settled on the brunette. He was so energetic in a way that she could almost feel the innocence rolling off of him in waves. It almost made her feel guilty for nodding to Dorian and watching as her cousin dragged the shaking boy off. But that boy – no matter how innocent he seemed – would grow to be just like the man who had let her mother and the mothers of her beloved cousins die.

Mari’ looked up at Y/N with round green eyes, as she huddled tighter into her embrace. She whispered something far too softly for the older girl to hear. Again, and again the youngest Robin whispered until her voice grew confident enough for Y/N to hear.

“Nightstar,” Mari’ murmured, a small smile erasing the wary look in her eyes. The tradition always did that to any of the Robin’s on the Council. It had started with their mothers – whispering their names until they felt free enough to say it to the world – and they had passed it to the Council.

“Nightstar.”

Y/N smiled softly down at the young Tameranian as she added her own name to the chant, “Apocalypse.”

@hm02​

[realityhelixcreates]

Lasabrjotr Chapter 55: Shut Up and Dance With Me

Chapters: 55/? Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Teen And Up Warnings: none Relationships: Loki x Reader (Ah, there we go) Characters: Loki (Marvel), Thor(Marvel), Tony Stark, natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, Clint Barton, Vision, Pepper Potts, Wand Maximoff Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), FINALLY

It’s time to party.

Loki draped a fur-trimmed cape over his shoulders, turning this way and that in the mirror to admire his  reflection. Was he alluring enough? Regal enough? He knew you'd be wearing the dress, and had chosen his clothes to compliment it. The two of you would look so good together.

Despite whatever anxiety he might feel over being surrounded by his brothers friends all weekend, he certainly looked forward to dancing with you.

Some of their best musicians would be there, and there would be served Asgardian delicacies...as well as could be approximated, at least. He was well tempted to trick everyone into trying the crystal mead, but as much as he'd like to see your silly, drunken face again, he really didn't want everyone else to see it. That was his, for as long as he could keep it.

It wouldn't be forever. No aspect of you would be his forever, that was simply the way life was. Your family, your friends, even that odious Todd had all known things about you that he was just beginning to learn. He intended to outdo them all, if you agreed, of course.

Maybe Thor was right. Maybe he was ready. He'd thought it impossible, with all the many personal flaws and problems he still had to deal with. But maybe he would never actually fix them all. Maybe he would never be the perfect being he could just barely see in his future. Odin had been far from perfect, after all. Frigga hadn't even reached that perfection, and yet, she and Odin had been happy together.

Could he really have that?

It wouldn't be the same as what they had, he already knew that. The same relationship never existed twice. That was part of the beauty of it. Whatever you and he might have, it would be yours and his alone.

How wonderful.

He preened in the mirror a few moments more. Perhaps he truly was handsome? Not in the Asgardian sense, but to humans? And perhaps, as humans and Asgardians influenced each other, people like him would become desirable to both species.

If there even were other people like him. Adopted, miniature, shape-shifting, royal Frost Giant Aesir were probably not too common throughout Yggdrasil.

But that just made him more valuable! He was a very rare, perhaps one-of-a-kind creature. He just had to keep telling himself things like that, until he, one day, believed it.

He placed a coronet over his black curls, the horns so reduced as to be no more than an elegantly etched design on the front.

When he left to pick you up, he found you already gone. You had been so eager to meet all your heroes in person, you must have just taken Saldis and left the instant you'd gotten dressed. Excitable little thing. Still, he'd better hurry. He didn't want you alone with those unpredictable savages for very long, even if Romanoff was there to keep them in line.

                                                                         *****

“-And then I punched him in the nose!” You exclaimed to raucous laughter. “Aw come on guys, I was terrified!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Sam said. “It's just the image of Tall, Dark, and Grumpy standing in between cupcake displays, getting popped in the face by a civilian...”

“It's delightful.” Tony interrupted. “I lifted that frame from the video. It's my new lockscreen.”

“So he really did kidnap you?” Said the young one-Peter-the one you didn't know anything about. “He didn't even tell you why he was there?”

“Well...yeah.” You admitted reluctantly. “He was on a really restricted deadline. Kinda literally. I really was dying, and he was sick too. And it wasn't like he could stay long. He's not allowed to be in the States by himself.”

“And his Royal Highness had to pull quite a few strings to get that calmed down.” Tony added.

“Loki isn't always straightforward, but when he is, he is very much so.” Thor said gravely. “In this case, he was making the effort to be altruistic. Methods aside, his heart was in the right place.”

“I think his heart was in staying alive.” Tony snarked. “He wasn't gonna just let himself die because some little lady was dragging him down.”

“Rude.” You said.

“Unfortunately, my brother has proven far too willing to let himself die in the past.” Thor pointed out.

Tony shut his mouth.

“I could use another drink.” Pepper said, and Tony instantly leaped up and took himself to the banquet table in search of one.

“Don't worry about it.” Thor told you. “He's just getting it out of his system before Loki arrives. Unfortunately, Loki awakens in him the same kind of trouble that dust does for you.”

“Oh!” You said, finally understanding. Most of the others seemed kind of tense or indifferent towards Loki, but Tony Stark was downright hostile. But that made sense now, if he suffered like you did.

Honestly, it would be surprising if any of them didn't have something that triggered them.

“Dust?” Peter asked.

“Uh, yeah. I don't like dust. Something bad happened, and there was a lot of dust involved, and it just stuck with me. It's okay, we just keep the place real clean.”

You noticed the curious looks, the exchanged, questioning glances.

Steve leaned forward, clearing his throat. “Miss _____,” He began.

The door guard interrupted. “Your Majesty and guests! His Highness, Crown Prince Loki Odinson of Asgard has arrived.”

Several of those glances shot to Tony, who had come back to the couches with a drink for Pepper, and one for himself.

“It's okay, it's okay.” He said. “I'm good. At least he announced himself instead of just popping in behind me or something. It's cool. I'm good.”

Loki peeked around the door first, before sweeping regally into the room. You scooted over on the couch, making a space for him, but he visited the banquet table first, bringing you a glass of juice and a small plate of tasty tidbits.

“Good evening, my dear. I have come to bring you better company.”

There were a few derisive snorts, but mostly, everyone went back to their conversations. You heard someone say “Boom. You looking for this?” and Saldis's peal of delighted laughter, Loki questioning whether the wizard Strange was allowed to be there, and the wizard claiming that he'd had a royal invitation. Loki sneered, but Thor just shrugged.

“You need to touch base every now and again.” He explained. “Make sure nothing is going wrong, everything's stable, all those magical things that are over my head.”

Both Loki and Strange made matched scoffing noises, but did start up a somewhat antagonistic conversation.

A group of musicians shuffled into the banquet hall, setting up in an out of the way place. You spotted Lofn among them, carrying a harp. She smiled at you and ran her fingers along the strings.

The music was very much what you would have expected from a fantasy royal party; beautiful and ethereal, gently seizing your senses. You swayed along slowly, wanting to dance, but every time you looked over at Loki, he wasn't paying any attention, still arguing with the wizard.

You looked around, trying to catch someone's attention, but almost everybody else was engaged in conversation. Lofn was still watching you, enigmatic smile lingering in your vision. She was always like that. Did she want something from you?

Captain Rogers was looking at you, curiosity on his face.

“Are you all right?” He asked. You nodded.

“Yeah, I just...Do you want to dance? I want to dance.”

“Oh. Sure. We can dance.” He stood, holding his hand out for you. With butterflies in your stomach, you let him lead you out onto the floor and began a slow, chaste sway.

“You know, we were all pretty worried about you to begin with,  but it looks like you're thriving here.” He said.

“Well, I'm doing a lot better than I was.” You answered. “And this is probably the best place for me, considering the whole magic thing.”

“Well...there was always Steven.” He pointed out. “He's part of an entire school of mages. Is that the right word?”

“I'm not sure.” You thought about how your hand had buzzed back when the wizard had taken it, how much it had been like that first time you had touched Loki. “They call me Seidkona here.”

“What is that anyway? I've heard the word several times so far.”

“It's a type of magical lady, I guess. Like a combination personal mage and advisor. I'm still figuring out what all that means, but I think I'm getting better at all of it. Aside from all the bad stuff, I'm having a pretty good time.”

“Speaking of, if you don't mind my asking, when you say you are afraid of dust...Hm.”

“Hm?”

“I think I've done something to piss your prince off. He's glaring.”

You cast a look back over your shoulder. 'Glaring' was putting it lightly. Loki's stare could set things on fire.

“Woah. Uh, maybe I should go talk to him.”

“Are you sure?” Steve asked, concerned. “Does he get angry with you? Does he get rough?”

“No, not with me.” You said, letting go of Captain Rogers, and approaching the fuming prince.

“Hey Loki.” You sat down next to him, offering him your plate, with its remaining snacks. All your favorites, but you knew he liked some of them too. “Have something to eat?”

He ignored you completely, the full force of his hateful gaze leveled at Steve.

“Loki?” You placed your hand very gently on his knee, and he jerked away, eyes snapping to yours. The conversation all around you dwindled down. “Uh. Do...you want to dance?”

His lip curled. “Why would you even want to?”

You drew your hand back, surprised at the venom in his voice. “Well...I just-”

He stood abruptly. “You do not need to bother worrying about me.” He said, voice curt. “Play with your little friends. Banish me from your mind. You're already halfway there.” He swept out of the banquet hall, his cape dragging your confused protests behind it.

                                                                                 *****

“That...did not go as I imagined.” You said quietly into the uncomfortable silence. Thor glanced at the door Loki had exited, then over a Lofn, who still played her harp. He'd thought for sure...

“You want me to kick his ass, darlin'?” Tony asked. “'Cause I'll go kick his ass.”

“You will not.” You murmured. “And with all due respect, which admittedly, is a lot; please don't call me that.”

Loki calls her that, Thor mouthed over your shoulder. Tony raised an eyebrow.

“Alright.” He said. “Do, uh, you wanna kick his ass?”

Lofn ran her hands over the strings in an almost aggressive series of chords.

“Yeah.” You said. “I mean, no. Something else.” You stood abruptly. “Gimmie a minute.”

You too, rushed out of the banquet hall, leaving Thor subject to a lot of questioning stares.

“Yes, alright.” He said with a sigh. “There has been a...development.”

“Wait, really?” Pepper asked, while Clint snickered.

“I called it!” Peter crowed. “I knew it, I called it. I was right.”

“Yeah, yeah, you did.” Tony said, staring at Thor. “So, you know that's a terrible idea, right, you know that?”

“Now, just hold on, it's not what you think.” Thor explained. “Yes, my brother has developed...affectionate feelings towards _____. That is true. Do you understand what a grand breakthrough this is? Loki cares about someone! Well, someone from outside. I haven't seen him like this in centuries!”

“What, throwing tantrums? We see him like that all the time.” Bruce said. “Practically every time we see him, in fact.”

“That's just because...” Thor paused. “Well, partly because he holds a slight grudge against basically all of you, but partly because he wants you to underestimate him.”

“Underestimate what?” Tony asked. “That look? He was giving Rogers? I've seen that look before. It was just before he launched me out the two-hundred and twenty-fourth story window.”

“Yeah, that was uncomfortable, being on the receiving end.” Steve admitted. “Didn't realize I was horning in on his girl.”

“Is she into him?” Scott asked. Thor shrugged.

“I do not yet know.”

“What are you kidding?” Clint asked.

“She is head over heels for that man.” Wanda asserted. “What? I don't need to look into her mind to see that.”

“It's pretty obvious.” Clint clarified. Natasha nodded along with him.

“Mind control.” Tony declared. “Has to be.”

“No.” Thor said. “My brother has many talents, but that is not one of them. He could only do that when he had access to the Mind Stone.”

“Which,” Vision said, breaking his contemplative silence. “He no longer has.”

“Precisely.” Thor said. “Though influence comes in many forms. Speaking of which,” He switched to Asgardian. “Lofn. Your presence graces us tonight. I can't help but feel as though you have more in mind than demonstrating your skill on the strings though.”

Lofn smiled at him. “I see them, Allfather. I see many people now, who do not yet see each other, but I see them, and they begin to see each other now.”

“You wove a spell.” Thor accused.

“I made music. What spell could I cast upon dear, clever little Loki? No, no, all I did was set a mood.”

“Hey, what? I know you can speak English, big guy.” Tony said.

“And when it's relevant, I do.” Thor answered. “Friends, let us continue our revels! Loki and _____ shall do as they will, and so should we.”

Lofn continued to play.

                                                                     *****

According to the people you passed, Loki had headed back to his quarters, so that was where you were going as well.

What was all that about? Why was he so angry? Was he offended that you asked him to dance? Maybe he thought that would make him look bad in front of the Avengers. You were pretty sure they would tease him. He would hate that.

Was he mad that you had danced with someone else? But he had been busy! And something about the music had just made you want to dance. So you had chosen the person who was the least likely to get fresh with you. And besides, when else would you get the chance to dance with Captain America?

When you entered the rooms, his door was open, and you could see him pacing in front of his fire. His low voice traveled down the hall to you, a quiet muttering in Asgardian, full of curses; at you, Steve, or himself, you couldn't tell.

You stood in the door way, fiddling with your phone, until he spotted you and stopped pacing.

“What are you doing here?” He demanded. “Don't you have...” He waved his hand dismissively. “...Heroes to fawn over?”

“Maybe, but they probably get a lot of that already.” You said. “I decided to come fawn over you instead. Maybe you don't get enough of that.”

“I do not requite pity!” He snapped. “Did my brother send you to me? Tear you from your dear Captain's welcoming arms to come cajole me with platitudes?”

“I came myself, geez! What is going on with you, why are you so angry? Are you mad at me?”

“No...” He muttered.

“Well, are you mad at Steve?”

He growled. “No..”

“Are you mad that I was dancing with someone else?”

“No...not exactly...” He squirmed, obviously not wanting to tell you what was really on his mind. You persisted anyway. Surely, you were owed an answer for his humiliating behavior.

“Well then what exactly?” You demanded.

“You chose him first!” Loki exclaimed. “I was right there, and you asked him before me!”

“I...thought you were busy talking to that wizard!” You said, surprised. He was jealous. Loki was jealous that you had chosen someone else over him.

Could there actually be something to what Saldis had said?

“I didn't even want to talk to him! He is an arrogant, ignorant fool. I would always welcome an interruption from you. I always....I always have time for you. I do not wish to be your second choice in anything. I want to be the one you come to automatically, for whatever you need. I wish to be the kind of person...the one who can provide that for you. ”

The firelight danced off his features; his pink cheeks and averted eyes, his closed and nervous posture. You gaped. Saldis was a little minx! Everyone knew, she had said. Everyone except for you, apparently!

“_____, I-”

You strode past him and set your phone down on the dresser near his bed, starting a playlist of classic slow dance songs.

“Your Highness, you really should allow me to dance with you.” You said firmly.

“...You do not command me, tiny mortal.” He rejoined, but when you turned back to look at him, his arms were open, and you walked right in.

Now this felt right. Swaying securely in the circle of his arms, head laid against his velvet covered chest. Who knew how long you stayed there; an hour? A lifetime? A few minutes? You could happily spend the whole night here, in his warm embrace.

Loki cleared his throat.

You looked up at him expectantly.

“Tell me something.” He asked. “Something only you would know.”

“...Worried that I might be a Huldra again?”

“I wouldn't like to repeat that experience. Tell me something she wouldn't know.”

“Umm, let's see...” You thought about it for a moment. “Did you know that corn comes in more colors than just yellow and white? There's thousands of different types. There's blue, and red, and orange, and purple. Even pink and green! And some mix all those colors on the same plant. We use them for decorations, and to make popcorn, and-”

Loki grasped your face in his hands, snaking one back to cup your head, like he had on that first day. Instead of scolding you though, instead of filling you with unbearable light, he seized your mouth in a tender kiss.

He held it long enough for you to overcome your shock and throw your arms around him to reciprocate. He sighed in relief and practically swept you off the ground in his enthusiasm, and you giggled against his lips.

Loki was very reluctant to stop kissing you; even when you had to draw back, gasping for air, he followed your mouth, peppering your face with little pecks, licking your lips insistently for entry. You couldn't help but laugh at his antics, and he took the opportunity to take his kisses deeper. You still laughed, letting him catch the sound in his throat and send it back to you as a whuffled chuckle through his nose.

Neither of you really wanted to let go. Loki, with all his gentle tenderness, was hungry for you in a way that would have left you breathless, even if he wasn't demanding claim over your mouth.

The two of you collapsed into his bed, giggling against each other's tongues, hands roaming freely and greedily. You were hungry for him too, for the warmth of his lean body, the scent of his hair, the caress of his graceful hands. You both clearly wanted more, more, more.

But not too much.

You finally pulled away from him.

“Not yet.” You said, gasping for breath.

“No, not yet,.” He agreed, smile suffusing his whole face. He was so radiant you almost wanted to cry. When was the last time anyone had seen him like this? This was yours. All yours.

The thought galvanized you to dive back in. You wouldn't be returning to the party, but the Avengers would be here for a few days yet. They could wait.

[fatbottombucky]

That’s Stark’s Boy *Peter Parker x Reader*

Chapter Fourteen

Summary: After getting kicked out of school and following the wrong crowd your mother sends you to live with your father - at least you’re away from her layabout boyfriend. But your dad happens to be Tony Stark, he enrolled you into a new school and enlisted the help of his faithful protege to help you feel welcome. Not only are you the new kid but you gotta balance the Stark Expectations AND you’re living with a bunch of heroes… also, lest you forget that a certain red-suited hero makes it difficult to keep your sexuality a secret.

Pairings: Peter Parker x Male!Reader / Tony Stark (dad) x Reader (son)

Warnings: Swearing & Reader having no clue what to do with himself

Word Count: 3222

A/N: So, normally I would link the previous part but since the update where text posts with links won’t show up in searches... I can’t do that. So, to find the Masterlist for this series, either scroll through my blog or clink the masterlist link in my bio... sorry, but it’s the only way my posts will show up in searches without links! - Rosalie

Chapter Note: Got some help from two friends, so big up to them! Their first kiss is coming, it’s in the next chapter ;)

(Jason is a real character from Homecoming, played by Jorge, who played Nick in Love, Simon. So, he’s gonna be featured because I love his friendship with Simon in the movie, plus miffed that I don’t think he’s back for Far From Home)

You could hear them from the living room, talking to one another. You wished you understood the science talk, but you didn’t and you never would, you don’t think anyway. They have been discussing new gadgets for Peter’s suit, nothing too flashy but very his brand. You almost wanted to roll your eyes at their little chuckles, probably, a science pun if anything.

“Alright, well, good work today Peter,” you glanced up from your phone to see your dad and Peter walk into the living room, big smiles on their faces. “Say hello to your aunt for me?” He called as Peter began to walk out of the living room.

You watched Peter, he gave you a small smile before leaving. Your dating is still a secret from your dad, neither of you thought it best to tell him just yet, not until you were both sure about this and each other. Also, you didn’t want him to make a big deal out of it, your dad has this uncanny ability to make things awkward, pretty quickly too.

You glance to Tony, who is already typing on his phone and turning to exit the living room, going back to his lab to work. It doesn’t surprise you, mostly hurts you a little bit. He’ll spend hours upon hours working, holding meetings or doing god knows what in the lab, never giving himself enough time to even eat or sleep. Yet, he’ll make time for Peter, a kid that isn’t his. You didn’t want to admit that Mj was right, but she was, you’re jealous of Peter but only his relationship with your dad because they have stuff in common like; being superheroes and geniuses, you and Tony are complete opposite when it comes to hobbies and interests.

A small part of you felt like you did this to yourself, you pushed Tony away from you all those years ago, and you’ve never made an effort to never be interested in science. Peter was around when you weren’t, he became the son Tony had always dreamed of and wanted. You shouldn’t be jealous and you didn’t want to care, yet you did. You cared because Tony is your dad and you didn’t want to share him or compete for his attention.

You also didn’t want this negative energy to affect your current relationship with Peter… only it already has. You started to spend less and less time with him, making up excuses about where you’re going and what you’re doing after school. In fact, you actually started to finish a lot of homework because of it, teachers are finally liking you at school now. You still made an effort to be around him, not to raise too much suspicion about your current thoughts and feelings, but the more you saw Peter be the perfect ideal son to your dad… the more you resented yourself.

“Sup,” you place your bag down beside Zander, instantly grabbing the attention of his table. 

You hadn’t really talked to Zander since the party, apart from in lessons and over text. He hung around different people to you, which is fine because he’s the friend that invites you to parties and doesn’t expect anything but you turning up.

“Hey, Y/N. Had a falling out with Peter or something?”

Shrugging casually. “Something like that,” Zander turns to you and looks concerned, “I don’t want to talk about it. Mind if I sit with you?”

Zander smiles, “sure, don’t see why not. That’s Flash, he’s my other friend and actually, dj’d at the party you attended ages ago. That’s Jason, you’ve seen him present the school news with Betty.”

You nodded at Flash, his collar sticking up and gelled black hair. He casually waved at you, you had heard about him from Peter and seen him around, pretty sure he created the name ‘penis parker’ and said it a few times when walking past Peter. Peter didn’t seem all that bothered, so you never reacted or did anything outrageous- like the time you punched a guy first week here.

You sneakily glanced at your usual table, Mj didn’t seem that interested in where you sat and was currently reading a book with earphones in. However, the two boys of your table, well they were another story. Both were staring at you, frowning and muttering to one another, probably, about why you’re over here and not there with them. You watch as Peter pulls out his phone, typing away quickly and Ned glancing over his shoulder.

Both heads look in your direction and in that second you feel your phone vibrate; Peter has texted you. You decide to ignore it, instead choosing to listen to Flash’s story about how Spider-Man stole his car back during Homecoming, you raised your eyebrows and laugh, the thought of Peter actually driving around whilst dressed as Spider-Man made you want to cry with laughter (you held back not to embarrass yourself).

“We’ve heard this story a million times,” Zander groans and throws some fries at Flash, who huffs a little at his friend.

You shrug, “I haven’t. Seems Spider-Man always shows up in the most opportune moments.”

“Yeah, he was there in Washington, saved the Decathlon team from dying. It was all over the news.” Flash shrugged nonchalantly, “I didn’t panic but everyone else did.”

You could feel your phone vibrate with every new notification you got, you decided to ignore them and listen to Flash, Jason and Zander conversation. The main topic being music, after hearing about Flash’s dj-ing, you started to talk about your band and music and that turned into Zander joining in because he was once in a band, but his brother went to Uni abroad, so he no longer plays the guitar. Jason is apparently an expert at karaoke, something you’ve gotta see or so Flash says.

“Sounds like we’ve got the set-up for a techno band,” you joked with them as the bell sounds.

“If you attend Z’s party next week I’m down for a karaoke-off?” Jason offered, nudging Flash who shrugged and nodded, Zander sighed and agreed. “I’ll bring my machine, it has over two-thousand songs on it.”  

Flash made a ‘really’ face, “As long as you have some Drake on there, I’m in.”

That started your unofficial plan of avoiding Peter and your father. Unintentional, but it worked a damn treat. You started sitting with Jason during your AP classes, getting a lift home from Flash, and even attending after-school art club with Zander. Yet, a big part of you felt bad and guilty, it wasn’t Peter’s fault for having a better bond with Tony- nor was it Mj’s or Ned’s.

You walked out of school on Thursday, a whole two weeks of only talking to Peter via text, same with Ned and Mj. You looked across the carpark, seeing Flash and Jason waiting for you in his dad’s new car. You give a little wave, but you're yanked backwards by your backpack, spinning around you’re met with the rageful face of Mj.

“You’ve got some explaining to do,” she affirms.

Instead of answering her you look at Flash, gesturing with your head that he can leave. You look back down at Mj, biting your bottom lip and nodding, she turns on her heel and walks towards the local coffee house. It’s only a short journey, yet it felt long due to the silence. Mj gets the usual orders, still ignoring you, so you grab the table by the window and wait. 

She sits opposite you, placing her bag on the seat beside her and her eyes meet yours. The lack of emotion behind them and the narrowed look makes you cringe, it’s like your under an FBI spotlight, like she’s got you in for questioning for a murder you didn’t commit. 

“So,” you begin and she only raises her eyebrows at you, “you were right.”

She nods, “that tends to happen.” You huff out a laugh, “what about this time?” tilting her head to the right in confusion, a little thing she does when confused or inquisitive.

“Me being jealous of my dad and Peter,” she makes an ‘Ohhh’ sound and nods, “Whenever I see them together I get this… feeling Mj, I can’t explain it but it makes me sad. I’m upset and guilty ‘cause I don’t have that connection with him and I’ve always blamed my dad, never once thought it was me.” You sigh and lick your lips, leaning back against the chair and looking out of the window to the streets, “I just wanted some time away from feeling like that, I guess.”

Mj nods silently, eyebrows knitting together as she thinks for a few moments. “You should talk to Tony, this is about how you don’t have a bond with him or anything in common like Peter does. Maybe, talking will help find some common ground between you. If you’re finding it difficult then he is too.”

You nod, smiling when your Iced Mochas are brought over to the table. Taking equally silent sips, allowing the buzz of the coffee house takes over, you look at Mj who has already pulled out her sketch pad, sketching a few civilians around her.

“Also, can’t believe you’re friends with Flash,” she mutters but has a smile on her face. “You and Jason seem close, is he replacing Peter?” she doesn’t look up to study your face.

You allow yourself to scowl at Mj, confused by her question also. She knows your feelings for Peter, she knows you, and she knows you’d never jump from one person to another.

“Of course not,” you hiss, Mj looks up a little taken back, “He’s just my friend, plus he likes Abby and won’t stop talking about her. I think I might have to step in and get them together.”

She nods slightly, “Just don’t go radio silent on me again, okay?” You nod, “You can have other best  friends, I don’t care, it’s whatever.” You chuckle and nod, settling back to watching her sketch people and telling her all the drama Flash seems to cause at parties.

**

You walked down to the lab, where your father was busy looking at the screens situated around the lab. Talking to Friday as he went, you frowned and leaned on the wall watching as he paced around. The screens showing different maps of the world, a few glowing dots and Bruce Banner’s face on another screen.

“Still looking for the Green Giant?” You called and pushed yourself away from the wall to walk around the lab, sitting on a workbench.

Tony nodded with a small chuckle, “Yep. He’s my friend and I want to know he’s okay, so far nothing.” You nod slowly, “you just missed Peter, by the way.”

“Figured.” You sighed.

It goes back to being silent, on your end away. Listening to Tony make plans to talking to other world leaders and military leaders, all on the hunt for one guy, well, a few more it seems; Tony is only interested in finding Banner, whereas everyone else wants to know where Cap and his merry men are.

“You should go upstairs, I’m going to be here for some time,” Tony calls over his shoulder and you nod, head hanging low and shoving your hands in your pockets.

“Mmmhmm, okay,” you mutter and turn on your heel, yet something pulls you back. “Actually, no, I’m not going to go upstairs.” Tony looks over his shoulder with raised eyebrows at your outburst, “So, Peter gets to spend time with you and I have to go upstairs?” You ask, arms outstretched as if that proves your point somehow.

Tony is silent and looks caught off guard, “I just thought you’d find this boring, you’re welcome to stay down here.” 

You nod almost robotically, sitting down on the closest surface to you, which was a workbench he wasn’t using. You glance around the room and look anywhere but at Tony, trying your best to look interested and intrigued in what was happening. 

There’s a thick tension between you both, Tony glances at you every once and a while, before continuing to his work. Neither of you makes any comments and he was right, you do find this boring. He’s just looking at possible sightings of Hulk, stuff that has happened that could be the cause of Banner Hulking out, yet nothing really stands out.

“Are you jealous of Peter?” Tony asks suddenly, you look up and see Tony has pulled a wheelie stool and is sitting opposite you, a solemn expression on his face. “You’ve not been yourself these few weeks, Peter mentioned that you’ve been hanging out with other people and that you’re not really talking to him as much, he’s confused if he's done something wrong.”

“Why are you so obsessed with him?” You ask without thinking, you instantly feel guilty for asking that because Peter needs a mentor like Tony, “I didn’t mean- just you spend so much time with him, have this great bond with him… why am I here? Why did you offer to take me in if you already have what you wanted with Peter?”

Tony sits up straight, a frown pulled his eyebrows together. “We have nothing in common. Yet, I hate seeing you have this great connection with Peter. He’s just like you, a genius and he gets those stupid science jokes you tell. He’s a superhero too, he’s everything you want in a son and I’m just here. Everyone already says I’m nothing like you, that I’ll never be, and Peter proves that.”

You look at your hands, not being able to look at Tony after your confession. He doesn’t say anything, not straight away, you feel him stand up and start pacing slightly. You glance up to see a pained expression on his face, one of disappointment, you can’t tell if it’s meant to be directed at you or himself.

“Y/N, you’ll never be me,” you frown, “And that’s something everyone will realise, it’s something you’ve got to realise too. We’re not alike, you’re your own person and you like different stuff to me, and to your mum. I don’t want you to be anything but yourself.” You nod slowly, Tony kneels in front of you and smiles, “Peter is a smart kid, not as smart as me, of course.” You both chuckle lightly, “the only family Peter has is his aunt, he’s a lost a lot of people, I guess, I can relate to that. He needed someone to steer Spider-Man in the right direction, plus Peter Parker too.

“You’re my son, you’re everything I hoped for. I don’t want some genius son or some superhero, I just want you and for you to be happy with your life and have all the opportunities you want.” Tony pauses, “Honestly, you remind me so much of my mother, I think, you’re more Carbonell than Stark.”

You raise an eyebrow, “How so?”

Tony chuckles and sits on the stool again, “Well, she’s Italian and they’re very passionate people, she has a big extended family,” Tony sighs, “I’ve always meant to go and see them, but I can’t bring myself to,” you nod a little with your eyebrows furrowed. “She loved music, always played the piano, she taught me actually. She loved art, couldn’t paint to save her life, but she admired a lot of art. I actually own a few of her favourites now, she was strong and endured a lot. Think Howard Stark’s curse skipped a generation a little of Carbonell came through in you.”

You spend the next three hours discussing Tony’s childhood and his mother, he leaves out times with Howard, you’ve already heard everything you needed to from Happy and Pepper over the years. You talk about movies, all of Tony’s being stuff you hadn’t seen, so he’s making it a priority to watch them with you. You even start to help him with Iron Man stuff, giving him ideas for suit updates.

“You know, I think, you pretend you aren’t a genius.” Tony remarks as you leave the lab, you laugh softly and shrug, “you’re in AP classes, Y/N, and you clearly know your way around engineering.”

“I like cars, more so, I like taking things apart and then putting them back together. Iron Man has components that similar to a car’s body,” Tony gives a little ‘huh’ as you walk.

Tony nudges you gently and grins, “We’re more alike than you think.”

**

You walk the streets of Queens, you know you should be at home, especially since it’s two in the morning but you had to see him before school. There was the chance he wouldn’t be home and wouldn’t be home for a long time either, but you could wait for him. You did text, but he never responded, as usual when he’s on patrol.

The street lights illuminated the way towards the Parker residents, your hands shoved in your denim jacket pockets. Probably, not the best night for ripped jeans because of the cold, but for aesthetic purposes, you looked good. Tony is right, you’re like him, Stark ego shining through.

“We could’ve talked at school, ya’know?” A voice calls and you look around before a whilst grabs your attention, you look up and see Spider-Man perched on a streetlight above you.

You roll your eyes at him, “You saying you don’t want to talk to me?” You can tell he’s rolling his eyes at you, he hops down and lands in front of you and crosses his arms, you pout. “Do not make me say it!”

He gestures for you to say it, looking at you through the mask still but you can tell he has a cocky, smug smile on his face and you’d love to kiss punch off of him.

“I’m sorry, okay?” You huff and cross your arms, “there I said it. I was jealous of you and my dad having this weird bond, so I acted out and pushed everyone away because I like being the centre of everyone’s attention, especially my dad’s.”

It’s silent and you look at Peter, who has taken off the mask and has a confusion written across his face like he didn’t expect you to say all of that. Almost as if he didn’t know that’s why you had stopped hanging around him, his eyebrows knitted together and he looked as though he was trying to solve a murder in his mind.

“Wait…” he muttered, “I thought you were coming here to tell me you didn’t want to date me anymore,” he confessed and this time you looked confused. “You were jealous of my bond with Tony? That’s ridiculous, all he does is fix my suit when I can’t or make more web fluid when I have too much school work.”

You felt a tad stupid, maybe you shouldn’t have said all of that to him, but you were certain he had pieced it together. “Well… shut up! I didn’t know that you guys spend a lot of time together and you’re both smart, so shut up.” Peter chuckled lightly, “why did you think I didn’t want to date you anymore?”

“Well, Ned told me that you were doubting us that time you bailed on study night. Then you started to sit with Zander, Flash and Jason, I don’t know, you just didn’t seem to want to be around me anymore.”

Your heart clenched slightly at his words, an overwhelming feeling to just hug came over you and you took that feeling. You pulled him to you and hugged him tightly, he laughed loudly and hugged you back, you could he wasn’t using his full strength because he could, probably, crush you if he wanted- luckily he doesn’t want to.

Pulling back a little and shaking your head, “Peter, I want to date you and I always want to be around you.” That comment made Peter blush. 

You feel the urge to kiss Peter, the way he’s smiling up at you and the light pink dusting his cheeks: he’s adorable and hard to resist. Although, you hear that beeping again, the one that alerts Peter of a possible crime. You smile softly and lean down to kiss his cheek, you know Peter will be tomato red, and you’re right when you pull away. 

Letting out a little airy chuckle you pull away from him. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” you call as you back away. 

“Shouldn’t- Maybe- shouldn’t I take you home?” Peter asked pulling on the mask to hide his blushing face as you chuckled lightly over his stumbling of words.

You shrugged, “I’ll be fine. Heard there’s this hot superhero about, sure if I run into trouble he’ll help me out.” You wink before turning around.

(Again, you can find the previous parts for this on my masterlist under That’s Stark’s Boy, I can’t add links because then this won’t show up in Tumblr searches. I hope you liked this part PLEASE tell me what you think so far, I appreciate feedback on this. - Rosalie)

If you wished to be tagged for this, let me know. I reblog with tags now, just because tagging at the end looks really messy to me x

[dekuimagines]

Public Eye

Hawks x Civilian Reader

Triggers: None? 

Requested: No and as for the summary uh I don’t know I just wrote this because I love Hawks that’s all.

Dating the number two hero was no easy feat. While the two of you tried to keep the relationship on the down low it was only a matter of time before one of you slipped up. Now you were drowning in news reporter trying to get the latest scoop of what Hawks was like outside of work asking personal questions like how the two of you shared the bed with his wings and even going as far as to ask how he was in bed. It was infuriating how they seemed to have no boundary on what they were asking. Did they really expect you to share these sort of intimate secrets with the public?

“ I need to get to work can you please let me through?” you asked there was a slight clip to your usually soft toned voice as you basically had to elbow your way through the crowd of microphones and cameras. How you wished you could fly above it all like Hawks could. This was the first day of many to follow each day you found yourself having to leave earlier and earlier just to make it work on time and even then it wasn’t enough because they would catch on to your new schedule almost as soon as you had changed it. You were exhausted and easily irritated at work accidentally snapping at a few of your coworker due to the stress of never getting a reprieve from the nasty reporters on top of all of this Hawks wasn’t even in town so you couldn’t even go home and relax in his arms after a long day. 

After one particularly long day, your lovely friend F/N decided to take you out to a bar just to drink away all of the stress that seemed to be building up in you.

“ I’m too sober for this” you murmured not really being much of drinker you mostly came here for the atmosphere as F/N chuckled softly.

“ You don’t even drink Y/N “ they reminded you as you sighed softly setting the non-alcoholic beverage down.

“ Maybe I should start” you answer as your friend simply grins and raises their hand to order a round of shots for the two of you. One round turned into Three and then suddenly the two of you were stumbling out of the bar laughing and giggling as you could barely even walk straight as you fished out your phone to see you had a text from Hawks. He was apparently back from his mission and would be visiting you tomorrow probably because he figured you would already be asleep. Which on any normal night that would be the case but not tonight. After making sure F/N got home alright you stumbled through the streets to Hawks apartment your head lulling to the side while the world spun around you at a dizzying pace. This was why you normally didn’t drink actually now that you were trying to think about it you had never drunk before not even for your eighteenth birthday.

As your hand moved to slap the doorbell in a sloppy manner you tried to appear as sober as possible maybe even just look a little tired only to fail miserably. The door opening to reveal a very tired Hawks. The yawn escaped his lips and made you feel a little guilty for your impulsive visit but that yawn was quickly replaced by that infectious yet devious smile you had learned to love.

“ Did you miss me that much Baby Bird? “ he questioned in a cocky manner as you nodded your head vigorously the words spilling from your lips in a slew of slurs and jumbled letters that sounded vaguely like. “ I missed you so much you dumb, chicken” as his amber eyes furrowed together slightly and he leaned against the door frame.

“ Wait are you…..drunk?” he asked never before has he see you in such a state. He would get drunk from time to time but you always insisted that you would rather be sober. Yet here you were completely plastered at his front door at three in the morning.

It had been a long couple weeks for Hawks as well while he knew that it was his fault that the public found out about you instead of being able to stay by your side till things cooled down he got sent on a mission halfway across japan to help with a volcano eruption. Each day he would think about you and text to make sure you were alright but you would always say you were fine and then switch the topic back over to him. You had always been like that caring more for him and not wanting to talk about yourself and he could deal with that. He liked talking about himself after all but this time he had this itching feeling that you were lying that things weren’t alright and yet you wouldn’t let him ask. Why was it that you would never let him in. This right here was the final straw that seemed to break the camel's back. He watched as your head seemed to nod much like a bobblehead with little to no control as he sighed softly.

“ So what’s wrong?” he asked gently as he guided you into his apartment some of his feathers flying off to clean up the mess that it was since when he got home he had just dropped his bag onto the ground stripped down to his boxers and went to bed. He was only in a shirt now because he wasn’t sure who was at the door in the first place.

“ They won’t stop Hawks,” you said your voice tired and still slurred. “ I have to fight to get to work on time and they are always shooting such personal questions at me. I... I feel like I’m drowning. “ you continued while he guided you to the couch and pulled you into his lap.

He didn’t need you to clarify what you were talking about. This was exactly what he was afraid of, he had gotten used to the media and while they were a pain at times he learned to block them out. “ I should have been there when this all started,” he said softly as he held you against his chest. “ This is all my fault, “ he mumbled gently and kissed your neck and shoulder in a comforting manner.  “ But don’t worry I can fix it, “ he said gently.

“ How?” you asked him in a tired and hazy state of being his words didn’t make sense to you.

“ The Media is fickle they’ll get bored of you eventually I promise but till then I can fly you too and from work or just walk with you whichever you prefer, “ he explained though he was sure he would probably have to explain it all again in the morning with how you were acting. “ Come on now let's get you some water and different clothes,” he said picking you up with ease as he walked through his house. Nodding your head the tiredness seemed to hit you like a brick as the lack of sleep and amount of alcohol was catching up to your body. He helped you change into one of his shirts which you happily complied and fell asleep almost as soon as he had given you some water and aspirin for the impending headache you would have in the morning. Once you were passed out he sighed lightly and brush the hair out of your face. “ I promise baby bird it can only go up from here “ he mumbled gently and pressed a kiss to your forehead. Had someone asked him a year ago this big flirt would never say he could be held down by anyone yet here he was? “ I’m glad it was you” he mumbled softly as he pulled your body against his before falling into a deep slumber.