#stark towers

[talia-rumlow]

Clairvoyance Avengers Fiction Part 4

Part 4. Now the secrets start to come out, one after another.

@nekoannie-chan @bat-mar @late-to-the-party-81 @here4thefanfics @rip1009 @there-goes-thefighter @differenttyphoonwerewolf @saiyanprincessswanie @ladysif8 @the-ero-writer

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[itsmrvlxh50]

The chokehold 2012 Avengers tower fanfiction has on me is insane

[spicyboelives]

Been feeling really bad lately, so I made this to cheer me up, and hopefully anyone else in the same headspace, who used to read Avengers tower fanfics. Kinda a heavy dose of nostalgia for me tbh.

[19871997]

wyjo top contender for going directly into my pocket

[hurtspideyparker]

The team learns about Peter's stress baking fairly quickly after he moves into the tower.

"Why does this place smell like cookies?" Tony asks suspiciously, "Pepper put an end to homemade care packages after that Cap incident."

Steve protests from the dining table. "Hey, that fan seemed totally normal. Y'know in my generation you do not mess with baked goods, that's sacred."

Natasha pats his back comfortingly as she joins the conversation.

"They came from the kid. They're actually pretty good, here."

Nat hands a still-warm cookie to Tony, who bites it curiously.

"Damn, it melts in my mouth like buttery ambrosia and still has a perfect crunch around the edges. Is that a nutty aftertaste?"

"Yes!" Peter yells from the other room, a clatter sounding before his head pokes around the wall, oven mitts still attached to his hands.

"I brown the butter, it really deepens the flavour!"

"Good on you kid. What's the occasion?"

Peter stutters, "uhhhh, no occasion. I just like cookies!"

He disappears around the corner again, and Tony sends a confused glance towards his teammates.

Steve shrugs his shoulders, mouth still full of cookie, and Natasha sends him an arched brow. Tony isn't sure what that means, but feels intimidated enough to exit the room anyway.

* * *

The baking lasts the rest of the week, until Peter comes home yelling, "I aced my calculus midterm!!!" running out of the elevator with a stapled set of papers in his hand.

"So no more baking?" Nat asks neutrally.

"Nope! Woohoo!"

Just like that the kid is gone, jumping down the hall towards his bedroom.

Tony looks at Nat quizzically.

"It was midterm week. He baked 3 dozen cookies, 2 types of muffins, and a cheesecake."

"So he stress bakes?"

"He stress bakes."

* * *

It becomes a "thing" in the tower.

Sam eats toast from freshly baked bread one morning while watching Bruce quiz Peter on his upcoming AP history test. Each slice is cut, toasted, and buttered to perfection by Peter while he explains sectionalism in the 20th century.

* * *

Bucky grates carrots while Peter mixes a bowl of dry ingredients furiously, the boy mumbling to himself non-stop.

"Has he gone insane?" Clint asks from the doorway.

"Spanish oral exam," Bucky replies.

"Ay caramba."

"Tal vez pueda sobornar a mi maestra con glaseado de queso crema..." Peter starts mumbling. (Maybe I can bribe my teacher with cream cheese frosting...)

Bucky and Clint share a concerned look.

Clint approaches the boy, "put down the spatula Pete, let's talk about this."

Peter looks up in alarm.

"In English! Just English!"

* * *

"What's up kid? It's spring break, what could you possibly be stressing about."

Today Tony walks into a full kitchen; Wanda, Natasha, and Pepper are occupying the space while Peter pours something creamy into a metal bowl.

"He's asking MJ out tonight, so he's making cookies and cream ice cream in case it goes wrong." Natasha crosses her arms when she replies to him, eyes focused on Peter's mixing.

"Does ice cream even count as stress baking? The very meaning of 'bake' is to put under heat. But I suppose it does feel wrong to call it cooking."

Peter looks up, his brown eyes large and sad like a baby cow, "I still baked the cookies from scratch."

"Yeah he's a real Nara Smith!" Wanda adds enthusiastically.

"Oookay... I'll pretend I know what that means. And since when do we have an ice cream maker?" Tony points to the fancy hardware out on the kitchen counter.

"Oh, I got that for him. We lacked a lot of the tools for basic baking recipes," Pepper informs him.

Tony ponders how ice cream machines count as a basic baking tool, and decides not to argue with three powerful women and their favourite lovesick teenager.

Peter picks up his bowl and moves it into the freezer, clearing away a couple frozen pizzas and a bag of peas.

"Should I even bother with the cones?" Peter asks with a pout.

"Pete she's gonna say yes! Also if you're wallowing in misery with a tub of ice cream we still want our cones so we can emotionally support you with a crunchy treat," Wanda says with a supportive smile.

The others nod along.

"You're right!" Peter agrees before turning around and grabbing an honest-to-god waffle cone maker, with the cone shaping kit to boot.

"Why..." Tony begins to protest, "y'know what, I don't care. Let me know how it goes kid."

The man is ignored as he moves through the kitchen to grab a banana, the women coaching Peter on his manners, flirting, and first date ideas as he exits the room.

* * *

Thor hums around the delicious treat.

"Mmm. You know young Peter, you could have a shop for your creations. Is there a Stark Industries for baked goods?" Thor asks the young lad, crumbs falling from his mouth as he chews the cookie bar.

"I didn't invent the blondie Thor. I was just trying to explain what it is, a cookie brownie! I did decorate them all by myself though," he says with a satisfied grin.

"Ah yes," Thor lifts up another blondie by the pretzel stick Peter put in the squares, attached with a bit of melted chocolate so they're shaped like Mjolnir, "now you are all worthy of the hammer. Ha! This is funny, I'm sure the others will find your talents equally amusing."

Peter picks up his own mini-Mjolnjr and waves it around, "it is I, son of Odin. Don't worry puny Midgardians, I will protect you with my mighty hammer and beautiful hair!"

Thor laughs thunderously at the impression, clapping.

Bruce walks into the room, enticed by the laughter.

"Ah! My friend, Peter has made edible Mjolnirs so you, too, may be worthy. It's delicious and hilarious. Imagine Banner wielding my hammer, ha! Ridiculous," Thor is all too amused by the situation.

Bruce gives Peter an offended look as Thor continues laughing with himself, the younger just shrugging. Bruce takes one of the treats anyways, pointedly not holding it by the pretzel stick.

"Y'know Pete, have you ever considered opening a bakery? You are quite talented. I think the Avengers alone would keep you in business," Bruce asks politely.

"Well I only like to bake when I'm stressed. That wouldn't be a very stable business model," Peter points out.

"True. Although running a business can be quite stressful, so maybe you'd have a continuous supply?"

"Hm. Efficient and unhealthy," Peter nods like it's the perfect plan.

"Wow you really are Stark's intern."

Thor bursts out into another bout of raucous laughter.

"Imagine Stark wielding my dessert hammer," Thor barely gets the words out, "Stark being worthy-AH HAHA."

Bruce and Peter share a look of wide-eyed alarm before joining in on the laughter.

They all share the moment before Bruce straightens up a bit to ask, "what are you even worried about anyways Peter?"

Peter wipes a tear from his eye, "I forgot to call Aunt May this morning like I always do and she only let me move here if I promised I wouldn't neglect her. So now I'm too scared to check my phone."

"I see," Bruce sympathizes.

"Yeah, baking is good for procrastinating. I pretend I'm being productive while also creating comfort food for after my breakdowns."

* * *

Tony steps into the dining room one afternoon to find Peter slicing apples while Steve sits across from him cutting intricate patterns into pie crust. There is an array of leaves and flowers set out on the flour-sprinkled table.

"So is the ornamentation necessary, or is Cap also developing a delicious self-soothing habit," Tony inquires.

"I was just talking to Peter about pie recipes from the 40s and he asked if I could help make his prettier," Steve smiles up at his companions, "it's actually a lot of fun, I can't say I've ever used food to make art before."

"He's a natural talent Mr. Stark!"

Tony agrees with the quirk of an eyebrow and cheeky sideways nod. He observes for a moment before asking something that's been bothering him recently.

"Pete, I gotta ask. Why baking? You inherited your Aunt's terrible cooking skills, and it's not like you're built for other domestic duties. Your room is a mess. What gives? How are you so... refined?"

Peter pauses his chopping to look up incredulously.

"It's science Mr. Stark. Baking is just chemistry! I'm great at chemistry," he says with a grin.

Tony thinks about it.

"Huh. I guess you're right. So, what has you stressed this time? Girl troubles? You get too good a grade in P.E. and Flash is suspicious? Decathlon competition?" Tony lists off some of his previous turmoils.

He hopes it's the decathalon again, those butter tarts were divine.

"Um. Can I finish my apple filling before I tell you? I'll lose motivation if you start yelling at me..." Peter says with a hopeful smile, strain lying underneath it.

Tony's eyes narrow.

"Okay so I maybe blew up your test tubes when trying to develop fire webs and Dum-E may have covered your entire lab in fire supression foam."

Tony's jaw clenches, "I'm gonna let you stew in fear for a bit longer because apple is my favourite - if this was pumpkin you'd already be squashed - but best believe I'm not done with you yet." Tony slowly takes a deep breath before pointing a finger at Peter. "Never change kid, never change."

Tony leaves, distinctly in the opposite direction of his lab, and Peter goes back to slicing apples, now with a genuine smile on his face.

[jeyneofpoole]

leda 1, 2, 3

[coffeeandjuice]

*Talking about the tower*

Tony: You think the tower is ugly?

Steve: It’s just a little…phallic shaped

Tony: So is every building in New York! Have you ever seen the Chrysler Building?

[joetavis]

There's definitely a universe in which Steve and Tony broke up during Civil War, but because they still loved each other and talked, all the avengers, including Bucky, moved back into the tower.

Tony kind of ignores Bucky, but he definitely has an alarm for when Steve closes in on him and dips.

Steve (ever so in love) tries to give him space, yet drops food in front of the lab, brings coffee, sometimes leaves room to make sure Tony doesn't miss out on the other avengers.

And Steve (still very in love) doesn't even care about Jarvis giving him the cold shoulder. Sure, he has to live with the AC acting out. Sure, the stove burns his morning omelette. Sure, he has to wait on Bucky or Sam to call in the elevator, but he's Steve Rogers, he loves the work out.

And sure, maybe he gets a little pissed when the glass doors stop opening and he runs into it in front of Natasha who will never make him forget about it, but he doesn't say anything. He still feels guilty about lying, he kinda feels like he deserves it, and honestly it's kinda genius.

So one afternoon, he brings Tony cheeseburgers from their favourite diner, and wants to put them in front of the door, but Tony spots him and waves him in. So he stands in front of the door and can't enter.

Tony walks up, the door opens.

Tony: If you don't want to come in, I can call you an elevator.

Steve: Ah, well, I've gotten used to the stairs.

Tony: Really? Has breaking up with me turned you so tech-wary you are boycotting the elevators?

Steve, suspecting maybe Tony did it drunk (because he is a genius): You really don't remember it, do you?

Steve, laughing: Since we broke up Jarvis has been ignoring me.

Tony: What?

Steve: Jarvis doesn't even acknowledge my voice.

Tony: What the fuck?

Steve: Yeah, no elevators, no heater, nothing.

Tony, laughing: No I mean- What the fuck Jarvis? That wasn't me. Jarvis you motherfucker.

Steve is totally dumbfounded and Tony doesn't stop laughing for minutes. He gives Jarvis a stern talk and Steve has to be present as Tony makes his AI apologise (it's super weird).

And Tony follows Steve throughout the tower the rest of the day to make sure Steve can take the elevator, go through doors, make food and with Tony back at his side, Steve can't even be mad at Jarvis. He even silently thanks him, going to bed. Because Tony stops to avoid him from that day on. And as he whispers thank you to the ceiling the AC turns back to the perfect temperature.

[bidonicart]

Lyanna Stark and ser Gerold Hightower at the Tower of Joy.

A scenario conceived by @seaworthit, scripted by @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly and adapted into a comic by me.

where else to find me

[person25]

i just realized that those ‘peter parker school trip’ fics are literally the maribat Wayne Industries fics just in a different font

[zedortoo]

Our reliable captain

[greywoe]

"The she-wolf laid into the squires with a tourney sword, scattering them all. The crannogman was bruised and bloodied, so she took him back to her lair to clean his cuts and bind them up with linen."

[amber-laughs]

In my personal opinion a lot of people misunderstand the situation around Ned's battle at ToJ. Ned and his men fought and killed several men of the Kingsguard. But why? Why won't they let him get to his sister even though Rhaegar and Aerys are dead?

"I came down on Storm's End to lift the siege," Ned told them, "and the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne dipped their banners, and all their knights bent the knee to pledge us fealty. I was certain you would be among them." "Our knees do not bend easily," said Ser Arthur Dayne. "Ser Willem Darry is fled to Dragonstone, with your queen and Prince Viserys. I thought you might have sailed with him." "Ser Willem is a good man and true," said Ser Oswell. "But not of the Kingsguard," Ser Gerold pointed out. "The Kingsguard does not flee." "Then or now," said Ser Arthur. He donned his helm. -Eddard X

Aerys is dead. Rhaegar is dead. Aegon is dead. Rhaenys is dead. And they know Prince Viserys is alive and unprotected at Dragonstone with a respected knight. Why not go to him? The next in line. Why stay and guard Lyanna? Because they're not guarding Lyanna. They're guarding their King. Jon Snow. They are the kingsguard and their knees do not bend easily. They cannot bend their knee to anyone other than Rhaegar's last living son. They know Lyanna is dying, they know Ned will take Jon away. They might even think Ned will kill him then and there, why not? His faction killed Aegon and Rhaenys. They aren't stopping a young man from seeing his beloved sister, they're stopping him from killing their rightful king.

[negasonic9403]

Is anyone else operating like the marvel canon isn't even canon anymore? Like all of this is a fucking fever dream. Plus, the multiverse is confirmed in the MCU so reality is whatever I want it to be

[adrixivy]

I can imagine the Avengers playing UNO one day for game night and after that day, everyone is extremely petty, stingy, extremely aggressive or has an attitude to someone and it’s all because of something that happened that one day they decided to play UNO.

(I played UNO with my family earlier and I was constantly screaming. I got +16. SIXTEEN. So this was what inspired this post)

Clint, throwing dirty looks at Tony everytime Tony walks into the room: *glares and rolls eyes at Tony before looking away*

Tony, sighs exasperatedly: Is this because I plus 20 your ass that game night?

Clint, mocking him: iS tHiS becAuSE I pLUs 20 yOuR aSs- YES. YES IT IS.

Tony being Tony ‘Money is my superpower’ Stark: I bought your kids everything on their Amazon wishlist yesterday. I bought Ms Barton’s wishlist too. And your new trick arrows are restocked and some upgraded

Clint, smiling politely and in the kindest voice possible: Thank you very much, I’ll tell you Peter’s cards from the vent the next time we play UNO

Peter with his advanced hearing: MR BARTON NO!-

——————

Bucky purposely walks away from Steve everytime Steve is trying to go up to him for a kiss or hug or just be close to him (Yes I’m a stucky fan)

Steve sighs and wipes a hand down his face: Is this because I changed the color when you were on one card during game night?

Bucky nodded and dramatically said: You betrayed me-

Steve, screeching: IT’S JUST A GAME?!-

Bucky, screaming back: YOU DON’T LOVE ME-

Steve, dumbfounded because UNO is making his lover hate him: WHAT-

———————

Peter flips onto the ceiling whenever Tony enters the room, renames all of his protocols, purposefully gives Tony the wrong tools and messes up Tony’s clean set-up of tools that it drives Tony up the wall because he thinks Peter is going through some rebellious phase before he notices Peter being kind to literally everyone else except him

Tony, tired and stared at his kid hanging upside down as he plays Dress to Impress with Ned and MJ on HIS personal starkpad meant for his work: Get down from there, kid. I need the Starkpad.

Peter ignores him and he tries remembering what he did before he scoffs in disbelief as he realised what Peter is annoyed about

Tony: Is this because I kept skipping your turn during game night? I told you I didn’t have the colors and those skip cards were the colors I drawn!

Peter: I had ONE card but because you kept skipping my turn, MR BARTON WON! MR BARTON-

Tony, sputtering: IT’S JUST A GAME-

Peter, screaming back: IT’S UNO!-

Tony on the verge of tears: I’M SORRY DON’T HATE ME-

Peter immediately jumps down, puts the Starkpad away and hugs Tony. The two share a hug and Peter forgets everything that what Tony did to him in game night

——————

Natasha throws a dagger that just barely misses Steve and Clint everytime they enter the room. Steve is wondering where she keeps those daggers and Clint knows where but knows she won’t stop because she’s incredibly petty. Extremely so.

Clint: Nat, my no.1 friend, my sister from another mother, I swear you gotta stop this-

Steve: I really don’t appreciate those daggers being thrown-

Steve is immediately cut off as Clint shoots a look at Steve that says ‘You’re an idiot!”. Nat simply stares at them blankly and Clint immediately grabs Steve and yanks him down to take cover as Natasha pulls a gun out of nowhere and shoots where they previously stood

Clint, knew it was coming but is still afraid as the two just narrowly dodged the bullets: I’M SORRY WE KEPT CHANGING THE COLOR BUT IT WASN’T THAT DEEP-

Steve, panicking and worried for their lives: JUST BECAUSE OF UNO?-

Clint, can’t believe Steve is asking an obvious question: YES JUST BECAUSE OF THAT!

Steve: I TOLD YOU IT WAS A BAD IDEA-

Clint, the one who told Steve to mess with Nat together and is regretting he ever did and is genuinely sorry he made the reluctant Steve join him: I’M SORRY I DRAGGED YOU INTO THIS-

It took Natasha a few hours to calm down and it was just because Clint summoned Peter ‘Puppy’ Parker to calm her down. Nat still gives slight nasty looks but she isn’t so petty about it anymore which was an absolute relief for the two

—————

Sam is glaring at Peter everytime and Peter sticks his tongue out to annoy and piss Sam off. The two always had somewhat of a small beef but it amplified more after game night. Probably because Peter was purposely aiming to attack Sam by always adding plus cards when it’s Sam’s turn next. It sucked more for Sam when Peter actually won.

Sam, sending Redwing to shoot small nerf darts at Peter: Take that you midget-

Peter, huffing and shot a web at Redwing which immediately made the small robotic bird stuck onto the ceiling: *sticks tongue out before giggling*

Peter laughs harder when he heard Sam screaming ‘MY CHILD’ with his advanced hearing

——————

Wanda and Peter teamed up during UNO and sneaked some cards to each other when one needed a certain color. And the entire team is always dumbstruck whenever one of the two kept winning for 5 rounds straight, not knowing Wanda is reading their minds on what color they have and their secret way of communicating

Wanda wins three times in a row and her and Peter is giggling. The whole team is confused af because how are they doing this-

(They totally forgot about Wanda’s abilities during the game. UNO is a serious game where all your remaining braincells is used on the game and nothing else matters)

——————

Rhodey joins for one game and is immediately done because his cards somehow stack all the way to 30 cards. He just needed a blue and he kept drawing cards until FINALLY he pulled a blue and Tony’s turn was next so imagine how furious he was when Tony placed a blue reverse and out of his 30 cards, he didn’t have a SINGLE reverse or power card. He tweaks and the whole team is laughing at him as he grumbles and complains about how they’re ganging up on him and UNO is a completely unfair game. Tony kept laughing till there was tears. He always found it fun to annoy tf out of Rhodey.

Rhodey, fuming as he fails to get one blue card: WHO THE HELL SHUFFLED THIS CARDS-

The whole room erupts into laughter at the sight

——————

Thor is the only one that doesn’t seem affected by the game and isn’t petty at all because there’s probably worse games in Asgard and he had dealt with way more petty people when it comes to games. Honestly, he probably imagined it as a game with Loki. Loki was always petty with games and everytime Thor won, he deals with attitude from Loki for weeks. UNO was basically child play for him.

——————

Bruce doesn’t ever participate in UNO and the team believes its for the best because if he joins, the big guy will come out and play for him instead (He’s smashing everything. Not as in the game. Literal smashing)

It’s literally impossible to not get mad at people in UNO.

Best believe UNO is a game that’s banned from game night forever after that day as the amount of attitude and danger in the tower increases by tenfold.

[mypoisonedvine]

Oh em gee 23 with Bucky!!!!!

23: "It's hard to get used to." "What?" "Being someone that someone cares for..."

not me writing the most wholesome shit like i'm not gonna sandwich this with some nasty as hell requests lmaoooo

warnings: touch starved bucky, hurt/comfort, description of injuries, doctor!reader (but very vague), way too fucking fluffy tbh like who am i?

The silence was comfortable; you were getting more familiar with it, at least. You couldn't be friends, or coworkers, with someone like Bucky without being alright with very long stretches of quiet.

But you weren't totally sure if you were friends or coworkers-- sort of both, sort of neither. Technically, he was your patient, but this was hardly a traditional clinical environment; first of all, you were dressing his wounds while sitting on his bed, like you always did. For obvious but unspoken reasons, he didn't react well to a sterile medical environment with those cold metal tables and bright lights...

Second of all, you were at least friendly with each other, and talked outside of those times where he needed attention (uh, medical attention that is), even if you weren't sure if you were close enough to call him a friend. You wanted to know more about him, but he was pretty cagey, and you didn't want to be overwhelming; but you also didn't take it too personally, it wasn't like he was very close with anyone that you could tell, outside of Steve.

And third of all, your heart was racing as your eyes scanned the muscles of his back, but you know... that was sort of inevitable. Of course you felt guilty for ogling him a little bit, but technically the Hippocratic oath never said anything about... admiring.

He winced a little when you pressed the gauze against one of his scrapes; "Sorry," you mumbled, breaking the long silence finally.

"It's okay," he replied quickly.

And then the quiet again; the next time you broke it, it was because you noticed him shaking slightly. You narrowed your eyes, ignoring it at first (maybe he was just shivering because he was cold with no shirt on?), but it got more obvious a second later... he was tense, like he was trying to suppress it, and you frowned. "Is everything okay?"

He only nodded, saying nothing, and you tried to lean around him to see his face-- but he looked away, keeping the back of his head towards you.

"Bucky, I need to know if you're okay," you insisted.

"M'fine," he whispered quickly, but his voice was breaking-- maybe it was a little aggressive, but you grabbed his face and turned his head towards you, finding his eyes red and tears on his face.

"Oh my god! Are you in that much pain?" you yelped. "Where is it hurting? Why didn't you tell me!?"

"N-no, I'm fine," he insisted again, "it's not-- I can hardly feel it, stop worrying."

"How can I not worry?" you laughed nervously, tilting your head. "And how can you not feel that? You took some serious hits... but that's not the point! Can you tell me what's going on?"

He sighed a little, looking up at you tenderly. "You just... you take such good care of me."

You wanted to answer, it's my job, but that would've been a lie. Well, it would've been technically true, but not really accurate, if that makes sense. Then you wanted to answer I care about you, but that would've been a little too accurate.

You didn't say anything, you were too stunned by the way he was looking at you. "It's hard to get used to."

"What?"

"Just... being someone that... someone cares for..."

Your heart sank-- actually, your whole body seemed to, as you slumped a little bit and sat lower on the bed to be at eye-level with him again. "Oh, Bucky..." you trailed off as you sighed, reaching up to wipe away one of his tears.

He quickly pushed your hand away-- not hard or anything, but immediate-- and frowned a little. "Don't," he mumbled. "It's not-- we aren't..."

"What?" you asked again gently. He looked down and shook his head. "Bucky, please talk to me."

"Don't touch me like that," he continued again, quieter, "if I can't... if it doesn't mean anything."

You blinked quickly, trying not to hope for too much just because of your own feelings. "Okay," you breathed. "I won't. Not if it doesn't mean anything."

He looked at you again; and you slowly reached up, and wiped the other cheek with your hand.

You were only so brave because of how he pressed against your touch, how he shut his eyes and leaned into it and took a deep breath in through his nose; only because he looked so relieved by it did you have the guts to move closer to him, straddling your legs around his lap.

He opened his eyes, of course, when you did that, and looked up at you with the most beautiful expression-- surprise, sure, but thankfully not discomfort or shock as you'd feared. Your other hand came back to his other cheek so you could hold his face gently; both his hands came up and braced yours, keeping them there. Relief was an understatement-- you felt so much at once, and even though your heart broke for him, it was so amazing knowing you could actually help him. Knowing maybe you could treat more than just the wounds that you could see.

He hugged you a little suddenly, a little tightly, as he buried his head against your chest; you sighed slightly and wrapped your arms around him, too, letting yourself fully relax on top of him.

You did bring one hand up to brush lazily through his hair, you weren't sure why but it just felt natural to do. You felt more of his tears wet your shirt, and one of his hands clutch a little tighter at your back.

"It's okay," you promised under your breath. "You're okay..."

This was the longest silence yet, it was impossible to say how long you two stayed like that. It felt like forever, yet it went by quickly.

"I can't be here all night," you finally found the courage to mumble to him at some point. "I have to go, you know, eventually-- other people are injured--"

"I-I know," he sniffled weakly, pulling his reddened face back from your chest. "I know, but... will you come back?"

You'd never heard him sound so... small? You smiled and tilted your head. "Of course," you offered, brushing some hair away from his face and tucking it behind his ear. "I'll always come back."