#nick bean imagine

[analyticallyminded]

tag drop 5/?

people.

[analyticallymindedaa]

tag dump bc tumblr ate my tags part 3/?

[alexthebordercollie]

oooo, if you're taking doodle requests for the dad ford au, i'd love to see something with Ford + Tate and or Stan + Tate.

Ford, cause it'd be interesting to see how he handles being a stepdad on top of Newt and Nick. Stan cause while he'd obviously be fiercely protective of the twins, i feel like he'd understand Tate's motivation the most between him, Ford, and Fiddleford

Thank you so much for my first proper ask/prompt. So you asked for Tate with Ford or Stan and I decided to give you both. Ford is a genius but he's not a pediatrician and Fiddleford still insisted on finding a real proper doctor to help with the twin's general medical care. But the person they found willing to help them with their alien babies without freaking out is out of town so these trips are a bit time-consuming and Fidds is the best at keeping the beans calm for their shots. Mostly I just needed to come up with an excuse for Tate to be stuck with the Stan twins for the day.

I imagine this to take place while Fidds and Emma are still in the process of getting divorced. Custody arrangments are still being worked out. This is Tates first time coming to stay in Gravity Falls with his dad's new family and he has a lot of complicated feelings.

Fidds generally is very clingy with Tate when he comes to stay with them. Showering his eldest with affection out of a mix of missing him and feeling guilty. As a result Ford and Stan rarely are put in the position of having to look after Tate and Fidds initially doesn't make much of an effort to actively include Ford in his father-son time with Tate. Again Fidds feels guilty and like asking Tate to give Ford a chance is an unfair imposition.

Ford makes genuine attempts however to get to know Tate when the opportunity arises. At first, Tate wants nothing to do with him. He's overheard his mom occasionally talking about the divorce when he's supposed to be in bed and the bits and pieces he has picked up basis him pretty strongly against Ford.

Emma isn't trying to turn Tate against his dad or even really against Ford. Don't get me wrong she really doesn't like Ford for obvious reasons but she doesn't want to expose her son to the adults interpersonal drama. She didn't mean for him to hear her talking about Fiddleford leaving them for Stanford.

I think you're suggestion that Stan would understand Tate in this situation better than the other two is pretty reasonable. Tate feels abandoned, and maybe even replaced by new babies. Stan knows better than anyone how it feels to be abandoned and he knows enough to reassure Tate rather confidently that that isn't what's happening here. Tate also finds it a bit easier to open up to Stan because he's mostly a bystander in all of this.

[bonesmarinated]

ur art? Delicious, love it could scroll through this blog for hours, I love that your tarnished is literally just picked up, by the scruff of his neck, from a random Scandinavian heavy metal band and dropped into the lands between -chefs kiss- and Kristian Odegaard, I swear I can look at him and hear the most intense norwenglish ever, could bump into them both in Bergen centre or at Tons of Rock, love it 💕

>> Kristian Odegaard, I swear I can look at him and hear the most intense norwenglish ever, could bump into them both in Bergen centre or at Tons of Rock << you're right 😏 Kristian was born and raised in Bergen. Now please imagine him complaining about the coffee in Sweden because they normally just burned beans to oblivion. The coffee is destroyed. He started out as a Starfield character (and still do for most of the time) but I always like to see my character being real in some sense so there's that. He used to be a roughneck on a drilling rig offshore in the Norwegian sector for Maersk Drilling Norway. Started out as 18 years old apprentice, made pretty good money but eventually quit at 25 to follow his passion to work in live sound. Ofc, you could catch him at Tons of Rock lol but he would be working.

^^ here he is, it would be a crime if i said he's a sound guy and never draw this fit

>> your tarnished is literally just picked up, by the scruff of his neck, from a random Scandinavian heavy metal band << yes, it is 🤫😏 the visage I stole, he's real as flesh...😔☝️ I actually have this characters many years before Elden Ring when I got into Bloodborne stuff, he was The Hunter and then going to Dark Soul III he's the Ashen One. I cast him again as The Tarnished and it's the first time I actually draw him properly. Maybe i should draw his Bloodborne version someday 🤔 I wasn't intend to give him a personal name, only keeping player character title but eventually his (nick)names are either Ørjan or Mørk.

[rubykgrant]

I started these a WHILE back, but they kept on looking a little off, so I never finished them... I finally gave them another try, and they are finally decent! Behold; the Lieutenants from Chorus, without the helmets. I wanted to make sure they visibly look fairly young, but definitely not like "little kids" (though, a couple of them may have a touch of baby-face). I did two versions of each in signature/armor color, and then with individual colors. We know the names of Palomo, Jensen, and Andersmith, but "Volleyball Girl" is a blank, and Matthews doesn't have a known first name. So, I made them up~

Some notes for the designs below-

Palomo is a kid who has recently gone through both an emotional groth-spurt and a physical growth-spurt, so he's still sort of getting used to himself. He thought he was done with the awkward teen years, but now comes the awkward 20s! He's a little bit of a string-bean, with striking features that still show his softer side. He keeps his hair short, and it just kind of naturally spikes up (he's a natural anime kid haha). I'm imagining him as mixed Italian and Mexican.

I think a lot of people picture Katie with braids/freckles, and I’m no different. It just looks cute on her (also, I imagine that FINALLY, after wearing her braces for YEARS, she gets them off when all the fighting is done… and then she still sounds the same). She has a strong chin, with somewhat angular features, but not a squared jaw or harsh shapes in her face. She's sort of in the middle with the kids of Chorus, not very young, but still not part of the older group.

I’m calling the Volleyball Girl Molly Dahl, and her nick-name is Dolly (yes, because it rhymes, haha). She's very cute, and looks younger than she actually is (older than Jensen by a couple years, so just barely out of her early-20s). Her features are very soft, and sort of "angelic". She's also very athletic, and better at unarmed fighting than most of the others. I imagined her being Black (background being Afro-Latina). She has her natural hair kept back with a pink headband.

Bitters is not only older than some of the other kids here, but he even had more memories of life before Chorus (Bitters was LITERALLY bitter about how this was all the others knew, and he wished they could actually have a chance to be KIDS). Despite trying to go for a bored-rebellious attitude all the time, he's secretly sweet and caring. He's still young, and has a slightly slender shape to his face. He's Black (Creole), and has coiled hair pulled back (a twist and short ponytail).

Matthews didn’t have much time to cut his hair back during the whole war incident, but later on Grif actually did something nice and told him his long hair was cool (now that he’s not actively trying to be a jerk, Grif actually LIKES this kid). Matthews decided to keep it long, coming down around his shoulders, parted off-center. I'm imagining him Korean, and so I gave him a first name to be part of that. He's one of the younger kids, with a chubby body-type (although he's the shortest of this group, he's actually more of a medium-height; the rest of them are all just EXTRA tall)

I feel like Andersmith still cuts his hair like a dude going in for his first professional job interview (he actually looks a bit like a "prince charming" type, very strong features that are a little elegant). He's one of the older kids, but because he's tall, a few people assume he's been around for a lot longer. Despite how serious he presents himself, he's actually a very emotional person, and will passionately talk about how important hope and friendship is, and loves listening to the interests his friends have. I'm imagining him being mixed European and Southeast Asian (Norwegian and Filipino).

[cookiesupplier]

Say My Name

pairing: nicholas ruffilo x ofc

cw: None (Part One) -- does pining count? lol

words: 2108

summary: Nicholas Ruffilo has been a fixture in Kaia's life for so long she couldn't imagine it without him. Even after he left for LA and his life of stardom took off.. the only problem, she never got the nerve to tell him how she felt about him. Could one more tattoo change everything?

author’s note: Um.. this was going to be smutty but... bare with me lol, there will be a part two, when I get to it.. I intend it to contain the goods, but I felt like this would be a good point to actually get this down and put this out there before I psych myself out! Also.. not a tattoo artist, everything comes from websites, youtube, or personal experience as a tattoo client. ALL COMMENTS ARE WELCOME, but please, be constructive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being an introvert wasn’t always as simple as being the quiet and mousy looking one, that was something Kaia learned as she grew up. She was the youngest of three siblings and as much as she could yell, and scream, and rumble with her older brothers, give as good as she got, when it came to the end of the day, she always preferred to curl up in her bean bag chair and pull open one of the many books in her reading nook, losing herself to the fantasy world among the pages. The characters within always made so much more sense than the world around her, and felt so much less suffocating than the world that just seemed to want to push down on her chest and put pressure on her until she couldn’t breath.

It didn’t help that with the work that she loved, so many that walked into the tattoo parlour, and saw the brightly coloured hair, and elaborate designed tattoos, and just assumed you were as boisterous and as extroverted as the rest of her family. She did love her tattoos, nothing about her aesthetic was anything that she regretted, even if it did make people assume things about her at times seeing her numerous tattoos. So many of them were inspired from the pages of those books that she dearly loved. Not that all of them were drawn by her, most of them weren’t even tattooed by any of the artists in the shop where she worked, the artist used to work there though, before he left for LA, now she was lucky to snag time with him when he was visiting on holidays.. Fuck, she missed him.

Nick. He was one of her oldest friends. He’d been the one to get her apprenticeship at the shop, which had turned into a full placement here, and now she was working here full time. Her books were always full, and it pained her, but she was finding herself having to turn people away when she couldn’t always find the time to fit them in when it was convenient for them both.. And she’d been scolded more than once from her boss for trying to push herself to overwork longer hours to accommodate people that couldn’t fit into when she worked. She deserved time off as well. Okay, so she was a bit of a people pleaser sometimes..

Yesterday she got a message from one of her friends from high school.

Guess which tattooed hottie is back in town?

Fuck, did Kaia’s heart skipped a beat when she saw that message, there was only one person that Corey would be messaging her that description about, considering he knew exactly how she felt about Nick.. he tormented her about it relentlessly. Taunting Kaia about how, if only she had opened up those pretty little lips and told Nick how she felt about him, she could have moved to LA with the man and gotten to work practicing on making those pretty little metal head babies, his words not hers.. Or have a long distance relationship even.. It wasn’t like he didn’t travel enough as it was.. He was on the road touring constantly. He wasn’t even in Los Angeles all that much either.. Though arguably more than Nick was in Richmond anymore.

Now, yes, Kaia knew Corey’s teasing was in jest, and he didn’t mean anything malicious towards her, but there were days when his words struck so close to home, because she knew he was right. Kaia knew that if she’d just told Nick the truth about how she felt about him, maybe things could have been different, but now, now it was too late.. It was too late to tell him that every time she’d bought him an idea for a tattoo, it had really just been another excuse to see him, another reason to spend time with him. That so much of her body was covered in tattoos because she would jump at the chance to bring all her ideas to him before anyone else. There were days that Corey’s words hurt so bad because Kaia  was just waiting for the day she heard about the wonderful girl that Nick had met on the road, or in LA, and he had swept her off her feet, and away with her in a whirlwind romance of love and music.

Who wouldn’t love that man? Nicholas Ruffilo was one of a kind! While most of his fans only saw the gorgeous bassist of Bad Omens, along with that delicious man bun, she saw the quiet but dedicated dork of a man that always put his family first. That had helped tutor her when she was failing calculus in senior year despite absolutely hating the subject himself, just because she’d needed it. The boy that would listen to her prattle on about characters in books that she was well aware he had no idea about, and had absolutely no desire to ever read, but did he listen, and did he ask her questions while he was permanently inking inspired artwork to her skin? Absolutely. He was the boy that she would see giggling over milk shakes and eating fries while reading comic books with Noah.. that was who she had fallen in love with and never had the guts to tell him the truth.

Today, today she was visiting him again, he knew she had another tattoo in mind. About an hour after she felt like she stopped breathing after Corey’s message she got one from Nick, asking if she was up for a meet up. They never did lose touch, and she’d told him months ago she had a new tattoo in mind. At first she’d mentioned it in passing, just running the idea by him, wanting his opinion before asking one of the artists at the shop if they’d be interested in doing the work for her, when Nick had practically demanded he wait for her to let him do it. She’d agreed, how could she not? It was Nick, he practically owned her body, and he didn’t even know. The fact that he’d taken her rough sketch idea and resigned it a week later and had her drooling at the thought of it curving up and around her inner thigh, like she had already told him she intended for the idea in the first place.

Kaia was meeting him at his parent’s place, he was setting up a sterile station for them to work here, she’d offered the shop so he could see everyone, but she could almost hear the smile in his voice as he told her no, that he knew it was her day off and who wanted to go into work on their day off. Besides, this way it could just be them, they could talk, chat, just like they used to.

Oh, how she had felt her face go warm at the thought of Nick’s hands on her again, hands running up her inner thigh as his voice washed over her, even talking about nothing, anything.. Even with the buzz of the tattoo gun.. Especially with the buzz of the tattoo gun, oh it made her press her thighs together. No, no she needed to focus, calm, calm and collected, it was just a tattoo, she’d gotten them countless times before, from Nick, and she’d been just fine. Nothing out of the ordinary, she wouldn’t embarrass herself, and even more she wouldn’t embarrass him..

Nick answered the door, his smile warm, inviting, hair up in his messy man bun that instantly had Kaia smiling, and trying not to flush with warmth in her cheeks as he pulled her into a hug tight.

“Oh, I missed you.”

She could feel her cheeks ache with how wide she smiled as she stuffed her face into his shoulder to muffle the little bit of giddiness that he was the one to admit that instead of her. That she wasn’t the one to cave to the impulse to be so hopeless right now. Not that she could ever think Nick was hopeless. He probably just missed her because she was a little bit of home instead of the hustle and bustle that came with the insanity that was his life as a rockstar. All the same, her arms wrapped around him to squeeze him back.

“Missed you too, Nick.”

Pulling back from his arms, she dipped her head a little, trying to hide the fact that she was almost sure that her cheeks were rosy pink with a flush of her blush, but it didn’t stop Nick from chuckling and grabbing her hand and pulling her inside properly. He offered her water, a snack before they got started, accepting both, better to be safe when it came to tattoos, but over all, it wasn’t long before he had her laying back, propped up on the couch, her legs out in front of her. Kaia had worn a sundress knowing that he was going to be tattooing high on her leg today, and taking off her pants, oh, that would be a bit much for her today.

Showing her the finished piece that he’d been working on for her, Kaia was so excited, Nick was always so exceptional with his work. She might be an artist herself, but there was something about his artwork that she just loved inking to her skin, seeing his work had been what made her fall in love with the medium of using skin as a canvas in the first place. Before that, Kaia had been much more partial to clay sculpture, she’d always been partial to doing things with her hands.

With the skirt of her dress tucked up to the leg of her underwear delicately to expose the meat of her thigh, Kaia held her breath as she showed Nick where she wanted the tattoo, and with a professional, simple nod, he ran his gloved hand over her freshly shaved and prepped skin, and prepared the stencil before rubbing the stencil stuff into her skin. Swallowing down, this was something she’d done to countless clients time and time again, and she knew it was coming, she knew his hands were going to be on her, rubbing the liquid into her skin to transfer the ink of the stencil. Breath, Kaia, breath, it was just another tattoo, she’d done this with him so many times, it was no different.

It was different. It was always different with Nick.

She lifted her head from the way she had tilted back to not look to him, attempting to focus on anything but what he was doing.. Making the utter mistake of glancing down towards Nicholas to see what he was going as he placed the stencil, curving his hand over the paper, placing such delicate pressure over the image to press it down to her thigh, she could almost feel her muscles shake under his touch… it made her want to moan under his hands, and without realizing it, maybe the softest breath of one left her lips in the form of his name.

“Nicholas.”

And she froze.

They both froze.

Nick’s hand’s stilled on her thigh, one very intimately placed on her inner thigh as his eyes flew up to her as her cheeks flushed bright with warmth at the realization at the sound that had just escaped her.

“Kaia?”

His light eyes met her dark searchingly as she swallowed heavily,

“Nick.”

Her voice shook as she wanted to bolt from the room so fast but his hands just hadn’t moved from her leg, and she was both terrified and delighted with that fact. Terrified that if she said something he would move them, and delighted that maybe, just maybe, he just didn’t want to, and that was why they were there.

It felt like a silence hung over them forever, but it was probably only barely a moment as he looked to her searchingly, was he looking for something in her expression, trying to see what might be going through her mind. She wouldn’t be the first person in the world to get turned on from getting a tattoo, but usually that didn’t happen until after the needle hit their skin in her experiences. No, no that wasn’t what was happening here. If anything there was a touch of panic in her eyes, panic that he wouldn’t feel about her the way she felt about him. That, however, didn’t seem to be something she had to worry about.

“I want you to say my name like that again.”

[dujour13]

Owlcatober 19. Duty

featuring the teen Free Crusade orphans, Clenna and Daberoche

Unsubtle hints at a massive spoiler for the azata path

Also on AO3

“Magical Elysian flowers don’t need fertilizer, potatohead.”

Clenna went around to the next stall and hefted a shovelful of steaming manure into the wheelbarrow that her small companion, Daberoche, was trying to work up the leverage to push behind her.

“All flowers need fertilizer,” he grunted. “How can they grow if they don’t have stuff to eat?”

“Flowers don’t eat poop. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Rustic in her brown smock and the oversized boots Thall had given her, she blew a loose strand of mousy hair from her face and leaned the shovel on the shed wall so she could pat the speckled pony inside. It blinked its long lashes at her over its shoulder.

Daberoche gave up with the wheelbarrow and came over so he could run his palm along the pony’s barrel-shaped tummy. “Yeah, well, what we used to eat wasn’t much better, and look at us.”

Clenna gasped. “Remember the donkey turds?”

“Ugh,” the halfling boy moaned, doubling over dramatically. “Remember how Mother Narita called them ‘bean croquettes’ like they were some kinda fancy food?”

“She was the one full of beans.”

Daberoche made a rude noise and they both laughed so loud it disturbed the pony. “Do you miss her sometimes?” he asked suddenly.

His teen companion grabbed the shovel and marched to the next stall. “Nope.”

He tried backing against the wheelbarrow, lifting the handles over his head and pushing it with his rump. “She was nice sometimes.”

“Do not tell me you’re homesick for the orphanage.”

“That’s not what I said!”

“Sh, look who’s coming.”

Daberoche made another rude noise, just between the two of them, and Clenna snorted with muffled laughter.

“Early Sunset!” Her smile was genuine even though the azata wasn’t her favorite person in the Court of the Lark. Strange that a real azata from Elysium wasn’t even as much fun as a stuffy old noble like Daeran Arendae.

“Hello, children.”

They waved but kept working, aware by now that Early Sunset probably wouldn’t suggest they slack off and do something fun. In fact he cast a bit of a sobering pall over everything, like a hall monitor.

“Working hard for the Crusade, I see. Pushing demons back to the Abyss one shovelful at a time. Such drudgery must be a disappointment.”

“Better than mopping the kitchens at the orphanage any day.”

“We all pitch in and do our part!” said Daberoche stoutly.

“Still a far cry from the glorious dreams that brought you runaways all the way to Drezen, I imagine.”

“We’ll get our chance. I’m training with the Valhaflings!” Daberoche punched the air.

“Aranka’s teaching me to sing and play the lute. Although... I’d rather learn guitar.” Clenna’s face went scarlet and she hunched into her shoulders as if she’d revealed the most embarrassing secret in the world.

“I’m sure you would,” said Early Sunset evenly. “Then what are you doing here instead of training for the Crusade? It seems to me the Cavalry Sculptors are taking advantage of you. Getting you to do their dirty work while they get all the accolades.”

“They need to rest between adventures out in the Worldwound,” Daberoche informed him. “Swooping in to rescue the Knight-Commander in the nick of time.”

“So if I understand correctly,” Early Sunset mused, “the Valhalflings and the Cavalry Sculptors simply decide to charge in, not when the Knight-Commander orders them to, but whenever the fancy strikes them, unexpectedly turning up to save the day. Doesn’t that worry you? What would happen if one day they decided not to venture out, and the Knight-Commander found himself in mortal danger and no unexpected rescue on the horizon? I can only imagine: falling to his knees, knowing his luck has failed him, dying alone on the battlefield... What a terrible shame.

“I do hope you’re not considering flying to his rescue yourselves. You are valiant-hearted, and I have no doubt he would be deeply grateful for such an act of heroism, but it would be against the rules. And I’m sure the two of you are far too respectful and obedient to do something so rash.”

The teenagers glanced at each other.

Daberoche frowned. “Why don’t you go save him if you’re so worried?”

“I am not the martial sort of azata. I prefer more civilized methods of doing battle.”

They glanced at each other again.

“Whatever,” said Clenna, rolling her eyes.

“You’re weird,” said Daberoche.

“Aren’t azata always ‘weird’?”

As soon as Early Sunset was out of earshot Clenna snorted. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Daberoche made a rude noise.

They nodded in unison.

"Mother Narita only not nice," said Daberoche.

Clenna did her best scandalized old priestess voice. 'Children. Be civilized!'"

Giggling they braced the wheelbarrow against a pair of rocks, and Clenna helped Daberoche tip it up, and then with the edge of her shovel pushed the load of pony manure over the edge of the floating island and away into the Worldwound.

[holylulusworld]

Not a queen (9)

Summary: You are no one. What if fate makes you queen?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Maid!Reader x Nick (Fowler) Barnes

Warnings: dystopian world, modern royal au, shy reader, arranged marriage, implied smut, fluff, cuddling, a little time jump (2 months), pregnant reader, overprotective Nick

A/N: We are reaching the end of this arc.

This series takes place in the Two kings universe, at the same time. I recommend reading this story first to understand this universe better.

You can find all arcs here: Of Kings and Queens Arcs

<&lt; Part 8.5

Not a queen (Arc 2) masterlist

“Father, are you sure?” Bucky shakes his head. He can’t believe his father wants him to take over the throne so soon. “Why now?”

“Our revolution needs fresh blood, not men stuck in the past. We need the second and first sons to work together,” the king shushes his son. “I know you two will make me proud. I always knew you are special, Bucky, Nick.”

“Has this something to do with King Joseph’s death?” Nick questions. “Father, you are strong and undefeatable.”

The king chuckles at his son’s words. He pats Nick’s shoulder and gives him a soft smile. “Son, you, and your brother will take over the kingdom. It’s my decision. You have a queen and are excepting the next generation.”

“Father,” Bucky tries again. “Why so sudden? We never talked about this before.”

The king sighs deeply. “I got preparations to make, son. While you and Nick take over the throne, I can work in the background with Howard and the others. The new generation must fulfill their fate, and we, the elder generation must fulfill ours.”

“What are you up to? What are you and Howard Stark hiding? Tony took over the throne, Steve too,” Nick huffs. “It feels like you are working in the shadows while leaving us in the dark.”

“Son, you gotta trust me in this,” the king clears his throat. “Soon you will understand. If you want to change the world, you got to find allies in places you never expected to find them. It’s hard work to earn their trust. Our bond is still vulnerable.”

“Bond? Allies?” Bucky groans. “Father, stop talking in riddles. Nick and I deserve that much. What are you talking about? Why did we never hear of this before?”

“The time almost has come, Bucky. Please don’t ask me to give you answers. I can’t give them to you. Not now.”

“What do you think about this? I don’t get it, Bucky. Months ago, father didn’t say a word about giving up the throne.”

“Nick,” Bucky’s features soften at his brother’s worried expression. “Months ago, we didn’t know our wife will expect a child. But she does, and making her queen keeps her safe.”

“I-“ Nick licks his lips. “You think so?”

“A queen has a higher status than a former maid. Father knows that too. I think he tries to keep our wife and child safe. We got to have a little faith in him brother.”

“Y/N, mouse,” the moment he steps inside the room he pounces on you. He looks you all over, checking on you as if he’s afraid something happened to you while you were waiting in your shared chamber. “How are you? Do you need anything?”

“I’m good,” you softly say as he runs his hand over your barely swollen belly. “How about you tell me what your father wanted to talk about.”

“He wants us to become king,” Nick replies. “You will be a queen soon, mouse. Can you imagine, you and I will rule this kingdom?”

Bucky clears his throat. He quirks a brow as you hide your face in Nick’s chest. 

“Oh, yeah. Bucky will share the throne with me,” you snicker at Nick’s words. He loves to tease his brother. “I bet the little bean inside her belly is mine too.”

“Brother,” Bucky grits his teeth. “We talked about this! No more fighting over her womb. If the baby is yours, I’ll put another one inside of her.” 

You giggle when Nick shoves you behind him. “I didn’t agree with you on this. Y/N needs to take care of this little bundle of joy first. You’ll get your chance later…much later.”

“Uh-no fighting. We talked about this too,” you point out. “We will wait for the doctor to tell us if the baby is healthy, and about their gender. I don’t want to know who the father is. I know in my heart that both of you are their father.”

“Doll,” Bucky sniffs. “Of course, we are both the father. You’re right.”

“Mouse, I’m the father…and Bucky too,” Nick wrinkles his nose. He’s not convinced but doesn’t want to make you mad at him again. Lately, you scolded him more than once. Especially when he cursed around your belly.

“So, how about we spend the evening talking about lighter things? I found this book I want to read. Or one of you can read it to me…I mean us.”

“It’s my turn!” Bucky insists. “You will get comfortable on the bed, and I’ll read the book to you, and my annoying brother.”

“Howard, we need results. Our enemies will strike soon. We need to strike first,” the king sighs deeply. “Stark, what are you cooking up with your son?”

“We are close, my friend. Give me a little more time. I’ll make sure we win this war before the first blood gets shed. My son knows how to bring back something we last a long time ago.”

“Howard … time is running out on us. I only hope you know what you’re doing. We are all counting on you and your son.”

“We won’t disappoint. I promise…”

Howard likes to keep people in the dark about the things going on in his laboratory and kingdom. 

“She smiles and turns away from the man who used to be her hero…and then, she walks away,” Bucky reads the last line of the book. He silently closes it. “She’s asleep, Nick.”

“Just a minute,” Nick mumbles. He presses his ear to your belly, hoping to feel the baby kick. “I know they will kick me.”

Bucky doesn’t have the heart to tell his brother it’s too early in your pregnancy. “I bet they will kick you soon.” He smiles while hoping he can watch their children grow. 

>> Part 10

Tags in reblog.

[arlana-likes-to-write]

Lightning Bug - Chapter 12

Master list of Lighning Bug 

Warning: kidnapping, mention of human trafficking, character injury, mention of death, guilt, drinking 

Word count: 6.5k

“Who are you?” You stared at the man who had an eye patch over his left eye. He was wearing all black with a trench coat over the top. You couldn’t imagine wearing that in the summer. 

“The name is Nick Fury,” he walked over to you. His hands were behind his back. You weren’t sure if he was a threat but FRIDAY would have alerted you if there was danger, right? “Got any more of that?” He pointed to the bowl of mac and cheese you were eating. 

“Uh yeah,” you said stunned. It was an odd sight, watching the man get himself a bowl of mac and cheese from the pot on the stove. “Wait, they didn’t adopt me. They-” You paused. You had to admit what they did sounded like adaptation minus going to court. “Anyways, what are you doing here?” He put his bowl on the counter and took a bit of his food. 

“Romanoff asked me to keep an eye on you while everyone is away,” he shrugged. “I owe her a few favors.” You frowned. 

“I don’t need a babysitter,” you said. “I can take care of myself.” 

“Not a babysitter, kid,” you gave him a pointed look, you didn’t believe him. He sighed. “I do feel like a babysitter with this group.” You smiled as he put his empty bowl into the sink. “Come with me,” he said, heading back to the elevator. 

“You couldn’t add a please,” you said. He glared at you over his shoulder. You sighed, picked up your bowl, and followed him to the elevator. The metal doors opened and you both stepped in. When the doors closed, he pulled out a white badge. 

“Welcome Director Fury, shall I bring you to Overwatch?” The AI asked. 

“Yes FRIDAY,” Overwatch? You didn’t remember an Overwatch floor. But you kept your mouth shut as the elevator began to rise. Soon the elevator stopped and the doors opened. “Don’t touch anything,” he said, stepping into the room. You followed him. There were two desks. A wooden one pushed to the wall facing a wall that had a counter with a chair and a keyboard. There were other sitting options; a couch and bean bags. A small fridge in the corner with a coffee station. You walked over to the wooden desk and picked up a stress ball. “And I told you not to touch anything,” you looked at him and his back was to you as he typed on a keyboard. 

“How did -?” you looked around. “What is this place anyways?” You asked. 

“This is Overwatch,” he said, the monitors turned on. They were dark but each screen had a name on the corner. You found Natasha’s and Wanda’s names right away; labeled N. Romanoff and W. Maximoff. “This command center allows myself or other Avengers that aren’t on a mission to provide support.” You walked over to where he was standing. “It is only used when all of them get called away or on big-scale operations.” Wanda said something similar when you asked if it was normal for everyone to be called out on a mission; ‘On a scale this big, yes.’ 

“Who are they after?” Fury looked away from the keyboard to look at you. You weren’t sure if he was going to tell you but he held out his hand, looking down at the stress ball in your hand. You sighed, rolling your eyes, and handing him the ball. 

“Romanoff and Bishop’s primary mission was to follow Andre Orlov,” he clicked a few buttons and a hologram of a man appeared. He couldn’t be more than 20 years old. His head was shaved and he had a tattoo on his neck. “He is working with an organization that is kidnapping kids and young adults.” Your mind was transported back to when you were promised a better life but you woke up in a cell forced to torture people. 

“Is it HYDRA?” You asked. He didn’t seem surprised that you knew that organization. He shook his head. 

“We weren’t sure what group was behind it. But they found out,” the hologram disappeared. “Meet Petya and Zenya Samarian,” Peta was taller. His head wasn’t shaved but his hair was cut short. But Zeyna had hair past her shoulders. They looked older, in their mid to late 30s or early 40s. “They call themself Sem’ya or the Family. They targeted low-income families or kids who were homeless. But they made a mistake and attempted to kidnap the daughter of a mayor. Local authorities weren’t sure if it was HYDRA or a copycat of the Red Room so we were called in.” The holograms disappeared. “The team is attempting to bring them in and save the kids they’ve taken.” He moved his sleeve up to look at his watch. “Phase 1 should be at 0930.” 

“Why did you bring me here?” Instead of answering, he pulled another white card and handed it to you. 

“This room is only accessible by one of these key cards,” you took it, twirling the cards in between your fingers. It was completely blank. “I’ll be around.” He walked over to the elevator. You spun around to look at him. 

“You still didn’t answer my question,” you said. “Why did you bring me here?” He stopped before pressing the button to the elevator. 

“The worst part of being here is when they go on missions and you are left in the dark unable to know if they are hurt,” he turned around to face you. “This room allows you to keep your mind at ease.” You looked down at the card in your hand and back at the monitors. 

“How can I help them?” You asked. 

“What?” You rolled your eyes. 

“You said this room provides support when they are on a mission,” you looked at Yelena, America, and Kate’s names. “So, how do I provide support?”

“You aren’t an Avenger, kid,” you threw your hands to the side. You couldn’t just sit here and do nothing while your fingers were risking their lives to save the world. “Look, with missions like this the best thing you can do is be there for them when they get back.” He pressed the button to call the elevator. 

“Nick,” he didn’t turn around to look at you. “Thank you.”

“The name is Fury, kid,” he stepped into the elevator and faced you. “I’ll see you around.” He threw the stress ball at you as the metal doors closed. 

You looked around the room and then back to the card in your hand. He wouldn’t have given you this card if he didn’t want you to be here tomorrow morning. You smiled and headed back to your floor. You walked into your room, placed your backpack on your bed, and began to pack it. You didn’t bring much; the walkman with your headphones and a few tapes, a book, and some copy paper Steve gave you. You grabbed a pillow, put the backpack on, and went to the kitchen. You opened a drawer that had a few snacks in it and found a note attached to a candy bar. 

‘Just in case you need it - Yelena.’ You smiled at the note Yelena wrote and placed it in your backpack along with a few cereal bars and gummies. Before you headed back to Overwatch you stopped. 

“Hey FRIDAY, are there any extra blankets?” 

“Miss. Maximoff keeps all extra blankets in the hall closet.” You thanked the AI and walked over to the closet. It seemed appropriate that Wanda had a collection of pillows. You picked a crochet one, the colors were red, black, and white, and it was soft. You smiled, picked up the blanket, and headed back to the elevator. When you stepped into the metal box, you pulled out the white card. 

“Shall I take you to Overwatch?” You nodded. 

“Yes FRIDAY,” you smiled. You had to admit you felt important as the elevator began to rise, it was like you were part of the team. The metal doors opened and you stepped out, talking straight over to the wooden desk. It had a little cubby underneath that was perfect. You placed the pillow down and laid the blanket on the floor then placed your backpack down. You saw your half-eaten bowl of mac and cheese that you left and stood up to grab it. You sat back down in your little makeshift fort and finished your dinner looking at the screens. You couldn’t be there physically but in this room, you could be with them.  

*

You arrived back in Overwatch the following morning at 8. You weren’t surprised to see Nick, standing in front of the screens wearing his trench coat. Did he own any other clothes? “You're late,” he said, not looking at you. 

“Late?” You questioned, walking over to him. “You said it starts at 9:30, I’m an hour and a half early.” He finally glanced at you.   

“Still late,” you rolled your eyes, looking at the screen he was looking at. It was a transcript of a phone call between Peta and Andre. It was mostly in Russian but you caught a line in Spanish that you understood. ‘La luna está alta en el cielo’ which meant ‘the moon is high in the sky.’ You felt Nick’s eyes watching you. 

“If this group is located in Russian, why are they speaking in Spanish?” You asked. 

“Why do you think so?” You looked at the line again, reading it over and over again in your head. 

“To send a message,” you said. “If they used a different language then they could send a message easily without drawing attention,” you pointed to the ‘es’ in the sentence. “The sentence is wrong. They should have used esta not es.” 

“Why would they use ‘es’?” You sighed, biting your bottom lip as you thought. 

“I’m not sure,” you said, looking at him. “The only thing I can think of is direction but it would be southeast, not east-south.” Nick smiled, it was small but a smile nonetheless. 

“Not a bad kid,” he pulled up a map. A small building was circled in the southwest part of the town. “Maybe you could be an Avenger. Do you want to be one?” You smiled, sitting down on the blanket. 

“I’m not sure about the Avenger lifestyle, Nick.” He sighed, his shoulders moving up and down. 

“Name is Fury,” you put your headphones on. 

“Whatever you say,” you made sure to leave one ear uncovered so you could hear Nick. You became lost in your music and the sketch you were doing. You were drawing the scene in front of you, Nick standing in front of a wall of screens. It wasn’t good but you weren’t drawing it to be perfect. 

“This is Fury from Overwatch,” you paused the song and rested your headphones around your neck. “Turn on your communication devices.” It was like clockwork as all the monitors turned on showing what each Avenger was looking at. 

“Woah,” you mumbled. You noticed the groups. Sam was with Kate and Steve. Rhodey, America, and Bucky were together. Tony was standing next to Natasha and Maria. Then it was Vision, Yelena, and Wanda. You found yourself walking closer to Nick. 

“Are we all set to engage?”

“Roger, that eye in the sky,” Tony said. You and Nick rolled your eyes at the billionaire. You giggled. They were at two different locations; Sam and Vision’s group were together while Tony and Rhodney were at a different one. 

“On my mark,” he pulled up two hologram blueprints. “3,2,1. Avengers engage.” There was so much to look at as they breached their building. Each group did the same plan, those who could fly provided air support outside while the others dealt with the enemies inside. Nick’s job was to stay quiet, observe, and call out things they may have missed. It was so different from watching them in training compared to a mission. There was an extra intensity, which made sense but it was still cool to witness. 

You were watching Natasha’s screen when she passed a tall wardrobe. It was for a brief second but something caught your eye. “Nick,” you said. “I think someone is in that wardrobe Natasha just passed.” 

“Romanoff,” Natasha stopped. “Go back and check that wardrobe on your right.” She did it without question and you held your breath as she opened it. There was a little girl, sitting down with her knees to her chest. Her eyes were wide with fear. Natasha put her gun away. 

“Privet malysh (hey little one),” she said. “Vash seyf (You’re safe).” She held out her hand. “Vash seyf (You’re safe).” She repeated. The girl took the Black Widow’s and pulled her into a hug. You let out a breath you were holding as you watched the girl shake in Natasha’s arms. “Gde tvoi druz'ya (Where are your friends?)” You didn’t hear what the girl said. 

“The rest of them are in the basement,” Natasha said, over her coms. “I found one and I’m taking her to Bruce.” You smiled at the interaction. 

“Good spot, kid,” Nick said. It was a spot you liked to hide in if the nose became too much and you were scared. You sat back down and continued to watch. The mission was a success. Each group managed to save the kids that were behind held capture. A part of you wished the Avengers found you when HYDRA threw you in a cell. But you were happy for them, they were safe. 

“Good work team,” Nick said. “Get these kids to safety.” The screens went dark. Nick turned to face you. “My offer still stands if you want to join them, you're good.” 

“I’m not a hero, Nick.” You pulled out the candy bar Yelena left for you. He frowned.

“They didn’t see themselves as heroes either,” you took a bite of the bar. “Just let me know.” 

“Do you think Natasha and Wanda would let me become an Avenger?” He shrugged, walking over to the elevator. 

“Not really up to them,” he stepped into the elevator. “Good job today.” The metal doors closed. You sighed, laying down. What a weird dude. 

*

Some of the screens turned back on. It was only Maria, Yelena, Natasha, and Bucky. You were surprised that Nick wasn’t back. So you pulled up a chair where he was standing and sat down. They were near water, it looked like a shipyard. They were taking cover next to a shipping container. Natasha was standing in front of Yelena. The blonde looked anxious, an emotion you were surprised to see. She let out a shaky breath and nodded. Natasha put her thumb up. They moved wordlessly around different shipping containers and avoided the people on the dock. You weren’t sure where they were headed but they moved with a purpose. 

Bucky held up his arm to stop the other three as a guard walked by. You blinked and Bucky took the man down. Finally, they stopped in front of a container and Maria used bolt cutters to cut the lock. As the doors swung open, you saw the horror inside. There had to be 10 - 15 people inside. 

“Vash seyf (You’re safe),” was the same statement Natasha said to the young girl. “My vytashchim tebya otsyuda (We are going to get out of here).” They split up in pairs; Natasha and Yelena and Bucky and Maria. Each pair took part in the group. A small gunfight broke out and you squeezed the arm of the chair you were sitting in. Soon the gunfight ended and they arrived at two vans; Sam was driving one and Steve was in the other. As they got everyone in, the screens went black. 

You fell back in your chair, trying to calm your racing heart. Nick said this room would help but the anxiety was racing through your veins. But they were okay. More people were saved and they made it out alive.

*

“There you are!” Pepper’s sudden voice made you jump and hit your head on the desk you were laying underneath. You rubbed your head and looked at the CEO, her arms crossed and she seemed upset. 

“Hi,” you said softly, waving your hand. 

“When was the last time you left this room?” She asked. “Wait, how did you even get access to this room?” She followed up with the second question before you could answer the first. 

“Uh Nick gave me a key,” you said. Pepper sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

“Come with me,” she said. “Please.” You scrambled to her feet, looking one more time at the monitors. They were gearing up to raid the last known house. With a sigh, you tore your eyes away and followed the CEO to the elevator. The ride was tense and quiet. You assumed this was feeling when the character you read was sent to the principal office. You knew she was upset with you but you weren’t sure why. The elevator opened to her and Tony’s floor. You wordlessly followed her to the kitchen and sat in the seat she pointed to. Still, she said nothing as she placed a chicken salad in front of you. Your stomach turned into knots as you stared at the food. When was the last time you ate real food? “I’m sorry,” she finally said. She got her salad and began to eat. “Work got busy and I wasn’t available as I should be to look after you.”

“It’s fine,” you told her. “I don’t need a babysitter.” It was the same thing you said to Nick. Pepper didn’t look like she believed you. 

“Then why did FRIDAY tell me you haven’t left that room in 2 days,” 2 days?!? That couldn’t be right. During your time there, Nick would join you but a majority of the time you found yourself alone. She held out her hand. “Give me the key card.” It felt heavy in your pocket. You thought about lying, it would be so easy. “I don’t want you going back in that room.”

“What?” You questioned. “No-I have to go back in there. What if something happens and I’m not there?” She lowered her hand. 

“And what are you going to do if something does?” You didn’t know what to say. You looked down at your salad and played with your food. Pepper sighed. “Look, I get it. Every time Tony goes away I get worried. There have been times Happy has had to pull me out of there,” You glanced up at her. “It’s not healthy to stress about them like that. It can lead to further damage.” You didn’t say anything as you slowly ate a piece of chicken. 

“You don’t understand,” you said, looking up at her fully. “You guys are all I have. If I lose you, any of you, I’ll have nothing. For once in my life I have something I don’t want to lose,” you clenched your jaw to keep your emotions in cheek. “I don’t want to go back to nothing.” Pepper’s gaze softened but she held out her hand again. 

“I still don’t want you to go back into that room,” you sighed, pulling the card out of her pocket and putting it in her hand. 

“What am I supposed to do till they get back?” You asked. She put the key in her pocket. 

“Live,” she said. “Because thinking about the ‘what ifs’ are going to drive you insane.” 

*

“Miss. Y/n,” FRIDAY said as you stepped out of the bathroom after a shower. You listened to Pepper and went on a walk while listening to music, did some much-needed laundry, and took a shower. It was 5 hours since Pepper had that talk with you. “The team has returned.” You put your gloves back on.  

“How are they?” You asked. 

“Miss. Romanoff was injured,” you felt your stomach drop. “She’s in med bay.” You took the stairs, not wanting to waste time on the elevator. FRIDAY instructed you on what floor to get off of. You threw open the doors as you saw Natasha being rolled in on a hospital bed with Wanda and Yelena right beside her. Your feet become cemented to the spot. You weren’t sure if people came up to talk to you, it was all white noise. 

“Hey,” you shook your head and America was standing in front of you. She had bandages on her face; one on her forehead and another on her chin. Her right wrist was wrapped. “Are-” 

“Are you okay?” You cut her off. She laughed, rubbing the back of her head. 

“I’m okay,” she wasn’t. “I got it a lot better than some of the others.” 

“Some of the others?” You questioned. “What happened?” America sat down in an empty chair and you followed her. 

“It was the last house we were clearing out, saving some kids that were kidnapped,” she said. “They were our age,” she looked down at the white floor. “The last house was a trap. It blew up, killing Peta and Zenya and the kids inside.” She angrily whipped her eyes as tears fell. “Something hit Sam that knocked him out of the air; he broke his leg. Bucky got a piece of shrapnel stuck in his side and Natasha,” she sighed. “Natasha was in the building when the bomb went off. She had Steve’s shield a lot of the damage. But she was trying to save those kids,” you looked back at the room they brought Natasha in. Yelena and Wanda were standing against the wall as doctors, you didn’t recognize, worked on the Black Widow. She was far too still for your liking. “I should have done more. I could have portaled in there or contained the blast or-”

“Stop,” you whispered. America looked up at you, tears in her eyes. Sometimes you forgot America was just a kid herself. “You did everything you could. Thinking about the million ‘what ifs’ is going to drive you insane.” 

“You're right,” she nodded. “I’m sorry. You are here to check on Nat not listening to me rant.” 

“No,” she looked at you confused. “I mean yes,” she smiled. “But I’m here for you too.” You remembered what Nick said, be there for them when they get back. You swallowed the pit growing in your throat and tried to keep your hand steady as you raised it. America looked at your hand and then back to you, searching for any indication of what you were doing. You simply nodded your head and she slowly took your gloved hand in hers. “We’re friends.” Your voice was shaky. 

“Yeah,” she said, looking at your connected hands and then back at you. “Friends.” You dropped her hand as Kate came and sat down next to you in the empty chair. She had an ice pack resting on her shoulder. 

“Has Cho come out and said anything?” America shook her head, leaning back with her arms crossed. 

“Nothing yet,” you looked at the archer sitting next to you. Her eye was bruised and she had a cut on her lip. 

“How are you, Kate?” You asked. She sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly. 

“Ready for a shower and to sleep till I’m 4o.” You smiled and looked forward. The three of you sat in silence waiting for someone to emerge from the room to give you an update. Soon a doctor walked over to you. Kate and America stood up but you remained sitting. 

“Her vitals are good,” she said. “It’s just a waiting game when she wakes up. You can go see her just try to keep it calm.”

“Thank you, Helen,” Kate said. The doctor glared at the archer. 

“I didn’t clear you for active missions,” the archer looked down at her feet. “We’ll discuss that at another time.” 

“Yes ma’am,” Helen walked in the direction of another room. 

“Oooo,” America said, sitting back down with a smile. “Someone is in trouble.” Kate flipped her off and walked into Natasha’s room. The sound of America laughing made you smile. “Go see her,” she said once she calmed down. 

“What? No, you should be in there,” America shook her head. 

“Go, I’ll get my turn,” you looked into the room and saw Kate standing behind Yelena with her arms around her. Wanda was holding onto Natasha’s hand. You didn’t want to intrude. You felt America take your hand in hers. You could feel the warmth through your gloves. She gently squeezed your hand. “You are part of their family.” You smiled at her, squeezing her hand back. You sighed and stood up, walking over to Natasha’s door. You stood in the doorway, your heart rattling in your rib cage. You were surprised how fin Natasha looked. If you weren’t told she survived a bomb exploding, you would have thought she was sleeping, minus the bruise on her head. 

Wanda saw you standing there. She gave you a tired smile. “You can come in,” you nodded, unable to trust your voice, and sat in an extra chair in the corner. 

“She’s going to be okay, right?” You finally asked. Yelena nodded. 

“Cho is worried about her lungs and the hit on her head,” Yelena said. “But Black Widows were given a version of the super soldier serum, that is healing a lot of her internal injuries.” You nodded, resting your elbows on your knees as you leaned forward. She promised she would come home safe. She promised. You folded your hands together and squeezed. She promised. 

*

It was just you and Wanda in her room. Kate and Yelena left to shower and get some sleep. America came in to see how everyone was doing but she also returned to the floor. The rest of the team came and went, Sam even asked you to sign his cast. You paid no mind to any of them, your eyes were trained on the Black Widow as you sat in the chair. Maria brought you and Wanda food and you picked at it as they both talked, not making heads or tails of what they were saying. “How much did you see?” Wanda finally asked. You didn’t answer right away, opting to play with your gloves. 

“Pepper found me before you guys went into the last house,” you finally said. “I didn’t see you guys attacked.” Wanda nodded. You stood up and sat down in the chair Yelena was sitting in. “Are you mad at me?” You asked. Wanda smiled, shaking her head. 

“No, I just didn’t want you to see it,” she sighed, pushing hair out of Natasha’s face. “She was trying to talk Peta down but it did not work.” You looked at the witch sitting in front of you.

“Why don’t you go get some sleep,” you said. “I’ll stay with her and have FRIDAY alert you if anything changes. She looked exhausted, they all were, and she was still wearing the clothes she wore during the mission. Wanda sighed, taking Natasha’s hand in hers. 

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to sleep,” she said. You nodded. 

“She’s going to be okay,” you told her. “But you need to make sure you're okay too,” she didn’t look away from her girlfriend. “Are you okay?” Wanda nodded.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “Just tired.” 

“Go get some sleep, Wanda. I’ll make sure she’s safe.” The witch stood up and kissed Natasha on her forehead. She whispered something in her ear that you didn’t hear. Wanda thanked you and told you to get some sleep as well. You nodded and watched her leave. Finally, it was just you and Natasha. You wanted to be alone with the Black Widow since she got back. “I don’t like this feeling,” you said to her, unsure if she could hear you. “I just got you, Wanda, and Yelena, and I know you are Avengers and do risky things to keep others safe. But I need you to be safe,” you sighed. “Just wake up, please.”

It was quiet in the room, the only sound was the heart machine that Natasha was hooked up to. With careful fingers, you hovered over the IV in her arm and outlined each of her fingers. You wondered what her hands would feel like against yours if you held onto them. You imagined they would be rough, her fingers covered in calluses. You stood up and grabbed a bag Pepper brought down to you of the stuff you left in Overwatch. You sat back down, pulled out a book, and began to read out loud. 

*

Wanda stood in the doorway watching the young girl read with a fond expression on her face. She was grateful that she got a few hours of sleep but it was still hard knowing Natasha was down here. “Good morning,” she said. The girl jumped slightly, closing the book. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I brought food.” She walked into the room and handed her a bowl of yogurt and strawberries. 

“Thank you,” Wanda sat down and watched her eat. She was eating slowly, picking at the food mostly instead of eating it. Pepper texted them that she found her in Overwatch watching their mission. Wanda was a little upset with Fury but she knew that man did everything for a reason. But the teen sitting in front of her looked exhausted. 

“Why don’t I take over and you get some sleep?” Her head shut up from looking at her bowl of yogurt. 

“I’m fine,” she wasn’t. Wanda could feel the guilt running through her. 

“You couldn’t have done anything,” her jaw clenched and she angrily scooped yogurt from her bowl and ate it. “Why are you feeling guilty?” 

“I don’t know!” She yelled. The outburst startled both of them. Wanda saw the lights flicker. “I don’t know but I do and I hate it,” she looked at Natasha. “I didn’t want this to happen.”

“Didn’t want what to happen?” Wanda asked. She looked away from Natasha and back at her. Her eyes were glossy with tears. 

“I didn’t want to get attached to you as I did,” she whispered. “Bad things happen to me. I don’t want them to happen to you.” Wanda’s gaze softened. 

“Dorogoy,” she closed her eyes at the Russian endearment and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. “Nat getting hurt isn’t your fault. It comes with the job,” she put her bowl down and whipped her tears with the back of her hand. 

“It’s not-” she sighed, clearly frustrated with herself. “I’m gonna go shower.” She stood up, grabbed her gloves, and left. Wanda called after her but she kept walking. 

*

You moved in a blur, taking the stairs two at a time. Each step echoed in the quiet stairwell. Your hand rested on the handle of your floor. You let out a shaky breath and had half the mind to go apologies to Wanda but you needed to calm down. You quickly opened the door and ignored America and Kate in the kitchen. They said your name but you opened the door to your room and laid down in your bed, face buried in your pillow. You weren’t sure why guilt ran through your veins. 

The other missions you watched and were present but in the one raid you missed, Natasha, Bucky, and Sam got hurt. You weren’t bad at Pepper for dragging you away, just with yourself. You flopped over to your back and stared up at the ceiling. 

‘And if something did happen, what are you going to do?’ 

They were right. You looked at your right hand and twirled your fingers around, mirroring the way a pianist plays the piano. You collected the electricity in the air and watched it dance along your fingers. This power. This gift. You used it to hurt and kill people. You weren’t a hero or an Avenger. Just a monster.   

*

Everything hurt as Natasha slowly opened her eyes. It was far too bright in the room and her throat was incredibly dry. “Moya lyubov' (my love),” she heard Wanda’s voice. She turned her head to look at her girlfriend. “Gave us quite a scare.”

“Sorry, dorogoy,” she winced as she sat up. “Are we back at the tower?” Her head was throbbing. She remembered the bomb going off and she held up the shield to protect herself. 

“Yes,” Yelena said. Natasha didn’t realize her sister was there. She looked at the blonde. “You’ve been out for a little less than 12 hours.” She rubbed her head. 

“Those kids,” she said, looking between her sister and her girlfriend. “Did they get out?” They didn’t answer right away. 

“Some of them did,” Wanda said. “But some of them didn’t make it.” Natasha sighed, closing her eyes and putting her head back. She saw herself standing there with Peta and Zenya. She convinced them to let some of the kids go with Steve and Bucky but there were still others. She tried every trick in the book; appealing to their better nature and turning them against one another. But it didn’t work. Peta hit the button, setting the bomb off. Thankfully, Steve left behind his shield before he took the kids out. She heard Yelena stand up and leave. She opened her eyes and Wanda took her hand. “Don't,” she whispered. “Don’t blame yourself.” 

“Too late,” Natasha chuckled. The Sokovian smiled and kissed Natasha softly. She knew she worried Wanda and everyone. It wasn’t her intention.  

“Oh,” Natasha pulled away from her girlfriend and saw Y/n standing in the doorway. She had paper in her hand and a pencil. “You're up.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “That’s good.”

“Yeah, kid. Sorry I didn’t keep my promise.” Her smile faltered slightly. 

“Comes with the job, right?” She stepped out of the way when Yelena came back with Helen. “I’ll see you around. I’m glad you’re okay,” she left as quickly as she appeared. Helen suspended her from the field missions for 2 weeks. She had to be mindful of working out because of her ribs and lungs from the smoke she inhaled. The doctor gave her pain medication and told her not to mix them with alcohol.

“Can I sleep in my bed tonight?” Natasha pleaded. Helen sighed. 

 “Yes, but I want to evaluate you in 3 days, and if there are any issues come back.” Natasha thanked her and she felt. 

“That was weird, right?” Natasha asked, referring to the young girl. Wanda sighed, taking her hand in hers. 

“She had a little bit of an episode,” she said ‘episode’ slowly as if she wasn’t sure what to call it. “Don’t stress about her. Focus on recovering.” 

*

You opted out of the team dinner as America invited you but you turned her down. You were tired, mentally and emotionally exhausted. But your stomach was growling. It was a disadvantage of living with the Avengers, your body was growing () to eating. You sighed, getting out of bed and stretching. You walked out of your room with your gloves in your hand and saw Natasha sitting in the kitchen, pouring vodka into a glass. “I don’t think that will help with your physical injuries,” you said, putting on your gloves and walking to the fridge. You pulled the leftovers America brought up for you. Natasha smiled. 

“Trying to soothe the metal ones,” you hummed, throwing the taco salad into the microwave to warm it up and leaning against the island. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” You asked. Natasha didn’t hide her surprise well as the microwave beeped

“I’m okay,” you nodded, taking the hot bowl. You let it cool before taking a bite.  

“My father wasn’t much of a drinker,” you said, taking another bite. “He was a child of the Lord,” you rolled your eyes as Natasha chuckled. “But there were certain occasions when we found him staring down an empty bottle of whiskey or rum or whatever,” you looked at the Black Widow. “He was trying to soothe those mental scars. It never seemed to work like he wanted, causing more damage.” Natasha stared into the clear liquid she had in her glass. 

“Did your father hit you?” She asked. Your heart didn’t skip at the question.

“All the time,” you admitted. “He didn’t have to be drunk to do it,” you moved to pull up a chair so you could sit across from Natasha. “You did everything you could to save those kids.” Natasha finished the glass but didn’t pour herself another. 

“It wasn’t enough,” she said. 

“You can’t save everyone, Nat,” you whispered. “But even though they did die in their final moments they knew someone cared about them so much they risked their own life to try to save them,” Natasha let out a shaky breath. 

“I see myself in these kids,” she confessed. “These scared kids are looking and waiting for someone to save them. I know we saved a lot and every life saved is amazing but I keep thinking about the ones we didn’t.” 

“Those ‘what ifs’ are going to drive you insane,” Natasha laughed. “From what I saw, you guys did good.” She raised her eyebrows. 

“Fury took you into Overwatch,” you smiled, rolling your eyes. 

“You entrusted a man who cosplays as a pirate to watch over a 15-year-old, what did you expect?” Your smile grew as Natasha laughed, throwing her head back. “But seriously does that man own other clothes?” 

“I’m telling him you said that,” you shrugged, placing your dirty dish in the sink. 

“Somehow he probably knows,” Natasha smiled. “Can I ask you something?” She nodded. “When you saw me at Java House did you see yourself in me?” The Black Widow nodded. 

“But not for the reasons you think,” she put the cap back on the bottle. “I saw a girl who wanted a chance to prove she is more than the horrible names thrown at her. I saw a girl who was given a certain fate but wanted a chance to rewrite it. I saw a girl who had to grow up far too quickly and just wanted to be a kid.” You smiled, looking down at the counter. “Are you okay? Wanda said you were pretty upset when I was hurt.” You nodded. 

“I’m good,” she gave you a look. “I promise.”

“Promise?” You nodded. “And you’d come to me if you weren’t.” You nodded again. Without thinking you held up your pinky. She hesitated for a second and linked her pinky around yours. 

“Now,” you let go of her hand. “I think it's time we both go to bed. I’m surprised Wanda hasn’t dragged you back to bed.” Natasha smiled, washing her glass and putting the bottle away. 

“You and me both,” you walked back to your room. “Thank you for tonight. I needed that. Goodnight Y/n.”

“Goodnight Natasha,” you watched the Black Widow open her door and go inside. “Thank you,” you whispered and went to bed. You were surprised by how fast you fell asleep.

_

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[seenoversundown]

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of Year

Warnings: Mentions of minor injury, Fluff otherwise!

Word Count: 2.2k

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams It's the most wonderful time of the year There'll be much mistltoeing And hearts will be glowing When loved ones are near

Daniel POV: 

“Ah, YEP. There it is,” I practically growl as the breaker trips, shrouding my apartment in darkness. 

I should have known better than to try to mash potatoes with a hand mixer when I already have three crock pots plugged in, warming side dishes. 

“Fucking ancient wiring,” I mutter to myself as I rip the plug from the wall before heading into the laundry room to flip the breaker back on. 

The breaker is just the latest bit of misfortune that has derailed my plans for a traditional Christmas dinner. 

First, I severely overslept. Melody and I wanted to wake up at 7:00 to do presents with Iris. Imagine my shock when she strolled into our room at 9:30, questioning why Santa came and we didn't wake her up. 

Then, after we opened our presents and Iris was sufficiently tuckered out and down for a nap, I started preparing for dinner. 

Because I wanted to be fancy, I obviously bought fresh vegetables, which led to me nicking my finger while cutting the green beans.  

After Melody played nurse and left me with one gloved hand, I managed to grab the handle of a pre-heated cast iron skillet with my other hand. Melody was not happy with me when she had to play nurse for a second time in under an hour. 

It had been smooth sailing after that, up until the breaker issue. 

I’m pulled out of my reverie by a tiny hand tugging at the hem of my shirt. 

I look down to see a freshly awoken Iris rubbing her eyes. She lets out a big yawn before meeting my eyes. 

“Can I have juice?” she signs. 

My heart melts as I nod and rush to pull down a Big Girl Cup from the cabinet. I opened the fridge and pulled out the super-special organic apple juice that Uncle Sammy bought for Iris. The glass bottle slips in my hand, but I catch it before it drops. 

HAHA! Not this time!

I pour her juice and hand it over. 

“Be careful,” I ruffle her hair, “Now go play.” 

I look up and see Melody standing in the doorway, watching on with a fond smile on her face as Iris skitters past her. 

She walks into the kitchen and wraps her arms around my middle, “You’re a good dad, Daniel,” she presses a soft kiss to my chest as she nuzzles into my sweater. 

I breathe out a sigh and drop a kiss on the top of her head. 

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” I chuckle, “If stuff keeps going the way it is, I might not even be able to feed our kid tonight.” 

“You’re being a bit dramatic, babe,” she pinches my side, wiggling out of my arms, “It’ll all work out.” 

I pop the turkey in the oven and check my watch. 2:00pm

 Perfect! Everything is back on schedule, and I finally feel like I can take a breath. 

I lean against the counter and feel a smile creep over my face. My dinner is coming along. I can hear the tinkling giggles of my girls coming from the living room. I haven't made too much of a mess in the kitchen. 

I start to put away the dishes I’d left on the drying rack and spot the crystal wine decanter on the top shelf. 

Bingo!

I pull the decanter and two glasses down and glance over the bottles of wine sitting out on the counter, trying to determine which varietal Melody would appreciate most right now.  

Settling on a Merlot, I pour the bottle into the decanter and leave it to open up before venturing into the living room. 

Melody has her back to me, helping Iris change the dress on one of her new dolls, and I tiptoe up behind her. I catch Iris’ eye and bring a finger to my lips, signaling her to be quiet. 

She flashes me a toothy grin and tries, poorly, to hold back her giggles. 

Melody stiffens almost imperceptibly, and I already know she will be faking her reaction for Iris’ benefit. 

Regardless, I continue creeping up and grabbing Melody’s shoulders, gently shaking her in the process. 

“AHHHHH,” Melody drops the doll and lets out an exaggerated shout, “YOU SCARED ME, DANIEL!” 

She whips her head around and gives me a little wink.

Iris giggles again, “That was funny.” 

I grin and waggle my eyebrows at her, “More juice?” 

She nods, holding her cup out for me to take. 

I squeeze Melody’s shoulder again before heading back into the kitchen. 

I fill Iris’ cup with more apple juice, diluting it with water. I can’t have her getting an upset tummy on Christmas. Then, I pour some wine into one of the glasses and carry both back into the living room. 

“Thought both of my girls might be thirsty,” I say as I pass the wine to Melody. 

“You thought right, my love,” she grins. 

Iris’ eyes flit between us for a moment, “play with me?” 

And how can I say no to that? 

An hour and a half later, I’m back in the kitchen checking on our slowly progressing dinner. 

Turkey is coming along perfectly. The sides are looking good. I’m incredibly proud of the way I’ve turned this day around. 

Since we’re in the home stretch, I finally decided to pour myself a glass of wine. 

As I reach for the decanter, it slips from my grasp and shatters into a million little pieces. Merlot paints nearly every kitchen surface: the walls, the floor, the fridge, everywhere. 

“FUUUUUCK,” I scream at the top of my lungs. I’ll be shocked if we don’t get a noise complaint from one of the neighbors. 

I hear footsteps walking up the hallway.

“Please stay out of here. There’s glass everywhere,” I grind out through clenched teeth.

“I’m slipping on shoes, then I'm coming to help you,” Melody replies. 

We clean up silently; I’m on sweeping duty while Melody comes behind me with the mop. 

I finally set the broom down, confident I had swept up all the tiny crystal shards. 

“This day keeps getting worse,” I sigh, and Melody pats my arm, “I’m going to text Josh to see if he wants to come get Iris until dinner’s finished. At this point, I’m worried that my bad luck will rub off on her, and she’ll be the next victim of some inexplicable accident.” 

“Okay, big guy,” Melody lets out a small laugh, “I’m sure Josh would be happy to hang out with her solo.” 

Thirty minutes later, I let Josh in. Iris has practically been vibrating with excitement since we told her Uncle Josh wanted to see her. 

“Where’s my favorite little girl?” is the first thing out of his mouth as he steps over the threshold. 

“Well, hello to you too,” I say, rolling my eyes. 

“Oh, forgive me. HELLOOOOOOOO DANNY!” he claps back immediately,  “Now, where is she? Quinn and I have a whole afternoon planned for Iris, and that's more important than your ego.”

“Jesus, dude,” I say, rubbing my chest in mock hurt. 

“I’m just being honest,” he flashes a massive grin at me. 

“Well, thank you so much for your honesty,” I roll my eyes again, “Melody’s helping her get ready. Now, I know I don't need to tell you how to take care of her. Buuuuut, bad luck has been plaguing me all day. So, be extra careful with her.” 

“Gotcha, gotcha. I’ll be on the lookout for any falling pianos or trap doors,” it’s Josh’s turn to roll his eyes. 

“I know you're making fun of me, but with the luck I’ve had today, nothing would shock me at this point,” we share a laugh that’s interrupted by a bundled-up Iris rocketing herself into Josh’s legs. 

I watch as he quickly scoops her up and spins her around before setting her back down. 

“Ready to go, Petal?” he asks Iris with a cheesy grin. 

The second she nods her affirmative, they're out the door. 

Unfortunately for me, not even a minute after they’ve left, the smoke detector starts going off. I sigh for the trillionth time today and head back to the kitchen. 

Walking through the doorway, I see Melody standing in front of the open oven. She’s using an oven mitt to fan smoke away from the turkey. 

“Babe, stop. It's fine,” I start, “we both know that Christmas dinner is pretty much fucked at this point. Just turn the oven off.” 

I lean against the counter and hang my head in my hands, ultimately defeated. 

“It’s okay, babe. I have a plan!” Melody says as she takes my burnt Turkey out of the oven, trying to keep my spirits high. 

I fight the urge to scoff as I watch her open the freezer and pull a Pyrex dish out. 

“What's that?” I eye the dish in her hand. 

“It's a lasagna, Daniel. I always keep one on backup,” she grins at me, dimples on full display, “I know it's not traditional, but who’s gonna be mad about pasta?” 

“You’re a genius, dear,” I gently kiss her temple. 

She shrugs off my praise, “HA! No, not a genius. Just a mother. Moms always have to have at least three backup plans ready.” 

Melody greets our first guests at the door as I put the finishing touches on everyone’s place settings at the table. 

I vaguely hear them laughing together as I walk into the kitchen to add one final layer of cheese to the top of the lasagna. 

“Please make yourselves at home,” I can hear the genuine smile in Melody’s voice, “Daniel is likely in the kitchen if you want to go harass him.” 

The goofiest laugh follows her statement, and I know it’s Sam and Willa. 

“Oh, Daaaaaaaniel,” Sam calls out as he pops his head in the doorway, “it smells phenomenal in here, but nothing like turkey.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Last minute change of plans,” I reply flatly. 

“Josh texted me earlier and told me you were being a ‘Drama Queen,’” he adds air quotes before quirking a brow, “but I didn't assume you’d throw in the towel, buddy.” 

“Oh, get bent, Sammy,” I threw the towel draped across my shoulder at him.

He whips his head around, facing Willa, “Did you see that, Birdie? The fucker proved my point.” 

“I think it's lovely that you were able to solve your own problems, Danny,” Willa adds before smacking Sam across the chest with a smirk, effectively shutting him up. 

They make their way to the living room as our other guests show up. 

Jake and Charlotte show up next, popping in for a quick hello, not wanting to distract me. 

Obviously, Josh, Quinn, and Iris are the last ones to show up. 

“Oh, Iris just got so distracted playing. Sorry, we’re late.”

“That line doesn't work on me, Josh,” I let out a laugh, “I know you. You can't blame my kid for your chronic lateness.” 

“I resent that, Danny. I always arrive precisely when I mean to,” Josh scoffs indignantly. 

“Well, why don't you arrive in the living room and tell everyone dinner’s almost ready?” 

I lock eyes on Charlotte as I set the final dish on the table. 

Her eyes flit across the table, and the confusion on her face grows as she mouths the name of each dish she sees. 

Mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, LASAGNA?

Jake is patting her thigh comfortingly as he holds back laughter. 

I see her confusion mirrored on everyone else as I look around the table. 

Jake pulls himself together long enough to break the silence, “Wow! What a delightful array of food you have for us, Danny Boy! You even have rolls!” 

“Hey! I put garlic butter on them, asshole.” 

“Oh, then, by all means, they belong. Not a single thing out of place here.” 

That gets a round of laughs from the entire table. 

“Yeah, Danny,” Quinn starts, “I���m not trying to be mean, but wasn't this supposed to be a traditional dinner?” 

“Now, Bug, who can really say what ‘traditional’ means,” Josh ponders. 

“Ya know what, thank you, Josh,” I nod in his direction. 

“Oh, I’m not trying to help you, Danny. I’m just getting philosophical.” 

“Okay, everyone,” I pinch the bridge of my nose, “After the day I had, I’d like to see you come up with something better.” 

Melody nods with me as she opens a bottle of wine and passes it to Sam, “He really did have the most unfortunate string of luck. You all are lucky we even have dinner at all.” 

I grab her hand and gently kiss her knuckles in thanks as everyone finally tucks into their meals. 

“I do have a question,” Charlotte whispers, setting her fork down. 

I nod for her to go on. 

“What happened to the decanter we got you for your engagement party? This seems like a perfect time to use it.”

I let out the loudest groan, “I love you, Charlotte, but please never ask me that question again.” 

“It’s a sore spot for him,” Melody pats my hand, “I’ll tell you later.” 

“So, on that note,” I say, gesturing for everybody to start eating, “Merry Christmas, everyone.” 

Masterlist | Taglist

[nowwheresmynut]

I remember you saying you didn't understand the Apollo treated as another one of Wright's kids thing.

How dya feel bout hopeless uncle Wright instead? Not sayin u have to like these things jus interested in ur opinion.

I, personally, find it a lil funny to imagine Apollo's jus been dumped into the care of a very young/inexperienced uncle and - depsite a somewhat familial vibe - spends 70% of his time exasperated by nearly everything he does.

He is not the father figure to turn to, he is the uncle to be bewildered by XD

I think young/unexperienced uncle Wright works for Pearls, but Phoenix properly meets and interacts with Apollo when he's, what? 22 or 24 right? Apollo defends him and then Nick hires him for beans after Apollo becomes unhireable lol.. but Apollo is a grown man, he doesn't really need Phoenix to "take care of him" (besides idk offering him a job after costing him his last one lmao).

Personally, I think they have a work relationship, Nick is his boss. In AA4 Beanix is using him more than he is teaching him anything tbh, but they do evolve into a more friendly relationship if you consider the AA5+6 canon. My point is I think we should normalize coworkers. It's fine to have work friends, it's normal for a co-worker to be 10 years your junior, it's fine if workfriends have that much of an age gap. And it's perfectly fine if your workfriend is really good friends and has a familial relationship with your daughter.

I just don't think that Trucy and Apollo having a close friendship or even a sibling-esque relationship means Apollo and Nick necessarily need to see each other as family, because they aren't, you know?

That being said, I love Apollo and Nick's relationship kinda because they're not related, and their interactions are hilarious to me, both on screen and in my head. And i appreciate that. Some of the funniest Apollo and Nick comics I've seen profit on their work relationship and not on found family mechanics.

[sparkedblaze]

Hi here's all my favorite things about Livesies as I watch it

92sies

This is fsfs gonna be part 1 of 2 or 3

T/W violence, cursing, ets

The Overture. It plays all these semi-familiar tunes from 92sies with a little funky freshness to it and I love it sm

THE FUCKING PROJECTIONS AHAHHHHH

CRUTCHIE BEING THE ONLY OTHER NEWSIE (BESIDES ALBERT) WITH A BACKWARDS HAT

"I ain't been walkin' so good" 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

"Doyawannabustyaothalegtoo?!" "Uh.. no I wanna go down."

"Ya seein' stars alright."

Their accents and over acting are amazing

A big life in a small town SUCKS Jackson Kelly

Heh heh

*waves hand in front of Crutchie's eyes*

CRUTCHIE ACTUALLY CLOSING HIS EYES AND HIS LIL SMILE WHILE HE'S IMAGINING SANTA FE

DID I MENTION THE PROJECTIONS

yA RIDe it inStyLE FEACHA ME RIDIN IN STILE

"WORK THE LAND CHASE THE SUN SWIM THE W H O L E R I O G R A N D E JUST FOR FUUUUN"

"WATCH ME STAND😄 Watch me run 😀 🙁"

"hey HEY"

THE IDEA THAT THE PROLOGUE IS ACTUALLY A PROLOGUE I THINK IT'S @raggedy-albert 'S HC

RACETRACK MOTHERFUCKING HIGGINS

ALBERT FUCKING DASILVA

"A leg of lamb 🥰"

R A L B E R T

FINCH

BEN COOK SKY FLAHERTY IAIN YOUNG JOSH BURRAGE

MUSH'S HOP LOOKING FOR HIS HAT

MIKE AND IKE TRADING HATS

CRUTCHIE SHINING HIS CRUTCH

BUTTONS' HAND MOVEMENT ON 'FISHES'

JACK NUDGING SMALLS ON 'FISHES'

IAIN YOUNG'S LIL RAT BOY FACE

'Step aside Romeo nothin more concerns u here'

Poisonally

Kath's sass

Darcy pretending he's straight

"I'M CRUSHED"

"Gonna rain?" "Uuuuhhhhhh..... No rain oh-ho partlycloudyclearbyevenin"

"BLIND" "AND MUTE" "AND DEAD"

Jack taking Finch's slingshot

Flip

Tommy's lil hops

"I LIKES LIVIN CHANCEY"

ELMER AND BUTTONS TAKING OFF THEIR HATS WHEN THE NUNS SHOW UP

"I dunno Sister, but it's bound to rain soon'a o' lat'a!"😃

BEN COOK

ANTHONY ZAS

NICK MASSON

JOSH BURRAGE

SKY FLAHERTY

IAIN YOUNG

CHAZ WOLCOTT

AND ALL THE OTHERS WHO I DON'T REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THE ACTORS

Everyone hopping to give their cups back

"I DO TOOOOO SO IT MUST ME TRUUUUUE WHAT A SWITCH, SOON WE'LL ALL BE RICH DON'T KNOW A BETTER WAY TO MAKE A NEWSIES DAYYY"

Their entire lil dancey dance right here

Elmer offended at being whacked with hat

"GOTAFEELINBOUTAHEADLINEISMELLSMEAHEADLINEPAPESAREGONNASELLLIKEWEWASGIVINEMAWAYBETCHADINNERITSADOOZYBOUTAPISTOLPACKINFLOOZYDONTKNOWANYBETTERWAYTOMAKEANEWSIESDAYIWASSTAKINOUTTHECIRCUSANDTHENSOMEONESAIDTHATCONEYSREALLYHOTBUTWHENIGOTTHERETHEREWASSPOTWITHALLHISCRONIESYOIMGONNATAKEWHATLITTLEDOUGHIGOTANDPLAYTHEPONIESWEATLEASTDESERVESAHEADLINEFORTHEHOURSTHATTHEYWORKUSJEEZIBETIFIJUSTSTAYEDALITTLELONGERATTHECIRCUS"

Finch finger guns

Jack taking Finch's hat

Smalls diving under Finch's leg

Finch's face right before they say 'yeah!'

Whatever Al's face is doing ever

*disappointment*

Romeo waving like the little bean he is

"WATCH IT"

"It's honest woik"

"AINCHA FADDA ONE O THA STRIKAS"

Albert and Racer

Ralbert

Whack whack

The Delanceys running into each other

Morris hopping from steps

Everyone getting their bags

ALBERT PUT YOUR FUCKING HAT ON

Big smiles everyone, we just finished the first big number Race: :O

Davey trying to slow Les

"I'll call ya sweetheart if you spot me 50 papes"

"I'M NEW TOO"

Albert, to Jojo: Yo check this shit out. Watch what I'm about to do to this bitch "YOU HAVE A VERRRRY INTERESTING FACE. EVER THOUGHT ABOUT GETTIN' INTO MOVIN' PITCHAS?!"

"BUY A TICKET THEY LET ANYONE IN"

*Does not pay*

Everyone's face when they laugh at Jack making fun of Oscar

"The faymus Jack Kelly"

Ben Cook's dumbass socks

Jack's "holy fuck he can do math" face

Specs laughing at Jack's reaction to Les knowing math

"That's disgusting"

W i b b l e

Specs never using stairs properly

Albert riding in on Pulitzer's desk

FOOTBALL? *whack* VIOLENT? *whack*

"Guess what? He got elected." *runs*

Nunzio.

My roommate and I accidentally mashing cut and slit like twice and so now we say slut instead of either

"-like an army that's marching to war." I mean... He wasn't wrong

Has anyone noticed how similar Hannah and Kath look?

BIG STEP BIG STEP BIG STEP

"buy a pape from a poor orphan boy" *cough cough*

"BORN TO THE BREED"

"THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN SCHOOL" "This kid"

Racetrack hawkin in the background and bolting when Snyder comes

"Doesn't everyone?"

ALL THE CONTINUITY ERRORS IN MEDDA'S THEATER. THE BOYS GOING FROM NEWSIES TO FAKE MUSTACHE MEN AND BACK

LOVEY DOVEY BABY PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND

Jack saying pocket with the same intensity that Draco Malfoy says Potter

MEDDA FUCKING LARKIN

"The only thing I own is the mortgage"

"ARE YOU BLIND SHE GOT NO CLOTHES ON"

The look Jack and Davey share when Medda says she knows the governor

"YOU PICTURED THAT?!"

"Take it easy, it's a bunch of trees."

"Jeez! I never knew no one with a aptitude!"

"I AM?! HOW 'M I DOIN'?!"

'I'm better than you' the song

Jack's lil figure 8 dance with just his head

"And prayers from the Pope"

Devin Lewis as Jack for like two scenes.

"AND. MY. BANK."

Watching Jack recognize Katherine

"Why don't you go find out?" 👀

"You want I should lock the door"

"Doin what?"

It's hard to like a whole lot about the scenes where they're flirting bc Kath is so outwardly uncomfy with it

And also they're both simps for Jacobses

*two finger point*

"sOrry mIss mEddA"

Jack's hesitation before he starts singing

"Girls are nice, once or twice, til I find someone new" You bisexual pining bitch

Does anyone know who does the actual sketch?

T H E P R O J E C T I O N

"-and you lie like a rug!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Hey-hey quiet down there's a show goin' on!"

"Shhhhhhhhh"

"Everr"

HAT TIP AND SMIRK AS JACK IS CLIMBING DOWN

MIKE AND IKE GIVING OFF THE MAJOREST SIBLING EVERGY

"Sirens is like lullabies to me."

DELANCEY DEVASTATION AT "they've got a mother" THEY'RE SO TRASH AND HURT I LOVE THEM

"He traded her for a box o' cigars!" "HEY THEY WAS CORONAS"

"Ain't we the hoi polloi!"

"Ask me after they put up the headline"

"Is that news?" "ITISTOME"

Romeo. R O M E O

"I ain't payin' no sixty."

DEUS SPECS MACHINA

BAMBAM "C'mere fellas"

Henry's pose as he says "AIN'T WE GOT NO RIGHTS?!"

IK THAT EVERYONE SAYS TOMMY LOOKS DOWN BC HE'S CONFUSED WHEN JACK SAYS 'WOULD YOU KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON' BC HE'S WEARING A SHIRT YADDA YADDA BUT HE'S NOT THAT'S HIS UNDERSHIRT. SO HE'S CONFUSED BC HIS SHIRT IS ALREADY OFF. BACK IN THOSE TIMES BEING IN JUST YOUR UNDERSHIRT, YOU MAY AS WELL HAVE NO SHIRT. THX FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK

LES SHOVING PEOPLE

Crutchie desperately trying to hop to keep up

Jojo and Elmer.

"Hey Jack you still thinkin?" "Sure he is. Can't ya smell smoke?"

(I'm out of character limits so this is part 1)

[iotaphora]

I need people to understand something. No one sees my vision. No one. Nark works because of how Taylor would react. (this is super long btw) (yes i have made a post about this, but i feel the need to go into more detail lmao)

Like imagine this, Nick and Lark start going out and Lark is trying to keep it on the down low, but Nicki just, isnt that good at that so Taylor notices right away. So he starts trying to figure out whats happening because to him Nick and Lark are enemies, they obviously can't be dating, and he just comes up with more and more insane theories. He eventually gets Normal in on it who at first is just going along because he gets to hang out with his friend, but eventually just tells Taylor 'hey I think your dad is dating my uncle' and Taylor is in to deep now. he doubles down that they are plotting something.

Than Nick figures out that Taylor is just, going insane, and comes clean that him and Lark are dating and that its not really something they want to talk about with other people because well, Lark is Lark. Taylor is, again, in too deep and refuses to actually believe they are a thing. So he goes up to Scary and Linc and is like 'my dad and Lark are obviously up to something, and its even more clear now that my dad tried to throw me off his trail by saying him and Lark are dating. But my dad would never date his enemy. so clearly they are up to no good and we need to stop them' and Scary is like 'Nick has flirted with him before in front of us, so I think they are just boyfriends' and Linc is like 'oh wow, I didn't really know what was up with them, but this actually does clear things up' and Taylor spends the next two months trying to get them to understand that no, his dad is not dating Lark.

and eventually Linc tells his dad about it, trying to get advice on how to get Taylor to drop it, but he words it poorly because he doesnt want to tell his dad that Nick and Lark are dating, but than his dad thinks that one of his friends is like an aliens-built-the-pyramids-and-also-had-children-with-humans sorta guy so Linc just ends up spilling the beans and than his dad promises not to tell anyone about it and gives him semi-decent advice. But this causes Linc to feel bad because this means that everyone but Lark's brother knows about Lark and Nicks relationship, so him and Scary tell Sparrow who is chill with it because he already knew Lark and Nick where dating, but then ends up telling Lark because clearly Taylor is not taking this well.

So Lark ends up sitting down with Taylor and is like 'hey kid, listen, yes me and your dad where plotting an evil scheme (they literally weren't) but we fell in love along the way and now we are boyfriends, alright?' and Taylor is like 'i was right! But....I know you might still be up to something...I'm keeping my eye on you' and would generally act suspicious around him but at least, you know, actually believed they where dating.

[pocket-lad]

CH 10- Lost in the Chaos

Prev

“They’d have to go through both Sarah and Kelly to get - to get to you,” Ian explained as if Adelaide didn’t already know that. He was trying to convince her to go lie down and get some sleep in the tent with Sarah and Kelly. It was an unspoken agreement among everyone that the women got the privacy of the tent while the men slept outside.

“I’m just not tired,” Adelaide yawned.

“Regardless, you should uh, get some sleep.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Della.”

Ian wasn’t going to pull anything else. He passed her off to Alan, to Nick. He wasn’t going to do that to her again, what with their trust already being stretched so thin. Even though he desperately wanted her to sleep in the safety of the tent.

“I’ll let you know if I get tired, and then maybe I’ll join them,” Adelaide conceded. That was as good as it was going to get, and Ian knew that. “And why aren’t you sleeping?”

“I’m not tired,” Ian said. They both knew it was a weak excuse since Adelaide literally just used it, but really, they were exhausted.

They joined up with the few other people who were awake. Adelaide regarded the big group of sleeping people. They all looked so peaceful when they slept, but she knew better than anyone how quickly their demeanor could change.

“Did you find him?” Ian asked Roland. They sat together on a log with Ajay, who Adelaide learned the name of five seconds ago. Apparently he was Roland’s friend. She didn’t know it was possible for him to have such a thing.

“Just the parts they didn’t like,” Roland said. He shot Adelaide a look that said, try me, so she did, mostly prompted by morbid curiosity.

“What did it?”

“Compys, I believe. Dinosaurs not much bigger than you, actually.” A ghost of a smile flashed across his face, but it disappeared so quickly that Adelaide thought she must have imagined it.  She straightened a little and smiled too. There was something fitting, poetic even, about Dieter Stark, a man who tormented her because of her size, dying at the hands of some of the smallest dinosaurs.

Roland pulled out a map and continued, explaining where they were going and what route they were taking. “We’ll let them sleep one more hour. Then we’ll hit it.”

Adelaide’s eyes grew heavier and heavier, and once the prying eyes of Roland and Ajay disappeared, she relaxed even more, her body threatening to succumb to sleep. But she had to stay awake.

Ian rolled his shoulder forward to let Adelaide slide off into his hands. She barely even protested, too comfortable to put up a fight. That’s when Ian knew it was over. “You are quite literally falling asleep in my, uh, in my palm… as we speak. Go to bed.”

“I can’t,” Adelaide mumbled.

“And why not?”

“Because they’ll take me.”

Ian wasn’t sure her thoughts were coherent and considered dropping her in his chest pocket to let her rest there, but curiosity had him prompting her further. “Who?”

“Hm?” Adelaide asked, already forgetting what she was talking about.

“Who will take you?”

“Oh…um, anyone?” She forced herself to sit up and rubbed her eyes. “I don’t like letting my guard down that much, even with you, no offense.”

“None taken.”

Adelaide yawned. “Are you sure Beans don’t eat us? He looked like he wanted to eat me.”

“I think he always looks like that.”

“Hmm…Being unconscious around strangers isn’t…And besides, I’m awake now. I’m sitting up.” Adelaide closed her eyes again and her head bobbed.

“Hey, you’re gonna fall asleep anyway, so you might as well do it somewhere safe.”

“I’m safe with you,” she whispered, curling back up in a ball. A couple minutes wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Curled up like that, Adelaide looked so tiny, and to know she felt safe with him made Ian’s heart grow approximately three sizes. He lifted her up close to his eyes, trying to see if she had officially fallen asleep.

Adelaide slowly peeled her eyes open and found herself staring directly into Ian’s. “I’ll take the tent,” she said, defeated. If anything, it was to get herself on solid ground for maybe the third time since they’d arrived. Her eyes closed again and she fell right asleep.

Ian wordlessly made his way over to the tent, pushing the flap open. Sarah stirred, and when she noticed that there was someone inside, she bolted up.

“It’s just me,” Ian assured her.

“Oh,” she said, eyes barely open and hair messy. “What’s going on?”

“Mind if Adelaide stays with you for the night?” He neglected to mention that they’d probably take off in an hour anyway.

“Uh, sure.”

Ian crouched down and reached across the tent to lay Adelaide in the back. There was a small empty space up by Kelly’s head that would give her enough room to sprawl out and roll around. She was fast asleep and remained so even as she slid off Ian’s hand onto the hard ground.

“Get some rest,” he said to Sarah, who nodded sleepily. Ian took one last look at everyone before he left.

It was that moment that Adelaide came back to the world. She felt the hard ground beneath her body and registered movement, so she blinked her eyes open.

An unfamiliar, dark world stretched out before her, and she felt the presence of two giants, none of which were Ian. She shot upright and pulled out her knife.

Sarah saw this and slowly reached for the borrower, trying to let her know she was safe, but before she could say anything, Adelaide swung at her with the knife.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s me. It’s Sarah.”

“Where’s Ian?” Adelaide said forcefully and at full volume. Though it was quieter than a normal human, she sounded just as loud, if not louder, against the silent backdrop of the night.

“He just left. He’s around here somewhere though,” Sarah whispered. She glanced at Kelly, hoping Adelaide’s outburst didn’t wake her. Kelly was still dead to the world. “I can-” she yawned, “- I can go get him if you’d like.”

The memories came rushing back to Adelaide. She remembered something along the lines of agreeing to sleep in here, but she wasn’t happy about it. “No, no, that’s okay. Sorry. I didn’t know where I was.” She rubbed her eyes and tucked her knife back into her belt. She didn’t like how close Sarah was and how she towered over her, even resting on her elbows, but Adelaide was semi-confident she wouldn’t need her knife.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sarah said as she laid back down.

Adelaide tried to do the same, but the ground was littered with wrappers and crumbs, and the soft light emanating from the lamp was too bright for her small eyes that were accustomed to the dark. She rolled around for what felt like forever and eventually gave up. There was no way her body was going to let her sleep around two giants.

“Sarah?” she tried.

“Mm?” Sarah responded. She sounded like she’d also been (unsuccessfully) trying to fall asleep.

“Thanks.” Adelaide couldn’t let Sarah’s efforts back after they escaped the trailer go unrecognized. At the very least, Adelaide owed her a thank you. And so that’s what she did.

“What for?”

“For saving me, I guess. Trying to keep me hidden.”

“You don’t need to thank me. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you from that guy.”

Adelaide chuckled, then looked for a way to change the subject. “That wasn’t your fault. You did the best you could… Can I have some of this candy?” There was a half-eaten candy bar sitting not too far to Adelaide’s right, and it didn’t look like anyone was going to finish it anytime soon. Seeing it in front of her made her realize how starving she was, especially since she wasted the peanut she packed by throwing it at a spider. It did feel weird to ask for food, though. Normally she just took it.

“Oh, sure,” Sarah said. “You don’t have to ask. It’s not like you eat much anyway…right?” Adelaide was tiny, so Sarah assumed she couldn’t eat a ton of food, but she wanted confirmation. On all accounts, Adelaide appeared human. But was she? If not, then Sarah couldn't assume anything.

“Right…” Adelaide trailed off. She dug into the candy bar, breaking off small chunks with only a bit of extra effort. It was some kind of chocolate, probably. Whatever it was, it was good. It stained her fingers and left behind a sticky residue, but that was at the very bottom of Adelaide's list of things to be worried about.

After a long stretch of silence, Sarah rolled over onto her stomach and rested her head in her arms. “Can I ask you something?”

Adelaide jumped, and when she looked up, Sarah was a lot closer than she’d been before. She took a couple steps back on instinct, eyeing the opening of the tent which felt like a million miles away and was blocked by the two giants. She swallowed. “Uh, yeah, but I don’t know anything about why I exist when I shouldn’t, or how my brain works, or how my body functions at such a small size, or anything like that.” Adelaide recalled the questions Alan had for her way back when and how she wasn’t able to answer any of them. She didn’t know how she existed. She just did it.

Sarah started to ask something, but another thought popped in Adelaide’s head that she had to voice. “Oh, and I don’t really want to talk about Jurassic Park. The first one, I mean. It’s still kind of overwhelming…If you don’t mind.” Her voice got quieter as she went on, and by the end, it was barely a whisper.

“Why did you feel like you couldn’t introduce yourself? I assume you kind of know me if you live in the walls. Am I really that bad?” Sarah asked.

Adelaide realized what Sarah was implying and grew nervous. She fidgeted with her hands while she stood awkwardly in place. “I don’t eavesdrop,” she quickly clarified, “if that’s what you mean. At least, I try not to. Beans are kinda loud.”

Sarah saw how twitchy Adelaide got. She must have missed Sarah's attempt at a joke. “No, I’m not mad! Just curious.”

Sarah’s soft smile helped Adelaide relax a little. Beans got touchy when it came to privacy, so she felt like she had to tread carefully. But Sarah was Sarah. She was the same Sarah whether Adelaide was watching her from a distance or talking directly to her. And the Sarah she knew was friendly and cool.

“I don’t think you were around when I was telling Nick earlier, but um…I was kidnapped. Like a long time ago. And then Ian caught me and that was a whole thing, but anyway, I was raised to mistrust Humans. And the kidnapping kind of confirmed those beliefs, so I just need to be wary. I can’t really control what you do, and I never know for sure how people will react. Better safe than sorry, I guess.”

“You told Nick before you told me?!” Sarah teased her.

Adelaide was quick to defend herself. “Hey! He was my only option! I was looking for you but you were nowhere to be found.”

“Aw, I’m flattered.”

Then the ground shook. It was a feeling Adelaide was growing quite familiar with, and it wasn’t a welcome one. Her tone shifted to dead serious. “Is that…”

Sarah glanced up at her jacket covered in the baby T-Rex’s blood. That was what they were smelling, which meant two Tyrannosaurs would soon be approaching.

“Adelaide, we’re gonna stay completely still, okay? Come here.” Sarah’s voice shook as she shoved all the remaining food and wrappers into a plastic bag and tucked it under their blankets. She turned the light off and pulled a blanket over her head just as the shadow of a massive dinosaur appeared alongside their tent.

Adelaide ducked as Sarah's hand snatched up all the Adelaide-sized things around her. It was so easy to forget that Beans could move that fast. Something that big physically shouldn't be able to do that. But when Beans were in a rush - oh boy, did they know how to move, and all a borrower could do was try to get out of the way. Registering Sarah's words, Adelaide came a couple paces closer but couldn’t bring herself to close the distance. Whether it was fear of Sarah or fear of the T-Rex, she wasn’t sure, but she was rooted in place.

She could hear it before she saw it. The huffing of a giant animal. One that was smelling its surroundings, one that was hunting. Then it was visible.

The first thing Adelaide saw was one of its horrible yellow eyes. Then its snout peaked in between the tent flaps, its large, pointed teeth protruding over its curled lips. It sniffed at the jacket. Then it sniffed at Sarah.

The breeze coming from the animal was so strong that it knocked Adelaide to the ground. She had to hold her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming and her body quaked with fear, but beyond that, she didn’t dare move. She looked at Sarah for guidance, but Sarah was just as scared.

Kelly stirred, and Adelaide prayed she wouldn’t fully wake up, but luck was never quite on their side. Kelly obviously felt the dinosaur’s massive presence, and turned to look at what it could possibly be. When she saw what it was, she screamed, but Sarah was quick to cover her mouth. Tears streamed down the girl's face.  She instinctively held still and kept her crying quiet, and Adelaide had to commend her for that, though she felt truly awful about it. No child should have to be this brave. 

A scream from outside startled them all, including the T-Rex. Startled by the sound, it stood up to its full height, ripping the tent out of the Earth.

Adelaide finally let out the scream she’d been holding in. It would get lost in the chaos anyway. She looked around to see the whole group freaking out - screaming, running in all different directions, trying to get away. All of the rumbling and stomping prevented her from getting to her feet, try as she might. She searched for Ian in the fray, but down on the ground, it was impossible to see very far.

Nick was suddenly at their side, his enormous boots shaking the ground. Adelaide threw her hands over her head protectively, convinced he couldn’t see her in the dark. Whether it was intentional or whether it was luck, Nick didn’t step on her. He helped Kelly to her feet and then Sarah, urging them to move . Apparently he did see Adelaide, since he scooped her up and shoved her into Sarah's hands.

One second, Adelaide was on the ground. The next, she was enclosed in darkness as massive hands obscured her from the world. The next, she was four feet in the air. She struggled to get a sense of her surroundings, and by the time she did, Sarah was running. She gave Adelaide a rushed apology, and though it was scary and uncomfortable, Adelaide knew it was for the best. She tried to take deep breaths to calm herself down but was only half-successful.  Muffled sounds of terror reached her ears and it was hard to tell up from down. Her head pounded with each step Sarah took. And yet one prevailing thought occupied her mind: Ian .

Sarah’s hands suddenly opened up and what little light existed around them made its way to Adelaide’s eyes. The landscape passed them by in a blur, though she recognized there were people running alongside them in every direction.

Her time out in the open didn’t last long, though. She was abruptly lifted higher into the air, and then she fell into darkness. It was only about an inch, but the shock disoriented her nonetheless. Fabric clung to her slick skin and she scrambled for purchase.

She recognized this. This was a pocket. Sarah put her in a pocket.

Okay, Adelaide thought. You get ten seconds, and then you get up. 

After seven seconds, Adelaide got impatient and pushed in the direction she thought might be ‘up’. Her face found fresh air as she hoisted herself over the edge of the pocket.

There wasn’t much Adelaide could do at this point except watch where they were going and hope they didn’t get eaten by a dinosaur. She desperately tried calling out for Ian, but she doubted even Sarah could hear her over the commotion.

Any mildly tall person in dark clothing could’ve been him, and Adelaide had no way of knowing. She called out until her voice was hoarse, until nothing could come out anymore.  The Beans approached a waterfall, and Adelaide squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the worst.

Though they didn’t end up underwater like she expected, she was suddenly drenched head to toe. When she opened her eyes, they were behind the waterfall in some sort of small cave. Her, Sarah, Nick, Kelly, and some other guy she recognized from earlier.

Adelaide didn’t have time to ponder it though, because the T-Rex was on their tail. It forced its head into their cave as much as it could. There was nowhere for them to run.

But then the dinosaur's head got stuck. It was very, very close, but just far enough away that it couldn’t eat them. Still, it's hot breath filled the small space and its long tongue searched for anything it could grab.

Adelaide thought she was scared of being anywhere near a Human Bean’s mouth. That was nothing compared to this. She ducked back down in the pocket, hoping it would provide some form of protection, and she felt a very strong pressure just off to her right. She could hear the slimy tongue tasting Sarah’s clothes, which made her gag.

Then, the pressure disappeared. Adelaide gave it a second before she stood up, but when she did, the dinosaur was still there. She wasn’t sure how they were going to get out of this one. At this point, it was a waiting game.

A streak of color caught Adelaide’s eye, and she turned toward it. It was a snake. Beautiful and graceful, much like the spider, but incredibly deadly. It slithered down the cave wall, headed straight for the unknown man.

“Look out!” Adelaide cried, and the man turned in her direction.

He stared at her with wide eyes, realizing for the first time that a three inch tall person was hanging out in a woman’s pocket. Then her words registered, and he looked to where she was pointing.

At this point though, the snake had wormed its way into the man’s clothes. He freaked out, batting at it and trying to get it out. In his panic, he backed away from the wall of the cave, despite everyone yelling at him not to.

Adelaide saw it before it happened, and it wasn’t pretty. The man backed right into the jaws of the T-Rex. It grabbed him by the arm, dragged him outside above their eyesight, there was a loud, agonizing scream, and then the waterfall that served as their door ran red with blood.

It all happened so fast. Sarah and Kelly were crying. Nick looked like he wanted to throw up. Adelaide could only think about Eddie. And Muldoon. And Gennaro. And John Fucking Hammond.

So many lives were lost because of this idiotic man’s idiotic dream. And where was he? Back in his luxurious mansion, probably sipping on tea, while they were here fearing for their lives. A classic example of the arrogance of Human Beans. They thought they could control everything, own everything, but they were wrong. And now they were paying the price for it, dragging a whole hoard of innocent people down with them.

A single tear slipped down Adelaide’s cheek. She wanted Ian. She wanted to go home.

“Where is he?” she croaked, defeated. It wasn’t directed toward anybody in particular - maybe the whole cave? She didn’t know. But Ian hadn’t returned yet and Adelaide was starting to fear the worst.

Sarah glanced down. “He’s coming,” she assured Adelaide. Nobody had any way of knowing if that was true, but hopefully speaking the words aloud sparked at least a little confidence. It didn’t.

Sarah delicately gathered Adelaide out of the pocket and ran her finger down her wet hair, brushing it away from her forehead. Adelaide twitched away in surprise, but was way too deep in shock to care. She let Sarah continue the repetitive motion. In a way, it calmed both of them down.

“I’m so stupid,” Adelaide said, voice still hoarse. “I shouldn’t have left him. I shouldn’t have left him. I should’ve stayed, should’ve insisted…I can’t…I can’t do this again, Sarah.” She started to hyperventilate, and more tears began to slip down her cheeks.

Every time Ian and Adelaide got separated, something bad happened. She made Ian promise that this exact thing wouldn’t happen. But Adelaide was stupid and gave in to sleep. She’d been awake longer before, she’d handled worse. She should’ve forced herself to stay awake. She should’ve insisted on staying with Ian. Because now she might never see him again.

Adelaide wanted to jump out of the pocket and let the Earth take her. She was so tired, so over it all.

A shadow appeared outside the waterfall again, and everyone in the cave pressed themselves as far back as they could. Sarah held Adelaide against her chest, blocking out her vision, so Adelaide pushed and pushed and pushed at Sarah’s hand. If she was going to die, she at least wanted to see it coming.

“It’s coming back!” Nick yelled.

But what emerged from outside surprised them all. Ian, soaked to the bone and panting, but definitely alive.

“Dad!” Kelly cried, jumping into his arms.

Adelaide let her tense body collapse, relief flooding every ounce of her being. She laughed and she cried so hard she could barely breathe. But that was fine because Ian was alive and she was alive and Kelly and Sarah and Nick were alive.

After Kelly peeled herself off Ian, he looked around. “Where’s Adelaide?” His voice was intense and worried.

“I’m here!” Adelaide called from Sarah’s cupped hands. He probably didn’t hear her, so she pushed at the hand again and Sarah obliged. “I’m right here!” She continued to let the tears fall and just hoped everyone mistook it as mist from the waterfall. She knew she wasn’t fooling anyone, but she didn’t care.

Ian stepped closer to Sarah and impatiently reached out to retrieve Adelaide himself.

“Hey!” Sarah yelled, also laughing through the tears.

Everything was dark for a moment before Ian opened his hand in front of his face. He gave Adelaide a once over, and after he determined she was okay, he turned toward Sarah and Nick.  “Thank you,” he said to both of them, completely earnest. They nodded back. “Let’s get out of here.”

“The dinosaur is gone?” Kelly asked nervously.

“The dinosaur is gone,” Ian said, though he sounded unsure. “Della, it’s gonna get bumpy. Pocket okay?”

Adelaide nodded. “Yeah, sure, whatever.” She didn’t really care, as long as she was with Ian.

She was prepared to get drenched again, even though she never really dried off, but as they passed under the waterfall, Ian held his hand above the pocket. Adelaide still got wet, but significantly less so, and she realized how much she took Ian for granted. He thought about the little things like that.

The small group quickly headed in the direction they remembered the operations building to be. There was a notable absence of people, though nobody wanted to think about what may have happened to them. Eventually, they came upon a field of tall grass.

Adelaide had mixed feelings about tall grass. It provided a great sense of cover, keeping exposure to a minimum. But if it provided cover for her and her friends, it provided cover for other things too, much more dangerous things. However she felt though, she wasn’t in charge. She was just along for the ride, as per usual.

The Beans decided the grass was the way to go. It was the fastest route, after all, and they wanted out of this place now .

Adelaide heard it first. She always heard it first, what with her sensitive ears, but it didn’t take long at all for the Beans to pick up on it. The sound of multiple dinosaurs, and this time, it wasn’t Tyrannosaurs. This time, it was something much deadlier, something that scared Adelaide to her core. This time, it was the sound of Velociraptors. And they were close.

.

Next

[inhibitionfreewriting]

slime + fluffy christmas? maybe decorating gingerbread houses

on one hand, doing traditional gingerbread houses would be sweet and in general the two of you love to spend time together. but this is the look of a man who would roast the shit out of your gingerbread house (but with love)

stay with me here, imagine getting all the things you need for it. you've got gingerbread panels and you're in the process of making the royal icing for it while slime pulls out a few bags of candy to use in the decoration - gum drops, candy canes, jelly beans, chocolates, basically whatever you two could grab from a local store. you question as the price reaches 75$ if you grabbed too much but slime shakes his head, "you need bricks to build." you agree.

i think it starts not as a competition, just deciding to do two separate houses so they can each look how you want them to look. you're probably going to break them afterwards anyway and just nosh on the sweet treat, but as soon as one of you accidentally knocks something off of the others and the response is a gasp and "sabotage", it turns into whoever can build the coolest looking house.

the problem is, both of you have different ideas of what would be the coolest looking house. slime is taking it too seriously and working on a gingerbread house with a complicated layout and interior rooms ("you're using too much gingerbread, you don't need to make an interior layout" "you're only saying that because you don't want to lose, give me the gingerbread") and you're working on patterns between the royal icing and the candy.

the BANTER? 😘👌🏻

"only a whore would live in your gingerbread house." "that just means i can live there and you can't." "woah, slutshaming? for christmas?" you give him this incredulous look before saying "you're not a whore!" before he gasps and goes "how DARE you!" it turns into this 15 minute long rant about how yes he is a whore and the fact that you're unwilling to face who he is down at the core of his being? the worst betrayal from you he's ever experienced.

you barely remember to take pictures before you start to break at pieces, sitting on the couch leaning into him and trying to find which ones highlight both houses the best. it IS a competition afterall, and who better to ask than the boys? he brings the pictures to the yard and its a small segment on the show to have them decide (it's important to note that you're not there)

when they pick his house (he doesn't say whose is whose), he immediately is defending yours and on your side. "hers is perfect what the fuck. what do you mean mine? look - the pictures just don't do it justice. you're all wrong"

"wait do you," ludwig shakes his head "do you NOT want to win this?" aiden is laughing

"lud doesn't get it. we want women to win," nick says "stop being misogynistic dude." lud throws his hands up in exasperation and shouts that he's NOT being misogynistic.

rewatching the clip on the yard makes your heart glow.

[daddymus-mamatron]

for the fic ask!!! (again just rattling numbers off) - @emergency-vehicle

4, 17, 28, 49

That's why when I send asks I always stick to 1. 3. 6 .9 . 13 xDD no need to think of numbers, got 'em right there. Been doing that on Tumblr for a long time xD

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

I'm really proud of the Opera I wrote for Soundwave in my TFES rewrite, this part especially;

The hunger gnawed at his frame, powering it through As he starved to replenish and care for his crew Ignoring previous levy threat of his fate Rumble’s grey frame held gently as fuel poured in spate

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Cyrano de Bergerac AU!!! I gnnnn.... My favourite play in the whole wide world. The balm on my romantic soul.

First I can't pick the pairing. The possibilities are *ENDLESS*. MegaStarOP? StarWaveWave? KOBDSS? DrAtchRod? MegOptiRatch? SkySoundStar? PICKING AN OT3????

Second, there is *NO WAY* I can pull off the level of knowledge needed to write poetry in English. I could do this whole AU in French in my sleep.... but no one will read it *sigh* So I brainrot about it alone in my corner xD

28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who?

@shotimus always gets 1st look at my writing and she wonderfully proof read it. Then my blessed beta @jariktig that not only takes my messy sentences and makes them comprehensible, but also inspire me with awesome comments!! It's been a joy to write and share with them, very happy to have 'em supporting me ^^

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

This one I've kept hush hush because it's a spoiler for my TFES rewrite, but I'll spill some beans. I'm currently working on an essay style fic to 'justify' Pharma appearing in my AU. I'm doing this for 2 reasons;

1- If I don't challenge myself I'll stop writing again. English can get so boring, I write prose, poetry and imaginative texts in French and then I read my English stuff and urgh.... I get easily discouraged so I've been challenging myself to keep thew flow going. I did a play and an opera, recently I did a whole fic without using 'Tarn' for internal monologue. Each piece I write has a little easter egg I only know about :3 anyway all of that for point #2

2- I want Pharma to do something very very very specific but I haven't built the how he got there and this fic will cover that.

a peek;

Many popular characters from the Transformers franchise did not appear in the latest animated television instalment; Earthspark. As a character designer, Nick Roche’s IDW influence is clearly present, and can be used to justify Pharma making an appearance in that universe.

welp, I went on and on here lmaooo thanks for the ask!!