#leave the rock alone and pretend there's no bug tonight

[zenmai--jikake--no--komoriuta]

having a bad mental health night, was playing FF7 Rebirth and James came over to say it was too loud, and I do agree a bit but he turned it down so low I couldn't hear it very well and it was uncomfortably low in that way where it bugs you and you want to turn it up more and it's like an annoying itch....... I had been having problems where it's too quiet in cutscenes and too loud in combat and I'm constantly turning it up and down and forgetting what it's at but for some reason having someone else turning it down that low set me off and made me not want to play anymore, but he kept trying to fiddle with the sound for me and I kept tearing up because I just wanted to drop it and stop playing because now my stupid brain was getting irrationally upset, and now I've gone to bed early but he's started playing Granblue and I'm getting agitated being in the same room and I want to run and leave and go to my car to decompress but it's 11:30pm and it's not safe to do that but he won't go to bed now for at least another hour but I'm agitated hearing him and I don't want to be here stewing with nothing to do but I can't bring myself to play anymore tonight and I can't use my pc because he's right next to it and I'm agitated snd I can't sleep bevause I'm agitated

[machiavelien]

If you are taking requests, do you mind drawing peter and mj having some cockwarming time on the couch while just wearing hoodies:)

I tried drawing this prompt but it didn't come out how I wanted, so here are some WORDS. Plus, since this ask is almost TWO YEARS old, I’ll do you one better and throw in some “getting walked in on” and "first time" 😘

AO3: Just Halfway

When MJ shifts in his lap, Peter bites back a groan and grabs her by the hips to keep her still. "MJ…" he warns, his voice strained.

“Sorry,” she says, not feeling sorry at all. 

She shouldn’t tease her boyfriend so much. After all, she knows why he’s so hesitant to do more with her–Peter doesn’t know if he can hold back if he ever got lost in the moment, afraid that he’ll hurt her without meaning to. But stealing kisses in between classes isn’t enough, and MJ feels like she's going to explode if she waits any longer. 

Luckily, Aunt May had plans with her friends tonight, leaving the two of them all alone for the entire evening. Peter eagerly suggested that they could spend it cuddling on the couch in their PJs, and MJ was just as quick to insist that she usually sleeps in just a hoodie and her underwear.

So now she’s sitting on Peter's lap watching some sci-fi movie and pretending that she isn’t getting outrageously turned on whenever she feels him twitch underneath his boxers. He’s becoming distractingly hard against her ass, and she can’t suppress the thrill of knowing that she’s the one doing that to him.

After the opening credits, his hands begin sliding up under her hoodie to caress her stomach. His calloused fingers leave a tingling trail all over her skin, and MJ rubs her thighs together, feeling herself get embarrassingly wet from that alone. 

As he slowly inches up to the curve of her breasts, her breathing gets heavier and she can’t focus on the television screen at all anymore. When his thumbs reach her nipples, her breath hitches and a soft moan escapes her, making him chuckle. 

“Shut up, bug boy,” she says, but there’s no bite in her tone. His lips twitch, wanting to smirk, as her nipples harden under his fingers. Fuck, she wants him to touch more of her, wants to know how it feels to have his skin against hers without all their clothes in the way.

Reaching down between her legs, MJ pushes her underwear to the side and presses herself against the bulge rising from Peter’s crotch. His smirk quickly turns into a wide-eyed stare as her wetness soaks through his boxers.

With another wiggle of her ass, his cock slips free through the opening of his boxers, leaving nothing to separate them. Leaning back against his chest, MJ closes her eyes and savors the feeling of his swollen hard-on sliding between her legs.

“Fuck... that feels so good,” Peter groans, his knuckles going white as he grips the arm of the couch. “Is this… is this okay for you?”

“Yeah,” she says breathlessly. Her body is tingling all over and she’s desperate for more, but the way he's holding her up makes her feel steady and safe.

They were supposed to wait, take their time and plan something to make their first time special. But when MJ feels the swollen head of Peter's cock teasing at her entrance, pressing between her folds but just barely, she doesn’t want to wait anymore. One thrust from him is all it would take, she realizes with a thrill, to cross that line. 

“Maybe…” she begins, “you could… just go in halfway?”

Peter inhales sharply at that, his erection twitching against her. "Are you sure? It might still hurt–"

MJ silences him with a kiss, her fingers cradling his jaw. She wants him to do it. She needs him to do it. 

He pushes in slowly, breathing heavily against her neck with the effort of holding himself back. She whimpers as he goes deeper, inch by aching inch. He stops when he's halfway inside and they both let out a heavy breath at the same time, then giggle nervously.

"Is that okay?" Peter asks, arms shaking as he holds her up.

"Yeah, very okay," she hums, rocking her hips ever so slightly. "You think you can make it through the rest of this movie like this?"

Peter lets out a strangled chuckle, but turns her question back on her. "Maybe the real question is can you?"

MJ scoffs, even though she's barely keeping it together and desperate to feel him deeper. She needs him deeper inside her. She's wanted him for so long, and now all she can think about is how close she is to having him. 

Halfway isn't enough for her; her body is screaming for him. Every time she shifts in his lap, it feels even better, and she has to fight herself from grinding his cock in deeper. 

Sensing how much she’s struggling to stay still, Peter whispers in her ear, "You better not move or we're not going to finish the movie." 

Her thighs are almost shaking from the effort, but every time she clenches, he slides in a little deeper, and neither of them say anything or attempt to do anything to stop it. 

"You doing okay there?" she asks cheekily.

"Never better," Peter grunts, his grip tightening on her hips, like he doesn’t trust her not to move, which is a fair assumption. She smirks, wriggling against him on purpose.

“Keep your hips still,” he pleads. “I can't hold on if you move… like, at all.”

He throbs inside her again, and MJ thinks she might lose her mind.

"I should… I should pull out," Peter huffs.

"Yeah, okay," she replies breathlessly. But before they can make any move, they hear the front door close and footsteps coming toward the living room. 

With Spider-man reflexes, Peter lets go of MJ to grab a throw blanket from the other side of the couch. She lets out a surprised yelp when he drops her, and she ends up sinking onto his cock completely. 

A mix of hot pleasure and pain ripples through her body from where they’re joined, but she doesn’t have any time to savor it. With her heart pounding in her ears, they scramble to cover themselves with the throw blanket just in time for Peter's aunt to poke her head into the doorway.

"Hey you two! Sorry to barge in, but have you seen my keys? I'm so, so late for this thing already!"

MJ wants to make a joke about Peter getting his tardiness from, but she can't form any coherent words while holding back a moan at the same time. 

"Having a movie night?" May asks, rifling through her purse.

"Mm hmm," Peter nods impatiently. 

“That’s so cute. What are you watching?”

“Uh… I don’t know, we just turned it on. We were doing homework before…”

MJ’s head is spinning, and she is barely following May and Peter's exchange. All she can think about is how she's sitting on Peter’s lap with his cock buried inside her, trying not to move as he throbs against her tight walls. She swears she's going to go insane if she has to hold still any longer. 

“You kids look so cozy in your hoodies!” May beams, coming around to the back of the couch to give both of them a squeeze on the shoulders.

They both tense, and May squints at them, scrutinizing the way MJ is sitting on her nephew's lap with a blanket suspiciously wrapped around them from the waist down. 

“Well, I’ll be out of your guys’ way in a jiffy,” she promises, disappearing into her bedroom.

Peter lets out a breath, but only for a second before his aunt returns, jingling her keys in triumph. On the way out the door, May stops again and turns back to face them. “Do you guys want to swap out that throw blanket for one of the comfier quilts–”

“No!” Peter and MJ shout at the same time, startling his aunt.

“Okay, okay! I got the message loud and clear. Didn’t mean to interrupt your little date night!”

When the door finally clicks shut, Peter lifts MJ up and frantically pulls out, falling back on the couch with a heavy exhale. His dick is still hard, aching with need as it sticks up in the air. MJ crawls over towards him, her own dissatisfaction still throbbing between her legs, and straddles him with her crotch hovering just over the tip of his erection.

He looks up at her, his brown eyes locking onto hers. "So, you want to finish that movie or…?"

She pretends to think about it for a moment before replying, “Or… you could grab a condom?”

MJ laughs as Peter immediately bolts for the nightstand in his bedroom, unable to imagine a more perfect time than right now or a boy more perfect than the one she's got.

[tendouluvr]

moments in which the bnha boys realized their aloof s/o finally fully trusts them

- characters: bakugō, todoroki, kirishima, tokoyami

- warnings: arguing and crying in bakugo’s but nothing too descriptive, reader has implied trust and/or commitment issues </33, todoroki makes a joke abt his dad

- wc: 203, 205, 229, 226

a/n: self indulgent 🙄

BAKUGŌ

#! he never realized how much your relationship had changed you for the better until you both got into a heated argument that made you break down in front of him. you rarely cried, in front of him — or anyone really — that is. bakugō isn’t sure how much you’ve probably cried alone behind closed doors. he knew you were slowly opening up around him, but you both knew it would take a bit for you to feel secure enough to let him see you cry. well, that’s what you thought, but with the way the argument is going you couldn’t help but let the tears fall. as soon as the first drop rolled down your cheek, bakugō saw it and paused mid sentence. he froze, mind not forming a sentence, and just stared at you while you hide your face behind your arms. “y-yn..,” he gruffly mumbles before making his way to you. bakugō gently pried your arms away from your face, you physically trying to push him away to deny him from seeing you, but he was faster and had your face against his chest in no time. “c’mon, i got you.” he whispers, rocking you back and forth in place.

TODOROKI

#! todoroki wasn’t expecting for the day you tell him you wanted to meet his mom to come so soon. he was currently laying on your chest, your back against your headboard and your hand playing with his hair. he lifts his head up to look at you with slightly wide eyes and you just stared back quietly. “...do you not want me to meet her?” you whispered after starting to feel self conscious from his staring. his eyes widened even more and he shakes his head a little to get his focus back onto you. “no! i mean- no, that’s not it. i just thought.. just that you would like more time before..y’know...,” his sentence turning into quiet mumbles at the end. to his surprise, you let out a small laugh at his reaction. you brought his head back onto your chest, your hand once again going into his hair, “yeah, i just.. i feel ready now. so, if you’d like to introduce me to your family then we can do so.” your chest vibrating against his ear as you speak. “okay. but maybe we can save my dad for another time.” todoroki mutters the last sentence before closing his eyes, pretending to fall asleep.

KIRISHIMA

#! kirishima was ecstatic when he heard you mumble something about him being able to sleep over in your room tonight. he’s never bugged you or pushed you about the idea of sleeping together on the same bed, but before you dated, he had noticed you were almost isolated from everyone else. becoming close friends at some point, he has experienced times where you accidentally got a bit clingy with him while you were hanging out, but you would always quickly distanced yourself after you’ve noticed. he’s never asked you about it purely because he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, nor does he plan to unless it gets troubling. hearing, “you can stay the night if you’d like,” quietly come from your mouth made him jump up from your bed. stuttering over his thoughts, he tried hiding his excitement by replying with a simple, “oh, okay!” but really he was slowly disintegrating in the inside. you did your best to avoid getting too touchy with kirishima throughout your entire relationship, afraid he’ll see how clingy you could be and leave you. but as time progresses, you soon realized that one of your boyfriend’s love language is physical touch. “wow, don’t get too excited.” you blandly say, still sat at your desk. he giggles before tugging at your hand to bring you onto the bed so you guys could cuddle.

TOKOYAMI

#! “do you.... want to come.. with me to my room?” your voice barely above a whisper but tokoyami caught it anyway. he always does. his head turns to look at you, eyes visibly wide. you guys had planned to spend the day in his room like always, but once you got there, you stood at his door before popping the question. you were looking down at your sock covered feet, avoiding eye contact, before you heard a breathy laugh from above you. looking up, tokoyami had a soft smile tugging on the side of his beak and you felt his slightly rough hands — the hands that always have a comforting cold surrounding it — slot itself into yours. “lead the way, darling.” tokoyami noticed your slow pacing as you guys made your way toward your room, he didn’t say anything about it. he’s never been to your room, no one has, you were known to keep to yourself majority of the time and your living space was not excluded from your distant lifestyle. when you finally made it to your door, you took a deep breath before carefully twisting the door knob. you moved to the side to let tokoyami enter first, he glanced at you and saw you had a gentle smile on your face, eyes lovingly on him, before stepping one foot inside.

[sdv-mostly-shane]

not sure if this has been asked or written before, but what a about a 'sort of cryptid like farmer' and shane? a farmer that's just a little bit more on the non human side kinda thing, if thats alright

A special Spooktember treat for you guys- I hope you enjoy. Been saving this one until it was appropriately close enough to spooky season. Also- TIL that goblincore is a quite delightful aesthetic-read til the end to get the full ✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:* vibes *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ they’re feral AND charming.

Just Goblin Things

Summary: There’s something sinister in Cindersnap Forest, and Shane is the one to come face to face with the creature. What he finds is a more than just a little magical, and he can’t wait to discover more.

Trigger warning : very brief, vague insinuations of alcohol; general spookyness.

“Seb, how many more until we can go back to my house?’

“Just a minute, Sam. I can hear one croaking just over there…“

“Yoba, what was that!-look, there in the bush!” A flash of green had caught Abigails eye, followed by a loud scrambling noise. She pushed herself off the ground, using Sam’s shoulder as a boost, and leaped toward the sound, searching for its maker.

“What kind of frog was that?”

“I didn’t even see anything. Probably just some raccoon or something.” They watched Abby crawl around a small thicket of bushes, peeking in between branches as she went. “Leave it alone, Abby, you don’t want to catch rabies.”

“Raccoons don’t have green eyes, Seb,” she said, as she perked her head up to listen to a faint crinkling of leaves. “Listen, do you hear that? It almost sounds like.. hissing?”

“What, like a snake?”

“No, like a-AH!” Abby shrieked, and fell back. The two boys ran towards her. “No, get back, it might see you!” She was referencing the massive pair of green speckled eyes that were now accompanied with a gnarly, toothy grimace emerging from the bush. From it, came an ungodly snarling and hissing.

“Alright, time to go,” Seb yanked the two teenagers away from the creature, and they started to run. Once they had made it inside Sam’s house, the trio slammed his bedroom door and jumped on the bed. They sat for a moment in silence, listening to each other’s panting breath. Abby began to say something, but Sebastian interrupted, “we’re not gonna talk about it. Just don’t-nothing happened. We didn’t see anything. Got it?” Abby huffed in frustration, and protested with him, arguing that they needed to get back out there and figure it out. All Sam could do was stare at his floor, stunned at what had just happened.

The next day, Sam went to start his shift at the Joja Mart on edge from the night before. Shane was working the freezer when he spotted him-he had picked up a packaged of individually sealed pancakes seven minutes ago and was still staring at it, unmoving. “Uh, you alright, bud?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it…” His voice seemed far away, but he managed to finally move, making to put away the product. He turned to him, “Shane, you live in Cindersnap Forest. Have you ever seen anything… weird… there?”

“You mean besides Mayor Lewis sneaking out the back window and crawling around the house, thinking I can’t see him?”

“What?”

“No, never seen anything.”

“Well we did, Abby, Seb, and I, last night.”

“And?”

“Well, nothing really actually happened-it just scared us, really. Made a really ugly sound and showed it’s teeth to us. It must have just been some animal… but the thing is… gah, I can’t even say it.”

Shane tossed a bag of multipurpose detergent at him, demanding, “C’mon, say it.”

“Ouch, Yoba, alright. I didn’t tell the others, but when we were running away, I looked back and.. and well, I saw it run away and it was on two legs like a person.”

“Hah, okay you got me. There’s nothing in that forest, kid, don’t think about it too much.” Shane slapped the back of Sam’s shoulder, bidding him to just do his work, and went about finishing the stocking. He’d look over, occasionally, to see the golden-haired teen zoned into space again, but he didn’t have the mental capacity to really care at that point; he just needed to get through his shift.

______________________________________________

Shane looked at his phone-11:26 PM. He’d gone out, not able to sleep, and forced himself to take a cold walk through the woods to avoid the saloon. Shivering, not just from the cold, he made his way over to the edge of the lake. He enjoyed watching the little sparkling fish swim, their silver scales glisten underneath the shallow water… Swishing and splashing and crashing-crashing? He flipped his body around to see the source of the crash-in front of the big tree, in a disheveled pile, sat the farmer. They were brushing the leaves out of their hair and dusting off their knees.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh! Goodness, Shane, you scared me.”

“You’re the one who fell out of the tree.”

The farmer finger-gunned, “You got me there,” and stood up, gathering the belongings that tumbled from their satchel.

Shane watched them, and smirked at seeing them covered in Earth matter-leaves, moss, dirt-it all seemed to have managed to stick to them as they tumbled down the tree. “You’re covered in dirt.”

“Oh, yeah I am.” The farmer brushed off their apron and body. Dirt, rocks, and leaves fell from their arms, but the moss stayed firmly attached.

Now with a clear view, Shane could see that their skin wasn’t quite right. It looked jaundiced from their shoulders down, where the color faded to a sickly vibrant green down to their finger tips. The moss had attached itself to their elbows and seemed to grow down to their fingertips. As the farmer moved about, their arms coming in and out of scattered streaks of moonlight, he could almost see it blinking at him. Was it growing on their arm? He blinked trying to make sense of it, “No, no I meant your arms have-“

“Oh, Hey Franklin.”

Shane’s jaw hung open on his words. Emerging from the Farmers.. arm moss?.. emerged a little frog. It opened and closed its mouth a few times before letting out a tiny ‘ribbit’.

“Yeah, I found this little guy a few weeks ago and he just didn’t want to leave. He likes to come with me on our nightly mushroom hunts.” Franklin went cross eyed as he focus on a little bug flittering past before catching it with a satisfying crunch. “Oh, that was a good one, Frankie.”

“Okay I’m gonna go now,” Shane regained control of his jaw, resolutely shoved his hands in his pockets, and started to turn away.

“Wait! You’re not gonna tell anyone my secret are you?”

“Tell them what, that you keep a secret frog hidden somewhere in your arm?”

“No, everyone should know about Franklin, he’s precious. I meant-you know what, can I just show you?” The farmer reached out their hand in an offer for Shane to grab.

He hesitated-he only barely knew the farmer, having really only seen them run past him at full speed with a pick axe held high above their head-but he was in desperate need of a distraction tonight.

The farmer, seeing his reservation, offered up, “come sit down with me, I’ll make us some tea.”

“I don’t drink tea.”

“Well I’ll tell you some of my other secrets?”

He was in too deep now, his curiosity overtaking his tentativeness, “Alright.” He accepted their hand; his fingertips flexed atop their hand, cushioned by the lush, damp covering of green.

Holding his hand, they led him to their crash-landing zone under the tree, where they sat down. As the farmer sat, legs tucked into each other, Shane thought he saw their body hesitate mid-air for half a second. He then was sure that he saw a little fairy ring of mushrooms pop out of the ground with a glimmering puff of orange dust as the farmers body finally made contact with the ground.

“Please, sit.” Shane pretended to not be concerned, but the farmer smiled to themselves as they spotted him cautiously glancing down to the ground as he gingerly lowered himself to sit. Satisfied, the farmer opened up their satchel and pulled out their trinkets for tea-two wooden cups, a shiny silver teapot with a mismatched spoon, and a box of vials and jars. Opening, smelling, taking, and closing the little jars, they began to make the tea. The beautiful earthy colors of the roots, grasses, and leaves peeled out over the edge of the cups. Craning their body, they reached over to the other circle of mushrooms where they crashed, and plucked a purple one.

As they filled the teacups, Shane watched in horror as the they grasped a moth straight out of the air, ripped a wing off, and shredded it into the two cups. He hoped to Yoba the ‘tea’ was done, but they pulled out one final vial. Swallowing, he asked, “Who’s hair is that?”

“Don’t worry about it.” The farmer pick up the teapot, cradling it in their palms. As the silver started to glow red hot, the farmers hair flew up, standing straight when the teapot began to steam. They poured the hot water into the cups.

“Okay, I get it, I know what this is.”

“What is?”

“I just had a few too many today, and I’m actually just super hammered right now and it’s making me see things. I’m gonna go to bed, now”

“But I didn’t see you at the saloon today?”

“Well, no, but if I think about it too much I’m gonna freak out a little bit,” he pushed his hands off to stand, “so I’m just gonna say that this isn’t real and-“

The farmer reached out their hand to him once more. He stood, frozen, as he watched twigs emerge from their fingertips, growing into branches, followed by leaves, and finishing with a delicate flower unfurling inches away from where he stood.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Take it.”

“Take it? But it’s.. attached.”

“Just take it,” the farmer smiled.

He picked it, cupping it in his palms, and brought it to his chest. He watched in awe as the flower petals began to sway, and tiny white fairies sprouted from the pollen. Transfixed, he stood holding his breath as the hazy creatures danced around the petals.

While he watched, eyes big and lit up, the farmer quietly pulled out from their satchel a little carved wooden chair. While Franklin hopped down and plopped onto the chair, the farmer plucked another tiny mushroom, removing the stalk, and tipped a mini-portion of tea from their cup into the cap. They handed it to Franklin who busied himself with dunking his head in and out of the tea and screaming into it.

Shane, remembering his need to breathe, finally gasped and attempted to sputter something intelligible out, but just as he thought of a semi-formed sentence, the dancing fairies suddenly burst into a frenzy of colorful fire. They continued their elaborate dance until the last of them fizzled out, and there was nothing left of the dancing flower except misty smoke and white ash.

“You can keep that-here, pour it into here,” they handed an empty vial to Shane, “sprinkle it on your doorstep and it’ll protect you and your loved ones.”

He did as he was told, not even questioning it at this point-he wanted to know more and how and why and what. Finished, he sat back down, facing the farmer, watching them lift the teacup to their lips. “So uh, does the tree thing happen a lot, or just at night, because I’ve seen you during the day and it doesn’t look like that.”

“No, you’re right, see the thing is, it’s when I- HHREEEEEEEEEK!”

Shane tumbled back in shock, catching himself with his elbows and hands. The farmer had let out an awful screech, showing their (formerly enchanting smile) now fanged row of gnarly teeth. In an instant, their eyes grew and melted into dinner plate-sized puddles of green. Shane yanked his head to match the direction of the farmers leer, where he saw a scruffy-looking opossum attempting to sneak their grubby hands around Franklin. The caught-and foiled-thief returned the farmers screech with a feral ‘hiss’ of its own, before it clambered back into dark bushes.

As quickly as the transformation happened, the farmer returned to normal just the same, meeting Shane’s stunned eyes with their own-now regular sized-smiling eyes. “Can’t be letting Franklin become someone’s snack, now can we?” They laughed and smiled to themselves, giving Franklin a little finger pat.

He was stunned, again. He blinked his way around the farmers face and body, searching for something that would make sense of his feelings. Was it repulsion? Fascination? Perhaps even a little attraction? The farmers little twinkling laugh would normally be very charming to him, but the circumstances of it were overwhelmingly frightening… if not still partially alluring. He settled his searching to focus on their smile-they offered it up so freely to him.

The farmer had waited for him to get settled back into a relaxed position before they continued, “Now what was it you were asking me, dear?”

“I was asking about your arms, that they normally aren’t literal trees,” he stoped, “dear?”

“Well, yeah. We’re friends now, aren’t we? Would you prefer me to call you something else?”

“… no, that’s fine.”

They sat together for a few moments in silence while the farmer drank their tea, and Shane gathered the courage to at least sip the leafy moth water. (It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad. He swished his tongue around his mouth to feel for any fuzzy winged remains, but couldn’t find any. It was smooth, and still hot. While he pondered, Franklin made a few flighty hops over to where his foot was resting, and jumped up onto his sneaker-he was trying to bite the laced up shoestrings.

He let out a little laugh-what a strange little animal. He looked up at the farmer and thought ‘what a strange little.. goblin.’ He let himself stare a bit-they didn’t seem to mind. They had taken off their hat by now, and revealed a pair of little pronged antlers that were hidden underneath. They were encrusted with clusters of crystals, which glittered with every turn and tilt of the farmers head. He continued to drink his tea, getting more accustomed to it with each sip, and watched the scattered moonlight refract off the crystals onto the ground. There, where the prismatic light met earth, a misting of teeny white flowers sprouted and bloomed. Shane had always been appreciative of the wonders of nature, but he had never seen it this beautiful. The farmer seemed connected to the earth, each breathing life into the other. It was humbling. And it-they-were beautiful.

The farmer finally caught his eye, and looked down, now a bit embarrassed. They didn’t mind the scrutiny-it wasn’t out of judgement, they knew, just curiosity. Truth be told, the feeling was more of self consciousness than anything. It was always daunting to show anyone their true selves, but to Shane? His gaze was so honest and searching that it was intimidating. Still feeling his eyes on them, the farmer briefly looked up through their lashes to give him a shy smile, and then turned their attention to the lake.

Shane broke the silence, “Any other goblins in their you wanna tell me about,” he motioned to the lake.

“Nah, that lake is occupied already.”

“Ah, I was just playing. Of course, it’s occupied with fish.”

The farmer was silent

He turned to them, only slightly panicky, “With fish right?”

“Mmhmm yeah fish, lots of fish.” They pursed their lips tight and took a nervous sip of their already empty tea.

Shane squinted to the water, studying it, and caught a glimpse of some bubbles rupturing on the distant surface. He scooted closer to the farmer.

With the shoulders pressed up against each other, the farmer reassured him, “Don’t worry, I got you,” and took hold of his hand.

Shane eased his body deeper against their shoulder with a sigh. He took a peek at the farmer’s face just in time to see an attractive blush warm their cheeks. He smiled, and rubbed his thumb over the tops of their knuckles. They sat together, watching the lake, while the moon rose higher in the sky.

“Did you call me a goblin?” The farmer broke the trance.

Shane let out a hearty laugh, “What other kind of magical creature sneaks around in the dark and scares neighborhood children?”

The farmer returned the laugh, and finger gunned once more, “you know what, you got me there again, Shane.” The pair filled the foggy air with the sound of their laughter, pushing their bodies still even closer together.

“If you don’t want your cover blown, you should probably stop doing that, you know, screeching at teenagers.”

“No, I don’t think I will,” the farmer said with a small growl and a wink.

It was Shane’s turn to blush, now. He looked down at their hands, still cupped together, and smiled. “What other magic secrets do you have?”

“ ✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:* Let me show you.*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ “

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

By My Side (Part 5)

Summary: The reader has finally hired a replacement manager and after a dinner with her family, she and Jensen confront some underlying feelings...

Masterlist

Pairing: Bodyguard!Jensen x reader

Square: Free Space

Word Count: 3,200ish

Warnings: mature (language, smut (m/f))

A/N: Enjoy!

A/N #2: Written for @spnkinkbingo​

_________

You stretched as you woke the next morning, getting ready for the day of entertaining your family. You bumped into Jensen in the kitchen, a pair of jeans and a simple black henley on him. You smiled but he frowned and you instantly made a face.

“Y/N, don’t turn off your phone ever. It’s a rule, remember?” he said before returning to slurping up his cereal.

“Oh. Sorry. I forgot,” you said.

“Please try not to do it again,” he said. He finished with his bowl and you took the cereal from nearby, pouring yourself some. “Are you deciding on a new manager today?”

“Yeah. I was thinking of that David guy?”

“The british one?”

“No, that was the Mark one. He was scottish I think. I’m not positive,” you said.

“Is David the one that had that intern? The little guy?” he asked.

“Alex? No, he was his just his driver. It doesn’t matter. I was thinking of David. What do you think?”

“Why does it matter what I think?”

“You did full background checks on all of these guys,” you said. “Who do you trust?”

“Honestly?” he asked. “I like Jake.”

“The young one?”

“He lacks the experience of the others but I don’t see him screwing you over. He was a navy cadet in college. Had to drop out due to a knee injury. Him I trust. Not that I don’t the others but I got a good feeling from the kid.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” you said. He stood and you grabbed the milk, Jensen wiping off his mouth. “Have fun with your sister.”

“She’s got a work thing at the moment but hopefully she wraps up soon and I can take her out for some fun for a bit. I’ll see you tonight,” he said.

“Later, Jay,” you said, getting a wave from him as he walked out. You poured the milk into your bowl and took out your phone, dialing and hearing a ring tone a few times.

“Hello?” the other end answered.

“Hi, Jake? This is Y/N Y/L/N. I was wondering if you were still interested in the manager position? If you are, you are in for a fun first day with that restaurant photo.”

“Mmm. Smells great in here,” hummed Jensen when he walked into the kitchen that evening. Your mom smiled and immediately rushed over, Jensen tensing up as she gave him a hug.

“Mom. Don’t bug Jensen,” you said.

“It’s alright,” he said, noticing your brothers were nowhere to be found. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Y/L/N.”

“Oh his arms are even bigger than you said! He’s handsome too,” she said. You rolled your eyes as you worked over the pot at the stove, Chuck turning around beside you and chuckling. “Jensen, this is my husband, Chuck.”

“Nice to meet you sir,” said Jensen, holding out a hand.

“You know everything about us already, don’t you,” he said as he shook it.

“Pretty much,” said Jensen. “Y/N’s safety is important and knowing about her family is part of that.”

“Well we certainly feel a lot better with her hiring someone. We’ve never been fans of her living alone,” he said.

“Y/N is quite capable. I’m just here to stop those situations from ever happening,” said Jensen.

“You will be joining us to eat, won’t you? Y/N and Chuck are making us dinner,” said your mom.

“That’s very kind of you mam but-”

“I insist,” she said.

“Just let it go Jensen,” you said. “This’ll be done soon if you want to tell the guys.”

Your parents headed outside, Jensen taking up Chuck’s spot beside you and stirring the cooked vegetables in the pan.

“None of them have any idea about the fake kidnapping or anything else, do they.”

“Nope. Nothing besides what happened last night. Michael and Nick know about the manager thing but that’s it. I’d prefer to keep it that way,” you said. The timer went off and Jensen got it, pushing some of the food around with a wooden spoon.

“They won’t hear anything from me,” he said. “Smells delicious.”

“Thanks. How’d it go with your sister?” 

“Good. I need to discuss something with you later after your family is gone for the night.”

“Everything alright?” you asked. 

“We’ll talk about it later,” he said, the back door opening. “Let’s dig in while it’s hot.”

“Jensen,” you said, finding him out by the pool that night, his feet soaking in the water. “My folks and the wonder twins are gone for the night.”

“Wonder twins,” he chuckled. “They act differently when your parents are around.”

“You picked up on that huh.”

“It’s pretty obvious,” he said. You sat beside him and stuck your feet in, Jensen leaning back on his palms. 

“What’s going on big guy?”

“Are you asking as my boss or my friend?”

“Friend,” you said, bumping his shoulder. “What’s up?”

“My sister wasn’t too happy to see big brother on the news nearly getting shot at. She asked me to consider a different line of work,” he said.

“Oh,” you said.

“Yeah. I’m not quitting, just so you know. A random guy running from the cops doesn’t scare me. Only reason I was on the news was cause of you,” he said.

“There’s a but in there somewhere though.”

“No, not really,” he said. “Just wanted to talk to you about it.”

“So there’s no problem.”

“I like when there’s no problems,” he chuckled. “My job is a lot easier when it’s simple like that.”

“You still have your gun on you.”

“Precaution,” he said. He sat up and took it out from behind his back. “You ever shoot one?”

“Pretend but real no, I haven’t. Can I hold it?” you asked. He set it in your hands, watching you look it over for a moment.

“You’ve had gun training,” he said.

“First season went through a lot of that stuff on the show. We get refreshers,” you said. “Colt?”

“Yes it is,” he said. “You use a glock on your show I believe.” 

Your head popped up and he laughed.

“Yes, even I do occasionally watch TV. Nice gun safety. You never leave your finger on the trigger.”

“Not supposed to, even with a fake gun they taught us,” you said. You lifted it up and held it out, finding it to be heavier than the one you were used to. “I like the grip.”

“You’d probably like a smaller Colt, fit your hands better,” he said. You handed it back to him and he tucked it away. “You see where the safety was on it?”

“Yeah?” you said. He reached behind himself and took your hand, guiding it to the back holster. 

“If I can’t use this, grips on the right side. Take it out, flick off the safety, point and squeeze. It’s that simple.”

“I sincerely hope I never have to put that into practice,” you said as he dropped your hand. Your finger brushed against his back, Jensen frozen solid before you pulled away.

“Any day I don’t have to touch it is a good one,” he said, your hand settling back in your lap. “That...tickled was all.”

“Green beans and tickling. You got some funny forms of kryptonite, Ackles,” you said. 

“Beats actual kryptonite,” he said. “Been awhile since I’ve been tickled.”

“I bet you like it. Being able to feel vulnerable and safe with someone.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

Your feet kicked in the water, a smile growing on your face. He bumped your shoulder and your turned your head. He looked different, a softness about him. 

“Are you happy?” you asked. 

“What?”

“Are you happy? I...I don’t want you to feel like you have to choose this job over other things in life, like a relationship. You can have both, Jensen.”

“I’m lost.”

“I’m just saying...you can have a girlfriend and be my bodyguard. You don’t have to pick one or the other.”

“Girls get jealous,” he said. “In my experience. The hours are crap. The inconsistent schedule. I’m too…”

“Too what?”

“Last girlfriend I had...I can’t believe I’m telling you this.” He rubbed the back of his neck and you lightly nudged his foot in the water. “She thought I was too broken for a normal relationship.”

“What?”

“I should have kept my mouth shut,” he mumbled. He started to stand but you grabbed his arm, Jensen sighing and turning to you. “What? I think she might have had a point.”

“I think that was horrible of her to say and I’m sorry she never saw the real you cause him? He is so not broken.”

“You have this perfect image of me. Strong and capable. Dominant. Alpha. In charge, gives no fucks. That’s the bodyguard. That’s not me.”

“I know. I know Jensen likes being tickled,” you said. He rolled his eyes but you caught his chin, Jensen swallowing. “I know he likes the touch of soft fleece and expensive navy boxer briefs. I know he likes classic rock and sleeping in and likes two cream, one sugar in his coffee. I know he talks to his parents every Thursday night for at least an hour. I know he’s quiet around people he doesn’t know and I know he opens up when he’s well and truly comfortable with someone. I know he’s kind and I know he has nightmares sometimes. I know he can play the piano and guitar and he sings in the shower when he’s happy and he checks on me at night and puts my blankets back on me and doesn’t say a word about it, even when I thought he hated me.”

“You pay attention to me,” he said quietly. “Even though you don’t like me around.”

“I don’t like the bodyguard. He’s okay sometimes but a bit much all the time. But Jensen...him I like. I like him alot.”

“You don’t know what I’ve done. What’s been done to me.”

“You’re not broken, Jensen. I’m never going to believe that so don’t even try.”

He put a hand on the back of your neck, pulling you in close, so close you could feel his breath  on your face. 

“You’re supposed to tell me I’m screwed up. We’re not supposed to be friends. Don’t you understand that?” he said. Your nose pressed against his, green eyes locked on yours.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand that,” you said. “What do you want?”

“I can’t have what I want,” he breathed out.

“You might be wrong about that. Actually, I’m positive you are,” you said, his hand sliding up a few inches into your hair. “Stop being scared and just tell me what you want.”

He leaned in the last inch between you, gentle lips connecting with yours. He didn’t move for a few seconds, eyes opening when he inched away just slightly. You stared at him and you saw him get the message, another kiss landing on your lips, his free hand sliding around your back. Your arms went over his shoulders, Jensen leaving kitten kisses on you before connecting roughly, giving your whole body a squeeze.

“Bedroom,” you breathed out. He moved back long enough to take his feet out of the water. He hoisted you up and carried you inside, your arms and legs wrapped around him as you returned to kissing him. There was a light scratch from the stubble on his jaw and you tugged on his bottom lip, Jensen pausing as he tried to shut the door behind him with one hand. 

You took the opportunity to tease him, kissing under his jaw while he got the back door shut and locked, his hand slapping the alarm system and the little ping saying it was armed. He arched his neck back and spun around, pushing you up against the wall. You squeezed him tighter, getting gentle bites along your collar bone.

He tore the two of you away and rushed you upstairs, stepping up onto your bed and walking forward on his knees until he could lower you down to your back. His eyes looked darker but playful as he moved up and leaned over you.

“Condom?” he asked.

“I’m on medication,” you said. “You clean?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Same.”

“Good cause I really don’t think I can wait any longer to do this,” he said. He tore off his shirt and you immediately shot your hands up to his chest, running your fingers down it. 

“You’re so damn hot,” you said. He rolled off the bed and dropped his pants, giving you time to get your shirt off. By the time your head wasn’t covered, you had a perfect view of his ass, creamy and perky. Your bra went off quickly, Jensen turning around and making you pause.

“What?” he asked, glancing down at himself and then you.

“Lucky me,” you said. He smirked and you kicked off your shorts and underwear, Jensen crawling back on the bed and hovering over you. You kissed him and he planted his forearm by your head, his other hand trailing down to your breast. He kneaded the flesh gently, swiping a thumb over the bud and getting a tiny gasp out of you. He teased the same nipple with light touches and twists before working the other one over.

By the time his hand made its way between your folds you were soaking wet already.

“How do you want it?” he murmured against your lips, circling your clit lightly with his thumb.

“Want what?” you asked, arching your hips up into his touch.

“Slow. Fast. What do you like?” he asked, kissing your jaw as your breath hitched. 

“Show me how you’ve imagined this going,” you said. He smiled and you felt the head of his cock brush you folds. He teased the head against your clit a few times before you reached down and were guiding him into your hole.

He was a smidge thicker than you were expecting and his length was perfect, solid, long but not too much. He surprised you by wrapping his arms around you pulling you to sit up on his lap, your legs hanging around his waist. He thrust his hips up and you bit your bottom lip, landing back down on him. He moved again and hit your g-spot, your jaw dropping.

“That’s the spot,” he murmured, kissing you as he started a slow and steady rhythm. You hung on for the ride, his hands on your thighs, thick cock pumping into you over and over and over again. You’d been able to play on your own and hit that spot but never with a guy, never had that low pressure simmering in your core.

God it was going to fucking destroy you when it hit.

You couldn’t wait.

You smiled as your nerves tingled, Jensen kissing you all over, his grip strong but everything else soft and gentle. His hair started to dampen with sweat and and you felt a layer cover your body, the steady pace getting you both closer. 

He was nipping at your shoulder when you rolled your hips, Jensen grunting lowly and burying his face in your neck. That was a sound you could definitely do with more of and you did the motion again, Jensen pushing you onto his cock this time. You both moaned, Jensen’s slow pace picking up just a hair.

You were rolling your hips when his tip pounded inside of you and the low pressure started to explode inside you. You gasped and weren’t even sure what the hell kind of sound you’d made, suddenly aware of hot wetness filling you up. Jensen tensed up and slowly started to stop moving, your breath finally coming back to you as he stilled. He dropped his forehead on your shoulder and panted, your hands running up and down his back, playing with his hair some.

You giggled, Jensen letting out one himself and you swore your heart couldn’t have melted any faster. You picked your head up as he did, giving him a long kiss. He rested his forehead on your own, a smile dancing across his face.

“That was the best sex of my fucking life,” you said. He smiled hard and lowered you back down to the bed, holding up a finger. He pulled out and took a few shaky steps before going into your bathroom. He returned with a washcloth, wiping you clean. He tossed it back in the bathroom before he bent down to his pants. You frowned, Jensen looking back as he unclipped his holster from his belt. He walked it over to the unused nightstand and set it on top before he slid next to you. You pushed the covers back and slid under the sheet together, Jensen rolling you close to him and up against his chest.

“I don’t hookup,” he said.

“Okay,” you said. You shut your eyes and burrowed in a bit closer, Jensen pulling you to use his chest as a pillow. “I really liked that. It was fun.”

“We should do it again sometime,” he said. He turned his head and you smiled, Jensen moving a stray piece of hair away from your cheek. 

“I would be much safer if you slept close by, wouldn’t I?” you asked coyly, Jensen already seeing through it.

“Oh yes, much safer.”

“Maybe you should sleep in here from now on...for safety.”

“In the name of safety, for sure,” he said, kissing your temple. “Real talk for a second. If this is just a hookup for you can you let me now over-”

You put a hand over his mouth and stared at him, slowly moving it away and giving him a kiss.

“I like you, Jensen. I really like you.”

He smiled and took your hand, laying it over his chest so you were holding him.

“Goodnight,” you said, kissing his shoulder.

“Night, Y/N,” he said, lightly dancing his fingers over your hip. “Sleep good.”

_______

A/N: Read Part 6 here!

[kittybellestark]

Back To The Beginning

This one shot literally took so long to write but I’m glad it’s finally finished. I didn’t think I’d ever get it done i stg. Basically Peter starts to remember his parents. 

TW: Panic Attack, Blood, speaking about experimentation/torture.

“Tony, I need your help!!”

It’s 11:00pm on a non-patrol night. Peter is supposed to be in his apartment, it’s not the weekend so he definitely isn’t supposed to be here at night. Tony felt the anxiety build inside of him. hearing Peter ask for help was nearly unheard of, and for him to make an appearance at the lab this late at night was only something he did when injured too badly. This was unusual.

Looking up at Peter, Tony see’s he looks relatively not injured. Though Peter’s look is a cause for concern. He’s wearing pajamas and his face is red. Peter’s still wearing slippers and it’s obvious that he doesn’t have a wallet on him, only his phone. Which means Peter walked to the tower from Queens -as his webshooters are not on his wrists- but he most likely ran, judging by his red face and the beads of sweat on his forehead.

“What’s wrong?”

Tony was quick to move, getting Peter to sit down and drink water. The boys eyes were wide and frightened.

“Okay you’re going to think I’m insane because I think I’m insane but I promise this is real and I need help. Something is suspicious about May. And me. And my parents. Something is wrong Tony. I don’t think I’m unsafe but there’s something wrong here.”

“Start from the beginning kiddo. Keep your breathing easy. I can’t help you if I don’t know what the problem is.”

Peter nodded. He looked ready to cry. He was obviously exhausted and Tony was trying to keep his cool from Peter bringing up May and how he’s suspicious of her. Peter was his kid and Tony would do anything to keep him safe.

“Right, yeah. So remember our talk last week, the one where I sorta told you I perceive you in a father figure way and then you saying you kinda think of me as a son? Well I talked to May about it because I felt guilty. Like I had a dad and an uncle who raised me and it just feels selfish and I just needed extra reassurance okay. And May was upset. And she said that it wasn’t fair to my father especially considering he died recently.” Peter paused. “My dad died when I was 6, Ben died just over a year ago and I know she didn’t get them confused.”

Tony went to talk, to reassure Peter or to comfort him but Peter kept going.

“I thought she was just confused. But then I found some pictures of when my parents were alive. And May and Ben were never there. I can find pictures of places they said I was with them and only them, but then the pictures are with my parents. So I did had Ned hack into my grandparents old medical files. Richard and Mary were both only children. Ben is not related to Richard. There’s no adoption forms or anything. So technically May and Ben aren’t my aunt and uncle right?”

“Pete-“

“No Tony, listen. There’s more. May and Ben always pushed for me to work at Oscorp right? That’s where my parents worked so it makes sense. But May had pushed it more since the spider bite which doesn’t make sense, even pushing it even though you’re a Stark and obviously I’m going to work at SI when I’m older. It doesn’t make sense. But I was thinking it’s a legacy thing. But no.

“It doesn’t make sense that I don’t remember anything before my parents died. Doctor’s said it was the trauma of my parents dying. But I was six I couldn’t have really understood that. Unless something also happened to me, which brings me to my next big woah moment. MJ has been having me meditate recently because it’s good for my mental health and whatnot. And I remember being on an airplane with my parents. There’s no evidence that I was ever on an airplane, except before I was six years old. But there’s a ticket under my name for the same day my parents died. And if I go into the airport security cameras on that day I am there. You can see me boarding the plane. So how could I live through a plane crash and not my parents. That doesn’t make sense, especially seeing as my whole life I was told I was staying with May and Ben when my parents died.

“Tony, none of this adds up. And let’s just circle back to the spider bite. That should have killed me. It would have killed any other human. To have lived through the bite I would have had to had been altered or experimented on to work genetically with the spiders they were using. That’s the only way I wouldn’t have died. Which means Oscorp knows about me being Spider-Man, which makes sense because they’ve approached me multiple times since gaining my powers to intern there, even before I met you.

“Something is really wrong, Tony. And I need help.”

Tony agreed to help Peter. Of course he did. The duo researches Mary and Richard Parker and then they research May and Ben Parker. May and Ben never existed before they took custody of Peter. Everything Peter said was backed up. There was evidence for everything.

Peter’s life no longer made sense and Tony feared for his sons safety.

“I’m not comfortable with you going home, kid. None of this adds up.”

Peter leaned forward resting against the work table nodding along to what Tony said. He wasn’t very comfortable either. How could he go home knowing his whole life has been a lie.

“I’ll stay tonight, but I have to go back. We need more proof. Maybe we can get a DNA sample from May.”

Huffing in frustration, Tony pinches the bridge of his nose feeling at a loss.

“When you go back home I’m going to give you some stuff to set up around your room. It’ll activate every time May walks in there, record what she’s doing and saying. It’ll alert me if she does anything to you. I’ll also talk to my lawyers.”

The next day Tony unwillingly brought Peter back home. With a bag full of bugs and cameras, all directly linked to FRIDAY who will tell Tony as soon as anything remotely suspicious were to happen. Peter was well aware of exactly where to put each microphone and camera and that they would only be activated with May’s presence. 

Leaving Peter alone with May, felt impossible. Tony’s chest felt tight with anxiety, worried that this would be a bad idea, that his kid would wind up hurt in the end. Peter being left to May when the facts didn’t add up. Everything was a little too off yet so well put together with their small family that it seemed like a gust of wind could bring it all toppling to the ground. 

From there is took a few hours before May got back to her apartment, then a little while later before she started talking about Peter’s future with Oscorp. At the end of the week Peter finally told Tony that he had a DNA sample from May. 

As Peter entered the lab, toothbrush in hand, Tony had everything set up, FRIDAY ready to go through every person who has ever given DNA ever to find out who May is.

“What if I was kidnapped as a child?” 

“Then the two of us figure it out. We do whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Tony wraps his arms around Peter, letting the teen rest his head on Tony’s shoulder. 

“Boss, I found a match, would you two like to hear?” FRIDAY finally said after an agonizing fifteen minutes.

Tony looked towards Peter, waiting for confirmation before answering. Peter stared at Tony, mouth open clearly hesitating about what to do. After a beat Peter finally nodded, and Tony gave FRIDAY the go-ahead. 

“May Parker has a 100% DNA match to Mary Parker. I do apologize Peter, but it seems May is actually your mother.” 

Everything went silent at that for Peter. His ears were ringing and the world went all fuzzy. He blinked back tears before taking a deep breath and nodding. Tony held both of Peter’s shoulders, keeping him grounded. 

“Oh god, oh man, she lied to me. She lied a lot. She can’t be- she can’t. Tony, Tony, my whole life. She faked her death. And then got custody as me, and told me she’s my aunt. Oh no, that means Ben was probably- that I watched, Tony she said my Dad died recently, Tony I watched him get murdered. They lied to me. They lied.”

Tony pulled Peter into his arms, bringing the two of them to the ground. Peter ended up in Tony’s lap, head in the crook of his mentors shoulders. Tony started to rock the two of them, hoping to bring the sobbing boy some comfort.

~~~~~~

A week after finding out May was technically his biological mother, the nightmares set in for Peter. Well, more like repressed memories coming to him when he sleeps, but nightmares nonetheless. It was already a battle to get Tony to agree to let Peter go home, with promises that he would soon talk to May. Going to Tony about this now would only lead to Peter never going home. 

Sleeping was hard though. Memories of being moved from facility to facility with Mary and Richard strapping him down and taking needles to his skin, injecting him with things that burned, that were so hot but also so cold. Watching Richard take a scalpel to his body, seeing Mary break his bones. Having his parents shock him until he tasted blood.

It wasn’t right. Peter knew it wasn’t right. He stops other parents from doing this to their kids. And now he’s here. He know’s he went through it, the abuse. But that was Mary and Richard. Not May and Ben. They may be the same, but the abuse, it hasn’t been since they started lying to him. Not since they pretended that Peter wasn’t their son. They’ve not hurt him like that since they faked their own death.

And yet Oscorp has been up his ass since Spider-Man. Doubled down since May found out. He’s been followed by people who may have put it together. Who may know his actual identity. 

Peter know’s he should go to Tony. He know’s he should talk to May. Peter is acutely aware that he is an abused child. That his parents abused him. experimented on him. He shouldn’t have lived through the spider bite, not without previous experimentation. He’d be dead if it wasn’t for Mary and Richard or May and Ben, whoever they were. They saved his life with what they did.  

But what if this was Ned’s life? Or MJ’s? OR Betty’s? Or even Flash? If this was literally anyone else’s life Peter wouldn’t stand for it. He wouldn’t let them think that everything was okay in their life. He would talk them out of it. He would support them and help them find other options. But this is his life. And now it’s different. And it shouldn’t be. Spider-Man stops this from happening to other children. Stops the abuse, helps get them into good homes. Yet Peter Parker isn’t doing anything for himself because as far as he’s aware it’s in the past. 

Now Peter is sitting inside a restaurant with May. They’re supposed to be having dinner together. But he needs to know. He has questions and he wants the answers. His phone is on his lap recording, and he that Tony has Happy tailing him, which means he’s right outside if anything happens. 

“So, uh, you know that MJ and I have been meditating together right? She says it’s good for people’s mental health and can help then deal with some personal stuff.” Peter starts saying once the food has arrived. May nods. “Well, I think it’s working. Which is great but I’m remembering some weird things from when Mary and Richard were alive.”

May raised her eyebrow, taking a think before she answers, the fork she was hold with chicken on the end twirling in the air. 

“Are you sure about that Pete? I mean not to say I don’t believe you but the doctors have said it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll ever regain your memories from when your parents were alive. Are you sure you’re actually remember and not just creating these stories in your head about them again?”

“Wait what? Creating stories- again? May, I have no clue what you’re talking about.” 

“Oh, honey. Please don’t tell me you repressed this. When you were you younger you created this whole story about how Mary and Richard would hurt you and take your blood and it was horrible. You worked yourself up into such a frenzy about it that Ben and I had to put you in a hospital to help you. You were in the hospital for months. Do you not remember that?” Peter shook his head. “Honey, if what you remember of your parents is them experimenting on you or whatever convoluted thing you made up then we need to get you some more help.”

Peter was confused. He didn’t remember May and Ben shipping him away. There’s no memory of going to a hospital or saying that his parents hurt him. Peter was sure that never happened. It couldn’t have. And for May to know what Peter was going to his what his memories were. That’s wrong. She knows. She knows.

“I ran a DNA test. I know you’re actually Mary.”

May or Mary whoever she is dropped her fork, her face showing her surprise. 

“Peter, baby, I don’t know where you got that idea from but I’m not Mary, I’m not your mother. I don’t know how you made up this story now but you’re wrong. Get up Peter. We’re going to go get you some help.”

Heartbreaking, Peter felt his family shatter. For the first time in Peter’s life he looked at May and saw a stranger. To tell him he’s making this all up, that he needs help. She’s never done this before. May- Mary- May, she’d never make him feel like he was a liar. Peter had always felt validated by her. May didn’t even do this when Peter went to her about Skip. 

May got up from the table grabbing Peter by his arm and trying to pull him up with her. Peter continued to stay seated, refusing to go with her. Wanted to finish this conversation before this family ended. 

“Sit the fuck down, Mary. I’m not done yet.” Peter heard himself spit out, voice feeling detached. 

Mary sat down across from her son, a scowl set on her face. Food forgotten, her foot tapping. 

“I was on that plane too. I remember being there. There was never a May and Ben Parker before then. Don’t play dumb with me either, Mom, I go to the best school in New York that works in conjunction with the best colleges in the country. I have an internship with a certified genius and have helped develop products at SI, and regularly work with the top three smartest people in the world, and they don’t dumb things down so I can understand. I can keep up with them and I make them see things they didn’t before. I’ve corrected Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Don’t tell me I’m crazy.”

The two stayed silent staring at each other. The server came around to check in and they only nodded. After ten minutes Mary finally broke the silence. 

“What do you want to know?” 

“Why did you fake your death, create identities that are literally related to me, but not fake my death? You told me you were dead for years. Why?” 

“It was the only way to protect you without ruining your life. I did what I had to do.” Mary’s voice was cold in a way that Peter hasn’t heard since he was young, and strapped to a table.

“How could you ever protect me when you were to the one to hurt me. You and Richard. You strapped me to a table, poked me with needles, injected me with experimental drugs, broke my bones and cut me open and shocked me when I didn’t do what you wanted me too. I was a child and you tortured me.”

“You think I wanted to? You’re my baby. I didn’t want to do those things, but I had too.”

“Why?”

“Peter, we’re done, we’re going.”

“Not until you answer me.”

“We’re leaving.”

“Answer me, Mary.”

“Oscorp. Norman Osborn. That’s why.”

Peter nodded. It was what he was expecting. Of course he was. He just wanted it to be different. He wanted Mary to say anything else. But it was her job. She got paid to do those things to him. Mary could have said no, could have quit her job. Richard too. They could have done something. Anything. 

It was a choice. They chose their jobs over him. They valued Peter as a lab rat, and their job as their child. Peter wasn’t important. Not to Mary, not to Richard. Not in the way he should have been.

“Alright.” Peter said. “I can’t go home with you. I can’t trust you anymore. I’m sorry Mary, but this just isn’t working with us anymore. Someone will be in contact.”

They made eye contact again. And Peter finally stood up. He tapped a button on the watch he was given from Tony, only tapped it once, to let Happy know he needs a ride, to let Tony know he needs him. His phone went into his pocket.

Just as his back turned to Mary, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. There was the sound of gun being cocked behind him. The people in the restaurant as gasped and screamed, chairs moving and people trying to shuffle away. Peter turned back around seeing May holding a gun, aiming it right at him.

“You’re not going to Tony. Tony motherfucking Stark doesn’t get to lay claim to you. You are mine Peter. You are my child, you are my responsibility, you are mine and you are coming home with me. Now put your hands up baby, I can’t have you calling him. We need to go. You need help. We have to go see the doctor.”

She was shaking, tears running down her face. All Peter could see was his aunt. He could only see May. He couldn’t see Mary and that made it hurt more. He raised his hands, putting them behind his head. He found the his watch easily, clicking the buttons in rapid succession, as many times necessary to get help as soon as possible.

“May, May, please. You can’t- please. You hurt me. Over and over again. It was your choice. Please don’t hurt me anymore. Put the gun down, please. You know I won’t go willingly. I won’t, I will let you shoot me. Kill me, May, do to me what was done to Ben-Richard. Make sure no one can ever have me if you can’t. It’s the only way you can keep me safe right? By making sure I’m dead?” Peter sobbed, moving slowly onto his knees, trying to not be a threat to Mary. “You are scaring me. I used to feel safe with you May. You made me feel safe. But Mary, I don’t feel safe with you. I’d rather be dead then go to whatever place you want me too. You either need to kill me, or let me go to Tony. Either way he’ll make sure you go to jail. But I’ll try and get him to lighten up the sentence if you let me walk out of here tonight.” 

Peter was crying. And near incoherent, he wanted things to be normal. He wanted his Aunt May and he wanted to be at home watching a bad hallmark movie throwing popcorn at the tv. He wanted them to order cheap takeout food when May inevitably burnt dinner.

He could see the people trapped in the restaurant in them taking videos of them. He knew this was probably live on Facebook or Instagram or Tiktok or wherever they post live videos now. Tony was without a doubt watching when FRIDAY picked up his face online. Everyone at school would probably see this, him begging Mary to kill him instead of kidnapping him. 

Peter could hear the sound of repulsors, both of the suit and of the quinjet. He knew Mary only had limited time before Tony got here, and only a little bit more time before whatever available Avengers show up. Happy was probably busy securing the perimeter for the police. Or maybe he was working to get some of the hostages out.

“I don’t want to kill you Pete. I don’t want to kill you, it’s the last thing I want to do. So you need to come with me. You cannot go to Tony Stark. He can’t solve your problems. Let’s go. We can be together, forever. We can finally be the family I always wanted us to be. The family you always wanted to have. Mother and Son. We wouldn’t be Aunt and Nephew now that you know.”

Mary was shaking, her face red, finger on the trigger, safety turned off. She was ready to shoot her son, her child, her baby. She was fighting a losing battle. She said all the wrong things and she’s acting the wrong way. 

Iron Man touched down outside. 

“You have a minute Mary, let me leave, Tony is outside. It’ll be better if you let me go.” It was a final plea, he knew it probably wouldn’t do anything but it was worth the shot.

There was a beat of silence. 

“If I can’t have you then no one can.” Her voice was cold.

A repulsor charged. Mary was out of time. They both knew it. 

A shot rung out.

The window shattered.

Mary flew to the side.

Peter fell backwards.

Tony charged in.

Mary lost her grip on the gun, it skidded across the restaurant floor. Far out of her reach. She pushed herself away, trying to escape Iron Man. The attempt was in vain. Tony stood over her, face plate on the suit flicked up.

“You’re done Mary. You don’t get to hurt him anymore.” 

The Avengers swarmed in detaining Mary, working on getting the hostages out, having them checked by medical. 

“She shot me.” Peter cried out, trying to suck in air.

Tony turned to Peter, seeing the boy lying down. Pool of blood around him. A gun shot wound to the stomach. Peter was smiling teeth stained red. Tony broke out of his suit, skidding to his knees beside him. Tony put pressure on the wound trying to smile at Peter, to try and comfort his kid.

“Peter, kid, I’m right here. I’m right here bambino, it’s okay. She’s not going to hurt you anymore. You’re gonna move in with me, I’ve already got all the paperwork sort out. I promise you kid, you’ve got a home with me. I love you kid, it’s okay, we’ll be okay eventually.”

Peter nodded, tears streaming down his face. He didn’t hurt anymore, nothing hurt.

“I’m sorry Tony. I’m sorry. That was stupid of me. I shouldn’t’ve confronted her. She tried to kill me.” He coughed up blood. “I thought she’d tell me it was a lie. Mary never loved me.”

“It’ll be okay bambi, I’ve got you now.”

~~~~~

Peter woke up in the medbay. The lights were dimmed, Tony was asleep with his head on the Peter bed, Tony’s hand resting on Peter’s. The window’s were tinted so he couldn’t see out, and the door was closed most of the way closed. Peter grabbed a cup of water sitting on the nightstand, taking a sip and putting it back down.

“Tony?” Peter whispered, waking the man up.

“Hey Pete,” Tony smiled once he woke up, voice still sleepy, eyes willed with worry. “You comfortable? Can I get you anything? Whatever you need kid, I’ll get it for you.”

“She tried to kill me, Tony. She’d rather me dead, then alive with you. She’s the reason I’m like this. She made me a freak. Because of her I’m some mutant. She never loved me.”

“Oh Peter.” Tony sighed as Peter started sobbing.

Tony got up, crawling into the bed with Peter careful not to irritate the wound. He wrapped his arms around the boy, pulling him into his chest. Peter sobbed harder, clinging to Tony.

“You’re no freak Peter. You’re not just some mutant either. You are my kid though, my son, even if not biologically. You are so important to me Peter. I’m so sorry I couldn’t take care of you. I’m so sorry that Mary lied to you you’re whole life, but you’re my kid okay? You are Peter Parker or whoever you want to be. I’m proud of you. You deserved to be loved, bambino.”

“I don’t even want to be a Parker anymore. I don’t want to be related to my parents anymore.” 

Tony wiped the tears off his son’s face. They made eye contact, Peter’s red glassy eyes and Tony’s watery eyes. 

“Then be a Stark. Or a Carbonell. Or a Potts. Or whatever other last name there is that isn’t mine or Peppers. Right. Be a Hogan or a Rhodes. You can have whatever last name you could possibly want. Rogers. Barton. Romanoff. Banner. Odinson. Maximoff. Barnes. Wilson. You don’t have to be a Parker if you don’t want to be. But personally I like the sound of you being Peter Stark, though Peter Potts has a nice ring to it too. We could hyphenate too.”

Peter laughed. “Peter Stark-Potts-Rogers-Barton-Romanoff-Banner-Odinson-Maximoff-Barnes-Wilson? Is that what you want my name to be.”

“No you silly goose. Maybe Peter Stark-Potts. Or Peter Potts-Stark. Whatever you’re comfortable with. I won’t judge. Basically I wanted to say that Pepper and I want to keep custody of you. We currently have temporary custody, because it’s up to you. We didn’t want you left out. And eventually we’d like to adopt you too.” Tony paused for a beat. “But, I feel like we’re having this conversation entirely too soon and I should let you grieve first. Mary’s not dead, that was the wrong word. She’s alive. But I figured you’d be grieving the family you lost. So we can talk about this down the line. When you’re comfortable. But Pep and I will need to know the custody thing soon at least. Gotta keep CPS off our asses at some point.”

“Tony?”

Tony hummed in response.

“Thank you.”

[astromechs]

in honor of us finally getting more gotg content tomorrow, i’ll throw up a little oneshot i wrote for a friend tonight! fresh out of the box, unedited, canon isn’t real, etc.

also peter being made an honorary kree by ronan is an enemies to sort of-friends story, i have decreed it, thank you for your time, goodnight

As far as strategy meetings go, that one had been a shitshow.

No, Rich thinks as he pushes through the doorway of the tent and moves with a purpose toward the edge of this makeshift camp, in search of some much-needed fresh air and time to himself. Shitshow would be an understatement.

This whole thing is, quite honestly, falling apart around him. Every single day, they’re losing more ground to the bugs; every single plan is a failure, because the other side is always at least four steps ahead. To call themselves the United Front is a fucking joke, because he doesn’t think he’s seen anything less united in his life; their steadily thinning ranks are devolving into infighting and (sometimes literal) backstabbing, and….

He’s not qualified for this. Doesn’t matter how many times that Worldmind, that every-fucking-one else, keeps reminding him that he’s Nova Prime now, and, therefore, that he’s the only person in the universe who can do so many things; someone else should’ve survived on Xandar that day, because literally anyone else would be able to handle this better than he has. Hell, literally anyone else in his position would’ve probably won the whole d’ast war by now.

A random outcropping of rock he comes across is as good as anything, so he huffs out a breath and takes a seat, peeling his helmet off of his head and setting it aside on the ground next to his feet as he does. Save for the sound of pebbles shifting against his own feet, it’s quiet around him as this planet’s two suns begin to sink below the horizon. 

(How Tatooine, right? Maybe in another life, he’d have thought this would have to be the coolest thing he’s ever seen, but — that life’s not his now. Not anymore.)

It’s quiet, except for —

Footsteps, growing louder by the second.

And he knows exactly who they belong to.

That’s the thing about war: it breeds familiarity in the weirdest places, because when everyday is hell, you find yourself clinging to what few constants you can. Peter Quill, somehow, is one those; over the past six months or so (has it been six months? It’s always hard to tell), Rich has come to rely on his quirks and the lopsided grins that appear on his face every so often, his terrible jokes and sarcastic comments that also manage to have some really solid advice in them, broken down in a way that makes some strange sense. It’s… kind of a reassurance to have that constant around like this, almost all day, nearly everyday.

In spite of all the frustration that’s still boiling under his skin, and how much he’d really wanted to be alone, he still finds himself reassured right now.

By the time Peter approaches, Rich is already standing to meet him — arms folded over his chest, sure, but standing there waiting nevertheless.

“Hey,” Peter ventures first, clearly reading the mood with how soft his voice is. “I’m, uh… kinda thinkin’ that you’re mad at me.”

“Yeah, I’m mad.” The counter comes with narrowed eyes and without missing a beat. “What the hell was that in there? You know Ronan has most of the Kree that can still fight. If we wanna have even, like, part of an army tomorrow, we need him.” He takes a step, two steps, three steps closer. “Blazes, Peter. You’re the advisor. Work with me here.”

He doesn’t mean for his own voice to get so loud, he really doesn’t, but — it’s like a rubber band or something has been stretching inside him for the past hour, and it’s finally snapped. Instantly, Rich regrets it; he regrets it even more when he notices Peter’s eyes widen for a second, obviously taken aback.

Just for a second; before long, they harden, just like the lines on his face. “What do you want me to do, Richie? Apologize? Pretend to be all friendly with him?” He scoffs, as if to actually say are you fucking kidding me? “‘Cause I meant every d’ast thing I said to that flarknard, and I’m not gonna do any of that.”

Rich closes his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose. It’s weird, how out of literally everything falling apart around him, being on this kind of shaky ground with the guy he relies on as that constant somehow, in this moment, feels like the worst. He wishes he hadn’t said anything; he wishes they could just — he doesn’t know — rewind time. Or something.

The air between them is thick with silence. Until:

“Never said you had to.” It’s quiet, almost impossibly so. He opens his eyes again at last, meeting Peter’s. “Just… try not to insult him right to his face next time. Look, I’m not a fan of the guy either, and if you wanna tell me every single thing you thought about him afterwards, I’m all ears. But — not while we’re in there, okay?”

That silence falls again, but then — face softening, Peter lifts a hand to his forehead in a clear mock salute. “Yes, mister Nova, sir.”

It feels like the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard.

Still, though, Rich raises a brow, tosses out a dry: “You know I hate that more than ‘Richie’, right?”

In return, he gets a toothy grin. “Uh-huh.”

Blue blazes.

Before he can even think twice about it, a laugh bursts out of him, and seconds later, Peter has followed suit. It’s so cold out that the breath from them visibly condenses in the half-light, and —

Rich is suddenly aware of how close they are.

Somehow, in the middle of all of this, they’d come to be standing just inches apart, to the point that he can actually feel the warmth of Peter’s breath on his face. This… this has to be crossing some kind of unspoken line, and he should step back before this gets weird. Yeah, he thinks, he should definitely do that.

His feet aren’t cooperating, though — and, honestly, neither is anything else, because instead, he finds himself leaning in even closer, drawn in by some kind of magnet, or gravity, or… something. He doesn’t know if it’s all his own doing, or if he’s being met in the middle, but does it really matter? No, he’s pretty sure it doesn’t, when his heart’s pounding, jumping into his throat, and their lips are so close that they could —

Beep beep beep.

The discarded helmet on the ground shrills an urgent alert and instantly breaks the spell over the moment.

Without looking at Peter, Rich pivots on his heel and reaches to pick up his helmet, reporting what he knows before they both move.

Even when things settle down again, they don’t talk about it.

But it doesn’t leave Rich’s thoughts for a long time to come.

[bitter-sweet-farmgirl]

Modern Writing Prompts

This is just a compiled list of prompts I’ve collected from Pinterest and other random places, but really only work in modern contexts.  I have other prompt lists that get more specific or more vague as well.  If you want to use one in a request to me, just use the following ‘Character Name and Prompt No. 35 from the Modern Prompt list’ for example + some details if you’d like.

There’s quite a bit on this list, so be wary....  I mean, it’s only like 130 prompts...  Also, I did not organize it.

Key:  

‘*’ Denotes something that could be used as dialogue.

[*] Denotes a swear word that I removed.

"If I was your boyfriend, I'd pepper you with kisses and spoil you so bad."

"My family thinks we're dating."

"It wasn't meant to go this far, I swear."

"You were ready to leave me for her."

"There is no us.  There never was."

"Don't leave me.  Don't you dare leave me."

"You know for a [*] fact that wasn't supposed to happen."

"Sort yourself out first."

"Leave.  Before we wake up regretting what we've done."

"All he ever did was use you?  Why can't you see that?"

"You think this will make me stay?"

"You thought this was real?"

"My mum asked about you again."

"He already knows."

"Can you please come and get me?"

"I'm at the hospital."

"I don't know where I am, help me."

OTP on a hammock together.  Person B is asleep on Person A's chest while Person A keeps one foot on the floor so they can rock the hammock in hopes of Person B remaining asleep.

"It's three in the morning."

"You're my regret."

Take me laser-tagging and then push me into a corner and kiss me.  Then shoot me and walk away.

"Smiles are contagious."  "Don't worry, I'm vaccinated."

"Did it hurt?"  *Rolls eyes "Let me guess, when I fell from Heaven?"  "No."  "What?"  "When you fell for me."  *Grins*

"So...  What's our plan for tonight?"  "We do not have a plan--"  "Well, let's make one."  "--I have my own plans that don't include you."  "I thought we were a team!"  "We are.  Which is why I need a break."  "You need a break from me?"  "Yes...   So I'll still like you in the morning."  "Wow.  I'm that bad, huh?"

Which person of your OTP furiously does push-ups while the other sits on their back and reads a magazine.

He found her sobbing in the stairwell at work.

As teenagers, a boy and a girl agree to marry if neither have by their 35th birthday.  Follow the boy as he attempts to sabotage every relationship the girl has till then.

"I don't care where I'm sleeping as long as it's with you."

As she walked towards the exit of her favourite coffee shop, she glanced down at her cup.  "You're beautiful."  Was written in place of her name.  She glanced back and their eyes met.

She opened her apartment door to hundreds of roses.  She knew they were from him;

he'd found her.

"I've had a rough day and honestly all I want right now is a drink and someone to cuddle with."

"No, you can't get up!  You're my prisoner for today."

"Shh...  It was just a bad dream.  Just a dream, okay?  None of it was real."

"You.  Cuddle.  Me.  Now."

"Baby, you'll never know me."

"I don't give a damn."  "You give so many damns they're visible from SPACE."

She gripped the rim of the porcelain sink and tried to steady her hands.  "One last time."  She whispered to herself.  One.  Last.  Time.

"Keep looking at me like that," he warned, leaning casually on into the counter and sipping his coffee.  "And see what happens."

She looked up at him, tears filling her already swollen eyes.  "But why?  Why would you love me?"  He tightened his grip, pulling her more snugly into his embrace.  "Because you bug me, weirdo.  Duh."

"Just relax, I'll wash your hair for you."

"I'm not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention."

"Are you wearing my shirt?"

"You are ridiculously comfortable..."

"You know how to unlock handcuffs with a paperclip?  Teach me!"  "Absolutely not."

"I've never been so scared in my life."  "It was a bubble..."

He was leaning against the wall trying to support his own bodyweight, and his gasps of pain were like music to her ears.

Your date drops you off.  A few minutes later they return to your door sopping wet from the storm because their car broke down.

The phone rings.  The voice on the other end says, "We need you again."  Then hangs up.

A boy and a girl were part of the same team for their high school sports camp.  The girl had a crush on him for a very long time, but was not sure how to say it to him.  In spite of that she mustered some courage and casually said, "hey...  You know what?"  "What?"  "You have the prettiest smile I have ever seen."  The boy's eyes glittered and he replied, "you know what?"  "What?"  "That smile exists only because of you!"

"Did you get my note?"  "Of course I got it.  You taped it to my forehead while I was sleeping."

"It's not my birthday."  "It's definitely your birthday."  "Give me a calendar.  It's not and I will prove it to--Oh.  Never mind.  Happy birthday to me."

As she stepped on the train, I fought ever urge to climb on after her.

"C'mere, you can sit on my lap until I'm done working."

"Just pretend to be my date."

"Handsome, broken, and a mistake from the beginning.  Are you sure you're comfortable with this?"

"Are you decent?"  "Not morally, but I'm wearing pants if that's what you're asking."

He was bad.  He smoked, he broke the law, he drove too fast for his own good.  He

didn't care because nobody taught him how to.  But when it came to her, he wanted to be the best man.  He couldn't bare the thought of her being hurt by him... Or anyone else.  He would kill to protect her, the girl who cared about someone as worthless as him in all her perfection.

"I want to take a shower, so you should probably join me.  It'll save water."

"It's midnight!  Where the hell were you?"

"What the hell is your problem?"

"I might have slept with your [clothing article] when you were gone."

"No one has to know about us, I know this could ruin you."

"Are you really gonna leave without asking me the question you've been dying to ask me?"

"You said I'd get to have you all weekend.  Why can't you just tell them you can't go?"  "Because it's my job and it's important."  "And I'm not?"

"You can call me whenever you want...  Even if you don't have a reason to."

"I'm bad at texting first, so I always end up hoping you will."

"This movie is really scary, but you're into it so I'm trying not to cover my face the whole time, but--WHAT IS THAT?!"

"Wait, don't pull away...  Not yet."

"You look really cute in that sweater."

"No, like...  It's just, I can't believe you're actually wearing my clothes."

"You know I hear you talking, but I still don't have my coffee."

"Did you think I really cared about you?"

"It's too late to go back."

"I'm sorry this had to go down like this."

"That's right, I lied."

"Just so you know... I don't regret anything."

"You will no longer love me if you see who I truly am."

"But I did all this for you...?"

Person A wins a big stuffed animal for Person B at an amusement park and offers to carry it for them.  Person B says they'll carry it themself, and carries it around smuggly.

While on a date, Person A very shyly touches Person B's hand and Person B reassuringly (and tightly) holds Person A's hand.

"Please get home safely."

"I've got you, baby."

"Man, I can't pay attention to anything else but you."

"Baby, I'm right here.  Shh.. I'm here."

Person A: *does something stupid* Person B:  "....Why are you like this?"  Person A:  "Aww, come on!  You know you love me!"  Person B:  "...Where did you get that idea?" *Joking*  *Silence* Person A:  *Sniffles* Person B "WAIT I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN IT, I LOVE YOU!"

She was the broken and battered girl who longed to be loved.  He was the misunderstood boy who only wanted to love.  She had never paid him any attention until today, when she bumped into him at her locker, causing everyone to stop and stare.

"I'm coming to get you, stay there."

"Are you safe?"  "I don't know."

"Can I at least buy you a coffee?  For old times sake?"

"Don't talk to me.  It's 6 AM and I haven't had coffee yet, so anything I do or say cannot be held against me."

"Dude, that jacket is mine, give it back!"

"YOU USED MY TOWEL?!"

"They're going to love you, don't worry!"

"Stop hogging all the blankets!"

"Wait, when did I take off my clothes?"

"I'm fully convinced you never graduated kindergarten."

"You have no idea how to make toast?!"

"I haven't showered in four days."

"You're more zombie than human."

 "I can't believe I got the first date, let alone a year."

 "Wanna, like--I mean if you're not busy...  We could get lunch?  Or even just coffee if you don't have a lot of time."

 "So I was driving past a pet store and I couldn't help but wonder how cute an animal would be in our home."

 "It's midnight!  Where the hell were you?"

 "I wish I had a camera."

 He/She crashed through the doors of the police station and slammed his/her hands against the steal counter.  "Give me back my wife/husband!"

 The rain came down in heavy sheets.  He pulled his soaked [type of hat] down to protect his eyes and moved forward.  Where was she?  Would he find her in time?  A darp shape against the bridge railing caught his eye when the lightning flashed.  He rushed forward and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him.  He couldn't tell for the rain if she was crying or not, droplets streamed down her face.  Her mouth opened to let out a cry, but when she saw it was him, she pleaded with her eyes.  He only nodded and put his arm around her.  He'd protect her.

 "It's me!  It's me!  Calm down, baby, please."

 "Is the movie too scary?  I can stop it if you want and we could watch something else."

 "Watch, this is the best part!"

 I chose that part in the play only so that I could kiss her.  I hadn't thought about the acting pact, the prancing onstage before a packed audience, or about the make up.  All I wanted was to finally touch her face, kiss those lips, have my moment, even if that was all I ever had.

 It's not like she meant to trip and spill coffee all over him.  It was just the way of her people.

 I woke up, to find a boy's arms wrapped tightly around my waist.  "What are you doing here?  I thought I told you to sleep on the couch!"  I was in disbelief.  I pried his hands off me and it was only then that he stirred.  "Huh?  Oh.  I um....  You had a nightmare."  He face was suddenly serious.  "Who's [guy name]?"

 Person A and Person B share an apartment but have separate rooms.  Person B has a nightmare one night and is really rattled by it.  They get out of bed and walk down the hallway to knock on Person A's door.  The door is already open and Person B walks into the room silently.  They go up to Person A's bed to find that they're already awake.  Person B tells Person A that they had a nightmare.  Person A scoots over in the bed and lets Person B curl up with them and they fall asleep together.

 Person A and Person B are in the kitchen.  Person A is short while Person B is slightly taller.  Person A:  *Struggles to retrieve items from top shelf*  Person B:  "Do you need me to get it for you?"  Person A:  *Gasps*  "How dare you insult the vertically challenged!"  Person B:  *Laughs* "Okay then..."  Person A:  (Moments later) *Defeated sigh* "Help meeeee...."

 Person A:  *Completely serious*  "I have to get something off my chest."  Person B:  *Fingers crossed* "I hope it's your shirt, please..."

 Person A is noticeably disheveled as they enter the room.  "Sorry I'm late, I was doing stuff."  Person B, also disheveled and grinning smugly follows behind.  "I'm stuff."

 Person A has an online business meeting with someone important who lives across the world so they have to stay up late for the meeting.  Person B doesn't want to leave Person A alone so they grab a pillow and lay in Person A's lap as they attend their meeting.  Bonus points if Person B accidentally smacks Person A in the face in their sleep and everyone laughs and calls them cute.

 Imagine you've been stood up by your boyfriend on date night and the waitress keeps asking if you're ready to order, but you keep asking for more time, hoping he's just late.  People are starting to look at you with those apologetic looks like they know and you start to feel worse and worse about the whole situation, but just as you get up to leave, this boy you've never seen before sits down explaining loudly, "sorry I'm so late, Babe.  Traffic is crazy right now."  And he quietly adds, "I'm [NAME].  Just go with it, yeah?  Whoever didn't bother to show up is a jerk."  And you do go with it because he's being sweet and trying to save you, (plus he's super cute), and as you're leaving the restaurant after the best non-planned date ever, he asks you out for real this time.

 "That has got to be the lamest pick up line in existence."  "Don't worry that's just Plan A."  "So what's Plan B?"  "To take you hostage."

 "I love you from the bottom of my heart, but I don't trust your cooking.  Stay out of my kitchen."

 Person B dancing around their home, headphones in, eyes closed, singing as loudly as they please to their favourite song while Person A stands in the doorway watching their oblivious partner with a loving smile on their face.

  Person A walked into the house, threw their bag on a chair and laid down on the carpet with an air of defeat.  Person B walked in a few hours later, saw Person A on the ground and set to work.  They picked up a few blankets and a couple of pillows.  Then Person B walked over to Person A, laid everything out, and proceeded to lay down with Person A.  Person A slowly curled up to Person B and fell into a restful sleep.  Five hours later, they're still there, just soaking in each other's presence.

 Person A was sitting up in bed, headphones on and staring intensely at their Ipad

screen, which flickered brightly in the dim room.  Person B rolled over and slowly sat up, glancing at the clock and seeing it was well past 2 AM.  Person B leaned up against Person A, eyes still closed and asked why Person A was still up.  Person A popped out an earbud and quickly [states reason] and then turned their attention back to the screen.  Person B yawned loudly, grabbed the device and tossed it off the bed.  Right before Person A could protest, Person B curled an arm around them and forced Person A to lay down.  Person A fell asleep within minutes, tucked securely within  Person B's arms.

 Imagine your OTP getting ready for bed, and Person A is sitting on the bed.  Person B tries to sneak up on them with a hug or a kiss, but Person A has quick reflexes and thinks they're being attacked.  So they accidentally hit Person B in the face and they fall back onto the bed.  Person A quickly realizes who it was then and keeps saying sorry really fast and hugs them and kisses where it hurts.

 Person A has finals coming up and Person B has already finished theirs.  Person A is stressed over the finals and breaks down one night lamenting their ability to do anything right.  Person B calmly picks them up, brings them to bed and cuddles with them, cooing to them and telling them all the wonderful things Person B loves about Person A.

 Imagine Person A walking into the kitchen, only to find Person B in tears.  Person A immediately rushes over to Person B's side, fretting over them, consoling, and asking what happened.  Surprised, Person B explains they were simply cutting onions.

 Person A is baking cookies and has to split their attention between watching the timer and fighting off Person B, who keeps trying to steal cookie dough from the bowl.

 Imagine your OTP making out on a couch, but then one of them accidentally rolls off and the other is either frantically asking if they're okay, or laughing their head off.

 Imagine your OTP ice skating and one of them falls.  The other tries to help them up but they lose their balance and fall on top of the other.

 You were studying for your exams in a few weeks, your boyfriend was sitting opposite you, simply staring.  You couldn't concentrate and were getting frustrated.  "Stop it!"  You yelled, slamming your pencil on your book.  "Stop what?"  He asks, smiling innocently up at you.  "Stop staring, stop making me want you, stop making me feel--argh just st--"  He shut you up, placing his soft lips on yours, letting all the stress wear out.  "Stop stressing babe, it won't do you any good."  He mumbled, placing his forehead onto yours.  "Come here."  He insisted, patting his lap.  You happily accepted, moving over to him and plunking yourself down.  He wrapped his arms around you and you rested your head on his chest, hearing his heart beat.  "That's enough studying for today, babe.  You'll ace that test, okay?"  He kissed your forehead, rubbing your arms.  You nodded and rested in his arms, feeling safe and sound.

 What if he held you tightly in his arms as you lay on his chest, drifting into sleep by the sound of his steady heartbeat.  Feeling the slight vibration of his lungs as he hummed softly.  His hands brushing lightly in your hair as his lips pressed against the top of your head, but stayed there for awhile.  Then he let out a faint sigh, taking his lips away, seeming to be deep in thought.

 You shift around in bed, trying to find a comfortable position.  No success.  You hear your boyfriend stretching.  "Can't sleep, babe?"  He asks, letting out a sleepy sigh.  

"Come here," he whispers.  You move over to him and he snakes an arm around your waist and wraps his leg around yours as you rest your head on his bare chest.

 As you lay in bed alone, struggling with reaching sleep, you toss and turn before huffing out in annoyance at still being awake.  A small fraction of light creeps into your room until the door closes and the edge of your bed dips down underneath his weight.  He carefully climbs under the covers, reaching an arm out for you, pulling you closer to his body with your back to his front.  "You can sleep now, baby.  I'm home.  I love you."  He gently whispers in your ear, lightly kissing your cheek then laying his head on the pillow next to you to fall into a dream-filled sleep of your boy being home.

[whatevenismyaestheticidk]

Things I’ve heard high schoolers say pt 3

Person: it’s to early for me to be alive right now

Teacher: who invented math? Student: Lincoln.

Teacher: You feel as if you get low marks on this 5 paragraph essay you’ll end up poor and homeless and addicted to drugs. Student 1: Yes. Student 2: That’s exactly how it works. Student 3: I mean… you’re not wrong.

Student: It’s called panic and I do it well. I do it very well.

Student 1: I need to get glasses. Student 2: I need to get a will to live.

Student: Physics eats brains for lunch and sucks ass for dinner.

Student: Fuck you Perry the platypus!!

Student: he’s an Asian white supremisist. How does that even happen.

Teacher: After treating him like dirt for 7 years what is he to me? Student 1: Friends? Student 2: Lovers?

Teachers: We can’t have poor people running the place, that’s stupid.

Teachers: It was illegal to be alone because when you are alone you commit a sin.

Student: They play with your intestines? Like jumprope???

Student 1: you make me want to kill myself Student 2: Bitch please! I’ve been making myself want to kill myself for years.

Teacher: If you’re in my class don’t be acting the fool

Student: that’s it! You’ve lost your titty privileges

Student: I have the bladder of an octopus please let me go to the bathroom

Teacher: America broke up with Britain through text and by telling all of their friends but not actually telling Britain.

Student: my peripheral vision up is about as good as a fucking snail’s.

Student: I am allergic to myself.

Student: she brought my coconut juice. I’m going to cry.

Student: my name is Bitch.

Student: my elevator is literally a vsco girl

Student 1: what do you think? Student 2: I think I’m a fucking slut.

Student 1: I look like a lightbulb Student 2: A cute lightbulb. 10/10 would screw you (in)

Teacher: No one likes Axe, but its your friend.

Student: I am a flaming homosexual and that is why I want to dye my hair pink in honor of the women that I love so much

Student: oh my god it’s Michael fucking Jackson! *screams*

Student: Im 16 but not even very much 16.

Teacher: Theres a reason my cousin Neil trades three shifts of paramedic work so he doesn’t have to work on the night of the full moon.

Student: I know it sounds scary running from the police but it’s actually just leisurely walking away from them.

Student: I was washing my hands after lunch and this guy just started bleeding out next to me.

Student: I’m just saying, I would wear a full out prom dress to school and no one could stop me.

Student: I have the strength of a roasted peanut.

Student 1: Avacodo’s are thicc though. If there was a sexiest food event then avocado would win hands down. Student 2: what about peaches Student1: I would 100% fuck an avocado.

Student: chicken nuggets re the dad bod of the food world.

Student: in conclusion: gay.

Student: Hey Mr (Teacher) can you please elaborate on your outfit choice today?

Teacher: Dueling? You know the 10 paces fire? The thing that Hamilton is known for but he was a lot better at?

Teacher: Dreams are kinda wack Student: But this is another level of wack.

Student 1: Im just saying you could totally suck a dick by mistake. Student 2: How? Student 1: Like if you’re watching a movie and he’s holding a soda bottle between his legs and you want a sip but it’s dark you could totally accidentally suck a dick.

Student 1: hurry the fuck up Student 2: that is not how you treat people, you need to have some respect. You say PLEASE hurry the fuck up.

Student: You know, Stockholm syndromes. Like when someone is kidnapped and then catches feelings for their master, daddy kinks, that kinda shit.

Student: IF I were to eat Donalt Trump’s ass it would be so white I’d get retinal cancer just from looking at it.

Student: You were texting her which made us loose the quizlet live game! She is a whore!

Teacher: you’re a dirty old man, you read the script

Student: you’re my hwb. Homies with benefits.

Student 1: I’m a shell 2: I’m a crab. 3: what do crabs do to shells 2: I’m going to go live and eat inside you then eventually leave you for another

Student: Ayyyy!! We’re getting mono!!

Student: Stop catching feelings you dumb emotionally suicidal bitch!!!!

Teacher: *Student’s name* you need to find friends who love you.

Student: Is that a kneecap? *fake cough* Slut. *fake cough*

Teacher: Yah Buccanan was our first gay president. Student: But he was a Democrat! Teacher:… you DO know that people can be gay and a democrat.

Student: This whole book was just a giant KFC commercial.

Student: he other day I tried to zoom in on a book.

Student: every time I head an Indian person talk it’s like they’re raping me but in a good way.

Student: You canned corn of a human.

Student: you look like a broken piano

Student: There’s no room for Jesus! I don’t want to see him!

Student 1: Tiger sharks are the goats of the ocean. Student 2: Wrong. I’m the goat of the ocean.

Student: Florida is the Bermuda Triangle of stupid shit.

Student: Jesus has a plan for me, and I don’t think it’s in his textbook of an agenda.

Student: did you talk to her? Because I’m pretty sure blowing up a school is frowned upon.

Student: and that’s on period no tampon.

Student 1: what would your stripper name be? Student 2: Ruby. Teacher who over heard: Excuse me. Teacher here, stripper conversation over there. Please move the inappropriate conversation somewhere where I can’t hear it. Vanilla Pudding. (the thing about this one, was she was telling us that in the past, her stripper name was Vanilla Pudding)

Student: (Different student’s name), if I told you that I was possessed last night would you believe me?

Student: (Teacher) I was possessed last night, is there, like, biology to support that?

Student: Could I theoretically live forever if I drank infinite 5 hour energies.

Teacher: I have more glue sticks I just don’t put them out because the freshman eat them.

Student: drinking chocolate milk isn’t good for you it just like tragic.

Student: who do people even get stds, I can’t even get dms

Student: Tell me you’re kidding. Tell me you did not find my house by looking at snap maps. YOU HAVE MY ADDRESS!!!

Student: Hey you lived in Africa right? Does that mean you can say the n word?

Student: Someone threatened to open up my chest, piss in it, and close it back up.

Student: For how good I am at catching feelings, you’d think I’d be better at sports.

Student 1: I’m a Taurus. Student 2: I thought you were gay.

Student: So if I ate a tide pod then ate a t-shirt what would happen?

Student: Buddhism is just a series of vibe checks until eventually one works.

Student: why does bugs bunny have so much cleavage??

Student: Don’t underestimate snoopy you fucking heathen.

Teacher: So what you’re saying is when the okay boomer generation dies we won’t be racist anymore?

Student: Venus is in retrograde and that’s why Im not dealing with your bullshit.

Student: What is wrong with you. No sincerely. What made you think that eating a green banana is okay.

Teacher: You know Up? In the movie there’s this dog and when he’s talking then he’ll turn and say squirrel. That’s like me. I think I have adhd.

Student: you absolute tea drinking taxes liberal.

Student 1: if you see my cat run. She’s psycho. Student 2: Can I run her over with my tires?

Student 1: I will drive us through the gates of Shaw and into the water. Student 2: I hope we blow up underwater.

Student 1: Juxpositioning my rain boots with my lingerie. Student 2: those rhyme. Wait no they don’t!

Student: when he says he has a tenor recorder, but really we all know he only has a soprano recorder.

Student 1: you’re shoelaces are untied Student 2: I know. I hope I trip on it and die. Student 3:I felt that

Student: Every time I see a 9/11 ad I always pretend to have a panic attack.

Students chanting: Eat the rich. Eat the rich. Student 2: Rich, more like Bitch.

Student 1: UWU I’m going to lock you in my gas chamber Student 2: Primes flame thrower UWU

Student: I’m not Like other girls. I die on command

Studrnt1: Turkey bitch Student 2: she just called you a turkey bitch Student 1: yes you specifically are a Turkey bitch

Student: I will eat a bitches dick. Gobble gobble motherfucker.

Student 1: he opens my snaps in 10 seconds Student 2: that’s love

Student 1: My for you page is almost exclusively gays, theatre, and Percy Jackson at this point. Student 2: Those are all the same thing basically.

Student: I would have kicked so much ass freshman year if I wasn’t depressed.

Student: Navy blue is the white kid who thinks he can say the n word of the color world. He thinks that he’s black.

Student: Your nose hairs look fragrant. Would you mind if I took a taste?

Student: Boxed water tastes like what I imagine trader joes to taste like as a water.

Student: The water from Moana would be a gentle lover.

Student: we feast tonight brother. I found this in the trash can.

Student: Okay, but I cry myself to sleep BETTER than you.

Student: Can you Venmo me some titties please?

Girl holding hands with another girl: It’s a good thing we’re dating otherwise this’d be pretty gay.

Student 1: I just wanted to know if you knew Lincoln personally. Teacher: What? Student 2: We think you’re a time traveler.

Student 1: Sweetie, you’re having a breakdown over rocks. Student 2: I really hate that class!!!

Student: I love being the joker when we play chess

Student: are you saying that you finger fuck your eurethra?

Student 1: Honestly sometimes I just go onto that lofi hip hop radio, beats to relax/study to thing and just get into a fight with someone in the comment section. It’s fantastic. Student 2: Sometimes they do give good advice though, once I asked if I should ask out this guy and they responded with “No, guys ain’t shit” and I was like “aight you right, you right” Student 3: Sometimes it gets weird though, like once I went on and everyone was talking about how sex and money have become the new gods of our time, and how someday a future generation will die without ever seeing the light of the sun. Student 1: Okay but are they wrong though?

Student: It doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl or something in between or something else entirely. A bitch is a bitch, and you sir, are a bitch.

Student 1: so last night I killed and area few of your kids, I hope you don’t mind. Student 2: nah I don’t really care.

Student: what size pussy your phone got?

Student 1: I listen to songs about Greek gods and being polyamorous Student 2: I listen to songs about... smashing.

Student: Motzarella cheese is the pastel pink of the cheese world.

Student: Someone who can bench press 200 has nothing on someone that can just double fist eat Costco sized pound blocks of cheddar cheese.

Student: I will drag you down to hell and make the devil give you therapy so help me. Student: You see, we don’t conjugate words in English, much less math.

Students: well the thing about gamers is, you know they’re good with their hands.

Student: Oka first of all, we’re all on the same planet, so that’s already real small. Then, what are the chances that we were born the same species, like I could have been born a platypus. I could have been a mealworm. Then the chances that we’re in the same country then the same state then the same school like damn. Imma just vibe now.

Student 1: You’re built like a baked bean Student 2: IDK why that hurt me so much but it did.

Student: If I don’t get a hug in the next 10 minus, I’m going directly to the pentagon to tell Trump to suck my dick.

[cchellacat]

Y/N or Darcy at a party when she spots an ex. Quick, she urgently has to pretend to be dating the nearest person, who happens to be very attractive.

Wintershock Bucky/Darcy

18 +

Thank You for Your Service

credit for wintershockedit to @spacemansam

Darcy mingled near the bar, sipping her drink and feelingsorry for herself.  She’s all on herlonesome tonight, Jane bowed out early with Thor and probably wouldn’t be seenuntil Monday.   She’s not meant to be out on her own, but she’s fed up with her dad’s overprotective paranoia.  Ever since Tony found out about her existence he’s been  trying to make up for the last twenty odd years of her life.   The latest decision that she needs a bodyguard causing a huge argument, which she hopes she’s won.

This was not the Friday nightshe had been counting on though and she hadn’t actually been drinking, not feeling safe to with Jane gone.  She was justabout to call it a night when she spotted him across the room, he was making abee line towards her.  

She turned back towards the bar and felt panic creeping upher spine.  Her ex, Ian was here and nowhe’s seen her, god she wants the floor to swallow her.  She looks to the right where the same man hadsat all night.  He was big and broad andalthough the long hair was a little hobo, he seemed intimidating enough to dothe job.  

Darcy kicks the leg of his bar stool and he turns his headto look at her, for a second, she nearly stops breathing.  He has the most beautiful blue eyes with thickgenerous lashes she has ever seen, he also looks like a Greek god with a strongjawline and cheekbones to die for.  He’sfrowning at her as she stares, struck dumb for a moment before her brain kicksback and she leans forward, layinig on her best drunk damsel impression she canmanage.

“Look, I know this seems really weird and totally like somebad pick up line, but can you pretend to be my boyfriend, for like, ten minstops?  Just till I get rid of my ex?”  She murmurs, deliberately curving her mouth intoa pouty flirty smile, not that it took much effort, god he was hot.  

Before he can answer Ian’s voice breaks into the slightly awkwardsilence.

“Darcy, fancy seeing you here.  I thought you’d be in DC by now?”

Darcy turns her head and smiles saccharinely, resisting theurge to throw her drink in his face.

“Really?  I heard youmoved to Boston, I guess we were both wrong.”

“Still trailing around after Dr Foster then?”

“We’re not trailing around, we’re heading the astrophysicslab at Stark Industries.”

She enjoys the look of jealousy for about two seconds beforehe recovers.

“I didn’t know they paid interns at SI, still living off DrFosters charity then, or are you picking up otherwork.”

She wants to smack him, is only stopped from doing so by thearm that suddenly slips around her waist.

“What exactly are you implying?”

It’s the hot guy sitting next to her.  Darcy squashes the sudden flutter in herbelly at the way the heat of his hand seems to sear through the thin materialof her dress.

Ian looks startled and taken aback.

“I’m sorry, and you are?”

“James Barnes, and think you were about to apologise to mygirlfriend for implying that she was a whore.”

She wants to cheer, Ian looks fit to pee his pants.  Clinging to her tipsy girl persona shesnuggles into the hot hobo and pats his chest.

“James is very protective.” She shots Ian a shark like grin as her fake boyfriend takes a half amenacing step forward.  Ian squeaks outan apology and can’t high tail it fast enough. Darcy can’t help it, she breaks into a peel of laughter and ends upclutching her saviours shirt in a effort to stay upright.

She laughs so hard she nearly falls off her seat.

“Jesus Doll, how much have you had?”  The sweet concern in his tone has her pattinghis chest lightly, admiring the firm muscle beneath the Henley as his handshover at her hips, worrying about letting her fall.

“None.”  She managesto gasp as the laughter finally clams.

“What?”

“Sorry handsome, I needed help and drunk damsel usually worksreally well.”

“I’d have helped you out without the act doll, he’s a realpiece of work.”

“Yes, he is.”  She agrees,still patting at his chest.  Good lord,how much working out did he do to get this buff?  “You know, I really feel as though I shouldthank you properly for the save.”  She bitesher bit and widens her eyes, just  a little,her tone honey sweet and low.

He smiles down at her and cocks and eyebrow.

“You want to thank me for my service?”  The teasing tone send a thrill through herand a pleasant tingle starts in her belly.

“However you’d like me too, soldier.”  His eyes darken at her words and his handsfinally land on her hips.  He wets hislips and she smooths her hands down his front to pluck at the front of hisjeans.  She makes the decision quickly,she doesn’t usually do this sort of thing, but he is hot and she is horny andhe just squished Ian like a bug, she is so turned on that her panties aresoaked through.

She pushes him back and he goes without protest as she jumpsoff the stool and then she takes his hand and tugs him after her, headedthrough the bar and dragging him into the lady’s restroom.  He gets the idea quick and they’re in a stalland he has her skirt pushed up and her leg pulled over his hip even as hismouth descends on hers for a filthy hot kiss that make her mewl in want.  Jesus Christ, he knows how to kiss.  

Darcy’s fingers make quick work of his shirt buttons, she moansin appreciation when she sees his chest and abs.  The whimper he makes as she lightly pincheshis nipples has her wet with want, fuck he was beautiful.   His largehands skim over her tits, squeezing and pressing and she feels her knees goweak, the only thing keeping her upright his hard thigh between her legs whereshe grinds herself frantically, desperate for friction as she rocks against him.  

She doesn’t protest as he pulls down her top and pushes thecups of the bra out of his way, his mouth tracing a hot path of kisses from herneck south until his lips closed around one aching nipple, she gasps and letsout a reedy cry, she thinks she could come from this alone, fuck he knows whatto do with his mouth and tongue.  Cool fingersdip into her panties, seeking out her wet folds, the rumble in his chest whenhe finds her hot and wet and quivering for him makes her gasp.  

She tugs his belt open and pushes his pants down far enoughto free his cock.  He is achingly hardand hot in her palm and leaking.  He capturesher in another kiss and then he’s lifting her, back pressed to the wall of thestall, legs wrapping around his hips and he wrenches her panties to oneside.  

The thick head of his cock eases into her, teasing at herentrance and all the breath leaves her body as he makes one hard thrust,filling her quickly.  She moans his name,her walls clenching around the sudden invasion. He pants into her ear, tells her how good she feels, how fucking tightand wet her pussy is and she cants her hips grinding her clit into his pelvic boneand then he pounds into her, hips snapping upwards with each stroke.  The sound of skin meeting skin is sinful andthen his thumb seeks out her clit, stroking it gently for such a roughlooking man and then she’s coming hard, back arching, more dirty talk ismuttered into her ear, encourage her and praising her for coming around hiscock, calling her a good girl, so sweet and dirty.  She can only cling to him, as he drives intoher over and over, their sweat slick skin meeting again and again as he fucksher.  He holds her effortlessly while hethrusts and she feels a second orgasm building, following the first, his cock pressingdeeper and then he adjusts the angle and he’s stroking firmly over her g-spotwith each lunge.  

Her whole body arches as she comes again, clutching himgreedily, drawing him in and she feel nothing but triumph as he stiffens andslams into her once more, burying himself in her possessively as he comes, his lipson her neck, hands holding her ass, pressing his cock so deeply in her pussyshe wants to come again from the fullness and heat of him spilling in sideher.  The ache of his cock filling hermakes her dizzy, he feels so good, it feels as though he’s thoroughlyimprinted in her body she’ll never forget what he feels like.  

He keeps her pined to the wall for a few minutes, his cockslowly softening as he kisses her sinfully, both of then still shuddering asaftershocks rip through them.  When he finallylets her down onto her feet her legs hardly support her, but he steadies her witha chuckle and holds her up till she finds her footing again.  

She feels starry eyed and besotted from the pleasure he gaveher, it doesn’t help that she thinks he might have the finest body she’d everseen and she’s seen Thor naked, but James was better, so much better, but thiswas just a one time hook up.  He pullshimself together and leaves her to fix her clothes.

In the fluorescent light she sorts herself, pulling down herskirt and making sure her top covers her modestly before washing her hands andleaving the bathroom.  Suddenly feeling shyand a little embarrassed, because what the hell was she thinking?  She sneaks outthe back way and hails a cab.  

Climbing into bed back at the Tower she finally really needssleep and decides she doesn’t regret the impulsive decision.  Her only regret that she hadn’t taken thechance to ask for his number.

The next morning she’s nearly at Jane’s lab when Tony shouts for her to popinto his lab, she swerves and crosses the hallway, poking her head in.  Tony isn’t alone, there is a man with him.

“Darcy, meet Bucky Barnes, he’s going to be our new head of securityfor the Tower.”  

He turns to see her and Darcy freezes.  It’s him, the hot hobo from the bar.  All she can do is gape as Tony introduces them.  Her mind goes blank and she wonders how she misseda vibranium arm.  Then it all falls backinto line and her mind finally makes the connection.  He’s the Winter Soldier.  His answering introduction and the way hekissed the back of her hand has Tony shaking his head while Darcy swoons alittle more.   If she’d known who he wasshe’d have brung him back to her apartment the night before.   In the light of day he looked even better, cleanand washed and dressed smartly, his hair tied back.    He smilesat her like he wants to eat her and she thinks she might just let him.  That is until Tony tells her he’ll be her new bodyguard, one she won’t be able to give the slip to. 

@the-ss-horniest-book-club

[mimymomo]

Parrlyn Date AU

Okay so this took me WAY longer than it should’ve taken but I finished it. Sorry it’s really long and kinda bad but it’s the first thing I’ve written for Six (I was originally too scared to write anything cause I thought I’d sound too American). But I tried! Here ParrxBoleyn because they’re too cute.

Anne Boleyn is crushing hard (read: in love with) on Catherine Parr. The only problem is she’s to she’s too scared to do anything about it (not that she ever admit that)

The rest of the girls excluding Parr can all tell and Boleyn’s failed attempts at flirting is DRIVING THE OTHERS INSANE 

“I’m gonna kill them, Jane.”

“Catherine of Aragon you will not!” 

“I’ll join you. I’ll grab Anne and you get Catherine, she’s smaller and most likely less resistant.” 

“Anna of Cleves don’t you dare!”

Anne decides enough is enough and asks the other queens for date ideas 

They suggest stuff like: go to the cinema and “Hold hands while reaching for the popcorn!” (Kitty’s idea), go out to eat at a fancy restaurant (Cleves idea), get yourself lost in an escape room forever (Catherine’s idea), get ice cream (Catherine’s 2nd idea after her initial idea was shut down) and take a walk through the park (Jane’s idea)

Anne decides to just do all of them (except the escape room thing).

But she’s still terrified that Catherine doesn’t feel the same way she does

So she decides that she’s not going to ask her out on a date: but stage a fake family outing instead

She enlists the help of the Katherine Howard to help her devise her plan: telling Parr that the group is going out to eat and seeing a movie on their day off but in reality, it’s just gonna be her and Anne 

“Okay Kitty, first we’ll tell Catherine that we’re all going out to eat together as a family and seeing a movie afterward. Then I’ll set up the reservation. On the day of you guys tell her that other plans have come up and you can’t make it, so it’ll be just us two alone. Perfect plan!” 

“Don’t you think you’re over complicating this? Like this seems kinda sleazy... Why don’t you just ask her out, you know regularly?”

“Because Katherine you never tell a girl you like her, it makes you look like an idiot!” (If you get that reference then gold star!)

They convince the other queens to go along with the scheme but it takes more effort to get some to agree than others, aka Jane and Aragon 

(Katherine has to convince Jane by protesting that “its for true love Mum!” And Anne convinces Aragon by promising to stop pranking her for an entire month (she crossed her fingers though))

Anne gets Cleves to tell Parr the plan because she realizes very quickly that Howard is a terrible secret keeper

Cleves and Aragon help Anne pick out a date outfit while Howard and Jane go and help Parr

For Anne, they pick out a long semi see-through white button up shirt that she tucks into a pair of light blues skinny jeans and finishes the look with a black belt and her signature choker.

Anne refuses to button up the shirt any further than the button just below her bra.

Aragon protests this immensely. 

Cleves slaps Aragon’s hand every time she tries to button up the shirt 

They end up comprising and Anne buttons the shirt so her bra isn’t showing but still plenty of skin is exposed (cue Aragon praying in the corner)

The night arrives and Anne is (freaking out) in the bathroom

She starts to second guess if what she’s doing is really a good idea but it’s time to leave and too late to back out of it now.

Anne fixes her clothes and makeup - trading her signature red lipstick for a more nude pink color, hair still in her normal buns- then heads done the stairs 

Anne waits for Catherine to show up and when she does she’s speechless: she’s wearing a dress, something very unusual for the girl who wore pants 90% of the time, the top a white short sleeve button up that’s tied into a bow at the bottom where it met with a long dark skirt with pale pastel pink and cream colored flowers printed on it. Her curly hair down and free instead of up in its usual ponytail. 

“Hey, Anne I just got a message from Catherine and Anna saying they're stuck in traffic with Maria and the rest of band and can’t make it-“ 

“You're wearing a dress!” 

“Yeah, Katherine insisted that I wear it. And I’m pretty sure she stole all my hairbands as well.” 

“You look really pretty, I mean nice! You look pretty nice...”

Before Anne can embarrass herself any further, Jane comes out as planned and tell them that Katherine caught some kind of bug and is sick and says they’re gonna stay behind as well.

Catherine tries to them that they could reschedule but Jane cuts her off and tells her to go have fun, pushing them out the door (but not before handing them their coats, well at least Parr)

“It’s going to be chilly out tonight Anne!”

 “I’ll be fine Jane!”

Anne turns back and sees Katherine standing at the top of the stairs giving her a thumbs up 

Anne is now certain the day is gonna end in disaster

When they show up to the restaurant Anne goes up to the hostess and pretend to tell them to change the reservation 

(she’s just checking in)

The beginning of the “not date” is kinda awkward as Anne has no fucking clue what to say but Catherine must be able to sense this as she takes over talking for a change

They order and everything is going pretty great until a waiter accidentally slips and spills burning hot food all over Anne’s shirt and chest. 

Anne runs to the bathroom and Catherine runs in and helps her try and clean herself up which does entail Catherine wiping the open visible part of Anne’s chest 

(Anne is sure she’s about to die a second time) 

Anne is fine but the shirt, however, despite the effort, is completely ruined

Catherine runs out to the car and brings back her jacket that Jane had handed to her when they left and hands it to Anne 

The jacket is slightly too small but it gets the job done. Plus Anne gets a giddy feeling in her stomach at the idea of walking around in Catherine’s jacket 

‘It’s kinda like we’re dating-, nope Anne shut that idea down!’

The staff feels so bad about what happened that they offer to have the meal be free and bring them out a complimentary dessert something Anne is VERY happy about.

Next is the movies. 

When they get there the movie they planned to see is sold out so they decide to watch a horror movie instead. 

“Are you sure Anne? This one looks pretty scary.” 

“Pssh, yeah right. I’ll be fine unless YOU want to go see something else, Catherine. Don’t worry babe, I’ll hold you when you get too scared.”

Anne eats her words.

Not even 30 minutes into the movie and Anne is scared poopless.

Luckily for them, the cinema they are at has reclining chairs and moveable armrests. Catherine reaches over and takes hold of Anne’s hand.

After a few more jump scares, Anne is fully entangled in Catherine’s arms, head tucked in the crook of her neck 

“Look who’s holding who? So much for being my protector.” 

“Oh shut it Catherine-aaahhhh shit!”

When the movie ends Anne is still shaken up (that thing was wayyy scarier than she could’ve predicted!) so Catherine continues to hold her hand

The night is still young so they stop at an ice cream shop

Anne gets a jumbo-sized cone while Catherine gets a sundae in a cup

They decide to take a walk through the park and of course because the day seems to apparently HATE Anne, she drops her ice cream after tripping over a rock 

‘Maybe all this stuff happening to me today is just karma for forcing Catherine for going on this ‘not date’ with me?’

Catherine, the angel that she is, shares her sundae with Anne, each taking turns taking bites 

They stop and eat at a park bench in fear of dropping the frozen treat.

When the finish they just sit and enjoy the night, the atmosphere and each other’s presence 

“Thanks for doing all this with me Catherine.” 

“Yeah, well this has definitely been one of, if not the, most eventful first date I’ve ever had.”

Anne nearly spits out her ice cream 

“Wait, first date? You thought this was a date?” 

“Was it not one?”

Freaking busted

Anne admits she planned the date from the beginning and had the other queens go along with it

Anne questions how Catherine figured out her plan. Catherine tells her she knew Anne had liked her for a while and that she other heard Anne talking about date ideas 

“Plus Katherine and Jane randomly bursting into my room and insisting they should help me pick out my outfit for supposedly just a ‘family outing’ was pretty obvious.”

Catherine asks why Anne didn’t just ask her to go out on a date. Anne tells her that she wanted to make SURE that Catherine had a thing for her first

“For our next date Anne, can you just ask me normally? Please?” 

“Ohh, so we’re going on a second date Cathy? I won you over with all my womanly charms?”

Catherine doesn’t dignify Anne with a verbal response instead pulling her in and kissing her 

Then, of course, the sprinklers go off- which normally would be fine unless there was a rogue sprinkler spraying freezing cold water right in your direction

The two girls separate and Anne pulls Catherine up and the start dancing and laughing through the sprinkler 

Jane at home feels her mom/‘some stupid mischief is happening’ senses go off 

“You alright mum?” 

“Yes, I just have the feeling Anne is doing something really stupid right now.”

The two girls walk back to the car dripping wet, hand and hand

“So this date wasn’t a complete bomb right?” 

Catherine kisses Anne again, “gold star for Anne Boleyn.”

So that’s it! 

Boleyn and Parr’s inspired outfits: here

link should be fixed now! Sorry about that

[bucky-on-a-bike]

Unexpecting (5/?)

Super soldiers don’t get stomach bugs. No one believes you when you tell them you’ll be fine in a few more days, so your loving husband Bucky makes you go to the doctor. Turns out, you’ve got a parasite. And by parasite, Bruce means a baby.

Words: 1690

Warnings: None I think?

Part 4

Over the next 24 hours, the only information you got was that your husband had stolen the mission file he and Steve had been working on and his bike was gone. You knew he wouldn’t be back soon. Once you had had a few days to process everything, life settled into a routine. Every day, you would shop online for baby things, keeping Bucky’s preferences in mind just in case he decided to come back. You would do a light workout, eat, go to meetings. The usual. Nearly every night, either Steve or Nat would have dinner with you. Life went on whether you wanted it to or not.

. . . . .

When you were fourteen weeks along, Nat threw a party so you could announce your pregnancy to everyone officially. There were active agents there, desk workers, the Avengers, even medical staff were there. You were mingling in the crowd when Tony pulled you aside.

“I just wanted to let you know I set up a savings account for the baby assassin. I don’t want you to worry about college or anything else for it. And, Morgan is beside herself to have another small human running around to play with. If you ever need anything at all, I’m always a phone call away.” Tony pulled you into a hug, which was a first. You sunk into his arms and tried to choke back your tears. You were so grateful for your friends who were taking such good care of you.

“Thank you, from all three of us. I can’t tell you how much that means to me,” you mumbled into his chest.

When Tony let go and stepped back, he quickly wiped the tears from his face. He gave you a tight lipped smile and wandered off into the crowd towards Pepper.

After a few hours of mingling, you were wiped out. You perched yourself on a couch in the lounging area and let people come to you. You might be super, but you’re still pregnant and that meant you were tired. And hungry. Eventually, the room thinned out and only your close friends remained in the room. Steve brought you a plate of chicken tenders and fries from the food table and sat beside you sullenly. As you ate you gazed around the room. Only a handful of Earth’s mightiest heroes remained. Natasha and Bruce were sitting at the bar, discussing something Natasha must have thought was hilarious because her laughter rang out in the large room.  Tony and pepper were standing near them, sipping their drinks and talking quietly. Wanda was asleep in the chair across from you, and Vision was saying goodnight to Pietro. He wandered over and picked Wanda up without waking her up. You were kind of jealous of them, getting to snuggle tonight and simply be together. Vis and Wanda had not been together as long as you and Bucky had been, but they were deeply in love. Your heart ached as you rested a hand over your belly, thinking about your husband.

Before you could get too far down the rabbit trail of your pity party, someone tapped your shoulder. You looked up and Tony and Pepper were standing behind you. Pepper reached down and placed something small in your hand. “Here,” Tony said. “This is the credit card Pepper used to buy all of her maternity clothes and baby things when we had Morgan. It gets great cash back rewards. We want you to use this to get whatever you need and want for you and Baby. Don’t say no; you can’t. It’s already in your hand. I expect to see charges appear on it by tomorrow night. Sleep well.” He patted your shoulder and led Pepper away. Another happy couple going to bed together for the night.

You finished the food on your plate and set it down beside you on the floor. When you leaned back up, Steve finally looked over at you.

“So,” he said. “I have some news. I think I found Bucky. I’m going to get him in the morning.”

You sighed and sunk into the couch. “No. He doesn’t need to be brought back right now. If he doesn’t want to be here, then I don’t want him here making me miserable and affecting the baby. I’m waiting, Steve. I’m waiting for some kind of sign from him to tell me that he’s ready for this.” You felt a fluttering in your tummy and wrapped your arms back around your baby. “He doesn’t believe he can be a father because of his past. He’s scared it will taint the baby. I’ve done a lot of thinking these past weeks, and I know that he didn’t leave because he’s angry. He left and acted out because he is terrified of what this baby means and how he could hurt it. He left us. I’m waiting for an apology or a message or a sign that will let me know when his heart is softened and ready to come home. Or maybe he will just show back up. Either way, we will leave my husband alone until he is ready to come back. If we don’t, it’ll be hell for everyone.”

Steve hummed and nodded. “Ok. I’ll drop it. But listen, you say the word and his ass is grass. This isn’t like the Bucky we know. Seriously, you so much as whisper the word, I’ll beat the hell out of him.” He stood up and helped you to your feet. “Can I walk you to your room? It looks like Nat will be here a while.”

“Sure. I’d like the company.” You looped your arm through the crook of his elbow.

“Oh, by the way, I meant to tell you that once you reach six months, you’ll be put on maternity leave. That’s mandatory. I don’t want to see you waddling around the office in meetings and doing desk work. I don’t care how capable you feel, I want you to rest and get everything set up for this kid without worrying about work. And you can stay on maternity leave as long as you would like. I’m your SO, so it’s my decision when you come back. I want you to take your time and bond with that baby because he’ll need you.”

“Did you just say he? I don’t know what it is yet. What if it’s a girl?”

Steve just shrugged. “I don’t know, I just have a feeling. But If I’m wrong and it’s a girl, then she’ll still need you at home for a while. But listen, you need to let us take care of you. Seriously. You’re family to us, and we love you. Use Tony’s card. Accept the time off. And just say thank you for anything else that might be given to you. We’re all trying to fill as much of the hole Buck left as we can. I know it’s like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound, but we’re all doing our best to take care of you.”

You were completely overwhelmed. “I can’t do this! I can’t have a baby without Bucky! I can’t take Tony’s money or advantage of your kindness!” You started bawling. “What am I going to do without James?!”

Steve scooped you up and you wept into his shoulder as he carried you the rest of the way to your room. He didn’t tell you to stop, to calm down. He knew it was killing you. Before he could get to your door, you had cried yourself to sleep. He laid you down in the bed and tucked you in. He brushed your hair out of your face and kissed your forehead. You were essentially his little sister at this point, and he hated to see you hurting. You had been so strong for so long, he wasn’t surprised you shattered like that tonight. He was so thankful you were finally having a baby, and the little thing didn’t know it yet, but it had the world’s best mom as far as Steve was concerned. And father, if he ever showed up.

. . . . .

When you were 15 weeks along, you really started to notice your baby bump growing. Tony’s card came in handy because all your clothes were starting to feel really tight. You also started shopping for a crib and for a glider rocking chair to nurse the baby in. You began a collection of blankets and things in the new, soft yellow dresser that had a changing table on top Steve had bought you. Stuffed animals populated the corner of the baby’s part of your room. A pretty wooden toy box was filling up with toys. One of your favorite things currently was a body pillow Nat got you that was specifically for pregnant women. It was heaven to curl up with it and pretend it was Bucky when you got super lonely. You had even put one of his t-shirts over the top of it so it smelled like him. It was nice to pretend when the days were long and all you wanted was your man.

. . . . .

In your eighteenth week, flowers showed up on your door step. No card, just a big beautiful bouquet of your favorite flowers. That night as you were brushing your hair for bed, you got a text from a number you didn’t recognize.

-Did you get the flowers?

-Who is this?

-I love you. I’m sorry. I miss you.

-Bucky? Come home.

-I can’t. You know I can’t be a dad.

-Yes you can. I need you here. I love you too.

You turned your phone off because you didn’t want to hear him say no again. It was too painful. Instead, you got up and walked across the hall to Steve’s door. You knocked and heard him padding towards your door.

“Hey, are you ok?” he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

 You waited until he was making eye contact and said, “It’s time to bring my husband home.”

TAGS: @buckysberrie, @100acresofwood, @whatsbetterthanfantasy, @dracodormiensnunquamtitillandush @bellenuit45, @ificouldhelpyouforget, @38leticia, @thisisthelilith, @englishwriter15, @winter-scolder, @imabvckystan

[seulserenity]

Under the moon - Tiffany scenario pt 1

[a/n] I started this on Tiffany’s birthday because heck that girl deserves all the love. Have some fluffy Tiff everyone in a Hogwarts based au :) The prompt was “Shh. Stop fussing. I’m just braiding your hair”

Tiffany wasn’t quite sure how she’d ended up in this predicament; she was slumped over a black leather sofa with her head propped up by disturbingly green velvet cushions. 

She could tell she was in the Slytherin common room, dungeon like gloominess hung around and each wall bore gargantuan misted glass presumably from the lake water. The stone columns screamed anything but hospitality and while it may be homely to the Slytherin’s it sure as hell wasn’t to her. Yuri, her closest friend at Hogwarts, was leaning uneasily against the arm rest of the sofa and looking out at the shifting figures of the Grindylows that passed by the windows. 

“Yul” Tiffany croaked out. “Why in Merlin's name are we here of all places, you hate this place.” 

“I know Stephanie so could you please shake off your pathetic Slytherin rescuer so we can skedaddle back to our own respective dorms!” 

“Rescuer? What? Yuri we talked about this,, I need context.” Tiffany whined as she thudded her head back against the cushion violently. 

“Ouch, the cushion doesn’t need your abuse. I saved your life and you wanna take it out on my houses’ furniture; tch and they say Hufflepuffs are the sweetest wizards and witches you’ll meet.” A voice echoed as black shoes tapped against the stone steps. 

“Alright y/n, Tiffany’s awake now and she seems perfectly a-okay to me so can we please go back to our own common rooms?” Yuri drawled, slightly adjusting her stance in the presence of a Slytherin. 

Y/n too equally stood up straighter and stared back at Yuri; before words could even leave her now open mouth Tiffany interrupted. 

“Are you not even going to explain why I’m here? Either of you? Because Merlin knows I did not come here willingly and Yuri definitely wouldn’t take a joy trip down here.” The sixth year Hufflepuff seemed ready to list off several reasons why she wouldn’t come to this “dark and gloomy trap of a home” in her words but you had no time for her chatterbox tendencies. 

Jessica’s nasally voice called out to you “Y/n, why are you still not in bed. We have earliest practice for Quidditch tomorrow because the other houses are all fucking dicks.” 

“She gets cranky with little sleep.” You excused, although frankly you didn’t know why you were excusing her, she was the ice queen for a reason. 

“On that note, we’ll leave you and your courteous friend to sleep.” Yuri muttered already halfway up the staircase with Tiffany’s wrist in hand. It would be a long time until you invited other houses into your common room you thought; house guests were not the politest you thought and it would be hard to even tolerate them let alone entertain them next time one popped round. 

It would turn out that next time came around a lot sooner than you’d thought it would. Tiffany and her friends, different ones this time thank Merlin, were stood outside the blank wall waiting for an unsuspecting Slytherin who they could tag onto to get into the common rooms or at least overhear the password from. Jessica was the unlucky victim they spotted and they soon shuffled along the corridor slightly pretending to be lost in an attempt to eavesdrop. What they hadn’t anticipated seemingly was that you would be walking with the cranky Slytherin. 

Immediately Taeyeon rounded on Tiffany in hushed whispers “You mean to tell me we were going to sneak in and just loiter, loiter Pany, in the common room of our best friend’s ex’s house until your ‘rescuer’ showed up and magically explained that night to you. Are you insane, Tiffany? You say you’re brighter than jewels but right now I find it hard to believe you’re brighter than anything other than a rock. I mean for Merlin's sake is it all just a game to you or-” 

“Well well, what do we have here?” Sneered Jessica, her eyes gleaming with mischief as she eyed the trio. Taeyeon, Tiffany and Sunny (an unlikely trio you knew) used to run in the same circles with Jessica, once in fact before your friendship with the ice block Jessica had even dated Yuri. Jessica was one and the same as these not so stealthy idiots who merely breezed through classes and social circles alike but as soon as she and Yuri split the hostility had flown in. Now it seemed neither group could move on from their grudge and so the two huddles of sixth years were reduced to snide remarks and constant avoidance of one another. Of course this was impractical, especially on nights like the one where you had supposedly saved Tiffany; that night you had momentarily discarded any loyalty to Jessica for the sake of Tiffany. Don’t read into this or anything but you simply felt that having no involvement in the friendships/relationship of Jessica before it was only by default that you begrudged the misfits so you had no real reason to deny the poor Hufflepuff help. 

Only now did you realise that you should have carried that loyalty through as Tiffany was getting harder and harder to shake off; she was almost like a house elf that was hell bent on being freed and she would stop at nothing to bug you until you ‘freed her’ of the curiosity. Knowing the trio had probably only eavesdropped to come and pester you at ungodly hours made you feel slightly uneasy at Jessica’s attitude but it wasn’t your place to interfere and so you merely observed from behind Jessica. Tiffany, not one to back down as you’d learned over the past few weeks, pushed in front of Taeyeon to speak. You vaguely knew the three who stood before you because of various clubs and classes, Taeyeon was a beater like yourself and both of you had exchanged bludgers often in Quidditch matches from which you’d observed her and she seemed rather meek. Ravenclaw’s and Slytherin’s had no real rivalry and so of course you’d never really seen her fully stoked up for a game so perhaps she had a hidden wild side but given her house you highly doubted it. 

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere by now Jessica? Perhaps with Ok Taecyeon studying?” The lilt in Tiffany’s voice warned you that Jessica was being baited, you knew her as well as she knew herself and she would rise to the challenge most likely so you decided to intervene. At this point you’d be saving Tiffany’s life so many times that she might as well be paying you back in cash for it. 

“Jess, why don’t you get started on the strategy plan for tonight’s Quidditch practice and I’ll catch you inside? Please?” From the surrender in Jessica’s eyes you saw that she understood your please was not begging but rather a command and so she spun on her heel and proclaimed “Serpentine” so loudly that you thought even people in the Astronomy Tower could hear.  “She just loudly exclaimed the password and so anytime I want in I can just use it, whose the dumbass now huh?” Tiffany challenged. 

Jessica’s head popped around and one hand clung onto the serpent knocker as she simply said “It changes tomorrow, dumbass.” With a slam the door closed and the serpent knocker briefly shuddered against its metal, clanging softly in the background. Taeyeon nudged Tiffany in the side with her wrist as if to say I told you so, Tiffany seemed to take no notice and for that you admired the girl. She was defying your expectations of a Hufflepuff and it sorta drew you to the girl, not that you’d ever admit that though. Tiffany cleared her throat and began a rather hurried and nervous sounding ramble. You couldn’t even precisely hear everything but to summarise it went something like “My friends and I, different ones because Yuri is an ass who won’t stop moping, decided..hm no. We stumbled upon this blank wall and wondered what it was for seeing the snake though when people were going in and out, which by the way I still don’t see how it is possible but as we saw the snake we deduced it was Slytherin’s dorms and shit and well since we kinda wanted to see you, I did I mean, well I wasn’t trying to follow you but just I need answers and Yuri won’t tell me and curiosity killed the cat you know so even though this might kill me I might also die by the hand of curiosity like it’s burning inside and just please answer me instead of avoiding me as you have recently?” 

Tiffany smiled at you and her eyes curved up in the most peculiar way but it was endearing to see, fuzzy warm feelings emanated from within as if someone had given you some pepperup potion. You felt guilt building up all of a sudden that you’d been avoiding her for a few weeks as she technically had done nothing wrong, heck the poor girl was being treated like a hindrance when she’d only acted the way you would had you been in her place. Berating yourself mentally for letting yourself soften, your expression must’ve slipped as well because as you looked straight ahead at the trio and saw a flicker of a smirk on Taeyeon’s face that mocked you. You reminded yourself of the fact that rescuing Tiffany from her predicament had been an inconvenience let alone the manners or lack thereof shown to you by her ridiculously rude friends even when you’d risked being caught in the common room with outsiders. Oh and to really add fuel to the fire you remembered that it wasn’t any Gryffindor and Hufflepuff that you’d brought in but Kwon Yuri, your best friend’s ex and the one girl you’d sworn to never talk to. 

With such words spinning around in your mind you had to get away, spluttering an excuse about needing to help Jessica with the plans you spun around and charged into the common room. The rest of the week neither you nor Jessica spoke about the girls outside your common room nor did you acknowledge anything was wrong. This led to tension and for the entire week you’d been high strung, thank Merlin Tiffany seemed to know (she must have Legilimency or something) and had left you alone the past week. All this space from her though hadn’t helped and it almost tempted you to visit her, almost. You had resisted based on the fact that a) you had no clue how to even find her alone and b) you were too proud to even try but it was after Quidditch practice on Saturday at 10 o’clock when you finally gave in. Tiffany was resting against the bleachers with her windswept hair around her shoulders, Ravenclaw were just beginning their practice and Tiffany had already sat through 3 hours in the bitter cold and wind and seeing her dozing off in such conditions tugged at your heart. On your way out from the Quidditch pitch you passed by her sleeping, you grabbed Taeyeon’s coat nearby and draped it over her before combing through her hair with your bare hands and pulling it into a braid so the wind couldn’t knot it again. 

“Wha-?Wait y/n?”

““Shh. Stop fussing. I’m just braiding your hair”

She lay still and let you do your thing, whilst braiding it seemed the soothing motion had lulled her back to dreamland. 

Slipping off silently back to your common room you hoped she would soon forget about it and that your craving to see her had been satisfied. 

[a/n] Stay tuned for part 2 

[rejectedbyeharmony]

BOY BYE.

Ok I’ve had some time to cool off so I can finish this story. The point of this blog was to air out my baggage around love and relationships. But writing this story has made me realize that I never had a relationship with Matt. I had one with his child. That’s who I spent all my time with, that’s why I put my heart and soul into. I threw his birthday parties, I made sure we sent everyone Christmas cards, I hung out with other moms who had kids his age so that he had time to socialize. These things seemed important to me, as a parent. They were not as important to his actual parents, and it’s really opened my eyes to what a completely different childhood a kid can have when their parents put them first. This was not the case. All decisions made around the child were in the interest of mom or dad, but never him. Oh, and I was not allowed to have input in any of these decisions, but I was still expected to take on all the responsibilities of parenting him. Seems fair. Okay I’m getting upset again, let me get on with the story…

 Matt was a line cook at a golf club when we started dating. He was frying frozen food and making soggy quesadillas for the already half-in-the-bag club members. He cooked for me a few times and I could tell he had far more potential than he realized. I’ll never forget the time he cooked kale in a pan with ACV, apples and walnuts. It changed my life forever.

He mentioned that he spent one semester in culinary school, and one of his professors told him that he already had all the basic skills he needed to get into the restaurant industry, and he would get a better education in the kitchen than in the classroom. What Matt lacked in self-advocacy, he made up in talent. So I encouraged him to seek out better employment, but he worried about the schedule. Chef’s hours are hard. He would have go into work around noon, and wouldn’t get out until midnight or later. I worked regular hours, 8 to 4, so I promised to step up as a coparent in order to help him make his dream a reality. (Cue the Mean Girls gif: Because I’m SUCH a good [girl]friend.)

 For months, he and I were like passing ships in the night. Sometimes he would get up and hang with me in the morning, make me coffee and kiss me goodbye. Matt would drop his son at a babysitter’s house on his way to work, and I would pick him up on my way home. We would play and have dinner, and watch Paw Patrol or My Little Pony until it was his bedtime. Most nights it was pretty easy getting him to bed, but I dreaded it.

 This poor kid absorbed all of the trauma of the fights between his parents, inconsistency with schedules, being passed from adult-to-adult all day long, and vacillating between a house with rules, and a house with no boundaries. As a result, the kid had night terrors. Every night when I put him to bed, I would brace myself. I gritted my teeth and clenched my butthole waiting for it to start. Then, like a haunted house starts up every night, he would scream and cry for as long as an hour. Sometimes I would lose it, and I would scream with him. I would sit in my bed and scream and cry and curse Matt for not telling me about this before we moved in together. One time, I thought I might actually kill him. I imagined Matt coming home to a bloody mess, and me just sitting in a corner, eyes bugging out, rocking myself, repeating “he just wouldn’t stop screaming.”

 It stressed me the fuck out. I begged Matt to take him to a pediatrician that could help, but their agreement was that Amelia would take care of all the doctor’s appointments. Shockingly, she couldn’t ever find time to take this kid to get him the help he needed, she could barely keep a fucking job. It was devastating to me because all I wanted to do was just help him. I wanted some answers, some solutions… my heart broke for him. I dug deep into the bowels of the mommy interweb to get answers, but all I could find was that weren’t supposed to wake them up.

 Holy. Fucking. Shit. There was no solution to this problem. Talk about psychological warfare. I begged for the bedbugs over the night terrors.

 Matt was only home at bedtime once a week to experience this, so he didn’t believe that they happened every night. And his son didn’t remember them when we asked him about them. I was literally losing my mind. Matt and I fought about it constantly. One day, two of my closest friends—who are both moms—reached out and told me that Matt had contacted them. He explained to them, that because I wasn’t a parent I couldn’t possibly understand what he was going through, and that was my friends should be the ones to tell me I was wrong.

 What the fuck? How fucking dare you… I helped you excel in your career, I provided a home for you and your child, and I made myself a technical single parent every other week. I dealt with your ex’s bullshit, because you refused to, and this is how you thank me? He wasn’t the only one working on creating a career for himself. I had only recently finished college, and started working my dream job with my dream company. I was working my ass off, and he was totally out of line.

 Naturally, both my friends told him to fuck off. I felt so betrayed by him, that, not only would he go behind my back and try to turn my friends against me; but worse, he didn’t even give them all the information, making me sound like a control freak bitch (which is not entirely untrue, just not in this context.) All I wanted him to do was to take the kid to the goddamn pediatrician to find out what we can do to help him.

 Finally, Matt took the kid for a dental appointment, and even though he was four, his dentist was very concerned about the state of his teeth. He asked if we were doing regular dental hygiene. Matt and I brushed his teeth every morning and every night that he was with us, so we knew that we were doing our part. He called Amelia to ask her what she was doing, and she answered that she didn’t think she had to brush his teeth.

Louder for the people in the back: She didn’t think she had to brush his fucking teeth!!!

 She fed him garbage food all day, having no sense of nutrition for herself or her child, and she wasn’t even brushing his teeth. Clearly this woman had no business being a parent. I had enough. I told Matt I needed some space, and asked him to stay with his sister for awhile. Later, he got his son’s cavities filled, and the night terrors stopped. Weird…

 Eventually he moved back in. With no more night terrors, and this incident giving us an upper hand with Amelia, things seems to chill out. Life was much easier, and we were getting along much better. Then, one unfortunately day, I learned that my one of my best friends passed away. He lost his fight against liver failure, and it was very tragic and sad. I texted Matt on my way home “hey just found out JT died and I’m really sad, could you just be home and hang with me tonight?” It was his day off but he usually has something scheduled like playing Frisbee golf, or getting stoned with his friends or whatever, but I just needed him that night. We had been working hard on getting along, and asking him to sit with me that night was me raising a white flag. I just needed a shoulder to cry on. He agreed to stay home and told me he would see me soon.

 Imagine my surprise when I got home and he wasn’t there. And neither was his dog. I texted him and he said he “just ran out to get cigarettes and will be right back!” I couldn’t understand why he took the dog with him, but I didn’t ask, I was too preoccupied with my own grief to try to decode the actions of a stoner on his day off. One time I came home to him naked in our bed passed out and I just left him there. He came downstairs like “babe when did you get here I was in bed waiting for you.” Fuck outta here Sleeping Beauty, you were drooling.

So when he got home, he had a backpack and the dog on a leash and he was dressed to go somewhere. It was obvious he had something to tell me and I really didn’t really want to hear it. He started to tell me that he decided to leave me. Wow, could this have waited a few days, considering the circumstance… In spite of my anger towards him, I still didn’t want to be alone with my grief. I asked him to stay, we could order food and smoke a bowl, watch tv… and he said “I’m sorry, I can’t deal with you being sad right now.” And then, he left. And my heart broke and I never forgave him.

 I let him stay at his sisters house for a few days, and then I asked him to come back and pack up his shit. I was done. I was done getting treated like a babysitter for both him and his child. I was done being a mediator between him and his ex, because they couldn’t communicate. I was done being a life coach and teaching him to stay motivated and ask for more in his career. He had to go be his own man without me. And I needed to learn to grow on my own too. Codependency got the best of me with this one, and it was a hard decision to end it, but I knew it was the right one because he was dragging me down.

 My family could see this, but I couldn’t. I resented them for how they treated him, and how they never supported our relationship. But in hindsight, I’m grateful that they didn’t pretend to accept him. So many relationships before him lasted too long, because my family was complacent for my benefit. We were learning together that we needed to be honest about our impressions and feelings toward the men in my life. This became especially difficult in my next relationship, because he presented as such a great person, when he was really the worst thing that ever happened to me. The next story is the longest, the hardest, and the last. For now, at least.

[ficdirectory]

Somewhere Inside (Disuphere series #4) Chapter 30

(To listen, click here) - 13:42

“He came home when?” Pearl asks, incredulous, sitting on Frank’s porch with Jesus.

“About 4 AM.  I heard him come in,” Jesus passed along, looking concerned.

“I hope you weren’t up all night,” she says.

“No, but I’m pretty tuned into when the door opens.  Dominique waited up, though.  So, he wasn’t alone when he came in.”

“Seriously, Jesus, should I be worried here?  Is there something I should know about Levi?”

“Talk to him.  If you wanna know, you need to talk to him.  You can’t go behind his back.”

“He legitimately has a 3-9:45 shift today,” she shares - a non sequitur.

Jesus spots her shaking hands.  She doesn’t bother hiding them anymore.  “You don’t like when he works late?”

“No...I mean, I don’t.  But that was the same shift I had when…” she ventures.  “And it’s not exactly the same, but it’s close enough.  It happened on a Saturday night through Sunday.  This year, it falls on a weekend, too, so…” Pearl sips hot tea from her travel mug.

Jesus grimaces.  “Hate when it does that.”

“I know,” she nods.  “And I know it isn’t rational...but like...rationality doesn’t really matter when it comes to this.  I can’t help but imagining the same thing happening to him.  And if it did…  I could never forgive myself, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.  I worry about Francesca the same way,” Jesus sympathizes.

“But I think Dominique’s planning to go into town with him when he goes to work.  Stick close.  You know?  Might give you peace of mind.”

“Why would she do that?” Pearl asks.

“I mean...they’re friends.  Dominique cares about him.  She knows he’s had a hard time.  I think she just wants him to know he has a friend nearby.  If he needs one.”

Pearl expels a breath.  “Yeah, that does help.  Confession: my mother has been blowing up my phone, as the kids say.”

Jesus looks sidelong at her.  “I don’t think the kids say that anymore…” he jokes.  “But...wait.  What?  I thought you told her to beat it.”

“I did.” Pearl maintains.

“She can’t take a hint, or…” Jesus asks.

“Basically.” Pearl nods.  “I haven’t told Levi, because he’s been so stressed.  And he’s been over here, so he hasn’t needed to worry about it.”

“What’s she want?” Jesus asks.

“Oh, just to make me feel guilty about my life choices.  To make this weekend all about her.  Take your pick.”

Jesus grimaces.  “You have nothing to feel guilty about.  And this weekend is about you.  She’s messing with your head.  Trust me, I know what that looks like.”

“You think she’s like, manipulating me?” Pearl wonders, surprised.

“Well, I don’t think she’s loving you.  I’ll put it like that,” Jesus mutters darkly.

Pearl’s mouth falls open.  “Wow.  Okay.”

“Sorry.  If that was, you know, too harsh or whatever.”  Jesus apologizes.

“No, I need Jesus levels of bluntness in my life right now,” Pearl insists.

There’s silence.  There’s a squirrel in the yard Dudley really wants to chase.  But Cleo scares it away with her goofy bark.

“So, what do you wanna do this weekend?  Like, how do you wanna handle it?” Jesus asks.  “I get that there’s not a lot of lead time.  But it helps me going into days like these to kinda have a plan.  To know what I want to happen.  What I don’t.  What do you usually do?”

“Sleep,” Pearl shares unceremoniously, stroking Cleo.  Their time walking the dogs together has to be some of Pearl’s favorite.  But this morning they’d saved all the major conversation for afterward.

“Do you wanna sleep this weekend?” Jesus wonders, no judgment.

“No, I wanna hang out with you guys.  I just...don’t know how I’ll be…  If someone brings it up, or whatever…” Pearl worries.

“Well, we wouldn’t want you thinking we don’t care.  Just that...I don’t know.  Sometimes I don’t want people in my family to bring it up on hard days.  Sometimes I do, but just like, peripherally.  I don’t like a big deal made.”

“What are you asking?” Pearl tries.

“Do you think you’ll wanna discuss it?  Like, should we check in with you?” Jesus clarifies.

“I have no idea.  No one has ever asked me that.  No one’s ever been here with me through it, except when it happened, and even then, Mom didn’t know it happened.  I didn’t tell her for like a week…”

“Dude…” Jesus breathes.

“Yeah, I know, right?  Brutal.” Pearl tells him.

“It is.” Jesus nods.

“I think I’ll want to know people remember it’s a hard weekend?” Pearl ventures.  “Check in with me, but not too directly?”

“Like, ‘How you doin’ with that?’” Jesus asks.

“Kind of, I guess.” Pearl makes a face.  “Don’t make a massive deal but don’t forget me?”

“Done.  Hey, and maybe leave your phone on silent or something?” he asks.  “Just so you don’t have your mom bugging?”

“Right,” Pearl nods.  “Do you think Levi’s gonna be okay tonight?  Like, can I stay close around here so if I need you or Mariana to talk me off a ledge about him, you can?”

“Totally, yeah,” Jesus nods.

“And…” Pearl hesitates.  “Can we do Feelings Laundry again?  We missed yesterday and...I can tell.  I think I need it.  Especially this weekend.  But if Levi and Dominique are gonna be gone tonight, then I’m not sure how it’ll--”

Cleo’s licking her now.  Pearl barely feels it.

“Pause,” Jesus interjects gently.  “Get your breath.”

Pearl breathes, albeit shakily.  She feels ridiculous. “I should have known, every time I start to ramble, that’s a bad sign.  Like, come on, Pearl, gather yourself.  This isn’t a big deal,  Why are you making it one?”

“Pearl,” Jesus interjects softly.    

She meets his gaze.  He just stares back, quiet.  For a whole minute.  When he finally does speak, his words surprise her:

“This is a really big deal.  And it makes a lot of sense that you’re struggling right now.  I know you mentioned Feelings Laundry….  Hey, are you breathing?  Don’t hold your breath.  Breathe.  Can you?”

“Just in…” Pearl manages.

“You okay if I talk to you about candles?” he asks, throwing her for a loop again.

“What?” she asks.

“I mean, they don’t trigger you or anything, do they?” Jesus persists.

“No.  They’re fine,” she says, breathless.

“So, imagine there’s a candle.  Or...a cake with lots of candles…  Like your birthday cake…”

“Very funny…” Pearl gasps.

“You need a good breath to blow out those candles.  So, when you’re ready...just take a deep breath and blow them out.  You might need to do it a few times…”

“For Levi, too…” Pearl manages.

“What?  Wait, you guys...have the same birthday?” Jesus asks, incredulous.

Pearl nods, finally drawing in a deep breath.

“Okay, so you’ll need some for your candles and some for his, ‘cause he’s still sleeping...and the cake’s invisible,” Jesus coaches.

Pearl highly doubts that pretending to blow out candles on a cake is going to help anything.  She tries.  It’s harsh.  Sudden.  Not calm.

“So, long and slow.  You gotta get to all the candles and Levi’s cake is back here,” Jesus gestures vaguely.

After forever, it seems like Pearl can breathe again.  “Sorry, I’m such a mess.”

Jesus smiles a little.  “Messy is okay,” he says.  “So, you asked about Feelings Laundry.  And including Levi and Dominique.  What do you think about asking everybody if they wanna have it after lunch today instead of after dinner?  So we all can be there.”

“Yeah,” Pearl nods.  “You are pretty incredible,” she tells him.  

“Well, I have this pretty amazing role model who I’ve looked up to for years,” Jesus says.

“Oh, please.  I’m hideous.”

“You need to change that inner dialogue…” Jesus encourages.  “I think you mean, reasonably upset given the circumstances…and an amazing role model.”

“Stop,” she insists, laughing a little.

“Okay.” Just like that, Jesus does.  It doesn’t matter that she’s laughing.  That she meant it lightly.

Jesus listened.

He always listens.

--

Francesca wakes up and finds Jesus not in the fort.  For a second, she feels like crying.  She can’t keep having her friends and her brother just disappearing.  She puts her blanket around her and creeps out of the fort.  To the window.  

Luckily, she sees Jesus out there with Pearl, talking.  It makes her feel an inch better.  But still.  Levi.  She went to sleep last night and he wasn’t home.  After spending  the day with her and then coming home, he was just gone.

It was scary.

Mariana and Dominique’s door is closed.  Francesca approaches the big staircase and decides to crawl up it.  No one is here to see and make fun of her.  And she can always go down on her butt later.

She makes it all the way up, to the loft and then scurries to the far side by the bookshelf, as far away from the stairs as possible.  She remembers the rule about bedrooms and is too nervous to knock and see if Levi answers, but she sits in the chair and waits.

She falls asleep waiting.

When the door creaks, Francesca jump-scares herself awake.  Levi jumps, too.  He looks different.

Francesca gets up and walks to him.  Stands in front of him.  He bends down and she can’t help it.  She throws her arms around him, biting her lip to keep her tears in, but it doesn’t even help and soon she’s sobbing like a baby.  (But quietly because people are sleeping, plus Jesus’s trauma doesn’t like loud crying.)

“Whoa.  Hey…” he says.  His voice sounds scratchy.  He rocks back so he’s sitting.  She goes, too.  She feels like she can never let go of him.

“I thought you were gone,” she gasps.

“You, what?” he asks, quiet.  Confused.

“Thought...you were...gone!  Like Jesus!  I thought...somebody took you!” Francesca sobs.  It feels like her heart actually is breaking.  It’s the worst feeling.

“Hey…  No…  Nobody took me,” Levi rubs her back.  

Francesca cries a little more before she can start calming down.  “I’m sorry,” she apologizes, not looking at him.

“It’s okay.  I’m sorry I scared you.  I didn’t know.  I won’t do it again.” Levi says seriously.

“When people just go and don’t tell me…  It just…  I don’t know…” Francesca tries.

“Maybe it reminds you…” Levi asks, his voice still sounding like he’s sick.

“Of Jesus being gone, too,” Francesca nods.  

“You’re pretty young.  Do you remember that?” he asks.

“No, he came back when I was one and a half,” Francesca wipes her eyes.  “But the last time we were here, Moms thought Jesus was gone again.  Moms were fighting and checking to see if he fell through the ice outside.  Mariana was crying.  Jude and Brandon were fighting and Callie kept asking to go look for him but Moms told her ‘We can’t lose you, too.’”  He was gone a long time.  Then he came back.  But I still remember him being gone.  The feeling inside.”

“Being unprotected,” Levi offers.

“I think…” Francesca nods.  “Like every bad thing could suddenly really happen.  Bad guys were real.  There was more than just Jesus’s one bad guy.  The world, like, became dangerous…So, last night it felt the same, even though you’re not Jesus.”  Francesca’s looking at Levi in the eyes.  “Did you feel that way?  Is that why you left?”

“No,” Levi shakes his head.  “I felt guilty.  Like I was selfish for wearing you out.  And getting you and Dominique followed.”

“You didn’t,” Francesca insists.  “I wore myself out.  And the peon followed us, not you.”

Levi cracks a smile.

“Next time, can you just ask?” Francesca begs.

“Ask what?” Levi wonders.

“If you’re feeling guilty about stuff.  Ask if it’s true.  We’ll tell you.  Friends don’t lie, you know?” Francesca tells him.

“What if they tell me it is…” Levi worries.

“Friends also don’t hurt each other on purpose.  Or at all.  So…” she shrugs.  “If you’re worried about a lot of stuff just come talk to us about it.  We’re like your dad.  We’ll protect you.”

“Thank you, Francesca,” he squeezes her again.  “Hey, how did you get up here?”

“Crawled.”

“Ah.  Need a hand down?”

“Not really,” she hesitates.

“No?  Why?”

“What if I wanna stay here?  Not in your room, just outside it like this?” Francesca asks.

“Well, I was thinking about...getting some pancakes.” Levi winks.

“We didn’t buy any…” Francesca objects.

“But I did, and I hid them in a secret spot.  Wanna come down and find them with me?” he asks.

“Yeah.” Finally, Francesca smiles.  She grabs her blanket but then can’t figure out how to bring it with her and go down stairs.

“Here, I have an idea.  What about...a cape?” Levi asks, tying the blanket at two corners around Francesca’s neck.  “And what about a boost?” he bends down for her to climb on, piggyback style.

She does.

“Just hang on tight,” Levi insists.

“I will.  I have strong arms,” Francesca shares, holding on extra tight.  

They find the pancakes in the freezer.  Levi shows her the best way to eat them: with peanut butter and maple syrup.  It really does taste great.

“I’m glad you came home,” Francesca tells him, around a bite of pancake.  “I’d miss you tons, otherwise…”  She stabs another bite with her fork.  “Just so you know?  Avoiders?  Don’t avoid each other.”

“Wait.  I’m an Avoider?” Levi asks.

“Of course.” Francesca nods.

“Why, of course.  You barely know me.”  Levi says, looking away.

“Well, Jesus didn’t know me at first, but that didn’t mean we weren’t brother and sister,” Francesca shrugs.

“You don’t have to include me in your thing…” Levi hesitates.

“Too late.  You’re included,” Francesca smiles.  “It’s good.  It means you’re wanted.”

Levi wipes his eyes.

Francesca doesn’t make fun of him.  She just hands him a napkin for his tears.

[jessaadventures-blog]

Week Four: Friends, Family, and Food

The Capullana caves arch.

**Sorry for the late post, wifi access was minimal this weekend! I wrote most of this on Friday, so just pretend it’s Friday instead of Monday :) **

A month has flown by!! It was fun to see my mom this week and show her around Lobitos. The EcoSwell team made a number of new friends this week, including a couple of new volunteers. We are also now generating clean and drinkable distilled water! It’s been a busy week and there is lots to tell :)

The EcoHouse

Our homemade vegan fruit crumble!! It was delicious :)

We have a couple of new people in the EcoHouse!! Jenny arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and she seems great! She is going into her final year at Humboldt State in energy resources engineering (a major I almost did too) and is from the bay area. It’s been really fun to have another girl in the house; she’s very outgoing and fun to talk to! Jenny is helping Joris and I with the solar distiller, so we’re hopefully going to make a lot of progress in the next few weeks!

Jack arrived yesterday (Thursday). He’s from London and just finished his first year at uni studying geography (with a Spanish component). I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to him yet, but he seems really friendly and eager to help out. He’s here for NGO management, so he’ll be able to help me out with social media (yay!). With Jack we have seven volunteers and we only have room in the house for six, so he’s staying at Nacho’s hostel until Isa leaves next Friday.

Other than our newbies, we’ve had a crazy good food week. During this week’s Talara trip, the guys that went bought a lot less food than normal, which I think has upped our creativity and thus upped the awesomeness of our home-cooked meals. We had Taco Tuesday (as always), but we didn’t have tortillas, so we whipped up some homemade tortillas that were pretty amazing!! Wednesday was veggie burger night again and we cooked up some amazing veggie burgers using our now tried and trusted recipe (minimalist baker’s sweet potato black bean burgers). We also made a strawberry, nectarine, and papaya crumble that hit the spot for dessert! Thursday night we went out to Tranqui’s because Jack had just arrived and Jenny hadn’t been there yet, but he was out of his yummy plantains and french fries :( Luckily, though, Isa and Jenny and I had made two AMAZING vegan carrot cakes earlier in the day (we had a bunch of carrots we needed to get rid of) and everybody chowed down on them both Thursday night and this morning. And tonight we have a vegan pot pie in the oven that looks delicious and I can’t wait to eat!!

We also watched a couple of cool movies this week, one was called Rushmore, a Wes Anderson film about a guy who wants to stay at his prep school forever, and Ex Machina, which I hadn’t seen before and was a little crazy but pretty well done, I thought.

There also was a pisco party one evening, and four of our new friends (two pairs of van-life couples staying at La Casona from Germany and Austria) joined us and learned about what we do at EcoSwell (they were very into it)!

Work

Joris, Jenny, and I with our working distiller!

The distiller is officially up and running! It still needs quite a few improvements, but it can produce very pure distilled water. Right now we’re getting about three liters a day, but we think we can increase that quite a bit by making it more air-tight and making some other changes. We have spent quite a bit of time filtering seawater to get macro organisms out of the water (you don’t want stuff dying in the distiller and stinking up the water) and the distiller can take about 50 liters at a time, which it distills over about five days (right now). We’re on the way to making a really effective and sustainable source of clean drinking water for Lobitos!

Planting day was really fun this week, we had both of our new van life couples come help out, so we got a lot done pretty fast Wednesday morning! I helped germinate some oregano and cilantro and then mixed and poured dirt for the veggie garden/orchard. We also planted a bunch of vetiver (bug and odor repellant grass) on the path to the dry toilet. We took some group pictures and gave the van lifers EcoSwell shirts as thanks for their help! Then we made our classic big planting day breakfast and got working on the projects again.

On Friday, a few of us went in to Talara to look for materials for our projects (Jenny and I got some items that will improve the distiller), and I got to experience ProMart (the weirdly similar Peruvian version of Home Depot) and Plazavea, the grocery store. We went to lunch at Black Pepe, a local restaurant run out of a man’s living room, and had a delicious salad (I also tried a bite of a yummy classic seafood dish called mariscos) before heading home with our new materials.

Adventures

Mom and I at the Capullana caves!

This weekend was really fun because my mom was here from Friday to Tuesday and we got to go on some adventures and I got to show her around Lobitos! She arrived early Friday morning and knocked on the door just as I was leaving for a run. If you want to hear her wild travel story check out her facebook! Anyway, she made it after an exhausting night and crashed in my bed while she waited for the hostel to open. She moved into her room at lunch time and after work I went up to La Casona (the hostel up the hill where she stayed) and had a nice happy hour with her on the deck as we watched the sun set. She had already made friends with one of the van life couples (from Germany) and was talking up a storm in classic mom fashion. After sunset we decided to walk the beach down to a restaurant she had been recommended by some surfers, El Cuartel. It had amazing veggie burgers and sweet potato fries, along with quinoa and potato salads! After dinner we headed home and decided to watch The Martian with everyone, which ended up going until midnight and Mom found out that she had been locked out of her hostel. So, she came and slept in my twin-size bottom bunk bed with me and kept me up half the night with her snoring (haha..).

On Saturday we decided to head to Mancora (a touristy party town an hour and a half north) for the day as a little mother-daughter adventure. While we were waiting for the combie to take us to Talara from Lobitos, we met the other van-life couple (from Austria) and talked to them for a while as we all looked for a combie that would fit us. (We happened to meet both van-life couples at different times than the EcoSwell directors, but they both became friends with all of us! Funny how we all ran into each other one way or another.) Anyway, Mom and I successfully made it to Talara and then into a van going to Mancora, and as soon as we got to Mancora we walked the beach and wandered the vendor stalls (super touristy) and then had a yummy lunch at the Black Sheep, which had amazing vegan burgers and juices. We spent the next few hours hanging out on the beach reading, napping, and watching horses give people rides and rented ATVs zooming down the beach. After we had enjoyed the atmosphere for a while we went and had happy hour at one of the nearby restaurants, and I tried a Bolivian drink that mom had in Ecuador and mom tried a maracuya (passionfruit) sour. We wandered our way to the bus station and hopped on the Expo bus back to Talara with a French surfer dude we met in the bus station who was also headed to Lobitos. We made it into Talara after dark and barely caught the last Lobitos combie of the night, which we packed with sixteen people, a spare tire, a few bags of groceries, and a surfboard. It was a wild ride! We cooked up some pasta back at the EcoHouse, and that was the same night of the pisco party with the van-lifers that we’d met! Mom made it back before the hostel locked up, so I got my bed to myself again :)

Sunday morning I attempted to do laundry and mostly flooded the kitchen, but after a few hours my clothes were clean and the kitchen was once again dry. Mom and I went to the rocks at La Punta and tanned, read, and watched the surfers ride the big waves. We headed to lunch at Cora, a restaurant I’d heard a lot about but hadn’t yet been to, and had a yummy veggie stir fry while mom tried the fresh fish. That evening, Henry (our local surfer friend) offered to take us all to the Capullana caves up the coast a bit. A bunch of us hopped in his and his brother’s mototaxis with Henry’s two dogs and drove the dirt road to scramble around some cliffs and caves and watch the sunset. It was really beautiful, and climbing down and up the ropes was exciting! We saw little red crabs everywhere and a bunch of blue-footed boobies (famous birds that Darwin studied) that mom hadn’t even seen in the Galapagos. The caves were an incredible adventure, and I’m really glad mom was there to experience them too! We got home after dark and headed to Tranqui’s for our classic Sunday dinner.

On Monday after work, I went up to La Casona for happy hour and sunset with mom again, and the EcoTeam joined us a bit later! Mom challenged Andres, one of the directors, to a game of digital backgammon on her phone (he won but she was in the lead for most of the game) and we all headed to 420 for dinner after, where we had some yummy pizza and pasta and piña coladas for mom’s last night :)

Mom stopped by for lunch on Tuesday before she left for the airport, and I said goodbye and wished her good luck with the rest of her travels (from what I’ve heard it sounds like they’ve been going well!) and sent her off to the Talara airport with Julio, our neighbor. 

There weren’t many adventures the rest of the week, but on Thursday night at Tranqui’s we made friends with a drunk British guy who was cycling South America, and he called us EcoWarriors, so that was fun! 

One of the fishing boats (still in use!) on the beach.

This was a great week; it was really fun to see mom and hear her stories of her travels alone in Latin America, which I’m really impressed with (especially because she doesn’t speak any Spanish) and I’m glad I got out to see more of this area of Peru! The cooking this week was really fun, I definitely want to eat in and cook more. I can’t believe I’ve been here a month already; only five more weeks until I head south to Patagonia! Stay tuned for more fun stories and adventures (I had a bit of a wild weekend, details will be included in the next post)!