#maybe her getting grabbed from behind is a nod to the dude who tried slitting her throat because he didnt realise shes an android?

[totallyseiso]

I was wrong when I said that AA-12 has the best damaged art.

I forgot how hard they went with the DEFY alt skins

[hajimine]

BETWEEN THE NOTES — SEMI EITA x GN!READER

synopsis: for as long as you can remember, you and Semi Eita have always hated each other—but a couple of tender glances and one too many bottles of beer later, you find out that maybe you were looking at it the wrong way this whole time.

genre: fluff, (kinda) enemies to lovers, musician!au, mutual pining but they’re both idiots, jealousy, etc.

warnings: alcohol + intoxication (nothing bad happens), slight suggestive themes, vulgar language, kinda fast paced?

wc: ~2.5k

to: @archivednikes happy birthday shawdy <3

special thanks to: @rintaroll for beta-ing & telling me a lil bit about how bands work and stuff bc idk shit lol :,)

“Semi, get your ass moving,” you huff. “You’re gonna make me late.”

He gives you a smug look and raises a slitted eyebrow. “Did something crawl up your ass and died? What’s up with you?”

You exhale heavily through your nose and stare at him, unimpressed.

“We gotta catch the afternoon train if you wanna reach the venue in time for our gig. This is a really good opportunity for me, don’t you dare mess it up.” you say, gathering the last of your things for the trip.

There is a tingling sensation crawling down your spine, as if someone is staring at you. You look over your shoulder curiously, opening your mouth to utter another snarky remark to get your partner to stop gawking around and get ready.

But the intensity behind his gaze caught you by surprise.

Those hazel eyes of his—ones that are usually sharp and cold—held a sort of softness in them as he looks at you. When you caught him staring, his gaze did not falter one bit.

You couldn’t stop your eyes from traveling down the perfect slope of his nose, continuing down to his pouty lips.

As much as you hate him, you can’t deny that Semi Eita is an attractive man. Heck, even the word attractive isn’t enough to express how infuriatingly hot he is.

Your gaze stays on his lips for a second too long. Have they always looked this soft and inviting?

The dry cough from the opposite side of the room is the only thing that managed to break you out of this trance. Semi Eita’s trance.

Your manager stands by the door, tapping her foot on the wooden tiles impatiently.

“Now, lovebirds,” she narrows her eyes, “Save the PDA for tonight, yeah? We’ve got a schedule to follow.”

You roll your eyes at her, cheeks uncomfortably warm. And just like that, the strange yet tender moment you shared with Semi dissipated into thin air.

。。。

You don’t know if you should take pity on the gray-haired singer or if you should laugh at him.

Currently, Semi’s head is bowed down in shame as he gets an earful from his manager in the middle of a crowded train.

You see, the four of you should’ve arrived at the venue by now. Both your managers are very strict about schedules, and they planned to arrive at the bar two hours before the agreed time.

Thankfully, his bandmates have been a little more punctual than him and have successfully boarded the 4pm train. But Mr. Popular right here just had to stop every few minutes to take pictures with every single fan he met on the way to the station.

“It’s half past five now,” his manager whisper-shouts, “Do you know what that means?”

Semi tries to give her an awkward smile to calm her down. It doesn’t work.

“It’s rush hour! What if we won’t reach the bar in time? It could ruin both your careers, do you know that?” she glares at Semi once again, but there is less bite in her voice now.

“I’m sorry,” Semi starts, plastering a charming smile on his face, “I only wanted to be nice to the fans. Wouldn’t make too good of an impression if I just ignored them, no?”

His manager sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, exasperated. She motions for Semi to stop talking with a wave of her hand.

The singer grins, and out of the corner of your eyes, you can sense his sharp gaze on you once more.

You try to ignore it.

。。。

When your group reaches the bar, Semi’s bandmates are almost done preparing themselves for the gig.

The bar is dimly lit and cool, the multitudes of warm overhead lighting being the only source of light in the room. It’s not too busy tonight, you observe. Some people still donned their work clothes, perhaps rushing over to the bar right after a long day at work—mingling around with friends to let loose for a little and enjoy themselves.

“Dude, where were you?” Aito asks, eyebrows turned downwards in a frown.

Semi pats the guitarist on the side of his head, “Relax, we’ve got plenty of time to prepare.”

Aito rolls his eyes, completely used to his bandmate’s antics.

“Whatever,” he huffs. “By the way, are we gonna have a little after party later?”

“Uh,” Semi’s eyes flicker towards you for one second, then back to Aito, “I dunno man, might be too tired to get wasted tonight.”

The guitarist narrows his eyes. He didn’t miss the way Semi’s gaze lingered on you.

“Y/N,” Aito smirks. “You coming to the after party?”

You were listening to their conversation this whole time, finding the whole exchange quite amusing.

“Eh, I don’t see why not,” you smile sweetly, “It’s gonna be even better now that this dude isn’t coming anyways.” You pointed your thumb at the vocalist.

From where he’s standing, you hear Semi scoff.

“Y’know what?” he sneers, “On second thought, I am going. How does that make you feel, huh?”

You shrug, feigning indifference.

“I literally do not care.”

“Piss off.”

Aito throws his head back in laughter, shaking his head as he walks away from the scene, muttering about people being too clueless and dense for their own damn good.

You adjusted your equipment bag on your shoulder, exhaling loudly to try and calm your heart down.

。。。

It is in moments like these that you remember why you decided to go forth with this career path, no matter how rocky it may be.

Adrenaline courses through your veins as you sing the lyrics of you and Semi’s song; every ounce of the jittery nerves you had just a few moments ago long gone.

There’s nobody else in this world that can ever take your place

Some of the customers are listening intently, others just nodding along to the song, and the rest not even listening at all.

You could hear your heartbeat thumping loudly against your chest, the sweat trickling down your forehead and into your eyes making it harder for you to see the crowd.

And when the day’s all done and dusted, all I ever need is to be in your arms again

You whip your head towards Semi, just like the countless times you rehearsed this song together.

“It shows chemistry,” your manager had said, “play it up for the crowd, will ya?”

The butterflies in your stomach flutters about restlessly when you notice that Semi has been looking at you this whole time.

His eyes—sharp and intense—held your gaze, unabashed. Steady. Sure.

Will you stay tonight? ‘Cause baby you’re all that I need, and you’re all that I want.

And in that moment, with your eyes locked on each other, the world seems to stop.

Nothing else matters, Semi’s lopsided smile says, only you.

。。。

The performance flew by in the blink of an eye, and it’s a little past midnight now. As promised, your managers held a little after party in the shared lounge of your penthouse suite.

It’s not as fancy as it sounds, you smile to yourself. There are suspicious stains on the gray carpet, and the furniture smells vaguely of cigarette smoke and sweat.

Bottles of beers have already littered the floor and glass table, and you haven’t even started drinking.

“Duuuude,” Yuuto slurs, “Why are ya so tense for?”

The bassist points at you and Semi, eyelids drooping as he tries his best to keep them open.

“C’mon guys,” Aito clasps his shoulders and massages them roughly, “Relax a little, we did amazing tonight.”

Semi shrugs his friend’s hands away, annoyed. He snatches an unopened bottle of beer from the cooler and opens the cap with his teeth.

You gulp. He hands you the bottle wordlessly before grabbing another one for himself, chugging it down quickly. You mirror his actions, hoping that the alcohol can dull the annoying fluttering in your stomach that refuses to leave ever since the two of you shared that intimate moment on stage.

For fuck’s sake, what’s going on with me?

Your trick works, in a way. Your stomach feels pleasantly warm now, and your breathing has finally evened out. Another unopened bottle of beer lays invitingly on the couch and you reach for it, opting for a bottle opener instead of doing it like Semi.

“Bro,” Yuuto grins at the singer, drool threatening to leave the corner of his mouth, “Did’ya see that blonde chick in the front row? She was hardcore eye-fucking you dude.”

“Ah,” Semi takes another swig of his beer, a cute flush blossoming in his cheeks.

Wait, what. Cute?

“She gave me her number when we were gathering up our stuff.” He runs his hand through his hair.

“You gonna hit her up or what?” Aito teases, smirking.

The singer shrugs, “Maybe, I dunno.”

Your breath hitches, and Aito’s smirk widens. You raise your eyebrows at him, silently telling him to fuck off.

“Where’s Kai?” you hear Semi ask. Come to think of it, you haven’t seen the drummer since after the show was over.

“Oh,” the guitarist laughs, “Fucker left us for some girl he saw in the bar. Might see him tomorrow morning, might not. Who knows?”

The vocalist hums and walks over to where you’re sitting, plopping down on the old couch.

“The managers?” Semi casually drapes his arm on the back of the sofa. You feel yourself tensing as your heart races uncontrollably, and the singer looks over at you with an unreadable expression on his face.

Aito scratches the back of his neck, quickly losing interest in the conversation.

“They decided to sleep in early. Long day, I guess.”

Semi nods and rests his head on the top of the couch, exposing his defined jawline. His eyelashes look so pretty from this angle, they’re long and fluttery and they almost…

Huh?

“Eita, are you gonna hit that blonde girl up or nah?” Aito provokes, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

You clench your teeth and reach for yet another bottle—your fourth one this past hour. Or fifth. You don’t bother counting. Semi looks over at you again, but this time his eyes holds a sort of concern in them. You scoff to yourself.

“Uh,” the singer looks at his friend weirdly, “Why are you so insistent on this? I did say maybe didn’t I?”

Aito laughs. You almost recoil in disgust.

“Oh nothing,” he chuckles, “It’s just that she’s really hot and she’s your type so—”

You stand up abruptly, knocking over some empty beer bottles by accident. The regret is immediate. You can feel the acid in your stomach traveling up your esophagus, tickling the back of your throat.

Semi quickly stands up when you clasp a hand over your mouth, trying your best to hold it together.

“Shit,” he mutters, “You okay?”

He rubs tiny circles on the small of your back, an action that’s supposed to be soothing but instead causes tingles to run up and down your spine. You shiver.

Another wave of nausea hits before you could respond, causing your knees to almost give out under you.

“Whoa there, angel,” Semi wraps his arm around your waist, holding you flush to his side to support your weight.

You groan softly as your head spins uncomfortably. Droplets of cold sweat is starting to form on your forehead, adding another layer of discomfort upon you.

“You wanna go to your bedroom?” Semi murmurs close to your ear. You shiver again. At this, Semi thought that you’re freezing so he drapes his leather jacket on your shoulders, holding you close.

You nod weakly as you try to blink the black spots in your vision away.

From somewhere around the room, you hear Aito snicker, “Stay safe!”

You turn your head around to give him a deathly glare, but all you see is a big blob of blurriness.

Dammit.

。。。

Semi takes the key card from your bag and pushes the door open, placing your duffel bag on the floor after

He guides you to the bathroom—with gentleness you rarely see from him—and sets the toilet cover down so you can sit on it while he wets a towel with the running tap water.

“You still feel dizzy?” he asks, voice soft.

You stare at his fingers as he wrings the towel and shakes your head.

Semi holds out the cloth and pats your forehead with it, the coolness allowing you to feel a little more refreshed.

“Do you want me to make you some tea?” he wipes the back of your neck carefully.

Shit. Has he always been this thoughtful?

You shake your head again, telling him that you just want to go to sleep.

He sighs and gives you a half-smile, holding out his arm to help you to the bed.

Semi still has it in him to give you a little but of privacy as you wiggle out of your tight jeans, looking away until you slip under the covers.

He helps you pull the plush white comforter closer to your chest, tucking you in.

Your mind doesn’t feel as hazy as it was a few hours ago, but the leftover alcohol coursing through your veins gave you a sort of boost to your impulses.

“Eita,” you whisper, reaching out towards the singer, “Stay?”

The singer halts in his steps and turns to look at you.

“Uh, I don’t know Y/N,” he starts, “You’re drunk right now.”

“No I’m not,” you say, steady voice proving your point. “Please?”

Semi glances over at the door and sighs. He chewed on his lower lip for a few seconds before sighing again.

“Okay.”

。。。

You’re struggling to open your eyes when you wake up, the harsh sunlight streaming into the room completely unfiltered.

Drunk you completely forgot to close the blinds, it seems.

You groan audibly, wanting to pull the covers above your head to hide yourself from this cruel world.

You freeze. Why can you feel someone’s soft breaths on the crown of your head?

Nervously, you reach out in front of you, eyes still shut closed. Oh no.

You force your eyes open, grimacing from the sudden brightness. Your eyes widen at the sight in front of you. Semi Eita, your supposed nemesis, is sleeping soundly a few inches away from you, arms wrapped around your waist.

What the hell happened last night?

A small squeak leaves your mouth as you fully realize the situation you’re in. The small noise wakes Semi up from his slumber, causing him to slowly open his eyes, squinting at the bright light.

“Morning, angel,” he croaks, voice raspy with sleep.

My god does he look pretty in the morning.

You stay there, frozen and unblinking. All the words at the tip of your tongue seem to disappear from existence.

Semi blinks, sitting up quickly.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he rubs his eyes vigorously, “I should’ve said no when you asked me to stay. Fuck, you were drunk and I—”

You grab the back of his neck and pull him closer to you, a small smile gracing your lips.

Your thumb grazes Semi’s bottom lip, dragging it down every so slightly before releasing it, enjoying the way he seems to unravel under your touch.

“Shut up and kiss me, will you?” you murmur, trying to keep your cool as your heart hammers against your chest loudly.

At this, Semi breaks out of his reverie and laughs, “I thought you’d never ask.”

a/n: if you’ve made it this far, please feel free to let me know what you think about this fic! and please REBLOG IF YOU ENJOYED mwah <3

© HAJIMINE — all rights reserved. please do not repost, copy, or claim any of my works as your own, thank you.

[hearts4-robin]

# flying colors - Katsuki Bakugo

# genre - fluffy angst

# pairing - Katsuki Bakugo x y/n (no specific gender)

# warnings - yelling, swearing, inappropriate words, intense arguments, crying, anxiety, trauma, panic/anxiety attack

# ages - Katsuki Bakugo: 16 - y/n: 16

# authors note - I hope you like this short story (: let me know if you like it and send in some requests! <# this story haven't been read through and English isn't my first language so sorry for any grammar mistakes etc.

------------------------------------------

# - Thursday - 01.46 a.m. - U.A. Class 1-A dorm building - #

You had forgotten what you were arguing about. But it was heated. It was horrible, the yelling from your boyfriend was driving you crazy. He had just came back from another late extra practice and he had been lacking on giving you any attention. You got that you were both hardworking students but you missed the tingling feeling from when he'd hold you close at 2am while discussing why Mineta is a total asshole.

"You never talk to me anymore!" You voice almost cracked as the words left your mouth. Katsuki's frown sunk deeper, his vein in his neck starting to pulse faster. "Maybe I don't want to pay attention to you, y/n! Ever thought about WHY I always practice so late?" he snapped back. You could clearly see how he was holding back his anger. "Well- no, I haven't-" the thought struck you like one of Kamanari's shocks. "Are you cheating on me?" Katsuki's eyes widened as he watched tears prickle up in your eyes. "What-, no what kind of boyfriend do you actually think I am?" He was yelling. On the brink of screaming at you. "Clearly one who avoids me! Avoids my company! If you're so sick of hanging out with me, why don't you just go right ahead and break up with me?" Now you were yelling too. Holding back wasn't a thing anymore. You watched as Katsuki's hands started releasing small explosions as I his eyes turned darker. You couldn't tell if it was in disappointment, anger or sadness.

"Now why would you say that! Huh? Why?" He was screaming, a hidden growl and sadness under his voice. "Because it's how I feel, Katsuki!" you frowned deeper as your nails dug into the palms of your hands, creating small moon-shaped marks. "I don't care about how you feel, y/n!" You immediately felt a sting of pain in your chest as you watched your boyfriend clench his fist and walk past you and into his dorm room. Well aware that he just woke up half the for building, he slammed the door shut. You covered your mouth with your hand as warm salty tears started streaming down your cheeks. How could he say that to you?

"y/n-chan?-" You looked up, snapping out of the daze you had fallen into. The worried face of your fellow classmate, Eijiro Kirishima, appeared from his bedroom door. "Are you okay? I couldn't help but overhear you and Bakubros argument." He stated as he walked out the door and closing it, revealing himself in a fated red sweatshirt with a big 'Crimson Riot' over the chest and a pair of black pajama pants. You shook your head no at his question as he walked towards you in his big slippers. He frowned worridly as he allowed himself to wrap his arms around you and pull you into a hug. You let out a low sob before you buried your face in Eijiros chest. "H-He doesn't ca-care-, he doesn't care a-about me anymore!" You clung onto Eijiro as he rubbed your back in soothing circles in hope of calming down your mixed feelings. Your chest hurt, your throat was sore and your head was pounding in a quick pace.

"You know Bakubro-, he's not always easy to handle. He won't tell you but he really does love you. He cares for you a lot, y/n." Eijiro looked at you as he lowered his arms around you. You looked at your red haired classmate before he looked towards Katsuki's bedroom. "Give him three days alright? If he doesn't do anything, dump him. I know it sounds harsh but that's the rule I've lived after and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. Think about it." You nodded at his words before wiping your tears off your cheeks, even though you knew they'd be back as soon as you'd close your bedroom door. "Good. Sleep well dude! I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow. Don't stay up too late!" Eijiro grinned cheekily as he waved at you. He closed his door as he disappeared behind it. Your lip quivered as you slowly walked to the elevator. You weakly pressed the button to summon the elevator. Stepping inside after the doors opened with a low 'ding!' you leaned against the wall. You pressed the button to your dorm floor before the elevator moved slowly. You rewinded the whole argument in front of you, everything passing like flying colors with all the wrong shades.

The elevator once again let out a 'ding!' before the doors slit open. Sniffling, you walked out of the elevator with your head down. "Young y/n."

You looked up with slightly wide eyes as you heard Mr. Aizawa speak. "M-Mister Aizawa-" You got cut off by his stare. It told you everything. You bowed before walking to your room. "I'll go to sleep. I'm sorry for waking you up." You sniffled back a few tears before you closed your bedroom door after you. Letting out a small sob, you feel onto your bed. You felt absolutely miserable. You felt horrible. The pain and guilt in your chest had spread to your stomach and you felt sick to the guts as you broke down in tears again. After almost 6 months with Katsuki as your #1 wingman and your boyfriend, hearing his words hurt you. 'I don't care about how you feel, y/n!'

Those 8 words burned in the very front of your brain while you tried to sleep, escape from the aching pain.

# - Thursday - 05.30 a.m. - U.A. Class 1-A dorm building - #

You had been wide awake for the past 30 minutes, distracting yourself by getting ready. Brushing your hair, getting dressed in your uniform and doing whatever was left to do. Your appetite was small, but your stomach still craved some food. You opened the door and stepped out, rubbing your tired eyes. You followed the other few classmates on your hall to the elevator.

“Good-morning y/n…” You looked to your right to see Ashido yawning, dark circles under her eyes. “Good-morning Ashido-. Didn’t you sleep?” She leaned back and stretched her arms, her shirt rising a little as the elevator continued moving down slowly. “Not much-, Bakugo was throwing around with stuff all night! Mr. Aizawa had to tell him to keep it down and go to bed. Nobody knows what’s going on with him right now.” She yawned again after finishing off. A little sting poked you in your chest as she spoke before the elevator let out another ‘ding!’. The door opened, revealing Katsuki, Izuku, Tenya and Eijiro at the table. You and Ashido walked towards the table, and both sat down. You sat down beside Tenya, as far away from Katsuki as possible, which was odd. Very odd. Katsuki was frowning more as usual before he angrily got up from the table and violently grabbing his tray of breakfast. You avoided eye contact at all costs. You looked at the tray of food Tenya had pushed towards you. You looked up to see everybody at the table looking at you with various different expressions. Worry, confusion and awaiting. “y/n… What happened?” You looked at Tenya as he spoke. You poked to your food, the appetite you had earlier suddenly disappearing. “Nothin’.” You mumbled before standing up, holding your tray with weak hands. You left the table to the kitchen.

You froze in your tracks as you saw Katsuki in his usual black shirt with the white print on. He was holding his empty tray in his hands as the unfinished food was thrown in the nearest bin. He glared at you before tossing the tray on the counter and leaving the room. You looked after him, tears prickling and threating to escape from your tear-bags. You placed your full tray on the counter before walking back to the common area. Those moments that felt like hours in the kitchen was just a few minutes. Within those minutes, Katsuki had left the dorm and just about everyone else was up and eating. Walking towards the shoe racks, you picked up your shoes and slipped them on. You stepped out the door, already feeling the early morning cold from December. You stepped onto the road leading towards the school and started walking.

"y/n! Wait up!-" You looked behind you, seeing, once again, Eijiro running towards you while clumsily putting on his shoes. "Eijiro?..." You voice was sore from barely talking this morning. Usually, you get along with Tsu and Ashido pretty well, Yaoyorozu too.

Eijiro caught up to you as you both started walking. "Did you hear Bakubro yesterday?" He looked at you, adjusting hid headband. You shook your head. "No. Ashido told me about how Mr. Aizawa had to stop it." You were mumbling, you never mumbled around people like Eijiro. "Hm.. He'll get better. How are you feeling today? Did you get sleep yesterday?" You both reached the front of the school. He opened the door for you as you, once again, shook your head. "Hard time falling asleep?" You nodded at his question as he walked in behind you. "Do you need to talk about anything? I suck at advice but I'm always here to listen!" You nodded, smiling a little bit. You truly were grateful for people who checked up on you like Eijiro did. You both entered the empty classroom.

"Where's Bakubro?" Eijiro looked around, frowning in confusion. "I think her went for a walk or something like that. I don't know, he didn't tell me..." You dozed off as you sat down in your seat. "Tenya should be here soon." You stated as Eijiro sat down, leaning back in his seat. "Tenya is so manly! Taking responsibility to keep the class in line!" You nodded as Eijiro continued to ramble about manliness. Soon, the class was filled up, even Katsuki had shown up.

You were laid over your desk, looking up towards Mr. Aizawa as he spoke. Another practice day. The costumes slid out the wall, everybody standing up to grab their case with their costume.

# - Thursday - 08.27 a.m. - U.A. Gym Gamma - #

"Wow, y/n! Did you choose a new color scheme? It matches Bakugo's!" You looked down at yourself as Ashido, Kamanari and Tokoyami admired your new costume. You nodded at their questions. "I did. I don't know if he likes it." You were mumbling again. Kamanari opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Cementoss.

"Alright, everybody. Pair up in two and try improve your quirks." Everybody nodded and paired up in two. Mezo walked up to you, kindly asking if you wanted to pair up. You nodded as you both walked to one of the platforms. Using you quirk, you made your way up to the platform along with Mezo.

# - Thursday - 10.58 a.m. - U.A. Gym Gamma - #

"T-Ten-... Tentacole-..." You crouched forward, your lungs hurting as you gasped for air. "I-I need a break." Mezo immediately stopped his movements as he noticed your shaking limps. "y/n? Are you okay?-" He runs to you, helping you sit down. "Shit..." Your head started spinning as your breathing became uneven. You could feel Mezo's multiple arms wrap around you to support you.

"LOOK AT ME WHEN WE'RE FIGHTING, SHITTY HAIR!" Eijiro looked away from you and towards Bakugou who was flying towards him. He quickly shielded himself and hardened his arms. "WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU CAN'T LOOK AT ME?" he screamed as he dodged one of Eijiro's hits. He looked away again, Bakugou taking his chance to land a hit on Eijiro. "y/n-" Eijiro fell back as he kept his eyes locked on your small form being supported in Mezo's arms. "y/n? WHAT ABOUT HER?!" Bakugou was furious, letting out all the anger from the night before. He looked around, finding it weird for shitty hair to talk so much about you. His eyes widened as he saw you, knowing what was happening to you just now. He quickly took off in a run. "Y/N!"

You looked up weakly, seeing Katsuki flying towards you. "Katsuki..." You let out a small cry as you tried calming down your breath. Your vision started blurring. "y/n! Squidward get away from her!" Mezo knew better than to talk back. He looked at you before slowly letting go of you as Katsuki ran to you, gently picking you up and into his embrace. "Are you mad?! What the fuck happened-" He didn't look worried but you knew he was. The glint in his eyes showed it. "y/n- breathe. Did you drink and eat? Of course you didn't- you left as soon as you saw me, you little dipshit." He grumbled under his breath as the others started to notice Bakugo screams fading. He picked you up and jumped down, running towards a place to put you down. Cementoss approached you both but you vision was failing you right now.

"What happened?" He looked at the two of you. "She's having a panic attack. Water." Katsuki sat down with you, holding you close. "I'm sorry, firecracker-. I shouldn't have said that-" He held you closer as Cementoss walked out to get you some water. "It's okay-" "No shut up. It's not. Don't fucking say anything." He growls at you as he sits down, leaning against the gym wall and laying you between his legs. He ripped off his big hand gear and threw them beside you both before propping you up against his chest. "Breathe. Breathe you dumb-ass-" he took a deep breath as you tried to follow his breathing pattern. "It's okay. I got you. I won't let anyone, not me either, hurt you." He was whispering now, gently caressing your arm. Cementoss returned with a bottle of water. Katsuki quickly grabbed the bottle and ripped the cap off before gently helping you chug down the water. "We'll wait till lunch. Cementoss, the time." He looked at Cementoss. "It's 11.47. Lunch is in about 15 minutes." Katsuki nodded before he looked back at you. You were blinking slowly, your breathing back to normal now as he lowly talked to you.

"It's okay. I got you. And I'm not letting go of you again, never."

[platypanthewriter]

Hook Possum 3/4

Art by @monsdasarah​ for Harringrove Big Bang!

PART ONE | TWO

The next morning, Steve did the First Aid class.  “Hook Possum here has offered to help—” he began.

“What?!” Hook Possum hissed, as the kids shoved him forward, laughing, and Steve paced around like a drill sergeant.  

He’d always liked teaching first aid.  “Attention up here, everybody!” he shouted, grinning.  “Who knows when to yell for help?  You?” he pointed to a wide-eyed kid who shook his head.  “We call ‘em the Big Bs,” Steve told the kids, crossing his arms.  “Bleeding, breathing, barf, burns, bones, and bites.”

“Barf,” giggled a little girl.

“If anything is happening like that—bleeding, anything wrong with someone’s breathing, you see barf—” Steve paused, gratified to see Hook Possum miming a gouting wound, gasping for air, and puking his guts up.  “—if anybody gets burned—” Hook Possum grasped his hooked paw, frowned at it, and yelled “My paw got burned off!”, and everybody laughed uproariously.  

“If anything happens to anyone’s bones—” Steve went on, and got to see Hook Possum clutching at his leg, “—or if anyone or anything’s teeth breath somebody's skin—” he ignored Hook Possum yelling about vampires, trying to keep a straight face.  “If any of the Big Bs happen, you need an adult, okay?  We’re gonna need to take a look at it, and maybe take that kid to the doctor.”

“Okaaaaay,” the kids chorused, most of them looking faintly rebellious.  

“A lot of it we can handle here, though,” Steve told them, and several brightened.  “Lemme show you all your way around a first aid kit.”  

Steve demonstrated how to bandage a possum, diagnose a possum with heatstroke, splint a possum’s tail, and he pretended to give him a shot with the new epi-pen, in case of bee allergies.  At the end, he let all the kids play with the gauze bandages he’d used, and a box of band-aids.

Hook Possum didn’t look any less uncanny with his face covered in Scooby Doo and Sesame Street band-aids.  It almost made him worse, somehow, because your eyes caught on the cartoony band-aids first, and then processed the mangy, vacant-eyed, toothy head.  

The possum did look hilarious all trussed up in bandages, and one little girl tried so hard to make a sling, she wrapped the bandage around his neck and pulled, and Hook Possum gagged, twitched, and slumped onto the picnic table Steve had been using for demonstrations.  

“If you can’t help them, you gotta at least hide the body,” Steve told everyone, his cheeks hurting with how wide he was grinning.  “What’s the campsite rule?”

“Leave it cleaner than you found it,” they chorused, watching Hook Possum’s twitching legs in the air.  

“We could tie some rocks to him and dump him in the lake,” a very small girl in pink ruffled overalls suggested, and the kids around her edged away.

“Now, hang on,” Steve told them.  “Remember a possum is actually unconscious if it’s ‘playing dead’.  It makes an awful smell, but if you leave it alone, sometimes they’ll wake up and wander off.  We should probably leave Hook Possum alone for a while.”

Around then, Robin called for lunch, and the kids started to wander off.

“Don’t you dare leave me tied up,” Hook Possum hissed, and Steve patted his shoulder, and told him to stay there.  While the kids were straggling into the mess tent, Steve ran and got the old camp camera, and took about five pictures of Hook Possum trussed like a turkey.  “You utter asshole,” he hissed flatly, but he was laughing, Steve could tell.

After lunch, there was a mud flats exploration party, and the kids all ran off with buckets.  Steve got Hook Possum some cool water, and closed his eyes politely as the mask was removed.  

“When you gonna let me look?” he asked, laughing.  “It’s not like I’m gonna tell anybody.  You gonna keep this up for weeks?”

“...I need the bonus,” Hook Possum muttered.

“Yeah, I know,” Steve told him, “—but you’ve got the mask off already, what difference does it make if I see you?  There’s nobody else around!”

“Leave it alone, Harrington,” Hook Possum growled, and Steve felt the picnic bench shift.  When he called out, and then dared open his eyes, several minutes later, Hook Possum was gone.

After that, Steve didn’t ask.  He encountered Hook Possum a few times in the showers—late in the Indiana night, when it felt like every breath was clingingly hot, and only the shower stalls were cool.  

“Don’t turn the light on,” Hook Possum always hissed, and Steve snorted a laugh, shaking his head.  

“I won’t, dude,” he always said, and they’d talk, some, in neighboring stalls, just letting the water wash away the sweaty heat of the night.  

Hook Possum was moving to the west coast, he said, and Steve felt a pang at that, the same as he’d seen in Max.  “It cools off at night there,” he said dryly, and Steve just bit his lips together, nodding.

“Hard to argue with,” he admitted.  “Uh, when...when are you leaving?”

“As soon as I pack after camp,” Hook Possum said, a little muffled, like he was washing his face.  “Why stick around Hawkins.”

“Oh,” Steve said, nodding again.  He couldn’t really think of anything to say, so he focused on scrubbing the sap off his toes from the conifer right by their cabin.  

 Every night, the Hook Possum stories got more in-depth.  “One full moon, a girl and her boyfriend drove out to this very campground and parked,” Robin began, as some of the kids said ‘why?’ and others said ‘ew!’.  “He was driving,” she said, leaning in, so the light of the campfire lit her face from underneath, “—and even though it was past midnight, and she asked and asked to go home, he wouldn’t start the car.”

Some of the kids looked unimpressed, but some of them were listening avidly.  

“He looked at her,” Robin said, “—and he smiled, and he said ‘Nobody knows I brought you here.’”

“He’s gonna sink her in the lake, with rocks,” said the tiny girl in the ruffled pink overalls.

Robin high-fived her, and then leaned in again.  “The boyfriend grabbed her arm and twisted it around, and whispered, ‘Nobody knows where you are’, and the girl screamed, because her arm felt like it would break.  ‘You know what I want,’ he said.”

Steve knew his cue, and he reached down behind the log he was sitting on to scrape the fire poker along the hatchet they’d used to cut kindling, making a long, metallic scrape.  A couple of kids shrieked, looking around.  

“Just then!” Robin shouted, standing up, and more kids yelled, “—the two heard a ripping, metallic noise on the roof of the car.  The boyfriend was so angry he shook the girl, and then yelled ‘What the hell is that?!’, but she didn’t know.” 

Steve scraped the poker on the hatchet again, angling it for a sharper, higher-pitched noise.  

“Something scraped along the door, and the girl screamed again, because she was already so afraid.  She’d been thinking of opening the door and running into the woods, but as something scraped the door again—”

Steve scraped them together as loud as he could, having practiced with Robin beforehand, and everyone yelped and winced.  Even Robin’s eye twitched at the awful noise.  

“—the girl begged her boyfriend not to get out of the car.”

“But he did,” whispered one of the kids, eyes wide.

“He did.  He left her there.  Once he got out, though, the noise didn’t come again, and she sat, listening, and crying.  She heard him scream, the way she had, when the bones of her arm creaked in his grip.”

The kids were rapt, and El met her cue with a branch-shuddering wind, making the whole clearing full of campers shriek.  

“Did she get out of the car?!” Pink Overalls asked, urgently, and Robin shook her head.  

“She heard branches break, and then, crashing through the underbrush.  It might have been more screams, or it might have been the wind.  The girl curled in her coat, staring at the blackness through the windows, and when she felt another thud against the car, and—” Steve scraped the hatchet with the poker again, long and grating, and a kid moaned.  Robin lowered her voice, and the kids leaned closer to hear.  “Heard another noise, like something scratching to get in, the girl locked the doors.”

Robin waited several beats, her face darker and more red as the fire burned down to coals.  “In the morning, the girl woke to find her boyfriend pinned to the driver’s side door with a massive hook through his hand.  He was whimpering, staring into the forest, and he didn’t respond to her voice.  His hair was white.”

“Hook Possum,” gasped Pink Overalls, and everyone turned to stare.

“Hey, he got what was coming,” Hook Possum said.

 That night, predictably, a bunch of kids came looking for Hook Possum.  “There are floating lights,” one squeaked, pointing, and Steve bit back a laugh, remembering seeing the marsh gas and fireflies as a kid.  “It’s Hook Possum,” he whispered, but the kid shook his head, pointing.  

“No, he’s right here.”

Steve considered.  “It’s weird telling stories about you when you’re around,” he told the furry bulk at his elbow, glaring.

“Well, sorry,” Hook Possum shot back.  “There aren’t a lot of jobs a possum can get, Harrington.”

“We always said the lights were Hook Possum,” Steve said, shrugging.  “Searching for the one who wronged him.  The reason he can’t move on.  He never sleeps.”

“Euuugh,” said one of the kids, shuddering.  “He does sleep, though!  I’ve seen his bunk.”

“Yeah, we know he’s really a...person,” said a small voice in the dark, shakily.  “In-in a costume.”

“Mostly a person,” said another little voice.

“Yeah, we know you’re mostly a person,” said another one.  “E-except at night.”

“Hang on, now,” Hook Possum hissed, but Steve elbowed him.  

“Hook Possum won’t let anything happen to you,” he told them.

 One evening when the sunset was particularly fine, and Steve was for once off dish duty, Hook Possum was down sitting on the dock, his legs splashing in the lake.  The back of the costume was untied—except for the neck, since it hadn’t fallen off—and through the long slit in the back, Steve could see skin.  In the golden light of sunset, Hook Possum didn’t even look too terrifying, from the back, his plastic fur shining 

Steve pressed down a nearly-overwhelming urge to slide his fingers between the folds of polyester fur and let his fingertips brush over Hook Possum’s shoulder blades.  

“You’re getting all wet,” Steve said, dropping to sit on his hands, and Hook Possum snorted.

“Possums dry,” he said, kicking his feet in the water, and Steve realized, seeing a pale flash, that he didn’t have shoes on, and stared down, his heart thumping at every flash of ankle.

“...hey,” Steve said, like a genius, leaning to thump their shoulders together, and Hook Possum laughed.  Off in the woods, there was another grinding noise, a mechanical roar, and a horrible high-pitched whinny that made Steve’s teeth clench.

“...sounds like somebody needs a new fan belt,” Hook Possum said, leaning against his side, and Steve stretched, yawning, and reached an arm around his shoulders, feeling Hook Possum laugh.  “...what’s over that way?” Hook Possum asked, letting himself slump a little into Steve’s side.

“What?” Steve breathed, thinking about the little line of Hook Possum’s back showing through the back, and how it would feel to slide his thumb in there, up and down, feeling the bumps along Hook Possum’s spine.

Hook Possum laughed.  He sounded a little breathless.  “Uh, I just—what—what’s over there, where the um, where the engine noises?  Are coming from?”

“Oh,” Steve said, blinking.  “Uh, nothing.”  He frowned, thinking about it.  “Nothing’s supposed to be that direction, there’s no road.  It’s prairie, y’know, park lands.”  

“How come I keep hearing shit from over there, then,” Hook Possum mumbled, without lifting his masked head from Steve’s shoulder.

“...dunno,” Steve sighed, giving in to temptation, and sliding his thumb inside the gap at the back of the Hook Possum costume.  Hook Possum shivered, tensing, and Steve just rubbed a slow circle with his thumb until Hook Possum relaxed with a sigh.  They sat, splashing their feet, until Steve sighed.  “...I should probably go check it out, huh.”

“...mmmn,” Hook Possum said.  “...probably.  Since you kinda...own the damn park.”  He pulled away, sitting up straight, and Steve let his arm fall away.  “Keep forgetting your dad owns the damn place,” Hook Possum muttered.

“I mean, it doesn’t really matter,” Steve told him, hoping it didn’t.

“Yeah, like you couldn’t talk to him and get us all fired,” Hook Possum laughed, touching his mask, and Steve grimaced.

“I wouldn’t get you fired,” he groaned.  “Why in the hell would I get you fired?”  

“How the hell should I know,” Hook Possum growled, clambering back up onto the dock.  

 The next day, Steve led friendship bracelet making.  He always did, because he’d been going to camp so long he was really, really good at friendship bracelets.  

“What color you want yours?” he called over to Hook Possum, as a matter of course, and Hook Possum stared at him, smoke swirling from his eyeholes.  “...you’re gonna set yourself on fire,” Steve told him, laying out the embroidery thread.  “Pick out some colors.”

“...you’re making me a friendship bracelet?” Hook Possum asked, warily.

“Well, yeah,” Steve told him, shrugging.  “What colors you want?”

“...uh,” Hook Possum said.  “Possum colors?”

“The hell are those,” Steve asked, snorting a laugh.  “I’m not stomping it in the dirt.”

Hook Possum swung a leg over the bench opposite Steve, and leaned his horrible mask in his hands to pore over the color selection.  “...how many should I pick?” he muttered, his voice deeper than his usual fake squeaky hiss, and Steve bit back a smile.  

“Probably, uh, three to like...five,” he said, shrugging.  He’d started a pink, green, and orange candy-striped one for Pink Overalls, and he pinned it to the knee of his jeans to work on while Hook Possum considered.  

Finally, he reached his plastic-clawed paw and pushed a grayish blue forward towards Steve, and then a darker blue, and then hesitated between the other colors, and pulled back.  

“...white?” Steve suggested.  “It’d still be a blue bracelet, but it’d show up.”

“White,” Hook Possum said, nodding.  “Possum colors,” he announced.

Steve found himself grinning, again, the way he always was lately.  His cheeks were tired and it was only eleven in the morning.  

He got distracted helping the kids with theirs—Pink Overalls wanted to make one for Bell Witch Mirror kid, and so on—so it wasn’t until after dinner, when he snuck back to their cabin with a tray of spaghetti, that he managed to work on it.  He slid the tray onto Hook Possum’s bunk, hitching up the flag curtain so the guy wouldn’t sit on it by accident, and then dropped into his bunk.  He looped the cut embroidery thread around his toe, frowning up intently at the ceiling of his bunk as he wove the strands.  

Hook Possum wandered in shortly after.  “Where’d you go?” he asked, leaning in.  “You okay?”  He stared for a long second, and then asked, “...is that my bracelet?”

“Yep,” Steve told him, his fingers dextrous after the long day of reminding himself of the patterns.  

“...it’s almost dark in here,” Hook Possum said, nearly a whisper, and Steve laughed.  

“I been making these so long I could do it in the dark,” he said.  “You better eat, if you’re gonna go sit around the fire.”

“I think I can miss a night of Hook Possum stories,” Hook Possum said.  “I’m gonna grab a shower first.”

Steve nodded, only half paying attention, because it was getting dark, and he had to keep up the rhythm or turn on the light to find it again.  

When Hook Possum returned, Steve was half done, carefully not looking over as the human who wore the possum suit sat just out of sight, leaning against Steve’s bunk, and ate the spaghetti Steve had brought him.  The dim battery lantern Steve had set behind his bunk lit them both yellowy from the back, so even if he’d looked over, he couldn’t have seen much of Hook Possum’s face.

“How are you even doing that,” Hook Possum asked, and the bunk creaked as he sat next to Steve, warm and damp from the shower, smelling of soap and the pine trail back to the cabin.  His curls—he had curls, Steve thought dazedly—tickled Steve’s shoulder, as he reached up to run his fingers over the dimly-lit, smooth-woven thread in Steve’s fingers.  

“...practice,” Steve said, his throat weirdly tight.

The head against his nodded, and Steve could feel stubble against his cheek.  Hook Possum’s body was heavy against his, his hairy legs a little itchy, and Steve wanted to roll over and explore, slide his fingers all over Hook Possum’s body.

“What do I do with it,” Hook Possum said, and Steve’s fingers paused.  “I just mean, uh,” the guy said quickly, “—there are rules, right?  Like I’m not supposed to...take it off?”

“...what, you’ve never had a friendship bracelet?” Steve asked, laughing, and felt the head against his shake.

“Nah,” he said, dryly.  “Never been to a summer camp before, either.  I was the kinda kid that’d get in trouble.”

“There’s always one every year and you think ‘I’m gonna have to pull that kid out of a toilet or something’,” Steve told him, sighing.  “We figure it out.  Haven’t lost a camper yet.”

“I wear it until it falls off?” Hook Possum asked, his voice rumbling against Steve’s shoulder.  Steve could barely move his right arm, but he didn’t ask Hook Possum to move.

“Yeah.  It’ll just wash with you in the shower,” Steve told him, grinning.  “Some kids take theirs off to make them last longer, though.”

“What about when it does fall off?” Hook Possum breathed in his ear.  “You gonna make me another one?”

Steve felt his face heat, because Hook Possum was being weird and intense about a friendship bracelet, of all things.  “...you saying I make a faulty product?”

“I’m asking if you’ll...work here next year,” Hook Possum muttered, sighing into Steve’s shoulder.  “If it falls off.”

“The hell do you care,” Steve laughed, his stomach twisting.  “You’re moving to Oregon or somewhere.”

“...California,” Hook Possum sighed.

“You saying you’ll give me your address?” Steve asked, nearly forgetting himself and sitting up to look over.  He shut his eyes tightly, his heart pounding.  “So—so I can mail you a friendship bracelet?”  Hook Possum was quiet, his fingers tight on Steve’s wrist.  “...you saying you’d...come back to see me?” Steve ventured, and Hook Possum snorted a laugh, so Steve tried to backtrack.  “Yeah, no, not for a friendship bracelet,” Steve laughed.  It felt forced.  “That’d be pretty dumb.”

Hook Possum’s hand ran slowly up Steve’s arm to his face, and Steve waited, his blood thudding through his veins, his eyes clenched so tight shut he saw lights, feeling Hook Possum’s fingers touch his cheek.  

Hook Possum’s thumb stroked over his jaw, and Steve trembled with the effort of holding still.  He wanted to yank Hook Possum closer, or—or roll on top of him, or something, and the gentle sensation of Hook Possum’s hesitant breath on his lips made him want to scream.

After endless seconds, Hook Possum shoved away, thudding to the floor of the cabin and stomping over to prop the little shuttered window open and lean out.  He gasped for air, taking ragged breaths, and Steve felt just the same, like he’d been running.  

He opened his eyes and stared up at his foot on the roof of the bunk, and the inches of bracelet dangling between his toes.  “You can tell Max when it falls to pieces,” he said, with a weird rasp in his voice.  “If you want another one.  I can—I can get you another one.”

“You’re gonna keep making me friendship bracelets,” Hook Possum said, half a groan, and Steve could just see the dark shapes of him leaning his head into his arms.

“Well, you seemed worried about it,” Steve told him, grinning.  “Don’t want my possum getting lonely.”

“Jesus H. Christ,” Hook Possum muttered.

 Hook Possum actually tried not to smoke too much around the kids, but every night, he’d wander out and have a cigarette on the steps of the cabin when the air inside was hot and close.  Steve awakened vaguely to the sound of his voice talking to one of the kids, and then fell back asleep.  

When the pounding at the door started, he jerked awake with the other counselors, mumbling and smacking their heads on the wooden bunk frames.  The cabin door opened, and Steve recognized the voice of Pink Overalls.  “Hook Possum went off in the woods to see what the lights were,” she sobbed.  “He hasn’t come back.  It’s been four hours!”  

She thrust a glow-in-the-dark watch face into Steve’s face, and he blinked blearily at it.  It was a quarter after five in the morning.  

“Shit,” he muttered, rubbing his face.

“He could be in the lake,” she sobbed.  “With rocks.”

“I’ll go get him,” Steve told her, stumbling out of bed.

“We’ll all go get him,” Robin said, clicking something in the dark, then smacking it.  Her flashlight lit up the cabin.  “Wake up the other counselors, tell them they’re on breakfast duty.”

“Oh-okay,” Pink Overalls sniffled, and slammed out.  

Steve found another flashlight, and he and the other counselors tromped through the grasslands, squinting through the occasional tree cover until Steve was pretty sure they were in the right area.  His foot caught on a low patch of smooth mud and then grass, and he frowned down at what looked like tire tracks.

“Holy fuck,” Robin whispered, grabbing him, and waving her flashlight around.  “Jesus.”  

“Wait,” Steve said, holding his own flashlight still on the plants they’d been tromping through.  “Is—is that—”

“Marijuana,” Robin snickered.  “Somebody’s got a good crop back here.  I need to find some really big trash bags, stat.”

“Hook Possum first,” Steve reminded her, shuddering at the thought that he’d stumbled into drug dealers out here.  The thought of their faces as Hook Possum lurched out of the darkness was hilarious, but they could have hit him with anything, Steve thought, walking along the tire tracks, and then jogging.  They might have had guns, even.

There was a loud crash and yelling ahead, and he ran.  

“He’s in the shed!” yelled one of the other counselors, brandishing her heavy flashlight at an unfamiliar guy in a t-shirt who looked stoned as hell, and Steve ran by, looking for a shed.  His flashlight slid over it, and he stumbled to a stop, trying to remember the place.  An old fire season ranger hut, he thought, yanking on the locked door, and then pressing his face to the glass.  

“Hook Possum!” he yelled, and got back an “I’m fine, jesus.”  Steve threw his shoulder against the door and it gave instantly, dropping him on his hands and knees inside.

“My hero,” Hook Possum said, as Steve scrambled to his feet, swinging the flashlight around until it caught on the furry shape.  His hands and feet were tied, then handcuffed to a rolling office chair.  

Steve yanked at the cuffs, tugging at the ropes around Hook Possum’s ankles, and being generally ineffective, when Robin stormed in.  “There’s a phone,” she panted.  “I’m calling the police.  Get him out of here, they’re trying to fight us, or something.  I had to brain one with my flashlight.”

The sound of a sputtering engine came up the road, and Robin yelled “Fuck, more of them?!” before running to the phone.  

Steve gave up on the cuffs and ropes, and rolled Billy out of the shed and along the muddy tire tracks in the office chair.  They trundled quickly away from the noise, and then the chair nearly overbalanced, and Steve nearly tripped over Hook Possum’s tail and took them both down, so he slowed.  His heart was pounding.  “Are you okay,” he panted.

“I’m fine,” Hook Possum grunted, squirming in the cuffs.

“Lemme get your mask off,” Steve said, stopping.  “Did they hit you?”

“I’m okay!” Hook Possum yelped, nearly overbalancing as he tried to duck away.  “Leave it on!”

“Look, if you need money that much, I can give you some, lemme check your head—” Steve offered, checking the mask for cracks.  “Did they—”

“They threw a goddamn tarp over me and I couldn’t find my way out in this thing,” Hook Possum said bitterly.  “I’m fine.”

“O-okay,” Steve said.  “...okay, okay, okay…”  He took a slow, shuddery breath, squeezing Hook Possum’s shoulders as he pushed him along in the chair.  It rattled across the uneven ground.  “What were you even doing?!  Wandering off alone in that thing?!”

“Had to see who was trespassing on your grounds, lord and master.”

“Fuck you,” Steve hissed.

“This might be the most undignified thing I’ve ever done,” Hook Possum growled.  “Trussed up in a rolling office chair.”  

“It’s handy,” Steve told him, catching the guy’s weight again as the ground tilted the chair.  

“We’re never talking about this again,” Hook Possum said.  “Ever.”

“I’m rescuing you,” Steve told him, grinning, as his heart rate started to slow.  “Like a princess.”

“Shut up,” Hook Possum growled.

“Princess Possum,” Steve sighed happily.  

“So you’re my Prince Charming?” Hook Possum snarled.  “You gonna kiss me and uncurse me, or what?!”

Steve opened his mouth, and then closed it.  “...uh,” he said.

“A real Prince Charming doesn’t just grab random possums,” said Hook Possum, his voice entertainingly uneven from the bouncing of the chair.  “Help!  Help!  I’m being oppressed!”

“Shut up,” Steve laughed, giggly with relief that his...his Hook Possum wasn’t bleeding out from a head wound, or tied to rocks, sinking in the lake.  “Just a little longer.  I’ll get you back safe.”

Pink Overalls threw her arms around Hook Possum when Steve pushed him back into camp, muddier even than usual.  She sobbed about ropes and murder victims, and Steve sawed at the ropes with the bread knife, until they frayed, and cut, and Hook Possum was free to stand—one paw still handcuffed to the office chair.  

When Robin got back, exhausted but elated, and carrying three mysterious trash bags, she got the hatchet.  Steve held the chair across from Hook Possum’s wrist over the wood chopping stump, and Robin smashed the chain between the two cuffs until one came loose, and the chair fell away.  “The police will have to talk to you,” Steve told him, sliding his finger inside the cuff, and along Hook Possum’s human wrist.  “They can take it off.”

“...yeah,” Hook Possum whispered, holding very still.

“I knew he’d save you,” said Pink Overalls, crying with relief. 

PART ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR

[stevie-kd]

“Feral”

Part 4

Read part 1 here

Read part 2 here

Read part 3 here

::in which Bakugou makes a mistake, Kirishima pays the price, but it all works out and the quirk is gone for good... right?::

+++++++++++++

Kirishima couldn’t help staring at the empty desk across the room. It was Monday, and Bakugou still hadn’t returned.

Over the weekend, Kirishima had periodically visited his best friend after meal times. That was when he seemed to be on his best behavior, but the quirk still sent him into frenzies at pretty random times. He’d been able to feel most of them coming. Most.

It appeared he was making some real progress. The claws, fangs and cat-like eyes hadn’t gone away yet, but he was acting more like himself each day, and the fits of rage grew less and less frequent. Until this morning, when Kirishima had decided to bring him breakfast.

Kirishima was already in his school uniform, having woken up a half hour early to go see the blond before class. He’d grabbed a protein bar on his way through the kitchen for himself, but for Bakugou he’d prepared a quick meal of home cooked eggs and vegetables. He was no chef like Bakugou, but after all the meals the blond had prepared for him, he figured he’d try to return the favor. He made sure to grab some of the spiciest seasonings and a bottle of sriracha sauce before heading out though.

Cementoss was the one stationed outside of Bakugou’s room today. He let Kirishima in without hassle, and Bakugou was simply lying on his bed, staring up at the white ceiling.

“Hey, hey, Katsuki!” he greeted him cheerily. Bakugou gave no response, no acknowledgement. “I’ve got breakfast, dude.”

It wasn’t until Kirishima was standing beside the cot and set the tray down on the bedside table with a small clink! that Bakugou stirred.

Before Kirishima could even register what was happening, Bakugou was on him, pinning him to the ground, claws at his throat. Kirishima hadn’t hardened fast enough, and he could feel the hot, sticky blood on the back of his head where it'd collided with the ground. The claws were already dug into the flesh of his neck. He struggled to get out a choked yelp in an attempt to alert Cementoss.

It must have worked, because the Pro Hero came bursting into the room. He surged forward and lifted Bakugou off of Kirishima like he was nothing more than a rabid puppy. Bakugou struggled against the hero’s grip, but he would’ve had better luck fighting a brick wall. Cementoss was sturdy and unyielding.

“Get out of here, Kirishima!” his teacher demanded of him.

Kirishima managed to climb to his feet and stumble out. He put pressure on his neck where it hurt worst, but blood almost immediately seeped through his fingers. He was horrified at how much poured down his arms after hardly a few moments. He could only stare at all the red that stained his shirt and sleeves.

“Kirishima?” asked Cementoss as he emerged from Bakugou’s room. “What are you still doing here? You need to get to Recovery Girl.”

Kirishima couldn’t seem to move. His feet were glued in place, his eyes trained through the window to stare at Bakugou as he curled in on himself. His entire frame was shaking, and he buried his face into his pillow to hide it.

“Kirishima, can you hear me?” Cementoss was asking, but the teenager wasn’t listening. His brain was too busy screaming at him to get back to Bakugou, to tell him it’s okay, to beg him not to cry.

He stepped up to the door, trying to pry it open but unable to without the keycard to grant him access inside. Cementoss put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him away from the door as gently as he could, but he had to use more force when Kirishima fought against his hold.

“Please! Please, I—fuck! Katsuki!”

Everything became a blur after that. He remembered Cementoss delivering him to Recovery Girl, who looked panicked at the sight of all the blood. She was quick to heal him and wrap up his wounds. She’d wrapped bandaging all around his neck and some around his head. She decided he had a mild concussion and needed four staples where he’d bashed his head open. Bakugou’s claws had gone deep enough into his throat to have cut his larynx, so she said to avoid speaking as much as possible at least for the rest of the day. After all said and done, she told him he wasn’t allowed to leave until he’d gotten some rest.

But he couldn’t sleep. He had so much going on in his mind, his brain wouldn’t allow such a foreign concept as sleep. After a couple hours she let him go, but she made it known she preferred he didn’t go back to school until tomorrow due to the concussion.

But he couldn’t just sit in his room and dwell on his thoughts. He knew the teachers wouldn’t let him back in to see Bakugou so soon, and he needed something to distract him. So he went back to the dorms and showered, changed into a fresh uniform, and headed to class.

Everyone was obviously surprised to see him, Aizawa included. Kirishima took notice of the way their eyes caught on the bandaging around his neck that peeked out of the collar of his uniform, but no one said anything as he made his way to his seat.

And he spent the whole hour staring at Bakugou’s empty seat, not a word of Aizawa’s lecture reaching his ears.

Once the bell eventually rang, signaling lunch, the Bakusquad was surrounding him faster than he could even close his textbook.

“Kiri, babe, I don’t want to sound like that person, but you look like shit,” Ashido offered. “What happened?”

“We heard you went to visit Bakugou this morning and he attacked you again,” Kaminari explained.

Sero’s expression was full of pity. “Yeah, man, are you seriously okay?”

Kirishima gave them an O-K, then signaled to his throat with a shake of his head. He grabbed his notebook and wrote out Can’t talk yet. Nicked my vocal chords.

Ashido looked horrified. “He tried to rip your throat out? Seriously?!”

“Dude, that’s so messed up.” Sero shook his head and folded his arms. “Even under a quirk, you’d think he’d have enough self control not to nearly slit his best friend’s throat.”

Kirishima choked. It hurt, but he couldn’t help it. Hot tears leaked down his cheeks, and he could only bury his face in his sleeve to keep his friends from seeing him crying. He felt so unmanly.

“K-Kirishima?” Kaminari gasped. “Whoa! Are you alright?”

“Shit, Kirishima, I’m sorry!” Sero apologized. “That was really insensitive of me to say. I’m sorry, man.”

“It’s okay,” he tried to say, but his voice was horrifically gravelly and much too quiet for anyone else to understand. On top of the pain his throat was in, he could feel a marble forming in it, threatening to choke him. He had to get himself under control.

Ashido pulled him into a hug then. The effect was almost immediate. He relaxed in her grip, leaning into her and turning his head into her shoulder.

“Kirishima,” came Aizawa’s voice then. The redhead turned to see his teacher standing a few rows of desks ahead of the group, hands in his pockets and face expressionless. “A word in private, please.”

Kirishima slumped. He was about to get chewed out. Ashido tightened her embrace reassuringly before slipping away. “We’ll wait for you in the hallway so we can head to lunch together.”

He nodded his thanks, and the group retreated. Aizawa sighed once the door was closed behind them. “I just spoke to Recovery Girl. You shouldn’t be here.”

Kirishima looked down at the floor. He wasn’t sure how to reply, considering he couldn’t verbally answer anyway.

“Listen,” Aizawa continued, lowering himself onto his haunches to be level with Kirishima, “I can’t say I know what you’re feeling right now. But I can tell you I know what Bakugou is feeling. I spoke with him this morning after the incident. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but he was taking it really hard. He was pretty devastated, actually. I’m sure he’d like to see you and know that you’re okay. Would you like to see him?”

Kirishima stared up at Aizawa with big eyes. He nodded vigorously, and Aizawa chuckled softly at that.

“Alright, kid. Not until after you’re fully healed though. Seeing you like this would only make him feel worse.”

He stood again, stretching his back and Kirishima heard a few quiet pops of his joints. He pointed to the door with his thumb as he folded his arms. “Get out. You’re excused from classes for the day. If you’d like, I can give you your homework now, but I want you resting. Don’t come to classes until tomorrow.”

Kirishima nodded. He’d take the leave of absence if it meant he could visit Bakugou again. He stuffed his books in his bag and headed for the door, giving Aizawa a nod of thanks before dipping out.

Ashido, Sero, and Kaminari were waiting for him like they’d promised, but they looked caught off guard by his sudden change in attitude.

“Whoa, uh, you okay, man?” Sero asked.

He gave a thumbs up and flashed one of his toothy smiles.

“What did Aizawa do to you?” Ashido questioned, a lop-sided smile growing on her lips.

Kaminari cocked his head. “Yeah, Aizawa isn’t the type of guy to strike me as ‘uplifting’. Usually people leave his presence feeling worse.”

Kirishima shook his head with a smile meant to put them at ease. He tried his best to signal he was heading back to the dorms, but he was sure he just looked like an idiot waving his arms around. When the others only scrunched their eyebrows, he just pointed in the direction of the dorms.

Ashido’s mouth formed an ‘O’ and she nodded her approval. “Get some rest, Kiri. We’ll stop by and visit later! ‘Kay?”

He gave another thumbs up, then waved goodbye as he sauntered off.

Once in his dorm and changed into jogging pants and a tee shirt, he truly did try to fall asleep, thinking maybe it would help time go by faster. He ended up just staring at the ceiling for two hours. He attempted to get some of the homework done, but without Bakugou’s usual help, he was hopeless.

Finally, he decided to head into the common area and crash on one of the sofas, playing some cheesy American action film on the TV. He snuggled up under a layer of blankets with a bowl of ice cream and watched as two burley men duked it out on the small screen.

He must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew he was blinking awake at the sight of a few of his classmates above him.

“Hello, Kirishima,” said Yaoyorozu, a sheepish smile on her soft face. “Sorry to wake you. We wanted to make sure you were alright. We let you sleep for a while, but it’s dinner time.”

He wiped some drool off his chin. Ugh, how embarrassing. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes, then noticed Iida standing beside her with a tray in his hands.

“We thought you might be hungry,” Iida said with a kind smile. “Aizawa informed us you weren’t quite eating solid foods just yet, so we have some miso soup, and chocolate pudding for dessert.”

Yaoyorozu produced a small table from beneath her shirt and helped him prop it up over his lap. Iida set the tray down, and Kirishima felt his mouth water at the smell of the soup. His stomach growled almost comically loud. He winced, but the two only laughed.

“Glad to help, Kirishima,” Yaoyorozu smiled pleasantly. “Also, I made you some chamomile tea with honey. That’s always best for a sore throat.”

He grabbed the tea cup off his tray and took a small sip. It was delicious! It tasted just like his moms always made it whenever he was sick.

He cleared his throat and voiced a hoarse reply. “Thank you, guys.”

“No need to thank us,” said Iida. “Aspiring heroes should always be there for one another when they’re in need of a little help. Please, if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask. Yaoyorozu and I would be pleased to help.”

He nodded his gratitude, and they left him to eat his meal in peace. The quiet didn’t last once his band of juveniles were passing through and saw him up and awake. Ashido squealed, and Sero and Kaminari were hot on her heels.

“Kiri, you’re up!” she squeaked, plopping down on the couch beside him. “Feeling better?”

“Much,” he answered. His voice was rough, like he’d just finished a long night of screaming at a heavy metal concert. He was just thankful to be able to speak at all and with almost no pain. At this rate, Aizawa might let him in to see Bakugou tonight!

“So, are you mad at Bakugou about what happened?” Sero asked then.

Kirishima shook his head. He didn’t want to strain his voice more than he had to.

“Good. I’d hate to see you guys stop being best friends over an accident that happened because of a quirk. And I’m really sorry about what I said earlier. It wasn’t true, and I know Bakugou would never hurt you on purpose.”

“It’s okay, Sero,” Kirishima said through a mouthful of pudding. “You were mad. I say things I don’t mean when I’m mad too.”

“How much longer do you think this quirk will last?” Kaminari asked. “I’m actually starting to miss all of Bakubro’s yelling and screaming. Especially his cooking.”

“What I wouldn’t give for a bowl of his curry right now,” Ashido said dreamily.

“I’m going to see if I can visit him again after dinner,” Kirishima explained, “but I need to see Recovery Girl first to get the OK.”

“Ooh! Please tell Baku we miss him.”

He laughed at her pouty lips and puppy dog eyes. “I’ll make sure he knows.”

The three chattered for a while about school and quirk training and all kinds of gossip as Kirishima finished his soup and listened in. He wished Bakugou was there more than ever. Sometimes when they hung out in the common room, he’d let Kirishima lean on him, and once even allowed the redhead to use his lap as a pillow. Kirishima was always a very touchy kind of guy—it was a part of his love language and how he showed affection. Bakugou would never admit he appreciated it too, but Kirishima could read him like an open book. Underneath his hard exterior, Bakugou was human like everyone else.

A little later into the evening, Recover Girl was happy to see his wounds had nearly healed over the course of the day, just little pink scars left that should disappear by morning and a scratchy throat that wasn’t giving him enough pain to bother him. She removed the staples in his head, checked his pupillary responses again, then planted another kiss on his forehead for good measure, but she said with Aizawa’s supervision she’d allow Kirishima to go see Bakugou tonight.

He just about ran all the way to the holding cells. Aizawa looked him over and must have deemed the teenager worthy, because with a sigh he swiped his keycard without saying a word.

Kirishima stepped into the room with a smile plastered to his face. After this morning and spending his whole day worrying about how Bakugou must be feeling, it was a massive weight off his chest to finally be here.

Bakugou was lying on his side in his bed overtop of the sheets. He had his back to Kirishima and didn’t make any efforts to look and see who it was entering his room. For a second, Kirishima wondered if he was sleeping.

“Katsuki,” he said, taking a couple steps forward.

That got him moving. He shot up and spun on Kirishima, shock clear across his face. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Kirishima shrugged. “I’m here to see my best bud. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Me? You wanted to make sure I’m okay? Are you a fucking moron?”

The redhead only took another step forward. “That had to be scary for you this morning.”

“Tch. Kirishima, I almost fucking killed you.”

“Eijirou.”

Bakugou glared at him. “What?”

“Call me Eijirou. This morning hasn’t changed anything.”

Bakugou clenched his fists tight enough that his knuckles were white. He bared his teeth, and it was in that moment Kirishima noticed two things.

“Your fangs are gone! And your claws!”

All the tension in his body seemed to drain at once. Bakugou blinked a few times, then held his open palms in front of him. He looked up at Kirishima, his eyes no longer slit like that of a cat’s.

“Your eyes too! Katsuki, I think the quirk has worn off!”

Bakugou stood, his expression sinking. His head drooped and he held his face in his hands. Kirishima surged forward when he noticed his shoulders begin to tremble.

He wrapped his arms around Bakugou, holding him close as he cried. Bakugou burrowed his face into the crook of Kirishima’s neck and returned the hug.

“What’s wrong, Katsuki?” Kirishima asked in a gentle voice. “I thought you would’ve been happy?”

“I am,” Bakugou answered with a choked sob. “I’m just—relieved.”

Kirishima traced soothing circles into his back. “It’s okay, man. Let it out.”

He took a shaky breath. “I’m sorry I’m so fucking weak.”

“What? You’re not weak. You’re the manliest guy I know, Katsuki. The bravest, strongest, most heroic man I’ve ever known.”

“I-I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

Kirishima shushed him. “It’s alright. You don’t have to be embarrassed. This is what friends are for.”

“Friends,” Bakugou echoed. There was a strange undertone in his voice that Kirishima couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“Best friends.”

Kirishima tightened his embrace, wishing Bakugou saw him as something a little bit more.

<><><><><><><><><>

Soooo hope y’all liked part 4 (and a big fat sorry for how long it took me to get the damn thing posted). I’ve started part 5 and should have it up ASAP bc I’m HELLA excited to get my one-shots posted.

Anywho, thanks for the read!! You guys are the best, and I really appreciate all the love you’ve given me and my writing💕

Read part 5 here

Read part 6 here

8/24/2020

[gloomyhearts]

Always by your side || Luke Patterson

Chapter twenty-seven~ so precipitate

2020

Thick tension builds upon the group on the loft when Luke arrived back after processing what happened moments ago; the other finished up their roost; their body covered from blankets and heads resting on the pillows. Alex is in between his sister and the shaggy haired boy; her back faced the other’s; her brother wrapped an arm around her. The back of the shaggy haired boy touching Alex’s.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” she shakes her head, and he pulls her closer, “Will, please,” he mutters, his lips brushing against her ear.

“Alex, back off!” her voice a shaking whisper and he pulls his arm back.

The blonde boy rotates and taps Luke’s back, “dude what happened?” Luke makes no move to turn around and shrugs his shoulder, “you don’t have to be rude towards me! I’m not the problem,” he humps, crossing his arms and laying on his back.

At some point in the night Alex switched his spot with Luke who was now back in back with Sabrina, so far, she hasn’t noticed. His arm slung around her abdomen, moving her gentle.

“Please. Don’t do that,” he mumbles, “I don’t wanna lose you... I can’t live without you,” he quietly cries, “I love you Brina.”

The sound of her nickname wakes her up, noticing the boy next to her and the arm around her constrained her, Sabrina's heart began to race as if she’d run a marathon, she breathed laboriously. Being overwhelmed from the heat he radiates she poofs out of his arms.

What was he thinking? Alex is such a dipshit; I’ll kill him when I’m back. Was Luke really talking about me? Well, he knows none other. But he just dreamed. It doesn’t mean anything.

Her thought was interrupted by an approaching silhouette, her eyes were in slits as she tried to recognize the frame of the person. As he steps into the light of the lantern her blood froze, “my dear,” the phrase will always give her shiver.

“Caleb... how is that...”

“No puzzling dear. I’m a powerful ghost. And I always become my will.”

“But... but why Nick?”

“Right time and place. Accidental victim, the poor boy. I’m hearing his miserable thoughts. He really likes this Julie.”

“I... I don’t know...” she stops as he decreases the gap between them, “no! no. if you take another step closer, I’ll kill you!”

“You’re not strong enough dear.”

“I wouldn’t be sure of that.”

“Then show me your powers, I’m delight to see them.”

She wasn’t sure if she had any other ability than being invisible for other ghost and if she’s honest she doesn’t want to demonstrate them in front of the evil himself.

“I knew it,” he rolls his eyes while clapping his in gloves wrapped hands.

“you know nothing. I’m capable of a lot of things your eyes are too unworthy seeing them!”

“I can give you the power you need dear.”

“I don’t need you, not today nor tomorrow!”

“You’re the mightiest ghost I’ve ever seen, besides me, indeed. Once I got the boys in my power. We’d be invincible. The band would be back at business and we’d play at the club again, come on those time were incredible!” Caleb throws his arms in the air.

“I will never let you near the boys again!”

“Okay this hurt, we’d such a good time!”

“Yeah of course, you enjoyed these, your sadistic asshole!” she hissed through gritted teeth.

“I wouldn’t call me that but yeah I did enjoy it.” He smirked at her and she felt pity for this poor boy himself.

‘I’ll save you nick’ a quick moment life twinkled in his eyes and her lips turned slightly up.

“We’ll see us, again.” She left the boy behind, cursing herself that she couldn’t help him right there, but she needed time, practice, a plan and the boys.

“We concluded you were already dead, Will.” She bows a brow at his statement.

“Yeah right ‘cause… indifferent.”

Reggie steps next to her. "Where were you?"

“I just needed to get a clear mind.”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Brie.”

“I had a strange meeting with Cal... Um... Nick.”

“What?” Luke rises to his feet, “how’s that possible?”

“He was just at the beach too?”

“You met Caleb?”

“No Lexi... it was just this Nick boy.”

“Just tell us the truth!” the shaggy haired boy locked his eyes on her body, stepping closer.

“Well... maybe Caleb was there too…”

“What?” Reggie’s mouth agape.

“Caleb is in Nick, he posses him. He wants us back, battles until we’re back in his band or he’s or we’re dead.”

“And you seriously didn’t want to tell us this?!” Alex began to pace through the room.

“We just have to get stronger, debug our abilities. We can make this!” she grabs after Alex clothes to stop him, “we always make it, Lexi,” he nods to her a smile creeping on his lips.

“Okay and what specific do you mean?��

“I don’t know but I think...” her index rubs her chin, “maybe through music or Julie, we have to try.”

“Yeah... Yeah, okay.” He licks his bottom lip, “we should tell her right in the morning.”

[scary-lasagna]

Slender-Sitter

An idea I got at 2am one night. 

A different take on the Slender Brothers (and Mama Slender!).I probably won’t follow up on it, but if you guys want one I’ll be happy to write it.

* * *

     You weren't quite sure what happened. One moment you were eating shitty off-brand cornflakes, and the next moment there was a machete to your throat.     "You're coming with me, and if I hear a peep outta ya, I'll slit your God Damn throat. Got it?"     What else could you have done besides nod?     To be fair, the walk through the forest with this masked man was awkward as all can be. You tried asking his name for small talk, to which he replied by throwing a rusty knife past your ear.     Maybe he was an introvert.     The sun was starting to rise now, and you realized you didn't want to die on a cold spring morning with your socks soaked through with dew.     But it as too late now, because the ivory and shadow colored manor slowly appeared into view. You didn't know where the Hell you were, and there was no way this was a half an hour walk from your house.     The masked man walked past you instead of following in your shadow, grabbing your arm and dragging you toward the mahogany double doors. He pulled the heavy knocker three times. It was so loud, that the sound disturbed a flock of birds resting in the circle of trees surrounding the building.     There were a few clicks and shutters behind the door before it peeled open, revealing a quite tall, pale woman. Her height wasn't even the intimidating part, it was the fact that she didn't even have a face.     "Hello, sweetheart. You can call me Mother." She outstretched a thin hand, which you hesitantly took to shake. "I hope Deliberate didn't cause you too much trouble." She nodded towards the masked man beside you. "I would've sent someone more qualified in choosing a baby sitter, but all of my other proxies were busy."     You shook your head to clear your thoughts when she turned to lead you into her home, "B-Babysitter?" You stuttered, being nudged in by the rude 'proxy'.     "Mhm! I'm heading out today for some errands, and I needed someone to look after my children." She bent down, extending her slender arms to pick up one of the said children. "Mostly this one." She planted what sounded like a kiss on his forehead before turning and outstretching the child to you.     The baby was fucking adorable, in honesty. With a wide grin and sparkling black eyes, it almost looked normal despite the black took over the whites of his eyes.     “Y-You want me," You pointed at yourself," A complete stranger to hold your pride and joy, none the less a living child?" It seemed kind of absurd.     "Honey, don't make me not like you." Her tone fell flat, causing you to remember your situation and quickly scooping the baby onto your hip. "Oh good! He already likes you!" Her hands clasped together, "I'll go get my other boys."     Oh, Christ, they're all boys.     You felt a little awkward waiting with this dude who looks like he wants to kill you at any second, and with this baby who won't stop staring.     You looked down, watching as his eyes lit up and that previous grin taking place on his chubby cheeks again following by a gurgling laugh. You couldn't help but return the smile. His pudgy hands reached up, one grasping at your shirt and the other pinching your cheek.     "The one in your arms is Splendor." The woman approached again, this time carrying another child. Two were following in her footsteps, obviously older than the infant and toddler.     "This one is Trender, and these two are my oldest, Slender and Offender." She nodded at each respectively. None of them really sported any facial features besides this Offender kid. He had a toothy grin that just made him look like he was up to something. You can already tell he'll cause some trouble.     She huffed and set the toddler down, who waddled over to his older siblings. "Now, I'm going to be gone until 10:30 tonight. Feel free to explore around the house, eat the food, honestly...I don't care what you do." She shrugged with a sigh. "Just keep them occupied, and if the house isn't burned down by the time I get back, I'll give you a pretty penny for your efforts."     There was a rustle behind you and Deliberate brushed the fur coat against you as he walked past to help Mother put it on. "If you need help Slender will know what to do." She glanced your way before walking towards her children, saying an individual goodbye to each one. She approached you, letting Splendor grasp onto her finger as she looked at you.     Her voice lowered out of earshot for the older boys. "If I come back and either a, you are not here, or b, any of my boys have as little as a scratch on them, I will find you, I will break all of your bones, rip them out of our body and use them for home decor." She paused, letting the emphasis sink in.                                        You nodded slowly as Slendor chimed in with a laugh. "Isn't that right baby boy!~" She cooed at the infant, kissing him on the cheek. He pressed saliva covered lips to her thin cheek in return. She straightened up to her full height, placing a hand on your shoulder. "10:30, 15 hours. Do not screw up." She struts past you, Deliberate sparing a glare as he followed her out. The door slammed behind them, leaving you alone with these little shits.

    Staring at the mahogany wood, you tried to think of a plan for the day. "So..." You turned away from the door, looking at the three- wait one was missing. Your eyes widened in panic as you glanced around.     "Offender went to raid the fridge." The tallest one said, despite not even having a mouth. Not that it surprised you, considering their mother is the most abnormal creature you've seen in your life. "Right." You nodded, glancing across the large lobby of the manor towards a set of doors with 'Kitchen' carved into a plaque above them.     "Slender, right?" You looked at the eldest, who responded with a nod. "Okay, you're going to have to help me, because I don't do children, and they don't like me either." You paused, looking down at Trender who has decided to latch on to your jeans. "Small ones, at least." You added as the kitchen door swung open, revealing a walking pile of ramen noodle boxes.     "Can you fix these Miss Human?" You could see a pair of legs poking out from under the boxes.     "Not all of them, and not now. You guys aren't having ramen for breakfast." You paced towards the second eldest, grasping a box from the top so the kid can see, "And I have a name, squirt." You said, pushing the door open to the kitchen with your shoulder. "Have you guys eaten?"     "No."     “Yes."     "Yes."     "Will you guys shut up? You want extra pancakes or not?" Offender set the boxes down by the large dining table with a grumble.     "Trender only knows the word 'yes', Offender."     Meanwhile, you struggled to get Spenldor in his high chair, who kept spreading his chubby legs so they wouldn't go through the leg holes. For a little baby, he was putting a hell of a strain on your arm. You had to quite literally peel Trender off and set him on your leg to see over the table you sat at.     "Aight, we're gonna have a talk to set a schedule for the day." You secured an arm around the toddler's torso.     "You should just let us watch t.v. all day, nothing can go wrong then." Offender shrugged.     "You're gonna be a shit eater aren't you?"     "Yeah, that's what mom says." He grinned.     "Try not to curse too much Trender is learning words." Slender chimed in.     "My name is [Y/n], by the way. You can call me that." You paused as they awkwardly just nodded in response. Splendor managed to learn how to eat his own foot for the time being. "How old are you guys?" You glanced between the four.     Offender opened his mouth as if to speak, but Slender beat him to it. "In Ender years, I'm 11, Offender is 7, Trender is 3, and Splendor is 1."     "Ender years..." You whispered. "Should I ask what that is for humans?"     "No."     "We're not allowed."     "Yes."     "Okay, whatever. You two watch t.v. or whatever, I'm gonna see what I can do with these two." You glanced between Splendor and Trender, who was neck grasping onto the chain of your necklace.     "There's a schedule mom made on the fridge for Sun."     You huffed and stood, struggling to hold Trender on your hip due to the contrast in size between him and Splendor. "Who's Sun?" You shifted your weight on one hip as you looked over the schedule.     "One of mom's proxies," Slender answered.     As you looked over the schedule, there were really some peculiar things that stood out to you.     "You guys have a library?" You glanced over your shoulder to find Offender was gone and Slender was picking up Splendor to accompany you by the fridge.     "Yeah, we go in there to do school work. We have lessons today." He mentioned., pacing over with a squirming piece of chub.     "Outdoor play, 1:00." You mumbled, running a finger down the list.     "Don't let Offender outside, he'll throw a ball through the window to get you in trouble. Mom's catching on though, so it's a 50-50 chance."     "...Thanks." You sighed, turning. "I take it you do most of the work with your brothers?" You lead him out of the kitchen and held the door for him.     "Yeah, mostly." He mumbled, shifting Splendor on his side.     You paused, seeing the sight of the lobby and wondering how in the hell Offender managed to make this much of a mess in the span of 3 minutes. Toys were scattered, the table in the middle was knocked over, the rug was twisted in all kinds of directions, not to mention the articles of clothing on top of the chandelier.     Trender gripped onto your shirt and neck, burying his head into your chest. Your brows furrowed as you rubbed his back.     "He gets upset when mom yells at Offender."     "Does she do it often?"     "Have you met him?"     "Right." You glanced around at the harsh sight. "Let's find your brother, then."

[dlwritings]

Busted | Peter Parker

masterlist found here

pairing - Peter x Stark!reader word count - 2,797 warnings - oral (f receiving), awkward mood A/N - for the anon who requested! | Peter and reader are both 18

summary - Sometimes parties are boring. You know what’s never boring? Sexy time with Peter. After this ordeal though, you’d take boring any day.

Truth be told, you hated your dad’s events. Whether it was a ball, dinner, or pointless party he threw for himself, you never wanted to be there. No one talked to you, and if they did it’d be to discuss the same old things: How’s college? You passing all your classes? You must be making your dad proud. Have I ever told you about this invention I’ve been working on? It would mean so much if you could mention it to your dad. Wow, you really have grown up. The last time I saw you…

It was exhausting.

The only time the parties were fun was if it was just a get-together with the Avengers. Between Sam and Bucky constantly getting at each other’s throats, Clint signing inappropriate jokes to you across the room, and Wanda pulling chairs out from underneath Steve, you were always having a good time. Not to mention, Avengers parties meant you got to see Peter.

You had been dating Peter in secret for a few months. You met him at one of the parties and, despite your dad explicitly telling you to stay away from him, you struck up a conversation with him as soon as you could. He was so cute and so smart, and all you wanted was a friend your age to hang out who knew about your superhero filled life. Before college, you had legally changed your last name to avoid unwanted attention at school. For the most part, you liked having seemingly separate lives. That didn’t mean it wasn’t hard for you to hold back reactions whenever Avengers related news came on the TV. You had to act like every other civilian when in reality, you had personal relationships at stake.

That was where Peter came in. He started off as the perfect friend, always willing to listen to you vent or spend time with you off campus. The two of you didn’t go to the same college, so it was a treat whenever he showed up outside of one of your academic buildings for a visit. Some nights he would wind up at your dorm, watching films with you until you fell asleep on his chest. It didn’t take long for you both to realize that your feelings for each other were much more romantic than they were platonic.

And that was where your dad came in. Tony loved Peter, he really did, but he also loved you. Even though you were well over 18, you were still his little girl, and the idea of his little girl dating the Spider-ling was not exactly an idea he was fond of. In his mind, you were still his angel of a daughter who never did anything wrong in her life and would never be defiled by another.

Eh, what he didn’t know didn’t hurt him.

So you kept your relationship a secret. It wasn’t hard when you weren’t living at home, but now that you were on Christmas break, you were back at the compound and under the watchful eye of your father. You and Peter had to be more careful, either sneaking off to his apartment when May wasn’t around or making sure to be perfectly silent when you were in your room. It was working flawlessly. No one suspected a thing (except maybe Wanda, but she could practically read minds, so that didn’t count to you).

On Christmas Eve, Tony was holding a party. While the Avengers would be there, so would all the people who asked you the endless, boring questions you were so sick of. You were holding onto the hope that you’d be able to answer a few questions, steal a bottle of wine, and lock yourself up in your room for the rest of the night. And hopefully, you wouldn’t be alone.

You got ready, putting on the fancy gown you had picked out for the event. Despite your distaste for the fancy events, you did love dressing up. Your dress was velvet green with straps that crossed in the back, a v-neck front, and a slit that ran up your left leg. You studied yourself in the mirror with a smile and reached for your phone. You snapped a picture and sent it to Peter: Can’t wait to see you tonight ;)

Thankfully, you were enjoying yourself at the party. You tried not to leave Wanda and Clint’s side, because as long as you stayed occupied with them, no strangers really approached you. The three of you sat around, drinking your weight in your respective drinks and laughing at everything you talked about.

Now, you didn’t have any superpowers, but you liked to think that you had your own Peter Tingle™️, because the minute Peter arrived, your head turned to the door like you knew he’d be there. And he was. And he looked fine. as. hell.

He was wearing black slacks and a white button-up with the first few buttons undone. His hair was gelled to near perfection, and you smirked at the thought that it wouldn’t stay that way for very long. Peter found your eyes across the room and started to make his way to you, Wanda, and Clint.

“Please,” Wanda said, “for my sake, keep your thoughts PG.” You slapped her arm lightly as she took a sip of her champagne.

“Whoa, wait, what’s going on?” Clint laughed. He motioned between you and Peter, who was still a few steps away. “You two got a little thing going on?”

“Little,” Wanda scoffed. “When these two aren’t fucking each other, they’re thinking about fucking each other.”

“Wanda!” you hissed, your eyes growing wide. “Stop!”

“Jesus,” Clint said, still laughing. “How does your dad feel about that?”

“How does your dad feel about what?” Peter asked, finally reaching your side.

“His daughter and the Spider-kid tangling webs,” Clint said.

“Dude!” Peter said at the same time that you said, “Gross!” and Wanda laughed.

“He doesn’t know,” you said, lowering your voice again. “And I’d like to keep it that way, alright? So you-” You looked at Wanda. “-keep your powers to yourself, and you-” You looked at Clint and, instead of speaking, signed Keep your big mouth shut. We all know how you get after a few drinks. He laughed back and raised his drink to his lips.

After a while, you were starting to get bored at the party. As usual, everything seemed to drag. You loved chatting with all your Avengers friends, but seeing Peter looking how he looked, well, there were a few other things you’d rather be doing. Soon enough, it seemed like Peter had the same idea. You gave him The Look™️, and he gave you a short nod in response. You had been migrating around the party, so you didn’t have to worry about sassy comments from Wanda. You finished the rest of your drink and started to make your way through the crowd and to the bedrooms.

“(Y/N)!”

You turned and saw Bucky and Sam smiling at you. They walked over, each pulling you in for a hug. “Hey guys,” you said, feeling slightly guilty that you hadn’t talked to them all night, and now were about to ditch them.

“How’s it going?” Sam asked. “Feel like we haven’t seen you in ages.”

“I’m alright,” you said. “Not feeling too well at the moment. Think I’m gonna go lay down for a bit.”

“Aw man, alright,” Bucky said, a frown gracing his face. “Well, we’ll see you tomorrow then. Bird brain’s on breakfast duty.” Sam gave Bucky a shove, and you gave them a soft and “painful” smile before heading off to your room.

You plugged your phone into the speaker beside your bed, starting to play some music as you waited for Peter and scrolled through Instagram. Within a few minutes, Peter was in your room, quietly closing the door behind him. You gave him a smile and put your phone on your bedside table, wiggling your finger and beckoning him over. You laid down flat on your back as Peter crawled on top of you, planting his hands on either side of your head and kissing you. You ran your fingers through his hair, messing up his style like you had been planning to the minute you saw him. He whined and pulled away. “Do you know how long it took me to do that?” he complained. “I had to have May help me.”

You giggled, “We’ll fix it again before you leave, okay?”

“Mm,” he hummed, as if considering, “okay.” Peter kissed you again before trailing his lips down your neck. “Wanna mark you up so bad,” he mumbled. “Been wanting to kiss this pretty chest since you sent me that picture.” You whimpered as he pushed your dress slightly to the side just to expose enough of your nipple for him to suck. He lightly bit your now hard nub before getting off the bed, leaving you frowning. You propped yourself up on your elbows, only to fall back when he pulled your heels to the end of the bed. He knelt in front of you, letting your legs hang off the edge of the bed. He smirked up at you before ducking his head under the long skirt of your dress. The fact that you couldn’t see him made you ache for him even more. The suspense of not being able to see what he was doing was absolutely torturous. You wanted to grab onto his hair, but resorted to just gripping the sheets as tightly as you could.

Peter kissed up your thigh, then slowly hooked his fingers in your panties and tugged them down your legs. You couldn’t see, but he shoved them in his pocket before bringing his mouth back to where you wanted him most. You could feel his breath fan over you, and just as you were about to beg, he flattened his tongue against you and dragged it up the length of your pussy to your clit. He did this a few times before fully diving in. His tongue went inside you while his nose continuously brushed against your clit.

“Pete,” you whined, throwing your head back. He hummed against you before lightly sucking your clit between your lips. Your words were so quiet, so breathless, you weren’t even sure Peter heard them. “Right th-”

“Jesus fucking Christ!”

Your eyes shot open as you sat up and felt Peter scrambling beneath your dress. Tony stood in your doorway, his hand over his eyes and his head pressed against the wall. “Dad!” you shouted, trying to keep Peter from revealing himself. “Get out!”

“You said you were sick!” Tony said, pointing at you with his eyes still closed.

“Well I-”

“Who is that?” Tony whispered, anger laced in his words as he peeled his hand away from his eyes.

“N-No one,” you stuttered, keeping your hands on Peter’s head to keep him from moving. “Certainly not anyone you told me to stay away from. Because, well, you know that I would never disobey-”

Tony sighed and held up his hand to shut you up. “Mr. Parker?”

“Yes?” Peter squeaked out. You slapped your hand to your forehead and fell back on the bed.

“Please remove yourself from between my daughter’s legs,” Tony said. You felt Peter take his hand and wipe it across his lips before coming out from your skirt.

“H-Hi, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, stumbling to stand up. “So, this isn’t nearly as bad as it looks!”

“No?”

“No!” Peter said. “You see, (Y/N) told me she wasn’t feeling good! I was just, uh, giving her a, uh, a check-”

“Don’t,” Tony said, pointing a finger at Peter.

“Yep, yeah, I didn’t think I should finish that,” Peter said, his whole body seeming to shrink back. His hands were covering his crotch, and you wished you could disappear from the spot.

“This is the worst moment of my life,” you whispered. “I think I’m going to die.”

“I explicitly said that this-” Tony aggressively motioned between the two of you. “-could not happen.”

“Dad,” you sighed, sitting up again, “you can’t tell me who I can and can’t be with.” Tony opened his mouth, but you kept talking. “Besides! You love Peter! So what if I love him too? Is that such a big deal? Is that so forbidden?”

Peter had been avoiding eye contact with everyone but snapped his head up to look at you. “You love me?” Peter said.

“It’s not forbidden for you to love him,” Tony said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “What is forbidden is you two doing-” He hesitated and pointed between the two of you again. “-this under my roof. When I’m home for god’s sake.”

“So is that why you told me to stay away from him when I first met him?” you challenged, folding your arms across your chest. “Because you wanted to prevent premarital sex in your house?”

“Are we seriously going to ignore the fact that you said you loved me or-”

“You’re my daughter!” Tony shouted.

“So what?” you shouted back, throwing your hands in the air.

“You’re growing up too fast, alright?” Tony said, throwing his own hands up in defeat. Your shoulders dropped, and Tony sighed. “You’re growing up too fast, and I’m not ready for it.”

Peter cleared his throat, feeling awkward now. “This is clearly not my moment. I’m just gonna-”

“Stay right there,” Tony said, holding his hand up to stop Peter while still maintaining eye contact with you.

“Don’t make him stay for this,” you whined.

“I’m almost done,” Tony said. “And then I have a few choice words to give him.” He finally broke your eye contact to glare at Peter who swallowed thickly and stepped backward until he hit the wall and nodded. Tony looked back at you and sighed again. “All things considered, Parker is definitely the lesser of all the evils.”

“Thank you?”

“No,” Tony said, holding his hand up to Peter again before continuing. “If you had just told me, I wouldn’t be in this situation about to go to the lab to have my eyes washed out.”

You sighed, “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” Tony said, giving you an awkward smile, “so am I.” Tony turned to Peter, his soft expression hardening again. “If I ever-” He paused, surely for dramatic emphasis. “-ever see you doing-” He hesitated. “-that or anything like that with my daughter again-”

“I get it,” Peter said, quickly nodding his head.

“I don’t think you do,” Tony said, shaking his head.

“Oh,” Peter whispered.

“If I ever,” he said again, “catch you like that with my daughter again, not only will you be off the team, but you will wish for Thanos to come and snap you again.”

“Dad!”

“Nope, no, I deserve that,” Peter said, holding his hand up to stop you. “Yep. It’s fine. Understood, sir.” He awkwardly saluted your dad which made you roll your eyes.

“Now,” Tony said, letting out a heavy sigh, “I’m going to go see if Ms. Maximoff can mess with my brain enough to make me forget everything I just saw.” You nodded, and Tony left the room. Before he fully walked away, he stuck his head back in the room. “Three inches,” he said, motioning to the space between the door and its frame. “Three inches, minimum.” You rolled your eyes and waved your dad off, leaving you and Peter alone again.

You threw yourself on your bed face down, thinking that if you pressed your face into the pillow enough, you could sink into the quantum realm and disappear forever. Or maybe the Dark Dimension. Doctor Strange had told you stories about Dormammu before, and you could see yourself spending the rest of eternity with him. It had to be better than continuing to live in a world where your father saw you getting eaten out.

You felt the bed sink next to you and heard Peter sigh. “So,” Peter said, “you love me?”

You sighed, “Can we talk about this when I’m not absolutely mortified?”

“It could’ve been worse,” Peter said.

“How?” you mumbled against the bed. “How could that have gone any worse?”

“Uh,” Peter hesitated, “we could’ve actually been fuc-”

“Don’t!” you shouted.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Peter said. “I’ll stop.”

You and Peter were both quiet for a long time. You were not planning to return to the party, that was for sure. You could deal with Wanda and Clint’s endless torment tomorrow.

“(Y/N)?” Peter said.

“Mm?”

“Do you want your underwear back?”

“I want that underwear burned so I never have to be reminded of this day.”

“... Yeah I’ll just keep it.”

----- ----- ----- -----

TAGLIST

@bangtan-serendipity | @planetdemon | @the-singing-clown406 | @tomshufflepuff | @bluelalal | @grandloser | @jackiehollanderr | @mindset-jupiter | @bisexual-sk8r | @feel-like-gold | @runaway-apple | @miraclesoflove | @marvelismylifffe| @wonderbyers | @coraz0ndcristal| @lizmarvel |  @hannihannelora

[imaginesbymonika]

The Crush

Imagine: Sam and Dean Winchester are at a hunter’s wake. But between the other hunters there one one particular woman Dean can’t wait to meet again.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x reader

Warnings: Dean has a crush. fluff.

Flashbacks are in italic

“That is a big house.”,Sam exclaims as he shuts the door of the impala. He and his brother Dean look around on the huge property.

“It is a family home.”,Jody says before walking straight towards it.

Inside you can hear laughter and clinking beers bottles, hunters from all over Canada and North America are chatting and drinking. A few days ago a dear friend of their Jody has died on a hunt, and to give her a sense of comfort Sam and Dean decided to join her at his wake.

“Jody!”,a voice says as soon as the three enter the house:”Ah Jody, thanks for coming.”. A older lady with dyed hair walks up to the huntress and pulls her into a hug.

“Of course!”,Jody answers:”How are you holding up?”.

“Well, it’s a house full of loud, drunk hunters...my son’s dead-“.

Jody looks down at the ground while her eyes get watery.

“I haven’t slit my wrist yet. Small victories.”,she finishes her sentence and holds up the drink in her hand, before taking a big sip of it.

“We’re very sorry for your loss.”,Sam says and Dean nods his head.

The woman looks at him for a second before she sighs:”I know.”,she says as she walks away:”Everyone is sorry.”.

The brown haired huntress watches her disappear in the kitchen:”So... this is going to be fun. “.

____

Dean looks at the beer in the refrigerator, before taking one. He opens the bottle and throws the cap into the bin.

He takes a sip of it, when suddenly the hunters behind him stop talking. The only sound audible is the sound of high heels walking on the wood floor towards him.

“Dean Winchester.”,a female voice says and he freezes. The oldest Winchester slowly turns around and immediately locks eyes with no other than Y/N Y/L/N.

The huntress stays right infront of him, wearing a pair of light blue flared jeans, a black turtleneck and white stiletto shoes.

She reaches behind him for the refrigerator without breaking eye contact once:“It’s good to see you again.”.

„Oh my god.“, Dean whispers and starts hitting Sam’s arm multiple times without tearing his gaze from whatever he was looking at.

“Dude, stop.”,Sam takes a step back and grabs his hand before Dean could slap him once again. He tries to follow his eyes but the only thing Sam sees is a group of young women:”Dean, those are teenagers-“.

Dean looks at his brother in confusion before pointing at another woman. She is sitting a few meters away, reading something on her computer:”I mean her.”.

“Why don’t you go over and talk to her?”.

“Are you out of your mind?”,he hisses at his brother while they sit down at a table right next to the window:”I can’t just-“,he stops:”You don’t have any idea who she is, do you.”.

Sam chuckles:“Tell me, Dean. Who is she?“.

„Who she is?“,Dean sighs:“She’s Y/N Y/L/N.“. As soon as her name leave his lips Sam’s eyes widen.

“That’s Y/L/N?!”,he asks a bit louder than expected, Dean gives him a stern look before turning around. When he meets eyes with the huntress he quickly turns back to Sam.

“Yes, she is!”,he whispers to his brother:”Be quiet!”.

Sam chuckles:”Isn’t she that famous huntress?”,he takes a bite of the burger the waitress brought a minute earlier.

Dean nods:”Yeah.”.

“Don’t you have a crush on her ever since you’re like 20?”.

“Me? No. Maybe...Yes, I do.”,he rolls his eyes:”Doesn’t matter, different topic. Drop it.”.

“Excuse me?”, a voice asks and when Dean looked up he meets eyes with no other than Y/N Y/L/N:”You’re Sam and Dean Winchester, aren’t you?”.

Sam nods his head and points towards a chair:”Sit down.”.

“Thanks.”,she says and smiles at the youngest Sibling:”Are you two here for a case?”,she asks and raises her hand to get the attention of a waiter:”A cola for me, please.”.

The waiter nods.

“Well, no.”,Dean says:”We are- We are just stopping by for food.”

“Good, because I’m having some issues with the case I am working on. Maybe you two could help me.”.

{to be continued}

[kitten-keith]

Horrid Self Indulgence

Wrote this long thing and now it’s gone cause I posted it to the wrong account and copy paste didn’t work so /fuck me/ anyway.

The whole following fic is purely self indulgent garbage, thus the name (it’s even called this in my google docs because I HAD A PLAN for what I was doing and it was supposed to be insanity) though as usual things get derailed and Idk. I had wanted to get into the hijinks of this concept but lost steam after starting the second bit. But the first bit can stand alone. ish. I guess.

Idk. It’s all completely ridiculous though so idk have fun.

Klance, slightly intoxicated, sharing a bed, Keith is uncomfortable AF and Lance is trying to be chill about it. Weird head shit and accidental rituals. You’ll see. Seriously. Horrid self indulgence.

-----

It was a pleasant moment between comrades that went horribly, heinously, horrifically wrong. 

And if that’s what bonding with Keith friggin Kogane gets him then absolutely not, never again.

It was such a simple stupid fuck up. How was he supposed to know?!

They were at a dinner, stumbling awkwardly through an alien planets customs, trying unsuccessfully to pretend they were okay with the garbs they’d been forced to wear and that the food didn’t make them nauseous when Lance had made the biggest mistake ever and looked at Keith. 

See, because he was the leader his attire had to display this-this—nobility. And god, Keith was anything but noble. He was sitting to the right of the planet’s leader, Allura across from him, and he looked like they might as well have sat him at the kids table with how his brows furrowed and he looked at the ground like he was trying not to cry.

His face was red enough to match the silk scarf loosely clinging to his shoulders and his thumbs rubbed absently over his ungloved hands. He was bare aside from the scarf and a darker one wrapped around his waist for modesty that he’d had to fight for. Apparently this planet had no concept of an external penis or whatever and needed to be educated on human biology before they gave in to Keith’s demands. 

The whole thing was about respect, leaving yourself bare to show you had nothing to hide, but to remind everyone of his station the locals had him decked out in jewels from head to toe. They were braided into his hair, dangling from thin chains across his chest, Lance was positive there was some sort of jeweled sandal decorating his tiny delicate toes too. 

(And not because he paid attention to that sort of thing. Just. Ya know. Shiny shit.) 

Allura was actually dressed about the same though being a woman with no external penises she was actually way nakeder than Keith. And, as she was a full on princess they’d given her a whole slew of silver that had strategically covered all necessary bits that Lance’s mother might have flinched at. 

Not that Allura seemed to give a fuck in the slightest and even seemed to enjoy it as she spoke animatedly to the world leaders, the jewels on her body making small clinking noises with every movement. 

Lance had spotted perfect (and he means perfect) dark nipples exactly 16 times since they’d all sat down to their meal and absolutely couldn’t take it anymore so that was when he’d turned his attention to Keith. 

And somehow had been unable to turn away from him since.

The other Paladins were stripped some and given a few shiny baubles. Lance himself was wearing flowy pants slit up the sides over the dark boxers he’d thankfully been allowed to continue wearing. A couple gold plated necklaces and an arm band and he was good to go. Lance has no issue being topless and actually kinda liked the style. Hunk was a bit more uncomfortable, same pants, same boxer treatment (his were white with yellow suns on them, Lance clapped him on the back for unintentionally matching.) 

Hunk had the same kind of jewelry too but try all he might he couldn’t drop his hands from where they were wrapped around his chest.

He said he was cold repeatedly but lance figured he was just self conscious and offered him plenty of wolf whistles back in their dressing rooms because “man hunk you wanna bench press me later cause those arms are making me weak~!” 

But sadly it didn’t seem to work. 

Pidge was an interesting sell. Same bottom situation in her signature green but she’d also managed to get away with a pair of socks that she was no longer wearing on her feet.

They were providing just a hint more cover for her chest after she’d wrapped Lance’s, Hunks’s, and her own scarf around herself like a makeshift halter top. The locals hadn’t liked it and Allura had tried to explain that female breasts were nothing to be ashamed of but Pidge’s size and thus assumed age had granted her the “let the child be” excuse. 

And sure, Lance was a grown man who was all for equality and free the nipple and aaallll that jazz but if they had forced his pseudo baby sister to go topless he might have lost his absolute shit and gotten them all sent back to the castle. 

Not that that would have been the worst thing at this point because then he wouldn’t be staring at Keith like this— to avoid staring at Allura! Of course— and then he wouldn’t have gotten elbowed in the side by the Pidgeling and gotten the funny look from Hunk and nah man okay. 

Lance wasn’t ogling the leader of voltron. 

He wasn’t. 

He was just. 

Uh. 

Worried about him. 

Yeah, that’s right. Worried. 

Which was what lead him to follow Keith’s retreating form the second they were allowed to adjourn for the night. 

It’s what compelled him to bump his shoulder and wave a hand in greeting. 

And maybe that pout had something to do with Lance’s laughing, throwing his arm over his shoulders, and ushering him to his room for the night. 

“Come on dude, I've got something for you, stashed from that one planet with the abomination? You know the one… Kell? Krell? It’s good okay, better than what they just tried to feed us. Take the edge off.” 

Take the edge off. 

Famous last words? 

Keith groaned and wrapped his arms around himself tightly but nodded and willingly turned off course from his own room. Lance wondered if this was so easy because he’d been so beaten down by the day or because he actually found solace in Lance’s company. 

He didn’t have the nerve to ask and instead simply sauntered into his room, leaving Keith to stand idly by the newly shut door. 

“It tastes better than nunville but it’s a little stronger so you’re gonna wanna sip at it okay?” 

Keith nodded but his eyes looked glassy, like he wasn’t actually listening. 

Lance moved to his temporary rooms vanity setting and shuffled through his bottles of toiletries. When they’d decided to indulge the locals in their customs and stay a few nights basking in their hospitality Lance had been told to pack quickly but he hadn’t forgotten anything important. This included the little silver pouch that he’d somehow barely touched since keeping it with him all this time. 

He opened the pull top with his teeth to take a small sip before offering it to Keith who was still standing right against the door as if he was afraid to move. Considering how loose the scarf around his waist looked, he might have been. 

He did look… good though. 

Remarkably so. 

Amidst the finery and the sheer and silk fabrics, his hair in a loose braid over one shoulder and that almost permanent flush across his cheeks, he was beautiful and adorable and stunning all at once and it was doing ridiculous things to Lance’s chest. He almost regretted taking the sip that he did because he worried about what he might let slip aloud, looking at Keith like that, but as the alien substance travelled down his throat and warmed his body he kept his wits. He felt the buzzing under his skin but retained his sense. He was here to offer Keith a moment to relax. Nothing more.

He walked over to Keith and instead of handing him the pouch he resealed it and held it softly under one arm as he reached out with both hands for Keith’s waist. 

Keith flinched so hard his back hit the door, “what are you doing?!”

Lance rolled his eyes, pushing closer and grabbing on to the scarf around his waist tugging and tightening it for him. 

“Looked like you were having trouble.”

Keith’s flush was so hot Lance could practically feel it.

Poor thing. 

“Right… thanks…” he stayed against the door but took the pouch when Lance offered it. 

Lance turned to walk over to his bed and make himself comfortable and by the time he turned his attention back to Keith the boy was swallowing.

“You remembered what I said about that stuff being hard hitting… right?”

Keith shrugged.

Took another sip. (This one looked more like a sip at least. Maybe Lance wouldn’t have to carry him back to his room later.)

He sealed the stopper and looked around the room briefly before walking in the straightest line imaginable to sit on the foot of Lance’s bed, holding the pouch out to him again. 

Lance considered it, wondering if it would help or hinder his case to not make a fool of himself with Keith looking like that and decided why not. Besides, he could pace himself, unlike some people. 

When he finished taking his last sip, feeling the warmth and the contentment sitting in his stomach as he leaned back on his elbows on his bed, he hummed to himself and shut the top, putting it to the side. 

Keith shuffled around so his back was to the bed post and he placed his hands over his lap uncomfortably.

“So uh. Was—was that it?”

“Chill Keith. You’ve been looking so tightly wound today I figured you could use a break.” 

Keith visibly paled and moved to curl in on himself but thought better of it. His thumbs started to track back and forth over his fingers though. Bad sign. 

“Relax!” Lance demanded, stretching the vowel sounds to make it more playful. 

Keith neglected to heed this order and instead looked away. 

“Look, I doubt it’ll cause any problems, everyone knows their customs made you uncomfortable. Here, if you want you can go ahead and get under the covers.” Lance reached behind him and pulled up the bed sheets. It would help his own situation too. Cover Keith and that pretty skin of his up. Put that beautiful body away because his own was starting to get ideas he didn’t need. 

He remembered Allura looking just as beautiful if not more so and it helped for a second to feel better mentally but he was still fighting not to be turned on next to half naked (that was being generous) Keith. 

“That might actually be… are you sure? I could just— leave. I could leave.”

Lance rolled his eyes. 

“Would you chill if you left or would you stay up all night worrying about the kinds of impressions you’re leaving?”

Keith was silent. His thumb disappeared behind his pointer to dig his little blunt nail into his middle. 

“Get in the bed. Let me tell you stories.” 

Keith’s eyes lit up at that and for a moment he started forward to crawl across the bed toward where the sheets were up, but he stopped himself again. 

Lance sighed.

“Feeling exposed?”

Keith nodded.

“You know we showered together back at the garrison right? I’ve seen you naked. Completely naked. And lathered.”

Of course, this was before Lance’s full sexual awakening and before Keith had filled out like he did with those abs and thighs for days but uh— that wasn’t a necessary addition to the conversation it just wasn’t. 

Keith still flushed like a tomato and it made Lance’s little traitorous heart do a flip.

“Right right. I forget you didn’t even remember me from the garrison.” Lance offered sardonically, trying to shift the mood. 

Keith bit his lip. Man, even that looked good. Lance wanted to bite that lip. He could just see it. Lip to lip with Keith Kogane groaning out. Lance’s hand on his shoulder pushing him back on the bed, the other reaching beneath him to get a nice big handful of that round perky ass—

Okay. 

Okay maybe Keith shouldn’t get under the covers. 

Maybe he should leave. 

He should leave. 

He should—

Keith started to mumble something when Lance turned away and shut his eyes. 

“Alright you have ten seconds, go on princess.”

It was silent for a moment. 

Lance squeezes his eyes shut tightly because this was the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be doing.

“10.” 

But he was doing it.

“9”

There was the sound of Keith shuffling behind him, pulling up the sheets more and crawling into bed. He was getting comfortable by the time Lance reached 3 and Keith spoke up telling him he could stop. 

Lance nodded and turned around so he could face Keith, continue conversations, see if he could find a relevant story in his brain about his family or something simple back home that would help Keith unwind. 

Instead he was struck a bit dumb by Keith snuggled under his (always color coded) blue bed sheets, his inky black hair splayed out on the pillow. Lance had always thought Keith’s eyes were this remarkable shade of blue but surrounded by all the blue in his bed Lance realized he was wrong. They were clearly more of a violet, wide and staring at him under lashes that were too long and too elegant for a guy who made a living kicking furry alien chinchillas in the face.

And with that thought came the image of Keith kicking ass, those muscle toned legs under skin tight space suits…

Now basically bare and in his bed. 

Naked. 

Naked Keith in his bed. 

Naked Keith in his bed staring at him expectantly like— like—

Right. Right he was waiting for a story. 

Okay. 

Lance flopped onto his side, too close to Keith but in an effort to remain comfortable and casual it had to be done, and went back to racking his mind for an idea that didn’t involve pressing his body as close to Keith’s as physically possible. 

Something jingled as he went down and he remembered the abundance of jewels that had been decorating Keith’s body. 

There were still a few left in his hair that he seemed to not care about but it looked like the little jeweled sandals were there, as were the ones that had decorated his arms.

It took him a second but Lance scooped them up and put them on the bedside table before getting comfortable again. 

“Oh okay so, let me tell you about the time my big sister Veronica brought home the biggest stupidest “boyfriend” she could find…” 

Lance could see Keith smile just beneath the blanket. 

He reached out and started to pick the jewels out of Keith’s hair as he spoke, occasionally running his fingers through it. If Keith had a complaint he didn’t voice it. Besides, just because it was styled stupid didn’t make it any less soft.

By the time Lance got to the big reveal of the story, the part where Veronica had hired the guy to piss off their dad over an argument they’d had about Veronica’s openness to bringing a girlfriend home (maybe, in the future), Keith had completely knocked out.

And for some reason, Lance thought that was alright.

They could totally just. Sleep in the same bed. No problem.

With Keith wearing nothing but a silk scarf.

He thought this was a perfectly good idea as he showered and put on a fresh pair of boxers and crawled under his sheets to the sound of Keith’s light breathing.

He was a little dizzy, but forgot that the biggest after effect of inebriation was poor judgement, and easily curled up next to Keith.

Keith, who was just awake enough to take Lance’s hand.

Lance thought it was adorable.

Because Keith was adorable. 

And Lance wanted to be touching his skin like this (sort of) anyway.

It worked for him. 

He was sleepy too.

So sleepy he lapsed almost instantly into dreams.

Dreams of Allura dancing just out of his reach. Of her nonchalance at his flirting and efforts to be noticed by her. Making him feel useless. Undesirable. Unworthy.

He was so pathetic.

Keith’s voice was in his head. 

Telling him how kind he was. How sweet he was.

“I couldn’t do any of this without you Lance.”

“I need you.”

“I hope you know that. I hope you know that—if you could see yourself how I see you…”

“Lance you’re so…”

“I want…”

“I wish…”

Keith was at his side. Mumbling those nothings into his ear in little breathy sighs. 

It felt nice. 

It was nice to hear. 

Nice to feel Keith pressing in beside him.

“I wish you could see what I see in you… love yourself as much as I do...Lance, I…”

Well this was awfully self indulgent of him. Dreaming of a Keith who would say those kinds of things. As if the real Keith capital L Loved him. 

Like Lance hadn’t spent years trying to get his attention the same way he had with Allura too. 

As if he hadn’t gotten shot down with every attempt to—

“I liked you then too! I was just… afraid to let anyone in…”

“Liar, you didn’t even remember me.”

“That was the lie…”

“That was…?”

“You were so cute… always trying so hard… always going the extra effort to make people smile or laugh… I always thought you were…”

“You liked me back at the garrison? Like... one smoothie two straws, like-like…?”

Keith turned away, rolling onto his side. Face probably flushed a deep crimson again. Man he was so cute…!

“Like write your name in my notebook with a bunch of hearts, like-like… yeah.”

Extremely self indulgent dream. 

But Lance was gonna take it.

He squeezed himself close to Keith’s body, wrapping an arm around his chest as Keith jumped.

“And now you…?”

“Now I…”

It was silent. 

Lance tried to ignore how perfectly Keith’s ass cheeks felt pressed to his crotch.

He felt naked.

Naked Keith in his bed. Saying all these pretty hopeful things...What a perfect dream…

Lance gently bumped his hips. He couldn’t help it, and it was his dream after all right?

Keith was silent, but reached a hand back to slide down Lance’s waist, breathing loud.

Was that how Lance’s mind worked? Show me a love confession followed by an immediate bone. 

Lance’s wet dreams were clearly things of substance.

“Do you love me?”

He bumped his hips again. His dick hardening fast.

Keith’s fingers dug into Lance’s boxers, applying just enough pressure to drive him forward, keep him pressed to his ass.

“I do… do you…?”

“Hmm… never thought about it before.”

Keith made a low unhappy noise.

“I def love your face… your so fucking pretty face…” 

Keith went silent again. Lance ground his hips against him and his hard cock was finding a very comfortable place right between his cheeks. 

“And I love this body...your ass is heaven, Keith, wish you could feel this...” 

Keith was definitely naked. Naked enough that Lance was desperate to get out of his boxers. 

How could his dream provide him perfectly naked love confessing Keith and not leave Lance equally perfectly naked?

Sense, where was it?

“I love how brave you are… stupid and reckless and it drives me insane with worry. But brave.” 

Keith backed into Lance’s lap, rolling his hips and made Lance’s mind stutter.

“I love how—how much you care about things even when you don’t show it… I love your laugh…”

He could feel Keith’s entire body against his front, a single useless silk scarf around his waist, the rest probably lost somewhere in the bed. His hand found one of Keith’s nipples and he started to slowly rub his fingers around the nub causing Keith to raise his chest into the touch a bit more with a small high pitched sound.

“I love how you hum during flight simulations and I always leave coms open so I can hear you…”

With Keith raising his chest for Lance’s hand it gave him a moment to slip his other hand underneath him. He pinched his nipple between his thumb and forefinger once before sliding that first hand down the span of his body. Feather light touches over the ridges of his abs, loving the way Keith twitched and rocked harder back into Lance. 

“I love how unbelievably dense you could be sometimes, you’re such a mess you’re perfect—” Lance moved his head so he was right against Keith’s ear for the word “perfect” but lost his nerve when he dropped his face into the back of Keith’s neck, “What am I saying… of course I love you.”

Did Lance have feelings for Allura? Yes. Did he wish she’d reciprocate? Yeah. 

Did Lance feel guilty about indulging himself in a dream with someone who he also had some very strong (possibly stronger) feelings for? No, not at all. 

Because real talk? If Keith had said half of this in real life Lance’s heart would have combusted and he would have kissed the life out of him by now—

Because that was just what Keith did to him sometimes. 

He just… blew his mind with how much he could make Lance feel. 

Christ.

Good lord.

He hadn’t taken advantage of the opportunity to kiss him yet. 

He reached up with the arm that was beneath Keith, his hand spreading wide over his neck to grab his jaw and tentatively guide him to face him. 

“Can I kiss you?”

Keith’s hips ground back hard as he laughed, “you’re asking that now?”

He was right. 

Besides, kinda stupid to ask permission from a dream right? 

“Stupid stupid me, right?” 

“Stop that.”

“Right let’s get to the smooching.”

“Yeah alright I take it back.”

“If you love me you have to love all of me.”

Lance could practically hear Keith rolling his eyes. 

“Hey it’s my dream—“

And it was absolutely superpowered. Maybe there was something in his drink that had different properties on this planet because when Keith parted his lips and lifted his head they had never looked so inviting in his life. He had to stop himself mid sentence to dive for those lips.

Smashed up his nose a little bit on Keith’s cheek which he was sure he would have felt too if this wasn’t a dream but Lance didn’t care because he was kissing Keith Kogane.

And yes. He’d had plenty of dreams where he’d kissed Keith. Plenty of dreams where they’d made out on the rec room floor or the garrison showers or had sex in reds cockpit. 

But they had never ever felt like this.

His brain practically fizzled out. 

He felt Keith’s tongue against his and then suddenly it was gone.

Felt like he was falling, disoriented. Someone (Keith?) reached out to catch him. Dug little blunt nails into his arm in panic.

“Lance—what—“

The dream shifted. Lance was alone, floating in an empty pool, naked and confused and annoyed.

The water was cold but didn’t make him shiver. 

There was a splash in the distance, and Lance hoped it was Keith but he couldn’t see anything. Time passed and he started to lose sense of where he or the water began. 

He’d have given anything to be back with Keith. 

What a shitty way to end his dream…

When he woke up his throat was dry, like he’d had too much to drink the night before and his head spun a bit. 

He sat up and found he was on the far side of the bed where Keith had gone to sleep. Didn’t even see Keith, so maybe he’d gotten up earlier and Lance had managed to settle into place where his body heat had been. 

Of course that was for mere moments before he glanced to the opposite side of his bed and found… himself?

He also realized very suddenly he was buttnaked with only a silk scarf tied loosely around his hips and his hair was long enough to tickle his shoulders.

He looked down at himself and saw the expanse of absolutely flawless Keith body, down to the little dark hairs just under that useless scarf.

Lance wasn’t sure why he did it, but he reached down to grab himself in his palm (Keith in Keith’s palm??) And was immediately overwhelmed by the sensation of it. He had to bite his lip to keep quiet and fell back on the bed hard as his hand tightened to seek out the feeling. He was partially hard already and from the feeling of it he must have been suffering all night.

But excuse you Lance. This isn’t your body what are you doing? 

Dreaming? Still? Could have sworn he was very much awake now…

He forced himself to stop, noting quietly that he was absolutely not going to forget what it felt like, and looked over at his own body. 

Had to be a dream. 

Had to be.

He shut his eyes, letting his finger tips graze over the inside of Keith’s thighs because dream or no there were so many nice things about that he was gonna keep doing it.

Well until someone shook him awake (again?) 

It was strange seeing an expression that was so clearly Keith, puzzled with furrowed brows and tight lips, on his own face. 

But there it was. 

Staring at him like he was the strangest mystery in the known universe. Which, to be fair, if he was still wearing Keith’s face he kind of was. (And kind of had to be considering he definitely wasn’t the one wearing his own face.) 

Keith (you know, it felt like Keith and acted like Keith, but he really didn’t know if that was Keith) was the first to register the shock of the mornings revelation. Lance actually felt kinda slow and confused. Maybe he’d drank too much— no wait, Keith did. 

Anyway.

So. 

Keith started screaming. And Lance started screaming. 

And maybe that wasn’t a great idea while guests on a diplomatic mission in another world palace with your comrades in arms down the hall while you’re both pretty naked and in bed together. 

But uh. 

Fun morning.

[gxrcias-gothgf]

There's Nothing Holding Me Back (Modern JoJo de la Guerra X Reader)

i wanna follow where she goes i think about her and she knows it

To say that you sparked JoJo’s interest was an understatement. The boy was fascinated by you and your personality. You weren’t a normal part of the large group of friends that JoJo was a part of. You did occasionally hang out with them when your friend Finch invited you but that wasn’t as often as JoJo wished it was.

i wanna let her take control

The boy that was JoJo de la Guerra had intrigued you since the first time you had tagged along with the group of friends. He seemed to be one of the good influences in the group but he also had a sense of adventure. He wasn’t one to be pushed around. You liked that.

It was your day off and you were excited to do something other than work or be stuck in your apartment where your roommate constantly had her girlfriend over. They were loud when you were trying to sleep and it wasn’t appreciated. You decided to go to a breakfast cafe to grab a bite to eat before going on a spontaneous adventure. You were sitting at a small table for two when you noticed the boy who had sparked your interest walk through the door. He noticed you when he was walking by the cafe and decided that he could go for a coffee. When you made eye contact with JoJo, you waved him over to your small table.

she pulls me in enough to keep me guessing and maybe i should stop and start confessing

“Hey Y/N,” JoJo softly smiled at you as he stood on the opposite side of the table.

“Hi JoJo. Do you wanna sit?” You smiled back at the boy as he sat in the other chair.

You two were just talking about different shinanogains that his friends had gotten into since the last time you had seen them. You would laugh at stupid things that he said his friends Race and Albert did that frustrated Spot and would cringe at awful pick up lines that he quoted from Romeo.

“Would you enjoy accompanying me on a spontaneous adventure around the city?” You asked once you had finished your breakfast and JoJo finished his coffee.

“I would love too,” JoJo smiled.

i love it when you go crazy you take all my inhibitions

Normally JoJo would have been nervous and very self conscious about hanging out one on one with a girl. He didn’t feel that way with you though. Your free spirit helped him let go. The way you ran and held his hand as you ran down the busy streets of Manhattan made him feel free. If he even started to seem tense, you reassured him that everything would be fine.

you take me places that tear on my reputation

“Have you ever been interested in robots?” You asked as you tugged JoJo closer to an alleyway.

“I mean I guess. They seem cool,” JoJo shrugged his shoulders but furrowed his eyebrows.

“Good.”

JoJo was slightly concerned when the two of you made your way down an alley but decided to trust you. You knocked on the door that the two of you were standing in front of before it opened to reveal JoJo’s friend Ike.

“Icheal my dude. Has it started yet?” You smiled at the boy.

“You’re never going to stop calling me Icheal are you?” He sighed as he let you two in.

“Never. Now has it started yet?” You smirked at Ike.

“It started when I opened the door.”

You held JoJo’s hand still and subconsciously squeezed it as you followed Ike to the crowd in the center of the room. JoJo gave you a confused look before you explained that the two of you were at an illegal bot fight.

“Like Big Hero Six?” The boy softly smiled.

“Exactly like Big Hero Six.”

manipulate my decisions

After a few rounds of bot fights, you decided that the two of you should get going. JoJo followed you after you two bid Ike goodbye. JoJo grabbed your hand once again as you walked out of the building and back into the alleyway. You asked JoJo where he wanted to go next but he just told you to decide. So you decided to give him a few options.

“We can sneak into a movie or actually buy tickets. There’s a nice restaurant up the street if you’re hungry. Or we could go bug one of your friends at work,” you suggested as you tried to think of things to do.

“I don’t know about annoying them but we could go visit someone,” JoJo shrugged.

“Where’s the fun in that?” You laughed.

“Well I guess nobodies gotten on Racer’s nerves lately but he’s been on all of ours recently.”

So that’s how you and JoJo ended up inside of the Tilly's that Race worked at after a few subway stops. You decided that you would start by making Race go around the store getting you the same shirt or something but in a different size.

"Hey JoJo. Y/N what a surprise," Race greeted the two of you.

You smiled as you let go of JoJo's hand for the first time since you left the bot fight. You walked over to a rack and grabbed a shirt that you liked. It was a top that had a slight slit on the sides that went to about the bottom of the ribcage. You decided to grab this shirt in your normal size because you liked it a lot. After grabbing a few more things to try on, you asked Race to open up a dressing room for you.

there's nothing holding me back

"I don't know JoJo, I think it's a little small," you said, poking your head out of the dressing room when he asked how it looked.

"Come on it can't be that small," he chuckled.

You were trying on the one shirt that you got in your regular size. Apparently you're a size larger than you thought and the shirt was genuinely way too small for you.

JoJo had just taken a drink out of Race's water bottle after he spoke but he spit it out when he saw you walk out of the dressing room. Race laughed at the boy before turning around and seeing the shirt on you. The slits in the shirt showed your side more than they were meant to and hugged your chest uncomfortably.

"I'm so sorry Y/N. I didn't realize it was that small," JoJo quickly tried to apologise before you shook your head.

"It's fine. But Race could you please grab me one in a different size please," you smiled apologetically at Race.

The boy nodded his head before he headed to the front of the store. You looked into the mirror on the door and tried to figure out what about your body was different to the last time you had bought clothes.

"Hey it's okay. What's wrong?" JoJo asked you as he hugged you around the shoulders from behind.

"This was actually my normal size," you muttered as you slightly tugged on the shirt.

"Y/N look at me," JoJo said as he looked into your eyes through the mirror. "It doesn't matter what size you are, okay? You're beautiful no matter what. I think your gorgeous and no size a shirt tells you you are will change that."

You slightly flushed at the compliment and bit back a smile. Thankfully Race had just returned with the new shirt and handed it to you. You smiled in appreciation before going back into the dressing room to put on the new shirt. This time when you exited the small room, you smiled genuinely and did a small twirl. JoJo smiled at you and softly shook his head. You decided you just wanted that shirt and didn't feel like annoying Race after all. Well besides giving him all the clothes you didn't feel like trying on so he had to put them all back.

"Alright bye Racer!" JoJo called out to his friend while you waved.

JoJo bought you the shirt even though you already had your money ready. The two of you decided to head back to JoJo's apartment and make something for dinner as it would be later in the afternoon when you would be getting back. You and JoJo hopped into the subway and started to head back to Manhattan.

if you were by my side and we stumbled in the dark i know we'd be alright

By the time the subway got you two into the city, it was getting dark. JoJo suggested that you two call someplace and just pick up the food so that's what you did. While you waited for the food to be ready, you went to a cafe and got something to drink.

"How'd I know you would get hot chocolate?" You giggled at JoJo and his choice of drink.

The boy shook his head smiling at you before wrapping his arm around your shoulders. The two of you made your way to the restaurant you had ordered from to pick up your food before retreating to JoJo's apartment.

Once you got to his apartment, the two of you sat and ate while watching some movie that happened to be on television at the moment.

"So tomorrow do you want to go get breakfast together?" You asked as you took a bite from your food.

"I'd love to," JoJo smiled at you.

cause if we lost our minds and we took it way too far i know we'd be alright

"You know you really are beautiful, right?" JoJo asked you after he had thrown away your guys' trash.

"You really think so?" You asked looking over at him.

"I know so," JoJo smiled as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders once again.

Neither of you were sure how it happened but one thing led to another and…

—

Part 2 will be out soon!

[mischiefandspirits]

Parental Bonding: Chivalry

S01-E02, part 2 of 2: Trying to keep his dad from embarrassing him while facing off against a teenage girl in dragon form keeps Danny on his toes.

Last time on Living Phantom

“I don't understand why I have to wear this stupid thing,” Danny’s dad complained as his mom adjusted his tie.

The two were standing in the kitchen preparing for the Spring Formal. His dad was in his normal hazmat suit, though with a tie around his neck while his mom wore a black dress. Jazz stood nearby in her own dress, checking her purse. Danny was next to her, tugging at his own tie and occasionally glancing down at his phone.

“Because it's Danny's first big dance, Jack,” his mom answered. “If we're gonna chaperone this thing, we have to make sure we don't embarrass him.”

“How would we embarrass him?”

Jazz and Danny shared a quick look before their mom turned to them and came over to fix Danny’s tie as well.

“I think it's great when you guys do anything that doesn't have something to do with your sick obsession with ghosts,” Jazz said pointedly.

“Funny,” their dad said, eyes narrowed. “I don't even remember volunteering to chaperone the dance. It's all a vague blur.”

Danny’s shoulders crept up and he tried to push his mom’s hands away.

“By the way, Danny, just so you know, I'm on to your little secret.”

Danny jerked backward, nearly choking himself as his mom was still holding his tie. “What?! Wh-what secret?”

“The clumsiness, the nervousness. I can't believe I didn't figure it out before. You have a girlfriend!”

“I can expl-I-I mean, she's not my girlfriend. She's just going to the dance with me.”

“That's great!” their dad cheered, wrapping an arm around Jazz. “I can meet her and talk to her about ghosts!”

Jazz rolled her eyes and pushed his arm off so she could adjust her hair. “You better let her know your family's insane now, Danny. If you marry her and she finds out later, that's entrapment.”

The doorbell rang and Danny sighed with relief. “That’s Sam and Tucker. I’ll see you guys at the dance.”

Jazz took that as her opening and grabbed her purse. “I should get going too if I’m going to pick up Michelle and Robin in time.”

As Danny and Jazz slipped into the living room, he thought, Okay, so I'm gonna have to keep Paulina calm and keep my dad from embarrassing me. I can handle that.

He patted where the Fenton Ghost Fisher was hidden inside his jacket in its collapsed form then opened the door.

“Mr. Fenton,” a man in a suit greeted him. “I’m Donald. I’ll be your driver tonight.”

“Uh…” Danny looked past the man to see a limo -- a luxury stretch limo -- parked at the curb. One of the windows was rolled down to show a waving Tucker. “Right, thanks.”

He glanced up at Jazz as he followed the driver to see her staring at the car, floored. The driver opened the door and Danny slipped inside.

“Dude.”

“I know!”

“I thought you said Sam’s parents were taking us.”

“I thought that’s what she meant. I didn’t think she was going shell out for a limo!”

“There are sodas and juice in the mini fridge,” Donald said as he got in and started the limo.

“It’s all included,” Tucker said, grabbing an open soda from his cup holder.

Danny glanced at Donald, who nodded in the mirror. He grabbed a clear soda just in case he spilled then slid over to sit next to Tucker.

“You ready for your dragon date?”

Danny elbowed a snickering Tucker with a glare. “I’ve got it handled.”

“Uh-huh, sure buddy.”

Danny elbowed him again and Tucker elbowed him back.

The two chuckled and shoved each other until they pulled up next to Paulina’s house.

“Good luck,” Tucker teased, patting Danny on the back as Donald opened the door for him.

Danny flipped him off then headed up to ring the doorbell.

What to say? The heirloom idea is stupid. Maybe he could say it belonged to someone else? Someone like…

The door opened and Danny looked up. And up.

He blanched as he looked up into the angry face of a tall, muscular man. Nervously, he said, “Uh, hi! Uh, you must be Paulina's dad.”

“If you upset her, we're going to have a violent talk,” the man said, punching his palm.

“Papa?”

Danny blushed as Paulina stepped out from behind her father. Her curly hair had been straightened and half pulled up with a large glittering clip that was a soft pink color to match her dress.

It made the gold and green collar stand out all the more.

She smiled at him. “You're scaring him. Come on, Danny. We're going to be late.”

“Have a wonderful evening, baby.” Her dad kissed her cheek, then gave Danny a death glare. “I know where you live.”

“And I'm glad we had a chance to chat,” he chuckled weakly as Paulina took his arm.

She gasped as they turned to the street. “You got a limo?”

“Yeah, well Sam did,” he said, opening the door for her. “I-I thought we could all go together.”

“Hey, Paulina,” Tucker said a little breathlessly.

“There are drinks in the fridge,” Danny added as he got in and she grabbed a sparkling water.

“It’s nice,” she said once they were on the road again. “Really nice. How did she afford something like this?”

Danny frowned at her tone, but shrugged it off. “Her parents must have lent her the money.”

Paulina hummed disbelievingly.

He turned to Tucker, who clearly didn’t get it either. Yeah, it was a limo, but it couldn’t have been that expensive, right?

They pulled up to Sam’s house and Tucker got out, looking grouchy.

Danny focused on Paulina, giving her a smile. “You look really nice, by the way. I meant to say earlier, but your dad, uh…”

She chuckled and pat his hand. “That’s okay. I know I look nice, silly. It’s me!”

He nodded and glanced out the window.

His jaw dropped.

Sam stood on the stoop in the same black and purple gothic medieval dress that she’d been looking at when they’d gone shopping -- no way her parents bought that, he knew she wanted to come -- with artful dark purple makeup to match. Her hair was braided up her head then pulled into a flower-like bun on the top while roses had been shaved into the short side of her head.

She smiled at Tucker before pulling him down the steps.

A throat cleared behind Danny and he turned to see Paulina glaring at him. Her eyes were a bright red with slit pupils.

“S-sorry,” he said, raising his hands. “It’s just, uh, weird to see her all dressed up like that.”

“Your right,” she snorted. “She does look weird. What’s up with that dress?”

A frown tugged at his mouth, but her eyes had gone back to normal so he forced himself to keep smiling. “Right.”

~~~~~~~~~~B~~~~~0~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Sam glanced around the gym thoughtfully. She was about to ask Tucker if he wanted to dance, just to give them something to do, when she spotted Paulina standing on her own. “Where’d Danny go?”

“What?” Tucker followed her gaze. “Maybe he went to get snacks?”

“Do you think it's safe to leave her alone.”

He smiled. “Well, I could always -”

“Tucker, Sam, we've got trouble.”

The two looked up to see Danny’s dad standing over them.

“We had nothing to do with it, Mr. Fenton. It was all Danny's idea.”

“Tucker, it's me. It's Danny,” their friend in his dad’s body huffed. “Sam, you need to keep an eye on Paulina. Text me if she starts looking angry. Tucker, watch my dad just in case I need to go deal with Paulina. If he starts talking to anyone, text me, got it?”

They both nodded and he left.

“This dance gets better and better with every passing minute,” Sam snorted and followed after Paulina.

It only took a few minutes before the popular girl started looking annoyed and Sam sent Danny a quick text before trailing after her into the bathroom. She hesitated in the doorway a moment before pasting on a smile and stepping in. “Hey, Paulina. I should have said before, but that's a nice dress.”

“Yes, and it goes so nicely with your necklace, don't you think?” the other girl asked, turning to her with a smirk.

Sam frowned. “My necklace? That's not my -- Right! Listen, my grandma gave me that, and -”

“Forget it, sweetie. I'm not giving up this trinket or your little boyfriend Danny.”

“My boyfriend?” Sam choked. “Haha! And they say pretty girls can't be funny. Danny is not my boyfriend.”

“He's not?”

Sam rolled her eyes. She and Danny had known each other since kindergarten. She’d slept beside him at a time when they could still share a room for sleepovers. She’d comforted him after he found out about his father. She’d been there when his family had gotten back from two years in California and he tried to convince the few middle school classmates they had that knew him in elementary school that he’d actually always been a boy and they were misremembering. She was the one to threaten those who didn’t buy it to keep quiet. She’d held his hand when he’d nearly begged their seventh grade English teacher to call him Danny, not Daniel, because it sounded too close to Danielle.

Sure he was cute -- especially when his hair fell into his face just right or when he and Tucker would let her put some makeup on them for Dumpty Humpty concerts -- and his ghost form was really sick looking, but they weren’t like that.

“He's my best friend. Maybe that's why I was so hard on you. I didn't mean to call you shallow.”

Paulina laughed. “What a bummer! I only agreed to go out with him because I thought I was stealing him from you.”

Sam froze, barely noticing as Paulina took off the collar and put it on her. She had… She had… to DANNY? Danny, who was too sweet for his own good and…

“Here, take your crummy necklace. I'm going back inside to dump your dorky friend.”

Sam’s fists clenched as she felt a blazing heat flow through her. How dare she? HOW DARE SHE!

“Shallow little witch!” she roared and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~B~~~~~0~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Danny was grabbing a couple glasses of punch when he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out of his dad’s pocket to see Sam had texted him.

🕷Sammy-kins : Your dates ticked and heading to the bathroom.

Me: OMW

He opened a new message and texted Tucker.

Me: Going to deal with Paulina. Watch my dad

🎮TuckNo: 👍🏾

He slipped out of his dad and grabbed his phone. Invisibly, he flew over the gym, heading for the bathrooms. He tucked his phone into the pocket inside his jacket.

He paused as its weight disappeared the moment his hand left it.

He reached back into the pocket and his eyes widened as his hand kept going. “Oh my god, it’s a literal pocket dimension!” he whispered, pulling his jacket open so he could look inside. He reached in again, this time purposefully trying to grab his phone.

He found it immediately.

“Oh man, wait until I tell Tucker! Also, note to self, stick a thermos in here, just in case.”

A roar sounded, just barely audible over the music, and Danny’s eyes widened. He dropped down behind a trash can near the bathroom and transformed back.

“Paulina? Sam?” he called into the bathroom. When no one answered, he checked that everyone was looking away then slipped inside.

His eyes widened as he saw the destroyed wall and ceiling. He grabbed the fisher out of his pocket and turned back into a ghost. Once the fisher was stored in his -- Poltergeist Pocket? Pocket of Holding? Spectral Space? Yeah, that one! -- Spectral Space, he flew out to see the blue dragon soaring over the football field. Eyes narrowing as he saw the form held in her claws, he shot towards her and kicked her to the ground.

“Take it easy, Paulina. You don't want to hurt Sam,” he said, landing in front of the dragon. He looked at the girl and frowned when he realized Sam wasn’t the hostage. “Paulina?” He turned to the dragon as she opened her eyes to glare at him. “Sam?”

“Shallow girl!” she roared, standing.

“Yep, that's Sam.” He rolled to the side to avoid her fire. “Whoa! Sam! Two words: breath mints.”

He flew up to free Paulina, but Sam’s tail slammed into them the moment he got her free. They were knocked towards the bleachers and Danny turned them intangible before they could hit. Instead, they landed in front of the fence, spooking a kissing couple into fleeing. Danny set down Paulina just as his phone went off.

🎮TuckNo: Your dads heading towards lancer

Great, one short-term fix, coming up. Danny dove into the ground and came up behind the dragon. “I hate to do this, Sam.” He grabbed her tail then pulled her off the ground, swinging her around until he built up some force. He let her go and she flew off into the distance. “Heh, I made a dragonfly.” His eyes widened. “Oh, man. Dad!”

He bolted down into the gym and looked around. He spotted his dad standing over Mr. Lancer with a fierce glare and quickly dove into the jumpsuits man.

“Jack, this is Mr. Lancer from the parent-teacher conference,” his mom was saying, the second half in a whisper.

“Right, right. I'm sorry, it's just in this light I thought you were Vin Diesel. Isn't he sharp, Mom? I mean, Maddie,” Danny stuttered, trying to make his voice as low as possible.

He wasn’t sure if he was the only one who heard his normal voice, it seemed like it, but just in case.

“Well… Thank you,” Mr. Lancer chuckled.

“Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to dance with my wife. That's what we adults do, dance with our wives.” Danny grabbed his mom’s hand and led her onto the dance floor.

He briefly wondered if he should dance normally or like a parent, but then just danced like himself.

He was trying to make sure his dad didn’t embarrass him, after all.

His mom sighed. “Doesn't this bring back memories?”

“If by memories you mean things you remember that I don't, then yes! Go ahead and remind me of stuff. I'll totally agree to remembering.” Smooth.

The song ended and Danny blinked as his fellow students started cheering for him.

Well, that’s one thing down.

He slipped out of his dad and flew back out of the gym.

Just in time, it seemed, as Sam was quickly approaching the school. He dove around the fireballs she shot at him and reached into his pocket. He brought out the fisher and extended it. He arced around another fireball as he swung the line towards her, catching it on one of the scales near her wing. Then he started circling her, dodging her tail and fire until he had her wings bound in the glowing wire.

As it turned out, ghost dragons did, in fact, need their wings to fly.

Or maybe it was just a mind thing? She did seem to hover for a few seconds and Danny stood by his assessment that those wings couldn’t support her weight on their own. If it was just a mental thing then -

Focus!

Sam dropped to the ground and Danny landed next to her neck. As soon as he pulled the necklace off, she shrunk down into herself. He stuck both the necklace and rewound fisher in his Spectral Space then ran up to Sam, transforming as he went. “Sam? Are you alright?”

“Wow,” Sam said, sitting up and holding her head like she had a headache. “Did I have fun at the dance?”

“Well, uh… Let's just say you had a roaring time.” She gave him a look and he blushed. “You somehow got the dragon necklace on you and, well, I think you can put the pieces together.”

“Paulina,” Sam growled.

“Yeah, sounded like she did something,” Danny said, helping her to her feet.

Sam opened her mouth, then closed it. She stared at him for a moment then shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Come on, I think you owe me a dance.”

He smiled. “Sure, I'd love to.”

“Promise me you'll keep your pants up.”

“I'll do my best.”

~~~~~~~~~~B~~~~~0~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

“So how long until your parents get back?” Sam asked as Danny let them into his house.

“Mom said they had to stay until the end of the dance, so another half hour at least,” Danny said.

“I can’t believe I still ended up dateless,” Tucker huffed. “Couldn’t you have at least ditched Paulina in a way that left her open for me to swoop in for the rebound?”

“I didn’t ditch Paulina,” Danny denied.

“She ditched him,” Sam said.

“Yeah, when she came back into the gym to find you two dancing,” Tucker snorted. “She looked ready to breathe fire even without the amulet.”

“I didn’t see her,” Danny worried as he pushed open the door to the lab stairs. “Should we have waited for her? We were her ride.”

“Nah, she took off with Dash right after. Some A-lister afterparty. No worries,” Tucker said. “Anyways, what are you going to do about the amulet? Just chuck it through the portal?”

“I don’t know. I thought maybe -”

Danny paused and his friends leaned down to look over his shoulder.

Floating in the lab was a green-skinned ghost with long blonde hair and an electric blue medieval dress. She looked like she had been searching for something, but stopped when they came in.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Danny said, eyeing her and trying to push his friends back.

“My amulet! I must return with my amulet,” she wailed, tears in her eyes as she stood up from her crouched position. “But it’s nowhere to be found!”

Danny nodded. “You were the original dragon ghost, right? The one who wanted to go to the ball.”

She sniffled and nodded. “And you are the knight who fought me off.”

“Right.” Danny transformed and dug into his Spectral Space.

Danny didn’t see her eyes go wide, but Sam and Tucker did. “I thought I had imagined it,” they saw her whisper.

“Here,” Danny said, holding out the necklace. “You can take it, but only if you agree to go straight back where you came from. Deal?”

“Of course. I must return to my brother. I’ve been gone for far too long, but I needed my amulet.”

Danny hesitated. “Your brother, was he the one that hurt you?”

She took the necklace from him and put it on. “Thank you, Sir Knight.”

“It’s Danny. Uh, Danny… Phantom. You didn’t ans-”

“Thank you, Sir Phantom,” she said, giving a curtsy, then flew into the portal.

“I’m guessing that’s a yes,” Danny sighed. “I hope she’s okay.”

“She can turn into a giant dragon, I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Tucker said.

“Sure, except the legend says her brother can do the same,” Sam pointed out.

“Oh, yeah.”

The three watched the portal for a moment before Danny pulled the fisher out of his Spectral Space and tossed it on the table. “Come on, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s go get changed and turn on some movies.”

They agreed and the three trudged upstairs, their earlier post-battle excitement lost.

“Danny Phantom?” Sam said.

“I panicked. Besides, it’s kind of a pun. Phantom, Fenton.”

“You're a ghost called ghost,” Tucker snorted.

“Shut up, I’ll come up with something better.”

“Nope.”

“You’re Danny Phantom now.”

“No takebacks.”

“I hate you both.”

“Love you too, dude.”

~~~~~~~~~~B~~~~~0~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for the late posting. I had to take my mom to the doctor's yesterday and didn't get a chance to post until it was too late. Next chapter should be on time as usual.

[whitehairedclea]

Red Roulette part VIII

Helena sat in her office remembering Chang's words from last night. “As if I didn't know about my intuition, if it wasn't for my intuition I wouldn't open casinos in the States or raise such amount of money, you idiot” she thought. Then, for a split second, she remembered his hands holding her hand and her waist. Gently, yet firm enough to keep her from talking any more. She lit a cigarette and tossed the lighter at the corner of the desk. She quickly dispelled her memories, returning to the issue of the diamond. From the words of Chang showed that the guy did it on behalf of someone, and so probably the diamond has already been transferred to the client.

"Sebastian!"

A seconds later he appeared in the office waiting for an order.

"Bring the Spider over here immediately, maybe he will know something today that will be helpful"

"Of course, I'll get him right away," he replied and left the office quickly.

If someone did order the theft of the diamond, there must have been some trace of it on the streets. So many informants were fooling around deceiving every single profitable handful of information that such a fact of handing over the diamond could not have escaped them.

“ Mrs. Roulette! How nice ... "Spider began as soon as he entered, but Helena quickly cut off his greeting. 

“Okay, finish this cirrus. Fast. Have you heard of any strange meeting last night? "

"Virtually every one in this city, as if you could be more precise"

“It's mainly about the diamond, so focus. Whatever you heard, whatever you know "

“Let's start 600,000,” he smiled.

She had no desire or time to bargain with him, so she just nodded, trying to trust her intuition that he was the only person who could move her search forward.

"I heard one guy brag about a huge amount of money earned for one thing, just one Job. Maybe not a diamond specifically, but quite a similarity"

"Well, who was it then?"

"One of the people coming to the Yellow Flag, long brown hair, possibly American, weird that’s why I remember and that's all I know."

This was more than she could figure out so far, so she thought she had found the lead. All she had to do was find this man and find out who told him to do the job. Time was running out and there was also a risk that someone would want to sell this diamond abroad. Probably worth more than all of Roanapur .

***

  Sebastian headed for the Yellow Flag, a dingy bar on the main street. Inside, it was swarming with suspicious curiosities - dealers, bounty hunters, dirty workmen, prostitutes who could be hired upstairs. In all this hive, he was looking for an American with long hair. 

"Hi Bao " greeted the owner "how's the deal?"

"So far so good, it's only been a week since the last damage, how r you ?"

"It's pretty good to say the casino is spinning somehow, little problems"

"Problems? What, boss has her period? " laughed, but after Sebastian's expression he retired to safer topics "so what problems?"

"I'm looking for a new stranger, he must have arrived here about two days ago, a long-haired brunette, an American, have you heard something about it?"

Bao rapped on the counter to indicate that nothing is for free. Sebastian took a bundle of money out of his pocket and asked for a mug of beer for that.

"My dear, if any connoisseur from Uncle Sam is going to roll through this town, he is sure to look into a lovely restored place like the Yellow Flag!" Bao moved closer to him so that no one would hear what he was saying "... how to tell you, the girls upstairs are definitely perfect"

Sebastian didn’t need more. He jumped up, throwing an additional tip to the bartender, and ran upstairs. Already on the stairs there were crowds of women who were Whiting for the client. Mixed voices of men and women came from everywhere. Every room felt occupied. Sebastian had to choose one to find the American.

One room caught his attention as there was no sound. He decided to try and blew the door open. Inside, a white man sat on the couch, counting quite a large mountain of money. It was obvious this guy was the one he was looking for.

In an instant, he took out the gun before he could react and pointed it at him.

"Dude what are you ?!"

"I would advise you to start talking before your brain will be on that wall over there!" he shouted.

The gun was now right at his temple.

"Who did you sell the diamond to?" Sebastian asked the distressed American.

"It's nothing personal man"

'I don't care, you stole my boss's diamond, who's not a very patient woman. If you want to get out of this, I advise you to talk, we will probably manage without you, but it will be faster,' he replied, unlocking the gun.

The American, feeling the barrel of the gun against his temple, understood how much he did not care about keeping the client's secret. He had money, keeping his life was a priority. Later he talked more than had to.

He was commissioned by an Italian named Dotti right after his arrival in Roanapur. He escaped from the Italian mafia and hid somewhere in the city, gathering his strength to take over the position of the then mafia boss. He couldn't announce his great comeback yet, so he decided to start marking his grounds with minor intimidations. Defecting Helena was to scare her and take over the casino as a new home. The plan might have worked if it had happened to someone else. Helena wasn't going to let go of such an insult, she would have pulled information about him from the city's canals to get him.

"THIS IS ALL I KNOW!" he shouted "really even the pasta makers don't know where he is. NOBODY knows, I got the money a moment ago together with the key to this room!"

There was nothing else to ask. He sheathed the gun and grabbed the bag of money, then threw them all out of the open window. Hundreds of dollars scattered across the crowded street. Seconds later, there were shouts of surprise and fights for every dollar.

"FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER WTF ?!"

'Enjoy you're alive. I'd rather blow your head off now" Sebastian replied and left.

He returned to the casino as soon as possible. It was the most important piece of information, the main puzzle to solve the whole case. They might have started working before it was too fast to spread around town that the Roulette casino could be brazenly robbed.

Sebastian shared with Helena all the clues he had obtained. Without a moment's thought, she rushed to the phone and started calling known informants if anyone had heard of Datti's location . Unfortunately, silence, no one knew him and no one heard of him since he hid from the Italian mafia.

"The little fish don't know anything or don't want to sprinkle ..." she said, looking out the window. Sebastian had the impression that she was running out of ideas on what to do next.

'Maybe actually wait for an intimidation attempt? There is a chance he'll reveal himself. ”Helena didn't let him finish, she held up a hand to silence him.

'I won't wait, Sebastian. It's a perfect night to spill some blood, "she said with a slight smile on her face, then added," If the little fish don't know anything, let's see what the shark says. "

'It means ?'

'We're going to talk to All-Knowing-Mr-Chang , I think it might be a good move.' her green eyes flashed.

Sebastian felt as if she was getting excited about this whole situation.

***

The private line telephone began to ring. Chang picked up "Cho , if they're Cubans again with cocaine in their veins, fire them, I won't play business with junkies," he dropped after a hard day. From this morning, one of the cartel people wants to sell him the idea of cracking down on cocaine in Japan. Like a drugged man, full of vision, he only wasted his time.

'Of course boss, it's just ... they're not Cubans. Red Roulette and Sebastian are here asking for a meeting'

Somewhere in the background you could hear Helena's voice, who didn't like the phrase 'ask'. She clearly tried to correct that she required this meeting.

'Let them in'

Chang began to believe that this evening was not going to be written off after all. "But there are still people in this town who can keep me entertained," he thought. A moment later he heard the clap of heels and a knock on his office door.

'Come in'

Cho entered first and signaled that they could enter. Helena straightened her red hair quickly and walked in with a serious look.

"Why do I owe such a great visit," he asked, comfortably leaning against the desk.

'I'll be short because I don't have time. I know who ordered the theft and it was Dotti , a former member of the Italian Mafia, but I have no idea where he is ' she came close enough to rest her hands on his desk. The red nails tapped gently impatiently. Her green eyes, full of fury, waited for his reply. It was only then that he noticed that there was a tiny mole on her face next to her left eye. Right at the tip , as if it was waiting to be spotted under the cover of red waves of hair. The long black dress sparkled softly in the light, and Chang wished she would take a few steps back to see her leg emerging from the slit. The louder tapping of her nails brought him back to reality. He wanted to laugh at wandering his mind, but quickly gathered his thoughts.

"Of course, I know where he is. Boss of the italian mafia still makes me laugh that he can’t find this Dotti guy. I'll help you with him, " he replied, standing to put on his jacket.

'You misunderstood me, Mr. Chang. I don't want you to help me deal with him. Just give me his location, I'll do the rest myself. '

It made the corner of his mouth turn into a devilish smile. The predator's gaze shone from behind his black glasses . 

'Sorry, I misinterpreted your intentions. Then let me accompany you on this journey ”he offered her a hand, lowering his head as if inviting her to dance.

He was eager to see this confrontation unfold. And most of all, what she can do. As a new fish in town, she had to show that she could do more than sell information, otherwise it would be difficult for her. She could slide quickly to the very bottom of that Roanapur abyss .

'In that case, let's dance tonight' she smiled malevolently.

[chemicalmagecraft]

Foresight is 20/20 Chapter 11

I smiled even before we reached the gates. "It looks like we have a welcome party," I noted, then licked my lips.

"How can you tell?" Gai asked.

"Chakra sensing."

As soon as we were inside the gates of the village, I was tackled by a very energetic blonde. "Kouki!" Naruto yelled as he did his level best to crush me like a tin can.

I awkwardly patted him on the back. "Heyyy, bud. Could I please breathe?" I choked out. I gasped for my breath after he released me from his adamantium grasp. "Stupid freakish Uzumaki strength," I grumbled in between breaths.

"What was that?" Tenten angrily asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "Not directed at you."

"Hey Kouki," Naruto said, "why are you all brown?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay first off I think technically it's more 'bronze' than 'brown,'" I said, "and b, it's called a tan."

"How did you get so tan in only a few days?" Dad asked me. "Didn't you have a parasol?"

I sheepishly put my hand behind my head. "Well..."

~~~~ku

I sighed as I lounged on the thankfully clean floor in front of the window.

"Are you sunbathing!?" Temari asked me.

"Soooo waaaarm~" I replied.

"I swear you're a cat or something."

I grinned a catlike grin. "Meow~" She sighed and stormed off.

~~~~ku

"...I guess I get tan really easily?" Okay to be fair I do. And it stays for a while, even if I stay inside most of the time. When my brother, whose complexion is almost exactly the same as mine, got a similarly dark tan from being a lifeguard, my mom noted that it was probably due to our "gypsy blood." I wouldn't put it that way myself, mostly due to the fact that the word "gypsy" is actually kinda offensive what the heck mom, but I guess it's a plausible reason... I was thankful, though, that the sun didn't give me any more freckles. No offense to people with a lot of freckles, but I'm fine with only having like ten freckles on my face that mostly just look like a bunch of beauty marks, thank you very much.

"Welcome back, niisan," Hinata said with a smile. I couldn't help but notice that Kurama didn't at all look like he was annoyed with Hinata carrying him.

"Sup, Hina-chan. Did Kurama-chan tell you guys I'd be here?"

He huffed and turned his head away from me, the tsundere.

"Love you too, bud!"

"So what are you going to do now that you're back?" Neji asked me.

I shrugged. "First I'm going to take a bath, then I'll probably take a nap or something. I'm pooped."

"Surprising to hear that from you," Ai commented.

"Even I have my limits, Ai. Working on the seal was fun, but I'm glad it's over and done with." I yawned. "Now if you guys don't mind, I'd like to go take a nice, long bath now." I waved goodbye. "Thanks for coming to greet me!"

kukukuku~

I yawned, sat up in my bed, licked my lips, and stretched my arms. Then I fell back to sleep.

kukukuku~

"Okay, time to work now," I said after I rolled out of bed. Before doing anything, though, I checked out my window. It was nighttime. I shrugged. "Not that much of a problem to someone with twenty four-plus hour days." I licked my lips. "Right, let's get crackin'." I assumed a meditative position on the floor and reached inward, to my chakra. Mostly the red stuff, but also some of the blue. Just as a human touched by the red (I.E. me or the jinchuriki) has to have over a certain amount of red chakra in them to not die, it seemed that beings made from the red needed at least some blue in them to function. To be honest, I should've figured that out sooner, what with how the Biju Dama uses blue chakra. 'Course, I did figure it out when I sensed not only another biju, but Karura, who was a non-biju red chakra spirit. And with that revelation came some important progress on an idea that I'd had. And over the ride home, I'd honed and perfected that jutsu, one that I was now ready to use. Sure, I'd been wary of potential danger, but I felt a lot better after a message from my future self, or at least a future self... Future vision can get pretty freaky.

And so, I grabbed hold of almost all of my red chakra, just leaving a comfortable yet small amount over the minimum amount I needed to live, as well as enough blue chakra to sustain a demon of that power level. I used yin-yang release and some of the mechanics behind clone jutsus in general to mold that chakra into the proper shape. When I was done, the chakra moved on its own.

I opened my eyes to see my shadow turn pitch-black, then split off into two, one normal and one still a me-shaped abyss. The ebon shadow moved and stretched so that it was across the room from me. The shadow... rose, changing in shape and color to form what felt like an alternate-universe mirror. First off, shadow me looked even more girly than I did. Sure, that wasn't saying much what with how I was still way prepubescent and had girly hair, but she had longer hair and a skirt with leggings, so there's that. Plus she looked a little shorter than me. Second off, she had what appeared to be fox ears and a tail, likely an artifact from Kurama even though they didn't look exactly like his. Third, she was both a pallette swap and mirror image of me. While her complexion was roughly the same as mine, her eye markings were white with black dots instead of black with white dots, her clothes were dark red instead of blue, her hair was a shade of blue so dark it was almost black, and her eyes were red with slit pupils. As for the mirror part, her bangs were parted to the right instead of the left and each of her freckles were situated to be on the opposite side of her face from mine. Though she had fox ears instead of human ears, I could see she still had a rendition of the nubby nub nub thing on her right ear as opposed to my left.

"I am thou, thou art I," she said in almost my voice. Man, that was weird. "Sup, me."

"Sup," I responded, then relaxed my posture. She did the same, though she was mindful of her skirt. I was already kind of sure of the answer, but... "Hey, just to be clear here, you're supposed to be a girl, ja?"

She nodded. "Ja." She blushed. "I have more control over my form than just using the transformation jutsu and I figured I should differentiate myself as much as I can from you, so..." I feel like something could be said about me that "I" felt the need to justify that even to myself...

"I take it you picked out your own name too, right?"

"Yup." She grinned. "To counter your light-light hope-and-fortune name, I picked Chikage."

"Thousand Views?" I asked jokingly.

She facepalmed and groaned. "Okay yes, I guess that that's the traditional reading, but I meant more along the lines of Thousand Shadows. Or even Blood Shadow. Heck, Shadow of the Earth is kinda cool too."

"So does that mean I have your permission to keep 'Kouki?'" I asked.

She gave me a deadpan stare. "Dude, I literally said that I picked a name to balance out yours."

"Yeah, but if you think about it, 'Kouki' is us, not me. The guy that is us combined is Kouki."

She shrugged. "Would be pretty weird if you randomly started to go by another name. You're Kouki Prime and I'm totally at peace with that. Let's stop talking about semantics and see what this jutsu of ours does, exactly."

I nodded and clenched my fist. "I think I got weaker..." I unclenched my fist and did a few small stretches.

"Makes sense," Chikage said. "Even if you aren't using it, your red chakra still enhances you. Still, that also means you should have more control now."

"Right," I said. I held my hand out and tried to make some wind chakra. It felt a little off without my red chakra, but I got the hang of it surprisingly fast. Much faster than I'd managed the last time I'd tried it, wire-thin threads of wind chakra burst from my fingers, curling around my new double/clone/sister maybe? "Sorry, but you understand what I'm doing, right?

She snorted. Curiously, a small puff of smoke came from her nose when she did. "Dude, I'm you. Of course I know. Just make sure to ask future you first to make sure it doesn't screw us both over."

"Right, was going to do that anyway." I activated my eyes for just long enough to get a message coded to a version of myself in the exact situation I was in.

"Yup. Go ahead."

I didn't want to completely spoil every single highly-dangerous-yet-incredibly-interesting experiment I did, but I knew it'd be stupid to actually do them without using the Shoraigan to make sure I didn't end up turning Konoha into a crater. And so in my time of need, I discovered another power of the Shoraigan that was just as good as the ability to tell the future. At least, I'm assuming that's what happened in about a thousand other timelines that I never went down. Or I guess I did go down them, but just not the me that is me? Man, anything involving time travel gives people headaches, doesn't it. I could only time-warp information and yet I still got headaches.

Where was I?

Oh right. Main Shoraigan power number three. Or maybe just another version of the first main power? In addition to being able to download future information directly into my brain, I found out I could send my past self and/or selves information when I randomly got thousands of very similar chronopathic messages saying something roughly along the lines of "Holy crud we can send messages to our past selves!" and some telling me to stop sending messages back to past me, which was very hypocritical of future me, but I complied. I wonder if there's a version of me who found out about the Shoraigan by having that future message sent back by an alternate version of-

"You're getting off track," Chikage said, her eyes now a slit variant of the Shoraigan. Guess that meant she could use it too despite not having my eyes(?). "Stop telling the fans about our cool new power and kill me already."

"Right, sorry." I closed my hand into a fist, causing the Wind Release: Razor Wire to chop her into pieces. Instead of blood going everywhere, though, the cuts became red chakra which reformed back into her body with some loss.

"That hurt," she muttered. "But it seems we won't find out what happens when I die if we use that. Maybe try fire?" She was made from an aggregation of the powers of Kurama (fire/wind) and Shukaku (earth/wind), so while there was some fire in her it wasn't out of the question that fire would hurt her a lot more than wind...

I nodded and we both stood up. I guess maybe it was customary to use fire chakra from the lungs, and yes that was apparently how you got the most power, but I liked the idea of channeling it through my hands better, plus that way I could try to add lightning to it despite not knowing how to do it too well. I knew fire from the hands was possible from the flashback to the time of Ninshu, so theoretically... "Do not try this at home, kids." I made a few hand seals, then held my hand like how Kakashi does with the Chidori. An unfortunately uncoordinated ball of fire and lightning chakra emerged from my palm, as well as the slightest whiff of burning flesh.

Ow.

Chikage waved her arm in front of her torso, creating either a bullseye target or the illusion of a bullseye target. I thrust the ball of plasma right into the center of the target. Her body destabilized almost as soon as the probably-poorly-thought-out concoction of chakra touched her. While some was... ruined, I guess, by the attack, the majority of the chakra Chikage was made from was sucked back into my body. With the chakra came her memories, which was... interesting. I feel like I should note, though, that getting pyrolectrocuted hurts like the dickens.

"Is everything okay?" Uncle asked as he barged in. "I heard crackling sounds."

I casually stuck my hands in my pockets. "Yeah. I tried to use lightning release. Do you think you could ask Dad if I could get official training? That kinda hurt."

He looked concerned. "Are you hurt?"

I gave him a thumbs-up with my unburned hand. "Yeah, just a little stinging. Nothing a little healing factor won't cure. You should see the other guy."

"O...kay..." He thankfully left without much question, allowing me to take the other hand out and assess the damage. The friction from just taking it out of my pocket stung.

"Eeee..." I winced. I mean, it didn't look like it was too bad of a second degree burn, but... it was blackened. I really hoped that was just soot. I applied some red chakra to it and it thankfully just flaked off and didn't scar or anything. "Not doing that again, at least without adult supervision. Hope my pocket isn't ruined..." I tilted my head a bit. "Now before I can forget, I should probably do this." I activated my Shoraigan and sent a message coded to two certain iterations of my past self. Sure, it'd have happened anyway because of diverging timelines, but insert dead Daves joke here. "Right," I said. "Now that that's over. Chikage, out." She didn't do anything. I blinked. I could definitely feel her somewhere in me, but...

Oh.

I was Chikage. Well that was interesting. I concentrated on what I'd done before and felt a small snap in the back of my head.

"I'm back," she said in my head. Red chakra flowed from my body, forming Chikage, arms crossed and leaning back onto thin air. "Is that what it feels like to fuse?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I guess maybe with Pink Steven it was, just with less nearly dying and womanchildish giants."

She chuckled and picked me up. "C'mon, we gotta do it now."

I smiled and hugged her, laughing. She hugged me back. We started laughing and spinning each other until we just melted back together. "Ah, good times," I said. "Now we should probably get a training ground so I can see what I... you... we... can do..." I sighed. "Man, this is going to be weird..."

[manggojooz]

Close the Door Now (Part 1): An Epilogue Series to “Take My Hands Now”

pairing: Jungkook x reader

word count: approx. 2,400

genre: romance, fluff

summary: Jungkook gets a taste of jealousy and is insecure about why you like him despite his past

warnings: some making out at the end (??)

Take My Hands Now Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6| Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 (final)

Taglist: @competativekook @flamingorosette  (i’m just tagging you because it’s technically a related series but if you would like to stop being tagged, do let me know ^^)

Comments: this is the most fluff i have written up to now i think. never expected it to turn out this long but i dunno i dun care, i just felt so happy writing it...

“You could do this a little less reluctantly...”, you grumbled at Jungkook who is looking like he would pay a hundred bucks to not be following you right now.

He used to do this day in day out, you could even call it his natural habitat, although now he knows it wasn't really because he enjoyed it. He just never knew what it was like to enjoy anything and such settings had the facade of 'enjoyment', at least.

“That's because I really couldn't be more reluctant. Can we not just watch a movie? Or go to your place? Your mom makes such good food. Why do we have to be here??”, he gripes like a ten year old being dragged to school.

“Are you for real? It’s Hoseok’s birthday today and you want to skip the party?”, you let go of his hand and crossed your arms at him. 

“Yeah about that”, he wiggled his index finger at you, “our friendship goes beyond this, I don’t have to be at the party to celebrate with him. We have our own way of celebrating...”, he narrowed his eyes cheekily. 

“Playing Overwatch for three days straight don't count as celebration... OK then...”, you snatched the fancily-wrapped present out of his other hand and turns to walk towards the familiar manor, “... I’ll just go on my own!”

His eyes jumped around, catching up with your swift actions, first from the parcel that left his hand and then to you walking off towards Hoseok’s house. 

“Are you kidding me?”, he rolls his eyes and huffs, before giving chase after you. 

---

“Hey Jungkook, haven’t seen you around!”, if you didn’t know better, you’d think this guy was chummy with your boyfriend. But you knew better, Jungkook hated his guts, not sure how far that feeling went mutually though. 

“Hey Casper”, Jungkook very, very unwillingly acknowledges him. 

“It’s Jasper... dude...”, he sounded irritated. 

“Oh, Jasper... guess you are less friendly than I remembered you to be”, Jungkook said with a sharp lift of his left brow, and a half-assed smirk. 

You forgot how rude Jungkook could actually be since he was always so sweet to you but this is starting to bring back memories. After all, the first time you met him was right here, in this gigantic living room, surrounded by the same kind of people, under the cover of the same kind of music. Nothing seems to have actually changed, but everything is different.  

You felt his recognisable grip on your hands as he pulls you away from the pack of frat boys. 

“Can we just get the present to Hoseok and leave?”, he insisted. Seeing his constant reluctance, you agreed.

---

Turns out Hoseok wasn’t doing that great on his own birthday. Jungkook could tell with one look and followed him around asking “what’s wrong”, until Hoseok caved and answered that “she called”. 

You eyed Jungkook to take Hoseok somewhere quiet for a while, and so your boyfriend lugged the birthday boy back to his bedroom after telling you to wait somewhere safe for him. He had mouthed the words “guest room” to you while dragging Hoseok away. 

You had killed about ten minutes wandering around in the human-packed living room, then strolling along the chlorine-stenched poolside and even getting yourself a drink from the bar counter. You bumped into a few friends and noticed a few girls staring you down amongst the forest of people. And now here you were, sitting around in the guestroom, intriguing yourself with the number of figurines Hoseok had collected in his glass cabinet.

“You hiding from the party or are you hiding from your boyfriend's ex-es?”, a tacky voice suddenly made you jump. 

“Oh hi Jasper”, you tried to appear collected. 

“You know, it’s a pity that a nice girl like you ended up with Jungkook. I’d hate to see you turn out like the truckload of girls he ruined before. If you think you are any different from them, you may be wrong... But one thing's for sure, you are too good for him”, he walked into the room and took a seat on the couch next to you. 

You shifted just enough to your left to keep a decent space between the two of you. Maybe you were biased against him, but there was a subtle sense of manipulation in his words, which somewhat reminded you of your first encounter with Jungkook. 

“I’m too good for him... he’s too good for me... people will always say such things. It only matters when we think it matters... and I don’t really think so”, you replied in a customarily pleasant way, not entirely thrilled that a stranger was badmouthing your boyfriend so blatantly to you. 

His hand ghosted your thighs before resting on your right knee, causing you to recoil at the contact.

“What I'm trying to say is that you really deserve so much better”, his smile was the only thing that appear to be innocent in the circumstances.

You were just about to swat away his advances when his smiling face disappeared abruptly, his entire body having been hauled off the sofa by Jungkook tugging at his collar.

“How dare you touch her!”, Jungkook shouted at the other man, looking as if he could bite his head off right here right now.

“Woah Jungkook, this isn't like you to get so worked up over one girl...”, Jasper was genuinely surprised by the force of his outburst and shrugs his collar out of Jungkook's hands.

Jungkook was livid and he grabs a handful of the guy's shirt, ready to punish him for talking about you like that.

“Jungkook! No, don’t!”, you gripped tightly onto his forearm which was now raised above his shoulders.

“Don’t ever let me see you near her again, do you hear me?”, Jungkook hisses at Jasper but resisted swinging his fist into the loathsome face, throwing him back down onto the couch. Hoseok quickly squeezes past Jungkook's towering form and collects a horrified Jasper, shoving him out of the room forcefully. 

“I’ll give you guys some time...”, Hoseok whispers, amused and slightly shocked too, and he lightly closes the door behind him. 

---

“Ugh, I just really hate it when anyone else touches you! What more a guy like him! I mean other than the fact that any boyfriend would hate it... what if you know, when he touches you... and it hurts you... and...”, he was pacing around in the guestroom.

“And... ?”, you prompted him to continue. 

“That’s how we started too... what if...”, he said in a much smaller voice and pauses. 

“Oh my gosh, Jeon Jungkook, you gotta be kidding me... you are actually worried that I might like him?!”, your voice was a little too sharp at the end.

“Isn’t it the motherly instinct thing? Isn’t that why you started liking me anyway? Because you could feel that I was hurting... and you pitied me and...”, he proceeded to lean against the edge of the table.

You squeezed your lips tightly together into a straight line, “Who’s been feeding you this?” 

He looks up at you shiftily, “Nobody. I have just been wondering why you would like someone like me... with my horrible reputation and all. And people say it’s like how girls naturally have a thing for pitiful-looking things, it’s something about motherly instincts.” 

“So it’s Hoseok then”, you nodded knowingly. Honestly if Jungkook was troubled by anything, the only person he would have confided in is probably Hoseok, and the lop-sided theory he had developed somewhat confirms it. 

He looks up at you, stunned into silence. How did you know? 

“I don’t think Hoseok is the right choice when it comes to relationship advice”, you sighed. 

He lowers his head, reflecting on his choice to take Hoseok’s words seriously and still bothered by the image of that Jasper chap flirting with you so blatantly.

In the past he had also gotten upset before, when random guys came after the girls who were with him. But that was his ego. This, what he's feeling now, is entirely different. The moment he laid eyes on Jasper smiling at you, the moment he saw his hands resting on your knee, it felt like the whole world was on fire. Just thinking about it now makes him feel like could just combust too.

Luckily your voice that came towards him put out the fire a tiny bit. “Yes, it’s true, there are some instincts involved. But isn’t it just human instincts to want to help someone? And instincts can only get you so far. I can’t believe you think I like you because I pity you”, you rolled your eyes. 

“Then why do you like me?”, he mutters, still staring at the floor.

You walk over to him, slipping your hands through the slit between his arms and his body since he had stuffed his hands into his pockets. Clasping your fingers together behind his back, you lock him into place. Then, you place your chin on his chest, tilting your face up at him so that you could meet his eyes.

He must have been really jealous, upset or just hurt by all his thoughts, given the tiny flutters of pain you could feel throughout your body. 

“I like you because you were this broken only as a result of the love you still had for the people who hurt you. I like you because you knew regret and because you would rather hurt yourself than hurt those you loved. And I like you not only because I felt your pain, but because I felt you change for me, for the better. I like you a lot Jeon Jungkook... just you, only you, ok?”, you smile at him brightly and assuringly. 

If emotions could kill a person, maybe dying from happiness is not too bad, Jungkook thought. Everything had a novelty to him. He never had anyone he could call his, he never had anyone whom he would get jealous over and he never had anyone who made him feel like... he was loved. 

“But come to think of it, it’s kind of unfair isn’t it?”, you suddenly said with a change in tone, while he was still bathing in an emotional shower. “You had so much ‘fun’ before and I never got my chance! If anyone should be jealous, it really should be me right? Do you even know how many dirty looks I was getting from the girls outside? It's so unfair... hmm... where’s that Jasper or Casper guy again...”, you let go of your hold on Jungkook and pretended like you were about to seek out the guy he almost thrashed moments ago. 

“Very funny... let’s see you try...”, he pulls you back without even moving an inch and now his hands were interlocked on the small of your back, holding you tightly against him. You put your palms on his shoulders, gently pushing at him to struggle your way out.

He just smirk-scoffs at your feeble attempt, then darts in to leave a peck on your lips. You closed your eyes for two seconds out of embarrassment, and tried hard to hold back your smile. 

“Let me go...”, you whined. He childishly shook his head, his expression taunting you to try again. 

This time you used your elbows to pry yourself free from his arm-lock around your waist. He smiles but still scoffs a bit, and instead of freeing you, he squeezes you against his body even tighter and kisses you a little harder and longer this time. 

From then on he felt something else being lit within him. “Didn’t you say we will go off after you passed the present to Hoseok? Let’s go now...”, you put your entire forearm on his chest, pushing against it to try to signal to him that you wanted to leave. 

He did not budge at all and when your eyes looked up at him, all his emotions culminated into the intensity with which he stared down at you. 

“I like you a lot too, Y/N... just you, only you”, his voice was barely audible but yet so forceful, causing you to blink at him. 

He kisses you again, softly, taking in every second his lips interacted with yours, reminding himself that he is the one you like. He felt your arms go up around his neck, pulling him closer, so he tilts his head to deepen the kiss. His heart literally fluttered when you hummed a blissful sound against his lips. 

It must also be instinct, but perhaps animal instinct, because even when his mind busied itself cautioning him not to hurt you, he really couldn’t resist biting ever so lightly onto your bottom lip, his tongue then quickly brushing over it soothingly. 

He felt you smile against his mouth, your soft lips enveloping his, and then he took the chance, opening his mouth slightly, leading you to part your lips, he slips his tongue into your mouth, entangling with yours. He finally let go of his strong hold on your waist and raises one hand to caress your face, his thumb stroking along your cheekbone. Every time your hand brushed his hair, his neck will shiver a little. 

It felt like everything was in slow motion, but at the same time he felt like time was passing too fast, he never wants this to end. If feelings could kill a person, dying now wouldn't be too bad either.

But time has it ways and just about then, his phone started pinging on rapid fire with notifications and he could only reluctantly break away from you.

Taking his phone out from his pocket, he facepalms and groans while you angled yourself to see the series of messages from Hoseok:  

“I got rid of that guy” 

“and I’m sending this just in case...”

“I will really kill you if you do anything gross in my guestroom”

“and also the lock is spoiled”

“so seriously, don’t do anything there.” 

You burst out into laughter, and rested your forehead on Jungkook’s chest, shoulders trembling from your giggles, cheeks burning from your blushing. Jungkook shakes his head as he stuffs his phone back into his pocket, his other hand patting your hair lightly as he also lets out a chuckle. 

To close the door on doubt and jealousy, is to leave a wider door open for love. 

[bxcksdoll]

Let’s Dance

Parings: Tony Stark x reader, best friend! Shuri x reader

Prompt: #69 - “What do you want me to say?” #46 - “Dance with me.”

Summary: Tony Stark throws a huge party one night. This is Y/N’s first time going to one of his parties since she joined the Avengers and wants it to be perfect. She has a crush on Tony but fears their difference in age will get in the way; however, she’s determined to make herself catch his eye.

Warnings: age gap, flirty Tony (but you were expecting that), swearing

A/N: Well this is my first time writing a Tony Stark x reader so I hope I got the character right. Enjoy you guys :) also, I’ve been asked to write a few imagines so I’ll be sure to post them this week !

Tonight was the night Tony would notice you; you were sure of it. He had decided to throw a party in honour of the Wakandan guests: T’Challa and his sister (your best friend) Shuri.

Shuri was the only person in the world who knew about your crush on the genious, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist - Mr Tony Stark. You trusted her with your life which was why you were letting her pick out your outfit for the gathering.

“You need to make a statement, girl,” Shuri proposed, dumping a huge, heavy bag on your bed.

“Jesus, Shuri, how many outfits are in there?” you gasped.

“I may have gone a little overboard when I went shopping but it will be worth it!” she gleamed, pulling out about 20 dresses.

“Oh my god, Shuri, how did you pay for all of this?”

She gave you a judging look, “have you forgotten that I have the princess of Wakanda, Y/N?” She shook her head, sighing.

“Right, sorry. I’m still not used to hanging around with superheros and royalty,” you laughed.

“Try this on,” Shuri held out a strapless, v-necked, skin tight green dress.

“What is this? A towel?” you questioned.

“Just put it on,” she insisted.

You tried it on and glanced in the mirror.

“Emm... maybe not for me, Shuri. I don’t really like strapless dresses anyway because I hate wearing a strapless bra.”

“What are you talking about? It looks incredible on you! I know a certain someone would be all over you-”

“Shuri! Stop!” you giggled.

“Fine, try this one on then,” she handed you a knee-length, white dress with floral print on it.

“Well...it is a gorgeous dress but it’s too formal. I look like I’m about to go to a wedding or something,” you shook your head.

“Oh yeah, you’re right. Sorry about that. Try...” Shuri paused as she scanned the pile of clothes. “Ooo! This one.”

She gave you a knee-length, flowing, cream dress with a slit cut on the left thigh.

“Shuri, I am in love with this dress,” you announced, twirling as you did so.

“I also have some cream heels to go with it,” she smiled, handing them to you.

“You’re the best! Thank you so much.” you squealed, hugging her tight.

“It’s not problem, dude, I’m glad you like this one so much. But I bet you won’t like it as much as-”

“Shuri!” you warned, trying to hold back a smile.

“My god, calm down. It’s not like I’ll make it obvious at the party,” she defended.

“Shuri, I’m so nervous. He will notice me right? I mean he has to. This time he has to. But what if he thinks I’m too young for him? Oh god he probably thinks of me in a fatherly way - I don’t want that!”

In these moments Shuri would stay quiet, she knew you needed to get all worries out of your system before setting foot in the party. After you finished venting, she always made you feel better.

“Girl, are you blind? Have you seen yourself? He won’t be able to take his eyes off of you. I promise you, okay?”

“Okay,” you replied. “We have a couple of hours until the party, want me to do your make up?”

“Hell yes, dude!”

——————————————————————————

The party had started half an hour ago but you and Shuri wanted to make an entrance; to make sure you were seen by everyone. To make sure you were seen him.

The two of you strutted in, glamorous from head to toe; many people turned their heads to watch you enter. ‘That’s the princess of Wakanda’ ‘That’s the newest Avenger’ they’d whisper.

You didn’t look to check whether he was looking over in case you made it too obvious. But you hoped against all hope that he was.

A wolf-whistle sounded from your left. “Looking good ladies,” the voice of Sam Wilson announced.

“Hey, bird-brain, that’s my sister you’re talking about!” you heard T’Challa say.

“What did you just call me, man?”

You and Shuri exchanged an unimpressed look and wandered over to the bar to order some drinks.

“5 o’clock,” Shuri stated. “Talking to a blonde in a black dress.” You started turning your head slowly but Shuri grabbed your arm. “Don’t look now, genious!”

“Sorry,” you giggled.

“Don’t worry, he’s looking pretty unimpressed. I think he’s trying to get out of the convocation. I know! I can help him,” she offered, starting to walk away.

“Wait, Shuri, stop,” you whispered but you were too late, she was already making her way across the room to him.

“Tony!” she yelled. You turned back to the bar, holding your head in your hands, hoping she wouldn’t bring him over and embarrass you.

“I need to talk to you about a recent development I’ve been working on...” you heard her say.

Soon after you heard the sound of footsteps behind you.

“Thank you for getting me out of that convocation, kid, she was boring me to death!” came the voice that always made your heart leap.

“You’re welcome, I could see the helpless look on your face and thought I’d swoop in and rescue you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say helpless...perhaps devilishly handsome and charming,” he quipped, you could almost hear the smirk on his face; you still hadn’t turn around, afraid you’d blush at the sight of him.

“Ha! As if, old man!” Shuri laughed. “Hey Y/N...”

Well shit, you thought. Thanks a lot, Shuri, now I’m going to embarrass myself so much that I won’t be able to face Tony for a week.

You turned around to be faced with Shuri giving you a smug grin. Tony then turned around, clearly showing that he hadn’t even noticed you were there.

“Yes, Shuri?” you asked, trying your best not to blush at the feeling of Tony’s eyes wandering on you.

“Would you agree with Tony that he’s devilishly handsome and charming or would you agree with me that he’s an old man?” she asked, grinning at you.

“I-I have no comment,” you replied, stuttering slightly.

“Come on, sweetie, you must have an opinion on this,” Tony smirked and you blushed slightly at his pet name for you.

“I do but perhaps I’d prefer to keep it to myself.” Now was your chance to flirt with him.

“All you have to do is answer the simple question,” Tony insisted, taking one step closer to you.

“What do you want me to say, Mr Stark?” you quipped, raising your glass slowly to your pouting lips, whilst remaining eye contact.

“I want you to say what you think of me, dear.”

“Well, I don’t think you’re an old man...just a man with more experience,” you smirked.

“Oh, I have more experience than most men, I assure you,” he smirked, coming closer again.

“Mmm, I bet you do,” you took the heart-racing decision to rest your hand on his shoulder.

Tony stepped forward once more, almost coming chest to chest with you, placing a hand on your waist.

“And what else do you think of-”

“Tony Stark!” a voice interrupted the two of you.

Tony turned around, removing his arm from your waist.

“Ah, Mr Secretary, I’m glad you could join us,” he lied.

“Stark, we have some business matters to attend to, if I’m not mistaken. So...” he paused for a moment and glanced at you, “I hope you’re not too busy-”

“Actually, I’m afraid I’m very busy but the party has only begun so I’ll talk to you later. Bye, bye now,” Tony fake smiled, turning back to you.

“Actually, Stark, I can’t stay too long so I think we had better address this issue now,” the Secretary of State said in a warning voice.

Tony sighed, pulling a bored face at you - making you giggle.

“I’ll be back! Don’t go anywhere,” he winked, saying goodbye.

After your exchange with Tony, you made your way over to Natasha and Sam.

“Hey, guys,” you greeted, ignoring their smirks at you.

“Hey, girl, you having fun over there with Tony?” Natasha replied, causing you to blush.

“Oh, you saw that, huh?” you laughed nervously.

“Saw it?!” Sam hollered. “The whole party saw it!”

“Oh god, really?”

“Yep, we saw it all,” Natasha laughed and you face palmed.

“Shame it was cut short by that old bastard. You were only getting started,” Sam winked.

“Sam! Oh my god, I can’t deal with you guys,” you laughed, walking away.

For the next hour you made your way around the party, making sure to say hello to everyone. You felt lonely without Tony and somehow missed him for the short time he was away. You were beginning to think he wouldn’t come back.

“Hi, Y/N, are you having a good night?” Steve’s voice came from behind you.

“Steve! Hi, yeah, Tony’s parties really are as good as people say.”

“You’re waiting for him aren’t you?” Steve raises an eyebrow.

“Waiting for him? I don’t know what you mean?” you lied through your teeth.

“I know you’re waiting for Tony, Y/N,” Steve smiled and you blushed. “It’s alright, I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

“Don’t tell me you saw us before?” you groaned.

“I’m afraid I did; I think everyone did,” he laughed, gently.

Moments later, the very man himself entered. He seemed like he was searching for someone. Looking desperately, but cooly, through the crowd. Finally, he laid his eyes on you and found what he was looking for.

“You.” he pointed straight at you. “Dance with me.”

Your cheeks flushed even pinker and you glanced up at Steve.

“Go on, Y/N. Have some fun,” he nodded.

You gave him a warm smile and began walking towards Tony, swaying your hips as you went.

“Hello again, Mr Stark...” you trailed, smirking.

“Hello, there, dear,” he returned the smirk.

Next he placed a hand around your waist and another he intwined with yours. You stepped closer, placing your free hand on his shoulder.

You moved your head closer to him, looking over his shoulder as you slowly swayed to the music. A strong smell of expensive cologne filled your senses; you knew you would treasure this moment forever.

Mentally, you thanked Shuri for reminding you to wear your perfume and hoped he noticed. Then, you glanced over at one of the windows where she stood, giving you a thumbs up and looking proudly.

For the next 20 minutes or more, you and Tony danced to the music. You never wanted this moment to end; you wished he could hold you in his arms forever.

“Y/N?” Tony asked and you pulled your head back a bit to look in his eyes. How you were able to it, so close to him, without blushing, you had no idea.

“Yes, Tony?” you asked.

“I really like you,” he stated and your face lit up.

“I really like you too, Tony.”

“I just wanted you to know since I have a history of taking girls home and not calling them ever again. I don’t want you to think you’re like any of those girls. You’re different...I just didn’t want to make a move on you because you’re so much younger than me. But, when I saw you in this dress...” he told you, honestly, “I guess I couldn’t help myself. And, luckily for me, I suppose you feel the same.”

“Of course I feel the same, Tony...” you leaned in and kissed his lips. This night was everything you’d dreamt of.

“Wow,” he murmured when you stopped, breathing for air.

Suddenly, you heard a cheer from across the room: “YES GIRL YOU GO! WHAT A QUEEN! OH MY GOD!” Shuri screamed.

“Oh god!” you laughed and you rested your head on his shoulder.

“Looks like I’m not the only one excited about kissing you,” Tony laughed, kissing the top of your head.

“I guess not,” you laughed with him, moving your head up to kiss him again.

“Shall we continue this somewhere private?” he quirked an eyebrow.

“You read my mind, Mr Stark.”