#literally forgot how nice it was jus to be around other people and do work and stuff its cool. we all had to get new laptops

[loverboybitch]

hi i would just like to report that getting out of my house and being a member of society is cool and kind of rules even when its scary yeah.//.

[mostly-imagines]

The Alchemy vol. II

jason todd x fem!reader

aka the progression of your relationship with the red hood

part one

warnings: depictions of blood and injury, standard gotham violence, jason doesn't know how to have feelings, reader is angry, threats against readers life, implied concern of sexual assault

It might be a matter of deficiency in self-preservation skills, how the sound of your window sliding open does nothing to phase you. You don’t know if that’s your fault or his.

“How’s it goin’ down there?” You mumble, not sitting up from your position on the couch.

He pushes the window shut in his wake, huffing. “I am up here for a reason,” he says factually.

You crane your head back just in time to see him tug the red helmet off his head, setting it down on your side table. He has on his under-mask that covers the lower half of his face. You don’t like that one.

He glances around your apartment as he approaches with slow steps. “Why are all the lights off?”

“Forgot to turn ‘em on,” you tell him simply.

He frowns at you, confusion evident.

You pay him no mind though, taking an exaggerated breath and pushing yourself up off the couch before trotting over to the kitchen. You open the fridge and scrummage for a water bottle. Jason thinks it’s odd how long it takes you to find one in your own fridge. 

Once it's (eventually) in your hands, you chug down several gulps and toss the half empty bottle towards the counter where it lands with a sloppy thump and rolls.

When you return, he’s leant against the armrest of your chair, watching you. You stop in the middle of the room, a contemplating stare on the floor. He tilts his head at you, wondering what you could possibly be thinking so hard about.

You take a deep breath before plopping down to lay on the carpet all in one go. 

He peers down at you, barely trying to hide his amusement. “You’re drunk.”

You shake your head, “I’m not sober.”

“That’s—yeah.” He stands all the way, coming to lay down on the floor next to you, using significantly more coordination than you had.

He lays in between you and the couch, though it doesn’t seem you’d left him much room. If he minds, it doesn’t show. “What’d you do?”

“I jus’ went out with my friend,” you tell him, closing your eyes. “She moves pretty fast..”

It occurs to him that you might be laying on the ground because you got nauseous. He turns to look at you, scanning you over. “You good?”

“I feel great,” you keen. “I feel…swooshy.”

He gives you a bemused look. “Dizzy?”

You shake your head with a great deal of consideration on your face, “No, not even dizzy, just…swoosh.” You throw out a hand with a theatrical flick.

“Mhm.”

You pucker your lips to the side. “You come here a lot,” you comment, clearly working up to some greater observation.

“You’re in my neighborhood,” he shrugs. 

Your head tilts, “You live here?”

He pauses before correcting himself, “My territory.”

You hum, “Still. There has to be other people around here you know. ‘Specially if you’re passing out on balconies on the reg.”

He frowns, “I try not to make a habit out of it.”

You continue on, “Why do you always go to my apartment? There’s—”

“I don’t always come to your apartment—”

You deadpan, “You’re here like three nights a week. And I don’t even help you that much anymore, you’ve used up my whole first aid kit.”

You can literally feel the eyeroll like you have a sixth sense for it. “That thing wasn’t exactly impressive to start with..”

“Did enough for you, didn’t it? Anyways, my point is: I think you like me,” you say with a nod.

That has him going absolutely rigid, “What?”

“I’ve heard you’re an asshole.”

“What?”

You nod, “Like, people that run into you. They say you’re kind of a dick. You help ‘em ‘n everything, but also while being a dick. Sometimes.”

“Okay...”

“But you’re nice to me. Sort of,” you squint. “I think you like me.”

He hasn’t felt this straggled in a conversation in a while. “I—well I’m not here because you’re a world-class medic.”

You scoff, “There’s no world-class medics..” But then your tone switches up, into something lighter. “We’re friends aren’t we? I think we’re friends.” 

He shakes his head, staring up blankly. “Sure, we’re friends.”

“We’re friends and you like me,” you reiterate.

He really wishes you’d stop saying that. “Okay.”

“I like you too. Even though you’re kinda sketchy.”

He doesn’t know what to say to that.

You hum into the silence, looking up at the ceiling. “J…James, Jack, John…”

He smiles, gaze dancing across the egg-whitened popcorn texture of the ceiling. “I’m not going to tell you.”

You ignore him, “Jake, Jaden, Jason, Josh, Joe, Jesse…”

You’re about three shots too drunk to notice the way he briefly stiffens. 

“Juuhhh…” you lull your head to the side, the letter fading out slowly as you look into his eyes. If you focus, you think you can make out a few of those little specks of green again.

He seems to already be running his own study on your irises, his eyes now softer than you can remember seeing them before. 

His next words are whispered, the sounds barely escaping. “You’re pretty.”

What?

“What?”

“What?” He seems taken aback by his own words, like he also wasn’t expecting them to climb out of his mouth.

You can literally feel sobriety seeping back into your blood. “I’m…pretty?”

He blinks a few times, apparently trying hard to decide on what position he’s going to take here. “I—well…yeah.”

You blink once, relaxing. “I think…I think you’re pretty too.”

“What?”

“We can’t do this again.”

He breaks eye contact, looking almost dejected.

You turn your head down to where his hand thrums against the carpet. “I mean, I know I haven’t seen your whole face in one go, but I see the top half now and the bottom before, so I…maybe I shouldn’t be saying this.” You reset with a shallow breath, “I don’t know what your whole face looks like.”

“That was,” he blinks, eyebrows raised. “Fascinating.”

“Thanks,” you say flatly. You close your eyes again, though this time you remain facing him.

He feels a slight pang of guilt for the way he continues to ogle at you, eyes tracing over every detail of your face. But that ounce of guilt does nothing to outweigh the reward of gazing upon you. He didn’t mean to say it but he definitely meant it: you’re really fucking pretty.

Your eyelashes flutter for a moment before stilling, a display of peace washing over your features. It’s when your breathing steadies over and your face relaxes completely is when he starts to feel like a creep. It takes a lot of strength for him to force his eyes shut, depriving himself of the view.

And he doesn’t do it on purpose, but after a few moments his inhales and exhales take to the same rhythm of yours. The thin layer of the rug isn’t doing much to protect his back from the hardwood below and he’s pretty confident later he’ll curse himself for lying like this for so long. 

But as he lays, he doesn’t find himself focused on the dark red-gray of his eyelids like usual, so much as the warmth from the proximity of your bodies. He’s usually so concentrated on whatever the hell is going on in his head and it prevents him from really truly resting, but now, the only thing taking up his attention is physical sensations.

He feels this warmth in his heart that if he didn’t know any better, he’d call burning. His hands feel numb and he can distinctly feel the beat of his own heart in his chest, thrumming away.

He presses his lips to your forehead with a feather light touch, slow to pull away. He doesn’t make it all the way back to his original position before his movement lulls and his body relaxes again, joining you gladly in unconsciousness.

Gotham City has a particular gift for inconveniencing you at the worst possible moment and doing it multiple times a week.

Tonight's round of problems resulted in an entire city district getting shut down, the district which is regrettably right between your job and your apartment.

So on top of having to hole up into your work for two hours longer than you were supposed to, it took you an extra 45 minutes getting home while trying to maneuver around every other person in the same situation. And just to cement the quality of this night, the door to your apartment building slams nice and hard against your side and the light in the hallway is out.

You groan when you fail to get your key the lock the right way for the third time, lodging it in a final time and shoving the door open. You flick on the kitchen light and dump your bag onto the counter, kicking the door shut behind you.

You take a deep breath, eyes closed, as you lean your head back against the wall. The second you crack your eyes open again, a pile of red mass on the floor behind your couch catches your attention and startles some energy right back into your chest.

“Oh, shit,” you scurry over towards the window, crumbling down onto your knees in front of him. Your eyes dart across the red helmet, trying to makeout any signs of consciousness. “Hood?” 

There’s no response from him, no movement. You tug his helmet off, finding him eyes-closed with blood running down the side of his head. You push a hand down on his chest armor, shaking him. “J? J!”

His eyes flutter open slowly under his domino mask, adjusting to the light. With the disorientation on his face he looks younger, more his age. His hair is tousled up and you can make out some distinct curls in it when it's undone like this. 

He grimaces, gloved hand coming up to his head. He looks wearily at the blood on his fingers, before plopping his hand back down and blinking up at you. “Hey..”

You sit back on your heels with a sigh, “What the fuck?”

He makes a strained effort to sit up on his own so you try to heave him up by his forearm. As he comes up all the way you glance behind his back at a bag crumpled discarded on the floor. You can barely see some sort of fabric poking out the top. “What is that?”

“Huh?” He throws back a tired glance, “Oh. They're..curtains.”

“Explain.”

He looks at you blankly, “You don’t have any curtains.”

You blink. “Explain.”

“It’s dangerous for people to just be able to look in and see you. So. Curtains.” For a guy who reads Dostoevsky, he’s not much of a wordsmith. Though that could be the concussion. 

You reach around him and pull some of the fabric out of the bag, inspecting the linen. They match the theme of your living room.

You set it back down, blinking. “Thanks.”

He only gives a half-hearted shrug.

You look back at him, “How bad is the…?” You gesture to the side of your head.

He feels at the blood again, “It’s mostly just a cut. Shoulda stopped bleeding by now.”

You nod, “I’ll, uh—I’ll clean it up.”

He looks at you, shaking his head. “You don’t need to. Your kit’s almost empty anyways.”

“I restocked it,” you tell him, rising to stand. He lets you go retrieve your aid box without protest, listening blankly to the faucet run in the bathroom while you’re gone.

You return momentarily, damp rag in one hand, kit in the other. “Here, sit on the couch,” you tell him, nodding him up. 

He lugs himself up off the hardwood and onto the cushion with a groan. You position yourself on the cushion next to him, leaning over to inspect the cut. You brush through his hair as gently as you can, though you have to suspect he wouldn’t have minded either way—if only based on the pain threshold you know him to have.

As much as you are completely in his space, you’re having trouble getting all the access you need to fix him up right. You turn and adjust your angle this way and that but none of it works. 

You huff, sitting back. “I can’t..”

He nods his permission at you without delay, and you shift yourself over to sit fully on his lap, straddling him on the sofa. You put your focus into cleaning his wound, but you have to notice how deep he’s breathing and how he’s seemingly trying very hard to avoid eye contact. You’re sure your own breath is uneven and telling, and frankly you’re kind of hoping he has a concussion just so he might not notice it.

An unexpected sting has him flinching and grabbing your hips on instinct, a certain heaviness lingering in the air after contact. His hand tenses and he’s about to remove them from you completely when you manage to catch his gaze, and the few moments of silent eye contact are enough to convince him to stay. He forces his hands to relax against your waist, his fix on your face wavering before fizzling away completely.

You go back to dabbing at the blood and it’s clear that his thoughts get the better of him quickly. “You should move.”

“But then where would you go?”

He makes a rumbling noise from the back of his throat at that, saying nothing more.

You continue to wipe away at the blood until you can’t see it anymore, beyond the slice of the cut. You misjudge your own spatial awareness as you pull back from him, and the tips of your noses graze. Though the contact surprises you, you don’t move away from it. You become very acutely aware of his touch on your waist, how warm it feels atop your shirt. 

His head leans forward just barely before stopping. He retreats slightly and his body ultimately decides to come closer. He doesn’t stop until his lips, slightly parted, skim across yours.

Your breath catches as he looms nearer, lips touching against yours softly. He tests that pressure out for a moment, before moving to kissing you with more intent. You kiss him back, and though there’s an increasing resolve on both of your parts, the connection itself remains gentle, reposeful.

The last slight movement of his lips gradually slips away as he rests his forehead against yours.

A long beat passes before he’s tightening his grip on your waist and pulling you up to stand. You aren’t given the time to process the shift as he’s moving straight past you, head down. He pauses only when he gets to the window, back turned to you.

“Sorry—I’m…” his shoulders drop, “Sorry.” 

He climbs out and scales the fire escape in total silence until he’s gone completely.

You stand frozen in position, staring at the window with incredulity burning across your face.

What the fuck?

Two weeks pass of voided midnight visits. 

You’re not sure what to make of that. He kissed you, not the other way around. You couldn’t possibly have done something to upset him or throw him off since he’s the only one who did anything. All in all, it’s a little disappointing.

There had been tension there and it wasn’t shocking for you to learn that he wanted to kiss you. It was a bit of a surprise for him to actually do it, though not a bad one. But you were thrown for a grand fucking loop when he immediately bailed out.

Maybe you can’t read him as well as you think because you’d expected him to at least say something about it. It was a borderline given that he would come back and there would be a bonus surplus of tension but then there would be a resolution. Because he wouldn’t kiss you and then never come back. Nobody would do that, it doesn’t make sense.

It’s a little more than embarrassing to admit that you’ve been purposefully staying home in the hope that he’ll drop in. After fifteen nights of disappointment, you decided to put your focus elsewhere.

You’d asked a friend of yours to go out with you tonight, and never one to decline a night out, she agreed happily. 

The bell above the door jingles as you crack it open, peaking your head in. You find Chloe quickly, stood behind the bar with bottles in hand.

“Hey gorgeous,” she smiles at you, waving you in.

You step in, air conditioning hitting you hard. The sparkles on her cocktail dress catch your eye as she turns this way and that, trying to find the right spot for the whiskey. 

Chloe hums to herself as she searches, honestly taking a bit longer than she should. “You been cool?”

You nod, “Yeah, just—you know…” She doesn’t. Your affiliation with the Red Hood is something you’ve kept to yourself, though you don’t know why. It would be safer, more responsible to let someone else know about these drop-ins, but something about it feels personal. A strange feeling to tack onto it, you think. A regrettable one, at least. 

You take a deep breath, “You’ve been busy. Jessie call out again?”

She laughs dryly, “Oh yeah, of course. But it's fine, I love staying over an hour after close.” She sighs, “I’m almost done anyway.”

You circle around the bar, looking over the several yet-to-be-sorted bottles. “You need help?”

“No, there’s—” she cuts herself off as she looks over at the front door, face dropping. “Oh, shit. Duck.”

“Wha—” she yanks you down to the floor to crouch awkwardly behind the counter.

You hear the bell ring as the door swings open, followed by several pairs of footsteps and low voices.

“—Christ, if she forgets to lock the door one more fucking time I’m gonna kill her.”

You look at Chloe through furrowed eyebrows, her grip on you still tight. She shakes her head and puts a finger to her lips.

A second man mutters something you can’t make out.

The first voice continues, “Go around back and lug the crates in, we gotta start packing that shit.” 

Another voice, “The crates? They’re not here..”

There’s a heavy beat before the first voice speaks, “What the fuck do you mean they’re not here? She needs them now.”

“Well…the first shipments will be in later this week. The next batch’ll take until the end of the month, probably.”

A sigh, “Dumbass…”

The first voice huffs, “The end of the month? Are you fucking kidding me? I told you to get that shit ready weeks ago and you’ve got it coming in at the end of the month?” 

“I’ll…I’ll see what I can do to get it sooner.”

“Yeah, you do that,” he grumbles. “Motherfucker. I need a drink. Get a bottle of something.”

One of the men rounds the counter, tracks falling short at the sight of you and Chloe huddled against the counter.

“What the fuck?”

You and Chloe are wide-eyed and frozen as he sneers down at you. Still, he looks like he’s trying to be tougher than he is, compensating for size that he does not have, with an attitude that doesn’t match up with the way he sped around the counter to get the other man a drink.

Another guy comes around and you quickly recognize him as the man in charge. He frowns at Chloe, sighing, “You’re not supposed to be here still, Chloe.”

She shifts her weight, “I was just…finishing inventory…”

The bossman’s eyes move to you, laced with nothing but inconvenience. “Oh and you brought a friend. Great.” 

“Mr. Murray, we were just ab—”

He’s quick to cut her off with a hand, “Chloe. Stop talking.”

Her face falls flat and her words die off without hesitation.

“Get up.”

She’s pushing herself off the ground instantly while you’re still on the floor catching up with what the hell’s going on. As she moves out from behind the bar, you scurry to follow her. Your arm bumps against hers as you fiddle with the seams at the bottom of your outfit.

You dressed to go out with your friend on a Friday night, not to meet three mobsters in a closed bar with no witnesses. That’s to say, you’re feeling a little exposed.

You stand in the center of the bar, the three men looking various degrees of annoyed looks across their faces. Though the oldest looking of the bunch has something else in his eyes as he looks you up and down, in no rush to hide his engrossment in your bare legs.

“How old are you, honey?” Even without the blatant ogling, that’s never a good question to hear from a fifty year old man.

Your eyes avert to the floor, lips pursing. 

“Hey, don’t be rude. I asked you a question.” He nudges your chin up a bit rougher than necessary, forcing you to look him in the eyes. 

Somehow, you feel like there’s no answer here that would help you. 

The man at the bar serves as an unexpected saving grace of sorts, muttering, “We don’t have time for this.”

Your pursuer shakes his head, looking you over in a way that makes you feel very small. “I think we got plenty of time.”

“I disagree.”

All heads whip to the doorway where the Red Hood leans against the frame, checking his phone. A never invited but always welcome addition to the party. At least for you.

The man in front of you instantly steps back, putting some distance between the two of you. Hands across the room instinctively fly to holsters only to begrudgingly relax at their sides, probably figuring drawing on Red Hood isn’t in their best interest. Though your focus lies on the bell above his head that didn’t make a peep whenever he came in.

Hood shuts his phone off and puts it away with a quiet sigh before glancing up at the tension-filled room. He literally double takes when his helmet scans past you. You somehow feel more in trouble now than you did two minutes ago. 

“Hood..” the bossman says measuredly. “What are you doing here?”

He stares at you for a second longer before tearing his gaze away. “Just thought I’d check up on you, Murray. Make sure you’re not causing trouble in light of our agreement.” He makes a point of looking back at you and Chloe at that last part before looking to Murray expectantly.

He waves that off easily, “This is nothing. Just two late-shift employees.”

Hood takes a piqued breath. “You picked a bad time to lie to me,” he says flatly.

Murray shakes his head, “Look, we’re just cleaning up a mess. No harm.”

“Really?”

“This clean up benefits you too, they heard too much. The one girl—Chloe, get out. She’s fine, she’s not talking.”

Chloe wastes no time exiting hastily. Bye Chloe.

He continues, “We only need to kill one of them.” He says it like this is an ideal compromise. You’re feeling differently.

Hood huffs, pulling out a gun from his holster. “I’m thinking it’s implied that killing innocent people is a form of causing trouble. Which is in direct violation of our agreement.” He cocks the gun, pointing it at Murray’s head.

Murray steps back dramatically, throwing his hands up. “Hey, an alliance is an alliance!”

Hood wavers his head to the side, “Alliance is a strong word. Temporary tolerance maybe…”

The short man pipes up, “Okay, calm down, calm down. Nobody needs to get killed. We can cooperate.”

“That’s the spirit,” Hood quips, lowering his gun.

The older one shakes his head, “We don’t have anything on her, she’ll talk.”

The short man demurs, “We don’t know that—”

“She saw too much, we can’t have her walking around with that information,” Murray says, moving towards you. 

Hood puts his hands up like some kind of mediator, “Nobody’s killing anybody.”

Murray scoffs, “You were gonna kill me!”

Hood's hands drop as he stands in full, “And I still might!”

Boldly, Murray steps up to him.

But Hood looks down at him, easily a full head taller than him and at least twice his muscle mass. “Let's weigh out your odds here, Murray. Is that a fight you’re winning?”

The look on Murray’s face tells you it’s not and he struggles to maintain this chest to chest confrontation.

It only takes him a moment of wavering to decide to back off, though he sure as hell doesn’t look happy about it. 

Hood pushes past him, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you towards him. 

Murray splutters, watching you go. “You can’t—I-I know people.”

“I am people,” Hood grumbles, steering you towards the door.

Though you can be sure they have them, no one voices any objections aa he pulls you outside.

His stride doesn’t even falter as he marches you down the sidewalk in the direction of your apartment. Aside from the sound of the breeze wisping past your ears, it’s silent between you.

After two blocks you get the strong impression that this muted exchange of energy is just going to keep on, so you force yourself to find something to rattle off about. “That uh, that seems like something he’s gonna be mad about.”

He huffs, “Yeah, well he can get over it or die so I guess it’s a personal choice.”

You frown at his tone, “What’s your problem?”

That was, apparently, the wrong thing to say as his head snaps in your direction. “Why the hell are you out here?”

His sharp attitude has you stumbling a bit. “Why are you out here? You have a concussion.”

“I don’t have a concussion,” he grumbles. “And I just saved your life so maybe complaining about it isn’t your best move right now.”

You try to stop and face him but he doesn’t let you, keeping you moving along with him. “That’s what we’re doing? Really?” 

Are these about the social skills that you had expected from him based on your first meeting? Yeah. But that first meeting was months ago. He’s proven again and again that he has half a brain and the ability to read a room so you’re really not fucking sure what the hell his problem is. He won’t acknowledge that he kissed you and all but jumped out your living room window, but he will snap at you for asking about his concussion that there’s no way he doesn’t have. Especially if he’s acting like this. 

He ignores your comment, blatantly at that. “Did they say anything about a drug shipment?”

This is what we’re talking about? Sure. Fine. At least you’re talking. 

You open your mouth briefly before closing it again, eyes narrowed. “I don’t know.”

He tries again, “What about Nocturna? Did you hear that name?”

“I…I don’t know.” You weren’t exactly taking notes behind the bar counter. 

His head drops down heavily, “Okay, I think I’m seeing a trend for how this conversation’s gonna go...”

You gawk at him, astonished that he thinks it’s you who’s handling this discussion poorly. “You cannot be serious right now.”

He sighs, slowing as you approach the steps to your building, “Just—why’d they let Chloe go?”

You blink a few times, “I mean, she has a drug problem…” You guess that might be where she’s getting them from…

He nods solemnly, “Okay.”

You huff, turning to walk up the steps, shoulders heavy. You hope he’ll come up with you and maybe, just maybe, address the elephant in the room. 

“Are you—” you turn around to face him again, met with nothing but vacant air. 

A deep, tense, breath from you before calling out, “Really?”

One month. One month. And he decides to show up tonight like it’s no time lost. But there was some fucking time lost.

Count ‘em up, that’s one period, two paychecks, three grocery trips, four laundry days, and thirteen showers. And that stupid fucking vigilante ransacked your head during every single one.

You went through the five stages of grief for this bizarre, undefinable relationship and then discovered about six more while you were at it. 

So when you walk out from the bathroom, you’re a little pissed to see him sitting there on your living room floor, helping himself to a glass of water. 

Maybe it’s his domino mask that gives his expression the illusion of neutrality. Or maybe he really has no idea how insane it is that he would occupy your apartment like this after skipping out on you for an entire lunar cycle.

He leans against your armchair, inspecting a scratch on his lower arm. You enter silently, watching him the whole time as you make your way over to the far end of the couch.

He doesn’t look up at you though, not until after a minute or two of silence. 

“You got any bandages left?” he asks, throwing a glance over his shoulder. 

You stare at him incredulously. 

After ten seconds with no response from you, he turns around fully, frowning. “What?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I—” he squints, eyes flickering across your face. “No?”

You continue to gawk at him, not trying for any words.

He stares back, eyes wide. “I don’t know what you want me to say...”

You tear your gaze from him, preferring to stare at the wall. “You know what, I think I know what your problem is.”

He gives a laugh with little life to it. “I only have one?”

You bite down on your lip, “You only have one I’m ready to kill you over.”

He sits with that for a minute. A long minute, before asking softly, “What is it?”

You shake your head, glaring at an unoccupied nail in the wall. “That you’re an idiot,” you mutter. You start to walk away before turning around again after a few steps. “Where the hell have you been?”

He blinks, “Uh, there’s just been a lot of—”

“Bullshit.”

He’s about to argue his point, but quickly decides to concede, “Yeah.” He takes a deep breath, sitting back. “I…wasn’t prepared for this conversation,” he says carefully.

You scoff with a nod, “Yeah, neither was I, but it’s happening. I m—what did you think was going to happen here? I—you kissed me, you kissed me!”

“No I—” he huffs, “I shouldn’t have done that, okay?”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

He sighs, throwing his hands up at his sides. “What do you want me to say?”

You shrug without genuinity, “Anything that could possibly rationalize that sequence of decisions. You kiss me, run away, ghost me for a fucking month, and then show up again like nothing happened.”

He shuts his eyes, shaking his head. “I know, I know, I’m sorry!”

“I’m not asking you to be sorry, I’m asking you to pick a fucking lane and stick to it!”

He falls silent at that, eyes on the floor. It’s quiet for long enough that you start to think he’ll accept the silence as his cue to leave. You’re not sure if you want him to or not.

You take a deep breath, eyes closed. “I need you to start being straight with me. Now.”

He doesn’t look up, taking his time to find his words. “I am sorry,” he tells you. “I…I’m not good at this. I’m not good with words so I shouldn’t have fucking done it.”

Honestly you weren’t expecting him to actually come up with a reason, so you’re not prepared to weigh out whether or not it’s a good one.

“I like you...a lot. And I didn’t know—I don’t know—what to do about it so I kissed you and I didn’t think it through, and…I guess I panicked.”

That’s more than enough for you to warrant looking back over at him. It doesn’t take long for your gaze to start shifting around awkwardly while you scratch at your neck. “I would’ve taken you for more of a fight over flight kinda guy.”

He nods to himself. “Jus’ depends..” he says quietly.

And then it seems neither of you have anything else to say. You’ve run out of angry words to spit and he’s run out of apologies and excuses. But neither of you feel like you’re done.

The quiet lingers on for a painful amount of time. Your annoyance dissipates into something else, something more uncomfortable, but you couldn’t find a name for it. It’s got your thoughts going faster though and your chest feeling more hollow. Maybe not hollow…maybe just softer. 

He cuts through your thoughts before you can, “Are you mad that I kissed you?”

You shake your head, “No. I’m mad about what happened after.” You’re just mad about what happened after. Should’ve said just.

He thinks about that for a moment. 

“I can be honest with you,” he tells you. The way he says it, it’s somewhere between a peace offering and an assurance to himself.

You look at him again. He reads oddly vulnerable for a man his size with his reputation. You believe him. 

He goes on, “I trust you, you know? I want you to trust me too, if you can.”

You blink a few times, processing. “I…I don’t know anything about you.”

He nods, an anxious aura radiating around him. He leaves you hanging for longer than a few moments, getting you convinced that the conversation is just going to end there.

It doesn’t though, and after a few minutes, he sits up and reaches up to his mask.

It has you sitting up too, like he just pulled out a gun. Your hands fly up instinctually, as though this is completely uncalled for, as if he’s crazy for doing it.

He pauses his movements for a moment, making eye contact with you. His eyes reaffirm his words. He trusts you and he wants you to trust him.

You allow your hands to relax onto your lap and he continues on, taking his mask off.

You’re not revealed to much more of his face than you’d already seen before, but entirely in view like this, he’s a sight. You try not to stare but there’s little reward to removing him from your sight whereas the alternative…

All together like this you can see how his features balance his face out so nicely and make for a warm countenance, if not rough.

He takes a deep breath, setting his mask to the side. “My name is J…” he says with assurance. “Todd,” he tacks on.

You don’t mean to, really, but you’re sure the frown on your face is evident as puzzle pieces start forming and connecting in your mind. 

J…Todd…J…Jay…Todd…Jason…Todd…

Your mouth hangs open, “You’re Jason Todd. You’re de—” Well a couple things are starting to add up. “How are you…how are you not—”

He waves that away, tiredly. “It's a long story. Not particularly happy, either.”

Autopsy scar. Fuck. 

“I mean, I’ll…” he hesitates, “I’ll tell you if you want me to.”

He says it, but discomfort is painted across his face. You’re quick to shake your head, “It’s okay.”

He nods, likely relieved.

You stand up from your seat, crossing the room to sit down next to him. You’d half-expected him to tense up, but his body relaxes when you lean back against the chair.

You close your eyes before asking, “Who’s Nocturna?”

“She’s just this woman that’s been causing trouble for us.”

You don’t say anything and he continues on, shaking his head. “She’s more annoying than anything.”

You open your eyes, looking over. “Yeah?”

He shrugs, “Just trying to take over the underworld, the usual stuff. Nothing you need to worry about.”

You give a laugh that’s barely more than an exhale, relaxing your body completely..

There’s the slightest lull in activity before he sets his hand down on the floor, right on top of yours. The sounds of your breathing are the only thing that fill the room for a few minutes, save for the occasional car horn.

He glances at the clock on the wall, nearing midnight. “I have to go...” He says reluctantly.

You try not to let the disappointment show through your body language. “Go where?”

He pauses before telling you,  “A cemetery.”

You nod vacantly, “Oh. Just for fun, or…?”

He gives a dry laugh, “Just meeting an associate. They’re a bit dramatic, so.”

“Yeah, I’d say.”

“I’ll come back—I’m going to come back,” he mutters against your hairline.

You don’t respond, but you both know he’s good for his promise.

He looks around your apartment for a second before seemingly getting an idea. He pushes himself up off the ground and heads for your kitchen. You watch as he rips a sticky note off the deck on your fridge and scribbles something down on it. 

He returns to you, kneeling down and pushing the square of paper into your hand. “Here,” he says, looking you in the eye. “If you need anything. Anything.”

You engulf the note in your palm, nodding sincerely. His eyes flicker across your face, like he’s thinking about something. He hesitates for a moment, turning towards you, away from you, then towards you again. He holds the back of your head tenderly before pressing a sweet kiss to your forehead.

You look at each other up close for a second with nothing short of starry eyes before he turns away and ducks out the window.

You open up your palm and look down at the paper, at the ten digits scrawled across it.

Huh.

Must be official. 

🧨 reblog or die (this is a threat) 🧨

[ptergwen]

written in the stars

w/c: 2.7k

warnings: jus (lots of) making out

summary: using your newly acquired knowledge of astrology, you test your compatibility with tom

a/n: i was planning on making this a little blurb for y’all but then i got really into it and here we are lmfhfksjks i promise you don’t have to know anything about astrology or birth charts to enjoy cuz i broke it all down + it’s not the main focus of the fic anyways! this is mostly a day in the life with tommy boy and i hope you like it as much as i do :,) also some of this might be wrong.. i’m not an expert so yeah

•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡

“right, so how does this work again?” tom watches your laptop screen with curious eyes.

you’ve been getting into astrology lately, and whatever you care about, so does he. that’s why you’re currently laid across your bed in sweats while you teach him everything you know. but first, you’ll need to do his birth chart. it’s the pinnacle of everything.

“you just have to tell me what time you were born, then it does the rest for me,” you grin, typing in the name of the website. you’d had to do some research to find a reliable one. “that’s it? you don’t need, like, my birthday or something?” tom quirks an eyebrow at the chart generator.

“i already know your birthday, babes.” you laugh softly and let your head fall onto his shoulder. “you crazy gemini.” “‘m not crazy.” he smiles despite himself, leaning his head on yours. “just got a big personality, innit? charming, clever, lots of energy,” he lists off the characteristics of his sign, which you just taught him. that lights up your whole face.

“definitely not cocky,” you deadpan, tom scrunching his nose in response. “look at you, remembering all that. you really are clever.” “well, it’s interesting.” he drapes an arm around you, fingers running up and down your side. “i quite like the idea of the universe knowing me so well.”

tapping your fingers on the keys, you hum. “you’ll love your birth chart, then. tell me when you were born.” tom grimaces and squeezes at your waist. “i don’t actually know.” “how do you not know?” you flick his back playfully, making him flinch. he pokes you so you’re even. “i’ve never thought to ask. guess i’m not that clever after all.”

those are teasing words, but you press a reassuring kiss to his cheek. he gladly accepts it and gives you one on the side of your neck.

“no, your head’s gigantic. there’s gotta be something up there.” you knock on his skull for emphasis, your hand tangling in his hair. tom lets out a breathy chuckle. “hot air,” he explains as your fingers run through the messy locks. “you’re so...” you don’t even have the words. tom does. “hilarious? witty? amusing?” he tries to finish, tilting his head back to look at you.

“yeah, all of the above,” you confer and bring your hand back down to the keyboard. your lips curve into a smirk when tom whines. he’s the biggest baby, and he makes no attempt to hide it. “why don’t you text your mom and ask for your time of birth?” you suggest, tom pursing his lips in agreement. “sure, i’ll give mum a ring. i bet she loves this stuff, too.”

you roll over to lay on your back, tom still on his stomach. he pulls his phone from his pocket and opens imessage. “ah, nikki’s an astrogirl?” you wonder. tom makes a funny face at the term. “is that what you call yourselves?” “not really. well, not officially.” giggling, you loop your fingers around his wrist. “you can be an astroboy, if you want. or girl.”

tom sighs and leans over so his face hovers above yours. “god, you’re adorable. how are you so cute?” he gently pecks your lips. you’re about to kiss back, then he moves off to your cheek. after that is your forehead, chin, and finally down the bridge of your nose. it leaves you out of breath from laughter and with warm skin.

“i can’t answer that if you’re gonna launch a kiss attack on me-“

tom’s lips capture yours in a proper kiss, which you now get the chance to reciprocate. you hold him in place with your hands on his cheeks. his eyes instantly flutter closed and lashes tickle your face. the feeling draws another giggle out of you, and right into his mouth.

“absolutely gorgeous,” tom mutters against your lips. “anyone ever tell you that?” “you do, tommy. all the time.” your voice comes out gravelly, breathless, a grin painting your face. it transfers to tom. “mm, that’s right. my pretty baby.” he’s beaming down at you. he moves on top of you swiftly, his weight held up by his elbows on your sides.

you pull apart so you can go back in harder, hands situating in his curls again. tom grabs at your hips while the kiss deepens. your legs wrap around his waist clad in joggers and allow your bodies to be even closer together. the less space between you two, the needier you both get. “love,” tom parts his lips for you. “can i get a little more?” “course you can, tommy.” your fingers tug at his curls, mouth opening slightly.

his tongue skims its way across your lower lip, asking for access. you give his hair another pull to grant it. tom lets his tongue slip into your mouth, searching for your own as his hands continue to roam your body. he’s gone from gently peppering you in kisses to fully eating your face. no complaints, though. a quiet whimper escapes you when your tongues clash.

tom starts to push up your t-shirt, eyes opening to meet yours for approval. they’re completely darkened. you nod because you can’t answer with words. your tongue is preoccupied, intertwined with his. he sets his hands on your bare stomach, your nails scratching at tom’s scalp in a way that elicits a low groan.

“feels good?” your words come out muffled, barely audible. tom still understands them. “so good,” he rasps, calloused fingers dragging along your skin. they start to move up your body as you brush your lips against his. the kiss is light, and tom’s lips feel swollen as they move. his hands are nearing your chest, your legs tightening around his waist.

it earns another sinful noise from him. you want to see just how much he’s enjoying himself, so you peek up at him. what a sight that is. his faced twisted up as he focuses on kissing you, strands of hair stuck to his forehead from your playing with it. he’s so beautiful, and deserves to know. before you can tell him, you see his phone light up from the corner of your eye.

“tom,” you mumble his name. he’s too distracted by searching for your bra hook to hear. “tommy?” you’re louder this time, his mouth moving off of yours. “what is it, love?” tom exhales, hot breath hitting your face. “i think your mom texted back.” you offer a smile and run your thumb over his plumped lips. he only squints at you.

“about your time of birth,” you clarify. “for your birth chart.” “oh, that.” he kisses your thumb, nodding to himself. “forgot we were doing that.” tom tends to get a bit carried away with anything you related. making out can go on for hours and down many different paths, but it’s not the only thing. he’s a man in love, and the woman he shares that with gets all his attention at any given time. you’re so lucky to receive it.

you nod back and feel his racing heart as it beats against yours. “if you still want to, yeah.” “i definitely do. wanna hear you say more nice things about me,” tom jokes, a smug grin pulling at his lips. your eyes narrow. “who says they’ll be nice?” you challenge and earn a snicker from him.

“alright, missy. can you hand me my phone please?” he drops his head onto your chest, big brown eyes gazing up at you. “yes, sir.” you pat his cheek and grab his phone from next to you. tom’s contact name for nikki is set as ‘Ma x’, which brings a toothy smile to your face. “here you go.” you dangle his phone above his head. tom takes it from you promptly. “thanks.”

after leaving a couple of kisses on your clothed chest, he rolls to lay next to you. “let’s see, let’s see,” he murmurs, reading his mom’s messages. you scoot closer so you can look. “ooh, lots of crying emojis,” tom remarks. “i think you made her kinda nostalgic.” you pout at the screen. copying your face, he clicks on a picture nikki attached.

“she even pulled out the birth certificate.” he shows you his phone, and you zoom in to see when he was born. “big stuff here,” you say while you read. tom takes the time to get comfortable, resting his chin on your shoulder. “looks like you popped out in the middle of the night,” you conclude, giving him his phone back. he clicks his tongue at you.

“don’t say popped out.” feigning innocence, you glance over at him. “too late.” tom types out a reply thanking his mom before tossing his phone aside. “middle of the night makes sense, though.” he bites the inside of his cheek. “i’ve always been a party animal, haven’t i?” you turn onto your side and put a hand on his chest.

“it’s in your gemini nature. or really, your tom nature.” tom does an over exaggerated wink. “i like the sound of that.” he chuckles when you hit at his chest. “bring the laptop. let’s get this thing going.” you huff as you reach over him to grab it. you’ve switched positions so you’re laying horizontally on your stomach and over his legs, your laptop in front of you.

“if we find out there’s any scorpio in you...” you shutter. “hm? what’s wrong with scorpios?” tom wonders, watching you plug his birth time into the generator. “they’re literally insane, tom. like, serial killer insane. there’s statistics.” your eyes go wide as you hit enter. he leans his head back on his arms with a wince. “never mind, then.”

a small gasp leaves your lips, you squeezing tom’s knee. “it’s done.” “what does it say? share with the audience,” tom requests so you do your thing. you’re eager to get to it, turning the laptop to show him his birth chart. “ok, so.” you point at a box a few places down. “this is your rising sign, which is basically how other people see you.”

tom reads the chart, moving his own finger along the screen. “it says i’m a... taurus. what are those like?” “in one word? boring,” you summarize, tom only frowning. “kidding, kidding.” his frown fades into a small smile at that. “they’re known for being super nice and chill... also stubborn,” you tell him and prop your head in your hand.

“so, that makes no sense. those are complete opposites,” tom comments, slipping out from under you. he settles by your side. “i don’t get how i can be a gemini and a taurus, either.” “weird, right?” you sigh in content as his hand comes to stay on the small of your back. “very strange. do you think it could be wrong?”

“are you questioning the universe’s plan?” you tease, tom drumming his fingers on you. “yes, i am.” “see, you’re stubborn! taurus things.” you scroll down to his moon sign before he can protest. tom sticks out his tongue and tries to lick your cheek, which you stop by putting your hand in his face. “next is your moon sign,” you laugh out, ignoring his boyish behavior.

“that controls your emotions and private thoughts,” you elaborate and look presently surprised when you see what tom’s is. “yours is sagittarius. that’s a cool one.” “is it? how come?” tom sneaks a few kisses down the shell of your ear. “you guys are really open-minded and into things that challenge you.” he nods, signaling for you to go on. you turn onto your back so you’re looking up at him.

“you’re all about your freedom, though. it’s hard to hold you down for too long.” grinning, tom brings his face into your line of vision. “that must mean you’re a real force because i’m not going anywhere.” he nudges your nose with his, lips ghosting over yours. you return the smile and meet him halfway for your lips to connect. “anytime soon,” tom adds on in a whisper, kissing back easily.

this one doesn’t last long, but it doesn’t need to. it’s just one of those kisses that makes you feel each other’s love, no matter how you go about it. they’re essentially your own made up love language.

you’re still smiling when your lips detach, fingers combing through tom’s tussled locks. “now that we’ve done the big three...” you preface. “androids, aliens, and wizards?” tom jokes, you breathing out a laugh. you’d thought he had a soft spot for sam and bucky. your suspicions were correct.

“cute, but no. your sun sign, moon sign, and rising sign,” you explain to him. “sure, sure. what about them?” tom toys with the hem of your shirt while you think. a mischievous glint in your eyes, you suddenly sit up. “since you know yours, and i know mine, how about we test our compatibility?”

tom is well aware of what that means, and he isn’t so sure he’d like to do it. he’s someone who believes in cliches like soulmates and fate, so he’ll take your results seriously. after the lessons on astrology you gave him, especially.

his heart will always hold a special place for you and you only. nothing will change that. but, what if the universe says you can’t be together? where do you go from there?

“um,” tom presses his lips into an uncertain line. you’re already getting your laptop. “i mean, do we want to know? what if we’re not...” you come back over to him with both eyebrows furrowed. “compatible?” “yeah” he hesitates before answering, which tells you he’s nervous.

“it’s just for fun, tommy,” you assure him and press a quick kiss to his lips. “besides, if anyone could defy the odds, it would be us.” tom perks up a bit, sitting up next to you. “you think we’re that strong, huh?” “absolutely. do you?” you’re already sure what he’s going to say. he pulls you into his lap, kissing at your hair and letting it linger. “one hundred percent. i’ll do it.”

you put your laptop in your own lap with a grin. tom’s arms hold you by your middle. “ok, here we go,” you mutter, searching for a good compatibility calculator. it doesn’t take long to find one. “remember, this all a bunch of theories. our love goes beyond what a stupid website tells us, okay?” you remind him, his arms tightening around you.

“okay. i love you,” tom speaks into your hair. “you’re so good at saying exactly what i need to hear. how do you do it?” “i love you too, and that’s a secret i’ll never tell.” you take one of his hands and bring it to your lips. tom’s leg bounces while you plug your three signs and his into the calculator. before hitting the calculate option, you look at him over your shoulder.

“ready?” your finger hovers over the cursor. you know how much these things mean to him, so you want to be positive that he is. “can we do it together?” tom asks shyly, which is highly uncharacteristic of him. “sure, baby. on the count of three.” you wait for him to place his hand over yours. he grips it tight, then you start to count. “one... two... three.”

the two of you click calculate at the same time, your results taking a few seconds to load. “love, i’m so nervous. i can’t look.” tom dips his head down so yours is blocking his view. you lightheartedly roll your eyes. “it’s fine, tom. i’m sure we’ll-“ the screen changes to display your compatibility rating, you cutting yourself off. he slowly creeps out from behind you.

“oh, god. are they in? what’s it say?” tom grabs onto your waist, feeling vibrations from you giggling. you shake your head at the website. “it’s really good... almost a perfect match. told you we’re meant to be.” he joins in your laughter, an endless amount of kisses going down the side of your head. “now, it’s written in the stars. we’re untouchable!”

he’s flipping you over so he lays above you, lips colliding messily with yours for the millionth time today. you don’t mind, though. you could do this a million more. “a power couple,” you continue for him between another peck of his lips. “always have been,” tom corrects and shuts you up again with his mouth on yours.

your hand reaches up for him, but doesn’t make it as the passionate kiss he’s giving you takes your breath away. he locks your fingers together instead, whispering one last thing.

“always will be.”

[wannabe-fic-writer]

WandaNat x Reader : Confusion

Summary: If they had twins you would still choose them.

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1,362

* * * * * *

Long red tresses. Deep green eyes. Flawless porcelain skin.

Long brown hair. Sea green eyes. Equally as flawless skin. 

The two women you love, sitting at your sides and. . . in front of you?

A deep frown sets on your face as you stare at the women in front of you. Who’ve just introduced themselves as Scarlett and Elizabeth. And who also had just appeared in the common room of the compound from a very complex looking portal. 

It’s not surprising but still a shock. 

You’d time traveled for crying out loud. You’d brought both of your girlfriends back from the dead. So a portal to an alternate universe isn’t bizarre.

What was bizarre was this unexpected event. 

Waking up you thought it’d be another normal day, being lazy with your girlfriends in the midst of this quarantine. Just as the three of you were settling on the couch to watch some Netflix movie Wanda begged to see, a giant(almost magical looking) hole opened in front of the tv. 

Out stepping your girlfriends’, doppelgangers it seems.   

“So, is there any way you can help us get home?” The woman named Elizabeth asks, soft green eyes full of worry.

You have to force yourself to break eye contact, a reminder in your head that she may look like her but she is not your Wanda. 

Leaning back, you find yourself inadvertently in Natasha’s embrace. Her arm around you as her other hand plays with Wanda’s hair. 

“I’m sure Tony could help. He and Bruce have been dying to do some big science shit.” 

Wanda smacks your leg when you curse and an amused smile crosses your lips as you mumble a sorry. She’s not a fan of your profanity and in your defense you haven’t cursed as much lately.

Both women across from you eye the closeness between the three of you, the little gestures and comfortability. Scarlett is the one to lean forward just a little,“ I don’t mean to overstep but are the three of you-”

“In love? Yes.” Natasha says, seriously but with a joking undertone. 

And the women take it for just that. No judgment, just nods and smiles. 

“I’m curious,” you say, leg crossing over the other,“ you said that you’re actresses that play characters exactly like Nat and Wan? And that’s why you look exactly the same?”

They nod. 

You hum, trying to process the information. Understand how there is a world where the women you love are merely characters being brought to life by people with their own lives off a screen. 

Natasha and Wanda aren’t real in another universe. Are you?

Before you can ask the very men that can fix the current problem appear, Mister Jolly Green Giant, Professor Hulk carrying a carton of his own ice cream while he and Tony talk amongst themselves.

Their eyes go as wide as yours had when they see the additional women in the common room. 

Bruce’s large spoon falls from his mouth and clatters against the floor, the sound pulling Tony from his state of shock. 

“Uh, either this is multiversal or cloning.” He says, looking from Natasha and Wanda to Scarlett and Elizabeth, a deep frown on his face.

Natasha sighs,“ they aren’t clones Tony.” 

“This is Scarlett,” Wanda points to the redhead actress,“ and Elizabeth.” She points to her doppelganger.

Bruce waves at them.

You scoot to the edge of the couch,“ think we can get them home?” You direct to the two geniuses. 

And in true Tony fashion, he cockily states that he’s probably the only one who can. He may be right but it’s still annoying. 

But you know it won’t take a day, so you show the women to spare rooms where they’ll be staying until they get home. 

“Hey,” you rejoin your girlfriends in the common room,“ I don’t want to bail but-”

“You’re going to work with Tony and Bruce.” Natasha finishes, looking back at you.

A sheepish grin spreads across your face and your girlfriend’s laugh at you and your nonverbal asking for permission. You don’t need it but you want to make sure they’re okay with you ditching them for science. 

They nod to you and you press a kiss to Natasha’s lips before leaning over the couch to kiss Wanda who’s head rests on Natasha’s lips. 

“Promise we’re spending all day tomorrow together.” You call as you jog away. 

Like usual, when you get caught up in your work with Bruce and Tony, hours pass without you acknowledging it.

By the time you leave the lab it's well past midnight but the sun’s still down. 

Craving a snack before you go to bed, you quietly head to the kitchen. Surprised to see the light already on. But not surprised to find Natasha in the room. 

You assume she’s having one of those nights, waking up on and off. 

With a soft smile and a quiet sigh, you approach the woman, arms encircling her waist as you ask,“ can’t sleep?” And press a kiss to her cheek. 

Only for the woman to jolt away from your embrace with wide eyes. And it’s then that you realize your mistake. The green eyes may be familiar but they aren’t the ones of the woman you love.

“Holy shit!” You raise your hands as if you’re not trying to startle her.“ Oh my fucking- I’m so sorry I didn’t. I forgot-” 

Forgot how you don’t know! You literally just left from working on a way to get the women home and you forgot they were here! 

Burying your face in your hands you groan,“ I swear I didn’t mean to do that. I mean I did just not to you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s- it’s fine.” Scarlett speaks, voice so familiar it makes you groan again. 

You’re such an idiot!

“I’m gonna-” you point to the door, nodding, and then leaving. 

Heading to your shared room, you keep repeating how idiotic you are in your head. Once inside, you lean against the door, and slowly slide down it. Face back in your hands.

“Y/n?” Light fills part of the room from the bedside lamp and you look up to see Natasha staring back at you with tired narrowed eyes.

You sigh and drop your head back against the door.“ I just kissed Scarlett. I fucking thought it was you. I forgot about them so fucking quick and I was jus-”

The laughter coming from Natasha makes you frown. Is she losing her mind? 

Quirking an eyebrow, you lift your head up,“ is that a you’re about to kill me laugh?”

“No,” Natasha shakes her head and holds her hand out to you,“ it’s an I love you but figured something like this would happen laugh.”

Now frowning, you stand, strip to your underwear, and take her hand, letting her pull you into the bed.

“So you aren’t mad that I kissed another woman?” 

Her fingers gently stroke your bare leg,“ a little. But I know it was genuinely a mistake. In any other circumstance I would definitely be killing you and her.” She smiles sweetly despite her deadly words.

“Agreed.” 

Both your gazes snap to Wanda, who you both thought was asleep. If her words weren’t enough, she rolls over and wraps her arm around Natasha’s waist. 

“Where did it even happen? Did you not assume we were asleep?” The youngest woman asks, one eye peeking open.

You nod,“ I thought you were asleep, and having forgotten about them, I assumed Tasha was having one of those nights and had gotten up.” 

“Well all is forgiven. Let’s not keep talking about it though.” Natasha says.

Noticing the flicker in her eyes, you gently grab her chin, and press a kiss to her lips.

You go to sleep happy that they weren’t mad but still feeling bad because no matter how much they look alike, you definitely kissed another woman. 

It’s safe to say that you were more than happy when Scarlett and Elizabeth went home. As nice as they were, you aren’t sure if you’d  be able to handle having the women around so often. It was far too confusing.

* * * * * *

taglist: @trikruismybitch

[undergrounddweller89]

(look you don't have to like this, I'm not expecting anyone to, I just needed to write and if there's the possibility that even one person was hoping I'd write more and enjoys it then that's cool, just don't be a dick about it, it's more house mate au stuff, don't hope for continuity by that I mean it's just all over the place and nothing makes sense , just expect what ever came to my head at the time lol)

Walter was sat at his work table, fiddling with one of his new devices working on to perfect it, no I can't think of anything specific so I'll let you fill in that with your imagination.

The day had been long, his lab assistant Timothy Lawrence (Yea that Timothy if you know him because reasons) had been pretty quiet but done as told so at least that made it easier.

He was tired as the day had gone on his mood had sunk, what was he doing teasing Killian like that, honestly spanking him with the hair brush, he knew some of the things Killian had been up to.

But it was more likely a sign of marking territory or just because he had needs right and it was exciting to do things where you shouldn't.

The blade he was handling slipped and ran across the pad of his index finger, he hissed in pain, seeing the blood smear under the blue latex, pooling to drip, focusing on the red colour he hadn't even noticed Timothy running to fetch the first aid kit.

Pulling his gloves off he discarded them and popped open the box that had been set on the table.

"Thanks Timmy."

Walter smiled a little as he tended to his finger, he hated how the skin felt parting every time he flexed his finger.

Cleaning up and applying what was needed, thankful it wouldn't need stitches.

He wondered what Killian was up to, watching TV, reading maybe, did he eat, did he have enough to drink, was he in a depressive mood, was he mad that hed spanked him, he really should send a message.

Pulling his phone from his lab pocket he texted him.

'Hope you're day has been good, hope you're well, sorry if I upset you this morning.'

He shifted and rubbed a shoulder, he didn't realise how stiff his back had gone, being in charge of a division meant he'd somewhat lost track of self care making sure to do his stretches.

Timothy stood here watching his boss, lot better than the last one, this one was kind and genuine, always looking out for people, honestly Beckett made him feel safe and relaxed, he wasn't looking for anything serious but even he could see that furrowed bow and the lean that spelt hey I'm exhausted let me die.

Walking around and behind him he slowly massaged his shoulders, they were small and rather petite for someone Walter's age but it was more lean muscle and just body build, he just hadn't seen many men like Walter where he'd come from, he was rather pretty.

Walter had considered telling him to stop but when his fingers pressed into that one perfect spot in his shoulder blades he melted, ooooh that just felt so damn good and shit when was the last time he'd had contact, had someone be closer to him...he liked Killian...wondered if they could be more, but he didn't believe for one second that they could be lovers or bed fellows for one moment...not that he wouldn't be interested in finding out but Killian had been there a month, like he wasn't going to make him uncomfortable and feel like that the only way he could stay was if he dated him.

(I keep forgetting times or how many days set shrugs just don't expect like decent continuity, I write these because I need to just write things and moments)

Walter leaned forward arms folded and face buried in them

"Sorry sir, am I doing that badly?"

Timothy's enquired nervously, his hands going still.

"No, please don't stop, I literally didn't realise how stiff I was, you have good hands, I'm just so tired Timothy, I could really use it if you don't mind that is."

"Not at all sir."

Tim smiled happy to know he was helping, yes much nicer than his last boss, Walter was smart but he was also fragile, like him he loved his mother and when he'd heard Walters mother had died when he was small he wanted to scoop him up and just hug him.

A talk with Lance at one point and he'd learned that was a natural reaction for anyone with a heart around Walter who didn't have their head up their ass.

Which had practically been the last tech department Beckett had worked in, that totally wasn't cool that they'd done that to such a brilliant mind, it was so much fun working on items that didn't kill people and actually helped them!

Walter was imagining the fingers loosening the knots in his back were Killian, wondered what that would feel like with those pretty metal claws, but he never forgot it was Timothy, after all Timothy deserved more respect than that.

Looking over his shoulder at him, auburn hair flopping off to one side, Tim's hands on his waist he noticed the subtle blush.

"You wanna go grab some dinner or something in a minute there's a corner café I know, makes steak sandwiches and baked potatoes with a perfect crispy skin, a warm meal sounds pretty nice don't you think?"

Tim in the angle he was in was trying not to think about how suggestive this looked, he would absolutely lean down and kiss Walter if he thought it was an option, it really was a casual thing he felt, but Walter just looked so pretty and like he needed someone to carry him right now.

Continuing to rub his back Timothy nodded

"Yeah that sounds pretty nice actually."

---

At home Killian had found plenty to do, he'd read, watched tv, all in Walters bed of course, just to feel close to him as he could, he did wonder after handling himself, if Walter could see him as anything more than a friend, someone more than a few passing jokes between the other...turning his head and taking in his scent as he buried his face into a pillow again, looking forward to seeing those blue eyes...he should really get out of Walter's bed and get the covers washed.

Beckett brought comfort to his mind after his years of suffering, the sunrise after the storm.

He'd talked to Lovey, wondering if she could understand him, she was surprisingly responsive to his rambling as he worked on his arm, updating the tech and keeping up with maintenence.

Living here with Walter and slowly working past things with Lance and seeing he had genuinely started changes of his own, it made it easier with how Walter talked about him on the job, that he considered all options before violence and discussed the situations with him...it was good to know Beckett had helped Lance to.

He was glad to know Walter's field partner was a good one, though his lab partner, this Timothy Lawrence seemed to be pretty chummy didn't he, he'd seen a picture, thick brown hair, heterochromia eyes, blue and green to be exact and a chiseled jaw, in other words a damn pretty boy and he didn't want him around Walter.

He huffed folding his arms, yes he was jealous he was going to be pouty, before his injury he had thick black hair and had been known to be a very handsome man, now he looked like he'd been put through a grinder when he took off his holo mask and this Timothy Lawrence just had to be Walter's lab partner, he'd be around him alot and-

His phone buzzed, it'd been put on the side table and he read the text that'd come through and there was another one.

'Going out to dinner with Timothy, don't know what time I'll be back, have fun you probably need a break from me anyway lol 😂'

Killian's eye twitched, he nearly threw the damn phone, but how would he explain that, honestly he couldn't, Tristan sighed, shoulders drooping a little and answered his questions

'It's been a relaxing day, did work on the arm, Lovey' s surprisingly easy to talk to, watched a little television but perhaps you could suggest something to watch, it's rather hard deciding with all these options and no Walter you didn't upset me, though you left in a hurry, you do not need to avoid me. You're not a bother. Are you alright?'

'I'm so happy you're warming up to her! That's awesome! Also it's good you have time to relax, ten years of hectic stress you're more than overdue! I...well I was more embarrassed than anything, I reacted on instinct, last boyfriend liked that well that's probably more than you needed to know, but yeah I'll help you pick something to watch see you later!'

Last boyfriend? Spanking, Walter had, he had...Killian shifted well the blankets were starting to tent, the idea of being put over Walters petite lap and being told he was a very bad man came to mind.

He liked it.

A lot.

He looked at his phone as it pinged again.

'And god damn it, make sure you eat something for dinner, don't just go picking out the cupboard!'

Killian snickered and replied

'Yes Daddy, I'll make sure to eat something.'

After sending the text he realised what he'd written and wished he could take back that text, wincing as he managed to look at the response

'Behave, eat dinner or I'll put you over my knee young man.'

Killian stared and stared at that answer, he knew Walter was just teasing but, his cheeks were warm and he was...was he blushing.

----

"You all set to go Timothy?"

Walter smiled, his back was feeling a hundred times better after Timothy had dug into the knots, it wasn't a surprise that he was good with his hands, you had to have nimble ones to work with the tech they used here.

"Yeah, just coming boss!"

He pulled his satchel over his shoulder after pulling on his old brown leather jacket

"Please Timothy don't call me that, call me daddy."

Walter laughed at how silly that sounded

"I'm sorry, pfffft don't call me that god please, no, Walter's just fine."

Tim had paused a moment a slight fear he might have a streak like his last boss after all but that laugh was too warm and giggly and just shook his head with a smile

"Wouldn't dream of it Walter, you're more of a kitten anyway."

Timmy felt his insides tighten a little and there was that hint of Jack Dna surfacing.

"So shall we go?"

Beckett enquired looking up at him, huh he kinda looked like Killian, just a little.

"Ready when you are."

And with that they were off.

(Alright end of this ramble, Timothy has been thrown in because I needed the gasp drama of prolongation and shit and didn't have the energy to create an oc and honestly I'll mash anything from anywhere if it's convenient bleh)

[yepiamthesmileyface]

Just Friends(?)

[Image description: screenshot of an ask sent by @nemesis-is-my-middle-name​ reading “38 - Everyone thinks we’re already dating, but we’re just best friends- oh wait? (if ur taking prompts idk)” end image description]

Read it on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28347906

Going to a Denny’s after a case was always a gamble. On one hand, there was hot, cheap junk food at whatever ungodly time they wrapped up their investigation; but on the other, sometimes the Denny’s had specimens like this. Vivi sighed, shoving a huge bite of her pancakes in her mouth and trying to tune out the ravings of the old white man who had stormed up to their booth — at three in the morning, mind you — and started screeching about how you should be ashamed of yourselves, displaying such perversions in public!! and three people living in sin!!

Normally, Vivi would have at least been making snarky comments, if not actually challenging him to a fight for insulting her and her boys like that, but...she was tucked comfortably under Lewis’s arm, the hand that wasn’t holding her fork reached across and resting on Arthur’s thigh. Also, it was literally three in the morning, she was covered in mud and slime from chasing a giant frog-creature around in a nearby river, and she had been awake for twenty-one consecutive hours. She took another bite. The pancakes tasted extra good for the exhaustion and ache sunk into her bones, strawberry topping and whipped cream and thick fluffy pancakes and maple syrup...it was almost enough to get her to forget about the man shrieking at them. She glanced back over at him, idly noting that his face was turning an interesting shade of puce.

The waiter walked back over with the same jaded, unfazed look he wore when the three of them had staggered into the Denny’s, soaked to the bone and absolutely covered in muck. He folded his arms and stared at the old man. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. You’re disturbing the other guests.” The old man turned to look at the waiter, puffing up not unlike the giant frog the Mystery Skulls had captured and returned to its actual habitat not half an hour ago, and rapidly deflating as he took in the completely impassive, almost dead-eyed stare of the late-night Denny’s waiter. He hurried out of the building, spitting one last insult about how they were all going to hell for living in sin. Given that he had used that particular phrase about nineteen times, it had kind of lost its fire, as far as Vivi was concerned.

Vivi felt some of the tension drain out of Lewis, and she turned her head, looking over at her boys. Lewis looked relieved and tired, catching her eye and smiling at her, soft and warm and completely unguarded. There was a streak of mud high on his cheek, almost matting in his no-longer-pristine hair. She smiled back, the expression billowing up like a balloon on a current of love, and reached up to wipe the smear away. Lewis leaned into her touch, and she cupped his cheek for a moment before wiping her hand on her skirt and leaning forward a little to peer around Lewis’s chest in order to check on Arthur. In contrast, Arthur looked like a live wire of tension, like he would either shatter or vault over the table and sprint away if anything else happened. Her smile dropped.

The waiter turned to them, ready with a scripted apology that actually carried a note of sincerity that Lewis quickly waved off. As he took care of talking to the waiter, Vivi leaned across him, patting Arthur’s leg quickly to get his attention. 

Arthur jumped, nearly hitting his knees on the table. Vivi felt a little guilty, but quickly pushed through. “Hey. It’s alright. He’s gone.”

Arthur met her gaze, eyes wide and grin forced. His hair hung limp around his face, framing him beautifully in dark gold. “Y-yeah. Plus — plu-plus, h-he — was, wasn’t even may-making any, any, any se-sen-se.”

She bit her lip. If his stutter was coming out that strong, he was either much more anxious or much more tired than she thought. Probably a combination of both. Pulling up a warm, playful grin from the depths of her chilled bones, she said, “Yeah. I mean, his argument was both really painfully dumb and also really Christian-centric! I mean, hello, not everyone is Christian, I’m definitely not, so, like…”

Arthur continued on like he hadn’t even heard her, leg starting to bounce under the hand she just realized she never moved. “I me-mean, I mean, he — h-he — we, we’re — I mean, we’re jus-just, just friends. Wh— I do-don’t kno— I dunno why h-he tho-thougth we we-were —”

Vivi felt Lewis freeze under her, and she wasn’t far behind. She felt breathless, like she had been punched in the gut, like he had slapped her in the face instead of saying those three little words bouncing around her head. We’re just friends?! “Wait. Wait, what?!” The words came out closer to a whine than she would have liked them to, but she was too stunned to really care.

At the same time, Lewis gasped like he had been shot. “You’re — are you breaking up with us?!” He sounded like he was two seconds away from bursting into loud sobs in the middle of this Denny’s.

Arthur’s mouth dropped open, and he stared at them with eyes the size of dinner plates. A stunned silence fell over their booth, broken only by the wavering sound of Lewis’s breathing.

Before any more drama could happen, Vivi held up her hand, forcing the words out past the cold spot that had taken up residence between her lungs. “No. Nuh-uh. Arthur, one word answer, and we’ll talk about this all when it’s tomorrow. Are you breaking up with us?”

Arthur opened and closed his mouth a few times before volunteering a tentative, “N-no…?”

Her shoulders slumped as she let out an explosive sigh. “Alright. Let’s — tomorrow? Tomorrow, when we’re not all so tired, we’re gonna talk about this, yes?”

Arthur nodded slowly, still boggling at them for some reason. Vivi was too tired to puzzle his behavior over properly, so she just glanced up at Lewis, who also nodded, unwinding his arm from around her to wipe at his face.

The rest of the night seemed to pass in snapshots to Vivi’s tired mind. Their dinner being boxed up. Walking back to the motel, just across the parking lot. Patting Mystery on the head and telling him he’s a good boy yes he is. Collapsing face first into the delicious crisp coolness of the starched motel bed. Lewis’s deep, tired chuckle as he took her glasses off her face. The weight of another body next to hers, but not the two she had become accustomed to after countless nights on the futon in the van. 

The next morning, she woke up slowly to the smell of coffee, and made to roll over so she could sit up. Instead, the world plummeted around her as she rolled right off the bed with a sharp, panicked yelp, caught in a devious trap of tangled blankets and sheets. A soft, almost stifled snort came from her left, and a pair of hands reached into the gordian knot of fabric, deftly untangling her. She squinted up at the blur of color and fuzz, the pale yellow-orange blur instantly recognizable as Arthur.

Vivi huffed, knowing full well he was smirking at her, the bastard. “Oh, like you’ve never rolled off the bed before.” She flailed her hand towards the bedside table, groping around blindly and not finding her quarry. “Where the hell’re —” A yawn interrupted her, wide enough to make her jaw crack. 

The Arthur-blur disappeared for a second, and when he came back, he slipped her glasses into her hands, his hands nice and warm where they made contact with hers. “Lew had ‘em over on his side of the bed for some reason.”

She slipped her glasses on, and the world came into rose-tinted focus. “Thanks, Artie.” She looked around the motel room, noting a distinct lack of giant purple-headed fops and talking dogs, and frowned. “Speaking of, where is he?”

“He’s grabbing all our meds from the van, I think. At least, I’m hoping he’s grabbing all of ours, he just said he’d get the meds, but I didn’t —” Arthur cut himself off with a swig from his travel mug. “Oh, and Mystery took himself out for a walk a couple’a minutes ago.”

Vivi laughed. “He’s probably definitely grabbing all of our meds. Did he make coffee, or did you?”

“It’s from the breakfast buffet, actually. Burnt, but not horrible. Better than that place in Staccatto, anyway,” Arthur shrugged, walking over to sprawl on the couch. “I grabbed you a cup, too, don’t worry.”

“The mud we were wading around in yesterday woulda been better coffee than that place in Staccatto,” Vivi grumbled, picking herself up and making a beeline for the coffee. “I’m pretty sure it was dirt. At least fifty percent dirt.” Leaning against the wall as she drank, she picked at the feeling that she was forgetting something. Something important, not just the fact that she forgot to shower last night and as such was still covered in itchy, flaky mud and sweat and her socks were sagging down without fresh sock glue — she shook her head to clear it. She was forgetting something important, something that had happened the night before. The case had gone well, they were paid half upfront and they would get the other half later that day, Lewis was getting their meds, breakfast was either the buffet or leftovers...leftovers. Wait. Her eyes widened as the whole Denny’s escapade came back to her in a flash. The bigoted old man who had practically burst a vein yelling at them, Arthur’s comment about them being just friends — but he wasn’t breaking up with them, apparently???

Downing the rest of the coffee in one gulp, she glanced towards the door, then back to Arthur. She should wait, Vivi told herself sternly. She should wait for Lewis, because Lewis was an important part of their relationship, and he should not be left out of serious relationship discussions.

Luckily, she was saved from the antsy feeling creeping around under her shoulder blades by the sound of the door opening. Lewis ducked in, a tote bag bearing the logo of a kitschy tourist trap in his hand. He beamed as he noticed her, walking up and giving her a good morning kiss.

Vivi laughed, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him away lightly. “Lew, I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet! No morning breath kisses, we all agreed those were the worst.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Arthur start, but Lewis just laughed, walking over to the table and setting the bag down on it. He started to unpack, first his own rainbow pill caddy, then Vivi’s cylindrical one, and finally Arthur’s loose assortment of orange bottles. “Fine, fine. Meds, everybody, come and get it.”

Once they had all taken their various medications, and Arthur had been chided into using his coffee to take his meds instead of taking them dry, Vivi took a deep breath. “Okay. Boys, I think we need to have a serious conversation now.” Arthur stiffened, and his eyes darted towards the windows. Vivi immediately strode forward, sitting down on the couch next to him. “I will sit on you if I have to, Artie,” she warned him, only half joking.

Arthur sighed and slumped against the couch, covering his face with his hands. His ears were cherry-red, and Vivi couldn’t help but find it cute.

Despite the cuteness, she shared a worried glance with Lewis as he settled down on the bed across from the couch. Lewis shook his head, a worried frown pulling at his face. She took another deep, grounding breath, setting her shoulders and sitting up straight before she looked at Arthur. “Okay. Arthur. What was that last night? You — you said we were just friends,” and those words still stung like a winter wind, “But then you say you’re not breaking up with us?”

It came out a touch more accusatory than she wanted it to, and Lewis took over with a gentle, “We’re not mad, Arthur. Not disappointed, either, but — if you don’t want us to even say we’re dating when we’re in public, I wish you’d told us earlier. It’s okay if you don’t! It really is, I get it, but…”

Arthur went impossibly redder, and curled in on himself, drawing his knees up towards his chest. “I dndwrdn…” he whined, muffled by his hands.

“I didn’t catch that, sorry,” Vivi said, wrapping her hands lightly around his wrists and tugging gently, trying to get him to lower them. 

Arthur took a deep breath, dropped his hands, and half yelled, “I didn’t know we were dating!!!” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his hands shot back up so fast he practically slapped himself in the face.

Vivi sat back, stunned. He...didn’t know? How could he possibly not know?!

“I — I, I, you — you never asked!” Arthur yelped.

Oh, she had said that out loud. “What do you — Arthur, we asked you out two months ago!”

Lewis raised his hands in a T, using the same tone he used on his sisters when they were getting too rowdy. “Okay, you two, time out!”

They both fell silent, turning to face Lewis.

Lewis tilted his head, looking at their boyfriend. Who...apparently didn’t know that he was their boyfriend. “Arthur...do you really not remember? We asked you out when we were back home, almost two months ago.”

“Okay, yes, it was a month, four weeks, and five days, not two months, but I don’t think semantic arguments are gonna be a big help here, babe,” Vivi grumbled.

Arthur shook his head wordlessly, still hiding his cherry-red face.

A month, four weeks, five days, and a handful of hours ago…

“It honestly feels so weird not living out of the van, doesn’t it?” Vivi mused, taking a bite of pizza.

“It really does. I’d completely forgotten what it was like to be woken up in the morning by forty pounds of overenthusiastic child launched directly at my sternum,” Lewis laughed, rubbing at his chest.

“Lew, we’ve only been road tripping for three months. That’s a bit quick, big guy,” Arthur snickered, pausing to shove half a slice of his weird oyster pizza in his mouth.

“It was so nice, though! The most I had to deal with while living with y’all is your pointy elbows!” Lewis leaned over and mussed Arthur’s hair. A laugh bubbled out of Arthur as he batted at Lewis’s hand futilely, trying to save his cone of hair gel. Laughing, Lewis subsided, pulling back. “But, yeah, I woke up this morning with a Cayenne-shaped bruise right on my sternum.”

Vivi winced sympathetically, shaking her head. “Ouch. Did she mean to?”

“Nah. Just excited.” Lewis’s smile turned fond. “They missed me. Demanded souvenirs and made me sit down and be their personal giant teddy bear as they watched Moana for the eighth time. Then Paprika gave me about twenty bead bracelets. When y’all come to the Paradiso, she’s got your piles waiting.”

“She’s still doing bead bracelets?” Vivi asked, a note of excitement in her voice. The last time they had all gotten bead bracelets from Paprika, it was right after the Peppers had explained what transgender meant, and the three of them had all gotten a bead bracelet with the word transgender wildly misspelled, the pink, white, and blue of the flag slapped randomly on there. It was the best piece of jewelry she owned — hers said “trasgenner”, Arthur’s said “trainsgandr”, and Lewis’s said “trasgeneer”. Paprika had been very determined to do it on her own, and had just gone with her best guess on each one.

“Yep! She’s got one for both of you that has your favorite animal as a charm,” Lewis revealed, grinning.

“Perfect!” Vivi did a very restrained fist pump.

Arthur hummed, staring at the pizza boxes on the table. It was almost a full twenty seconds before he grabbed another slice. “That actually sounds really nice. Both the, the bracelets and the personal teddy bear Moana thing.”

“Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all.”

Silence descended on their table, comfortable and companionable. Vivi shut her pizza box, setting her elbows on the table and propping her head on her hands, studying the two in front of her. Butterflies were building in her stomach — they were just both so beautiful, the warm noonday sunlight making both her boys glow in different ways. Arthur looked like he was wreathed in gold, his hair and eyes shining the same color as the sunlight. On the other hand, the warm light brought out the full richness of Lewis’s skin tone and made his hair gleam like the satin of his ascot, as well as glinting off his sparkly magenta nail polish. She made eye contact with Lewis, jerking her chin towards Arthur and wiggling her eyebrows.

Lewis blushed, glancing at Arthur nervously. Arthur, completely oblivious, simply leaned back in his chair, eyes drifting closed. He didn’t look tired, or, at least, not drop dead exhausted, just relaxed, happy, and full, so Vivi took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders.

“So, Artie...there’s something we’ve been meaning to ask you.”

Arthur opened his eyes, meeting her gaze curiously. There was no undercurrent of nervousness in his eyes, and Vivi was warmed to the core by his trust in them — she had asked an extremely open-ended question. “Huh? What’s up?”

Lewis cleared his throat. “We want to ask you if...Arthur, would you like to go out with us?”

“I thought that’s what we’re already doing right now…?” Arthur looked adorably confused, brow furrowed as he looked between them. 

Vivi shook her head. “No, like, as a date. Will you go on a date with us, and-or be our boyfriend?”

Arthur sat very still for a long moment (she wasn’t even sure he was breathing) before a grin unfolded across his face, as resplendent as the sun itself. “Yeah. I’d — I’d really love that. I — yeah. Yeah, I’ll go out with you and be your boyfriend.”

“Oh, perfect!” Vivi squealed, barely restraining herself from launching across the table and kissing him until he was more lipstick-mark than man. “When works best for you? Should we go somewhere in town, or wait til we’re on the road again? There’s this sushi place in Tremolo that I’ve just been dying to try, we should go there, if we’re waiting til we’re on the road again. Or just in general, it seems really good and I haven’t had good sushi in ages.”

Arthur tilted his head, clearly considering her words. His smile took on a wistful edge. “...y’know...I don’t really need all the fancy date stuff. Just...I’m happy to do what we’ve been doing, just...together. Having you guys be — being with you guys, romantically — that...that would be enough for me,” he said softly.

Lewis grinned over at him, soft and sappy, and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, his phone rang in his pocket, and he pulled it out, grimacing a little as he checked the caller ID. “It’s Papá. Hold on, I gotta take this.” He stood up, stepping a bit away. Not a minute later, he stepped back, regretful smile firmly in place. “...sorry, guys. I’m needed back at the Paradiso for free childcare,” he joked.

“Aww…” Vivi was really only half disappointed. They had pretty much finished up lunch, only a few slices left between the three of them (none of them hers), and she had a shift at the Tome Tomb coming up soon, anyway. And, more importantly, they had asked Arthur out and he said yes! Their couple was now officially a polycule!

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck. “I can — give you a ride. I gotta get back to Uncle Lance’s place anyway, I’m...” he trailed off, and Vivi waited maybe ten seconds for him to finish his sentence before accepting that he had lost his train of thought.

“Well, then...the Tome Tomb ain’t far, I can walk. I guess this is the end of our first date,” Vivi sighed. She stood up, standing on her tiptoes and pulling Lewis down for a chaste kiss before walking over and pressing a kiss to Arthur’s stubble-roughened cheek — familiar territory that should have been safe enough, she did that in the post-case exhilaration at least half the time. 

Arthur blushed bright red anyway, and she left with a bright laugh, walking on clouds with the universe held in her hands.

A month, four weeks, five days, and a handful of hours after that…

Arthur groaned, running a hand through his hair. “Really?! I — guys, I had been awake for, like, two solid days at that point!”

“So you — you don’t remember us asking you out at all?” Lewis asked, shocked. 

“No! Or — well — ki-kinda? I — kinda thought I was dreaming…” Arthur trailed off into muttering, fidgeting with his bracelets and not making eye contact.

Vivi paused for a moment, eyebrows creeping up. “Wow. Way to inflate our egos, there, Artie,” she joked. 

“Wh— how am I inflating your ego?!” Arthur jerked his head up to look at her.

“We asked you out and you literally thought you were dreaming. We’re literally your dream partners!” She cackled.

Instead of laughing, Arthur rubbed the back of his neck, looking down, his words spilling out in a jumble. “Um. Y-yeah, actually...I — didn’t think it was — I, I mean, I’d, um I’d had dreams...like that...before. And...uh. Since then if I’m being honest.”

Vivi felt a blush rising in her cheeks, and she covered her mouth. 

“That’s...that’s incredibly sweet, Artie…” Lewis managed, blushing harder than she was. 

Vivi cleared her throat. “Sap,” she managed, shaking her head fondly.

Arthur took a deep, shaky breath. “So, um. Can...can we start over? On dating? I do — I really, really do want to date you guys, for real, I just...didn’t...know?”

“Of course!” Vivi and Lewis exclaimed in accidental unison.

“And this time you’ve definitely slept enough to be lucid,” Lewis added on lightheartedly. “You were snoring before I fell asleep.”

“Well…” Arthur smiled, lopsided. “I’m pretty sure I am, anyway. Lucid, that is — and how could you hear me snoring over Vivi’s, anyway? But, uh —”

“— Hey!” Vivi interrupted. “I don’t snore that loud!”

“You sound like a train, Vivs,” Arthur teased, before clearing his throat. “But, uh. Anyway. Wanna...wanna pinch me so I’m sure I’m not dreaming this time?”

Vivi smirked at him. “I’ll do you one better, actually.” 

Before he could respond, Vivi leaned over, pressing a kiss to his lips. It took him a moment to react, startled, but he hesitantly started to kiss back after a second or two. There weren’t any fireworks, at least for her; if anything, it felt like being electrocuted, but in a good way, sparks shooting through her whole body, curling her toes and making her fingertips tingle. Arthur’s hand came up to grip at her sweater. Vivi kept the kiss chaste, and pulled back after a moment, glancing at Lewis.

Lewis pouted at her, a smile tugging at his lips and his voice. “Aww, I wanted to kiss him first, you got to do it at the restaurant.”

Arthur licked his lips, breath coming out a little funny, and swallowed hard before he got up and stepped towards Lewis, grinning crookedly. “W-well...consolation prize?”

Lewis let out a bark of laughter, startling Arthur into jumping a little, and pulled Arthur close with a gentle hand. “I can live with that,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss him. 

Vivi settled back, watching her boys kiss from the lumpy motel couch. It felt like coming home, like kicking off her shoes and shedding her stress as easily as taking off her scarf. She ran her tongue over her teeth absentmindedly, and grimaced. “Whoops. Sorry, Artie, didn’t mean for our first kiss to be a morning breath kiss.”

Arthur broke away from the kiss he was sharing with Lewis to blink at her, swaying a little bit. “...huh?” he managed, brain visibly rebooting. “Oh! Uh. It’s okay, I don’t think I...noticed?”

“Still, it’s the principle of the matter,” Vivi wrinkled her nose, standing up. “I’ll be right back, you two keep doing what you’re doing.” She tossed in a wink for good measure, and made her way to the bathroom with the accompaniment of Arthur’s flustered squeak and Lewis’s deep, rich laughter.

[es05l2k5sl]

I'll never understand why WB had to redesign the Batcast for the new Bat adventures. Some characters took getting used to. But as for the villains, I'm roasting they asses cus they're ugly. Can't change my mind.

These Oswalds together look like 2 different people bruh. But we're here to talk about new Oswald. This Wimpy x Olive Oyl fusion snoody looking ass bitch. I'd like his outfit if it didn't have that lazy drawned bow tie looking like 2 triangles glued together & those fake ass MJ gloves. Also when tf did he have 10 fingers in dis universe? Also fuck that hair. Rocking a balding Mullet like ponytail before. Now it's just a boring cut down. Got dat snooty ass bitch look on face like his bird shit don't be stinking. I'll rock tf out u. Lookin like a whole ass Looney character or sum mf from the 30s.

Wot da fuck dey got Selena wearing here? Sis looking like a whole ass alien. Kid vs Kat looking ass bish. And her skin white af too? Did sis fall in some damn Joker acid too? Sis whole lower face is white as shit! Dat shit paler than crack. Like sis got the white slapped outta her and she just turned whiter. Das probably what happened. Her ass probably got on my mans Bruce last nerves one night and got da shit backslapped out her ass.

So my dude Matthew got turned a different color pal & got his neck privileges revoked? Lazy af but not the worst revamp.

You kno that meme: "upgrade, upgrade, FUCK GO BACK!"? Dis pre much sums up Jonathan here. My mans jus looks so dirty here. Looking straight outta da trash bin. Like literally dirty. Nasty ass teeth probably got dat hot ass breath blowing thru them bitches. Das a real fear toxin right there. Long ass black as shit dirty ass hair. Tryna copy off my girl from the ring w dat shit. Need to take dat dirty ass wig and mask and Amish hat tf off my dude. It is not rocking you. Dat whole worn out trashy ass outfit ain't working for you either hoe. You need to take yo ass a bath bitch cus your arms looking brown and ashy as a bitch. You can not even THINK about borrowing anything from me w yo dirty creepy stalker lookin ass. If you don't put down that damn stick like yo ass need help walking and shit I oughtta bitch ya ass with the shit fo going around dressed like dis. Take that damn rope off your neck bitch fo I do something Bruce won't do.

Bruh, you can not go up to my face and tell me these niggas are the same person in the same mofucking universe! Jervis What da fuck did they DO TO YOU MY N**GA?? N**ga looking like a damn leprechaun with special needs and shit. Rocking all dat dookie green swag but you got no swag anymore my dude. It's shit like you clothes and yo breath! Yo shits wasn't perfect and white before but them hoes looking hella worse now. What you get drinking all that damn tea my n**ga. Ol Tiny ass n**ga. Like wot. HOW?! HOW TF DID YO ASS SHRINK??? LIKE SOMEBODY TOSSED YOU ASS IN A LAUNDRY DRYER AND PROBABLY FORGOT TO TAKE YO STUPID ASS OUT. PROBABLY WHY YO HAIR WHITE AND SMALL AS SHIT YA UGLY ASS LUCKY CHARMS LOOKING ASS CRACK FEENY. If you don't hop yo ass back under a rainbow with dem skinny ass broken heel lookin ass tap dancing shoes.

Victor, bruh, they dem did yo ass so dirty in the new adventures. I ain't gonna lie that new suit kinda ok. But you looking like a whole skeleton and shit. Lookin like a young Palpatine & shit. Ol Frisky dingo looking ass! Need to put those goggles back on. The least yo (spoiler) 2003 Baxter Stockman ass can do now.

Yo ass probably looking mad as shit cus ya can't jack it no more n**ga. Dats all gon now. Long with yo unloyal ass wife. How tf she gon bounce on you after everything you did for her? After all the years and bull you had to put up with & she leave yo cold ass for another nibba? Fuck DCAU Nora. Just fuck her.

Scarface lookin like a damn Fanboy & Chum Chum character & his boy over here lookin like Chode. Next.

UUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHHHGG.

Just. UAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHH. Bruh I will never understand who tf thought this shit was a good idea?! Like who the fuck, was drawing dis nigga. Drew DIS Sus af shit. LOOKED at dis shit. And said to deyself: "Yeah dats da Riddler aight". HELL TO THE NAH DAT AIN'T NO DAMN DAS A (dick) FIDDLER! HE LOOKIN SUS AS FUCK NOW WITH THEM TIGHT AS GREEN SPANDEX AND THAT DARK AS HELL EYELINER. Looking like gay Christmas elf! Looking like a gay ass ballay dancer with them Spider Gwen ballerina shoes. You can't dance for shit nigga! Yo shit is SOOO DAMN TIGHT like I can get a good sight and shape picture of yo "Question mark" I'm telling y'all. sSSSUUUSSSSSSS. Looking like a bigasss lima bean. Skinny ass Jack skeleton moFucka. Like. They did my boy Eddy so freakin dirty with this. My mans had class, style, a nice look, HAIR. Now he. Whateverthelivingfuckdisbaldasspeterpanlookinmofuckasupposestobe. And i hate how that's how he did be lookin in almost every new Batverse when why tho? Nigg(m)a look stupid as hell. How tf he expect to be tooken seriously dressed and lookin like dis ? If I saw dis fucker in real life and he threatens me, imma laugh at his ass and beat him with his cane. Get ya Richard from Allen Gregory looking ass away from me. I can't!

Bruh it don't look that much but they did my mans Harvey dirty too. LOOK AT MY MANS FACE. good half i mean. Yall nigs kno. THESE MUHFUCKERS STRIPPED HIM OF HIS PRETTYNESS! Man. Dis version of Harvey was a pretty muhfucka. You can't deny dat shit

Even when he became Two-Face he still got dat 1 side of pretty.  And that deep af panty soaking voice to go along w it. He dat half and half package. 

Now HE LOOK LIKE DIS

WHOEVER TF DID DIS NEED DEY ASS WHOOPED! SQUARE TF UP NOW. NIGGA LOOKS LIKE EYEBROWLESS VERSION OF DOC FROM SECRET SATURDAYS. FAT ASS BLOCK NOSE MUH FUCKA.  His eye looks like traingle with a Nike logo on top of it. Lookin like a poorly drawn Dwayne The Rock Johnson. And ya other half ain't lookin that good either. Dat 1 eyebrow putting Helga Pataki to shame! I mean the shit didn't look good before but it was somewhat tamed, now the shit looking like full grownass caterpillar. And that lip black as hell. Kno that side dirty as fuuhck!

I don't even know what tf I'm sposed to say about DIS except (kinky..)

Angelica pickles looking ass. Bigass blonde captain coconut looking ass hairstyle. Looking like a blonde creepy ass Wednesday Adams. Dem black as fuck Kim possible lips. She actually looking like a family guy character with that bigass head and small body. I SWEAR she ded looking like one of Stewie's ex's right now my dude! Got  tiny ass flat ass guitar chip shoes. Looks like sis wearing fucking Zippers as shoes. Sis got that "i got something planned fo yo ass" smile. Sis look like she plotting something or did some evil shit already.

. . .

Bros I'm sorry but I'm just as confused as you like. I can't find a single thing different about Harley. Like literally nothing. Her makeup at night be looking blue sometimes, looking like a fakeass Livewire, but nah. They didn't even touch homegirl. Why tf is Harley the only character that stayed the same?????! Niggas was playing favorites. They had plans for that ass since day one. They was probs like: "Aye y'all. DO NOT TOUCH HARLEY. SHE STAYS THE SAME!" "why?" "JUST LISTEN TO ME BITCH!" "Wha bout her mans?" "Oh hell yeah fuck his shit up!" ...sigh.. Yep. It's that time...

UaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHH what else is dere to be said about dis ugly ass nigga? Dis nigga look like Yakko Warner & Freakazoid's love child! Dis nigga look like a random Tiny toons or Animaniac character! With that dookie green shirt and flower. You and Riddler's gay ass both matching them Dexter's laboratory Gloves. Why tf yo eyes eyes black as fuck tho?! How tf does one do that to theyself?! Yo ass probably snorted some shit and ya shits expanded and that's prolly yo pupils with ya cracked out ass. Nigga don't even look like a clown no more. Hell Jared Leto Joker atleast had the lipstick down. Dis nigga got dem ashy ass lips hanging out. Nigga think he owning too. Nigga you don't own shit! Broke as hell now. And yo design broke too. Joker? Man more like Broker. Got dat fairly odd parents hair. Got that Cosmo and Wanda in one. Like bitch if you don't. Just like Riddler i can not take yo animaniac looking ass serious. You do not scare me bitch! Bye!

Now see dis? DIS is Aight! A lot more fitting and & faithful to the character. No over the fucking top redesign, you can actually tell it's the same damn character as before, a little bit of swag for personality

So that's the tea. Ivy & Croc are the only good rogue redesigns in the whole series, evBody else ugly as shit.

[hearteyesemergency]

TK Accidentally Takes Carlos Home While His Dad’s There

Request: TK forgets he’s living with his Dad, and takes Carlos home and they get caught?

A/N: This has been on my mind recently. Semi-established Tarlos for this fic. It got a lot longer than I expected, but I really wanted to show some of smitten/pining TK that we haven’t seen much of yet in this canon slow burn. And I really wanted to keep this canon Carlos who gives TK the space to breathe and heal.

Summary: Considering how close TK is to his Dad, it‘s astounding to anyone that he forgot they lived together. After a pretty successful dancing date, TK takes Carlos home with him, and scar’s Owen with the sight of them all over each other once barely inside the door. TK could die of embarrassment, and Carlos just really wants Owen to like him.

Warnings: Course language, Mild sexual themes.

TK stumbled backward into his home, not worried about the key that slipped from his fingertips and landed somewhere on the floor beneath their feet. All he cared about was Carlos’ lips on his, and how somehow they made him feel so incredibly wanted.

They weren’t even together, not officially anyway, they hadn’t had that chat yet, but Tyler didn’t know any word other than ‘loved’ to describe the way Carlos made him feel. TK had rarely felt worthy of anything as powerful as that, and yet here Carlos was, making him feel like he was drowning in it.

It grew this need in Tyler to have Carlos closer. Like, impossibly close, limbs tangled, body to body, even a thin shirt between them was too much. All TK wanted was to get the clothes gone, he just needed to feel Carlos.

He had gotten far too invested lately in the fleeting power trip that came with lost buttons on Carlos’ shirt when he tore it off the man. So far, Carlos had lost four button-ups and counting. TK had only managed the top half of this shirt when someone cleared their throat in the next room.

TK sprung back with a gasp. In the kitchen stood Owen, glass of milk in hand. He looked tired, wrapped in a sweater over his pyjamas and socks on his feet. Another half hour, and he’d probably have been in bed. Just Tyler’s luck that his Dad finds him with kiss swollen lips, trying to rip the shirt off a man who may as well have been their colleague.

“Hi boy’s,”

“Dad,”

“Uh, hi, Mr Strand,”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you can call me Owen,”

“To be honest, Sir, right now, I don’t think that I can,”

Owen shrugged understandingly.

TK couldn’t look at either of them, a blush settled on his cheeks. How the fuck he forgot that he lived with his father, he wasn’t sure.

“So, fun night?” Owen guessed,

“Uh, yeah... I mean, we just went dancing at the bar- TK only drank water,”

“I know,” Owen nodded, “I trust him, and you’re a good influence,”

Carlos sighed in relief through a smile, “thank you, Sir.”

Owen grinned back.

“Well, this has been sufficiently awkward,” TK finally piped up, “good night.”

TK took Carlos by the hand and lead him to the stairs. Now was not the time for his Dad and the guy he was seeing to bond. They were halfway up when he heard his Dad at the bottom.

“TK!”

He sighed, “Yeah, Dad,”

“Door open,”

He whirled around, “You’re joking, right?”

“No, I’m not joking. I’m literally in the bedroom next door. Door open.”

TK pulled a face.

As if your Dad interrupting a hot make out session with the guy you’re seeing wasn’t a turn off enough, him being in the next bedroom, in a house that had possibly the thinnest walls in Texas- THAT was an even bigger turn off.

TK couldn’t lock himself and Carlos behind his bedroom door fast enough after that. He took a moment to rest his head against the wood, composing himself as he left Carlos to make himself comfortable in the room.

At this point, he didn’t care if Carlos looked around, what he’d see was now officially the least embarrassing thing TK could face that night.

He had no reason to be concerned though, the police officer cared more about gently pulling Tyler out of his dramatics, and away from the door. He sat TK down on the bed before he flicked the lock back, and opened up the room once again.

“But-“

“I want your Dad to like me, TK. I don’t want him thinking I’m encouraging you to disobey his rules in his house,”

“Okay, first of all, he loves you. Second of all, I’m a grown man-“

“Who still lives with his Dad, which means we respect his rules. And your Dad loves me as a cop, he doesn’t know me as his sons boyfriend, or whatever this is,”

“...we could call it a boyfriend thing,” TK shrugged, though didn’t meet Carlos’ eyes,

“Yeah?”

TK nodded.

Though he still didn’t look, he felt Carlos come crouch down in front of him, taking the firefighters face in his hands. Reluctantly, TK turned to make eye contact with the man, and found a soft smile waiting just for him. Carlos caressed his cheek for a moment, before he kissed him.

Not like earlier, no, this kiss was soft and sweet, there was no lust in it at all. TK may have literally whimpered into it. Carlos had a way of making TK seem like he was breakable, not in a bad way, in a good way. Like he was precious, and invaluable. Like it would be the worst thing in the world if something were to hurt him.

TK let himself collapse forward against Carlos, foreheads together as he took in the man’s scent. It calmed him, not that he had been nervous or anything, he was just generally a little chaotic, and Carlos had a good affect on him in that respect. He was once again coming to love the super intimate moments in a relationship. The staring, the feeling, the silence, and it was all thanks to the man right in front of him.

“You really think your Dad’s cool if I stay the night?”

“Are you joking?” TK pulled back and looked at his boyfriend, “you’re going to wake up to a cooked three course breakfast,”

Carlos chuckled, “you sound sure,”

“I am sure, I can see it in his eyes- he really likes you,”

“I hope so,” Carlos caressed TK’s cheek,

“I know so... Now get up here and give me cuddles since you’re playing by my fathers boring game of innocence.”

Carlos rolled his eyes, though complied anyway. He borrowed a pair of sweats from TK’s dresser as they both changed out of their date attire, though didn’t bother with a shirt, he didn’t want to stretch anything out. TK watched as the man crawled into his bed for the very first time, and was certain that he could absolutely get used to this.

When Carlos was comfortable, TK sat up and faced him, so that he could look at him and admire the man that had taken things so slow with him to get to this point. He couldn’t help but run a hand through Carlos’ hair, it was usually the other man who was so gentle and understanding with him, somehow able to draw out TK’s most vulnerable side, and help him accept and grow with all his past traumas and flaws.

Carlos grinned up at him, and it was nice there like that. They fell into a soft conversation, talking about nothing and absolutely everything. TK sat against the policeman’s hip, enjoying the warmth that radiated from the bare skin. Their hands tangled or explored the others soft skin, never still. It was very possibly the most intimate situation TK had ever been in. Intimacy far beyond sex, something he was not in the slightest experienced with.

Carlos was certainly his most grown up relationship, and he put every other boyfriend TK had ever had to complete shame. TK understood why his Dad liked Carlos, everyone liked Carlos, but his Dad especially, because he didn’t have to worry as much with Carlos around. He had a strong head on his shoulders, and he wasn’t afraid to pull TK in line when he needed it, but was equally as understanding and there through the hard times as well.

“Good night.”

TK looked back over his shoulder to his father at the door, and smiled, “good night, Dad,”

“How do you like your eggs in the morning, Carlos?”

TK chuckled, and gave his boyfriend one of those ‘I told you so’ looks.

“I’ll cook,” Carlos countered, “my Mum used to make our breakfast every day... you have to try it,”

“I won’t say no to that,” the Cap agreed, “good night, boys.”

Owen switched the light off as he left, and TK couldn’t help but relish in how fucking domestic this was. It was like when you live in a different city, and you and the husband go home to visit the father who calls every other day because he misses you, and would do anything to have you home.

In the darkness, TK laid back down beside Carlos, leg thrown over the other man’s hip, arm around his waist as he nuzzled his face in Carlos’ shoulder.

“Is it weird that I don’t find any of this awkward?” Carlos wondered,

“My Dad has that affect on people.”

TK didn’t elaborate on the fact that he knew his father had never been this relaxed and instantly accepting with any other guy TK had dated. It was too much too soon to say out loud. For now, both Carlos and his Dad knew where his feelings stood, and that was enough.

Carlos made him feel light, and safe, and fuck he hoped this time it worked out.

If Carlos was bothered by how much TK would toss and turn during the night, he didn’t let it on. TK figured he knew the struggles with shift work body clock himself. Despite his inability to stay asleep, TK felt like the hours that he did get in had been the best he’d had in years. He also enjoyed the times when he was awake, when he could stare at how peaceful and perfect Carlos was.

TK couldn’t think of a single thing he had done to deserve the man beside him, but he knew damn well he wouldn’t give up their rollercoaster ride for anything. He’d rather spend one hard day with Carlos than infinite ‘easy’ days with anyone else.

It was around 4am when TK had last laid awake, staring at the back of Carlos, fingers gently trailing absentmindedly up and down the officers back.

“You think awfully loudly,” Carlos whispered, though it was enough to startle TK,

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” TK reclaimed his hands,

“Wanna tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?” Carlos rolled onto his back and looked across to TK,

“I was just thinking about how happy I am... and I really mean that.”

It was too dark either of them to really see each other, but they stared anyway. A moment later, Carlos grabbed a hold of TK, and drew him into his chest before rolling back to the other side. Now TK was practically cocooned in Carlos’ arms, snuggled in his chest and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Be cute in the morning, I’m trying to sleep,” Carlos’ voice was light,

“You and I both know I’m not this good with feelings in the light of day...“

“You don’t give yourself enough credit... you’ve come so far since I met you. I’m so proud of you.”

To TK, those words meant more than ‘I love you.’ Anyone can love another person, but to make someone proud, especially with the parts of yourself you hate the most... that was something else.

TK closed his eyes and sighed contently, “you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me... thank you. For everything,”

“Ride or die.”

TK couldn’t help but laugh at that, and he didn’t care how loud he was. He wondered who the fuck taught Carlos that, because Lord knew that he didn’t figure out that was a ‘thing’ on his own.

With one last kiss to Carlos’ neck, TK willed himself to go back to sleep, a much easier task when he could count to the beats of Carlos’ heart.

It was morning when he woke up, after eight, and he knew that his Dad would be out on his morning run. His back was to Carlos now, the man’s arm only loosely around TK’s waist. He could tell from the awkward placement that Carlos was still asleep, and if he wasn’t afraid to wake him by moving- probably far too late- he would’ve wrapped the police officer up in his own arms and returned the favour.

A small glimmer caught TK’s eye on the night stand, and he looked over to find three blue buttons sat neatly in a row. TK couldn’t help but smile like an idiot. Sometimes, he was sure he and his father were too close, way too close, though he still wouldn’t change it for the world, and he was so glad that his Dad liked Carlos, because TK was fairly certain one day they’d walk down to isle to Carlos waiting at the end. At least he hoped so.

[popculturebuffet]

panur

I'm loving your reviews! here's some things i wanted to add that i found interesting: 1) In Kim's dream, 'Simon' looks like Gideon, which shouldn't be a thing bc, as far as we know, Guideon was never in Kims head, so i think this was honestly a mistake on O'malleys part

2) It's very subtle but taking care of Scott is actually taking some financial strain on Wallace: their groceries are crap, their place has mice, they're VERY behind on rent (never paid, to the point that wallace describes the fatc this mont is paid up to be 'impossible'), the way he cajoled scott into going w him to see the landlord heavily hints to the fact he didn't want to go alone and when they do it's literally the only time in the books youi see wallace looking uncomfortable/worried about something. it's also around this time Wallace starts to seem a bit more done with scott's attitude and to bring getting a job up more often.

I LOVE when people actually interact with my stuff. Thank you and thanks for the praise. So to respond properly in order 1) Nice catch I forgot to comment on. As for my theory now you’ve pointed it out: He simply did it because he either didn’t realize the implications.. or hadn’t thought that far ahead. While it does genuinley feel like the “Scott represses how much of a douchebag he is hence why he’s so stunted”, was always a thing and volume 2′s where it really crystalized, from Stephen being kinda nonchalant about a seemingly one sided (though still MOSTLY one sided) breakup, to eveyr bit of Scott’s post knives behavior, to Kim’s reactions to scott and to talk of envy. It’s clear this twist was in his head.. but I genuinely DON’T think the Gideon part of it where he played with Scott’s head a bit to make this issue WORSE, was there yet. As shown by hte movie O’Malley went through a few diffrent versions of the finale, and gideon’s relationship with ramona is left REALLY vauge for the entire series, and even in the end we only get a part of it. Even Laurence was originally supposed to be vastly diffrent. So I could buy he MIGHT of put gideon in there simply to possibly use that as a story seed and just.. decided against it and never explained that bit. Simon apparently just looks like gideon I guess. 

2) It’s something I missed and MIGHT of picked up when I got to volume 4.. but I genuinely thank you for pointing that out and will credit you in that one as it’s something worth digging into. And yeah.. your right.  I genuinely think Wallace HAD no issue with taking care of Scott before the fourth volume. His friend was deeply hurting after Envy, had nowhere else to go with his parents in Europe, and needed him. So eating a bit cheaper for their at home meals, dealing with mice and dodging the rent was worth it. It’s just by volume 4.. he’s been in a healthy-ish relationship for three months, he’s happy, he got something resembling closure with envy, and he’s finally free of her.. and he’s still sleeping in his bed, eating his food and shows no desire to work past that. It’s understandable he’d get frustrated and want Scott to contribute now he’s okay enough he can again and I think that’s the reason he started pressuring him. I think he simply turned it up after the rent thing not because he assuemd they’d be living together.. but because he knew they wouldn’t. He knew he’d have to leave his friend behind and move in with mobile.. granted he handled it like a dick, but wallace does that sometimes. But point is he knew he could probably move in with his boyfriend and thus pushed scott to move in with his so he wouldn’t have to squat on Stephen or Kim’s couch, where he’d hav ea week AT BEST before being out on the street. Or on the couch he didn’t do the first time THEN the street. And knowing Scott.. yeah he knew that wasn’t likely. He was more fed up with him than usual true, but like with forcing him to break up with Knives, he was on a timer. He’s noticably more forceful when the issue is pressing. IN volume 3, getting to that later today but re read it early so I could condesnse stuff easier, he’s noticably WAY more firm on making sure scott see’s it’s over with envy. And was just as firm about Knives and getting a job.  Also while I do think Scott’s the main reason he didn’t pay rent... I do think, in credit to O’Malley, it’s pretty clear it’s NOT just Scott. He’s the large reason for it as he’s not pulling his weight.. but Wallace still refused to pay rent in the months where Scott was in a better place and he could’ve pushed him sooner, drinks QUITE A BIT, and even cheep liquor costs money and like Scott i’m a teatotler and even I know i’ts pretty expensive,  and is willing to splurge on HIMSELF when buying groceries. So it’s clear that part of it is just, like many 20 somethings including myself at his age jus ta few years ago.. Wallace just isn’t the best with money and scott just exasrevated that.  And he probably woudln’t be AS angry.. but Scott reallyd osen’t get how bad things are or chooses to ignore it, hence him actuallyg etting mad at him. It was the same with Knives. While Wallace is the most tolerant of his bullshit.. he still wont’ take it when the toilet breaks and will call scott on it. I just didn’t notice the finaicals were the reason before because of the other one, but they can’t have helped and Scott is utterly oblivous to it as he is most of the problems in his life. I’ts only as he grows thanks to Ramona and other stuff that he finally starts to actually empathize better. But.. more on that as we go naturally. 

[agentdagonet]

so this may be asking too much but… Headset Romance: The love story of two people who have never met. With Agent!Harry and Handler!Eggsy

Okay so I know that this is several thousand years late, but I hope that it was at least a little worth the wait?

Headset Romance

‘You’re a bloody peacock and that’s somethin’ I’ve learned from experience, Galahad. The fuck did you say that for? He’s def gonna remember your sorry arse now.’

'I found his company degrading- I can get the drive without playing nice with an adulterer.’

'If you say so, guv- but if this comes back to bite your arse I expect the whole song an’ dance. An’ a stiff drink.’

'And how will I deliver these things to you, oh faceless one?’

'You’re a fuckin’ secret agent, I’m pretty sure you can figure out a private youtube link and how to pay a drink forward. Or just do the performance for Merlin- he’ll make sure I get to see it.’

'Alternatively, you and I could simply go out after a job well done like normal people do after work.’

'We ain’t normal people, guv- on your left, yeah good- and I’m plenty satisfied with this arrangement.’

'You could be further satisfied.’

'Did you really jus’ try an’ pull that one on me? Next you’ll be saying somethin’ about the many benefits of physical interaction. Upstairs, third door on the right.’

'Well it’s not as if I haven’t suggested such things before. Got it.’

'Good, can’t go back the way you came but there’s another stairwell down the way- go up a floor and go down elsewhere. Minimal interaction means you can’ just punch your way outta this one.’

'Fists are so uncivilised-’

'Or any of your gadgets, neither. Jus’ get home safe and drop that drive at HQ.’

'Fine. In repayment for you taking away all of my fun, I’ll be sure to send you the most awful thing I can find in-’

'Oh there you are’

'Shit.’

'Lemme guess, it’s the prick you insulted earlier. An’ he ain’t too happy.’ There’s no response, but the view from the feed is answer enough. 'Knock 'im out and get the fuck outta there. This cover’s a bust now, anyway so it don’t matter how just get it done.’ Galahad doesn’t acknowledge him, though he does knock the target’s lights out as quietly as possible before making his way quickly but calmly from the event. Small favours.

'So I’m expectin’ that song an’ dance before you’re sent off on your next mission.’

'Is now really the time to rub it in my face?’

'Are you dyin’?’

'No.’

'Bein’ pursued?’

'No.’

'Injured in literally any way?’

'Well, my knuckles ache a bit.’

'That don’t count. An’ my point is that now is the perfect time to rub your mistakes in your face like a pup who’s pissed on a rug. I dunno how you survived twenty-somethin’ years without me.’

'Merlin had hair to pull out. And I resent that statement.’

'Y'mean you represent that statement. An’ I’m buying that man a cake. “Congratulations on Surviving Galahad” has a nice ring to it.’

'In what way do I represent a pup? I’m perfectly grown, thank you.’

'Oh I know you are; you’re a big boy, ain’t ya? But you listen to very few people, an’ even then do things your own way, and then you strut your way home expecting a bone and a belly rub for a job well done.’

'I’m hanging up now- obviously made it to the extraction point; I’ll debrief upon arrival.’

'Oh don’t take it personal, Galahad- you know you’re my favourite.’ The silence on the other line was answer enough. Eggsy closed the feed and smiled to himself, happy with the successful mission. He’d only been Galahad’s main handler for a couple years, but it was easily the most fulfilling job he’d ever had. Percival took him too seriously, Bors was a bit obsessed with explosions, and Lancelot was far more pun than professionalism.

It also wasn’t a bad thing that Galahad was incredibly witty. And fit. And so out of his league it wasn’t even funny. One glance in the mirror when he forgot (He assumed he forgot; no need to make assumptions and make things worse than they were) that the feed was running and Eggsy was completely gone for him. Lust at first sight, when he’d already been enamoured with his dry wit, made Harry’s inexplicable interest in him the worst temptation.

But he didn’t know much of anything about Eggsy besides his sarcasm. Well, that wasn’t quite true either, Eggsy mused as he wrote up his end of the mission report. Eggsy’d spoken about his sister, and his mum, and about the Prick with a capital P he’d managed to get rid of when Merlin had hired him. He’d talked about loads of shit. Just nothing he thought was worth the kind of fuss Galahad made of him- Galahad, who had never even met him, and probably just had a thing for a bit of rough.

Not that that was a bad thing- but Eggsy knew he’d want more than a tumble with him and he just didn’t think that was possible.

'Eggsy, I have something for you.’ Merlin spoke from the doorjamb, ever-present clipboard in his hand and a smirk on his face. There’s a ping from his monitor, and Eggsy opens a file under the watchful eye of Merlin labelled 'He Told Me So.' 

It’s a simple video, a sheepish smile on Harry’s face as he sits in the Kingsman plane, doing these silly little waves with his hands while he sings 'you told me so’ in varying pitches at a whisper. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want the pilot (a mate of Eggsy’s named Ryan, not that Harry knows that) to hear him and turn around, he’s flushed from his neck to the tips of his ears. It’s actually adorable.

'I don’t know how you get him to do these things, lad.’ Merlin’s chuckling behind him, eyes bright behind his specs. ‘I can barely get him to show up on time.’

‘What c’n I say, I’ve got the magic touch.’

‘If I didn’t know better I’d accuse you of having siren’s blood- he’d do just about anything you asked of him.’ Merlin nods his head at the screen, where Harry is paused mid-song. ‘This being the least of it. He’s also instructed me, in this e-mail, to tell you that your drink will be waiting for you at the pub down the street once he’s back on home soil. And not to sound terribly cliched, but  am not an owl so stop using me to send messages back and forth. Give him an e-mail or something if you refuse to give him your number.’ He grumbled a bit (sounds suspiciously like you oblivious bastards) before wandering off.

Eggsy finishes his report with a smile, and places an order at the bakery he knows Merlin prefers.

Harry got off the plane at HQ early the next morning, sun barely over the horizon, and immediately went to debrief with Arthur. Merlin would be sure to meet him there, the way he always did, and then Harry would get to go home and sleep in his own bed. Sounded like heaven.

‘Now, Galahad, it seems like the mission went off without issue?’

‘For the most part, yes.’

‘The most part?’

‘I’m afraid that alias is unusable now- I accidentally compromised the mission but managed to work around it to fulfill the objective.’

‘Excuse me, gentleman- dropping off some reports for Arthur.’ A young man came through, dropping a thick stack of files on Arthur’s desk with a nod. Nothing in particular stood out about him, accent as upper-class as most everyone at Kingsman (with the one notable exception that Harry could never track down) and his clothes, though casual, were obviously of high quality. He was probably one of Merlin’s minions.

‘Ah, Lunete, thank you.’

‘Sir.’ In lieu of goodbye, he nodded at them (and exchanged a wry smile with Merlin, confirming his suspicion) before leaving the Dining Room.

‘Now, to get back to things- there was no “accidentally” involved in your alias being compromised.’ Merlin turned a severe glare in his direction before turning back to Arthur. ‘I reviewed the footage personally, and he brought attention to himself by insulting the target. Claims he found his company degrading, and could accomplish the task without following the instructions of his handler. In the end he forcefully knocked the target unconscious because too much time had elapsed to use the amnesia darts.

‘Well, as he did achieve the objective, we can at least attest to his being correct on part of that- though you did lose us a useful alias and years of work.’ Arthur turned to Harry, who looked sheepish for a moment, intent on opening his mouth to defend himself, but Merlin redirected his attention once again.

‘Yes sir, he did- but I’d like to bring something to your attention; glasses, please.’ They looked up at the hidden screen, which was now displaying the details of his alias’ file. ‘This is the file for Atticus Grey as it was originally constructed.’ He typed something onto his clipboard, ‘this is what is associated with that person.’

‘Well, this is convenient.’ Arthur muttered to himself, saying what Harry had been thinking. By some kind of divine intervention, it seemed that all of the people he’d made connections with through Atticus were either in custody or dead. The former of which was adding to the latter every year.

‘So, even though he did in fact ruin this alias, it’s not an altogether unsalvageable situation. Honestly, we probably would have scrapped this alias within the next couple of missions anyway.

‘However, with this alias being scrapped a bit prematurely, my team will need a few days to make the new alias as airtight as possible. With most agents off on missions we’re prioritising handling over our background work- when Percival and Lancelot return we should be ready for wherever you wish to send Galahad next.’

‘Forcing our Galahad into some down time, are we?’

‘No idea what you’re talking about, sir, it’s just procedure.’ There’s a glint in Merlin’s eye that says otherwise, but nothing he says will change their minds. This wasn’t the first time they’d pulled such tricks, merely the most recent. Arthur dismissed Merlin with a smile, and he and Harry finished their tea with non-work related chatter.

‘I have some errands- a few days home shouldn’t be too tedious.’

He was wrong. Harry Hart was many things and now he would be adding wrong to the list. A few days on home soil with no clear objective or clear end in sight was tortuous. He’d taken to pestering Merlin for updates every few hours, which had resulted in him being locked out of his office and the direct link from his glasses being shut off. 

‘Any reason in particular there’s a picture of Merlin’s face taped to that punching bag?’ The voice comes from behind him, bemused and unfamiliar, and Harry turns to find the minion from before. Shit.

‘Needed to let off some steam- Merlin’s decided to force some down time upon me, but I have nothing to do.’

‘That so? Still doesn’t explain why you’re punching his face like that.’

‘Sure it does- he’s insufferable and I can’t take it out on him in person.’

‘Isn’t there anything else you can do to pass your time?’

‘I’ve already finished all of my reports- and I’m doing the only other thing I can here at the gym.’

‘You could go for a swim- or the obstacle course! That one’s always fun. Or family to visit, or something?’

‘Been there, done that; and the obstacle course is only fun the first few times. Doing it on repeat for days takes it away. And no, they all died years ago. Just me and Kingsman.’

‘You need to get out more. Come with me.’ Lunete had one shoulder propped against the doorjamb, hands in his pockets, and a smirk on his face like he’s got a fabulous joke but won’t share it.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Well I was going to head home and hang out with my mother and sister, but you need a night out. Come on, then.’

‘I barely know you.’

‘First off, we both work at Kingsman, so how dangerous can I be to you; and second your file’s public to those of us in the Lake, so I know all about you- you could come out and even the score?’

‘I think you’re just trying to keep me from beating Merlin the next time he emerges from his cave.’

‘Eh, that’s just a pleasant bonus.’

Eggsy ended up bringing Harry to the first pub he saw between the mews and Kingsman- in the opposite direction from the one Harry’d left his “you told me so” drink at. It wouldn’t do to be recognised since he was doing some serious posh-acting; he didn’t want the jig to be up too soon. 

On the one hand, it was annoying as fuck to act like someone he wasn’t for longer than he absolutely had to. Arthur and his cronies were bad enough on site let alone out in public. On the other, though, it was probably the closest he’d get to actual spy work even if it was all for his own benefit.

But, even as they sat across from one another at a booth and talked aimlessly about nothing, Eggsy could see Harry relaxing despite himself. He’d talk about some mishap in R&D and Harry would laugh until he was wiping at his eyes; and Harry would tell some story about his dog (the fuck kind of name was Mr. Pickle, anyway?) which would prompt him to talk about JB, and inevitably end up in giggles.

Eggsy relished the opportunity to see what Harry was like outside of a mission, and what he acted like with someone he wasn’t strangely obsessed with. Now that he thought about it, Harry probably saw him as a mystery he wanted to solve. He wouldn’t be interested once the mystique was gone, no matter what he said to the contrary.

Even more motivation to make this mask believable. No way for Harry to connect the two.

Harry, on the other hand, was enchanted with the surprisingly eloquent man. He lamented not having met him before, but resolved to get to know him better now. Merlin certainly wouldn’t begrudge him a friendship with one of his minions, would he?

—

‘Lunete! Package for you.’

‘Another one?’

It had been a few months since Eggsy’d taken Harry out to that pub in the guise of Lunete- and for some odd reason Harry had decided that the best way to cultivate a friendship with him was through obnoxious souvenirs. The kind of things Eggsy thought of when Harry threatened to gift him with “the most awful thing” he could find in wherever the fuck he was for a mission. Eggsy wondered if these were Harry’s idea of good souvenirs and, if so, allowed himself a shudder at the possibilities “the most awful thing” suggested.

Today’s mystery package wasn’t very large- which eliminated another taxidermied animal- and it wasn’t very heavy- which eliminated a new creepy looking statue.

If Eggsy hadn’t already known Harry outside of Lunete he’d have run for the hills after the first package. There’s eccentric and then there’s eccentric and while the former was interesting the latter was incredibly creepy. As it was Eggsy worried about his sanity, though he probably shouldn’t, as most of the Knights had something incredibly strange they loved. Gawaine had a collection of cat statues, Bors kept bits of rubble, and Percival collected local animal teeth. He’d resolved to never ask where he got them, no matter how elegant they looked once he’d polished them.

The sight of them with bits of gum still attached made an impression, to say the least.

Steeling himself, Eggsy cut the tape and pulled open the flaps before he could talk himself out of it, one eye closed while the other squinted into the box.

There was a note.

Lunete, I saw this while in Switzerland  and was captivated before remembering that I had no one to gift such a thing. But I remembered that you mentioned a sister all that time ago, and picked it up anyway. I’ve no idea how old she is (for all your chatter you’re surprisingly difficult to get information from) but if nothing else you can give it to your mother or something.

Reaching blindly into the packing chips he grasped the first solid object he came into contact with. It was box-like, cool to the touch, and thus far made no noise which eliminated several possibilities- and pulling it out Eggsy gasped.

It was elegant, carved in cherry wood and smooth as silk; the designs were all floral, likely roses or carnations or something. It wasn’t the kind of thing Eggsy would have picked up on a whim, but the kind of timeless beauty he could see being passed down or inherited. Opening the lid, Eggsy was a bit startled to be greeted with music- who made music boxes this gorgeous? The tune was familiar, if a bit sped up, but he couldn’t resist humming along.

And then, giggling to himself, he penned a response.

Well, Galahad, I certainly have no use for something as pretty as this myself, and Daisy’s a bit young for it, but my mother will love it. Thank you for the rarity that is a gift that doesn’t haunt my (or the rest of us Minions’) nightmares. Seriously. They’re haunting. But I’ll certainly be that someone who’ll watch over you.

Gershwin? Really? Could have at least been a typical Mozart or something but you had to go and get something classy and unexpected.

—

Eggsy certainly hadn’t expected his bit of fun to bite him in the arse quite so immediately. Harry’s flirting hadn’t lessened any over the coms, but now it was accompanied by humming. Incessant humming that matched the music box that now lay atop his mother’s dresser.

'Fuuuuuuck.’

'I’m not your agony aunt, Eggsy, take your self-created issues elsewhere.’

'But he’s gonna figure it out, Merls!’

'Again, not my problem. Get back to R&D or research Galahad’s next assignment, I don’t care, but get out of my hair.’

'But you don’t have any-’

'Finish that sentence and I’ll delight in telling him myself. I’ll make a power point with all the evidence, and finish with your address so he can-’

'Alright, alright. Fine. I’ll just go curl up and die at my desk. An’ you’ll have to break the news to Daisy.’

'Far be it for me to interrupt your plans for spontaneous expiration.’

—

'So, Eggsy,’

’Don’ even start, Galahad. Up the stairs and to your right- the painting of some posh knobhead with blue boots is hollow.’

'You don’t even know what I was going to say!’

'Half the shit from your mouth during these missions is either you tryin’ to talk me out of the plans I make to keep your sorry arse alive, or flirtin’ with me despite the fact that we’ve never actually met in person. As you ain’t fightin’ the plan, I assume your next words were gonna be some persuasive argument about the pleasures of the flesh. Again.’ He let a little of his irritation slip through, though mostly he was just nervous about Harry connecting him and Lunete. He knew it would happen eventually, but fuck it didn’t need to be now. 

’… Got the file.’ Harry said reluctantly, almost a sigh, and for a moment Eggsy wondered if he’d somehow gone too far despite not changing his reactions to his flirting in the first place. 'On my way to extraction.’ The playful edge that had come to be the highlight of these missions was missing. A Galahad subdued and not in the I-made-a-mistake-and-got-briefly-captured-again way.

It left Eggsy feeling off-kilter. And incredibly worried.

'Job well done, Galahad. Debrief at 1000.’ Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything after all.

—

'Dare I ask what happened to put this kicked puppy look on your face, Harry?’

'I’ve been ridiculous and making unwanted advances on a man I have never seen.’

'You’re always ridiculous.’

'I’ve never even met the man and his voice is the brightest part of my missions.’

'As I’ve already said once of late I am not an agony aunt and I have no desire or true advice to give you. Outside of, oh, I don’t know, perhaps asking to meet in person?’

'He shoots down my advances-’

'Likely because that’s what they are? Advances, obviously geared toward a goal that doesn’t happen to stop at friendship or likely involve it at all.’ Merlin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, 'Why do you care so much, anyway?’

'Eggsy’s never treated me like a superior officer. He’s never acted like he was beneath me for being behind the coms instead of in the field. He’s honest and rude and makes me laugh and somehow I��ve fallen for him despite not knowing the shape of his face or the colour of his eyes- the timbre of his laugh is enough.’

'I was expecting something more like “he’s a shit like me and I don’t want to ruin our working relationship” but leave it to you, Hart, to make it about feelings. What kind of spy are you?’

'A good one, I hope, to have made it this far into my lifespan.’

'Only by the grace of excellent handling.’

'Ah, the great Merlin, so humble.’

'I was referring to Eggsy- you caused me to lose the last of my hair, I have no patience for your showmanship, and your unparalleled ability to destroy my tech means that I tolerate you at best when I’m handling you.’ And there it was, the shame, at reducing a brilliant handler to a seductive voice through no actions but his own.

'I don’t want to lose him.’ It’s whispered, eyes staring at a spot on the wall and completely missing the pitying look Merlin throws his way.

'Then be honest, you great pillock, and talk to him. Not your weird proposition shit, either- I have to go through your mission footage and some of that… You’re not going to get anywhere with some bad pickup lines and innuendo.’ Merlin pushes his glasses up his face and turned away, tapping at his clipboard, 'And that’s all I have for you today. Please vacate the premises or I shall be forced to do something terrible to another one of your fetishistic loo butterflies.’

'Fine, fine, I’m goi- wait, what do you mean another?!’

—

‘Eggsy.’ He’s holed up in a supply closet, as cliche as one can be, but he will be there for an undetermined amount of time and he is just absolutely done with the stilted, awkward, handling of this mission. 

‘Dare I ask, Galahad?’

‘I just wanted to thank you for putting up with me.’ He tries to press as much sincerity into the phrase as he can, hoping beyond hope that he can somehow repair what he hadn’t realised he was breaking. ‘I know that I can be a bit much, but I don’t want you to think that I’m this way with the rest of the Lake. I simply have no idea of how to keep your attention.’

‘It is literally my job, Galahad, to keep my attention focused on ou ad get your arse home safely.’ Eggsy was confused, and maybe a little hopeful. He’d felt bereft without Harry’s incessant nattering, but hadn’t known how to fix it- maybe this was it.

‘I was rather hoping to keep your attention while off-mission, as well.’ Eggsy nearly groaned, but took a moment to think on the situation. Harry wasn’t being actively flirty, the tone was all wrong; if Eggsy didn’t know any better he’d say that the great Harry Hart sounded nervous. 

‘With more soul-damaging relics from your missions like the ones you send Lunete?’ 

‘No- well, correction, not only with carefully-chosen pieces. I-’ Harry paused, and Eggsy realised that this was, indeed, an honest conversation that Harry was trying to have with him. ‘I would like for us to meet. Formally, face-to-face, give myself a visual to go with the auditory man who has consumed my attentions for quite some time. I understand that there is no reason for you to believe me, given my previous actions, but I’ll readily admit to having had no other idea of how to express my interest. Merlin can tell you that outside of a mission I’ve never been particularly graceful or smooth when it came to potential romantic partners.

‘I find that I’ve become enchanted with the idea of you, and would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discover if my fantasies even touch upon the reality of you as a person.’

Eggsy literally had no idea of how to progress from here. Despite his own infatuations with the man, he’d dismissed Harry’s words as empty and with this revelation had no idea of how to progress. Forget the conundrum of Eggsy and Lunete being the same person- this was a problem now, and Merlin had probably known all along and that fucker hadn’t even tried to warn him.

          'We’ll see Galahad,’ Eggsy fought to keep his voice playful, to not give away his scrambling for a proper answer, 'you’ve got to get your way out of this shit first. An’ maybe, maybe, we’ll see about gettin’ a drink or something.’ And now Eggsy was back to cursing his mouth for running ahead of his brain and making promises he probably couldn’t keep.

Harry continued to pretend that the pounding of his heart was due to his circumstances in the mission and not due to the tantalising possibility of meeting Eggsy proper at long last.

—

Of course, Harry had managed the near impossible and completed the mission both on time and without any grievous injury to himself. Or to his target, which was a positive as he’d been tasked with surveillance and strictly told not to engage which are rules the man usually took as a challenge.

Merlin googled at the record when it was brought to him, and Eggsy took a seat across from the man as he reviewed the contents.

‘He didn’t make an uncouth comment and get chased from the grounds?’ The again went unsaid.

‘No.’

‘And he didn’t continue to press you about going out after you gave him a solid maybe?’ Merlin sounded as incredulous as Eggsy felt.

‘Nope.’ Eggsy was in more than a fair bit of shock. On the one hand, Harry had achieved the objective while Eggsy had been in his ear. So that was a point for both of them, for Eggsy’s success as Handler and Harry’s as Knight; but the hows of it. Harry had done all of it because Eggsy had said they might get to meet if Harry did what needed to be done. The mere idea of getting to meet had given Harry enough cause to have achieved a nearly impossible feat for him.

‘I’m no’ one to butt into personal business-’

‘I fuckin’ know that, Merlin- you practically set this shit up by keepin’ to yourself.’ Eggsy grumbled, crossing his arms and slumping in the chair.

‘But perhaps, lad, Harry’s more than a bit serious about this.’ Merlin continued as if uninterrupted, and Eggsy looked away.

‘D’you really think so?’

‘The only way you’re going to know is if you actually talk to him and stop with this weird double life you’ve made for yourself and no,’ Merlin wagged a finger angrily, ‘I am not going to help you fix this shit. You dug this hole, make your own way out of it.

‘I certainly hope that you continue to inspire this out of him and he doesn’t corrupt you instead.’

Eggsy stayed in that chair long after Merlin had returned to his own tasks, wondering just what he was going to do. He had two obvious options: he could meet Harry in person and come clean- or he could really chav it up and hope Harry wouldn’t be able to see Lunete in Eggsy.

But, to be honest, Eggsy was getting real tired of having to keep track of who he had to be at any given moment. What Lunete knew versus what Eggsy knew and where they could overlap believably with them both being in the Lake. It was getting exhausting, and even with the possibility of losing Harry entirely through this fiasco, Eggsy was just. So. Tired. And maybe that wasn’t the best reason to stop leading a double life but it was the one he had.

          So, there, that was one decision made- a pretty big one, too. Now he just had to hold himself to it. 

But that didn’t mean he had to make it easy for the man; maybe he could get one last bit of fun from this fiasco.

–

Harry’s office at headquarters was very secure. Merlin never let anyone in or out without his say so, even when the door was unlocked he’d lock it just as someone was reaching for the handle just to be a shit.

So the box on his desk was a terrifying surprise. First because he’d had no idea that anyone had been in his office- but mostly because of the contents. The outside was so unassuming that Harry had reached in without a second thought and immediately regretted the action. 

‘What the fuck is this shit?’

‘It happens to be a gift, you idiot, if you’d bothered to read the card prior to sticking your hand inside?’ Melin chimed in from the glasses, and Harry flipped him off smoothly with one hand as the other shut the glasses down. So what if he was right, it was the principle of the thing.

Harry pulled out the thing that had stabbed his finger, and was greeted with the most obnoxiously American thing he had ever seen. Intricately carved, it would be a work or artistry if it weren’t for the obnoxious colouring. A bald eagle sitting on a branch, a snake in its grasp, with everything but the bird in natural colours- the eagle was painted as the Americal Flag. It was the end of a wing that had stabbed him, curled upward in a parody of landing from flight. It was atrocious. 

‘What. the fuck. Is this shit?’ Harry warily stuck his arm back into the box of packing chips, feeling about for any additional hidden monstrosity, but came up empty. ‘No note?’ Harry began to turn the box about, half tempted to “accidentally” knock the statue from his desk- but he knew that if it had ended up here then the sender would discover the untimely demise. And, heaven forbid, send a replacement. On the end that had been facing his chair there was a small note, taped and half falling off the side of the cardboard. 

Let’s play hide and seek, Galahad. You’re it. -Eggsy

Harry pulled the note and examined the writing closely. The ink was partially bled through in some spots, as if he’d hesitated while writing it, and it looked to have been written by one of the Kingsman issued pens- not the ones with the poison, but the ones used for official paperwork, with the combustible ink. Just in case, you see, someone ever managed to get their hands on confidential paperwork. Which eliminated a great many people, as the only people to use them casually were the Minions, who used them for everything by default.

As if sparked by this train of thought, the ink began to eat through the paper. Well, that route of examination was out. Eggsy had mentioned more than once the trinkets Harry would send to Lunete, so it was entirely possible that this gift was poking fun at his habit of choosing memorable items for the man, but to that end it also firmly pointed Harry to a particular collective of Minions: Merlin’s favourites. Unfortunately, codenames meant very little overall within the walls of the place- but real names were rare. It was far more difficult to ask after Richard than Bors, for example, because much like in faerie courts real names held power and were rarely shared.

So asking for Eggsy would get him nowhere, unless he was asking Merlin directly, but the man had been of no help thus far and would likely continue on that trend for a while yet. So he was on his own to solve this mystery. Which meant he had to rely upon his already collected knowledge far more than present clues.

Eggsy was a man with a simple- no, humble- past, who had come to Kingsman from the Army where Merlin had spotted him causing some trouble. Eggsy’d been confronted by his SO and had been quite contrite to admit that he’d been messing with the tech because he was bored and had lost his sense of purpose when those around him didn’t seem to care about the why as much as the when. He’d had a note put into his file, and Merlin had snatched him up immediately. Harry was still unsure of why Merlin had been watching the man in the first place, as there were so many people potential to sort through at any time and only a finite number of places to put them. Harry figured it was like applying to an Ivy League school you didn’t know was considering you. Incredibly selective- so what had pulled Merlin’s attention to him?

But that wasn’t the concern at the moment. With what he knew about Eggsy, could he find him on the grounds? What did he care about, what did he mention liking about Kingsman, where would he have the highest likelihood of spotting the man in time to win this game. Harry wasn’t even entirely sure what he was competing for- but he was a vain man and desired victory for the sake of it just as much as any prize.

Harry had never bothered to learn the things a Handler would- but he could strategise if he could only decide what direction to go in. Top to bottom? One end to the other? From the centre outwards, or vice versa? Simplest would be top to bottom, as the roof provided a finite amount of space he could go- so to the roof it was. He wasn’t so desperate as to climb the sides of the building, and opted instead to take the service stairs to the top level and find a window that overlooked a bit of the roof and meander is way from there.

Which actually ended up being surprisingly difficult, but once he had found an acceptable exit he also stumbled upon another note taped to it.

Let’s play a game, mate- well, another one, waiting in one spot is just so boring y’know? I’m hanging out with the rest of the Minions til ‘bout 3 where you left me my drink way back when. Find me. That little shit had been here, how long ago was anyone’s guess, and instead of following through on whatever his original plot had been had changed the rules. As if Harry had known what they were in the first place, but the point remained that he’d changed the rules without warning or explanation.

But wasn’t that just like Eggsy, to at one moment follow plans to the letter and the next follow Harry’s lead on a whim? The fact that they were always successful could more likely be attributed to luck than any actual skill, but Harry was willing to take what the universe deigned to gift him. So he huffed a laugh and made his way back to his office, checking himself idly in the window as he removed his tie and popped a button or two. Going around to a pub while dressed to the nines, while safe in a Kingsman suit, was making himself a spectacle and if he intended to actually find Eggsy he needed to be able to blend in- at least a little. He removed his glasses, and mussed his hair just enough that it looked purposefully dishevelled as opposed to perfectly organised.

Harry made his way down to the pub, one he frequented and thus was able to pull favours with, and nodded at the barman who smoothly slid his pint down the bartop to his waiting hand as he sat at his regular spot at the bar. No words having to be exchanged, which freed him up to idly glance about the room. There were some outside seats but it was easier to hide in a crowd, and easier still to disappear with staff constantly moving about, if you knew when and how to do so. Which was usually a skill Knights honed and Minions of the Lake dismissed as unnecessary. The likelihood of their being spotted, let alone pursued, was miniscule- so why waste the energy that could be dedicated to other things instead?

There was a group of younger people in the corner booth, only a half dozen or so, about half wearing very familiar glasses. Now to spot his target proper. There was a young woman leaning intimately into the side of one of the men without glasses, with dark brown hair and pale eyes. That was Agravaine and Blanchefleur, then, as they were the topic of many Knights who were critical of relationships from within. And, honestly, how did they expect to achieve any sense of intimacy with someone outside of Kingsman, anyway? But that eliminated two suspects. There was his regular pilot, Houdain, with whom he’d shared many idle conversations of the last couple years. His accent was similar to Eggsy’s, but not so much so that he could ever have confused one for the other.

Three down, three to go.

There was another young woman with short cropped red hair, sans glasses but obviously sporting a pair of Kingsman brogues, bent nearly in double as she laughed- inelegantly snorting. She slapped the glasses off the man sat across from her in her antics, simply by waving her arms about, and Harry was grateful to know that she was not a Knight. If she were in this collective she obviously had immense amounts of talent behind the scenes, but something like that could make or break a mission. Which was entirely off topic, but Harry’s head was running in a million directions as he caught sight of the last two members of the table.

One was a driver that he knew quite well, Ither, who had always been up for a joyride while escaping their pursuants. The other was Lunete.

So Eggsy had lied, then. He wasn’t here after all. He turned back to his drink as a way to distract himself, observing the condensation run down the glass, and pretended that disappointment was not a bitter pill to swallow.

 Except, suddenly, he heard a very distinct ‘you’re fucking jokin’, bruv!’ he knew without a doubt that Eggsy was in that group. His head snapped up just in time to see Lunete slap Houdain playfully on the shoulder, the latter covering his mouth with one hand while shaking with laughter.

‘Swear down, Eggs, I couldn’ make that shit up if I tried.’

‘The fuck was Lancelot thinkin’, tryin’ to make a jump like that in that outfit? She gave someone a lucky view, then?’ Ither looked as if Christmas had come early, a very Grinch-like smirk on his face at the thought, but Houdain shook his head.

‘The street was clear, luck with her, so she didn’t flash no one- but lots o’ people complained about the thumpin’ from the roof, next day.’ Lunete shook his head as Houdain finished, but Harry’s mind had stopped a bit before.

Eggs. Eggsy. Harry ran the facts over in his mind as he took another idle gulp of his Guinness; Eggsy spoke often of Lunete’s gifts, he obviously knew Harry quite well after all the time of being in his ear, was well-liked and trusted by Merlin (who else would he trust his oldest friends’ safety to, if not someone he trusted?), and suddenly he couldn’t unlink the two. Lunete was Eggsy.

Lunete was Eggsy.

Lunete was Eggsy and he’d already had a drink with the man and he’d never let it on. He’d not even hinted that he’d been hiding anything; to hide such a thing from a Knight was impressive in and of itself. He’d been sure to keep their interactions regular, had never hinted at- well, hinted at what, exactly? Had Eggsy thought anything of their pint, that day, and what of the gifts? Why had he hidden himself so thoroughly within the walls of Kingsman that it took a ducking scavenger hunt for Harry to figure it out? It was not as if Kingsan was particularly judgemental- well, no, that was a lie. Arthur was a prick.

Ah. Prejudice based around the way one walks. And talks. The things that are the quickest to reveal oneself as “other” in a collective of men from money. Arthur was quick to anger and quicker to insult, if only ever backhandedly, so the ability to blend in was imperative- he guessed- to Eggsy being able to do as he needed. Drivers and Pilots were often silent until prompted and prodded into speaking- a Handler was easily identified and exposed by voice. To affect an accent in the presence of those who would look down on you for being different was entirely understandable.

But had Eggsy truly thought that Harry would judge him in that way? Had he not been clear with his affections through the coms? Short of screaming it from the rooftops he’d done all he could to show Eggsy that he thought the world of him. But… but perhaps that was what had kept him away. If someone is showy, you never take their actions or words at face value. Never. It’s survival one-oh-one, and Harry kicks himself for not connecting the dots sooner.

Every bit of tension in his body began to loosen as Eggsy turned around, just enough for Harry to admire the cut of his jaw and the upturn of his lip as he winked.  At him. That cheeky arsehole. Harry didn’t hear the particulars, but Eggsy was excusing himself from the group with a smile and making his way toward Harry- and what was Harry going to say when he finally got there?

‘Hey, Harry.’ Eggsy slid into the seat beside him and nudged one shoulder with his own, sloshing what little was left in Harry’s glass. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’

‘You led me here, and yet you’re the one claiming to be surprised?’

‘Weren’t sure you was gonna find that window, guv, but you managed that shit in record time you did.’

‘So you set me up to fail?’ Harry finished his drink before he turned and lifted a brow, and Eggsy had the gall to laugh.

‘Nah, I set you a challenge and you met it. Exceeded expectations and all that shit. So, now, I’m an open book- what d’you want to know?’ He lifted a hand to the barkeep and accepted to proffered drinks with a grin.

‘Why?’

‘Why’d I leave you messages?’

‘Why this double life in the first place? What’s the truth here, Eggsy?’ Harry looked away, tips of his ears pink, and Eggsy paused for a moment before speaking.

‘I was scared- terrified, even- of you connectin’ Lunete an’ Eggsy. You’re a posh man, you got class out your arse and you’re fit and funny and I knew you were leagues away from me in life. You’d flirt with Eggsy, but Lunete was a mystery an’ you treated him like any other bloke while at the pub an’ then started sendin’ gifts and shit.’ Eggsy ran a hand through his hair and looked ruefully at Harry, ‘You was thoughtful and flirty and it made me fall more for you that I had already.’

‘That doesn’t explain-’

‘Gettin’ there, Harry. Promise. When I started at Kingsman, I’d barely walked in and Arthur looked down his nose at me and sneered that he didn’ want to see my face again. I thought I’d been dismissed b’fore I could start, but Merlin drew me aside. Tol’ me to ignore Arthur an’ that he was my boss an’ til he said leave I weren’t to so much as think about the door. But,’ Eggsy shook his head, ‘he gave me the name Lunete, an’ said to make it someone Arthur wouldn’ look twice at.’

‘So you made yourself unremarkable.’ Harry concurred, and tipped his glass in his direction, but Eggsy shrugged.

‘I made myself what he was lookin’ for. Growin’ up at the Estates, after dad died, you learn how to read people an’ make yourself what you gotta be to get by, Jamal and Ryan know all the same shit I do- they just don’t gotta use it as often. But,’ Eggsy grinned, ‘to explain the rest of this shit you get a bit of a story.

‘See, you an’ I’ve met before all this shit. Merlin and I had a bit of a laugh about it once I’d settled in. Y’see, once upon a time,’ Eggsy reached into his collar and began to pull on a chain, ‘you came by my place an’ left this with me for safe keeping.’ He opened his palm, and Harry forgot to breathe.

‘Oh my god. Eggsy.’ Harry breathed, in disbelief at having forgotten the child. It was a memorable name, and yet Harry hadn’t recognised it when they’d crossed paths again. ‘Eggcy Unwin- you’re Lee’s boy.’ 

‘Yeah, an’ that’s the other thing- I didn’ know if you’d still fancy me, flirty and shit, once you knew that. Still don’t know, actually, but I got tired of pretendin’ at you. The way I figure, this shit goes one of two ways, yeah? Either we get on as mates an’ we move on, or this shit’s blown us to bits and we never speak again.’ Eggsy spoke as if either option was acceptable, but Harry could see the tension in his jaw and fondly thought of him as an idiot. As if there were only ever two choices when it came to life.

‘You’ve left something out, Eggsy.’ Harry spoke blandly, allowing himself a small smirk around the lip of his glass, before setting it down and facing Eggsy fully. He waited for Eggsy to look at him and not the tabletop, but he seemed to be doing everything in his power not to do so.

‘Oh?’ Eggsy didn’t dare look at Harry- he didn’t want a fatherly pat on the shoulder, or apologies for how his life’d turnt out- but when Harry’s hand landed heavily on the wrist clutching his glass his head snapped up.

Harry’s eyes flicked to his lips so quickly Eggsy swore he’d imagined it before there were lips against his own. Insistent yet chaste, Harry pulled Eggsy to him by framing his face with both hands. His fingertips cradling his jaw with what Eggsy could only describe as reverement. His eyes slipped closed, and just as Harry began to pull his hands away Eggsy made a soft noise of protest before leaning inward and pressing his insistently back. One hand held him steady on the countertop as the other wound itself into Harry’s hair as they began to lose time.

They broke apart to jeering from the other Minions, ‘get it, Eggs!’ and the two flipped the group off with a united two finger salute before dissolving into giggles.

‘Do they even recognise me?’ Harry breathed into Eggsy’s ear, and he shook his head in reply. ‘Well, they’re quite enthusiastic about your “getting it” from a man they don’t know.’

‘Like to hope they trust my judgement.’ Eggsy laughed, feeling high from the realisation that his antics hadn’t cost him a chance with the man before him. He pulled back, allowing himself to do a full once-over of Harry’s look- he looked gorgeous like this, ever so slightly undone, and Eggsy hadn’t let himself really realise it before that moment.

‘There’s never only two options, Eggsy. You know that as well as anyone.’ Harry smiled softly, running his thumb along his cheekbone.

‘Yeah, well, forgive me for puttin’ this option from my head after havin’ lied to you for so long. An’ forget the fact that  I’m nowhere near your league.’

‘We’re spies, Eggsy- lying is easy as breathing and takes half the thought of the truth. Not saying that I’m not a bit frustrated- but that’s more at my inability to be observant than your Parent Trap-ing me. And,’ Harry firmed the grip upon his face, ‘if I hear you dismiss yourself so easily again you’ll soon regret it. I love you, and if you find your own judgements are faulty then trust my own.’

‘You love me?’ Eggsy breathed, eyes wide like a child seeing art for the first time, and Harry allowed himself to drink his fill of the image before replying.

‘Well, I love what I know of you- both what you told me as Lunete and what I’ve come to know through our missions- and I look forward to loving the rest of you.’

‘Might take a while.’

‘Well, we have a while.’ The two pulled enough apart to finish their drinks, a pair of hands clasped between them as if to separate would break the spell.

[xserpentlife]

Forgotten - Part 2

Requested: @motionlessinblackbutler - sweets x reader where everyone forgets her birthday and she gets extremely upset and like disappears for a couple days to calm down. Sweets gets mad at everyone. She can be already dating sweet pea. And they aren't surprising her they all just get busy I guess and literally forget.

A/N: Wow this story turned into a two-parter. So here is the second part. Thankyou to @wayward-river for always being my beta. Check out her stories too.

Warnings: Cursing. I think that’s it.

Summary: Everyone forgets your birthday except sweet pea and he gets very angry at the friend group.

Word Count: 3414

3 Months Later

For a few months now Toni and Fangs kept trying to apologize to Y/N. At first, it was flowers, then gifts, then buying food at Pops. They kept showering items but the thing was that was not what she wanted. All she wanted was for them to show her that they cared. She did not want the material items she just wanted to know that she meant something to them. Sweet Pea, on the other hand, was giving them the worst time. He barely talked to them other than when they had a job to do. He constantly gave them the cold shoulder. No matter how many times they apologized or tried to talk to him he wouldn’t budge he was still pissed. Fangs and Toni finally devised a plan that they thought could possibly work.

Sweet Pea’s POV

“Hey, Sweet Pea!”

“Yeah, Hogeye?”

“Can you grab a bottle of whiskey from the storeroom”

“Yeah, sure” I went down opening the door to the storeroom and looking for the Whiskey. Once I grabbed it off the shelf I turned around only to see dumb and dumber standing against the door.

“Move, Now”

“No”

“Sweet Pea please talk to us”

“I have nothing to say now fucking open the door”

“I have the key you can’t get out without it and it is in my underwear so unless you want to grab it out just listen, five minutes please”

“Fine”

“Look we are so sorry about we did and we are not just saying that. We feel like shit”

“Look Sweets I am so fucking sorry for what happened. I saw Y/N’s face that day and I can not get it out of my fucking head. She is our best friend, well I hope she is still. We fucked up I will admit that her birthday is so fucking important and we forgot it when we shouldn’t have”

“Toni Fangs you don’t get it you were more than friends to her you were family. She lost one family if you could even call them that and when she joined the serpents she gained us. You forgetting her birthday was a slap in the face. It was like she was forgotten all over again”

“I know”

“It was a shitty thing I get that, we’ve tried making it up to her we don’t know what else to do”

“Stop trying to get her things. Do something that actually means something to her”

“Do you forgive us?”

“I don’t need to forgive you, she does. Look I am still pissed at you and I will be for a while but it’s been months and she can say she is fine but she misses you guys and honestly even though I’m pissed I miss you guys too. But you have to stop with giving her things or buying things she's tired of it. I have an idea though, a way you can make it up to me and to her”

“What is it?”

“We’ll do anything”

“Do you know what’s coming up next month” I watched them look to each other scared like they forgot something else. It was kind of fun, to be honest. “I don’t expect you to know calm down. It’s Y/N and I’s five year anniversary”

“Holy shit”

“5 years!! I can’t believe it’s been that long already”

“Yeah, and she is the love of my life. I, I want to ask her to marry me. I want to make it special to her. I was thinking of doing it at the dock. I mean we spend so much time there it is like a special place for us. We ended up there on our first date, it’s where we always have the bonfires, it’s where I take her when she is sad or happy. I think it would be perfect, but to make it perfect I need some help. If you want to help then maybe, maybe I will forgive you”

“I want to make this right dude”

“We’ll help”

“You can help but I swear if you fucking forget on the day of I will kill both of you”

“We won’t forget”

“Fine now can you let me out of here so I can bring Hogeye this Whiskey he’s been waiting for”

“He doesn't need it”

“It was a ploy to get you down here he was in on it”

“Oh my fucking god, just let me out so I can go home please?” Finally, they unlocked the door and let me out.

1 Month Later - Sweet Pea’s POV

I have been working and planning nonstop this entire month. Our 5 year anniversary is tomorrow. I have Fangs and Toni setting up everything tomorrow while I keep Y/N distracted, but I was meeting them today to go over final plans with them. Y/N doesn’t seem suspicious at all so that is good, but I am a nervous wreck still. I drove to the river and saw all the decor that was on the ground and Fangs but no Toni. The dock would be perfect. Simple fairy lights strung around the wood and a blanket for the picnic.

“Hey Fangs”

“Ah Sweet Pea you're here finally, I wanna make sure you don’t want any other decorations or anything”

“No, I think the fairy lights are perfect, just simple but enough. What do you think?”

“Dude you know her the best, but yeah I think it’s simple enough but beautiful I really think she will love it”

“Where’s Toni?”

“She should be here soon, she got the call from the jeweler the ring was ready so she went to pick it up”

“Alright well let’s starting putting up these lights then” Fangs and I put the lights up for about an hour till Toni arrived. No one had seen the ring yet, and I told Toni not to open it until I was with her.

“Sweet Pea!”

“Toni why are you screaming I am right here”

“I am screaming because it took all of my fucking will to not open this damn box now can we please see the ring”

“Yes give it to me we can open it” I opened the box and it was absolutely perfect. I had it custom made for Y/N with an engraving and two snake heads wrapped around with a green stone in the center to represent the serpents. I was still somewhat nervous about whether she would like it or not.

“Dude”

“Holy shit Sweet Pea”

“Do you not like it, do you think she will like it I mean I could go tonight and get another one if you think it is bad. It was custom my design so I don’t know-”

“Sweet Pea that ring is gorgeous she is going to love it”

“Honestly I know Y/N and she will love it, why the snakes though and not something ‘Normal’ like most people would get”

“Well, she always told me she wanted something that was not really generic. I figured she loves the serpents to no end and that is one of the biggest parts of who she is so I thought getting two snakes could represent her and I and the green stone could represent the serpents as a whole. She also told me she never wanted a diamond cause it wasn’t her but I wanted a stone to be a representation of a diamond”

“I really think she will love it, it is so her and so you all at the same time”

“I can not wait for tomorrow, are you nervous?”

“Of course I am fucking nervous, but I am so ready. I can honestly say she is the love of my life and I know we’re young and we don’t need to get married right now, but who cares I love her and I want to marry her so I am nervous but ready”

“Aww”

“That was the cutest shit I ever heard”

“Okay well I need to go she is probably wondering where I am. For tomorrow I am going to spend the day with her, but around five I'm gonna tell her I have a job and I'm gonna have the note at the door with the dress for her and then I’ll meet you guys here, oh and keep the ring safe Toni”

“Why don’t you just take it?”

“Cause Y/N is a shit and she finds everything no matter where I hide it, also let’s be honest I will probably forget it”

“True”

“So fucking true”

“Alright I’ll see you guys tomorrow” With that, I left them to hopefully not fuck anything up, and hopefully I wouldn’t slip and tell Y/N everything.

Next Morning

I woke up to my arms wrapped around the love my life. Today was the day where hopefully everything would change with her. I got up going into the kitchen and started making breakfast for her. I was cooking for about 20 minutes before I heard her come into the kitchen. She smiled up at me as she sat on top of the counter behind me. It was nice always having her sit there while I cooked and we talked about all the random things in the world. Once the food was almost done I set it on low and turned back to her handing the flowers I had picked from the field. Yeah it may be cheesy but wildflowers were her favorite stores don't sell them they only sold roses and she hates roses so I have to pick her flowers when I give her them.

“Pea these are beautiful”

“I hope you like them, I picked them” I smiled to her she touched my cheek making the blush rise up

“I love them Pea, thank you”

“You know what today is?”

“No, what?” Did she really not remember? I stood there shocked she never forgot anything. “I am kidding Pea, of course, I know that today is five years”

“Mhm 5 years with my favorite person in the world, I love you princess”

“What do you want to do today?”

“Honestly can we just chill at home and watch some movies?”

“Yeah that is perfectly fine with me, here eat your breakfast”

“Wait! I have a present for you”

“Babygirl you didn’t have to get me anything. I didn’t get you anything” I did, I got her the ring but she couldn’t know that.

“I don’t need anything and I wanted to, open it” I opened up the box and inside was a dog tag with a snake. It was awesome.

“Thank you, baby, I love it”

“Wait that's not it flip it over” It was engraved Forever - Y/N. A tear fell down my cheek as I looked down at her.

“I figured it was a piece of me I didn’t want to get you one that was just my name because that would be like branding you haha. I figured the snake for the serpents and the engraving was a personal touch. I really hope you like it I know you usually only wear your dad and Grandpa’s tags but...”

“Baby I love it so much I am happy to wear this tag too”

“Really!” The smile that appeared on her face was like no other, just the pure happiness that she has always flooded into me.

“Really, now let's eat and watch those movies” It was nice spending the day with Y/N. We do it often but today it felt so different to me. Everything has been so crazy the past few months but she stuck with me through it all. Just being able to sit down and be with her meant so much. I wasn’t like most guys, I am not able to always give her the nicest things in like but she always told me it didn’t matter. I never felt like it truly didn’t matter until I met her. It was getting closer to when I had to leave so I had to start making it seem like I was going on a job. I told Fangs to text me and I changed his name to FP so it would look like FP was texting me for a job.

“FP texted you, here” I took the phone from her reading the message.

“Ugh”

“What's wrong?”

“FP wants me to go on a job”

“But I thought you were off today since it’s our anniversary”

“Yeah, me too I'm trying to get him to call Fangs” *Phone rings* “I have to get up” I walked outside taking the phone call and talking to Fangs for a bit pretending he was FP. I walked back in and saw her sitting up on the couch watching for me through the door.

“Do you have to go Pea?” I shook my head yes while walking back to the bedroom and grabbing the duffel bag with the clothes I would be wearing. I walked back out and she looked so sad. I wanted to stay to make her happy but I knew I had to go.

“I have to go, I’m sorry baby I tried but Fangs is on a job and Toni is working at the Wyrm so I’m the only one left. I don’t wanna leave you but I have to.”

“It’s okay, really I’ll see you when you get back okay” I walked out the door and walked to Fangs' truck getting in and driving to the dock. This was it,  soon Y/N would be my fiance or so I hoped. Now was time to start the plan.

Y/N POV

You watched as Pea left a small sadness rolling upon you. You wanted to spend the entire day with him but he had to go on a job. You were used to it and it was your life you had to go when you were called, you had gotten used to it after a while but you just wished today would've been different I mean it was your anniversary after all. Your thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Your friends never knocked so who could it possibly be. You grabbed your knife and knuckles just in case and you opened the door to see a box with a bow sitting on the ground. You picked it up and read the letter that was attached to the top Hey Princess put this on and come to the Dock I have a surprise for you, I left the keys to the truck on the counter. Oh my god, so he didn’t have a job that little shit. You walked to the bedroom opening the box to reveal a black long sleeve dress and a white denim jacket. It was something different you did not often wear white but it was a good different. You got dressed did your hair and threw on some makeup. You grabbed the keys off the counter and started driving to the dock. From the road, you could see the faint shadow of Sweet Pea and fairy lights. You got out heading down towards him as he walked towards you.

“Pea what?”

“Shhh”

“Okay” you often were not the quiet one, to be honest, you had a big mouth but something about him always made your breath halt. He looked incredible too you often only saw him in his torn up boots and a t-shirt. But he was in a light brown button-up and cuffed jeans with new boots. You loved the way Sweet Pea looked all the time but he looked incredible. “Wait, you look good, okay now I'll be quiet”

“You're a dork, You look incredible baby I love that denim jacket on you now come on” He grabbed your hand leading you towards the dock where you saw a folded blanket and pillows. It was beautiful the thought that he put into this meant so much to you. It was simple yet so perfect. He stopped the both of you and you hugged him.

“Turn around”

“What?”

“I thought I told you to shh, just turn around” You did what you were told for once turning around. “Okay, now you can look at me” You turned around to see Sweet Pea down on one knee. “No” the tears were flowing down your face.

“Y/N Baby you make me the happiest guy in the entire world. No matter the ups and the downs that we have had you have always stuck by me. I want it to be me and you forever. I wanted to get you a promise. A promise that I want to be with you forever and I want you to be with me forever. It is a promise that I will never leave your side. Y/N you have always had my heart from the very first moment that I met you, and I know we are young and I know this is crazy but I couldn’t wait. I love you and I know I want to be with you forever so Y/N Y/L/N will you marry me?”

“Pea Yes, Yes I will marry you” He stood up grabbing your hand and slipping the ring onto your finger. You hugged him tight and he lifted you slightly the height difference taking hold. You pulled away from the hug slightly to kiss him, and when you pulled from the kiss you saw the tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Babe your crying”

“It’s a good cry Y/N, and hey you cried more than me”

“Is it a competition cause I got a lot more where this came from”

“Shut up and kiss me princess” You kissed again as he placed you on the ground.

“Do you like the ring” You took it off your finger examining it. It was beautiful. Two snakes coiled around each other one braided and one plain with a green stone. As you were spinning it to look at it you noticed an engraving on the inside Never Forget. But why?

“Pea it is absolutely incredible but why never forget?”

“Because I want you to never forget that I love you. Yeah, I could have written I love you but Never forget means so much more. Never forget the fact that you are my family and I am yours. Never forget that you are my entire world, and yeah I may fuck up sometimes but in the end, you mean everything to me. Never forget my love for you and never forget that I will always be here for you” As he finished you cried again. Sweet Pea though hard on the outside was one of the softest people on the inside. You loved every bit of him and now you were actually going to marry the man of your dreams. You were admiring the ring again.

“Pea this ring is incredible”

“I got it made custom I figured it represented me and you but I also chose the green stone to represent the serpents, I was going to do a diamond but you always liked things that were not the norm so I figured a diamond would be too cliche”

“It’s perfect” You put the ring back on your finger and kissed him again before you were interrupted by streamers, confetti and screams coming from behind you.

“Woooooooooo!”

“Yes, my best friends are getting married!”

“Toni? Fangs? What are you doing here?”

“They helped me set everything up Y/N” 

“What? You finally forgave them?”

“Well, they kind of trapped me in a storeroom against my will to talk to me so I really had no choice. But they feel really bad princess and they’ve apologized so many times. But it doesn’t matter if I forgive them do you?”

“Y/N we are so sorry after what happened we felt like complete shit, please, please, please forgive us”

“Honestly we kept trying to make it up to you without even realizing everything we did wasn’t working because it didn’t matter, we wanted to do something meaningful for you, and when we trapped Pea and he told us he wanted to do this we wanted to help. I know we fucked up but you are our best friend all of us not hanging out has been killing me.”

“I forgive you”

“Yes!”

“Really?”

“Really” Toni and Fangs both ran up to you screaming congratulations.

[queen-swagzilla]

Born in Dreams, Forged in Blood - Chapter 2

Rated: M

Summary: Katsuki Bakugo was not a good communicator. To be fair, neither was Izuku Midoriya. Looking back on their dumpster fire of a friendship, communication was probably the most significant missing piece in their interpersonal puzzle. Luckily, their translator is back in town, and they're about to take UA by storm.

Like the story? Consider buying me a coffee!

Don’t know what’s going on? Read it all on Ao3!

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“I’m gonna give Sana a tour of the dorms.” Katsuki barked at the end of the day. “Then we’re going to see Deku, and we’ve got private shit to discuss. You extras better clear out before we get back.”

The look on Uraraka’s face told Sana that they’d have to forcibly remove her from the infirmary if they wanted any privacy. “I really don’t like that girl.” She muttered as they separated from their classmates. 

“She’s impressive, but she’s nosy and she gets really territorial about Deku. Think she has some kinda claim over him or something.” He replied. “She has more right to be in Deku’s business than I do, though.”

“Yeah, what the hell is up with that? I know he hasn’t stopped being a friend to you, but he’s actually starting to believe that you hate him. And you told him to jump off the roof. He told me. What the fuck, dude?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“Tough shit, Kacchan! The three of us are supposed to have each other’s backs against the world. It’s been that way since we were in diapers.”

“We still have each other’s backs. I’ve saved him. He’s saved me. I’m not turning my back when he’s in trouble or anything.”

“Yeah, but you act like a dick, and there’s more to friendship than literal life-threatening situations. You need to be there for the emotional shit, too. You help each other get stronger, work out problems together, just spend some fuking time together,—“

“Yeah, well Deku and I aren’t there anymore, okay? Drop it.”

“No! Tell me what happened!”

“He didn’t have a quirk!” He snapped, rounding on her. He looked around—they were outside the dorms now—and found no one in sight. Nonetheless, he grabbed her arm and pulled her inside—dragging her into the elevator. “If we’re doing this, it’s not gonna be where those extras can overhear us.”

“Fine.” She barked back, allowing him to pull her into his room and slam the door. “You could have just whispered. I would have heard you.”

“Yeah, but if AirPods is lurking, we’ll get overheard out in the open.” He replied, frustrated. “Okay, look. I started being hard on Deku because he didn’t have a quirk, but he still wanted to be a hero. He kept on putting himself in dangerous situations to get closer to hero fights and stood up to bullies and shit whose quirks were fucking violent. At first, I just wanted him to be reasonable and start looking out for himself, but he kept getting worse and I got more frustrated. He wasn’t even training physically at that point, just going off analysis and shitty self-preservation instincts. I just wanted him to think. I might have lost sight of what I was trying to get through his thick skull, but I was so fucking angry at him.”

“So you told him to kill himself?” She demanded. “You’re one of my best friends, but that’s seriously fucked up.”

“Yeah, I know.” He snapped. “I regret that, okay? Especially since that same fucking day, he saved me from the sludge villain. Before All Might showed up, I mean. But that still made me furious because what the fuck was he thinking?”

“Have you considered apologizing?”

“No, because now I’m pissed off for a different reason. He had a quirk and he let me have a fucking heart attack every time he pulled some crazy self-sacrificing stunt.”

“He said he was a super-late bloomer. Maybe it was triggered during the sludge villain attack? That’s when he started getting cagey with me, at least.

“That’s not it.” Katsuki muttered. “I have a theory now. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it sooner.”

“Wanna share with the class?” She replied when he didn’t elaborate. 

“Not yet. But we should talk about it with Deku when we go see him later.” He admitted. “And your villain encounter. Don’t think I forgot.”

“You’ve had way more villain encounters than I have.” She paused. “Are you okay, by the way? After the kidnapping, I mean?”

He scowled. “Add that to the ‘we’ll talk about it later’ list.” He grumbled. “I mean physically, I’m fine. Mentally, I’m working on it.”

She sighed. “Fine. Wanna finish showing me around? You can tell me about our classmates while we’re at it.” She suggested, already moving toward the door. It was like talking to an emotionally constipated brick wall with him, sometimes. 

“Uh, first…” He stopped her and she paused, turning back to look at him. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re here.” He muttered, looking away. The tips of his ears burned, and she couldn’t help but smile. He might be emotionally constipated, but at least he was trying.

She threw her arms around his neck in a ferocious hug. “I missed you. Both of you. I’m really glad to be back. It didn’t feel right—learning to be a hero without you.” He murmured into his neck. 

“I don’t want to get your hopes up about the team thing, because I dunno if Deku and I will be able to get past our shit. But yeah. It’ll be…nice. For the three of us to be together, I mean.”

“See? That’s a good first step!” She cheered. “Come on. Show me around.” She urged, pulling him back through the door. 

He gave her a perfunctory tour, but ended up in the kitchen making food while he told her about their classmates. 

“So…we like Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Jirou, and Sero actively. We like Ojiro, Koda, Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu, Hagakure, Sato, and Todoroki passively. We don’t really “get” Sparkles or Tentacles. We aren’t sure about Frog Face, we dislike but respect Kirby and Four-Eyes, and fuckin hate Mineta. Sound about right?”

“Yeah. Froggy’s alright, but she tends to judge people too quickly. She’s kind of a know-it-all and she's pretty uptight, but she tells it straight and says what’s on her mind. She pissed me off today, but she was one of the people leading the charge to stop me from getting kidnapped at the training camp. She’s a real asset in a team, too. Level headed.”

“That was a whole lot of compliments. You better sling some insults to balance yourself soon.” She warned him. He threw a carrot peel at her face. “Rude. I was just trying to help.” She groused, picking the peel out of her hair. 

“Yeah, well quit it.” He replied. He began ladling curry into tupperware over rice. “I was thinking we could take Deku dinner and eat with him while we catch up and talk through our shit.” He mumbled. Unfortunately for him, she heard him loud and clear. 

“That’s really sweet of you, Kacchan.” She grinned, only smiling wider when he glowered. “Sounds like a plan. As long as we’re allowed to eat in the infirmary.”

He snorted. “We’re barely allowed to visit the infirmary. Aizawa basically told us to fuck off, remember? We’re going to sob-story our way in so that we can get his other visitors kicked out and stay past curfew.”

“The hell are you talking about?”

“You. Make up some bullshit about how much you miss Deku until she lets us stay.”

“I do miss Deku.” She deadpanned. 

“Exactly. That’s fuckin perfect.”

“Kacchan.”

“Let’s go.”

As expected, Izuku’s room was occupied when they arrived. “I’m sorry, I can’t allow more than two visitors at a time. Otherwise it’s not fair to the other patients.” Recovery Girl informed them when they asked to see him. 

“They already had their turn. Can’t you kick them out?” Katsuki growled. Sana smacked his arm (hard). 

“It’s nice to meet you, Recovery Girl! I’m Sana Kimura—the transfer student. You’ll probably be seeing a lot of me.” She smiled, polite and charming. “Could you make an exception, just this once? I haven’t seen Zuku in over a year, and I wanted to surprise him today. I don’t want one of our classmates to give away the secret before I get the chance!”

She squinted at the newcomer. “Why does Bakugo have to join you?”

“We’re all childhood friends! Its been a long time since we’ve been able to spend time together. Besides, Kacchan is helping me navigate campus until I get settled.”

Recovery Girl squinted even longer—long enough to even unsettle Bakugo. “Very well. Wait here. I’ll let his other visitors know that their time is up. But I don’t want you to cause any trouble, do you understand, young man?”

Sana bristled, but Katsuki spoke before she could interject. “I understand. And uh…sorry. About the last time, I mean. I was out of line, and I destroyed a lot of your equipment.”

Recovery Girl smiled at him. “Thank you for your apology. I understand how frustrated you must have been. I must have scolded Miss Midnight for an hour after she put that muzzle on you.”

Sana scowled fiercely. “He should have been allowed to not accept the medal.” She said, seething. “That Todoroki kid didn't’ give it his all. Katsuki would have won, but that wasn’t a real win.”

“No need to convince me, dear. I agree.” She soothed. “I’ll go clear the room for you kids. Wait here.” She bustled into the room where Izuku was contained, and within seconds Sana heard loud protests booming from the occupants.

“You watched the Sports Festival?”

She snorted. “Of course I did. You and Zuku were both competing. Besides, Auntie Inko sent me about six million reminders. I wouldn’t have missed it, but I also couldn’t have missed it.”

“Oh. Well, what did you think?”

“About you? Or did you want me to give you a complete analysis of each match?”

“Just fucking tell me, dammit.”

She snickered. “You were great. I can’t believe how much control you have over your quirk now. I do think, however, that you need to work on your image in public.” He glowered. “Come on. You’re a hero. You can’t yell ‘die’. You gotta work on the rage. You want people to be hopeful when they see you, not intimidated.”

“Half my image problems came from the fucking muzzle and handcuffs. The rest of it was just treating my opponents like actual opponents. It’s shitty to pull your punches on someone who’s trying their best.”

“I agree. But really, yelling ‘die’ makes you sound unhinged. I’m pretty sure it’s a leftover habit from playing too many first person shooters, but really.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m working on it.” He conceded, pleased that she was impressed, but annoyed that she found his flaws noteworthy.

It didn’t escape her notice that Katsuki clammed up and bristled as soon as Uraraka and Iida entered the hallway.

“You got us kicked out?” Uraraka demanded, eyes fixed on Katsuki. “You actually think he wants you in his infirmary room? You’re usually the one who puts him in here!”

“He’s here because I’m here. Not that it’s any of your business. Just because you’re his friend, doesn’t mean you can dictate who Zuku spends time with.” 

“Leave it alone.” Katsuki muttered, already walking into Izuku’s room. Sana looked like she wanted to argue, but if Katsuki was being the calm and reasonable one, she should probably leave it alone. She met Uraraka’s glare and Iida’s affronted, scandalized face with a venomous stare of her own, then followed Katsuki into the room. 

“Kacchan? You’re my other visitor? Why are you here? Is everything—“ Izuku fell silent when sana walked through the door and stared, mouth ajar.

“Man, you two need to work on your greetings.” She joked as Izuku continued to stare at her in shock. “First time I see you two in over a year and Katsuki swears at me and you stare at me like I’m an alien. Not a single hello. You’re lucky I don’t take it personally.”

“Sana?” He choked out.

“Who the fuck else would it be, Deku?” Katsuki snapped. She slugged him in the arm.

“What are you doing here? It’s so good to see you!” He cried, automatically moving to get up before wincing and slumping back onto his cot. Apparently, he’d forgotten his injury. 

“I told you I had a surprise for you!” She laughed, coming to stand by his bedside. “I transferred to UA!”

Izuku gaped again, eyes wide and jaw hanging open. “What?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “She had some mystery encounter with a fucking villain and didn’t totally suck at handling herself, so Principal Furry scouted her for the hero course.” He barked. “She’s in 1-A.”

To no one’s surprise, yet Katsuki’s immeasurable horror, Izuku began to tear up. “You’re really transferring to UA? We’ve missed you so much, don’t you dare say sike!” He blubbered, tears already dripping down his face. Sana cooed in comfort, immediately bending to pull him into a tight hug.

“Telling the truth, Zuku.” She promised. He sobbed louder.

“Stop crying, nerd. We brought you dinner.” Katsuki snapped, shoving the tupperware at him as he sat on his other side. “We’ve got shit to talk about, and visiting hours are almost up. We were gonna ask if we could stay past curfew, but that’s probably one too many favors for Recovery Girl, and we’re not gonna get privacy like this in the dorm. So hurry up and get your shit together.”

“You brought me dinner, Kacchan?” Izuku murmured, eyes wide as he stared at the tupperware in wonder. “You made me dinner? Thank you!”

“Whatever, nerd.” He muttered, looking away. Did he really have to act like he’d cured cancer or some shit? “You and I have shit to work out, but we can do that later. Just eat and listen while Princess Shithead explains how she was in a villain attack and didn’t tell us about it.”

Izuku frowned at Sana, simultaneously snapping the lid off his curry. “Why didn’t you tell us, Sana?” he pouted, sounding disappointed. Sana groaned. 

“Let me tell you right now, the disappointed for withholding information thing is NOT going to work in your favor, Zuku.” She warned. “You have a quirk.” Izuku turned red, eyes dropping to his hands as they gripped the food container. 

“Stop changing the fucking subject!” Katsuki snarled.

“Fine! It’s not that big a deal. There was this super gross villain who had robbed a bank and when he was surrounded, he started destroying everything in sight. I was picking up groceries for dinner and got caught on the scene. I got scouted because I cleared a space for triage and defended it from debris and shit. The only bad part was not having my compression sleeves or braces with me.” She rushed out.

“I saw that attack on the news! That villain leveled three city blocks and nearly took down Gang Orca!” Izuku cried. “You could have gotten seriously hurt!”

“If that’s not the fucking pot calling the kettle black…” Katsuki muttered.

Sana rolled her eyes. “We’re training to be heroes. That’s the territory.Seriously, I didn’t even get that badly hurt. All of my injuries came from my own quirk”.

“The hell is your problem?” Katsuki demanded. “Why didn’t you fucking say anything until now? You could have died! You could have died and you didn’t tell us? I’ll fucking kill you!”

“What good would telling you have done? You couldn’t do anything! Not to mention you were taken by the League like two days later! Izu’s arms got fucked up and he actually almost died because of his showdown with Muscular. You had your own shit to worry about!”

“Fucking christ.” Katsuki spat, dropping his face into his palms. 

“Look, we’re all okay, right? That’s what matters.” Sana reasoned. “And next time we’ll be stronger.”

“Do you want a fucking list of how not okay this shit is? Deku has a quirk, and it breaks his bones every fifteen minutes. You could have died in a villain attack and didn’t tell us. I got kidnapped, and I’m the fucking reason All Might retired.” His voice broke on the last point. Deku turned to him so fast, Sana was surprised he didn’t break the sound barrier. “Fuck. This is my fault. Everything that’s wrong between us is my fault.”

“Oh, fuck no.” Sana snapped. 

“That’s not true, Kacchan!” Deku hissed. “I’m the reason All Might retired. You’re amazing! You’re so strong and you stayed strong when you were kidnapped, even when most people doubted you. Sure, we had our struggles in middle school, but you’re still important to me and I admire you. The only reason I’ve been able to use this quirk is because I’ve been watching you grow all these years.”

Katsuki looked up at them then, and they were both horrified to find him crying. “If I’d been stronger—or if I’d listened to that cat lady and retreated earlier, All Might would still have his power.”

“No. No no no no no no no.” Deku muttered, scrambling for his phone on the bedside table. “Hold on for a second, but please stop crying Kacchan.” He pleaded. He fired off a quick text, looking unbelievably nervous. He already operated at a baseline anxiety of 60%, so now it looked like he was going to vibrate out of his skin. “Okay.” He said, looking back at them. “If I tell you this, it has to stay completely secret. Promise me.”

Katsuki sniffed and Sana nodded. “I promise.” She said. 

“Whatever. Fine.” Katsuki muttered, wiping at his eyes. Izuku braced himself, anxiety palpably rising with every second. “Just spit it out, nerd!” Katsuki barked, intimidation undermined by the wavering note in his voice. 

“All Might was always going to lose his power.” Izuku began. “He was badly injured five years ago, and his control over his power has been fading since then. He came to UA to find a successor.” He told them. Sana gaped at him.

“How the hell do you know that?” She demanded. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Katsuki spat. “All Might chose him. After the sludge villain, right? That’s when you two met.”

Deku looked at him in surprise. “Uh…yeah. The Sludge Villain attacked me first, and All Might saved me. He told me that I couldn’t be a hero without a quirk. But then the sludge villain got free and attacked you, and I happened to pass by. I was ready to give up, but as soon as I saw you, I had to help. It wasn’t a choice, it was an instinct. After you yelled at me, All Might caught up with me. He trained me for ten months, and on the morning of the entrance exam, he gave me his quirk.”

Sana’s jaw dropped, eyes glazing. Katsuki, however, looked barely phased. “I figured it was something like that. After Kamino Ward—All Might’s message…”

“Yeah.” Izuku nodded. “That was for me.” Tears pricked at his eyes. “He was telling me that his time as the symbol of peace was over. That it was my turn.” He looked down at his hands. “If anything, it’s my fault that he lost his power. Just like it’s my fault that you got kidnapped.”

“Come on, what the fuck?” Sana groaned.

“What the hell are you talkin about, Deku?”

“If I’d gotten to you sooner—if I hadn’t broken my arms, if I’d been able to reach you before Kurogiri—“

“I told you not to follow me! I told you to stay back. You know why I’ve been so pissed at you Deku? It’s cause you’re fuckin stupid. You keep getting yourself into shitty situations that you can’t handle. It wouldn’t have made anything better if we’d both died.”

“Kacchan—“

“No. Fuck no. I said we’d talk about it later, but it’s not like Sana doesn’t know what’s been going on. I didn’t want you hanging around me because you kept getting hurt and it drove me fuckin nuts. Sure you don’t need a quirk to be a hero, but you need to fuckin train or something! You were this skinny little nerd and you kept picking fights that you weren’t able to finish!”

“That’s bullshit, Kacchan!” Izuku snapped back. “Even after I got a quirk, you were being an asshole!”

“Yeah, because even though you had a quirk, you still treated your body like garbage and didn’t show any fucking restraint! If you know your bones break every time you use your quirk, you don’t break them twice to win a fucking festival game.” He snarled. “And you kept it from me!”

“I kept it a secret because you were being an asshole!”

“I was being an asshole because you kept breaking your fucking arms!”

“My body wasn’t strong enough to handle my quirk yet!” He argued. “I had to train and figure out how to use it! It’s not my fault the League of Villains kept showing up!”

“STOP!” Sana snapped. “Okay, this is conversation is set up to go in a really aggravating circle. Katsuki, you were worried about Zuku because he was quirkless and reckless, Then you were worried about him because even though he had a quirk, his body wasn’t prepared for it and it kept on hurting him. Despite that, he was still reckless. Gotta say, I’m not too thrilled about that either. I almost puked when I watched your fight with Todoroki.” She pinned him with a glare. “Not to mention, until today he thought you’d chosen to keep your quirk from him for years and just let him panic whenever you did something nuts.”

Izuku gaped. “I wouldn’t do that!”

“Well I know that now!”

“Shut it!” She growled. “Deku, you may not have totally given up on him, but you let yourself get intimidated by him, so you started hiding shit from him. He was trying to give you tough love but he went overboard because he was frustrated, and he didn’t explain his point of view. You didn’t really stop consider why he started losing his shit, and just assumed it was because you were quirkless. You let your toxic masculinity force a five-year miscommunication. Now your relationship is a goddamn dumpster fire and the two of you are fucking messes. You should both be in therapy for multiple reasons. I can’t believe you two are still so dense that you need a fucking translator to get along, but fuck it! I’m here now, and I’m done with this bullshit. I hope you’re happy. I’m going to be your interpersonal fire extinguisher and emotional housekeeper until you two dumb-shits can take care of it yourselves.”

Both Izuku and Katsuki were darting their glances between her and each other, growing steadily redder as she ranted. “You can’t just magically fucking turn Deku and me into magical fucking unicorns who fart fucking rainbows.” Katsuki snapped. Despite himself, Izuku snorted. 

“Of course I can’t. But you two can stop being such gigantic tools and start talking to each other again. And when you can’t get it right, I’ll just…translate for you.” She nearly hit them both when they both offered her skeptical expressions. “Listen, fuckfaces. Our dreams and goals match because we designed them that way. We’re supposed to be a team. I’m not stopping until we’re a team again. So are you going to try? Or am I going to have to drag you both kicking and screaming?” She leveled them with a hard glare. 

After many awkward glances and false starts, Izuku spoke first. “You still want to be a team?”

She scoffed. “I wanted us to be a team even when you were quirkless. Sure, you’d have taken a different role, but at least we’d be together.”

“Fuckin’ psycho. Clearly All Might’s grooming him to be a strong solo hero.” 

“Right, and that’s gone so well for society. Now villains are organizing and we’re in deep shit for depending on him so much. Besides, are you really gonna let this self-sacrificial idiot fight by himself? Because let me tell you, if we’re not an official team, I’m just gonna show up wherever he goes to make sure he doesn’t do something stupid.” Katsuki snorted at that. “I’d rather be a team though. A strong hero team, all three of us symbols in our own right. Hope, Strength, and Victory—Stronghold, Aftershock, and Ground Zero.”

“It’s Last Stand, you motherfucker!” Katsuki barked, leaping to his feet.

“Who’s Last Stand?” Deku asked, a little dazed and confused, and therefore a little slow. 

“No one. Your hero name is Stronghold. Kacchan is being overruled.”

“My hero name is Deku.”

“Not anymore. Keep up.” She replied, snapping her fingers for emphasis. “Look you were worried about a theme, right?” She asked Katsuki. “That’s why you wanted Last Stand?”

“That’s what I fuckin said, isn’t it?”

“So the name I chose fits a theme? Not the conceptual names and syllable matching—it’s the metaphor! Zuku’s the bunker, you’re the bomb, I’m the post-explosion shockwave. Stronghold, Ground Zero, and Aftershock! I put a lot of thought into this!”

Katsuki scowled at her mulishly. “Don’t I get a say?” Izuku asked hesitantly. 

“If you go with Deku, Kacchan’s going with King Explosion Murder. So, no. We choose each other’s names. You and Kacchan chose mine, you and I chose his. Now we get to choose yours.”

“Neither of us agreed to be a team, dumbass. Let him choose whatever shitty name he wants.” Katsuki growled, throwing himself back into his chair. “Eat your fucking curry, Deku. We risked our fucking infirmary privileges to get that in here.”

Deku had slipped into overthinking mode, and so he dociley began eating on autopilot. He wasn’t so tuned out that he didn’t notice the conversation awkwardly picking back up. He even chimed in every now and then, but his gears were turning and they were churning new information into new conclusions at a dizzying pace.

Sana had transferred to UA, and had forced Kacchan to actually talk to him within ten hours of her first class. Kacchan wasn’t mad because of pride or ego damage, or even because he didn’t want to be near someone who was quirkless. He was mad because he was worried and was bad at expressing himself. Kacchan wanted him to be more careful. To take more precaution—both when he was quirkless and now that he had One For All. And, knowing how hard Kacchan had worked to gain control of his quirk, it had probably driven him crazy to see him acting so recklessly and expecting to catch up quickly. Kacchan had thought of a hero name for him. That meant that Kacchan believed in him. Izuku had thought that Kacchan hadn’t even wanted him to try. He thought that Kacchan believed he was useless without a quirk. Hell, he’d believed it, so why wouldn’t someone as amazing as Kacchan?

A knock came at the door. 

“Young Midoriya?" 

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BnHA 84 - 86 | Uchitama 9 - 12 (FINAL) | Eizouken 10 - 12 (FINAL) | Magia Record 8 - 13 (FINAL) | ID: INVADED 12 - 13 (FINAL) | ACCA OVA

BnHA 84

Ey? So Gentle is basically Luffy, only he can do stuff with air too.

“Tokoyami, it’s in lesson 3.”

Eizouken 10

LOL, you can see a name similar to “Rachel Enyoung Choi” in one of the credit lists. Update: Euyoung Choi is credited on one of the other folders.

“Kanamoney” is catching on, I see.

“Well, dough.” - Sarasoju, where soju is some alcoholic Korean beverage.

The back of the clock reminds me of that Skipper and Skeeto game I used to play.

Did Kanamori get a fringe cut…?

You can see the symbol for Eizouken on the (imaginary…?) warehouse.

Uchitama 9

The video got encoded funny again…

I‘ve heard of AIBOs before. They’re robotic dogs, although with newfangled drones, Google Nests and stuff, they went out of fashion years ago.

Aibou (with kanji) means “partner”, come to think of it...

While everyone else is talking in the foreground, I’m staring at Beh in the background…

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen Kuro and Nora interact all that much.

Natsuki Hanae as Leo, huh?

Uchitama 10

Second-last episode!

Neko (cat) -> Koma -> ari (ant)…isu (chair) -> suika (watermelon) -> tamago (egg, or sometimes it sounds like tabako/tabacco to me) -> ??? -> koi (carp) -> ???? “Kooten” seems to be a nonsense word.

The video got encoded funny again…

…and that’s twice now…

LOL, this is based on Millionaire.

…thrice…

The original quote is (something like), “It is said that heaven does not create one man above or below another man.” (Yukichi Fukuzawa)

The answer was C, obviously.

…4 times.

Bull does his best Thinker impression.

Oh my gosh, they’re bringing that joke back…? (LOL) Update: The portal joke.

“chunk of meat” – Uh…what?

Holy s***! It’s Bull’s dad! Bull time travelled!

Magia Record 8

I like how the anime introduced Gomakashi, then had the proper OP.

Chuo Ward (Chuoku)? In Hypnosis Mic, that’s a sign Ayappe is definitely a girl…but this ain’t HypMic, so no worries!

The greeting is “Kamihama” because it sounds kind of like konbanwa and the host is Mr Hammer because that sounds like the back half of Kamihama, I guess.

Magia Record seems more overt about its lesbian undertones, I see.

I noticed a piano on a poster in the back. Wonder what that means…?

Just reading translations of radio transcripts like this makes me think of the HypMic radio show. I’ve been using that (and all of HypMic, to be honest) to cope in these tough (COVID-19) times, which is why I’m mentioning it a lot.

Mami!

Eizouken 11

So this is how they met, huh? I never knew Kanamori could have such little faith in people, considering how she is now.

ID:INVADED 12

What I don’t get is Hayaseura’s motive…

Uraido…”from behind”? I need kanji to figure this one out…

Whose well is this Bliss background, ayway…?

Momoki and Matsuoka pass a sign saying 大井南 (Minamioi), which is in Shinagawa.

Why does Momoki need drugs…? To subdue Asukai…?

Oh no. Inami is going to have a vendetta after her man was killed!

According to Ramuda, the optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole…I think’s that’s important for that moment.

…Welp, when a hole in the brain doesn’t kill you, a shot to the stomach does.

In this time of COVID-19, I think talking about people coming back to life is inappropriate…

Post-credits segment!

Uchitama 11 (FINAL)

According to Ramuda, the optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole…

“Tullip” (sic).

Oh, so instead of “Tama” it said “tanu___”, so the kids assumed it said “tanuki”.

Ooh, cat meeting. This should match the dog meeting from earlir in the season. Plus Nora’s face on the title card.

The video got encoded funny again…

“I’m busy right now.” – Nora, sleeping – Yup, that’s my mood. In fact, I was woken up by a call this morning…

I still think the Momo x Bull ship is stupid…

Nora can talk to crows…?

BnHA 85

…huh? What’s up with Bibimi?

Oh, in La Brava’s room there’s a graduation album. No one translated that.

Seriously, Deku’s gotten kinda creepy these days…

Tobita = essentially “to fly” + “field”. Makes sense when the Quirk is elasticity.

“It’s dangerous to go alone!” – I want to reply with “Take this!”…LOL.

This bouncing around thing was basically done by Sonic in OPM.

Update:  Turns out the kanji for elasticity is read dansei, which is th same rading for the characters for a man (but with characters meaning “male gender” instead and the last kanji being shared betwe the two). That’s why Danjuro is Gentle Criminal.    

BnHA 85

I noticed some of the decorations around the school look like heroes we’ve seen – there’s a Midnight one and a Thirteen balloon.

Why is the crowd chanting for YaoMomo…?

It’s in English, huh?

End of credits segment! Keep watching!

“Guys like you who say there are no do-overs in life…”

Hawks! This is the first time I see him outside spoilers!

ID:INVADED 13 (FINAL)

Was gonna finish this the day I got it, but I got access (limited to 1 week)…to Akira, which is a movie I’ve never seen before.

The sharks are a nice touch…(LOL…?)

Welp, John Walker has his hat back now.

Uraido…Hayaseura. Of course, how the heck did I not make the connection?!

The video got encoded funny again…

…wow, after learning a thing or two about CPR, this part actually makes sense to me now…Amazing. (Also, I learnt about comminuted fractures from Double Decker.)

COVID-19 is entering these notes too…because if you cut yourself off from society, you won’t know about pandemics…

Why do I get the feeling Kiki’s gonna kill herself…?

She…almost did it. (Wow, I should try predict things more often.)

That pool…is basically the one from Minority Report!

Wow, that just did an Eva…

Why did they choose such a lively ending song…? Anyways, that wrapped up really well (no pun intended!). See you next time!  

Magia Record 9

The tower appars to be modelled more after Tsutenkaku rather than Tokyo Tower.

For some reason, the subbers like to capitalise “Magical Girl”.

One of the speech bubbles in the back says koneko no gorogoro, or “the cat’s laziness”.

“Stand alone!” This is probably some kind of wordplay on the Solitude (Hitoribocchi no Saihate), since “alone” is hitori de.

Interestingly, the word for “delete” here is keshite (literal meaning: “to erase”).

The sign that passes Sana by while she’s on the boat says “Futaba” on it.

The blue letterboxing is an interesting effect.

“Sorpredente” = surprising.

Eizouken 12 (FINAL)

“They have their own business to run.”

I’ll miss this OP song when it’s gone…*sigh*

LOL, the contrast between Asakusa’s imagination and reality is huge and that’s what makes Eizouken so fun.

“I’m here to deliver the promised data,” Kanamori says (which I think is a more literal translation, ut works better).

It’s unfortunate Comiket 98 was cancelled…

Hey, why didn’t Anime vs. Real Life cover Eizouken?! That would’ve been so good!

I noticed one of the viewers had a “No Disc” pop-up of some sort. Also, the moving logo exists now, too (LOL).

I like how 1 of the UFOs hits the windshield.

The arrows really bring your attention to what’s the same in the split screens.

Magia Record 10

The Mifuyu in the previous episodes was either a flashback or a fantasy, right?

Mami is wearing a Wings of Magius badge…!

On the titlecard, there’s what seems to be a radio tower with a small lightning bolt above it.

BnHA 86

Hey, Tsu has a sister..?

Ah,so this is Mirko! I’ve heard of her too!

Is it just me, or does Endeavour hav CGI on him…?

Hawks reminds me of Fubuki from OPM…

Wow, even Endeavour’s trying to be funny…the world really is different now. (This humour has a terrible success rate with me, though.)

There seem to be holes in Hawks’ jackt for his wings.

So basically, Hawks is being the Iori to Endeavour’s Riku (but without too much of the homoerotic overtones that come from being close in age, since Endeavour is 46 – 7 and Hawks is 22), so to speak.

Oh! That punch is based on All Might’s! Same framing and everything!

Hajimari no doesn’t suggest a pronoun, so they must have chosen that based on the manga or the production company or something.

Magia Record 11

Shaft headtilt!

This Witch…apparently it appears early on in the OG series according to This Week in Anime. It does give off that vibe.

…wow, that fight was fast.

The video got encoded funny again…

Why are all the magical girls Naruto running???  

Hachibey = Kyubey (where kyu = 9), but for 8.

ACCA OVA

Who’s this-oh, never mind.

I don’t remember the OST being so…cool.

Jumo, where ju = tree I guss.

Nino! Who’s the blonde though? I forget…

Jumo for Jumoku…right. I forgot.

Shinro, literally “path of advancement”. I’ve grown a lot since I last watched ACCA, but I only feel I’ve gotten dumber since then…to be honest.

I like how the flashback is saturated in blue…actually, that reminds me of Given, now that I think of it.

Where’s Grossular? I liked him the best because he’s basically older!Kyosuke Kuga. Update: Spoke too soon.

Now that I’ve learnt keigo between the OG and now, I can understand more of what Mauve says.

Magia Record 12

(no notes, sorry!)

Magia Record 13 (FINAL)

Is it just me, or can I see a feather-like object floating down the screen…? (Or is that static?)

You can see one of the hooded Wings (on Touka’s left) has dark blue hair – roughly Sayaka’s shade.

Ooh, Mami and Sayaka fight! (I’ve never been one for catfights, but this is certainly a match-up I want to see!)

Mami’s fate really sucks, huh? Her head came off in the OG and now she’s a tool for the Magius…

Yachiyo does look a lot like Togo from Yuki Yuna, doesn’t she…?

Anyways, this is all for now. There’s an s2 on the horizon, but COVID-19 means it could be years down the line…see you when s2 arrives.

[rogertaylors-lipgloss]

Runaway- Brian May x Reader Chapter One

 I had to rework my tumblr around so that I could make this a primary blog. So, I’m having to repost all of my smut. Enjoy. 

Slow burn. Smut coming soon. 

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: None. Yet. 

------

You grasped the armrest tighter as the plane began its descent. You’d always hated planes, one of your many fears. When the plane finally landed, you shrugged your backpack over your shoulder and followed the other passengers off the plane. After you’d made it through customs, you looked down on your passport, taking in the new stamp on its clean page. Its first stamp.

The brisk air surprised you as you stepped out of the airport for the first time. You walked down the street, but the wind was becoming too much. You had known the climate in London wouldn’t be the same as back home, but you weren’t fully prepared for this. Setting down your luggage, you buttoned up your old denim jacket, pulling the sherpa-lined collar up to protect your neck. You could hear a nearby group of boys arguing, when you suddenly felt someone fall into you, knocking you into the street. A driver laid on their horn, and before you could move out of their way, an arm reached around your waist and pulled you to your feet. The driver sped over where your body had just been, where one of your bags still was, cursing at you as he ran over it.

“Oh no!” You cried, rushing to examine the damage. You unlocked the suitcase, only to find your entire record collection broken. Your hands brushed over the shards, looking over what had been

“I’m so sorry, it was an accident. If my friend hadn’t have shoved me, I-“ You looked up to find the source of the voice and were met with the kindest eyes you’d ever seen. “I’m so terribly sorry, love.” Glancing at your records, he said, reassuringly, “I will replace every one of those, and then some.”

He reached down to help you stand back up, but you were perfectly capable of doing it on your own. Swallowing back tears, you forced a smile. “It’s not your fault. Are those your friends?” you said, nodding towards the boys behind him, still fighting.

He chuckled, “Yeah, suppose so. In a bit of tiff right now, actually. They aren’t typically quite so rude.” His brow furrowed. “You’re not from around here, are you? You’re voice…” He trailed off, trying to place your accent.

You blushed deeply, picking up your bags once more. “What gave it away?” You asked, giving your suitcase a little shake. He laughed, shaking his head, covered in an enormous amount of curls. “I’m from the states, touched down barely an hour ago. My first trip out of the country, actually.”  

“Well, allow me to be the first to welcome you to our little island.” He bowed dramatically, smiling at you as you laughed at the gesture. “My name’s Brian. Brian May.”

He reached out his hand, and you shook it. “I’m Y/N L/N.”

“What a lovely name for a perfectly lovely woman. Say, Y/N, where are you staying? I want to make sure I make good on replacing those records.”

You looked down at your feet. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead, really. I’ve been so focused on getting here I guess I forgot the most important part.” The look on your face told him there was a story there, but before he could press any further his mates had finished their argument and were now walking towards you

“Who is this?” one of them asked, his blue eyes twinkling devilishly as he ran a hand through his blonde, shaggy hair.

Brian’s face darkened. “Someone who could have been dead or seriously injured right now because of your reckless stupidity,” he spat.

“Oi mate, you were the one that fell into her, not me.”

Another of his friends chimed in, “You were the one that pushed him, you complete and utter arse.” You looked over at him, quietly assessing his long, dark hair, and unique facial features. “I apologize, darling. Bit of a band quarrel. My name is Freddie.”

“Y/N.” You replied, holding out your hand, but instead of shaking it, he grabbed it and twirled you around.

“Y/N,” he repeated. “Well, Y/N, I think you look absolutely ravishing for someone who just left a plane.” You blushed at his words, looking down at your ensemble. You had dressed casually, a striped top tucked into a pair of blue denim bell bottoms, clogs, and a denim jacket you’d had forever.

“I don’t know about that,” you replied sheepishly, but he just chuckled.

“That blonde dunce undressing you with his eyes is Roger,” Freddie said, smacking the blonde in the back of the head. “And this plain little thing is Deacy.” A smaller man stepped around Freddie, his long, light brown hair framing his sweet face.

“John,” he said, shaking your hand. “John Deacon. And it appears you’ve already met Brian. Sorry about that.”

Brian cleared his throat, commanding your attention once again. “These are m’ bandmates. Roger plays the drums, Deacy plays bass, Freddie sings and plays the piano, and I play the guitar.” He looked around at his friends. “Y/N was just telling me that she doesn’t have a place to stay. She’s from the states.”

Roger raised his eyebrows, and flashed a flirtatious smile. “Well, Y/N, I might be willing to share my bed with y-“ Brian cut him off with a sharp glare, and Freddie rolled his eyes. You lowered your eyes away from the cocky drummer. This was definitely not how you had anticipated your first day in London going.

“Roger,” both Brian and John hissed.

“What? You said she didn’t have anywhere to stay, I was just trying to help a girl out.”

He smiled at you again, but you ignored him as you were too busy studying Brian’s face. He noticed you staring and the corners of his mouth twitched up in small smile. You were so beautiful, he thought, and he would be damned if Roger was going to scare you away. Your face warmed under Brian’s gaze, and you struggled to regain your composure as you said, “I’m sure I could find a hotel or something, I’ll be alright.” You started to grab your things, but Freddie shook his head.

“Absolutely not, darling. We’ve destroyed your property and given you a terrible first impression of jolly old England. Let us make it up to you.” You were unsure of going out with a group of strangers, but something about them made you feel safe, calm.

You looked over at the tall, curly-haired stranger who had saved you. “Please, Y/N,” he said, his hazel eyes meeting your gaze. His expression melted away your reservations, and you smiled and nodded. “Alright, then, “ you said.

“Excellent!” Freddie exclaimed, clasping his hands together. John shot you an apologetic grin, one that hinted that you were in for quite the night.

Roger and Brian both reached for your bags at the same time, glaring at each other as they each claimed a bag. You weren’t used to this kind of attention, but it felt nice. The boys had loaded your things up into their car, and climbed in after you as you slipped across the back seat. Brian sat in the middle, right next to you, and Roger on his other side, determined not to be left out. Once Freddie had taken his place in the passenger seat, John cranked the car and you were off. You panicked at first, forgetting that Brits drove on the opposite side of the road as Americans, and the boys laughed as you covered your eyes with your hand. Brian placed his hand over your free hand in an attempt to comfort you. “Eh, I hope that’s alright,” he whispered in your ear. From any other man, you would have taken your hand away and chastised the forward gesture, but you were beginning to see that Brian was not any other man. “It is.” You whispered back.

Roger frowned at your hands intertwined together. He had never had to compete with Brian of all people for a woman’s attention and he was beginning to feel jealous. He hadn’t meant to push Brian into you, and you literally into his arms. “So,” you said, your smooth voice snapping Roger back to attention. “What were you guys even arguing about?”

“Oh the usual, darling. Roger’s just bitter because he can’t get his shit writing together and we decided to go with different lyrics. We’re working on an album, love.”

You nodded. “What’s the name of your band?”

Freddie spun around in the passenger seat, grinning ear-to-ear. “Queen,” they said, in unison. “We’re still relatively new,” Freddie said. “Brian and Roger used to be in another band, Smile. But now we’re all together and one big, happy family!” You loved Freddie’s energy and it was contagious.

John pulled over in front of a townhouse, and all of the boys piled out. Roger was first out, so he beat Brian to holding the door open. The beautiful blonde reached his hand into the car and helped you out. Brian rolled his eyes as he and John unloaded your luggage. You raised an eyebrow. “Is this a hotel?” You asked cautiously. John and Freddie exchanged looks. “Not exactly,” said John. Freddie wrapped an arm around your shoulders and explained, “You are going to stay with me, love. At least until you find your way in London.” Before you could protest, Freddie put up a hand. “Now, I know we’ve just met, but you seem so lost and hopeless that I just can’t let you go on your own. I promise, there will be no funny business. Not from me at least, I can’t say the same for any of those three.” He waved his hand towards John, Brian, and Roger. “My girlfriend, Mary lives here too.” You were wary, but the look on his face seemed so earnest, and you couldn’t remember the last time someone actually cared about you. You thought it was strange, but you accepted it and followed them inside and up the stairs.

Hearing the familiar thundering of the boys footsteps on the stairs, Mary opened the door to the flat in anticipation. She smiled as she saw the four of them, but was surprised to see a new face. “Another stray, Freddie?” she asked, him kissing her cheek in response before dramatically falling into the sofa. “Hello, I’m Mary Austin, welcome to our humble abode.”

“Y/N, it’s nice to meet you. I’m so sorry to intrude, but Freddie insisted.” She recognized your accent. “I’m from the U.S., just landed not too long ago.”

She wrapped you in a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you, Y/N. I hope the boys haven’t given you too much trouble, I know they can be a handful.”

“Roger almost killed her,” Brian said, regaling Mary with the details of your meeting. She could tell by the way Brian looked at you that he was smitten.

“It was an accident, really,” said Roger as he pulled you down onto the couch next to him. “I promise love, I would never intentionally hurt someone that looks like you.” He put his hand on your thigh and you felt a bit uncomfortable. He was handsome, that was for sure, but his words felt cheap and overused.

“I’m sure that’s what you tell every girl whose life you’ve put at risk.” Brian snorted at your response, and Freddie and John laughed while Roger pretended to adjust his shirt.

“She’s got a sharp wit for an American, eh?” Mary said. She was glad to finally have someone else around who could put Roger in his place. “Anyway, I’ve made dinner for you ungrateful lot. Brian, don’t worry. I’ve made a meatless lasagna.” The other boys groaned while Brian looked delighted.

“You don’t eat meat?” You asked, looking over at him.

“Yeah, no. I just never fancied it much, and I don’t like how companies treat the animals.” You agreed, though you didn’t know if you could ever give up on a good old-fashioned American cheeseburger. Mary pulled the lasagna out of the oven and set it on the nearby table. The boys all got up and went over to the table, taking their seats. Roger tried to leave a seat for you next to him, but John sat in it before you could make your way over. You didn’t seem him wink at Brian, who pulled a chair out for you before taking the seat next to you.

So, Y/N. Tell us a bit about yourself.” Brian said eagerly. Roger, unknowingly being a dick, asked “Yeah, how does a girl like you end up halfway across the world with no place to stay and no plan.” You’re face burned and Brian kicked him under the table.

But before Brian had the chance to tell him to bugger off, you felt yourself blurt out the answer. “I ran away,” you explained.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were under eighte-“ You shook your head, cutting Roger off.

“Not like that, but I would really like to talk about something else. Anything else.”

The boys and Mary gave you a concerned look, but decided to let it go. You would tell them when you were ready. Brian dropped his hand beneath the table and let his fingers graze yours. You surprised him by interlocking your hands, and he began rubbing circles on the back of your hand. Freddie had taken over the conversation at this point, and you devoured your food while the they talked, all the while never letting go of Brian’s hand.

After everyone had finished eating, you helped Mary clear plates in the kitchen. “You know, I think Brian is quite taken with you,” she said, slyly.

You startled. “I’ve only just met him, he doesn’t know anything about me nor I him.”

Chuckling, Mary said, “that doesn’t really matter, does it? I knew the moment I saw Freddie that there was something about him that I just had to be closer to. Besides, I saw you too holding hands under the table.” You blushed so hard. You noticed Brian staring at you from the living room and you hoped he was out of earshot.

Before you could reply to her, Brian stood up and walked into the kitchen. Smiling to herself, Mary stepped out to give you privacy. “Hey, Y/N.” You looked up at him. He was so incredibly tall and you so short that you had no choice but to look up. “I was thinking of going for a short walk, get some air. Would you like to join me?”

“Yes.”

Thankfully the boys were too distracted to notice you and Brian slip out. Once outside, Brian let out a sigh. “I, uh, want to apologize for Roger. He can be a bit forward sometimes, a bit pushy really.”

“It’s okay,” you said, shoving your cold hands into the pockets of your jacket. “I know I haven’t been forthcoming, it’s just a lot to take in. I just met you guys, I don’t want to scare you all away just yet. I will say, it’s been awhile since anyone’s made me feel this welcome.”

Brian tentatively put an arm around your shoulder as you walked down the sidewalk side-by-side. “Well, I’m glad you feel that way.”

“So, where are we going?” you asked, enjoying the little bit of extra warmth his arm provided. It was April, meaning back home the weather was warm and humid. But in London, the temperature was cold and the windchill was almost too much for you.

“I didn’t really have a plan, just wanted to get out and enjoy the stars.” He looked up to the heavens. Something about the night sky felt like home to Brian, and he wished he could reach up and touch it.

“The stars?” You asked.

“Yeah. I’ve studied astrophysics, but I put my Ph.D. on hold for Queen. I hope to finish it one day. I’ve always been more interested in the universe than in rock n’ roll.”

“Wow. That’s way more intense than my studies, I feel a little insignificant now,” you laughed.

“I hardly doubt you could ever be insignificant,” Brian said with multi-faceted meaning. “What is it you’ve studied?”

“Political science and history, though I narrowed it down to just history for my masters degree.”

He was impressed. It wasn’t often he met a girl with such an academic background. “See? Definitely not insignificant. History has everything to do with everything. What was your favorite subject?”

“Well, I’ve always been a fanatic of English history, but I went to a small university and there wasn’t much offered along those lines. I ended up studying early America, the revolution and stuff like that, you know? That’s part of why I am here. American history has nowhere near the depth that English history does. I want to get back to what made me love history in the first place.”

The two of you kept walking, discussing everything from his band to details about your family. “Do you like animals?” He asked.

“Do I like animals?” You repeated, then let out a laugh. “I love animals. Probably too much. Especially my dog, Pepper. She’s a cocker spaniel, although I think ours in America look a bit different than yours.”

Brian beamed. “I absolutely adore all animals. Dogs are quite funny little creatures, always enjoyed them.”

“I wish I could have brought her, I think you would have loved her. It would have been to much for her though.”

You felt a chill run down your spine. Shivering, you asked, “Is spring always this cold here?” You move a bit closer to him, and he drew his arm tighter around your shoulders.

“Unfortunately,” he said. “D’you want to turn back?”

You were almost freezing at this point, but you were enjoying Brian’s company so much that you were willing to tolerate the blistering wind. There were so many feelings mixing inside of you. Brian made you feel relaxed and you loved the way he talked about his passions. It felt as if you had known him his whole life, rather than just a few hours. “No.” You stopped walking and Brian held his breath. Standing on the very tips of your toes, you reach your hand up to touch his cheek and Brian places his atop yours.

He looked into your eyes, searching for permission and found it. As he leaned in to kiss you, your lips met his halfway and you were instantly overwhelmed by how tender and soft his lips were. Brian felt as if your lips were made for his. He decided to let you take the lead, not wanting to do anything you weren’t comfortable with. You reached up and laced your fingers into his dark curls and guided him into a nearby by alley, allowing him to push you against the wall. Thankfully it was too late for many people to be out, and the two of you went unnoticed. You breathed his name against his skin, inviting him to bury his face in your neck. Brian was overwhelmed by the sudden urgency he felt in his abdomen. He could feel himself hardening as you pressed your body closer and closer to his. “Not here,” he forced out, using every ounce of his willpower to choke the words out. “You deserve better than an alley. I want to make love to you in a proper bed.”

Catching your breathe, you said “Somehow I don’t think we could make it back to Freddie’s.”

Brian agreed. “My flat isn’t far from here.”

You gave him a devilish look. “So, your walk had an end-goal after all,” you purred. Brian flushed, embarrassed. “I would never assume-“

You cut him off with another kiss. “I was joking, Brian.” Relieved, he took your hand and you both practically ran the few blocks to his apartment. He was so nervous and his heart raced so quickly that he kept dropping the keys while he tried to open the door. As soon as the door gave way, Brian wrapped his arms around your waist and kicked the door shut. His place was small, that much you could make out between kisses. He quickly found the bed and spun so that you fell on top him. Straddling him, you pause to take in his features. His thick brown curls were in a disarray, strong cheekbones gathered in a smile, and his hazel eyes looked back at you. Brian reached up and gathered a bit of your Y/HC hair in his hand, running his fingers through the waves of your hair.

“I’ve never done anything like this before. I mean, I’m not a virgin, but I’ve never slept with someone I’ve just met.” Your admission made your stomach flutter with butterflies. “This, this is new for me.”

“We don’t have to, Y/N. I would never want to pressure you.”

You shook your head. “I want this Brian. I want you.”

“I want you too, Y/N.” That was the only signal he needed. He rolled on top of you and hovered above you, resting on his arms. “I want to take care of you.”

And that he did.  

[moononmyfloor]

Review: The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan

Thoughts on The Cover

Well, if you've seen my previous posts by now you'd know that I'm not a big fan of loud and action-packed covers. I prefer classy, if not always subtle. But you might like it! See, Reyna is owning the bigger portion of it, which is a nice change. :-)

Ok to Low Points

Halfway through the book, I was STILL unable to "get" into the story

Literally, not much was going on for 2/3 of the whole book, which is very surprising considering:

The time between the release dates of The Tyrant's Tomb and The Burning Maze is the longest as of yet. Whereas other books within a series have come out within twelve months of each other, these two books will be released within eighteen months of each other.

.....and that even the most boring books by Uncle Rick had some silver linings here and there to keep you engaged. Even The Dark Prophecy had the gang arrive and settle in Indianapolis, visit the zoo and free Griffins and REVISIT the emperor. Here? Apollo and Co. escorted Jason's hearse into Camp Jupiter in a frankly insulting manner(more about that later), Apollo got sick, we see that the noble prophecies are being tattooed on Tyson's back, Apollo and Co. went on a lil' trial quest and returned, Apollo got more sick.🤷‍♀️ I was so confused I opened the previous books to see how far those stories had progressed by midpoint.

It got slightly better later on, but it doesn't change the fact throughout the 1st half of the book I just kept on turning pages SIMPLY because I wanted it to get it on with and finish the story. Sad.

2. The so-called Tyrant

I didn't see much tyranny, like...only 3 pages were spent in the Tyrant's Tomb and his company, bad old Commodus and Caligula had more appearances than Tarquin who re-appeared in the very last chapters only to get immediately vanquished courtesy of Diana.....yeah. That's that.

3. How Jason's final voyage was depicted

Uncle Rick doesn't write emotional crying scenes well.

People talk about peeing and pop chewing gum bubbles while delivering the hearses of valued, honored characters.

And I seriously wonder in what position and condition poor Jason's body was after all the drama his coffin underwent.

And based on the spoilery lines(which sadly turned out to be not spoilers at all) we saw in the Magnus Chase series I thought we'd at least get a Percy-Annabeth cameo in this, that Jason will have more of his closest comrades mourning and sending him off. Nah. Nada. Not even a mention of Annabeth. Then why did Uncle Rick mention things like Annabeth and Percy being at California and even Magnus joining them at their time of crisis? Utter puzzlement. And we were also robbed of Nico's reaction to Jason's demise, considering how much Nico valued Jason as a brother-in-arms and a friend. Let's not even talk about Thalia. Why, Uncle Rick? :-(

Which brings us to...

4. Plot Inconsistencies

Why do I have to talk about this in each and every book? :-( Seriously, why would you write about Percy and Annabeth going to New Rome to attend college and being broken hearted over Jason DURING the period of Demigod communication malfunction, only to have us know they have YET to travel across the country and when we meet them again it would still be at New York? And now the communication is working, proving that Uncle Rick conveniently forgot about the clues he conveniently dropped.

AT LEAST I'm glad one thing is consistent in the Trials of Apollo series, that when Zeus decided they'll stop meddling too much in demigod affairs at the end of Heroes of Olympus, he meant it and now it's super duper hard to seek a god even for dire needs, no matter how wonderfully (ill)timed that decision was, costing lives of valued heroes.

5. The Haiku-titles weren't amusing at all this time.

I found one fun haiku .

O, blood moon rising

Take a rain check on doomsday

I’m stuck in traffic

6. The whole Apollo-Reyna debacle.

I would say Uncle Rick pulled a clever twist by turning fan theories on their heads here, but it too way more plot space than needed and when he got to the "Gotcha!" part, I was not feeling it. For YEARS now, we heard abut this no-mortal-no-demigod thing over and over, and fans predicted it might mean Apollo's the one for Reyna. And when it initially seemed like it was the route that Uncle Rick was indeed taking, the only thought that circulated inside my head was; "Reyna doesn't need this completely random and unwanted baggage! Give the girl a dam break!!" But then he was like; "Lol nooo. You kids are wrong", but STILL I was not happy...well, for obvious reasons.

What's the point of this whole plotline? So unnecessary. I mean, the fans always wondered WHY exactly would Reyna think she needs a partner in her life, but now I see Reyna might not have had time to contemplate her personal life logically like WE had what's with her dramatic life. Of course the shallow gods would think her heart was something to be "cured" and Reyna never stopped to think that it's quite the opposite till Apollo provided her with a breather and reason. And to answer why din't she choose to join Amazons instead of Hunters is probably that she wanted to be her own person and not be under her sis the Queen once again. She'd indeed have the freedom, calm and few friends so she wouldn't feel lonely and bored with the Hunt. She might even choose to leave Hunters after she found herself in her own time. I get it. But the way it was dragged and executed was meh.

If Uncle Rick intended this plotline of Reyna to be empowering for female readers, in my opinion it was not. Yes, even a badass girl could have weaknesses, not enough self-confidence and wobbly life choices, but Reyna took too much time with her "Eureka!" moment.

It was funny while it lasted, at least.

“Lester.” Reyna sighed. “What in Tartarus are you saying? I’m not in the mood for riddles.”

“That maybe I’m the answer,” I blurted. “To healing your heart. I could…you know, be your boyfriend. As Lester. If you wanted. You and me. You know, like…yeah.”

HAHAHAHA. That Totally came from the left field Lester, even for you.

“Your girlfriend was pregnant when you had her killed?” Reyna launched another kick at my face. I managed to dodge it, since I’d had a lot of practice cowering, but it hurt to know that this time she hadn’t been aiming at an incoming raven. Oh, no. She wanted to knock my teeth in.

“You suck,” Meg agreed.

I mean, if THIS is not the ultimate deal breaker then what is? Apollo might have changed for better by now, but it doesn't mean we can overlook what he did. I for one certainly don't need a loveline for him in this series. I'm glad Uncle Rick drew(or at least seemed to have) a clear line here.

High Points

It took half the page count even for Uncle Rick's special brand of snark to return. Nonetheless I managed to find some good ones. Which is what matters, right?

1.

“So,” I said, making a second attempt at nonchalance, “are you and Thalia, er…?”

Reyna raised an eyebrow. “Involved romantically?”

“Well, I just…I mean…Um…”

Oh, very smooth, Apollo. Have I mentioned I was once the god of poetry?

Reyna rolled her eyes. “If I had a denarius for every time I got that question…Aside from the fact that Thalia is in the Hunters, and thus sworn to celibacy…Why does a strong friendship always have to progress to romance?"

Preach, sister. But then again I would have to ask did YOU have to swear to celibacy to prove your independence....which is sort of the point🙄..

2.

Even when I was a god and could speak any language I wanted, I’d never sung well in Italian. I kept mixing it up with Latin, so I came off sounding like Julius Caesar with a head cold.

LOL

3.

It was time to be helpful. I needed to be repulsive for my friends!

Which you're most of the time...the latter sentence I mean.

4. Don't we all relate? 😂

“O protector of Rome!” I read aloud. “O insert name here!”

5. And one more.

I bet Gregorix was wishing he’d pursued that business degree his mom always wanted him to get. Being a barbarian bodyguard was mentally exhausting.

.

Heartrending quotes.

1.

This was the source of all our communications troubles—one sad, angry, forgotten little god.

2. This was the wisest quote I saw in the book. The simple indescribable deepness of letting go.

“Good-bye, Apollo,” said the Sibyl’s voice, clearer now. “I forgive you. Not because you deserve it. Not for your sake at all. But because I will not go into oblivion carrying hate when I can carry love.”

Even if I could’ve spoken, I wouldn’t have known what to say. I was in shock. Her tone asked for no reply, no apology. She didn’t need or want anything from me. It was almost as if I were the one being erased.

3. I was saddened to learn about Julia's untimely loss, but I'm sure everybody had a meltdown moment at the following scene.

The old god’s face hardened a bit more, which shouldn’t have been possible for stone. “I see. Well. I’ve concentrated the last bits of my power here, around Julia. They may destroy New Rome, but they will not harm this girl!”

“Or this statue!” said Julia.

4. Honestly? I too forgot until Apollo pointed it out and then I had *shivers*! They're one immediate family, grieving over one loss that affects all of them in various ways, and having mixed reactions about each others the members who survived!

I shivered. How easy it was to forget that this young woman was also my sister. And Jason was my brother. At one time, I would have discounted that connection. They’re just demigods, I would have said. Not really family.

Overall Conclusion

This is the most bored-outta-my-mind I felt after reading a PJO universe book. Am I finally growing out of the Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus fandom? Oh dear, I hope not. I can't imagine living without it and I'm SO not happy with this new development. Just as I feared, Uncle Rick couldn't keep it up after the excellent Burning Maze and now.....please, for your fans' sake who had been loyal for years, I hope at least the final book delivers. Just so we could at least part ways/go dormant with pleasant sentiments and a content heart.🙆‍♀️

[turtle-steverogers]

race is a flat earther and al wants to die

when i planned this fic this morning it was a lot more stupid and shit

but then this happened

so im sorry ig

warnings: none really. but angst kinda ig sorta

ship: ehhhhhh ralbert....

word count: 1030 how satisfying

His hand was wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, eyes trained on the road ahead of him, only flicking away every so often to check the rearview mirror.  It was nighttime, meaning it was easy to lose oneself in the daunting shadows of the streets, threatening to pull you under with its strength.  

Silence suffocated the atmosphere as it had often done in the past few months.  Lips stuck together, struggling to make conversation though it had once been easy.  Two hearts that had once been adjoined drifting apart by the second.  Was it a blessing or a curse?  A relief or a burden?  The answers were unclear, but they had a mutual understanding of the shared feeling.  Whatever they had was drawing to a close.  It was weirdly sickening.  Disheartening.  Feeling the grasp of something so strong slipping between their fingertips as their hands that once gripped the other’s so tight barely brushed at the edges.  It was like holding water in open hands.  

They drove in circles around their town, their stomachs full from dinner.  It was Valentine’s day and almost out of sheer obligation, and partly from literal desire, they’d decided upon a date night.  It had been a while since they had done something together, anyway.  

The night was going smoothly.  No petty arguments.  No fuck-ups or frayed ends fraying further.  It was almost like old times.  Almost.

They passed a road sign with a large, cheesy photo of the Earth on it, along with some stupid advertisement for water, and Race smiled sadly, brain wandering as a new memory invaded his mind.

“So, the Earth is flat.”

Albert groaned, letting his book drop to his lap as he scrubbed a hand over his face.

“You’re literally an astrophysics major,” Albert sighed, keeping his palms pressed over his eyes as he fought the impending headache that threatened his skull, “don’t come at me with this shit.”

“Oh come oooonnnn,” Race whined, “Think about it!  People all around the globe support this theory!”

Albert lifted his head, a bemused look etched on his face.  He opened and closed his mouth a few times before scrunching up his eyes and shaking his head.

Race bit back the urge to laugh, Albert’s reaction already better than he had imagined.

“Race, baby,” He sat up, guiding Race to sit down next to him and leaning forward to rub his temples, “I want you to say that last sentence again, but say it slowly.  People all around the globe support it?”

Race couldn’t help the spurt of giggles that passed his lips, his face sprouting into a giddy grin, “Sorry, babe, sorry,” he managed between laughs, noticing that Albert was watching him with an exasperatedly amused expression, “I just wanted to see your reaction.”

Albert studied him for a moment longer, then scoffed and picked his book back up, “You give me pain, love.”

Race situated himself so that he was tucked into Albert’s side and pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Yeah, but you love me, so…”

Albert’s gaze didn’t shift from his book, but his smile turned into something a little more genuine, “Yeah, I guess I do.”

The boys in the memory seemed to differ immensely from the boys who sat in the front seat of Race’s old RAV4 now.  They had been more carefree.  More open with each other.  Less scared to say something wrong.  But at the same time, more scared.  Less resilient to when his right to speak up was thwarted.  He had grown to be more guarded with himself.  To hold his ground better, despite how detrimental standing up for himself seemed to be.

They passed a train station and another memory resurfaced, the intimacy of that moment making it almost more painful.

Albert’s lips were soft against his, hands gripping his biceps as they kissed slowly.  It was well past midnight.  Long since the time when other pedestrians swarmed the area, looking to go home after a long day of work.  

They were alone, their solitude invigorating.

Albert lifted his hand, lacing his fingers into the back of Race’s hair and deepening their kiss.  They were close, warm, happy.  In love.

He wasn’t sure how long they had been there, listening to music and talking before losing themselves in each other, but it was amazing.  Every stupid, cheesy love movie made sense in that moment.  It was cliche, but real and raw and Race couldn’t be happier.

Albert pulled away and they broke apart completely, chests heaving and eyes glinting.  

Albert traced his fingers lovingly along Race’s jaw, placing another, softer kiss on his lips.  Race allowed his eyes to flutter shut again.

“My god, I’m in love with you,” Albert murmured, voice barely audible.

Race leaned his forehead against Albert’s, “I’m in love with you, too.”

Race swallowed, emotion rising in his throat.  He missed it.  He missed the long kisses and the strong embraces.  He missed them.  

The urge to reach out and take hold of Albert’s hand soon became too much to bear and he shifted his arm over the console.  He could see Albert’s look of surprise in his peripheral when he intertwined their fingers, but he stayed adamant and a moment later, he felt Albert squeeze back, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles.  Just like old times.

So why didn’t it feel like it?

He rounded the turn into Albert’s neighborhood, driving on mental autopilot to the house he’d driven to so many times.  He pulled up gradually, putting the car in park almost reluctantly.  Almost.

They sat in silence for a moment.

“Tonight was fun,” Race said, breaking the quiet.

Albert looked at him, smiling.  It didn’t look right.

“Yeah, it was really nice.”

His remark was genuine, but scripted.  

“I love you,” Race said, leaning forward to peck Albert on the lips, “Happy Valentine’s day.”

Albert reciprocated, but the warm feeling that once accompanied the motion was nonexistent, a weird pang of sadness taking its place.

“I love you, too,” Albert said, opening the car door, “Drive home safe.  Happy Valentine’s day.”

Race waved, watching as he walked to his front door.  They knew where they stood, but god did it hurt.

-

*hi wait this is me ten minutes after posting i edited it cuz i forgot to italicize memories lmao*

so happy valentine’s day lol

thanks for reading, chiefs

hmu to be added to my tag

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