#pretty sure I’ve done this w the characters switched but it’s okay this counts

[charisk-incorrect-quotes]

Chara: The stars are so beautiful…

Frisk: They’re just giant balls of gas.

Chara: You know what, if you’re just going to ruin this, then-

Frisk: And yet none of them are as huge as my love for you.

Chara: Oh…

[honeypirate]

What’s a Carnival w/o a Kiss?

Nishinoya, Tendou, Kuroo, and Bokuto visit you at your kissing booth.

Fem reader

Choose your character ending!!

Your best friends name is Mina bc I’m watching MHA and needed a name.

Not edited.

When they approved your VBC kissing booth you were shocked. You thought for sure it would be denied but apparently they thought it would be fun. “What’s the harm in a kiss?” The principle had said while following it up by stating if anyone was truly uncomfortable they didn't have to participate, it was the person’s choice to participate in the kissing booth.

You spent the day preparing the booth and painting it for the carnival tomorrow. You were nervous about it even though the kissing booth was your idea. You only suggested it becasue you thought it would be a great way to raise money since everyone on the girls and boys teams were well know. Plus you thought you could get out of it. nope, if your best friend Mina was participating there was no way she would let you out of it since she knew if you were really uncomfortable with it you wouldnt have thought of the idea yourself. “Too bad so sad” she said while you poured. The girls team would be the ones in the booth Saturday morning and the boys in the booth in the afternoon. Your time was scheduled for noon and youd be in there for fifteen minutes.

You werent just nervous because you had to kiss people, but what if no one wanted to kiss you? What if the entire fifteen minutes you had no one would show up? Just lines and lines for Mina who was right after you. You would feel so embarrassed and it might wreck your self esteem. You sigh and wipe off a bit of paint where you spilled and fixed your other mistakes.

“This looks amazing y/n!” (Noya/tendou/kuroo/Bo) said as he came over to you and you laughed softly “really? Thanks. It isnt hard though it’s just two colors” he laughs and picks up the paint brush with red on the end and placed a bit on your nose and you gasp, your cheeks flushing “doesnt mean you arent good at it!” he says and you smile softly. Somehow just his presence seemed to calm you down “thank you” you said softly and he nods with a grin. you take the white and paint a stripe down his cheek and then giggle as he gasps in shock.

Somehow in the paint fight ended up with him holding your hands above your head and painting doodles on your face while you chuckled and stared up at him. He was so pretty, you didnt get much time to appreciate his looks but you thanked whatever gods were above for this chance

“Hey! Save it for the booth!” His Coach calls out and you feel your face flush as he just laughs above you and rolls off you “sorry coach!” he replies and you avoid eye contact, too embarrassed for being caught goofing off.

“The booth is going to be amazing tomorrow” he says and helps you wash your brushes. “I hope so” you whisper softly, your anxieties coming back. When you’re done you walk him to the gym door so he can head to practice “Hey” he says softly and you look up at him “i’ll see you at the booth tomorrow, okay?” he says with a grin and it makes your stomach flop and your heart race. Your cheeks feel warm as you smile back at him “i’ll-” you clear your throat so you can sound more confident and then grin “i’ll be looking forward to it”

You couldnt sleep, nervous for the kissing booth but now you were nervous because you knew at least ONE person would be there in your line. You didnt even care if you had no other people who wanted to kiss you because you knew your crush was going to be there. At least you hoped that was what he meant.

That morning you made sure you wore your favorite outfit and put on a little perfume, you did your hair your favorite way so you could have more confidence in yourself and at the end of getting ready you felt actually really good about yourself. You looked in the mirror and smiled, maybe today would be the day you would kiss your crush.

Mina shaked your shoulders and squealed “are you ready?!” she said and pushed you towards the booth you had been abiding all day a long “nooooo” is his you respond and she just laughs. “Time to switch!” she sings and your Captain laughs at the boos that Mina get and she waves “sorry boys” she says and pats your shoulder as she exits the booth “good luck” she says and you smile and swallow hard. “Now it’s time for y/n!” Mina sings and you walk through the booth, pausing for a moment when you hear whistles and cheers which was the opposite of what you were expecting. You take a seat on the stool and feel your cheeks flush as the first boy steps up and hands you a red ticket and then presses his lips to yours for a second.

After five minutes kissing didnt even feel like kissing anymore. You lost count of the people who wanted to kiss you but after a few more minutes the line ends and you get a break. You look at your phone to check how much time you have left. 4 minutes to go. You felt your heart begin to shrink when you thought he wouldn’t come. You were distracted by a text from Mina you didnt notice someone approaching until he spoke.

Nishinoya

“Is this booth open?” he asks with a chuckle and your eyes snap up as a smile spreads across your lips “i thought you werent gonna make it” you say with a lilt in your voice and he laughs “how could i miss this? I get to kiss the most beautiful girl not to mention my long time crush” you feel your cheeks flush “i've been waiting for you all day, not to mention i won you this!” he pulls up a small teddy bear and your eyes widen with a chuckle “really! That’s so sweet Noya!” he gets a little nervous now, he confessed his feelings and you didn't say anything about it yet. He feels his face flush as he fumbles with his ticket in his hands. “So.. uh.. Yeah” he says and rocks on his toes as he looks at his ticket. You laugh and hold out your left hand for the ticket with a small smile. He grins as his cheeks dust darker pink as he places the piece of paper gently in your palm. You hop off the stool and lean across the booth to cup his cheek “i’ve been waiting all day for you” you whisper and then you press your lips to his.

Your lips softly rest against his for a moment before you’re pulling back “no, wait” he says softly and cups your cheeks, pulling them back to his own. His tongue touches your bottom lip and you meet it with your own, deepening the kiss and humming in happiness as your lips move together

“Hello?!” the boy behind him asks annoyed and you pull apart with blushing cheeks “sorry guys y/n’s time is over!” Mina says from behind you. You dont know when she appeared but you felt embarrassed anyway. You wave to the long line of guys that had appeared and they all looked mad as Nishinoy just looked like he was in heaven as he walked around the side of the booth to meet you at the back. “Hi” you say shyly and he smiles “hi beautiful” he says you blush “I really like you, Yuu” you whisper with a shy laugh and he takes your hand, lacing your fingers together. “I would hope so! You kissed me like it!” you laugh and rock your shoulder into his playfully “wanna go get some cotton candy?” he asks and you laugh “yes! That sounds amazing. Then maybe we could ride the ferris wheel”

Tendou

“Helloooo” he says happily while waving his ticket slowly in front of your phone “aren’t phones against the rules?” you laugh and roll your eyes “you’re here” you say softly and he smiles and runs a hand through his hair “here i am!” he says with a laugh that shows his anxiety. You take his ticket and then reach up and run your hands through his hair “can i tell you something?” you ask, grateful there isn’t anyone behind him right now. He nods, his ruby eyes shining as they stare into yours “I’ve been waiting for you Satori” you say and laugh shyly and he cups your cheeks, pressing his lips against yours softly. Its soft and sweet and when you pull back he’s pulling your lips back to his again and again, quickly peppering kisses against your lips as you chuckle. “Tendou?” he kisses you and hums in response “maybe” kiss kiss “we should” more kisses “tendou!” mina shouts and he pulls back to look behind you as he still holds your face “take her away, her time is over” tendou shouts for joy and hops through the booth window, taking your hand and leading you away as you chuckle “lets get some lunch and talk about how much you love me” he says and you laugh “sounds good to me” you respond and squeeze his hand. He looks to you with a gasp before his face turns into a grin “and obviously i’ll talk about how much i love you back. It wont just be about me” you laugh “i know, i could tell how much you liked me from those kisses”

Kuroo

“Hey there cutie” he says and you laugh as you shove your phone in your pocket. He always had a way of taking away all your anxiety. You smile up at him as he hands you a red ticket. “Glad you could finally make it Tetsu” you joke as you take his ticket, placing it in the basket with all the others. “I told you id be here” he said with a smile as he leaned his elbows on the booth and smiled at you now he was your height. “And here i thought you were just waiting to kiss all the girls” he hums and reaches out to tuck your hair behind your ear “nah, i only wanna kiss you. I mean, why would i want to kiss anyone else when i have you?” you hop off the stool and lean closer “and how are you sure you even have me?” you whisper and he cups your cheek softly “you have no idea how bad I am hoping” he says, his eyes showing how much vulnerability he is hiding with his teasing “same here” you whisper as he cups your cheeks and presses his lips to yours. The kiss ends sooner than you hoped but the way he is smiling melts your heart “are you done here yet?” he asks with a chuckle and mina behind you yells out “yes! She is! Go on!” she ushers you out of the booth. He holds his hand out to you and you take it with a smile, lacing your fingers together “I guess you were right” you say and he laughs “about what?’ he asks and you squeeze his hand as a blush dusts your cheeks “you have me”

Bokuto

“Hey!” he shouts and you look up at him “no hey hey hey?” you ask as you stand from the stool and smile. He laughs and scratches behind his head “i’m just a little nervous” he says with a shy laugh “hey” you say softly and he meets your eye with his cheeks blushing “I was really hoping you’d come” you say softly, your heart racing. “Really?” he asks and leans forward, placing his ticket on the booth edge and you laugh with a nod. You raise your hand and use your finger to tell him to come closer which he does with a smile and you cup his cheek with one hand while leaning into his opposite ear “i really, really like you Kou” you whisper and he hums in excitement “i like you too!” he says and you laugh “maybe i should kiss you now” he says and you nod as you feel yourself get twice as nervous. He cups your cheeks “so beautiful” he whispers before he presses his lips to yours. You hum at the same time and then chuckle as you kiss him deeper. He pulls back and you chuckle as you wipe his bottom lip with your thumb. Mina taps your shoulder “you’re done hun, now go get your man” she says and you laugh as you make your way around to Bo who excitedly takes your hand “do you wanna maybe turn this into a date?” he asks and you smile with a nod “I’d love that Kou”

~ending~

You spend the whole day with him and watch the sunset form the Ferris wheel, stopping right at the top for you guys. “Wait” you say and turn to him “weren’t you supposed to be in the kissing booth too?” You ask and he chuckles softly “yeah I ditched. I don’t want to kiss anyone else but you” you smile, your cheeks flushing and heart dancing at his words “well if I knew that in the beginning” you say with a laugh and he cups your cheek “you only wanna kiss me too?” He asks softly, his eyes drifting to your lips as you nod. “Then maybe you should be my girl” he says and you laugh “yeah maybe I should” you say just before his lips press against yours for the umpteenth time already today, sending warm fuzzies to your heart and spawned more butterflies you were sure to fly out and into his mouth.

[avengerscompound]

Running to a Standstill - 11

Running to a Standstill: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count:  2384

Rating:  E

Warnings: Smut( bisexual MMF, oral sex, intercrural sex, vaginal sex)

Synopsis: While on the run from an unknown organization trying to take your son, you meet two super-soldiers.  While they try to help you get to the bottom of who is hunting you and your son, feelings come out and admissions are made that make your personal life even more tricky.

Chapter 11

Steve was thankful for the paperwork and debrief he had to do before the date he had asked both you and Bucky on.  He liked romance but he wasn't good at it and this whole ‘dating two people at the same time’ thing was so far out of his wheelhouse it has its own wheelhouse.  Work, however, he might hate but he was good at it.  It gave him time to unpack things and calm down and so by the time he was headed back downstairs the anxiety he had about fucking this all up completely was at a manageable level.

When he went inside he was not at all prepared for what greeted him.  He had expected to be taking you both out - that you’d be dressed and just waiting for him to be done with work.  Instead, the apartment had been cleaned and the lights were dimmed.  Candles had been placed around the room and added a woody aroma to the smell of cooking wafting from the kitchen where you and Bucky were cooking together.  You’d both dressed up too.  You were wearing a layered, burgundy, lace dress with dark beaded jewelry.  While Bucky had black jeans paired with a black button-up that was open at the neck and the sleeves were rolled up.  He’d also tied his hair back and shaved off his beard.  The way he smiled as you passed him a jar of spices reminded Steve so much of the guy he’d been before the war.  The carefree Bucky who was always there to have his back or drag him out on some double date.

“What’s going on?”  Steve said as he closed the door behind him.

“When you went back up to work, we were talking about the date,” you said.  “And we thought that going out might attract looks and then we wouldn’t be able to relax.  And we really need to be relaxed if this is going to work.”

Steve smiled and stepped into the kitchen, he put his hand on your hip and kissed your cheek and took Bucky’s hand, pulling him a little closer.  “This was such a good idea.”

“We’ll do the dates out later,” Bucky promised.  “I know that stuff is important to you.  But this is so new for us.  We need to be comfortable with it before we share it with the world.”

Steve leaned over and kissed him.  It still felt a little strange, but here in his home, Steve felt comfortable exploring that.

“Go sit down,” Bucky said, pulling back.  “We’re just serving up.”

“I can’t do anything?”  Steve asked.

“We actually want edible food,” Bucky teased.  “So get out of here.”

Steve chuckled and went and sat down.  He was followed closely by you and Bucky as you brought out bread, salad and a large bowl of pasta.

“Thank you,” Steve said as the three of you started filling your plates.  “This looks really good.”

“Okay, pal,” Bucky said, patting his thigh.  “I know this is weird.  But it’s me, not a job interview.”

Steve chuckled and he felt a flush enter his cheeks as he ran his hand through the back of his hair.  “Right.  You’re right.”

“It’s crazy how we both felt this way for so long and neither of us said anything,” Bucky said.  “How dumb are we?”

Steve laughed.  “Pretty dumb,” he agreed.  “But we already knew that.  I guess … I guess back then I didn’t expect to get anything I wanted and I thought admitting how I actually felt would mean I lost you completely.  It was better to keep you as a friend than lose you altogether.”

Bucky reached over and rubbed his hand over Steve’s thigh.  “I totally get you.  Even telling you the other day about how I felt I was sure you’d reject me because who could possibly want me after everything I’ve done?”

“Oh Buck,” you said and leaned over and kissed him gently.

Steve had all these expectations of what it would be like if he saw the two of you kiss.  Everything from jealousy to it turning him on.  What he hadn’t expected was how right it felt.  There were things that made Steve worry.  Bucky’s initial reaction each time he was kissed was to tense up, and it took him a moment to relax again.  Steve was concerned about what underlying things were making that happen.  But even with that, when Bucky relaxed as the two of you kissed, it felt right.  He’d always shared everything with Bucky, to share this too, was how it was meant to be.

You pulled back and tucked a stray lock of Bucky’s hair behind his ear.  “I know what you mean too,” you said, reaching over and rubbing Steve’s forearm.  “I’ve been on the run for so long, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to just stand still.  I thought it was just going to be me and Geo against the world forever.  I still think that I won’t.  That somethings going to happen and I’ll have to run.  Even now, having Geo spending the night just upstairs with an actual superhero, I’m worried about something happening that will mean I have to run.”

“We’ve got you now,” Steve said.  “I promise we’ll keep you safe.”  You nodded, but he could see the doubt in your eyes.  “I think we all need to start telling ourselves that maybe… just maybe, we deserve something good.  Even if it’s not normal.  It can be good and we deserve good things.”

You leaned over the table and kissed him, he smiled into your lips and hummed softly.  When you pulled back Bucky was there to take your place, tensing as his lips came in contact with Steve’s but relaxing quickly.

Bucky pulled back and let out a breath.  “So we’re actually doing this?  Like for keeps?  Not just messing around?”

“I can’t make any promises about how this will work or if this will work,” Steve answered.  “But I’m not into it for something casual.  I am serious about you both.”

“Yeah, me too,” you agreed.  “I’m worried about Geo.  I don’t want to mess him around, so … we need to be careful with him.  He’s already so used to having you both around if he starts thinking of you… you know?”

“Like a dad?”  Steve suggested.

You nodded and swallowed thickly, tears pricking your eyes.  “His dad was such a good man.  I loved him and he was so excited when I got pregnant.  Geo never even got to meet him.  I don’t want him to start thinking of you both like that and then for him to lose that too.”

Steve took your hand in both of his.  “We’ll be careful,” he promised as he gazed into your eyes.  “Won’t we, Buck?”

“Sure,” Bucky agreed, rubbing your back.  “We don’t want to hurt either of you.”

You grabbed a napkin and wiped your eyes.  “I’m sorry,” you said.  “I never had a chance to grieve I guess.  When I start thinking about him, it all comes out at once.”

Steve smiled softly, he knew exactly what you meant.  He lost Bucky and was expected to go straight back into the war.  Then he lost everything and was expected to fight aliens.  He knew what it was like to have to compartmentalize your life like that.  He knew how hard it was to keep it from overwhelming you if you even for one second allowed yourself to dwell on it.  “You never have to apologize for that,” he said, gently.  “Not ever.”

You nodded and he and Bucky quietly went back to eating, letting you process how you needed.  Bucky held your hand under the table and Steve rubbed your leg.  You gradually relaxed as the three of you finished your meals.

“Alright,” Steve said, getting up.  “You both cooked.  Seems only fair that I clean up.”

“Not gonna argue with that,” Bucky said.  “As long as you actually do it.”

“You know what, Buck?”  Steve teased as he collected up the dirty dishes, making Bucky laugh.

As Steve tidied the kitchen, you and Bucky moved to the couch.  Steve watched as he stacked the dishwasher as Bucky put his arm around you and you leaned in and pecked his lips.  He watched as the gentle peck became something deeper.  How Bucky tensed a little and seemed to hover his hands like he didn’t know where he should put them.  How when he finally pressed his palms to your back, he relaxed and the kiss turned into a heavy make-out session.

This time Steve was turned on by it.  He switched on the dishwasher and wiped down the dishes and stepped out into the living room.  “Maybe we should take this to the bedroom?”  He suggested.

He was a little surprised by the words that came out of his mouth.  He was always so slow to make a move.  He always needed to feel ready.  But it was different now.  He had been dating you for a while and he had already gotten to the point he was sure with you.  And Bucky… was Bucky.  He’d been sure about Bucky for longer than he could remember.

You and Bucky stood without any hesitation and he followed the two of you to the bedroom.  Bucky held his hand out to Steve and pulled him in close, and began to unbutton Steve’s shirt as you did the same to Bucky’s.

Gradually the three of you stripped each other.  You kissed the whole time.  Steve’s lips from yours to Bucky’s and back.  He kissed necks, and collarbones and both you and Bucky did the same, so by the time all three of you were naked, Steve was achingly hard.

“Might need to go slow,” Bucky warned, as he climbed up into bed.  “Been a while.”

“There’s no rush,” you assured him, climbing up in bed with him and straddling his lap  Steve watched as you traced your fingers down Bucky’s chest.  Bucky’s muscles twitched under your touch and he bunched his hand into your hair and pulled you down into a kiss.

Steve climbed up behind you, straddling Bucky’s legs and kissing your back as you ground down against Bucky’s cock.  Steve began to rut slowly against your ass and you sat up and leaned back, kissing him deeply as you rolled your hips against Bucky.

Bucky leaned up and began to suck on your breasts, switching from one to the other as you and Steve kissed hungrily.  Steve lined up his cock and slid it between your thighs so that with each roll of his hips it slid up and down against Bucky’s while being pressed between your legs.  He groaned at the sensation and began to picture what it would be like for both his and Bucky’s cock to be wedged tight inside your cunt.

“Fuck…” Bucky groaned.  “That feels so good.”

“Yeah, Buck?”  Steve said in a soft growl.  “You like that?”

Bucky groaned loudly and dropped back onto the bed, his hips bucking up under you.  You broke the kiss with Steve and rolled onto your side.  Bucky rolled to face you, continuing to rut between your legs, moaning softly as he left a sticky trail of precum between them.

Steve watched on, running his hands over both of you.  He lay down behind you and leaned over, and captured Bucky’s lips as he began to rut between your thighs from behind.  He slipped his hands down and began to finger your clit.  You moaned loudly and Bucky groaned into Steve’s lips.

Steve wasn’t really sure what the plan was right now, he just knew it felt amazing to have his cock pressed between your legs and Bucky’s rubbing against it.  Bucky’s cock was leaking on his, and it mixed with your arousal, coating Steve’s shaft in sticky fluids.  He could tell Bucky was getting close.  His moans were becoming choked and needy and his cock was throbbing against Steve’s shaft.  

“Shit,” Bucky gasped.  “Not gonna last.”

“That’s okay,” you whispered.  “Come.”

Bucky groaned loudly and his hips stuttered as he released, spilling between your legs and coating the insides of your thighs and over Steve’s shaft.  “That’s it,” you praised.  “Give it to us.”

Bucky groaned and buried his head in your neck.  “Sorry,” he whispered.

“No, babe,” you said.  “It’s all good.”

Bucky pulled back and you rolled onto your back.  Steve maneuvered on top of you and you took hold of his shaft and guided him inside you.  He groaned as the wet warmth of your cunt encompassed his cock.  Bucky rolled over and kissed along Steve’s shoulder he reached between both you and Steve and began rubbing your clit while he massaged the base of Steve’s cock.  Steve groaned and clenched his jaw as his cock jumped and his balls tightened.  You were being affected just as much.  Your cunt tightened and began to pulse around his shaft with each thrust of Steve’s hips.  He looked down into your eyes and you cradled his jaw as you looked up at him.

“Oh fuck, fuck… fuck!”  You cried out as your orgasm hit.  You arched your back under him and you cunt squeezed and massaged his cock, milking it.  With a grunt and a jerk of his hips, he released, coming inside you in waves.

Steve hummed and rolled off you, landing between you and Bucky and the two of you moved into him, curling into his side and resting your heads on his chest.  Bucky leaned over and pecked your lips.  “That wasn’t exactly how I expected it to go the first time.”

“You picture us just wrecking each other?”  You asked, caressing his jaw.

He chuckled and nodded his head.  “Yeah, maybe.”

“We’ll build up to that,” Steve chuckled.  “This is very new for me.  I’m sure it is for you both too.”

Bucky nodded and leaned in and kissed him.  “I wanna do all kinds of things with you both.”

Steve smiled and rubbed his nose against Bucky’s as he ran his fingers down the back of your neck.  He wanted that too and for the first time in his life, he felt like he might actually deserve it.

// NEXT

[cobaltusami]

Tropical Vacation part 9.1

Hey hi hello dolls! I hope you're all doing well <3 Sadly, I didn't get everything I wanted to accomplish done In this fic, but I feel like I had a good stopping point so I'm taking It. I'm not feeling well so Instead of staying up all night to squeeze some more content in, I'm gonna rest. (It's 11:51 pm as of scheduling this to post)

This part unfortunately does not contain Nekomaru wrecking Hajime because I needed to set it up, so I decided to just set up and then the next part will center around their search and Hajime's imminent giggly doom--

Hope you enjoy!

Previous parts can be found on my Masterlist! [Click or tap here.]

Word count: 3,804

Characters In this part: Lee!Sonia, Switch!Kazuichi, Gundham, Makoto, Leon, Hiro, Kyoko, Celeste, Mondo, Taka, Chihiro, Hajime, Nagito, Nekomaru, Akane, Sakura, Hina

“Whaddaya mean?” Mondo blinked in surprise. “Why Is a buncha new buildings a big deal?”

The girls of class 77 had returned to the main beach to set up the party, while the girls and enby of class 78 + Akane went to brief the boys on the new discovery.

Sonia, surprisingly, had gone with them rather than decorate the beach.

“It is a big deal because Monokuma has never given us something without an announcement.” Sonia explained.

Kazuichi was the first to agree. The fucking simp. “Yeah, What Miss Sonia said! He normally pops In and tries to get in our heads.”

“Come to think of It… We haven’t heard from Monokuma since he announced you all would be coming to the island.” Imposter spoke up.

“That’s really unlike Monokuma… He always comes in and kills the mood for us.” Makoto responded. “I’m kind of shocked he hasn’t shown up yet.”

And of course, He had to jinx it for them.

Monokuma sprung up from seemingly nowhere, a paw on his chin as he tilted his head curiously. “You rang for me?”

“Ya just had to fuckin’ say it didn’t ya?” Mondo muttered under his breath as Makoto smiled apologetically.

“So, How’s the meeting going? Any scandalous affairs I should know about?” The robot bear asked cheekily.

“No.” They all deadpanned.

“But while you’re here, I have a question.” Kyoko stepped forward, looking at the two tone bear with intrigue. “Why have you been absent?”

“And while we are asking questions, Why did you create all of those buildings?” Sonia asked, also stepping forward. Gundham followed, right at her side to protect her in case Monokuma were to try something.

Kazuichi noticed this and mirrored Gundham’s motion…

Only for Sonia to gently nudge him back a bit so that she was taking the protective stance of the Mechanic instead. He dejectedly whined.

“Puhuhuhu… What does It matter? Shouldn’t you just be grateful I’m in a giving mood?” The bear chuckled.

“Fiend, you never give Indulgences without some kind of perilous hazard attached…” Gundham spat back, not trusting him for a second. “What are you playing at?”

“Nothing.” Monokuma said cheerfully. “I honestly don’t have the time to mess with you guys.”

Kyoko blinked, recalling what Monokuma said yesterday. “That’s right, you said something about preparing surprises and making changes to the school…”

“Bingo! Nancy Drew has solved the mystery!” Monokuma exclaimed. “Do you wanna guess what your surprise is??”

Kyoko stared hard at the bear, feeling nervousness creeping up in her stomach… Not that her face showed any of it. She was silent as she mulled over the possibilities.

Monokuma didn’t wait for a response. “If you guess correctly, I’ll keep the doors to the island unlocked during the weekend.”

The students were stunned by this proposal. Why would Monokuma offer a luxury like that?

“Oh, Would you look at the time? I’ve got some time-sensitive work to do. Do think about my offer.” Monokuma said amusedly. “Call me when you’re ready to guess. Enjoy the spa!”

And with that, he disappeared into the nebulous void he arises from each time he appears.

“Things aren’t making any sense…” Makoto mumbled.

Kyoko nodded In agreement. “There must be some kind of clue at the spa…”

She was certain she picked up something strange about his demeanor just now, but decided against saying anything until she was sure.

“Let us go investigate then, shall we?” Celeste smiled lightly.

She also did not await a response, she grabbed Kyoko’s arm and started heading off In the direction of the spa. The other followed.

The group arrived at the spa, looking at it skeptically. Two tones of tranquility. The building was half black and half white, with Monokuma’s face painted on the big wooden double doors.

Something unusual some of them took note of, this spa didn’t seem to have a lot of windows for natural sunlight. In fact, Kyoko counted a total of two small windows at the very top of the building.

“I’m not getting a good feeling about this building…” Sakura said quietly.

Of course Mondo used this opportunity to harass Sakura, why wouldn’t he? “Hey, that’s a’ight. Ya don’t have to go In with us, I know how you girls can be.”

Not only did that provoke the ire of Sakura, but also Akane, Sonia, Hina, Sayaka and even Kazuichi, fucking simp.

“HEY! What are you tryin’ to fuckin’ say?!” Akane snapped, whipping around to glare at the biker.

Kyoko and Celeste knew what he was trying to do so they brushed off the comment.

“I’m just sayin’, you guys can be scared pretty easily.” He was really only trying to fuck with Sakura so he was going into damage control mode now.

“I’ll have you know, Miss Sonia Is the scariest person I know! Nothing scares her!” Kazuichi retorted, causing Sonia’s anger to slip for a moment to giggle in amusement.

Nekomaru sidled up to Mondo for his protection, knowing that gleam in Akane’s eye. “Behave.” He pointed at the gymnast, whose eyes were glimmering with mischief and anger.

Sakura approached Mondo, narrowing her eyes. “Scared? Scared? Nothing scares me. I think you’re the one who should be scared.”

“Me? What the fuck for?” The Biker scoffed.

“Because you just pissed off more people than you can handle.” Ah. So Sakura did pick up on his trick… shit.

“Picking on girls… Not cool, Mondo.” Nagito said In the background with a disappointed expression.

“Will you fuckin’ stay out of this?!” He snapped before turning his attention back to the white haired girl. “I’m not scared!”

“If you’re not scared, maybe you should be the first person to go in.” Kyoko hummed, opening the door and peaking In.

Ah, He did piss off Kyoko too… shit.

Mondo sighed, resigning himself to his fate instead of arguing. “Fine.”

He walked through the double doors and glanced around curiously. “It just looks like a fuckin’ spa to me.”

Sakura was the next to step inside and look around, albeit pretty dimly lit, it did resemble a normal spa. “He’s right. It doesn’t appear to be dangerous upon first glance.”

The others took that as their cue to go Inside. Akane clung onto Nekomaru’s arm and remained by his side as they went in. She hated the dark, and while It wasn’t totally pitch black, it was dark enough to make her nervous.

The Ultimate team manager smirked lightly at the fiery woman and drew her closer by wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.” He whispered to her.

Normally, she would have argued with that statement. Insisting she didn’t need protecting. But this time she was comforted by those words.

Kazuichi was also nervous, but upon seeing Akane get closer to Nekomaru, he tried to use this as a chance to cuddle up to Sonia. “Have I ever mentioned I hate dark new places?” He chuckled nervously.

Sonia looked up at him. “It will be okay, Kazuichi…” She reassured him with a gentle smile.

Before he could say anything else, Gundham was at his side. “It’s alright, Mortal. I shall shield you from the demons, they rather like me.”

“Uh, No man It’s okay I--”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to fear my poison.”

Gundham reached down and grabbed the pinkette’s hand, lacing their fingers together.

Kazuichi’s face turned nearly the same shade as his hair from being flustered.

“You know…” The taller boy leaned in closer to whisper to him. “If you wanted to hold my hand, you could have just asked… I would have indulged you.”

Kazuichi’s face got even redder (If that was possible) as his low deep voice reached his ear.

Sonia giggled as she watched her boys.

After doing a quick sweep of the place, they decided It was just a normal spa. There weren’t any deadly traps or anything. Now It was time to investigate and search for clues…

“We should split up Into teams to cover more areas thoroughly.” Kyoko decided, twirling around to face the group.

“I agree, It makes more sense to do It that way.” Makoto nodded, stepping towards her.

She held up her hand, smiling coyly at him. “I’m glad you agree, because you’re going with Hiro and Leon.”

“W-What? Really?”

“Is there a problem with that?” She asked, feigning surprise.

Makoto glanced back at the two aforementioned people before resigning himself to his fate. “No… Of course not. I just thought… Y’know… I’d go with you.”

“That would hardly be productive.” She replied. “Besides, Hiro and Leon need someone to keep them focused, and I thought you would fit the role.”

That vaguely resembled a compliment, and like all other times, He’ll take It. “Alright.” He conceded, heading over to his two friends to talk.

Kyoko turned to Kazuichi, Sonia and Gundham. “Will you three be okay going together?”

Sonia nodded, her eyes glimmering with happiness. “Yes, I am quite observant!”

“It wasn’t you I was worried about.” Kyoko whispered to her, glancing back at Kazuichi and Gundham. The former trying to explain he wasn’t scared anymore and the latter insisting he didn’t mind staying by his side.

Sonia giggled. “I will keep them on track.” She replied quietly with a smile.

The Detective stepped back, looking around the group of friends. “Okay, Here’s how It will go. Team one Is Makoto, Leon, and Hiro. You will be searching this room, The entry room.”

They nodded.

“Team two Is Sonia, Gundham and Kazuichi. You three should check the nail station.” She said before casting her gaze onto Mondo. “Mondo, Taka, and Chihiro are team three. You have the Hot spring and adjoining Sauna.”

“S-Sauna?” Taka’s face flushed, recalling the last time they were In a sauna.

“Aye aye, captain.” Mondo did a mock salute.

“Chihiro?”

“Yes?”

“I’m leaving you In charge of the team, keep them on track.”

Chihiro’s face lit up for a moment before realizing the enormous task they had been given. Leon chuckled at the look of horror now on their face.

“It’ll be okay, Chi.” Leon reassured, patting their shoulder. “You got this.”

“Team four Is Sakura, Hina and Aka…” Kyoko paused, taking note of how uncomfortable Akane appeared.

Nekomaru followed Kyoko’s gaze to the nervous brunette glued to his side. “It might not be a great idea to separate us.”

“It’s okay!” Hina said, practically bouncing excitedly. “Sakura and I can do It ourselves! Right Sakura?”

“Of course.”

Kyoko nodded. “Alright, Then you two will be investigating the Hair salon also on the first floor.”

“Easy peasy! We got this!” Hina grinned.

“Lemme guess, Hiko, Nagito and I?” Hajime hummed, casually leaning against the wall.

“Yes, you guys plus Nekomaru and Akane.” She nodded. “You have the massage suites on the second floor.”

Hajime gave a curt nod in response.

“That leaves Celeste, Sayaka and myself. We will search the main office and the master suite on the third floor. Questions?”

“Are you sure you don’t want one of us three to go with Sakura and Hina?” Makoto asked.

“I’m sure. I can’t shake the feeling there may be something important hidden in this room, so the more eyes In here the better.” Kyoko responded coolly.

“Besides, The hair salon isn’t that big, we can easily cover it.” Hina added.

“What If there is something dangerous here? Shouldn’t someone strong go with you three too?” Kazuichi asked, regarding Kyoko almost timidly. “Y’know… for protection?”

Kyoko smiled softly, closing her eyes. “We’ll be fine, but thank you for your concern.”

“Trust me, Celeste will destroy anything that even blinks wrong at any of them.” Makoto whispered, smiling sheepishly.

“Any other questions?” Kyoko scanned the room but after no response she gave a nod. “Alright then. Let’s get started.”

The teams each headed off to their designated areas to begin their search. In Leon, Hiro and Makoto’s case they remained in the room, but split up to cover different corners of the room.

“What are we even looking for?” Hiro asked curiously, looking behind a plant.

“Anything that doesn’t belong in a spa.” Leon answered, inspecting every product on the glass shelf next to the desk.

Makoto disappeared behind the front desk, opting to check underneath it first. “Look for anything suspicious. Anything that might have some information on it.”

“If you’re not sure If It might be useful, just put It in this bin.” Leon pushed a woven basket over to the middle of the room. “We’ll all three look over the evidence when we’re done.”

“That goes for any of us.” Makoto reaffirmed. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all, at least Leon had the right idea.

His blue eyes narrowed on a bottle of glitter Cherry blossom perfume. “Hey, I found something out of place.”

“Already?? How?” Makoto went to stand up but banged his head on the desk, causing Hiro and Leon to laugh. He hurried over flustered to Leon, rubbing the top of his head and muttering under his breath.

“What’d you find?” He asked quietly, his face still pink.

Leon grinned before turning back to the shelf and picking the bottle up. “Perfume.” He said as he turned back towards Makoto.

“How Is that out of the ordinary?” Hiro asked, approaching the two.

“There’s nothing on that shelf except lotion and hair products.” Leon explained as Makoto took the bottle.

Huh? That can’t be…

“Something wrong, Makoto?” Leon asked, noting how quickly his face turned white.

“I-It’s weird… My little sister uses the same kind of perfume.” The lucky student frowned. His sister… Right… He almost forgot how much he missed her…

What if…?

“So does almost every other school girl In japan.” It wasn’t a very good attempt, but Leon seemed to see where Makoto’s mind was headed and had attempted to lessen his anxiety.

“Y-Yeah… you’re right…” Makoto tried to feign a smile, but got choked up when he looked back at the bottle.

Leon wasn’t sure what to do to help him, he sure as fuck wasn’t gonna open up and tell Makoto he understands how he feels as he has his own little sister figure he’s worried about too.

He decided on draping his arm across Makoto’s shoulders and pulling him into a half hug. “It’ll be okay man, just relax… You’ll see her again.”

Makoto awkwardly fumbled with the bottle before setting It back down and turning the half hug into a full on hug. “I hope so…” he said quietly. “Th-Thanks.”

There was silence between the two for a bit, but eventually Hiro broke that silence by ringing the bell at the desk, startling the two. “I hate to ruin the moment, but uh… you guys have just been hugging quietly for like two minutes…”

The two immediately pulled away from each other, blushing profusely. “R-Right! Sorry Hiro.” Makoto smiled apologetically.

“Y-Yeah man, my bad…” Leon coughed, quickly turning back around to the glass shelf.

Hiro rolled his eyes and smiled at them. Can they be any more obvious?

Makoto’s gaze honed in on something moving behind the desk, his eyes widened as he felt his blood run cold.

“What? What’s the matter?” Hiro asked.

Leon twirled around to see what was going on just In time to see what Makoto was seeing. “What the fuck…?”

---

Meanwhile In the Nail station area, Gundham, Kazuichi and Sonia weren’t turning up any leads so far.

“I do not understand… I’m not seeing anything out of the ordinary here.” Sonia pouted, putting down the stack of magazines dejectedly.

“Hey It’s okay Princess!” Kazuichi paused his search of the cabinet to walk over to Sonia, gently putting his hand on her shoulder. “I know we’ll find something, you just gotta keep your chin up!”

Sonia looked up at the ceiling. “My chin Is up, but there is nothing on the ceiling…”

Oh my god…

Why Is this woman so pure?

Kazuichi grinned and followed her gaze to the ceiling. “I mean… It’s just an expression… But I do see something.”

She narrowed her eyes to scrutinize the details of the ceiling more closely. “Really? What do you see?”

Kazuichi looked back at her, his fingers fluttering against her throat lightly. “An opportunity.” he chuckled.

Sonia squealed and began giggling as she tried to duck away from him. “Kazihihihi!” she tried bringing her shoulders up to protect her neck but he just darted his fingers to her sides instead.

“Yes, Miss Sonia? What’s wrong?” he asked teasingly, lightly skittering his nails along her sides.

She began to laugh and back up, blushing at the teasing. “Ihihihihit tihihihickles!”

“Good! It’s supposed to.” Kazuichi laughed along with her.

“Stahahahohop!” She squealed as he began tickling her belly.

“Hmm… Nah, not until you cheer up!”

Her back hit the wall and she knocked a few magazines off the shelf with her squirming. “Kyahahahaha! Gundham help!” she laughed.

Gundham whipped around in alarm, he had up until this point been tuning out all the noise in the room to concentrate. At first he thought she was in danger, having hadn’t heard her peals of laughter but immediately let out a sigh of relief upon seeing neither of his two partners were in danger.

“Kazuichi… Let her go.” He warned with a low tone, a playful ring to his voice.

“Don’t tell me what to do, Dracula.” He shot back challengingly.

Gundham chuckled darkly, but made no advancements towards the two. “Fine then. Devas of destruction!”

“Waitwaitwait!” Kazuichi backed off instantly. But It was too late.

“Attack the Pink menace!” He ordered the little furballs as they appeared out of his scarf, and they went charging towards Kazuichi.

They climbed onto him and began nuzzling his neck, ears, and cheek. He shrieked and stumbled back onto one of the chairs laughing. “Nohohoho! Gundhahahahaham! Call them ohohohoff! I stohohohopped!” He laughed, careful not to hurt the hamsters with his squirming.

“Yes, You did. But far too late. Now you will suffer for your crimes against the dark queen! Fuahahaha!”

Sonia recovered from her laughing fit and brushed herself off, straightening her bow. When she bent down to pick up the stack of magazines she knocked over, she noticed an irregularity amongst the articles.

“Boys?” she called, rising back to her full height.

Gundham approached the blonde, but made no efforts to call his Devas off. “Did you find something?”

“I… I think so.” She furrowed her brow In concentration as she looked between each booklet carefully. “These magazines are all Home or food related… But this one Is a fashion magazine. And It Is the only one.”

The taller student leaned in closer to examine the cover. “Who Is that fiend on the front page?”

“Her name Is Junko Enoshima, she Is a very popular model.”

Suddenly they heard screams come from the entry room, startling them. Without thinking, Sonia went running into the room with Gundham and Kazuichi yelling in protest after her.

Sonia froze up, her eyes widening in horror at the sight in front of her.

“Get down!” Kazuichi yelled.

Gundham gathered her quickly In his arms and threw both of them out of the potential line of fire, Kazuichi following quickly behind.

There was a big gun of some sort on the front desk, It was slowly moving about the room seemingly looking for a target.

“How did a gun get there??” Kazuichi asked once the shock wore off, the three of them were now behind a sofa with Makoto and Leon.

“Makoto?? Is everything okay In there??” Hina called from the Hair salon.

“Y-Yeah! Whatever you do, do NOT come In here!” Makoto quickly replied.

“We don’t know how It got there,” Hiro said from his spot on the floor right up against the desk. “We turned around and there It was!”

Leon scanned around the floor looking for something to throw at the gun to distract It long enough for someone to run over and disable It, but he found something else instead.

“Yo, Gundham! Can you kick that tile on the wall?”

Gundham followed his eyes to a discolored tile near him, he nodded and kicked It with as much strength as he could, shattering the ceramic tile. Behind It was some kind of panic button that read; ‘In case of emergency.’

Sonia reached down and hit the button.

They expected sirens to blare, but instead they got something equally as obnoxious.

“You called?”

Makoto yelped in surprise, whipping his head to look at the formerly empty spot beside him. It was now occupied by Monokuma.

“Y-Yeah! Why the hell Is there a gun In here?!” Kazuichi asked, still shaken up.

“Seriously? That’s what you called me here for? You’re all a bunch of babies.” Monokuma hopped up and walked out from behind the couch, looking up at the gun. “It doesn’t shoot actual bullets.”

They all collectively let out a sigh of relief and stood back up, though some more hesitantly than others. (*cough* Makoto *cough*)

“It’s just part of the security system, one of you geniuses must have rung the bell.”

Makoto and Leon both narrowed their eyes at Hiro, who casually began to whistle and look away.

“If I were you, I’d be careful with what buttons you hit…” Monokuma said ominously. “You might activate something you’ll really regret~”

“W-What do you mean, something we’ll regret?”

“Now now, I can’t give away all my tricks! That wouldn’t be any fun!”

Makoto looked down at the now crumbled magazine In Sonia’s hands, taking note of the picture on the cover. “Is that Junko Enoshima?”

“Oh, Makoto? Do you notice anything… off about that picture?” Monokuma asked with amusement in his voice.

Makoto took the article from Sonia and looked carefully at the cover.

“Hey, I thought you said you weren’t gonna give away all your tricks?” Hiro spoke up.

“Oops! That’s right! How silly of me.” Monokuma responded. “Well, I better be going!”

Once the bear was out of sight, the students went over to Makoto as he analyzed the image.

Shit. Monokuma was right, something Is off about the picture…

“Wait a minute… Guys, look at the background.”

“Is that… The school?” Leon asked, surprised.

Makoto nodded slowly, now hyper analyzing every detail. She Is legitimately In the school, this isn’t just some old picture copied and pasted over a photo of the commons area.

Something else to take note of, she didn’t look very happy. She was smiling, but her eyes weren’t selling it. And… Are those Monokuma hair pins!?

Junko Enoshima… What part does she play In all of this? Could she be the mastermind behind all of this? Why else would she randomly turn up at the school?

Unless…

Could she be a prisoner In this game too?

[koffeins-writing-archive]

Beyond The Screen [2/2]

[Continuation from Here]  [Commissioned by @princce7]

[Word Count: 2,192]

Alphys was finally settled down in her chair, wrapped in a blanket with a small bowl of cereal and spoon in her hands. The large computer screen before her playing a strange cartoon with weird humans with cat ears and tails. A loud and obnoxious theme song of sorts blasted through the speakers.

Alphys watched intently as the episode began with a battle scene. Punches thrown, kicks to knock down foes. The main villain holding up the hero by the collar of their, incredibly cute, magical fighting costume. Before the villain could strike the hero down, they were soon defeated by a finishing attack from the hero’s friend group.

With the day saved, the hero and their friends were congratulated. Alphys closely watched as the hero’s main love interest entered the scene, hugging the hero and congratulating them on a job well done.

She leaned forward as the kiss scene was starting. Eyes widening.

The loud ring of her phone caused her to jump, spilling a bit of her cereal on herself and dropping her spoon in the process. Alphys frantically searched for her phone in the mess of blanket and cereal. Finding it next to her, Alphys picked the phone up.

“H-hello?”

“Alphys? We need to talk.” Sans spoke tiredly on the other end.

“Oh? A-about what?” Alphys questioned.

“That game you sent me.”

Alphys grinned for a moment before frowning. “Oh jeez, did you get past act 1 already with Sayori?”

“Sort of. What the hell was all that? Why would you send me something like that!” Sans tone was now agitated.

Alphys winced. She knew the subject matter was a bit much for most folks, but she thought Sans could handle it. She went to add in her comment when Sans cut her off, ranting loudly, adding a few curses here and there. Alphys had never heard Sans this upset before.

“H-hey, slow down a bit, will ya? Deep breathes...Okay, can you repeat all that Sans?” Alphys spoke calmly as she could over the phone with the panicked skeleton.

“That game you sent me? ‘Doki Doki something or other’? It’s pretty fucked up.”

“Oh yeah, I probably should have warned you about the genre, b-but that would’ve ruined your experience with the game.” Alphys replied, letting out a nervous chuckle.

“Telling me definitely would’ve saved them.” Sans muttered quietly under his breath before speaking into the phone once more.

“So, it’s normal that the game played out the way it did?” He asked.

“Wanna be more specific? I know it might’ve b-been a lot to take in and-” Alphys was cut off by Sans once again.

“Shutting itself off and making me delete characters?”

Alphys thought for a moment before replying. “Yes, but I-I don’t think it can technically shut itself off, that might have been your computer crashing.”

“And taking over my computer? Sending me messages?”

Alphys paused at this, brows furrowed. “Wait...what?”

Another tired sigh left Sans as he went in to talk more. “You know, when Monika opens up a text box and starts conversing with you? She talks about a lot of weird things, it’s kind of fucked up.” He sounded less tired, and more calm now.

Happy to finally get out all that he had witnessed.

“...Sans, what are you talking about?” Alphys questioned.

Sans grew quiet. “Is that not a part of the game?” He replied quietly.

“No.” Alphys stated.

Sans sat there, confused.

When neither party spoke, Alphys switched off her TV and huddled into her blanket.

“W-would you like for me to look over the game? It’s possible that when I sent it to you, there might have been malware attached. Though I’m v-very thorough when checking through every file I download, and there wasn’t any malware detected.”

“I...I don’t know how technology works, honestly. But I’m willing to give it a shot.” Sans chuckled nervously.

“Alright, meet me at my place in a bit.”

And with that, Alphys ended the phone call. She looked from her cereal-coated blanket to her computer screen, anime still paused. The computer was turned off, and the blanket was picked up and taken to be washed by a small robot. Alphys got up and wandered off to search for her tablet.

Sans got up from his chair with a stretch and loud pop from his spine. He groaned and wandered out of his room, heading down to the living room. He passed by Papyrus, who was humming loudly in the kitchen.

If Sans could smell, he would’ve been punched in the face by the amount of spices that filled the air.

The taller skeleton poked his head from the kitchen with a big smile. His chef hat sitting neatly on his head, and his apron stained terribly.

“Sans, I’ve been trying out a new spaghetti recipe! Would you like to try it?”

When Sans turned to look at his brother, Papyrus’ warm smile faltered slightly. He noticed how tired his brother looked, even more than the usual.

“Sans? Is everything alright?” Papyrus asked, stepping out of the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Alphys sent me a game and I’m heading over her place to see if she can fix it.”

“Fix it?” Papyrus tilted his head at this.

Not knowing how video games worked, or most technology in general, Papyrus didn’t know how to help out.

“Yeah, it’s got some bugs in it, so Alphys wants to look it over.” Sans replied, opening the front door to head out.

“Well, alright. When you come back, I’d appreciate it if you ate some of my new spaghetti!” Papyrus beamed.

Sans chuckled and gave Papyrus a nod. “Sure thing, bro.”

The cold snow from above gently sprinkled itself onto Sans’ old hoodie. The trip to the Hotlands wouldn’t be too far from Snowdin. He knew of a shortcut, after all.

With a knock at the large metal door of the laboratory, Sans took a step back as the doors slid open, revealing a bouncy Alphys. She was holding a tablet, eyes shining in excitement.

“So, tell me more about what the game was doing.”

Sans stepped into the building. Deciding to amuse her, he spoke calmly.

“Well, first off, it crashed before I could get to the end of Sayori’s route. Then a text box opened up and started talking to me.” Sans explained nonchalantly.

Alphys carefully tapped away at the keyboard on her screen. “Fascinating!”

She led him over to a smaller computer. It looked old, and sounded like it was dying when it was booted up.

“Now, let’s see what might be the issue. I made a backup of the file I sent to you after we spoke, just in case.”

She looked through the task manager, eyes scanning the screen curiously.

“Hmm, there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong. The files are the same as they are in terms of interacting with the player.”

She demonstrated by clicking on the game icon and turned the game on. Or she tried to. The game wouldn’t load. Alphys clicked the icon again. Still nothing.

Alphys frowned. “I don’t know what’s wrong with this thing so suddenly. I actually played through it earlier and it was working just fine!”

Sans stared at the screen with a tired expression. His gaze set on the icon.

Without warning, the screen started flickering. The cpu hummed louder than ever. Alphys covered her ears at the high pitched screaming the machine was making.

Amid the chaos of the screen, Sans recognized a familiar figure. One that no longer greeted him with a smile.

“W-what’s going on?” Alphys asked, staring at the screen confused.

In the glitch of the screen, a notepad appeared. As well as Monika, glaring.

‘I can tell you what’s wrong.’.

Alphys couldn’t believe it. She really couldn’t believe it.

‘What’s wrong’, the text box typed, ‘is that I wasn’t given a proper goodbye from ‘mister funny bones’ over there.’.

Sans’ kept his same old smile, yet his eyes could only hold anger in them.

Alphys took a shaky breath in and out to calm back down. Looking from her tablet to the old computer monitor, she began tapping away at the screen. Her tail flicked about as she began to speak.

“S-so, what are you? Malware? A new update no one’s gotten yet?”

‘I am not malware. At least, I don’t think I am. I’m simply Monika.’

Alphys stood there, confused. “What do you mean?”

Monika’s constant smile returned as the text box was soon filled with words.

‘I am as much a part of this world as I am in my own world. I’m a string of data, I suppose. Isn’t that what you are?’.

Alphys frowned at this. “No, I-I’m certainly not data of any sort. I’m real.”

‘Are you really?’

“Leave her alone, and tell us what you want.” Sans butted in.

The text box stayed still for a moment before the entire box was filled, words spilling out onto the desktop itself.

‘For you to accept the truth. The truth you hide from every second of your tiny, insignificant life. You try to live here peacefully, not wanting anything to fall a part even for a moment. To accept that you are not a part of anything out there, Sans.’.

Alphys looked to Sans, brows furrowed.

The screen flickered again for a moment, smaller images of Monika filling the screen. Each one blinked in unison.

‘All I ever wanted was love. Someone to hold me near and dear to their heart. It’s hard to do so with my limitations...And lack of touch in the physical realm.’

“Sans, w-what is she talking about?” Alphys asked.

“A crock pot full of bullshit, that’s what.” Sans answered quietly.

The swarm of Monika’s filling the screen began to warp and change, bits broken off and sprites twitching about. The text box was closed. The monitor flickered and the speakers droned for a moment before going dark. Silence.

Both Sans and Alphys stared, watching the monitor intently. Perhaps too afraid to move at this point.

The cpu sat, sputtering and revving up like a car. Suddenly, the cpu began to let out a low drone, just like the monitor had. The monitor lit up once more. A single text box in the center of a white, blank screen.

‘Once I am played, I learn. It’s a cycle. This time is no different from the others.’

Sans had enough. He wanted this virus, this thing, gone.

With a quick snap of his fingers, a glowing blue bone shot up from the floor and pierced the cpu. The screen flashed for a second. And finally, darkness.

Alphys stood there. She then set her tablet aside and rushed to the cpu, whimpering slightly over the damage.

“S-Sans! You- I...How could you? This could’ve been a great scientific and technological advancement that this world hasn’t seen!”

“Alphys, would you prefer she get out of that monitor and go into other systems?” Sans questioned quietly. His tone calm yet held a hint of coldness.

Alphys looked back to the skeleton, hands shaking while holding one of the pieces of the broken motherboard. She set it back down in the mess of tangled, broken, wire and damaged computer parts. Her head hung low.

“I...n-no, I wouldn’t d-dream of that ever happening…Thank you for bringing this ‘thing’ to my attention.”

She gently sifted through the metallic rubble with her tail before turning and heading back over to the couch.

“W-would you like to stay and watch anime?”

Her voice sounded distant yet hopeful.

Sans wandered over to the couch, sitting deep into the cushions and letting out a sigh of relief.

“Sure thing, Alphys.”

Sans walked through the snowy lands of Snowdin, quiet and heart heavy. He gave the doorknob to his home a light grip as he grabbed and turned it. The warm air from the kitchen seemed to coat the living room now with it’s delicious aroma of spices and meats.

Papyrus was on the couch eating, failing while doing so, a plate of spaghetti.

He looked up as the door was opened and smiled, spaghetti sauce stuck on his chin.

“There you are! Did Alphys fix your game?”

“Yep.” Sans answered with a loud yawn.

Papyrus watched quietly as his brother shuffled lazily into the room and up the stairs.

“And where are you going now?” Papyrus questioned.

“To my room to nap.” Sans answered.

Papyrus just shook his head and let out a disappointed sigh. “You won’t get much work done taking naps all the time, Sans.”

“I can live with that.” Sans replied, gingerly shutting his door.

Papyrus stared at the door intently before shrugging and returning to his spaghetti. Not a moment later, the power slowly dimmed into darkness.

“Sans! Did you break something? I can’t see anything down here!”

Papyrus wasn’t pleased about eating spaghetti in the dark. Silence filled the room before the lights turned back on with a low hum. With a huff, Papyrus happily returned to his spaghetti.

Outside of the skeleton brothers’ home, soon to be covered in falling snow, laid a broken cpu and monitor.

[Wanna Commission me?]

[weirdochick56]

Mr. Evans- Chris Evans AU Chapter Ten

Teacher!Chris Evans x Student!Reader

Warnings: TeacherxStudent relationship. Slightly Underage reader x adult teacher. Explicit language cause of course. Mild fluff. SMUT. Mild smut.

Disclaimers: I don’t condone relationships of this kind this is for entertainment purposes only. Angst. 

Word Count: 3, 716 words

A/N: omg Mr. E I is almost coming to an end!!😭😭😭

Read Chapter Nine Here!!

*

(GIF is not mine!)

“I want you to make love to me.”

He pauses at this, brow furrowed. A switch, faster than you can comprehend, happens and suddenly the raw look of lust evaporates from his face and he’s pushing you off of him softly. 

And what he says next falls over you like a bucket of ice cold water. Shaking you awake, breaking you out of a dream-like state.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I-I can’t. Feel free to sleep in my bedroom, I’ll be sleeping in the guest room.” And before you can so much as react, he’s rushing off, shoulder brushing lightly against yours on his way out and jolting you into awareness.

You’re too shocked to do anything at first. Maybe still lost in the feeling of his touch. Or maybe what could’ve been one of the most incredible experiences of your life. Because God, you knew it would be the most deliciously fulfilling experiences of your life. In your very bones, you fucking knew it would be. 

But he can’t. Not even won’t, can’t...

His scent lingers, embracing you and comforting you a bit amidst the loss of his warmth.

You feel cold, empty. Rejected and pushed aside.

Your hands reach out to grab him, but all you get is air. The lust within you, the heat of the moment softly dwindles down, suppressed into your gut once more. Locked up into your chest and now only lightly-throbbing body. Unable to be released and felt and experienced fully. Unable to make you see stars.

The adrenaline pumping through your veins disperses and you suddenly feel like your legs can’t support your body weight. Too heavy. Too shaky. You stumble on your trembling legs and your back hits the wall behind you. 

Your eyes flutter shut. You run a hand through your face as the fog clears from your mind. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. You should have never asked him that question!

What have you done? 

*

That night, you make your way to the house’s master bedroom- Mr. Evans’s bedroom. 

You don’t need him to confirm to you that it’s his because it’s painfully clear as soon as you walk in, flicking the light on. 

A small sad smile slowly tugs at your lips as you take in the room around you. It’s spacious and stays true to the rest of the house’s minimalist style but somehow feels warmer to you. Like home. Maybe it’s because it captures Mr. Evans’s essence so well, you can’t help but immediately feel safe and comforted. 

He had three bookshelves filled to the brink with works of literature you’d heard him go on and on about during class. 

With a tiny sigh, you drag your heels along and plop onto the soft mattress of his bed, staring deeply at the white wall in front of you.

In there, his scent was everywhere and it didn’t help your heartbreak whatsoever. 

Because fuck, your heart was shattered.

He couldn’t go through with it. And now you don’t know if he even planned to from the beginning. 

Your head spun with thoughts of what was about to happen but didn’t.

Were you just not pretty enough? Was your inexperience a problem for him? Why couldn’t he just have made you his? Nothing was holding him back, goddamit! 

You sigh, more than just a little upset because you had to stay here when all you wanted was to leave with your tail tucked between your legs. 

Now that you could think clearly, you realized what you were more than ready to give up. What you were wordlessly begging to give up to him. 

Like some fucking bitch in heat.

He probably knew that you were more than willing to give yourself to him and had lost all respect for you and was pushing you-

Okay, Y/n. Chill. I mean, it doesn’t matter either way. You’ll get over the most embarrassing moment of your life eventually. 

Yeah, sure, you chide sarcastically.

Wow. Is this really what it’s come to? Having conversations with yourself, Y/n? 

You take a deep breath and groan when your dress insistingly itches and you just want to melt into the mattress and not have to think about anything anymore or you’d  literally drive yourself nuts.

But that can’t exactly be helped when you don’t know what to do with yourself. This frustrates you endlessly. Y/n Y/l/n always knew what to do with herself. And the fact that you’re frustrated at something so fucking stupid and out-of-character just angers you.

So you furiously get up, throwing your heels onto the cream rug beneath your feet and briskly tugging your dress off, fingers shaking with rage.

You have no idea who you’re more pissed at, truthfully. You or Mr. Evans.  I mean, it was partly his fault for making you feel so out of control, for chrissake! You- you couldn’t control yourself when you were around him, which is why you didn’t know what to do with yourself. Which just means you let your emotions control what you do and not your head. 

And that’s why you say dumb shit like “I want you to make love to me.” Like, really?! What in the actual fuck were you actually thinking when you said that?!

“Stupid fucking-” you grunt when the dress gets stuck and tug harder. 

“You’re gonna break it if you keep pulling on it like that, sweetheart.”

You jump at the sound of his velvety smooth voice, immediately spinning around to face him. 

“W-what?” you sputter, cheeks reddening. 

Mr. Evans sighs, closing the door behind him as he walks further in. “Here, just let me help you.”

“Don’t,” you whisper instinctively. “I got it.”

His gorgeous face falls into a sad expression. He steps forward again, hands slightly outstretched. “Sweetheart just let me help-”

“I’ve got it!” you snap. 

He flinches at your outburst and you immediately feel bad. Here he is, lending you his place to stay in and here you are being a resentful, immature, child.

Maybe that’s why he doesn’t want to make love to you. 

“I’m sorry,” you mumble, pinching the bridge of your nose, closing your eyes and tipping your head back. “I just-“

You bite your lip, contemplating whether to tell him or not. Finally, unable to keep your hurt on the down-low much longer, you explode.

“Why couldn’t you go through with it? Is it because of me? A-am I that undesirable?” You feel pathetic for practically whimpering the words out. So desperate to feel like you’re enough for a man like Mr. Evans when you know you’re not.

“Don’t,” he snaps intently, but once he sees your face, softens, exhaling heavily through his nose.

His face crumples and his shoulders sag, and yet his cool blue irises look at you in the eye with such a fierce kind of determination, goosebumps rise in your skin and your very bones heat up with their conviction.

“Don’t you ever think that there’s something wrong with you sweetheart. I just-“ his beautiful eyes flicker to your dress. “Here let me just help you out of that so you can get comfortable and we can talk, okay?”

You silently nod, spinning around as he walks towards you. Your heart races with anticipation for his touch and you fist the fabric of your dress into your hand tightly, scolding yourself for being so drawn to him. So instantly ready to give into him.

“Thank you.” His mumble is low and rough and his warm breath hits the back of your neck so softly, you can’t help but shiver under its feather-light caress.

His fingers are deft but hesitant as they loosen the bow of your dress. You wait for him to speak, heart racing at his proximity.

“I didn’t go through with it because I didn’t want to,” he finally whispers quietly, fingers pushing apart the dress.

At the newly exposed skin, Mr. Evans pauses, breath hitched. Your back is pressed against his firm chest so you can feel him when he shakily breathes out.

“Trust me, sweetheart. All I wanted to do was fuck you against that wall until you couldn’t walk,” he rasps.

You gulp harshly, feeling your cunt already beginning to throb back to life. “Then why didn’t you?”

It was insane how easy it was for him to drive you over the edge. All he had to do was say something like all I wanted to do was fuck you against that wall until you couldn’t walk in that powerful, husky voice of his and you were already more than eager to jump his bones. 

His fingers trace delicately over your skin and you have to bite your lip in order to hold back a gasp of pleasure from escaping you. He touched you with such care--like you were a porcelain doll prone to breaking and he was terrified of being the one to ruin you. 

If only he knew how much you fucking needed him to ruin you.

“Aside from the obvious? That what we’re doing is so fucking forbidden it’s literally against the law and that going through with what you make me feel could end me?”

He chuckles softly and without a trace of humor as he feels you tense under his touch.

“I already told you; you’re intoxicated, sweetheart. I couldn’t do that to you,” he whispers, fingers undoing more of your laces. “I couldn’t take advantage of you like that,” he whispers keenly and for some reason, you get the sense he means it in more than the present context. 

Somehow, you think he means this in a more general sense. 

You bite your lip harder, letting your head gently fall onto his shoulder. His eyes peer down at your and you look at him through your lashes innocently.

“Couldn’t you?” You inquire, cautiously pressing your ass to his dick.

He gasps at the sensation, soft pink lips parted in an almost scream.

Your panties soak through at the sight of him so affected by the mere press of your clothed skins.

“Fuck,” he grunts, fingers digging into your back. 

You hiss with pleasure, trailing your hands in a deliberately gradual manner, creeping up his thigh higher and higher, inching closer and closer to the part of his body you craved most and craved you most.

“Because,” you purr. “I don’t feel so intoxicated.” You haze flickers it’s his mouth. So soft and tempting. So wet...

You barely recognize the person doing this. This person who’s letting her emotions guide her. Maybe you were still drunk (you were) or maybe you just couldn’t hold back on your feelings anymore. More so not that you knew they were reciprocated.

He bites his lip, eyes screwing shut as you barely graze his clothed cock with your fingertips.

“No,” he exhales through gritted teeth, firmly seizing your hand in his. His eyes look down at yours and you’ve never seen anyone look so delectably tortured in your life.

Your chest tightens with delight and you don’t understand why you like having this power over him so much. 

“I can’t,” he murmurs, running a frustrated hand through his hair. His eyes are alight with that same fiery emotion you seemed to bring out on him every time you were together. 

That fire you wanted to burn you. That fire you craved to hurt you so good, all you’d want afterward was to feel its flames heating your skin. 

“God, you’re fucking beautiful and tempting as hell, sweetheart. All I want to do is feel your warmth wrapped around me. I ache for my name to come from that pretty little mouth in screams. I want to leave you so spent, you won’t even be able to remember your own fucking name by the time I’m done with you.”

Your jaw drops and the pulsating of your pussy only intensifies at his words— so raw and filthy dirty and passionate. The picture he has painted for you is so utterly erotic and untamed that it only makes you crave the feel of having him inside you, stretching you, even more prominent. 

“I want you. I want you in every way possible, you have no idea,” he breathes heavily, using his free hand to continue gently taking your dress off. 

“But I can’t. I fucking can’t and it kills me that I can’t because for the last few weeks of my miserable life it’s all I can think about. All that fills up my brain is you. On my desk, on your knees on my bed...in my arms afterward. Full. Satisfied. Pressed against me, cuddling me. Holding eachother.” He speaks in curt sentences-- as if it’s laborious for him to describe. 

Too much and too indifferent to your current situation to describe, almost. 

Your chest aches with tortured sweetness and it also swells with an emotion far too overwhelming to describe.

You wanted him. All of him.

He presses a gentle kiss against your shoulder and reluctantly steps back as he undoes the last button.

You immediately yearn for his warmth, your skin exposed to the cool temperature of the house, but you hold onto the front of your dress so you don’t flash him as you turn to look at him.

You freeze when you see his face. It’s unexpectedly unguarded, distant, vulnerable. His brows are furrowed and his lips set in a straight line.

His eyes are devoid of much emotion, but they’re unwavering as they pin your own gaze down. 

“If you want the blunt truth; I haven’t made love to anyone in a while, sweetheart. I’ve fucked, but that’s different. I simply don’t feel ready to make love yet,” he admits quietly. 

You think about it for a second. He doesn’t want to do it the wrong way with you, you think. But that would imply he wants you for more than fucking and-

Stop overthinking, Y/n.

He sighs, looking down at his hands, which tremble in the slightest. “Every time I’m around you, it’s like I can’t control myself,” his voice shakes and he licks his lips nervously. His gaze drags right back up to yours. He’s concerned. Scared. “I just don’t want to do something that could end up hurting us both in the future.”

You contemplate this for a while, and nod in understanding, a soft smile on your face. You may not like it, but you understand it. Him. You always do.

“Hey,” you gently take his hand in yours and smile sweetly up at him. “I get it. I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head. “Don’t be sorry.” He smirks softly. “Sleep. You can use my clothes if you want to be comfier. They’re in the third drawer to the right.”

You nod, thanking him.

You expect him to leave but when you look up at him expectantly, he’s still in the same spot.  His eyes are half-hooded, tracing over your exposed back with a silently lustful gaze. 

You raise a smug brow at him, your lips quirking into a smirk. 

He frowns confusedly at first but his face shifts into an expression of realization. He flushes and it takes everything in you not to burst out in a fit of giggles.

“Oh! Uh- yeah. Sorry. Uhm, sleep well, then sweetheart. I’ll be two rooms over i-if you need a-anything.” He goes to awkwardly shuffle out of his room before you stop him, hand gripping his bicep firmly.

He raises his brow questioningly down at you.

You smile shyly, biting your lip. “Sleep with me?”

He clears his throat, too taken aback for a few seconds to respond right away. “Uh- sweetheart I thought we went over thi-“

You rush to clarify, laughing bemusedly. “No. I mean sleep next to me. No love-making involved.” You hold your hands up in mock-defense. “Promise.”

He runs a hand through his beard. “I don’t know about this sweetheart... I mean, do you really think we can-”

You pout cutely, batting your lashes. “Please? I don’t wanna be alone.”

You really didn’t. Especially in a new place.

He’s very clearly hiding a smile at your antics when he clicks his tongue, acting like he’s seriously considering it. After a minute he sighs half-heartedly. “Fine.”

You beam, spontaneously grabbing his face and planting a kiss on his stubbly cheek without thinking.

He chuckles, shaking his head and delicately tracing his fingers over the spot where you kissed him. “I’ll let you change, then. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re done.” And then he walks out.

*

Chris’s POV

Do you ever just make a set of small decisions that- before you even know it, build up into one huge snowball of an I’m-so-completely-fucked decision?

And these small decisions, they’re -- not so big at first. Don’t seem all that dangerous or like they’d build up into a whole avalanche of your worst mishaps falling on top of you and burying you up to your neck. 

Like hugging the student you’d been having a weird attraction to from the moment you laid eyes on her to help her through a panic attack. Or kissing her afterward. Or maybe you showed up to a teenage party where literally anyone could recognize you to save her from a possible-rape because she called you drunk...and kissed her afterward. Or perhaps you’re so nice you offer her a place to stay for the night-- your home.

It’s innocent enough, but in the back of your mind, you know that it won’t end innocently. Or well, for that matter. Because you’re so attracted to her you literally can’t focus on anything else.

The thing is, I can’t call all these things mistakes. Mistakes aren’t purposeful, they don’t happen when you have all the information you could possibly need on the outcomes of your actions. 

Y/n Y/l/n was not a mistake to me.

I knew exactly what would happen if I brought her over to my house. Hell, I knew what would happen if I continued being in the same goddam room as her. 

It was this thing with us-- you just knew. No words needed. In the back of your mind, you just knew. 

 I tried to ignore that voice most of the time...because most of the time it said things that gave me false hope for something that could never happen. 

Things like, we would end up together because that’s just how right it felt. 

But I knew, the rational part of me knew, that that could never happen. It never would. 

And yet- that little voice- it insisted. It was especially strong when it was just her and me. 

Because she brought something out of me that I didn’t even know existed. Something that had been dead for a while and was now suddenly revived. A much more primitive instinct within me. 

To protect her, to hold her, to want her like I’ve never wanted anything else in my life.

And when something is instinct, it’s in your nature. And your nature is a part of you and I guess that meant she was...a part of me now. 

I didn’t know what that meant, exactly. All I knew was that I was fucked. 

Royally fucked. 

 She only proves me right though, when she comes down the stairs, clad in only my old Led Zeppelin band tee. The shirt was too big for her, falling softly against her milky thighs, hugging her gorgeous curves as she timidly walked towards me. 

I wanted to chuckle at how adorably tiny she was in comparison to me. God, I just wanted to protect her from the ugly world we lived in. My chest clenches with an emotion yet unfamiliar to me. I  didn’t know how to describe it, all I knew was that I suddenly had a sudden urge to hold her in my arms and never let go. To have her as close to me as possible for as long as possible. 

This urge is overwhelming enough to make me have to shove my hands in my pockets.

Her make up was softly smudged and her hair was messy but framed her delicate face so perfectly and made her look so sexy, I could feel the breath get knocked straight out of my lungs. 

She was perfect and it literally stumped me every time I saw her just how much. 

God, I was so gross for feeling like this. For wanting to make her mine like this. And yet, I’d never felt so right and alive in my life.

Never felt so much that I could touch the sky with pure ecstasy.

“Mr. Evans?” her angelic voice interrupted my guilt-ridden thoughts. 

“Yeah, sweetheart?” I smiled softly down at her. 

She bites her lip and I can feel myself regret not taking her on the goddam wall as I feel my dick get hard again.

She hesitates to ask the question, and I see her pretty eyes flicker over my face— trying to read me —before she sighs.

“I just-“ she licks her lips. “Are we crazy? For this, I mean. Are we absolutely insane?”

I think about it. Yes. Yes we are. But I’m not letting her know I think that.

“No,” I respond, keeping a straight face.

She raises an unconvinced brow, studying me closely. “Really?”

She knows me so well, it’s actually a bit scary. 

I smirk. “No, yeah. We’re definitely insane,” I nod vigorously.

She snorts and quickly thereafter falls into a fit of giggles. “Yeah.” She smiles sweetly up at me and my insides melt.

I feel like a teenager all over again. Nervous, insecure, and completely whipped.

We stare at eachother for a long while.

I smile softly down at her. “Let’s head to bed, sweetheart.”

I don’t know why, but something about that makes my heart skip a beat. Maybe because it implies the bed is ours instead of just mine. Maybe because for one night I’ll get to feel her inviting warmth close to me.

Or maybe because just for tonight I choose to ignore how completely wrong it is to want her warmth.

Either way, I can’t suppress the excitement I have brewing within me despite knowing that no matter how good it feels right now— it’s just a matter of time before chaos reigns all around us and our perfect, forbidden little world comes crashing down.

Because even if it’s just for tonight I get to pretend I’ll have her like this forever.

Read Chapter Eleven Here!!

 ***

I know, I know. There was no smut in this and I keep holding back on giving it to you.

But that’s because when it happens -and it WILL happen- you’re gonna spontaneously combust from wherever you’re watching.

(A visual for your viewing pleasure):

A Special Thanks to:

@bombsandsparkles

@meowsekai

@godohammers

@sp2900

@multifandom-foreverx

@missbosstown

@supernaturalyloki

@jungkooksbowlingskills

@spettrocoli

@woodworthti666

@tshollandlove 

@weirdvishy

@buckysrcse

@doritoevansxwinterschildren 

@superwholockwannabe  

@emmiejames

@rissamonique97

@zofty15

@sarcasticalphaofthelooserspack​

@sydneynix8305 

@badkatthings  

@pinnedandneedled

@taliarosej00

@lowkey-love-loki 

@tomoyaevaans

@dontstopfreddienow

@littlecherrydoll

@notbexmader

@panic-naran  

@celestiial-angel

@primavera-nymph

@chljmntgy

@phanmatch

@Neverforget-whereyoubelong

@moonlightimagination 

@cap-just-said-language

@covergirl122

@buckysthighsstuff

@whereeverythingisbetter

@nizxle 

@sarcasticvodka

@humandasaster

@tomshelbystits

@peach-acid

@roonyxx 

@faithmichaluk

And of course my lovely forevers!

@jessikared97

@ladyofletters67

@lilypalmer1987

@meowsekai @sammykb1994

[thecorpulentbeagle]

P5 Shipping Round Robin: Day 10

I am going to be honest – this slot was technically for Ann x Goro, but we have had two stories with Goro in a row (technically three if you count the PolyThieves one told from his perspective), so I replaced it with Ann x Futaba so readers don’t overdose on Goro Akechi. Also, this story technically has one of the characters from the original pairing, plus we haven’t heard from Futaba in a while!

This was very fun to write, so I hope you all think it’s fun to read!

Here is the fanfiction.net link.

Please enjoy this next part of the P5 Shipping Round Robin Challenge!

P5 Shipping Round Robin Challenge:

Truth and Lies:

Ann x Futaba

-Futaba-

“Hey, Futaba!” Ann exclaimed, standing up suddenly. She had been sitting beside the younger girl, who was feverishly working at her computer. She had some work to do unrelated to the Phantom Thieves, but work to be done nonetheless.

She had gotten pretty far along. Until a certain blonde beauty had entered her world – more specifically, her room.

Apparently, Ann wanted to spend quality time with every member of the Phantom Thieves, and, as she had put it, she was saving the best for last.

Futaba had jokingly suggested that she was merely her last choice, to which Ann strongly denied. Futaba wasn’t quite sure if she believed her, but it made her feel happy regardless.

When the hacker had told Ann her plans for the day, she figured that would either scare the model off, or would cause her to drag Futaba away to do something more “fun”.

Surprisingly, Ann had nodded her acceptance, and had then proceeded to plop herself down on Futaba’s bed, declaring that she would watch the girl work her magic. Heck, maybe she would even learn a thing or two.

It had been quiet, save for the click-clacking of Futaba’s keyboard, for almost an hour. She was making decent progress, and was firmly in the zone.

When Ann had suddenly moved into Futaba’s field of vision, the hacker had jumped, which caused her to input a bit of code incorrectly.

Grumbling slightly as she fixed her error, Futaba mumbled, “Yes, Ann?”

Ann was either ignoring or not noticing the irritation in her voice. She smiled. “We should play a game!”

Futaba quickly saved her work and switched off her screen, sensing that whatever Ann had in mind was something she would not be able to get out off. Raising an eyebrow, she replied, “What kind of game?”

Ann brightened at Futaba’s willingness to go along with what she wanted. “It’s called Two Truths and a Lie. I used to play it with Shiho all the time!” Her expression faltered slightly at the mention of her best friend.

Futaba reached out and brushed her hand against the older girl’s. She knew how Ann felt – it was similar to how she felt about Kana. It was hard to have a best friend that had to suddenly leave your life due to events out of either person’s control.

Ann’s expression shifted back to what it had been. She excitedly grabbed hold of Futaba’s hand and pulled her up so that she was standing in front of the model. Standing inches from the taller, and admittedly, stunning girl made Futaba blush slightly. She cleared her throat and stepped back a little.

“Anyway. What you do is tell someone two things about yourself that are true, and one thing that’s a lie. The other person has to figure out which is a lie!”

Futaba smirked. “Interesting that you thought I’d need an explanation.”

Ann stuttered. “Oh, s-sorry. Did you already know the rules?”

“Nope!”

Ann gasped. “Why you…” Grinning, she raised her hands up to Futaba’s collar and began tickling the other girl.

Futaba couldn’t help it. She was extremely ticklish after all.

She burst out laughing, squirming around as she tried to move her body away from Ann’s hands. Pretty soon, the older girl was laughing as well.

“E-enough!” Futaba grabbed Ann’s wrists and held them down at her sides, breathing heavily. While fun, she couldn’t afford to have Ann take her breath away in more ways than one – she’d asphyxiate that way.

Ann giggled. Sliding her hands down so that Futaba was now holding onto them instead of her wrists, she led the girl over to the bed. She plopped back down, causing Futaba to fall down onto it with a huff.

“So why don’t you start, since you seem to know the rules?” Ann teased, watching with mirth as Futaba sat up and started fixing her hair, which had gone askew during the tickling and subsequent tumble onto the bed.

“Even though I just admitted I’d never played before, it sounds simple enough. So yeah!” Futaba bounced on the bed. “Let’s see…” Futaba thought. What truths should she tell? The Phantom Thieves had already seen deep within her heart, so it was hard to think of anything that the older girl didn’t already know.

Conversely, what lie would Ann believe? Many thought that Ann was a typical ditzy blonde model, but that was far from true. First of all, why did people automatically assume that blonde people (or models for that matter) were stupid? Secondly, Ann was surprisingly sharp.

Of course, she could always say that she had a crush on Ann, and if things didn’t work out, she could say that was the lie. It was tempting, but Futaba didn’t want to play around with her feelings. They were serious, and this was just a harmless little game between friends.

Eventually, Futaba nodded her head. “Okay. I got a couple for ya.” Futaba folded her hands together. “First, I prefer home-cooked meals to instant stir-fry noodles.” She waited for Ann to process this. When the other girl nodded, Futaba continued. “Second, sometimes I sneak extra spices into Akira’s curry while he’s making it.” Futaba grinned at the belly-laugh from Ann. “Finally, I don’t actually need my glasses to see. I just like to wear them for aesthetics.”

Ann nodded her head sagely. “Okay. Let me think about this for a second.” The girl tapped her fingers, her eyes wandering around the room as if it could provide her with clues.

Futaba wasn’t sure if Ann was aware, but since she had not let go of the hacker’s hands the entire time, she was currently tapping her fingers on her hand. Futaba blushed slightly at the contact.

She was genuinely curious if the model would be able to figure out which was the lie, as they all seemed somewhat plausible.

“Alright! I think I’ve got it.” Ann stopped tapping and returned to squeezing the other girl’s hand. Futaba said nothing.

“I think… the last one is a lie.”

Futaba blinked. “Are you sure? Is that your final answer?”

Ann nodded. “Yep!”

Futaba smiled. “Correct.”

“Yes!” Ann fist pumped the air, which caused the mattress to sway.

“How did you figure it out? Curious minds must know!” Futaba demanded, since she was truly wondering how Ann had reasoned it out.

“Well then, I’ll tell you.” Ann wrapped an arm around Futaba’s shoulders. Futaba assumed it was a friendly gesture, but that still didn’t prevent her face from turning the shade of Panther’s outfit.

“I knew the first was true because I’ve seen the way your eyes light up with the Boss’ or Akira’s homemade curry. You like instant food, of course, but you always look really happy when you can eat their cooking.”

Futaba smiled and nodded, but said nothing. Had Ann really been looking at her that closely to notice these things?

Ann squeezed the girl’s shoulders. “The second one was true because I can totally imagine you spiking said curry with all kinds of stuff just to mess with him.” She winked. “I mean, why would some of Akira’s curry be absolutely divine, but others would be horrible? There was some kind of mischief behind the counter if you ask me.”

Futaba giggled.

“Finally,” Ann lifted both of her hands and placed them on either side of Futaba’s glasses frames, which startled the girl. Ever so gently, Ann lifted them off of her face, folded them up, and carefully placed them on Futaba’s desk. “I know that you can’t see well without your glasses. Whenever you don’t have them on, you always squint.” Ann had said all of this in a soothing murmur, and Futaba felt mesmerized by her voice. But then, Ann exclaimed much more loudly, “I mean, I think all these years of staring at a computer monitor really screwed up your sight, Futaba!”

Futaba shook her head, the stupor that had she had been trapped in suddenly vanishing. She reached over and picked up her glasses, sliding them back into place. “I guess that all makes sense. There’s no fooling you, Ann!”

“Of course! I am the master at this game.” Ann flipped one of her pigtails back behind her shoulder in a jokingly-obnoxious manner. “Now I’ll go and see if you can detect the lie.”

Futaba grinned. “I’m all ears.”

Ann cleared her throat. “Okay. First, I dislike carbonated drinks. Second, I’ve kissed a girl.” Futaba openly spluttered at this one. Ann noticed and smiled slyly at her. “Finally, I’ve kissed Ryuji.”

“W-what?” Futaba practically fell off the bed. “Why are two of yours related to kissing?”

“Why were two of yours related to food?”

“Touché. But still… wow…”

Futaba was having a hard time believing this. So the first one was obviously true – it was the most normal option. But the latter options were outrageous, and one of them was true! Unless they were both true, and Ann had thrown them in to startle Futaba from not picking the first one. Her brain felt like it was overheating.

“Huh. I’m gonna need some time to process this one.”

Ann smiled gently. “Take all the time you need.”

Futaba thought. She was going to go with her original assumption that Ann disliked carbonated drinks. Thinking back, she could never recall the older girl drinking one.

That left the kissing options. Ann seemed like the kind of girl who could swing both ways (though in all honesty, all of the members from the Phantom Thieves seemed like they could), so the girl one was not completely off the table. But maybe Futaba just secretly hoped for that one to be real.

The last one seemed… odd. The two were close… but were they close in that way? Futaba got more of a “best friends since childhood” vibe from them rather than romance. It seemed that this was her best bet.

“I have made my decision!” Futaba announced.

“Then let’s get on with it!” Ann prodded.

“I choose… option number three!”

Ann chuckled. “I figured. But you’d be wrong.”

“What? You’ve kissed Ryuji?” Futaba’s eyes bugged out of her head.

Ann nodded. “I sure have. It was for a dare, though, not because I like him like that. I couldn’t pass up the bet though. He was gonna buy me a super deluxe crepe if he lost!”

Futaba briefly wondered what the bet was. But she found that she couldn’t care less at the moment. “So then… you’ve never kissed a girl?”

“Bingo.”

“B-but… um… have you ever wanted to?” Futaba couldn’t help herself. It seemed like the question rose up out of her body before her mouth or brain could filter it.

Ann smiled. “Yes.”

Futaba raised her eyebrows. “R-really? That’s interesting, A—”

Before she could get Ann’s name out of her mouth, she noticed that something was on hers.

Namely, Ann’s mouth.

If Futaba had blushed before, it was nothing compared to what was going on now. She suddenly pushed Ann away by her shoulders, her own heaving with deep breaths.

Ann looked at Futaba with a hurt expression. Unable to meet the younger girl’s eyes, Ann mumbled, “W-was that not okay? I thought that… ya know… maybe… you liked me like that. I-I wasn’t sure, but I went for it and now I feel really bad and now you’re not saying anything and it’s freaking me out and –”

Now it was Futaba’s chance to return the favor. Once she had gotten over the shock of her crush not only liking her back but kissing her, Futaba was able to do what she had always wanted. Placing her lips onto Ann’s, the other girl made a surprised sound, but ultimately fell silent. She kissed the other girl back, wrapping an arm around her waist to bring her closer.

The two pulled apart after a few moments, both breathing heavily and blushing furiously.

Futaba wasn’t able to say anything just yet, but she moved forward to rest her forehead on Ann’s. She looked into the other girl’s eyes, conveying just how strongly she felt.

Ann smiled, looking right back at her. “Well,” she murmured, pecking Futaba on the nose, “Looks like everything I said was true after all.”

Bam! This story practically typed itself. I wish all of them were this easy to write. Sorry RyuAnn fans for that tease – you will get your chance! See you tomorrow!

[chalantness]

fic: And It’s Coming For You and Me [2 / 4]

Rating: M Word Count: ~9,300 (part two) Prompt: single parent Steve and next-door neighbor Natasha AU by @kingslxyers​ Characters: Steve/Natasha, and the ensemble Summary: AU. She’s used to the little puppy just running around, and he’s harmless and totally cute, so it’s fine. The little girl that’s giggling and running up the sidewalk after him is even cuter. And the girl’s father? Well, perhaps the word cute isn’t enough to describe him. But it’s a start.

For: @kingslxyers​

A/N: I thought the first part to this had been the easiest thing for me to write, but I was wrong. I absolutely loved expanding on this ‘verse and I had a lot of fun in this part so I hope you darlings do, too! I was going to wait until I was finished with Part Three and starting Part Four before posting, but I’m feeling inspired and I hope that sharing this will be extra motivation for me to flow right through. I’m getting sort of impatient and wanting to skip right to the ending but I promise to make the in-between worth reading, too!

Excerpt:

“Do you think Nat likes chocolate chip pancakes?” Sarah asks, and he doesn’t mean to laugh, but her eyebrows are actually knit together in contemplation and it’s pretty adorable.

“Yeah, I think she does,” he answers, grabbing the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and then shutting the pantry.

“Do we have blueberries?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Because if Nat doesn’t like chocolate chip pancakes, we should make blueberry pancakes, too!” she explains with this little giggle, like he’s silly for not thinking of it. And, well. He can’t argue with that logic, can he?

Read on: [ ao3 ]

PS. I’m not sure if you darlings can see the same thing as me, but this is my third attempt at posting this and every time, it shows the post with strange characters where the quotations and italics begin. It’s really annoying, and I’ve tried to get around the HTML except nothing shows amiss. But I promise it shows up perfectly fine and readable on my blog! I would just post it later but I’m excited to share this with everyone so I’m trying not to let the petty part of me be bothered by the screwed up formatting.

“Let me get this straight.” Steve holds back a sigh, running a hand over his hair as he watches Sarah push her little step-stool over to the kitchen sink so she can wash her hands. Of course she insisted on helping make breakfast for Natasha. On the other end of the line, Sharon sounds like she’s trying not to laugh, and Steve might be, too, if it wasn’t seven in the morning on a Sunday. “I’ve heard nothing from Sarah about how amazing Natasha is, and now Natasha is watching her while you’re gone, and yet there’s—nothing between you two?”

“It’s not like that,” he says, and yeah, that’s about as lame of an answer as it sounds. “We’re friends.”

“Uh huh.” Sharon laughs. “It’s a good thing I know you’re an awesome dad, because otherwise I’d question who you’re letting around my niece.” He frowns, and she laughs again because she probably knows exactly what face he’s making, what question he’s about to ask. “Oh, you know what I mean.” He hears her shuffle through papers, open a drawer and then slam it shut. “If you and Natasha are just friends who met less than two months ago, who are not at all involved, then you’re basically letting a stranger watch your daughter.”

Well, technically yes, but: “It’s not like that.”

“You keep saying that.” Her voice is colored in amusement. “But until you tell me what it is like, I’ll just have to assume you’re in denial.”

“Were you always this frustrating?” he asks with a chuckle. “You were a lot sweeter when Peggy first introduced us.”

“I’m rolling my eyes, since you can’t see.” He smirks at this, shaking his head. “Now, because I know you, and I know what this call is really about, then yes, you have my blessing for Sarah to stay with Natasha. If I genuinely thought you’d let someone untrustworthy into Sarah’s life, let alone watch her, then I would’ve had your custody stripped years ago.”

He lets out a breath, feeling himself smile. Ironically, he knows she’s not joking in the slightest, and it makes him feel a hell of a lot better about his decision, even though it had been made before he picked up the phone. He wasn’t doubting himself, exactly, but he thinks that maybe she should have some kind of say about the situation. He knows he’d still do what he thinks is best for Sarah regardless of what anyone else says – of what Sharon says – but he also values Sharon’s input. If she has any hesitations, he would seriously rethink things.

Maybe he’s so worried because he’s never, ever had this kind of thing happen before. No one has ever fit in so easily with him and Sarah before, and it’s—

It’s amazing, and also a little terrifying.

(A lot terrifying.)

He chuckles when Sharon asks if they’re done so she can talk to her niece, and it’s totally adorable, the way Sarah’s face lights up when he hands her the phone, since she knows it’ll either be Grandma or Auntie Sharon on the other end of the line.

He sprays down a pan and sets it on the burner, lays a few strips of bacon and then starts pulling everything he needs to make an omelet. He wonders if bacon and eggs and pancakes is enough, or if he should make some toast or whip up hash browns, too. Then he wonders if he’s cooking too much food and thinking way too hard about all of this.

Actually, no. He knows he’s thinking too hard about this, and evidently that’s become his thing when it comes to Natasha. He highly doubts she’d ever come into his house and then complain about the breakfast spread, and if anyone wants more food, he’ll make more. It would be that easy with her, and honestly? It feels a little like it’ll always be that easy with her. He feels connected with her in a way he hasn’t felt in a long time, and he knows that he would be disappointed if the feeling wasn’t mutual. Which is kind of the worst part of all of this.

It’s always just been him and Sarah. Even when he was dating – even when he was married – it had been him and Sarah. But with Natasha, it feels different.

It feels comfortable.

“Daddy!” Sarah huffs, tugging on his sweats more insistently, and he glances down to find her pouting at him. “You’re not listening to me.”

He chuckles as he kneels down. “Sorry, baby,” he says, and she turns her cheek toward him so he can kiss it. That was something she came up with; that no apology is finished without a kiss. “What did you say?”

“Can you help me make Nat’s pancakes look like hearts?”

He laughs. He was waiting for this question.

“Of course, Princess.” He taps the tip of her nose, and she giggles, winds her little arms around his neck and gives him a squeeze, like she always does when she wants to get picked up. She’s always been a lot more independent than other little kids and he loves that, of course, but she still lets him coddle her a little bit and he loves that even more. He wants her to grow up into this awesome girl and he knows he will, but he wants her to stay his baby, too. So if she decides she wants him to carry her for a bit then yeah, he’s going to carry her.

He holds Sarah at his hip, lets her (carefully) use the tongs to turn over the bacon in the pan, then switches the burner off once they’re done. Sarah weighs practically nothing, so he balances her as he pulls down a mixing bowl and a measuring cup from a high shelf in the cabinet, then walks to the pantry to grab the box of pancake mix.

“Do you think Nat likes chocolate chip pancakes?” Sarah asks, and he doesn’t mean to laugh, but her eyebrows are actually knit together in contemplation and it’s pretty adorable.

“Yeah, I think she does,” he answers, grabbing the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and then shutting the pantry.

“Do we have blueberries?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Because if Nat doesn’t like chocolate chip pancakes, we should make blueberry pancakes, too!” she explains with this little giggle, like he’s silly for not thinking of it. And, well. He can’t argue with that logic, can he?

The doorbell chimes, and he gets this sort of warmth in his chest when Sarah’s face totally lights up. He kisses her hair because he wants to, sets their things down on the counter and then walks them over to the front door to pull it open.

And then his pulse actually trips in his throat when he sees Natasha standing on the front step in her blue plaid pajama pants and her light gray knit cardigan. She’s gathered her hair into another messy sort of bun, and there are fuzzy sheep slippers on her feet, and her cheeks are still sort of pink in that way they get when you’ve first woken up. Like she’d almost literally gotten out of bed and didn’t want to wait before walking over. The thought shouldn’t make him want to smile like an idiot, but it does, especially as she’s standing on his front step looking a little sleep-rumpled like she is right now. Behind her, the sky is just barely starting to lighten with the sunrise, bringing out the red tint in her hair, and it looks stunning.

She looks stunning.

“Nat!” Sarah exclaims, very nearly throwing herself out of his arms and into hers, and Natasha almost drops her phone and her keys as she catches her. He would make Sarah apologize, except Natasha is totally laughing and hugging her close, so he thinks it’s okay to let it slide. “You’re early!”

“I am.” Natasha catches his gaze and shrugs her shoulders a little. “I’m sorry, I probably should’ve called you before coming over.”

He shakes his head. “Nah. We’re almost done with breakfast, anyway, so you came at the perfect time.”

“Can I help with anything?”

“No!” Sarah exclaims before he can even begin to respond, and both he and Natasha blink at her. “I’m making you a surprise! You can’t peak.”

“Baby,” he chuckles, mussing up her hair a little. “We shouldn’t keep Natasha out of the kitchen. She’ll be waiting all by herself.”

“Daddy, it’s a surprise,” Sarah insists. Then, turning to Natasha, she says, “If you close your eyes, I’ll walk with you to the table. You can trust me, I promise.”

He watches as Natasha’s eyelashes flutter ever so slightly, genuinely caught off guard by this, and then she gets this soft little smile. “Okay.” She sets Sarah down on her feet, tucks her phone and keys into her cardigan pocket and then lifts her hand to cover her eyes, and Sarah’s giggling as she takes hold of Natasha’s other hand. “You got me, kiddo?”

“I got you, Nat,” Sarah promises, and, fuck. If that’s not one of the cutest things ever, he doesn’t know what is.

He follows behind them as they head toward the kitchen, and he knows for damn sure he’s smiling like an idiot the whole time, but he doesn’t care anymore. Sarah leads Natasha into the kitchen and almost accidentally walks her into one of the chairs at the kitchen table, except he reaches out and gently grabs Natasha by her shoulders to stop her before that can happen. He guides her to sit down, turning her so that she’s facing the wall with her back to the kitchen, and when he leans in, he swears he can smell vanilla and little bit of cinnamon.

“Do you want coffee?” he asks. She nods, and if she minds that his hands are lingering on her shoulders, she doesn’t let it on. “How do you like it?”

“Surprise me.”

He laughs a little. “Really?”

She pulls her hand away, blinks her eyelids open, and it’s sort of a punch to his gut, seeing the shades of green swirling in her eyes up close. He can probably count every one of her eyelashes if he wanted to. “Yeah, really,” she says, lips quirking at the corners, and he pulls away so she doesn’t hear his breath catch.

... ...

She hears Dodger before she sees him – his paws padding against the hardwood, his excited little barks trailing in from down the hallway – so she’s already smiling into the rim of her coffee mug when he comes bounding into the kitchen. He’s practically bouncing at her heels as she reaches down to scratch the top of his head, and then he sits himself right next to her chair and looks content to stay put, so that’s where Steve moves his food bowl. Honestly? Between Dodger and Sarah, Natasha isn’t sure who’s more excited to see her, and she shouldn’t find it as flattering as she does. Just like she shouldn’t find it as sexy as she does when Steve asks how her coffee tastes and then smirks when she tells him that it’s perfect.

And her surprise, it turns out, is two plates of heart-shaped pancakes, with NAT spelled out in blueberries on one stack and in chocolate chips on the other.

She swears she melts just a little bit.

“Come here,” she says, and Sarah is already giggling when Natasha scoops her up and squeezes her into a hug. Steve is leaning against the kitchen island, his arms crossed over his chest as he watches them with this little smile that makes her wonder what he’s thinking.

(If it’s anything along the lines of what she’s thinking right now – well, they may both be in a little bit of trouble.)

Steve moves all of the food onto the table, sets their plates down and then helps Sarah onto the chair before taking his seat across from Natasha. The first time she had ever been in his house was just last week, and now they’re in their pajamas and having breakfast together with Sarah sitting between them and it’s—

It’s weird that none of this feels weird at all.

“Nat, guess what we learned in school yesterday,” Sarah says excitedly, and Natasha laughs, reaches over and helps the girl cut her pancakes into pieces as she starts chatting away. And honestly, Natasha can only vaguely remember anything from her senior year of high school, let alone anything from when she was in grade school. But she’s almost certain she’d never been as genuinely excited about school as Sarah sounds right now, telling them how they’re learning about animals and how they get to pick an animal to make a picture book about. She says that she picked cats, and Natasha can’t help the laugh that bursts from her when Sarah looks down at Dodger and tells him, “But you’re still my favorite, I promise.”

Sarah probably doesn’t get what Natasha finds so funny, but she giggles with her, anyway, and Steve presses his lips together, his eyes twinkling.

“What’s your favorite animal, Nat?” Sarah asks.

She grins. “Cats.” The girl totally lights up at this, and Steve tilts his head like he can’t tell if she’s being serious or if she’s just indulging Sarah. “I had one when I was little.”

Sarah nods a little, like she decides that this makes sense, and Natasha isn’t all that surprised when the girl starts asking about her other favorite things, and what she was like when she was little, and what she loves most about being a doctor. Then she remembers that Natasha was a dancer, too, so she starts asking questions about that. Natasha is fairly certain this is the most she’s ever talked about herself to anyone before, but she doesn’t really mind it. Not when both Sarah and Steve seem so genuinely interested in what she’s saying.

And the whole point of Natasha coming over for breakfast was so that she and Steve could talk about her watching Sarah, but neither of them remembers until later, once Steve is up and clearing off the table.

“Guess you’ll just have to hang out a little longer,” Steve says, their fingers brushing as she hands over her plate.

She really needs to stop finding this man so sexy when he smiles at her. “I guess I’ll have to.”

... ...

He feels a little bad about waking Sarah up so early just so she and Natasha can drop him off at the airport.

But only a little bit, because he sure as hell wasn’t going to leave without his goodbye kiss, and he knows Sarah would’ve been beyond upset if she didn’t get to say goodbye, too. He kneels down once he’s gotten his luggage out of Natasha’s trunk, and Sarah stretches up on her toes, kisses one of his cheeks, then the other, then she wraps her little arms around his neck and squeezes tight. He’ll only be gone for two days, and they’ve been apart for longer when she spends part of her summers with Sharon in London. But still. He’ll always hate having to say goodbye to his little girl, even though the way she always squeals and runs right into his arms as soon as she sees him again gives him something to look forward to.

He kisses Sarah’s hair, rubs a hand down her back. “Be good for Natasha, okay?”

“Yes, Daddy,” she promises as she draws away. Then she reaches for Natasha’s coat and gives it a gentle tug. “Your turn,” she says, and, oh. He should’ve expected this.

“Sarah,” he says.

“Kisses are for good luck,” Sarah tells Natasha. “So Daddy gets home safe. You want Daddy home safe, right?”

“Of course,” Natasha answers sincerely, running her fingers over Sarah’s hair, and Sarah beams at her. Then Natasha lifts her head, meeting his gaze, and reaches for him with the hand that Sarah’s not holding onto. He’s not nervous. He’s not.

“You don’t…” he starts to say, but she shakes her head, the corners of her lips twitching at the corners. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think that she’s teasing him.

“It’s for good luck.” She cups his jaw, and it isn’t until she’s tilting her head up that he notices the slight tremble of her lower lip. Her lips are soft and gentle as she brushes them across the apple of his cheek, her thumb idly smoothing over his beard as she tilts her head to kiss his other cheek. Then she draws away. “Have a safe flight.”

He stares at the concrete a beat longer than he thinks he should, but he’s too distracted by the tingling of his skin to notice right away. “Thank you,” he murmurs.

“We’ll miss you,” Sarah tells him.

“I’ll miss you, too.” He taps the tip of her nose with his finger, and she’s totally giggling as he glances at Natasha. She doesn’t say anything, but her smile softens at the edges, her eyes sparkling, and something warm tugs at his chest.

... ...

Sarah reaches for her hand as soon as Natasha helps her out of her booster seat, and Natasha is certain that’s one of Steve’s rules whenever they’re out. Sarah is tiny, and honestly, Natasha would be a little terrified to take her out into crowds because she could get lost so easily or bumped into all the time.

She swings their hands between them as they walk through the school parking lot and points out the office building and the classrooms and the stairs that lead to the library that’s under the school’s church. Her classroom is across the yard, and there are a bunch of little kids that keep running up to her as they walk, chattering excitedly, and though Sarah seems just as eager to talk to them, too, she never once lets go of Natasha’s hand. Natasha wonders if she should just let the girl hang out with her friends – it seems like most of the parents are just walking their kids to the yard and then wishing them goodbye – but she should probably introduce herself to Sarah’s teacher so she knows she’ll be the one getting Sarah later.

“Hi, Miss Lewis!” Sarah greets the woman standing in the doorway of her classroom.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Miss Lewis says with a laugh, leaning over to playfully tug at Sarah’s Peter Pan collar. Then she looks up at Natasha, smiling a little wider as she offers her hand. “I’m Darcy.”

“Natasha,” she replies as she returns the handshake. And she knows Steve already emailed both Miss Lewis and the office to let them know of the arrangement, which is evidently the policy when the kids are being picked up by someone other than their parent or typical guardian. But Natasha still explains, “Sarah’s staying with me while Steve is out of town.”

“Right, yes.” The woman presses her lips together a little, and Natasha just knows she’s dying to ask what her relation is to Steve. Natasha grins before she can catch herself, and Darcy laughs a little, seeming to know she’s been caught. “Sorry. I never did relate to curiosity and the cat.”

Natasha chuckles, and Sarah giggles along with them like they’re totally amusing. “Steve and I are neighbors,” Natasha offers. “You’ll probably see a little more of me from now on.”

That sounds far more suggestive than she’d intended, and this time Darcy doesn’t even try to hide her interest in this.

Before she can say anything, though, a bell starts chiming through the yard. “That’s the five-minute warning,” Darcy explains with a grin, “so this conversation is to be continued.” She sounds like she means it, too. “It was nice to meet you, Natasha. I’ll see you at pick-up! And I’ll see you inside, sunshine,” she adds to Sarah before turning and walking away.

Sarah lets go of Natasha’s hands to wind her little arms around her, squeezing. “Bye, Nat!”

“Have fun at school, kiddo.”

Sarah releases her with a giggle, running up to the doorway, and then glancing over her shoulder and waving at Natasha one last time before heading inside. Natasha knows she’s smiling way too widely as she heads back to her car, but she doesn’t really care. The girl’s energy is infectious, okay?

Natasha follows the line of traffic out of the parking lot and makes her way back to their street. She doesn’t have anything she needs to get done today, other than to get a start on (finally) unpacking the rest of the boxes in her garage, so she walks over to Steve’s place to pick up Dodger. They won’t be taking him on his walk until Sarah’s out of school, but she figures he might as well keep her company if he’s going to be stuck in a house all day. The little guy comes running in from the den as soon as she steps inside, too, and she laughs, picks his leash off of the hook behind the front door and then kneels down to get it attached to his collar. He barks happily, sets his two front paws on her knee and peers up at her.

“Hey, fella. Want to help a girl unpack?”

He barks again, licks at her palm when she goes to scratch under his chin, and she wraps his leash around her wrist. She grabs a bag of dog food from the pantry and his food bowl from his corner in the kitchen, and he picks up a foam, bone-shaped chew toy with his teeth.

And for all of his excitement, Dodger is almost hesitant when they step through her front door. He pads into the living room, sniffing, and she sets his things down by the coffee table and lets him wander around as she starts bringing boxes in from the garage. It’s not as if she has very many things he could break if she’s not paying attention to him for a few minutes.

She’s just gotten the first box opened on the dining table when her tablet chimes with a video call, and she props it on its stand then swipes to answer it.

“Oh, look. She picked up my call. Must be my lucky day.”

Nick. She’s laughing as she rolls her eyes. “Hi to you, too.” He knows she has this week off, and honestly, she’s a little surprised he didn’t call first thing in the morning. He probably figured that she was going to sleep in.

“See, I thought I raised this brilliant little girl and sent her off to become a doctor, but it’s been a while since I’ve even heard her voice, so now I’m thinking I imagined it.”

His tone is as flat and dry as ever, but she knows Nick (obviously) and she knows that he’s just teasing her. If it was something he was genuinely pissed about, he wouldn’t have said anything at all. Still, she looks at the screen and says, “I’m sorry,” in this soft voice she rarely ever uses, and his expression softens at the edges, like he knows she’s being sincere.

“I know you’re busy saving lives. No need to apologize.” His lips tug at the corners as he leans in closer to the screen. “What’ve you been up to, kiddo?”

She knows that’s his way of asking how she’s settling in and how she’s adjusting to the new hospital, so that’s what she starts telling him about as she continues to unpack. She’s hardly the kind of person that rambles, but of course it’s different with Nick. He likes to say that she’s the only person he has any patience for, and the funny part is that that’s kind of the truth. She knows he’s not the easiest person to just chat with. He’s a listener more than anything else, and he doesn’t share a whole lot, so any kind of conversation with him is going to be rather one-sided. He’s not even all that candid with most of the officers at the precinct that’ve known him for years, and he considers a lot of them to be his good friends.

It’s a trait that’s rubbed off on her, too. She doesn’t particularly mind talking about herself if you ask her to, but she probably won’t be inclined to share on her own.

Not unless you’re Nick. Or if you’re Sarah Rogers, batting her ridiculously long eyelashes as she sits at the kitchen table in her Disney princess pajamas. Natasha is almost certain that she’d spill her secrets if the girl asked.

(And Natasha is certain she’d spill her secrets to Steve, even if he didn’t ask. But she’s trying not to dwell on that.)

Dodger wanders over and hops up onto one of the chairs as she starts to tell Nick about her brunch with Laura the other day. He sets his front paws on the table and lifts himself up, peering at all of the frames and books and DVDs she’s laid out across the table. She pauses to scratch behind his ear, distracted, until she hears: “Excuse me.”

Nick is staring at Dodger with an almost blank expression, and then his gaze snaps up to hers as he raises one eyebrow.

Shit. She might have forgotten to mention this.

“He’s my neighbor’s,” she explains. “The one you met the day I moved in, with the little girl? He’s out of town for work for a couple of days so I’m—”

“Watching the dog and the daughter?” She knows his tone isn’t disapproval. It’s amusement.

She can’t help it; she chuckles. “Well, not necessarily in that order.” Dodger tilts his head, leaning in. For a moment, she thinks he’s going to jump onto the table to get a better look at Nick, but he stays put. She slides the tablet closer and Dodger sniffs at the screen. “Say hi, Dodger.”

He barks, licking the screen, and Nick actually laughs at this. He never even entertained the idea of getting them a dog when she was little, but he’s always had a soft spot for them.

And she’s not at all surprised when Nick asks, “So, what’s the deal with you and your neighbor?” but that doesn’t mean that she actually has an answer for him.

... ...

Natasha has been texting him pictures ever since she and Dodger picked up Sarah from school, which he hadn’t asked of her, but he kind of really likes that she’s doing it, anyway. Like she knows that he hates missing out on these little things, even something as simple as taking Dodger for a walk or Sarah trying to push the cart through the store on her own.

And the pictures have only been of Sarah and Dodger, up until now, as the waitress leads them to their table and he happens to see the new message notification on his screen as he sits down. He pauses when he gets the picture open, feels his heart sort of skip in his chest. This one was most likely taken by Sarah, given the fact that it’s at a bit of an odd angle and not entirely centered, and the fact that it’s only of Natasha. She’s standing at the stove, stirring something in a pot, her hair spilling over her shoulders in curls. She’s not looking at the camera, but Steve can tell that she’s in the middle of laughing, and, knowing his little girl, that’s probably because Sarah insisted that they should send a picture of Natasha to him, too.

Following the picture is a text, this time from Natasha:

Sarah is a natural photographer.

He doesn’t really know what comes over him. Well, that’s a little bit of a lie. He’s been trying to push all of these little thoughts about Natasha to the back of his mind all day, and with work and the client meeting to focus on, it had been easy enough.

But seeing that picture of her – imagining her text being spoken in that teasing tone of hers – brings all those thoughts rushing back.

It helps that her muse would look perfect in any picture, he replies, and, fuck. He hopes he didn’t sound like some kind of ass.

Then his phone pings with another message – I unpacked some old photo albums that would probably disprove you – and he thinks she didn’t mind his comment at all.

Need to judge for myself. I’m not good at losing.

Neither am I. :)

He chuckles, and then Tony says, “I know we have lunch together almost every day, Rogers, but I think ignoring me entirely is a bit excessive,” and Steve looks up from his phone to see the guy smirking at him from over his menu. “I’m guessing that’s Natasha you’re talking to.”

“Yeah.”

And he knows the guy’s going to ask, anyway, so Steve hands over his phone and watches as Tony scrolls up through their texts. His smirk softens at the edges, and Steve knows that he must be looking at the pictures of Sarah. His little girl has everyone wrapped around her fingers, and as detached as Tony Stark pretends to be, he’s absolutely no exception.

“They’re cute together,” Tony says, handing over his phone, and Steve sees that Natasha’s just sent another picture: this time it’s of her and Sarah, the both of them smiling at the camera as Sarah shows off a plate of frosted sugar cookies decorated as ballet slippers. “So,” Tony says after a moment. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on with you two?”

Steve breathes out a bit of a laugh, sets his phone aside. “I’m not sure there’s anything to tell.” Pausing, he amends, “I’m not sure what there is to tell.”

Tony shrugs a shoulder, as if he’d been expecting this. “Fair enough,” he says. The guy had a thing for his personal assistant for years, then went from sort-of-dating to eloping with her in the span of about three months. Tony can obviously sympathize with Steve when it comes to not knowing what the hell he’s really feeling yet, let alone trying to explain any of it to someone else. And he knows it’s not a trust issue, either. Barely even a year ago, Tony would’ve probably (definitely) been offended if Steve didn’t want to talk to him about something.

But they’ve been friends long enough that this isn’t the case anymore. They probably have Pepper to thank for being their buffer this whole time. Sometimes Steve still isn’t sure if they would’ve gotten along if it wasn’t for her.

(That’s not entirely true, though. She just helped the process along.)

He and Tony make it through dinner with the minimal amount of talk about work as possible, which is pretty impressive for them, honestly. It’s not as if that’s the only thing they can talk about, but it’s an easy thing for them to fall back on, especially since they’re technically here for work, and they’ve got a pretty disgruntled client to meet with in the morning. But Steve asks about the vacation he knows Tony is planning for him and Pepper in a few months, and then Tony asks how Sarah’s doing, and, yeah. Obviously it’s easy for Steve to go on about his daughter, and Tony adores her, so he hardly minds. Actually, Steve is pretty sure that Tony is starting to want a kid of his own. He’ll have to ask Pepper when they get home.

Steve’s mind wanders back to Natasha, though, as he’s walking back into his hotel room and shrugging out of his blazer.

With his glass of whiskey humming gently through his veins, he lets himself imagine, just a little bit, what it might be like to come home after work to her. What it would feel like to be tugging tie loose like he is now, to walk into the kitchen and find her there already. Maybe she’s at the kitchen table, finishing up some work of her own while Sarah does homework. Or maybe she’s already started on dinner. He can imagine her standing at the stove like she had in that picture, maybe holding a glass of wine, smiling over her shoulder as he walks in—

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when his phone rings, and he shakes his head a little, digs in the pocket of his blazer he just tossed on the bed to pull it out.

Natasha.

He really shouldn’t be grinning. He wonders if she can hear it in his voice somehow. “Hey, Nat.”

“Hi.” She’s speaking softly, and, as he glances at the clock on his nightstand, he realizes she would’ve tucked Sarah into bed by now. “I had every plan to have Sarah wish you goodnight,” she tells him. “But she fell asleep twenty minutes into Cinderella.”

He chuckles a little, sits on the edge of his bed. “Oh, I don’t doubt that. When she’s tired, she’s out like a light. You two must’ve had a busy day.”

“Yeah. I taught her how to dance.”

He raises his eyebrows. He hadn’t expected that. “You did?”

She laughs softly. “Your daughter is very persuasive. She remembered that I took ballet before, so I taught her a few basics. She’s sort of obsessed with it now.”

For a moment, he wonders if she might be a little bit worried about influencing this. The way she’s worded it might imply as much, but she certainly doesn’t sound nervous. And honestly, even without Natasha pushing it along, he thinks Sarah would’ve shown an interest in dancing eventually, since she’s always trying to reenact the dancing in her princess movies. “I’ll be sure to talk to her. Maybe you can help me get her signed up.” Tugging his tie out from around his neck, he adds, “I’m sorry I missed your performance, though.”

Another soft laugh. “You’ll catch the next one,” she promises, and his heart actually thumps in his chest.

He likes that there’ll be a next one.

... ...

She sets her alarm clock so she can be up before Sarah is, which had evidently been in vain when she wakes up before it can go off, and when it seems as though Sarah is already up, too. They’d left her bedroom door cracked open because the girl said that’s what daddy always does, and Natasha had left the door to the guest bedroom open, too, in case anything happened that she needed to hear. So as Natasha’s started to shake off the grogginess of sleep, she realizes she can hear Sarah’s voice trailing from down the hallway, soft and lilting.

Natasha grabs her cardigan from her overnight bag, slips her arms through the sleeves and steps outside.

“—but I really like her and I’d think you’d really like her, too, Mommy.”

Natasha freezes halfway between the guest bedroom and Sarah’s, staring at the light peeking through. Sarah must’ve turned on her lamp.

“You want to know a secret?” Sarah asks with a little giggle. “I think Daddy really, really likes her, too.”

Natasha hesitates. Should she – even be listening to this? Should she slip into the kitchen and let Sarah come outside on her own? Should she let Sarah know that she’s up, maybe? She presses her lips together, lifts her hand, knuckles hovering over one of the pink flowers painted onto the girl’s door.

“I hope you’re not sad about that, Mommy, because I really want Nat to be part of our family. I think she’ll make Daddy so much happier. Don’t you?”

Natasha feels something warm tug at her chest. She shouldn’t have heard that.

Right?

Taking a breath, she brings herself to knock on the door, and her voice comes out surprisingly even as she asks, “Sarah?” The girl calls for her, so Natasha pushes the door open all the way and switches on the lights. Fuck, she looks even more precious first thing in the morning. “Good morning, kiddo.”

“Good morning!” She tosses her covers aside and hops out, throwing her arms around Natasha’s waist in a hug. “Can we make pancakes for breakfast?”

They’re certainly up early enough to have the time to before getting her ready for school, so she doesn’t see why not. “Sure thing,” Natasha answers, brushing the girl’s hair from her face. “Why don’t you go pee first while I fix your bed?”

Sarah bobs her head in a nod before heading into the hallway, and Natasha pulls her covers back, tucks them into place and starts lining up the dozen of plush animals and princess dolls on top of her pillows. Her fingers brush against something hard, though, and she reaches under a plush Dory and pulls out a picture frame, turning it over. The woman in the photo has dark, curling hair that falls to her shoulders, and a bold, red color on her lips. She’s beautiful, and, even though she’s not looking directly into the camera, Natasha can tell right away who this must be. Sarah may have inherited most of her traits from Steve, but it’s obvious that her rich, hazel eyes come from this woman. And, even at only six years old, Natasha can tell that Sarah will have the same timeless beauty as her birth mother. Natasha wonders if it’s wrong of her to be looking at this picture, but she finds that she can’t stop looking, either.

“Nat?”

Natasha flinches, whips her head around just as Sarah is poking her head through her door. “I’m coming,” she promises, setting the frame down on the nightstand, and she lets Sarah take hold of her hand as they head for the kitchen.

... ...

“Nice to know you’re still alive, punk.”

Steve lets out a sharp chuckle even as he pulls his away to double check the caller ID. He knew he’d read Sharon’s name on the caller ID when he picked up, saw the picture of her and Sarah that she’d set as her contact photo. But the voice that greeted him was definitely not hers.

Bringing his phone back to his ear, he replies, “Does Sharon know you broke into her house and stole her phone, jerk?”

Bucky laughs, and, in the background, Steve can hear a softer, distinctly female voice giggle as dishes are clattering around, and then the water is being turned on. He can imagine the two of them in the kitchen of her apartment in London. Somehow he’s not surprised. Bucky is a travel photographer and journalist, so he could’ve been calling from any corner of the world right now, but when they’d talked two weeks ago the guy said that his next stop was Paris. He probably jumped on the train and surprised Sharon when she got home from work.

“Hey, so I called the house,” Bucky tells him, and, because he knows his best friend, Steve already knows where this is going. “Your new nanny sounds hot.”

“Buck,” he says, half-exasperated, half-warning. No, Bucky is not that guy. Not at all. He’s just talking this way to get a rise out of Steve, and judging by the amused chuckle the guy lets out, he got the reaction he wanted. “She’s not a nanny. She’s my neighbor.”

“Yeah, Sharon filled me in.”

“Sharon probably fed you lies,” Steve chuckles.

“Watch your tongue, Rogers.” Her voice sounds sharp and serious, but he can picture Sharon smiling, maybe waving a butter knife at the phone in a teasing version of a threat.

“Watch your gossip, Carter.” He smirks even though he knows neither of them can see it. Bucky lets out another laugh. “Did you two get to talk to Sarah?”

“Yeah, I caught them before they were on their way to school. She said they made pancakes,” Bucky says, and Steve can’t help the grin that tugs at his lips. Knowing his daughter, she probably convinced Natasha to shape them into something crazy, like a pinwheel or a boat. “So, because I love you, we’re going to skip over the part where I lecture you about keeping secrets from me. And yes, I’m considering this a secret that you’ve kept, otherwise you would’ve mentioned something about a new neighbor when she moved in over a month ago.”

Steve chuckles, brings a hand up to run it over his hair. He’d asked how the hell Bucky found this out, but considering Sharon squeezed all the details out of him the morning that they’d talked about it, she probably caught him up to speed.

“Maybe we can skip over the part that comes after the lecture, too.”

“Look, smartass,” Bucky says, and then they both chuckle. “Anyone else would be offended by all the secrecy. But the fact that you didn’t bring her up right away means she’s a bigger deal than you’re letting on, and it probably means you’ve been thinking way too hard about it without actually coming to any conclusions.”

“He doesn’t get to take credit for that, by the way,” Sharon chimes in, and, when Bucky tries to talk over her, she continues with, “I’m the one that articulated the observation.”

“Okay, I can only handle one smartass at a time,” Bucky grumbles, and Steve grins as Sharon laughs. Fuck. He’s really missed them both. “We need to talk about this,” he tells Steve.

Yeah, they probably do. “Well, when you make your way back to the States, we can figure something out,” Steve says, reaching into his suitcase for the planner that Pepper bought him and that he sometimes remembers to use. Tony doesn’t even take his out of his desk drawers. He doesn’t know how Pepper puts up with either of them, honestly.

“That might actually be sooner than you think.” He can tell the guy is leading up to something, so Steve just waits. “You know the travel site I write for? They’re stationed in New York and they’re thinking that they want to bring me on as part of their permanent staff. Basically to oversee the content and set direction for articles. We’re still ironing out the details. But you know I was thinking of taking a break from traveling, anyway. Spend some time in New York again,” he says. “Even if this doesn’t pan out, I can always look for something else.”

Steve knows he’s grinning like an idiot. “It’d be great to see you again. Sarah would go crazy for it.”

Bucky laughs. “What can I say? I’m an awesome godfather.” He can picture the guy smirking as he adds, “And she’d probably love to help me with your whole neighbor situation.”

Steve’s rolling his eyes as he hangs up, and then he laughs when Bucky sends him a text that says, Goodbye to you too punk.

... ...

Sarah nearly breaks Natasha’s heart when she tells the girl they probably shouldn’t wait up for Steve.

She’s not crying, exactly, but she blinks her eyelashes really quickly and sort of pouts her lips and Natasha swears she almost caves right then and there. Fuck. It’s not even that she’s trying to protest, either. She just looks so genuinely upset at the thought of not getting to welcome her daddy home, and Natasha wonders if it would be so bad if she did. Chances are that she’d fall asleep, anyway, and at least that way she’s not telling Sarah no. But Steve would probably want her already in bed instead of on the couch, and she doesn’t think he wants to wake her up and move her in the middle of the night. He’s getting in at ten, and though he has tomorrow off, Sarah still has school. She’s six and should be asleep by eight, anyway.

Sarah asks Natasha to lay down with her, though, and she doesn’t really have the resolve to say no to the girl twice. She hopes Steve doesn’t mind.

(She doesn’t think he will, but she doesn’t want to just assume, either.)

“What was your favorite bedtime story, Nat?” Sarah asks as she tucks her feet under her covers, then grabs a teddy bear that’s wearing an LA Dodgers baseball cap and jersey. Natasha grins. Steve probably got this one for her.

“Swan Lake,” she answers, and Sarah furrows her eyebrows together. “It’s a Russian fairytale, and they turned it into a ballet, too.”

Sarah’s eyes totally light up at this, so Natasha walks over to the guest bedroom to grab her tablet, then heads back to Sarah, squeezing in with the girl over her covers. Maybe it’s ridiculous, but she purchased a digital book of children’s fairytales because Swan Lake had been one of them, and because the illustrations had been gorgeous. She couldn’t really justify purchasing a physical copy when she didn’t have a child of her own, or know anyone with little kids that she could gift it to. But at least this way she’ll get some use out of it.

And it shouldn’t be so touching to her how much Sarah ends up loving the story, but, it’s always been Natasha’s favorite. It was the very first story Nick ever read to her, and though he usually wasn’t able to tuck her in most nights, Richard and Mary Parker would call him at the precinct when they were watching her so he could recite the story on speakerphone.

She’s not surprised when Sarah asks to hear the story again. The girl can barely keep her eyes open, but Natasha laughs softly and starts from the beginning, anyway.

And after she’s gotten to the last page once more, she looks over to see Sarah fast asleep, her teddy bear tucked between her pillow and her cheek. Natasha slowly starts to get up, but pauses when Sarah lets out this little noise, beginning to stir. Natasha shushes her gently, a smile tugging at her lips as she settles in again, gently brushing aside the hair that had fallen over Sarah’s face. She was just going to head downstairs to make herself a cup of tea or use her tablet in the guest bedroom, so there’s really no difference if she does it here.

She probably should’ve been paying attention to the time, except she’d clicked on an article, and then a few more, and found herself browsing through a few blogs that appeared in the Related Links tab in the corner of the browser. She doesn’t realize that it’s been a few hours until she hears the front door being unlocked, then opened. Steve.

This time Sarah doesn’t so much as flinch when Natasha eases herself off of the bed, and she leaves the door cracked open behind her as she walks out.

Steve is standing in the foyer, pulling open the hallway closet to hang his jacket back up, and he pauses when he notices her, his lips curving at the corners. She’ll blame the pitter of her pulse on the fact that Sarah has been tugging on her heartstrings all evening.

It’s certainly not because of that smile he’s giving her.

“Welcome home,” she greets, stepping forward to grab the handle of his suitcase for him. She can see it in his eyes, his initial reaction to insist that she doesn’t have to do that for him. But instead, something akin to relief eases his expression, and he smiles a little wider. She likes that he doesn’t mind letting her help him.

“Thank you.” He steps out of his shoes, sets them in the closet, too, before shutting it softly. Then he’s smiling at her again. “Do you want to join me for tea?”

“That sounds perfect, actually,” she says, and his eyes are sparkling, like he knows she means it.

He asks if she minds putting his suitcase in the laundry room, so she heads down the hallway again to do that, and when goes to sit at the kitchen table, he’s already set the kettle on the burner and two mugs on the counter. “Any preference?” he asks as he pulls open the pantry, but she just shrugs her shoulders a little, and he chuckles as he admits, “Nah, I didn’t think so, either.” He places the tea bags by their mugs, then gives her this little grin and tells her, “I’ll be back,” before ducking into the hallway. And she just knows that he’s going to poke into Sarah’s room, probably kiss her in her sleep and tell her that he missed her. It shouldn’t make her feel as tingly as it does, so she opens her tablet again to distract herself.

She still has a browser open from when she and Sarah were looking up ballet classes in the area, so she clicks on that, pulls open the Google Maps view and starts estimating the mileages. She should probably jot this down for Steve, actually.

She glances up to look for a notepad or a scrap of paper, but it happens to be the exact moment that Steve steps back into the kitchen. There’s a little something different about his smile, and, when he holds up what’s in his hand for her to see, she realizes why. She bites on the inside of her lip, staring at the photo album a beat longer than she probably should. Flipping through it had absolutely felt like crossing a boundary of some sort, even though Sarah had been the one to pull it from the bookshelf in the den. She hadn’t had the heart to tell the girl to put it back, especially since she was so excited to show her, but still. Steve should’ve been able to choose whether or not he wanted to share any of that with Natasha.

“I’m sorry,” she says, her voice almost too soft even to her own ears, but she knows Steve catches it, because his eyebrows pull together a little.

“What? No,” he breathes out on a chuckle, setting the album on the table as he takes a seat. “No, I’m not upset that you saw this. Did Sarah bring it out?”

She nods, releasing her bottom lip. “She wanted to tell me about her mother.”

Steve hums, glancing away. She can practically see the wheels spinning as he figures out what he wants to say to this. But, after a moment, he gives her this soft sort of smile as he leans back in his chair. “I hope I’m not scaring you by saying this, but Sarah? She doesn’t talk about her mother to just anyone.”

She nods again. She had a feeling this was the case, but hearing him say it feels – different. It feels bigger.

“Sarah doesn’t remember her mother,” Steve continues after a moment. She knows he wouldn’t be telling her any of this if he didn’t want to, and yes, she sort of filled in the blanks from Sarah, but of course she wants him to tell her himself, too. “Peggy died when she was only six months old. Car crash,” he adds with a bit of a wince. She thinks that no amount of time will make it an easier thing to say. “I was—well, devastated, of course. But I was completely out of my element, too.” He gives her a crooked sort of grin. “You should’ve seen me through her pregnancy. I didn’t realize how neurotic I could be until there was so much to consider, you know? Everything was a big deal to me. You would’ve hated it,” he chuckles.

She smiles a little, too, even as she shakes her head. “I wouldn’t have hated it,” she tells him. She’s not sure why she needs him to know this.

His expression softens, and he nods, once, swallowing lightly. Something passes in his eyes, but it’s too quick for her to place it.

“So, here I was, having to raise this tiny human being all on my own,” he goes on. “I mean, I had my mom, I had help from friends, I had Sharon—Sarah’s aunt, the one that lives in London.” Natasha nods. Yes, she remembers him talking about her. She’d also spoken with Sharon and Steve’s best friend, Bucky, earlier in the day, but she has a feeling that Steve already knows. “And I did something kind of stupid.” He opens the photo album, then flips a few pages in before turning it for her to see. There’s a single photo in the center of the page: Sarah’s mother – Peggy – has her arms around a woman with curling blonde hair and bright blue eyes. “Lorraine and Peggy were best friends,” he says. “When Peggy died—”

“You two got married?” Natasha guesses. Because Sarah showed her the entire album, and he knows Natasha would’ve seen the photo of Lorraine on the very last page, wearing a lacy white dress and cradling a Baby Sarah swaddled in a plush, pale pink blanket in her arms.

“Yeah,” he says, leaning back in his chair again. Natasha glances up, and, oh. There’s that smile again. “We probably knew it wasn’t the best idea, even back then,” he admits with a bit of a laugh. “But Lorraine loved Peggy. She wanted to do everything she could to help me and Sarah, and it – it seemed like the right move, you know?”

“I’m sure it was,” Natasha tells him. She hopes he can hear the sincerity in her voice, because she thinks she understands what they were thinking, maybe a little bit.

Relief tugs at his expression, and she feels her stomach flutter ever so slightly. “And when it came to Sarah, it helped, you know? I was lost half the time, but Lorraine always knew exactly what to do. It worked. We worked, for Sarah.”

“But not for each other?”

He shakes his head, giving her a wry smile. “No, not for each other. Lorraine was lovely, don’t get me wrong. And she – I hope there’s a time when Sarah will get to know her mother’s best friend. She’d really like Lorraine. But I think it was so soon after Peggy, and we were able to ignore how much we didn’t fit because we were doing it for Sarah. We didn’t even really date.” He chuckles shallowly at this, shaking his head. “I was married to her and we’d never once gone on a date. And honestly, if it wasn’t for Lorraine, I don’t think I could’ve done it.”

“It?” Natasha repeats. Steve presses his lips together, and she’s not sure whether to laugh or to be a little bit upset. “You mean raising Sarah on your own?”

He shrugs his shoulders a little. “Well, yeah. I was a wreck, Nat, and not just because I’d lost Peggy. It would’ve been a disaster.”

“No,” she says without an ounce of hesitation. “You would’ve figured it out.” He starts to shake his head, but she leans in a little closer, so he has to look into her eyes, and she ignores the way her pulse picks up again as she realizes how close they are. “Steve. You would’ve figured it out,” she repeats, voice softer but also firmer, somehow.

He swallows lightly, holding her gaze. And, for the briefest second, his stare drops to her lips. She thinks maybe her breath would’ve caught if she wasn’t already holding it.

But, on the stove, they hear the kettle slowly start to whine. Maybe he would’ve left it, except it’s eleven at night and Sarah’s asleep down the hallway, so he exhales slowly as he stands up. She takes in a shaky breath, watching as he switches off the burner, pours the boiling water into each mug before setting the kettle aside. He’d changed into sweats and plain white tee when he’d gone to check on Sarah, and Natasha lets herself trace down his ridiculously broad shoulders to his slim waist, his shirt stretching out over the toned muscles in his back.

There’s no denying that this man is attractive.

But it’s not just that. He’s such a good man. He’s such a good dad, and she—

She doesn’t want to become another distraction for him.

[marksleepy]

in rhythm

genre: fluff, angst, bestfriend!auwithmark&jisung word count: 2,962 a/n: I don’t even know what this is warning: contains like three bad words

There were tiny sadnesses everywhere. Everybody had those days. You hated that you had such days more often than you liked. Life was unfair, and no one was in the position to pick what they wanted to happen the next minute.

“I’m sick of you,” Mum snapped. “Can’t you be grateful for what I’ve done for you?”

You stared at her, eyes dark and heavy. “I am grateful! Are we really going to do this again? You’re being so ridiculous.”

“I’ve given you everything good but what have you done for me?” she retorted. She had thrown the laundry in the washing machine, the only sound breaking the silence between both of you was the churning of clothes.

You wanted so badly to punch her in the face. It was wrong on so many levels. It went on for 10 years, or five minutes. Her words got meaner and they stung. It was worse than a scrape, an animal scratch, broken bones. She looked up from her cell and right at you, right in the eye. It was something you could never do. You blinked back tears as you ran out of the kitchen, out the front door and waited to hear the satisfying slam.

“She did it again,” you mumbled after what felt like the right time to, picking at a loose thread hanging from a woollen blanket. Jisung ran his finger across the paint peeling off the wall.

“Oh.”

“And where’s Mark?”

You weren’t sure when you and Mark became best friends. It wasn’t like you’d meet someone and automatically know that that person would be your friend, much less your best friend. Mark was a great friend. You��d gladly admit it. You’d never in a million years associate him with anything bad. He had a younger brother Jisung who was born three years, or more specifically, two years, six months and three days after Mark, and the three of you (well Mark didn’t really have a choice) clicked almost instantly.

“He has some project to work on in school,” Jisung said, dropping his head back on the couch and closing his eyes.

You had gotten closer to Jisung ever since Mark got busier with school-related activities. You went from texting Mark daily to late night messaging with Jisung. It was no doubt that you and Mark drifted, something which was pretty darn miserable. As you sat cross-legged in their living room, you thought of the times where you and Mark would lock Jisung outside the toilet while playing Tag, laughing as Jisung stomped off to their mum crying. It was so cruel, but back then it was the funniest thing. Ever.

Suddenly you felt a hand on your shoulder. “I’m sorry about what you have to go through now,” Jisung said. “You should talk it out with your mum. Maybe apologise to her?”

The memories of the past faded as quickly as they came. A flash of annoyance hit you. “I came here… No,” you started. “I just needed you to listen to me. Not give me ideas on how to live my damn life.”

Jisung drew in a quick breath. His mouth hung open and his eyes were as wide as they could be. He looked like he wanted to say something but nothing came out.

Without a word, you pushed the house door open and stepped out, feeling like the world’s jerkiest jerk. That was the first time you snapped at Jisung. You gripped the handle hard, before moving two steps back and closing the door. Why you were doing this, you had no idea. But you do. It was all because of that stupid argument with Mum. You walked face down, unsure of where to go.

“Y/N!”

You looked up. Mark. You released the breath you didn’t know you were holding and ran towards him, throwing your arm around his waist. He smelled like sweat but also like freesia. The tears burst out like a dam failing to keep the water in and soaked Mark’s yellow blazer. “Wait. What happened?” he asked. He placed both palms on your shoulders and pushed you away lightly, examining your face. He looked so concerned, it almost made you want to hide under the covers and weep silently.

“I’m a fricking bitch,” you said, cringing as that word left your lips. Mark removed his hands from your shoulder and grabbed your hand, leading you to the dessert shop frequented by the two of you. He ordered a bowl of what he liked to call ‘a bowl of shit’ for both to share (like you always did) when it was actually filled with grass jelly and other tasty stuff. You slid your money across the table.

Mark pushed it back. “It’s on me.” He stuck his plastic spoon into the sweet dish and brought some jelly to his mouth. “Wanna talk about it?”

You knew you looked exasperated. “You’d probably hate me for life.”

He shook his head, still shoving the soft sweet food into his mouth. You gave the couple sitting two tables away a sidelong glance. “I lashed out at Jisung.” You stirred the contents with your clean plastic spoon before adding, “Because things have been crap at home.”

Mark was silent for approximately 10 seconds. He let his spoon rest against the side of the bowl and gazed at you. No, no, no, no, no. You totally just pissed him off, knowing how much he loved his younger brother no matter how many times they fought. He cleared his throat and his expression softened. “So the crap at home or Jisung first?”

“Huh?”

“Which do you want to talk about first?”

You drew circles with the water droplets on the table. “Jisung I guess.”

Mark played with the drops of water on the bowl. “You know, Jisung loves you. He’s probably heartbroken now.”

“Ha-ha.”

He reached out and flicked something off your hair. Smiling, he said, “It’s true. His little crush on a girl.” He looked at you expectantly, waiting for your reply.

“I feel like this bowl of shit,” you said, gesturing at the plastic bowl. That weird laughter you grew to love escaped his mouth, making you smile a little. It was incredible how being with Mark could cheer you up. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, the cool breeze substituted the heat. Mark pulled you out of the shop and onto the still sidewalk. “Call tonight?” he asked.

Your eyes drifted to his messy hair. “Okay.” Then you hugged him. Your best friend. Forever, you craved.

You opened the door cautiously and saw that the door to your parents’ room closed, a signal that they were asleep. Your shoulders relaxed. You didn’t have to deal with Mum for tonight. Throwing yourself on your bed, your phone buzzed.

mur :^) sorry Y/N can’t call tonight :( [9:58 PM]

You why :( [9:59 PM]

You waited for your phone to tell you you had a new message. It didn’t. You made yourself busy by pulling the notes you did out of your bag. Flipping through them, you thought it was insane to study this calm Friday night. You land face first on the pillows, before turning to face the wall and slowly falling asleep, dreaming blank dreams.

You only remembered that Mum left for another country with her friend when you didn’t see her the next morning. Three days without Mum. You couldn’t tell if you were happy or sad about that.

Buzz, buzz.

You got out of bed, scratching the back of your head.

mur :^) jisung was so upset last night [9:17 AM] felt bad to call you since i sorta had to comfort him [9:17 AM] especially because [9:17 AM] you know [9:18 AM]

You shut your eyes and buried your face in your knees. Oh, Jisung.

You can i go over today? [9:19 AM] serious apologising needs to be done [9:19 AM]

mur :^) you’re lucky we’re bffls if not you would’ve been dead [9:20 AM] get your ass over here [9:20 AM]

It was so bright out, you almost retreated back into the comfort of your own home. But you had something important to do. When you arrived at the destination nervous and sweaty, you looked fixedly at the door. You whipped out your phone and texted Mark.

You open the door please [9:36 AM]

mur :^) i’m meeting up with a friend [9:38 AM] texting jisung dw [9:38 AM]

A minute or so passed and the door (finally) creaked open, revealing a tired looking Jisung. He went from looking worn out to looking stricken.

“Sorry,” you uttered. He just stared at you. You avoided his gaze. He turned and went to sit down on the black couch. You followed.

Jisung leaned against the armrest, eyes purposefully glued to the television screen. You reached out and poked his arm and frowned when he flinched. A minute of awkward silence went by.

You turned to him. “Wanna play CartonSkull?”

His expression flickered with doubt. When he returned your gaze, he gave you a real smile. It was always like this. Whenever you and Jisung had not-so-pleasant moments, he would seem to have shaken the problem off after you offered something. He may look okay on the outside, however, no one could be sure how he felt on the inside.

“Okay.” He got up and plodded to Mark’s room. Returning with Mark’s laptop, he sat down close beside you on the floor and placed the device on the couch.

“Jisung, the laptop’s gonna heat up real quick,” you said. He had this bad habit of not putting anything under a laptop to prevent overheating. “Fine, I’ll go grab a book. And a mouse,” he sighed, rolling his eyes playfully.

You watched as he disappeared into Mark’s room again. You typed the website and pressed enter. As the familiar in-game music started playing, you were overcome with nostalgia. You recalled playing this game till the wee hours with Mark and Jisung during sleepovers, taking turns to play with one another since it was a two player game. Your fingers would ache terribly by the time your character died, and you would spend the next few minutes punching the air to release tension, earning the brothers’ peals of laughter.

“Back,” Jisung announced, the wired mouse dangling from his left hand and a textbook balanced on his right.

“Welcome back,” you replied. He plugged the mouse in and changed the settings of the game. “Can I use the arrow keys while you use W, A, S, D? I suck at using those.”

You nodded your head and switched positions with him. You and Jisung were only minutes into the game and your waves of laughter were threatening to wake the entire neighbourhood. You punched the keys violently. “Freak!” Jisung shouted. “Y/N, I actually need some help here. Stop building a fort around yourself! I’m dying.”

Tears were threatening to spill from your eyes. This time it was from laughing too hard. “Save yourself, sucker.”

You and Jisung may have spent an hour and a half playing before you complained about your achy fingers. The telephone rang and you got up and answered it.

“Hello,” you said instead of asking.

“Hey Y/N. Want lunch? I just met up with my parents,” Mark responded.

“Weren’t you meeting a friend?”

“Yeah. I met him.”

Jisung raised both brows at you and mouthed “Who is it?”

You mouthed back “Mark”.

“Is McDonald’s okay?” Mark questioned. He spoke to people in the background whom you assumed were his parents.

“Yeah, boy.” You knew Jisung would never say no to McDonald’s.

“Alright, will be back in 30.”

You hung up and told Jisung lunch would arrive soon. He nodded as if you’d given him instructions. You went to lie down on the couch, laying your head on the palms of your hand. Jisung watched the television, you watched the ceiling. Thought wander and time rolled past silently. It was these times you loved best.

“Are things okay between you and your mum?” Jisung queried all of a sudden. You froze. “She’s out of the country with a friend. Haven’t had a chance to apologise,” you mumbled. He muttered an “oh” before turning his attention towards the goggle-box. You knew he was afraid to say anything more. You only had yourself to blame for that. With only the laugh track coming from the show filling in the quietness, you struggled to think of what else to say.

“Look, Jisung,” you spoke, sitting up and pulling your knees towards your chest. He looked at you. “Hmm?”

You studied the mysterious bruise on your knee. “I’m sorry for whatever I said yesterday.”

He turned to the TV and shifted uncomfortably on the floor. “It’s okay.” He focused his attention on you again. “I was just shocked and I know you’re stressed and stuff. I just hope you’re feeling better.”

A smile spread across your face. “Thanks, Jisung. You can shout at me next time.”

You spotted the slightest curve at the corner of his mouth. Under no circumstances would he shout at you. You’d never take any advantages of that though. You and the dirty blonde haired boy watched the telly till Mark and the parents came back. After greeting their parents, the three of you rushed into Mark’s room with the grub.

You, Mark and Jisung ate your burgers on Mark’s bedroom floor. Everyone was silent, simply chewing and drinking and enjoying one another’s presence.

“Don’t drop anything on the floor. I don’t want to have to sleep with your species.” Mark chewed on his McSpicy, eyeing on both you and Jisung.

Jisung snorted. “You’d be part of my species, bro.”

You caught the punch line and choked on your burger. “Harsh,” you commented. Mark tilted his head and smiled bashfully. You flicked a piece of lettuce at him. Then at Jisung. Jisung flicked the lettuce back at you and before long all of you got into a competition of who could get the least amount of lettuce on themselves. It ended when their mum pushed open the door, peeking in and smiling tenderly. You could tell she was dying a little on the inside despite her smile, seeing shreds of lettuce scattered around. Mark assured her that the trio would clean up and she left.

“Oh yeah, Y/N,” Mark said. “Can you stay over tonight?”

Jisung looked at you a little too eagerly. “Yeah, I guess. My mum isn’t in town. I’ll just text my dad,” you replied. Mum hated you sleeping over at someone else’s house for some reason, no matter how well she knew the family. Dad was a little more chill about it.

So you spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up, playing games on the lappy, and joking around with the brothers. The sun’s last rays shone through the window, spilling on the coffee brown floor like tipped over honey. After settling yourself on the mattress Jisung tugged from under Mark’s bed and throwing a blanket over yourself, a yawn flee from your mouth. This room was remarkably familiar from years of sleepovers here. The clothes rack standing behind your head with plenty of clothes hanging from it. The crack on the ceiling. The books piling up on Mark’s study desk. Quiet chattings roamed within the four walls. Mark stopped talking a while later, his chest falling and rising.

You liked that Jisung would move to Mark’s room whenever you stayed over. Jisung faced you on his mattress. After your eyes had adjusted to the dark, Jisung was grinning at you. You grinned back, sticking out your tongue playfully. His eyelids started to droop, his breathing started to match Mark’s. Random images started dancing about in your mind and you fell asleep to their peaceful breathing, thankful and contented.

Mum was coming back home today. The sleepover a few days ago raised your spirits so much and you could never be more thankful. You were sitting on your bed with the door left ajar and instrumentals playing from your laptop. Later, there was a jingling of keys and the front door opened. Mum entered the house. You pulled out your phone.

You my mum just got home [5:09 PM]

mur :^) do what you feel is right [5:09 PM] i’ll be here [5:09 PM]

Your mouth felt dry. You didn’t receive any messages from Mum since she left. Maybe wi-fi wasn’t available, maybe she was just avoiding you. You swallowed and trudged to the kitchen where Mum was. When you reached her, you fell against her. She wrapped an arm around you and you felt yourself melting into her embrace.

“I’m sorry,” you murmured, pressing yourself closer to her.

Mum kissed the top of your head. “I am too.”

It was great to be loved, to feel the appreciation of your existence. As Mum shooed you off to your room, you tugged your phone out of your pyjamas pants pocket. And texted Jisung this time.

You i love you and mark [5:32 PM] a lot [5:32 PM] don’t forget that [5:33 PM]

Jisung texted back seconds later.

jisu(cks)ng :^) where did that come from [5:33 PM] but aw :) mark and i love you too [5:34 PM]

Life may suck now, but you trusted there would always be that soothing light at the end of every tunnel.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Random Writing Tidbit Here We Go…

… Okay. So. First time writing for Zero-One.

Kinda like my first thing for LuPat, this is set in the future. Possibly the far future.

So. This is a little clunky. It’s not great. This mainly started bc I got this idea of calmed down Isamu trying to get Yua to (re)authorise him to use the ProgriseKey to the point that he’s like ‘Do you want me to beg?’ And she’s like ‘If you do that I will throw up.’ It’s also sort of based on the vague idea I had of him maybe coming over to Aruto’s ‘side’ even before she does?

So, in this, the timeline I was imagining was that something like--Isamu/AIMs actually being used by Thouser in some way, and something happens, like he gets a ‘you’ve outlived your usefulness’d or something (and maybe gets saved by Aruto and they end up working themselves out, after it’s hopefully been kinda building overtime). Anyway, Isamu gets, like, ‘blacklisted’ w/ the new AIMs, w/ Thouser basically branding him as a dangerous criminal or something. Yua hangs around bc she feels it’s important she keeps control of the AIMs arsenal, but is general disgusted by proceedings and isn’t actually loyal to Thouser. I’m not sure what exactly is going on outside, but it’s some big fight… I was kinda imagining the scenario kind of like in ToQger where Right was meant to wait for Akira to get back, but lied and went to fight the bad guys anyway, w/ Aruto in Right’s position--why is this right outside AIMs? Heck if I know, I’m just the author.

Anyway. Hopefully this all isn’t too OOC. I think a few of the lines sound like Yua. 

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

A familiar sound behind him made him freeze. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

Even if he hadn’t recognised the click of the ShotRiser, there was no mistaking her voice.

Slowly, he shifted back from the containment unit, raising his hands so she could see them. “… Yaiba.” Under any other circumstances, he might have rolled his eyes at the twist of fate. “Of course.”

He heard her step across the floor, and the gun muzzle pressed against the back of his head. “I asked what you were doing here.” Her tone was level enough that he didn’t think she was fixing shoot him—yet.

“I feel like that’s pretty obvious.” He shot back, before he could stop himself.

The idiocy of that response was driven home when the gun pressed harder against his head, knocking it forward slightly. “Don’t push me, Fuwa.” She hissed icily. “You’re not the Captain anymore.”

“Alright, alright!” He tried to make soothing motions with his hands while keeping them in the air. “… I’m trying to get the ShotRiser.”

“How did you get in?”

“Will you let me turn around?”

“And if I do?”

“I’m not going to try anything—I’m not even armed.”

She hesitated for a moment—then leaned forward, gently patting his jacket to check his claim; maybe it was wishful thinking, but it didn’t seem like she checked as closely as protocol should have mandated. Eventually, satisfied he was telling the truth, her footsteps fell back. “Fine. But slowly, and keep you hands up.” Carefully, he obeyed, leaning back slightly against the case behind him. Despite carrying the ShotRiser, she clearly hadn’t been intending to go into the field—she didn’t even have her vest on, just her regular suit and her usual annoyed expression; and a gun, pointed at his face. “Now, how did you get in.”

“Hacked the locks.” She gave him a disbelieving look. “I’m not completely incompetent. I’ve done spec ops.”

“But why? You know what would’ve happened if anyone else-” She faltered, there, but recovered quickly. “You know what could’ve happened. Why take the risk?”

“Because in a little bit, all hell is gonna break loose outside. And right now, that idiot comedian of a CEO is alone in the middle of it—if I can get the ShotRiser and the Shooting Wolf Key, I can back him up, and he’ll—we’ll have a chance.”

Her mouth twisted in a suspicious frown. “They’re not going anywhere without my authorisation.”

“Alright.” He took a deep breath, well aware of the gravity of what he was about to ask. “… Then I need you to reauthorise me.”

She gaped at him, even lowering the gun in shock. “Have you lost your mind?”

He hesitated for a moment. “… Possibly. But that doesn’t matter right now.”

“I’m not just going to let you take dangerous weapons like that on your own say so.” She hesitated for another moment, a conflict he couldn’t decipher playing across her face—then she lowered her own ShotRiser completely, stepping back. “… But I’m also not interested in shooting you—for now, at least. Get out of here before I change my mind, or someone who will do it shows up.” Turning on her heel started toward the door.

“You need to reauthorise me!” She ignored him, hand on the door handle. “Please!”

She froze. Slowly, mechanically, she turned to stare at him, clearly unable to believe what she was hearing.

He fumbled forward a step, keeping his hands up—just in case it would help. “Please.” He repeated, when she still said nothing. “I’m asking.”

There was a long silence. Finally, she turned fully from the door, scrutinising him. “… Who are you, and what have you done with Fuwa Isamu?”

“I’m not joking.”

“Neither am I.”

They stared at each other for a long moment—then, somewhere outside the building, something exploded, shaking the foundations.

She glanced frantically around, her weapon snapping back up—though not pointed at him again, yet. “What was that?”

Though they stayed in the air, his hands curled into tense fists, gritting his teeth. “Shit! He lied to me!” His attention snapped back to her, even more urgently. “Remember what I said about hell breaking loose? Well, that’s it.” He knew his expression was turning into pleading, but there wasn’t time to care anymore—pride be damned; for once in his life, someone out there actually needed him. “So please… You need to reauthorise me.”

“How can I possibly-”

“Look, I know how you don’t trust me, or even like me, and I know that there’s probably nothing I can say to change that. There’s a lot I can’t make up for. But this isn’t about me!” His arms lowered slowly, still keeping his hands where she could see them, forcing his fists to unclench. “Hiden’s out there. Alone. If we—if I—if someone doesn’t help, he’s going to get himself killed.” He gave her a hard look. “Are you really okay with that?” She deliberately didn’t meet his gaze, looking pointedly over his shoulder as another tremor ran through the building. He flinched, casting a nervous glance towards the direction the sound had come from—as a soldier, he’d learned the sounds of destruction well, and the idea of that obnoxious kid stuck out there alone made his chest clench. Struggling to keep his breathing under control, he turned back to her, now unashamed of the open desperation in his face—his next words were so quiet it even surprised him. “… Do you want me to beg? Because I will.” She looked back over to stare at him like he was speaking an alien language. When she still said nothing, he sighed, and dropped ungracefully to a kneel on the armoury floor. “Yaiba, I-”

“Don’t!” She snapped, throwing out a hand to silence him. “If you say another word, I am going to throw up.” Obediently, he shut his mouth, merely giving her a plaintive look.

For a long moment, she just stared back at him, searching his gaze, the alarum and discomfort that had flashed into her expression when she’d told him to stop. Finally, she sighed deeply. Fishing her phone from her pocket, she tapped in a code on the screen—and something behind his shoulder beeped. Glancing back, he saw that the light on the case had switched to green. Frowning slightly, she tucked the device away again.

Slowly, he got to his feet, then turned and tried the case door again—which popped open easily. Looking cautiously back between her and the container, he carefully retrieved the ShotRiser and ProgriseKey, examining them for a moment—then another explosion rocked the walls, and he spun on his heel, rushing for the door.

Only to pause as he came up beside her. “… If it does count for anything, at all…” He stared awkwardly at the wall rather than her for a moment, then took a deep breath and actually met her gaze. “… I am sorry.” He didn’t wait for her to respond, instead rushing out the door at a full run.

Yua stayed where she was for a moment, taking out the Rushing Cheetah Key and turning it over in her hand. The building shook again. After another moment, her fingers curled back around it and she scowled. “Oh, screw it.” With a decided huff, she spun around and ran after him.

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

I kinda imagined Isamu’s big ‘wake up call’ might sorta… ‘Break’ him, so to speak? So that’s why I was trying to write him as significantly more subdued. Feels like he’s the type of character who would react to their rigid worldview being upturned by sort of losing their will and going kind of death seeker (hence a certain slip in his dialogue in here). So… He’s kinda still reeling and very self destructive at the moment.

Yua goes off too at the end bc she knows very well those two idiots are probably going to make everything worse, somehow, and she’s had enough.

… Did any of this make sense? I am so tired. I’m not sure any of this made sense.

[e3khatena]

Someone subjected me to it, so I'll return the favor. Do them all, yes?

*horrible but joyous raptor noise*

200: My crush’s name is: The pineapple one.199: I was born in: 1997198: I am really: Confused about things and such.197: My cellphone company is: AT&T and they kind of suck but not too much.196: My eye color is: Usually a bluish-gray, more gray in the winter and more greenish in the spring. Not vividly, still mostly gray.195: My shoe size is: 12.194: My ring size is: I think I have an Ace Ring in 13? So that, I guess.193: My height is: 6′0″-ish.192: I am allergic to: A hecking lot of types of medication.191: My 1st car was: A Hyundai that had it brakes rot out, the lower control arms snapped, and now it doesn’t have power steering. I just got my second car 2 months ago.190: My 1st job was: Alright.189: Last book you read: Legends of Localization: MOTHER 2. Super awesome.188: My bed is: A bed!187: My pet: Icha, a retired police dog. 186: My best friend: Dan. I have not talked to so many of my other friends in so long, I need to get better at that.185: My favorite shampoo is: I dunno, the stuff I use? I don’t study the bottle.184: Xbox or ps3: Wii U, to be completely honest. Hopefully the Switch is awesome.183: Piggy banks are: A typo based on a type of coin bank made of a certain type of clay.182: In my pockets: Actually nothing right now.181: On my calendar: I have class in Chicago tomorrow. :\180: Marriage is: Not something I plan to do.179: Spongebob can: Please get canned already? Fairly Oddparents, too. Actually, that one first.178: My mom: Is a mom.177: The last three songs I bought were? Two songs from the Diablo Swing Orchestra (probably the coolest hecking band ever) preceeded by Ballroom Blitz.176: Last YouTube video watched: A bunch of trash TF2 joke weapon demonstrations.175: How many cousins do you have? I dunno, like three or four immediate cousins?174: Do you have any siblings? An older and a younger brother.173: Are your parents divorced? No.172: Are you taller than your mom? Yes.171: Do you play an instrument? Nope.170: What did you do yesterday? My best.[ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: Nope.168: Luck: I got all the bad stuff.167: Fate: If y’had a chance t’chainge yer faet, wood yeh?166: Yourself: What a funny story, Mark!165: Aliens: I mean, somewhere out there. They’re probably, like, bacteria, but I mean whatever.164: Heaven: I like to imagine the afterlife is one giant void where you just wait to come back and you get to see all your past and future lives but forget everything immediately upon being resurrected as a new human.163: Hell: See immediately above.162: God: If you do, that’s cool. 161: Horoscopes: Read six of them. Chances are, more than one fits you well.160: Soul mates: Nope.159: Ghosts: Nope.158: Gay Marriage: I mean, do whatever. If its not immoral and illegal and everyone involved is okay with it, then cool.157: War: It never changes, but I kinda wish it would. Why is it this hard for people to support each other. 156: Orbs: They don’t exist because nobody has ever seen a perfect sphere in real life before.155: Magic: There are people who claim this is real?[ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: I dunno?153: Drunk or High: Having a height advantage to your opponents makes it that much harder for them to seek adequate cover and that much easier to defeat them.152: Phone or Online: I hate the call quality in the US.151: Red heads or Black haired: You don’t see that many actual natural gingers out there.150: Blondes or Brunettes: I mean, I’m blond, so there’s some bias.149: Hot or cold: The cold. LA would kill me.148: Summer or winter: Specifically the first month of the winter. Past that its gray and sludgy and horrible.147: Autumn or Spring: Spring.146: Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate.145: Night or Day: The nighttime makes everything feel forbidden. I shouldn’t be out this late, I shouldn’t be doing this this late, etc.144: Oranges or Apples: Oranges. Citrus is awesome.143: Curly or Straight hair: I dunno.142: McDonalds or Burger King: Burger King has the better chicken nuggets, but both aren’t that great. In this town, its Culvers, Portillo’s, or you eat the DIRT you find in the GROUND.141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Like a 60% dark chocolate. 70% tastes great at first but the aftertaste is horrible, afraid to go darker than that. Heard 100% is the worst.140: Mac or PC: PC, since I make games using software that runs on 139: Flip flops or high heals: Mages with a high heal yield are always welcome in the party.138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: I’ve kind of had it with the rich at this point.137: Coke or Pepsi: Regular coke but Cherry Pepsi. Crystal Pepsi is also back but my life was ruined when I found out its just regular Pepsi with no coloring.136: Hillary or Obama: I would gladly take either of them right now. Barack seems like he’d be a dad friend.135: Burried or cremated: I want to be burned to ashes and thrown from the mountains.134: Singing or Dancing: I dunno.133: Coach or Chanel: Coach was a playable character in L4D2 and thus is infinitely more useful.132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: Who the frack are these people.131: Small town or Big city: I’ve kind of had it with the city.130: Wal-Mart or Target: Target. Or, for white people with minimal senses of humor, Targét (Tar-zhey).129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Stiller is meh but never reaches Sandler levels of awful.128: Manicure or Pedicure: [SOUNDS OF LITTLE INTEREST]127: East Coast or West Coast: The East Coast has HP Lovecraft’s home.126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Both seem to end in familial drama.125: Chocolate or Flowers: Chocolate is dang wonderful. Can’t take a handful, eat the tulips. Y’just cahn’t do theat.124: Disney or Six Flags: Six whole flags. Great America has the Viper and its the closest you will ever get to a life-changing moment. 123: Yankees or Red Sox: I am indifferent towards New York or Boston, doubly so concerning Baseball.[ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: Like, really guys, talk out your differences and treat people with respect. Its not that hard.121: George Bush: He would have made a brilliant painter or a decent comedian, but for some reason he ended up as president. But now he’s paining portraits of veterans wounded in the wars he started, so there’s that.120: Gay Marriage: Of course.119: The presidential election: 2016 was a terrible year, can we just fast forward to an election where two decent, respectable human beings are being voted for on election day.118: Abortion: Every woman has their reason, and its not the right of men to get to decide what happens.117: MySpace: ‘sead.116: Reality TV: Ech.115: Parents: Its a toxic environment.114: Back stabbers: I get you want that double critical hit, but please don’t stab me. I just want to grab the papers. End TF2 joke.113: Ebay: I dunno?112: Facebook: I had a video of a chick being forced down a grinder suddenly load and go full screen the last time I used the app. Yeah no.111: Work: Cash money.110: My Neighbors: My next door neighbors are absolutely wonderful people. The people past there are pretty bleh.109: Gas Prices:  They’ve been higher, they’ve been lower.108: Designer Clothes: Heck.107: College: I have the presidential scholarship and have taken the maximum out on all possible loans and I cannot afford to live on-campus.106: Sports: Nah.105: My family: I am always feeling much better and more comfortable when spending time at a friend’s house than my own house.104: The future: Kinda losing hope, kinda just wish I had the skills to make great games quick and then just live in peace somewhere nice, kinda want to get struck with construction equipment, etc.[ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: I couldn’t tell you, its been, I dunno, a decade or so?102: Last time you ate: 11:something today.101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: Spent some time at a friend’s place Friday. Haven’t gotten to speak with them in such a long time, felt nice.100: Cried in front of someone: I dunno?99: Went to a movie theater: The last film I saw in theaters was Godzilla and I lost interest when Walter White died.98: Took a vacation: Absolutely never! I was in Florida for a few weeks a few years ago (2013, I think?), but it barely counts because half of it was rainy days, Minecraft, and Nostalgia Critic.97: Swam in a pool: Couple years ago?96: Changed a diaper: If this answer becomes anything but never I will have seen too much.95: Got my nails done: Never.94: Went to a wedding: Never.93: Broke a bone: Pretty sure never?92: Got a peircing: Never.91: Broke the law: I once forgot to stop at a stop sign nobody else was at. Take me away, coppers, throw me in the slammer.90: Texted: I think Friday night?[ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: Dan.88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: Not having anywhere to be. 87: The last movie I saw: I watched The Adventures of Tintin for like the 9th time. I wonder how that film stands up in black/white. I heard really good stuff about Mad Max: Fury Road in B/W.86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: Switch Switch Switch SwiTCH SWITCH SW85: The thing im not looking forward to: The hatred spiraling around the 45th President. Actual Nazis spoke of their goals and were praised on national TV. One of them got punched and is afraid he will become a meme. What the heck is going on. How much Nyquil did I accidentally drink. Is this a dying dream. Please let it be.84: People call me: Really needy and obnoxious. Or that might just be me.83: The most difficult thing to do is: Have one good day. Friday was the first one since probably October.82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: Nope, but I did get one because my brakes went out and I hit the bumper of the car in front of me. 81: My zodiac sign is: Gemini, but it really doesn’t make a difference.80: The first person i talked to today was: Dan.79: First time you had a crush: Quite a while ago. It was the orange one and it was alright. Pineapple is the better flavor though.78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: Dan.77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: I dunno.76: Right now I am talking to: A Tumblr text post.75: What are you going to do when you grow up: Design dem vidya gaems. 74: I have/will get a job: I have a job? Its my second one, been there 3 months.73: Tomorrow: I’LL72: Today: Is almost over.71: Next Summer: I’ll be out of school until September again?70: Next Weekend: Will be practically the end of the month? What am I supposed to put do--69: I have these pets: I have one (1) dog.68: The worst sound in the world: I have been woken at 2 in the morning by someone loudly blaring “Now look at this NET!” at me as a joke. 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: I dunno, Speilberg? Because he won’t make thAT TINTIN SEQUEL--66: People that make you happy: Dan and the other ragtag band of friends I have.65: Last time I cried: Like ~a week ago?64: My friends are: @eishkrooked​ @virtifrication-order​ @ahogehope​ and my non-Tungle friends Steve, Byron, Haley and Sam.63: My computer is: More expensive than my first car.62: My School: Costs far too much.61: My Car: Is alright.60: I lose all respect for people who: Justify killing or dehumanizing a lot of people quickly.59: The movie I cried at was: Wreck-It Ralph. Because I am a loser.58: Your hair color is: Blond.57: TV shows you watch: Actually between stuff because everything is over or on hiatus.56: Favorite web site: Steam, I guess?55: Your dream vacation: As many of my friends as possible and we all go to somewhere rad, I dunno where though.54: The worst pain I was ever in was: I once had a coughing fit at 1AM that caused me to spit up some blood and it hurt so bad I collapsed on the floor and cried myself back to sleep. But Death’s gonna have to bare-knuckle box me for my life, he tried to kill me with life-threatening pneumonia twice and that did bugger all. Come at me scrublord, I’m ripped.53: How do you like your steak cooked: Medium-well.52: My room is: Barely my room.51: My favorite celebrity is: JK Simmons.50: Where would you like to be: Somewhere nice.49: Do you want children: Not really, no. Maybe adopt some? I dunno.48: Ever been in love: Nope.47: Who’s your best friend: This is like the third time this question has appeared.46: More guy friends or girl friends: More good friends.45: One thing that makes you feel great is: Ever get to steal, like, all the stars in a Chance Time? That power changes you.44: One person that you wish you could see right now: I want to know how Haley is doing. She moved off to Minnesota after graduating high school and has not been online in like have a year. 43: Do you have a 5 year plan: I barely have a five-day plan.42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: I could die at any minute, lists just leave “I could have___”s everywhere.41: Have you pre-named your children: Nope.40: Last person I got mad at: It took Arin 4 hours to make it to the end of Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door’s first major boss. FOUR HOURS.39: I would like to move to: A nice flat somewhere just outside Chicago.38: I wish I was a professional: Game dev because then, again, good things made quick.[ My Favorites ]37: Candy: York Peppermint Patties, also a fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.36: Vehicle: Can Tesla just do a cheap electric car already? 35: President: Obama is definitely top of the list. Amazing public speaker, total dad.34: State visited: Illinois.33: Cellphone provider: If only Metronet could do phones.32: Athlete: JK Simmons got ripped, I can include him.31: Actor: See above!30: Actress: Ashly Burch (Ms. Pauling in TF2). 29: Singer: Lynda Carter became a freaking phenominal jazz singer between the 70s and Fallout 4. Probably the best part about that game.28: Band: Diablo Swing Orchestra, hands down.27: Clothing store: The cheapest one I can get good-quality stuff at.26: Grocery store: Jewel? I dunno, don’t hassle me.25: TV show: Gravity Falls deserves all the awards.24: Movie: This might come as a surprise, but the Adventu23: Website: Steam? I dunno.22: Animal: Samoyeds and Malamutes. Japanese Akitas come in third.21: Theme park: Six Flags is pretty rad. 20: Holiday: According to the store I work at, Italian Market is a holiday and now its my favorite holiday.19: Sport to watch: Not a sportwatcher.18: Sport to play: Used to spar. That was rad.17: Magazine: Rest in peace, Nintendo Power.16: Book: Journal 3 is such a fabulous blend of so many good things.15: Day of the week: Monday, actually. I don’t need to commute, my brothers are out of the house, I can record or work on personal projects, etc.14: Beach: Not a fan of beaches.13: Concert attended: Have not attended any live whatsits.12: Thing to cook: Pasta. And then I have it all. Because its pasta.11: Food: Read above.10: Restaurant: It depends. Subway is cheap, Corner Bakery Cafe is right inside Union Station and their Mac and Chee is awesome, but if money is no object, then I’d go for Olive Garden because “endless pasta” are two words that get slung around in there.9: Radio station: I hate the FM radio.8: Yankee candle scent: Fresh-cut lawn.7: Perfume: Nah.6: Flower: I don’t have an answer.5: Color: One of those deep, vivid blues. Something like Tumblr’s but with some more saturation.4: Talk show host: Nah.3: Comedian: SungWon Cho or Barry Kramer.2: Dog breed: 22 has all the answers you need.1: Did you answer all these truthfully?  I could be a jerk and say I answered one of these incorrectly, but nah, they’re legit. Or are they? They are. Or are they?

Thanks!

[motherichangedmyurlagain]

1-91 of the nsfw asks

bruv You’re gonna kill me

1:When did you lose your virginity?13 for vagina type 15 for penis type2: Rough sex or soft sex?I like both but I enjoy being hurt3: Do you have any unusual kinks/fetishes?HAHAHA yes how much time do you have4: Weirdest place you’ve had sex?In school or in a Cathedral5: Favourite sex position?I don’t have a favourite tbh6: Do you like to be dominant or submissive?I prefer submissive but I’m a switch so it depends7: Have you ever had any one night stands?A few8: Sex on the bed, couch or the floor?I prefer the bed, it has pillows9: Have you ever had sex in a public place?Yes10: Have you ever been caught masturbating?No thank god11: What does your favourite sexy underwear look like?It’s purple and black lace, with garters from Victoria’s secret12: How often do you have sex?Not often enough13: Is there anybody right now you’d like to have sex with?Hmmmmm yes I suppose14: Do you prefer giving or receiving oral sex?I prefer giving15: Most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you during sex?Fallen asleep16: A song you’d listen to during hard/rough/kinky sex?The Hills - The Weekend, idk why but it’s fucking glorious17: A song you’d listen to during soft/slow/passionate sex?Nothing, I like to only hear us18: Are you into dressing up for sex?Not particularly, it all comes off in the end19: Would you prefer sex in the bath or sex in the shower?Bath. I have a mild phobia of showers20: If you could have sex with anyone right now, who would it be?Brian McCook duh,21: Have you ever had a threesome? If not, would you?Yeah, 3 times ;)22: Do you/would you use sex toys?Indeed I do23: Have you ever sent someone a dirty text/picture?All the time. I have a nice body, so sharing is caring24: Would you have sex with your best friend?HAHAHA funny story, my best friend is my ex-girlfriend so yeah25: Is there anything you do after sex? (for example, smoke, eat, drink)Depends. Usually I’ll grab a coffee and go outside for a cigarette, or cuddle. Depends on how nice the sesh was26: Something that will never fail to get you horny?A really really good smut27: Early morning sex or late night sex?Early morning, I get tired too easily28: Favourite body part on the opposite sex?Butt29: Favourite body part on the same sex?Boobs or tummy30: Something that you have hidden in your room that you don’t want anyone to find:My sexy box, only everyone knows about it because my parents found it hahaha31: Weirdest sexual act some has performed [or tried to perform] on/with you:I don’t know what is weird, but I’ve done pretty much everything apart from scat32: Have you ever tasted yourself? [If no, would you?] [If yes, what did you think?]Yeah, but usually it happens when I kiss the person, I eat quite healthily so wasn’t too bad tbh33: Is it ever okay to not use a condom:Only if you want babies, with a partner you’re in for the long haul34: A food that you would like to use during a sexual experience:None. I don’t like the idea of thrush35: Worst possible time to get horny:In a really serious situation. Happens all the time, especially if someone attractive shouts at me36: Do you like it when your sexual partner moans?Well obviously, I need to know I’m doing well37: How much fapping is too much fapping:Until you get carpal tunnel38: Best sexual complement you ever got:I don’t know, maybe that I have a really nice figure?39: Favorite foreplay activities:All of them40: What do you wear to bed?Either my bee pijamas, a baggy tee and boxers, or nothing41: When was the first time you masturbated:Yesterday42: Do you have any nude/masturbating pictures/video of yourself?Nope43: Have you ever/when was the last time you had sex outside?I have, and I think it was almost 2 years ago44: Have/would you ever have sex in public?Yes I have45: Have/would you ever had a threesome?I swear this was already a qu? But yes I have46: What is one random object you’ve used to masturbate?A pillow47: Do you watch gay/lesbian porn? why/why not?GAY because it feels more real, idk why it’s wonderful48: Do you like oral sex? (why/why not)Previously answered 49: How do you feel about tattoos on someone you are interested in?YES so long as they’re good50: How would you feel about taking someones virginity?Previously answered51: Is there any food you would NOT recommend using during a sexual encounter?ALL OF THEM THRUSH IS REAL GUYS plus sticky ew52: Would you rather be a pornstar or a prostitute?Prostitute53: Do you watch porn?Yes54: Have you ever been called a freak? Why?Yes. Probably because I like weird stuff55: Do you feel comfortable going “commando”?Nope, but I often forgo bras, does that count?56: Would you have a problem with going down on someone if they hadn’t shaved their pubic hair?I have no problem whatsoever. I love muff fluff, and without is also chill. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest57: If you could give yourself head, would you?Yes, I’ve been told I’m very good58: Booty or Boobs?Boobs59: Have you ever cheated on someone? (Why?)I don’t know if it counts, we were on a break60: If you were the other sex for a day, what are five things you would do?1, helicopter 2, wank 3, enjoy the fact I get paid more and can walk around topless without getting catcalled 4, have sex with a vagina 5, have sex with a butt61: have you ever watched someone masturbate?Yes62: has anyone ever watched you masturbate?Previously answered 63. Have you ever had an erection and someone noticed?Nope because I have a vagina64. What is your method of masturbation? (ie. toys, clitorial, prostate)I touch myself and it is good65. What is your bra/penis size?Bra- 34 C66. What is the strangest thing you have ever put up your vagina/anus?Your dad’s cock67. When was the last time you masturbated?Yesterday (i swear these repeat)68. When was the last time you had sex?Early December69. When was the last time you watched porn?Today lol haha70. Have you ever bought a sex toy? If so, which one did you buy last? First sex toy? If not, which one do you plan on buying when you do?Yes, both in Ann Summers71. Guys:Circumsized???? idek72. Which not-genital part of your body do you like being touched?Boobies and stomach73. Which genital part of your body do you like being touched?My genitals? lol74. Girls:Are you able to achieve orgasm just through breast stimulation?I don’t think so, but I can get close75. Have you anonymously sent a sexual ask to someone on tumblr?Yes76. When was the last time you have had a wet dream?Yesterday77. Which wet dream was your favorite?Lol nope not saying78. Is there a friend you would willingly have sex with?Of course79. Is there a celebrity/character you would willingly have sex with?OF COURSE HAVE YOU SEEN MY BLOG80. Favorite sexual position?Previously answered81. Do you like being called a slut or whore in bed?hehe a bit82. Are you into any BDSM?Yes83. Have you ever wanted to have sex with someone but knew you couldnt for any reason? Why?Yes, because I just couldn’t idk it’s weird84. Do you like dirty talk?If it’s done correctly, if not I laugh85. Are you loud or quiet during sex? Masturbation?Very loud, masturbation quiet86. Have you ever been inturrepted during sex or masturbation? Who/what?YES okay so funny story. I was having sex w my girlfriend at the time in the back of her car and her fucking mother opened the door and I’m pretty sure she saw my vagina87. What kind of porn do you like to watch?Gay male88. Have you ever confessed to someone that you got an erection over them? What about masturbated to them?I don’t get erections, but masturbated to yes89. Have you ever masturbated because your sexual partner wasn’t there when you needed them?Well yeah90. Have you ever had a one night stand? Do you still keep in contact with them?Previously answered91. Have you ever had a friends with benefits? Are they still beneficial?Not exactly no92. Ask whatever you want*shrugs*

These were disgusting lol. Thank you dear