#somebody comfort this kid already please I am begging

[manufacturedrainbows]

My Fabian fanfic is going great so far

EDIT: Fanfic is up on ao3 now! ✨️

[marvelwritings]

A piece of me has disappeared

Summary: By day three, the first doubts set in. He’s convinced Tony is still out looking for him, but putting in the effort doesn’t always guarantee results. These people that abducted him are clever, and they know about his spider abilities. 

or: Peter get's abducted and Tony goes to rescue his son 

Everyone’s sleeping, their breaths loud in the evening quiet. Morgan is in her bed and there’s no doubt that tomorrow at seven am she’ll be up and at ‘em to wake Peter up. Tony and Pepper are across the room of his, their frantic work attitudes finally put to the sleep they so desperately need. Peter is blinking up at his roof in his bedroom, feeling fine, good even, peaceful and sated and most importantly, safe.

Everyone’s sleeping, their breaths loud in the evening quiet. Morgan is in her bed and there’s no doubt that tomorrow at seven am she’ll be up and at ‘em to wake Peter up. Tony and Pepper are across the room of his, their frantic work attitudes finally put to the sleep they so desperately need. Peter is blinking up at his roof in his bedroom, feeling fine, good even, peaceful and sated and most importantly, safe.

Everyone’s sleeping, their breaths loud in the evening quiet and …. The repeats stops working once Peter’s stomach gnaws again, the hunger he’s so gravely experiencing has switched to a whole new level. No longer the petty grumbles of an empty stomach, instead it’s replaced by the need to eat anything, despite Peter’s rationality telling him he can’t. He’s been locked up for at least seven days, but he’s still to sceptic to eat anything his captors offer him. He’s very close to breaking.

He tries to hold on by imagining that he’s at home, but he’s so tired, yet so fitful he won’t close his eyes for more then 10 seconds, and the constant torture is so jarring it hurts worse to imagine home, then be woken up in reality, than to just to be present. Peter wonders if Tony is every going to find him.

The first day, he had no question about it. Tony is scarily determined and protective to anyone who dares come after the people he considers family, Peter got a first row demonstration when some journalist tried to bad mouth Spiderman and he got clocked in the jaw, so Peter knows it’s just a matter of time.

By day three, the first doubts set in. He’s convinced Tony is still out looking for him, but putting in the effort doesn’t always guarantee results. These people that abducted him are clever, and they know about his spider abilities. So much so that they keep him sedated at all times, just enough sedative to keep him conscious, but not too little that he can tap in his superstrength. Peter will never be able to escape on his own.

Maybe if the avengers got called in they were close, but Peter’s not sure Tony would call in people he hasn’t spoken to in a few months, purely to find him. He can hold out hope though.

The third day is also the day his captures, he hasn’t seen any faces so far and the sedative contorts their voices too much to match them to somebody he knows, start with the emotional manipulation. So far, they had stuck to electrocution by tazers and punches applied to any sensitive area of his body, but Peter must not have been broken fast enough for them.

‘You know, you remind me of the stereotypical bad guys in movies, like in kids movies? Do you like kid movies? My favorite is Frozen’, Peter had once babbled in between punches through bitten teeth, trying to keep up his high spirits.

They didn’t like that one bit.

They claim all sort of ridiculous things, like that the Starks paid money for them to have kidnapped him, that Tony never started searching for him, that he might as well give up because no one was coming to fetch him. Peter laughs in their face, witty even in the face of extreme danger. It was still funny to him then. Now, on the evening of the seventh day, he stares unblinking at a wall, only moving when the physical pain becomes too much and he needs an outlet to scream.

‘Please’, he pleads sobbing. If he wasn’t so starved as he was, so mentally vulnerable, he would have been embarrassed. As it stands, Peter’s just so incapable of resisting, he simply gives in.

‘Please stop,’ Peter whimpers. If he had anything to give he’d bargain, but money is tight for May and him, and he has no knowledge of anything avengers related that could be of interest to these people. Mister Stark told him it was for his own safety, so it wouldn’t be used as leverage against him, but in Peter’s warped mind it further adds proof Tony never trusted him.

‘Ahn’, a captor coos, ‘he’s begging already, how cute.’ The voice is distinctly that of a woman’s, but it hold nothing of the warm timbre both aunt May and Pepper possess. He misses them.

The woman slides a hand up in Peter’s hair, and for one confusing moment Peter thinks she’s going to start stroking it, like Tony does, but then she balls her hands into fists and pulls his head aside. The next tazer gets placed in his neck.

‘This wouldn’t be happening if your so beloved mentor would just give up the plans for the new shield initiative, but alas, as long as he doesn’t you’ll be stuck here. The tazzer buzzes to life and Peter seizes up. It’s the so many’th time today, that Peter gives up on holding back, his scream ricochets in the room.

‘Then again, maybe we went after the wrong kid. Maybe we should have taken Tony Starks real kid? The one he actually cares about?’

Tears stumbles down his cheeks and he wishes he could fall back into unconsciousness, but of course life is not that kind. No, he begs inside his head, to warm out to speak. Not Morgan, never Morgan. He’d die before he’d let anything happen to her.

‘What do you think soldier,’ she addresses the second captor in the room, ‘perhaps a phone call would speed Stark along? A sign of life and how close to it being snuffed out the child is? What do you want Peter?’ She asks sickly sweet, as if it’s a regular question and not a taunt.

Still, Peter can’t help but reach out. He longs for one phone call so wholeheartedly. Maybe, maybe he can convince Mister Stark to get him out of this mess. He could promise to do every task Mister Stark ask of him, he could even offer to work for Stark industries until he could pay back the money he’d pay Peter’s kidnappers, anything to get out of here. Peter will do anything.

‘I think he’s agreeing.’ The woman grins, pulling out a burner phone out of her back pocket. She types for several excruciating moments, in which Peter begs to every god listening that Mister Stark will pick up. That he’ll hear Peter out.

‘Hello,’ the woman greets the phone, her smirk so evil Peter’s spider senses warm him to run, fighting through the drugs. ‘I think I have something that belongs to you Stark.’

She lowers the phone to a few inches from Peter’s ear, because Peter is too tied up to hold it on his own. ‘Speak loudly kid.’

The use of the nickname causes shudders to run down Peter’s back. Why can’t he go home?

‘Mister Stark, please help me, I don’t know where I am, but- I want to go home, please mister Stark I-. I’ll do anything you want, just please.’ Peter’s whines gain pitch, until he is nothing but a sobbing mess, barely worth the name Peter Parker, let alone Spiderman.

The phone clicks shut.

‘Whoops, looks like he hung up’, The woman snickers, patting Peter’s cheek with fake compassion. Peter bellows, heaving so severely the nonexistent food he ate threatens to come back up.

He’d never find out the phone was never connected in the first place.

---

By the grace of Peter doesn’t know what, he drops unconscious after the failed phone call to Mister Stark. The sleep is fitful at best, but at least it helps restock his powers. When Peter comes too, there are loud sounds just outside of the room he’s captivated in. He thinks there’s screaming and pleading, but he’s so exhausted he can’t bring himself to care. His hands drop uselessly by his side, his head turned away from the door as he squeezes his eyes shuts.

Why can’t this be over yet?

The door busts of his hinges, the door falls inwards. Immediately, the yellow and red armor, belonging to the iron man suit, rushes in, with the faceplate down. Now that the door is open, or gone more like, It’s clear that all the sounds Peter had been hearing where the scream of his captures. There are many of them, but they’re being taken down one by one.

Peeking aside the Iron man armor, Peter sees a flash of red and blue, and captain America’s shield knocking someone out cold.

‘Kid, kid’, Mister Stark draws his attention in a panic. The faceplate is still down, which means that Mister Stark is either not here, like he wasn’t when the vulture first dropped him into a lake, or he’s assessed the situation and deemed it too dangerous to lower his defenses.

‘You’re okay underoos, we’re getting you out of here.’ With very little effort, Mister Stark snaps restraints on Peter’s wrist and ancles, all the while murmuring under his breath. He’s trying to reassure Peter, but it’s not having any type of effect.

Instead, the comfort causes Peter to burst into tears once more, his body begging for food and pain medication that will make everything stop hurting. He doesn’t care that Mister Stark is doing this out of rightfulness, or maybe out of debt out of some kind that he’s trying to even out, Peter just wants to go home.

Once the restraints are all loose, and Peter is free of them, Mister Stark waits for a tense second, maybe expecting Peter to hob off the table and join the fight or something. That doesn’t happen. Peter lays motionless on the table, looking intensely at the glowing eyes of the iron man suit, maybe trying to convey a message that Mister Stark can’t decipher.

‘Come on Pete, we have to get out of here before they bring backup. I can only hold them off for so long.’

‘Back up?’ Peter ask nonsensical, his spider senses blaring danger at him.

‘Yeah, they’re big fans of the avengers, they’ll all be swarming in here for autographs soon, but we’re kinda busy so we really have to go now.’ Mister Stark turns frantic, his hands carefully, oh so cautiously, gripping at his shoulders.

Peter allows his muscles to turn limp, pliant under strange hands. They belong to his mentor, to one of the only touches he has ever felt that don’t originate from people who are trying to hurt him, but he’s so very terrified, it doesn’t register. Peter holds still, submissive to whatever is about to happen because the pain always seems to end faster when he doesn’t struggle.

‘Peter’, Mister Stark anguished voice insists, his faceplates lifts up, and the dull eyes of who Peter has come to think of as a father gaze upon him with despair. Mister Starks hair is greasy, his mouth is pulled down in a grimace, and his eyes are, for a lack of better word grief stricken. He’s so much older then he was before Peter was taken. ‘Please buddy, we have to go.’

Mister Stark’s calloused finger strokes Peter cheek with the utmost care, barely even pressing firm enough for Peter to feel it. He does though, and traps the touch between his check and his shoulder.  The dam breaks, and the barrier of terror that clouded Peter’s judgment lifts with it. He gasps, coming up for a breath of fresh air, and the moment between mentor and son brings at least a sliver of clarity, before he sinks back under the enormity of his panic.  

‘I can’t walk’, Peter rasps, his throat torn from all the screams. He refuses to let that stop him, he’s so close to safety, he needs to push on further just a tad longer. ‘Please Mister Stark, I can’t walk.’

‘It’s okay Pete’, Tony soothes, pressing an unyielding kiss to his forehead, and if at all possible, Peter see the rage harden his face even more. ‘I’m going to get you out of here, but it’s gonna hurt, I’m sorry.’

Before Peter can begin to process that statement, Mister Stark puts the weight on his knees, the iron man suit helping to lift Peter as if it’s no trouble at all.  Tony is no liar, Peter finds, as his body begs to be placed back on the uncomfortable bed. Even places that had been relatively unharmed ache, and Peter feels like a broken doll.

‘It’s okay Kiddo we’re almost there, just a minute longer.’ Peter clings to Mister Stark, using every ounce of strength to hang on, despite the fact that Tony has a tight grip on him as well. Iron man isn’t fighting alone, as the avengers are here to back him, them, up. In any other situation, Peter would be gushing. Not only is he seeing his heroes in action, but they’re in action for him, to help him, but now, Peter only turns his head to burrow it into Mister Starks chest plate.

‘Please, please’, Peter whispers the entire way to the jet, not even realizing he’s begging for something.

‘I got you Pete’, Tony assures, one hand briefly leaving Peter’s back to shoot at a capture that’s standing in the way of the jet. Other than that, he doesn’t interfere with the fight one time, but he must itch too. Peter hears him bark orders at captain America, telling him to take some of them alive.

‘Please don’t leave me here, I’ll be good, I’ll be good.’

The Jet is nice and warm, something Peter relishes in, but when Tony tries to lower Peter on a medbed, that’s objectively much more comfortable then the bed he was on before, Peter screams. No words are spoken, but the scream startles Mister Stark just the same.

‘Stark, the base is cleared, get him strapped in, Banner is coming’, Natasha ushers, ignoring Peter’s cries and running to the cockpit. Stark has him, she argues, and it does the kid no good to have more prying eyes on him.

‘What is it, are you in pain?’ Tony asks franticly, without responding to Nat, hands hovering over Peter’s body to check for injuries, the light dims when he spots just how badly he was treated in captivity.

Peter screams again when Mister Stark pulls away too far for his liking, latching onto the suit so rigorous it creaks in protests.

‘Please, I’ll be good, don’t leave me, please. I- I know… I’m sorry, Morgan- I’, Peter can’t talk with how much he’s weeping, there are so many things to say and all of them are fighting one another to be said first. Eventually, after everyone has already touched base, the jet leaves and Doctor Banner urgers Tony to place him on the bed, Peter settles for; ‘Don’t leave me here.’

‘Peter’, Tony spits, so harsh that Peter snaps to attention, letting go of the armor and limply following where mister Stark wants him. He gently grips Peter’s chin, mindful of the bruises, and with glistening eyes, he conveys; ‘I’m never leaving you here, do you understand. I don’t care what else you have in your head, but right now, all I need you to know is that I’m not leaving you. Ever.’

He waits for the conforming nod, which Peter only gives when Mister Stark clasps his hand into his. ‘Beside, May would kill me if I came back without her nephew, and I don’t want to be the one to receive her wrath.’ Tony laughs faintly.

He wants to cry at that, good or bad he’s not sure, but instead he allows himself to be lowered, giving in only because Tony is crouching down with him, shielding Peter’s body with his own. It’s unsensical, there in the jet and there’s no danger, but if Peter feels protected Tony will do it, no questions asked.

As soon as he’s in a horizontal positions, Doctor Banner injects him with pain medication, and within seconds, Peter has floated away, dreaming of the lake house with Morgan, Pepper and tony and May at the end of the hallway.

---

Peter knows he’s in the medbay before his body has even fully awoken. He’s been here before, perhaps one to many times for it too be so familiar, and he can recognize the atmosphere from anywhere. The smell of disinfectant lingers around the room heavily, but so does the smell of motor oil, coming from Mister Stark’s lab the floor below the medbay. Usually he’s not alone when he wakes up either, accompanied by Mister Stark or May, maybe even both, and so despite the room having a different connotation, it holds security for Peter.

When all his senses click into place, with an almost audible snap after being out of commission for a week, the burning anguish joins it. It’s almost worse than during the torture itself, because it’s hitting him all at once now, and after stewing for a day his body is one big bruise, but it’s also better, because no more hurt can be added.

Blinking his eyes open, Peter glances around the room and notices that he’s by himself. He hasn’t made up his mind yet whether that’s a good or bad thing. Despite being alone, Peter very nearly cries out for the pain medication he’s sure Tony has at hand. His metabolism runs through painkillers faster than a normal body, but Mister Stark has experience in that department thanks to captain America, which is why Peter never wakes up in the medbay feeling sore.

He’s hoping to snatch some of the good stuff before he can sink away in sleep again, until a dark thought pops up in his head. What if Mister Stark purposefully didn’t give him enough medication so he wouldn’t stay asleep? What if Peter is expected to pay of his debt starting this very moment? It would make sense. Mister Stark is a man that likes to get a move on things, and this is probably no exception.

He bites back a loud whine. He’s so tired and sore, and if he could be anywhere in the world right now he’d choose the lakehouse and rest on the back porch, while looking over Morgan and ensuring she’s safe.

Still, it’s heaps better then what was waiting for him before, so Peter sucks in a deep breath and lifts himself up. He’s dresses in a hospital gown with socks on his feet, the only reprieve of the cold of the tiles that he has. His body fights in protest against the jolting movements, and Peter sinks back into bed three times before finally managing to stay upright. He swallows back bile, and blinks away the disorientation woozing its way through his head.

‘Friday’? He whispers, voice cracking on every syllable.

‘Yes, mister Parker, the AI replies easily, as chipper as a computer can possibly be. ‘It’s good to have you back,’ she adds, when Peter takes too long to reply. It’s not out of rudeness, but the words take a while to be processed in Peter’s hazy mind.

‘Can you tell me what Mister Stark wants me to do?’ Peter finally asks after coughing to clear his throat. Pride flows through his bloodstream when he manages to sound fine.

‘Mister Stark has not given me any directions, but by the distress and elevated heartbeat he experienced whilst at your bedside last, I hypothesize that he would like you to rest Peter.’  

Confusion laces Peter’s next move. Rest? But if that was the case why wasn’t the man here, ensuring that he does like all the other times he’s been in this position?  Deciding not to ask the AI anymore questions, while simultaneously ignoring her advice, Peter focuses on setting one foot in front of the other. If he can’t get a direct answer out of Friday, he’ll just get started on cleaning up in the lab.

The last few times Tony and Peter worked in there, Mister Stark had jokingly grumbled that the lace was getting to disorganized even for his taste, which definitely means something. Peter limps his way to the door, already breathing more heavily and deciding to take a rest against the still closed door. His foot throbs, so Peter switches to put the most weight on the side of his foot, instead of on the balm.

The small trek has left him bone tried, and the lab still seems so far away. Peter tries to calculate how far the lab still is, and agrees with himself to divide the length into smaller stretches. His next stop is at the elevator, so Peter shuffled along the floor, ignoring the black spots that dance before his eyes and threaten to have him collapse.

The extortion reminds him of the time that Toomes dropped a building on him, which is just plain ridiculous, this shouldn’t be half as tough. Peter scolds himself to man up when about halfway to the elevator he bumps into a cart and whimpers.

After finally finding support on the elevator beams, Peter allows himself a twenty second break to cry. At this point, the exact reason for crying is unbeknownst to him. All that he does know is that he feels like a mess, like someone took all the spiderman away from him and left him as a pile of uselessness. He shouldn’t have the right to complain however. Mister Stark rescued him from a fate much worse, the least he could do is help him out.

‘Friday’, Peter pauses to gulp in more air, and to force his tears back. ‘Open the elevator.’

‘Mister Parker I would advise-‘

‘Please’, he begs, voice barely louder then a whisper. The AI complies without further disagreement. The elevator begins to move the floor bellow it, soundlessly passing Peter along. The theme song, a little joke that Tony had installed after they made a song about spiderman, which plays during every elevator ride when Peter is present, stays off. The doors open, and Peter stumbles out, cheering up a dash when the mess doesn’t look as bad as he had imagined it. The clean up should be doable within two hours, even in Peter’s injured state. Most of the mess comes from scattered papers and documents that Tony tosses aside and never bothered to do anything with, and of mechanical parts that are ready to be thrown out.

All in all, not a lot of weight that Peter has to pick up. He has barely started on five pages when the elevator behind him opens again. Peter hadn’t noticed it going to a different floor in the first place.

Lister Stark burst out of the room like the devil himself is after him. He pauses for one second to observe what Peter’s doing -he’s in the middle of bending down at a very lateral pace- and then he’s off again, cursing under his breath.

‘Jesus Christ Peter what are you doing?’

He pulls out a rolling chair from behind his work bench and rushes it to Peter side. ‘Come on, sit.’ He says already clenching a hand around Peter’s bicep to guide him down. In his confusion, Peter follows his instruction.

‘Mister Stark?’ He questions, eyes tracking his mentors movement as if he’s afraid he’s done something wrong and punishment will follow.

There is none, all that Tony does, is fall down on his knees in front of Peter, so they’re making direct eye contact. Peter gulps at the sight. He’s sure those jeans cost more than half of what May ears a month, and if Peter is expected to repay those too, he’ll never be able to pay of his debt.

‘Kiddo, what are you doing?’ Mister Stark asks incredulous, his hand never leaving Peter’s arm. His eyes sweep over Peter’s form, noticing the ailments that he aggravated by walking all the way down here. ‘Why aren’t you in bed?’

‘I thought you wanted me to get started already.’ Peter admits shyly. He can’t understand why he’s being treated with such kindness all of a sudden.

‘Started on what Pete? I don’t understand.’ Mister Stark shuffles closer, one hand coming up to cup Peter’s chin, sweeping gentle circles that are meant to calm himself down as much as Peter.

‘Paying of my debt.’ Peter replies confused, wrapping his arms around his stomach area and bending downwards in an order to self sooth. He needs to get up soon, are Peter’ not sure he will be able to. Now that he’s granting his body some rest, the pain he forced to the back of his mind is rushing back in.

‘What debt kid, you need rest and you need it right now. Stay here, I’m going to go get you a gurney so you don’t require any more walking.’

Right as Mister Stark gets of his knees, Peter’s hand shoots out, gripping the older man’s wrist.  The action was pure habitual, but now that he’s initiated contact he doesn’t know what to do.

‘When will I have to start working then? I’d rather get started as soon as possible, to thank you for everything Mister Stark.’ Peter’s voice pitches even lower, letting his head hang down in shame. He really doesn’t want to offer his suit back, Spiderman is what gives him purpose, but the sooner he no longer has a debt, the sooner he can start working to provide May with an extra income as well. He has no choice.

‘I can give you the suit back if you’ll accept it.’

Tony regards him with perturbation for several long lasting moment. Then, he gasps, finally clicking in his head what Peter is going on about.

‘Oh kiddo, that’s the concussion speaking. Listen to me,’ he sinks back down in front Peter, taking his hand in his. ‘You have done so much for me. If anything it’s me that should be in debt to you.’ Peter pens his mouth to argue, but Tony hushes him softly.

‘You’re not thinking straight buddy, that why spider baby’s need their rest. But truly Peter, you don’t owe me anything. Well except maybe you owe it to  be safe, I think I’ve earned that much.’

‘Really?’ Peter asks optimistically, his whole body filling up with a feeling he can’t name, but it chokes him up until he’s bursting with the urge to give a hug to his mentor.

‘Yeah Peter of course. All I want is my kids to be safe.’

Kids. Tony sees Peter as his kid, as equal to Morgan. A person to love unconditionally without needing any favors, without having any debt. Of course Mister Stark won’t ask that of him, despite his front, the man has a heart that’s made of gold. Mister Stark, his mentor, and his father figure.

‘Dad,’ Peter sobs, almost falling out of the chair in his rush to get to Tony. The man immediately returns the hug, holding Peter up in a way that he hopes will be the least painful for him.

‘You’re okay Peter you’re okay.’

‘I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking’, Peter confesses, deeply ashamed of how low he thought of his dad.

‘It’s okay Kiddo, like I said it’s the concussion. Of course you were scared, I can’t blame you. I promise that I tried so hard to find you bud. I’m sorry it took me so long.’

Peter says nothing, he’s had enough encounters with Tony now to sense that the man wouldn’t believe him if Peter told him it’s okay. Instead he just nuzzles closer, accepting all the love and affection radiating from Tony, and giving back what he hopes is just as much.

‘Can we go back to the lakehouse?’ Peter asks softly, burring his head in Tony’s neck. It might be a weird question coming from him. He liked the beach house enough, but he has never actively asked to go there when they could stay at the tower as well. But now, Peter won’t feel safe unless his down there, in the cabin hidden behind threes, where the environment is quiet that he can hear everyone’s heartbeat, and can confirm that everyone is safe.

‘Sure kid.’ Tony responds, a tad bewildered, but happy to provide anyway. ‘We’ll leave as soon as you get check out okay. I want to make sure you didn’t rip anything.’

‘Okay’, Peter mumbles, a bone deep tiredness washing over him, and letting him sink down into Tony. ‘Thanks dad.’

If Peter were more awake, he would have noticed the silent tears of happiness streaming down Mister Starks cheek at the name. As it stands, Peter just hums contently when a kiss is pressed at the top of his head, and Tony strikes a hand through his hair.

‘Anything for my son.’

[supercorpkid]

Mind Controlled – The Series.

Part 4 – There’s no forgiveness.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader.

Word count: 2190.

Warning: Injuries, pain, angst.

Previously on the series - part 1, part 2, part 3

Kara lands in the backyard when the first ray of the sun hits the sky. You’re still glued to her, covered in blood, sweat and tears. Your throat hurts like you’ve been screaming for hours straight. Your mind feels lazy, like for some reason you’ve lost part of your brain function. There’s blood coming out of several parts of your body, and you don’t know how any of those bruises ended up on you.

“Water, please.” You beg, when Kara goes inside the house and she takes you to the kitchen, still carrying your floppy body everywhere. You look at the kitchen wall. Bricks exposed, dust and broken parts on the floor and you gasp at the image imprinted on the wall. “I hurt you.”

“No, baby.” Kara sits you on the stool. She grabs water and pours cereal into a bowl for you. You don’t move. You can’t take your eyes from the wall. “You know I have super strength. You didn’t hurt me.”

“But I tried to.” You drink the water, so your mind gets occupied with something. What have you done? “Where’s mom? Did I hurt her too?”

“Baby.” Kara goes to you, and holds your face, gently. “I know you don’t remember anything, but you have to believe me. You didn’t hurt a single soul, ok?” You want to agree, but it’s hard because you really don’t remember if it’s true. “Eat something. You really need to shower this blood off, and you need some sleep.”

“But-” You try to argue, but Kara doesn’t want to talk anymore. So you look to the floor, finding impossible to stare at the wall and the proof you’ve acted like a monster. “Oh my God.”

“What, baby?” Kara follows your eyes to the floor.

“Mom’s vase. I broke mom’s vase.” You get up from the stool, stumbling your way to the vase. You fall on the floor, collecting one of the pieces. “She loved this.”

“My love, it’s just a vase.” Kara makes her way to where you are, crouching next to you.

“But you brought as a gift from that time you went to Japan, and she… SHE LOVES THIS!” You cry, trying to collect every piece, bleeding on the porcelain. “She will never forgive me.”

“Baby, no, no.” Kara takes the broken pieces from your hands, and picks you up. “That’s enough of self-loathing, come on.” She sits on the stool again. “Eat, please.”

You do as she told you to. It doesn’t take long until you’re clean and wrapped up in blankets and Kara’s arms, and you fall into a turbulent, but still needed sleep.

When you wake up, it’s the middle of the afternoon. You make your way to the kitchen, feeling equally shitty on the outside, but at least you can stand up now. On the inside you feel worse, like you have done things so horrible your brain is refusing to let you remember them. It sits heavy on your stomach and on your heart. You hope to Rao you haven’t done something irredeemable.

You walk in the kitchen and look around. Kara already cleaned the vase, and even though the wall is still broken, she somehow managed to make it look less like her body-shape. There’s so much food waiting for you, it looks like Kara is trying to feed a Kryptonian army.

“Hey, baby. Got some rest?” Kara comes closer, and she grabs your hands, studying them for the marks there. She looks at the marks on your wrists, and even lifts your shirt to look at the raw flesh of your ribcage, to make sure your injuries are better. They are not. “You need sunlight.”

“Momma, I’m not a sunflower.” You huff, while Kara picks you up again, taking you to the backyard, to the table there.

“Yes, you are.” She jokes and you look up to her while pouting.

“You are a sunflower.” You cross your arms, making Kara laugh.

She comes back into the house to pick up the food, and a few seconds later most of the food is in front of you.

“Where’s mom?” You ask, looking around, and since you don’t have your glasses, you can use your x-ray vision. “You said I didn’t hurt her, so why isn’t she home yet?”

“You didn’t hurt anyone, but you broke some stuff.” Kara grabs one slice of pizza, and sits next to you. Your eyes grow bigger.

“Besides her vase?” You still can’t forgive yourself for that. Kara nods. “What else?”

“Your training center.” She sighs, and your eyes are filled with tears right away. “You burnt it, actually.”

“I’m so sorry!” You cover your face with your hands, feeling embarrassed and sad. You loved going there and practicing with aunt Alex and your momma. Why the hell did you do that for?

“It wasn’t you.” Kara pulls you into a hug, and kisses your forehead. “You didn’t want to do or say any of those things. We know, baby.”

“But-” You tried to argue, still not understanding.

“Baby, you were mind controlled.” Kara breathes out her answer. “You did things you didn’t mean to. Someone else was pulling the strings. None of that was inside of you, none of that was what you once thought or wanted to do, ok?”

“Is that why I don’t remember a thing about it?” You ask, confused. Kara agrees with her head, and you look down trying to think. That’s a good thing. To know none of that was inside of you, and to know you didn’t mean to do any of that. But still, somebody used your body and your memories to hurt the ones you loved and the places you love, so that is terrifying. You look up to her again. “Someone, who?”

“Lex.” Kara lets out and you agree with your head, not wanting to hear anything else.

Ok, so you didn’t physically hurt anyone, but you know Lex (or at least his reputation), so you know that he probably found other ways to hurt people. And Lena, poor Lena, was probably his first choice for that, because he genuinely hates her.

You really want to apologize, so you can’t wait until Lena to get home for you to do so. But she doesn’t come. You wait and wait, but Lena never arrives. You probably screwed up with her big time.

Kara keeps reassuring you that you didn’t, that none of it it’s your fault, but it can’t be true. So, one day Lex mind controls you to beat up your momma, destroy important places to you, and you’re supposed to believe this has nothing to do with Lena not coming home to you?

You wake up before Kara does, and you go to the kitchen to make her breakfast, so you can somehow apologize for whatever it is that happened on the day and night before. You make her all of her favorites, and leave a note under a flower on the counter for when she wakes up.

You are the sunflower.

You don’t wait for her to wake up, though. Your heart has been desperate for hours wanting to see your mom and have her forgiveness and feel her comfort. There’s nothing more comforting in the world than Lena’s hands on your hair while you place your head on her lap.

You listen to her heartbeat, and you go to her. You land on Lena’s balcony at L Corp, looking inside to where she is sitting on the couch. You also notice other things: Her overnight bag pushed to the side, untouched food in front of her, her red eyes and puffy cheeks. It breaks your heart all the more.

“Mom.” You go to her, kneeling on the floor in front of her and placing your head on her lap. “Please, forgive me. Please.”

“Come on, baby, stand up.” Lena tries to hold your hand, but you settle on her lap, weeping mercifully.

“I don’t know what I said, or did, but I know I’ve hurt you. Please, please, forgive me.” You ask between the tears and the cracks in your voice. Lena’s hands go to your head. “I’m so sorry for everything.”

“It wasn’t you.” Lena strokes your hair, gently. “It was Lex mind controlling you. Babygirl, I’m not angry. Everything is ok.”

You lift your head so you can look at her. Lena gives you a sad little smile, while cleaning the tears on your face.

“But-but you’re here.” You look around. “You’re not home, because you can’t be around me anymore.”

“What? Baby, no!” Lena holds your arms gently, making you stand and sit next to her. She gives you a comforting hug, that feels too nice to be fake. And cups your face, right after. “This has nothing to do with you. Do you hear me?”

“I don’t understand.” You furrow your brows, looking scared and lost. “You’re sleeping in your office at L Corp right after I was turned into a monster. How can this have nothing to do with me?”

“Babygirl, do you trust me?” Lena asks. Her eyes flicker, anxiously, studying your face, like she’s afraid of your answer.

“More than myself.” It’s your most truthful sentence. She gives you a soft smile.

“Then believe me when I tell you, I’m not mad at you, and I’m not here because I can’t be around you.” She strokes your cheeks with her thumbs. “I love you more than anything, and I’m very, extremely, deeply happy that my baby is back.”

“I am.” You repeat, agreeing with your head. “Then, please come back home.”

“I can’t.” She kisses your forehead, and then lets go of your face. “Not now, anyways.”

“Mom.” You try, but she shakes her head like she’s telling you to stop this conversation.

“Please, have breakfast with me?” She asks turning to the food before you, and even though you already ate, you refuse to say no and let her eat alone.

When you’re finished eating, and you see that Lena actually ate something, you decide to pick the subject back again.

“Mom, I know I was mind controlled, but, um, I need to make sure I didn’t physically hurt you or said anything too painful.” She looks at you, pointing at herself, like she’s saying that she’s not hurt. “Right. And the second part?”

“Baby, I told you. The things you said? All Lex.” She kisses your forehead again. “Stop worrying.” You wish it was that simple. That you could just simply stop worrying, but you look at her face, you see the sadness in her eyes, and you know you would do anything to make her happy again.

Your phone starts ringing and she looks at it, reading the name in it.

“Answer it, so Kara doesn’t worry about you.” She says, and you furrow your brows.

Kara. Heart beating fast. Breath stuck in her lungs.

“Hey, momma.”

“Kid, where are you? You made all this breakfast and left me here to eat alone?”

“Came to check upon mom.”

“Oh, um, right. How-How is Lena?”

Lena. Choking on her words. Dear Rao. This isn’t about you at all.

“Sleeping at her office, so not great.”

Lena raises an eyebrow at you, and you hear Kara sucking on air.

“You guys want to tell me something?” You ask on the phone while looking at Lena.

“We’ll talk when you get home.” You hear Kara’s voice, and then the dial tone. You lower your phone and keep waiting for Lena’s response.

“It has nothing to do with you.” Lena says, holding your hands, and stroking your bruises lightly. “This is between me and your momma only, ok?”

“Mom, please, come home. Whatever it is, you two need to talk.” You ask, and she shakes her head in denial.

“Please baby. Let’s not talk about it.” Even though she added the ‘please’ you know it’s not a request. You know your mom, and you can see it on her face that you better drop the subject right now, or you will make things worse.

So, it seems that none of your moms are mad at you, or sad about the things you’ve said and done. It looks like it has nothing to do with you, and it’s a fight between them.

Alex also doesn’t seem to care, when you see her in the middle of the week, she just smiles and waves at you. She doesn’t even want to listen to your apology, she just cuts you off with a “kiddo, save that apology for a time you do this with your worst intentions. This wasn’t your fault, so I don’t need no apology.”

And you wish that could go into your brain and make you forgive yourself for the things that you know, now, you’ve done. But there’s still exposed bricks on your kitchen wall, there’s still no place for you to practice, and there’s still no Lena in your house. And as the week goes on and on, and you don’t know if she’ll ever come back, there’s no forgiveness you can give to yourself.

[some-kindofgnome]

Kinktober #5: Pretty Please? -  Hawks

In which you and Keigo coin a few new petnames for one another.

Characters: Takami Keigo (Hawks) / f!Reader

Warnings: smut (18+ please!), daddy kink, dom!Hawks, vaginal sex, a touch of begging, inappropriate use of gen Z social media apps

Notes: This man is getting dangerously close to the top of my simp list. It’s really becoming an issue. Today’s prompt is ‘Daddy Kink.’ Also, I didn’t come up with ‘kid’ as a nickname that Hawks uses... if u know, u know

Kinktober Masterlist

“How long have you been here?”

Keigo’s voice echoes in the hallway of his little apartment soon after you hear the jingle of his keys in the lock. While it certainly isn’t your first time coming to his place without him, you’re still not quite used to the appearance of that silvery little key dangling from your key ring.

Nor are you used to hanging around the place by yourself. You spent the morning in a coffee shop around the corner, working away- popping by the agency to see Keigo over lunch. He’d told you to come back here if you needed somewhere quiet to work- bonus points, since you’d be here waiting when he got home.

“Came straight after lunch,” you call absently. Your eyes are glued to the screen as you finish your thought, typing out your last email of the day. As soon as you hit send you snap the laptop shut, pushing it gently across the kitchen counter while climbing out of your chair.

“Hi,” you purr, catching up to him in the hallway. You grab his hand and he pauses, leaning in to peck your lips. When he pulls back, he’s got a lazy smirk drawn across his mouth.

“How you been, kid? Sure feels good comin’ home to you at the end of the day.”

“Don’t get used to it,” you tease, pushing your shoulder against his. You lean down and nuzzle his jaw, letting your cheek scrape against his scruff. “I’m a strong, independent woman.”

“Which is exactly why I love you,” he replies. He grabs your chin and pulls your mouth back to his, catching it in a kiss that would have surprised you with its tenderness, if you didn’t know him so well.

When you first met, he played the Cheshire Cat role eagerly. Smirking at you, pulling lines on you, making you think he was the laid-back hero that everybody knew him as. But the more time you spend with him, the more he opens up. The more he lets himself be vulnerable to you. And you him. You’d never meant to let him in so easily, but…

Here you are.

You flop down on the couch together, Keigo leaning against one arm while you keep your head cradled in his lap. He’s happy to fold his wings over the back of the couch and absently stroke your hair while you catch up a little. It’s only been a few hours since you’ve last seen one another, so you settle quickly into comfortable silence.

That’s when you open your phone, idly opening Tik Tok and starting to scroll. Every so often you come across a video related to Hawks. He’s got a lot of fans out there- and a lot of fangirls, too. You don’t mind, though. Sometimes they get a little too personal, however, and you like to scroll.

This time around, you don’t scroll fast enough.

You don’t catch the whole video, but it’s a clip of Keigo that somebody took on their phone. Suddenly, the audio cuts out and it’s interrupted by the sound of a female voice, moaning more obscenely than you could ever hope to.

“Daddy,” it mewls, and you scroll so fast the phone almost topples out of your fingers.

Frozen, you pull your eyes carefully up to meet the gaze of your boyfriend. He definitely heard. And while he knows that Tik Tok can pull up some random videos at times, you can see the flush spreading across his cheeks.

He shifts a little underneath you, hand paused on top of your head. He clears his throat.

“What was that?”

You consider your next words carefully.

“…A video.”

He swallows hard and licks his lips.

“What kind of video?”

Suddenly, it hits you. You have the reins. You realize exactly what’s going through his head. And the next time you look up at him, it’s with a wicked smirk stretching your lips.

“Why do you want to know?” You ask, and your voice has taken on the low sort of drawl that makes him shift again underneath you. “Don’t tell me you like the sound of that… Daddy.”

You feel the barest vibration in his chest as a tiny groan escapes him. He doesn’t move, but you can see the way his wings bristle, the joints stiffening a little as his feathers spread. Your stomach jolts excitedly.

“Don’t call me that,” he grunts, but you know he doesn’t mean it.

The two of you are far from vanilla most nights. You’re definitely up for a little experimentation. And pet names flow between you like water. But this feels… different. This feels controversial.

Oh, fuck. You’re into it, too.

“You do.” You scramble into a sitting position, swinging one knee over his thighs. He looks up at you with a pair of lidded tawny eyes, his jaw drawn slack in an expression that spells sheer arousal to you. You know that face well, and it makes your body ache.

“Do you want me to call you Daddy from now on?” You’re not letting up, and as you lean forward, his hands find your hips. They squeeze. Hard. His wings fan a gentle breeze over your face, and you love the way his breath hitches in your ear.

“Fuck, stop,” he groans. It’s more desperate this time, and as his hips keen against yours you can tell just how hard this is hitting him. He’s half-hard already, straining against the thick denim between you.

“Maybe now’s the time to tell you,” you whisper, “how bad I’ve wanted you all day, Daddy. I couldn’t stop thinking about you all afternoon. I even thought about ducking into your room before-”

That breaks him, and he snatches your hips and stands abruptly. He’s strong enough to carry you easily, and he lifts your thighs securely around his hips before beelining for the bedroom.

When you get there, instead of being spread on your back like the pillow princess he’ll normally let you pretend to be, he pushes you face-down into the pillows, letting your hips hang off the edge of his wide bed. He bends close, his chest brushing the column of your spine as his jaw brushes your ear.

“You brought this on yourself, kid,” he gruffs. He’s already working your sweater up your back. You lift your torso enough for him to wedge it off of you, but he doesn’t wait for you to do the same before he’s peeling your leggings down your thighs and taking your thong with it. The second your ass is bare he brings his palm down across it with a resounding snap.

“Kei-” you start to gasp, but he quickly silences you with another spank that draws a yelp from your throat.

“You started this,” he grunts, “you’re gonna finish it. What’s that you were gonna call me?”

You suck in a shaky breath and let your eyes flutter shut. You deserve this. You want it. All you have to do is take the plunge. The rest will follow. That breath you drew before gets held for a moment. And then you jump.

“Daddy,” you whimper, throwing an extra edge of desperation into it, “don’t tease me.”

“Shit, kid,” he grunts. His belt jingles as he gets his pants undone, and you hear them hit the floor. A breeze from his wings and another pile of fabric hitting the carpet determines that he’s naked now. He’s left your leggings partially on, though, keeping your legs pressed tightly together at the knees.

He knows what he’s doing.

When he steps up behind you again it’s with the warm presence of his bare skin on yours, and you feel the brush of his hand against the back of your thigh, gentle and rhythmic. He’s stroking his cock and you want more than anything to turn your head and sneak a peek, but you know that doesn’t fit into the game you’re playing.

“You ready for me, sweetness?”

He slips a hand between your legs, drawing his thumb along your slit and making you shiver. You could use a little more time, but you’re wet already. He drags his slick thumb down to the swell of your clit and circles it. The tender nerves are already pinched between your thighs, and the sensation is enough to make your hips buck harshly back against him.

Your ass connects with his thighs and he steps back a little, chuckling as he lays one hand in the small of your back to steady you.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you wanted something,” he drawls, continuing to circle your clit with that lazy thumb. It’s making your toes curl against the wood floor as stars explode behind your eyelids.

He leans in close. “Why don’t you tell me what it is?”

“You know what it is,” you choke, because it won’t be any fun at all if you fold right away.

“I know,” he quips, and you can hear the smirk in his voice. “I just wanna hear you say it.” He draws his thumb across your clit in a sudden swipe, making your whole body jump. You squeeze your eyes shut and brace yourself.

“Fuck me, Daddy,” you plead, and he chuckles so low and feral it sends vibrations up your spine. He shifts forward again, hand still pushing you into the mattress. His thumb leaves your clit, but it’s soon replaced by the head of his cock, pressing flush against your slick pussy. You can feel it now that he’s touching you- you’re soaked.

“Now how am I s’posed to say no, baby, when you ask so- ah- nicely?”

His voice breaks as he pushes in, and your whine comes in sync with it. You’re always amazed at how perfectly the two of you seem to fit together. There’s a stretch, but no pain. There’s never been pain. And on top of that, the thirsty Twitter accounts are right.

Your man knows how to fuck.

He bottoms out inside you, sliding a palm to your ass, and lets out a breathy groan. But he’s grinning. You can tell. It’s been a long day for both of you.

For a man who talks so much during foreplay he’s relatively quiet- or, wordless, at least. There’s nothing quiet about the way he grunts as he draws himself back and pumps slowly into you again. He’s testing the waters, but with your thighs pressed together the way they are you’re even tighter than usual.

“Not gonna last long,” he warns headily, and that’s the last thing you hear before he starts to fuck you properly and all your senses go haywire.

When you swim back to the surface, the only sounds in the room are your mingled, laboured breathing, and the rhythmic slap slap slap of his thighs against your ass. There’s something about the angle he’s taking you from- he’s hitting you just right, and you squirm in front of him with a desperate mewl.

“Daddy,” you whine, taking the game and running with it, “daddy, please, I wanna cum.”

“Don’t you worry, sweetness,” he growls behind you, breathless and feral. “Daddy’s not gonna leave you hangin’.”

It sounds different coming out of his mouth. The appeal was already there- anything that turns him on turns you on, too, almost as a direct result. But when you hear it coming from him, it flips your stomach in a way that you could get used to.

He slides an arm beneath your waist and hauls you off the bed, pulling you back against his chest as he continues to fuck up into you. His right hand dances down your hip and between your legs, finding the swollen nub of your clit. He strums it deftly, making you squeal.

“Yeah,” you whimper, letting your head fall back against his shoulder as he holds you close. “Fuck, I’m getting there.”

“Me too, kid,” he pants into your ear. “So damned tight. Fuck, you’re suckin’ the life outta me.”

In another half-dozen thrusts you’re dangling precariously on the edge. He’s still going, hitting you just right and pushing you there one inch at a time. Suddenly he re-centers his grip on you and comes back with renewed ferocity. His rhythm doubles.

You fall.

Your orgasm is particularly spectacular this time around. Your spine goes concave as your legs go fluid. You reach back and grab at his hips as you keen and twitch and rock through the pleasure. Your pussy convulses around his cock and his hips stutter. He grabs you hard, holding you up as he explodes, warm and liquid inside you.

When it’s over, you both collapse onto the mattress. Outside, the sun is painting brilliant streaks of apricot across the sky. A gentle autumn breeze flutters the curtains. You finally catch your breath.

“So,” you sigh, turning your head where it’s cradled on his chest. His body is beautiful, and now that you’ve finally got the chance to look you don’t take it for granted. He’s all long lines and clean muscle, dusted over with tawny hair and the last kisses of the summer sun.

He’s kissing your shoulder as you speak up, one scarlet wing folded neatly at his shoulder, the other fanned out across the bed.

“It’s gonna be Daddy, then, is it?”

He snorts, smirking against your skin.

“Sure didn’t sound like you had a problem with it two minutes ago.”

“I don’t,” you quip, tracing a finger down his sternum. “I liked it. I…” You trail off, and your ears warm. “I liked it.”

He pulls back from your shoulder and rests his head against the pillow beneath him, his eyes casting over your face. Warm and loving and heartbreakingly genuine despite the… sensitive nature of your conversation.

“So did I,” he purrs, and you fall silent for another few minutes. Decompressing. Basking, he’ll say later on. Inevitably, the needs of the evening step in, and as the last rays of light fade from the city you lift your head.

“Dinner?”

His eyes were closed, but they slide slowly open again at the sound of your voice. In the dim like this, they’re the colour of almonds, always soft when they’re looking you over. You fall a little more in love with him every time he looks at you like that.

Then he shoots you a near-boyish crooked grin and your heart warms all over again.

“Whatever you want, kid.”

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

ILLICITUS: CHAPTER 6

Prompt: Y/N is a respectful narcotics agent, she worked hard to have her work recognized in a prominently male work field. She‘s assigned to the most important case of her whole career, investigate and apprehend the biggest drug dealer of U.S.A, the only thing she didn’t count on, was for the bastard to be so damn charming.

Word count: Long-ish

Pairing: Mob!Roman Reigns x Reader

Warnings: +18, dirty talk, mentions of drugs, cursing, conspiracy.

Tagging: @ziasaph , @saccreigns , @marlananicole , @nicolewoo , @mindofasagittaruis , @reigns-5sos , @auawdo , @lilred91 , @lustyromantic , @bayley-no-friends , @babydee17 , @yungbludjazz360

Notes: To catch up with the previous chapters just hit my Masterlist! Y’all know the drill loves,sorry for misspellings,english isn’t my first language (bla bla bla),check out my other stories if you’d like to(it would make your girl here very happy 😊) You can check them out on my Masterlist. Okay,now let’s get to the fun part, shall we? Hope you’ll enjoy 😉

The cool air of the air conditioning system was already burning my skin like ice. Thinking no one would ever come for me, I almost screamed for help, when the door suddenly opened.

“They’re gone. Come on out” Roman offers me his hand and I took it, appreciating the warmth of his palm on my hand as I crawl out of the little panic room.

“Thank you” I shivered and Roman hand me a black hoodie, which I assume it was his due to the size.

I sigh in comfort once the large fabric hugs my body and I am surrounded by his spicy, musky scent.

Roman motions for me to sit down on his californian king bed.

“What did you told them?” I ask eagerly

“The truth. That I didn’t knew where were you these past 4 days”

“Ok..did you told them where I was now?”

“Why would I hide you inside a panic room in my bedroom if I was going to tell them where you were right now, Y/N?” He cackled

I lightly smile at my own dumb question

“You’re right”

He takes slow steps towards the bed, like a predator to it’s prey. One knee sinking down on the mattress, beneath my legs, he lightly pushed me down and quickly hovered his body on top of mine.

“Where were you these last 4 days, Y/N?” He whispered, oh so softly.

“I don’t know. The only thing I remember is you calling me to have lunch with you so we could talk about the tracker”

“And previous to that?” Roman pecked my neck and face

“I honestly don’t remember” I murmured

“What’s this?” Roman asked, pointing to the side of my neck

“What?” I urgently questioned

“There’s a small mark on your neck, like a sting or something like that” He caresses the marked spot

“A sting?”

“Yeah, it almost looks like..” He trailed off

“Like what, Roman?” My voice is filled with despair

“A needle, like a needle mark”

I pushed Roman off of me and ran to his bathroom, so I could look on the mirror the so called mark.

“What the fuck?” I whispered in shock, touching the marked spot “How is this even possible?” I ask him when I caught his sight on the mirror

“I don’t know, but something definitely happened those 4 days and we need to know what it was”

“We?” I raised my eyebrows in shock

“Yeah, if someone is that eager to fuck you up they might be trying to find something about me, and I don’t like people sniffing around my business”

“How are you so sure this has to do with you?” I question him, slightly offended

“Has this ever happened to you before?” He asked and I shake my head

“So there’s your answer” He smiled pretentiously

I rolled my eyes, bumping into him lightly as I passed his figure leaned against the en suite bathroom and begin to gather my things to leave.

“What are you doing, Y/N?”

“Leaving, I got work to do and explanations to give” I answered, lacing up my boots

“So that’s how’s gonna be huh? You just gonna use my body and then leave, like I’m some sort of cheap whore?” He pretended indignation but I could here the amusement behind his voice

“Oh I’m sure you can live with that. And if it makes you feel better, you were the best cheap whore I’ve ever fucked” I smiled widely making him laugh

“What if I don’t want you to leave?” Roman is now walking towards me

“I’m afraid that’s not an option, sir” I cackled

“Yes it is” He pushes me down on the mattress and covers my body with his “I didn’t even got the chance to eat this pussy” He pouts “One of the things I want to do the most since I saw you is to eat you out until you‘re begging me to stop. It’s not fair to leave me hanging like this” Roman sucked my bottom lip “C’mon, Y/N. You’re not gonna leave before I can taste that sweet pussy, right babygirl?”

His lips are brushing mine with every word he says and I can feel my strength slowly melting away.

“Roman...don’t make this difficult for me, please. I really need-“

“You really need to shut the fuck up and let me take what I want.”

His lips roam down my neck, towards my chest. Once he started to kiss the tops of my breasts my phone rang and Jeffrey’s name light up on the screen.

“I really need to pick this up” I whispered

“Really?” Roman groans in frustration

“Just let him waiting a few more hours, Y/N! He already waited 4 days anyways” He begins to grind his hips again and I answered the call

Roman looks at me in disbelief as I listen to Jeffrey’s ‘dad lecture’ of ‘what the fuck was I thinking and where the fuck was I’ these past 4 days.”

“I don’t know, Jeffrey. Everything’s blurred” I sighed “Ok, ok I’ll be there in 10 minutes” I hung up and Roman is just staring at me

“What?”

“You’re really gonna leave?” He sounds offended

“Roman, is not like I have a choice! I have to go”

“So I’ll have to deal with the situation with my own hands?” He motions to his fully erect member

“Sorry?” I awkwardly asked

“Not what I’d like to hear” He sighed quickly standing up and away from me

“Roman...this is a delicate situation-”

“And fucking painful” He adjusted himself on his jeans

“I really need to know what’s going on and-“

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever” He brushes me off

My brows raised in disbelief to such a childish behavior “Jesus, how old are you? Five? Well, excuse me for having a life where you are NOT my main priority but my own ass is! I have someone trying to do God knows what to me and why and all you can do is whine about the fact that we can’t fuck right now?! That’s really mature of you, congrats!” I spat, quickly storming out of his house and into my car on my way to the DEA building.

......................................................................

“So you don’t know what happened?”

“For fuck’s sake Jeffrey, I’ll tell you for the last time: I.don’t.know.what.happened! The only thing I remember is leaving your office to meet Mr. Reigns about that tracker thing, then my phone ringing with your name on the screen and your screaming of ‘Where the fuck are you?’ That’s all I remember”

“And that sting on your neck?”

“I just realized after you called, when I was on the bathroom”

“Well, there are no signs of physical aggression or sexual assault on your body and your blood exams came back clear. Whatever substance was injected on your body is long gone by now. Whoever did this made sure to use some type of drug that would not be detectable on a blood test.” He sighed

“So we’re back to square one?”

“I’m afraid yes, kid. But let’s not get hopeless, maybe something will show up” Jeffrey smiled fondly

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Matt picked through the door crack

“I found something”

Jeffrey beckons him to enter.

“What you got, tech boy?” Jeffrey rushes him

“Well, I was looking through some of Y/N’s internal number previous login entry days and there’s something off”

“What do you mean?” I asked

“Well, those 4 days you were missing somebody was logging on the system with your number and searched through some old case files”

“Whose?” Jeffrey questioned

“There wasn’t an individual’s name, just the operation name”

“Spit it out, boy!” Jeffrey spat

“Messiah. Operation Messiah”

“Rollins” Jeffrey and I both whispered

TO BE CONTINUED....

Please let me know your thoughts on this series so far? Some feedback is always appreciated.

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers VANDEAD CARNIVAL ;; Laito Route ー Chapter 4

ー The scene starts on the Carnival’s venue

Male Vampire A: Oi, we have to hurry or we won’t make it on time for the Carnival’s finale, you know?

Female Vampire A: Let’s hurry! This doesn’t happen every day, so I want to watch it from a good angle!

Laito: ...You heard them?

Yui: The Carnival’s finale...

Which means the Carnival is almost over?

In that case, even though I don’t know what exactly happens during the finale,

we should probably hurry up and head back to the castle as well, huh...?

Laito: Eeh~? What are you saying?

If the Carnival is going the end, we definitely shouldn’t be returning to the castle right now!

Yui: Eh...!? What do you mean...?

Laito: In~ other~ words~! While the Carnival is still ongoing...

We have to make sure to enjoy it to the fullest!

That being said, come on! Let’s go over there! Right there! I bet we’ll have a blast!

Yui: Eeh!? B-But...Can we just act of our own accord?

Laito: Of course we can! As long as the Queen has a good time. Nfu~

Come on, hurry~

*Thud*

Yui: Wait, Laito-kun! Don’t push me so strongly...!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to Saint Nore Park’s venue

Yui: ( Laito-kun dragged me over here but...Where are we...? )

Laito: Nfu~ This is Saint Nore Park. By human standards, I suppose you would call this an amusement park?

As to be expected of the Carnival, this place is bustling with energy as well.

Well then, Bitch-chan, since we’re here now, why don’t we try out one of the rides?

Come on, take a look. It seems like all attractions have granted the customers special entrance for the Carnival.

Which one should we pick...? They all look fun, it really makes it hard to choose, huh?

Yui: Uhm...

( He said ‘fun’ but...As to be expected of the Demon World, all of them seem kind of creepy in one way or another... )

Laito: Ah! Hey, how about that one? ‘Berawecka’s castle’. 

Looks like it’s similar to what would be called a haunted house in the human world!

Yui: H-Haunted house? They have those here in the Demon World too...?

Laito: Of course. But you know, they’re on a totally different level from the boring (1) haunted houses made by humans...

I’m sure the two of us will be able to enjoy it. ...In various ways, you see? Nfu~

Yui: ( A haunted house, huh...? )

Selection

→ Seems fun! (☾)

Yui: A haunted house from the Demon World sounds like a blast!

Laito: Right~? As to be expected of Bitch-chan! I knew you’d say that!

→ I’ll pass

Yui: I-I’ll pass on that!

( It screams danger! ...Laito-kun more so than the ghosts themselves. )

Laito: Eeeh~? Geez, Bitch-chan, you’re such a scaredy cat...

And here I was thinking of comforting you after you got frightened by the haunted house, you see?

Yui: ( ...Seems like I was spot on. )

Magician A: Excuse me. If you have a spare minute, would you like to see a magic trick?

Clown A: Oi oi. A Vampire should have plenty of time on hands, right? Wait...Huh...?

...Seems like this young lady over here isn’t a Vampire.

Yui: ...

Clown A: But rest assured!

We will show you a magic trick so amazing, you will not regret using some of your limited time on it!

...What do you say? Hihi~

Yui: ( ...! This Clown...He looks normal at first glance, but he’s kind of spooky... )

*Rustle*

Laito: Excuse me, Mr. Clown? Could I ask you to kindly refrain from getting too close to my Queen Bitch?

Magician A: Queen? Then, could this human lady possibly be...?

Laito: Exactly. She’s the star of this year’s Carnival! So you better not make any mistakes!

Magician A: I see. In that case, I have even more reason to give you a spectacular showing!

Well then, let us start with this steel case...Go ahead, Clown, get inside.

*THUD*

Magician A: There, why don’t we stab the case with this sword repeatedly?

Yui: ( S-Stab repeatedly...? )

*Cling*

Clown A: Eeeeek~! Save me~! Hihi~ 

*STAB*

Clown A: Gyaaaah~! He got me~!

*STAB*

Clown A: I’m gonna die~!

Laito: Eeh~? Is this a magic trick? If you’re a Vampire, you won’t die when stabbed anyway.

Magician A: Mister, why don’t you try and stab him right through the heart through that hole over there?

Laito: I don’t usually make it a habit to mess with a random clown I don’t know though...There!

*STAB*

Clown A: Gyaaaaah!

Yui: ...!?

Magician A: Well then, let us set the steel case on fire next! There!

ー The case is set on fire

Laito: Eeh? You’re gonna burn him on top of stabbing him through the heart?

Ahaha! This is amazing! Demon or not, one wrong move and he might actually die!

Yui: This isn’t a laughing matter!

Magician A: Well then, what could have possibly become of the Clown? Behold...

ー He opens the case

*Creaaak*

Laito: Oh dear~? It’s empty. Did he burn up?

Yui: N-No way!

Magician A: Fufu. No need to worry, Miss. Oh dear? Who could that be standing behind you...?

Clown A: Look here, the Clown has come to haunt you~!

Yui: Kyaah!

Clown A: Just kidding~ Hihi~

Laito: Heeh~! Amazing! When did you get out of there?

Magician A: I hope you are convinced of our skill now? Well then, while we’re at it...

Miss, would you be willing to help out with our next act?

Yui: Eh? ...Me?

Magician A: Yes. You won’t be asked to do anything difficult. All you have to do is step inside that black coffin over there.

Laito: Hmm~ Why not? Give it your best shot, Bitch-chan!

Yui: If that’s all I have to do. ...Okay then.

Magician A: Thank you very much. Well then, Miss, this way, please.

*Rustle*

*THUD*

ー The screen fades to black

Yui: ( Uwah, everything turned pitch black the moment he shut me inside... )

( I wonder what kind of magic trick he’ll do...? )

???: ーー I’ve been waiting.

Yui: ...!? I-Is somebody there?

( ...? ...What’s happening? ...I suddenly feel drowsy...Laito-kun, save me... )

ー Yui collapses

Magician A: Well then, we shall have her disappear into thin air now. Take a look! There!

ー The coffin opens again

Laito: ...! Bitch-chan is!?

Clown A: Oh dear! What a surprise! Who would have guessed the young lady would turn into a stuffed rabbit!? Hihi~

Magician A: As you can see, she is nowhere to be seen!

Laito: Amazing! Bitch-chan actually disappeared! How did you do that?

It doesn’t seem like this cute little bunny is actually Bitch-chan...

Magician A: Oh no, I am extremely glad all of you enjoyed it. Well then, this marks the end of our magic show.

Laito: ...Eh? The end? What about Bitch-chan...?

Clown A: Who knows~ Hihi~

*Flap flap flap*

Laito: Wha...!? Familiars!? They were just posing as a magician and a clown!? What is going on...!?

*Flap flap flap*

Laito: Wait, hold it! Who is behind this!?

*Flip*

Laito: Hm...? What’s this...? A letter...? ‘To the King of the Carnival’ it says...

*Flip*

Laito: ...! No wonder I thought something was fishy about all of this...!

I have to hurry! Bitch-chan will...!

ー Laito runs off

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ...Uu...Nn...Where am I...?

Maid A: Miss, we have been awaiting your arrival. Someone unexpectedly got in the way the last time after all.

Yui: Huh...? You’re that person from before...

( She’s the kind maid who promised to show me the way to the castle...Right? )

Maid A: Fufu. I am grateful you remember me.

I wanted to sit down and enjoy a chat with you like this.

With you, who is the Queen of the Carnival...

And the beloved of that man who used me...to his heart’s content!

ー She suddenly lunges towards Yui

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyaah! W-What!? Let me go!

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: ( What is she talking about...? )

Maid A: ...Stop struggling!

I was able to give up on him because he said he would never truly love someone...However...

You are loved by him...I can’t allow that...

I definitely won’t!

ー The maid tries to cut Yui with a knife

*Swoosh*

Yui: Kyah!

*Rustle*

Yui: ( ...Was that...a knife just now...? )

( E-Either way, I have to get out of here... )

Maid A: Hold it!

Yui: No!

( Laito-kun, save me...! )

ー Yui runs away towards the ballroom

Yui: W-Where am I...!? ...Kyaah!

*Swoosh*

Maid A: Haah...You’re quick to flee, aren’t you? However, you’ve reached a dead end.

On top of that, this is the Demon World...Who in their right mind would take the side of a human!?

Give up already! Ahaha!

*Swoosh*

Yui: No! Save me! ...Laito-kun!!

ー Laito comes running as if on cue

Laito: Hey! Stay away from her!

Yui: !?

Yui: L-Laito-kun!

( He actually came to my rescue! )

Laito: Say, Miss Maid. I don’t know what exactly is going on, but she’s not the one you bear a grudge against. I am, no?

Maid A: ...Laito-sama...!

Laito: If I did something to you, I’ll apologize. I’m sorry, okay? So please,spare her! 

Or is just an apology not enough? What do I need to do for you to forgive me?

Maid A: ...I never thought I’d hear Laito-sama apologize to me...!

Is she...

...really that important to you!?

Laito: Of course! She is my precious Bitch-chan after all! There is nobody who could ever replace her.

Yui: ( Laito-kun...! )

Laito: However, she is a human, you see. Unlike us Vampires, she dies so very easily.

So please, could you put away that dangerous thing you’re holding in your hand right now?

Maid A: ...

Laito: I’m begging you. Also, please stop making that scary face? 

Tonight we’re celebrating the once-a-year carnival after all...Okay?

Maid A: ...As to be expected, Laito-sama.

Yui: ( Amazing...! Laito-kun actually managed to convince her... )

*Clap clap clap*

Yui: Eh...? The people around us...What suddenly got into everyone?

Laito: ...Haah, I see. So I was right after all. I thought something smelled fishy.

Shuu: Haah...Try and put yourself in our position, being forced to play along with this ridiculous farce.

Yui: Shuu-san!? And...The others too!

Laito: We’re the ones who suffered the most! You guys knew everything but didn’t say a thing? Why?

Shuu: ...Like I know. Here, this is a letter from Father.

Yui: Hold on...! I have no idea what is going on!?

Laito: Let’s see...? ‘I planned the Carnival wanting to celebrate Adam and Eve.’

‘However, a regular Carnival would be far too dull, so I set up a few shenanigans.’

‘You two are the stars of tonight. Enjoy it to your heart’s content.’ ...It reads. 

In short...This is another example of one of his little ‘games’ going too far?

Yui: Eeh!? In that case...Everything down to me getting kidnapped...

Ruki: Exactly. Everything is the result of the plan that man set up for you two.

Laito: Haah, he really is such a pain in the ass. Even though he’s supposed to be the Vampire King, you know?

ー The maid walks up to Yui

Maid A: ...Eve.

I am truly sorry for scaring you earlier.

Yui: Eh!? Uhm...

Maid A: Like the others explained right now, I acted entirely according to Karlheinz’ orders...

The part about me being tossed aside by Laito-sama was all just made up as well. Please rest assured.

Well, it seems like Laito-sama himself had long seen through my lies.

Yui: ...Really?

Laito: Pretty much~ Even someone like me can at least remember the faces of the people I have messed around with or not.

Besides, I noticed way back that this maid was working for that person.

Maid A: ...!

You realized that much?

Laito: I realized when we first saw you in town. You somehow seemed familiar to me~

That’s when it hit me. I wasn’t quite sure what he had planned, but I knew that man had something in store for us.

Yui: ( I see...Everything was an act thought out by Laito-kun’s Father... )

Haah...I’m glad...

Laito: Aah, Bitch-chan. But don’t get the wrong idea, okay?

All of this might have been nothing but an act put together by that man.

But the things I said to that Maid just now...Those were all my true feelings.

Yui: Eh?

Laito: Eeh~? Don’t tell me you weren’t listening? Guess it can’t be helped...

ー He moves closer

*Rustle*

Laito: You are my oh-so precious Bitch-chan, remember?

Yui: ...Laito-kun...

Reiji: ...Well then. Raise your glass. The party has yet to begin.

Kou: Exactly! Congratulations, M-neko-chan! Oh, you too I guess, Laito-kun.

Laito: Haah~? ‘I guess’? (2) How rude, you’re talking to the King of the Carnival, you know?

Laito: Well then, Bitch-chan. Why don’t we use this opportunity to enjoy the banquet as well?

Yui: Yeah!

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) ぬるい or ‘nurui’ means ‘lukewarm’, but in this context, Laito is mocking haunted houses in the human world for being not all that scary. 

(2) Kou actually uses the expression ついでに or ‘tsuide ni’, which means ‘to do something on the side’. However, I couldn’t find a way to translate the first sentence using a literal translation of the expression, so I altered it a little. 

← RETURN TO CHAPTER 3

→ PROCEED TO FINALE ENDING

→ PROCEED TO NORMAL ENDING

[sophiawithnopales]

Pairing: Jean Kirstein x Reader

fluff, imagine, what could have been, femenine reader,

Words count: 1901

• ⌜ ✧Heavenly✧ﾟ. °⌟ •

and you were there, somehow letting that big pain go away and thinking about what the hell was going on, a few moments ago you were dying in a titans mouth after you got eated but the only thing you could think about while you were traveling in a white, peaceful and comfortable light was "where am I going?".

At this moment you had already lost your entire squad: beginning with Marco a few years ago inside the walls and ending with Mikasa and Armin trying to protect Eren (who by the way was killed a moment after you passed away); Jean, your biggest and only hope in life, the light of your eyes but also the man you were gonna marry after an entire life of being meeting each other, died a month ago with Connie when they were fighting with their best in the middle of the war, Sasha your best friend, received a shoot and you can remember that painful day so good as if it was a recent memory, Mikasa and Armin were tragically shot more than 7 times, Historia died in the middle of her birth and you can still remember how caotic everything got after be losing our queen, Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie even if that was hard to believe to everybody else died trying to avoid Levi's and Hange's deaths, Erwin was crushed by a rock, Ymir, Marco and Hange died in a titans stomach and Levi.... he fought until he could and then passed away... everything so tragic and fast... so dark but never enough for this cruel life.

Mikasa and Armin, sadly but true, arrived a moments before to their destiny.

"Who's over there?" A familiar voice sounded on Mikasa and Armin's ears

"Calm down Levi"

"L-levi? E-Erwin?"

"Huh? Armin...? OH MY GOD ARMIN IS HERE.... AND HE IS WITH MIKASA..." Annie shouted and for the first time in a long long long time she smiled when she saw the short blonde boy

"What the heck is this? Where we are Armin?" Mikasa took Armin's hand and hugged his shoulder, she looked shocked and scared, something that Armin never thought he would be able to see.

"Is okay Ackerman, you are safe... you just don't need to fight no more" Erwin said in a tone that sounded so warm and after that he got closer to them and gave them a big welcome hug that just felt so good, so comfortable, so much as a sense of family, like a father who hugs his kids in a rainy and dark night and there, Mikasa understood everything, indeed... they were safe.

"Come on guys, come and have some fun with us, we were just playing here in the beach..." Hange said so happy and when Erwin ended the hug, Armin tried to focus his view in the others and scratched his eyes trying to convince him that it was not a beautiful dream

"What's up boy? You think we are not real, aren't you?" Ymir asked in a funny tone

"Yeeeeessss, please tell me that I'm not dreaming one of the happiest dreams in my life..."

"Indeed Armin, welcome to the heaven" Sasha said in a weird voice making a funny hand gesture with Connie when she arrived to the word "heaven".

"How have you been? What happened down there? What happened with Eren? Do you know what happened with y/n? We won? Our deaths really worth it?"

"Hey Jean.... relax... give them a minute to try to understand what is going on"

"I'm sorry Marco but they were the last ones who actually saw her and I wanna know how's my girl..."

"Isn't that enough with be trying to protect her as much as you can when you have permission to go down?"

"S-shut up Rein-"

"We lost the war Jean" Mikasa said in a sad tone giving the group her back looking at the edge of the "heaven" and continued "W-we....we died trying to protect Eren but when we lost him because we got distracted somebody shot us several times until we passed away"

Armin exhaled heavily and sitted in the sand.

"The last thing we knew about y/n was that she was lidering Jean's squad and she got trapped by a titans hand.... we don't know exactly if she survived but I heard when one of her soldiers said that she got an arm and a leg broken and we exactly heard when the titan crushed her until her ribs got broken too so..." Mikasa turned around and began to walk to Jean's place "I-I'm sorry Jean" She didn't said anything else and just gave him a big hug while she started crying, Jean was nothing else than pain and tears because he wasn't able to imagine the girl he loved the most be suffering that bad...

On the middle of that sad moment Jean noticed a familiar smell, he didn't knew if he was getting insane or something but he could swear that it was his lovers perfume or that familiar smell she used to had always and made him go crazy each time they were together...

"Thank you for being protecting her all this time guys."

After being listening to the last voice of a soldier that you couldn't recognize begging you to still fighting inside the titans mouth you stopped hearing everything and now there was only one hugging silence mixed with a warm weather and a pretty bright light that was letting you blind but at the same time was throwing away all the pain and the concern,,,, you were crying thinking about how miserable and sad your life was but tons of memories ran away in your mind trying to convince you to just concentrate on the happy moments like when you met Jean for the first time and even if his name was pronounced as "Jan" you loved to annoyed him and call him instead "Jin" or when you were 17 and tried to organize a small night party inside the walls to try to get relaxed and forget about all the problems outside and as the guys were dancing and laughing and talking you were just dancing a slow and pretty song under the moon and stars shine with Jean when he asked you to be his girl and you proudly said yes; the moments you spent with Mikasa, Sasha, Historia and Ymir doing your stuff, the day you saw Armin's face watching the sea for the first time or the days you loved to be with Sasha, Connie and Jean making fun of yourselves and doing crazy shits, the day before Jean's death when in front of the sea he tried his hardest to make you feel happy and he proposed you to marry him with his mother's ring after the war gets finished without be knowing that that night would be the last one you would be spending together, the last one you would be feeling him inside you , filling you up at the only way he knew.... but when you heard that first sound of a wave crushing with a rock and more water and a couple of laughs and happy shouts like "Sash... look behind" "Agggggh Ymir stop carrying me!!" "Erwiiiiiin, Liiiiiivai... look at the stars" a weird sensation ran over your body and you asked again

"Where am I?"

"Who's coming there Marco? What was that sound?" Jean said while he was looking at Marco and grabbing the ball in his hands

"JEAN LOOK.... WHO'S HERE??" Marco said running to your position helping you to stand up and trying to help you understand what was going on.

Just like 5 minutes after Eren appeared by your side but he didn't looked hurted or in pain anymore, he didn't looked tired and he was with that young image you could remember perfectly of him, not a long long hair and a weird moustache, just that long enough hair tied in a messy bun and a relaxed face, he was layed in the... sand?? and then "EREH" Mikasa run with Armin to try to help him

"Hey smol y/n... you missed me?"

"M-Marco?? Holy shit... I- I just-"

"Quiet girl, I know this can be a little bit messy the first moments but look who's here.... we are all together after so many years honey"

Jean was standing in the same place he was with the ball in his hands, crying in silence.... happy because you were here but sad because you passed through hard things to arrive there

"Where am I? What are you doing here? A-am I dead?"

"I know it can be hard smol girl but yes... we are all dead-" Marco was interrupted

"You are in the heaven" and then Sasha and Connie made the same gestures they made with Mikasa and Armin

"Where's Jean?" you took Marco's hand to stand up and shaked thesand that was on the pretty white dress you were wearing

"Ow yes... he is over there" that was definitel an answer you were not expecting to receive and when Marco pointed at the specific direction and Connie move aside you saw him as the same way you remembered... pretty light brown eyes, messy light brown mullet, perfect nose, kissable lips, greek god body and beautiful voice

"Jean...? oh mY LORD JEAN" and you started crying immediately while you where trying to run to his place

"y-y/n" he started crying too and left the ball fall in the sand, he opened his arms and waited until you arrived to give you the best hug you could ever ask "Y-you are here, holy shit you are here and you are fine" he couldn't believe that and while he was speaking he was grabbing your head with his both hands "You are finally here babe"

"Yes my love, I'm here finally"

And he gave you another big hug "You made a good work, I'm your fan number one princess... you were just so brave and you face all that by your own..."

"What are you talking about Jin?"

"Mikasa and Armin told us everything you made down there alone, I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you but I never asked to be killed by somebody that I did even kne-"

You were crying yet and you grabbed his head with your hands looking at his face just to kiss him and holy shit, you really needed to kiss him after one month and 5 days of being losing him

"I missed you y/n, I missed you so much" he put his forehead with yours and grab both sides of your head with his hands

"I missed you too Jeanbo"

"Please promise me this time that we won't leave each other alone again..."

"I just wanna stay here in this heavenly place with you till the end of times"

And then all of your group walked with the rest... all of them were there... Nanaba, Mike, Petra, Hannes, Moblit, Thomas, Hitch, Lynnes... all of them were there safe and happy and you refused to spent the night and maybe the rest of your existance in that heavenly world that looked as a beautiful and magestical floating island in the middle of the hope and peace.

Omg, I'm sorry for the bad spelling but I'm not a native English speaker and I really really tried to make my best writing in this language.

Also is the first time I write a history like this with them and in here, I'm kinda knew and I really don't know how to make this good.

[sassy-starker]

Five Times Stark Industries Employees Saw Peter Parker

(And One Time They All Found Out Who He Was)

Word count: 9128

CW: none

Notes: I promised @tony-is-my-daddy that I would tag them in my fluff fic and that was literally almost 2 weeks ago so I’m really, really sorry. I got caught up with finals and everything, but, I finally present to you, A Self-Indulgent Fic Where Peter and Tony Act Sappy And Confuse Employees

1.

Peter couldn’t focus.  His eyes were bleary and his mind was wandering.  His attention was completely taken up by the hollowness in his chest.  The workshop felt all too empty and quiet, but he knew that background noise wouldn’t help.  He needed someone there.  He needed people— hell, even just a person— to be with him.  His mind felt distant, yet all too aware at the same time and it was driving him insane.  He hated the winter.  He hated seasonal affective disorder.  He hated this.

In a rash decision, before his brain could even think, Peter pulled out his Stark Phone and tapped into messages.  He tapped on his most recent contact and began to type.

Peter: hey, do you think i could go down to the intern labs and just work down there?

Peter: like the ones with the individual workspaces?

Peter: i need to be around people

Tony: Of course! I should be done with my meeting at about 5 so then we can go binge shitty rom-coms and cuddle and eat Chinese food

Tony: Pepper saw me on my phone. Gotta go

Peter: <3

Tony: <3

Peter, now with confirmation, gathered up what he was working on in his backpack and shoved his phone in his pocket before getting up and moving to the elevator.

“Where to, Peter?” FRIDAY asked him.

“Fifty-fourth floor please.”

The elevator moved relatively quickly down the floors, and it wasn’t long until it dinged and the doors opened, revealing rows and rows of worktables with interns scattered around and working on individual projects.  Peter knew that they moved on and off the floor, depending on whether they were working in groups with their department or solo.

People looked over to the unknown young man while he set his stuff down on a table.  He paid no mind, feeling comforted by having people around.  He always felt nice when he knew that he wasn’t all alone, that the world was still there and time was still moving on.  Just as he sat down, though, a lab director from some floor below them walked right up to the desk.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think you’re allowed to be here,” he said in a sickly sweet, obviously fake voice.

“Excuse me?” Peter asked politely, looking up to the man.

“This space is for interns and employees. You don’t appear to be either,” the man elaborated.

“No, I’m allowed to be here,” Peter shot back simply before looking away from the man and reaching for his bag to pull out his project materials.

“Who do you think you are?” the lab director interrogated. “I’ll get you kicked out of this building!”

“I’m Peter-” the young adult started, but was cut off by FRIDAY interrupting.

“No last names, Peter,” the AI warned. “We don’t want anything to happen to you.  I can assure that Peter is allowed to be here.”

Peter simply looked up and gave a shrug to the lab director before continuing to pull out the materials from his bag.  The man looked up to the ceiling fearfully before retreating back to his own workspace.

That was the first time they saw Peter.

2.

The next time Stark Industries employees saw Peter could only be described as chaotic.

The door to the stairs opened and somebody rushed out, weaving their way around people and workstations with practiced ease, all while laughing so hard that there were tears falling from their eyes.

Upon closer inspection, the employees realized that it was, in fact, the mysterious young man from only a week earlier.

Moments after Peter rushed in, the elevator dinged and the doors opened, and out ran the Tony Stark, covered in red and blue glitter. Not to mention that he looked furious, but not the type of furious where he was genuinely angry. It was more like that fond kind of furious, where you’re annoyed and upset, but can’t help but find the situation a bit funny and the person responsible is somebody you care about.

Tony ran out of the elevator, also weaving around his employees and their projects, obviously chasing the young man. By that point, though, the young man was laughing so hard that he had slowed down considerably. Thanks to that fact, Tony caught up and tackled him to the ground. All the employees were frozen in shock and just watching as their boss stood up and rubbed glitter off his skin to get it onto the man he was now standing above.

“No!” shouted the younger, getting up from his spot on the floor and giving the engineer a light shove. Both of them were still smiling and laughing about it though. “This is gonna take forever to wash off!”

“How do you think I feel?” Tony retorted, sprinkling some glitter into the other man’s curly hair. Once again, the younger man gave him a light push.

That’s when the two of them became acutely aware of the attention they had garnered.

“Sorry for disrupting your work,” Peter apologized to the crowd of employees sheepishly.

“We’ll send somebody to clean up the mess we made,” Tony told them, eyeing the trail of glitter he had left on the floor, “but get back to work.”

Hesitantly, they all began to go back to their workstations, but kept their eyes on the two men as they talked quietly and walked back to the elevator. Nobody said a word until the elevator doors had closed, obscuring their view of their boss and the mysterious man.

“Who the fuck is that kid?” Ashley questioned, turning to the coworkers she was in an experimenting group with.

“I have no idea,” Dylan answered, slowly tearing his eyes away from the elevator doors.

“He’s definitely a weird one,” Jenna piped up decisively. “I mean, have you ever even seen a picture of Tony Stark smiling that fondly?”

“And he talked back to him!” Dylan added on. “Like, holy shit, that kid shoved him and Stark only laughed!”

“I’ve seen a lot of strange things while working here,” Ashley told them, sparing a glance at the elevator, “but this is definitely one of the strangest.”

3.

“Please?” Peter begged.

“No,” Tony answered for what felt like the hundredth time. “Gossip spreads across the building quickly and basically every employee is already trying to figure out who you are! I don’t want them finding out and leaking it to the press!”

“But they already know, so what does it matter? It’s not like the rumors will go away if they just don’t see me again!” Peter argued, jumping up from where he was seated in order to stand in front of his boyfriend.

“The rumors will die down if they don’t see you again. They’ll eventually move onto talking about something else,” Tony replied, grabbing Peter’s hand and pulling him close. Peter embraced the man and the two just stood there for a few moments.

“I just want you to be safe,” Tony told him quietly.

“I’ll be fine,” Peter responded, pulling away but still holding onto his boyfriend’s hands. “All your employees sign NDA’s, so even if they did leak something to the press, which I doubt they would, legal would be on their ass and sue them for all they’re worth.”

Tony sighed, realizing that Peter had a good argument that he just couldn’t counter.

“Fine. You can come help me with the presentation.”

Peter pumped his fist in the air and let out a whoop in victory, causing Tony to roll his eyes fondly.

+++

When the employees working in R&D walked into the small auditorium on the 16th floor, they knew Tony Stark was going to be there, but they didn’t expect the infamous mystery man to be there.  On the stage, Peter was talking animatedly about something or other while Tony just listened, a fond smile on his face and his eyes sparkling.

The crowd walked in hesitantly, everybody’s eyes on the two men up front, who still hadn’t acknowledged them.  When everyone was seated and the clock struck the exact time the presentation was supposed to start, the two finally turned to them to get started.

“Hello, R&D department! I hope you’re all doing well!” Tony greeted with his press smile on. “You all know who I am, but I have somebody else here with me today.”

“What’s up? I’m Peter,” the younger man introduced himself, hitting the woah as he said his name.

“Did you just-” Tony started with a sigh before cutting himself off. “You and your fucking tiktok dances.”

“You say that as if you didn’t ask me to teach you the Renegade last week!”

“That was different! That was for the Stark Industries tiktok! I need to be relatable so I stay relevant!” Tony defended.

“And yet you still won’t let me teach you the dance to ‘Say So’ even though it’s iconic!” Peter shot back.

“You and I have different ideas of what counts as iconic,” Tony said dryly before turning back to the crowd of employees. 

“Anyway, today Peter and I will be telling you all about the new prosthetics line that your department will begin developing!”

Despite the importance of the presentation, the employees were only half listening as they were more focused on whispering about the mystery boy.

“Okay but what the actual fuck happened at the beginning of this?” Jenna asked quietly as she leaned over to her coworker on the right of her.

“No fucking clue. I can't believe this dude is just casually talking and joking around with Tony fucking Stark!” Dylan whispered in reply, not taking his eyes off the stage.

“And apparently he taught Stark how to do the Renegade. That’s fucking insane,” Ashley added from Jenna’s left.

The three turned their attention back to the two men on stage, finally listening to what they were saying again.

“Street smarts!” the younger man exclaimed, jumping in about something they were saying before.

“Stay alert out there,” both Peter and Tony quoted with large smiles. As if nothing happened, they jumped right back into the presentation.

“This is the weirdest fucking thing in the world,” Dylan declared quietly.

“I second that,” Ashley muttered.

“I third that,” Jenna added on without taking her eyes off the stage.

The presentation went on a bit longer, but it didn’t drag on.  It helped that the entire time the two men were joking around and making the employees progressively more and more confused.

Peter and Tony wrapped up the presentation soon enough and the R&D employees began to file out, most of them keeping their eyes on the two men talking quietly on stage.  Jenna, Ashley, and Dylan walked out together, some of the last to exit the auditorium, and the three made it to the elevator before Jenna realized she left her jacket behind.  She told her friends that she would catch up to them and way back to the now empty seats.  Not paying attention to the world around her, she looked for where she had sat and made her way through the row until she reached her seat and found her cardigan.

“See, I told you it would be okay,” said a voice from the stage.  Jenna turned around and saw Peter talking to Tony, the men standing close together.

“You know I just get worried,” the billionaire replied, his voice more sincere than Jenna could’ve ever imagined. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I can take care of myself, Tones. You don’t need to worry so much.”

Jenna felt like she was intruding on a private moment, so she started to make her way out of the rows of seats and back to the door as quickly and quietly as possible.

“Just because I don’t need to worry doesn’t mean I won’t. I care so much about you, Peter. You know I love you.”

Jenna froze in place, right at the end of the row of seats and about to step into the main aisle that led to the doors.  Against her better judgment, she found herself staring up at the two men on the stage, her gaze stuck on them.  She just couldn’t look away.

Peter and Tony were basically right up against each other.  They only were a couple inches apart with both their hands intertwined.  She couldn’t see it earlier, but, now that they were right next to each other, Jenna could tell that Peter was about half a foot shorter than Tony.  The younger man was looking up at the billionaire with a bright smile that was returned.  It was like nothing she could’ve ever imagined; a ball of sunshine and pop culture references right next to a man known to be scuffed up and rough around the edges.  It was like this boy brought out a completely different side of Stark.

“I love you too,” Peter replied softly before leaning up on the balls of his feet to give Tony a soft kiss on the lips.

Jenna, sucked in a breath of air harshly, the sound being enough to alert the men to her presence.  The two men stared at her with wide eyes for a moment and she stared right back.

“Shit.” Tony broke the silence of the room, his voice conveying the concern written across his face.  Peter put a hand on his forearm and schooled his features into a comforting look.  The man looked over at him and tried to take solace in his lover’s gentleness.

“I told you something was gonna go wrong,” the billionaire said with a mix of concern and fear on his face.

“We’re not getting into this argument again,” Peter responded decidedly, his tone making it sound final.

“I- I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I was walking in on anything. I just came in because I forgot my jacket! I . . . please don’t fire me, Mister Stark,” Jenna stammered once she had broken out of her shocked stupor.

“He’s not going to fire you,” Peter reassured her with a kind tone.

“Well . . .” Tony said, but his tone was a bit humorous.

“You’re not gonna fire her because we decided we couldn’t wait until we got back to the penthouse to be all sappy.” Peter gave the man a stern look and it occurred to Jenna once again that this soft, delicate-appearing brunet clad in pastels had somehow reined in the man who had spent so many years being known as a playboy.

“I’m not going to fire you, but you can’t tell anybody, not even anyone within the company. If you do, my legal team can and will sue you for all you’re worth. Understood?” Tony had a dangerous edge to his voice, letting the girl know that he was completely serious. There was no way that this was an empty threat.

“Understood,” Jenna replied with a curt nod. “But I just have one question.”

“Shoot,” Peter told her.

“How old are you? Because . . . well, you look pretty young.”

Tony started laughing and Peter gave him an annoyed look.

“Stop laughing! You do this every time!” Peter exclaimed, lightly slapping his arm.

“Everybody thinks you’re, like, sixteen! You look barely old enough to have your license!” Tony shot back, his laughter dying down.

“I’m twenty-one,” he told Jenna. “I’m not underage, if you were wondering. Tony may be a bit of a mad scientist, but he doesn’t date people who are underage.”

“Okay, good. I was just worried for a second. Um, thank you for not firing me and I swear I won’t tell anybody. I should get going,” she rushed out with a relieved smile.  Without another word, she made her way out of the auditorium, holding her jacket close to her chest.

When she got back to her floor, Dylan and Ashley bombarded her with questions about what took her so long, but she just told them that it took her a second to find it.  Of course, they weren’t satisfied with that answer, but Jenna didn’t let anything slip.

That was the third time Stark Industries employees saw Peter.

4.

When Jenna walked into work the next morning, early as always, she found an envelope sitting on her designated area of her group desk, which separated into four sections for her project team to sit at. Across the front, it had her first name written out in a neat, cursive scrawl. She furrowed her brows as she looked at it, questions racing through her mind as she wondered who it could’ve been from.

Without another thought, she ripped it open and pulled out the contents. She unfolded the paper that was inside only to find a letter written in the same handwriting.

Dear Jenna,

I wanted to write you a letter, but realized that I never caught your name yesterday. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked FRIDAY who you were. Thinking back on it, that definitely makes me sound like a creep, so I apologize.

I wanted to thank you for not completely flipping out on Tony and I in the auditorium yesterday. I know that the whole thing was definitely crazy and it would’ve made sense if you freaked out. I also wanted to thank you for not immediately telling anybody. Seeing as no news stories have come out and nobody in the building has confronted Tony, I’m assuming you didn’t leak it, which is relieving.

I hope you’re doing well and if you need literally anything, just drop off a letter in the company mailroom in box 106.

As a thank you, there’s a Starbucks gift card also in the envelope! I wasn’t sure if you liked coffee, but seeing as you work in R&D and most of the employees in that department survive off coffee, I’m going to assume you do. Enjoy!

I’ll (hopefully) talk to you soon!

-Peter

P.S. Tony might not say it, but he’s also grateful that you haven’t leaked anything! I can promise that you’re good in his books :)

“What’s that?” Ashley asked, sneaking up behind Jenna and startling the woman.

“It’s nothing,” Jenna replied quickly while shoving the letter back into the envelope and cramming it into her bag. Ashley gave her a suspicious look but let it go, sitting down at her area of the group desk that was beside Jenna’s.

“I have a prediction!” Dylan announced as he entered the almost empty floor and waltzed over to Jenna and Ashley. He collapsed onto his stool and dumped his bag onto the floor beside him.

“This should be good,” Ashley muttered sarcastically, crossing her arms.

Jenna just looked away.

“So, we’ve established that it’s strange that nobody has ever heard of Peter and how, out of nowhere, he shows up!”

“Yeah, that’s kinda why we all think it’s weird,” Jenna shot at him, hoping that it covered up her panic.

“It’s also odd that he’s got a bit of a resemblance to Stark,” Dylan continued, decidedly ignoring her.

“I don’t see it,” Jenna interrupted once more, but the man didn’t stop.

“Maybe, just maybe, Peter is Stark’s son who he didn’t want in the spotlight until he was old enough to handle it!”

Ashley gasped while Jenna glanced away from them with a look of both panic and amusement. 

“Or Peter is Stark’s illegitimate child and he doesn’t want to have a scandal!” Ashley built on the theory with an excited smile and wide eyes.

“What do you think, Jenna?” Dylan asked, and both of Jenna’s teammates had their eyes on her.

“I think you two are full of bullshit,” Jenna told them, trying hard to keep her voice steady. “He’s probably just Stark’s intern. Maybe he’s a super genius or something.”

“Bor-ring!” Ashley replied with a roll of her eyes.

“Yeah, our theory is way better,” Dylan bragged, a bit of humor in his tone.

Jenna stayed oddly quiet for the rest of the morning.

+++

When lunch rolled around, Dylan and Ashley went off to the food court floor of the building, but Jenna decided that she wanted to make use of the Starbucks gift card she’d been given. When she opened the envelope back up to get it, she discovered that it was a two-hundred dollar gift card, which left her in shock for a few moments. Still, she shook herself out of it and went to go get a sandwich and a coffee.

After lunch, she found herself back with her teammates, working on their project, but sipping on a venti white chocolate mocha this time around. Around half an hour after they’d come back from lunch, the elevator doors opened to reveal Peter, wearing a sunny yellow sweater that matched the smile on his face. He walked out of the elevator and seemingly ignored all the eyes on him. He made his way over to a table working on prosthetics and began to help them out, the team there looking a bit surprised but extremely grateful for the assistance.

When Peter looked up and spotted Jenna, he gave her an even brighter smile, which she returned. She shook the coffee cup in her hand a little, bringing his attention to it, and he gave a silent chuckle. Jenna took a sip of her mocha and turned back to her project.

“What the fuck was that?” Ashley asked, drawing both of her teammates away from where they were designing arm prosthetics.

“What?” Dylan and Jenna replied in unison.

“That little interaction you just had with Peter,” the blonde woman elaborated, looking at Jenna accusingly.

“What interaction?” the man piped up before the brunette could respond.

“She and Peter made eye contact and smiled at each other and then Jenna held up her coffee cup and Peter chuckled!”

Dylan gave Ashley an incredulous look before shifting his gaze to Jenna.

“It was nothing,” Jenna defended with a level voice before getting back to work.

“Does this have something to do with the letter from this morning?”

“What letter?” Jenna and Dylan asked in unison.

Ashley sighed. “Jenna, come on, just tell me what’s going on? Is there something you know that we don’t?”

Before the brunette could even respond, Peter passed by their table.

“Hey, Jenna!” the young man greeted cheerily.

“Hey, Peter,” she responded, a smile on her face.

When he was gone, she went right back to her work, ignoring the looks from her teammates.

Jenna knew it was going to be a long rest of her day.

That was the fourth time Stark Industries employees saw Peter.

5.

By the next Friday, the questions from Dylan and Ashley had died down, but the suspicious glances were definitively not stopping, nor becoming anymore secretive. Luckily, though, Jenna was becoming better and better at ignoring the looks from her coworkers.

There were no more appearances from Peter, but Jenna had been enjoying exchanging letters with the brunet. The letters would sometimes be accompanied by pictures, mostly of Peter and Tony, and the woman had fun printing dumb pictures of her own and sending them back. The two would share funny stories and talk about themselves, though Peter still never shared his last name, but the brunette didn’t blame him for that; she knew he wanted to continue to keep himself on the down low. Tony would sometimes put in a few sentences on a letter, mostly a short quip about something his boyfriend wrote, and Jenna couldn’t help but find her boss’s dry wit rather humorous.

As the weekend approached once more, Jenna found herself feeling glad to get away from her teammates’ conspicuous looks and probing questions. When it reached midday, she was beyond happy to escape to the food court, rushing in order to get ahead of Ashley and Dylan. 

When she walked into the food court, she knew there was something going on. The chatter of the floor was quieter than normal, despite the normal amount of people being there. It was less conversation and more pointed whispers. When she followed where everybody’s eyes were looking, she discovered Peter sitting at one of the round tables on his own.

The young man had a couple slices of pizza on a plate in front of him, with one slice in his hand. He had wireless earbuds in and his phone was propped up using a pop socket attached to the back. It was obvious that he was watching some show or another.

Jenna simply shrugged and went to grab her own food, paying no mind to the whispered gossip spreading across the floor. She got a container of Chinese food from one of the stations and looked around to find a place to sit before realizing that she didn’t know where to go. She usually sat with her teammates, but she had been trying to escape them until she had to get back to work, which left her with nobody to eat lunch with.

In a strange and unusual burst of confidence, Jenna walked across the floor and toward Peter’s table, decidedly brushing off the eyes that followed her. She put her food down and sat in the chair across from her boss’s boyfriend, attempting to act casual as the quiet chatter toned down in order to hear what happened next.

Peter looked up when she sat down, seemingly confused that somebody was joining him at his table. When he saw that it was Jenna, however, he cracked a bright smile. He took out his earbuds and put them back into the carrying case before shutting off his phone and setting it face down on the table.

“Hey, Jenna!” His tone was bubbly, an air of familiarity to it. Just hearing him talk made Jenna feel calmer; the boy had a way of doing that.

“Hey, Peter,” she greeted back, less excitedly but still conveying that she was happy to see him again. “What’s up?”

“Not much! Tony’s in a meeting and I decided to come down here for lunch. I didn’t like how quiet it was.”

“I think you mentioned that once. That you don’t like being alone in spaces, I mean.” Jenna paid attention to every word in every letter she received from the young man. She felt like she connected to him in a way that she’d never connected to anybody before; it wasn’t like any friendship she had in the past.

“Yeah. It just feels nice to know that the world is still turning and I’m not completely alone.” He looked sad for a moment, eyes glazed over and distant. It was a somber kind of happiness, a mix of emotions that weren’t supposed to be mixed in case of an explosion, but not a loud one; it was more of a combustion, internal and quiet, soft and powerful. “But, anyways, what’ve you been up to?”

“Not much,” Jenna replied, trying to move on from the delicate moment. “Been working on the prototype for the prosthetics and I think it’s going well. There’s a few bits and pieces that me and my teammates have gotta work out before we send the design to our lab director, but I think we’ll get there soon.”

“That’s really cool! I honestly can’t wait for the prosthetics line to go into production! I think it's really gonna change the game since it’s gonna be a high tech line but also more affordable than the competitors!” Peter’s eyes were shining, the gleam replacing the far off look from only moments earlier.

“I’m excited for it too!” Jenna admitted. “I know it’s gonna help so many people and I can’t wait for it to go on the market!”

Peter opened his mouth to respond, but his phone buzzed before he could speak. He picked it up and read the notification, giving a small chuckle and typing out a response before looking up at Jenna.

“Was that . . .?” Jenna trailed off, unsure of how to finish the sentence but sure that the brunet caught her drift.

“Yeah,” Peter responded easily with a fond, but exasperated, look. “He finished his meeting and asked if I saved him some food from my lunch. I did, but I’m tempted to eat it myself and tell him to go get his own food.”

Jenna snorted.

“I’m not that mean, though, so I’m gonna take him the last two slices.” He slid his phone into his back pocket and his earbuds case into his front one before standing up and grabbing the plate with the two slices of pizza.

“I’ll see you later, Jenna!” he called as he walked away, heading towards the private elevator.

“See you, Peter!” With that, the woman went back to eating her lunch, as if nothing had happened at all.

When two people sat down at the table, Jenna looked up at them, only to find her two teammates, who had bewildered and suspicious looks on their faces. Dylan’s brow was furrowed and Ashley’s eyes were narrowed, the blonde obviously more dubious than him.

“What the actual fuck, Jenna?” she asked, voicing everybody’s thoughts.

“What?” the brunette replied as if she didn’t know.

“Don’t act all innocent! How are you so friendly with him?! This shit doesn’t add up!” Dylan nodded along to Ashley’s words. 

Jenna gave an exasperated sigh.

“Sorry, but that’s confidential information. NDA’s and all that, ya know?” She was trying everything she could to weasel her way out of it, but it was the first time she’d given her teammates a semi-straight answer, even if it wasn’t that revealing.

“Oh, come on, Jenna!” Dylan finally spoke up. “It can’t be anything that serious! Just tell us what’s going on?”

“I’m afraid that Ms. Locke is right, Mr. Hoffman. This is confidential information that Ms. Locke does not have the authority nor the necessity to reveal to you,” FRIDAY interrupted, garnering the attention of the people watching.

Jenna only shrugged under the intense gazes of her coworkers, but it still shut them up about it.

That was the fifth time Stark Industries employees saw Peter.

+1

It was relatively quiet for the next few weeks after the food court incident. While the suspicious glances remained, the questions had died down, though whispers still followed Jenna around as her coworkers spread rumors about how she knew Peter.

Speaking of the brunet, he hadn’t shown up since the incident, but he and Jenna had continued to exchange letters, becoming closer friends as time went on. The next time news about Peter came, it was only news for Jenna, as nobody else had any clue of how the young man was involved.

It had happened when Tony Stark had come to the R&D floor to talk to the employees there about the progress on the prosthetics line. Everybody had been trying extra hard to look busy as the man went around, all of them hoping to seem like they were valuable employees who actually did work.

Jenna’s team was the last that the billionaire came to, but as soon as he started talking to them, the brunette noticed something.

He had an engagement ring on.

The woman mentioned nothing, though she did freeze for a moment when she noticed it. Still, she pushed through and continued with the discussion about the progress they had been making.

When her boss later stepped away to answer a text, she quickly told her coworkers she had to use the restroom, rushing away and going down the hallway that Tony had gone down, which happened to lead to the bathrooms.

When she got there, she found him smiling down at his phone and typing quickly.

“Did you guys get . . .?” Jenna started, but trailed off at the end, startling the man a bit. He looked up at her, eyes a bit wide, but immediately recognized her. He looked confused at the question for a moment before realizing that her eyes were on his ring.

“Yeah, we did,” Tony answered, looking a bit sheepish as a blush painted his cheeks.

“How did it happen?” It was obvious that the girl was excited to find out.

“It’s actually pretty funny. I got down on one knee to propose and he looked so exasperated and I freaked out because I thought he was gonna break up with me or something. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. He was planning on proposing that night too.”

“That’s absolutely incredible!” Jenna told him excitedly, but still kept her voice quiet.

“When we told our friends, they all looked so unsurprised that something like that would happen for him and I.”

The two both laughed before the billionaire’s phone buzzed again.

“I’ve got a meeting in, like, five minutes, so I should probably go.”

The two said their goodbyes and he started to walk back out to the main area to head to the private elevator, but stopped and turned around before he could.

“Just do you know, you’re invited to the wedding.”

Without another word, he walked away, leaving Jenna standing there in shock. A million thoughts were racing through her head and her eyes were still trained on the end of the hallway where the man had disappeared from.

“I’m invited to the wedding,” she whispered to herself. Taking a moment, she shook herself out of it and began walking back to her team’s table to get back to work.

Before she could get there, though, Ashley rushed at her and grabbed her arm, pulling her back the way she came. The blonde pulled her into the women’s restroom and checked every stall to make sure they were empty before turning back to her coworker.

“What the fuck it this?!” She held up a letter and  Jenna immediately knew who it was from. She snatched it from her co worker's hand and skimmed through it, praying to Thor that it wasn’t one of the letters that explicitly mentioned Peter dating Tony. She then proceeded to thank Thor when she realized that it was one one of the notes that mentioned a relationship, but not outright who it was with.

“Okay, Peter and I have been talking through letters. So what?” she replied, attempting to keep her voice steady so it sounded like she wasn’t fazed by the whole thing.

“Are you fucking with me?! You’re friends with this mysterious dude who’s all buddy-buddy with Tony fucking Stark and you’re expecting me to just let that go?! You’re out of your mind!” Ashley was obviously worked up about the whole thing and the brunette didn’t know what to say, but, luckily, her coworker started talking again before she could get a word out.

“You’ve been so secretive these past couple months and it’s been annoying as all hell! You’re not telling me anything and it feels like I’m so disconnected from you! Just tell me what’s going on!”

“I can’t! I can’t tell you what’s going on! I’m sorry that I don’t wanna lose my fucking job just so you can know every aspect of my life! Just let it go and leave me and my letters alone!” Jenna blew up, which was something she didn’t do very often.

Unsurprisingly, Ashley looked taken aback, shock written across her face. Jenna immediately regretted it.

“I’m sorry,” she told her friend softly. “I just can’t tell you.”

Jenna turned around and left the bathroom, the letter in her grasp. As soon as she was out, she went to her lab director and asked if she could leave a little early, giving the excuse of feeling sick. Of course, her lab director was understanding as always and let her go. She quickly gathered her stuff, ignoring the looks from Ashley and Dylan, and hightailed it out of there.

+++

“Dylan!” the R&D lab director, Kelsey, called from her office.

The man shot up from his team’s table, where the silence was as dense as molasses and the tension was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

“Yes?” Dylan asked as he made his way over and placed himself in the open doorway. The director stood up and handed him a couple files.

“I have to go to a meeting, but these files need to be turned in. Could you take them up to the boss’s office for me?”

“You- you want me to take these to Mr. Stark?” His voice was a bit shaky.

“It’s not that big of a deal. You go to floor 89, you find the office with his name on it, you knock on the door, you tell him that I sent you, you give him the files, and you leave. I promise it’s not as stressful as you think it is.” Kelsey’s tone was comforting, but it did little to ease his anxieties.

“Okay,” he muttered, turning around and heading towards the elevator.

When the doors opened and Dylan stepped in, he found himself alone in the elevator. The silence was filled up by his anxious thoughts about what could go wrong. He spent the entire ride up trying to take deep breaths and remember that it was a simple job; just go in, give him the files, and leave.

The elevator stopped and he stepped off onto the eerily quiet office floor. It seemed that nobody was there and it freaked him out; it felt like a horror movie. He crept along the halls until he made it to a door with his boss’s name on it. He raised his hand to knock until he heard voices coming from inside.

“I don’t get why it’s such a big deal.” That was Tony Stark’s voice, and Dylan recognized it immediately.

“It just is!” A voice replied. It took Dylan all of three seconds to realize that it was the mysterious Peter who seemed to show up at the most random of times.

Against his better judgment, Dylan peered through the semi-open blinds that covered the windows of the office. When he did so, he found Peter sitting on the edge of the desk and Tony a couple feet in front of him.

“It doesn’t seem like that hard of a decision. If you don’t like this guy, don’t invite him to the wedding! It’s so simple!” The billionaire looked confused at the dilemma at hand, though Dylan had no clue what they were talking about. He was getting married?

“But it’s not! I don’t want to invite him, but it would be rude if I didn’t!” Peter looked worked up about the whole thing, face slightly flushed and fiddling with his hands.

“It might be rude, but if you don’t want him there, then don’t invite him!”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Except that it is.”

“Maybe for you!” It wasn’t a yell, but it wasn’t quiet. Peter had stopped fiddling with his fingers and was now pulling slightly at his hair.

“What do you mean?” Tony spoke like he could accidentally shatter the young man in front of him if he wasn’t careful.

“I mean that you’re Tony Stark. You’re a famous billionaire that can do whatever you want. If you don’t want to invite somebody, you don’t invite them. You don’t care if it’s rude because you’re Tony fucking Stark and you can do anything you’d like. I’m not like that, I can’t just do whatever I want. I’m Peter Parker, an average guy from Queens, and I’ve always been just that. If I’m rude, there’s consequences and it can actually affect my life. I have to think things like this over, even if you see it as trivial.”

Tony paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.

“Except you’re not just some average guy. You’re Peter fucking Parker. You’re incredible. You’re gonna change the entire world. Maybe I don’t get these kinds of things because I was raised in such a different world than you, but all I want is for you to be happy. Whatever choice you make here, I’ll be fine with, but that isn’t what I care about. I care about you, because you’re the most amazing person on this planet. You’re Peter Parker, the man I fell in love with.”

Dylan’s jaw dropped as he finally found the closure he’d been seeking for months. He knew what Peter’s last name was, he knew what relationship he had to Tony Stark, he knew who Peter was. He had never expected this, though. He cringed as his mind went back to that theory he had about Peter being Tony’s son.

He watched as the two shared a short kiss and finally moved back in front of the door, feeling the need to give his boss the files, run back down to his floor, and tell his teammates everything.

Dylan knocked on the door and he could almost feel the two men inside freeze in shock. It only took a second before the door opened, though, and revealed Peter Parker standing there with Tony Stark slightly behind him, both of them looking worried.

“Uh, I’m from R&D and my lab director, Kelsey, asked me to deliver these files,” Dylan stuttered out, failing at his attempt to remain casual.

“Oh, uh, yeah, yeah, thanks,” Peter replied, seemingly relieved as he took the files.

“I, um, bye, I guess,” Dylan stammered before turning around and booking it out of there. He could feel the two men’s eyes on him as he left.

When Dylan got to the elevator, he pressed on the button a few times, praying for it to arrive faster, and jumped on the moment the doors had opened wide enough to get through. He then adamantly pressed the button for the R&D floor. The elevator ride down felt much longer than the one up.

When Dylan did get to his floor, he raced through the doors and to his teammates, grabbing each of them by the upper arm and dragging them into the men’s restroom. He checked every stall to make sure they were alone before locking the bathroom door and turning back to his teammates.

“You guys aren’t gonna believe this!” Dylan announced. “I found out some crazy shit!”

“Why am I here?” Jenna asked him in a deadpan voice. “Can I leave?”

“Jenna, you’ll actually wanna hear this! I found out who Peter is!”

Ashley and Jenna both froze, but for different reasons.

“You gotta tell us!” Ashley exclaimed excitedly.

“No, you better fucking not!” Jenna said over her.

“What?! Why?!” Dylan looked genuinely confused.

“Because we’re not supposed to know! It’s obvious he wants to keep his identity a secret! You can’t go around telling people! You need to tell him and Stark that you know so they can feel sure that his identity won’t get leaked!”

“God, you’re such a buzzkill, Jenna,” Ashley shot at her.

“No, I’m a good person.”

It made her teammates go silent, the words piercing through them like knives.

“If you wanna go and tell and lose your job, then go ahead, but I want no part of it.” Jenna turned around and started to leave.

“Do you know?” Dylan asked her, making the woman stop in her tracks.

“What?” Jenna slowly turned back to him.

“Do you know?” he repeated, voice cold and serious.

Jenna stayed silent for a few moments, mulling over what she could say.

“Not on purpose . . .”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Ashley questioned, betrayal written across her face.

“Sorry I respect their privacy!” It was obvious that she was very much not sorry.

“Wait . . . did you find out when you went back to get your jacket after the presentation?!” Dylan exclaimed, looking like he had put all the puzzle pieces together. When Jenna stayed quiet, he knew that he had gotten his answer. “Holy shit! What happened?! Did you, like, see them kiss or some shit?!”

“Kiss?!” Ashley shouted.

“Jesus Christ,” Jenna muttered, putting her head in her hands.

“No fucking way! They’re in a relationship?!”

“Yeah!”

“That’s it,” Jenna declared decisively and turned around.

“Where are you going?” Ashley asked her, bewilderment shining in her eyes.

“I’m going to go tell them that Dylan figured it out and that you know,” Jenna told the blonde, voice laced with venom.

Jenna unlocked the door and left, not letting her teammates get another word in, but the two followed her out and watched as she stormed past all her coworkers and to the elevator, disappearing as soon as the doors opened.

“I might lose my job,” Dylan muttered, eyes wide and trained on the now closed elevator doors.

“Is it true?” one of the other employees, Amelia, asked as she walked up to Dylan and Ashley.

“Is what true?” Ashley replied.

“That Peter and Stark are in a relationship? You guys were implying it in there, and you aren’t exactly good at being quiet.”

“I’m definitely gonna lose my job,” Dylan whispered, correcting his earlier statement.

“So it is true!” Eric, another employee, shouted.

Everybody started talking, the floor turning into a storm of chattering.

“We’re so fucked. We’re absolutely, completely, utterly fucked,” Ashley murmured, only loud enough so Dylan could hear, and the man only nodded in agreement.

The two slowly walked forwards, looking around at their gossiping coworkers as they made their way back to their desk. They looked completely horrified, and guilt was quickly eating away at Dylan.

Before they could sit down, the elevator doors opened and Jenna walked out with Tony and Peter in tow. Everybody stopped, staring at the three of them. Peter looked nervous and tears were glistening in his eyes, but Tony just looked furious, his expression mirroring Jenna’s.

“Okay, which of you knows?” Tony asked the room, his voice deadly calm. He didn’t yell or scream, but that steady tone was almost worse than him blowing up at them.

One employee raised their hand, and everybody else followed, the last people to put their hands up being Ashley and Dylan.

“All of you, go to the auditorium. Now. All the other employees will meet you there. Do not say a word of this to them before I get there to talk to them about it. Do I make myself clear?” 

If looks could kill, all of the R&D employees, minus Jenna, would be dead. All of them mumbled their confirmations or nodded and slowly shuffled off to the elevators, heading to the auditorium floor.

Ashley and Dylan had fallen into the back of the crowd and were the last to get onto an elevator, meaning they could see the floor before the door closed. The two watched as Tony turned back to Peter and Jenna, who were looking regretful and heartbroken respectfully. The last thing they saw before the elevator started moving was Peter beginning to cry and burying his face in Tony’s shoulder as the man embraced him and Jenna putting a comforting hand on his back.

By the time the R&D employees reached the auditorium and began to make their way into the seats, other employees were either already there or just getting there. There was chatter, a mix of people confused why they had been called there and those who knew praying that they wouldn’t be fired. The chatter seemed to die down a bit as everybody was seated, all of them waiting in anticipation for whatever was going to happen.

After a few minutes, the doors of one of the entrances to the auditorium, which had been closed, slammed open. Everybody turned, though plenty of them couldn’t see the doors, and watched as Tony Stark stormed down the aisle towards the stage, Jenna Locke behind him and looking slightly less, but still plenty, furious. The two made their way up the three stairs that led up to the stage.

All the employees gazed up at the two standing center stage, and they were glaring back at them with serious faces. After a moment of silence, Tony finally spoke.

“I’m sure the majority of you are wondering why I called everybody to the auditorium. Today, somebody found out something that they shouldn’t have about my private life and, instead of coming and talking to me about it in order to keep it confidential, they went and told somebody, and those people’s department overheard. That person who found out and told will be fired and the person who was first told and was complicit in revealing information about my life will be put on probation.”

In the back of the auditorium, Dylan and Ashley sank down in their seats.

“You may also be wondering why I have one of your coworkers up here with me today. If you weren’t already aware, this is Jenna Locke.”

Jenna gave the audience a curt nod.

“Jenna also found out about this information a couple months ago. Instead of telling anybody, she talked to us and promised to keep it to herself, and she has kept that promise. She was also the one who told me about the information leak.”

The employees, minus the R&D department, were on the edge of their seats, eager to find out the information but scared of their boss and what he could do to them if things got out.

“Seeing as nothing can seem to stay a secret here, I have elected to talk to you all about it. Keep in mind that what happened in terms of this information being revealed was a serious breach of confidentiality and disrespected not just my own privacy. Take this as a warning. If any of you are to tell anybody outside of this company about this, your employment will be terminated and my legal team will sue you to kingdom come. This is not a three strikes you’re out situation. Do not tell a soul about this. Keep in mind the fact that you all signed non-disclosure agreements when you took this job. This counts as a company secret, and you will treat it as one.”

Everybody seemed to nod or give a murmur of confirmation. It wasn’t much, but it appeared to satisfy the man.

“Moving on, I’m sure you’ve all either seen or heard about Peter. Only a select few of you know who he is, though without his consent, and others have seen us interact but never known who we are to each other. This information about our private lives was discovered and we have no choice but to let you all know in fear of rumors and gossip being spread around and taken outside the company. Everybody, please meet my fiancé, Peter Parker.”

The room was shocked into silence, the only sound being the clacking of Peter’s shoes as he softly walked out from the wings and to Tony’s side. None of the employees uttered even a sound as they looked up at the boy, whose eyes were still slightly red and puffy from when he had cried only ten minutes earlier.

“Hey, everybody. I’m Peter. You’ve all probably seen me around,” the young man introduced himself, voice only loud enough to hear. “Like Tony said, we weren’t planning on telling people yet, but we don’t get that choice anymore.”

They were still silent.

“Since this will be your only chance to do so, we’ll be answering questions about this,” Peter continued. Nobody spoke, until one person in the third row raised their hand and the young man motioned to them. “Yes, go ahead.”

“How, uh, how old are you?” the woman asked quietly, looking slightly concerned.

Peter sighed as Tony looked to him with a humorous smile.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” he told the billionaire, who didn’t have a chance to respond before Jenna started laughing a bit. “You too?! I can’t believe you would betray me like this! This happens every fucking time!”

The employee who asked furrowed her eyebrows, seemingly mirroring the confusion of the rest of the audience.

“I’m twenty-one,” Peter told her. “Tony likes to make fun of me because I look like I’m not old enough to drive. Jenna’s laughing because she asked the same question when she found out.”

The woman nodded along with the explanation and everybody went silent again before another person raised their hand and Peter pointed to them.

+++

Eight Months Later

“And this is your team!” Kelsey told the new employees excitedly. “Meet Jenna and Ashley! They’ve been here for a while and are definitely excited to show you the ropes!”

“It’s nice to meet you!” Jenna greeted. “What’s your name?”

“I’m River,” the new guy replied quietly, cheeks flushed.

“I’m glad to have you on the team, River!” Ashley exclaimed.

“I’ll leave you all to it!” Kelsey gave River one last smile and walked off to talk to some teams about their projects.

“We’re finishing up some last touches on the update to the prosthetics line,” Jenna explained to the new recruit as he sat down. He nodded along as she began to explain the project.

Jenna was cut off by the elevator doors opening and Peter walking onto the floor.

“Excuse me for a second,” the woman told her team before jumping up and running over to the brunet.

“Who’s that?” River asked Ashely as he watched Jenna excitedly embrace the man and begin to talk to him.

“Have you signed all your NDAs?”

River nodded.

“Peter!” Ashely called. “Come meet the new kid!”

Peter bounded over eagerly, a large smile on his face as he approached the two employees, Jenna trailing him.

“Uh, hi, I’m River.”

“Nice to meet you, River! I’m Peter Parker. It’s always great to see new faces around here!”

“It’s great to be here,” he replied awkwardly.

Peter nodded and was off again, going around to teams and helping with projects, but, more importantly, just talking to the employees in general.

“Is he a director or something? Everybody seems to know him,” River questioned his team.

“He’s even better than a director,” Ashley told him with a grin. “He’s Tony’s Stark’s fiancé.”

Shock painted itself across River’s face.

“There’s no way that’s real!”

Ashley and Jenna glanced at each other before turning back to River. They didn’t say anything else to him, which was unnerving to the new employee.

As if on cue, the elevator doors opened once more and the Tony Stark walked out, a small smile adorning his face. Peter worked up from where he was helping a team and flitted over to the man happily. The two shared a short kiss before Peter turned back a bit.

“We still on for lunch on Friday, Jenna?”

“Of course!”

Peter shot her a smile and the couple entered the elevator, talking quietly as they disappeared behind the metal doors.

“Okay, so maybe it is real.”

Tag List (Let me know if you would like to be added or removed):

@darkerstarker @dim-ships-johnlock @haylove5

[jatparker]

Stars

Word count: 1.9K

Summary: Best friends Peter and Y/N loved to watch the stars together. They’d climb onto the roof every Friday night and stay there until the sun comes up. One day Peter finally plucks up the courage to ask her out on a date

Climbing onto the roof of her apartment shouldn’t have been such a big deal. She’d done it so many times before, but she’d always had Spider-Man, fucking Spider-Man!, by her side. It didn’t help that she had to sneak her way up with a backpack full of picnic food, but having Peter there made it less daunting.

Of course, this had to be the one time Peter was actually interning under Tony Stark. He wasn’t swinging around the city; he was making coffees and organising paperwork. Sucks to be him, she thought with a smile. But he promised he would be there and Y/N knew he would.

Since they were fourteen, Y/N and Peter made their way onto the roof of their apartment complex to watch the stars. They were kind of hard to see, blocked out by the light pollution. So, when Y/N was fifteen, she bought him a telescope. She’d saved up for weeks and done countless shifts at the little pizza place where she worked. But it was all worth it, just for the smile that came with it.

They’d both agreed, once they’d got their licences, that the two of them would take a trip out of Queens. Leave everything behind, their worries and responsibilities, and go stargazing in the middle of butt fuck nowhere. They’d bring a telescope, a few blankets and a change of clothes. All they needed was each other and the stars.

Y/N was setting up the blankets and setting out the food when the red figure swung into view. The expensive telescope was precariously under his arm (it was a wonder he hadn’t broken it yet). “You need to be careful with that thing,” Y/N warned in way of greeting. “I’m not buying you another one if you break it.”

Rolling his eyes, Peter pulled off the mask. But he grinned once he saw their usual set up. Cushions, blankets and a bowl of crisps, he didn’t know how Y/N managed to carry it all up here. “You ready to gaze at some stars?”

And so, Peter set about setting up the telescope as Y/N began eating the food. She already had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and the temperature outside had yet to drop. Or maybe Peter's superhuman body just ran a little hotter than everybody else’s. He was content to stay in the spider suit while she hogged the blankets.

And so, they watched the stars, taking turns with the telescope. Peter had actually taken the time out of his studies and the internship to research constellations and became quite the astrology nerd. He searched for the constellations in the telescope and then pointed them out to Y/N.

The two sat on the roof for hours, talking, looking at the stars, bitching about Y/N’s least favourite teacher and so on. They stayed until the sun rose and the sky was painted orange.

Peter stood and began to stretch. “I better go before May starts to panic,” he said and gathered up the telescope.

“Hold your horses, Pete.” Y/N still had a blanket around her shoulders and had a cushion tucked under her arm. She was in the process of gathering up everything, but things kept falling out of her arms. “You’re not going to leave me here with all of this, are you?”

He only smiled, pulled the mask back over his face and leapt off the side of the building. That fucker, she thought and continued gathering up her stuff.

***

Y/N couldn’t quite understand it when Peter had called an emergency stargaze on a Monday. Ste had a tonne of homework as well as a lack of sleep to make up for.

She trudged up the fire escape, rather unenthusiastically, only for Peter to not be there. Instead, blankets were spread out in their usual spot and pillows surrounded them. But the telescope wasn’t there. Instead there was a note taped to one of the cushions.

Please don’t leave! I’ll be back soon, I promise. The answers the the algebra and biology homework are on the back - Pete

It wasn’t like Peter to just give out answers. He was always pushing Y/N to do her best, to try and work out the answers on her own before he swooped in and saved her ass from detention. Y/N wasn’t going to pass up this rare opportunity.

She watched the sunset alone, snapping a quick picture when the sky turned pink. Her homework took hours, even when she was copying Peters (slightly confusing) answers. By the time she was done she was using her phone as a torch and her hand was cramping.

A sudden woosh! filled the air and someone landed on the roof beside her. The person stumbled ever so slightly, but quickly regained his balance, somehow keeping hold of the boxes in his hands. “Did somebody order pizza?”

“Peter Parker you’re a lifesaver!” Y/N called as he sat beside her and opened the first box. She stole a slice and quickly ate it. “And thanks for the answers. God knows I wouldn’t be graduating without you.”

They made light work of the pizza, sitting silently as they ate. Y/N had had head on Peter's shoulder as she stuffed her face. A little bit of cheese had stuck to her face, but neither of them had noticed it yet.

“So,” Y/N started after wiping the sauce (and cheese) away from her face. “Why did you call me up here? What’s going on?”

Peter suddenly panicked. He had been going over this in his head since he first picked up the pizza. And ate the first two boxes because of nerves alone. It was why he had left her up here for so long. Being in love with your best friend was never easy.

“I just…” He struggled to find the words, wringing his hands together to try and somewhat calm his nerves. “Today was tough and I thought we could use it,” he said quietly, looking at his feet. He blew it. He totally blew it.

“You’re the best, Parker!” She grinned and leaned her entire body against him. Without the blanket around her shoulders she was shivering in the cold night. Peter wrapped his arms around her and looked out across Queens.

***

There was a lot Peter wanted to say to Y/N, he just didn’t know how to do it. Every time he tried his words would get jumbled or he’d chicken out.

“What do you actually like about her?” MJ asked as they waited for Y/N and Ned in the cafeteria.

Peter considered her words. He’d never really thought about it that far, he knew he liked Y/N (knew he liked her a lot) but he’d never tried to put those feelings into words. “She’s my best friend, right?” He started, still trying to find the words. “She knows everything about me, everything I like and don’t like, and for some reason she still chooses to be around me. I don’t have to hide any part of myself around her! She makes me feel comfortable to be me where I’ve always been made to feel like I have to be more than I am. When I’m with her I don’t want to swing off and disappear until she leaves. And she’s just incredible.”

Peter fell silent as Ned and Y/N approached the table. They slid themselves into their seats and instantly dominated the conversation. They spoke about Star Wars or the Hobbit or whatever they were into that week.

A note was suddenly placed in front of Peter. Tell her everything you just told me. He snatched it up before anyone could see and hit it in his pocket, his cheeks pinks. “You feeling alright, Parker?”

“Yep,” he choked out and cleared his throat. “Everything’s fine.”

But Y/N wasn’t convinced. “As long as you’re sure,” she mumbled and eyed him suspiciously. Ned quickly pulled her back into the conversation and Peter silently thanked him.

***

It was their usual Friday when Y/N took a trip up to the roof. He had been quiet and distant all week; she wasn’t sure if he was going to show or not.

When she got there, with a blanket stuffed into her bag and a pillow under her arm, she gasped.

There was Peter Parker, looking dapper in a tattered suit. His arms were braced against the railing that went around the roof and looked down at the bustling street below. He knew she was there, but chose to let her come to him.

Y/N set down her bag and her pillow and slowly approached him. “What’s going on, Parker?” Her voice was quiet as she reached for the railing and stood beside him. Last time this had happened, he’d just come from his Uncle Ben's funeral. The two had spent that night crying and reminiscing.

He turned to her, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. You took Liz Allen to homecoming and her dad was one of the bad guys, you can do this. He was still nervous, but he had to do this. It was now or never.

“I’ve loved you since we were kids.”

“I love you too, Pete. What’s going on?” She urged.

So, Peter tried again. “Y/N.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “You’re someone who makes me feel comfortable being myself. You know every part of me and there’s nothing I have to hide from you. When I’m with you, I don’t have to be anymore than I am and-” the paper slipped from between his fingers, pulled away by the wind. “Shit,” he mumbled, trying to reach for it. It tumbled through the air, out of his grasp.

Y/N was silent. Peter had half a mind to get on his knees and beg for her to say something, anything.

“I think I get what you’re trying to say,” she said at last and stepped closer. Peter sucked in a breath, his chest tight. “Can we start this night over? This time, I’ll do the talking.” Peter rapidly nodded his head and Y/N took his hand.

They pulled the blanket from Y/N’s bag and sat on it. She took a minute to gather her words before finally speaking. “Hey Peter, I’m in love with you and I have been for the last year. I think we should go on a date,” she said, words filled with confidence. “This Friday, before we come up here for stargazing.” Y/N was looking at him, eyes filled with hope.

“I’ll pick you up at six.” Peter grinned and leaned back, opening his arms for her.

“You better bring flowers for my mum. It’s not a real date without them.”

“What do you take me for? Cheap?”

[defstolemyheart]

ex - kim seungmin, park jinyoung pt i

tags: angst, , jinyoung x fem! reader, brother! seungmin, cheating trope

note: another one I cross posted from my instagram. this was my tribute for Seungmin’s and Jinyoung’s birthday, since they both share birthdate! I was inspired after listening to Stray Kids - EX.

word count: 2.5k

synopsis:

Kim Seungmin prides himself for being extremely patient, and for having the decency to never cuss at anything or anyone, no matter how intense his emotions are.

But Park Jinyoung deserves none of Seungmin’s groomed patience and decency.

Not after what he has done to you.

No.

Park Jinyoung can go fuck himself.

--

A ring. And another. And another one. 

Again and again, the doorbell rings for over a dozen times before Seungmin drags himself out of the comfort of his bed, murmuring annoyance under his morning breath. He takes his time stepping downstairs to the living room, rubbing the remains of sleep off his eyes before glancing at the wooden clock on the TV stand. 7.14 AM.

It’s far too early on a Sunday morning to wake up and irritation begins to grow rapidly under his skin as the doorbell won’t stop ringing. Who would be so cruel and dumb as to visit people’s house this early on a rest day?

“Tsk.” 

Seungmin’s face contorts to disgust as soon as he opens the front door of his house. Any trace of sleepiness in his being disappears as he slams the door shut, only to bounce back as the person on the other side of the door is forcing it to stay open. Their sneaker clad foot lodges between the teak door and the doorframe.

“Fuck off, Jinyoung. My sister doesn’t want to see your face.” Seungmin puts his body against the door, exerting as much force as he could to close it and paying no mind that the person outside, Park Jinyoung, asshole extraordinaire, is yelping in pain.

“First, address me properly, I’m older than you. Second, let my fucking feet go, it fucking hurts. And third, please, please let me talk to y/n, I’m begging you, Seungmin.”

“Ha!” Seungmin scoffs. “Don’t you think you got the order wrong? Beggars can’t be choosers, Jinyoung. You’re not welcomed here. Go home.”

Seungmin pushes the door again, but Jinyoung persists despite yelling out curses in agony as his toes are practically being crushed in his shoes. For a split second, Seungmin considers kicking on Jinyoung’s ankle until it breaks. Or should he just go get his baseball bat and beat the shit out of Jinyoung?

“I’m sorry Seungmin, please, please let me talk to your sister.”

“No! Fuck you! I’m not going to let you see her and just cause her more pain, you asshole!”

“I was wrong, Seungmin. Please, man…”

“You dumped her!” Seungmin’s patience is running thin, much like his strength now. Why couldn’t Jinyoung come after breakfast so that Seungmin would have a lot more energy than he is now? In fact, he could’ve just not come at all. “You. Fucking. Asshole. You threw my sister away, after she forgave you despite knowing you fucking cheated on her. You dumped my kind, loving sister, for some- some dumb ugly bitch.”

Jinyoung groans at Seungmin’s words. “Seungmin, I’ll tell you what really happened. Please let me in.”

“NO! I AM NOT LETTING YOU STEP INTO THIS HOUSE!”

“Please-”

“You hurt her! You fucking hurt her when all she’s ever done is love you.” Jinyoung flinches, all struggles pausing at the younger’s words, and Seungmin feels tears forming on the corners of his eyes. 

His lids squeeze shut in an attempt to barricade the tears in, but it’s a vain effort because they eventually break through and Seungmin weeps as he tries his best to push Jinyoung out.

Call him weak and sissy for crying, but who wouldn’t be, if they were in his shoes? 

Seungmin came home from school early two days ago, one of the off chances that a senior in high school like him rarely gets. 

He was excited because he finally gets to sleep or play games or most likely sleep. Seungmin barely has time to sleep the past six months because of afterschool studies and late night classes, so he was looking forward to diving and snuggling in the soft comforter on his bed. But he threw his plans out the window the moment he opened the door and saw you, his older sister, slumping against the wall by your entryway. 

You were crying- fists pounding merciless hits on your own legs as screams continuously ripped from your throat, curses he had never heard you say are targeted to yourself.

Seungmin flustered and panically asked you what had happened. The sight of Seungmin had you sobbing so mournfully. He scooped you up and carried you to your room, your trembling hands landing hits on his chest as you wanted Seungmin to just let you be. But how could he? 

You were just fine in the morning, all bright smiles when you served him breakfast in place of your mother, who was out with your father, visiting your grandparents for the week. You were laughing as you chased after Seungmin who forgot his bus pass. You were giggling when his eyes widened at the ten thousand won bill you slipped in his hand, a pleasant surprise that had him thanking you with a wink which made you laugh louder.

And just mere hours later, you were all tears, and he was utterly confused but he did the best he could to comfort you. He wrapped you in your soft fuzzy blanket, and hugged you, rocking you back and forth in his hold as you broke down completely, like somebody just tore your heart out. 

And somebody did. 

Fucking Park Jinyoung did.

You cried for hours, with your brother hugging you through the hiccups and the hyperventilations, side effects of weeping your lungs out. He took all the hits you threw to his chest, all the while your trembling lips uttered your boyfriend’s name painfully. 

Seungmin’s heart hurt, not from all the beating, but from witnessing you as your heart shattered to pieces. And he was angry. Even as he rubbed comforting circles on your back, rage pulsed through him in turbulent ripples.

He wanted to curse at Park Jinyoung. 

Curse him and pummel to the floor him for making you cry, because Seungmin could already guess what Park Jinyoung had done to you, to cause you to weep this hard. Though he hoped for it to not be true.

And when you finally calmed down and told him what happened with stuttered words and a shredded voice, confirming his hypothesis, Seungmin wanted to find the man and kill him on the spot. The only thing holding him back is his conscience and the fact that your fragile self needed all the comfort you can get. He couldn’t let you be alone that night because right after the calm, the storm of sadness hit you again and your body shook violently as you cried and Seungmin was scared that if he left, worse things would happen. 

So he stayed up all night that night, and last night he kept waking up every other hour because he was scared you’d break down again.

Now he’s crying, because he’s thoroughly tired, hurt, offended and enraged. His teeth sink in his dry, chapped lips, holding back more tears as he wipes the remaining ones off his eyes. 

“Fuck off, Jinyoung!” He cries out as he pushes on the door with his knee, gritting on the pain erupting from the joint.

Your mother would have fainted if she heard what Seungmin said just now. She’d have a heart attack if she heard what his youngest child has been spouting for the last five minutes since Jinyoung’s arrival.

Never, in the relatively short time he’s been living on earth, has Seungmin ever uttered profanities. It’s something that his friends found to be rather baffling but he really likes about himself.

Kim Seungmin prides himself for being extremely patient, and for having the decency to never cuss at anything or anyone, no matter how intense his emotions are. 

He was raised gently, by both of his parents, and you, his older sister. The three of you would speak to him softly, though stern at crucial moments. Your parents are saints. They never snapped at you and Seungmin, never letting their emotions take control of themselves. 

Their patience is unwavering even when the both of you made the stupidest decisions. Their lips never once uttered curses, not at you, or him, not at anyone. They’d rather stay silent even in times of frustrations, while others would’ve rambled all the names of the animals in the zoo and come up with even more vile terms to say.

And his upbringing really, really shaped Seungmin to be the boy that he is now.

But Park Jinyoung deserves none of Seungmin’s groomed patience and decency.

Not after what he has done to you.

No.

Park Jinyoung can go fuck himself.

Better yet, maybe Seungmin should really grab his baseball bat and beat the older man to a pulp.

Seungmin’s heels dig hard on the cold floor, trying their best to hold his stance as Jinyoung won’t relent. “Just- Seungmin- please, give me five minutes, please.”

“No. Kindly fuck off please, Jinyoung, before I call the police on you.”

Jinyoung’s arm flails into the gap of the door, hand reaching around to grasp on the door handle the younger is holding with his life. Seungmin lands a particularly hard hit on the older’s hand and slams the door once more, positively bruising the older man’s arm. Jinyoung shouts in pain and retracts himself away from the door and Seungmin uses the chance to close and lock the door twice, for safety measure.

He slumps against the creaking wood, chest heaving as he tries to regain composure. But it’s hard to do so when Jinyoung is now banging fervently from the other side.

“If you’re not getting off our porch in two minutes, I am seriously going to call the cops on you, Jinyoung!” Seungmin yells, anger seeping out in every syllable he utters. “And we have CCTV installed on the porch last week. I will show them the tapes and tell them you’re harassing my sister if you won’t leave.”

Seungmin hears Jinyoung groaning, and his steps slowly fading away from the door. Through the small window by the door, Seungmin takes a peek of the world outside. Jinyoung is walking out of their gate, hand roughly ruffling his brown locks out of frustration. The steel gate closes with a loud bang as Jinyoung slams it close after him.

Rude, Seungmin mutters under his breath.

The boy stands up and decides he needs to hydrate his parched throat. All that cursing and screaming really took a toll on his vocal chords, but Seungmin thinks they’re worth the soreness and inability to speak loudly for the next few days.

He gets to the kitchen and pours himself a glass of water. He leans on the kitchen counter, closes his eyes and sips his water slowly. His whole body begins to ache, though it was no surprise because he was basically roughhousing the door to keep Jinyoung out. He pats himself in the back for doing such hard work so early on a Sunday morning.

“Good job, Kim Seungmin. You did very well-” He nearly chokes himself when he opens his eyes to you appearing silently next to him. “N-noona. You’re up already?”

It’s been a day since he’s seen you out of your room, and you’re not looking any better than he saw you last when you sat on the living room couch at 5 AM yesterday, crying as you finished a pint of the mint and dark chocolate ice cream he had saved for foreseeable moments of mental breakdowns that commonly plagued high school seniors in the country. 

Seungmin didn’t protest like he’d usually do when you swiped his snacks away. He thought you needed the sugar boost more than him, and probably more, so your brother went out to the convenient store and got you another pint to finish. 

He wondered if all heartbroken people can finish two pints of icecream in one sitting at the crack of dawn. He wondered if he’s heartbroken, will he become like this too? Or will he be the cause of someone’s cries and binge-eating.

He still wonders until now, how much people can hurt each other, as he looks at you.

His eyes study you with palpable worry. Your skin is pallid, with dry, tender patches around your nose, the effect of rubbing it harshly with tissues as you tried to soak snot and tears that pooled around it from hours of crying. Your eyes are bloodshot and tired, apparent from the bags under your eyes. You crack a feeble smile, and he smiles back, just as weak.

“Was that Jinyoung?” you ask hesitantly and Seungmin isn’t quite sure how to answer, the question feels almost rhetorical.

“Yeah. Jinyoung was here. He wanted to see you.” Seungmin sips more of his water, Jinyoung’s name gives a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.

Seungmin grabs a clean mug from the upper cabinet and pours you warm water. You take it gratefully, though your hands still tremble and it doesn’t go unnoticed by your brother. You didn’t eat last night. He knows that because after the morning melt-down over ice-cream you asked to be left alone in your room and he hadn’t heard the door opening at all.

“Noona, I’m going to cook breakfast. What do you want?” Seungmin asks, wanting to get Jinyoung off and away from your mind and also genuinely worried for your well being. You shake your head lightly, though and he squints his eyes to you in hard judgement.

“I don’t feel like eating, Min.” you reply weakly.

“If you’re going to cry again, you at least need some energy to do that.” Seungmin huffs a tired sigh and you chuckle sorrowfully from your brother’s words.

“Okay then. Anything but pancakes.” you sip the water slowly, feeling the way it slides down your throat and warming up your stomach. “Your pancakes are horrible.”

“Just because I burnt them twice- nevermind. I’ll make toast and sunny side ups. Do you want bacon? Or sausage?” He makes his way to the fridge and grabs some eggs and bread.

“Sausage.” you sit down on the stool of the kitchen island, watching your brother looking for sausages from the freezer, brows furrowing as he’s considering between blackpepper or cheese sausage. “Do we still have salad-mix, Min? I think I need some vegetables in my system.”

He puts the ingredients he has in his arms on the counter and comes back to the fridge, hand rummaging the shelves for the clear plastic packaging he was sure to have seen last night. “We do. I’ll mix them with the roasted sesame dressing.”

“But you don’t like sesame dressing.” Your eyes widen, perplexed, and Seungmin clicks his tongue at your statement.

“Let me be a good brother for a day, will you?”

You laugh, albeit shaky, and it brings a smile to Seungmin’s previously scowling face. 

“You’ve always been a good brother.” you say and Seungmin beams even more, feeling rather fired up to cook you the best breakfast he can fix.

In his excitement he hums and the kitchen is filled with the sound of him cooking and singing, that he fails to catch your whisper.

“Thank you, Seungmo.”

--

end notes: I feel like this is sort of cringe, but hey, baby steps, right? I’ll post part two tomorrow!

[gallowswhump]

Blue Eyes

The Start of Cirelc's story. In this he is still named blue. This is a look into his joining of the theives guild.

CW: Child Abuse, Child Abandonment, Homelessness, Theft, pickpocketing, broken bones, implied prostitution, starvation, attempted murder, serious injury, swearing, torture

It had always been like this, just barely scraping by on hand outs and sticky fingers. There was no reason for his fate that Blue could think of. Charity had left him barely enough for a slice of bread today, a couple of coppers in the mid week was nothing new. No holy day that would make people feel more charitable. No leftover coin from stocking for the week. Just tried people who had better things on their mind than the poor Aasimar boy begging for rations on the streat. Luckily, around the end of the day that meant lots of people with pockets heavy with coin would be walking from their place of work to their homes. He just needed the right mark.

A dwarf walking to the bar was a clear mark but Blue could already tell the man kept his purse close to his chest, patting it as he walked by the dirty urchin whose heritage is usually enough to make people think he isn’t a thief. A bad mark, okay the next one. A woman showing a little too much of her chest, the marks on her told Blue a different story of how her pockets came to be filled. Bad mark, no targeting the downtrodden even if they might have more. A man with dusty hair, rushing through the market. A bad mark, he knew the man, a coal worker seen carrying around a new baby on the weekends. The evening wound to a close and there was the sinking feeling of hunger setting in and the idea that his belly would go unfilled. There is a spectacle though, people moving out of the way of a group. Normally, a bad mark, people traveling together. The flashy clothes are what makes him take note. The two men to the side are dressed in clean black tunics, humans. The one to the left of their group leader is light skinned, bald. A nasty scar accents his general demeanor as he glowers at people who walk too close. The other one has dark skin, dark curly hair, not common to the area. He looks bored, his eyes lingering from shop entrance to shop entrance like he’s looking for some sort of entertainment. The leader, he is the attention grabber. A heavy large coin purse lies on his hip, that sort of gold was always too good to be true. He’s a tiefling, red skin dressed in very brightly colored flashy robes but Blue can see the hint of dark leathers under it. Ill gotten gold. No qualms about taking from other thieves, not ones with that kind of money. Blue circles the men for a bit, keeping out of sight as the leader peruses from shop to shop. He’s calm and confident talking up shop keeps about their wears. He buys an expensive knife with part of his gold. Blue waits in the shadows for the shopping to be done.

When they start heading for the tavern that’s when he pulls it. He runs through the marketplace, pretending like he didn’t see the brightly dressed man and runs head first into him. He doesn’t make the interaction long, taking the time of shock from the impact to pull the bag of gold from the tieflings belt, hugging it to his chest, covering it with his tattered cloak. He pretends to be hurt and shocked as he pulls away clutching his chest. He knows hands are coming for him, a reaction to push or to comfort he knew from adults but he dodges it. “Sorry, mister,” He voices in his best kid tone to make himself seem younger. Then he is off running like he has somewhere to be and now he does. A huge score was in his arms and he knows that the men aren’t likely to take his actions kindly. He needed a place to hide.

The woods were not the ideal sleeping space, especially with how much gold he had but he knew he couldn’t stay anywhere in town. He needed to move on and quickly. Trekking through the woods at night though was a dangerous prospect alone. One cold night out in the woods would be worth it just to get away with the gold. So, he finds a tree with a wide enough branch to sleep in and climbs into it. He could rest easy knowing that this would be the last cold night, the last hungry night. Those thoughts sit with him and let him sleep for a few hours.

Jerked out of sleep by feeling pain hit his leg and spine. He tries to raise his head. He had picked a wide enough branch that he shouldn’t have fallen out. His head is spinning but he can make out shouting in his sleep ridden mind. He feels a sharp kick to his side and he curls in on himself crying out as his brain catches up with the world around him, “Where is it you little shit!?”

“What?” Pain and sleep muttle his mind, forgetting about the actions he had taken only hours earlier. He’s grabbed by the collar and shoved back into the tree. He cries out his delicate wings taking the brunt of the blow. There was a snap and pain shot through his bones and up unto his spine.

“Don’t act like you don’t know I saw you take the gold!”

Tears start flowing from the young boy’s eyes, “Please I’ll tell you just let me go.” Smack. He’s hit across the face, hard. His cheek stings and the taste of blood wells up in his mouth.

“That’s not how this works you’re going to tell me.” Blue finally gaining control over his own muscles again struggles getting his hands up and trying to support himself on the bald man's arms. The force on his collarbone and into his misplaced wing is too much.

“Okay okay!” He cries out struggling. “It’s in my bedroll up there. There’s a false pocket sewn into the inside front.” He takes in a breath of relief kicking away from the man when he is let go. He pushes himself with his feet inching further and further away. The adrenaline starts coming down as he takes in deep breaths and the sharp piercing pain of a small broken bone hits him. He had broken fingers before, no big deal. A part of his wing though wasn’t going to be so easily patched up by himself. He wants to strain to look at it but his eyes keep focused on the man with the glower look as he comes down with gold in hand. More tears flow at the thought of what he just lost. No more security, back to hungry cold nights. Back to begging and thieving for every little luxury. He fights back a sob, he’s not a little kid he can’t act like one.

The man looks over, a smirk crosses his face as he pockets the coin into the front of his shirt, “You have no idea who you stole from do you?” Blue doesn’t answer, he just scoots back a bit more trying to get away. He knew that he could run and end it all but what little he did have was left in that tree. The man walks forward jerking his body in a threatening manner feigning another hit. “Answer me!”

“N-no, I don’t.”

A small tisc of his tongue comes, “Doubly bad for you.” Blue turns over and tries to get up when the man rushes for him but he’s grabbed by the legs and pulled back. They’re pinned underneath the man and he cries out.

“Please! Please you have the gold back, haven't spent a lick of it swear!”

He cringes away as the man whispers in his ear, his breath hot with the stench of liquor, “Boss doesn’t know that. I’m gonna get a gold bonus and catch the thief that stole from him.” The sound of a knife coming from a leather sheath is heard and Blue screws his eyes shut. “We’re all alone out here and I’m going to enjoy this.”

“Please stop! Get off of me.” His beg is met with the knife’s edge running straight along the exposed part of his back.

“Good for nothing street kid doesn’t even have manners.”

“Somebody please help!” Blue shouts as loud as he can knowing there was no reasoning with the man he had to hope someone would hear him. He struggles trying to get his legs free but the other man is almost double his size. His mouth is quickly covered and the blade is pushed up to his neck and his breath hitches. He didn’t want to die, not here, not like this. He gives muffled pleas for his life and the man on top of him lets it go on. He’s enjoying watching the boy beneath him cry and squirm. A large grin on his face and eyes that hunger to see someone’s life in his hands knowing full well he’s going to kill them no matter what.

“Cahir!” In a second the knife is pulled away from Blue’s neck. “Get off of him.” Blue can’t see who it is but his heart is racing. As soon as the weight is lifted from him he tries to bolt away but is quickly caught by the back of his shirt collar. He gives a gargled cry of pain reaching up for his neck.

“Oh no you don’t.” He’s thrown and pushed in front of the man who had him pinned down. He stumbles and comes face to face with the tiefling from earlier. His brow is furrowed and frown lines cross his face. Blue cowers away trapped between the man he stole from and the man who assaulted him.

“What is the meaning of this?” He talks past Blue keeping his voice steady but it’s ready to tip into full anger any second.

“He stole from you sir!” The man argues like he doesn’t understand what he’s done wrong.

“I am aware of that fact.” Blue looks between the two men wondering if he can make a run for it but decides against it. He wasn’t sure he could out run them even if he hadn’t just taken a beating. “I told you to stand your ground and stay at the inn.”

“We can’t let street rats get away with things like that!”

The tiefling glares the man down, “I gave you a direct order. I do not need to explain myself to you. Now hand me the gold and go back to town. I better not see you until morning.” Blue watches as the man walks up and he hands over the gold. He mumbles something under his breath as he walks away. He’s glared after until he’s out of sight and Blue takes the opportunity to try and slowly back away. He knows how to hide in the shadows, maybe he could get away that way.

Amber eyes fall on him before he can execute his plan. They don’t burn with anger anymore. They soften and brows now furrow in worry instead of anger. “You’re hurt. Let me help.” Blue pauses; he can’t trust this man.

“I’ll be fine.”

“In your state something is going to get infected and it’s my fault I don’t have better control over my men.” Blue bites his lip as he turns his head and stretches out his hurt wing to see the state of the damages. It’s hard to see between matted black and white feathers. Blood is coming from somewhere but he can’t tell where or what is broken. The red skinned devilish man is pulling something from his coat pocket. Blue looks over quickly but is surprised when it’s not a weapon but some kind of small jar. “I can help.” The man’s voice is slowly turning from strained calm to an actual soft worried tone.

Blue crosses his arms over his chest and pulls back, “Why would you help me?”

“You got my gold fair and square. I fell for one of the easiest tricks in the book because I wasn’t paying attention. That’s my fault. You taking my gold was entirely preventable on my part. I’m sure you can tell me every detail about that.”

Blue stays quiet before watching eyes make it clear that the man was serious for him to tell. “You kept it on your hip. Either you think that you could catch any thief or that much gold is a deterrent to any potential one. You were lost in buying and taking in the market. You could have seen me at any point in time and guessed that I was marking you. You let me run into you and the knot on the bag wasn’t very secure. Something stopped you from grabbing me when I first hit you, letting me run off.”

“Very good.” The man smirks, almost seeming proud. “Someone teach you that?” Blue shakes his head. That elicits a frown, “How long have you had to study that then?”

“My whole life.”

“How long has that been?”

“Dunno.”

“Best guess?”

“At least twelve years.”

“Where are your parents?”

“I don’t know.” Blue shrugs off the question, he doesn’t have any memories of anyone taking care of him.

“Will you let me help you?” Blue turns, looking around for his options of escape but he needs the bone set at least and he isn’t sure he can do it on his own.

“Fine…I have some bandages in my things” He moves, pushing through the pain to climb a couple of steps up the tree to pull down his bag and bedroll.

“Do you have a name?”

“Most people call me Blue.” He motions to his eyes the color for which he got his name sake. Tensing as he pulls out a roll of old cloth from his bag. The tiefling had come closer and he still didn’t have faith that this wasn’t a trap.

“Remy.”

“What?”

“People call me Remy.” Blue nods and he turns his back facing the gentleman. He can tend to the other minor scrapes and bruises himself. “You haven’t been taking care of these.”

Blue winces as a hand touches his wing, “It’s hard all on my own.” There is silence for moments where the man seemed to be focusing. Carefully moving matts and feathers out of the way trying to take a look at the damage without causing more pain.

“You know you surprised me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t even notice you until you ran into me. That isn’t common.”

“Yeah well.” Blue shrugged, he doesn’t want to talk, he just wants this to be over.

“Pushing these bones back into place is going to hurt.” Blue grits his teeth but finds himself unable to hold back a scream as a swift unwarned movement sets the bones of his wing back into place. He whimpers and stumbles forward but he’s caught around the chest with a full arm. It was clearly to try and prevent causing anymore pain. He wants to be strong but a sob wracks his body as he is gently pulled down to the ground. Everything of that night just washes over him. All of the pain from the broken bones and the beating, the loss of hope that a bag of gold could give, the tiredness from being uprooted from his sleep, the pain of hunger in his belly. He sobs. He turns into Remy and he just sobs. There isn’t any move to push him away or continue the pain; there is just a warm embrace surrounded by the scent of wood fire and paper.

Blue is allowed to let his emotions out, Remy figuring that the kid hadn’t really much time to just let go. With the bone set the minor scrapes and bruises could wait. Pulling the kid close and placing his chin on the top of the boy’s head in an attempt to comfort. Time passes eventually the sobs even out into shallow breathing. The tiefling isn’t surprised the kid fell asleep, childish but Blue was just a child. He shifts the sleeping boy around taking a look at his cheek. It would bruise if nothing was done. He sets the pot that’s been in his hand down on the ground, opening it with one hand the other, keeping the small boy close. The ointment would heal bruises and close wounds. He dips his fingers in before carefully applying a layer to the boy's cheek. He moves on checking and applying to other bruises and cuts he has. The wing would need time to properly heal. Remy wants the kid to sleep proper. He pulls away gently laying Blue down in the grass.

It doesn’t take him long to wake though, he lurches up looking around in a small panic. Remy holds out his hands motioning for him to calm down. “How-”

“Maybe half an hour.” The man waves it away and Blue can see the bags under his eyes. Judging by the sky it was deep into night and he guessed that the man must usually be asleep.

“Thank you.”

There is a small nod, “You know it doesn’t have to be like this.” Blue turns away. He knows there are people who would take him in but he’s scared. Adults have always been mixed in their kindness. That and he didn’t want to burden anyone with his pain. He could take care of himself. “You’ve clearly proven yourself as a thief. There is room in my guild for people like you. We have enough gold to make sure that our brothers and sisters don’t go hungry. You’d have a home to return to. A soft bed to sleep in.” Blue sits up looking over him for a movement. He seemed genuine. He pulls out the coin purse from earlier handing it over. “And there is a lot more where this came from.”

“Guild…” There is a small moment of realization. “You mean you’re a-” He covers his mouth knowing for sure now that this night should have ended very differently.

Remy though gives a good natured laugh, “You stole from a leader of a thieves guild? Yes.”

“But.” Blue looks to where the man from earlier left, then down to the gold, “What about…” That man had to have had a high ranking position. He can’t imagine himself being welcomed.

“Cahir?” Remy sighs, running a hand through his hair. “The man has a temper but knows how to behave in the guild. Besides, most aren’t like him. Most came to me lost, hungry, and hurt like you. They’re family. We protect each other.” Blue knows he doesn’t have to take it. The gold in his hand is more than enough to start a life. He doesn’t know what he would want to start though. What Remy was offering him sounded so appealing. A place in the world, with people who he could trust. He had already proven himself to be better than most people Blue had met.

“Okay. I want to join you.”

Remy stands up welcoming out a hand, “I won’t promise it will be easy but I have a feeling you already know that.”

[ginger-grimm]

Mitzy Hall Prologue

Ventured outside my comfort zone for the first time to write a prologue for my American Horror Story: Hotel plot bunny Mitzy. I hope you enjoy this.

TW: BLOOD, GORE, MURDER, MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

Mitzy Hall leaned down towards her baby girl, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Be nice to grams, okay, sweetie?” she asked softly. She knew Ariel was too young to understand, but liked to talk to her as much as possible anyway. Ariel giggled, waving her little stuffed cat around. Mitzy smiled at her. She didn’t want to go out to her job. Not on Christmas Eve. She knew Ariel wouldn’t care but she did.

But Mitzy’s grandmother Violet was sick and she couldn’t rely on the state to help financiate their life. Someone had to pay the bills, so every night Mitzy would go out on the streets and do what she had to to ensure her family's survival. She grabbed her jacket from the chair and blew Ariel a kiss, smiling as she watched her daughter play with her toys. Mitzy took a peek into her grandmother's room.

If Violet knew what she was doing to bring more money in, she would probably beat the living shit out of her. She was already asleep, the lung cancer making her weaker by the day. Mitzy often tried to grapple with the thought of her grandmother being gone soon but until that happened she would enjoy every moment with her. She grabbed her purse and her keys and headed out the door.

----------

Mitzy closed her jacket tighter as she walked up to the doors of the Hotel Cortez. She had been walking the streets around the building for a couple of months at that point. The hotel was beautifully designed and built. The giant swinging doors alone made her feel even more poor than she already was. She wanted nothing more than just get the gig over with and get back home to Ariel and her grandmother, but these kinds of customers wanted her services for hours sometimes.

The young girl walked into the hotel. She had been walking around in stripper heels for hours and her feet were killing her. Part of her couldn’t wait to finally sit down. The hotel seemed even more grand on the inside. The architecture was beautiful and the lobby alone was decorated nicer than her house. She took a deep breath and walked up to the front desk. Mitzy didn’t know if the person behind it was trans or simply a cross-dresser, but they were dressed fabulously either way.

She gave them a hesitant smile. They gave her a bored look. “May I help you?”

“Yes, I am here to meet with someone. His name is Grant. Richard Grant,” Mitzy replied. She wanted to get it over with fast so she could get back home before Ariel woke up. “Could you give me his room number, please?”

She looked at the name tag sitting on the counter. Liz Taylor, it read. Liz sighed. “Let me check the guest book,” she said. Mitzy didn’t know if Liz was just perpetually annoyed or if she didn’t like her but the conversation was getting awkward and she just wanted it to be done. “Room 276. Try not to make too much of a mess.”

Mitzy’s mouth hung open. She didn’t know why Liz was being rude to her, but she didn’t like it. “Have I offended you somehow? Because I’m sorry if I did.”

Liz put a hand up to her heart. “Not at all, sweetheart,” she insisted. “But I’ve been seeing you walk the streets for the past couple of months. You’re too young to be doing that shit. You know that, right?”

Mitzy rolled her eyes. She had heard that more than once. And she knew it was true. “I’m aware. But the bills aren’t going to pay themselves now, aren’t they?”

“Whatever you say, darling.”

Mitzy scoffed, turning away from the counter. “Thanks for the information. Have a good night.”

“Wait!” Liz called out. Mitzy sighed but turned around to face her nonetheless. “Stay safe up there, alright? The guy seemed kind of sketchy. If you need help, just ring the front desk. Don’t say anything, just ring.”

Mitzy smiled at the woman. “Thank you. Will do,” she assured her. She walked away off to the elevator. She walked inside and pressed the button for the right floor. As the doors closed, Mitzy let out a sigh. Her heart was racing. She had never met a customer anywhere but in their cars. But he was paying extra and she needed the money. The closer she got to the floor, the more her heart started racing. Maybe she should listen to Liz and go. She was too young for this. Too stupid.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. She gulped and walked out into the hallway. The young blonde looked at her wrist watch. It was almost time to meet him and Mitzy wanted nothing more than to just run. She walked up to room 279 and knocked on the door. “Come in,” she heard a voice say. The voice sounded higher than she had expected. She opened the door and walked in, seeing a boy about her age sitting on the bed, waiting for her. “Hey,” he greeted shyly.

“Hey there,” she greeted with a fake smile and her overdramatic sultry voice. She had learned quickly to just please the men and get out. No what, if and but’s. “Nice to meet you,” she told him. Richard had been the one to call her, though his voice sounded deeper over the phone. Maybe he did that to hide his own insecurities. He was on the overweight side of the body spectrum and clearly seemed shy. He wouldn’t be the first of that kind that Mitzy had to work with. These were the kinds of guys who usually couldn’t get a woman in real life, so they got with hookers instead.

Richard got off the bed, straightening out his sweater. “You too. I didn’t know you would be so young.”

“You look pretty young yourself. Is this your first time with a professional?”

Richard chuckled nervously. "My first time in general."

Mitzy fought the urge to sigh. These were her least favorite customers. They expected too much and in the end they were always let down. Instead, she smiled sweetly and walked up to Richard. "Well, then let's make it one to remember."

Richard's breath hitched and Mitzy pushed down her feelings of disgust. She had been doing this job for almost a year but she had still not gotten over it. She had thanked the stars every day that she wasn't a virgin when she started out.

Mitzy put a hand up to his chest, having developed a routine to her job at this point. "You got the condom or do I need to get one?" she asked. Plenty of guys had demanded to go raw, citing that it felt better. But Mitzy wasn't an idiot. She wasn't looking to get pregnant again or catch something from the perverts on the streets.

Richard nodded. He seemed a little scrambled, nervous. Mitzy chalked it up to him being young and this being his first time. Lord knows she had had a full on panic attack after her first gig. "Sit down, I'll get it."

Mitzy nodded and Richard walked off into the bathroom. She sat down on the bed with a quiet sigh. "How old are you, anyway? If I may ask."

"Eighteen. How about you?" Richard asked back.

Mitzy halted for a second. Yeah he was her age but he could still be some kind of undercover worker here to bust here. She was starting to become nervous again. "Nineteen," she finally called out. It was a lie, but what did he care as long as he got his dick wet?

"You sure about that?"

Mitzy narrowed her eyes. Why did he care? Granted, she had asked first but that was more small talk to shake off her nerves. "Yeah."

"Mmmh," she heard him go. A confused expression crossed her face and she was starting to consider ringing the front desk. "Have you ever had these intrusive kinds of thoughts?"

"What?"

"You know, like, wanting to hurt someone in your family? Your friends? The neighbourhood cat."

Mitzy gulped. She would have chalked this up to him being socially awkward, playing a stupid prank on her. But she had heard stories of the hotel. It had housed plenty of killers over the years. Hell, the architect himself was an infamous serial killer. 

She slowly got off the bed, trying not to make a creaking sound. "I can't say that I have, sweetie. Why?"

"Well…" Richard trailed off. Mitzy wanted to break down and cry, but she could do that once she had gotten out of there. "I have been having these dreams. For years now. I killed a neighbours cat recently. It felt good."

Mitzy hurried towards the door. She needed to get out. Go back home. Stop doing this job forever. She would be nicer, like when she was a kid. Do better. Raise her little girl. Help her grandma get better somehow. She had her hand on the knob, ready to twist it, when Richard sprinted over and clasped his hand around her wrist, twisting it so hard it nearly broke.

Mitzy shrieked. "Where do you think you're going?" Richard asked. His voice sounded different. Scarier.

"Let me go, you psycho dick!" she demanded, trying to pull her wrist from his grip. She attempted to push him away but he was too big. "Please," Mitzy whimpered. She gasped as she felt a sting in her side. She looked down. He had stabbed her.

Her mind began to race. She just wanted out. She wanted to go. He pulled out the knife. There was blood. It gushed all over her corset, turning the white fabric red. She kicked Richard in the groin. He hunched over in pain.

"Help!"

She banged on the door - over and over again. "Somebody help me please!" she screamed, her voice sounding strangled. The door was locked. She hadn't even seen him do it. She sobbed, trying to get it open. Mitzy raced over to the phone. Just ring, Liz had said. "Just ring," she whispered frantically.

She picked up the phone, her fingers bloodying the rotator as attempted to ring the front desk. Her fingers slipped and before she could get back to it Richard grabbed her from behind, tossing her tiny body onto the bed like a rag doll.

He straddled her entire frame. Mitzy fought for air. "No, please," she begged. Richard grabbed both ends of the scarf around her neck, pulling it together tightly. Her hands immediately shot up as she struggled to breath. She sobbed, the strangled sound of them turning Richard on like never before. Mitzy scratched and scratched at him until she passed out.

When she awoke again she saw her underwear discarded in the corner of the room. Her corset had been ripped off. Her eyes fluttered as she attempted to suck in some precious air. Richard chuckled at the end of the bed. "In the movies they always make it seem like strangling would kill someone quickly."

Mitzy sobbed once more. Her whole body hurt. She just wanted out. Back to Ariel. Her attempt to sit up was quickly thwarted by Richard. He held her down by the throat. Mitzy was too spent to fight back. Richard pulled the knife out of his back pocket, dragging the stainless steel across her neck, down her chest and over her stomach. "I have always wanted to do this."

He raised the knife, Mitzy's eyes widened. He stabbed away at her stomach. Mitzy let out strangled cry after strangled cry. By the time Richard was satisfied Mitzy's whole body was covered in her blood. The entire bed was covered in her blood. Richard was covered in her blood. And yet, she was still alive. Her gurgled gasps for breath coming out in raggedy heaps as she struggled to hold on. Richard chuckled. He quite enjoyed her will to live. He grabbed the scarf again, strangling her into unconsciousness.

He would repeat that process for hours. Violating her, stabbing away at her tiny body, strangling her until she passed out. Eventually, she just didn't wake up again. When he was satisfied with his work, he cleaned off all the blood on him, grabbed his stuff and headed out.

----------

Liz Taylor had been working at the Hotel Cortez for quite some time now. She had seen many gruesome murders. But none of them quite as bloody and tragic as this one.

When Richard Grant came into the lobby and handed over his keys to the room, Liz had hoped that the young prostitute from down the street was simply washing the shame off her body before returning home.

But after half an hour she still hadn't returned and Liz had gotten worried. The guy had seemed sketchy from the start and Liz had wanted to keep the girl away from him from the beginning. When the older woman stepped into the room and saw the young girls body hanging off the bed she nearly threw up.

It was a nightmarish sight. Her intestines hung from her body. The entire room was covered in her blood. She had nearly been decapitated. Liz sighed. She would have to call the cops soon but had to take care of something else first. She turned around in the hallway, watching as a bloody Mitzy came stalking down the hall, crying out for someone named Ariel.

Liz closed the door to room 276. She walked up to the ghost of the young girl. She would have to disappear before the cops got to the hotel. She sighed, knowing she was in for a long night.

TAGGING: @hughstheforcelou​ @firsthorror​ @eddysocs​ @raith-way​ @foxesandmagic​ @reggiemantleholdmyhand-tle​

[thattimdrakeguy]

To Forget a Familiar Name (A story, but not a book.)

Please don’t forget, books have their end. We’re only stories to be told briefly, by some in single breaths.

Life’s simple pleasures can only last for so long. The feeling of a cool breeze against your thumb. The even colder months. A sensation, one that made you smile so wide, of a cold and soothing stream running through your toes and sometimes up to your thighs. The simple acknowledgement of a warm, comfortable home with a dog and blanket awaiting you, as your parents yelled cheese. This dog seemed to be a pug. Ironically she seemed quite catty, but she was dearly loved. 

Human-kind depends on these things. That’s something to remember. They make our soul feel weightless and happy, no longer as disgusted or dismayed, as we might’ve been a previous day, but able to feel something glad. That’s what we should always feel. Make another day feel important and grand. 

Life has itself made. Miniature miracles that make it a journey to take around the corner. Never disremember, the footpath that we travel is powerful and our own, no matter if it lags, but even that path shall eventually sag and reach its end as others go on and prosper happy and glad. That we can’t forget. Could take a wrong turn, that’s always a risk, but that decision so long ago isn’t going to return, while we must continue and keep going forward and on. We can’t always sit and wait. We might miss our date. Wouldn’t want to stop so early and alleviate. Pain could end sooner. But continue on, friend, and make the world your oyster.

Inside, in your home, by the fire, as your meal was being prepared in your stove, near your pet for now, with a good book to read, having your favorite drink, your favorite show on, it’s your favorite time to dwell as well. Wasn’t it just so precious, and undeniably swell? This was a comfy domicile and it was yours. Celebrate that and cheer. These are all things we hope to have, but they are simply not for all so equally. Some aren’t as blessed, some never had the feelings or your simple comfort. But don’t you worry, the sand that is our life would be colder without your inner glow. Another passenger to crash because another has no car wouldn’t solve a thing. Take comfort in the fact that inside your home, as you're on the phone, that these are here to stay.

There’s no need to worry about the day where that won’t be the case. It’s here and now, this isn’t future town. It’s the present day, you can feel the sun on your face, no more moles, just a fine glass, and a hand that you can hold. The palm that has texture you can recognize as a friend, or perhaps even more. You might switch it out, go to dine, but it’s that sensational fever, an inner beam, that makes you never feel low. That was the real treat. Did you need anything more?

An empty house, a crooked beam, a chilling wind, no slippers, no shoes, no sandals, look down and it’s only cold feet. When did you get here? Was it quickly? Did you make this decision? You might want to retreat. Until you realize you can’t no more.

The snow is friendly as long as you're warmed up. Make new friends with the space around you. You could use a carrot as a treat, or you could use it as a nose. Along with some rocks that your future kids will soon trot over as the eyes to give this friend some magical life all of it his own. You know it’s not real. It’s only imagination. But wouldn’t it be grand to make it awake? To give it this treat without human stakes? What a dream, what a laugh, it’s a gaffe, but you put that wish to sleep. Not everything was meant to last.

Welcome to spring, your kids are now here. Their cheery smiles, their infectious laughter, they make messes, but you love them like treasure. The eyes you can see on their face, why they’re like yours. You gave them a blessing, you gave them a life, and these ones won’t double as a potential frozen treat. This you can hug, without melting at your feet.

That game you wanted, and wished for, and listed. It’s past its release. No more time to play it. You have to sleep and be rested for bed much like your children. The temperature feels colder, but yet it’s the same. Another day ends, and another starts. Repeats many times, but now it’s like a thump. You feel a lump. Gravity seems to get harsher, and granted seems harder to hold. There’s your son, he’s got something of some sort, yell at him to tell him to wait.

More grass, but this isn’t comfy. This grass is sad, and not so alive. The trees have no leaves. This wind isn’t friendly. It seems like it’s raining, it’s water, but not like the streams. What was warmth like anymore? The sun was out yesterday, and it wasn’t warm then. For some reason the lights even seemed dimmed.

You remember your life for a second, your mother, and boy she was a hugger. Picking you, swinging you around, giving you all the love you could ever wish and desire. Then was your father who loved you as a child, and that sensation even when he left the nation, never felt flat, and certainly not when he came back. Where were they now? They were no longer around. Could they not make it? This didn’t seem fair. Bring me back home, this instant you hear.

Where am I? This isn’t my bed. Who is this in my dreams? I don’t know anyone named Kyle. My face looked like a disgrace. My hair was now gray. My skin looked in the midst of decay. Crying all around me. I didn’t get it. What was so sad? I only woke up a little lost. Which is where they should be going just about now. They were strangers they were. So many light blue outfits behind them. Several long white jackets. This didn’t feel fantastic.

Gravity must be mad, it’s going extra hard. Fuck, never mind this. I want my home again. It’s been too long since I’ve been home again. They cry for me to come back, but fuck them I say. I don’t need this. Certainly not now, and not then. When was then? Oh who gave a fuck. The time is now, and that’s all that mattered. This wasn’t future town.

Where were my friends? What were their names? I do remember that they were around this place. Right beside me. Might as well been right there. But they were the ones that were lost. Where was the familiarity? What was this fate? I remember going on dates, and being fed grapes. This wind is too harsh, I could fall down, but screw these people, this isn’t my town.

Walking’s much harder, and breathing felt like a fight. I just want to see my dog’s face again, my dad, my mate’s, my mother too. Was I so lost that I’m forever gone? I think something looking like my street is only over yonder. Only so many more feet. What grabbed me? I’ve landed harshly and I feel defeat. Must I crawl? How humiliating and all, but I have to get to warmth, I miss it desperately, and how.

Who would even miss me? I hear yelling, but for who? Was that my name? I’m fighting this destiny. All seems blue, even my flesh that was now covered in moles, but I’ve had that before, and I’ll beat it again. The windows into other houses, they look quite right but who were these fellows? No more Frankie, and Bobby, but they still seem almost familiar. Those were the same eyes, but not faces or taste. They were having fine dining, I wish I could join, but my bed and my dog, they were for me. Could I just stop feeling oh so tired, fucking please. My feet felt stabbed, my arms were wasted. Time was eating at me, like I was finally toasted and smoked, about to be served at Thanksgiving.

The doorstep. I finally made it. It smells just right, and this carpet was nice. Whoever picked it out must’ve been a heckuva guy. All these photos around, so many people. Ha. Who ever could they be? There was a TV with a DVD or Blu Ray of my favorite show. Finally here and rested. Now where was my dog and my favorite blanket? That’s what life is. Not feeling sophisticated and cooked like bacon. So hot outside? Or maybe it was cold. Heard something about getting burnt by freeze, maybe that’s what it is. Couldn’t be much after all.

I’m here now in my familiar town. Something amiss, but I didn’t feel like having a fit. This was my chair and that was my favorite drink on the counter. Why does this box of ashes have the name of my favorite mate? The one on four legs and had the funny face. This couldn’t be right. Who’s home was this? I didn’t remember walking in here. This can’t be right. Why is this room so bright?

It’s all I could see. I’m scared. I’m cold. My blood is running so thin. I wanted a hug, just be picked up and flung. To eat picnics while the birds hummed. This couldn’t be right. Those pictures, who were they? What did I look like? My answer already gone as I laid. My memory was defeated, while I lied in my kitchen, or was it the bedroom? Could’ve been the bathroom it all felt so similar. My skin felt rough and sagging. Had I finally gotten old? When did this happen? Somebody, please. I feel like my life is only a disease, and I won’t have it. I lived in a mystery town now. Oh, god, how?

Crying. Not again, only this time it was me. I haven’t cried in years, or maybe just weeks. This was pathetic, I had to get up. What was going on? What was this? My body felt lifted above. But not by hands, nor human help. Everything felt faded. Goodbye. Wait to who? Was that to myself? Please, this can’t be it. I felt so young, had I already been spent? This was it? All those years gone, and done, and this is all that happened, with only seconds remaining? Stranger’s for neighbors, and my known family already retired to the same place where I’ll be retreating?

All this and not even a dog, or a last kiss. My final meal was through a tube. This was so vile. Make it come back, I’m desperate, and pleading. All I feel is nothing but cold and beaten. A soft voice tells me something “Oh god, oh no.” tell me about it. One last touch on my hand. I wish I could speak. I would beg and grovel to my feet. I had to know. Who was this final stranger? The last hand I’ll ever hold onto, and the final voice before my end. 

All too soon, and too dang slow is how it felt. This was my finale, I’ll never be seen again. Should I want it to drag out, or take me out to a quick end? Was this all worth it? Even those simple comforts?

Years, and days and weeks, all the seasons. The smiles from the faces of people already deleted. All in memory, and now mine was gone. That moment forever turned to dust. Experiences, unique, all to our own, never to be talked about, not even in this home. Where was I to go? Would it be kind? Angel kisses and meeting the divine? My life with my dog, and my short-lived kitten, bring them back, please. I need it. I’m bleeding.

No more time for pleading, and time took no breaks. I could smell the breath of a demonic snake. It seemed like smoke, oddly burnt. Could that be my stove? Did I really start baking? The screams I heard, telling those to run. Was this the after-life or my own abode? This is all I caused. My body now rusted and almost roasted. Buried to rubble. My legacy in spades. Was this happening the whole time? I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t have. I’ve gone nuts.

Me and my friends, those old-timey woes. The yarns we told, and bars we traveled to and fro. To feel so small and treated like a kitten in a mother’s arms, or on a father’s chest.

Those all felt so temporary, but this was it. All that to never be known ever again. At least by this body and mind. An artifact left to time. I sighed. I felt like the last of my kind. Pieces of existence decimated and depleted. It all held within me, but now I’m apart and seething. Burning away, and choking on soot.

I could imagine the sight, and those strangers having a fight. To save me or not? Could it be done? I suppose that was my family. What have I done?

Thinking to myself in this long drawn out moment, would one choose to exist, even after the run? I’d had to assume heck no, but who would know? Maybe the challenges we faced, looking down on our dead, living as a fecked up human race that destroyed all around us. We caused so much damage. But it was a part of us. Maybe some more unfortunate would give it a go. I feel bad, cause what a poor fucker if this was much better. Everything was empty like it didn’t matter.

Would those be legends too, for as long as time exists? Our only existence. Or would we too, as humans, begin to truly cease to exist.

Those memories that we become, and represent all that we exist once our bodies are torn, and our souls stop blinking, and we’re let out like a leaking liquid, as we become no more. How long could they travel? One day we’ll all be gone, and in the timeline we’re not even a blimp or a bump on the road. There was a much bigger picture and we exist as a skin cell laid across the page to become one with it, but nothing on our own.

All these inventions, and shows. Those festival lights that we glowed. All such happy times, and no longer remembered? I think I know what hell is, and it gave me my last shiver. How I had that in heat, that answer would never be delivered.

Crashing down around me, all that I knew. I’d be turned to dust with my best fluffy pal. It’d be poetic if not so horrific. That box, if only it could be kept. That’s what I want. For my friend to never be forgotten even if I remained unforgiven. These seconds left, and no breath for me to shout in my despair. All the latest bad memories that had transpired, that’s all that’s left of me. All my accomplishments couldn’t be recovered, they were going with me because of all this trouble.

What could be my last thought? Or what should be my last thought? Would I know my last thoughts? What were my last words? Man, I could barely remember. “Fuck you?” Huh, guess that was believable, and most likely true. If not right, I was to never know. I suppose I deserve that for causing these flames. Was I ever even married? Were they happy when they left? Or are they standing there depressed and angry as they watch this blaze. They’re probably a mess. One that I caused but could no longer fix. That chapter is gone and finally written.

This was so retched, so bastardized and dull. What was this rubbish? My last cough, oh now I feel it. I could see them now, that really shouldn’t be. I felt like I was 15 feet in the air. Guess this really was my defeat.

All I am is memories in their head, like all those that were traveling with me, lonely and minute. Their travels are now done and I’m bringing them with me. Yet I’m not all too elated.

I can see all that was no longer to be, as I go to see what’s going to last as my forever and maybe haven. I hope it’s as precious as they were to me. No laughing or crying, or desperate action. They were all that remained of me, yet I made their life feel like a prison.

Turned out that I had my last thought. It was that I was sorry, a whole lot.

[youngbugandtonystank]

Your analysis about tony in hoco is interesting!! I saw some people said he's not a good "mentor" for Peter but I think they failed to see Tony's character in depth, so your analysis really helped a lot! If you have time, could you please do for Peter in hoco as well? Thank you ❤

Hi!

I know other people asked different things but I’m going to respond to these ones first. Thank you for asking!

Ok, first I want to talk about three things people usually get wrong about MCU Peter:

1. He’s not poor.

2. He doesn’t blindly admire Tony. 

3. He’s not dumb.

1. He’s not poor. Now, this doesn’t mean he’s rich or a billionaire but Peter is not poor. He’s average or might be above average. I think the reason people choose to believe that he’s extremely poor is because of his relationship with Tony and his classmates. Tony is a billionaire and many of his classmates are rich kids. Peter goes to a very expensive school so you are obviously going to spot kids with cars and expensive clothes, that doesn’t mean Peter is dying of hunger.  

Of course, the kid can’t afford really expensive things like cars but if his aunt is capable of taking Peter out for food instead of cooking, capable of affording a Jansport Wasabi of 46$ multiple times, sneakers of 39 to 70$, capable of affording apartments like this then the kid is doing fine. 

He has an extensive wardrobe, hell, I even spotted Flash wearing the same shirt three times on different occasions and Flash is supposed to be rich. Peter is a dumpster diver because Peter always loses, breaks or ruins things when he’s Spiderman. He mentioned in hoco that he has the habit of losing his backpack and the movie demonstrates that Peter gradually breaks his phone till it’s in pieces. His aunt is not going to pay stuff multiple times for him and it’s not because she can’t afford it, is because Peter would never ask unless it’s a necessity like a backpack. Something he can’t build, so he fixes or makes the other stuff. 

2. He doesn’t blindly admire Tony and 3. He’s not dumb. The thing about their relationship is that people love to exaggerate the ‘’bad’’ parts to fit their ‘’Tony Stark is a villain’’ agenda. Peter knows Tony is not a perfect man, he’s a smart kid, he can tell. Tony’s life is constantly on the news, that includes his dumb decisions: like giving the villain his home address or his playboy party days. Peter knows about this too. 

When Toomes explains to Peter why he’s doing what he’s doing he tells him that Peter is the lesser guy to a man like Tony (something that is more of a reflection of toomes’ character and attitude more than an actual explanation as to why continuously being aware of hurting people and dealing with weapons illegally is a choice he /Toomes/ still makes) and that they’re usually the ones that eat their table scraps. What’s Peter’s answer? ‘’Why are you telling me this?’’ /= ‘’I’m aware of this, why are you telling me this?’’ 

Truth is, Peter doesn’t share his opinion. He sees Toomes for who he is. He sees someone who continuously makes bad decisions and chooses to act in a morally incorrect way to provide to his family and Peter understands that in the end, he’s going to end up hurting Liz (This is why he dropped out of a high school experience such as homecoming with the girl he likes, because Peter understands. ’’How could you do this to her?’’). He sees someone who got comfortable with wearing a profiteering two-faced skin, something Peter could never do. He knows Toomes is only using the ‘’tony stark is evil too’’ card to try and justify his actions. He’s basically saying: ‘’The hero did it, so why can’t I?’’ The hero changed, Toomes didn’t. That’s what makes him the villain.

People now more than ever have a hard time accepting the fact that Tony is, in fact, someone who grew out of a bad place/mentality/morality because they want him to stay as the ‘’bad guy’’ in their minds. It’s easier for them to hate him with this mentality. Truth is, he’s the definition of character development. Tony learns from his mistakes and makes an effort to correct those things. He rebuilds himself. He stops. He fixes things. Because when you do something wrong, you make things right. That’s how it is. And Peter also understands this. 

You see, Peter looks a little desperate in Homecoming to become an Avenger and it’s not because he wants to impress Tony Stark. Peter himself addressed the reason for this. 

He’s bored.

This is his face when entering the school.

And this is him getting out of it.

 ‘’So, how’s school? It’s boring. Got better things to do.’’ ‘’You want to be a high school dropout? I am so far beyond high school right now.’‘ ‘‘But we have a Spanish quiz. Ned, I’m probably never gonna come back here.’‘ He’s tired of school. This is proof of how smart this kid is, he doesn’t need to look at the board or pay attention in class because he already knows all the stuff the other kids are learning. He counts the hours to be able to leave the school. The principal knows Peter is a smart kid. His classmates begged him to stay on the decathlon team and doubted they could win a competition without Peter. School is not a challenge for him anymore.  After getting the experience he got in Civil War, he firmly believes he’s wasting his time in school and could be doing bigger things and his one-way ticket to do that is getting an official membership to the Avengers team. 

Look at him here, he’s having the time of his life.

For a hyperactive

genius kid

school must be hell. 

His motivation to be an Avenger is completely different than his relationship with Tony. He wants to change the pace of what he’s so tired of experiencing. High School. Now, he does want to impress Tony but not to prove his worth as an Avenger but because he looks up to the man. With all of his flaws and mistakes. He knows Tony is not perfect, he knows about Ultron, about his playboy days, about the Accords (you can see him receiving a full lecture in school about them: ‘’The Sokovia Accords were put into place…’’), about how he gave his address to the villain and how said villain destroyed Tony’s house, etc. All of this was on TV. All of it. 

When Peter said ’’I just wanted to be like you’’ he didn’t mean ‘’I wanted to be you’’. Peter wants to do great things, world-changing things, make a difference in someone’s life, help out on a bigger scale. Something Tony does. It’s easy for a kid like Peter to like those things about Tony because he wants the same. And he wants that because it’s who he wants to be. So why wouldn’t he want the approval of someone that does those things? 

‘’So you wanna look out for the little guy-

-you wanna do your part? 

Make the world a better place, all that, right?’’

‘’Yeah, just looking out for the little guy-

-That’s what it is.’’

Aaron Davis about Peter: ‘’The other night, you told that dude, “if you shoot somebody, shoot me.” That’s pretty ballsy.’’

Peter sees a great guy in Tony. Despite everything else. Someone who knew how to put himself together after surviving the grief and pain life presented for him. Peter can see through him and can tell this man has been through hell and back and Peter admires that. He can see strength in him and he wants that as well. If Peter thought Tony was a god almighty, he wouldn’t have stayed at the ship in IW claiming he ‘’thought about Tony’’ and decided to stick to the side of the ship to help his mentor. 

He got attached to Tony really fast. He thought of him as a guidance figure because that’s how Tony presented himself to Peter, since the beginning. He told Peter when he met him that he was there for a hundred-point restoration. He asked him why was he doing the superhero thing, what is his MO and what gets him of bed every morning. It’s natural that Peter got attached that fast, because Tony not only did his homework on him, he showed him that he was there to support him and that he understood him. When was the last time Peter got that from a male figure? That’s right, his previous father-figure, Ben Parker. So receiving that from Tony made him start looking at the man that way.

When we start seeing this? In here:

He challenges Tony when he believes the man is not listening to him, not caring enough about him. Thing is, Peter, had been way too involved in his own little world that never once stopped to pay attention to details like: ’’like that lady that bought you the churro.’‘ ‘‘Happy told me you quit band six weeks ago.’‘ ‘’My dad never really gave me a lot of support…and I’m trying to break the cycle of shame.’’

And like a typical teenager, he gets defensive when Tony proves him wrong.

Here, he starts to realize Tony means more than just the Avengers membership or the recognition. He gets way too upset and sad over something like what happened. He could easily offer an apology or use his old suit instead. He gets upset because he feels like his relationship with Tony is over.

‘’I just thought that I could work really hard and he could– He would– You know. But I screwed it up.’’  /=  ‘’I just thought that I could work really hard and he could see me as a hero, he would offer me a place on the team/his life- You know. But I screwed it up.’’

Peter was aware of all of this just after the ferry incident. Just like Tony, before that confrontation, he was doing this unaware of the personal feelings he was putting into the equation. He even complained to Ned about Tony like any kid would about their parents: 

‘’I’m sick of him treating me like a kid all the time.’’

‘’Why would I tell him about the churro?’‘ ‘’Can I please talk to Mr. Stark?’‘ ‘‘I don’t really want Mr. Stark to know about it.’‘ ‘‘Mr. Stark really overdid it.’‘ ‘‘Hey, Mr. Stark, could I do anything?’‘ ’‘I gotta tell Mr. Stark.’‘ 

He wants Tony in his life. He already thinks of him like he’s his father-figure.

He gets time to reflect on everything and does the right thing as he’s always done. He understands he needs to give Tony his space and that if he wants to be there for him, he needs to be patient. And he gets that at the end:

‘’Boss wants to see you.’’ ‘‘Give me a minute with the kid.’‘ ‘‘I gotta talk to the kid.‘’ ‘‘I was wrong about you.’‘ ‘‘I think, with a little more mentoring…’‘ ‘’Happy will show you to your room…’‘ ‘’You’ll fit right in.’‘ ‘‘See you around. Okay.’‘ ‘’He actually made a mature choice.’’

He wants to be more than what he is and he wants to stay around Tony because he wants the guidance and the feeling of comfort and security he gives him but he knows he needs to stay on the ground for the little people. That’s where he started, that’s where he stays. After getting crushed by a building, I think he is still a little unprepared for the big stuff. 

And at the end, he gets confirmation Tony is going to be there, no matter what choice he makes.  

Thank you!

[romyr4]

It had to be you

Part 2

Catch up: Part 1

Taglist is open

Pairing: Sam Evans/Mercedes Jones

Rating: 18+

A/n: Here is another part. Hope you like it!

She sits back as a few nurses and the doctor look him over. His eyes are still on Mercedes and she feels more than a little uncomfortable. She shifts in her chair as the doctor tells the man what happened.

"You have been in an accident. Can you remember anything?" The doctor says while scribbling down on the chart in his hand.

The man in the bed finally shifts his gaze from Mercedes to the doctor. "There was a car." His voice is hoarse and he clears his throat.

"Anything else you remember?" The doctor questions while the nurses leave the room one by one.

"Yes, a loud bang and a woman's voice and uhm…" He trails off when his eyes land on Mercedes again. She looks up and feels her cheeks getting hot. She looks down at her hands in her lap.

"And…" The doctor repeats for the man to continue.

"Nothing. I woke up here." He tilts his head to the side as he watches Mercedes thoughtfully. She looks familiar.

"Okay. Do you remember your name or age?" The doctor is now examining his eyes.

"Yes, my name is Sam Evans and I am 28 years old." Sam says with confidence and a little annoyance. Still looking at Mercedes, she looks up when he says his name.

Sam Evans… and he is almost the same age as me. She curses her thoughts as the doctor tells him more details.

"You broke a few ribs and your lung collapsed. You need to be here for at least a few days so we can monitor you. Is there anyone we can call for you to tell them you're in the hospital?" At that she sees fear in Sam's eyes and that intrigues her.

"No, no that is not necessary. I am fine." He says with a finality to his voice.

"Sure that is fine. I will come back in the afternoon to check on you again." With that the doctor leaves and Mercedes and Sam are alone in the room.

Mercedes comes up to the bed and sits back down in the chair that was next to it. "Hi, I am Mercedes." She says with a smile as she shakes his hand.

He looks from her face to her hand and he smiles back. "Hi, I am Sam."

"Ooh, I have your phone here if you want to call anybody. You probably should." She says to him as she looks him over, trying to read his reaction.

"Thank you." He takes the phone from her and looks at it. When he sees there are no missed calls or messages he relaxes visibly. He exhales a breath and puts the phone down on the table at the other side of his bed.

"So, I guess I should be going." Mercedes looks at his shocked face and bites her lower lip to prevent her from chuckling. When his eyes focus in on her lip she lets go immediately.

"Why?" He tilts his head to the side with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Well, you are awake now and you can call your family and friends." She smiles at him, not fully understanding why he won't call anybody.

"I don't need to call them. They will worry unnecessarily and there is nothing they can do for me at the moment." He tries to sit up and feels a sharp pain in his abdomen.

"Careful." Mercedes almost whispers as she helps him back to lying down. He gives her a soft smile when she sits back down. "Well, they have every right to worry don't you think?"

His heart warms a little about her concern for his family. Not that he wanted to think about what his family would do if they knew he was here. "Do you… worry I mean?" He asks, trying to bait her.

"Worry? About you you mean?" She is shocked by his question. When he nods she swallows nervously. "Of course, you flatlined in front of me and I didn't even know who you were. What if your family couldn't find you, because you were dumb enough to go outside without your wallet. I mean who does that? It was so horrifying to see you in the street, lying there like a freak show for people to watch I… I…" She word vomits and he squeezes her hand.

"You were the woman who helped me?" Mercedes nods as her eyes begin to sting. It is always hard to see someone in pain, but to not know if they would die and all alone at that has a toll on her.

"Thank you Mercedes." The way he says her name gives her chills down her spine. She nods again, not trusting her voice and squeezes his hand back.

They just stare at each other for a few seconds. Eventually she looks at their joined hands.

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

"So you'll need a caregiver at home while you recover. They don't need to be a real nurse, just someone who is capable of helping you from A to B. Any questions?" The doctor asks while looking over the chart with Sam's results.

"Nope, thanks doc. I'll be fine." Sam smiles as he can finally leave this soulless room and go back to his own house.

"Good to know. I will be back with your papers at the end of the day and then you can go home." With that the doctor steps out of Sam's room.

This week has been going too slow for Sam's liking. He had to stay a whole week, because the doctor was scared that his lung would collapse again. After that was out of the question his blood pressure was too high.

Now finally he can go home. The only thing that needed to happen was him finding a caregiver without his family and friends finding out. He loves his family and friends dearly, but they go into overdrive when they hear he has been in an accident.

His track record isn't that clean, so he only has himself to blame. He just didn't want the drama.

So he decided he wanted someone who can care for him that he didn't really know. His eyes were set on one person.

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Flashback

"No, Sam I won't do it." She says while pacing his room from the window to the door and back. Sam gets dizzy just looking at her.

"Please Mercedes, just hear me out please?" He pouts and she looks at him. She rolls her eyes and he laughs.

"Fine, try and convince me. It won't work anyway." She sits down with her arms crossed over her chest.

He smiles at her feistiness and he exhales slowly. "What I am going to tell you isn't easy for me, but otherwise I don't think you're going to say yes." She nods for him to continue.

"I don't want my family or friends involved, because they will think I have fallen off the wagon again. And before you judge me it wasn't alcohol. I was addicted to drugs, cocaine to be exact. I was quite the party boy in my late teens and early twenties. I got high a lot and couldn't function anymore without it. One evening it all went wrong and I almost killed somebody. My parents had enough and cut me off until I went to a clinic for my addiction. So, after a few days I didn't have any money left. I had no other choice and went to the clinic. I got clean and have been doing really good since then. My parents still see me as the junky from years ago."

He looks down, Mercedes sees embarrassment and shame in his eyes and she grabs his hand to reassure him. She smiles sweetly at him.

"My parents are very protective and I love them for it, but when they find out I was in the hospital they will go ballistic no matter what. So I am begging you to help me. If my brother or my friends help me, it will end up at my parents through the grapevine and I really don't want that. I know it's a lot to ask, but I am really begging. If I could get on my knees, I would."

He looks at her with a lot of sincerity and she sighs at him, slowly shaking her head. "I want to help you Sam, really but I have work myself and school."

"You can still do school, I mean I don't need you all the time. And as for work, I will be paying you and doesn't it look good on your resume when you helped me back to health. You study medicine after all." He wiggles his brows, making her laugh.

"That is true, but I do that to become a psychiatrist, not a doctor for in a hospital." She chuckles at him.

"I know, but it will look good no matter what. And the payout will be very generous." She squints her eyes at him, knowing very well already that Sam comes from money. His suit alone was her monthly salary and he has a private hospital room.

You don't have to be a genius to see that he is more than loaded.

"Okay, I'll do it." She finally says after a few minutes of silence.

Sam’s smile lights up the room, knowing he doesn't have to deal with his parents and has Mercedes close to him. "I'll call my assistant and have everything set into motion."

Mercedes looks at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you need to move your stuff to my place and she can get your room ready and everything." He sits up and looks into her shocked face.

"Room?" She can't puzzle that one together yet. He wants her to live with him?

"Yeah, how are you going to take care of me when you are not there in the middle of the night if I need something." She rolls her eyes. "I am kidding, but if you don't want that then…"

She cuts him off. "No, it's fine. I just didn't know that was part of it."

"It is only for a few months." He tries to reassure her.

She smiles. "I know, it's going to be fun." She winks at him and he laughs at her goofiness.

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When he just closed his eyes she walks in. He doesn't need to open his eyes to know it is Mercedes. She walks in and sits at his bed in her chair, grabbing his hand. She is so used to it by now to do it.

She bends her head over their intwined hands and exhales audibly. She closes her eyes for a second and doesn't take long before Sam hears her breathing evenly, knowing she is fast asleep.

That wouldn't be that weird, she has been running from her work to school to the hospital. He is amazed she had even time to eat. Today was her last day at her job and she needed to do a lot before she left her colleagues for the foreseeable future.

She just had exams week and she is so tired. Sam caresses her head, trying to comfort her while she sleeps on their hands.

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Sam hasn't felt his hand for the past thirty minutes and he slightly chuckles when Mercedes’ head jerks up all of a sudden.

"How long was I out?" She asks groggily. He tries to stifle a laugh and fails miserably. She slaps him on the arm and huffs.

"Shut up, I had a hard day. All you had to do was sit here and do nothing." She throws her head back onto the bed with a loud sigh.

"Like that is easy?" He feigns hurt and she shoots him a look making him laugh again. "Okay you're right, but I have good news. Kitty just called and everything is set at home so you don't have to do anything when we get home. Just drop me off at the couch and the rest is up to you."

She sighs again and looks at him with a tired but pleased face. "Good." Is all she says and puts her head back on the bed.

He laughs and brushes his hand slowly through her beautiful, black tight curls. It's soothes her and he can feel her relax again.

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Sam is standing in the room while Mercedes holds his duffel bag. They are ready to go.

"Thank you doc, I appreciate everything you've done for me." Sam shakes hands with the doctor.

The doctor smiles. "Of course, just don't forget the next appointment to make sure that puncture wound keeps healing." Sam smiles, knowing he doesn't want to go back.

The doctor says goodbye to Sam and Mercedes and exits the room.

"So… are you ready to go?" Mercedes asks as she watches Sam looking through the window. After a minute he turns around.

"Hell yeah." He says and she walks in front of him out of the room. He can't help checking out her backside. He had already seen her world class ass, but he can't stop watching when she sways her hips like she is doing just now.

When they arrive at the car he looks it over. It's a simple Prius, nothing like his big Range Rover at home. Luckily he is not able to drive.

Mercedes helps Sam into the car, trying to fit his long legs into the car. When she finally can fit his last leg into the inside of the car she almost trips and her hand rests on his thigh.

Without thinking Sam groans and she looks him straight into his eyes. His face reddens at the revelation when she looks down at her hand. He tries to find ways not to get excited as she clears her throat and gets her hand off his thigh.

He exhales a breath that he has been holding as she closes the door. She sits in the drivers seat and looks at him. He chuckles nervously and she rolls her eyes as she laughs.

Mercedes hasn't been to the house yet. She was so busy with work and school that she only had time to sleep about three hours a night. She is beyond tired and just wants a soft service that she can sleep on. How about Sam?

She sighs at her own thoughts, but is too tired to curse herself out so she just lets it sit there.

Sam hears her audibly gasp when they drive onto the large property. He knows it's way too big for one person, but he likes his space.

The landscape is huge and they have to drive up to the house for what feels like several minutes. Mercedes looks her fill at the beautiful scenery. The trees alongside the driveway are big and bold. She can see a part of the house through them.

It's white and way too big for one man. Maybe he needs to compensate?

She laughs at her thoughts and Sam looks at her puzzled. She laughs even harder at his expression. He shakes his head and folds his arms across his chest.

"What is so funny?" He asks while drinking her in. He can see she isn't used to wealth quite like he is. He is so used to stuff like this, he doesn't even blink anymore. Seeing her like that makes him feel humble and appreciate everything just a little bit more.

"Nothing." She is still smiling, biting the inside of her cheek trying not to laugh.

"Whatever." He mumbles and huffs at her. She looks back at him and winks, making his heart melt. How does she do that?

When they arrive at the front door Sam instructs to park her car into the garage. She looks nervous as she parks her car into the small space.

She parked the car so Sam has enough space to get outside. She helps him as he steps out of the car. She gets his duffel bag and walks after him into the house.

"Welcome." Sam says smiling over his shoulder.

She looks around and knows Sam is more than loaded. He is set for a few generations and then some. The white walls are full of paintings that look expensive. They walk from the garage straight into the kitchen.

The kitchen is classically black with white countertops and gold handles on every door and drawer. The fridge is a double door and the island has a few chairs against it.

After that there is the dining room who is large and can fit a dozen people easily. The big chandelier above the great oak table makes it a grand room. Mercedes is speechless as Sam leads her to the living room.

The living room is cozy and has a lot more colour than the rest of the house so far. The big blue couch has colorful pillows on top of it.

"This is amazing Sam." She says while squeezing his hand that he is still holding.

"Wait until you see your room." She looks up at him and tilts her head to the side. He smiles his lopsided grin as he leads her upstairs.

The grand foyer with the immense beautiful stairs leaves Mercedes in awe of it all.

They enter her room and when Sam sees it he feels like it is just Mercedes. She makes a 360 and her smile is contagious as Sam smiles as well.

"This is so awesome Sam, I love it." She says as she walks a few steps back to then launch herself on the bed. "Goodnight." She says into the multiple pillows, exhausted from the day and impressions.

He chuckles and sees her visibly relax. He comes closer to take her shoes off. He gets the pillows of the bed and with a little bit of reluctance from her he tucks her in.

"Goodnight Mercedes." He whispers in her hair as he kisses her head.

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A/n: Isn't Sam the cutest? I want a man just like that. What did you guys think? Everything is going smoothly right? Stay safe and I love to know what you think in all the details you want to share.

[just-absolutely-super]

Attempting Love Potions

@soulxmakaweek

Day 7: Magic. And what’s more magical than love potions lmao. Yes, I'm pulling the old, "Love Potion No. 9" cliché. BUT WITH A TWIST! Read and find out what that twist is!

Summary: Kim's up to no good, brandishing a love potion guaranteed to make your unrequited love requited. Shame it doesn't seem to work on her intended target...

FF.net // AO3

"C'mon, Maka. You know you waaaant to!" Kim tried to entice, wiggling the little pink vial of liquid in her hand.

The scythe meister scowled at the young witch. "No, Kim. I've told you a thousands times already: I do not want any part of a love potion!"

Maka ignored Kim's pout. Ever since Kim revealed a witch acquaintance of hers had brewed up a love potion guaranteed to make your—quote—"unrequited love requited"—unquote—she had been bugging Maka nonstop to use it on Soul.

The blonde didn't even understand why Kim was so insistent on it. It's not like she liked Soul or anything…

Okay, fine, she'll admit she may be developing feelings for him that may or may not be romantic. HOWEVER, she refused to play Kim's game and force her weapon to develop the same affections toward her.

It was practically inhumane! And probably illegal as Kid hadn't figured out all the details when it came to using forms of magic in this new DWMA/Witch alliance yet…

Kim groaned, "Maka! Everyone knows you and Soul are, like, endgame! Why don't you do every single one of us a favor and speed up the process a little?"

Maka pushed away the proffered drink, "No, Kim. Please stop pushing this. It's making me mad."

She was not above Maka Chopping a friend—ask Soul and Black Star.

Thankfully, the witch backed down, but Maka could tell she was displeased.

"Fine! See if I try helping you gain a love life in the future!"

Maka rolled her eyes, "I don't need anyone's help, thank you very much. If I want a boyfriend, I can get one."

Kim snorted, eyeing Maka up and down, "Not with that figure you ain't."

Maka felt a vein about to burst. Maybe she should go ahead and Maka Chop her. Sure, Kim might get revenge on her in some way, but it wouldn't be anything major considering she knew Kim somewhat feared the scythe meister. After all, Maka did kill Arachne and went toe-to-toe with Kishin Asura.

"Who cares what anyone thinks about my 'figure'?" Maka huffed, "If they were worth anything, they wouldn't care. Anyways, even if I did want to 'speed up' my relationship with Soul—which, by the way, is none of your business—I wouldn't use something as underhanded as a love potion. I want Soul to like me because he chooses to. It's really sleazy trying to force feelings onto somebody, and Soul would never forgive me if I did that to him."

Kim held up her hands in defense, "Okay, okay. I won't bother you about it anymore. Geez, no need to get all noble on me…"

Maka nodded, "Thank you for understanding. I gotta go meet up with Soul now, so I'll see you in Stein's class later today okay?"

Kim waved at her friend's retreating back, "Alright, see you then."

As she watched Maka round the corner, Kim turned her gaze back to the love potion in her hands. She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. She spent a good amount of money for this bottle!

When her friend Winifred sent out that notice that she had brewed "the perfect love potion," Kim couldn't help but jump on the opportunity. All the students at the DWMA could tell that Maka and Soul were taken with each other, so this felt like the most logical thing to do.

Sure, it may be an…she'll say unorthodox way in getting the two together, but she figured that if Soul started acting desperately in love with his meister then it would kick start his actual real feelings for her.

All the romcoms with love potions ended in happily ever after, who's to say this wouldn't turn out favorably?

Putting the love potion in her pocket, Kim leaned against the wall, waiting for Jackie to meet up with her so they could go to their next class. Across from her she noticed a soda machine. As she stared at it, she felt an idea pop into her head.

Well…Maka did say she didn't want to use the love potion. She never said anything about Kim using it for her own goals.

Goals that happened to involve her two friends getting together, that was.

Letting out an almost sinister giggle, Kim reached into her pocket to locate some change.

----------

Maka and Soul made themselves comfortable in their seats as they waited for Stein to enter the room to begin class. In the row below them, Maka noticed Jacqueline but not her meister.

"Jackie? Where's Kim?" Maka inquired.

The demon lantern shrugged, "I'm not sure. We were on our way here when she told me she had to do something really quick. I asked her if she wanted me to go with her, but she declined and told me to save her seat."

Maka hummed, feeling unease in the pit of her stomach. She hoped this didn't have anything to do with what the two discussed roughly an hour ago…

"Here I am! Sorry for making you wait, Jackie!" Maka was pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of the witch's voice.

She looked normal enough, a bright smile painted on her porcelain face. In each hand were bottles of Coke. Maka felt herself smile. She supposed she was being paranoid over nothing.

"I got us some drinks. Here!" Kim said, placing one bottle in front of her on the desk before offering the second to her weapon.

Jackie frowned, "Kim, you know that I cut out soda from my diet after I got that kidney stone last month. I can't drink that."

Kim's mouth formed an "o" as she dramatically smacked herself in the head, "Oh darn! I completely forgot! Oh well…"

She then turned around, eyeing Soul and Maka…particularly Soul.

"I don't want this to go to waste, so…Soul! Would you like this Coke?"

Soul gave a nonchalant shrug, reaching for the drink, "Sure, whatever."

It was when she saw Kim's triumphant smirk that it hit Maka what game the witch was playing at. Widening her eyes, she reached out to her weapon as he opened the bottle to take a sip.

"Wait, Soul, stop!"

"Yes, Soul, drink it!" Kim exclaimed, grabbing Maka's hand, so she could prevent her from stopping her weapon. She then used her grip on Maka's hand to pull her forward so Maka was the first person Soul saw.

Seeing the strange reaction in front of him, Soul stopped drinking the Coke to give his meister an incredulous stare. "What's the problem?"

Maka blinked at him, biting her lip in anticipation of something happening. But after a minute passed and the only reaction she got out of her weapon was his usual bored expression, Maka felt herself relax before breaking away from Kim's hold.

Kim, on the other hand, gaped at the scythe in shock. "Wait, what?! You look and act the same!"

Soul blinked, his lips turning downwards, "Am…I not supposed to?"

Kim forcefully grabbed the bottle from his hand and sniffed it. Humming in thought she turned back to Soul.

"Did this taste any different to you?"

Soul narrowed his eyes, "I admit, it's a lot sweeter than I thought it'd be. Why? Did you do something to it?"

Kim ignored his questions, chucking the Coke across the room as she ranted and raved about "scams" and how she was going to skin alive some person named Winifred for "making a fool out of her." All the while everyone in the class stared at the pink haired girl as if she had gone crazy.

Soul turned to Maka, confusion clearly written in his red eyes, "What the hell just happened?"

Maka frowned. She knew exactly what happened. However, like Kim, the outcome was not something she expected. The young witch obviously put the love potion in the drink she gave to Soul. Her plan was to trick him into drinking it so it would have the desired effect on him. Only it didn't work.

The question though, was why didn't it work?

Why wasn't Soul in love with Maka?

"Hey, earth to Maka. I asked you a question."

Maka returned Soul's gaze, searching his eyes. They were the same. He really wasn't affected by the magic of the potion.

Before she could explain, she heard the faint rolling of Stein's chair and the subsequent crash of him falling over, indicating the beginning of his class.

"I'll tell you later." She said, hoping by the time the lecture was over and they made it home she'd have come up with an explanation as to why her weapon wasn't head over heels in fake love with her.

----------

An hour and a half later Maka still didn't know the answer.

She and Soul were walking back to their apartment after school was over (the weather was so nice, Maka had begged Soul to forgo using the bike for today). Maka was concentrating silently on her thoughts while Soul trudged afterwards, glancing at his meister every now and then.

"So you gonna tell me what was up with Kim or what?" he asked.

Maka furrowed her brow. In theory the love potion should have worked. Soul didn't love her, so therefore if he had drank the potion he should be acting out of character right now as his emotions were forced to recognize her as the object of his affections. Keyword should. The reality of the situation was that Soul was acting the same, indicating that there was a flaw somewhere in Kim’s plan.

Maybe the potion was faulty? She couldn't imagine a witch selling Kim a product that wouldn't work, but witches were very crafty, so it couldn't be too off the mark.

"Hey, Maka! Are you listening to me?"

Maybe the ingredients of the soft drink messed with the composition of the potion? That seemed like a reach, and she didn't feel the urge to perform experiments in relation to whether carbonation affected your hormone levels or not…

"Maaaaaka!"

Maybe the potion didn’t affect weapons? Or maybe Soul’s Black Blood had something to do with it? Like maybe it protects him from magic and spells. But, wait, then all the magic the witches they’ve faced in the past wouldn’t have affected him either… Ugh, she was getting a headache from all this analyzing.

"Maka Albarn is a scrawny, nerdy bookworm who definitely loves her Papa!"

"Excuse me?!" Maka cried out, halting in her stride. She glared at her partner, feeling the familiar urge to reach for a book.

Soul gave her an infuriating grin, holding his arms over his head in protection of a possible Maka Chop, "I had to get your attention somehow."

She pouted. "What do you want?"

"I want you to tell me what was up with Kim in class this afternoon. You told me you'd explain, so start explaining."

Oh, right. Of course. Even if Maka didn't know the full explanation as to why Kim's plan failed, the least she could do was tell Soul what said plan was.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But don't get mad at me about it because I specifically told her not to do it!"

Soul waved her off, "Yeah, sure. I got it. Now spill."

Maka took a deep breath. "Kim purchased a love potion from a witch friend of hers. She's been wanting to use it on you as a…prank."

She'd rather die than tell him the real reason for why Kim wanted to trick him into drinking the potion.

Soul blanched. "A…love potion?"

Maka nodded. "Yeah, she wanted to see if it would work and make you fall in love. I guess she thought it'd be even funnier if it were me you fell in love with…"

She averted her gaze away from his, unable to handle the look of disgust he must have on his face. She already knew he didn't have feelings for her, no need to rub salt into the wounds at his vehement protesting for why he would never fall for her, ever.

"I can't believe it…" he said, shock lacing his voice. Suddenly she heard him growl, "That meddling little bitch!"

While Maka didn't usually condone Soul's harsh language toward their comrades, she admitted he was justified in his name-calling. After all, she was thinking the same thing when she realized what Kim's plan had been with that Coke.

"I know. I told her it was a bad idea."

"A bad idea?! She was basically gonna drug me!"

"I know! It was definitely not cool!"

"Hell no, it wasn't! And she actually thought her stupid little plan was gonna work? As if!"

Maka felt herself wince. Okay, now she was hearing the part of his rant that she didn't feel inclined to listen to. Again, he was justified in his anger, but it didn't make it hurt any less that he didn't want to fall in love with her.

"I mean, of course I didn't fall in love with you after drinking it! I'm already—"

He immediately fell silent, his teeth audibly clicking together with how strongly he snapped his mouth shut. Maka blinked in shock.

"You're already…what?"

Sweat began to form on the Death Scythe's brow. "Nothing…"

Maka narrowed her eyes, "No, you were going to say something. What were you going to say?"

He began walking again, his pace picking up as he swiftly moved passed her, "I wasn't going to say anything, let's just drop it!"

"Hey, wait up Soul!" she called after him, practically running to catch up to him.

"I'm feeling pasta tonight, are you? What would you rather have, fettuccini or spaghetti?"

"Quit avoiding the subject, Soul!"

"What subject? The only subject I'm talking about is pasta!"

Maka screamed in frustration.

Why did she have to fall in love with this moron?

----------

"Uh-huh… Yeah, okay… I get it now. Sorry for bitching at you earlier, Winnie. I'll see you at the next Witch Mass… Okay, bye!"

Kim sighed as she closed her cell phone. She and Jackie were sitting at Death Bucks, having a quick snack before heading back to the girls' dorm.

Jackie sipped her chai tea, "So what did she say?"

Kim stirred her iced mocha, "Winifred's potion wasn't a scam like I thought it was. Apparently, if the person drinking it lays eyes on the person they're already in love with it then there's no effect. Something about their love cancelling out the fake love or whatever."

Jackie nodded, "So it does work, you just have to be sure your target really doesn't love you."

"Yep…" she trailed off.

The two were silent for a second, sipping their respective drinks before Jacqueline spoke up again.

"Isn't this a good thing though? I mean, that means the reason Soul wasn't affected was because he already loves Maka. We now have concrete proof."

Kim nodded, but she still looked peeved, "Well, duh, of course I'm happy that the number one pair at the DWMA is practically one step closer to being a legit couple—fucking ecstatic actually!"

"But…?"

"But I was robbed of wacky hijinks!" Kim bellowed, "That emotionally constipated scythe was supposed to act stupidly in love with Maka! Think of the blackmail, Jackie! All the glorious blackmail!"

Jackie sighed. Sometimes she wished her meister didn't have such a devious side. "Well, maybe Maka will figure out why the potion didn't work and she and Soul can finally be together."

Before Kim could retort, they were distracted by the sudden appearance of Soul who was sprinting at impressively high speeds passed their table.

The two girls blinked, flabbergasted. Before either of them could comment on the strange occurrence, another figure barreled by.

"SOUL EATER EVANS!" Maka Albarn bellowed, "GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T USE PASTA AS AN EXCUSE FOREVER!"

Once the scythe meister had disappeared from view, Kim turned back to Jackie. Her face was passive, as if what had just happened didn't even faze her.

"Please! It's gonna take those two a miracle to get their shit together!"