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agentdagonet · 5 years ago

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For the Eggsy sees Ghosts series. Roxy and Merlin's deaths in Golden Circle.

So, you’ve created a monster. For now, have this version, where everyone lives. Cos, you know, the whole series is telling moments in both directions. I promise I’m working on the one that’s more canon-aligned, but figured you’d like this humble offering in the meantime.

Already up on AO3, feel free to subscribe for when I eventually get to finishing/posting the second version.

Eggsy wasn’t really sure if he should be thanking or cursing whatever strange powers-that-be gave him his ability to see ghosts, most days. For a few reasons, actually, starting with not everyone stayed behind, obviously, and often the people he wanted to see most were those who moved On without pause. Which meant that he didn’t always know if he was waiting for a ghost or should be looking for an injured friend, in the wake of tragedy.

And, unfortunately, tragedy was far too easy to come by in Kingsman; this made the concern a constant thought in the back of his mind.

He’d been at dinner with Tilde’s family, pretending to know a lot more than he did because that was the only way he could remain in her life, when James had simply appeared where he hadn’t been a moment before. His face was contorted in a way Eggsy knew spelt disaster, and a moment later Alistair was just beside him, shock in every line of his features.

Needless to say, Eggsy had made his excuses and practically ran from the room before locking himself in the first bathroom he stumbled across.

‘Fuck, Perce, I am so sorry-’

‘Save your apologies, Eggsy and get your arse back to Kingsman.’ James had never spoken to him so curtly, and that alone was enough for him to spring into action, sprinting out the door while sending an automated text Tilde’s way. Kingsman, sorry, got to run was definitely not the sort of text Tilde enjoyed receiving, but it was a common enough one to have been added to his automatic responses- and it was one of the thousand reasons they hadn’t succeeded romantically.

He didn’t really want to think about the source of James’ stress, but as Kingsman flickered in and out of his periphery he couldn’t help but keep note. Percival, Bors, Kay, Geraint, Lamorak, Bedivere, Pelleas, Dagonet-

‘Shit,’ Eggsy had already set the jet to make its way to the Manor as quick as possible, and had pulled a set of glasses from a cabinet with shaky hands, ‘come on, come on, come on.’ He flicked through channels at a frantic pace, not letting himself connect the static he kept running into with the ghosts surrounding him. At least that’s what he told himself.

He landed next to a crater, smoke and dust still billowing up from within, and scanned the rubble with disbelieving eyes. Kingsman (no, he corrected, the mansion) was gone. Nothing but dust and smoke and the taste of ash on the wind.

‘-ggsy… Eggsy! Get your arse over here.’ Eggsy shook himself to awareness and found himself bounding toward James without consciously deciding to do so. He followed his gesture with his eyes, and found himself looking at a handle and a mostly-covered door. There was a faint thudding, and for a moment Eggsy was convinced that he was hearing rubble fall like chunks of iceberg into the sea, before he connected the sound to the source.

‘Fuck,’ Eggsy breathed before leaping into the crater, heedless of the sharp debris, ‘hold on, hold on, I’m coming!’ He yelled the last, hoping beyond measure that the definitely-panicking person trapped within could hear him. Would know that someone was coming for them. He didn’t let himself guess as to who had survived the attack while he moved anything he could nudge away from the door, didn’t let himself listen to the murmering behind him even as it grew with more voices, more layers, more-

The door swung open, would have hit Eggsy full on had he not been able to jump out of the way. Well, more trip backward over something he hadn’t been paying attention to in his bid to remove himself from the trajectory but either way he was (mostly) unharmed as someone came out, coughing.

‘Galahad, are you there?’ It sounds like it’s coming from far away despite the glasses still being on his face. It’s said with the kind of resignation Eggsy’s heard from telemarketers, from people passing flyers on the kerb. The one that says “I’ve been at this for a while, I know you won’t answer, but I have to keep trying.” Merlin’s voice was in his ear, Harry was supposed to be watching Daisy for the day at his mum’s place back at the Estates. He’d never been more thankful for his mum’s stubborn streak than he was at this moment, somehow certain that the manor was the least of Kingsman’s losses, going by his spectral entourage. He’d flown here straight from Sweden as the behest of James and Percival which now that he let himself think about it could only have meant that-

A small, solid, body knocked him right back off his feet and tears (and no small amount of sweat, and perhaps a bit of blood) soaked through his shirt at an alarming rate. He ran a hand from the top of the head pressed to his sternum to their neck, both to check for swelling and just to reassure himself that they were solid. Present. Real. Alive.

‘I’ve got you,’ Eggsy whispered, hiding his own tears in her hair, as the embers of Kingsman continued to die around them.

—

Eggsy stared at the laptop blankly, Harry sat beside him in a similar state, and Roxy in their ears trying fruitlessly to get their attention. The battle had been over for a handful of moments, but they hadn’t known what to do afterward. They’d thrown a man into a meat grinder (and who that person was had Eggsy’s stomach twisted into pretzels. He’d doubted Harry after everything and what kind of an agent, let alone friend, did that make him?) and saved the world and now that all was said and done they were able to… stop.

To let themselves realise what had happened, what they had lost, from the bombing of the mansion to their breaking in to PoppyLand and-

‘The fuck are you mourning for, you daft prick,’ Eggsy steeled himself to turn and face a ghost he never wanted to meet. Just another in the seemingly endless list of people he’d lost in the last couple weeks. James and Percival were back with Roxy on the jet, the rest of Kingsman had thought better of following them into battle, correctly assuming that they would be a distraction far more than they could be a help. ‘I’m right here.’

‘You lucky bastard.’ Harry replied, and Eggsy forgot to breathe for a moment.

‘I was trying to tell you, Eggsy- Merlin’s vitals didn’t stop, though they did flicker for a bit. He’s stable, if a bit shorter than he was before his rousing performance.’ Roxy’s voice was shaky, tight, the way it got in the midst of crying and Eggsy felt no shame in adding his tears to the lot.

‘Galahad?’ Eggsy took a steadying breath before turning toward Harry, and thus Merlin. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t Harry on his stomach like a teenage girl at a slumber party, resting on his elbows next to Benny and Jet’s doggy doors and Merlin-

Merlin was a sight that Eggsy could have gone without seeing. His suit was torn and dirty, he had a multitude of cuts, his fingers were bloody (fresh blood, new blood, from dragging himself from the explosion) and his legs. Well. They weren’t. Eggsy wasn’t sure if he wanted to throw up or faint but neither was an option, and without conscious thought he had thrown himself from the stool and slid to the side not occupied by Harry. He lifted a shaking hand as if to touch him, to reassure himself that Merlin was alive, but it seemed that Eggsy’s arrival had been enough for Merlin to allow himself to lose consciousness.

‘Hamish!’ Eggsy and Harry reacted in sync, as they had been their entire time in PoppyLand, one hand each going to Merlin’s shoulders and the other to the small of his back, and moved as one to the counter. They unceremoniously knocked the briefcase-laptop over the edge, neither caring that the fall was broken by the madwoman’s body, and set Merlin down as gently as they could.

‘How are we getting him home?’ Harry didn’t answer, face pale and eyes wide, one hand resting not-so-casually over a pulse point. With how it was trembling it likely wasn’t very useful, but Eggsy was never one to tell others how to cope.

‘You need to fix his tourniquets, but I have medical assistance on the way.’ Roxy whispered in his glasses, and both men spring into action- Eggsy grabbed a couple aprons that were hanging nearby and tore the ties clean off as Harry checked the makeshift-triage while glaring at the dirty stumps as if they had mortally offended him. Which, honestly, it wasn’t that far off- the loss meant that they hadn’t imagined the explosion, but it also meant he was alive-

There was a flicker of blue, so quick Eggsy was convinced he imagined it, but then it happened again and Eggsy’s heart went into overtime.

‘How long ‘til help gets here, Rox?’ Eggsy cursed in his mind, not wanting to alert Harry to the precarious situation before them. Not wanting to make it any worse than it already was. This was his burden to bear.

‘Fifteen minutes out now, Galahad.’ Eggsy nodded to himself, and leant forward to pull the strips of cloth from Harry’s hands. Harry continued to look back and forth from Merlin’s face and the remains of his leg, watching for any signs of further distress, but Eggsy busied himself with pulling the cloth taut and steadily ignoring the rhythmic blue that he immediately knew matched the pulse Harry was desperately monitoring.

He’d never hated his ability more.

He’d been there for someone coming Back, he’d been there for someone moving On, had spoken to ghosts centuries old who had long since forgotten what they had come Back for, he’d been there for all the moments in between; but he had somehow managed not to be there as someone struggled to Stay.

Eggsy looked around the room for something, anything, that would help more than the haphazard tourniquets they’d fashioned. There was a first aid kit in the corner, but knowing Poppy it would only have what the 50s considered necessary for a kit and as much fun as that could be it wouldn’t solve Merlin’s problem. It wouldn’t even vaguely help.

But that could. It was a stretch, it wasn’t made for this, but anything was worth a shot at this rate.

Eggsy ran to the first aid kit, and on the shelf next to it were packets of Statesman Alpha Gel. Three or four sets, wrapped in gaudy yellow fabric with fucking bows but they were there and Eggsy snatched up the lot before sprinting back to Merlin and Harry.

‘Harry. Oi, Harry,’ He looked up from where his finger had been running along the seam of the tourniquet, ‘think this’ll help?’ Eggsy dropped them to the counter before pressing one to Harry’s chest

‘Well,’ Harry began, throat obviously tight but trying to play it off, ‘I’m fairly certain that legs aren’t quite as complicated as brains so it should stabilise him at the least.’

Eggsy wanted desperately to be doing anything else, but pulled the elastic stuff firmly across the open wound before stabbing the plungers just below the tourniquet and Harry did the same. Eggsy let himself crumple gracefully back into a bar stool when it looked like everything would hold, and Roxy let them know that Merlin’s vitals were slowly stabilising. He watched with bated breath as the elements merged, as the gel seemed to do what it had when he’d used it on (traitorous) Whiskey only a short while ago.

What was it about Kingsman that fucked with time passing?

‘You did good.’ Eggsy looked up and locked eyes with his dad, the man was on the other side, forearms resting on the counter top, and Eggsy gave him a shaky grin before he reached a hand out to Harry, and pulled a limp hand into his own and squeezed it tight.

‘We win. Shit’s fucked, but we’ll figure it out as we go. Together. Ain’t that humanity’s great superpower? Teamwork? We’ll get it done.’

Prompt me, send me random asks, let’s chat!

#dagonet writes #kingsman fic #fanfiction #eggsy sees ghost #leeef

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stronglyobsessed · 5 years ago

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🌻

So, like, I am currently and utterly obsessed with a world @snafu-07 and I have created. Basically it’s merwin where they decide to foster a child, which ends up being three - because not wanting to separate siblings and all that - in which they adopt. Because Merlin and Eggsy are softies and cant let go of these kids.

This all spawned from a RP we decided to do, because we both love merwin and wanted to give RP a go. We now have EASILY over 100K words of content for this insane, funny and lovable family - which is all not beta read or edited because we just get so lost in the world.

But! We are FINALLY starting to get some of the clean up done, and have since posted our VERY first installment of the series - which to my partner in crime’s pleasure is smutty!!!!

#leeef #stronglyobsessed answers #kingsman #eggsy unwin #merlin #merwin #About our story!

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samwpmarleau · 4 years ago

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Batwoman

The only parts of Batwoman I’ve seen are in the annual crossovers, so I can’t speak to the show by itself, but I did really like the scene in Crisis where Kate gives the krypotnite back to Kara rather than keep it as a safety measure. Anytime a female character gets to have genuine female friends is a good day!

———

ask me about scenes i love from a show

#leeef

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rin-u-pos · 8 months ago

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I just finished episode 4. I amend this statement. So I was kinda right in thinking he's like her guardian angel but I didn't think it was almost literally. They're on equal footing in terms of information.

Tagging @leeef

I just finished episode 3 of Marry My Husband. Am I supposed to root for Ji Hyuk? He's so creepy with how he's arranging things behind her back. That's not romantic! THAT'S A STALKER!!!! A VERY VERY RICH STALKER 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

#marry my husband

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anarchycox-fics · 5 years ago

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eggsyobsessed has said that you gave her some self beta-ing tools to help with editing. I too hate the editing process so please share these tools with the rest of us.

I am always happy to talk about writing and editing!

So step one is this, and it is the most important thing: you don’t need to have it perfect, if a mistake or two are in your fic that is okay. There is no such thing as perfection, and to strive for that will make it too daunting for you. What you are striving for is the best you can do, be, and each time you edit that goal is a little higher, because you get better each time you edit. A MISTAKE OR TWO, A TYPO, MISSING COMMA, ARE ALL OKAY. IS YOUR STORY READABLE IS WHAT MATTERS MOST.

A good way to do a technical edit (so grammar) is in your word processor write it in your normal font, walk away for 24 hours and when you return switch to a different font for editing. It forces your eye to read the words, not just skim through it because it looks like how it usually does.

If a passage doesn’t feel right, but you don’t know why - read it out loud. I swear reading out loud is one of the best tools when something feels wrong. Because if your tongue stumbles, you know that is where a problem is. It works for grammar, but also is effective for dialogue if it doesn’t feel natural on your tongue, it probably wouldn’t be natural for a character to have said.

From a story point of view a good think to think about is “Why is this character sharing this information?” Is it because it is necessary to plot or character, something they would honestly do or say, or are they providing that information solely as an info dump for readers. If it is the latter is there another way to convey that exposition?

I always have a core for the stories I am writing, a feeling I want to convey, a heart of it, that I always try to sum up for myself in less than 7 words. And as I write I always keep in mind, is what is happening serving that feeling, that core? Stories can meander and change but if you keep true to a central core, you’ll find that it goes well.

Along with that, you want to keep a story under control - know where it ends. A lot can change or grow on the way there, but I find knowing where your story ends, really helps the shape of a story overall.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions, and others feel free to add to this with your tips and tricks for self-betaing!

#leeef #writing #writing advice #self betaing

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anarchycox · 6 years ago

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1, 10, 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 40, 42, 43, 46 & 51. I may have gone a bit overboard ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

answered

10. Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

tons

sherlock (don’t read johnlock hate it, read anything that makes lestrade happy), 00Q, i read tons of ships in the mcu that I wouldn’t write, welcome to night vale.

19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

Hmmm, maybe Stony in the MCU I can read it fine as a background ship but it doesn’t work for me as a main ship.

20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

answered

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

answered

24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

A couple I pulled from AO3, the problem is pulling them I am unlikely to get to them.

26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

Much pacing and cursing. Think about songs and poems and ways to adapt the lyrics to my needs and then just sort of the feel I want for the story? I dunno titles happen.

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

Summaries. Summaries are the worst because you have to entice but not give everything away. and they just are blah.

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

Oh man, if I could pick…you know what I wrote a one shot recently where all the guys were werewolves who were in a band. I’d love art of all of them on stage playing in their suits their shadows their werewolf forms.

30. What inspires you to write?

My fandom friends first and foremost. @elrhiarhodan, @adventuresoftheordinarysort @eggsyobsessed can say an offhand word and I am running with ideas. Otherwise, movies, books, random tropes I have always loved, all can inspire me.

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

I am lucky, I receive so many generous comments but the best was something recent, and really simple. “I appreciate what you do, please carry on” It was so simple but sincere. And to hear I was appreciated? It just struck me hard.

40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

answered

42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

Elrhiarhodan, lola381pce, deepdarkwaters, celiaequus, wargoddess

43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

no one person in particular, just my friends really.

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

Went Down to the River and Prayed because I worked my ass off on that one and it is probably my best from a technical sense. Also it is weird. I like weird right now.

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

already answered a couple times but adding a thing.

if you in a fic say that Eggsy speaks Cockney I kinda want to stab you with a spork.

#leeef

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leeef · 10 months ago

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Renascent - chapter 1

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Ji-hyuk drove towards the truck. Why would he do that? As the two vehicles slid to a stop behind her everything sped up again. Ji-won jumped out of her car and ran towards the wreck, glad her phone had been easy to grab so she could call for help.

By the time she called 119 and the ambulance was on the way, the truck driver had disappeared. Ji-won stayed by the driver’s side of the mangled car watching as Ji-hyuk kept breathing and bleeding. She had been able to get the door open but had been advised not to move him, nor could she see the source of the bleeding. It was agony waiting until help arrived with the only comfort being he still lived.

Ji-hyuk blinked at her dazedly and reached out for her, “Ji-won, don’t blame yourself. The inevitable just happened.”

“What does that mean Ji-hyuk? How is this the inevitable?” Ji-won blinked back the tears that had gathered in her eyes, she wanted to shake him, get him to explain himself. Her hand was halfway to his shoulder before she stopped herself, he was hurt it would just make things worse. But he just stared at her and squeezed her hand until they could hear sirens in the distance.

When they arrived one of the paramedics gently moved her aside as the other assessed his condition and placed a C-collar on him, saying something about possible spinal damage. As the pair carefully moved him from the car she stepped away to make a call.

As the phone rang Ji-won took a deep breath and tried to suppress the tears that threatened to fall.

“Hello!” Hui-yeon’s cheerful greeting had Ji-won releasing a sob, “Ms. Kang? What’s happened?” Hui-yeon’s tone was worried now as she tried to calm her friend.

“It’s Ji-hyuk,” She choked out, “he’s been in an accident.”

read it on ao3

#marry my husband #kang jiwon #yu jihyuk #fic #leeef writes #Renascent

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 2 years ago

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@leeef

I don't understand why it would hurt their parents' feelings as the ask says + immediate family, so the only guests would be parents and siblings.

No, you’re right that it wouldn’t be an issue if immediate family was invited — I should have specified. I’m all for small weddings with a good friend as officiant.

I meant that if Tom and Bonnie truly elope (as in, have 0 engagement and 0 guests) and have a friend go against her own religious tradition to marry them... That feels unfair. Both not inviting anyone from the bride’s friends/family and having the groom’s BFF officiate (a process that took months in CA in the early 00s)? That feels bro-ey to me.

for the idea of Tom and Bonnie having a small wedding and Eva officiating! that actually can be Tom's loophole to have Eva present while the guests are only immediate family. When one of my cousins got married they decided to have only immediate family as guests BUT he had his best friend officiate because technically the officiant isn't a guest. So I can 100% see Tom doing that so they keep the wedding as small as possible, but still with his Visser Mom

Hate to say it, but nope. That'd hurt Jean's feelings, it'd hurt Bonnie's family, and in this scenario it'd be valid for them to be hurt. Neither Tom nor Bonnie is in a situation where they can just tell their parents "stop caring" without seriously hurting them. As Jake points out in #31, his family's so close that (he wouldn't trade it but) there are no circumstances where Tom can just tell Steve to fuck off without Steve knowing something's seriously wrong. "Whoopsie we just happened to have Surrogate Mom do the ceremony" would be more passive-aggressive and way worse than just inviting Eva over Jean as a guest.

#eleutherophobia #tom berenson #bonnie park

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ineedminions · 4 years ago

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Can I ask for a manip to go with my story on AO3 called I'll always be with you where Lyanna refuses to leave Jon and instead stays with him as a ghost only he can see/touch.

Either child Jon or adult Jon I'm not picky.

Hey @leeef! Here is the Lyanna Ghost manip that you requested with Katherine Langford! I hope you love it!! I’m using this for Day 13 of my Spooky Manip Month!

Link to leeef’s fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23010190

#ineedminions's spooky manip month #Photoshop #Manip #Sansa Manips #Lyanna Stark #Manip Request

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marvelousbirthdays · 6 years ago

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Happy Birthday, leeef!

April 1 - Deke Shaw and Darcy Lewis “You punched me in the face while gesticulating wildly to a friend" for @leeef Written by @ozhawkauthor

Okay, that prompt’s funny. But punched in the balls is FUNNIER, right?

“So,” Wanda leaned across the table, grinning crookedly at Darcy, “do you see anything you like?” She waved vaguely around the crowded bar.

“I’m never going on an Avengers girls’ night again,” Darcy grumbled as several avid stares were turned her way. “You’re all way too interested in my love life!”

“We’re all boringly happy couples.” Helen Cho-Wilson waved her hand, the paired platinum bands on her ring finger flashing in the lights. “We gotta live vicariously through you, since you’re the only singleton, and you’ve resisted all efforts to set you up with the few remaining single guys in our midst.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but really!” Darcy shook her head. “Nobody in their right mind would date Loki .”

“Told you that was never gonna work.” Jane elbowed the Valkyrie, who shrugged and belched before picking up her tequila bottle for another long shrug.

“It was worth a try. That boy has a serious case of blue balls.” Brunnhilde sniggered at her own joke.

“And while Wong’s a really sweet guy, he’s a little older than I like them,” Darcy plowed on.

“What about Luis?” Hope demanded.

“Another sweet, sweet guy. But I do like to get a word in edgeways occasionally. Look, I love that you guys would like to matchmake me, it shows you really do think I’m one of you and that means a lot.”

“But butt out?” Pepper correctly summed up.

“Yes!” Darcy flung her arms wide with relief as the other ladies at the table nodded along in agreement. Unfortunately, the gesture was a little too enthusiastic and she whacked a guy walking past their table right in the groin.

The guy made a strangled noise and kind of folded up in a graceless ball, triggering hysterical laughter from some at Darcy’s table (Hope, Brunnhilde and Natasha) and everyone else jumping up and exclaiming with concern. Being closest, Darcy got to the guy first.

“Ohmigod, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

“No, I just got punched in the nuts!” the guy croaked out, curled in the foetal position. “What the hell did I ever do to you?”

“It was an accident! Seriously, are you hurt? Two of my friends are doctors.” Darcy looked imploringly at Helen and Christine, who’d pushed their way to the front of the crowd.

“I’m a trauma surgeon at Metro Central, I can have an ambulance here in two minutes.” Christine already had her phone out, but the guy shook his head.

“No. No hospitals, thank you.”

“If you don’t have insurance…” Christine started, and the guy barked out the oddest laugh.

“I’m okay. Or I will be, in a minute. I’ve had worse.” He was already uncurling, trying to get to his feet. Darcy offered a hand, and after a moment he accepted, letting her help him up.

At which point she realized he was really kind of hot. Tallish, wavy brown hair, eyes a fascinating shade of blue grey, a bit of scruffy stubble, leather jacket… he ticked all Darcy’s boxes.

And she even had the perfect excuse to offer to buy him a drink.

“Sure,” Hot Guy said when she offered. “I never say no to a drink.”

She had to get him away from the other ladies, who were already starting to giggle, smirk and, in Brunnhilde’s case, make lewd suggestions. Hastily linking her arm through his, Darcy led him towards the bar.

“I’m Darcy,” she said.

“Deke,” he responded after a moment. He was limping a bit, Darcy noted, feeling guilty.

“Are you really okay? I’m so sorry I hit you. My friends…”

“I’m really okay. Like I said, I’ve had worse.” He smiled down at her.

“You from round here?” Darcy asked curiously. His accent didn’t sound local, didn’t sound quite American, really.

“Not really.” His mouth quirked up at the corners.

From the corner of her eye, Darcy spied Wanda literally climbing over Natasha, heading in her direction. She’d never seen a look like that on Wanda’s face before, a mixture of shock, horror and disbelief.

“So where are you from?” Darcy pressed, curious, as the barman set two beer bottles down in front of them. Deke picked his up and took a long swig before setting it back down on the bar and looking Darcy straight in the eye.

“The shattered remnants of future Earth,” he said evenly.

Flummoxed for an instant, Darcy snorted with laughter. “That work on many girls?” she asked derisively.

“Nope.”

“Then why bother with such a bullshit line?”

“Darcy,” Wanda had finally reached them, grabbed at her elbow. “Darcy, he’s telling the truth .”

“Whut.” Darcy looked from her to Deke, who lifted his beer in an ironic sort of toast before draining the bottle. “Are you serious? Of all the guys in the world I could have punched in the nuts, I pick a time traveler?”

“Guess you’re just lucky, sweetheart,” Deke said with a warm grin which made her insides do strange squirmy things. “Unfortunately, I gotta go. Thanks for the beer.”

“Oh,” Wanda said, “You’re not going anywhere. We need to have a Talk.”

Deke’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at Wanda and Darcy, both a good deal smaller than him. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline that invitation,” he said.

“No, you’re really not, sweet cheeks,” Brunnhilde said behind him, and as he turned to look at her, Wanda reached up and grazed a finger sparkling with red light over his temple. He collapsed into Brunnhilde’s arms.

“A bit too much to drink!” Darcy babbled to nobody in particular as she followed them out of the bar. “He’ll be fine once he’s had some fresh air!”

* * *

Deke blinked sandy-feeling eyes open and squinted around, wondering where the hell he was. He was in a bed, a surprisingly comfortable one at that, in a room fitted out with dark panels of what he thought might actually be wood. There were two people sitting beside the bed, neither talking to each other; one of them, an austere-looking guy with wings of white in his dark hair, was looking at a huge, ornate-looking old book, and the attractive young woman beside him was fiddling with her phone.

The woman was familiar, and after a moment he recalled how he knew her. It was Darcy, the girl who’d whacked him by accident in the bar. He’d let her buy him a drink even though he’d been on his way out of there, thinking that a few minutes to enjoy the company of a pretty girl wouldn’t hurt.

It seemed she had friends, however. Friends with really weird taste in clothing. He found himself staring at the older guy, wondering what the heck that red cloak was all about. Nobody dressed like that in the present day, did they?

“The present day, a curious turn of phrase,” the man said, turning dark blue eyes on Deke, and he flinched to realize he’d spoken aloud. Damn, he was getting soft, no longer having to watch his back for the Kree every second of every day.

“My friends say you claim to be from the future. No doubt you think everyone will write you off as a joker, insane, or a bit of both. Unfortunately for you, one of my friends is the Scarlet Witch.”

“An Inhuman, then?” Deke asked.

There was a beat of silence before Darcy’s eyes, as blue as the man’s, widened almost comically.

“Shit, you really are from the future. Nobody’s that oblivious,” she said to the man, who nodded in agreement.

“Which begs the question, how did you get here?” The man reached up to finger an amulet hanging around his throat. “Because as far as I know, there’s only one artifact in the entire universe which enables one to travel through time.”

“If you’re talking about the White Monolith, I’m afraid we broke it. If you’re not talking about the White Monolith… well, looks like there were two, but we broke one, so now there’s one again.”

“I like him,” Darcy said to the man. “Can we keep him, Stephen?”

“Why are you even here?” Stephen shot her an irritated look.

“Wong likes me and so does the Cloak,” Darcy said cheerfully, “and even you’re not mean enough to make me fall through space like you did to Loki, so. Plus, I found him.” She pointed at Deke.

“Technically, you punched me in the groin,” Deke pointed out.

“Accidentally slapped,” Darcy corrected. “And I bought you a drink to say sorry!”

“Highlight of my night.” It had been the highlight of a lot more than that. She really was very pretty, and she also seemed to be kind of on his side. She even blushed a little bit when he said that.

“I probably owe you a few more to say sorry for Wanda putting her whammy on you and then us kidnapping you.”

“Any time. Now’d be good, actually.”

“Stephen?” Darcy gave the man an appealing look, and he sighed irritably before holding out his hand.

There was an empty beer stein in it. Deke opened his mouth to say he’d prefer a beer someone hadn’t already drunk, when the glass filled right before his disbelieving eyes.

“That is a really fucking cool Inhuman power,” he said when he got his breath back. “Even the Kree would have to agree on that one.”

Stephen smiled wryly as he handed the beer over. It even tasted fantastic, Deke thought as he took the first sip.

“I can see you and I have a lot to talk about, young man,” Stephen said. “But before we start, I’d better explain just exactly who I’m associated with. Have you ever heard of the Avengers?”

Deke spluttered into his beer. “The Avengers? They’re just legends! Old stories!” Although, come to think of it, he did vaguely recall Coulson muttering something about a last resort, one time… “Wait, were the Avengers real? In this time?”

“You know what? I’m going to let Darcy catch you up on stuff you might not know while I go and search my books for reference to a White Monolith.” Stephen stood to leave the room, at which point Deke realized there was no door. Stephen made a weird gesture with his hand instead and some sort of circular blue portal opened in mid-air, showing a completely different room on the other side. The portal closed once Stephen stepped through, and Deke stared open-mouthed at Darcy.

“It’s like Steve Rogers in reverse,” Darcy muttered. “As I’m sure you realize, he’s the only way in and out of this room. So escaping isn’t an option, I’m sorry.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Deke lied.

“You’re full of shit, but I think I like you anyway. Are all guys as hot as you in the future? When exactly is this future of yours, anyway?”

“Thought you were the one filling me in?” Deke arched a brow at her.

“How about a trade? Answers for answers.”

“I’d rather trade kisses for answers.” He was quite surprised when Darcy grinned.

“We could play that game too.”

He was definitely getting to like the early twenty-first century. Yes, indeed.

#Deke Shaw #Darcy Lewis #Deke Shaw/Darcy Lewis

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