#like they can probably throw a bus at someone but they melt at the though of their lil boyfriend being in their arms…. grinch smile ……

[cupiidzbow]

the fact that i like a lot of strong goofy ass guys who probably feel the most secure while having me safe in their arms makes me so……..

[sierracolorstheworldofwords]

The lonely king- Prolouge

AN: This was originally posted on ao3, but i decided to post it here! You can find the rest of it here:

Though, I will be posting the rest of it on here as well! If you have any requests, send them to my inbox!

Your alarm was fucking annoying.

Shuffling out of your fetal position, you grabbed your phone and turned the damned thing off. Five in the fucking morning. That’s when you had to wake up. After a long night of closing with incompetent coworkers who left you to do all the work. You sucked your teeth. At least you got off early today. With a grunt, you got ready for the day, before glaring at your phone again. Of course you couldn’t eat. Fuck.

You slammed the door behind you as you stepped outside.

Once on the bus, you hooked up your headphones, and opened up your bank account. You stared at the amount. It was impossible to save, to get anywhere. You needed another job. Leaning against the window, you took in the view, watching the snow start to fall. It decorated the world in a blanket, and cars flew by, headlights coating the predawn like stars. Inky trees stained the skyline, and you felt just like the sun did. The both of you clearly wanted to sleep the day away.

The bus stopped, and you stepped into the bitter cold, feeling it attack the skin underneath your thin jacket. Your gaze caught the sight of a bookstore.

You could use some escapism, but only after work.

After work, you walked straight to the bookstore. It was old, but not in that grumpy pretentious way. It was the sort of old that induced crows feet and knowing glances, or even odd advice like throwing an ax on the ground to cut a tornado in half. As you entered, the smell of old books hit you, and you breathed a sigh of relief as you headed towards the fantasy section.

The bookshelves towered over you like friendly giants, and within their arms, they cradled old books as if they were children. You ran your hand along the spines, letting the silence enter you. Outside, the snow continued to fall, and just beyond the shelves, you could see bundles of people passing by, their breaths creating smoke like clouds. You watched someone holding hands, a group of friends laughing, a child sticking their tongue out to catch the snow, while a frustrated parent ran after them. A pang squeezed your chest, then, and you turned away from the sight. Away from the thoughts of your own first snow day, away from the image of throwing yourself on the ground and getting your brand new jeans wet.

Those were just memories, now. Memories that meant nothing. Memories that melted into mud coated sludge within your mind.

You continued wandering, only stopping when a green book caught your eye. Plucking it from the shelf, you gasped. Faded golden leaves were embossed onto the border of the book, and a bright orange price sticker listed it for three bucks! It was probably only a table book though. You reached to put it back on the shelf, only for the title to catch your eye– Stories of the olden folk.

It was probably just filled with cliche folktales..

Yet, you opened it anyway.

Another gasp escaped you as an illustration of a large, beautiful fairy greeted you. It looked like an old wood block illustration.. You bit your lip. This thing had to be old. It had to be worth something, and maybe, after you read it, you could sell it.

Though, standing in the middle of the bookstore and stumbling upon good fortune felt like a fairytale. Just like families did. You looked out the window again, you watched the people walking by, watched them on their phones, talking to others, or simply enjoying being alive. You used to be one of those people once, but now, it felt as if you were just a character in a story.

You closed the book, and ran to the cash register before you could change your mind.

After a long hot shower, you grabbed the book and settled into bed. Your favorite lamp cast off a warm glow, and you huddled deeper into the covers. The wind howled outside, and you shivered. The roads were bound to freeze over. You sighed. You’d probably have to call in.

Pushing the thought aside, you opened the book. A childish part of you fantasized about revealing a beautiful princess, or better yet, that fantastical villain you always dreamed about. Of course, though, it was just filled with stories. Magic only existed in those. Still, you flipped through it anyway, getting lost in enchanted woods filled with talking trees who offered favors in return for a good deed, or elves who made shoes within the night. You weren’t an adult, nor a child, anymore, but a story yourself, flipping through the pages.

Until lighting struck when you flipped to the last story.

You gasped.

When did it start raining?

Another roll of thunder brewed on the horizon, and you sat, frozen, as it flickered behind your bedroom window. You looked down at the last page.

Lightning flashed, and the title burst from the page: The Lonely King.

Once upon a time, there lived a poor scullery maid, and in that time, there lived a lonely king. He was neither cruel nor kind, as none of the folks truly are. He lived within a large castle, filled with cobwebs and cracked walls, dust and abandoned hallways.

One day, the scullery maid stumbled upon a faerie ring, whereupon she heard the castle itself, begging to be fixed. With no work within the human world, she stood outside the ring, listening. She knew it was risky, to step within one, but she also knew that perhaps, she could bargain with the faerie who owned the castle.

With a deep, deep breath, she stood at the edge, and yelled, “I have come looking for work!”

The king, deep within his throne room, did not answer and instead scowled.

“I have come looking for work!” she yelled again, “And your castle is in desperate need of fixing! I can fix it! My mother taught me how to fix cracks in the walls and work with a hammer, while my father taught me how to cook and how to bake!”

The king looked at his castle, and the castle shivered beneath his scowl.

The maid took another deep breath, “I have come looking for work! And I won’t stop yelling until you hire me!”

With that, the king answered, for everybody knows how the folk love things that come in threes, and hired her, threatening to curse her if she got lazy, but reward her for efforts as long as she was diligent. She bargained, she bartered, and when she came upon the deal she liked, she struck it, determined to make her fortune.

With that, you kept reading, and finished the story, putting the book down and turning the light.

Only for the idea to hit you at midnight.

Lightning flashed outside. Thunder rumbled, like a warning. An omen.

There was a fairy ring at the nearby park.

You sighed.

Clearly, exhaustion was getting to you.

Clearly.

Maybe you could ask for work there. It couldn’t hurt to try it for shits and giggles. The park was nearby, and it had a wooded area.. And this was absurd. No, more than absurd, just plain foolish! What was going to happen anyway? Some magical creature was going to offer you a job? Please!

You turned onto your side, punching the pillow, before turning over again. Ever since you.. Ever since that thing happened, you’d been stuck in a cycle. Never being able to make enough, or barely making enough to get by. You turned on your back, staring at the ceiling, listening to the rain. You couldn’t even afford to call in for one day. Even though the roads were frozen over by now, and you didn’t have a car, you still couldn’t call in. Rain pelted the window, and you sniffed again, huddling underneath all of your blankets. You couldn’t even afford to turn up the heater.

Your whole life was defined by couldn’ts.

You couldn’t save because rent was too high. You couldn’t move because you didn’t have a car. You couldn’t get another job because nobody else was hiring. It felt like at every twist, at every turn, there was a roadblock, and you kept realizing how, unlike other people your age, you couldn’t go back to your parents, or ask for help from your family. Not after what they did.

It you could have a home, one that could never, ever be taken away from you again, then it’d be worth it. Everything. Every struggle, every hardship or lonely night, would all be worth it. You could move into a better neighborhood, with better opportunities, and no one, not even your parents, could take that away.

With that, you made your choice.

[rred-gaze]

(Chinhands) Tell me about your verdante headcanons

HI i have like. a lot of Jumbled Thoughts about them some of which aren’t even headcanons? idk. ill just throw everything here it’s gonna be long

thoughts on Canon interactions:

-the april fools event was fucking wild BUT there were crumbs like. the implication that they’re stuck together in every universe. vergilius clearly being worried while trying to fix them and telling off ishmael for bashing dante’s head in. shoving his hands in dante’s head and getting them covered in oil and grease. “i’d much rather have this glacial gaze over any other” HELLO? verdante surprisingly wasn’t very popular before but it fucking exploded after this which is GREAT for me because i was starving for years

-vergilius is bitchy in general but he seems to be Slightly nicer to dante. like when they have to revive the sinners for the first time he asks them gently at first (before threatening them when they refuse but still), he literally straight out says “you might be the only one on the bus i can actually converse with”, that part in canto 4.5 where he complains about having to talk with heathcliff and ishmael but after dante expresses their appreciation for it he gets a bit nicer about it and says they can consider it a favor

-vergilius can READ THEIR THOUGHTS? like they didn’t even say this out loud

-in addition to vergilius reading their thoughts dante eventually just expects to be understood by him despite him (supposedly) not being able to hear what they say. they both joke about their conversations being one-sided but. are they really. if a man can’t understand your words but reads your mind/expressions and responds to that in kind so you can properly have a conversation is it really one-sided

-vergilius fucking with them occasionally is very funny. sometimes he just says some long-winded poetic bullshit that just amounts to “fuck you im not explaining this to you” or just says that

-inferno red…red gaze…fuck you guys have matching colors for

actual headcanons ig (me just making shit up):

-they’re loser4loser vergilius in a miserable wet cat way dante in a trips over cracks in the concrete way

-i enjoy them in various forms, realistically i dont think they’d act on their feelings for each other but my favorite is where they kiss and heal because i NEED vergilius to let himself open up to someone so badly. everyone he was close to died </3

-it would take a LONG time for them to get close i think with vergilius. being how he is. he’s trying his best not to get close to anyone and it would be very hard to break down that barrier even a little bit but dante would be very patient with him

-due to aforementioned loved ones dying i think he’d be especially protective of dante and charon

-vergilius shows love very subtly and i think dante would pick up on it but maybe question his intentions or just Why at first

-vergilius seems very touched starved to me so if dante showed him any sort of physical affection he’d melt and lean into it like a very sad cat. i dont think he’d be for PDA at all though…if dante tries to hug him in public he just stands there and waits for them to stop

-i dont think vergilius would hug people often but i imagine him doing it in a really specific way for some reason. one arm around the waist with his face pressed into the shoulder and hair hanging down covering his face depressedly. i think he’d only do it if he was particularly sad and would only give them to dante, one of the children (including garnet and lapis/charon), or someone in his office

-something i noticed is that when he genuinely smiles it’s usually when no one else is looking. but what if dante got to see

-i think vergilius sleeps like garbage due to ptsd, he probably tends to have a lot of nightmares. being held by/holding dante may ease them just a little

-dante is very lost and confused and not very confident in theirself and i just like the idea of vergilius kind of giving them courage but in a very Him way yk what i mean. like when he said their performance has been decent recently

-expanding on how i like verdante kiss and heal vergilius not only carries so much grief and guilt with him at all times but thinks he deserves it for all the horrible things he’s done. he doesn’t even think he deserves to be loved and suffers in silence. he hasn’t talked to anyone about this. opening up to dante about it wouldn’t fix him but i think it’d make him feel a bit better at least. i want SOMEONE to tell him that he doesn’t need to suffer any more than he has and deserves to be cared for. i want vergilius to tell them about the people he cared about so deeply and for someone to see how much love he has to give

-going to angst central now, vergilius canonically at least knew who dante was before their memory loss (said they were a bit of a bigwig before that happened) so if they knew each other and were close there could be the grief in someone you love not even remembering who you are. which would make that the second time it’s happened to him

-the reason vergilius even joined the company in the first place was for the promise that he would get garnet and lapis back. it’s very possible that dante needs to be sacrificed to get this so he’d end up needing to choose between them. i like this as a concept to explore BUT in terms of it in a canon setting in my opinion it literally makes no sense to put that man through any more grief than they already have narratively speaking. projmoon media has always had a theme of the light in the suffocating darkness, there’s never any real “good” endings for anyone but there can be good things for them in the end of their arcs. a bittersweet sorta thing. there is an entire novel dedicated to vergilius and it ends with nothing but pain and suffering for him so it wouldn’t make any sense for all of that to be for nothing

stuff from the divine comedy that i just feel like i should mention somewhere:

-if you don’t know they’re based on the characters from the divine comedy, which is about the spirit of dante’s favorite poet (virgil) leading him through hell. dante really looked up to virgil and regards him as an inspiration who he holds a lot of respect for

-if i remember right virgil is also a bit bitchy to dante in the beginning but they get closer throughout the story

-before paradiso, virgil is unable to accompany dante in his tour of heaven due to being stuck in limbo himself. i cant remember exactly what the text says but it’s meant to be very emotional and dante cries when he has to leave him

in conclusion i’m sick in the head. some of the things i mentioned aren’t inherently romantic and i like the idea of it platonically too, like vergilius just allowing himself to finally open up to someone please god. i do actually hc dante as aroace (im projecting) so! yes dating is still an option but….qprs…..i like all of these options

i think a lot of why i like verdante is because of how invested i am in the both of them separately tbh. makes my favs kiss each other

[thora-jane]

Excuse me, Bus Boy? (Shang Chi x female!Reader)

(a/n) Wow...you all REALLY like my last fic. This one's a little more thought out and also hopefully better written. Enjoy you lovely nerds!

Summary: After finally finding Shaun again, you too share an oddly intimate moment in his morning workout routine.

Warnings: nothing unless you need a warning for Shirtless Shang Chi.

Word Count: 1287

“Shaun I swear to god,” You mutter under your breath, raising your fist to pound on the door again. Shaun and Katy had been gone for a week almost and left no word as to where they were going. In fact, the last you saw of them was a video of someone’s live stream where Katy was driving a bus falling apart in chaos and Shaun was kicking a sword-handed man’s ass.

At least, you were 99% sure that was them. You’d watched the video over a hundred times, and though you’d never think Shaun could beat anyone up (he was too sweet, this man was the perfect gentleman, some days you weren’t even sure if he could throw a punch) you could recognize that face anywhere.

But like...there was still no way that could’ve been Shaun. Yeah, Shaun was pretty amazing, an absolute genius, a sweetheart, but like...he couldn’t be a badass. Right? You chuckled, this man had to have SOME flaws, right?

“Shaun you better be in there,” you called a little louder, running a hand through your hair. You thought about filing a missing person report, but something about all this made you feel like he would be back soon. So here you were, knocking on his door for the...6th? 7th day in a row? “Shaun! Are you there?” you raised your fist, knuckles ready to hit the door again.

“Woah, hey there (y/n),” Shaun said, startled but still half sleepy as he looked down at your fist against his bare chest.

“Shaun oh my fucking god where the fuck were you?” You let out a sigh of relief as you flung your arms around his neck, “I’ve been coming here for days and you haven’t been here - Also, Bus Boy?” You ask, almost accusatory, squinting up at his face to gauge his response, “Oh my god are you hungover? You were out last night? Where have you been?” your voice was frantic as your hands went from his shoulders to his face, then back to his shoulders as you realized he was shirtless, “Oh crap I’m so sorry maybe I should uh...maybe I should come back later do…” your voice dropped to a whisper, “shit, Shaun do you have a girl in there?”

He laughed, and you decided to ignore the melting of your heart, “Yeah because that’s believable,” He joked, running a hand through his hair with a yawn, “I just woke up. Why are you even here?” he opened the door wider and gestured for you to come in.

“Because I was worried!” you kick off your shoes and step into his tiny apartment garage, “you hear nothing from someone for days while they become internet famous and you wouldn’t get worried either? Like, I was worried you were killed or something!” Your voice lost its accusatory tone and sounded more frantic as you tried to look anywhere but the six-pack you had no prior knowledge was waiting under your friend’s shirt, “Apparently you can handle yourself though...Bus Boy?” you ask, trying to suppress a laugh, “Seriously, was that real? Like, that was you and Katy?”

Shaun chuckled, sitting down on the floor, “Yeah that was uh...that was me,” he nodded, rolling onto his stomach and getting on his hands, “Bus Boy, the internet sensation,” He let out a grunt before starting pushups. Whether it was his heavy breathing, his muscles, or the occasional grunt through clenched teeth, you found yourself falling quiet as he worked out. Something about his arms and the rest of his body made feelings you had suppressed for months harder to ignore.

“Are you enjoying this?” he smiled, turning his head to face you as he pushed himself up from the ground and went from flat hands to fists.

“Shut up,” you mumbled, hiding your blush behind a hand, “What was happening while you were gone, anyway?”

He paused in thought, arms suspended at a perfect 90-degree angle as you were suspended in disbelief at his strength, “I had a...surprise visit. With my family,” he said before returning to his pushups, “It’s pretty complicated. But I figure there’s something you might as well know.”

You looked up from the floor, “What’s that?” you asked.

You thought you saw him blush, but you figured he was just heating up from exhaustion “First of all, could you help me out with this? I’ve been meaning to add weight to my pushups and…”

“What do you want me to do?” You asked, brow furrowing.

“Could you...Could you sit on my back? You’d probably help out a lot and-”

“Are you sure?” you blushed, “Like, I don’t want to crush you,” you stumbled out.

“Trust me,” He smiled, “I can handle it.”

You hesitantly shuffled over to the other side of the room and perched yourself on his lower back, “Is...is this ok? Do you want me to move or-”

“No that’s great. Now hold on,” he said before going down into his pushups again. You yelped, hand reaching to grip his shoulders and you thought you heard him laugh.

“What was it you wanted to tell me?” You asked, focusing on the feel of his shoulders below your hands.

“My name isn’t actually Shaun,” he grunted, you could feel his body working a little harder with you on top, “It’s Shang Chi.”

“Shang Chi?” You asked, trying to repeat the intonation he spoke with.

“Yeah. There’s also a ton of other things I should tell you about, like my family and why Katy and I were gone so long, but that’s definitely the easiest one to get out of the way,” he let out a grunt as he lowered himself down and sighed, laying his face flat against the smooth concrete of the floor.

You scootched off of him and laid down on your back by his side, “I can handle Shang Chi. What else does this man with a new name have to through at me?” You smiled, looking over at him as you felt your face heat up.

He let out a laugh, flopping onto his back, “Oh you have no idea.”

“So...do you want me to still call you Shaun? Or do you want to be called Shang Chi or…?”

“Shang Chi is nice, but you could also call me ‘at seven o’clock tonight’?” He said, confidence as stable as his heart rate, “Like, for a date? Or maybe you just want me to explain everything but also-”

“Shang Chi, are you asking me out?” You asked slack-jawed, still lying on the floor.

“Yes? For the record, this may have been Katy’s idea. But the past few days have made me realize a lot of things, (y/n). And I...I’d like to take you out on a date. Or if you want we can just go out for coffee some time and I can explain everything that happened. But you should probably know I think you’re amazing and-”

“Seven sounds perfect,” You interrupt, “You and me having a date at seven o’clock tonight sounds great and I would love to be there,” You sit up, and he does the same, face flush all the way to the ears.

“Perfect! Great!” He smiles as you get up from the floor at the same time, “Yeah that’s...that’s awesome!” he nods before wrapping his arms around your waist and murmuring into your hair, “I did miss you, (y/n).”

“I missed you too, Bus Boy,” you smiled into his bare shoulder as he let out a groan.

“Please not that name.”

“Alright, you leaned back, resting your forehead against his, “I missed you too, Shang Chi.”

[demonsandmischief]

You Saved My Life

Marvel - Captain America Imagine

Steve Rogers x Female Reader, 1.7k Words

-You Saved My Life-

Imagine you save Captain America's life while he is trying to save yours.

A/N: I dunno when this would take place in the Marvel world. I guess you could say it's my own AU. It's a long one but I like it. I hope you do too.

----

There are a lot of things life prepares you for, but the end of the world is not one of them.

You were covering your best friend's shift at a cafe that she owned. You had a full time job as a teacher, but the school was on a holiday, and you were always willing to help your friend. Normally, she'd have managers do the day to day runnings, but there was a scheduling conflict that lined up perfectly with your free day.

You did love the little place. It was small and home-y, nestled between some larger buildings of the city.

It was after the lunch rush when it happened. You were wiping down menus when a large blast that felt like an earthquake rattled the whole shop. The glass door shattered with the impact.

That's when the screaming started. It was loud and chaotic, as throngs of people ran away from whatever had just exploded.

The customers that were in the cafe rushed out in a panic. They could see something out of the large windows that you couldn't from behind the counter.

You moved closer, hesitantly, not sure what to expect, and you were definitely not prepared.

There were large, robotic creatures wreaking havoc in every direction. You could hear their banshee like screeches that echoed in your ears, but it couldn't be louder than the intense blood rushing as your adrenaline began to flow.

Your protective, teacher instincts kicked in when you saw the young group of kids huddled in the alleyway. They were almost out of view, but you noticed. You always noticed the children. They attracted your energy naturally.

You took notice of the daycare bus still running. It looked like the driver had just abandoned them. Intense anger only fueled the instincts.

You saw the way one of the creatures eyed the group and you scrambled to grab something to defend them.

You didn't have much. You decided on a chair, thankful for your nimble frame that was able to get outside unnoticed.

The kids caught sight of you immediately, but you held a shaky finger to your lips, telling them to be quiet.

You swung the chair with all your might, hitting the thing with a sickening crunch. It faltered for a moment, stumbling forward. You were left with pieces of broken wood, the splintered edges digging into your skin.

"Get inside," you yelled to the group, watching them scramble. At least the robot thing was focused on you, and you prayed that each little boy and each little girl made it home tonight.

You knew you were the only person standing between the cafe and the monster, and you wouldn't go with them to safety for risk of this thing following you into the shop.

Your heart thudded painfully in your chest as your eyes searched for any kind of defense. Instead, you found more creatures and no help.

This thing was ugly up close. It was metallic like a robot, but had blood red eyes, eyes that were staring right at you.

It opened it's mouth to screech into the sky, a snake like tongue curling out. It was cut off by a flash of color in the haze of dirt and debris, but you recognized it immediately. Captain America's shield.

The man himself appeared, standing tall and proud, but you could tell he was winded. You had never been so relieved, as you relaxed a bit, just wanting to melt into the ground with exhaustion.

Steve yanked out his shield, giving it an expert throw, destroying the other visible creatures.

His blue eyes stood out beneath his cowl.

"Ma'am," he nodded. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No," you whispered with a shake of your head, wiping your sweaty, bloody hands on your jeans. "But there's kids in there "

He nodded, repeating the information into his com device.

"We'll get them to safety, and you, too. This is no place you want to be. Every civilian has taken shelter in the metro underground. Do you know how to get there from here?"

"Yes, but it's like two blocks," you said. There was no way you could get the kids there without being noticed.

"I'll go with you then, but we need to move quickly. Let's go." He left no room for argument, so you entered the cafe to gather the huddled group.

Their fear struck you, wide eyes and silent sobs. There were probably twenty of them, all different ages. The youngest was probably about six.

"Captain America is going to get you guys somewhere safe," you told them, as reassuring as possible, even though you didn't feel that way.

You led the group as the captain guarded the back. The pace was quick, and eerily quiet. You imagined the tall man had warned the other Avengers to keep the area as clear as possible. You had caught a brief glimmer of Iron Man's metallic suit in the sky.

You had just ushered the kids down the stalled escalator and into safety when you heard a grunt of pain.

You turned to find six more of the robotic creatures surrounding Cap. You could tell he was wearing down as one of them pulled his arms back, rendering him powerless and unable to grab his shield. He kicked the things with all his might, but there were too many of them.

You didn't know what to do. You were exhausted and there was no way you could help. You couldn't even take out one by yourself with a chair.

It wasn't until one of the creatures pulled out a long dagger looking thing, already dripping with someone else's blood that you moved.

Your instincts didn't let you hesitate as you ran to tackle the thing, the knife in turn digging painfully in your upper shoulder, dangerously close to your neck.

You felt the cry leave your dry, cracked lips as you crumbled to the ground, squeezing your eyes shut.

You heard the creature snarl at you before you felt a jolt of hot pain in your ribs. It felt like a boot, but who knows.

Your vision doubled as you saw the metallic shield take out the group once more. You sagged in the rubble as the adrenaline left your body. It felt like buckets of blood were running from your shoulder down the curve of your breast, mixing with the pain in your ribs. You were certain death couldn't be much worse then this.

Steve couldn't believe you saved his life. He was foolish to let his guard down, but you were a distraction. You protected those kids with a fearlessness that reminded him of himself.

He heard over coms that Tony had found the source for these creatures and the fight was coming to a close. He wished he could have been there for his team, but the people came first, especially those kids.

He pressed a hand to your shoulder, cursing when he saw how much blood you were losing. He searched aimlessly for something to stop the blood.

"Your six, Captain," you manage to mutter throught the pain, not failing to notice the final of the robotic things sneaking up on the distracted man.

He kicked a stray car door effortlessly, squashing the creature against the brick building.

"We're going to get you help. You're going to be okay."

That was the last thing you heard before you passed out.

----

There was a pesky beeping that was disturbing your rest. You assumed it was your alarm, until the pain hit you full force, and you remembered the events that took place. Were you dead?

Your eyes opened, and you groaned at the harsh light, blinking rapidly to adjust. Your mouth felt like it was full of sand.

The sterile smell and blinding white walls immediately told you it was a hospital, but what stood out was the dozing man still dirty from battle. His blue suit stood out against the white.

His eyes opened when you stirred, and you noticed the blue eyes that you were beginning to like. His blonde hair was matted from the cowl, and he looked terribly uncomfortable in the small chair.

"How are you feeling?" he asked gently, his deep voice much softer than the commanding tone he used as captain.

You struggled to sit up. The pain in your shoulder not allowed you to use your hand as leverage, and your ribs didn't like the jostle.

"Don't do that," he said, lightly using his hand to keep you from moving. He pushed the button on the side that allowed the bed to lift without you having to change position.

He helped you drink some water before you were finally able to respond.

"How long have I been out?" you ask.

"Just a few hours," Steve responded. "You saved my life, and those kids, too." He shook his head in disbelief.

You felt your face grow hot at his words, not knowing how to respond. "I'm sure you are exhausted. You didn't have to stay."

"I had to make sure you were okay," he admitted. "I'm Steve."

"Y/N." You tried to smile at his cute pleasantries, but winced at the persistent throbbing in your shoulder. "Is it bad?"

"I'm sure a tough girl like you can handle it. The doctor should be in here in a minute to tell you details," he answered.

The doctor told you that your ribs were broken and your stab wound was deep but no longer life threatening after they stopped the blood. It was going to take a while to recover.

You dozed off, and it must have been a long time because when you awoke the second time, the room was covered in flowers. A stack of cards sat on your table, and you rose the bed again to reach for them.

A swell of happy emotions built up inside of you as you read the sweet words of the kids you saved. It was so relieving to know they were okay.

"You're a hero," Steve said from the door, this time in jeans and a blue jacket. He was handsome.

You wiped the fallen tears off of your cheek. "I'm nothing but a teacher."

"You're a hero to me," he smiled slightly, and a warm feeling bloomed in your chest.

----

Here's Pt. 2

[flareish]

Anxiety

kuroo x reader

summary: you hide your anxiety from basically everyone including your boyfriend, until he finds out for himself

genre: hurt/comfort

warnings: Emetophobia Warning! description of nausea/vomit, anxiety, bit of angst but ends in fluff

word count: 2.0k

a/n: I tried to make this as close to my anxiety since I hadn’t known anyone with my kind of anxiety(symptom wise) until I was seventeen, which was a good ways into when I realized I had anxiety. So here is some nausea anxiety representation!

masterlist

You tap your fingers in a mindless rhythm. Alternating the fingers and repeating them back and forth, trying to make it a game, a challenge. You did this over and over again to distract yourself from that all too familiar sinking feeling. That feeling like your stomach has managed to twist and knot itself a million times. Each bump of the bus made acid crawl up your throat. You crunched a mint in your mouth hoping the peppermint would soothe some of the nausea. It didn’t, but the thought was there. You just will yourself not to throw up on the bus, anything but that. The thought in itself makes you even more nervous, and in turn even sicker.

You don’t even know why you are anxious. Today is Kuroo’s big game, but it isn’t yours. You’ve been to a hundred of his games before but never before did you feel like this. Normally you get cute little butterflies, not an angry swarm of bees. The worst part is, there is Kuroo sat next to you happy as can be, completely oblivious. He keeps trying to drag you into conversations but you fear if you open your mouth for too long, all that will come up is vomit. So you keep your mouth firmly closed only smiling tightly or shaking your head at his prompts.

It's not exactly his fault though. He doesn’t actually know you have anxiety. It’s not something you really like to talk about. You are all for promoting the acceptance of mental health but you just find every time you tell someone the dynamic changes. Either they flat out don’t believe you since you “don’t seem like the type with anxiety”. Well duh, I don’t have social anxiety, I have situational anxiety. Like here in this situation. That or they suddenly treat me like I am incapable of handling myself. That whenever a slightly stressful event comes up, I am going to melt into a puddle of pure anxiety. Sorry but I’ve made it this far, I may have to throw up a few times on the way but I am still making it. 

So you just haven’t told Kuroo. You're just nervous that it will change the dynamic. You also don’t want to steal his spotlight. Today is supposed to be all about him. It's his big game. To suddenly speak up and tell him that his game is giving you anxiety would be selfish. So like you always have, you put a brave face on and face it head-on.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kuroo asks you, now facing you, “You look a little pale.”

“Hmm?,” You also turn to look at him, “Oh I am just a bit tired that’s all. I will be fine in an hour or so.” You hope at least. He nods relieved it's not something worse. 

You finally pull into the stadium and everyone is pushing their way off the bus. Luckily Kuroo is right by you to make sure you don't get accidentally pushed down the bus stairs and trampled. The team makes it’s to the bulletin board where they are given their matchups. Nekoma is paired with a pretty hard team. Suddenly, out of nowhere, you dry heave. You knew at the point you were going to throw up and within the next few minutes. 

“Hey I think I left something in the bus I’ll be right back.” You say to Kuroo before dashing off. He goes to reply but you are already gone. 

You make it around the back of the building before you throw up. At this point you’re kinda out of it, your mind is occupied on emptying your already empty stomach. Then you feel someone pull your hair back and gently rub your back. You don’t even have to look up to know it’s Kuroo. When you finish he hands you his water bottle.  You waterfall it and rinse your mouth out of that acidic taste. 

“What’s going on are you okay?” Kuroo asks full of concern. You hesitate for a moment, thinking of telling the truth. Then you remember this is supposed to be his day. 

“Sorry I must have caught a stomach bug.��� He doesn’t completely buy it so you quickly add to it.

“I didn't feel great on the bus but I just thought it was because I was tired.” You feel bad lying, “I also don’t want to distract you before your game.” At that Kuroo quickly pulls you into a hug, “Your not a distraction, I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Your cheek is pressed against his chest and your hands grip the front of his shirt. 

“We should probably head back.” You mumble.

“Yeah.” He leans down to kiss you but you duck away. He looks incredibly offended and hurt at this.

“Dude I just threw up I don’t know if you want to do that.” 

“…Point.”

The two of you head back inside to the team, you feeling much better after throwing up. Before you know it, the competition has begun and Nekoma has won. You run down and celebrate with the team and it’s a happy day.

On the bus ride home Kuroo has a strange energy about him. Not like he’s mad more just like he’s just realized something. You nudge him and smile hoping to break him out of his little funk. He immediately smiles back and goes back to celebrating with the team. His reaction was almost like putting a mask on. You watch him for a moment before slipping into a conversation of your own.

When you make it back to school you go your separate ways. Him going to shower, and you to get home before it gets too late. A big hug before pushing away. You still refusing to kiss him after throwing up earlier in the day. 

You are laying on your bed, exhausted. Anxiety really takes a toll on your energy. Your thoughts are broken when your phone chimes with a text.  Leaning over to grab your phone off your bedside table you see it is from Kuroo. 

“Can you come over? I want to talk.”

No cute pet names. No slowly easing into it. Actually using proper grammar. Nothing in that message was a good sign. Just “I want to talk” was enough to make the acid begin to crawl again. You knew it had to be about today. Especially after you saw him zoning out on the bus. It had to be your anxiety episode. You knew he wouldn’t be happy you lied but going to this extent. Like he just found out you have anxiety and this is what he hits you with? The world’s most nerve-wracking text message. The only worse place than this would be “we need to talk”. That’s when you have really screwed up. So maybe you’ve only minorly screwed up since he said want not need. Does that mean you have the choice to say no? That was kind of tempting but you knew you would be tossing and turning all night thinking about what might be wrong. 

“Okay.” You reply to the text. Short and sweet. Putting on some shoes and grabbing a hoodie, you quietly slip out of your house. Kuroo’s house wasn’t too far but it was far enough. Enough to continue to stir in your intrusive and unstoppable thoughts. You eventually make it to his house and head in going straight for his room. Before you reach the door you hesitate and gather yourself. Preparing for whatever was about to come. 

When you go in you find Kuroo sat on the floor of his bedroom, back pressed against the bed. He jerkily looks up and you and gives you a tight smile. None of this is giving good signs. Something is very heavy on his mind. You sit down across from him, your back against the wall your feet almost touching. 

“So what was it you wanting to talk about.” You break the silence. He doesn’t respond for a moment. Just as you are about to try again he speaks up.

“Do you still love me?” Your face drops into confusion.

“Why wouldn’t I love you anymore?” You ask, suddenly realizing this wasn’t the conversation you were prepping yourself for. 

“You’ve been distant lately. You don’t tell me things like when you don’t feel good. I thought about it when I got home and I was wondering if you weren’t actually sick but just making the excuse because you got caught.” He’s very serious at the moment and his words hold a cold edge. 

“What do you mean get caught?” You match his tone. You weren’t planning on fighting but something about how he said it just set something off in you.

“You didn’t want to be there. Ever since this morning you were quiet and reserved. Even after the game, you wouldn’t even kiss me-”

“Yeah, cause I threw up! And how could I be faking it when I literally threw up.” You snap.

“You’ve been like this before though! Like last year’s big tournament you would barely talk to me.”

“That’s not true!” Although it kind of was just not the reason he thought.

“Oh yeah? What about at training camp you wouldn’t talk to me then either, you didn’t even eat with us you just sat on your own.” He threw back.

“Yeah, cause I have anxiety!” The words left your mouth before you knew it. Kuroo looked taken back.

“What?” His brow furrows, “Since when?” He’s not sure what to believe. You’re not surprised since you have worked very hard to hide it from everyone, accidentally sabotaging your own relationship without even knowing it. 

“Since forever. I just never told anyone.” You quietly say, ducking your head down.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” You didn’t even need to look up to see the hurt on his face, it was apparent in his voice. You start playing with your finger, tapping them in rhythms.

“I wanted to,” You mumble, “But whenever I do stuff changes and I didn’t want anything to change.” He shifts forward and you think he’s going to leave. Instead, he grabs your hands, stopping the pattern you had going. You look up.

“Did you think I would judge you?” He was staring straight into you, willing the truth to come out.

“Whenever I tell people they either don’t believe me and brush it off or treat me like I’m incapable of handling any amount of stress. I’ve never seen anyone react any differently so I was scared you would fall into one of those reactions and I didn’t know how I could handle that. I didn’t want my anxiety to be the thing to tear us apart. But I guess it still was.” By the end of your speech, your gaze has returned back to the floor, unable to hold eye contact for that long with him staring at you so strongly. You hear him sigh then you are pulled forward and into his arms. 

“I want to be your pillar of support. I want to be that third reaction that is one of acceptance, one that doesn’t drive you crazy.” He strokes your hair soothingly, his words making you tear up, “When you are ready I want you to tell me everything. From when you first noticed it, to where it is now, to how you deal with it, everything.” By now you are fully crying, absolutely collapsed into his chest. “I love you so much.” It gets muffled in his shirt but he hears it.

“I know, and I love you.”

It would take some time for Kuroo to get used to this change but slowly but surely he will be different from the rest and he will support you no matter what. Although he also respects your strength and knows you can handle your anxiety on your own, he is always there when you need it. He becomes the third unexpected and unheard-of reaction; acceptance.

[momoshin]

give in — ryujin

“where’ve you been? you reek” all of the members look up at you as yeji starts when you enter thru the door, and she’s right. you smell of sex and sweat not to mention your bra is missing, the zipper of your jacket is undone and your hair is no longer perfectly straight but tucked messily into your beanie and hood.

“just out” you breathe, you hear her hum and watch her nod into her book and everyone else resume their positions before walking to your shared room with chaeryeong to grab a change of clothes and shower, something you hadn’t been able to do in your friend’s apartment considering her roomates would be there soon.

you were ready to go to bed. so tired from all the practice and the extra curricular acfivities you had been up to today, it’s only 9 pm but your bed sounds so good right now you wouldn’t mind sleeping enough to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, even if it meant having to make breakfast for the others. sadly, your members had other plans, because chaeryeong peeks her head into the room and says a simple “meeting in yeji’s room” before leaving, the door ajar waiting for you. 

you groan and sigh and curse softly before walking out, wondering on your way there why in her room and not in the kitchen like usual, and the answer that receives you when you enter the leader’s room makes you regret slamming your room’s door when you got out. yuna’s not there, probably sleeping, and you’re in trouble, most likely.

“hey guys” you start, chuckling nervously as you sit on ryujin’s bed. “yuna’s birthday isn’t for another 11 months”

“we actually wanted to talk about you” lia starts from her spot leaning against the wall, chaeryeong on yeji’s bed, with ryujin and yeji just standing there looking at you with her arms crossed.

“uh,, sure” you try to look as calm as possible, waiting for any bombs to drop from their lips.

“who were you with, the truth this time” as expected, it’s yeji who asks, her gaze hard and intimidating as they all wait for you to respond.

“unnie i told you, out” shrugging, you roll your eyes “walking, if that helps”

“y/n, im being serious. where were you, who were you with? you were obviously doing something or someone if you didn’t tell any of us beforehand”

“since when do we announce our individual outings?” you start “all of you have gone out alone and not once have you told me where, and you don’t see me interrogate you for that”

“yeah but we don’t come home smelling of sex and looking like we were hiding from the paps” it’s chaeryeong this time, your roomate, your closest friend out of the five to throw you under the bus, and she’s no longer beside ryujin but next to yeji, her eyes also demanding answers and explanations.

“what the fuck chaer?” you sigh, rubbing your temples “yeah, i was out having sex tonight, that what you wanted to hear?”

“with who” yeji pries, arms still crossed over her chest. ryujin hasn’t spoken all this time, and lia scoffs at your answers every now and then, her arms mirroring yeji’s as she stays further back, one of her legs posted to support her on the wall.

“with a friend” you shrug again.

“just tell us who y/n” lia groans.

“im not telling you who it is!” it’s not funny, girly, gossip. it’s them furiously prying because they’re worried you getting caught might hurt the group.

“why not?” chaeryeong yells back at you

“because!” you sigh, exasperated, before getting yourself together and lowering your voice “we made a deal, i wouldn’t tell my members and neither would they”

“so it is an idol” yeji nods at your slip, as if she knew this whole time.

“oh fuck off” falling back on the mattress, you cover your face with your hands and curse at yourself for being so stupid and letting them get to you.

“is it a sunbaenim? a woman? or a boy?”

“oh my god” you groan at lia’s persistent voice, promising yourself you would not crack this time and would stand your ground. “im not saying anything else”

“it’s not a guy” chaeryeong says, and the four of you look at her because, how the fuck does she know?

“how do you know?” yeji reads your mind.

“she just looks different. we don’t really notice if she’s been with a guy she just tells us” and she’s right, not that they know of all your sexcapades, and not that they know most of them are women, but they’ve never noticed something’s off when it’s been a guy.

“oh” lia and yeji nod slowly, taking it all in. “so, is it a sunbaenim? from twice? a soloist? trainee?”

“actually that’s gross. the fact that you think i’d fuck a trainee” just at the thought, you shudder, or maybe it’s the thought of that one time, at her group’s mention, you can’t help but remember that time you had nayeon’s legs around your head... her pus— no, there’s no time for that right now. you shake the dirty memories out of your head, and rub your legs together to release the growing tension between them, and look up at them, already thinking of how to avoid their next question.

“we’re not gonna stop until you cave” yeji shrugs

“well im not” you lift your chin proudly, crossing your arms.

“yeah, you will.” lia starts. “because if not we will tell on you with manager-nim”

“you wouldn’t” gasping, you uncross your arms.

“don’t test me” she shrugs. you knew she would, but she couldn’t know you were bluffing. “so come on. spit it out”

“unnie, im being careful!” you raise your voice a little, already upset at the fact that they wouldn’t give it a rest.

“that’s useless y/n. every single person who’s ever been caught doing something wrong has been ‘careful” yeji says, quoting the word careful with her fingers.

“loona” and like you called her name, ryujin’s head snaps up, her mind already making up a million scenarios of you fucking the few friends she had in that group. what’s worse? she enjoys every single one of them. she wishes she could’ve been there to at least watch. though she quickly vanishes them from her head when she notices your members looking at her for the same reason, her friends.

“i didn’t fuck heejin, or hyunjin” you clarify, wanting to bring them peace or at least ryujin, but only the other three slump their shoulders in relief at your confession. “but, im not telling you who i did.” letting your hands fall on your thighs, you get up and closer to the door. “goodnight”

“where are you going? we’re not done” she catches your wrist before you can swing the door open, pulling you back to where you were before, in front of her and a little bit closer to ryujin.

“are you kidding me?” you scoff at yeji. “none of you wanted to fuck me, so i went out and found someone who did, it was good so i kept going back. you’ve never noticed until today and if you didn’t no one else did. im good at what im doing. hell! i’ve fucked half the people in this industry and none of you knew until i just said it!! leave me alone”

but before you can actually turn around and leave, ryujin quickly stands up, surprising all five of you when she smashes her lips against yours. one hand on your hair and one on your ass, squeezing expertly. the other three are just in shock as you are, but she tastes so good and her hands feel good against you, even when she sneaks one up your tshirt to rub at your already hardened nipples because of the cold, and you try to hold it but you can’t, eventually moaning and melting in her hold, that was rough and heavy but in a good way, making you wrap your arms around her neck.

“guys- what the fuck-“

“get out” ryujin groans against your lips, her hands tightening on your ass and tits, lips no longer on yours but so close that if you leaned just a little bit you could taste them again, you’re shameless really, and tomorrow you’ll probably hide from them all because you don’t think twice about your members in the room before joining your lips with hers again in another wet, hot kiss.

“ryujin that’s not a good-“

“she said she wanted to be fucked. so i will. get out” the words are barely mumbled, because she’s too busy getting back to your lips to care if they understand, because she’s too eager as she puts the other hand inside your pijama shorts feeling the lack of underwear and then your wet folds, throwing her head back and breaking your kiss to groan at the feeling. “fuck— leave”

you don’t expect them to actually, and you don’t really notice, you’re too preoccupied with the feeling of the pads of her fingers on your clit slowly making circles to notice, and its only when you hear a loud scoff and the door slightly slam closed that you realized they did leave– after all, if the door slam woke yuna up they probably would find a way to distract her from going in the room.

“was it good? hm? was she good?” you gasp, because she’s roughly turned you around to press her front against your back, her hand wrapping around your neck before the other goes back into your shorts, her fingers too slow for your liking as they dip in to gather some of your slick to spread around your lips and clit. “i asked you a question”

throwing your head against her shoulder, you bite your lip before taking a deep breath to answer, letting out a much too soft “yea” to her question

“do you think she could be better than me?”

“i dunno, you’ve never touched me” rolling your eyes, you turn your head to look at her now that her hand has stopped moving.

“is that what we’re saying now?-“

“we were trainees ryu. you said it was a mistake” you sigh, already thinking this was not going where you thought it was “are you going to touch me or should i go get myself off?”

“hm” she chuckles, kissing your cheek dangerously soft with her grip on your neck and jaw tightening slightly. “you’re never going back to her after im done with you.”

“i hope that’s a promise you keep”

“shut up” her voice is rougher, not sweet and playful like usual, just rough. “bend over the bed.”

you do as told, wanting to get back on her good side. it’s quite a sight, watching your shorts ride up enough for her to see your asscheeks falling out of them. she’s too comfortable, for a ‘first time’ but at this point, neither of you care, you want her, you have for a very long time, you’re too desperate to go over basics. you’re so desperate, that just her fingers running from the back of your thigh to your asscheek makes you shiver and gives you goosebumps.

“you’re dripping” she points out the obvious. “i can see it through your shorts.”

“so touch me ryujinnie, please” you’re backing up into her hand, begging for something, anything at this point.

she hums, finally pulling your shorts off your legs, immediately salivating at the sight of your pussy glistening, clit swollen at the lack of attention. “look at you, what do you want?”

“you, please” she chuckles after that, and you wonder if she even heard you with how small your voice had turned.

“are these hers?” she asks, hands pressing against recent hand prints on your ass, making your hips buck forward, startled.

“yeah” you sigh, wanting her to go over them at least once. “didn’t hit me hard enough”

“can i try?”

“please” that’s all it takes. she rubs circles on one of your asscheeks before her hand raises and falls with a heavinly burn against your skin, eliciting a louder whimper out of you. every spank leaves a sting more enjoyable than the last, and you’re soon backing your ass up against her hand for more.

“what do you say?” she holds her hand at a safe distance from your ass, waiting for you to answer correctly before slapping the red skin

“t-thank you” a gasp is what you let out when she strikes her hand against your ass once again.

“good girl” she smiles, full of pride. “now turn around and spread your legs for me”

you stumble across pillows on the bed and such, too eager to be careful right now, and position yourself on your back, legs wide open for her with a hand going down to spread your wetness around your lips

“don’t do that” she slaps your hand away, getting on her knees to be face to face with your pussy. she only spits on it, as if you needed more lubrication, spreading it with two of her fingers, too slow for your liking.

she watches the way you sigh and whimper whenever she grazes against your clit or hole, the way you lift your head from her pillow and plead with your eyes for her to give you what you wanted. and her standing up to retrieve a pretty pink dildo from her drawer wasn’t what you expected, not that you didn’t want it. the black straps only surprise you more, and the sight of her tightening the straps and positioning the toy where she wanted it was making your wetness grow tenfold.

she rests the tip of it and taps it against your clit repeatedly, only making you sigh in between relief and want, your eyes sparkling and lashes fanning pretty to lure her into finally fucking you like she had promised. the look on both your faces as she slowly pushes in is priceless, you’re too overwhelmed to react and she’s too turned on, salivating at the way your lips swallow the pink toy slowly and fully. “next time, you come to me” she grunts, hand squishing your cheeks together while the other squeezes your side, her hips starting to slowly thrust in and out, pulling out entirely just to fill you to the brim with the plastick cock “no more sneaking out and worrying us sick just to find out some other girl has been fucking this pretty pussy, yeah?”

“mhm” your eyes are shut tight, your mouth wide open, you’re probably even drooling, her lips around your nipple suckling and her teeth digging into your skin in a delicious pain that has you gasping and pushing your chest further into her mouth, hands wrapping around her neck, and you whine when she inevitably pulls away

“good” she hums, tongue running over her lips as she fucks you...”gonna fuck you stupid baby” and her hips speed up, she’s intimidating in some way and it’s so fucking hot, the way she looks down on you, smirking because she knows she has you eating from her hand. she takes her time, speeding and slowing the thrusts of her hips, playing with your clit and sensitive nipples, teasing you when at the edge of your orgasm, edging you over and over again because she liked to see you suffer. “should i let you cum?”

“p-please.” your voice is so soft, so whiny, and she adores it, the fact that it’s all because of her.

“i dunno, it’s not like you earned it” her strokes are so slow, yet so hard. she tickles your g-spot with the tip of the toy every time, it feels good, but you want more

“i’ll make u-up for it. please just let m-me cum”

“you gonna go back to her??”

“n-no. never-r” your voice is broken, and you hope it expresses how much you need to cum right now. and if you were to take a guess by the way she’s speeding up, torturing your clit as well. it did. the sounds of skin slapping soon floods the room and the air reeks once again of sex and sweat. it’s hot, but you’re for some reason shaking, maybe it’s the approaching orgasm, and how it’s so much stronger because of her edging you, making you shake and whine, hands on her abs as if pushing her away to prevent her from keep fucking you through your orgasm.

she’s chuckling, kissing your temple and cheek, nose and lower until she reaches your lips, catching all your breathy moans and whimpers as you finally calmed down. ryujin pulls out carefully, finally pressing a cheeky kiss to your clit that makes your body jolt and stutter..

[foli-vora]

there she goes

A/N: Soft boi has arrived! Literally only watched his episodes of the Mentalist because Patrick Jane, quite frankly, annoys/bores the absolute shit out of me.

Pairing: Marcus Pike/f!reader

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: none that I can see but please let me know if you think something should be added!

+++

Standing in line at your favourite little café, you watch the rain pelt against the glass panels of the shop with disdain, cursing the bright sunny morning that tricked you into leaving your umbrella and jacket at home. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when you woke and left for work this morning, and now it seemed like the dark grey clouds delivering the onslaught of rain stretched from horizon to horizon with no signs of a break any time soon. Typical, you thought to yourself. Like your day hadn’t been bad enough already.

Your landlord had dropped the bomb of a rent increase, your car had a flat, you had missed the bus and had to take a cab, your desk chair decided to die – leaving you practically on the floor trying to answer calls and use your computer and the office printer refused to print anything, no matter how many times you called it a piece of junk and kicked it. Suffice to say, you were more than ready for a strong hit of caffeine.

You’re dragged out of your inner grumbling when a finger gently taps your shoulder and you whirl to face the tapper immediately, sharp words of irritation dying on your tongue the second you meet their gaze.

Brown eyes, you notice instantly. Soft, soulful brown eyes. He was… nice. Understatement. He was gorgeous, with neatly trimmed facial hair and windswept dark hair falling just above his eyes.

He gestures towards the counter with a polite half smile, “Uh, you’re next.”

You blink in confusion before glancing at the young girl behind the register, seemingly waiting for you to step forward and order, and quickly apologise to them both. She smiles, making quick work of your regular order and then you’re stepping aside, throwing another apology towards the stranger before finding a seat and sitting with a deep exhale.

The rain comes down harder because of course it does. You mentally add embarrassing yourself in front of the first decent looking guy you’ve seen in a while to your list with a quiet groan. Melting back into the chair, you take a moment to fully bask in your somewhat dry clothes and shoes before inevitably having to end up running through the torrential downpour back to the office.

A to-go cup is placed gently in front of you, your name scrawled across the side, and you blink dumbly at it before following up along the arm until you’re looking at the man from the line. He’s smiling again, his own coffee in hand and the other now buried in his pants pocket.

“Someone’s away with the fairies today.” He notes light-heartedly, and then gestures over his shoulder. “They called your name – I hope it’s okay that I bought it over.”

You blink again, and only when his brow quirks ever so slightly do you snap out of your reverie. 

“Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m not usually this spacey.”

His face softens, lips quirking into a sympathetic smile. “Bad day?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” You reply dryly, eyeing the rain as you stand. “Thanks for bringing my coffee over. It probably would’ve been stone cold by the time I came back to Earth.”

You’re rewarded with a deep chuckle and it sends a little flutter through your chest. You made the pretty stranger laugh – not a total loss of a day, after all.

“I could try and make it better, if you want.”

You raise a brow, smiling shyly. “Oh yeah?”

He nods with a small smile, “Yeah.” He looks over his shoulders and shrugs lightly. “I could get you a slice of banana bread, a muffin, maybe… a gingerbread man? He has mini marshmallows as buttons.” His voice is light, playful, and when his grin widens, you find yourself unable to resist returning it.

You hum in thought, “Sounds like you’re a big fan.”

He chuckles, looking down as he nods. “Yeah look, I may eat colourfully decorated marshmallow buttoned gingerbread men more than a fully functioning adult of my age should.” He admits, grinning as you chuckle. “We could grab a table... maybe talk for a bit?” He watches you check your watch, hope growing in his chest at the thought of getting to know the pretty distracted stranger a little better over coffee.

“As tempting as that sounds, my break is almost over and I’m pushing it for time.” His face falls a little and you mirror his disappointment, briefly wondering if your boss would let you off if you tell her all about the pretty stranger at the coffee shop. “Thank you for the offer, though…”

“Marcus,” he smiles, shaking your hand firmly. The encasing warmth of his hand is enough to send a thrill through you, and your heart flutters in nervous excitement. The feeling doubles as he murmurs your name, pointing to your cup before you could ask how he knows.

You duck your head, smiling warmly at him before turning to the door and bracing for the wet chill that’s about to take hold. A warm hand softly pulls your arm back, and you turn back to him in question. He’s looking at your empty hands with a frown.

“Don’t you have an umbrella? Or a jacket at least?” Marcus asks, frown deepening when you shake your head.

“No, it was sunny when I left this morning – bad day.” You explain, a smile still tugging at your lips despite the downpour bombarding the street. There was something about this kind and pretty stranger that had you unable to stop smiling, and your cheeks were starting to pay the price with a lingering ache.

“Well, you can’t go out there without one, here – have mine.” He reaches past you and grabs the dripping umbrella propped up by the door, holding it out to you expectantly.

You recoil instantly, “What? No!”

“Please. It’s bad out there!”

As if to cement his argument, a snap of thunder crackles overhead, the rain increasing, and you cringe instantly.

Still, you shake your head and push his hand away, “I can’t take your umbrella! What about you?”

“I drove here – my car’s around the corner. Please, take it.”

You weigh up your options, not wanting to leave the handsome stranger with nothing to keep himself dry, but ultimately, it’s his pleading puppy eyes that completely win you over and then you’re reaching out, taking the umbrella softly and desperately trying to get a hold of your rapid heartbeat.

“Thank you, Marcus.”

He shrugs, an easy grin stretching his features and your eyes fall to glance over it appreciatively. He had a damn good smile. “Don’t mention it.”

“My knight in shining suit.” You coo, chuckling at the flush of faint pink that washes across his cheeks. “I can’t tell you how much this has turned my day around.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” And he truly is.

You linger a moment longer, grinning as he turns slightly bashful under your heavy scrutiny. “It was really nice to meet you, Marcus.”

He beams, “You, too.”

With a small wave, you disappear into the rain and Marcus sighs softly, watching you go with a small flicker of regret at the missed opportunity. Umbrella and your number next time, Pike, he scolds himself solemnly.

His nose curls as he watches the rain for a moment and then sighs deeply, reaching for the lapel of his jacket. He pulls it over his head and briefly thinks about his car, still parked in the nice and dry parking garage back at the bureau. He’s not at all sorry for telling you a little white lie to get you to take his umbrella, you needed something in this weather and it was his absolute pleasure to provide. Knight in shining suit. It had him smiling to himself the entire run back to the office, despite the downpour that had him saturated in the first two minutes.

He keeps an eye out over the next few days, intentionally going for lunch at the same time as that rainy day in hopes he’d see you again. Every day, he was left walking back with a feeling of disappointment, but not letting it crush his hope for the next day.

It’s not until over a week later when he’s standing in line, the café busier than usual, when he hears a familiar voice pipe up from behind him.

“I’ve heard the gingerbread men here are pretty good.”

You’re already smiling when he turns to face you, a grin of his own creasing his cheeks.

“I’ve been keeping an eye out for you.” He admits, nodding when you tilt your head with a curious oh? “Just making sure you’re not holding up any more lines – people need their coffee, after all. Can’t be waiting around all day.” He teases, laughing when you softly shove him playfully.

Shaking your head, you step up next to him and lean in to his side, “So guess what?”

He chuckles softly to himself, looking at you expectantly. “What?”

“I took a long lunch. Well, actually, I’ve been taking long lunches all week hoping to see you.” You admit, somewhat shyly. Were you coming on too strong? You hope not. It’s only been a week and you had missed him like you had known him longer than five minutes. You weren’t sure whether to be slightly concerned that a literal stranger had you so caught up in a whirl or thrilled that you had finally met someone who seemed genuinely decent.

He smiles softly, relieved that this little thing between you both wasn’t one sided. “I’ve been hoping to see you, too. I actually –”

“Hey, move it along!”

You startle, turning to frown at the irritated man behind you when Marcus chuckles and offers a small apology over his shoulder, before reaching for your hand and gently pulling you the short distance to the counter to order. You barely take notice of him and the barista talking, instead focusing on your hand now wrapped up in his, his thumb rubbing softly across your knuckles, and how it’s making your body thrum with electricity. You smile to yourself, eyes flicking back up to his face to find him looking at you expectantly, brow firmly raised with a small smirk.

You blink. “What?”

[realcube]

comforting you during a thunderstorm ⛈

summary: you’re not much of a scaredy-cat but you do have an immense fear of thunder storms which you didn’t tell him about. so this is how he comforts you

characters: saiki k, bokuto, suna

tw// thunderstorms, hurt/comfort

thanks to anon for the wholesome request 🥺 this reminds me of ohshc & i love it so much 💞

Kusuo Saiki

he just popped downstairs to bid farewell to his mother before she headed out to buy groceries, leaving you and him home alone

he didn’t even notice the thunderstorm, until his mom mentioned it

‘oh, i have to walk to the bus-stop in this horrible weather. is there anyway you could make it stop, ku?’

as much as he wanted to say ‘yes, but i cba. cope.’  he just blurted out a ‘no.’ before heading back up to his room

he didn’t think you were scared of anything tbh

i mean you killed a cockroach for him one time so you were basically a fearless god, in his eyes

so imagine his surprise when he walked into his room and..you were gone

he was confused for a moment until he heard faint sobs and whimpers from inside his closet

he slid the door open to reveal you cowering in the corner with your knees pulled up to your chest and your face buried between them, sniffing and only moving when you had to use your hand to wipe away the tears that poured from your eyes and threatened to stain your leggings

‘i go for a minute and this is what happens-- are you crying?’ 

that was when you realised that saiki had entered the room once again and when you looked up, you saw his tall, daunting figure looking down at you - the glow from the lightening behind him not doing any favours as it just made him look even more unnerving

‘i don’t cry. i’m just.. excreting my eye juices. it clears your skin-- ah!’ you tried to explain but you were cut of by another boom of thunder rattle through the house

‘you’re lying.’ 

yeah, you knew he was a psychic so you weren’t really sure why you thought you’d be able to get the lie passed him

also, due to his psychic abilities and common sense, he figured that the thunder/lightening was the reason for your distress

saiki sighed, not really sure if he should do what he was about to but upon seeing how frightened you were and the nervous series of continuous thoughts rushing through your head...he just had to

you heard another noise which sounded rather different from thunder but it startled you none the less

you looked up at your boyfriend for comfort, only to notice that he was gone

then, you caught a glimpse of something unusual from the window 

you approached it hesitantly and peered outside to see the cluster of storm clouds being swept aside like dust by some unknown force, to reveal the bright blue sky that was hiding behind it 

you were in awe and although the masses probably thought this was the work of god or the wind, it didn’t take long for you to figure out that it was your psychic boyfriend who was behind it all

‘it’s gone now.’ his voice tickled your ears from behind and to say it gave you the fright of your life was an understatement

you jumped, alarmed at first but once you turned around for your eyes to meet his, you couldn’t help but feel a wave of relief wash over you 

‘oh, yes. thank you, saiki!’  you chirped, throwing your arms around him and pulling him into a tight embrace

he was a bit taken back at first but it didn’t take long for him to melt into your touch and hug back, cradling your head and patting it bc i hc that is how he hugs/cuddles

(he just wants you to feel safe with him 🥺 even though he is an OP psychic who could probably kill you if he’s not careful)

anyway, saiki will ensure that you never experience another thunderstorm for as long as you live

Kōtarō Bokuto

you already know that the first thing bokuto is going to do when he sees you cry and cuddle up next to you and cry too so you don’t feel embarrassed

but like when he comes back from the kitchen and heating the pizza he was about to eat, then he noticed you curled up under a blanket on the couch, shivering and whimpering..he drops the pizza

like he is so shocked 

he didn’t want to believe that you were crying tbh

but as your bf it was his duty to comfort you 

bc you always comfort him so well when he feels down and he wants to do the same for you!!

anyway, the first thing he does is join you under the blanket and cry with you for a bit

but his fake wails are so bad that you can’t help but laugh FVHIDBFA

once he notices that he’d cheered you up slightly, he’ll inquire, ‘are you scared of thunder?’

you nodded slightly, gently leaning your head on his strong shoulder, ‘a bit.’

bokuto bent his arm to pat and rub your head reassuringly, ‘but you’re so fearless, (y/n)! remember that time you went bungee jumping and even I was too afraid to do it?!’

you simply shrugged, tensing as you heard the thunder rumble through the living room

‘but anyway,’ bokuto hummed, placing a gentle kiss on your temple, ‘is there anything i can do to make you feel better?’

you shrugged once again, ‘maybe just stay with me for a bit longer, please.’ 

your wish was his command ✨

now there is no way he’s leaving your side until the storm passes

whether that takes a few minutes or the whole night

he’s not going to leave you even to eat the pizza he had dropped on the living room floor

and he hold you close against his chest so you know that he’s not going going anywhere

also, he started talking not only instinctively but also to drown out the sound of the thunder and redirect your attention onto him

‘and then kuroo was all like SUPRISE!! and i was all like THANKS, MAN BUT IT’S NOT EVEN MY BIRTHDAY and then kuroo was like I KNOW!! god, he knows me so well.’

‘hey, (y/n) - we should dress up for halloween his year! kuroo and his girlfriend are doing a couples costume so i think we should do one too and out-shine them! i was thinkin’ fred and daphne except you can be fred.’

‘i was looking on five minute crafts of food the other day - don’t ask why - and some of the desserts were lookin’ kinda tasty tbh. i’ll send you the link so we can make ‘em sometime.’

‘why did you comment ‘i’ll give you my first born child in exchange for you to crush my skull with your thicc, juicy, scrumptious thighs 🤤😳’ under my instagram pic? and why does it have 1k likes?’

needless to say, you can’t be sad for too when you’re around bokuto lmao

Rintarō Suna

RAIEVABTG DON’T EVEN LIE HE’D JUST BE LIKE ‘cover your ears den lmao’

ok ok so you’re on facetime with him and thunder blares through your room - it’s so loud that even he can hear it through the phone - and you jump, immediately pulling your blankets over yourself 

he was hitting his vape then he pulled away to look at his phone again and you were gone (bc you had brought your phone under the covers with you and obvs it was dark)

he could also hear your little whimpers even though you tried you best to hide them by slapping your hand over your mouth

‘doll, where’d ya go?’ he inquired, concern laced in his voice. he opened his drawer to toss his vape away but he did not avert his eyes from the screen just in case something happened

‘i’m still here. just under the covers.’ you spoke, doing your best to hide how shaky your voice was

‘why?’ he puffed, allowing the vapor to leak from his mouth and escape out to his surrounding - which was his bedroom 

‘oh, no reason.’

suna knew you were lying, it wasn’t hard to tell, ‘well, if that’s the case, can you come out from the cover, doll? i wanna see your face.’

‘-no.’ you immediately replied, letting out a feeble sigh as you realised that lying wasn’t going to get you anywhere. ‘i’m just a bit afraid of the thunder, that’s all.’

suna cocked his head to the side, ‘thunder? never heard that one before.’ he said, mentally cursing himself out just as he said that since it came out a lot harsher than he intended, ‘erm, why don’t you try putting your headphones on?’ he suggested in a soft voice, trying to make up for the uncalled-for comment he made

you hummed in agreement, wondering why you didn’t think of that

momentarily tossing your duvet aside, you rushed to your desk where you black headphones were laying, you picked them up and dashed back towards your bed as if someone was chasing you, diving onto it, pulling the cover back over your head and plugging the headphones into your phone before pulling them over your ears

‘this helps a bit. thanks, suna.’

suna’s eyes widened as he slumped back against his headboard, ‘suna? what happened to babe?’ 

‘thanks, babe.’ you corrected yourself with a giggle

now that suna’s voice was the most prominent sound in your ears, the thunder seemed to fade into satisfying background noise

you couldn’t get over the random flashes of lightening though, those always made you yelp - and he noticed this 

‘i really wish you were here right now.’ you mused, hugging your pillow to your chest to imitate what you’d to if he was here with you, ‘i’d give you all my kisses.’

‘bet.’ was the last thing you heard before he hung up on you 

you were quite bummed at first but then you registered that he was probably on his way over :))

and he was!

you heard a few loud knocks on your door followed by a monotone mutter ‘let me in, i’m freezing my tits off out here.’

ofc you let him in and after you led him to your bedroom, he immediately pinned you to your bed, ‘you know what i’m here for.’

‘huh?’

he was confused for a moment but then he noticed that you still had the headphones on

he snickered, momentarily pulling one of the earpads away from your ear to say, ‘kisses.’

[imgonnapanic]

Miyagi Setter Squad Responding to “I Love You”

I can’t condition because I sprained my ankle again so here you guys go. Also I’m so sorry for the oddly specific name but if you want the other setters lmk 😭 I’ll do them later I’m too tired. ⚠️SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 ⚠️

Oikawa Tooru

You were over at his house to study and maybe pass around a volleyball for a couple hours.

It was a pretty peaceful setting, you were splayed out on the floor looking at the ceiling

And he was on his computer doing god-knows-what.

It definitely wasn’t homework-

The silence is destroyed by your phone buzzing.

Your ride was here.

So you pick up your stuff, and you’re just about to walk out the door when it slips out.

“I love you, bye!”

This smooth fuck will pretend to be totally chill on the outside.

But on the inside he’s probably exploding.

He has seen this in movies, read it in books, seen it told to other people.

A couple of people have even said it to him.

(Even though he had no idea why because he had only known them on a last name basis for thirty seconds.)

So he knew alllll about it and exactly how to respond.

But...He didn’t execute as well as he wanted to.

So he ends up giving you some weird ass eyes as his whole face flushes.

“I love you tOo, Y/n.”

You don’t know whether to laugh at him or just leave

But you’re grinning the whole way home.

Yahaba Shigeru

‘Yahaba does not get annoyed at much’

Lies. He gets annoyed at so much that he thinks he might have some repressed anger issues.

The butt naked screaming in the bath after losing to Karasuno helped him come to that conclusion.

But not much actually sets him off.

In other words, he’s not slamming anyone against the wall unless it’s really fucking important.

Or, nowadays, when someone does something to cross you.

Now, you did not know that Yahaba was capable of throwing hands until today.

Because most of his wounds were dealt out verbally.

However, you figured the guy that stole your gym clothes deserved it.

You were just planning to leave it alone, but there he was.

Off campus.

Tackling this random dude.

The fight lasts about thirty seconds before you can run into certain death and break it the fuck up before someone goes to jail.

The dude has a bloody nose already and he listens to you and steps back.

“Apologize.”

He mumbles out a sorry before stalking away.

Yahaba is looking way too pleased with himself.

“That’s assault.”

“That’s chivalry.”

“Shigeru, I love you, but don’t fucking do that again.”

He mumbled a response back. “Yeah yeah I won’t. I love you too.”

It will probably take him at least an hour for that to hit-

Kageyama Tobio

He doesn’t have a very affectionate family, so that phrase has probably only been used sparingly around him.

But he has been silently willing you to say it to him for a while.

He’s already on top of the world when he beats Aoba Johsai.

You are so proud of him for finally taking down his rival.

When that final point is scored, you’re going crazy in the stands with Yachi, Saeko, and Shimada.

It was the most excited you had seen him in a long time.

He achieved his goal! He was now the best setter in the prefecture.

Not that he wasn’t before, obviously 🙄

But you’re sitting on the bus with him after they win, and it’s quiet.

Kageyama’s happy, you’re happy, and there’s almost no one on the bus.

You rest your head on your shoulder.

“I’m so proud of you. I love you so much, Tobio.”

*bang bang there goes your HEAAAAART*

On the outside he gets that wobbly look on his face, but on the inside he’s like

TWO IN ONE DAY?!

You’ve just been watching him smile at the bus driver for twenty seconds before he snaps out of it.

“Ah-I love you too, Y/n.”

You didn’t expect him to be so excited about that.

It was the sweetest thing ever.

Sugawara Koushi

It was after he came up to you and told you that he would no longer be in Karasuno’s starting lineup.

And at first you’re like.

“Bull-fucking-shit Koushi, what do you mean you’re not starting?”

He explains that a new first year setter had arrived with much better technique.

And that the coach had sat him down and explained that to him.

And that he knew that Kageyama was better and that he would be supporting the team from the bench.

You can tell his heart is breaking with every second he tells you this.

So you need to shut him up. Getting mad at the coach wouldn’t help.

You start telling him all the things he can do to still be a significant player.

He could stat games, keep a notebook, make hand signals, paint the notebook-

You can tell he’s feeling much better about himself by the end of your talk.

You pick your next words very carefully.

“You’re gonna have a great season, trust me. I love you, okay?”

Alllll the color just drains from both of your faces.

He’s like “yeah-wait. You love me?”

You rethinking your life decisions: “Yeah?”

“I love you too.”

“...Good.”

“Good.”

Shirabu Kenjirou

MotherfUCKER-

Well, he’s flustered, he’ll give you that.

But you’re not living that one down anytime soon.

You were on your way to school, making fun of stereotypical romance mangas.

“Sh-sh-shirabu-kun!! I guess you have to get to class now...😞🥺💞🌸”

“...we’ll see 😶”

“OHHHHHMYGOSH💞💞💞💞🌸🌸🥺”

By this time, you’re on campus, getting weird stares.

Past, single Shirabu would have given a shit.

But he only had a couple more minutes of making fun of people with you before he had to go to his classes.

Stupid 4.0

So now, you’re just pointing out random things that the horses were doing.

One of them kicked its own shit, and both of you lost it.

You guys were folded in half until coach Washijo came up behind you, and ordered you both to get to class.

As soon as he was out of earshot, you guys started laughing again.

“Well, I don’t wanna be taken out of the starting lineup, so let’s get to class.”

“Okay, love you.”

Oh shit. You did not mean to say that. For Christ’s sake, it had only been a month.

He looks like he’s seen Goshiki fall down the stairs. Almost triumphant.

“I love you too, Y/n. Now go attend to that math grade of yours.”

“Shut the hell up :)”

Semi Eita

Was very well planned out and very thought through.

It was ✨Valentine’s Day✨

And you had it written down in a card because you were pussying out you were a little nervous.

Plus, you could always brush it off and pretend like writing it down wasn’t as big of a deal as saying it.

On the other end, Semi was also planning to tell you.

Like, he was sure you already knew.

And he was sure he was making it into a bigger deal than it should have been.

But whatever, Semi’s never been one to do things halfway anyhow.

He just wasn’t obvious about it.

So, Shiratorizawa was just g l i t t e r i n g that morning.

Which was why you both were currently at a cafe, very far away from it.

This had also been planned, because his coach would not like it very much if he knew he didn’t have the Flu.

So you guys are laughing, talking, awkwardly holding hands over the table.

It’s so obvious that both of you are nervous.

And Semi’s like “wHats wRoNg bAbY?”

As if he’s not in the exact same situation.

So you just hand him the card and the gift you got him for Valentine’s Day and he opens it up.

And you’re basically ready to melt into the floor when he puts the card down.

“You love me huh?”

No answer.

“Well, I love y o u t o o.”

He got so quiet at the end, but the words were finally said, and you were both satisfied.

[bloody-bee-tea]

JC Love Month 2020  Day 7

Family’s Obligation

Day 7 of JC Love Month brings some modern Lan Qiren feels, who doesn’t even try to hide that Jiang Cheng is his favourite student. Warning for some shitty, shitty parenting from JFM and YZY, I guess.

Jiang Cheng is sitting in Headmaster Lan Qiren’s office and he really wishes he could be anywhere else.

“Are you in pain?” Lan Qiren asks him and Jiang Cheng looks down at his bandaged wrists.

The nurse thinks it’s broken, so she recommended a trip to the hospital to get it checked out even though she already bandaged it and Jiang Cheng is just waiting for his parents to pick him up.

Or at least Lan Qiren is waiting for that.

Jiang Cheng knows better than to expect them to come for him.

“It’s okay,” Jiang Cheng says, even though it’s still throbbing painfully.

Lan Qiren seems to be able to look right through him, because he gets up and hands Jiang Cheng another cold compress. Jiang Cheng doesn’t even know where he got it from, but he gratefully takes it anyway.

“You should speak the truth if you are in discomfort or pain,” Lan Qiren chastises him as he sits back down and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

It’s not like people in his household usually care much if he’s hurt or not, his siblings not counting.

And speaking of siblings—

“Where’s Wei Wuxian?” Jiang Cheng asks and he thinks that he can see a vein throb on Lan Qiren’s temple.

“That hellion ran away after what he did,” Lan Qiren presses out and Jiang Cheng is just about to protest, because there was a whole gang of Jin’s after him, when Lan Qiren pinches the bridge of his nose. “And it was probably the smart thing to do as well,” he sighs. “Still, he’ll have to come in eventually and I’ll have to punish him for what he did.”

Jiang Cheng would protest that as well—Wei Wuxian was only defending him after all, and he was not the first one to throw a punch—but Jin Zixun has been kicked out of the school, so whatever punishment Wei Wuxian will get, it will probably be a lot better than that.

“Thank you for kicking Jin Zixun out,” Jiang Cheng mutters and Lan Qiren levels him with a look.

“He attacked three different students, was entirely disrespectful towards your sister and your brother, seriously injured you, threatened your family and broke so many rules that I won’t bother reciting them all now. Of course I wouldn’t tolerate that.”

“And Wei Wuxian—?” Jiang Cheng dares to ask, because Lan Qiren seems to be in a talkative mood at the moment.

“As much as I don’t like him and his insolvent behaviour I have to admit that it was good of him to stand up for you and Jiang Yanli. He certainly has the right values, unlike other people in this school,” Lan Qiren spits out and it’s no secret that he holds no love for the Wen or Jin heirs.

“He’ll have to copy the rules,” Lan Qiren says after a moment of deliberation and Jiang Cheng raises his eyebrow.

That seems like a very lenient punishment, especially coming from Lan Qiren.

“I guess Wangji will have to oversee it,” Lan Qiren goes on and suddenly Jiang Cheng’s eyes burn.

Everyone in this school knows that Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are so very desperately in love with each other and it must have reached Lan Qiren’s ears as well.

This is no punishment at all. It’s a reward.

And since Lan Qiren holds no love for Wei Wuxian this must be a reward for Wei Wuxian because he came to Jiang Cheng’s defence.

It’s like an unspoken secret that Lan Qiren holds a soft spot for Jiang Cheng, even though Jiang Cheng himself could never figure out why the hell that would be the truth, but it seems like everyone else was right. Jiang Cheng never dared to believe it, even when Lan Qiren checks in him personally at least once a week, and when Jiang Cheng’s parents forgot to pick him up, Jiang Cheng got to do his homework in Lan Qiren’s office.

Still, Jiang Cheng always thought he was just being a decent person to a sad, lost boy, but it seems like everyone was in fact right when they say that Jiang Cheng is Lan Qiren’s favourite.

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Lan Qiren strokes his goatee, clearly uncomfortable with Jiang Cheng’s expression of gratitude.

“Where are your parents?” he asks instead of letting the moment turn more awkward than it already way, and every warm feeling flees Jiang Cheng’s body.

He had called them from the infirmary, but he hadn’t reached them. Jiang Cheng suspects that they chose to ignore him, rather than missed his call, because he called both his parent’s work phones.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I couldn’t reach them.”

“Are they at home?” Lan Qiren demands to know and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

He hasn’t seen either of his parents for the past few days, but he’s not going to mention that to Lan Qiren now.

“I think they are at work. There is some big deal going down if I’m not mistaken,” Jiang Cheng finally says and Lan Qiren nods, though he seems anything but happy about it.

“I see,” he says and then reaches for the phone.

It’s enough to startle Jiang Cheng into motion, because if Lan Qiren calls them then his parents will think Jiang Cheng did something wrong and he doesn’t want to hear their reaction to that.

“Please, don’t,” he says, before Lan Qiren can dial a number and he freezes in his movement.

“What?” he asks.

“Don’t call them. I can just go home by bus, it’s no problem,” Jiang Cheng desperately tries.

“You’re supposed to go to the hospital, not home,” Lan Qiren sternly tells him and then simply dials the number.

“They won’t come,” Jiang Cheng mutters, and Lan Qiren’s eyes snap to him.

“Headmaster Lan, what did Wei Wuxian do now?” Madam Yu’s voice rings out from the speaker and Jiang Cheng tries his best to melt into the seat.

“This is about your son,” Lan Qiren says and there’s a beat of silence.

“What did he do?” Madam Yu asks and whereas she sounded annoyed the first time, there’s real anger in her voice now.

“He got hurt,” Lan Qiren says with a frown and Madam Yu sighs.

“Is he alright?” she asks, and Jiang Cheng’s hand clenches around the cold compress.

His wrist hurts, and with his luck it’s more damaged than just bruised, and his mother is not going to care beyond the fact that he can’t work at his intern job in the company.

“His wrist got injured. A trip to the hospital is advisable,” Lan Qiren tells her.

“If it’s only his wrist, he can take the bus. My son is not so weak that he needs to be coddled. He can take care of himself. He better got that by beating someone else up,” Madam Yu says and Jiang Cheng wishes she would stop talking.

“Madam Yu!” Lan Qiren says in outrage but Madam Yu doesn’t seem to care that much.

“Is he there?” she asks and Lan Qiren expectantly looks at Jiang Cheng.

“Yes, mother,” he dutifully says.

“What happened?” she asks and Jiang Cheng tries to hide his wince but going by the twitch in Lan Qiren’s brow he doesn’t know how successful he is.

“Jin Zixun said something mean to Yanli so I tried to make him stop,” he sums it up and Jiang Cheng goes cold at the answering silence.

“And?” Madam Yu icily asks after a moment.

“And then Jin Zixun almost broke my wrist,” Jiang Cheng goes on.

“Wei Wuxian?” Madam Yu wants to know and Jiang Cheng shrinks even more in on himself.

“Came to my help.”

“Is he hurt?”

“Not that I know of,” Jiang Cheng says and he knows what’s coming next.

“Then you are not, either. I expect you at work later this afternoon,” Madam Yu says and Jiang Cheng hangs his head.

“Yes, mother,” he agrees and Madam Yu hangs up without another word.

There’s only the beeping sound for a horrible long time and then Lan Qiren lets out a long, long breath.

“Does that mean she’s not coming?” he then asks, voice carefully controlled and Jiang Cheng nods miserably.

“Your father?” Lan Qiren asks then and Jiang Cheng is quick to shake his head.

“He will go looking for Wei Wuxian, claiming that it’s more important since we know that I am fine, but the same can’t be said about Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng predicts and is very grateful when Lan Qiren doesn’t pick up the phone to verify.

“Is it always like that?” Lan Qiren carefully asks and Jiang Cheng is very ashamed when he bursts into tears.

But it’s just all too much; the whole day has been a rollercoaster of emotions starting with the anger towards Jin Zixun and the adrenalin and then he got hurt and Wei Wuxian came to his rescue and now this whole mess.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how to handle any of this at all.

He startles badly when someone awkwardly pats his shoulder but when he realizes that it’s just Lan Qiren he almost leans into him. Jiang Cheng wonders which one of them feels more awkward about this, but he can’t bring himself to care, at least not right now.

“Jiang Wanyin, is it always like that?” Lan Qiren asks again and this time Jiang Cheng nods.

“I haven’t seen either of them for a couple of days. I know they are home sometimes, but mother goes to talk to Yanli and father goes to talk to Wei Wuxian and then there’s simply no time for me. Father would drop everything to search the whole town for Wei Wuxian but driving me to the hospital would be a chore. Caring for me is an obligation neither of them know how to handle, and by now I am not expecting anything anymore,” it bursts out of Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t get much for his position as an intern, but what he gets he saves. When he turns eighteen he’ll be out of his family home immediately and he doesn’t think his parents will notice for at least a week.

It’s a thought Jiang Cheng tries to push very far away.

Lan Qiren is very quiet at his side and Jiang Cheng is afraid to even look at him, too scared to see what his reaction is to that, so when Lan Qiren puts his hand more firmly on his shoulder, Jiang Cheng is startled.

“Get up, we’re driving to the hospital,” Lan Qiren says and Jiang Cheng is left staring after him, because immediately after his declaration Lan Qiren left the office, talking to his secretary.

Jiang Cheng isn’t entirely sure how he ended up in Lan Qiren’s car, but he’s there before he can gather a coherent thought.

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Jiang Cheng says as Lan Qiren already starts the car and Lan Qiren silences him with a look.

That does nothing to Jiang Cheng. Madam Yu is his mother, he’s used to much worse.

“Really, you must be busy. There must be other things you need to do,” Jiang Cheng insists, but Lan Qiren shakes his head.

“There is nothing more important than making sure that you are alright, do you understand me?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng has nothing else to say to that, so they spent the rest of the drive to the hospital in a tense silence.

Lan Qiren stays by his side through the whole examination and when the doctor asks Jiang Cheng if it’s okay to tell him the results in front of Lan Qiren who is neither a parent nor a guardian, Jiang Cheng simply nods.

Lan Qiren feels very much like both of these things in the moment and Jiang Cheng is not at all sure how to deal with that.

“Your wrist is broken,” the doctor tells him then and Jiang Cheng slumps, because of course it is.

Nothing can ever be easy for him.

They put a cast on his arm and then Jiang Cheng is back in Lan Qiren’s car, when Jiang Cheng’s phone rings.

He accepts the call when he sees that it’s Wei Wuxian.

“Where are you?” is the first thing Wei Wuxian asks him and Jiang Cheng snorts much to Lan Qiren’s dislike it seems.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Jiang Cheng gives back but Wei Wuxian sounds worried and Jiang Cheng is not liking it.

“Listen, I managed to run away from the Jins but I had an encounter with Wen Chao,” Wei Wuxian says and Jiang Cheng winces.

Wen Chao is nothing more than a slimy bastard, but he always has Wen Zhuliu around and he’s a real piece of work.

“Are you alright?” Jiang Cheng asks, because of course Wei Wuxian would go straight from the fire into the frying pan.

“A little roughed up. Got a nice shiner. Do you think Lan Zhan will kiss it better?” Wei Wuxian asks and Jiang Cheng wonders if Lan Qiren will pop a vein with how angry he seems at hearing that.

“What do I care?” Jiang Cheng gives back, but if Wei Wuxian is hurt, he can guess where this is going.

“A-Cheng, I don’t think you should be coming home today,” Wei Wuxian says just on cue and of course.

His father thinks it’s Jiang Cheng’s fault Wei Wuxian got hurt, and his mother thinks the opposite, so they are fighting again.

“Bad?” Jiang Cheng wants to know even though he damn well knows the answer.

“I’m going to stay with Wen Qing tonight, and shijie is with Jin Zixuan, so—,” Wei Wuxian trails off and that means it’s more than bad.

“Fine, I’ll find a place to stay,” Jiang Cheng sighs, even though dread curls in his gut.

He’s not quite as lucky as Wei Wuxian or Jiang Yanli with his friends. His only real friend is Nie Huaisang and he and his brother are out of town at the moment.

Jiang Cheng guesses he could beg Jin Zixuan to let him take the couch but he doesn’t want to ruin his sister’s evening and Jiang Cheng would rather sleep on the streets than room with Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian.

“Take care,” Wei Wuxian says and then simply hangs up on him.

“What was that?” Lan Qiren demands to know and Jiang Cheng startles, because over his own dilemma he almost forgot that they are in his car.

“The usual,” Jiang Cheng tries, but Lan Qiren levels him with a look and Jiang Cheng deflates.

“My father thinks Wei Wuxian’s injury is my fault because I started it, so he is mad at me. My mother can’t stand it when he is mad at me instead of Wei Wuxian, so she gets in these really vicious fights with him and if that happens it’s really best if none of us are home,” Jiang Cheng says with a shrug.

“Where will you stay?” Lan Qiren asks and Jiang Cheng admires him for everything that he so clearly wanted to say and still swallowed.

There’s no way that was his first thought to this.

“Don’t know yet,” Jiang Cheng gets out with a desperate smile. “I’m gonna find a place.”

Lan Qiren looks at him as if he can tell exactly that Jiang Cheng is most likely not going to find a place and then he sighs.

“You’re coming with me,” Lan Qiren decides and Jiang Cheng gapes at him.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You’re not going to sleep on the streets or whatever you are thinking,” Lan Qiren almost snaps at him as if he’s offended even thinking about it. “I have a guest room and you’re going to use it.”

Jiang Cheng opens his mouth to argue, but then he realizes that there isn’t much he can argue against. It will most likely be awkward as hell, but Jiang Cheng is out of options, so really, what is he going to say to that.

Jiang Cheng tries not to gape when they come to stop in front of a huge house, because this neighbourhood is even nicer than Jiang Cheng’s own, and he only drags his eyes away from the house when Lan Qiren turns towards him.

“Jiang Wanyin,” he starts and Jiang Cheng dreads whatever comes out of his mouth next. “I have a spare key and you’re going to take it,” Lan Qiren tells him then and before Jiang Cheng can protests, a key is being pressed into his uninjured hand.

“What?” Jiang Cheng very dumbly asks but he doesn’t understand what’s happening right now.

“If that is a regular occurrence, I never want you to fret over where you’ll stay,” Lan Qiren says with vehemence. “If you can’t stay at friends of yours, then you’ll come here. I have a spare room and no one who uses it and if I hear you’re sleeping on the streets or something equally outrageous then I’m going to drag you here by your ear.”

Jiang Cheng has to blink very fast at that, because his vision gets blurry and he thinks bursting into tears right now is only going to make Lan Qiren retract his offer.

“And if you ever need a place just to get away from your parents, even for just an hour, you also come here,” Lan Qiren goes on and Jiang Cheng is quick to nod, because if he already accepted, Lan Qiren can’t take it back anymore.

“Alright,” Lan Qiren says and squeezes his shoulder once before he gets out of the car.

He gives Jiang Cheng some time to compose himself, but when he finally follows Lan Qiren into the house and has to use the key to enter, Jiang Cheng bursts into tears again, because a very small part of him thought that maybe Lan Qiren was just fucking with him.

It’s almost not at all awkward when Lan Qiren hugs him, and even if it was, Jiang Cheng wouldn’t mention it.

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

It’s really nice to be held.

Next part

[joshstambourine]

Greta Van Fleet and Their Kid’s First Day of School

Y’all seemed to love my GVF as Dad’s head canon so I thought I’d continue on the same line with something else cute~ I’ve had this idea since I mentioned it in a fic I recently wrote (A Girl Named Ivy) so I thought I might as well throw a head canon together for it as well... SO I STOP THINKING ABOUT IT LMAO.

Taglist: @anditsmywholeheart @babydxll​

Josh

He strikes me one of those dads who is actually really excited for his kid to start school. Not that he doesn't want them around, or that he doesn't realize its the mark of the beginning of the end... but because he knows this is a part of growing up.

Josh can tell while they are out shopping for new school clothes that his kid is excited. They are beginning to feel grown up, even if its just in a small way --- and Josh is proud of them for that.

I just can't imagine him being the kind of parent that struggles with letting them go, instead I see him being the kind of parent that just wants to nurture their growth in everyway.

"What about this shirt for your first day? You know what we should get you?? A set of wheelies!"

"Josh they don't allow those in schools anymore..."

*Whispers* "We'll get you some wheelies, just don't tell mom."

He'd make sure he goes through the checklist the school had sent out multiple times, trying to make sure they have everything they could possibly need.

When the big day finally comes, he would be talking with his little one all morning making sure they know they are going to have a great time and make lots of friends.

He would want to help make their lunch but instead just spends all his time drawing a picture of a rabbit with a cowboy hat riding on a goats back to put in instead.

Josh wouldn't be able to stop himself from looking in the rearview every few minutes to look over the little ones face. Trying to make sure they didn't look nervous at any point. If they do he'd find a way to reassure them.

"You remember that nice lady that gave you that cool cat sticker a few weeks ago? She's going to be there all day today! She's actually your teacher, isn't that cool?" Josh would just want to do everything in his power to keep them feeling relaxed.

"You give 'em hell today, okay?" Josh would say when they stood outside of the classroom, watching the little one nod. "Before you know it I'll be here to pick you up."

"You promise?"

"Of course I promise... I need someone to go get ice cream with!" He would say as he'd move to give them a tight hug.

"I love you."

"I love you too Dad."

As soon as the classroom door shuts, Josh won't be able to stop smiling the rest of the walk back to the car. He would be just so proud that he raised such a fearless kid.

The first thing Josh would ask when he picks them up at the end of the day,

"So? Did you learn how to move things with your mind yet?"

"No but did you know squares have four sides...?!"

Jake

Oh god.

Jake is going to be having such a tough time.

He wants to be a big strong man about this. "It's so silly... why would I be sad about them going to school?! That's ridiculous."

He would pretend like he didn't care.

Anytime his little one asks about what school is going to be like, he gives very quick pointed answers so he doesn't have to think about them being grown up enough to go.

"Is it too late to home school them...?"

"Yes Jake it's too late to home school them."

Jake just wants to hold hands the whole time they are school shopping. He doesn’t want to let them go.

"Jake, you have to let them go so they can pick out what they want."

"They can bring me where ever they want to be. I can help them reach what they need.”

The moment his kid puts their backpack on their shoulders, even just to test it out, he’s going to need to take a moment. When did his baby get so grown up?!

He thought that was bad but then the school assessment kills him.

Jake wants to be the one to make their lunch for their first day, its a special day, this little one deserves something special. He'd hide candies and other treats at the bottom so Mom won't see.

There is no way Jake isn’t driving his kid on their first day of school. He’s going to talk with them all the way to class with their hand clasped in his.

I think despite how well he covers it over, his kid can probably tell that he’s having a hard time letting them go.

“Dad?”

“Yeah...?” 

“I’ll be okay.”

Hearing them say that would make him smile, trying so hard not to cry. Jake would lean down and immediately give them a huge hug. “I know.” He’d tell them.

“I’m just going to miss you lots.”

“I’ll miss you too.” They’d say, “But. Mom says that I’ll have time to draw pictures probably. Would you like a picture Dad?”

“I’d love a picture.”

As soon as Jake gets back to the car he’s a sobbing mess. He’s so proud but its so hard to see your baby grow up.

Sam

Sort of like Josh I think that Sam is excited for his little one to start school. He has so much confidence in his kids abilities.

Sam would just assume that whatever task is sent his little ones way will be accomplished with all of their effort.

He feels like the kind of parent to hype up school any chance he gets for his kid. He wouldn’t want his kid to be nervous, so he’d say just about anything to keep them from being scared.

When Sam brings his kid in for the assessment he is just going to be absolutely beaming with joy.

He’s just such a proud dad. Getting to see his kid answer questions and have so much fun is going to have him over the moon.

“Buddy you did so good with those shapes! When did you learn those??”

Sam would be on the ball for school shopping. Everything that’s on the school given list and then some.

“Sam... they don’t need a dictionary --- they can’t even read yet.”

“Just incase! You never know!”

*Insert Sam looking for dirty words and snickering to himself*

He’d also want to practice so much with his kid before the big day comes. Going over their numbers and ABC’s so they feel nice and prepared.

When the big day does come around he is immediately going to have his camera out, ready to take some nice first day at school pictures. Whether they are waiting for the bus or he’s driving them to the school.

There are going to be like a million pictures. 

So many.

“You’ve got your crayons?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?! I just want to make sure. Oh and you’ve got your lunch box?? Mom made you such a good lunch.”

“Yup! I’ve got everything!”

“Excellent work~” He’d hum, “You're going to have an awesome first day!”

Danny

Danny I could imagine feeling a little nervous for his little one to start school

He would never tell his kid this of course; I feel like he would understand how well attuned kids can be to feelings, especially nervous feelings.

So he tries to bury his worried feelings.

They’d come out a little every time his baby shows any concerns about school. But he will stuff them down and try to be as reassuring as he can.

“You’re going to make so many friends, buddy! You aren’t even going to notice Mom and Dad aren’t there, y’know? They also have lots of cool toys.”

Danny seems like the kind of Dad that would want them to feel confident. So if that meant lots of new clothes, or cool school supplies. He’d get it for them. Above everything he just doesn’t want them at any point to have a hard time in this process.

In all honesty though he’s the one having the hard time.

His kid is probably hella excited.

Danny sort of strikes me as a parent who would pack a really nice lunch for his kid. Like. This kid isn’t just going to have a ham sandwich like the rest of the loser kids in their class.

#AestheticLunch

The scene I sort of keep running in my head is with Danny standing at the end of the driveway holding his kids hand, they're both just leaning out waiting for the school bus to come around the corner.

“Hey dad?”

“Yeah?”

“...I’m sorta scared.”

“Buddy, it’s okay to be scared. This is a new thing for you. It’s totally okay to be worried about it.”

“I know...”

“Is there something that’s scaring you a lot though?”

The kid would nod, “...I’m going to miss you.”

Danny’s heart would just melt, and he’d pull them up into his arms for a huge hug. “I’m going to miss you lots too! But. As soon as you get home we can play as much as you want, okay?”

Watching his kid get onto the bus is going to be such a scary thing, but he knows it’ll all work out.

I feel like he would plan something fun for afterwards. Whether it be like going to get ice cream, or taking them out to a movie. Just something to celebrate!

Well that’s all of those! Sorry they’re a little bit more briskly written I sort of wanted to get those out of my head so I can focus on the next part of What Friends Do. As always if you guys want an actual full fic written for one of these, let me know~ 

Fun note! My first day of school was proceeded by going to an amusement park on the Friday. Going to a friends house and dislocating my elbow on the Saturday. Having major surgery on the Sunday. And then sobbing my whole first day, the Tuesday.

[thesmokingguns]

Wendy and The Lost Boys Chapter 12 - FINAL

Warning: Drug use and Sex so please 18+

Note: Thank you to everyone who read this. It means a lot. I need some ideas for what to write next so if you have a request I would love to hear it! Thanks everyone !

It felt stupid to be this happy. Yet everyday he felt like he had won the lottery. Sasha was always doing things to make his day. It didn’t have to be anything big but just the small things she added to his life were improving Nikki’s outlook. They had spent the last three months together pretty much nonstop, getting into a routine together. Nikki liked waking up and having Sasha in bed with him or finding her in the kitchen reading books on the counter drinking coffee. He loved when he’d come home after a long day she’d be greeted with her jumping into his arms to kiss him. He loved their baths together where they’d lay together listening to a record and smoking cigarettes until Nikki would need to flip it to the B side.

Sasha took care of him. She always made sure that he had clean clothes to wear and that there was food in the fridge. There were always little love notes around if she left before him to give him a rundown of what his day looked like. She made him laugh with her quirky ways and had him remembering how easy things could be. Nikki had learned what it was like to be loved by being with her. Gone were the fears of him having to be this rockstar with some sort of persona he had to fit; she was right there going out with him most nights. The nights that she didn’t go out he knew what he had at home and nothing was really worth losing that.

But now things were about to change in the little house they had set up because the guys had just gotten a break to open up on tour for Kiss.

Nikki frowned looking  at his watch. She was running fifteen minutes late on the worst possible day to be late. They were supposed to go see Bad Brains at the Whisky tonight before the tour and he was looking forward to the show. All of a sudden he saw her sprint towards the car, waving frantically as she ran in her Jean shorts and Keds, a Crüe shirt Nikki had cut up for her swinging in the breeze. Her hair and makeup were already done and that cherry red smile was driving Nikki crazy as it shone across the parking lot. She was jumping into his arms and playing the merry fool he was spinning her, pressing his lips to hers in a heated kiss.  Sasha smiled being set on her feet.

“I got ready here so I won’t need to go home. So don’t look so stressed out about the time.” She knew him too well. Her finger wiped at his bottom lip and she was slipping inside his Porsche, pushing her school bag into the backseat. He hadn't expected her to be ready and a sense of relief washed over him knowing they had saved an hour he had planned for.

“What are we going to do with all the time we have?” He asked, driving them towards the Strip. She leaned across kissing the side of his mouth having a few ideas of what they could be doing together. He was tense under her touch and she could see the wheels spinning in his mind, “Are you going to be okay?” He felt her squeeze his bicep and her head on his shoulder. He wouldn’t be gone for that long from her. Especially since she would be going to Irving tomorrow with him and taking the bus to LA where she would be dropped off in LA for four days with Nikki going to Phoenix and then Las Vegas. She was fine with him coming home after all the dates but he had asked her to come see them in Vegas because they had some new songs he wanted her to hear them play for the first time.

“Are you going to be okay without me?” She shot back, he tensed as they stopped at a red light. He could turn and give her attention now. Sasha couldn’t believe  how serious his face was about everything and she really did worry if he was going to be okay, “It’s only a few days, Sixx. What the hell are you going to do when you’re touring Europe?” She teased. Nikki was holding her face in his hands.

“I’m going to play shows at night and during the day when I’m hungover I’m going to take you around to see everything.” He loved the way she smiled at that. He believed that’s really what they would do together. A loud beep behind them broke up the moment they were sharing together. Nikki gave a glare to the person behind them before driving forward, his  hand on her thigh, “As long as you want to be with me I’m going to make sure that you’re along for the ride. I want to make sure you get to be here because you’re the one for me, angel.” It was easy to get lost in his words. Even though they hadn't said it yet it was obvious they both were in love with each other.

He watched her at the bar, her easy laughter with their friends and the way she was sipping on her beer occasionally throwing looks his way. She was so easy to get along with and he could see how a group of people could always be drawn to her. He watched her pull out a cigarette, her favorite party trick, and the amount of lighters reaching out before she even had it to her mouth made him shake his head. There was this agreement around them about jealousy and people. They both knew there were always going to be people around both of them and they had made sure to talk about what expectations were around that. If they came together they would leave together and they both knew that. Nikki sipped the bourbon looking away from her for a second to talk to someone. When he went to go check on her at the bar again she was gone.

Laughter and chatter filled the women's room. Girls pushed shoulders gently applying lipstick and helping girls fix their hair. The comradery of a women's bathroom was one of the best parts of shows. Sasha finished brightening up her lipstick, fluffing out her hair, turning to pull her shorts up higher to give even more of her ass to hang out the bottom. Her eyes caught sight of girls doing lines and her body suddenly craved the white powder. Tommy hadn’t ratted her out to Nikki about the cocaine she had been using before moving in and to her credit she had quit well she had been with him. Even though he would party she knew the way that he worried about her and it would be an issue.

“Do you want a bump?” the girl was holding out a red glass vile, smiling at her. Sasha chewed her lip, feeling her skin suddenly burning wanting it. She held out the side of her hand letting the laughing girl tap out the white powder in a small line. Before she realized what she was doing she had her nose sniffing across her finger, her whole body coming alive. She shook her head, smiling as she licked her finger to get any trace of the drug off.

“Oh fuck.” she rubbed her neck and laughed along with the girls, her heart racing as one of them dragged her out of the bathroom. Since she had gone to school and had gotten sorority sisters it had become so fun for her to have a group of girlfriends around at all times. Even if they were just strangers from the bathroom.

The group of girls had been drinking at the bar, the loud laughter as they shut out guys trying to walk up to them. Sasha, who was usually blossoming with confidence, was even more high on the attention. She leaned over the bar smiling down at the bartender and waving him over.

“Frankie, can I have the whole bottle of vodka? Please?” she put on her pouty face and when he tried to look up, probably trying to see where Nikki was so he could reel in his girlfriend, she grabbed his face, “My eyes are right here.” the girls in the group all were teetering and when the man sighed giving her the bottle she smiled her award winning smile. “Are you girls ready to have some fun?” she asked, tilting the bottle into her mouth.

Sasha was climbing up on the bar, stepping over drinks and dancing along to the music. A few of the girls had followed her up onto the wood space but weren’t casually using the space as their own dance runway. Whenever someone would complain she’d bend down, tilting their head back as she poured vodka into their mouths. Nikki spotted her and thought she was absolutely wrecked. He was pushing through the crowd wondering how in the half hour he lost her she had gotten this wasted. He watched her pour vodka into her mouth guzzling it down in a way that would make Mick proud.

“Angel.” she heard her nickname and turned quickly, bending down to where the bassist was at the corner of the bar. She tried to pour the bottle down his throat but he quickly took it from her, handing it back to the man tending bar. Watching with a slight smirk as she gave him this little pout. “I think it’s time to go.” she gave him a look and he saw her bloodshot eyes. Obviously she had drank way more than he had given her credit for. She placed her hands on his shoulders letting him lift her down off the bar. Sasha knew better than to fight to stay out. If he was ready to go home that’s where they would be going.

It was quiet as they walked back to the car and she was worried that he was mad at her. Even though Nikki had her wrapped up in his arms the silence gave her a little bit of worry. She ran her hand down his arm, resting her head against him as they walked.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked, finally getting the courage to speak. She heard the rumbling of a chuckle and looked up to see his amused face looking down at her. Nikki held her face in his hands leaning down to kiss her . The fear she had melted away from this action.

“I love how fun you are.” he eased her fears with his words and she felt better knowing that she wasn’t on his bad side. “Now, cmon, angel. If we’re leaving early I’m going to take advantage of the time that I had with you.” The smile was over both their faces as they went to the Porsche and headed home.

Tommy’s eyes narrowed, his gaze on Sasha who seemed a little flustered as the drummer of Kiss pinned her in the corner. Her usual cool demeanor changed as her eyes shifted around the room, trying to look past the man. When her eyes landed on him,, Tommy was pushing through the crowd, trying to find NIkki in the chaos backstage but needing to get to her. She reached out a hand when he was close letting Tommy yank her away from Eric. The man turned, stunned to see him giving her a once over. The way her eyes were looking made him know that she was shaken up.

“Hey man, aren’t you guys supposed to go on?” Tommy swore, he was right. He couldn’t find Nikki because he had probably already grabbed his bass and headed towards the stage. He grabbed Sasha bringing her to the side of the stage. He could see the way she was looking behind her, hugging Nikki’s jacket together around her. She was uncomfortable and had nervous energy radiating off of her.

“Listen, stand right fucking here. And if that creep comes near you, you just step onto stage. Don’t let him get you alone. I’ll deal with the prick.” He looked up at the guys on stage and sighed rushing out.

It was only the second show of the tour and Sasha already wasn’t sure if she was cut out for being on the road. As much as she loved seeing the band play and partying it was like being at a restaurant and she was the main course. Nikki was shooting glances at her from the stage. He had seen the way Tommy had placed her and had a feeling like something wasn’t right. He looked at Sasha again, smirking when he saw her singing along to the songs he had written. She was wrapped up in his jacket, covering up the tight black dress. He wished it would always be like this, the feeling of being on the stage with so many people singing his music and the cherry on top was having his girl there.

“Got ya.” The hands on her hip made her jump, her heart sinking as she realized that she had let her guard down again. She was being jerked back, her eyes leaving Nikki who had just been looking at her a second before. Her eyes went to Tommy who was slamming the drums so hard he couldn’t pay attention to her, “I’ve heard stories about the band and how they share their girls. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind helping me out.” He was pressing her hand against him as she tried to yank away. “Don’t play hard to get, sugar. I’m not into that shit.” He was pulling her towards the dressing room and Sasha was thinking if she should scream. Her eyes looked around and the last thing she wanted to do was fuck that up for them.

“Let me go.” She hissed through gritted teeth. She was trying to tear away from him but this just made the drummer hold her wrist tighter.

“I’ve warned you once.” He was by her ear, hissing in annoyance, “We only have twenty minutes before I have to go on and I want those pretty lips wrapped around my fat cock.” Sasha slammed her heel down on his foot, the spike literally piercing the boot and causing him to scream out, his hand loosened and she was kicking off her shoes running back to the main area backstage. “YOU FUCKING BITCH!” She saw the guys coming off stage and rushed over practically knocking Nikki over as she jumped into his arms.

“Hey , Angel, you disappeared for a few minutes there.” He was sweaty from the stage but he held the girl close, kissing her as she looked up at him with her wild blue eyes.

“I wasn’t done with you, sugar.” A hand was grabbing her forearm and Nikki moved her behind him stepping towards the Kiss drummer.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Nikki growled, he didn’t know who the duck this guy thought he was putting hands on his girl. He could see T-bone walking up next to him and realized now why the drummer was late to get on stage.

“Listen man, it’s your life. We all share.” Nikki felt his eyebrows furrow together. It was so easy for this guy to talk about his girl like that and he did not like that, “You can’t bring your groupie girlfriend to shows and not expect to have to share her with everyone.” Tommy was stepping up now. Touching Sasha’s shoulder to let her know it was okay before saying anything.

“That’s my fucking sister, asshole.” He realized now that he had really messed with the wrong girl.

“And that’s my girlfriend. If you touch her, fuck, if you even look at her again I’ll break your hands so you never play drums again.” Nikki warned. He turned looking at Sasha who was nervous. “Cmon, Angel.” She let him tuck her into his side as they left the building. Nikki got her into the bus and turned pulling her into his arms tightly. “Are you okay?” He whispered into her hair. His heart was pounding and all that he could think about was he was going to be leaving her for a few days alone.

“I’m fine. Nothing happened. That guys just a dickhead. You’re crushing me though.” She added poking her head out and looking up at him with a reassuring smile. He had such a serious look, a frown etched on his face. “Nikki, stop worrying about me. I’m going to be fine. I’m going to drive your car too fast, go out every night with the girls, do tons of drugs, and maybe even do amateur night at the Seventh Veil to pay the rent.” She teased him.

“If you do amateur night I want to be there.” He smiled, picking her up and moving towards his bunk. “Why don’t you help me break in the bunk and we can say our goodbyes properly?” He laid her on the bunk pulling the curtain closed behind them. “We don’t have a lot of time, angel, so let me have you. You’ve been taking your pills like a good girl, right?” he watched the way she blushes when he calls her a good girl but Nikki has realized his girlfriend is quite submissive and likes it when he talks to her like this. She nods her head and he smiles, stroking her cheek.

Sasha is shimmying out of his jacket trying to maneuver in the small space. The jacket is off and Nikki is pulling up the short dress, moaning with approval as he sees her bare pussy. Before she can think he’s running two fingers along her wetness, pushing into her core without warning and coming out covered in her honey. He’s licking hungirly, tasting her on his fingertips.

“We don’t have long.” she warned him because she can see Nikki getting carried away with all the things that he wanted to do with her. His eyes flash to hers and for a second she thinks he’s going to warn her not to rush him but instead he nodded his head. His fingers unlacing his pants.

“I’m going to take you hard and fast, Angel. You’re going to be sore tomorrow but I want you to ache for me.” she nods her head as he moves over her. Sasha reaches up, pulling him down into a kiss, tasting him. The cigarettes and whiskey overwhelmed his senses. Nikki is pushing into her, the thickness of him stretching her as her body molds to him.

“Fuck, Daddy.” he pulls away, this devilish smirk on his face hearing her call him this new nickname. Her eyes are fluttered half closed as he’s moving himself into her. HIs hands grip her hips making it so she can’t move an inch. She was always loud during sex but Nikki is kissing her now because he’s sure that if there are fans outside the bus they can hear her. He wants more of her and is ripping down the front of her dress, watching as her tits bounce as his body slams into hers. He’s never this rough with her but it’s very apparent that she’s loving it. Her wetness is slipping out of her body onto the sheets. He’s going to smell her every day he’s gone.

His fingers brush against her clit and she’s loud in the gasping moan that comes out, her mouth in a perfect circle. Needy in the way she’s pushing against him, demanding more without speaking a word aloud. Nikki feels her thighs, shaking against his body as she’s already starting to lose control.

“Cum for me angel.” he  growled out, his hands phishing her back down to get her ass to go up higher., “I’m going to fill you up. You’re going to be dripping me out on your taxi ride home.” her blue eyes flash up at him and she’s so lost in the pleasure of him fucking her that she was not shy. Her usual blush was just flushed cheeks from her pleasure

“I want you to fuck me harder. Please, daddy.” She knows she got to him because NIkki’s groans loudly at her words. Not the usual pants or moans he’d barely get out. The sounds of their bodies meeting with hard wet slaps was filling the bus and her skin was raw and red from his aggression.

“Get on your hands and knees, angel. If you want it rough you’re going to get it.” Flipping over she arches her back, her ass in the air, wiggling it suggestively and gasping out when the hard slap Nikki lays on it stings her.

“NIKKI!” she looked behind her shoulder, mouth slightly open from the surprise spank. The bassist is smiling, grabbing her hips and bringing her back against her cock. It’s deeper in this position and he can hear her soft groans into the bedspread as she adjusts to him at this angle. Her fists are in the sheets and he brings her hips back. Nikki  pushes up her dress, hand on her back as he’s ramming into her. She has nowhere to go and her body is shaking as drives himself deeper. HIs hand slaps her ass again, watching her head toss back and the small smile she gives him.  

Her ass is rosy red from him getting over excited and slapping at it. He tells himself he needs to stop or she won’t be able to sit in the cab on the way home from the spanking. His fingers slide between her legs and he’s not sure if she’d ever been this wet for him. He let his two fingers press against her clit, feeling the motion of himself rocking into her. The sticky wet sounds filling the bunk along with her muffled pants and moans. He circles her button, opens his fingers and slides it between tugging at her nerves and feeling her seem to lift up at this.

“I want you to cum for me now. I’m ready to fill you up and I want to feel you squeezing every drop from me. Deep inside of you. Can you do that like a good girl?” She's a mess of blonde hair but he sees her nod. He wants more time to play with her and explore all the things that make her shake for him. Instead he;s rubbing her clit side to side with his other hand going to her stomach; he knows when she finished she was going to collapse. “Tell me where you want me to cum,angel. You tell me what you want.” This feral need to hear her want him is filling Nikki, as he’s trying to keep himself steady and not lose himself in her.

“I want you to fill my pussy.” He hears her gasp out as he pressed her and then she is coming apart. He watched her elbows fall and her ass is higher as he feels her squeezing around him, drawing him deeper. Nikki’s hand slides to her back to steady himself as he pushes into her, his cock twitching as he starts to fill her.

He was switching out of horny mode as he pulled out of her, his eyes smirking as her ass slid down so she was laying on the bed. It was red from his hands slapping against it and he knew it must sting. Her eyes were sleepy and he knew this was where the usually aftercare of sex came in. He felt guilty knowing she couldn’t shower and clean up right away or come into bed to wrap herself around him, letting him kiss the hickeys and marks he lovingly made. Part of her love language was the need for him to take care of her after sex.

“Angel-“

“I know I need to leave so you can leave.” She muttered, adjusting herself so her dress covered her again. Nikki laid down next to her taking her hand in his, running his thumb over her fingers. “I need to go. Sixx. You’ll be fine.” She teased nudging him out of the bunk.

Nikki helped her out, making sure to grab his jacket and wrap it around her. He could see she was uncomfortable and his mind was racing thinking of what to do or say to her. Before he could get a word out Mick was walking onto the bus.

“Your cab is outside.” Nikki felt this weird compulsion where he wanted to ask her to stay but he was afraid because she would say no. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go but it was that she had her own dreams that she needed to meet.

“I’ll see you in Vegas in a few days. Try not to get arrested. Please watch Tommy for me.” She asked with a small smile. She was in tip toes kissing him, letting him wrap her in his arms before she got off the bus with a small wave and left him to go tour.

Sasha was pulled from the hotel room, her nose slightly bleeding from all the coke she had been doing with the girls. Her sorority sisters had convinced her to get on a flight Wednesday afternoon with them to go to Vegas. She was supposed to fly in Friday morning to be with Nikki but after class that day they knew she was done for the week and had met her in a cab to drag her to the airport.

Now they had been drinking and doing drugs for the last five hours and she was so fucked up. The red leather dress she was wearing clung to every curve and left very little o the imagination. The night sky was illuminated with neon lights and they all stopped for a second to look around. It was cooler at night and she wished she had brought a jacket but before she could say anything her arm was looped with her friend Jamie and they were headed out down the Strip.

“Are you good?” Her friend asked as they went into a packed bar. Instead of giving an answer she just laughed rushing through the group and out to the dance floor, plucking a drink from someone’s hand as she went. Her body twisted around people, her head spinning as she laughed. Her friends were all around her, dancing together as they enjoyed the night with just the girls.

The phone was ringing for what seemed like the hundredth time without someone answering the damn thing. Nikki slammed the receiver down reaching for his cigarettes. She was supposed to be home hours ago. Nikki hadn’t spoken to his girlfriend in twenty four hours and was now losing his mind. Tommy burst into the room, not knowing why they weren’t out on the town together. He saw the grouchy look on the bassists face and knew what was bothering him before he even said anything.

“She’s probably out with her friends, like you should be.” Tommy motioned for the door and Nikki sighed. He should go out with the boys and enjoy Vegas. There was the chance she had picked up extra shifts at work or she was out with her girlfriends. Maybe she was going to a roller disco or spending too much  money on the clothes she would tease him in until he was ripping them off. “C’mon, Sixx. There’s a nightclub downstairs and you can make fun of everyone and we can get wasted and charge a bill to one of the dudes in Kiss’s room.” He was getting up following the drummer out of the room.

“This better be fun. And she better not call when we’re out.” Nikki grumbled as they got in the elevator. He had talked to her about their schedule and there was no reason that she should be missing. Tommy did have a point about her having her own life. He wanted her to be able to have time with her friends but he was feeling codependent. And she was the first person in his life that he really missed.

He hated the music but he sat at the bar drinking anyway. Tommy was trying to find girls and blow for them well he people watched. Sasha would love it here. He could imagine her dancing to the shitty disco music, her laughter as people clapped along to songs. He was missing her so much he swore he heard the sound of her laughing. His eyes scanned the crowd and his eyes narrowed as he saw a girl that looked like one of her friends. Nikki was standing up moving through the dances in a fog. There was no way that she could be there but sure enough he saw the tight red leather dress, her hand out as her friend tapped a bump of cocaine out and her sniffing, rubbing her nose after and downing her drink. As if she sensed him, her eyes looked up meeting Nikki’s.

“Oh Shit.” he heard her mutter, the girls looked up as he got closer and they all had the sense to scatter instead of dealing with him, “Hey, Sixx. Fancy meeting you here. Lets dance.” she joked in reference to the Bowie song playing. Here she was, partying, nose red from all the coke she had been sniffing, in this tighter than life red leather dress looking like a dream. All the fears of her being dead were gone and Nikki couldn’t help but lean forward kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, wiggling her body and he rolled his eyes.

“One song, angel.” he warned, watching the pure delight on her face. He grabbed the red glass vile she was holding tapping out some powder on his hand and sniffing it up. “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. None of this shit when we get home.” she knew he meant the drugs so she nodded. Her hands raised in the air as she wiggled closed to him.

“Let's dance, Sixx. And then you can take me up to your hotel room and give me all the love that I earned after the tour bus. I couldn’t sit right for a full day.” she gave him a pouty look and he was kissing her again thinking of dragging her up to the room now. He wanted her, all of her and it was all that he could think of.

“I wish you were wearing a white dress.” he was dragging her close.

“Way to make a girl feel good about herself.” she muttered. A teasing smile on her lips, “I thought you’d like my rock and roll outfit. I was going to rewear this for your show on Saturday but I guess not.” He looked nervous and she suddenly wondered if they had both were too fucked up. “Hey, let's just get out of here.” She was pulling him off the crowded dance floor but Nikki had this look on his face like he was realizing something.

“Would you marry me tomorrow?” He asked as they got over to where the bar was. He was looking at her and realizing things he had been taking for granted. Sasha laughed while sipping the water she had ordered to cool down.

“Of course. You know how I feel about you.” They haven’t said the words yet but she hoped he still knew. Nikki was looking at her still, the intense gaze throwing her off kilter. “Why are you looking at me like that? You’re making me nervous.” She admitted but he was grabbing her hand and not seeming to realize he was acting like a complete maniac.

“Do you know how I feel about you? Do you know how much I love you? Because I do love you. I love how you take care of me without me even realizing you’re taking care of me. I love how you gas up my music and make it seem like we’re topping the Billboard charts. You always show up, even when I was an asshole you’d come to shows and be there for us. You love me outside of the stage makeup and rockstar shoes. You love me in the kitchen making dinner or on Sundays when I watch football. You love me and not who I need to be. You know me so well and you don’t resent me. And you trust me.” He was ranting but she was listening, her eyes on him as she took in everything he was saying to her, “You’re the first person I’ve ever missed. It’s a big joke about how pouty I was leaving but, my god, when you’re not around it sucks. So please marry me tomorrow, Angel. We can elope in a little church and start our lives in true richer or poorer fashion.” Sasha realized that he was serious and that he really did want to marry her.

“April 1st. I’ll marry you on April 1st. That way you never have an excuse to forget our anniversary.” She teased. Nikki scooped her into his arms, her legs wrapping around him as he carried her into the hotel room. They had less than 48 hours to plan everything.

“Where the fuck is Tommy?” Sasha asked, turning to look around the small room she and her girlfriends were in. They were all crammed into the Vegas wedding chapel and there was this weird unspoken question with everyone wondering if this was just an April fools joke the couple was playing on everyone. But the girls had gone out to help her find the vintage lace tea length dress she was wearing. They had all gotten the red dresses to be her stand in bridesmaid and they made sure she had a bouquet of flowers. They seemed to realize when she bought a wedding ring for her soon to be husband that this wasn’t a joke for her.

Tommy burst into the room holding a couple boxes wrapped in newspaper and balancing a bouquet of pink roses on top. Sasha rushed forward grabbing the flowers before he dropped them, smiling as she sniffed the fresh buds. Tommy had on a white shirt that he had tucked into leather pants and his usual beat up Chuck Taylor’s on. He had a pink rose pinned to the denim jacket that he was wearing.

“Your groom has sent you some gifts.” He said putting them down on the table. Before she could open them he was pulling her aside, “Are you guys seriously getting married because Nikki is putting a lot of effort in and I can’t decide if it’s all just an April Fools joke or

not.” He seemed confused by everything that was going on and his head was spinning. Nikki had been so dead set against relationships and now he was going to marry Sasha after only being with her officially for maybe three months. It seemed crazy.

“You’re walking me down the aisle and I’m going to marry Nikki. But first you need to give him this.” She handed him a box that was wrapped in white paper, a gold bow on top that she made and probably took her a half hour to tie. Tommy groaned after being the errand boy. “Here, take a shot with me before you go.” She was pouring out Jack Daniels in healthy amounts into the glasses, shooting it back as he left.

Her attention shifted to the gifts on the table and she grabbed the smaller box first. Inside was a pair of Keds, she smiled seeing Nikki’s neat hand writing ‘Mrs.Sixx 4-1-83’ on the shoes. A small note inside the box said this was for her to not get cold feet. She slipped the Keds on, glad to get rid of the heels. The next box revealed a leather jacket where he had put a Motley Crue patch, a few pins, and on the back was Mrs. Sixx. Another note let her know that it was for the concert tonight. She couldn’t contain her smile thinking about how she was going to be his wife. She was so excited and didn’t have any fear in her about him. She wondered if she was stupid for not taking a second and thinking about what it would mean to be his wife. She had just wanted to be with him and she was going to do it.

Nikki tied the black boots she had bought him, smiling at how they both had very similar gifts. Instead of giving him a jacket she had made him this scrapbook. It had a ton of stuff from the start of the band she had saved, making him realize how she had been there for it all. And then there were pictures he didn’t know existed of the two of them. Images of them in the morning at the original apartment with her sitting on the windowsill and him I’m talking. There were pictures of Halloween with her in her bunny costume, a random hand that he was sure was Vince’s creeping into view to grab the tail well he had his arm around her. His favorite picture was this one where they had been talking, sitting on a stone wall and he was cupping her face. They had been talking when Tommy had snapped the picture and he had turned to look for the photo but she was looking at him with pure love.

He knew that he wouldn’t ever feel the way he did for Sasha with anyone else and as much as he joked about not getting married until the late 80s it felt like then to elope in Vegas. He still wanted to be in the band and get big and he wanted her to finish college and have her life. The marriage wasn’t going to stop either of them from having their goals but it just cemented them together. Nikki loved her. He wanted this whole life with her and he wasn’t going to rush everything else like kids but he wanted her love selfishly to himself. He wanted her to be his wife and for everyone to know that she was off fucking limits. He looked at the time and knew that it was time.

Nikki was standing at the end of the aisle, next to Elvis. He hadn’t wanted to get married by Elvis but this was really their only option in the city. Plus when they had been asked if they wanted Elvis Sasha had laughed so hard thinking it was a joke and when they had told her it was a serious option she couldn’t say no. Mick and Vince were beside him and her girlfriends standing across from them. He gulped hearing the wedding song, pulling at his leather jacket and running his palms over the black denim. He was thankful she had asked for pictures to be taken because he never wanted to forget the moment he saw her. Her vintage dress was exactly what he had imagined her in, the Keds he had made for her showing as she walked down the aisle holding his drummers arm. She gave him this smile about halfway down and Nikki was walking towards her, leaning down to kiss her before he knew what he was doing.

“Dude you’re supposed to wait until I hand her off to you.” Tommy said shaking his head, but Nikki was taking her hand walking her up to Elvis. She handed her bouquet to one of the girls and he took both her hands, kissing them.

“You’re gorgeous.” He loved seeing the pink in her cheeks and the way her blue eyes sparkled at his compliment. “I love you.” He had waited too long to say it and now he couldn’t stop telling her.

“I know.” She retorted with that big smile. Her eyes shifted to the man that was marrying them and suddenly everyone was waiting for the big April Fools announcement. But the couple was staring at each other with such intensity and saying I Do.

“I now pronounce these two hunka hunka burning lovers, as Man and Wife. You can kiss your bride.” Nikki held her face in his hands, feeling her hands on his biceps. A smile on both of their faces as they pulled away.

“Hello, Mrs. Sixx.” Nikki said softly, watching the way her blue eyes flashed in excitement.

“Hi Mr. Sixx, are you ready for your concert?” She asked as he weaved their hands together.  The pair moved out of the church, rice being thrown at them like a weapon thanks to the boys. Sasha grabbed the jacket Nikki had given her, shrugging it on.

“You two really got married. That wasn’t an April’s fool joke?” Vince asked, stunned as he looked between the pair of them. Nikki had his arm wrapped around His wife, a smile on his face. The photographer was still taking pictures of them.

“I’m Mrs. Sixx now, Vinny boy. That means no more goose honking my ass.” She warned looking at the lead singer. The blonde man looked crushed by this fact. If he had known this wasn’t a joke he would have honked all morning.

“I told you it was real.” Mick told them. The couple were smiling at each other not seeming to care about the argument that everyone was having around them. Nikki kept spinning the ring on her finger. She had on a sapphire ring with diamonds around it because she had been obsessed with the Royal Wedding the summer he met her. Obsessed to the point Nikki found a hoard of magazines about it. He loved feeling the ring on her finger and loved how she looked in the leather jacket with his name on it.

“Nikki.” She said his name softly and his attention was all hers. “This is the best day of my life. I love you. I’m always going to love you. I just wanted you to know that.” The bassist had felt alone for so long and he knew now that it was them in it together.

“You and me, Angel. Forever.” He promised, sealing the deal with a kiss. They didn’t have anything but dreams and each other but they both felt like they had it all.

[lizacstuff]

Your thoughts on the epi? I thought it was a good episode overall. Serkan is acting the way I thought he would: he wants to be the perfect Dad, is scared she won't love him, is spoiling her but also teaching her things. I'm not quite sure why Kiraz isn't calling him Baba, maybe she needs time to adjust to calling him that. I have mixed emotions when it comes to the way Eda spied on Serkan. I understand she's worried but trust the man a little. No comments on Aydan and Ayfer! They are too much!

Hello! I liked the episode. It felt very light, very romcom-y and I thought it was very enjoyable to watch. Loved every minute of Serkan trying to be the ideal dad and I'm here for the Edser UST this ep brought. They want each other sooooo much. And, yes, Eda wants him, she wants him bad. I thought the custody thing at the end was silly and convoluted, but, hey, I'm totally here for the "they're not together and fighting their feelings, but forced to live together" trope so I will just ignore how unbelievable it would be for Edser to be drowning in hearteyes for each other all ep, getting along in regards to Kiraz, AND seemingly aware that Aydan/Ayfer were up to something and still allow a misunderstanding over their shenanigans to spiral to that nonsense degree.

Maybe the folks that think that Serkan & Eda were playing all the meddling family and friends are right, and they set it up beforehand, it's just that I've thought things were a fake out on this show so many times, only for them to be real, so at this point I'm operating under the assumption that this is just a romcom plot point to throw our romantic leads together and it's not worth examining it too closely.

I'll give my thoughts on the "Baba" vs "Serkan Bolat" thing and Eda's actions after we talk a bit about the B, C and D players... Thankfully we had plenty of Edser and Kiraz screen time this ep so the supporting stories didn't overwhelm the episode too much.

(much more under the cut)

That being said, who can we pay to get these people to mind their own f-cking business? LMAO. At least Engin and Piril weren't annoying and were actually trying to be helpful. I mean, Piril is still cancelled, but if she's not causing trouble now then she's not at the top of my shit list. However, I did laugh at her when she's sort of pleading with Serkan: "We've been friends for a long time, you'll understand why I did this." Um... what, Piril? You're sitting there approximately 72 hours after Serkan found out he has a child and he's already proven that he's ALL IN on being a father, and you expect Serkan to think you were right for hiding it from him? Cause why? He has already proven that any concerns you had about him rejecting Kiraz were invalid. The only thing wrong with Serkan's anger at Piril is that it will probably only last for that scene.

Anyone else think Kerem the assistant is an ass? Seriously, do they really want us to root for sweet Pina to be with this dickweasel? He's insecure, he thinks he knows it all, he's snarky and lashes out, he's vindictive. No thanks.

As for Aydan and Ayfer. Ooph. As punishment for their unprecedented assery this episode they both need to be stranded on a desert island with only each other. Only then maybe they'll learn not to insert themselves by such underhanded means. They're both giant pains in the ass, but Ayfer still annoys me more than Aydan. Because here's the thing, once Edser is back together and Serkan is happy, Aydan will fully embrace Eda again, but I don't think the same can be said for Ayfer. Did you see some of the bitchy, sour faces Ayfer was making, taunting Eda about her soft spot for Serkan. She's insufferable.

Turning to the nonsense meddling custody plot line, Kemal and Seyfi were just following orders, but what is Melo's excuse? It's unfortunate that the narrative pulled her into this. Ayfer may have her head in the sand, and not really care what Eda wants, but Melo does and she knew that Eda wanted to cooperate with Serkan and bring him into Kiraz's life, she knew that Eda was about 2 seconds from melting every time she was near Serkan, and that they were likely on the cusp of rekindling their relationship. There is no way she should have been complicit in trying to get evidence against Serkan or visiting lawyers behind Eda's back.

However, even after being complicit in Ayfer's nonsense, she still deserves a helluva lot better than Burak. That guy was annoying af this episode. What exactly does he think he's doing? I'm sorry, in that situation you step back and give the people going through such a monumental life change some space. Again, it's not like it needs to be forever, but you don't try and monopolize the kid's time the night of and 2 days after she meets her long-lost father. He needs to fuck all he way off.

Also since Eda had no interest in this guy, why is he coming over to tuck in the kid EVERY night? I get that he's been good to Kiraz and they have a nice relationship, but that's soooo overkill, it's just not normal. Especially since they've said they've only been living there a year. The only reason for a dude to revolve his entire life around a kid like that is because he's actively trying to get in the mom's pants. So when it comes to Burak's intentions, Eda is as dense as Serkan used to be with Balca/Selin/Actress. Burak only took that level of interest and inserted himself into their lives because he wanted Eda, and Eda should realize that and have a frank conversation with him. Eda doesn't even have to be cognizant that she will inevitably get back together with Serkan, she already knows she has no interest in Burak. She should tell him. And if she's already told him (which it seems she might have from her comments to Ayfer and Melo) she should put some boundaries in place because his presence was ridiculous.

It still blows my mind that this sad sack thinks he has a shot with Eda. Seriously, while the dude isn't hideous, he's also not attractive and he has the personality of dead grass coupled with the charisma of warm mayonnaise. He's not worthy of either Eda or Melo. The scene of Melo and Burak walking on the beach made me a bit uncomfortable. They're totally setting that relationship up, but so far all we see is Melo obviously harboring feelings for him as Burak broods over his Eda delusions. We'll have to see how this plays out, but I feel like Burak didn't need to be this upset over Eda for the story to work, and it would be a lot easier to root for him with Melo if by episode 5 if he wasn't still actively trying, as Engin said, to take over Serkan's family.

On to Edser and the newly forming Bolat family unit. It's funny, I'm not someone who thinks a woman needs to take her husband's last name, I think people should do whatever they want, but for whatever reason I really, really want Eda and Kiraz to have his name. Maybe because I think they all crave having people to belong to in a sense. Serkan because he was unloved and sent overseas alone at such a young age, Eda because she was an orphan, Kiraz because she didn't have a dad in early childhood. So for that reason, I really do feel like it will be meaningful to have them tied together that way as a family unit. They belong to each other now (or they will soon).

Along those lines, you say you're not sure why Kiraz isn't calling him Baba, narratively, I think it's because that will be a big milestone in their relationship. When she feels comfortable enough, connected enough, and secure enough with him to do that, it's going to melt all of our hearts right out of our chests. If she'd done it right away it wouldn't feel as special as it's going to feel when it eventually happens because she feels it (not just because it's a fact).

As for her calling him Serkan Bolat, I think it's adorable. That's how she knew him before, it would be weird if she called him anything other than that or Baba, (like Serkan or Abi) because then it would be like she was settling on that, but calling him by his full name, which is such a part of his identity, is cute and charming and pays tribute to the interactions they had before they knew of their relationship, and it's a signal that it's only temporary. Baba is coming, don't worry.

Loved Kiraz showing Serkan her room and all of her things, and really loved Eda standing there, smiling, soaking it in. I've seen a lot of criticism of Eda in this episode and she did have a few moments that were unnecessarily harsh, but I think it's also valid to give her a minute to adjust because this is a lot of change in just a couple of days. While she now knows Serkan had understandable, and even noble, reasons for what he did and said, that still doesn't erase the heartbreak and pain he put her through, or the 5 years of being a single mother and not having anyone to consult or needing to consult anyone on decisions regarding Kiraz.

I do think, though, that we didn't see Eda give him enough credit when he covered for her lies to Kiraz. When Kiraz asked her why she didn't tell her Serkan Bolat was her father and then asked him when mom didn't answer, he could have easily told the truth and thrown Eda under the bus, big time, but instead he comes up with something that passes as an explanation, doesn't make anyone a villain, but also doesn't make him look great. I wish we'd seen Eda recognize that. It was a magnanimous gesture on his part, since he and Kiraz were the ones who were lied to for 5 years.

However, her running a bit hot and cold this episode makes sense. On one hand when she's around him her heart feels that strong orbital pull towards him. She loves him. She always has loved him, she always will love him. Just like with Serkan, that will not change, and obviously didn't after heartbreak and separation. But it also makes sense that at times her head takes over and with it the fear and the memory of the pain and she freezes up a bit. It doesn't ding her or their love, she just needs time to let herself believe that this is really happening. That Serkan is back, that he still loves her, that he loves their daughter and wants to be a father and form a family. From the way she recorded those videos, how many times do we think she dreamed of them being a happy family together? I'm guessing a lot. Now it's within her grasp and I think she just needs to be sure that Serkan is for real before she fully succumbs to this dream.

She also needs to get over her pride, I'm sure there's a part of her (Ayfer's voice) telling her a woman doesn't go back to a man who hurt her that badly. But as we saw, girlfriend was snuggling with his shirt, she still has it so bad for him. But, pro tip, Eda, he wanted to stay the night, wouldn't it be so much more fulfilling to snuggle with the real thing? I promise it would... just let him in. The lawn scene was hilarious. Kerem is really and truly a gifted physical comedian. We know how tight the timelines are on this show and they don't get to do a lot of takes, but his stumbling over the furniture and falling was flawlessly done. Hande was great too... that bat! Of course the sexual tension in the robes and towel scene was magnificent. When she first walked in wearing that towell I thought my man was going to combust. That look on his face, priceless.

Speaking of priceless, what first-day Baba makes his little girl's dreams come true like Serkan Bolat does? Staying up all night to build her flying house? MY HEART!

What a fantastic first gift. It was incredibly thoughtful, it was meaningful to the two of them, and it was also Serkan giving a piece of himself (using his skills in what he does best as an architect) to her.

Absolute perfection.

And how sweet that Serkan wanted to spend the day with her alone!?! I really liked that because we all know he loves Eda, he wants Eda back, and he will use any excuse to spend time with Eda. And he could have done that here, but he doesn't. So the fact that he wanted to spend the day alone with Kiraz, clearly illustrates that his interest in Kiraz, his desire to be her father stands on it's own. Kiraz is not just an excuse to get close to Eda, he is pursuing both relationships, and they are both important to him.

Also you said that you have mixed emotions on the way Eda spied on Serkan, that she doesn't trust him, but honestly I really don't think it's about that. She might have been a little discombobulated by the idea because the man has never really spent any time with children and here he's thrust into fatherhood, but she trusts him and knows Kiraz is safe with him. Honestly, I think her biggest driving factor in following them is FOMO.

She doesn't want to miss this! She has wondered what kind of father he might be for years, and now she wants to witness it. She wants to be there and see what he's like when he's spending time with her. She also wants to be a part of it, and a part of her might be a little jealous. For years she's been the only parent, and now another parental bond is forming and it's natural she is curious what that's going to look like.

Melo even sees through her during their conversations while they're out spying. Eda pretends it's because she's worried that Serkan doesn't know what he's doing, but Melo susses out that it's really because she missed Serkan. I think she really just wanted to be a part of it.

And her ulterior motives are exposed when she reacts with jealousy over the park moms and then with Hulya. She's jealous over Serkan, but also over what it might mean if Serkan had a woman in his life that's not Eda. (Real simple way to ensure that doesn't happen, Eda, just saying). On first watch it was a little frustrating to watch Eda be upset about Huyla and not have it cleared up immediately. However, on the second time through I found it incredibly enjoyable to watch. Hilarious even. Knowing that Serkan is going to let her off the hook just a few minutes later, and it's not going to be a drawn out misunderstanding, it's very fun to watch him just totally bask in her jealousy. The way he sits there and giggles and is just so chuffed at her display was very endearing. Since he's been celibate for 5 years, I suppose he's earned an incrediulous laugh at her thinking he has all these women on the line.

Eda is not wrong to be concerned about the Bolat's ability to spoil Kiraz with material things, Aydan can get out of control, however I can't be mad at the pony. The girl asked him if he had horses the first day they met, she said she wanted a dad like Serkan who had horses, he HAD to get her one she could actually ride! The girl was deprived of her father for 5 years because both of her parents are stubborn, so, let's be real, she kinda deserves a pony. Besides Eda should be more worried about the "spoiling" she gets from her camp, where she, Ayfer, Melo and Burak let her get away with constantly running away/running wild, eating ice cream whenever she wants, being rude to strangers etc. The fact that she's taught it's okay to knock a customer's water over without apologizing is more damaging to a forming personality than a pony. (Yes, that was another dig at Burak.) The point is, spoiling isn't only about material things, and from the glimpses we've seen of Baba Serkan he's already taught her about taking responsibility (confessing to breaking the window and apologizing), being self sufficient (tying shoelaces, putting pjs on herself), and setting behavioral boundaries (don't shoot arrows at people in hotels, you shouldn't hug strangers). He's going to be a very good influence in her life, because despite growing up with material privilege the man believes in hard work, effort and personal accountability.

Anyway, loved that when Serkan told Eda about dinner with Engin/Piril/Can she looked so secretly pleased when she casually agreed to go. I think that goes hand in hand with why she was spying, she won't let herself admit it, but she so badly wants them to do things as a family. That was part of her tug o' war this episode. Wanting that, but then suddenly worrying that maybe she shouldn't want that after everything that's happened, those feelings are helped along by Ayfer's judgemental looks and comments, and Burak trying to assert his place and Eda maybe feeling guilty.

Eda's behavior at dinner perfectly summarized the war going on between her head and heart this episode. First she fights with Serkan, going so far as to tell him she hates him, but the second she gets good news she flings herself into his arms. He's the person she wants to celebrate with, he's the person she wants congratulations from. So even if she was mad at him, she can't help herself. Also thank you Engin for telling Eda how Serkan lost weight and didn't come to work for months after she left. Those are important things for her to know. Also reinforced later by Aydan.

And thank you, Jan, for planting that fear of her dad leaving again with Kiraz, because it gave us sleep over at the Bolat house. It also gave us Kiraz asking Serkan if he will leave her. A good question and I'm glad we have Serkan's promise to never leave her. Just with the way tragedy (and meddling family members and obsessed stalkers) seems to find both Eda and Serkan, it's good he's made that promise. And it's good that he knows she needs that promise.

Now onto the secret room. I suppose if you're going to keep all of that and you have a large house, then you might as well keep it in a special room. This was a huge missing piece for Eda. Something tangible that she can see with her own two eyes that proves that he never forgot her and has been pining for her since the day they parted. I thought Eda was suitably touched by it all, and the fact that he got her gifts for every birthday. Anyone else think that they're going to get married on the beach and she's going to wear those flip-flops, that white dress, and the locket when they do? That's what sprung to my mind. The Neslihan scarf product placement made me roll my eyes, though.

To be honest I really didn't care what the gifts were, all I cared about was that thank you cheek kiss. I DIE. The birthday-present-thank-you cheek kiss he gave her in 7 is one of my all time favorite scenes and this parallel was a long time coming and wonderfully executed. And then they delivered on the USTy stare off where they clearly want to make out, but they're not quite there yet. It was going to have to be Eda that broke them out of it, because up to Serkan they either kiss or he stares at her for the rest of time.

Did anyone else feel a crick in their back, neck, legs at how Eda slept on that couch? Serkan was as comfy as can be, stretched out using her legs as a pillow and her torso as a blanket, lol. I wish the editors would have given us a couple of more seconds lingering on them all contorted like that. It was too precious. It would have been sweet if they'd had Kiraz find them and watch them for a minute before waking them up. Show the parent-trapping gears turning in her mind.

Buba absolutely deserved Serkan showing up to spoil his outing. And of course both ladies instantly gravitated to Serkan. I liked this scene because it gave us over-the-top BDE Serkan, a whiff of "Drain the pool" Serkan, the comedy of Engin and Serkan doing the Cyrano thing, and the obvious little "fish" measuring metaphor. But what I really liked was Eda telling him that he didn't need to try so hard to win Kiraz, that he just had to be himself. That was important and lovely, and illustrated to him that she really did want him to develop a good relationship with Kiraz.

The best moments of the episode for them, though, came during their family stargazing outing. Loved Serkan's extra safety precautions, including the mirror just so he can see her in the backseat. Though, if he's that concerned about it, maybe a larger car, lmao? Kiraz tricking them into kissing was an auspicious start to the evening, hopefully that's a taste of things to come. I'm here for her forcing the two of them into intimate situations.

The way Serkan was looking at the two of them throughout the stargazing was something else. He was looking at them with such longing. Like he couldn't believe they were so close, but he wanted them so badly. DUDE, they are right there, continue to play your cards right (and not let Ayfer and Aydan spoil things, spoiler alert, they do) and you're just days away from having everything you want. Loved that he changed the Apollo story to give it the happy ending he wants. Hopefully, that gave hope to any doomsdayers out there that think this show is going to end in tragedy. (Spoiler alert, it's not).

The only shame is that they have that nice (if not detached from reality conversation since they pretend they're not going to be together raising Kiraz) adult conversation about cooperating and working out how they're going to deal with Aydan and Ayfer, only for things to go totally off the rails during said conversations. As I said off the top of this marathon post, it was totally unbelievable in the context of the rest of the episode, but as I always say you can't take this show too seriously, and I prefer to just enjoy the situations as they come and not get too annoyed when they take these writing shortcuts to drive the plot. I plan on very much enjoying Eda and Serkan forced to live together while they're (or at least she) is still pretending they're not going to end up together. Looks like next week is another fun romcom romp, and I'm here for it!

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Teenage Dream

CW: Pet whump/dehumanization/whump of a minor in 2nd section, some brief noncon references in 2nd and 3rd sections, gratuitous Katy Perry in every section because Chris wouldn’t fucking shut up until I wrote this.

---

“Come on, Aki, please? Please?” Tristan’s pleading is married to his big green eyes and his coppery hair shifting across his forehead. The perfect sincerity of his request would crack any facade of ironic detachment. And Akio is trying to look detached.

“Tris, nobody likes that fucking song.”

“That’s, that’s not true, ev-everyone does, it’s on on on the radio all the, the, the, um, the time,” Tristan counters easily, and Akio can’t exactly argue that. And he can’t say well nobody cool likes it, because of course Tristan wouldn’t know he was joking and not being mean. He can’t always tell what’s a joke and what isn’t, and Akio heaves the most dramatic sigh he can manage and allows the younger boy to pull him onto his feet, making a big show of dramatic reluctance as he goes stumbling forwards onto the practice mat. 

“Just because it’s on the radio doesn’t make it good, Tris.”

“But, but, but I like it, and-... and I had some, um… some ideas. Please, Akio?” 

There’s the big green eyes again.

Akio sighs, rakes a hand back through his hair only to have it flop back over his forehead, and smiles. “Yeah, fine. Okay, Tris, show me.”

“Yes! Awesome. Thank-... thank, thank you, Aki.” Tris pulls him in for a hug, crushing tight like nearly all of Tristan Higgs’ hugs are, and Akio tries to look aloof and above it all. Someone nearby wolf-whistles and Akio throws a middle finger in no particular direction in response. 

“Get a fucking room, Nakamura,” Lisa Huang calls out, stretching her legs off to the side. Akio changes the direction of his middle finger to aim directly at her.

“Yeah, but then you’d miss the show, Huang, and what would you do then?”

“Oh, oh, oh my God,” Tris mutters, his face bright red, but he’s bouncing on his toes and his fingers are tapping on Akio, so he knows it’s okay. “This, this, it’s not-”

“Hey, she’s just being a shit because she’s jealous I get the Tris hugs. Aren’t you, Huang?”

“Literally, I am going to melt into the floor from envy any minute now,” Lisa replies, sitting back on her hands. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to hug the Tristan Higgs and Akio Nakamura, huh? And yet-” She throws her hand over her forehead dramatically. “Neither of you ever notice me.”

“Sorry, Huang, my heart belongs to Tris.” 

“What?” Tristan’s eyes are wider than ever, not following the joke, it’s all so sincere to Tristan unless he’s mad, and then he seems to get sarcasm well enough. 

Akio just grins. “Kidding, Tris. Come on, show me the idea you had. I want to see, even if it means… listening to… that.”

“No, you’ll like it, Aki, I-I-I promise. Can, can, can you hit, um, um… play, Lisa?” Tris yells over the sound of the others talking, working out, practicing on the bars or the beams, the low-level noise the gym is always filled with. Akio and Tristan are officially not practicing today, but they’d both wanted to come here and Akio’s mom had been okay with driving them on her way to take Akio’s little sister to kiddie soccer, and Tris’s mom is going to pick them up later to take them home.

So here they are.

And here Tris is, convinced Akio should help him build a routine to Katy fucking Perry.

“Okay, Tris,” Akio says, and sits himself down at the edge of the mat next to Lisa Huang, legs crossed, elbows on his knees. “Here we go.”

“You know which song it’s gonna be, right?” Lisa says under her breath, finger hovering over the button on the ancient CD player that their coach lugs around. “You know it’s gonna be-”

“Yeah,” Akio breathes. “I know. Just hit the fucking button.”

Lisa laughs, presses play, and they watch Tris take a breath, shake out his shoulders as guitar starts up first. He flashes a smile at Akio over his shoulder.

You think I’m pretty, without any makeup on…

Akio manages to suppress a groan and watches Tris dance, the dancing is always effortless to him, natural rhythm running through him. 

“God, I wish men did music with their routines,” Lisa mutters. “He’d nail every single one.”

“He nails it anyway.”

“Yeah, but with a soundtrack.”

He takes position, runs, hits his mark, and flips three times, spins, and lands right as the voice sings, you make me feel like I’m living a teenage dream, slowly turning, dropping into splits and back up again. Akio feels his own legs tighten in sympathy. 

I can’t sleep, let’s run away and don’t ever look back

“I hate this fucking song so much,” Akio says, and watches Tris line up for his next run. 

“Yeah, but you like him,” Lisa points out.

Akio rolls his eyes. “Everyone likes Tris. He’s my best friend.”

Don’t ever look back, don’t ever look back-

Tris misses the landing this time and goes down hard, rolling across the mat. Akio’s on his feet before a second has passed, and by the time he makes it to Tris, the other boy is already laughing, shaking it off, ready to start again.

Akio helps him up to his feet, and fuck it, he’ll listen to the song again if he has to. He sits down next to Lisa again, but he can already see how it would work - he’ll move around Tris fluidly, they’ll match movements here and here and here, and then they can run past each other at just the right time…

Lisa looks at him sidelong. “Now, see, you’re getting into it.”

“He is.” Akio shrugs. “I just like seeing him all excited.”

“What would you do without Tristan Higgs, huh?”

Akio watches, carefully, as Tris nails the spin this time, watches him drop into the splits and back up, rock his hips. “I don’t know,” He says, finally. “Probably waste the fuck away, Huang.”

“Damn straight. Five bucks says you guys end up with one of those ‘if we’re not married by 30, we’ll marry each other and get eleven cats’ deals.”

Akio snorts. “I’m allergic to cats.”

There’s a silence. “What, is that your only problem with that plan?”

“I don’t see any downsides to the rest of it. Do you?”

---

Nancy clears off the breakfast table. Mr. Branch is long gone, up to his office for a meeting with a few state senators on a piece of legislation, something about changing a holiday over to another holiday or something. She isn’t all that interested, really, but Mr. Branch likes to talk through things with her or the little pet before he gives interviews or has meetings. Likes a sounding board.

She’s paid well enough to listen, now and then, to something she doesn’t much care about.

Still, it means she’s late getting the table cleared. 

She’s got her little radio set up in the corner, playing a soft rock station, just something to fill the silence broken otherwise only by the soft clinking of spoons on bowls. Mr. Branch had had oatmeal this morning, with fresh fruit and a drizzle of syrup on top, a scattering of almonds. Watching his figure, he says, with a smile, and Nancy always smiles back.

The coffee cup is going to have a ring, she’ll have to scrub that out, won’t she? Well, that’s not so bad. 

You make me feel like I’m livin’ a teenage dream, the way you turn me on, a woman’s voice blares out from the radio. 

Nancy wrinkles her nose. 

Teenagers, in her experience, are entirely too much trouble and don’t know a damn thing. A song glorifying that whole lack of self-control doesn’t exactly seem like a good idea to her. Teenagers are a hassle, messy and a struggle to care for, and she can’t figure out why Mr. Branch wanted to bring one into the house so badly.

Well, no.

She knows why.

She tries very hard not to think about it, but she knows.

Honestly, Baldur is probably the most well-behaved teenager she’s ever met. The poor thing doesn’t have enough memory to be ungrateful, and he’s not going to roll his eyes or talk back any time soon, is it? They train all those impulses out of them, in that WRU facility.

He wouldn’t dare.

She hears a soft scrape, the unmistakable shuffling footsteps of Baldur himself, and glances up at the door.

He’s peeking in, Mr. Branch’s skinny pet, hair hanging over his hazy green eyes, slightly narrowed in an attempt to see her in focus through the drugs he is fed each morning like clockwork, keeping him slow, docile, easy to control.

Maybe he doesn’t roll his eyes because he’d fall over if he had to do more than one thing at once, including simply standing up.

“Can I help you?” Nancy asks, adding a sharp edge to the question. Her stomach flips, as always uneasy when she’s alone with the pet. 

Baldur licks at his lips, carefully nudging the doorway open just a little more, his eyes shifting away from her and down to the floor. He’s barefoot and wearing a tailored sweater and slacks, like any high-class boy. What gives him away of course is the barefeet, and the collar at his throat, soft green leather that probably doesn’t feel any different than skin to him.

After all, he never takes them off.

Is he even fully aware he has one on?

“I… I like the song,” He says, slurring his words with difficulty. He sways a little, catches himself, sways again. Leaning against the doorframe for support. His eyes are so very wide, so deeply green. His narrow face is pinched with the effort it’s taking him to pull his thoughts together enough to speak. “On th’... the radio, Miss Nancy. Like th’ song.”

Nancy turns to glance at it, as though the radio had just appeared when he spoke about it.

Let’s run away and don’t ever look back, don’t ever look back

He likes the song? He isn’t supposed to like anything.

She steps over to the radio and briskly changes to a different station. A warbling country song is halfway through, something about lights and a woman who left. Every light in the house is on…

Baldur flinches back.

He looks like a sad sort of kitten, and it makes Nancy feel angry and guilty in equal measures. She leans into the anger to avoid the hint of thought inside of her that makes her think perhaps she should push the damn thing out the front door, put him on a school bus with the field trip children, and pretend she has no idea how he got there.

Make him someone else’s problem.

But then she’d have to explain how she knew he was here in the first place for this long, wouldn’t she?

 “You know you’re not allowed music,” She chides him, and watches him sink back into himself. She swallows back the guilt. She’s not the one who signed up to spread his legs for Mr. Branch, now is she? No, the boy made a choice, and it’s none of her concern what led to it or that he regrets it now.  “What would your Sir say if he caught you skulking around eavesdropping on hardworking employees instead of taking a nap, hm? Or doing your exercises?”

“He would… be upset,” Baldur says, softly. “I’m sorry, Miss Nancy. I didn’t…” He swallows, again and again, as though there’s something in his throat. His head drops against the doorframe and she wonders if Oliver gave him too much this morning, if the poor boy is going to collapse into unconsciousness right here. “Please… please don’t tell him, Miss Nancy.”

Well, he better not collapse, because she sure won’t be picking him up if he does. He can lay right there and wait for Oliver to handle his disobedience. “I won’t, if you’re a good boy now. Go back to bed, Baldur,” She says, a little more gently this time. “Your Sir will want you well-rested this afternoon, his schedule is cleared then.”

He looks up at her, and for a second he looks incredibly young, and terribly frightened.

Her heart twists, before she can stop it.

I didn’t make him this. He chose it.

She hardens her expression against his fear. He’s afraid of Mr. Branch, she knows it well enough. He’s afraid, and he’s bruised at the wrists and ankles most of the time. Last week there were red marks around his neck at breakfast, and Mr. Branch would only mention a game, the poor love couldn’t stand forever, I suppose. 

And he’d laughed.

She turns away from the pet’s terror, rattles the plates together to make a point that he is dismissed. She won’t look at those wide green eyes again. He signed a contract, after all. What is it to her if he doesn’t like the fine print? 

“Yes, Miss Nancy,” He says softly, and in a second he’s gone. She listens to the fading shuffle of his footsteps along the hallway, the sound of Oliver’s bedroom door opening and closing. He’ll be out before ten minutes has passed, she has no doubt. He’ll sleep away the morning like he sleeps away so much of his life. 

She makes a note to herself to be out of the residence before Mr. Branch comes back after lunch, ignoring the needling stab of something in the back of her mind, something very like guilt.

He’s a boy.

No, she reminds herself firmly. He’s a pet. And he chose to be one.

She turns the radio back to the soft rock station and tells herself she won’t think about him again.

---

“You think I’m pretty, without any makeup on,” Chris sings along with the mp3 player in the kitchen, dancing around with a wooden spoon up to his mouth like a microphone. “You think I’m funny when I tell the punchline wrong, I know you get me, so I let my walls come down… do-oh-own…”

His voice cracks on the high note, but Jake holds back any reaction, scrubbing at a stubborn spot on the countertop that he’s beginning to think is just part of the stupid house now. When does a stain stop being a stain and become a fixture?

And here you’ll see the sign of where I spilled pasta sauce and didn’t notice until the next day and what the fuck is the countertop even made of…

Not that Nat will sell this house, she’ll probably stay here until she’s a decrepit old woman surrounded by rescues taking care of her. The house is Nat, in a way that Jake can’t define and doesn’t really try. She’ll be telling people an epic story about it being a bloodstain or something one day, all wrinkled and gray-haired.

“My heart stops when you look at me,” Chris sings, and Jake watches his hair fly around as he spins, the copper catching yellowed morning sun through the kitchen window. 

Should he tell Chris that he doesn’t stammer when he sings?

The barcode on the inside of his left wrist is the black blot marring the moment, the numbers etched in ink, an instant giveaway if he stepped one foot out the door around the wrong people. Here, he’s safe to show it. Here, he’s safe.

Mostly.

As safe as Jake can make him. 

Jake’s rib still aches, off and on, but his black eye is gone and he’s back at school. It’s all back to normal, now, and Chris is right here where he belongs, where people love him, where Jake would take a bullet for him.

He can’t get the image of the shivering, shaking, terrified boy in the video he was shown out of his head. The way they laughed at his fear, the way he’d already learned to put out his hands to be hit when he was caught tapping to soothe himself. 

He can’t stop seeing that boy and his fear layered over Chris’s easy joy now. 

“This is real, so take a chance and don’t ever look back, don’t ever look back,” Chris winks at him, or tries to - really he just sort of closes one eye horribly slow - and then goes back to humming along with the music. He dances effortlessly, and Jake wonders if he danced, before he was frightened in a white t-shirt and black shorts, before he had a barcode on his wrist, before they stuck a needle in his arm and took out everything that made him whoever he’d once been.

What did Chris do, before he was Chris, before he was the pet, before whatever went wrong for him? Did he take dancing lessons? Did he get good grades in school? He kind of acts like maybe he did, doesn’t he? He seems like he wants to try so hard for anyone who believes he can do something... 

He can do backflips and cartwheels and climb trees, plays basketball with Miss Ruth’s grandson and his friends while Jake watches through a window, worried that he’ll be taken the next time, but not willing to lay that fear on Chris.

He’s scared of so much. Jake doesn’t want to add more terrors to the boy’s nightmares.

“I’m-a get your heart racing in my skin tight jeans, be your teenage dream tonight,” Chris sings, wearing a baggy t-shirt of Jake’s and baggier basketball shorts. Chris, who crawls into Jake’s bed more nights than not, ever since the raid, who sleeps curled up against him for warmth and safety.

Chris, who doesn’t test him anymore, but admitted that he’s scared that it will happen again. Who told Kauri, in whispers in the dark, that he’s never wanted to be with anyone, that it was always fear and pain and holding screams back behind his teeth while forcing himself to make the sounds they trained into him.

Jake’s stomach flips with nausea, guilt for something he couldn’t possibly have prevented. It’s not his fault, but it feels like it is, he feels like he should have psychically known the kid was out there and gone to find him.

He would have.

If anything ever happens to him again, Jake won’t stop until he finds him. He knows that. He understands that, with perfect certainty.

They’ll never take Chris, they could raid the house a hundred times, and Jake would make sure Chris never went back into that hell, no matter what. No, Chris gets to be safe, here, singing and dancing around the kitchen, like any teenager enjoying a moment where he wants to be a dork, and doesn’t care who sees it.

Jake smiles a little, giving up and sitting back in a chair at the table, watching Chris dance while he dries off a dish, goes up on tiptoe to put it in the cabinet, turns back, warbles, “My heart stops when you look at me…”

Did Chris have a girlfriend, or boyfriend? A partner? Just, like, a best friend even? Someone he cared about like this? Does this song tap on some buried memory or impulse towards loving someone? Jake just watches him dance, and sing, and smiles.

He doesn’t even protest when Chris starts the song over as soon as it stops.

I came back for you, he thinks. Just like I promised. Do whatever you want, I’ll be right here. I’m right here. You’re safe.

Jake hears a slight sound and turns to see Nat in the doorway watching as well, in her housecoat but with her braid done carefully up, arms crossed in front of her. Chris doesn’t pause, if he even notices her, just keeps dancing as he empties the dishwasher piece by piece with his back to the door, signing in a soft, slight, cracking voice along with the higher voice coming from the speakers.

Nat looks less shadowed, now, and her bruises have faded away.

Still.

WRU came to round up a pet, and Nat and Jake protected him, and fuck it-

If he wants to listen to music Jake hates, let him. He’s a kid. Let him be a kid.

Chris has lost enough.

Let him have joy.

---

“Do you remember this?” Akio can’t stop himself from asking, even though it’s a total crapshoot as to what Tris’s answer will be.

Not Tris. Chris.

The knowledge hurts, it’s a knife in Akio’s stomach every single time, that Tristan was lost so thoroughly that the man who showed up with his face and his blood and his bones didn’t remember his own name until he saw the video with Akio and had… some kind of breakdown or something. 

But Chris is so close, and Akio uses that to remind him that it means Tris is close, that he was never fully gone. He’s still here. He just looks a little different, now, he’s quieter, but it’s all still there, bubbling up and sinking beneath the surface again, leaving imprints of memories that make it easier for Chris to grab onto them and hold tight the next time. 

The way he smiles, the way he taps and rocks and sways and stammers, it’s all still there. It’s all still Tristan Higgs, in the end, and Chris Stanton and Tristan Higgs are the same fucking guy. The teenager in Akio’s memories and stored in old photos and videos on his computer and his phone is the same person as the man sitting next to him. 

One just… lived through some stuff the other one hadn’t yet, and has the scars - inside and out - to show it.

“I, I, I don’t know,” Chis says, leaning forward, looking at the video Akio’s pulled up on his laptop. They’re at an outdoor café, with the sun shining warm on their backs. Chris’s hair is starting to grow back in, the occasional blue tip fading back to new-penny copper, and the bandages are off of his face and neck. His forehead’s going to have a wicked fucking scar, though.

Chris says he doesn’t care, that it shows that he could change himself, when he needs to. That he isn’t just here to be changed by other people. His shoulder brushes Akio’s as he cocks his head. “Sorry, stuff… um, comes and, and, and goes.”

“That’s okay. Here, I’ll press play. We had this one finished, more or less, but we never recorded the full bit.” Chris nods, holding his coffee up to his mouth to sip at it. 

Akio hits play, and the guitar starts up.

Chris laughs, and it’s Tristan’s laugh - bright and unselfconscious, loud enough to get a glance from someone nearby reading a book, before they look back down again. “I love, I, I, I love this this this song!”

“Oh, Christ.” Akio laughs, too, he can’t stop himself. “Of course you’d still like that song. Of all the things you lost, you kept Katy Perry?”

You think I’m pretty, without any makeup on…

The routine starts with Tris and Akio together in the middle of the mat, watching each other, hands linked. As she starts to sing, they shift apart, and Chris watches, enraptured, so close to the screen that Akio almost can’t see it anymore himself, not that he’s watching the screen.

He’s watching Chris, instead.

Chris’s foot taps to the beat and he starts to rock a little, forward and back, biting down on his lower lip with his teeth as the Akio and Tristan on the screen separate enough to hit their separate corners. Tris runs forward - then Akio does, a half-beat later.

You make me feel like I’m livin’ a teenage dream

They match flips and spins. Tristan lands and then Akio does, spinning to look at each other, laughing as Tris drops into a split and then up again and Akio… definitely doesn’t do that. Akio can do a lot of things, but he is not risking that particular move, not the way Tristan does it-

Or… did it.

Let’s go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love…

“I, I, I remember doing this,” Chris whispers. “I, I made my mom pretend to to to, to, to, to-to be you in the backyard when I made, made it up. She was a really, really bad dancer.” He winces, rubbing at the side of his head.

Akio nods, slowly, leaning in, looking at Chris as he watches himself dance on the screen. He’s squinting against the ache, but still watching. “Yeah, but she would do anything you wanted her to. I can see her trying to keep up.” He pauses, lets the tinny music play from his laptop speakers along with the noise of the gym around them as Akio and Tristan do another run. Akio doesn’t quite hit his landing on that one, but they don’t stop, dancing towards and around each other with easy, effortless understanding of each other’s space. 

“You, you, you hated Katy Perry,” Chris says, softly. His fingers twitch, holding tightly to his coffee cup. “But, but-”

“But you fucking loved that shit,” Akio says, with a grin. 

“I, I, I still do. Laken hates it, too.”

“See, I knew I liked them for a reason. You and my sister used to sing ‘Firework’ at me until I thought I was going to lose my fucking mind.”

“I, I, I still sing it to Laken. They, they throw pillows at me.” Chris hits the space button, pausing the video, and turns to look at Akio. His eyes are still so wide, in his narrow face, and so earnest and uncertain. Akio swallows. It feels like stepping sideways through time, every time Tristan’s eyes look at him in Chris Stanton’s face. “Were you, you, you good… without me? Did you, um, do okay?”

Akio’s smile softens into something sadder. “After a while. I got back on track, but for a year or so… I guess I just wasted away without you. You want to hear something stupid?”

“Al, always.”

Akio huffs out laughter, and digs his phone out of his pocket. He taps a few times and then lays it on the table between them. “Look at this.”

Chris looks down, fingertips just grazing the phone case, and his lips press together into a line as his eyes glimmer, shimmering with tears that don’t quite fall. “Wh-what-”

“It’s all the music you like that I hated,” Akio says, voice hoarse and rough. “I made this playlist a month after your aunt said-... you know.”

“It’s, it’s, it’s called ‘I Miss Tris’,” Chris says, softly. His voice sounds awed. Like he’s looking at something sacred and not Akio’s stupid ‘having a bad night’ playlist. “And the, the, the first song-”

“Fucking Teenage Dream.” Akio watches Chris scroll down the list, pretends he doesn’t see the droplet of saltwater that lands there, that Chris quickly wipes away with his sleeve, rubbing at his eye with the back of his hand. “It’s been, what, six or seven years since, you know, your parents, and… god, I’ve gotten a new phone every couple years and I still have this fucking playlist. Still listen to it, too. Whenever I want to mope around being sad about you.”

“In… in there… they, they, they tell us no one misses us.” Chris’s voice is low. He doesn’t look up. “That, that, that our lives were so so so-so bad that this was better. That no one… no, no, no one missed us being gone, no one wants us, that we-we-we weren’t… worth loving. I believed it. And my-... um.” Chris flushes, just a little. “He told me I, I, I, I wasn’t something you could-could love.” Chris’s eyes go distant, and he seems to sink back into himself a little, hunching his shoulders. “P-pretty, but, but, but not… worth being more than I was.”

Akio’s jaw works, fighting a mix of grief and rage that threatens to knock him to the floor, drown him in the intensity of it. He’s been hearing bits and pieces, whenever Chris feels safe enough to let one more bit of the horror that made up his past few years slip out.

Akio wonders what it’s going to do to his career if he goes public as a lib activist, and if he even gives a fuck about that anymore.

If Vincent Shield can do it, he can too, right?

Then again, Vincent Shield wasn’t about to be publicly not straight for the first time and also a pet lib activist. Akio’s mom and dad are going to be so pissed when he tells them his idea-

He doesn’t care.

His parents aren’t going anywhere. Neither is Ben, whatever he and Ben are, neither is Tristan Higgs.

Not this time.

Nobody else should have to listen to someone they loved come back from the dead and hear them say they told me no one loved me, they told me no one missed me, they told me no one cared. 

So... maybe Akio can go up on the fucking pedestal, medal around his neck, and tell WRU to go fuck themselves. Maybe he can tell Chris’s Aunt Jo to go fuck herself specifically.

You told us he was dead, and you gave him to people who made him believe he was nothing, and you thought we’d never find him. And we didn’t.

God, he had to find us. 

His career’s going to go down in flames if he does what he’s planning, and Akio Nakamura is rapidly discovering he no longer cares. 

“Loved. You were-... loved.” His voice is tight and strained, cracking on the edges of his words. His hand curls into a fist on his thigh where it’s resting, digging his nails into his palms. “And missed. We would have-... we would have wanted you, Chris. My mom and I, my little sister won’t admit it, hell my dad… we missed you. Those assholes just wanted you to lose hope. And I’m glad the fucker who hurt you is dead.”

“They, they, they take everything. Aki,” Chris pushes Akio’s phone back to him, and looks back at the laptop screen, an image of himself, years ago, flashing a brilliant smile, with Akio rolling his eyes in return as they pressed their hands palm-to-palm, frozen mid-move. “But, but, but it’s not really gone. I remember how, how, how much you hate this song. And, and, and I remember that you still danced it with me. So, so, so that’s a start, right?”

“It’s a start.” Akio presses the button to start the video again. “And we’ve got plenty of time.”

---

Tagging: @burtlederp, @finder-of-rings, @endless-whump, @whumpfigure, @slaintetowhump, @astrobly  @newandfiguringitout  , @doveotions  , @pretty-face-breaker, @boxboysandotherwhump  , @oops-its-whump  @moose-teeth  , @cubeswhump  , @cupcakes-and-pain  @whump-tr0pes  @whumpiary  @orchidscript, @itallcomesdowntopain

[translytherins]

Unaccepted Permission Slip {Part 1}

Peter's P.O.V

[A/n: You can use the picture at the bottom as refrence also the picture isn't mine]

"Mr. Parker i will not accept this permission slip"

"Why not?!?!"

"Because your permission slip is signed by Tony Stark-Rogers and we both know that your internship is fake so just give it up and go home"

I was fuming "Fine!!!" I shouted and stormed out of the classroom. If your wondering what happened. Let me explain.

-Flashback-

I accidentally fell asleep in science class because well... I'm not dumb. I already know this stuff. Having Tony Stark-Rogers as a dad and as a mentor before that while also having Bruce Banner teach you has it's perks. I was woken up from sleep by Ned who was trying to shake me awake which definitely worked. Obviously. I lifted my head from my table only to see the teacher glaring at me. I don't know why but the teacher hates me with every bone in her body.

"Now that Mr. Parker is awake" she said glaring at me before she continued.

"We will be going on a field trip next week on Friday. The location will be a surprise but until then everyone must take one permission slip for your parents to sign.

Class dismissed"

Everyone packed their stuff and got up from the seat while mumbling excitedly about the trip. I couldn't care less about the trip but..whatever. I took one permission slip while receiving a (not so) deathly glare from the teacher and walked out of the classroom.

-End Of Flashback-

When i was a few blocks away from my school, i saw Happy waiting for me next to a limo. I went up to him and gave him an apology for the slight delay. He accepted and we both got in the limo with me at the back while Happy sat at the drivers seat and started heading home with me not talking much because i was still mad. Happy kept looking at me frome the rear view mirror but i payed no attention to that and kept looking out the window.

-Timeskip-

I got home and saw that none of my family members were at home probably on a mission. I walked into the living room and saw my (h/c) boyfriend reading on the couch. I smiled, walked over to him (sneakily) and backed hugged him making him drop his book while mumbling something under his breath in surprise. I started giggling at his cute face that he made.

(M/N) 's P.O.V

I was reading a book while waiting for the others to get back because even though I'm the newest member, they said it was "too dangerous" for someone as young as me (although I kicked all of their butts in one go)I was so deep invested with my book that i didn't even realise that someone was sneaking up behind me. When i did realise it, is when i felt someone back hugged me.

"Holy f*cking sh*t" i mumbled under my breath and dropped my book by accident. I heard someone giggling from behind me. I turned around and saw Peter giggling at me. I let out a playful sigh and glared at the giggling boy while picking up my book.

I continued reading my book which is a sign that I'm (slightly) pissed by his actions. He stopped giggling and walked around the couch so he was standing in front of me but i didn't look at him. He took my book, marked the page i was reading and placed it on the table. I was about to protest but he straddled me and kissed me. I melted instantly and kissed back. It got heated after a few minutes and we started making out with Peter on my lap. We we're so distracted that we didn't even realise that the others were back already just staring at us like the creeps they are. We pulled away when we heard someone coughing, trying to get our attention. We turned around and saw the Avengers standing there, some with there arms crossed (Steve, Tony, Loki, Vision, Bruce) while the others we're snickering in the background (Nat, Barton, Pietro, Wanda, Bucky, Sam). Peter was a blushing mess. When he turned to look at me and he saw the mischievous smirk on my face. I gently squeezed his butt and he gave a little squeak in return. He glared at me but my smirk didn't falter one bit. Revenge tastes sweet. He turned back to the others and smiled akwardly.

"Uhm... Hey dad..." Peter said akwardly.

"We'll talk about this later" Tony said with a glare and they left the room.

He turned towards me and smacked my chest while burying his face into my neck.

"I hate you"

"Love you too" i replied with a sly grin on my face.

-Timeskip to dinner-

Peter's P.O.V

Just another dinner night at Stark Tower. My dad was playfully arguing with Uncle Clint (yes i have to call them uncle and aunt except for Pietro and Wanda). Uncle Thor was eating pop tarts for dinner. Uncle Loki was struggling to use his utensils. Pietro was laughing hysterically at him for not being able to use them properly, pushing on Uncle Loki's buttons making him aggravated. Uncle Bucky and Aunt Nat were talking in Russia. The only normal one's were me, (m/n), Uncle Bruce, Vision, my pops aka Steve Stark-Rogers and Wanda. We we're just watching the scene play out infront of us. (m/n) and i was snickering at how childish they we're acting even though we're younger than them (except for Aunt Nat and Uncle Bucky. They looked like they we're talking about something important) until i remembered something.

"Hey Pops???"

"Yes Peter???" he awnsered looking at me.

"Is it okay if i stay home next Friday???"

When those words came out of my mouth everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me suddenly intrigued by what i had to say.

"And why do you want to stay home???" Aunt Nat asked me and i knew i couldn't lie because this is Black Widow I'm talking to and she knows when someone's lie. I sigh in defeat.

"Well...you see..." and i told them about what happend with the teacher not accepting my permission slip and talking trash about me. After i explained all hell broke lose. Aunt Nat was sharpening her knives, Wanda and Loki had magic surrounding them, (m/n) had a little string of (f/c) fire twirling around his fingers, Thor was looking at his hammer probably contemplating how hard he can throw it, Uncle Clint was sharpening his arrows, Pietro feets were looking impatient, Uncle Bruce was turning a little green, Dad was typing something on his phone probably calling his suit, Uncle Bucky was clenching his metal arm and Pops was trying to calm himself down. Well...this is going to be a fun night. (note the sarcasm)

-The Next Morning-

Ned's P.O.V

I was on the bus sitting next to MJ who had her nose stuck in a book and i was looking out the window ignoring Flash yelling insults about Peter being a coward for not coming on this trip with us and about how he was right about his "fake internship" because the teacher told us we we're going to Stark Tower. I have been there on lots of different occasions, most of the time it's because i have an intern ship with Stark industries as well and it was all thanks to Peter. He is most definitely going to be there because he didn't show up to school. This isn't going to end well is it. Oh well... More entertainment and drama for me.

(M/N) 's P.O.V

I was in my room scrolling through my phonewith Peter snuggling into my side. He dies have his own room which is next to mine but he decided to sleep in my room because his dad doesn't really let us sleep in the same room but he does it anyways but i don't mind because i get to cuddle my little spider. I was looking at a cute cat photo which was playing with a leaf when i heard FRIDAY, Starks AI, greeting me.

" Good Morning Mr. (L/n). Tony Stark-Rogers has requested Peter to lead the tour for today at 10 later"

"Thanks Fri. I'll tell him when he wakes up"

FRIDAY hummed in acknowledgement and left. I put down my phone on the bed side table and i turned my body towards Peter which resulted with him cuddled into me and nuzzled his head deeper into my chest (if it was even possible at this point considering about how close we were already)

"Peter, Babe. Time to get up. Your dad said that you need to give a tour to some visitors later at 10"

Peter's eyes fluttered open but he just closed them again and nuzzled his head further into my chest.

"Do i have too? Can't i just cuddle with you?" he said while giving me his puppy dog eyes. I sighed.

"Even if I want to, I need to go on a mission with Clint, Pietro and Tasha in about... *glances at the alarm clock* 5 minutes so I have to go. But don't sweat it, the missions gonna take two hours at least. When I get back I'll come help you with the tour when i get back

Okay??? "

" Fine" he whined and gave me a soft kiss which i gladly returned.

I got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to get changed into my outfit which is a hoddie that is as strong as Steve's shield but still flexible, fluffy and comfortable to wear. I put on my fingerless gloves and headed back in my room. When I entered the room again and saw Peter scrolling through his phone. I smiled and walked towards him.

"Bye Pete, I'll see you later" i gave him a kiss on his forehead.

He smiled at me while i grabbed my shape shifting elemental sword and my wireless headphones. I know what your thinking. Why am i bringing a wireless headphones with me to a mission. Well...that's because i fight while listening to music. It enhances my ability to fight and makes it easier for me to use my elements. left the room while waving at him. I put on my (f/c) mask and headed towards where Pietro, Nat and Clint were at so we can get this mission over and done with.

-Timeskip-

Peter's P.O.V

I was sitting at the lounging room, waiting for the visitors to arrive while messing around on my phone. I heard the sliding door open and close but i didn't bother to look up because if they were the visitors, Alicia is going to explain how everything works and how to use the badges before giving them it. Only when she was done i would take over and show them the places that they have access to. While I was scrolling through Instagram, i heard Alicia call my name. I got up from my seat and walked towards them while still looking at my phone. When i reached them i looked up from my phone my eyes were wide as saucers because the visitors were my classmates!!! I have a lot of explaining to do aren't i...

"Uhh... Hey guys..." i said while waving at them awkwardly.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE PUNY PARKER!!!" Flash yelled at me with a hint of rage in his voice.

I rolled my eyes at him and responded to him in a sassy tone.

"I'm actually doing something useful in my life other than waste my time insulting someone. What are you doing???"

Flash was fuming with anger but didn't say anything else while the class, Alicia, Mj and Ned were chuckling because Flash just got told off.

"Okay Peter I'll leave it to you. See you later Mini G" she said while walking and waving.

"Later Alicia" i said while waving back at her before turning back to the rest of the class with stunned faces except Mj and Ned who were chuckling at Flash's stunned face.

"Anyways... I'm going to be your tour guide for today. So, unless you want to spend the rest of the visit outside the tour while the others have a good time, i suggest you keep your mouth if you have nothing nice to say because people at Stark Tower does not tolerate bullies especially Mr. Stark and Mr. Steve Rogers"

I didn't say there actual name which is Mr. Stark-Rogers because it isn't public yet that their married and no one definitely knows that tgey adopted a child aka me. But later on we're going to have a press conference revealing their marriage and me to the public. Flash looked slightly pale but didn't say any insults (or anything in that matter) and Mrs Warren was glarring daggers at me but i couldn't care less about what she thought about me at this point because all i want to do is get back to bed, wait until my boyfriend gets back from his mission and cuddle with him.

"Ok everyone. You need to scan the badges you got from Alicia and walk through the metal detector. You are also not aloud to take pictures during the tour. Any questions???"

Nobody raised their hands and i ushered them towards the scanner and the metal detector. One by one, everyone scanned their badges and walking through the metal detector (their phone don't count). F.R.I.D.A.Y announced their names, badge level and wether or not they have weapons or anything else dangerous. I let Flash walk through for demonstration (don't know why i did), F.R.I.D.A.Y announced his name in the same bored tone she always uses when it wasn't any of the avengers, me, Ned or Mj.

"Eugene Thompson, Omega badge level 2, no weapons"

He looked at me like he finally achieved something in his life. I rolled my eyes at his shit eating grin, scanned my badge (even though I didn't need to because I can scan my face and enter the building without having to waste my time with these badges) and walked through the metal detector.

"Peter, Delta level 10,no weapons detected. Hello Peter nice seeing you use the door once in a while" F.R.I.D.A.Y said with slight sarcasm in her voice but i just sigh in relief because F.R.I.D.A.Y didn't use my full name. But Flash just had to open his goddamn mouth and say something stupid like he always does.

"WHAT DID YOU MEAN USE THE DOOR ONCE IN A WHILE!!!HAVE YOU BEEN BREAKING INTO THE TOWER!!! HUH PUNY PARKER!!! AWNSER ME!!!"

I just ignored him which I do like 90% of the time and waited for the others to get through. While checking my watch to see how long i have left until (m/n) joins us.

-

Almost everyone has gone through except for Ned and Mj. Mj scanned her badge and walked through the metal detector without looking up from the book because she comes here to help Pepper with some business stuff. Oh!!! Did i forget to mention you that Mj is Pepper's assistant. I didn't??? Oh well moving on.

"Michelle Jones, alpha level 8, no weapons detected. Glad to see you Mj" F.R.I.D.A.Y greeted her happily.

"You too Fri"

Everyone's mouth was gaping because the Ai system recognised Mj. The last person was Ned and he got the same exact reaction from the class.

"Ned Leeds, alpha level 7, no weapons detected. Good evening Ned, i hope you enjoy your visit"

"I will Fri"

Flash was slightly annoyed that he didn't get the same treatment but beggars can't be choosers. I coughed slightly to get everyones attention and lead them towards the elevator so we can get started with the tour.

-

We reached the fifth floor so that they can look at the Avengers exhibition for the oldest and newest avengers. Everyone was looking awed and starstruck including Ned (who has been here loads of times) and excluding Mj (because she was still reading her book).

"Ok everyone you have an hour to look around and if you have any questions, you can come and ask me"

And just like that everyone was scattered all over the place looking at all the suits and weapons displayed. Of course they were just replicas of it. I walked around to make sure that they were no inconvenience. Everyone was mostly gawking at my iron spider suit that i got from dad and Elemental's mask, hoodie, headphones and his shape shifting sword especially Flash. He can only dream of wearing our suits. Let alone hold (m/n) 's shape shifting sword because have you seen that thing??? It's pretty epic if i do say so myself.

"Hey loser. Maybe you should explain more about the suits everyones gawking at" Mj said with a knowing smirk and looking up from her book for the first time since she entered the tower.

It's not really a surprise that she knows my relationship with (m/n) because the whole tower knows and thinks were a cute power couple. I returned her smirk and started to explain about the origins of the suits and (m/n) 's weapon.

"Well the Iron Spider was designed by Mr Stark for Spiderman when he was first offered a spot as an Avengers. He turned down the offer at first deciding just to stick on being a friendly neighbourhood Spiderman but he joined in the end after some complications"

I finished my explanation for the Iron Spider and looked at everyone. They were all listening to me very intently on the origins of the Iron Spider (with the exception of Mj who was still reading her book). I countinued onto Elemental's origin.

"Elemental is the newest member of the Avengers who joined almost a month ago. His sword can shape shift to any kind of weapon you can think of such as an axe, a bow and arrow, a bow staff and much more but i think that it be too long of an explanation if i kept going on. He can control natural elements which are fire, water, wind, ice, light, dark, and nature. Whichever power he choses has it's own abilities. He can also transport the elements into his weapon. For example if he was using an axe as a weapon and he transported his fire element into the axe it would turn into a fire axe. Any questions??? " I saw somebody raise their hand at the back.

"Yes you at the back" i said while pointing at the person at the back.

"How did the Avengers meet Elemental because he was annouced as one but nobody got an explanation"

"Good question. Well nine months before he was announced as an Avenger, the Avengers were in a battle with Red skull. They almost died when he was suddenly frozen and he was shattered tp a million pieces. They saw a silhouette of a person but his face was covered with a black face mask. After months of searching and researching for this person. At first he refused to join but he caved in the end after some persuasion by Spiderman. Anything else???? "

Someone was about to ask another question but Friday said that our time was up and that we had to mive on to the next part of the tour which was the mechanical workshop. I have a feeling that my Parker luck is gonna struck again but when has it not.

-

When we entered the workshop it was pure chaos. Dad was yelling at Clint something about almost ruining the mission Nat was sharpening her knife. Pietro was next to Clint holding his hand and (m/n) was fixing his motorbike whole wearing his wireless headphones, listening to music. So he was pretty clueless on what's going on around him. They all stopped what they were doing (with the exception of (m/n) who was to focused on fixing his motorbike) and smiled at us.

"Hey Pete boy what are you doing in these parts of the tower" Pietro asked while he suddenly appeared next to me. He put my head in a headlock and messed up my hair a bit before letting me go.

"I could ask you the same thing. Your not exactly trusted here" i said while fixing up my hair a bit. He put his hand on his heart while giving me a mocking gasp.

"I'm offended. Just because i zoom around the place that doesn't mean i broke anything"

Dad looked at him with a 'are you serious' look. Pietro did a damsel in distress look while sighing a dramatic sigh.

"I'm hurt by your words"

I just chuckled at his childish attitude while Aunt Tasha just exited the room. I swear Pietro is more dramatic than dad.

"While it was fun watching you joke around the class has a tour that (m/n) needs to take over. So i think it's time to take our leave. (m/n) time for you to take over!!!

(m/n) didn't move away from his motorbike so I'm guessing he didn't hear dad.

"(m/n)!!! Are you listening to me!!!"

"Don't worry Tony i got this" Pietro said with a mischievous grin on his face.

At the sidelines, everyone was mumbling to each other. Some of them were about being in the same room as their favourite superhero. While the others were mumbling about my internship being true. Flash was flushed red because i got noticed by them and not him.

(m/n) 's P.O.V

I was fixing my motorbike because someone *cough* Clint *cough* thought it was a good idea to "accidentally" knock over an expensive vase (which i think he did it on purpose) and he almost got shot if it wasn't for me jumping in with my motorbike and the latter decided it was a good idea to use an explosive arrows while I'm near the proximity. So, now i have a lot of things i need to repair on my motorbike. While i was fixing my motorbike, i was startled when someone yelled in my ear.

"(m/n)!!! Peter's in trouble!!!" Pietro yelled into my ear.

"What!!! Where!!!" i shouted with slight panic but i accidentally hit my head on my motorbike's turbo booster really REALLY hard because of how fast i lifted my head.

"Ow..." i said while closing my eyes and rubbing my head.

Whwn i reopened my eyes, again and saw a bunch of teenagers (is that the right way to describe them???) staring at me with wide eyes with a laughing Tony and Pietro and a blushing Peter (probably because i was worried about him getting hurt) . I was glaring at Pietro and Tony so hard that (f/c) flames started to surrounding me. They raised their hands in surrender, terrified that i might burn them if they continued. I smirked a victory smirk and the (f/c) flames disappeared. I took off my wireless headphones and walked towards Pietro and smacked his head really hard.

"Ow... What was that for???" Pietro whined while rubbing his sore head.

"That was for scaring me" i said and i started walking towards Peter. He blushed a darker shade of red while the teenagers behind him started giggling and whispering about how "hot and attractive" i was, but i just tuned them out and continued walking until i reached Peter. I wrapped my right hand around his waist and layed my head at the crook of his neck.

"Hey Pete sorry for not joining the tour earlier because someone decided to be stupid" i said emphasising the word someone someone while glaring at Clint who was now, sulking in a conner and was being comforted by Pietro. I just rolled my eyes and gave Peter a peck on his lips.

"Wait... PARKER IS DATING ELEMENTAL"

I looked over and saw a guy wearing a jacket, trying to look cool which he did horrible at.

"Yeah. What Peter never told you he was dating me. Pete, baby how could you not tell other people that you were dating this handsome dude"

I heard Tony snort at the word handsome while Peter just chuckled at my childness.

"As much as i want to mess around more. We need to get on with the tour. I'm assuming your going to be showing us around"

"Mhmm,nothing ever gets by you does it" i said while smiling fondly at him and kissed his cheek before unwrapping my hand around. I walked towards Tony, Clint and Pietro and shooed them out of the workshop. Once they were out , i turned towards the class with a soft smile which made everyone blush and drool (even the hoe of a teacher). I mentally rolled my eyes and pulled my (f/c) mask back on. I clapped my hands together and said,

"Let's get the show on the road now, shall we?"

-59 minutes later-

I looked at my watch and realised that i had one more minute until they had to get to the next part of Stark Towers. I decided to awnser one more question that they might have. For the entire time they've been in here i showed them some of the things that i made. For example, my motorbikes, electric cars, jets, mechanical wings for falcon, guns, Clint's arrows and pretty much anything you need i can make it. They all were impressed that i could make all of this and on top of that i gratuated school pretty early. Oh!!! Did i mention that I'm 17? No? Oh well,now you know.

"Alright everyone i only have time for one question before we move on onto the next destination of Stark Tower. So if anyone of you have a question don't be afraid to ask because you miggt never get this chance again" and instantly five hands were raised up but I pointed at the guy near me.

"How does Parker get not one but two look a like Avengers, fake badges and how much did he pay you to kiss him"

I felt my blood beginning to boil. My bangs covered my eyes but they were red with anger (A/n: Your eyes changes colour depending on the emotions) because how dare he thinks that my Petey will do something like that. The tempature in the room dropped making the class shiver. I started approaching him very VERY slowly with lightning trailing behind me, so i can scare him a little which worked. Everyone made sure to keep a good ten feet away from us. Peter looked terrified about what's going to happen but didn't move because he knew the consequences. ( A little hint. He didn't get kisses and cuddles from me for a week. He can go without those for two days)

When i was right in front of him, i tilted my head to the side revealing my glowing blood red eyes. I pushed him into a the nearest wall, trapping while shape shifting my sword into a darkness knife.

"One more bad word about my Petey. Your head won't be attached to your body after this. Got it!?!??!" i said while pressing my knife dangerously close to his neck. He nodded so fast that i would've mistaken him for Pietro except he got a much more bitchy attitude than Tony when he wants attention from Steve or when Clint was ignored by Pietro because he did a 'breaking up' prank (it was kinda funny seeing Clint begging to Pietro for two hours straight) and that's basically giving them a compliment.

I let go of him and told the others to wait outside to wait for the next part of the tour because I wanted to have a word with Peter. Everyone basically bolted out the room trying to stay on my good side. I turn towards a nervous looking and kinda sweating Peter. He visibly gulped because he knows he is in deep, deep trouble.

Peter's P.O.V

I feel like I'm screwed because not only did i not tell them about my salty teacher much earlier but i didn't tell them that i also have a bully on my track. He crossed his arms while tap his left foot impatiently waiting for an awnser. Well, here goes nothing let just hope he doesn't go on a killing spree.

-Timeskip after the explanation-

When i was done explaining, he was mad but surprisingly calm about the whole situation. He placed his hand on my shoulder and started talking.

"Look I'm not mad that you didn't tell me but if something like this happens again i want you to tell either me or the others because we care about you and don't want you to get hurt. Alright???"

I nodded my head while crying slightly and hugged him really tight like if i let him go i would lose him. I'm really thankful i have someone like him in my life. He chuckled and ran his fingers through my head and kissed my forehead before pulling away. He wiped my tears away and kissed me before pulling away. He pulled away from the hug and extended his hand to me.

"Come on Pete. We have a tour to get back to"

I smiled and took his hand letting him lead my hand outside towards the class to continue the tour.

-

I looked at my watch and realised that the tour was almost over. We only had two more destination which is the training room on level 20 and after that the class will meeting the rest of the Avengers. I mentally jumped for joy because my suffering is almost over. Not that I didn't enjoy it because (m/n)'s hand is always either on my hip or around my waist. He will give me a random pecks here and there. Mrs. Warren and Flash aren't picking on me because (m/n) kept giving them death glares but they still glared at me (i swear those two are oblivious) . So overall, I'm enjoying myself.

TBC (because I've passed my block limit 😅 but stick around for part 2!!)