#john economos x gender neutral reader

[lunaticsandidiots]

how’s that for success story?

(gn!reader) (18+)

word count: 2086

warnings: explicit language

a/n: ok so this lovely idea came from my angel @libellule2001 asking about john + fake dating. these started as fake headcanons but i could see the fic happening in my brain so clearly i had to write it.

“Oh, FUCK!” John barked, throwing his phone onto his desk and running his hands through his hair.

“What?” Emilia deadpanned, spinning around in her chair to face him.

“Family reunion’s this weekend.” John sighed. Emilia’s face quickly dropped into a sympathetic grimace as she remembered what John had told her months ago.

“Oh. fuck.” she replied.

“Yeah. Know where I can get a last minute long-term significant other?”

Emilia and John began to brainstorm. Months ago, Economos disclosed his dirty little secret to Harcourt over a few post-work drinks.

Every time John saw his mom, she’d hound him for not yet settling down. Every time he saw his grandma, she’d pinch his cherubic cheeks and coo ‘Oh John, when are you gonna bring someone home for me to meet?’. All his family ever asked about was his love life, pestering him to find himself a mate, and he’d had enough. So naturally, he decided to make one up.

It truly started out as an innocent white lie. Something to get his family off his back for a while until he found one. John casually mentioned he was seeing someone over a Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago, and it all just spiralled from there. He didn’t see his family too often, meaning that the lack of pictures wasn’t that suspicious, so until then, it had all been fun and games.

“Well it can’t be Leota…” John thought aloud, brainstorming aloud in hopes it’d help him figure out what the fuck to do.

“And Flo’s six months pregnant which would not help things…” Harcourt enumerated, thinking back to their colleague from Belle Reve.

“And I’m definitely not doing it…” she added.

“Hey!” John scowled.

“I’m still gonna help, asshole, I’m just not down to fake-date you!” Emilia replied, shrugging defensively.

“Well I know that Murn wouldn’t be either…” John continued.

“Chris or Adrian?” Emilia perked up. The two shared a short moment of pondering silence, before simultaneously scrunching their faces up in disgust.

“Fuck no.”

Your keys jingled in time with the ice cubes in your coffee as you entered the old video store, taking a sip of the cool beverage as you locked the door behind you and turned back around to head towards your desk.

Your body froze in confusion, lips still wrapped around the green straw as you noticed that John and Emilia were looking at you with the same, devious expression. John continued to watch you with an inquisitive squint as Emilia opened her mouth to finally voice their thoughts;

“What would you say if I asked you pretend to date John?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’m pretty nervous. Can’t say I’ve ever fake-dated anyone before.” you exhaled, staring up at John with a furrowed brow as you chewed on the nail of your thumb.

You’d been sitting in John’s car since you arrived a solid 10 minutes ago, listening intently as he gave you one final pep talk and made sure you knew what you were up against.

“You’ll be fine, I come from a long line of introverts. Plus you’ll be with me the whole time and I always end up leaving early anyway, so we can say our hellos and get the fuck outta dodge.” John smiled, his moustache following the upward curve of his lips. You shot him a small smile back as your heart thumped away in your chest, though you chalked up the palpitations to pure nervousness, nothing more.

Truth be told, you knew it was more than nerves. Hell, the reason you were so easily convinced to go along with John’s scheme was that it gave you an excuse to spend more time with him outside of work and away from Murn’s watchful eye.

“Well, time to rip the bandaid off and go meet the in-laws!” you chirped, nodding as you inhaled sharply, riding the sudden surge of fresh oxygen and adrenaline to hoist you out of the car. You were stopped by a soft hand gently wrapping around your shoulder, and you flopped back into your seat. John’s face bore a flustered expression making your heart rate increase tenfold, though his words immediately soothed you;

“Thank you, again, for doing this. I got my own stupid self into this stupid, sad mess and you didn’t have to help me all, but you did, and I’m uh…” John stammered, breaking eye contact to look at the gearbox as he felt his face heating up at the sight of you, “I’m really grateful…”

“Well that’s what other halves are for, isn’t it?” you smiled cheekily, feeling the instant urge to cheer him up.

You walked side by side up to the house of ‘some distant cousin twice removed’s and John stepped behind you to usher you through the door with his large hand placed gently between your shoulder blades.

Once your eyes landed on a small group of grandma-looking strangers, your anxiety begin to heighten, hence why you barely had the sense to register the fact that you’d instinctively grabbed his hand, shoving your fingers through his and squeezing as hard as you could as you stood there like a deer in headlights.

And you definitely didn’t have the sense to notice John’s pulse quicken at the touch, though he didn’t have nearly as much time as he would’ve liked to enjoy the physical connection as his relatives began to pounce on the two of you like hungry wolves.

John introduced you as his partner to them one by one as they each finished their hugging and their kissing and their ‘I-haven’t-seen-you-since-you-were-this-tall-and-now-look-at-you’ing, and by the fourth or fifth ‘Mwah, mwah, It’s so lovely to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you!’ you were beginning to feel like a professional fake-spouse.

It was a good 30 minutes of reminiscing and mingling, never once letting go of John’s hand before food started to come out. The two of you madd eye contact as some aunt’s stepbrother’s dog’s lawyer’s uncle in law brought out the third plate of quiche and you instantly knew what the other was thinking.

The both of you speed walked ‘to the kitchen’ under the guise of assistance, though John, knowing his way around, tugged you through the back door and into the cool night air for a moment of reprieve. You sighed as one would after dropping a heavy load of groceries or running a mile, though emotionally, your relief wasn’t too dissimilar.

“You’re gonna make a great real partner some day.” John nodded, a sarcastic smile stretched across his mouth as he sat down on the porch swing hidden in the shadows.

“Oh fuck you.” you laughed back, finally untangling your hand from his. It felt cold and clammy and weird, you fingers instantly missing the warm, comforting crowding of his own and how they fit perfectly in between each knuckle.

You started slowly meandering across the span of the patio, wavering each foot around before placing it down in front of you and stepping forward in a childlike way. Eventually, you plonked yourself down on the seat next to John with a *squeak* of its rusty frame and huffed.

“You know your family is super nice,” you commented, eyes darting over his features as you watched him solemnly stare off into the yard, “At the end of the day they’d support you regardless of what’s going on in your love life.”

“I know, I know, its just…” John started, inhaling deeply as his eyes stayed trained on the distant trees, meaning you could continue to subtly ogle over him without shame, “My cousin Molly is a lawyer. My cousin Ben has a husband and three kids. Shit, Aunt Beth’s kid is only fourteen and he’s verified on fucking Tiktok. I hate that I never seem to bring home the success story that everyone’s waiting for.”

“Did Molly fight a giant, extraterrestrial starfish?” you asked, brows raised high.

“What?” John sputtered, finally turning to look at you.

“I said, did your cousin Molly save the entire world from a gargantuan, inter-dimensional starfish?”

“…No”

“And did Ben, or his husband, or Taylor or Cameron or Emma save the world from an all-powerful ancient spirit and her giant, volcanic incubus brother?”

“You remembered all their names?”

“Shut the fuck up and answer the fucking question.” you chided, smacking him on the back of the hand.

“…No they did not…”

“Exactly, so start using your sordid little genius brain to look at the bigger picture before you start berating yourself.” you finished your speech, harshly poking him on the temple until he swatted your hand away with a laugh.

“Plus if at the end of the night, I could choose to go home with either a lawyer, or a cute guy who’s literally saved the world multiple times? No offence Molly, but I know who’s car keys I’m fishing out of the bowl on the way out.”

“Cute?” John clarified, face growing red at your accidental compliment. You’d gotten yourself so riled up about reminding John of all the things he had accomplished that you didn’t even notice the confession slip into your closing statement.

“I- Wh- Y- I’m-“ you stuttered, shaking your head at John with an open mouth and an exasperated expression, hoping that if you shook it for long enough he’d finally pick up what you were putting down. Mostly so he could tell you what it was that you were putting down, having no idea past the fact that you liked him a whole lot more than you cared to admit.

“No no, you don’t get to porky pig your way out of this one. You said I’m cute.” John pried. You could hear the amusement in his voice, faintly able to see the smirk on his face as your comment went straight to his head. It was almost relieving to see John back in his normal, smarmy state of being, though it meant that out of habit, you immediately snapped back before thinking about what the hell it was you were aiming to do.

“Okay, fine. So what if I did say you were cute?” you snapped back, shrugging your shoulders and shaking your head at him as you jutted your neck out to taunt him, “What would you do then? Huh?”. John immediately mimicked your lighthearted air of mockery, shrugging back in sarcastic annoyance.

“I don’t know, probably say that you’re cute back, or like, kiss you about it or something.” John jabbed, folding his arms across his chest in defence, though the playful tone of the ‘argument’ continued.

“Oh, yeah, okay sure, you’ll ‘kiss me’ about it,” you scoffed, “you wouldn’t.”

“Oh yeah? Maybe I would, you don’t know me.”

“Actually I do know you, so I know you wouldn’t go out on a limb and kiss me about it.”

“Huh, well actually I’ve saved the world before, like on multiple occasions, so, you know, maybe I would go out on a limb and kiss you about it.”

“Fine then, fucking kiss me about it.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

John’s lips awkwardly crashed against your own as his hand cradled your face to keep it steady. Immediately, your hands began to feel around until they found a comfortable spot to rest between his neck and his shoulders as you wove your lips between his.

John’s large stature nearly swallowed you whole as the two of you tried to lean further into the kiss, addicted to the relief it brought after months of mutual pining, both groaned in unison as John’s arm pulled you even closer by the waist and you tugged yourself towards him with an arm around his neck.

You could taste the whispers of diet pepsi on John’s tongue and smell the hints of ‘one last cigarette’ in his beard as he kissed you. You’d chided him for months about both, trying to get him to quit the nasty habits, but with the way he was making your stomach somersault in that moment, you couldn’t help but glide your tongue against his to get another taste.

The two of you tried to turn your heads to deepen the kiss, though you both aimed for the same direction, breaking the kiss to laugh as your noses bumped together. You kept your face close to John’s as he absentmindedly began swinging the chair, neither of you noticing the concerning squeaking sound it made each time, still too high on adrenaline from the kiss.

“How’s that for success story then, huh?”

[vigsilantes]

zombieland (adrian chase x reader)

Pairing: Adrian Chase / Vigilante x GN Reader Summary: It’s time for the 11th Street Kids’ movie night and Adrian gets to pick the movie that the team will be watching tonight. Word Count: 1.7k Tags: established relationship, reader-insert, gender-neutral pronouns, post-canon, idiots in love, comfort, fluff, movie night, drinking, domestic fluff Warnings: drinking and a shit ton of fluff and banter!

~masterlist~ | >>>(read on ao3)<<<

Fighting crime and working with a black ops team in your free time is fun, you can’t lie, but sometimes you need a break. Sometimes all of the 11th Street Kids desperately needs a break, which is why every so often you and the team have a movie night. Every few weeks movie night is held at someone’s house where you all get shitfaced, watch a movie together, and have some fun. The system you have in place to decide on movies is picking a name from a hat, whoever’s name is chosen gets to pick the movie, and the movies are strictly comedies – you all have seen enough traumatic shit from missions, so horror and movies that fuck with your mind are out of the picture, comedies are the way to go!

This week, movie night was being held at you and Adrian’s apartment, and after putting out an assortment of drinks, mostly beer, and making the place look somewhat presentable, slowly, everyone began to arrive.

Leota and Keeya arrived first with John, minutes later Emilia and Chris trailed in. Everyone dropped off the cases of beers they brought for the night in the kitchen and sat in their respective seats, leaving the recliner for you and Adrian to share. Emilia had the hat and pieces of papers of everyone’s names to decide who picks the movie tonight and while she was getting that out, you and Adrian were in the kitchen getting drinks and making popcorn for everyone.

“I swear to GOD it better not be Adrian again…” Leota sarcastically said because Adrian somehow gets chosen the most, you laughed from the kitchen and Adrian put down a beer and turned around to face her.

“Hey it’s not my fault the universe wants me to pick the movies! Sorry I just have better taste than all of you guys,” he replied, Emilia rolled her eyes and Chris huffed a laugh. "Not you though, babe, you have amazing taste," he whispered to you and nudged your shoulder, you beamed at his compliment. As the team chattered, you and Adrian gave everyone cold beers from the fridge and big bowls of popcorn, then you both made your way to your shared seat.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Emilia jokingly stated as she held out the hat for Keeya to pick. When movie night first started you all agreed that Keeya, the most sane one in the group, should pick the name from the hat, so tonight that’s what she did. She playfully rubbed her hands together readying herself to pick a name, stuck her hand in the hat, shuffled the papers around and promptly chose one. She unfolded it and immediately began giggling.

“Take a wild guess…” she started, looking up at everyone, groans filled the room. Chris began full on belly laughing while everyone shook their heads disapprovingly, a small grin grew on your face, and Adrian looked around at everyone’s faces skeptically.

“Who is it?” Adrian questioned not catching on, you patted his leg.

“You, babe,” you confirmed, his face lit up and he pumped his fist in excitement.

“Yes!” he said while swiftly standing up, “I know exactly what to watch!” he enthusiastically said as he walked over to your shared DVD collection.

Everyone sighed and you couldn’t stop smiling, you love the movies he chooses so you never have a problem with him being chosen all the time – you both have the same taste in movies so whatever he picks you know you’ll like it.

“This is so fuckin’ unfair, like how the fuck does he always get picked?” Chris wondered while taking a big gulp from his beer, John shrugged, “must be rigged!” he added, you chuckled at his annoyance. You looked to Adrian who was scanning through the movies to find the one that he had in mind.

“For the record I just think this is hilarious,” you state, teasing the team. Leota and Keeya both scoffed laughs and Chris flipped you off with a mischievous smile on his face.

“Well of course you do,” Leota replied, Emilia tipped her beer to her, “you two like all the same shit so it’s like you’re also picking what we watch,” your face flushed at what you took to be a compliment.

“Shit I don’t even think I’ve gotten to pick a movie yet!” John exclaimed, Leota snorted and Em chuckled.

“Your time will come,” you joked, he rolled his eyes.

“We need a new system…” Chris announced, Leota shook her head and hummed in agreement.

“I’m down for a new system too,” Emilia piped up, you shook your head playfully. Adrian finally decided on a movie and pulled it from the shelf, then showed everyone the DVD he chose.

“Zombieland!” he eagerly said, with hope filling his eyes. “It’s funny, a bit gory, nothing we haven’t seen before am I right,” he wiggled his eyebrows, “but it’s a good laugh!” he quickly looked around waiting for people’s reactions but landed on you and met your gaze, you grinned happily at him, he knows you like this movie, and you know he loves this movie.

“Solid choice, babe!” you told him, a smile grew on his face, “haven’t seen this for a while!”

“Okay, shockingly,” John paused and raised his brows, “I’m not mad at this choice,” he said, Adrian shook his head in triumph.

“Yeah, it’ll do,” Emilia added, you instantly peer over to her and Adrian furrowed his brows at her statement.

“Hold on…” you waved your hands to pause the conversation, “you’re not upset at this movie choice?” you queried at her.

“I actually like this movie, sue me,” she joked, you smiled to her and Adrian’s eyes grew big, he looked thrilled that he finally picked something Emilia liked, she’s kinda picky – no she’s really picky when it comes to movie night.

“Yeah… this movie funny. Vig you finally picked one we aren’t annoyed with, good job,” Chris teased as he sipped his beer, Adrian let out a big of relief and pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead.

“Fuck yeah it is,” Adrian cheered as he popped the DVD out of the case and put it into the DVD player. He grabbed the remote and threw himself on the recliner next to you, practically squishing you. You got into a comfy position and Adrian began clicking through the trailers at the beginning of the movie.

“I actually haven’t seen this movie before,” Keeya bashfully admitted, Adrian gasped loudly, there was a short period of time where he was obsessed with Zombieland, so to know this is her first time watching it excited him.

“Ditto,” Leota added, and Adrian dramatically gasped again, even louder this time.

“O.M.G. you guys are totally gonna love it!” Adrian declared.

“OH we need a drinking game!” you reminded everyone and looked around, everyone nodded in agreement. Chris then took out his phone and starting swiping, looking up a game for you guys to play during the movie.

“Easy, found one! And this one doesn’t have a shit ton of rules so that’s good,” he stated as he continued reading, Adrian nodded, the less rules the better when it comes to your movie nights. After one movie night of watching the movie ‘Superbad’ with a game that had a shit ton of rules, you all got too shitfaced and couldn't even finish the movie.

“What’re the rules?” Adrian asked while shaking in your shared seat with excitement, Chris cleared his throat.

“Drink whenever a rule shows up on the screen, when you hear a character named after a location, when you hear “twinkies,” and when you hear “Zombieland,” everyone got it?” Chris asked, everyone nodded, and Adrian asked him to repeat them again so he made sure he got all of them, you were happy he asked again because you needed to hear them again as well. After repeating the rules once again Adrian smiled.

“Got it! This is gonna be funnnnnn! Oh, maybe we could take a sip when there’s a cool kill, I mean there’s a lot of cool kills in this movie, like so many, but like we could also drink whenever Tallahassee breaks something, he gets frustrated very easily it's funny, OOH and-”

“Let’s just stick to what Chris said and drink whenever else we want?” John suggested, cutting Adrian off from his long-winded ramble.

"Play the damn movie," Emilia guestered, he sighed and shook his head in defeat as he pressed play to start the film, you took his hand.

“I’ll play that with you, Ade,” you whisper to him, trying to cheer him up a bit, his cheeks turned pink and he squeezed your hand.

“Awesome, babe, thanks!” he smiled and pecked your cheek. You let go of his hand to scooch into a more comfortable spot as the movie began, and he slung his arm around your shoulder, pulling you in closer to him. Adrian had to restrain himself from quoting the whole movie, he knew every word of it, fuck even you had to control yourself from quoting some of it, the team gets very annoyed at you both for talking while watching stuff, and you have learned to try to just talk when it’s only the two of you.

The movie played and after mere minutes of seeing a few of Columbus’s rules and hearing some states, you all finished your first beers. Chris generously brought in new ones for everyone and the game continued. You and Adrian both kept looking over at Leota and Keeya to see if they were liking the movie, and they were laughing a bunch, so they seemed to be enjoying it for their first watch which you both appreciated.

Drunken laughs filled the room and popcorn flew at you and Adrian when you couldn’t stop yourselves from discussing the movie with each other. The festivities continued on with more and more empty bottles crowding the table and multiple new rounds of popcorn being made. You and Adrian warmly cuddled with each other and enjoyed the presence of your friends, and you all enjoyed the night of fun until everyone eventually fell asleep from being absolutely plastered.

[lunaticsandidiots]

old blue flannel

read on ao3

synopsis: just how long can you and Economos stay as nothing but colleagues?

pairing: john economos x gender neutral reader

word count: 3.2k

warnings: explicit language, mild sexual content, mutual pining, pure fluff, cheesy cliches

a/n: ok so the Economos fic is FINALLY done and my god is it pure, tooth-rotting fluff. i'm literally so obsessed with this 6'5 teddy bear of a man i want to marry his god damned socks off. this is truly just pure, self indulgent, mutual pining, fanfic trope goodness. it's literally just free therapy ur welcome <3

You’d always had a way with technology. Whether it was pulling apart and tactfully reassembling your brother’s Gameboy on Christmas Day age 3, or effortlessly sneaking past your college’s firewall to delete your attendance warnings at 20, you always felt most at home with your head buried in a screen.

Unlike all the other kids around you wanting to grow up to become a news anchor or a veterinarian, you never had a dream job. As long as you made a liveable wage doing the one thing that came naturally to you, you couldn’t care less about what it entailed. It was that attitude that landed you smack bang in the middle of a black ops squad, tasked with locating and defeating a mysterious and volatile alien race, referred to as ‘butterflies’.

You were no stranger to working clandestinely, your talents were often sought after by more unlawful characters, but this was the first time you’d ever worked for the government, not against it.

You were shaking slightly as you walked through the front door of the old video store, the energy in the room cold and unwelcoming. Your first introduction did nothing to quell your nerves, as the blonde lady in the corner introduced herself as Harcourt with a disinterested nod.

It wasn’t until you set yourself up at, what you assumed to be your desk, that the vibes in the room took a turn for the better. A 6’5, bearded, bespectacled man in a blue flannel and worn jeans smiled as he approached you, complimenting your Twisted Sister t-shirt and introducing himself as John Economos, the other half to your tech team of two.

That was the first time you’d smiled that day, and the end of the day brought many more.

The two of you were the last ones out of the office, still typing away long after Chris and Adrian had left the building loudly, Murn and Leota had calmly wished the two of you a goodnight and Harcourt stalked off mumbling something about a beer. You yawned as you checked the time, 11:13pm, and switched off your computer for the night. Habitually, you settled your headphones in your ears and resumed your playlist as you packed up your things and made a beeline for your car. The sound of muffled speech and a light tap to your shoulder stopped you in the middle of the hallway.

“You like the Buzzcocks?” John asked with a gentle smile as you pulled out one of your headphones to hear him properly. You looked at him dumbfounded until he pointed at your phone,

“The uh, your music, it sounded like Pete Shelley.” he fumbled, readjusting the glasses that slid down his nose.

“Oh!” you exclaimed, sheepishly looking down at your phone to see Orgasm Addict blasting at full volume. You were so deeply entrenched in your own world that you hadn’t stopped to realise how loudly your music was playing.

“I always liked their B-Sides more.” you chuckled nervously, your eyes straining to look up at him. The two of you were standing face to face, wedged closely together in the small corridor that led to the carpark, meaning your head was lying nearly horizontally just to look him in the eye.

He was a scruffy looking man; it was clear he’d neglected getting a haircut for at least a few months, and you could see the grey hair that formed at his chin creeping out to slowly consume the rest of the coppery hair in his beard, though all this did in your eyes was add to his comforting, pragmatic charm.

You raised your dangling headphone towards him in a silent offering, and the two of you walked shoulder to shoulder all the way to your car, subtly nodding your heads to the beat as the rest of the song played out. You’d be lying if you didn’t sneak a few glances in his direction, enjoying the warmth it brought to your stomach as you watched him bop along. You swore you saw him sneak a few of his own from the corner of your eye, but by the time you got home, you just chalked it up to tired, blurry vision and first day nerves.

You wished him a goodnight with stars in your eyes and watched him get into his car, waving as he comically climbed into his contrastingly tiny vehicle. You laughed as you climbed into your own car, hearing his Nissan Pulsar GTI-R sputter to life and grumble all the way down the street. Just like himself, his car was offbeat and striking and so incredibly endearing.

Maybe this new job wasn’t so intimidating after all.

Almost an entire week passed before Murn threw you a bone. He’d learned of a possible butterfly possession of one Royland Goff, a US Senator. Due to the political sensitivity of the situation, it didn’t take you long to realise the preparation needed for this mission would require at least a few all nighters from you and John to ensure the team’s stealth and safety.

You held back a jealous sigh and kindly waved goodbye from your desk as the rest of the team said their goodnights and filed out at a reasonable hour. Your brow quirked up in confusion as you watched John follow the rest of them. His monitors were still on and you knew he was supposed to be staying back with you, your tasks far from complete for the day. So where was he going?

Your questions were finally answered twenty minutes later when he filed in with two astronomically large styrofoam cups and a plastic bag dangling from his wrist. He set the cups down next to you and slovenly tipped the contents of the plastic bag out onto Leota’s desk, covering it in brightly coloured packets of sugar and additives. You looked up at Economos with a curious smirk as you took a sip from the cup closer to you, the overpowering taste of red bull and peach syrup assaulting your tongue.

“The first rule of an all nighter, young padawan, is sugar. Big-gulping, tooth grinding quantities of sugar.”

John kept your spirits up with his jovial anecdotes and classic rock playlists all night, long after you usually would have given up and clocked out. You started to hit the wall at 4am, and by 4:30, you could no longer tell the difference between the letters and numbers in front of you. Your eyes burned and watered every time you tried to separate the endless lines of code, prompting you to groan as you slammed your elbows on the desk and rubbed your eyes in exhaustion.

Your head was quick to perk back up from it’s spot at the sound of the once-quiet music growing louder and louder. John was no longer at his desk, he was standing by the old stereo, bobbing up and down at the knees as he slowly cranked up the volume dial with a devilish grin. He began to jerk his head back and forth, his hair bouncing in front of his eyes as Paranoid by Black Sabbath began to play.

You watched on in pure amusement as he began to lip sync along dramatically, but your smile dropped when he held out his hand in invitation. You stayed firmly planted in your seat, shaking your head and laughing, until he started beckoning you towards him with a grabbing motion. If it were with anyone else, you’d feel far too embarrassed to even consider the idea of dancing, but you were reaching a 5am level of delirium and there was something undeniable about the way he invited you that coaxed you out of your seat.

You jumped around and around and around in circles, your arms splayed out like a spinning top until you were face to face with him, just in time for the next verse, in which you both threw yourselves around the room with reckless abandon until your necks ached from head banging and your lungs hurt from laughing.

Harcourt and Adebayo were the first to arrive back in the office the next morning. Leota had her head cocked to the side, soaking up the sight before her with a tender smile. Harcourt took a picture which she immediately sent to the group chat, before rolling her eyes with an amused chuckle and setting off to make coffee.

John was fast asleep, sitting upright and snoring lightly in an old, ratty armchair in the corner of the room. You were curled up on the equally ratty couch right next to him, your shoulders covered by his worn, blue flannel. Empty packets of skittles and gummy worms littered the table in front of you, prompting Leota to laugh as she left the both of you to sleep a little longer while she helped Harcourt in the kitchen.

It was months before Murn sent you out into the Field. He usually kept you back to work in the office with him, while the rest of the squad ventured out into the world, heeding Waller’s advice that you worked best in the shadows from behind a screen in a quiet, mellow environment. The arrangement worked well for you all, until the time came where Murn needed all hands on deck.

Just like your first day, you entered the van shaking like a leaf. Murn had warned everyone that the drive would take an hour or so, but you couldn’t remember a single second of it, spending the entire journey tuned out and dead silent.

Economos waited until he had parked the van and let everyone else file out to finally address your catatonia.

“You’re safe inside the van, don’t worry. I’ve been in the field a thousand times and I’ve never even seen a hint of action.” he smiled reassuringly, wandering over to his bag. You watched as he pulled out a small portable speaker and a packet of skittles, his smile widening as he watched you form your own.

Once John had cracked open the sweets and set up the speaker to quietly play ‘Best of Hanoi Rocks‘, you started to feel a little more at home, and by the time the others confirmed their whereabouts over the comms, the two of you had settled back into your usual groove.

Everything ran smoothly up until you heard Adrian grunt over the comms, following a dull thwack. You had no time to figure out the source of the noise or the state of your colleague, shortly being interrupted by a ‘shit’ hissed from the other side of the vehicle. You swivelled in your seat to face John, who was hunched over a monitor displaying the building’s security camera feed.

A single, dark figure stalked towards the van. You couldn’t see any weapons in his hands, though he wore a large, black jacket that could have been concealing a whole artillery for all you knew. You could feel the air struggle to make its way down your windpipe as your whole body resumed its trembling. You faintly recall John grabbing you by the shoulders, gently shaking you as he reassured you with words you couldn’t comprehend. Watching him grab a small handgun and slipping out of the van was a distant, foggy memory as you sat in anxious silence, waiting for his safe return.

Seconds dragged on like hours as you bounced your leg impatiently, trying to silence the catastrophic ‘what if’s that flooded your mind. You were startled out of your fearful stupor by a heinous thump against the side of the van.

The thump was owed solely to the back of Economos’ skull, as his attacker grabbed him by the face and slammed his head against the side of the van with a grunt. John’s gun was long forgotten, being knocked out of his hand to slide somewhere under the vehicle the moment he slid the door shut. Despite their notable size difference, the assailant was a lot more agile and a lot better equipped than Economos, hence why he was able to subdue John with a kick to his sternum and a knife to his throat.

Economos’ vision was starting to blur as he failed to draw a solid breath. Even if he did have his inhaler on him, it served no purpose now there was a sharp blade pinching at the skin of his neck. John had no idea how to get out of his situation, his eyes darting around frantically in search of a weak point or weapon he could use.

He didn’t have to search for too long, as another dull ‘thump’ resonated in his ears. His attacker unceremoniously dropped to the floor, the knife clattering against the asphalt next to him.

Economos was frozen in awe as you stood before him, a petrified frown plastered on your face as you white-knuckled a crowbar in your shaking hands. He could see your shoulders heaving up and down with laboured, panicked breaths, your wide eyes frozen on your colleague, refusing to look down at your unwilling victim. You didn’t know if you’d knocked him out for a spell, or killed him entirely. Hell, you were so shaken you didn’t even know which way was up.

Unlike you, Economos was swift to step into action, making quick work to drag the body out of sight, collect the knife and his missing firearm, and then bundle you, and the rest of the assault weapons, back into the van. You hadn’t spoken a word, or let go of the crowbar as John tidied up the aftermath, finally releasing your grip from it after he sat you down and pried it from your hands. You could vaguely register the music playing in the background, and you could see that John was trying to talk to you, presumably asking if you were alright.

Your eardrums were rumbling like tiny timpanis in your head as your body remained in fight or flight mode. You hadn’t stopped shaking since you entered the van that morning, though the adrenaline had bolstered your tremors right into vibration territory, and while your mind was racing with every thought under the sun, not a single word dared to escape your lips. John had a worried look plastered on his face as he tried and failed to get through to you, taking his turn to grip the crowbar in anguish.

“Okay, say something if you can hear me.”

Nothing.

“Literally say anything. Like, ’Chris is a big fat idiot.’ or ‘Adrian has a thimble dick.‘. Anything.”

You faintly processed his words, though all you did was sit and stare and gawk, your eyes darting between the lenses of his glasses.

“Make a noise. A movement.” he suggested, ever-so-gently tapping the side of your face with the tips of his fingers. You focussed on his touch as it resonated within you, finding the warmth grounding and soothing and highly addictive.

“Literally anything, please.”

So in your epinephrine fuelled haze, you did the only thing that, in that moment, felt worthy of returning back to earth. Your hands cupped his face, his beard scratching at your palms as you pulled him in for a bruising kiss.

Economos clumsily dropped the crowbar in shock, hearing it clink and clatter to the ground as he felt your soft lips attempt to pry his open. Your hands slid down his chest to pull him closer by the collar of that same, blue flannel, and you huffed in satisfaction as you felt one of his large hands envelope your cheek, the other slipping around your waist to hold you close.

The two of you shared enough clumsiness to put the three stooges to shame, so it wasn’t long before your teeth bumped together and your nose knocked Economos’ glasses off their perch. You both broke the kiss, unable to hold in laughter, and you took a moment to soak in the sight in front of you. The sides of his eyes housed a jovial sprig of laugh lines and your chest burned with contentment as you watched him readjust his glasses to sit properly atop his blushing face.

“I guess I did say anything, huh?” John laughed, his eyes fleeting down to gaze at your lips for a moment, before returning to your spellbound stare with a silent plea. You were eager to accept his invitation this time around, hastily capturing his lips with your own once more.

Economos responded much quicker this time, tugging you closer to sit side saddle on his lap with ease, and smiling into the kiss as he heard you squeak. You boldly reached up and removed his glasses from the equation altogether as you bit your lip timidly, though your nerves were soon quelled by the oddly comforting tickle of his unruly beard against your face as you kissed him again.

The tension between you didn’t take long to heat up, both of you willingly following your subconscious desires to satiate that deep, growing, craving for more. Your arms snaked around his neck in an attempt to kiss him deeper, wanting to keep him as close as you possibly could, and John returned the sentiment as his warm hands caressed your sides, eventually resting on your back, just below your rib cage, to hold you flush against his body.

Your fraternising was interrupted by an obnoxious cough. The two of you pulled away quicker than lightning to turn to the source of the sound to see Harcourt and Leota standing outside, smirking through the driver’s seat window. You’d forgotten about those.

You soon clocked your compromising position, still seated atop Economos’ lap with your legs dangling over the floor and your arms still hooked around his neck like a weird, fucked up Santa Claus photo.

Leota folded her arms as she watched the two of you scramble away and pull yourselves together, with a deeply amused grin. Your head was hung low to hide your apparent glow of embarrassment as you trudged away to open the van door.

Your mouth opened to let in a gasp when you felt yourself being spun back around, though you had no time to inhale as you felt Economos plant one final, fervent kiss against your lips. You’d be lying to yourself if you said it didn’t tie your stomach in knots, but you pulled away after a moment, shocked by the muffled sound of Leota whooping and clapping from outside.

“What was that for? They just saw that!” you chastised John in a whisper, though your inability to pull away from him exposed your true, underlying gratification. You watched as John puffed out his chest, internally he was hyping himself up, begging and pleading his mouth to let the words out.

“Because I like you.” he stated, with a curd nod. You looked up at him from under your lashes, and he watched as a playful smile began to take shape across your face.

“Well, I like you too.” you stated back with a terse bob of your head, turning to finally slide the van door open.

“You owe me fifty bucks, Emilia!” you heard Leota holler.

“God fucking dammit.”

[lunaticsandidiots]

come back in one piece

read on ao3

synopsis: Economos was finally sent out into the field on his own for the first time, and possibly the last. You had to do something.

pairing: john economos x gender neutral reader

word count: 1.5k

warnings: explicit language, fluff, mutual pining, first kiss

a/n: ok reader and economos have the exact same dynamic as they do in old blue flannel but also it’s like my favourite trope and i love economos so much and i will write a million more. credit to @libellule2001 for the prompt <3

✦　₊　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ .˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ . ₊　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ .　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦

“Fuck, fine!” John grumbled, snatching the rest of the uniform from Emilia’s hands and beginning to unbuckle his belt. You could feel your throat involuntarily beginning to tighten at the suggestive jingle and swallowed deeply.

“Would you look away?” he whined.

“Happily” Leota snapped, followed by the grassy shuffle of everyone turning around. Except you. You were frozen in place for a moment, held still by an uncomfortable combination of bashfulness and anxiety. John’s fearful eyes met yours, prompting yours to widen as you realised you’d been staring at him beginning to undress, and you quickly spun around on the spot to face the dark, seemingly never-ending woods.

The rumpling sound that John’s clothes made as they were presumably being removed continued to elevate your heart rate, something that was already sky high due to the other circumstances that surrounded you. You were almost tempted to turn around and sneak a peek, your conscience tempting you with the promise that a quick glance at his chest may bring you solace, but you admonished the idea as soon as you realised how selfish and stupid it would be to choose then of all moments to pursue your little work crush.

Well, ‘little’ was a vast understatement. You’d been pining over your altitudinous, wisecracking coworker since you laid eyes on him. You couldn’t quite place your finger on what drew you toward John in the first place, but from his Dahmer-esque glasses, to his multi-coloured beard, all the way down to his wolf-print t-shirts, you were absolutely smitten. It didn’t help one bit that the two of you had developed a coquettish camaraderie over the course of your employment.

To begin with, the two of you merely exchanged pleasantries in between work related conversations - the two of you were the desk jockeys of the team, and you felt that it was important to develop a good rapport with your colleague. It didn’t take long at all though, for the small talk to grow deeper and your lunch breaks to be taken in tandem, and right up until that harrowing night, you’d considered John one of, if not your only best friend.

You felt sheepish at the realisation of how sad it might sound to say that your best friend, your favourite person in the world, was a colleague you met on a job that both of you were forced to do. If you ever did say something to the contrary, however, you’d be nothing short of a straight up liar.

All of these thoughts were tumbling around in your mind like a washer on spin cycle, and your head began to ache as it was hit with a whole new cognisance.

This could be it for him. This could be the end for your endearing, bearded consort.

You raised your chin up high, focussing all your might onto willing your tears to retreat back into your head. You didn’t want to distress anyone further with your anguish, and it was a hell of a lot more pleasant to focus on performing an impossible physical feat, rather than John’s possibly fatal demise.

“You done gettin’ pretty yet, dye-beard?” Chris sneered next to you, the crude nickname prompting you to angrily dig your nails into your palms. John hated that nickname. He’d never gone into detail about it, but you always caught the way he lowered his eyes to the floor in dejection at the epithet, and he’d ‘casually’ brought it up in conversation a few times, offhandedly mentioning how much he hated it. You never cared whether he dyed it or not, it was absolutely nobody’s business but his own.

How badly you wished in that moment that you’d bitten the bullet and told John that. Told him that it didn’t matter, told him that he always looked nice, told him not to listen to Chris’ baseless, juvenile libel.

“Oh go fuck yourself, you Royal Rumble reject piece of shit,” John snarled, “Yeah, I’m done.”

You turned around to see John dressed head to toe in the lifeless shades of brown donned by the local sheriff’s department, shiny gold badge of corruption and all. Even in the drab uniform with his beard speckled with droplets of nervous sweat, John still looked entirely perfect to you.

“Okay. You need to take this into the barn,” Harcourt instructed, handing John a red, medical-looking bag that was no doubt holding Chris’ sonic boom helmet, “And you need to bury it as deep inside as you possibly can-”

“Title of your sex tape…”

“Adrian, I will strangle you to death.”

“Sorry.”

Your blood was rumbling in your ears far too loud to process Adrian’s childish comeback, all your focuses were honed in on the 6’5 man in front of you and praying to whoever the hell was listening up above to bring him back breathing and in one piece.

“Once you’ve dropped it, make your way back here as quickly as you can and Ads will set off the helmet as soon as we can see that you’re a safe distance away. Even when it starts, don’t look back. Just keep walking.”

John nodded, swallowing so loudly you could almost hear it from across the way. He broke his gaze with Harcourt to take one, possibly last, look at you.

Economos had never found it so hard to walk away from something before. Sure, a lot of his apprehension was due to the obviously high-stakes of what he was about to do, but a sizable portion was all down to the fact that on the other end of your pining, he adored you just as much. He didn’t want this to be the end of your coffee breaks, he didn’t want this to be the end of your messily-written good-morning sticky notes, he didn’t want this to be the end before he’d even had a chance to kiss you. John’s chest was heaving up and down as he lingered on that last note, tucking it away in his front pocket to keep it close to his chest as motivation to stay alive.

“You’ve got this.” Harcourt nodded reassuringly, bringing John’s focus back to her intense gaze to give him one last look of credence.

Economos nodded back at her, took one last sweeping look at his colleagues, the ones that, in that moment, he decided were his friends, drank in your perturbed frame for a moment longer, then finally turned around to start his suicide run.

That one, last look he gave you, so full of fear and self-doubt and desire and longing, tipped you over the edge. Your blood was so saturated with epinephrine that you started to march forward with hardly a thought as to why.

“John!” you cried out, grabbing his attention just before his hand could grasp the fence to climb over it. He looked at you with pure bewilderment, he was never given the time to wonder what on earth it was you were doing before you seized his face in your hands and desperately pressed your lips against him. You couldn’t hear Leota’s gasp of wonder, you couldn’t hear Chris’ scoff of disbelief, all you could hear was your own heavy breathing, and John’s.

Through the shock, John’s hands managed to pull you close by the waist, ears turning red as he felt you tilt your head to weave your lips in between his. Your closed eyelids fluttered as he huffed with longing, and your heart continued beating at a million miles per minute as the tickle of his beard titillated your senses. You knew you didn’t have long, but if this was the first and last kiss the two of you would ever share, you wanted to milk every last second of it. You quietly fussed in ardour as the tip of your tongue glided against his, and you felt him pull you impossibly closer with his large hands.

“If you come back in one piece, there’s a million more of where that came from.” you uttered against his lips, not wanting to let go of his face in the knowledge that it might mean letting go forever. When you looked up to meet his gaze, you expected to be met with that same heartbreaking look of alarm, though your eyes widened as they were met with a brand-new air of confidence.

“I will be-” he swallowed, the corners of his lips hinting at a smirk, “-right back.” he nodded, before effortlessly jumping over the fence in a way you didn’t think he was capable of. Little to your knowledge, John also had no idea he was capable of such a stunt, but then again, he’d never been in the situation of kissing the object of his affection before running head first towards danger, and when he thought about it like that, it didn’t feel as farfetched.

You shivered the second that the warmth of John’s face left your presence, though your cheeks were still radiating immense heat as your whole body continued tingling with excitement. Biting your lip, you watched as he sauntered towards the barn, hearing him wordlessly pant with each step over the comms.

“Somehow, it’s still way easier for me to believe that we’re about to go kill an extraterrestrial amber-fluid-leaking cow than believing that really just happened right in front of me.”

“Oh go fuck yourself, Pissmaker.”

[vigsilantes]

the heat (adrian chase x reader)

Pairing: Adrian Chase / Vigilante x Reader Summary: While on a mission during a heat wave, Adrian gets frustrated and just wants to go to the beach with you (inspired the horrific heat wave I just experienced). Word Count: 2.2k Tags: Established Relationship, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Reader-Insert, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Post-Canon, Comfort, Mission Fic, Humor Warnings: blood, knifes, drugs, killing, swearing

~masterlist~ | >>>(read on ao3)<<<

-

Mother nature must be really mad at us for making it this fucking hot out today. Well, in all honesty she should be mad, but still, this weather is unbearable. Before even getting out of bed this morning, you were already drenched in sweat, your legs were sticking together, and the pit stains you were sporting were dreadful. Adrian hates the heat – like, he absolutely can’t stand it. He doesn’t get annoyed very often, but when it’s hot out, it’s like his brain gets foggy and he can’t think, so he gets frustrated very easily. This morning he was groaning as soon as you got out of bed because the heat was already sneaking into your motel room. So, to say the least, he was complaining the whole time he was putting his suit on.

“I just- I can’t… this is too hot! Harcourt is definitely going to hell for making us work today,” he moaned and rolled his eyes, you couldn’t help but giggle.

The mission this week was to intercept this weird, alien-goo drug that people were using like acid. The tricky part with this goo was that it temporarily enhanced senses, which is why people felt so good after taking it. The supply of it was on the coast, so Harcourt put everyone up in a motel near the beach for this mission to make things go smoothly. After painfully getting ready, the team drove out to a cabin near the beach, which was the front for these goo-dealers.

“Again, all we need to do is kill the dealers and set the cabin on fire to destroy the goo.” Harcourt retold the plan as she drove. Everyone nodded in agreement, seemed easy enough, even with the heat bogging everyone down.

“Can we try the goo?” Chris curiously asked, and Adebayo slapped him on the head.

“No,” Harcourt stated, you laughed. Chris’s eyes brightened; he wasn’t going down without a fight.

“But-”

“Let’s just get in there, destroy the drugs, and get out.” Adrian snapped. He was hot, so you knew his temper was not to be messed with. You rested your hand on his thigh to try to relax him.

“Woah,” Chris began, and you shot him a cunning look that warned him to back off. Shockingly, he obliged, probably because he was exhausted from the heat as well.

“So, what if we get this done quickly?” you started, trying to change the subject. “Could we maybe – go to the beach afterwards?” you looked around, everyone’s faces lit up, including Adrian’s.

“I’ll think about it,” Harcourt sternly said, which you gladly accepted. Before you knew it, the van stopped, and you were there, parking a short distance away from the cabin. It was daytime, which isn’t the most ideal time of day to kill people and set a cabin on fire, but the cabin was pretty secluded, so it didn’t really matter when you guys did this, the sooner the better honestly. The cabin was big, much bigger than you had imagined, but it made sense considering the scale of the operation that these goo dealers had going on here. You and Adrian threw on your masks and everyone got out of the van, except for Economos. You split into your usual teams, you and Adrian were together, and Emilia, Ads, and Chris were together, and you planned on going in from the front and back of the cabin to eventually meet in the middle. You and Adrian were taking the back, while the others took the front.

As you were walking, Adrian was silent, and while he’s usually focused on missions, he’s never quiet, it was obvious that the heat was still getting to him. It was getting to you as well, but you could manage it a bit better than he could, so you wanted to make sure he was alright.

“You alright, V?” you asked, and he huffed.

“I’m hot, babe,” he complained, with no energy in his voice. You shook your head in agreement.

“Well, I know it’s sunny, and hot, and we’re sticky and gross, but the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of our suits,” you told him, he turned to you, and you could see his wide eyes staring you down.

“Oh, fuck yeah!” he sounded enthusiastic and pumped his fist, he’s such a dork.

“Well, I didn’t mean for sex, but I’m obviously not opposed to it,” you winked through your mask, “I meant the beach-” you stopped in your tracks as you saw two men walking in the woods behind the cabin. Adrian shot one and you shot the other.

“Pshh that was too easy,” his mood was beginning to improve, “y’know I don’t think we’ve ever been to the beach together,” he candidly said.

“Holy shit, I think you’re right-” you quickly shot another man and he dropped like a fly, “in all the years we’ve been together how have we never made it to the beach?”

“Don’t know, but whether Harcourt lets us go or not, we are definitely sneaking to the beach before we leave,” he knew the team could hear him through your earpieces, “I am not missing a fun beach day with my babe!” he emphasized with his voice loud, to really make sure the team heard him. You heard a series of snickers from them through your earpiece. “We’re in the back,” Adrian informed the team, and Harcourt confirmed they were at the front, ready to converge. You approached the back door with ease, Adrian opened it, and the room was gigantic, more spacious on the inside. There was an open floor with nothing but what seemed to be a shit ton of boxes stacked full of the goo.

“Well this is a super boring cabin,” Adrian softly pointed out, he was right. There wasn’t a single decoration or piece of furniture, it didn’t look like a typical cabin in the woods at all. The ceiling was tall, and there was not a single thing in this room besides the goo - and the goo dealers. About twenty men stood before you and the team, some armed, most not. Several of them turned to face you and Adrian, the others turned to the front door. Gunfire began, mostly from the team, but Adrian was on fire. A series of shots came from his gun, he wasn’t even giving the goo dealers a chance to fight, even if they were enhanced from the goo. They were clearly amateurs though, enhanced or not, missing almost every single shot they fired. Adrian powered through, killing nearly everyone, not even leaving anyone for you to kill. Once his gun ran out of ammo, he dropped it and went for his various knives, throwing them at the few remaining men. All you could really do was observe as he was, for lack of better words, killing it. Once he threw his last knife, taking out the last man, you and the rest of the team strolled over to the middle of the room where the goo was.

“Fuck, Vig, you totally stole all the kills!” Chris whined, Adrian chuckled and shrugged his shoulders in response. Now for the second part of the mission, you each had a few detonators that you were setting up around the cabin, making sure to not leave a spot without one.

“Hey, don’t lick these ones this time,” you teased Adebayo as you placed one in a box, she snorted and shook her head. You then noticed Adrian collecting his knives from the men he threw them in, you grabbed one for him.

“How the hell did you even know about that, weren’t you tied up?!” She rolled her eyes at you with a smirk on her face, Emilia snickered. “Man, fuckk you,” she joked towards Emilia who was slyly laughing. Once each of you placed all of your explosives around the cabin, you walked out of the front door and back to the van. You grabbed Adrian’s hand and dragged him back so you two could walk behind the rest of the group.

“You feeling any better, hun?” you asked, seeing his burst of energy back there. He tightened his grip on your hand and began swinging your entwined arms.

“A little,” he let out a long breath, “still super fucking hot though… I wanna swim with you,” he admitted, “anddd if we stay the night, maybe even skinny dip?” he queried enthusiastically.

“Well, now that’s just too good of an offer to say no to,” you professed, and you could practically hear him smile through his mask. You caught up to the others and joined them in the van.

“All set,” Emilia told John, and as you shut the door, he nodded.

“Got it,” John replied, and as Emilia began to drive, John typed on his computer, activating the explosives. After a minute of driving, you had gotten far enough away and the explosives went off, completing the mission.

“Good one, guys,” Emilia said, “easy mission, but necessary,” she admitted, everyone nodded in accomplishment.

“Sooooooo,” you began, probing the team about the beach - you really wanted this to happen so you could help cheer up Adrian.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know… We can go,” Emilia turned back and grinned at you, “I guess you deserve some fun.”

“Fuck yeah!” Adrian cheered and ripped off his mask. His hair was nearly soaking wet and his face was glossy, he was hot. That prompted you to take off your mask and you weren’t in any better shape than he was, your hair was sticking to your face. After a few minutes of small talk, and Adrian admitting how thrilled he was about swimming, you reached the motel, and you and Adrian went back in your room to change.

“I’m just gonna have to swim in my underwear… I wish I thought about bringing a bathing suit,” you said, as you peeled out of your suit. The whole team would most likely be doing the same, but none of you could care less.

“Hey, I am not complaining about that, babe.” Adrian said, while looking at you admiringly. You two quickly changed, Adrian sporting his boxers and you in your underwear, grabbed towels from the bathroom, and returned to meet the team outside. The water was close enough to walk to, so Adrian scooped your hand into his and you began walking. After a quick couple of minutes you were there, and you all took your shoes off so you could walk in the hot sand. The beach was shockingly empty, people were most likely too hot to even make it there, so there was plenty of space for all of you to spread out. You and Adrian found a prime spot and dropped your towels down in the sand, Adrian then flung his glasses off and they landed on the towels.

“You ready?” he asked, squinting at you because he couldn’t really see without his glasses and from the bright sun shining in his eyes. You nodded, and he took your hand again and bolted towards the water. You didn’t even bother waiting for the team, so once you reached the water you two dived headfirst into the ocean. Feeling the cool water hit your skin was instant relief from the heat. You bobbed your head out of the water and found Adrian inches away from you, with a giant smile on his face. His cheeks were flushed, and his hair glistened from the water. He floated towards you and pulled you in closer to him.

“Ahhhhh, this is great,” he hummed, and brushed your wet hair out of your face. “You always know how to make me feel better.”

“I got ya, babe,” you smirked, and he kissed your forehead. His eyes were bright, and he was more animated than he was this morning, so you knew the water was helping. “You always take care of me so I gotta return the favor once in a while.”

“Nah, you don’t need to do a damn thing, I loveeeee doing things for you, like so much,” he beamed. You pecked his cheek to thank him. “OOOH look at that wave!” he shouted, and you turned around to see a giant wave coming right for you two. Adrian grabbed your hand so he wouldn’t lose you in the tide, and you floated together in the water riding the wave. You both briefly got pulled under the water, but it felt refreshing to wet your head again. Emerging your heads from the water, Adrian looked at you, his face pleased.

“This is a fun little impromptu beach date, don’t you think?” you asked as you met his eyes, you loved how the sun made his green eyes glisten. He instantly nodded his head.

“Hell yeah it is!” he smirked. “And you look totally hot in that bathing suit, babe,” he stated as he lifted his hands to do air quotes which made you chuckle. He then drew you into a hug, and the two of you floated entwined together in the water. The was sun reflecting beautifully on the water, and you felt nothing but bliss as you swam in the cold, comforting ocean.

[vigsilantes]

the four elements (adrian chase x reader)

Pairing: Adrian Chase / Vigilante x GN Reader Summary: on a mission with the 11th Street Kids fighting superhumans, adrian gets injured. Word Count: 2.6k A/N: the tables have turned, and adrian is the one hurt in this fic! he isn’t hurt too badly but this is just some hurt/comfort and fluff! Tags: established relationship, reader-insert, gender-neutral pronouns, post-canon, idiots in love, hurt/comfort, fluff Warnings: canon-typical violence, blood, knives, injury, killing

~masterlist~ | >>>(read on ao3)<<<

To say that you and the 11th Street Kids always gets lucky on missions is an overstatement. You guys have narrowly avoided death countless times and for the most part, you’ve gotten out of almost every mission unscathed. Almost every mission isn’t every mission though, including this one.

Fighting superhumans is always risky, even with doing research it’s always dangerous fighting them. Tonight’s mission was extra risky, because you didn’t know multiple superhumans were working together – well, you knew of four of them working together, you didn’t know of the other four superhumans that were in on this heist. The four that you knew of were planning a bank heist for tomorrow night, they had already robbed a bank last week and there were a few casualties, so Emilia was eager to stop them before they robbed another. Tonight, the plan was to go to their warehouse base and take them out, you had done prior research of all of their powers and were ready to fight. However, when you arrived, you saw four new members of their group, and the team knew nothing of their powers or how to stop them, things escalated pretty fast.

All of you instantly went for the four superhumans you knew of, trying to take them out first before you got to the new guys. You all were consumed in fights; you and Adrian went for the same targets at once and by working together you were able to take them out faster. You both had taken care of two of them, while Harcourt and Peacemaker took the other two with Adebayo’s help. Luckily, your research paid off, and you were now down to the four unknown ones. The other superhumans were stunned by how easily you took out their buddies, which only angered them. One of them had some sort of fire powers, another had strength, and the other two just looked plain scary, you couldn’t quite pinpoint their powers by looking at them.

Chris tried going for headshots which is a safe way to ensure death, something you learned from the butterflies, but the one woman he shot at ran towards him in seconds and his bullet hit the wall behind her – super speed. She had super speed, which was not what you guys were hoping to deal with right now. While Chris was focused on her, the rest of you faced the others and began opening fire, just hoping something would happen. The last unknown superhuman started shooting water from his hands and it was clear that the four of them had a wide range of powers, you weren’t entirely sure bullets would do the job, but you still tried shooting anyways. You all took Chris’s initiative and began aiming for the head, and after a few bullets you ended up taking out the strong guy, and Emilia and Leota collectively took out the fire guy, that left the speedster and the merman.

Adrian has been trying to go after the water guy, but this guy kept deflecting bullets by hitting them away from him with water. Chris was focused on the speedster, Emilia and Leota joined him on opening fire on her while you tried helping out Adrian. You made your way over to him while shooting, but the bullets kept getting washed away in the air, this guy knew how to use his water.

“On your left, Vig,” you told him as you kept firing, you saw that he nodded, and you both aimed for water guy’s head.

“You think this guy knows Aquaman?” Adrian loudly questioned, which made you chuckle a bit too hard, it agitated the water guy and with a swift movement of his hands, he threw water at Adrian’s feet making him fall to the floor. Adrian grunted and anger ran through you, you wanted this fight to be over. You grabbed one of the various knives from your belt and briskly threw it at the water guy’s head, instantly making him drop. Just at that moment, you heard Leota’s taser go off, which stunned the speedster enough to slow her down, Chris took her out.

“Ahhh, fuck she was annoying,” Chris sighed, and you helped Adrian stand up, he was soaking wet from the water guy.

“That was exciting,” Adrian beamed, pumping his fists in the air, “we took out eight superhuman villains at once, pretty fucking rad if you ask me!”

“So fucking rad,” you agreed, and after sharing quick glances with the team you began leaving, Emilia then went to make a phone call to her friends to clean this up. While walking to the front door you faintly heard splashing sounds come from behind you. Everyone turned around to see the water guy hovering in the air with his arms held high while water was floating around him, his brows were furrowed, and he looked at Adrian intently. He somehow healed himself, and the knife that was in his head was gone – the wound was gone too. You all urgently raised your weapons, determined to actually kill this guy, and the merman quickly flung his arms towards Adrian. Within seconds water consumed him, he was thrown across the room and crashed into a wall, hard.

“Vig!” you scream, he wasn't moving, knocked out from the hit. You were pissed, and the rest of the team was furious at what this merman just did to Adrian, you opened fire at the superhuman, continuously shooting at him while walking towards him. He once again moved his hands and water then surrounded your feet, you jumped onto a crate and took more knives out from your belt, throwing them at the merman one by one. A few of them hit him which only seemed to annoy him, and with his hands he threw water at you, making you topple off the crate. It did seem like he was having a hard time keeping up with you all going after him at once, but Chris sighed loudly.

“Alright, fuck this,” Chris said as he stopped shooting. Leota and Em continued to shoot and out of the corner of your eye you saw Chris grabbing a compression bullet from his belt, he loaded it into his gun. He promptly aimed his gun at the merman’s head, shot, and lowered his gun. The rest of you lowered your weapons as well and within seconds, the merman exploded, blood and guts flying everywhere, and on over of the team. Emilia groaned and Leota gagged a bit from the blood that was covering them. While everyone was focused on the mess that was all over them you ran to Adrian, who was still unconscious, seeing him knocked out made your heart ache and your anxiety spike through the roof. You bent down to him, gently turned him on his back and took his mask off. You brushed his hair and held his face, his eyes were closed while his face looked relaxed.

“Hey, Ade, can you hear me?” you frantically ask, he had a cut on his head and with your glove you cautiously wiped some of the blood away. “Come on babe, wake up,” you beg, he moaned and shifted slightly, he slowly began blinking awake. “Oh thank god.”

“Heyyy, babe,” he said with a soft smile growing on his face, seeing him slime eased your anxiety. “My head hurtssssss,” he admitted, you let out a huff and lightly smiled back.

“I know, you probably have a concussion, honey,” you affirm and he started trying to sit up, you helped pull him up and guided him to lean his back against the wall. Chris waltzed over to you two and bent down and began chuckling once he noticed Adrian was alright.

“Sorry dude but the way you flew through the air was hilarious,” he said in between laughs, you shook your head disapprovingly.

“Felt like Eagly when he flies,” Adrian smirked, you giggled at his statement and Chris flashed his teeth. Chris then outstretched his arm to help Adrian up. He stood up, you pulled his arm to go around your shoulders and you slid your arm around his waist while Chris still helped him stand. He looked at you puzzled for a second and tensed up. "Wait why are you covered in blood, are you alright? Wha-"

"The merman exploded on us," you calmed him, the confusion disappeared from his face.

“Awesome," he stated, "And thank you guysssss for helpin me,” Adrian said, and you two then helped him walk out to the van. Emilia opened the back door and you got in first, then guided Adrian in. You all sat in your usual spots and as John began driving, Emilia took out the med kit. You took it upon yourself to get Adrian his glasses from his safety pocket and you gently placed them on his face for him, he hummed.

“You doing alright, babe?” you softly question while you examined his face, besides the cut and possible concussion he seemed to be okay. He nodded his head, then Emilia handed you a bandage and an antiseptic cloth for his wound. You took off your mask so you could see better as you ever so slightly wiped his forehead to clean the cut, he looked pleased by your actions. Then after cautiously placing the band aid on his head, you gently rubbed it to make sure it was on. You pecked his cheek and Emilia kneeled in front of Adrian.

“Alright, Chase, follow my finger with your eyes,” she nicely demanded as she stuck out her index finger in front of him and turned on the small flashlight. After she checked him out she informed the two of you that he did in fact have a concussion, but it wasn’t anything hospital worthy, and you both were very thankful for that. Adrian placed his head on your shoulder, and you tenderly rested your head against his for the ride back to HQ. It luckily wasn’t too long of a drive, and with small chatter between everyone to help pass the time, before you knew it you were back. Emilia thanked everyone for tonight’s mission and said that you and Adrian can have the next few days off. On your way to the Vigilante-mobile, Adrian took his car keys out of his safety pocket, and you stopped in your tracks.

“No way, concussion boy, you’re not driving,” you state raising your brows at him. He slowly nodded his head, realizing it wouldn’t be a smart idea.

“Pshhh right, I forgot, you’re soooo smart, babe!” he beamed, and tossed the keys to you. You sat in the driver’s seat, and he took your seat, you both had to adjust the seats a bit as he usually drives while you usually have shotgun. “Can you put on some T Swift, please, pretty please, babe,” he asks, and puts his hands together to beg. You smile and nod.

“Oh of course, honey, anything you want,” you declare, as you plugged your phone in the aux and put on a Taylor Swift playlist, and you also made sure the volume wasn't too loud. "Cruel Summer" came on shuffle and Adrian immediately began sheepishly singing along. A huge grin grew on your face as you started driving – butterflies ran through you as you were grateful that he was alright and that you were both safe. He went to sneakily turn up the volume a bit, you glared at him.

"This song is so good, babe, let's just turn it up a little tiny bit more?" he pleaded, you sighed and turned it up just a few numbers, you didn't want to make his concussion worse but you also couldn't say no to him. He flashed you a smile and continued softly singing while you drove. You and Adrian’s apartment is close to HQ and after a minute you were there. Still helping Adrian keep his balance you both gladly went up to your apartment, then sat on the couch as soon as you got in. You let Adrian rest for a minute as you grabbed some clothes for you both to change into, and water for him to drink. While you helped him peel out of his suit, he was rambling about his favorite Taylor Swift songs, you adored his rambles, and then gave him a shirt and pajama pants to put on. After you quickly put your pjs on you plopped yourself next to Adrian on the couch and sighed, he took your hand in his.

“That was a fucking insane mission,” you started, he nodded his head, “I can’t believe we took out a rip off of the Justice League,” you joke, and Adrian began giggling loudly, you grinned.

“Ha! Please they wish they were the Justice League!” he teased. “That merman fucker pissed me off, like so fucking much…” he said while whining.

“Me too, it was honestly super satisfying when Chris took him out…” you paused and stared at Adrian, thinking about how worried you were for him, “that was scary though, I’m glad you’re alright, Ade,” you admit biting your lip, he rubbed your hand and scooched closer to you.

“Hey, I’m fine, babe, I promise, I’ve had wayyy worse concussions before” he confirmed while waving his hand dismissively, he was right he's been in worse shape than this before. “It was kinda insane though, I’m happy you’re okay too, like sooooo happy,” he pulled you in and gracefully kissed you, you felt content to be kissing him, and you both were happy with each other’s presence. You slowly separated and he cupped your face with his hands and smiled. You then both nuzzled in close to each other on the couch, his arm was wrapped around you as you sat comfortably in this all too familiar position.

"Do you need anything? Are you hungry, or thirsty or do you want me-" you began, he squeezed your hand.

“Nah babe, thanks, I'm perfectly fine right here," he purred, and with that you were able to calm down in his arms. "That was fucking wild though...” he gasped, and you turned your head to face him with a perplexed look on your face, wondering what thought just entered his mind. “They weren’t a rip off of the Justice League, babe, they were kind of like Avatar The Last Airbender… Water, earth, fire, air, ya know?” he stated as he met your gaze, you chuckled and nodded in agreement.

“Wait you’re so right! They have nothing on Aang though, he could take them all,” you advocated, and Adrian’s face lit up, he was very passionate about ATLA, you were too. Together, the two of you have binged the show a million times by now.

“Right, they have nothin’ on him, and they didn’t even have an Appa either, so lame. Maybe if Appa was with them they would've won, I mean fuck I wouldn’t fight against Appa’s team!" he admitted, and you totally agreed with him, you loved Appa. "They were super unprepared for realizes though, no wonder we were able to take them out!” he boasted, and you nodded, you adored how his mind works.

“Wanna watch some ATLA and cuddle before bed, babe?” you suggest and peer over at him, his eyes grew wide.

“It’s like you can read my mind,” he plainly stated, you happily hummed knowing he’d want to watch some. After grabbing the remote and pressing play on the show, Adrian threw a blanket over the both of you, and you nestled in closer to him, your head fitting perfectly in the crook of his neck. You felt warm from laying against him, and you couldn’t be happier to be where you were in Adrian’s arms.

[vigsilantes]

the carnival (adrian chase x reader)

a two part story about a carnival stopping in evergreen

pairing: adrian chase / vigilante x gn! reader

part 1: blush:

summary: on a late-night mission at a carnival helping out chris’s friend, you and adrian have a fun little impromptu date.

word count: 2.1k

part 2: brain freeze:

summary: it's time for you and adrian's annual carnival date, and you two couldn't be happier to be there together.

word count: 1.9k

~masterlist~ | >>>read on ao3<<<

[lunaticsandidiots]

a real kind of love

read on ao3

synopsis: adrian had been talking about you for months, but nobody on the team had ever seen anything to prove you were real. until now. [himbo!adrian x thembo!reader]

pairing: adrian chase/gender neutral reader

word count: 1.4k

warnings: explicit language, mild sexual content, fluff, idiots in love

a/n: this one comes from an ask from our beloved snail! this one truly just hit me like a tonne of bricks and i couldn’t stop until it was done. this one’s for all my fellow thembos out there - i love you.

✦　₊　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ .˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ . ₊　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ .　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦

Adrian had been bragging about you to the team for months, going on and on about all the silly things you’d do, and all the funny things you’d say. Every single one of them was convinced that Adrian had made you up. Especially when every one of his bad jokes was always followed by a

“Well my partner thinks i’m HILARIOUS!”

After that, they definitely didn’t believe him. Tales of Adrian’s mystery lover seemed to drag on forever, but never had any of them seen any evidence of your existence.

One fateful Friday, the task force had found themselves finishing their work over dinner at a diner down the road from headquarters, too tired and hungry to stay back but too busy to call it quits just yet.

“Hey, I hope it’s okay my partner’s coming. Cause I already told them that it was okay for them to come.” Adrian asked nonchalantly, putting away his phone to peruse the menu.

“Okay, well thanks for asking first, dipshit.” Economos scoffed, shaking his head at Adrian’s ridiculous logic.

“Oh, you’re welcome! I wanted to check with you guys first.” Adrian chirped, John’s sarcasm flying right over his head. Economos didn’t have the energy to explain what he really meant, giving up and going back to reading his own menu.

‘This is gonna be good.’ Harcourt thought to herself after the waiter came by with their drinks, ‘We’re gonna get to the end of the night, and then Adrian’s ‘partner’ is going to ‘conveniently’ text him and explain that they ‘couldn’t make it after all’.’

Like Harcourt had predicted, their orders had already been taken and there was still no sign of Adrian’s ‘other half’. Emilia rested her chin on her palm, elbow leant against the table as she stared out the window to tune out another one of Chris’ ludicrous anecdotes. Emilia’s brow furrowed as her attention was caught by an amusing scene unfolding before her in the foyer of the diner.

The old double doors squeaked and creaked as a dark figure tugged on them over and over again, despite the big, red sign saying ‘PUSH’ right in front of them. Harcourt’s eyebrows raised in astonishment as the stranger continued to pull again and again until a waiter noticed their struggle and motioned to push with their hands through the glass.

Once through the doors, Harcourt watched as the individual let out an unapologetically goofy laugh and gasped in genuine amusement as their eyes sparkled with not a thought behind them.

“My god…” Emilia muttered, chuckling under her breath, “They’re almost as bad as him. Maybe it’s contagious.”

This comment, however, had absolutely no relevance to Adrian’s ‘partner’, as Harcourt was still firmly in the camp of disbelief. Instead she just watched on as the stranger entered the room and bounced along past the tables with that same, absentminded grin, waiting for their next incident to unfold.

The person soon grabbed the attention of Leota as they walked closer to the booth, then Chris, and finally Economos, who turned in his seat to find out what the hell everyone was staring at.

And low and behold, it was you.

“DUDE, YOU MADE IT!” Adrian cheered, standing up from his spot next to John and sliding out of the booth to greet you, grabbing you by the hips, “I MISSED YOU!”

‘What the fuck?’ Chris thought, ‘They’re real?? And they’re hot???’

“DUDE, I MISSED YOU TOO!” you squealed.

One of Adrian’s hands cupped your cheek to bring you in for a searing kiss, your heart fluttering in time with your eyelids as they shut themselves in bliss. As Adrian’s hand slid back down to hold you by the hips again, your hands snaked up to hold his face, pulling him closer as his tongue invaded your mouth.

It’s surprising an earthquake wasn’t triggered with how rapidly the team’s jaws dropped to the floor, watching the promiscuous, and frankly unbelievable display in front of them. You were indeed very real. And you were indeed already halfway to fucking Adrian right there in front of them on the dirty restaurant floor.

Neither of you had the slightest awareness of how your display may have made onlookers feel, all too enraptured by the joy of seeing your other halves again. Adrian groaned at the feeling of your fingers weaving themselves through his hair and pulling, as the two of you continued swapping spit.

Economos decided he’d seen enough and coughed obnoxiously to grab your attention and break up the love fest.

“Oh, bless you!” you chirped genuinely, not realising for a second it wasn’t a real cough as you childishly wiped the spit from your chin with the bottom of your sleeve. ‘Jesus christ, they are just like each other.’ Economos groaned internally.

“Babe, these are my friends!” Adrian announced, one of his hands resting on your back as the other fanned out to gesture to his colleagues.

“OH MY GOD, Adrian’s friends!” you beamed, “I’ve heard so much about you all, Adrian’s told me so much about you guys.”

“Told you how much…?” Leota inquired, raising an accusatory brow at Adrian. He didn’t have a chance to defend himself, the answers came spilling out of your mouth before Adrian could even open his, though Adrian didn’t mind one single bit as he watched you with hearts in his eyes.

“Well you must be Leota, cause you’re already the funniest,” you started, completely missing the offended scoffs from Chris and Economos,

“And you must be Harcourt, cause you’re looking at Adrian the same way that his mom looks at him when he’s done something really stupid again and she’s super angry at him,” you continued. Emilia didn’t quite know whether to feel impressed or offended at your observation,

“And you must be Chris,” you added, smiling and blinking for a few seconds before turning to address John, Chris huffing in indignation at your total lack of description for him,

“So then you must be Economics. You know, you shouldn’t be embarrassed about dying your beard, man. Ombre is totally having a comeback moment right now and you’re already really cute anyway.” you finish, nodding self-assuredly as Adrian resumes his seat next to John and pulling you in to sit next to him.

Economos took a few moments to gather himself, completely baffled at every word you’d spoken since arriving, and wildly flattered by your odd compliment.

“It’s Economos…” he finally stuttered out.

“Gesundheit!” you laughed, flashing your empty, sparkly, eyes at him, “Did you need an antihistamine? I might have one in my car…” you offered, starting to grab your keys from your pocket.

“I-I’m good, thanks” John muttered, shaking his head as he tried not to let his jaw drop again.

Everyone continued to watch and analyse the two of you as the night went on, trying to come to their own conclusion as to whether you really were his partner or not. It wouldn’t come totally out of left field for Adrian to find some random on Craigslist and pay them to feign being his partner for a night to keep up the ruse, so they all had to make sure for themselves.

Chris was won over at the two minute mark of you gushing about how ‘hilarious’ Adrian’s eagle impression was. Chris had seen it a million times, and he’d never found it that funny.

Economos was convinced once he noticed you hadn’t batted an eye at a single one of Adrian’s eccentric comments, nodding and agreeing to his nonsense as if it made perfect sense to you. ‘That right there, is two dumbasses in love.’

Harcourt wasn’t persuaded until after everyone had left the restaurant and said their goodnights, the two of you hand in hand as you waved goodbye and walked to your car. As Emilia waited for her Uber, her head sprung up at the sudden, muffled cacophony of 90s europop, and couldn’t help but smile to herself as she watched the two of you screaming along to the Ace of Bass at the top of your lungs from within your car, breaking out into laughter when the both of you could still be heard in the distance long after driving off.

Leota, however, was sure the moment she saw the two of you look at each other. Adrian had stopped in the middle of his sentence as he caught you leaning in to his every word with a look of pure adoration written all over your face. The deep admiration in your eyes as you smiled up at him, and the evident reverence in his as he beamed down at you was real. All the money in the world couldn’t fake that kind of love.

✦　₊　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ .˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ . ₊　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦ .　˚　♡ .　₊ ✦

vigilante taglist: @redpool @lothiriel9 @darththrog @kingdindjarin @trash--blog @bbwithaknife @nottobegaybutmen @torchbearerkyle @666abby6666 @allukanezuko @fanofverymanythings @hypnoash @chelseaxteens @ellabellabus07 @vlkyriesgf @panickinanakin1 @caramelkatsukis-bitch @mayhem24-7forever