#surely at the time of the movies there's gotta be pockets of resistance outside of leia's that are wayyyy more radical and unapologetic.

[hopegained]

if anything the resistance should be more like the rebels in andor

[persephonememes]

* (  GUTS BY OLIVIA RODRIGO /  SENTENCE PROMPTS.

These may have been edited for clarity or length or to better apply for roleplaying.

❛ i pay attention to things that most people ignore ❜

❛ i'm alright with the movies that make jokes about senseless cruelty ❜

❛ i feel for your every little issue ❜

❛ i know just what you mean ❜

❛ i make light of the darkness ❜

❛ i've got sun in my motherfuckin' pocket ❜

❛ you know me ❜

❛ i forgive and i forget ❜

❛ i know my age and i act like it ❜

❛ i've got what you can't resist ❜

❛ i got class and integrity just like a goddamn kennedy ❜

❛ i'm a perfect all-american bitch ❜

❛ i know my place ❜

❛ i don't get angry when i'm pissed ❜

❛ i'm the eternal optimist ❜

❛ i scream inside to deal with it ❜

❛ i'm grateful all the time ❜

❛ i'm sexy and i'm kind ❜

❛ i'm pretty when i cry ❜

❛ haven't heard from you in a couple of months ❜

❛ i'm out right now and i'm all fucked up ❜

❛ i'm sensing some undertone ❜

❛ i'm right here with all my friends ❜

❛ i know we're done ❜

❛ i know we're through ❜

❛ my brain goes 'ah' can't hear my thoughts ❜

❛ i cannot hear my thoughts ❜

❛ i should probably not ❜

❛ seeing you tonight, it's a bad idea, right? ❜

❛ it's a bad idea, right? ❜

❛ fuck it, it's fine ❜

❛ yes, i know that he's my ex. but can't two people reconnect? ❜

❛ i only see him as a friend, the biggest lie i ever said ❜

❛ i just tripped and fell into his bed ❜

❛ now i'm gettin' in the car, wreckin' all my plans ❜

❛ i know i should stop, but i can't ❜

❛ i told my friends i was asleep but i never said where or in whose sheets ❜

❛ i'm sure i've seen much hotter men but i really can't remember when ❜

❛ how's the castle built off people you pretend to care about ❜

❛ i see the parties and the diamonds sometimes when i close my eyes ❜

❛ i loved you truly ❜

❛ you gotta laugh at the stupidity ❜

❛ i've made some real big mistakes but you make the worst one look fine ❜

❛ i've made some real big mistakes ❜

❛ i should've known it was strange you only come out at night ❜

❛ i used to think i was smart but you made me look so naïve ❜

❛ the way you sold me for parts as you sunk your teeth into me ❜

❛ bleeding me dry like a goddamn vampire ❜

❛ every girl i ever talked to told me you were bad news ❜

❛ you're so convincing ❜

❛ how do you lie without flinching? ❜

❛ how do you lie? ❜

❛ what a mesmerizing, paralyzing, fucked up little thrill ❜

❛ i can't figure out just how you do it and god knows i never will ❜

❛ you went for me and not her 'cause girls your age know better ❜

❛ you said it was true love but wouldn't that be hard? ❜

❛ you can't love anyone 'cause that would mean you had a heart ❜

❛ i tried to help you out ❜

❛ i tried to help you out now i know that i can't ❜

❛ how you think's the kind of thing i'll never understand ❜

❛ aren't you the sweetest thing on this side of hell? ❜

❛ did i ever tell you that i'm not doing well? ❜

❛ i linger all the time ❜

❛ i linger all the time watching, hidden in plain sight ❜

❛ i try but it takes over my life ❜

❛ i see you everywhere ❜

❛ the sweetest torture one could bear ❜

❛ i'm losing it lately ❜

❛ i feel your compliments like bullets on skin ❜

❛ aren't you the greatest thing to ever exist? ❜

❛ my stomach's all in knots ❜

❛ you got the one thing that i want ❜

❛ people are people, but it's like you're made of angel dust ❜

❛ it's like you're out to get me ❜

❛ you poison every little thing that i do ❜

❛ i just loathe you lately ❜

❛ i despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you ❜

❛ i despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you ❜

❛ i don't think i get along with anyone ❜

❛ i'm on the outside of the greatest inside joke ❜

❛ i hate all my clothes ❜

❛ it feels like my skin doesn't fit right over my bones ❜

❛ so i guess i should go ❜

❛ the party's done, and i'm no fun ❜

❛ i broke a glass, i tripped and fell ❜

❛ i tripped and fell ❜

❛ i told secrets i shouldn't tell ❜

❛ i stumbled over all my words ❜

❛ i made it weird ❜

❛ i made it worse ❜

❛ each time i step outside it's social suicide ❜

❛ i wanna curl up and die ❜

❛ i laughed at the wrong time ❜

❛ i talked to this hot guy, swore i was his type ❜

❛ everything i do is tragic ❜

❛ the morning after i panic ❜

❛ oh god, what did i say? ❜

❛ when i'm alone, i'm fine ❜

❛ don't let me out at night ❜

❛ i'm shocked i'm still alive ❜

❛ i called you the wrong name twice ❜

❛ i want it, so i got it ❜

❛ another thing i ruined, i used to do for fun ❜

❛ another conversation with nothing good to say ❜

❛ another day pretending i'm older than i am ❜

❛ another perfect moment that doesn't feel like mine ❜

❛ sometimes i feel like i don't wanna be where i am ❜

❛ i push away all the people who know me the best ❜

❛ it's me who's been makin' the bed ❜

❛ i'm so tired of being the girl that i am ❜

❛ every good thing has turned into somethin' i dread ❜

❛ i'm playin' the victim so well in my head ❜

❛ every night, i wake up from this one recurring dream ❜

❛ i read somewhere it's 'cause my life feels so out of control ❜

❛ i tell someone i love them just as a distraction ❜

❛ they tell me that they love me like i'm some tourist attraction ❜

❛ i got the things i wanted, it's just not what i imagined ❜

❛ i'm counting all of the beautiful things i regret ❜

❛ i'm pulling the sheets over my head ❜

❛ you're so good at what you do ❜

❛ you come for me like a savior ❜

❛ i'd put myself through hell for you ❜

❛ i fell for you like water ❜

❛ i couldn't get out if i tried ❜

❛ it was all in my mind ❜

❛ now you got me thinking ❜

❛ love is never logical ❜

❛ all the things you did to me ❜

❛ you lied ❜

❛ i'm sure that girl is really your friend ❜

❛ you said i was too soft ❜

❛ why do I do this? ❜

❛ i know i'm half responsible and that makes me feel horrible ❜

❛ i know i could've stopped it all, god, why didn't i stop it all? ❜

❛ i met a guy in the summer and i left him in the spring ❜

❛ i wanna make him feel bad ❜

❛ i wanna make him really jealous ❜

❛ i really miss him and it makes me real sad ❜

❛ i want sweet revenge ❜

❛ i want him again ❜

❛ i want to get him back ❜

❛ i write him all these letters, then i throw them in the trash ❜

❛ i miss the way he kisses and the way he made me laugh ❜

❛ he said i was the only girl, but that just wasn't the truth ❜

❛ i am my father's daughter, so maybe i could fix him ❜

❛ i wanna key his car ❜

❛ i wanna break his heart ❜

❛ he's not even gonna know what hit him ❜

❛ he's gonna love me and hate me at the same time ❜

❛ i don't know ❜

❛ i told my friends you were the one ❜

❛ i stayed in bed for like a week ❜

❛ when you said space was what you need, i waited by my phone like a goddamn fool ❜

❛ love's fucking embarrassing ❜

❛ how could i be so stupid? ❜

❛ you found a new version of me ❜

❛ what was i even doing? ❜

❛ i give up ❜

❛ i give up everything ❜

❛ i keep coming back for more ❜

❛ i have nightmares each week about that friday ❜

❛ one phone call from you and my entire world was changed ❜

❛ you took everything i loved and crushed it in between your fingers ❜

❛ i doubt you ever think about the damage that you did ❜

❛ i hold on to every detail like my life depends on it ❜

❛ i hear your voice every time that i think i'm not enough ❜

❛ i try to be tough, but i wanna scream ❜

❛ how could anybody do the things you did so easily? ❜

❛ i say i don't care, i say that i'm fine but you know i can't let it go ❜

❛ i've tried for so long ❜

❛ it takes strength to forgive, but i don't feel strong ❜

❛ i try to understand why you would do this all to me ❜

❛ i know in my heart hurt people hurt people ❜

❛ do you think i deserved it all? ❜

❛ you built me up to watch me fall ❜

❛ you have everything and you still want more ❜

❛ even after all this, you're still everything to me ❜

❛ i know you don't care ❜

❛ there's always something missing ❜

❛ when pretty isn't pretty enough what do you do? ❜

❛ i could change up my body and change up my face ❜

❛ i'd always feel the same ❜

❛ you can win the battle but you'll never win the war ❜

❛ fix the things you hated and you'd still feel so insecure ❜

❛ i try to ignore it, but it's everything i see ❜

❛ i don't know why i even try ❜

❛ i bought all the clothes that they told me to buy ❜

❛ i chased some dumb ideal my whole fucking life ❜

❛ none of it matters and none of it ends ❜

❛ you just feel like shit over and over again ❜

❛ when am i gonna stop being wise beyond my years and just start being wise? ❜

❛ when am i gonna stop being a pretty young thing to guys? ❜

❛ when will it stop being cool to be quietly misunderstood? ❜

❛ i'm sorry that i couldn't always be your teenage dream ❜

❛ when does wide-eyed affection and all good intentions start to not be enough? ❜

❛ will i spend all the rest of my years wishing i could go back? ❜

❛ they all say that it gets better ❜

❛ it gets better the more you grow ❜

❛ it gets better, but what if i don't? ❜

[kyber-crystal]

department of matchmaking || s.r

summary: in which you’re asked by aunt may to babysit peter while she’s away at a business conference & steve tags along. peter, being the innocent smol bean he is, tries to get you and the Captain together.

words: ~3.1k

warnings: none, just fluff & a little matchmaking spider-man :) and OH steve’s blue jacket heheh. tony’s your dad in this oop cant resist a stark child. shhh CW never happened bc i’m still in denial 

Peter: Aunt May says she has a couple errands to run so she won't be back until later this afternoon. Can you pick me up? School just ended.

You: Of course!

Peter: Ned and I are planning on building the Lego Death Star tonight. I know you're a sucker for building stuff :)

You: You know me so well, kiddo. I'm definitely in. How could I miss out on our weekly date nights?

Peter: You're the best! See you soon

You: See you!

"Where are you going?"

"May's busy, so I gotta go pick Peter up from school," you explained to Steve as you slung your purse over your shoulder and grabbed the keys to your (Tony's) Audi, sliding your sunglasses on. "We're having one of our weekly Friday movie nights, and he and Ned just got a new Lego set that they want me to help construct. You wanna come along?"

"Sure, I don't mind."

You headed outside to the car together, sticking the keys into the ignition as Steve slid in next to you in the passenger's seat. "I hope you don't have anything else planned for the rest of tonight. We might be there for a while...I know we were gonna see that new action movie in theaters tomorrow. I'm sorry."

"Nope, no plans," he smiled, "I'm free for the rest of this weekend. As long as I get to spend time with you, it's okay."

You couldn't help but feel your heart flutter a bit at his words. 

But you quickly brushed the thought off, knowing the last thing you were supposed to do was fall for someone after you'd just gotten over a nasty breakup.

Soon enough, you pulled up in front of Midtown High School and saw Peter standing with Ned by the curb. You rolled the window down and called out to them. "Hey, boys. Need a ride?"

"My favorite Avenger! Hi!" Ned greeted as he and Peter got into the backseat, strapping their seatbelts on.

"Ouch, I'm offended," Steve placed a hand over his chest and pretended to look hurt. "I thought I was your favorite?"

"Captain America! It's an honor!" he exclaimed. "I've heard so much about you from Peter!"

"Oh, really? I hope he only told you good things?" the super-soldier chuckled.

"Yup!"

"So, how was school?" you glanced back at the two teenagers from the rearview mirror. "Anything interesting happen?"

"No, except they actually served something edible in the cafeteria for lunch today," Peter rolled his eyes. "Which is a first."

You sighed, placing your hand back on the wheel, "School food isn't the best thing ever."

"So uh, I have a question," Ned spoke up as you headed down the street, "are you and Y/N a...thing? ‘Cause I hear a lot of fans are speculating that the kickass agent and America’s golden boy are dating."

"What? No," you and Steve replied in unison, exchanging a knowing look before bursting into laughter. "No."

"Okay..."

It was mostly quiet for the rest of the car ride back to the apartment. Peter pulled out the keys from his jacket pocket and slid it in the lock, pushing the door open and gesturing for the rest of you to come inside.

"So," he breathed out, setting his backpack down by the front door and dusting his hands off. You sat around the sofa together, glancing at the massive Lego set on the coffee table. "Here it is, in all its glory."

"How many pieces is this?" Steve questioned, looking at it in shock.

"Almost 4000."

A buzzing sound from his phone made Peter look down, swiping a few times before unlocking it and scanning over the new notification.

"May has an overnight business conference and she won't be back until tomorrow evening. She wants you to babysit," he explained as he looked up at you.

"Fine by me," you shrugged. "Cap?"

"Sure, why not."

"But I'm 15 and 8 months! I'm not a baby."

"Well, kiddo, I'm 28 and Tony treats me like a baby even though I’m not a baby anymore. Steve's going on 32, and acts like he's 12."

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do."

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do."

"Arguing like a married couple," Peter coughed, and Ned wiggled his eyebrows up and down. "Cute."

"For the last time, we're not a thing," you let out an exasperated sigh, but felt a blush creep up your cheeks as you spoke.

Two hours later you were a little over halfway done with building the Death Star, and fatigue was beginning to catch up with you after you neglected your sleep schedule and pulled three all-nighters in a row bingeing Netflix with Sam.

You let out a yawn as you flipped through the instructions pamphlet, stretching your arms up in the air.

"You tired?" Steve asked. You were too tired to respond, simply leaning into him and closing your eyes.

"You can take her to the guest room. Straight down the hall, then turn right," Peter said as he noticed you'd now fallen asleep on him. "We can continue this after dinner."

Steve scooped you up into his strong arms and carried you down the hall, pushing the door to the guest room open with one hand before carefully setting you down on the bed, tucking you in.

"Sleep tight," he whispered, a ghost of a smile on his face as he leaned down to kiss your forehead and left.

"Ahem. Now that she's gone," Ned cleared his throat, "time to plan on how we're supposed to get our OTP together!"

"Ned, really-"

"You should ask her out, Cap. I see the way you look at her," Peter raised an eyebrow at him, "I mean, it's clear to everyone how you feel about her, and the way she feels about you. Sam sees it, Mr. Stark sees it, heck, I think May has her suspicions as well because she wouldn't stop talking about how great of a couple you two would be over dinner last night-"

"Look, Peter, I don't think she's ready for a relationship."

"Why not?"

"She just broke up with her boyfriend two months ago. I doubt she'd be willing to date again."

"But you're her best friend! You're literally the perfect man for her!"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not taking advantage of someone when they're vulnerable. That isn't right."

He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest and kicking his feet up against the coffee table, tossing a spare Lego piece up and down in one hand. "Yeah, I totally believe the great Captain America isn't in love with the great Y/N."

"She's my friend. A teammate."

"Friends with benefits!" Ned chimed in. Steve made a face at this. "No, not like that. I mean that as in, you guys do all the things that regular couples do, except you're not officially a couple. And I think that's big enough of an indication that you should get together for real."

"I'm just waiting for the right time."

"AHA!" both boys shouted. "So you are in love with her!"

"Keep it down!" he scolded. "She's asleep!"

"You didn't deny it this time..."

"Fine, whatever. What do you guys want for dinner? I'll go pick it up."

"Pizza."

"If Y/N asks where I am, just tell her I went to go get the food."

"Okay."

As soon as the door shut behind Steve, Peter and Ned's heads immediately whipped over and they faced each other, exchanging evil grins.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ned practically squealed.

"Yeah, I'm thinking what you're thinking!"

"Romantic dinner and movie night setup!" both boys whooped and hollered.

"I'll light the candles and get the napkins. May always keeps a stock of scented ones when Y/N comes over because she loves the smell of cherry blossoms."

"...I'll grab the rose petals and tablecloth."

"Rose petals?"

"Mind if I tear apart the flower on your desk?"

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Also, the regular tall candles are in the cabinet below the sink in the bathroom."

"Yessir."

Twenty minutes later, Steve came back with the pizza in hand, setting the keys on the counter and closing the door, stopping dead in his tracks as he observed the scene before him.

"What is going on?"

"We set up a date night for you two because we know you've been working hard this past week and deserved to relax," Peter explained happily. "So, here you go!"

"Peter," Steve sighed, rubbing his forehead, "I appreciate your effort, but Y/N isn't ready for a relationship and neither one of us has feelings for the other."

"But you guys deserve a break! After working nonstop you should at least rest or something."

"Alright, alright. I'll go get Y/N. You guys set the pizza on the plates for everyone, okay?"

"Got it."

You yawned and rubbed your eyes, then stretched your arms up into the air, skidding to a halt as you observed the sight before you.

“Wh...what’s going on?”

Peter and Ned grinned from where they sat on the couch, paper plates on their laps. “We thought you deserved a nice break, so we set up a little something for you guys!”

“A romantic dinner? Why...”

"It looks pretty and gives off a relaxing mood. Why else?” Peter laughed nervously. “Now eat!”

“Okay...” you started growing suspicious, but didn’t question it, “alright, then.”

You fell into an awkward silence after that, aside from the occasional sound of silverware clinking against plates and drink glasses being set back down on the table. The atmosphere felt heavier than before and you couldn’t help but wonder what it was. 

“So, uh...how have you been holding up?” Steve asked you tentatively. He knew the topic of your ex-boyfriend was still that of a rather sensitive one - you’d come storming through the elevator doors and gulped down half a bottle of vodka (you never drank, so this had everyone genuinely worried), before heading upstairs and taking a forty-five minute shower, then afterwards, proceeded to lock yourself in your room for the rest of the afternoon. 

When you wouldn’t come down for dinner, he had to carry up your food to you and when you refused to eat, he was the one to force-feed you. When you suddenly broke down sobbing when he asked you if you were alright, he was the one who held you in your arms. He was the one who got you out of bed to bring you downstairs for some fresh air and to interact with the others, and not once during the time he was having to take care of you for, did he question any of your behavior. You were hurting and that was all that mattered. If you were hurting, he was hurting, too.

“It’s been a rough eight weeks...” you sighed, rubbing your forehead with one hand as you took a sip of wine. “Could be better, but...I’m alright. I just wish I could’ve seen that coming from the moment I went on that blind date with him.”

“What do you mean?” Steve was confused - you’d never mentioned any details of your relationship, you were a very private person, for that matter. You rarely ever opened up to anyone. “I thought you were...”

“Happy? Hell no, I don’t even know why I stayed,” you scoffed as you took another swing of your drink. “It was so easy to fall into a routine. There was this gaping hole in my heart, and...I needed it to be filled somehow. Then Agent Williams comes along, a seemingly perfect new SHIELD recruit, almost everything a girl could possibly want in a man standing right in front of me...how could I not fall for his façade? I didn’t realize it was doomed from the start until about a week into the relationship...but I held my tongue. I knew if I dared to speak up against him, he’d somehow manage to use my words against me, twist everything I said into a whole new lie...he manipulated me, day after day...yet I still didn’t leave because I genuinely believed he’d change. 

“But I was wrong. I was naïve, I stayed because I was so desperate to experience true happiness that I went as far as to stay with someone I knew would do a number on my mental health in the long run. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I walked into HQs one day to drop stuff of for Coulson, to see Williams on top of someone else...in the gym. In the gym...of all places. I only didn’t blast him because I didn’t want to destroy Fury’s property. So I slapped him and left. That’s it. This whole...fling, or whatever the hell you want to call this shitty relationship, lasted only twenty-six days before everything fell apart. God, I’m so stupid - I should’ve known. I was so stupid, I’m such a horrible person for doing what-”

Steve felt his blood boil with anger. Williams had cheated on you - that’s why you’d broken up. All this time he’d been thinking that you simply fell out of love, or maybe ended it on friendlier terms - when in fact, it was anything but.

Nobody deserved to be treated this way, especially you. I could treat you much better, he thought to himself.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said softly, reaching a hand up to wipe the stray tears that fell from your eyes. Instead of letting his hand fall back at his side right away, he let it linger there for a moment, gently stroking your cheekbone with his thumb. The feeling sent electricity up his fingers. “It’s not your fault. You’re not a bad person...he is.”

“Shit, I think our plan’s backfiring,” Peter hissed into Ned’s ear as they watched the scene unfold from the couch. “What the fuck, Ned!”

“Shh! Hold on, they’re having a really deep conversation. Let them be for a second.”

“I was stupid enough to stay, when he was giving off all the wrong signs...I should’ve listened to Tony and Nat. They knew. They knew from the moment we first got together, but I didn’t listen...”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know any better,” he reassured you, absentmindedly taking your hand in his and rubbing circles across your palm, “you just wanted to be happy. To experience that feeling that came along with being in a relationship. Frankly, I think I would’ve done the same thing.”

“And what makes me feel even worse,” your voice caught in your throat as you spoke, “...were my true intentions of staying. I wanted to be happy, I really did. But I realized I’d never achieve that with someone like him...in a way, I was using him too, I guess. Not for my personal gain or anything, not to boost my social status, like he did...he always made a point of walking around and declaring that he had an Avenger girlfriend. But...”

“But what?”

“I knew if I was in a relationship with someone, that’d prevent me from thinking about being with anyone else. Well...that plan failed...horribly.”

“...What are you saying?”

“Of course, I didn’t figure that out until not long ago...but yeah. The heart wants what it wants...and it didn’t want him.”

“Then who was it?”

Your gaze flickered down to your now-intertwined fingers. You hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “...I think you know who it is, Steve.”

“See!” Ned kicked Peter in the shin as he was in the middle of finishing off his second slice, and he winced. “It’s getting saucy!”

“Ow!” 

“I think we both know,” Steve murmured. 

You let out a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sob. “I don’t know why I tried pursuing a relationship that wouldn’t fulfill me in the long run. I should’ve known it was you all along, huh? You know me like the back of your hand. For Odin’s sake, you remembered every detail of my SHIELD file, my favorite color, my exact birth date, everything there is to know about me. It’s always been you-”

“...It broke my heart to see you with someone who wasn’t me,” he said quietly.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want you to feel like I was meddling in your love life. I know you hate it when people do that.”

“Steve-”

“I knew you weren’t as happy as you let on. I shouldn’t have stayed silent...I should’ve at least said something. I was terrified to speak up, thinking that you wouldn’t reciprocate my feelings-”

“You...you what?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled lightly, “I’m in love with you.”

Peter let out a squeak. Ned chucked a pillow at him, a giddy look on his face.

“Good news,” you laughed, “because I’m in love with you too.”

“FINALLY!” Ned whooped, unable to contain his excitement for any longer. He and Peter exchanged a fist-bump. “FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY! I can’t believe our ship finally sailed! Though I gotta be honest, I had no idea pizza could bring out people’s true feelings like that.”

“We’re geniuses!” Peter squealed, pulling out his phone.. “Oh, wait until Mr. Stark hears about this!”

Your eyes widened in realization. “Peter, don’t you dare c-”

Too late. A buzzing sound came from your phone, alerting you of a new notification, and you unlocked it to see a text from your father. 

Mr. Stank😡: Took you long enough, honey. I expect a grandchild soon.

Mr. Stank😡: But I’m gonna be honest, I wouldn’t want any other man for you than Capsicle himself.

You let out a loud groan, shoving your phone back into your purse. “Oh, come on.”

A buzzing sound came from Steve’s phone as well, and he took it out of his pocket to take a look. 

Stark: You better not knock her up until after you get married and then leave. I learned that lesson too late. I’m being serious when I’m telling you to treat her right - she hasn’t been the same since her mother walked out all those years ago. You make her happy, though, so I won’t try to intervene.

Stark: But if you hurt her in any way, I’ll break your face. Capiche?

Steve: ...Capiche.

“Ooh! I just got a promotion for telling him about you guys!” Peter clasped his hands together. “I’m joining you on your next group mission!”

“That’s great, Peter!” you congratulated, “but...why would he give you a promotion for...this?”

“Because he’s been waiting for this to happen for the longest time! Oh and also, your food’s getting cold.”

“We could just reheat it. Or...if you guys are still hungry, do you want to go to Olive Garden?” Steve looked over at the two teenage boys. 

“YES.”

“Y/N, what about you?”

“It’s a date,” you winked. You let out a small laugh upon seeing his cheeks flush red.

[moldisgoodforyou]

the pregnancy scare

warning: cursing (always!), mentions of sex, mentions of period/pregnancy

wordcount: 2.5k

it was reckless, and stupid, but after a night out, jj and charlie were both drunk and forgot the condom until he was in her, close to reaching their high. then she paused, tugging his hair to get his attention. “j, baby, we forgot a step.”

“what step?” he asked, confused.

“um...I don’t remember. something’s missing.” charlie shook her head, too focused on her boyfriend and her slightly blurred vision to think. “dunno.” 

after a few more minutes of lazy thrusting and both of them reaching their peak, they realized at the same time. jj pulled out of her, and got up to amble to the restroom like usual. “the condom.” jj mumbled, eyes wide. 

“fuck.” charlie echoed, biting her lip. “no, I’m on the pill, it’ll be fine.”

“you’re sure? we can get you plan b in the morning.” he offered, pulling on his boxers and crawling back into bed with her.

she wrinkled her nose. “no, no, it’s fine. let’s just go to sleep.”

_

unfortunately, her track record with taking the pill on time was on par with jj’s track record of remembering anything after a drunken night out - basically nonexistent. they had completely forgotten about it the next day and woke up around 1pm, limbs tangled around each other. 

jj woke first, nudging her shoulder. “charlie. we gotta get up.” she groaned, burying her face into his chest. “don’t wanna. if I get up, I’ll be hungover.” he laughed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “and you’re not right now?” she lifted her head and caught his lips in a chaste kiss. “no, because I’m not up.” 

“well I have a half hour to get to my intramural game, and you’re supposed to coach us again. you drew that new route, remember?” he tried persuading her. she groaned and sat up finally, annoyed. “there are twenty guys on the whole team and you’re all useless on the field. it makes no sense.” 

he grinned. “so you won’t get up for me but you’ll get up for my football game?” she nodded, rubbing her eyes with a yawn. “like I said. I’m not dating a shitty athlete.” she squealed as he grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against his chest. “take that back, walker!” he exclaimed, nipping her neck. (they were ten minutes late to the game that day.)

_

the next couple weeks, charlie continued taking her pill in her usual manner - at 8pm one day, 3am the next, two in one day if she forgot the day before. then she passed the placebo week - and realized nothing came. 

her period had been late before, so she ignored it, chalking it up to weird hormones. but...two weeks later, she started to get worried. she confessed to her best friend, grace, what was going on, and grace immediately made her go and buy a pregnancy test. at first they joked about it in the CVS, then charlie’s anxiety set in on the car ride home. 

“grace, what if I’m...” 

grace shook her head, confident. “you’re not. there’s no way.” 

“I can’t handle a child right now. I can barely take care of myself.” charlie confessed. “grace, I had cheerios with grape juice for breakfast because we ran out of milk.” 

grace gave her a look. “look, charlie, first of all, you’re not pregnant. second of all, that’s disgusting. you couldn’t eat cheerios dry?” 

charlie shrugged. “I don’t know! see, I can’t be a parent!” 

grace pulled into their driveway and the two of them went upstairs, straight to their shared bathroom. grace ushered charlie inside, taking a seat outside the door. “let me know when you’re done.” 

a few minutes later, charlie opened the door, the pregnancy test sitting on a carefully folded square of toilet paper on the counter. “it’s gotta be a no, right? like, there’s no way. I’m just going crazy.” 

grace nodded, hopping up to sit on the counter. “you’re fine. you’re totally fine! how much longer?” 

charlie nodded to a timer set on her phone. “three minutes.” 

it was the longest three minutes of her life.

as the timer went off, charlie took a step back. “I can’t look. you do it.” grace paused, reaching for the stick. “you sure?” 

she nodded. “please. tell me the good news.” 

grace hopped off the counter, then hesitated. “um.” 

charlie’s eyes grew wide. “you’re kidding.” grace held it out toward her, shaking her head. “I don’t know. that’s faint, right? like hardly two lines?” charlie took the test, examining it, then felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest. “those are bold, grace. that’s positive.” 

grace winced. “those can be wrong all the time. and you have bad eyesight, I wouldn’t be so sure -” 

“no, that’s definitely fucking positive.” charlie interrupted, staring at the stick. “...what are you gonna do? tell jj?” grace asked, taking it from her to refocus her attention. charlie shook her head, right away. “hell no. I...I’m going to not think about it this week, because I have two tests and a big kinesiology lab and I can’t afford to fuck those up.” 

grace frowned. “okay, we’re scheduling a doctor’s appointment on friday then. after all that.” charlie shook her head. “jj will know something’s up, it’ll have to be saturday. I’ll say I have some kappa thing.” 

“are you sure you shouldn’t tell him? I mean...it’s his dick that got you into this mess.” grace reasoned. charlie rolled her eyes. “one week will be fine. I’m just going to ignore it! it’s fine. I’m fine!” she tried convincing herself, her voice getting higher pitched with stress. grace set her hands on charlie’s shoulders, trying to center her. “hey! it’s fine. secret’s safe with me.” 

_

charlie did exactly that, ignoring the situation all week. she also ignored jj, afraid she would spill at a moment’s notice. jj chalked it up to stress from school, knowing she had a lot to deal with that week. to make matters worse, he was the ideal boyfriend - dropping off food in the library for her, keeping her company as she stayed up to study, walking her home from a late night group project meeting. 

he could sense something was off, the way she didn’t lean into his touch like normal, or how she flinched away when he tried to press a kiss to her temple as she studied. he was a little annoyed, and wanted her attention, but stayed sweet anyway. 

friday night, he walked her home, hand in hand. when she gave him a goodnight kiss at the door, not inviting him in, he was a little hurt. “I thought you wanted to watch that new movie tonight, after all your work was done this week?” he questioned, catching her hand to try and pull her in again. charlie shook her head, pulling away and reaching for the door. “not tonight, I want to get ahead on a paper. night, jj.” he frowned. “love you. goodnight, walker.” she nodded, going inside without another word. 

he got about five minutes home on his walk before he realized she had his keys stuffed in her backpack from earlier, after he had complained about not having pockets. he turned on his heel and walked back, not realizing that charlie was having an existential crisis in the living room over a bowl of ice cream with grace. 

he punched in the code to the keypad, then walked in - at just the wrong moment. 

“and you’re 100% sure two lines is positive?” grace questioned, holding the stick in her hand. 

“what’s positive? do you have a fever or something?” jj asked as he strolled into the living room, mistaking the pregnancy test for a thermometer. 

the two girls froze, glancing at jj then sharing a glance of simultaneous panic. 

“uh...I’m gonna go.” grace quickly excused herself, wrapping the test back up then setting it on the coffee table. she practically ran upstairs, leaving jj utterly confused. 

he knelt down to press his hand to charlie’s forehead, concerned. “are you sick? is that why you’ve been weird all week?” he reached for the pregnancy test and charlie lunged for it, holding it out of his reach. “no! no, I’m not sick. just, uh, busy with studying.” she lied horribly, a telltale blush rising to her cheeks. 

jj frowned. “what is that?” 

charlie swallowed what felt like a lump in her throat. “um. well. you see, it’s a funny story.” 

jj furrowed his brow and took the test from her, charlie not resisting. he looked it over, confused. “this is a weird thermometer.” 

charlie bit her lip. “well, you see, it’s not a thermometer. um. it’s a pregnancy test. and it’s positive.” she rambled. “so. uh. surprise!” 

jj shook his head. “no, that’s not right.” 

charlie raised her eyebrows. “no, it’s right.” 

he shook his head again. “no, you’ve been acting strange, and kind of rude, frankly - no offense - but you’re always like this on your period. so you have it this week. right?” 

charlie frowned, yanking the test away from him. “my period is late, jj. I’m pregnant. two lines means I’m pregnant.” 

that was the first time she had said those words out loud, and they sunk in for both of them in silence for a few seconds. jj sputtered, tugging at his hair. “you’re pregnant? oh my god.” he started pacing around the living room, not looking at her. “oh my god. that’s fine, that’s totally fine. um. good job, char...great...uterus.” 

charlie reached out, smacking him upside the head. “I’m not having your baby, idiot, I’m 21! god damnit, focus!” 

jj yelped, rubbing his head. “careful with the name calling, jesus!” her words finally made it to his brain. “wait, you’re not having the baby?” 

she shook her head. “god, no, that’s not in my ten year plan. I’m going to the doctor tomorrow anyway, then I’ll get a blood test and see for real.” 

jj visibly relaxed, then frowned. “you were going to go without me? when were you going to tell me?” charlie faltered. “I...I don’t know. I was stressed out, and I didn’t want to think about it this week with all my tests and whatever.” she reached out, locking her fingers with his. “but I want you to come. tomorrow.” 

he nodded, pulling her into a tight hug. “okay. it’ll be okay. we got this.” 

_

the next morning, he drove her to the doctor’s office, squeezing the life out of her hand the entire time. they didn’t talk, charlie just stared out the window and jj kept his eyes on the road like his life depended on it. (she didn’t see that he took the less-trafficked route that was a little safer - just in case.) he was uber-protective as they went into the doctor’s office, foot tapping anxiously once they sat in the waiting room. 

her name was called and he stood, ready to follow her in, but she shook her head. “I think I have to go alone, j.” charlie told him apologetically, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be quick.” jj frowned but nodded, giving her a quick kiss back. “you got this. negative blood.” he joked. she offered a weak smile back, clearly nervous as she followed the nurse back into the offices. 

she came out a bit later, holding a couple pamphlets about pregnancy and looking a little pale. jj wasn’t much better, having thought about kids the entire time she was in with the doctor. “how’d it go?” he greeted, looping an arm around her shoulders as they walked out. she shrugged. “they’ll call me in two to three days. probably three, because the lab isn’t open on sunday.” 

“shit.” jj mumbled, gripping her shoulders tighter. she shook her head. “it’ll be fine! we’ll just...go about life like normal, without a baby, because I’m not pregnant. if I say it out loud enough times it’ll happen.” jj sighed. “I don’t think that manifesting shit actually works, charlie -” 

he was met with a glare. “do you want a baby, jj? at 21? while we’re still in college?” 

he shook his head quickly. “no!” 

she nodded, resolute. “right. say it with me. not pregnant.” she repeated herself a couple more times until he joined in. “not pregnant.” they said in tandem. 

that became their manifesto over the next few days, at every opportunity. when she poured herself a glass of wine the second they got home, then they both reconsidered (just in case). he took the glass from her, taking a long gulp. “not pregnant.” 

“not pregnant.” charlie echoed, pouring herself a glass of grape juice instead. 

_ 

charlie got the call three days later, in class. her hands were shaking as she declined the call, unable to do anything during the lecture. the doctor’s office left a voicemail and the second she got out of class, she sprinted the two miles to the beta house, backpack bouncing with every step. she was out of breath as she jogged up the stairs to jj’s room, pushing past a few pledges without as much as a hello. 

she practically kicked in jj’s door and he glanced up from the bed, confused. “what is wrong with you?” she opened her mouth to speak then shook her head, hands on her knees for a second as she caught her breath. “doctor. doctor called.” 

“not pregnant.” jj immediately responded. charlie dropped her backpack to the floor and fished out her phone, then tossed it to him. “you play it. I can’t.” he shook his head. “no, you do it. it’s your phone. it’s your uterus.” 

“jj, if you talk about my uterus one more time, I will rip your fucking head off.” 

“if this is you not pregnant, you’re going to be hell while you’re pregnant.” 

“jj!” 

he raised his hands in surrender. “okay, okay, fine!” he typed in her passcode and she sat on the bed next to him, then grabbed the phone away to turn on the volume. 

“hi charlotte, this is dr. brown from the clinic. I was just calling to tell you about your results from your blood test. we sent them through the lab on Monday -” 

“good god, woman, just tell us.” jj got out through gritted teeth, tense.

“and I wanted to let you know the results are negative. you’re not pregnant. call if you have -”

jj and charlie sat in complete silence for a moment as they processed, then yelled at the exact same time, not hearing the rest of the message. “not pregnant!” charlie exclaimed, grinning for what felt like the first time since the doctor’s. “not pregnant!” jj yelled back, picking her up by the waist and spinning her in a circle. 

charlie giggled as he set her down. she grabbed jj’s face with both her hands, pulling him in for a deep kiss. he grinned into the kiss, then pulled back to rest his forehead on hers. “I thought you didn’t want a baby, charlie.” she stepped back, glaring. “jj maybank, I will hurt you.” he laughed at the empty threat. 

“can we get margs?” she asked, grabbing his car keys. “it’s 1pm. on a tuesday.” jj countered, raising his eyebrows. charlie held up the keys, jingling them. “a celebration. not pregnant.” he laughed, wrapping his arm around her waist and ushering her out the door. “not pregnant.” 

[brideofcthulhu10]

The Lost Boys Find Out Their Fem!S/O is Pregnant [4/4]

SUBJECT WARNING: PHYSICAL AGRESSION, SEXUAL THEMES AND A WHOLE LOT OF SWEARING. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Alrighty then, my lovely fang babes! Here we are, we have the last of the first edition of the pregnancy saga! Worry not, dearest readers, for there is hope! I plan on doing a separate series about going through the pregnancy, and maybe even going through the childbirth with how the boys are as new dads. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more, and by tomorrow night we'll have a whole new set to love!

It was such a blast writing Paul's, I'm not gonna lie I got lost in the magic! We have a cute little character cameo for all you 80s movie nerds, lemme know if you can figure out what it is! So, without any more delays; here he is. The gorgeous, the goofy, the one, the only:

PAUL

Today had been an unexpected challenge. You barely got through your shift at the record store, every time you were in light it made you dizzy. Hangovers had nothing on this! Did you drink too much the night before? No, now that you thought about it any attempts to drink had you hugging a toilet. Not to mention your period was late as hell! Well, not the cramps, go figure. Just no blood. None at all. 

You never let on to your beau, Paul, though. The party boy vampire would become overly worried if you told him you were sick, and you weren't about to spoil a good time with a bit of nausea. So here you were, stumbling about the day into the late afternoon absolutely miserable. Your manager Iona offered you some crackers and ginger ale during your lunch break. No dice, within an hour you were running to the bathroom again. 

"Gosh hon, I dunno what ta tell ya. Maybe you ate something nasty, I told you that boardwalk food was fishy," Iona sighed, poking at her own lunch with a fork. Currently your coworker Andie was watching the front until you were feeling better.

"Kill me now, Iona," you groaned, chin resting on the table with your arms laid over your head. Then there was a smell. The greatest, most flavorful, mouthwatering scent you've ever experienced. Like a honey baked ham and a New York sirloin had a glorious new baby drizzled in ecstasy. Glancing over, your stomach growled at whatever it could be. If this were a cartoon you'd be flying to what it was.

Oddly enough, it was coming from Iona. Well, whatever black stuff was in her little plastic tupperware dish. Who cares what it was, it smelled incredible.

"Hey uh..," you asked, leaning over towards the sticky, mysterious delicacy calling your name. "You wouldn't mind if I had a bite, would ya?"

"You sure, hon? This isn't exactly your average dish, it's kinda weird," she tried to explain. God you couldn't take your eyes off it! Finally, your merciful manager pushed it your way, and you couldn't resist any longer. 

"I don't even care, this is the first thing in the past two days that hasn't made me nauseous," you muffled between cosmic bites.

Oh shit, this was heaven! It had to be some sort of meat, it reminded her of a nice spicy kielbasa, a slow roasted brisket, every second it changed to some new world of food you had never tried. What it was didn't matter by this point.

"Wooow. I've never met someone who liked black pudding that much."

Pudding? "I thought it was meat or something? It doesn't taste anything like pudding," you insisted, polishing off the very last specs of it. "Got any more?"

"No, no, not like chocolate pudding or stuff like that, kiddo. black pudding. It's this dish from the UK my new boyfriend made me. It's congealed pig's and cow blood mixed with spices."

You made a face. Blood? Like, blood blood? The cow equivalent of what Paul drank on a daily basis? Yet this was the first time you didn't puke, in fact, you kinda wanted more. Even knowing what is was made of.. for some reason you craved more. Meanwhile Iona continued to talk on and on, until one phrase caught your ears. "Yea, ya know my mom was so into for the longest time. Said she craved it her whole pregnancy, I never got a taste for it honestly."

A single thought popped into your head. A dangerous, foreboding thought that your intuition said was very much a possibility. In a flash you jumped up, nearly slamming your hands on the table. "I gotta go. Oh shit, I gotta go! I'll be right back, I swear, I'm so sorry, I swear to god I'll be right back," you shouted as you bolted out of the store.

"Wait what-?!"

You'd make it up to her once you got back. You had to know! You had to be sure..! Please just let it be paranoia! Please let it be anything, anything at all besides what you thought it was!

Once you reached the nearest CVS you made a B-line to the women's health section. Your hair clung to your face, your lungs stung like crazy but all you could think about was getting answers. And cue the disapproving glare of some old bat picking out a box of pads. Alright being 17 in front of the pregnancy tests looked bad. You weren't just a high schooler, you looked it too. "What're you looking at, " you snarl. Immediately she clutched her pearls, startled by this abrasive youngin' in no mood for dirty looks. God why'd there have to be so many options? Pink boxes, purple ones, bright yellow insisting it worked the fastest. The heavy fluorescent lights were no help at all, it made your head spin. You had no time for this crap. In a sweeping motion you grabbed three different brands and threw them into your basket, all you needed was….where was your wallet? Shit... Glancing around you checked for any nearby cameras or staff. Karma be damned, it was an emergency! Five finger discount it was. 

Once again you made a mad dash back to the record store as the sun finally set. All three boxes were crumpled in your hand, your boots running so fast it you hit a rock that'd be it.

But getting back to the record store was your best bet. You weren't about to pee in some dirty, old, nasty pharmacy bathroo- oh fuck. There was something that finally slowed your steps, nearly making you trip in the process. Four bikes parked right outside. Three of which were occupied by by Dwayne, David and Marko all talking amongst themselves.

Shiiiit, shit, shit! All you could do was swear repeatedly. Before they could spot you, you practically dove into the alleyway behind the store, rapidly disabling the alarm. If that went off it'd be a dead giveaway. Quickly you looked left and right before you slammed the door shut behind you still trying to catch air.

But there, right past the door to the employees lounge, over by the counter you could see a mass of blonde hair chatting away with Iona about Led Zeppelin's best album to date. Paul, gorgeous as every, laughing. It made your heart flutter, but then it sank. What if it was a-... He was never the type to run away from a challenge. But then again, a kid wasn't a challenge, it was a massive ordeal. It would take a huge chunk of his life- well, afterlife! Boozing and cruising would be switched out with drowsy days and busy nights. You weren't sure if you wanted him to know if you were, it would take all that from him. Unfortunately, he must've smelled you or sonething, because immediately he turned around like a puppy being called.

"Babe," he cheered with delight, rushing over to hug you. Rather squeeze you by your hips and lift you four feet off the ground. Quickly you stuffed the skinny boxes into your back pocket, now smushed up against his chest. "Where were you? Ion's said you just bolted mid-shift, we were worried sick! Well, I mean, I was more worried though, cuz I can't stand you bein' gone, kitten."

"Well, yeah uh, I forgot something I had to get at the store, and I forgot what time I got off," you hesitated, still antsy to escape to the bathroom. Truthfully you didn't actually want to, you had to! If you could, you'd just kiss him and ride off into the night to raise some hell like you always did. But this was too big to ignore.

Paul raised a brow. You weren't known for being this jumpy. You wouldn't look him in the eyes, they just kept darting towards the bathroom. Boy, you really did look sick, though. Pale, almost greenish with dark circles under your eyes. You even felt colder than usual. "Am I uh, interrupting something, babe?"

You managed to work out if his arms, giggling nervously. "Actually I-I had some of Iona's lunch earlier, and I just, gotta- be right back!"

With that, you bolted into the bathroom and slammed the door behind you. Again, weird. Paul just shrugged, maybe you had some bad Mexican.

 Iona wasn't convinced. Little miss jumpy-pants skipping out on her, you owed her an explanation. While Paul perused the albums she sunk over to the bathroom, rapidly tapping on the door. "Y/N! Psst! You good in there, hon?"

You were most certainly NOT good! Your hand shook, the third test finally finished. Not like it mattered! They all said the same thing. Every fucking one of them.

Positive. Positive. Positive.

No, no, no!

"Shit," you hissed. "Shit! Oh shit, oh fuck! Fuck-fuckity shit fuck fuck! Dammit." That's all you could do! You swore over, and over, and over, rapidly kicking the wall in front of you. Stupid pink plus! Why? Why did it have to be a plus?? Immediately you threw it in the trash and scooped up the other two. Maybe they were all flukes? Maybe only a doctor could tell you! You had to get home. Like now. Right now, you just had to rush home, make an appointment at the doctors, maybe hide in shame for a few days just until you could figure out what the hell to do with all this! Once again you wedged the tests in your back pocket and nearly tripped, cracking open the door to face your boss. "Iona, I gotta get home."

"Seriously, Y/N?? Why? What is with you?"

"Please, I swear I will make it up to you, I'll take a double shift, I'll wash your damn car-"

"Oh no, nuh-uh. Not until you tell me why you're being such a spaz," she practically shouted in a hissing whisper, absolutely exasperated. You teens and your drama, when she always said she wanted to fell young again this is NOT what she meant!  

"Listen i-... iyay amyay egnantpray," you whispered. Pig latin. It was a little code you two usually reserved for secrets. Well, that and talking smack about snotty customers. But wow was this a big ol' secret. 

Iona covered her mouth. Oh, you little idiot! You poor little idiot. Looking over at the unsuspecting boyfriend she sighed, looking you in the eyes. She wanted to just tell you to come clean to your man. The boy hung around you constantly, you two were the ultimate it-couple, there wasn't even sparks it was like watching supernovas. Something this big.. it shouldn't be left in the dark!

But that pitiful expression on your face just begged her to keep quiet, and frankly it wasn't her place to tell you what to do- well, at least in this regard. "Alright, alright. This saturday you're taking my night time shift, there's a big concert I wanna go to. And you gotta wax my car, it's gettin' nasty. And you better write the best damn apology note in the history of apology notes, sweetie. This is huge, you better come clean to him eventually, or I'll kick your little butt you hear me?"

"Yes. Absolutely, fine, deal. Just please, please keep him busy, I'm not ready to tell him," you whined, clutching the door. Frankly it sounded like a piss poor plan, but it couldn't be helped, not right now at least. You didn't have the strength to confront the situation head on, you were barely keeping it together. You wanted to cry all over, jump into his arms and come clean now, but this was neither the time or place.

As soon as Iona went to go over to Paul you stuffed the tests into your purse and bolted out the back door, only this time stealth was not on your side. Right at the mouth of the alleyway, just as you were about to be home free- you ran smack dab into a particularly lithe blonde that felt like a brick wall. You went flying onto the ground, your purse crashing onto concrete with a hundred pieces of your privacy going every direction. In a panic you began to rapidly stuff it all back, barely able to hide the first two tests as you threw some half baked apology Marko's way. Honestly he deserved a better one than that, but you were too frazzled to be fair at the moment.

"Oh shit, Y/N," Marko exclaimed, immediately kneeling down to help you gather the scattered remains of your purse. "Sorry, I didn't even see you, I was coming back for a smoke. Big Ed is such a douche, can you believe theres no smoking on the-..." His words trailed off, and you shortly saw why. Grasped between his pointer finger and thumb was the little pink strip, and a look of complete disbelief. All you could do was snatch it from him, a heavy moment of silence magically muffling the wild noise and shouts of the busy boardwalk. 

"Do...D-Don't worry about it. Look, I gotta get home, I'll see you arou-," you started, trying to jump up, maybe catch him off guard and make a run for it. Not this time. 

You hadn't even noticed he grabbed your wrist, it was such a blur. He stayed silent, standing up and looking right into your eyes with hidden malcontent. You swore if you answered wrong this mischievous cat would tear your throat out. After all, you were his best friend's girl. If you did anything, ANYTHING, to hurt him... Well, let's just say a pregnancy would be the least of your worries. "Why are you running, Y/N? What the hell is this thing," he asked quietly, eyes flickering between red and blue. "Did you…?"

"Oh don't fuckin' even," You snapped, smacking his arm, yanking your hand out of his grasp. "Of course not! You butt! God, are you serious? What do you take me for- No! I- fuck I just- no!" You kick the tin trash can beside you, watching a plethora of trash fly into the air. "I am freaking out! Of course it's Paul's. Oh fucking god, it's Paul's and I don't know what to do!"

Marko's expression softened, placing a hand on your shoulder. "Hey, I didn't mean to make it sound like that, Y/N. Paul's my friend, I just had to be sure you weren't sneaking around, you know?"

You sighed, pushing back your mess of a hair with misty eyes. This was perfect, a real big screw up from start to finish. All you could do was look over at Marko with pleading eyes. "You can't tell him yet. Please, just please please PLEASE, Marko, don't tell Paul yet!"

"Tell me what, babe?"

Shit. Shit on a stick. You looked behind to see Paul halfway out the back door with a look of concern, one that he rarely carried. You and your dumb mouth, go figure.

The blonde pushed through and let the door close behind him, looking over at his best bud standing alone with his girlfriend who was begging him to keep something secret, from him no less.

 "Marko?"

"Nah, nah, don't look at me man, this is all on you guys," he sighed, hands up in a shielding motion. "Good luck buddy. Gotta go, Y/N." with that the young vampire excused himself from this melting pot of drama, hands stuffed in his pockets. 

You just stood there, keeping the little strip tightly grasped behind your back. Paul was silent, but glancing at his hands you saw they were balled so tight his knuckles were white. "P-paul…," you hesitated, biting down on your bottom lip. "I should really… get home.."

Paul only raised a brow, glancing at your arms still tucked behind you. This wasn't like you to hide from him, and that alone frightened him. Nothing had ever frightened him before. And he didn't like the taste of it one bit. "What's behind your back, babe?"

"What?"

Again his spoke, this time his voice lowered into a low growl. "What... do you have... behind your back, babe?" The way he said it was so firm, it made you shake a little. You didn't like stern Paul. They way he hissed the word "babe", practically spoken through clenched teeth

Your throat ached, eyes darting across the ground struggling to think up a good excuse. Anything. A book, your purse, a surprise for him! Anything!

"N-nothing." Apparently, you failed to find any excuses. Great.

Paul's knuckles began to crack, jumping forward to try and snatch it from behind you. When you dodged him, he grew even more furious. You both began to struggle, pushing him away, insisting he just stop and let you leave. But every attempt to reject him only upset him further. Why were you hiding things from him?! How could you just ditch him at the record store when he was worried sick about you??

The struggle built up until finally he had enough. His eyes turned white with rings of fire, brow looming heavily over his eyes and fangs jutting out where his incisors once were. In a flash he grabbed you by you wrists, pinning you so hard to the wall it shook. You still tried to struggle. Thrash, kick, squirm! Steel wished it could be so strong, your muscles ached. This probably wasn't even his full strength, but it dwarfed you in comparison. This terrifying side of Paul you had certainly seen before, but never had you been on the receiving end. It was in all sense of the word, predatorial. He'd never try to kill you, but you still felt that horror build up inside. Rapid, sharp breaths made your chest heave, too afraid to look up at those red eyes still fixated on whatever you kept hidden from him. He continued to pry your stubborn fingers open, ignoring your shaking whimpers. He squoze your wrist, the tendons aching and contracting until your fingertips began to lift up. Any resistance was pretty much useless at this point, but dammit you still tried everything to worm out of his grip. But he had finally had it, you weren't gonna be keeping secrets from him. Now your last finger was pushed off, and he could see what was so damn important that you physically fought him to keep it secret. It was almost slow motion the way the strip spun to the ground, clattering down and landing beside his mud caked boots. He froze, slowly looking down at it. That's it? That's all you-...

You could barely read his face, so many different emotions flashing across it all at once. Occasionally he'd look back up at you, then back down at it. To the point you almost got annoyed that you were still being stuck to a wall while the reality set in. After all, it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what that was, just put you down already!

Paul looked at you still pinned beneath him, horrified at how he lost his temper and immediately released you. Still rubbing away the pain across your wrists, you watched him pick it up. A wave of guilt swarmed your body, you didn't know whether to hug him or punt him in the chest.

Hell, a massive tidal wave of guilt overflowed him too. It'd been such a long time since he got that angry.. but worst of all he'd never been like that with you. Never grabbed you so forcefully and ignored your pleas, it was a dark side of him he never wanted to display in front of you. Glancing at the little pink plus at the end of the stick, his mind swirled with a plethora of questions. But slowly he stood up, looking down at you still really trying to process everything that had happened in the past few minutes. "I don't… I don't understand.."

"You- You are such an ass," you shouted out of nowhere, enough that it made him jump. There you were. That's the fiery girl he knew, not the one he exactly wanted to be on the opposing side of at the moment, though.

Paul wasn't surprised you were pissed, but he definitely didn't expect you to start punching his arm. Again. Then again, and again you just kept hiting his arms, his chest, pushing and crying, you were so mad you wanted to chuck him in the ocean! It didn't really hurt that much, but he felt awful he drove you to that point.

Tears blurred your vision as you lashed out on him. All you could do was yell names between sobs, even whack him with your purse. "Paul, you absolute jerk! Butt! Jackass! You smarmy, half wit, blood-sucking tool! You said you were packing blanks, you absolute liar! I was gonna tell yo-! I mean, I know I shouldn't have run-! But you just couldn't wait- and then Marko- and you! You ! Jerk ! Butthead !"

"Hey, ow! Ow! Ow, dammit! I know, I know I went to far-ow not the hair dammit," he demanded, grabbing your arms before you could lay another mighty blow. "Babe! Babe, stop! I thought I was! I swear I didn't know- I-..I never thought that I could get you...." His hands slowly released your shoulders, moving to your hips. "I'm so sorry, baby. I swear, I didn't know.. I'm so sorry."

The way his voice softened only made you want to cry more. This whole day was a mess. You didn't mean to try and run.. You never should've tried to in the first place. God, you were so tired. All this running around, all this secrecy, the fighting, it was exhausting. Paul was the last person you wanted to fight. Sure you had spats and a few heated arguments. Every couple did, even vampires. But this, it was just so.m draining. With a firm thud you plopped your forehead on his sternum, your fingers tightly clinging to the upper sleeves of his jacket. "Wh-what am I supposed to do-… what are we supposed to do now..?"

Paul pondered his options with a solemn face, but there was only one that made him happy. Only one that sat right in his heart. What else could he possibly do, there was only ever going to be one answer even if you told him right away. Most of all, he couldn't stand the sorrow in your eyes. A frown never suited such a beautiful face. He never expected there to be anything to come from your heavy sexcapades, it never seemed like there was any risks in it. He'd never seen a vampire munchkin, least of all he'd never even heard of a vamp conceiving with a human. All he knew now is you, crying in his arms, terrified of what you were carrying. What it could mean. In that moment, he steeled his resolve and came to a final decision.

Silently he tilted your chin up, using his thumb to brush away all those tears staining your cheeks. Those blue eyes, you could get lost in them. Swallowed up by the sea. It wasn't hard to read his mind when he held onto your hip with one hand, while the other that pushed away salty droplets now cupped your cheek. Within moments you crashed your mouth into his, wrapping your arms around the back of his neck.

Warm. A surge of heat filled your body. It was the first time you felt truly alive all day. You could feel your chest heave against his, you didn't want any space between the two of you and only pressed tighter until there wasn't anything left. Each kiss gave momentary breath before you dove in for more. Neither of you could stop. You didn't want to pull away, not even for a split second. The way he smelled, the way he tasted, the way he touched you, the way he felt beneath your fingers; it made your head spin. His hands began to wander, you clutched at anything you could get a hold of. Your body burned, so sweet and long. In those moments the world stopped, it just melted away in streams of light. No one was there but you two. 

It was over too soon, both of you rapidly panting for breath still intertwined. Oh, how you could stare into his eyes forever.

That frown was long gone, replaced by a tender smile. The one he had come to cherish. Paul chuckled softly, breathlessly nuzzling against your collar bone. Slowly he leaned in close to your ear, his disheveled blonde hair brushing up against your cheeks. Lips trailed up flesh, reavhing just beneath your ear. And then you heard those three forbidden words. Such sweet, tender words, you hadn't expected him to say. Although he whispered them so softly they might have gotten lost in the wind, to you they were as clear as the moon on a cloudless night.

"Y/N.... I love you."

It made your heart throb, you thought you might even faint. A lifetime of struggles led up to this beautiful moment. You never expected it to be a half-undressed heavy make out session with your vampire lover, the father of your unborn spawn, in the back alley of a record store on the Santa Carla Boardwalk. But here you were, nestled between him and an old brick wall. Paul loved you, he had said it, he finally said those words that could destroy any doubt you had. And more than anything in the whole wide world, you knew once and for all, you loved Paul.

[almostkoo]

Reset Character | Kim Taehyung

pairings: kim taehyung x oc

summary: oc gets dared by friends to spend the night in a supposedly “haunted” mansion that used to belong to a upcoming actor in the 70’s, kim taehyung, oc comes face to face with the spector himself and has questions about the broken veil

word count: 2.9k

warnings: unedited language, mentions of death, taehyung is a very angry ghost at first

author’s notes: last story of spooktober !! omg i can’t believe i did this and finished it !! i’ve gotten some nice feedback over the course of whipping up these stories and it’s makes me truly happy that people are enjoying them :) as always i hope you enjoy this one too !!

link to my main masterlist

The darkness of nighttime made the mansion look huge and intimidating in front of you, Jimin and Seokjin. Losing a drunken bet placed you in the circumstances you were currently in, standing in the walkway to the door of the long abandoned mansion.

“Okay fuck it. If I can’t get the dart on the target. I’ll spend a night in the Kim mansion” you had slurred, arm thrown over Jimin’s shoulder as he had looked at you laughing and struggling to hold his composure. “if you guys make it I’ll spend the night but if I don’t I’ll go. Yeah?”

“You’ll go? If you don’t make it?” Seokjin slurred, just as hammered as you were. Jimin, being the only one who’s head was clear and on his shoulders.

You nodded. Standing back and lining yourself up with the dartboard. You had three darts, three chances to hit the target on the nose. Staring hard at the board, one target turned into four that seemed to be moving around. You threw the first one, hitting the far end of the board. You threw the second one, hitting closer to the target. The last one didn’t even hit the board; it actually almost punctured the toe of Seokjin’s Nikes.

“Fuck it. I don’t care, it's just one night. How bad can it be?” you laughed.

Bad. Very bad. Very fucking bad. The liquid courage that those uncountable shots of vodka gave you had you out of your fucking mind to place a bet like that. Now here you were, superstitious as hell and very frightened to get close to the mansion.

The Kim mansion or known to some people as 0613 Morado Dr. had once belonged to a South Korean film star in the 70s named Kim Taehyung. A young handsome actor who started making his big break starring in a few indies and huge blockbusters before his untimely death in 1976. The medical examiner said it was an accidental overdose of pain medicine he had been prescribed a year prior for an injury on set. But a conspiracy theory quickly arose that it was one of his close friends that poisoned him due to jealousy. Rumor has it that his ghost treads the property scaring away anyone who dare enter.

“Are you ready Y/n?” Seokjin asked, wringing your shoulders.

“No and I wish I hadn’t said I was going to do this. I’m never drinking again. I swear to the heavens.” you said, shaking your head. You could feel the bile rise up your throat threatening to spill out all over the dead lawn.

“Well. Anywho, here’s your tote” Jimin handed you a canvas bag, stocked to the brim full of different things. “you have your sleeping bag, portable charger, charger cord, salt, holy water, lighter, sage. You know .. the necessities.”

“We’ll be out in the car camping out in case anything happens-“

“In case anything happens? What would happen? Why would anything happen? Why would you say that?” you rambled quickly, Jimin’s small hand clasped over your mouth stopping you from going any further.

“No rambling. None of that right now. The quicker you get in there and fall asleep the quicker this all will be over! Speaking of, there’s some melatonin in there if you need it. We gotta blast. This big ass house is giving me the heebiejeebies.” Seokjin patted your tote and him and Jimin ran back to Seokjin’s car parked across the street. You looked at the house in front of you. Patting your pockets to make sure your phone was there, taking a deep breath you started up the walkway to the front door.

You pushed the door open, the flashlight Jimin placed in your tote illuminating the way. You stepped around the mansion and it was big. Tall walls with brown wooden panels and slanted ceilings. Old plants in their pots that had since died long ago, old furniture, laid astray stained and in ruins. The shag carpet in the same state. You could see the beauty that this place had once ago. You continued moving forward through the house going up on the steps on the landing to set yourself up for where you’d be sleeping for the night.

The mansion was chilly, that was for sure. For it to be California in Autumn was one thing for you to be sitting in a “haunted” mansion of a deceased celebrity was another thing. Your nerves were on edge. You had called everyone you could think of starting with Seokjin and Jimin separately. There were only so many people you could call this late at night who would actually pick up the phone and answer. Out of the friends you called the only ones that answered besides Seokjin & Jimin, were Dahyun, Yeosang and Changkyun and that wasn’t even half of them. You dug through the tote looking for the melatonin, before finding it and taking it dry.

Even in the darkness your eyes kept moving around darting around, the feeling like you were being watched accompanied you like an unwanted friend. You leaned back against the wall closing your eyes and letting the melatonin do its job.

Slam! You jumped awake with a gasp, heart beating out of your chest. Reaching around for anything on the floor besides you, finding your phone the time read 3:36 a.m. You fumbled to turn the flashlight on. Your deep breaths were the only noise heard in the house. The old mansion looked the same as it did when you first entered. Scanning around when you saw something in the doorway to the kitchen. You whipped your flashlight around, the figure disappearing further into the kitchen almost as soon as your flashlight came it’s way. Your heart felt like it was deep in a cave beating so fast and sending echos up the walls of your chest. You were terrified.

Resisting your senses telling you not to get up you had to ignore them out of curiosity. Standing up and walking down the steps as slow as possible to not make any noise and alert whatever it was to your current location. You turned your flashlight off, stepping into the kitchen blind. The moonlight that slipped into the windows past the tattered curtain illuminated the kitchen, a soft blue glow almost made you confuse the green tiles of the floor to a different color. If anything was in here it would’ve seen you before your foot could completely make it past the threshold.

Chalking it up as a trick of the eye. Knowing that sometimes melatonin messes with people, you turned away to leave. Why would a film star wanna stay put and haunt people. I’d just go and pass on if I were them. You thought to yourself shaking your head that you were being silly about everything.

“Leave!” a voice whispered in your ear, causing you to scream and run away. Back up the steps instead of out of the house. Now everytime you yell at the characters in horror movies for doing that. It made sense now you couldn’t control your legs, it was like your brain put you in reverse taking you back to the last place you were, nonetheless you still felt stupid for not leaving. Everything you needed was grasped right in your hand, everything on the landing could be replaced.

Yet here you were panting like a dog after a run attempting to call Seokjin and Jimin only to be met with endless ringing. Pulling back to look at the screen to discover you had no signal, zero bars. The house got so cold you felt yourself shake. The shutters on the outside of windows slammed back and forth against the house. The sounds of groaning, like multiple voices overlapping over one another. Crawling back into the closest corner you felt your eyes start to water, a sob leaving your lips. You were frozen in place, glued to the wall.

All of a sudden everything stopped. The house became quiet. Lifting your head up you examined your surroundings. A figure stood at the end of the staircase. You locked eyes with the man at the end of the staircase, his strong glare meeting your frightened eyes. His down turned lips parted in a sigh.

“What the hell are you doing in my home?”

You’d straightened up wiping the tears away with a sniff. Staring back blankly at the man.

He yelled, making you jump. “You! I’m talking to you! What the hell are you doing here?”

“I- I’m just tryna honor my end of a bet. I lost a bet that’s it.” you whispered. The man shook his head. You took in his appearance, dressed in all black. Black robe almost dusting against the floor, striped button down and black slacks. Jet black hair styled in a slight middle part.

“My home isn’t your playground.” the man said, gripping the bannister on the staircase.

“You must be Kim Taehyung?” you asked.

“I’m the only ghost living here so I would hope so.” he stated.

“I can leave if you want.” you offered, wanting to facepalm yourself after asking such a stupid question of course he would want you to leave. Taehyung looked a little taken back.

“You’re not afraid of me?” he asked.

You stalled. “I mean yeah. You just did all that stuff just now. I’m actually terrified, but I don’t know if you’re gonna kill me so I figure it wouldn’t hurt to use my manners.”

Taehyung hummed. “Normally the type of people that come through want to vandalize my home or film ghost hunting videos they say, perform seances to try and talk to me. But if you are just here to truly honor a bet I’m sure another three hours wouldn’t hurt.” He walked up the steps sitting a couple of feet away from you on the landing. You kept looking at him out of the corner of your eye at him as he idly played around with his fingers.

“Are you just going to stare at me?” Taehyung asked, coldly.

“I’m sorry it’s just I’m really scared right now. No offense to you Mr. Kim.” you apologized.

Taehyung snorted at your formality. “You don’t have to call me Mr., just call me Taehyung. I’m sure we’re around the same age…” he paused, rolling his eyes “I’m sure we would’ve been or something.. you get what I’m trying to say.”

“I get it. How old were you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“24.”

You nodded in response. You had maybe… 3 hours to finish in the house. You only had to make it until sunrise since that is technically staying the night. If Taehyung wasn’t going to do anything but sit there and be quiet it wouldn’t be too bad.

“So are you tampering with the signal or…” you trailed off. Taehyung made a face like a lightbulb that had gone off above his head.

“I’m sorry. It’s not intentional. It’s just something about me that does that. You’re not the first to complain about your smartphone? Is that what they’re called?” he asked. You held in a laugh, nodding your head.

“I just. I’m confined here. I only see the world when it comes to me. So I don’t really know too much about out there anymore.” Taehyung confided in you, speaking barely above a whisper.

“It’s fine. On the bright side you would’ve been older, maybe you would’ve been the type to dodge this stupid social media shit.” Taehyung looked at you confused.

“Don’t worry about it.” you looked around the house from where you were sitting and up the stairs leading into the bedroom. “Nice house you got here.” Taehyung scoffed.

“Thanks. Didn’t always look this run down.” he said and with a wave of his hand it was like a light came through the place, showing what used to be. The bright orange carpet and brown couch, huge sparkling chandelier hanging from the ceiling, plants live and green. You looked over at Taehyung, seeing the pained look on his face as dropped his hand, making everything return to normal.

“A little trick I picked up over the years.” he mumbled. You couldn’t imagine what he went through. Having everything pulled away from you so quickly at a young age.

“Bet you threw some cool parties here. I know if i had a place this big I would’ve.” you tried to uplift the mood. Taehyung nodded.

“Yeah I was gonna throw a big bash here when I finally got my Oscar nom. I knew it was gonna happen. I was gonna be the first of the first. Start breaking down all types of doors for people to come in and follow up.” Taehyung wiped away a tear.

“What happened? Was it really your friend? Or was it an accident?” you asked. Taehyung looked at you eyes narrowed angrily.

“Why would I tell you what happened? So you could run and tell my business to whoever will listen?” he asked.

“Who the hell is gonna believe my crazy ass? I spent the night in a celebrities haunted mansion and talked to said celebrity and now I have the answers to a decades old mystery? Get the fuck outta here.” you shook your head rolling your eyes.

“It was a mix of both” Taehyung ran his fingers through his hair “a friend of mine, Hyunwoo he knew my knee had been hurting that day he knew it was. He saw me take my medicine earlier. But little did I know that evening when we sat down for drinks he slipped more of my medicine in, letting it disintegrate in my liquor. I had now clue. When I choked on my own vomit, he didn’t yell for help. He didn’t call 911, like a good friend would. No, he laid me back. Stroking my head, saying his apologies and watching the light leave my eyes and that was it.” Taehyung looked at you, your mouth parted in shock.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” you said, holding your chest.

“All that just to steal my role alongside Al Pacino. The big role, guaranteed to get my Oscar. I don’t even know how the movie ended up working out for him.”

“You know to be honest. I don’t even think the movie might’ve went through production because I have quite literally never heard of it.” you confessed. Taehyung shook his head.

“Well this is news to me. I got murdered just for the film to get scrapped or stuck in development hell.” he laughed bitterly.

“That’s fucking tragic. I’m really sorry, Taehyung.”

“What are you sorry for? Don’t be sorry. You weren’t around, wasn’t even thought of when I died. All things happen for a reason. That’s something I had to learn. It’s hard not to be a bitter ghost. I don’t mean to scare people away to be a dickhead. But I’m stuck here. The last thing I want is people poking and prodding around my home. It’s the only place I can get peace of mind.”

“Hopefully one day you can move on. I know I don’t know you but hopefully ya know.” you sighed.

“Thank you.” he said.

You and Taehyung talked for a while. About a whole bunch of things. From you telling him all about the internet and what it can do and him telling you all about his start in acting. Weird shit and secrets nobody knew about other celebrities back then.

You looked down at your phone, not having checked it for a while. 6:47 it read.

“Fuck. I’ve gotta go. My friends are gonna be waiting for me. They’re not gonna believe I made it through the night.” you said, quickly standing up to get your belongings. Taehyung stood up too watching you walk down the staircase. You turned around to look at him.

“What? Are you not gonna be a gentleman and walk me out? I thought people your age were big on chivalry and shit.” you joked. Taehyung smiled, the first smile you saw all night, big and boxy as he made his way down the steps.

Taehyung paused.“May I ask you something?” You nodded waiting for him to continue.

“Do people.. do people still talk about me?” he asked.

“I mean besides the bad stuff yeah. My friend Seokjin, he’s a film major. They talked about you in his class last week. You’re up there with like James Dean.” you stated. Taehyung gasped.

“Really?”

“Really. Although your image isn’t exploited like his. Yeah people know you.” you smiled. Taehyung stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“It was nice meeting you. I hope everything goes well for you. Work and life and stuff.” Taehyung said.

“Same. I hope you finally make it up there because when I die I’m gonna need a tour guide.” you laughed. Taehyung chuckled.

“See ya around.” he said.

“See ya around.” you opened the door closing it behind you. Seokjin and Jimin were waiting for you, car running in front of the house. You slid in the backseat.

“You fucking made it out!” Seokjin yelled, as Jimin put the car in drive to pull off.

“Yeah, I did.”

“So, did you see him? Did you see Kim Taehyung?” Jimin asked.

“No. Thank God I didn’t. I probably would’ve peed on myself.” you lied.

“Wow. What a bummer. I guess it wasn’t that bad being in there.” Seokjin said.

“No it wasn’t too bad at all. I might have to go back home and check out some of his movies.” you said, leaning back against the back seat. Looking out the window, hopefully Taehyung makes it to the sky some day.

[astroi]

From Black to Blue

Steven watched Steven 2 check something off on a sheet of paper, everything was written in some sort of code, he couldn't dream of reading it. His future counterpart counted on his fingers in Spanish, Steven didn't know enough Spanish to really follow it.

"Uno: Salva la aguja del mar." He tapped his pen to the paper, scribbling an X.

"Dos: Protégelos del musgo." He placed a check in the box. He hummed, partially content.

"Tres: Interceptar las mentiras de papá." He smiled and put a ✓ in that box.

"Cuatro: Exponer las Gemas a los robonoides de Peridot." Steven 2 checked that box with a stiff nod.

"Cinco: Capturar Spinel." He folded the paper back up into his pocket.

"What 'cha doing, 2?" The pen he was holding became dented in his grip.

"Wh-what, Steven?" He was never a good liar, "What- how long have you been watching me?"

"Just a little bit, can you tell me what language you were writing in, it looks cool." Steven 2 chuckled at that, lightly shaking his head. It was nice to see him smile.

"If I tell you, you-," he trailed off staring at the puppy dog eyes of his younger self. He couldn't resist their power!

"It's modern gem gliph." He confessed with a sigh.

"Gem gliph?" The boy tilted his head.

"It's what Era thr- tw- Gems use on- on- their networks nowadays."

'Nice save, Universe,' he chastised himself.

"Ooh, cool! Can you teach me?"

"I could-," he definitely could, there were slight discrepancies between Gem and English, mostly in phrases and vocabulary. Understandably, they do not have a word for taco or any food, as of yet.

"Can we start now?!" Stars gleamed in the kid's eyes. Diamonds briefly flashed in his, "Okay, but when I get back."

"Where are you going?"

His knuckles rapped on the empty plastic, "Just a Gem mission."

"Can I come?"

"No," Steven 1 deflated, "it's a little too dangerous for you. If you came along I have no idea how that could impact the future."

"Why did you come to the past anyway, 2?"

His teeth gritted together as he spoke, "The same reason anyone would: to fix things before they can break."

"So what broke?" Steven 2 didn't reply, only standing up from the couch and pulling out a water bottle from the fridge.

"What broke? Some cool Gem artefact?" Steven 1 pressed. Steven 2 avoided conversation by chugging the water bottle and grabbing a second one.

"Why are you drinking water?"

"There isn't any where I'm going."

"Maybe I can come and carry the waters for you?"

'Please', he just wanted to be useful.

"Why do you want to come so badly? Don't you have a video game to play or a movie to watch?" He snapped.

Steven 1 snapped right back, "It's so boring here! And you're always going on those cool secret missions in the middle of the night!"

He stammered, "I-I-I, how do you know about that?"

"Sometimes I wake up early and you're not there."

"Uh, w-well, it's a job in itself preventing sh-st-stuff from happening."

"Can't I come with you?"

"I, not this time, little guy, but if they're tame, I guess you can come."

Steven 1 cheered, "Oh, thank you, thank you!"

"I'm sure there's something you can help me do." He thinks of Nephrite's crew, "Yeah, yeah, you and I can go on a mission soon, maybe tomorrow-ish."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it won't be too hard, if you do good on it I'll consider taking you to more complicated missions."

"I won't let you down, I know the Sea Spire thing was my fault, but I won't mess up again, 2." Steven 2 tossled the lad's curls fondly.

"See you tomorrow, then."

"Wait, you'll be safe, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm as tough as nails!" He grinned at the kid, hoping to cheer him up. There was a slight chance he might never return, at least as who he is now.

He went outside to use that warp, 'as he always does,' Steven 1 mulled.

He jogged in the desert's cold for however long it took for him to find his mother's old leg ship. Activating it, he launched himself out of the Earth's orbit. The coordinates were set for The Garden, it was only a matter of time before he had to bubble that Gem. Spinel probably didn't deserve this, but he had to protect the Earth and himself, so he steeled himself as he neared the abandoned planetoid.

It almost hurt him to see Spinel all hopeful like that.

"Pink?" He heard from the top of the legs, "Pink, is that you?"

He floated down gently, he knew what happened the first time; he didn't have to fight her.

"No, I'm sorry. Pink has been dead for fourteen years."

"But-but,"

"She was never planning on coming back for you, Spinel, I'm sorry."

Spinel was sobbing, yanking at her heart-shaped buns "She left me here for thousands of years, and," the pink Gem hiccoughed, "then she dies!" Spinel crumpled in a heap on the ground, letting out a broken sob before poofing. Steven 2 bubbled the Gem and left it there; he couldn't bring himself to take it back with him. He felt his memories changing. He felt lighter: he got his happily ever after. Sure, Aquamarine and Eyeball were a pain to deal with, but they were relatively harmless. Everything was good, even if he spends most of his time on Homeworld these days. He'd do anything to stop them from moving in with him on Earth; if that meant visiting at least four times a week, so be it.

He left the legs in the desert, curled up against the wall of the weird trash collection his mom had amassed. He made his way back in a series of happy hops.

Steven 1 ran up to him, when he opened the door, "How'd it go?"

"Went good, the hard part was just getting there, honestly." He opened the refrigerator to get more water, tearing the paper and stepping into the bathroom.

Steven 1 noticed 2 had changed, his shirt was different (after turning on the light that became very apparent) he seemed happier though. The Steven 2 he knew was never in this good of a mood. What happened? Where did he go, what did he change?

He knew he should be happy for 2, but he's acting like a different person now. Humming, singing, dancing and still adding things to that ever-growing check-list of his. He missed his friend, he could make friends again with this new Steven 2, but how long will that last before he changes again?

Amethyst, Pearl and Garnet didn't seem to remember the Steven 2 he met a couple of weeks ago a-top the sea spire with the moon goddess statue in his hands. It was weird to see them acting like this.

"Hey, bud, what's wrong?" The cyan-shirted 2 asked.

"I miss the old you."

"That's valid, kid. You got to know the guy, I don't remember being him anymore."

"You don't?"

"Nah, it's okay for you to miss him, all I know is that his life was worse than mine. For me, going back in time has been like a vacation for me: I get to speed things along and get to enjoy the sights one more time." He smirked, "It's actually kind of refreshing to see things changing."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, everything's always the same in the future. Go the work, make a couple calls, check-in around town, look for any leftover corrupted gems; it's the same day in and day out. I get plenty of days off though, it's nice to split the load for once. Back when I was sav- fifteen, it was just me for the most part. It was exhausting having to do all I had alone. It's nice to just lounge around, I barely got to do that before. I always have to sit upright an' stuff." He laughed, "I wish I could get into the details more, but that could break 'all of time and space as we know it.'" He made an impression of a nasally voice.

"Psh, as if, Pink Lasagna," he winked, "has got it covered."

"Who's-,"

"Man, I wanna tell you everything, but," he huffed crossing his arms, "I'm supposed to wait."

"What? Why can't you tell me now?"

"Something about saying it messes up the future. I only really came here to enjoy myself and lessen the suffering of a few Gems while I'm at it. I can do that, it's not like any time is passing in the future while I'm here."

"So, are you still gonna teach me Gem Gliph or let me go on super secret missions with you?"

"Oh, sure, I can teach you some Gem Gliph. No biggie. As for missions,"

"Oh, here it comes,"

"I'll need to gauge how strong and in control of your powers you are, I can train you if you want, it's not really going to change much if I do."

"You'll train me?"

"Why not? No one knows how to use our powers more than I do."

This Steven 2 was nice, cocky and reminded him a little bit of his dad. The old 2 was sad, grumpy and protective, the only things these two Stevens have in common is how little they sleep.

He remembered what the other Steven 2 said to him when they met.

It was 12:01 A.M., Mr. Squeezy wasn't an adequate replacement for the moon goddess statue. He was shouting in frustration, "Are you serious?! The timing was off?" The bright pink of his flesh contrasted with the pitch black of his tee-shirt.

"Um, hi?"

"Oh, hi. Listen, we gotta bounce."

"Who are you?" Pearl inquired with a raised tone.

"Yeah, why do you look like an older version of Steven?"

"Because I am an older version of Steven?"

Stars gleamed in his eyes, "Another me?! Can we keep him?"

The other Steven frowned at him, "We don't have time, this place is coming down."

"We kept Amethyst." Pearl cackled at Garnet's comment.

"Stop it!" A dome of pink rhombuses encased us, protecting us from the debris.

After a moment, he let it drop when Steven's yellow raft surfaced. He let out a dry exhale, "Do any of us have a paddle?"

"No."

"Of course," he was very resigned into his fate.

He offered the stranger some food, food always cheered him up, "Does anyone want a wet bagel?"

"Sure, whatever." He had an expression on his face that read, 'what else do I have to lose?' To Steven, he just looked tired from using that power.

"It was really cool what you did back there."

"It's new."

"Can you teach me how to make myself all pink like you?" His eye twitched when he heard him.

He placed his hands on his shoulders, "You don't really want to discover that power in you, Steven, it's dangerous."

"But if I learn how to control it now, it won't be a problem later."

He raised an eyebrow, "Can you even summon your gem weapon yet?"

"N-no." He was working on it, he just didn't know how yet.

"When you can do that on command, I'll think about it." He was so cool, like a cranky Garnet.

Now he was gone, replaced with someone clearly more put together than he was, but still. He couldn't help himself from missing the guy. Tears fell down his cheeks.

"Hey, hey, kiddo? You alright?" He hugged the new 2, crying into his jacket. 2's jacket.

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

@sutimetravelau Check this out.

@space-is-the-place2

[heli0s-writes]

I. What's in a name (that which we call a Bucky)

Summary: What kind of name is BUCKY? Your dog's name is BUCKEYE. Much better. Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader x Bucky Barnes A/N: A more humorous work... be alert: everyone in this fic is a lil shit. Dog-lover reader. Enemies to friends to lovers and strap in kiddos, we’re going to Ohio!

Foot in Mouth Syndrome Masterpost

It’s past midnight when the bell on your doorknob titters. A high-pitched whine follows the noise and you drop the book in your hand before emitting a loud groan of annoyance. As a response to your complaint, footsteps quickly pad back towards the computer room you sit in.

“God damn it,” you scold towards the door, “I just took you out like an hour ago.”

It’s half-serious, half-playful as you point a finger towards the 50-pound mass of pure muscle now pitifully cocking his head to the side. Your dog, Buckeye, lovingly named after your alma-mater’s mascot whines pathetically as he falls forward onto his two front paws and gives you the saddest look he can muster. The slate-grey skin between his eyes bends upwards in crinkly folds as he continues to peer at your perched figure on the swivel chair.

You shuffle your desk space around, placing the heavy tome from your hand over the mountain of other paperbacks scattered about. Taking one final look over the paper you’d been working on for the last two weeks, you hit save, making sure it uploads itself to the online drive before stepping away.

The clock on the lower right-hand corner of your monitor reads 2:30. Fuck. Way more than past midnight. You had been so focused on writing you didn’t even realize how late it was. Sending an apologetic look to your dog, you rub his ear before heading down the hallway and grabbing the leash by the door. Poor guy, you hadn’t taken him out in almost four hours.

He’s striding towards you, tail wagging back and forth at the sight of your hand on the leash. His tongue flops out stupidly and you giggle at how dumb he looks. Before clipping the leash to his collar, you give him a big kiss on the head and push your face affectionately. He’d come such a long way in the past five months.

“Okay, big baby. Let’s go.”

The training bell hanging from the knob flails against the door as you step outside, closing it shut.

You and Buckeye head downstairs, your slippers squishing against the wet grass as he leads you over to his favorite sniffing grounds. Under the lamp, you scroll on your phone distractedly, making sure you’d replied to all the e-mails you had received earlier in the day. Eyeing him from time to time to make sure he’s doing what he’s supposed to, you tap out a quick response to a group message from some classmates. They’re probably awake at this time anyway, you muse bitterly, graduate school can be a real bitch like that. Tucking the phone into your back pocket, you fiddle a doggy bag from its container strapped to the leash and maneuver it over your hand.

“No sniffing that poo.” You command Buckeye, and he gazes back over his shoulder at you for a single brief second, as if truly contemplating your authority before giving it a quick whiff anyway. You scoff before tugging him from the pile and further back into the grass. “C’mon, Buck. Dude, I gotta get back in. Please poop. The bag’s ready for you.”

You wave it around helplessly as he traipses on, keeping close, but really pushing your patience. Ten minutes later, you decide you’ve had it with him and start tugging him back towards the sidewalk. He resists at first and you have to use your “mom” voice a couple of times before he follows your lead and drags himself back to your side.

This was the usual routine of your life: wake up, go to campus, work on campus, work from home, find time to eat, work some more, go to bed. In-between all of those activities was of course, take Buckeye outside to jog, pee, shit, and socialize… when he was up for it.

You “adopted” the big lug from the shelter six months ago, falling head over heels for that stupid white oblong patch (you called it his Penis Patch because c’mon… it looked like one) and that wrinkly-ass forehead of his. He had been abused as a puppy and then abandoned in an alleyway with a handful of other pit bulls. By the time he got to the animal shelter, he was massively underweight and terrified of being near humans. He was only two months old. It took a lot of work on your end to get him back to a normal weight and as much as people loved to praise how you “saved” him- it was honestly the opposite that happened.

Yes. It was cheesy and gross as fuck to admit out loud, but that dumb animal actually saved you.

If you hadn’t adopted him and decided he was going to be your tether to this fuck-ass world, you were cock-sure you’d have tied yourself a noose out of bedsheets already. It’s what you told your therapist because it was just the damn truth.

The spring air of Manhattan whips over your face as you make your way towards the stairs of your unit, taking glances here and there to make sure nothing scary was happening. Your location was relatively safe, but honestly, you never know with people. You had seen your fair share of frightening and inexplicable things from your time in New York.

As if you were summoning the bad luck to your doorstep, gunshots ring out from a few blocks away. At least you hope it is, because the echo throughout your apartment unit suggests that it’s much closer. Buckeye starts twitching, darting left and right at the sound. You’re steeling your body as he begins to pull and snap at him with your fingers, calling his name. He heads quickly towards the apartment. Another shot resonates between the buildings.

On your right, Buckeye lets out a high-pitched yelp and jumps as rapid footsteps approach behind you. You barely make it two steps out of the way before a heavy body barrels into you and knocks you onto the sidewalk. Both your knees hit the concrete hard and you immediately roll to your side and fumble to find the leash that fell from hand. Your dog is losing it, and frankly, you are about to as well.

He starts to take off towards the darkness of the grass and you’re screaming his name, trying to scramble up to catch the plastic handle of the retractable leash that’s dragging against the ground. His tongue is loose and panting as he whips his head back and forth between you and the darkness, unsure of where to go.

“Come here! Come!”

You ignore the searing in your kneecaps and reach out as you take a step. Before you can make it much farther, an arm swings itself over your neck and strangles the rest of your words.

A single shot fires off at your dog. Buckeye is outta there. He’s yelping the whole way and you cannot stop yourself from shrieking.

“Don’t fucking speak.” A voice growls behind you. The body it belongs to is distinctly masculine as they knee you in the back and prop you up to stand beside them. The cold barrel of a gun presses itself against your temple and you freeze, hands quivering at your sides. Your heart has either imploded or is about to because you can’t tell if it’s beating or not anymore. There is ringing in your ears from the gun being fired in such close quarters, your eyes struggle to focus.

You have so many questions, but your mind is currently a squirrel in traffic running between the front axle of two tires labelled: “Is this where I fucking die?” and “Is my dog okay?”. Getting splattered to bits by either one was dealer’s choice, and your dealer didn’t seem too choosy.

In the distance, footsteps approach and you see two large frames enter your blurry field of vision, lit up under the streetlamp. There are two glimmering silver shapes reflecting that flickering light, one in the shape of a … dinner plate? And the other… another dick. What the hell? Oh god, you think automatically about your dick-spot-shaped dog. Where is he?

“Let her go!” the dinner plate yells. The barrel presses further into your head.

“Drop your weapons!” your assailant calls back, “Or she dies!”

You’re in a bad procedural cop show or something, you swear. Or Ashton Kutcher is 50 years old and he is laughing his ass off in a van right now, filming a new season of Punk’d. You squeeze your eyes shut when the gun clicks against your head, which is generally right after it goes off, according to the movies. There’s a warm sensation against your back and you hope to god that it isn’t you pissing yourself. When you smell the coppery scent rising, you realize it’s the man’s blood. When he sways a little and your body droops with him, you are positive it’s his blood.

The funny silver California/dick shape in the distance moves and becomes a small circle, with a dark spot in the middle. Is that a fucking gun? You blink a couple of times to see the shadowy outlines of the two people stepping closer. There’s aggravated whispering from both of them and your attacker begins to yell about something before a deafening blast cracks past your eyes.

Warm blood sprays on your face when the man falls backwards, heavy limb taking you down with him. You get some of it in your mouth and you scramble to fuck off as far as you can from this now dead body. The two shapes are running towards you, one of them gripping you hard by the arm and pulling you up.

“Buckeye! That is not protocol!”

You dizzily shake your head at the sound of your dog’s name and find your balance on the sidewalk, toes pressing against your slipper to have it back on your foot correctly. In front of you were two enormous men, and you recognize them immediately: Captain America and Winter Soldier.

“You know I don’t miss.” The Soldier retorts, bottom half of his face obscured by his signature black latex mask. It muffles his voice, but you can clearly hear the agitation. Captain America looks over your dripping red knees. “You okay, ma’am?”

You ignore him. As far as you are concerned at this point, they’re both just as dead to you as this other fucker on the ground. You want to find your dog.

“Buck?” You call into the patch of darkness as you carefully tread into the grass, wincing when your knees sting with every step. You don’t see the two Avengers looking at each other in confusion.

“BUCK!” You scream again, panic returning to your chest as you think about your dog scurrying around in the dark, dragging his damn leash, and spiraling back into the hot mess he was six months ago. Damn it, it had taken you so long to train him out of being skittish, and now he was going to be right back in it. You look around the dark, turning the flashlight on your phone and follow what looks like to be a trail of blood. It’s not yours, so you correctly deduce it’s Buckeye.

You start to hyperventilate, shaking with every step.

“Oh, Buck, you piece of shit you, I swear to god, if you’re dead, I’m going to kill you.”

“…Ma’am?”

You whip around and glare at Captain America, “What!” He takes a step back, hands coming up as if to deflect your outcry. His partner next to him places his gun back in the holster at his hip with a quiet click, eyeing you suspiciously. Captain America looks around, like he’s surprised you’ve yelled, because he probably doesn’t get yelled at very often by people he saves.

“…Can I ask what you’re doing?”

“Th’ broad’s mental.” The Soldier scoffs, heading back towards the limp body on the ground. He digs his hands into every pocket of the corpse, even opening the mouth to peer inside. “We need to move this body.” He pulls out a tiny USB from a sewn-on pocket inside the vest and puts it in a pouch on his belt.

“I’m looking for my damn dog.” You hurl, “I’m looking for my fucked-up rescue dog, who was doing very well and on his way to being a proper good boy, before you fucks came along and shot him!”

You hear yourself being more and more hysterical with every syllable. Your pitch is increasing with your heart rate, and the part of you that fears retribution from super soldiers is raising its hand up to be called on by your dominant lizard-brain. Your lizard-brain is soaked in fear and refuses the hand.

“That guy shot your dog.” The Soldier nudges the body with a steel-toed boot.

“You scared him! He’s afraid of loud noises and you were shooting up the place, you trigger-happy motherfucker,” you point a finger to the offending Avenger, “You could have shot me, you bag of limp dicks.”

Winter Soldier lets your insults slide; you’re definitely off your meds, he thinks. “Like I said, I don’t miss.”

Captain America finally snaps his shield back onto his back and runs a hand through his hair. You’re half surprised he’s not wearing that dorky-ass helmet he’s usually sporting but turn around regardless and start walking faster, ignoring the muddier ground the further you go in. From the position next to the soon-to-be chalk outline, the two Avengers argue quietly before one of them groans and they both fall silent. You figure they’ve kissed and made up.

Grass is shuffling behind you as Captain America effortlessly catches up to your uneven steps.

“I can track your dog. Let me help.”

You say nothing because you’re so preoccupied with being pissed off that this happened in the first place and because you honestly couldn’t refuse the help regardless of how overinflated your pride was. You couldn’t see for shit in the dark and you’d rather have Buckeye back than any amount of satisfaction flinging insults could bring. Stepping back, you let Brown-Beard take the lead and follow him through the mud and into the back of a unit now five buildings away.

When you slip on a particularly wet patch, he’s quick to grab your elbow and support you. He also takes it as an opening to make conversation.

“What’s type of dog is…”

“Buckeye.” You say, pulling your elbow away and falling back into step. He turns around and raises a single eyebrow.

“Buck…eye?” The second syllable is dropped low- as if he’s unsure that it’s the right thing to say.

“….Yes. Buckeye.” You hiss back.

“Buck…eye.” He repeats again, moving the sounds around in his mouth carefully. You pull a face but say nothing. Boy they sure like to make ‘em big and dumb, don’t they?

“He’s a pit bull. He’s gray with a white patch on his chest. He’s not fucking lethal or anything- like people think he’s just… damaged. He’s not even full-grown; just an oversized ball of anxiety and post-traumatic stress.” Your voice becomes distressed the more you talk about your good boy, and you decide to shut up before you can burst into tears.

“We’ll find him, promise.” Captain tries to send you a smile, but it gets misplaced in the thick of his beard and you’re not even looking anyway, pretending to follow the trail so he doesn’t see your eyes well up. You’re thankful for his help. But fuck him still; he scared your dog.

“There’s no more blood, which is good,” He says, “Steps are getting closer together, so he’s not running anymore. There’s a funny… thing- though. What’s he dragging?”

“His leash.” You mutter.

“Ah.” There’s a pause, “You know, that’s actually a good thing- it’ll slow him down.”

 It’s at least another twenty minutes of walking in silence as you follow Captain Star Spangled Banner out of your apartment complex and down three completely decrepit alleyways, at least one littered with broken glass. Upon entering the fourth one, you swear you hear clattering in the back and pick up your speed, calling out.

“Buck? Buckeye? Is that you?” Your voice is quivering in the dark. Your companion has stilled beside you, not letting his footsteps drown out your voice. “Buckeye, come here.” You’re as careful as can be as you quietly step forward, a tiny bit closer to the slow shadow in the corner.

When a car drives by on the main road, the shine of headlights reflects two glowing blue pearls that you’d recognize anywhere. His tail is wagging happily against the pavement of the alleyway, and it breaks your heart to see he’s battered in blood.

You put both your arms around him to settle him from possibly scurrying away at the sight of Captain’s figure, who hangs in the back, but is still so large that it disturbs Buckeye. “My big guy,” You sob into his stupid, dirty neck, “You’re all muddy... Oh Buck, you big idiot… you dummy.”

You find the handle on the leash again, but Buckeye is tentative to follow, stumbling when he stands up on all four feet. When you lean over to examine him, he’s all cut up on his paws and you see it now, the big streak of open flesh on his upper thigh that’s crusted over into a brown stripe. The shiny fur that’s beneath it is matted with more dried blood and it’s so large that you break out into tears all over again. You don’t think he’s able to walk anymore, which might have worked out in your favor; it did stop him from running.

Captain slowly makes his way toward the two of you and reach both hands out, kneeling and laying one gently underneath Buckeye’s snout to scratch him. Your dog inspects the hand nervously before giving it a quick lick. He pants happily at the scratch to his chin and you can’t help but snort at his simplicity. Captain offers to pick him up for you and you let him, surprised that Buck’s letting someone other than you be so close. You’re glad for it, though, since you would not have been able to pick him up out of the alleyway on your own.

“I’ve been compared to a Golden Retriever before,” Captain says amiably as he easily holds Buckeye in his arms, leading you out of the dark path. He’s got a glint in his eye like he’s real proud of himself for that quip. “I definitely think of myself as a dog person.”

You scoff and save your retort for another time, pointing him in the direction of your local pet emergency hospital instead.

-

It must have been a sight for them, Steve ponders as he sits in the waiting chair of the hospital, giving away smiles at the receptionists and nurses who occasionally gather to stare at him. When the automatic doors slid open, they probably weren’t expecting Captain America in full tactical gear to walk in with a dog in his arms. Not to mention the young woman who followed, looking in not much better shape than the dog.

He glances over to you as you lean back in the plastic chair resembling more of a bucket than anything comfortable. Both your knees are completely skinned raw and the trail of blood reached your feet, caked in mud. The woman at the front desk offered you some bandages and antiseptic, which you’d haphazardly sloshed all over yourself before resigning to let it be. Your eyes have slipped closed as you wait for the nurse to come talk to you about your dog; it is late, after all—nearly four in the morning, and Steve lets you rest when he hears your breathing slow.

He begins to check his phone, punching in a text to Bucky with updates, barely able to hold back the giddy energy inside of him. Bucky was going to flip when Steve cracks open the can of worms that is the dog’s name. And it’s going to completely boil his noodle when he hears that your description of your dog almost perfectly matched Steve’s own description of Bucky. He swears right now, under these old fluorescent lights and with God’s blessing that he would never, ever, let Bucky live this down.

“You… use…a … flip… phone?” Your disbelieving voice is so quiet that Steve thinks a ghost is making fun of him.

“Well, it does flip, and it is a phone.” He retorts, face completely blank for a couple of seconds before breaking out into a smirk.

Your sit up in the chair, looking over to Steve incredulously. “Who are you, my dad?” Your features twist into a disgusted sneer, but he catches the amusement in your eyes.

He chuckles in response. It’s not the first time Steve’s been told that his jokes were corny, at this point in his life, he’s decided to just go with it.

“Don’t you have someplace to be? Maybe more Avenging in another quiet neighborhood?” The snark comes out sharper than you intend it, but between the two hours of sleep last night and probable zero hours of sleep you’ll get tonight, you’re on autopilot.

“It’s being taken care of.” He stares straight ahead. Your comment implies that you’d rather him leave, but he feels in part responsible and obligated to stay. Besides, you’ll need a ride home and someone to carry your pet to the door. “I’m sorry about your dog.”

“He’s not fucking dead,” You huff, “If he was, you and Bicentennial Man would be fucked. You won’t believe how many knives I can carry in my mouth alone.”

Steve almost gives himself whiplash as he does a double-take on your completely placid and unfazed profile view. He thinks it’s better not to ask about the capacity of knives your mouth can hold or about how you know that very specific fact about yourself. However, he can’t help from letting out a wheeze of a laugh because the feral image frankly reminds him more and more of Bucky; Steve has definitely seen Bucky with a knife in his mouth.

Another fifteen minutes pass of drifting in and out of sleep before the nurse peeks her head out and calls you into the treatment room. She stares open-mouthed when Steve followed dutifully behind and closes the door with a quiet click.

Buckeye is lying in a lethargic daze on the table with a plastic cone around his neck. The large gash on his leg has been stitched and carefully covered by gauze and his paws are bandaged up as well. At the sight of the two of you, his tail begins to pat slowly against the smooth surface of the table in quick taps before trailing off and starting back up again. He is looking into your eyes, but Steve can see his gaze wander around the room in a medicated stupor from time to time.  

His stomach tightens when you begin to sniffle and draw lazy circles on Buckeye’s head with your thumb. The nurse runs over the health diagnostic for your pup and all seems pretty well, considering the doleful state he’s in.

“He might not eat for the first day, but you’ll have to try to make him...” The nurse hands you a large zip-loc full of bandages, ointments, pills, and paper. “Keep the cone on for at least two weeks and stick to the dosage schedule… Do you have any questions?”

You shake your head, rifling through the various items in the bag before zipping it back up.

“Okay. Well, he’s doing really good, and I think he’ll make a speedy recovery soon.” The nurse offers you a smile and you reply kindly, thanking her for everything before sighing at Buckeye. Steve steps forward in the silent moment and scoops your dog’s tired body into his arms before thanking the nurse as well. She goes white as a sheet when you open the door to let him out. Steve hopes there won’t be any tweets later about Captain America saving puppies.

 At the front desk, Steve watches you shuffle side to side when the receptionist rings up each cost. Dressed in an oversized Ohio shirt and pajama shorts, it’s obvious you are not prepared for this. You were probably just a college student, and since he didn’t see you make any phone calls to your parents or family members who might foot the bill, he assumes you’re on your own. Before the receptionist can hand you anything, Steve shifts and tilts his right leg forward.

“Can you reach into this pocket?” He asks, startling everyone in the vicinity: you, the receptionist, and your dog. You stare at him dumbly for a minute, grimacing at the leg pointed in your direction and the back-and-forth Captain America’s eyes keep sending you. It goes from your face to his pocket and every time it returns to your face your frown drops more.

“What?”

“For my wallet.”

“Fuck no!”

“C’mon… I don’t think you have any other options,” the sentence hangs on a truth you don’t need spoken. You pale and begrudgingly reach for the snap closure on his thigh, widening grimace now making your face look like a melted Dali painting. The receptionists’ eyebrows go higher and higher the closer your shaking hand gets. Captain America bounces his leg to shake the leather case loose as your hand digs inside and gets stuck between fabric and muscle. Buckeye grumbles in his arms at the jostling and his holder whispers a quiet apology before nuzzling him with his nose.

He doesn’t notice you staring. The receptionist does.

When the wallet is finally pried free (why are his pants so tight, anyway? This bitch is dummy thicc, too, you think) he motions for you to pull out a black card with a surprising bit of heft to it. You nervously hand it over and avoid eye contact with him as the transaction finishes, stuffing the damn thing back in and snapping it shut in one swift motion. You can feel your face stuck in a rigid expression of bewilderment the entire time.

“I-- uh... thanks... for that.”

He motions you with his head to go outside and when you follow him through the automatic doors, a black car is parked in front. The Winter Soldier is in the driver seat and reaches over to open the door. He’s taken his mask off and looks over at the Captain with your dog in his arms. He’s all stubbly and homeless-looking, you think, the complete opposite of Golden Boy Rogers in front of you.

An exhausted look passes over his dark features as he glances from Captain to Buckeye to your fucked-up knees. “...Just... get in.”

 The ride is silent save for the sound of Buckeye’s soft whimpers in the fit of a nightmare. You hush him with soft pets and coo his name in his ears. “It’s okay, Buck. I’m here, Bucky.”

The Soldier snaps his gaze up to you from the rearview mirror. Captain America smirks. You catch neither of their expressions, transfixed on your dog who resembles Frankenweenie more than himself. Stupid fucking bad guy. Stupid Avengers.

“What did you just say?” Winter Soldier slowly asks, and you glare at him in the rearview mirror.

“What?” You snap back. What the fuck was his problem? “Mind your fucking business, I’m talking to my goddamn dog.” Buckeye whimpers again and you pat him lightly to soothe his crying. Captain America begins to chuckle quietly from the passenger seat the longer Winter Soldier stares at you. “Eyes on the fucking road.” You hiss when you catch his glare.

He’s probably going to shoot your ass, you think. Your dog begins to whimper again, a broken string of yowling erupting from him before he stills. The taped gauze on his side has started to turn a slight pink. “It’s gonna be okay, Buck.” You sigh.

“Jesus, what the fuck are you saying?” Winter Soldier nearly shrieks as he pulls sharply into a parking space in front of your building. His volume startles your dog and he shoots up with a loud whine, hitting the plastic cone on the back of the driver’s side. You quickly place both hands on his back to settle him down. “Buckeye, it’s okay.”

Captain America is in a full-on giggle fit now, having to hold his sides to stop himself from seizing. He briefly pauses to apologize and puts a hand on your dog’s head, quieting him with a lazy pet.

“It’s her dog, Buck!” “Yeah I know it’s my dog, Buck.” You snarl, confused as to why this is even a topic of discussion.

Red, white, and shit-for-brains starts up again with the laughing. “Th-the dog’s name--” He wheezes. “Is Buckeye.” There’s a flash of recognition that sweeps over the driver’s reflection in the rearview before it turns into one of annoyance. Then it turns into disdain.

“What kind of a fucking name is that?” He spits before smacking his hand into Captain America’s chest.

“Hey! Shut the hell up! That’s my alma mater you uneducated dickbag!” You point to your red Ohio State shirt with the big “O” right in the middle. It’s so worn and old that the red has faded, and the white print of the O is all cracked, but anyone with two braincells knows exactly what that means. You start bellowing the Ohio State Fight Song proudly and halfway through the second note Buckeye starts to howl weakly beside you.

Captain America bursts into another fit of laughter and pounds on the dashboard with his fists.

The Soldier whips around and slams his metal hand against your mouth, pushing your entire head back against the cushion. “Will you shut up!” To spite him, you continue humming to the best of your ability, even with your lip smushed up against your teeth and his cold palm. You raise your middle finger up between his eyes before holding the last note out particularly long.

Buckeye yowls and yips at your side, punctuating the tune with a quiet whine at the end. He lazily reaches up and licks the elbow joint between the front seat, leaving a slobber trail. He notices his reflection in it temporarily before getting distracted by Captain’s chuckle and lying back down.

Winter Soldier finally pulls his arm away and you take the opportunity to spitefully lick a similar stripe onto his palm, leaving it dripping with the spit you’ve accumulated in your mouth.

He crossly slumps in his seat. “I fucking hate this girl.” He mutters.

“It’s mutual, princess.” You retort, rubbing your stiff jaw and running your fingers against your lips. “What’s your problem with my dog’s name?” You’re a bit suspicious because he doesn’t seem like a college sports guy since he was non-responsive to your shirt but he sure as hell is not a fan of your dog.

“Do you know our names?” Captain America asks you, eyes alight. You shrug, because like, not really. World War II was interesting when you were in the sixth grade and morbid as fuck but it totally went in one ear and out the other for your entire college career. Even more boring was the Captain America propaganda, Super Soldier serum, humanity’s hubris bullshit. You were one of the few people you know who was not losing their mind when Tony Stark toured your university. More than anything, he annoyed you; he caused a huge traffic jam on campus and it ruined your route home. They just weren’t your thing—the Avengers.

“I mean, Stevie Ro… Rober—“ you gauge his reaction carefully, “Ronald— Ro— Ross? Rogers!” You breathe a sigh of relief as he memory of Emily Booth in fourth period doodling “Rogers” inside a million hearts appears in your mind. Then you turn to The Soldier and shrug. Plain as day, you could not recall his name whatsoever. You just called him the Dead Commando in that fourth period American History II final paper.

You got a passing grade, so “Dead Commando” stuck.

“It’s James Buchanan Barnes.” He grits out between clenched teeth.

“That’s fancy.” You deadpan, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Bucky. For short.”

“Buck, for even shorter.” Rogers pipes up, still all twinkly in the eyes, waiting for you to put two and two together. Yeah. You do. It makes you want to die a little.

“Ugh.” Is all you can manage.

--

He shows up the next morning in civvies: white T-shirt, navy blue bomber jacket, and well-worn dark jeans. You stare dumbly at him as he leans against your doorframe, almost as wide as the entrance itself. You’re half-asleep and dressed in the clothes you had on last night: crumpled red Ohio shirt, mismatched pinstriped blue and white pajama shorts.

Your phone had been misplaced amidst the ruckus of the search party, so you just planned on missing your meeting today. It wasn’t like you could properly function anyway, barely getting to bed at 5:30 and waking up at the asscrack of dawn with Captain Underpants at your door.

Even his knocks sounded patriotic. Big, strong thumping blows that rattled all the way into your bedroom.

“Rough night?” Steve Rogers asks as you try your best to smooth the flyaways of your bedhead. Stupid, perfect, blonde and blue-eyed giant man.

“Am I being haunted? What are you doing here?” Your voice sounds like gravel in a blender as you rub the sleep from your eyes.

He shrugs, looking down at his shoes and smiling secretively, like he’s got another corny joke up his sleeve. “Just wanted to see how Buck’s doing.”

“Don’t you have your own Buck to babysit? From what I remember, he needs a leash more than mine does.”

You let him in anyway, and your dog is waiting patiently by the couch, tail slapping the carpet as he remembers his savior from last night. Steve starts to coo as he scratches Buckeye’s chin and head, careful not to rile him up too much. He looks in complete ecstasy when Steve picks at a particularly good spot.

You shift awkwardly as you stand by the kitchen bar, leaning against a stool. How does one man still manage to look like his superhero moniker in civilian clothing? You bet yourself that his closet hung the same monochromatic color pallet—as if costume director dressed him, just in case he forgot he was Captain America.

“Well...” you begin, moving to the kitchen to brew yourself some coffee. Halfway to the single-serving French press, you trade it out for the larger one and add extra water in the kettle. You’re not sure what to say, so you shut up and groan inwardly as you grind the beans. You dip into the restroom and return with your toothbrush, scrubbing quietly as you watch Steve get on the floor to rub your dog’s pink tummy.

“If you pet him with your foot he won’t know the difference. Save ya knees, man.”

“This good boy deserves a real tummy rub, doesn’t he?” Captain America is using baby talk on your dog. It makes you feel... all funny.

Steve Rogers stands up and beams at you from across the counter. You frown because his perfect white smile is brighter than the sunlight streaming in through your window. You spit and rinse your toothbrush in the sink to avoid the shine, but he’s still there when you return. Great. Not a dream. Maybe a nightmare.

You take the kettle off the stovetop when it starts to squeak and blurt out another snarky comment just because you really hate silences and love being awkward. “Buckeye’s gonna get neutered soon. Wanna take yours too?”

Captain America chuckles and shakes his head, blue eyes twinkling at the hand on your hip. “You know, that smart mouth o’ yours is gonna get you into trouble one day.” You gulp as you pour the water suddenly aware that there is a real, live, broad-as-hell man standing in your living room and looking at you like you’re somebody... and he called your mouth smart.

You’re also suddenly aware that you look like shit and your hand shakes a little when you place the filter over the top of the floating coffee grinds.

“Fuck, I think I’m already in trouble.” You mutter into your shoulder as you turn.

Steve doesn’t catch the comment and digs his hand into his back pocket, producing the phone you’ve been missing since last night. You sigh in relief when you see it- as good as it was before, partially cracked screen, but still working. It’s warm when he puts it in your hand and you automatically pull a face.

“Butt heat. I mean--- hot! Hot ass!—Oh, damn it.”

You shut your eyes and the world feels like it’s stopped spinning altogether. Please god, you think, please let him be gone when you look again because you don’t think you can stand another minute on this Earth. Damn your stupid no-filter smart mouth.

He’s still there, though, because life is so stupid and whatever creator that exist hates you. His left eyebrow is raised, and he’s crossed his arms over his chest, smirking.

“You need to brush up on your compliments.”

“Not a compliment!” You hiss, “Don’t put people’s phones in your back pocket! You’re too fucking big to be sitting on them. But thank you for giving it back.”

Steve laughs as you push the filter down on the French press. He’s saying something about how Bucky wanted to put his hand through the device, but your ears are ringing too loudly to hear him. You feel relieved anyway, because you think that you’ve reached your quip-quota for the day.

You pour yourself a cup and he puts his hands up to stop you, excusing himself-- somewhere to be, some old lady to save, he says. You fumble around a bottom cabinet for a second before pulling out a thermos and dumping the rest of the press’ coffee into it.

“Since you did hand-deliver my phone to me, it’s the least I can do. It’s blue, too. Complements your eyes.”

He smiles and takes the thermos from you. “That was a good compliment.” He says, all twinkly again.

“Complement, not compliment.” You correct bluntly.

He takes two steps to the door before turning, “No, the compliment was that you noticed my eyes at all.” He laughs when your face scrunches up, miffed. Captain America was a real … sonuvabitch. “By the way... I left you a number for a dogsitter, just in case you need one.” You rotate the flat rectangle of your phone against your chest as he yanks the door open. “It’s a good service. Reliable. And they text, too.”

And just like that, he’s gone. You stare at Buckeye, who whines pathetically at the door.

You cock your head, looking at the time on the splintered screen. Might as well, you think, reading 7:15 flashing back at you. You could make it to campus by 9.

 The meeting drags on with your advisor, and it’s almost noon before you realize that you’re going to get hauled into another one of those pop-up seminars the faculty has been putting on all year. You’ve managed to avoid two because there’s just no fucking time to go! How are they expecting you to finish your thesis, go to class, grade a hundred stupid student papers, hold office hours, respond to a thousand e-mails a day, and keep your sanity?

It’s something you’re eager to complain to your therapist about any time she starts asking about your personal life. Which, you’ve been dodging re-scheduling recently. Shit.

You calculate the hours you’ll be away as you sip room-temperature coffee from a fuzzy paper cup. It’ll be another four hours before you can make it home and Buckeye really needs to go outside and have his bandages changed before then. Shit.

Your thumbprint opens the home screen and you scroll through your contacts, searching for that aforementioned “reliable” dogsitter. You hope to hell they’re also immediately available as you part a crowd of undergraduates to exit the building. Tapping the message bubble button, you open up a new thread.

You: Hello. I was referred to your services by a friend. Are you available today by any chance?

Your phone almost immediately vibrates back and you sigh in relief.

Dogsitter: That was fast.

You’re confused, but another response pops up again.

Dogsitter: What time do you need me to come by? And for how long?

You: ASAP? If that’s okay? Um. My dog is really fine on his own, but he’s been in an accident and I need him to have his bandages changed and given medicine. Also, he needs to be taken for a potty-break.

Dogsitter: Potty break, medicine, bandages. Got it…. And what about your key?

You: Yeah, I’ll send you my location for my key. What are your rates by the way?

You open up your map and set the pin to your location before sharing it with the dogsitter. It feels way too good to be true, but you’re a little crunched for time and even if he’s a crazy serial killer, you’ve got a pit bull and nothing of value in your apartment. You feel pretty secure.

The attempt to share your coordinates is rejected and you close the notification. Your phone buzzes in your hand again.

Dogsitter: My rates really depend on the dog… and shouldn’t you be asking for my name, or some identifying marker to recognize me by before I show up and take your [1/2]

You stare blankly at the green speech cloud. What the hell… even twitter updated its character count to 280… who the hell is living so far in the past… before you can finish your thought, the following green balloon appears.

Dogsitter: house key? Stranger danger, ma’am. [2/2]

All the right gears start clicking in your brain and suddenly two perfect pieces of the puzzle fits together. The mystifying black shadow on the other end of the line begins to come into view.

You: ….Steve... Roberts?

Dogsitter: Rogers!

The sound that erupts from your mouth is inhumanly pathetic, a mixture of a groan and a whine. Who did you piss off in your last life to be this cursed?

Next Chapter

[someonefantastic]

They Look So Pretty When They Bleed

I had fun interpreting this prompt :) This was gonna be my longest fic so far but tomorrows fic actually is longer so look forward to that. Anyways yay for making it to double digits! Also this is set ambiguously in s8 cause I love me some established shules. Summary: Shawn and Juliet are having a nice date night, what could go wrong? Warnings: stabbing, blood loss, passing out, some innuendos but nothing too outside of the show also on ao3 (this gets kinda long so it’d be better accessed on ao3 tbh) ___ “So Mr. Spencer,” Juliet started as they exited the restaurant and turned on to the boardwalk, “Where to now?”

Shawn grinned and grabbed her hand, a bounce in his step. “Well Detective O’Hara, I was thinking we’d go back home and pop in a movie. Maybe a little Netflix and chill action hmm?” He waggled his eyebrows.

She threw her head back, her laughter only causing his grin to widen. “You have a one-track mind sometimes.”

“Oh, I always have a one-track mind when it comes to you,” He smirked.

She rolled her eyes. “You know, that would be almost romantic if we weren’t just talking about sex.”

He gave a half shrug. “Tomato, cucumber.”

As her laughter subsided, he caught her looking at him out of the corner of his eye. “What?”

She gave him a soft smile, “Nothing. I just like looking.”

Even after almost three years of dating, his cheeks still flushed at the compliment. “Thanks. I like your face too.”

“Thanks, Shawn.”

“Anytime babe.”

It was a beautiful night. A warm, salty breeze came off of the ocean, turning the sticky humidity of the day into a gentle glow. Music faded in and out, as they passed restaurants and clubs, a chaotic symphony of noise. Waves crashed in the distance and the wooden slats creaked beneath their feet.

Shawn tugged on her hand, leading her towards the parking lot. Underneath a streetlight sat her green VW beetle, the interior illuminated. A tall man, clad in jeans and a hoodie stood by the front door, patting his pockets with fervor.

They exchanged looks.

“Is he trying to steal my car?” Juliet whispered, eyes darting from him to the guy.

He shook his head, “I doubt it. He doesn’t seem like the type. Look at him, he seems like he’s looking for his keys. Probably got your car mistaken for his own.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “You think he drives a green beetle?”

“Gus drives a blue echo.”

Pursing her lips, she bopped her head from side to side. “You’ve got a point.”

He turned his attention to the man who was still frantically searching his pockets. “Hey man, lost your keys?”

The guy jumped, whirling around, his eyes wide. Actually, he was more like a boy, had to be in his early twenties at least.

“Uh, yeah. I can’t seem to figure out where I put them.” His voice wobbled as he spoke.

He shifted his feet and Shawn noticed something glint in the corner of his sweatshirt pocket. Subtly, he took a small step forward, making sure he was closer to the guy than Juliet.

“Dang man, I hate when that happens. I lose everything. Last week I lost half a ham sandwich in my best friend’s desk. Boy was he not happy about that.” He chuckled.

The guy didn’t laugh, his eyes darting around the parking lot.

“Well anyway, I think I know one problem here.” The man’s eyes snapped to his face. “This isn’t your car.”

Shawn saw the muscles in his arms tense before he moved. His hand shifted inside his pocket, eyes wild and scared.

There was no time, he had to protect Jules.

The second he stepped in front of her, it seemed like the whole world slowed down. He saw the guy pull out a knife, the streetlights glinting off of the patches of metal that weren’t rusted. He watched as the knife was jabbed into his stomach, cutting through his grey button-up shirt and piercing his skin.

His vision blurred, a dull ringing beginning to creep into his ears. He was frozen, unable to move or speak in a mix of shock and something he couldn’t quite place. All he could do was watch as the guy moved towards Juliet. And as much as he wanted to tackle the guy or do something to protect her, he knew she could take care of herself.

His point was made as the assailant was met with a swift punch to the nose. That was his Jules.

Clutching his bruised, if not broken, appendage in his hand, she took advantage of the situation. Pulling up her dress’ skirt- if he was in his right mind he may have commented on that being incredibly sexy- and unholstering her gun.

“SBPD. Drop the knife.” Her voice was even and her eyes icy.

Blood was now running down the guy’s hand and his eyes were unfocused but he complied. The knife clattered to the ground. Not wasting any time she shoved him up against the side of the car, detaching handcuffs from her other thigh and clasping them around his wrists. At this point in their relationship, Shawn wasn’t even surprised that she had brought handcuffs on their date night, though he was a little disappointed that they weren’t going to be used on him.

Eventually- he couldn’t be sure when Juliet in cop mode was very distracting (also the knife wound but mostly Juliet)- he had wound up on the ground, leaning heavily against the rear tire. The area under his hand was wet and he could feel his heartbeat through his stomach. That wasn’t normal.

He heard the car door slam and Juliet knelt next to him, her eyes wide, breathing heavily.

“I called for backup, they should be here in ten.” She gingerly picked up his hand, gasping as she inspected the wound. “Shawn you’re losing a lot of blood.”

“Oh is that why I feel so lightheaded?”

“Might’ve hit an artery. Gosh, I hope not.” She muttered more to herself. Gripping the bottom of her light blue sundress, she tore the fabric.

His words were starting to slur together, but he couldn’t resist making a joke. “Wow Jules as much as I enjoy you undressing, I don’t think now is the time.”

Shaking her head, she wrapped one arm around his back and gently eased him away from her car and to the ground. “You’re losing too much blood, I gotta try to stop it somehow.”

As much as he’d usually love her touch, this time he wasn’t a fan. He bit back a scream, the pressure on the cut sending fire throughout his stomach. Her face twisted into a mix of sympathy and concern and she grabbed one of his hands.

Raising their joined hands, she pressed her lips against the back of his. “I’m sorry sweetheart.”

“So much for Netflix and chill.” He chuckled weakly.

He watched her apply pressure to the wound for some time. Even given their undesired circumstances, she was still beautiful. Her hair was down, it’s length and style reminding him of the time when she went undercover at a sorority house. He had been so enamored with her. Her quick wit, her sharp investigative skills, her empathy, the way she always kept him guessing, not to mention those great outfits. If someone had told him then, that he’d wind up in a committed relationship with her, even considering marriage, he would have simply laughed and told them to stop messing with him.

But even then he had been in love with her, though he didn’t realize it until much much later and admitted it later still. He loved her. Simple as that.

His vision blurred and his eyelids felt so heavy. It was getting harder to pay attention now. He was shaking, feeling so cold and yet sweating all the same. All he could feel was the pain. He didn’t want to close his eyes, to lose the vision before him, but he didn’t want to stay awake either. Maybe if he just slept for a bit, he’d have lovely dreams of Jules.

She felt his hand go limp. Whipping her head around, she watched helplessly as his eyes slid closed.

“No, no, no... Shawn!” Letting go of his hand, she gently patted the side of his face. His skin was cold. “Shawn, I need you to stay awake.”

When he didn’t respond she swore loudly. Of course, he passed out. He was losing blood- a lot of it.

Picking up her hand, she cursed again at the sight of crimson soaking through her torn dress fabric. Without hesitation, she tore again at her dress, replacing the bloody scrap with a fresh one. Applying even more pressure, she watched his face, looking for any response. She was met with none.

His skin was pale, an odd contrast to the dark stubble around his cheeks. Breathing too shallow for her liking but she could only focus on one thing at a time. Right now stopping- or at least slowing- the bleeding was the priority.

She ran a hand through her hair and then down her face. He couldn’t die. She wouldn’t let him. They still had their whole lives in front of them. Sure it had only been a few months since they got back together but marriage talks were already becoming more and more frequent. Late one night, he told her that their breakup had shown him that he didn’t want to live life without her. She had nearly proposed to him on the spot. But they were still getting back in their groove and engagement was a big step. She wanted him- both of them- to be absolutely sure about their decision before taking that step. Now she just hoped they’d make it that far.

“Shawn Spencer, if we get out of this, I’m gonna kiss you for all you’re worth. Or kill you. I haven’t decided yet.”

Hunched over him, her hair fell around her like a curtain. Brushing it behind her ear she slightly scolded herself for not wearing it up today. Curse Shawn and his love for her hair being down.

She tore again at her dress, scowling at the now mid-thigh length. If he kept bleeding like that, he’d get his wish about seeing her undressed.

As if sensing an opportunity to make a joke, he stirred. His eyes flickered open. Unfocused but still open.

“Shawn,” She gasped, feeling tears start to pool in her eyes. In the distance, sirens blared. There was hope for them yet.

The corner of his mouth turned upwards. Hand reaching out, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re so beautiful.”

Later at the hospital, she would look in the mirror and laugh, much to the disturbed looks of the people around her. Leave it to Shawn to compliment her while her dress is half torn and her face is streaked with blood. Boy did she love him.

She'd tell him such as soon as he woke up.

[shedoesthings]

I Need To Know - Part Six

Billy Hargrove x Reader

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

(Imagine the car window not being smashed for this part!)

Billy’s words seem to grate on me for the rest of the day. He was so incredibly cocky, acting as if he knew anything and everything about me. He knew nothing. He met me yesterday! How could he have a clue about anything?

‘Driving miss daisy?’

What was that? He didn’t have a clue how I felt about my life, he didn’t know what I wanted, what I needed, my plans for the future. Not to mention his demeanor, his constant winking, the attitude of a self-assured asshole with his head too far up his own ass to consider anyone else around him. And that damn smirk, that stupid damn smirk…

“Y/N…” Harrington sings as he practically skips down the hall towards me. I turn and laugh as others stare and laugh along.

“What can I help you with Harrington?” I laugh, closing my locker and leaning against it as he stops in front of me.

“Oh, I know you can help me because I have a pocket full of quarters and some intense feeling inside me which says I neeeeeed to play dig dug” he laughs. Steve had a strange obsession with dig dug whenever we went to the arcade. He was never any good, in fact he was crap. He could never get close to being on the leader board, but damn he did try.

“Well I think your craving can be quenched. Say six?”

“Perfect! Couldn’t think of anything better!” he smiles, picking up my bag from my feet and swinging it round his shoulder along with his own. He was still in grovelling mode, he knew there was no need, after a trip to the arcade we were always back to normal, but he decided to carry on anyway, and I did nothing to stop him. We walk towards the doors, still laughing together. He opens the door for me, holding it as I get through.

“Steve!” a voice shouts as it closes behind us. I turn to see Nancy stood in the hallway watching us walk away.

“Hey, Nancy’s calling you” I say, grabbing Steve’s arm lightly to make him stop.

“I know. I heard her”

“Have you not spoken to her yet?”

“No, I have” he says, looking at the ground around his feet. “She pulled me out of gym right when your new boyfriend ripped the ball out of my hands”

“New boy…” I begin to question before I realize who he’s talking about. “He is not my boyfriend” I say, shoving Steve’s arm as he laughs and begins to walk away from the school, probably to make sure Nancy doesn’t reach us.

“Whatever you say Y/N” he jokes.

“Stop changing the subject anyway!”

“I basically reminded her of everything she said last night, since she was apparently too drunk to remember” he says as we reach his car. He unlocks it, swinging both our bags in the back before we both climb in.

We talk the whole way home about what happened. How Nancy forgot the whole thing and pulled Steve out of basketball to ask why he hadn’t picked her up this morning. Steve told me how he asked her if she truly loved him, and she said yes, but she couldn’t actually say the words. And I could see the heartbreak behind Steve’s eyes, and the smile of him trying to be strong. He tried to brush it off, as he always did in these situations, but I knew him, and I knew how he was really feeling.

“Are you sure your okay?” I ask as he pulls up outside my house. “We don’t have to go to the arcade tonight, we can do a movie and ice cream night?” I suggest, since that was what he did for me when I was heartbroken that Grayson hadn’t asked me to the winter formal in middle school, since then it also became one of our regular solutions to suffering.

“Nah” he laughs. “I think the arcades a good solution for this one. Plus, I gotta get rid of these quarters somehow” he says with a smile. I smile back at him, I only wanted what was best for him, so if that was what he wanted, that would be it. “Six?”

“Six” I smile, closing the car door and waving as he drives off.

---

Six o’clock soon came around and I was running late. I had tried to call Steve’s house, hoping to catch him before he left, tell him I would be about ten minutes late since I had lost track of time doing some homework. But his mom picked up, telling me he had already left but was sure he wouldn’t be mad.

When I finally got to the arcade, I was twenty minutes late, I practically ran since I didn’t live too far away. When I got there, I was ready to do some grovelling of my own, tell him I had tried to ring, tell him about the homework and wait for the onslaught of jokes to come of me being a nerd. But I was wrong. His car wasn’t in the car park. He couldn’t have left already?

I rush into the arcade, hoping he was there somehow. That’s when I spot Mike, Nancy’s little brother with all of his friends. They look up from the game their playing, some roll playing one about slaughtering a dragon, before waving. Dustin was the one currently playing, but he still looks up and waves, clearly making him loose the game.

“Shit!” he shouts, kicking the machine. “Piece of shit!” I laugh and roll my eyes at them. I had never expected to know this group of kinds, but like I said before, when I became friends with Jonathan last year, things took a strange turn of events, now I shared more secrets with these kids then most of my high school friends.

Its Dustin who I need to talk to. Ever since last year the pair have become friends, but not in a weird way, move like a sibling relationship, I know Steve see’s him as a little brother now, so by default, I kind of took an older sister roll, to all of them really.

“Henderson” I smile as I walk towards the party.

“Y/N!” he cheers, the others cheering with him “Long time no see girl” he says, attempting a smirk before showing his teeth and doing some awkward growl thing. I give him a funny look before I burst out laughing.

“Nice teeth man, but please never do that again” I laugh.

“Told you it wouldn’t work” Lucas laughs, shoving Dustin’s arm lightly.

“I’m telling you, the ladies can’t resist these peals” he says before doing the growl again.

“What’s up Y/N?” Lucas asks after a second of glaring at Dustin.

“Any of you guys seen Steve? Has he been in here at all?”

“Haven’t seen him since the other day” Dustin replies.

“Not see his car outside? Nothing?”

“Nope. Sorry Y/N” Lucas replies. I see Mike pull more quarters out of his pocket and look around to see what games are free, suggesting my time here is short lived.

“No worries, cheers for the help guys. Enjoy!” I smile.

“Wait, wait!” Dustin splutters. “Are you sure you don’t want to hang with us for a while?”

“Dustin” Mike says quietly, clearly impatient.

“No, don’t worry about it guys. I’m sure I’ll catch you later. Stay safe!” I smile again as I turn on my heels and walk towards the door.

---

I’m check my watch again. Ten past seven. Where the hell is he? He didn’t call before I left, there’s been no sign of him here, no sign of him before I got here. Nothing. Where the hell is he.

I can feel my impatience grow. I didn’t feel annoyed, I could just feel some slight irritation since I had been waiting here so long.

I pull out the pack of cigarettes from my jacket pocket and light one up. At least if I was smoking, I wouldn’t look so weird for standing outside the arcade for so long. Then, the rev of an engine as it pulls into the car park.

Of course. Of all the places in Hawkins, of all the places in the world, of course it had to be him, at this time as well.

“Be back out here in an hour or…”

“I know, I know. Or I’m skating home” says a girls voice. I see a red headed girl climb out of the blue Camaro.

“Hey! Watch the attitude!” his voice shouts as she slams the door and rushes past me into the arcade. I hope for a second he hasn’t seen me, that he just drives away. My irritation was already high, I didn’t want to have it raised anymore by him. But my hope disintegrates as the engine turns off and a car door opens. He gets out and walks closer, leaning against the passenger side door so he is facing me.

“Can I help you Hargrove?” I say blankly as I blow smoke out of my nose.

“It’s funny. For someone who was so sure that we’d only speak once we sure seem to be running into each other a lot.”

“You do have a bad habit of appearing right when you’re not wanted”

“See, I think I seem to appear when you need me most” he smirks, which makes me scoff.

“When have I ever ‘needed you’”

“Well, you needed my cigarettes last night. You needed my car this morning for a ride. I’m guessing they’re my cigarettes your smoking now.” He laughs. “And I’m also guessing your needing something to do now, or do you just plan of standing outside the arcade for the rest of the night like a weirdo.” Maybe he had a point… No. I didn’t need him, he just happened to be convenient recently.

“I’m waiting for Steve”

“Again?” he laughs, but there’s a hint of pity in this laugh. And the pity had a point. This had happened a lot these past few days, me waiting around miserably for someone who wasn’t turning up. “Come on” he says, patting the passenger car door before walking round to the driver’s side.

“Come on where?” I didn’t want to be curious, but I couldn’t deny a part of me was. What else was I going to do with my night? Wait around here for Steve who probably won’t show, just to go home and spend the weekend alone, waiting to see him on Monday for whatever apology he would surely give? Or maybe… be a little impulsive? No. I didn’t know him. I met him yesterday, how could I go off somewhere again with him, especially at night…

“Just on a ride?”

“Where?”

“I thought I was the one who asks too many questions” he laughs, smirking again. “I’m not gonna force you Y/N, the choice is yours. If you want to wait around here all night in the cold that’s up to you, or you can come for a drive, and maybe, actually have a bit of fun for once” he says with a smile, but his voice doesn’t sound dirty like it usually does, there’s an actual hint of friendliness about it.

“You’re not gonna murder me?” I ask, partly to be funny, partly out of worry.

“No” he smirks. “The second you want to go home, we’ll turn around and I’ll drop you off. Deal?” he says with a wink, licking his lips. I take a second to look at him. His leather jacket and red shirt underneath unbuttoned just enough to show a little muscle. His eyes staring up as me, the streetlight adding a little glint in them. A rush of cold air blows and pushes me into making a decision as I step towards the car.

“Deal”

Requested Tags x 

@savingprivatecass @nightshade7117 @xxcxrolinexx @justmesadgirl @silver-winter-wolf @mynameispurple @leslxo @noodlenerd101 @non-binarycryptid @thefandomzoneisdangerous @writteninthestars288 @frenchieswiftie @dreamwavej @itsanallygator @idjitdestiel @rosehargreeves @slvtherinseeker @florenceivy @bandsandanimefreak @spn-marvel-nerd @majesticmarvelnerd @canny1902 @blablasomethingblabla  @i-bitch-you-bitch @keira1416 @ashadowoftheforest @queenbbarnes @thecynicalviolinist @salemlysi @hardygal69 @billyhargrovescigarette @hella-anxious 

[infinitesimal-grey]

Here Be Aliens 3

I had this formatted on a computer and in my drafts but edited one thing for continuity and everything burned. Crackhead commentary in my inbox is welcome and appreciated, anon is on.

This story is a continuation of Here Be Aliens, previous chapters are on this blog and direct links to them are in the reblog of this post.

Co-writer: R

Warnings: Ro and Lo are very confused as to Virgil's gender (not malicious, just 🤦‍♂️), swearing

…

 Logan huffed, folding his wings back in. “[You are the one that knocked the beaker over in the first place.]” He stated simply, watching over Roman’s shoulder. “[It is likely afraid of us. I suppose it could come from a much smaller planet of some sort.]” He adjusted his glasses, tail flicking idly. “[Considering the small size and apparent shock at seeing us..]”

“[Poor thing. I wonder how it got here.]” Roman stood back up and folded his wings flat to his back.

“[That I couldn’t say… I’ve done plenty of reading on planets in our solar system and so far there aren’t any that support life. That we know of, of course.f course, We could very well be missing something with current scientific instruments.]” He pushed his glasses up his angular nose.

Virgil, meanwhile, let out a strangled whine. From where he sat on the ship’s metal floor he could feel the repetitive thudding far below him. A few various lights along his visor flickered in the dark. The second Roman’s eye wandered he planned to bolt.

Wait.

Waiiit.

Go.

The astronaut darted forward, lunging for the hatch that would lead him out of hell; or at least somewhere without windows..

“[Yeah…]” Roman bent back over. “[Where are you from? Do you come in pea- !- wait where are you going??]” Roman reached out instinctively. He didn’t want them to run somewhere and get hurt!

Virgil’s body froze in the moment as monumental fingers filled his view of the outside world. “J-jesus H Roosevelt Christ—"

“[What’s happening I can’t see!]” Logan fluttered behind him, craning his neck like a child at the zoo.

Roman grasped each edge of the ship and lifted it with a huff. He lifted the airlock to eye level and looked in, able to see right down a straight hallway to the alien. “[Wait come back, we’re not gonna hurt’cha!]”

This only succeeded in getting Virgil to pry harder at the airlock. The lack of power on the usually hydraulic hatch was giving him terrible trouble, he was so frustrated and afraid his heart felt like it’d flutter right through his ribs.

Roman’s eyes widened and he tilted the ship towards him without thinking. Virgil slowly realized he was slipping against the smooth metal. He reached out desperately for the latch’s handle but it was barely an inch too late.

Virgil plummeted along the metal, kicking and fighting for purchase. His heart fell and exploded on the floor as his legs flew into the open air, but he somehow clung by his gloves to the edge of the airlock.

That is until a hand the size of a quantum ship engine lifted to become the ground below him. Virgil tried to pull away but the gravity was simply too much and he fell with a thwump back into the alien’s palm. The beast of an alien had the ship balanced on his hip and Virgil in his palm.

"[Oh gods-]” Roman reached for more to say but found his tongue had been taken at the surreal feeling of the alien’s limbs against his palm. It kind of tickled, and he closed his fist to pin the movement. 

Virgil clenched his jaw and shook his head to fight oncoming nausea. When he opened his eyes the pilot found himself staring dead ahead at eyes the size of his head. Huge pupils mirrored his own terrified form back to him. He could’ve sworn what was visible of it's iris was shifting in both shade and color.

 “[I’m sorry I… I didn’t think that I would actually stop you-]” he breathed. His pupils were wide and his ears were perked attentively. At the feeling of being hit in the back of the head by a feathery appendage, he lifted Virgil to where Logan could see as well.

Virgil struggled against Roman’s grip, but when he was lifted up he froze completely, staring wide-eyed at the two that now had him captive. “…I’m fucked.” He just had to desperately hope that they valued his life over being the scientific heroes of the century because he certainly did not want to become some marvel on a dissection table.

Logan, meanwhile, stared right back, eyes wide and ears twitching. “[Woah…]” He breathed, wings opening just slightly as he leaned forward and lightly poked the side of Virgil’s helmet–luckily, the controls were set to recognize his own fingerprints, so nothing on his suit was activated by the touch.

Roman had a similar dopey look of awe but tried to snap himself out of it. He loosened his grip so he the alien was in cupped palms; partially to give him space but also to see the rest of him. “[Are you ok? … Do you come in peace?]”

Virgil let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding when he found himself no longer in a fist. He instinctively turned to try and escape but skidded short when he noticed just how high up he was. He knew well enough to not bet on his jetpack when he didn’t know the atmosphere’s composition. “Oh god, I’d die from that fall..” He slowly backed away from the edge of Roman’s hands, spinning back around to look up towards the giants.

His suit was interesting, it seemed to melt around the form of his body and was a black gunmetal shade with purple shimmering underneath when it hit certain angles of light. The helmet looked to be tinted, hiding his face for the most part while various colors of light danced in the glass. "[Do you think it can understand us Lo?]” Roman couldn’t resist and let himself use a finger to feel Virgil’s suit, he had never seen anything like it besides superhero movies.

Logan adjusted his glasses, one of his ears twitching. “[It doesn’t.. appear to be registering anything we’re saying, so I don’t think so, no.]”

Virgil flinched and pushed against Roman’s fingers, though it didn’t serve to do much at all. “Noo no no get away!”

“[Awh…]” Roman held them up to Logan as if it were a kitten. “[Do you think it’s a girl or a boy alien? I don’t see any horns.]” Roman petted the alien’s oddly smooth head.

Logan hummed and ran his fingers over the alien’s head where horns might grow. “[Either way, the body structure and.. well, lack of horns, seems to indicate that it’s feminine in nature, so I would say that is a safe bet. It could also be a juvenile. But honestly, there is no way of knowing without being able to ask.]”

Virgil, meanwhile, was not a fan of all the touching. He struggled, trying to pull away from their poking and prodding. “Stop that–!”

“[Well pleased to meet you ma’am sir gentlealien.]” Roman sheepishly dropped his hand when he finally noticed the alien pushing away. “[Crap, how much longer do we have before school starts? We can’t hide here all day my parents would kill me.]”

Logan hummed, whipping out a glowing, thin slab of glass from his pocket. “[Still about ten minutes.]” Logan responded. “[Even despite the delay we got here much quicker than expected with your shortcut.]” He added on, pleasantly surprised.

Virgil shivered, pulling into himself as much as he could manage. “Put me back in my ship and let me le-eave.”

“[Told ya so, roads are for normies. Even so, we should find somewhere to hide the ship. Want to hold ‘em while I carry the ship?]”

Logan chuckled a bit, nodding and holding his hands out. “[Sure, why not. We can put the ship in one of our lockers for the day.]”

Virgil’s eyes snapped to Logan, glancing between the two before going stiff. “Oh hell–”

Roman bridged his fingers to Logans. “[Could you go with him, please? He won’t hurt you.]”

Virgil pulled back, pushing himself to the heels of Roman’s palms. “Nope, Nope, nooo nope. not doing that. No way.” He shook his head, feeling himself shaking slightly. “I want back in my ship.” He pointed towards the now more than powered-down ship, keeping his arm from shaking as much as he could manage.

Logan frowned slightly, his ears drooping. “[Come on, I’m not going to hurt you..]”

“[Come on, please, your ship is fine I gotta hide it for now though. If anyone sees it we could get into deep shit.]” Roman tilted his palm a bit over Logan’s hoping to encourage Virgil to move. He knew the alien couldn’t understand but he tried to keep his tone reassuring and calm.

Virgil stumbled, putting his hands down to help keep traction. “Hey–no! Lemme in my ship!”

 Roman felt bad about, but they were running out of time. He ushered the alien onto Logan’s palm. Then he went and gathered the ship securely in his arms, making sure to stack on the severed doors as well.

Virgil yelped, falling onto his back in Logan’s hands, watching with a whine as Roman picked up his broken ship.

Logan sighed, holding his hands closer. “[My locker is cleaner, we can store it there.]”

“[I would argue but honestly that’s fair.]” Roman draped the jackets over the ship. “[Alright how should we go about this I doubt she wants to be paraded around the halls in the open..]” Roman looked wistfully at the alien, wishing she or he or they could talk or at least understand him to know he means no harm.

Logan hummed, nodding. “[I suppose you are right..]” He tapped one of his hooves on the ground a few times, before perking up. “[Ah, How could I forget? I’ve got a chest pocket on all of my shirts. And you said breast pockets weren’t practical,]” He added smugly. “[I'll be able to feel that she’s there, and she’ll be out of sight.]”

Roman wanted to explain it to the alien because of how scared they must be, but just nodded. It’d be easier to figure out a way of communication when they weren’t risking someone walking in at any given moment. Roman started out the door to Logan’s locker, keeping his head down and trying not to look suspicious despite the huge bundle he was carrying.

Logan nodded in return, carefully tucking a very frightened Virgil into his shirt’s chest pocket. “[Apologies, I’ll try not to have you stuck in there all day.]” He then trotted ahead of Roman so he could open the locker for him.

Virgil, meanwhile, was trying not to hyperventilate. He was in some crazy giant aliens’ shirt pocket, and there wasn’t much he could do to get out of it. He hadn’t exactly been able to grab much in planet-exploring gear in the process of being abducted. Thank god this crazy place had a breathable atmosphere.. Unless of course, he died later.

Roman waited on Logan to remove the lock before lifting and storing the ship upon the locker shelf. He slipped his jacket back on. “[So do you want to switch off with holding him-them during the day? I’m not leaving her—him-them? This whole not knowing thing is getting annoying— by themself in a locker all day that is beyond dangerous.]”

“[I completely agree.]” Logan nodded and closed his locker, much to the dismay of Virgil, who’d managed to peek out of the pocket in time to see his ship disappear from sight again. “[Switching out sounds like a good idea, I’d say.]”

Virgil let out a groan, glancing between the two. “What’reWhat’re they saying, what’re they saying…”

“[Want to have the honors of going first or shall I?]” Roman leaned casually against the wall of lockers.

Logan chuckled, slipping his jacket back over his wings. “[I’ve already got her in my pocket, it’d only waste us more time switching her back over. Besides, she seems pretty unsettled still. Perhaps after a class or two? Or maybe even lunch?]”

Virgil slumped back down into the pocket when his view was obscured mostly by Logan’s jacket. This was going to be a pain… Stuck in a giant pocket listening to alien school lectures all day. Joy. More than anything, he just hoped it wouldn’t end up too loud.. He didn’t trust his suit’s current power stores with music while he wasn’t in some form of sunlight, and his headphones were still somewhere back in his ship. Figures.

“[Yeah alright you’re probably right-]” Roman paused dejectedly as the morning bell rung, “[-Meet you in the back in the lab during 1st lunch?]” He straightened and readjusted his messenger bag so it wasn’t pinching a feather on his wing.

Logan nodded, adjusting his glasses “[That works for me. See you then.]” With that he turned, heading towards his first block class.

Roman waved and wandered off towards first period, sure he wasn’t going to hear a word of the teacher’s lecture over his own thoughts.

...

I'm really confused about tag lists and remembering who goes where for multiple stories so this is my last tag for Here Be Aliens, if youd like to see more of it and future stories please turn on post notifications (Prince starved taglist will continue for now, along with my general writing taglist)

[mustangshelby04]

Boston Boy - Chapter 10

Kate followed Chris around as he explored Maymont Park in Richmond.  She had left work early at the insistence of her boss.  They had been through the welcome center and gone through the wildlife center where the otters were.  They’d seen the bears and the foxes and the farm animals out in the nature reserve.  Now they were roaming the grounds, making their way up the path into the Italian gardens from the Japanese gardens.

“My cousin got married here.” Kate said, mounting the stairs around the fountain right behind him.

“Todd?” Chris asked, stopping to wait for her.

“Yeah.” She pointed to the long Italian pavilion at the top of the hill. “Up there.”

“This is a really pretty place for a wedding.”

“It was really pretty.  I love the pictures I took for them.  Amy said she wished she’d hired me because mine were better.” She shrugged. “They had the reception in the carriage house.”

“Did everyone sit in carriages while they ate cake?”

She giggled. “No.  They converted most of it into rooms for receptions and parties.  The carriages are in the stables now.  I’ll show you when we get up there.  Fuck I hate cardio.” Kate huffed as they made it to the top of the steep stairs.

“You and me both.” Chris laughed.  He was slightly winded, too.  They found a bench and sat down on it. “You didn’t warn me about all the hills.”

“Hey Chris, I forgot to tell you about the major hills here and the insane flight of steps..” Kate laughed and Chris couldn’t help but laugh with her. “I’m really glad that I decided to wear my flat boots today.” 

“You didn’t plan this?”

“Nope.  I’m winging it.”

“So there’s no plans for the rest of the day?”

“Well, ok…. I did make a phone call before I left work to some friends of mine at Agecroft and they told me to come by when the museum closed.  They’ll give us a private tour of the house and grounds.”

“Are you going to impress me with your knowledge of Tudor England?”

“I might.”

Chris smiled brightly. “Cool.” They were quiet for a long moment, watching the people mill around on the unusually warm November day. “I like that about you.”

“What?”

“How smart you are.”

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t call knowing way too much about Tudor England smart.  It’s mostly just useless trivia that would only be helpful to win me money on Jeopardy and that’s only if they had that category while I’m on there.”

“You are, though.  The way you assess situations and how creative you are…. You’re incredibly smart.  It’s sexy.”

Kate let out a loud laugh. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“You should.”

She stood up and held out her hand. “Ready?”

“More walking?”

“More walking.”

He took her hand and stood up. “Where to now?”

“There’s the mansion to walk around.  I think it’s still open.  Then Agecroft isn’t terribly far from here.  We can hit Carytown for dinner after.”

“Sounds good.”

“So, can you tell me about this movie you’re leaving me to go film?  Or is there a Marvel sniper ready to take you out?”

“I can.  It’s not Marvel so no one is going to shoot me.”

“Good.”

“It’s about a guy who’s sister died and he’s raising his niece.  She’s really smart…. A child prodigy…. And he’s just trying to protect her and raise her like his sister would’ve wanted.”

“Sounds lovely.  And it sounds like you’re getting to stretch your legs a bit.”

“Yeah.  That’s why I picked it.”

“Who’s in it besides you?”

“Uh…. Octavia Spencer….”

“From The Help?”

“Yes.”

“I love that movie!  She was amazing.  And she did Snowpiercer, too!”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry.  I fangirled a bit.  I love her.  Who else?”

“Jenny Slate.”

“I know the name.”

“A lot of people know her from Parks and Rec.  She played the annoying sister of that annoying guy.”

“Oh!  Mona Lisa Samperstien.”

“Yes.  She’s not like that in real life.”

Kate chuckled. “Good to know.”

“She’s from the Boston area, too.” 

“Are you sure it’ll be ok for me to be on set?”

“Of course!  You can order anything you want to make you comfortable.  You’ll be able to sit and watch the scenes we shoot on the monitor.  Or just hang out in my trailer and watch TV or play video games.  Whatever you want to do.  When I’m not filming, we can explore Savannah or go to Atlanta.  And then next month we’ll be at Disneyworld.”

Kate smiled. “I’m looking forward to that the most.”

“Promise me that I’ll get to buy you your first pair of ears.”

“Ok, but only if I get to pick them out.”

“Deal.” He grinned. “That’s the first thing you haven’t fought me on about buying you.”

She rolled her eyes. “I just…. Don’t want a sugar daddy.  I get that you have more money than any sane person knows what to do with thanks to Marvel, but I have my money…. And my pride…. And I like to feel independent.”

“I know.  I get it.  I do.  It’s just that I like to give back to the ones I care about most.  Those that give me so much more than I feel like I could ever return.”

“And what is it that I give you that warrants that?”

He looked at her mischievously and said, “Dat ass” before bursting into his echoing laughter.  She shook her head at him and wrapped her arms around his waist when he pulled her to him. “I’m sorry.” He said through laughter. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Then we’re a great pair.” He smiled down at her, but noticed that her face had gone paler than it usually was and her eyes were wide.  Chris followed her line of sight and saw a man walking towards them. “Who’s that?”

“Someone I don’t want to be anywhere near.” She let go of Chris and hauled ass from both men.  Chris glanced at the man who had stopped in his tracks and then went after Kate.  He finally caught up to her after she’d veered off and gone behind the carriage house.  She was standing behind one of the carriages peering out from behind it.

“Kate?”

“Shh!” She grabbed his hand and pulled him behind the carriage with her. “That’s my ex.”

“The fiancé that treated you like shit and cheated on you?” She nodded and Chris stood up suddenly.  He started to walk away from the shelter of the carriage, but she grabbed him again and pulled him back. “Kate….”

“He’s not worth it.”

“He’s got you running and hiding behind a carriage.”

“Maybe it was an overreaction, but I just…. I don’t want to deal with him.  I’ve done a great job avoiding him for the last few years.”

Chris looked at her for a long moment, coming to a decision.  He took his hat off and shoved it in his back pocket before taking off his sunglasses and hanging them off the collar of his shirt.  He was clearly not trying to hide who he was anymore. “Kate this is really cool!” He said loudly. “I can see why your cousin got married here.  It’s pretty perfect for a wedding.”

“Chris!” She hissed at him, ducking further behind the carriage as he moved out in the open.

“I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be touching it, though, right?”

Instinct made her step away from the carriage and Chris used her distraction by grabbing her hand and pulling her to him out in the open.  She looked up at him in shock and then he suddenly kissed her, lifting her off her feet some as he stood up straight.

“Kat?” A male voice said from a few feet away from them.

Chris set her down but kept his arm around her waist.  He turned them to face Kate’s ex-fiancé and her grip tightened on his waist until it was starting to hurt him.  He shifted slightly to ease the grip, but she just gripped tighter.

“Jackson.” Kate said, her voice icy.

“I thought that was you.  You’ve lost weight.” Jackson got a good look at Chris and his eyes widened. “Oh shit!  Dude!  You’re Captain America!”

“I know.” Chris said, not offering his hand by way of greeting.

“Are you filming a movie or something?” Jackson looked around for a camera crew.

“No.  My girlfriend is showing me the sights.” 

“Girlfriend?” Jackson looked at Kate and laughed. “There’s no way.”

Kate’s face turned stormy and her eyes darkened. “What?  Did you think I couldn’t do better than you?”

“I….” “You thought wrong.”

“I just gotta say, thanks man.” Chris said, his Boston accent starting to slip out. “If it weren’t for you being a complete douchebag and tossing her to the side like yesterday’s garbage, I wouldn’t have gotten to show her how a real man treats a woman as amazing as her.  I’m seriously the luckiest guy in the world to have her next to me.  And you’re a fucking asshole that’s probably never going to find happiness because you’re too busy shoving your cock into anything that moves.” He tightened his grip on Kate so he could steer her away.  A few seconds later, he whispered, “I have no idea where we’re going to get out of here.”

“Keep going straight and take a right after this next building.” Kate whispered back.

“You ok?”

“I can’t believe you just did that.”

“He deserved worse.”

“Put your hat back on.”

“Embarrassed to be seen with me?”

She laughed. “No.  I just want you to myself.  Can’t do that if you get mobbed.” They rounded the corner and both of them breathed a sigh of relief. “Did you look back at him?”

“No.  Did you?”

“No.”

Chris turned and peeked around the corner before ducking back quickly. “He’s still standing there.  He might be drooling.”

“Let’s get the fuck out of here before he comes back to himself.”

He gestured at the large open space between them and the main building. “That’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“We’ll go around.” She guided him down the path to the right and out into a small parking lot.  They made their way around the outside of the park to the main parking lot in front of the welcome building.  Kate checked the time on the car’s radio. “Ok, we can head over to Agecroft.  It’s closing soon.”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Chris’s eyes got wide as they pulled up the drive to the old manor house. “Holy shit.  This place is gorgeous.”

“Wait till you see the courtyard and the gardens and the view from the back.” Kate said with a big grin.  She parked the car and they got out.  Chris snapped a few pictures on his cell phone before catching up to her. “It’s huge!  I didn’t think it would be this big.”

“That’s what she said.” 

He let out a loud laugh that echoed in the courtyard.  She took them to a large, heavy wooden door to the right of the main gate.  It led into a little lobby with a counter that had two cash registers.  

A woman in her early fifties came out from the back and smiled brightly. “Katie!”

“Hi, Georgie.” Kate walked over behind the counter and hugged the woman warmly.

“Who’s tall dark and handsome with you?”

“This is my…. Boyfriend…. Chris.”

“Why are you hesitating?  I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to claim him.” Georgie shook Chris’s hand.

“It’s a relatively new relationship.  Still getting used to the labels.”

“Well, Chris, welcome to Agecroft.”

“Thank you.  Kat’s told me a lot about it.”

“She’s a big hit here when she dresses as Anne Boleyn.” Georgie turned to Kate. “By the way, your costume is safe and sound in my office.”

“Thanks for letting me store it here.  I’ve got no room in my closet for it.”

“Hey, you should put it on and give Chris the tour.”

Kat started to protest, but Chris cut her off. “I would love that.” He said, showing his excitement at the idea by bouncing on the balls of his feet with a twinkle in his eyes.

“I’m sure you would.” Kate retorted.

“Ok, so that’s decided.  Katie, go back in my office and start getting dressed, I’ll come help you after I get the video started up for your tall glass of water.”

Kate rolled her eyes, but did as she was told.  Twenty minutes later, Chris was waiting patiently in the movie room.  The introduction video had ended about five minutes before.  The rustling of skirts sounded behind him and he turned.

“Holy shit!” He exclaimed, a huge grin turning his face into a ball of happy light. “Kat…. You look incredible!”

Kate was wearing a deep burgundy, velvet Tudor style dress that complimented her porcelain skin perfectly.  The long sleeves were lined with lush dark brown velvet.  The neckline was trimmed with the same velvet and bejeweled with red, amber, and clear jewels.  The French hood she wore on her head was also trimmed in the velvet and jewels.  She was wearing a chestnut colored wig that was pinned back behind the hood and fell in waves down her back.  On her neck rested a perfect replica of Anne Boleyn’s famous ‘B’ necklace.

To his surprise, she gave him a deep curtsy and said with a perfect British accent, “Thank you, milord.  It would be my pleasure to escort you through this fine manor.”

Georgie opened a door in the left corner of the room and held it open for them. “Enjoy the tour, Chris.  Katie’s an expert at it at this point.”

“Thanks!” He followed Kate down a hallway. “Kate, you seriously look amazing.  I’m blown away.”

She laughed. “Many thanks to you, good sir.” He followed her through the house, listening intently as she told him about the manor house’s history, daily life in the Tudor times, and about the large stained glass window that had made it intact across the ocean when the house had been brought over to America.  She taught him a dance in the great hall by said window and told him about the tapestry that was hanging there.  

In the next room, she went behind a velvet rope and sat in a large chair with only three legs.  The way she held herself and placed her hands delicately in her lap, she looked every bit the queen she was pretending to be.  Chris found himself even more enamored with her as she told a story about Henry VIII writing the song ‘Greensleeves’ about her, Anne.  

Outside on the back lawn, she showed him a maze carved into the grass with a wrought iron bench for one in the middle of the maze.  The game was for two men to start at the two entrances and make their way through the maze and the first one to the lady on the bench would win her favor.  They headed over to the gardens and Kate explained how they were modeled after Hampton Court’s gardens.  It was winter, so the flowers weren’t in bloom sadly, but the grass was lush and green and the herbs were on display.

The last stop on the tour was the kitchen just across the courtyard from the main entrance.  She feigned ignorance of how most of it worked since Anne wouldn’t have spent much time in a kitchen being the queen.  He escorted her back to the main entrance where Georgie was waiting.

“Did you have fun?” She asked.

“More than I thought was possible.” Chris said.

Kate curtsied to him again and begged his leave.  She and Georgie disappeared into the back and fifteen minutes later, Kate reemerged as herself again. “That wig is ridiculously hot.” She said.

“I’d imagine the whole outfit is hot.”

“Not as bad as you’d think.”

“So, Chris, how’d she do?” Georgie asked, coming out of the back.

“She was amazing.  And very informative.”

“It’s too bad we can’t hire her on full time.  She’d be an amazing addition to this place.” Georgie sighed. “Budget cuts won’t let us pay her what she’s worth.  But thankfully she’s the sweetest thing and volunteers her time and historically accurate costume.”

“You’ve paid me before.” Kate argued. “You won’t let me do everything for charity.”

“Of course not!  I’d be stupid if I did.  You’re worth more than all of these part timers put together.” Georgie looked at Chris. “She took the pictures for the website.  Did she tell you that?”

“No.  She didn’t mention it.” Chris said.

“You should take a look.  They’re pretty spectacular.”

“I’ll definitely do that.”

“Ok, kids, it’s dinnertime.  Go down to Carytown and find yourself something yummy.  Chris, it was lovely to meet you.”

“It was great meeting you.” Chris shook Georgie’s hand and he and Kate left the way they’d come in. “Where’d you learn that accent?”

“Believe it or not, watching British TV shows and listening to Benedict Cumberbatch.  I just imitated it.  It was bad, wasn’t it?”

“No!  If I had never met you, I would’ve thought you were actually from England.”

“Oh, thank you.”

They climbed in the car and Kate started it up as he said, “You didn’t break character once.  It was amazing.  You put me to shame.”

“Oh, now I know you’re being polite.”

“No!  I’m being honest!”

She shot him a look that clearly said she didn’t believe him, but chose to drop it. “What do you feel like eating?”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Kate looked across the table at Chris and watched him peruse the menu.  They were at Galaxy Diner in a booth in the back.  The guy at the front that had seated them had realized who Chris was and he’d ended up spending about thirty minutes signing autographs while Kate waited in the booth for him.  The manager had finally shooed the other customers away and asked them to leave Chris and Kate in peace.  From Kate’s position, she could see people towards the front turn and gawk.  When they saw her looking, they’d quickly turn back around.

“You’re hot news around here.” Kate said. “Not every day Richmond gets such a big star.”

“Apparently you’re a big star, too.  You got asked for an autograph.” Chris said with a laugh.

She chuckled. “I didn’t expect that.  Who do you think he thought I was?”

Chris eyed her for a long moment, appreciating the beauty of the girl he called his. “I think he just saw what I saw.”

“Dare I ask?”  

“He saw the most beautiful creature on the planet.  I can’t argue with him.”

She laughed and shook her head. “You’re insane.”

“Maybe.  But it doesn’t make you any less gorgeous.” He leaned across the table and kissed her quickly. “What did you sign?”

“Kitty Monroe.  Whenever I sign an autograph, it’s always at a burlesque show.  So it was a knee jerk reaction.”

“I don’t have Kitty’s autograph.”

She laughed slightly. “I’ll sign a poster from the show Friday just for you.”

“Awesome!  I’m really looking forward to that.  Scott is flying in for it that morning.  I’ll go pick him up while you’re at work and we’ll figure out where to put him overnight.” Kate gave him a nervous smile, so he changed the subject. “So, what’s good here?”

“Pretty much everything.”

“What are you getting?  You haven’t even glanced at the menu.”

“Oh, I’m getting my usual.” She reached over and flipped his menu to the page with hot sandwiches on it. “I get the Aloha Chicken.”

He took a moment to read it. “That sounds delicious.”

“I get fries and mac cheese with it usually.  Or the spiced apples.”

Chris nodded and read through the menu. “I think I’m going to stick with your Hawaiian theme and get this Spicy Hawaiian Burger.”

“Good choice.  I hear it’s delicious.”

The waitress came back and they placed their orders.  The conversation flowed easily as it always did, but Kate noticed as the time went by, more and more people were crowding outside the entrance to the place.  Chris finally noticed that her attention kept shifting to the front of the restaurant and he turned to look.  There were about thirty people crowded on the sidewalk out front.

“Well, that’s going to be fun to get through.” He commented, waving slightly at the crowd and causing screams to be heard from some of the women out there.

“They’re definitely between us and my car.”

Chris turned back around and casually glanced at the back of the room.  There was a door that probably led to the outside by the bathrooms. “We could go out the back way, but that would mean having to run to the car.”

“If you want to go talk to them and sign autographs, that’s ok.”

“Kat, I’m here with you.  I’m not going to ditch you to go be a celebrity.”

“I don’t want anyone to stop liking you because you chose to avoid them.  They’re your fans, Chris.  They’re the reason you have such a great career.  I insist that you go say hi.”

“Kat….”

“I’ve got the check when it comes.  Go on.”

He gave her a long look. “I’m an asshole just leaving you here.”

She actually laughed at him. “And I’m the bitch making you do it.  Chris, I’m fine.  Seriously.  Go.” He reached over and cupped her cheek for a moment. “I’ll meet you outside.” She watched him head out into the throng of people and listened to the excited squeals of some of the girls.

The waitress came over and glanced at the scene. “So, you’re the lucky girl the internet has been blowing up over.”

“What do you mean?” Kate asked, genuinely confused.  She hadn’t checked the internet in the entire time Chris had been with her.  It hadn’t even occurred to her.

“I’ve seen a few articles about Chris Evans and his new girl.  It said you were from Richmond, but it never gave your name.  Either they’re really bad at their jobs or his people are keeping you under wraps.”

“Oh…. “ Kate handed the girl her debit card. “For the check.”

“I’ll get that right out to you.” She smiled at Kate and headed up to the register.

While she waited, Kate’s cell phone started ringing.  It was her friend Amy who was also in the burlesque world.  She went by the name Harley Queen and she was the one who was putting on the Marvel show she’d told Chris about. “Hey, Amy!”

“Kat!  Guess who I just saw is actually in Richmond right now!” Amy said excitedly.  She didn’t wait for Kate to guess. “It’s your future husband!”

“Oh.”

Amy laughed. “He’s in Carytown.  I’m about to head that way.  Wanna come?  I’ll meet you somewhere.”

“It’s ok.  I’m already in Carytown.” “Have you met him?  Oh my god, how weird is it that you were just in Boston and now he’s here?”

Kate laughed slightly. “It’s…. Surreal.”

“What’s wrong?  You sound funky.”

“I do?”

“Where are you in Carytown?  Can you see him?  There’s, like, a mob of people around him.”

“Yeah.  I can see the mob.” 

“Are you gonna go see if you can talk to him?”

“Hold on.” The waitress brought her the tab to sign and her debit card. “Thank you.”

“You want me to call the cops to help you guys get to your car?” The girl asked.

“Uh, no.  That…. I don’t think that’ll be necessary.  Thank you, though.  And thank you for helping us out the last hour and a half.”

“No problem.  You two look good together.”

“Thank you.” The waitress headed back to check on her other tables and Kate put the phone back to her ear. “Amy?”

“Are you on a date?” Amy demanded. “How come you didn’t tell me you were going on a date?”

“Well, I’ve been on a few dates with him now and I’m pretty sure we’re official.”

“Wait, what?  Since when?”

“Look, I’ll fill you in later, ok?  I promise.”

“Come on, Kat!  Spill!”

Kate sighed. “He’s coming to the show Friday.”

“What show?”

“The show I’m doing last minute for Dalia.  I sent you an invite on Facebook.  Come to that and I’ll introduce you.”

“Oh!  I was coming to that anyway.  I’m working the door that night.”

“Ok.  Then I’ll see you Friday and you will meet the boyfriend.”

“I better.”

“You will.  I gotta go.  Bye.” Kate hung up and looked at Chris.  The crowd around him was thinning some, but passersby were stopping to stare.  She took a deep breath and walked down the aisle towards the door.  Most of the diners stared at her as she passed them, but she ignored them, instead waving at the manager and thanking him again for his help.

Chris turned when he heard the door whoosh open. “Hey!” Kate smiled at him and put his baseball cap on her head.  He’d left it in the booth with her. “Sorry guys, I’ve gotta go.” The crowd vocalized their disappointment, but thankfully they didn’t stop him from leaving.  Chris wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked towards the car. “That looks good on you.”

“I’m not a hat person.”

“I think you look cute, but it’s my favorite hat.”  He slipped it off her head and plopped it on top of his with a grin.

“My friend Amy called me while you were out there.  She wanted to tell me you were in town and causing a scene.” 

“Well that was nice of her.  Did you tell her why I’m here?”

Kate shook her head. “I’m gonna tell her when she meets you Friday.  She might faint and it’ll take my mind off my nerves.” Chris chuckled at that as they slipped into her car. “Hey, um…. The waitress said something interesting to me.  And you can tell me I’m stupid for believing it if it isn’t true cause I know not to believe everything I hear.”

“What’s up?”

“She said that there’s no way the press hasn’t figured out who I am by now and that, air quote, ‘your people’ were spending a lot of money to keep my name under wraps.”

“Damn.  She’s perceptive.”

“So it’s true?”

“Well, yeah.  My publicist, Megan, called me before we came to Richmond and said she’s been fielding calls about you.  She asked if I wanted to go public and I said not yet.”

“Oh.”

“Are you upset?”

“Not at all.  I’m just curious as to why didn’t you tell me.”

“Because I honestly didn’t think it was that big of a deal.  I want you to be completely comfortable with me before we even discuss going public.  Which I think is so stupid that we even have to have that discussion.”

Kate shrugged. “I didn’t even think about that discussion.”

“And you shouldn’t have to.  It’s just you and me in this relationship.  Nobody else.” He took her hand. “I’m honestly not trying to hide you.  I just want to protect you.”

She squeezed his hand. “I get it.  Having a private life seems to be hard in Hollywood.  The paparazzi are assholes.  It’s why I try to avoid pictures of you taken by them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  Your private life is none of my business.” Chris chuckled and lifted an eyebrow at her. “Well, it wasn’t always.”

He was quiet for a long moment, still holding her hand as she drove them away from Carytown. “Kat, if it’s ever too much for you, you’ll tell me, right?” She looked over at him with a reassuring smile. “Of course I will.”

“Good.”

She let her next question die on her tongue.  She decided she didn’t want to hear the answer to ‘what happens if it does become too much’.  In all honesty, she was quite attached to Chris.  Getting to know who he really was and seeing the way he looked at her like she was the only person on the face of the earth…. She couldn’t help but fall for him.

Tag List:

@joannaliceevans-fanficblog @jamielea81 @southerngracela @kelbabyblue @introvertedmouse @tfandtws @sullyosully @deidrahouseofpain @lovinevans @ajosieface

[the-gunslock]

Hiver 6 - Light

This is the story about how my universe touched someone else’s.

The blue-armored Hunter rushed through the mechanic door to the apartment door with excitement due to the situation she has been called to assist with, making the Warlock sitting at the couch jump.

“HIVER!”

“WHAT THE--”

“I came as soon as the strike was over!”

The Warlock paused and furrowed her brows while doing some calculations in her head. “...That was two minutes ago.”

Selene turns to stare back at the door she just came through.

“She flies very fast.” Joan, her Ghost, said as he materialized, spinning his teal Stalwart Shell. “Against better judgement.”

“Hers or yours?” Trinity asked from her pillow near the TV.

“Yes.” Joan replied flatly as he turned to chat with her, leaving her Guardian alone with the Warlock. “Hey, nice shell. How many of the Nine did you bribe to get it?”

“Twelve.” The white Ghost replied, half-giggling.

Selene smiles as the Ghosts make small talk and cuts to the chase with her Warlock friend.

“Either way,” She says as she removes her boots and sits on the couch. “What’s the uh.... “gay emergency”… you called me about?”

The Warlock leans against the couch’s arm rest, head on her hand. “Well, so…”

After their sleepover is done, Amanda retakes her workspace (Now with clean clothes) and Hiver makes another trip to the European Dead Zone to meet with the gentleman sniper that holds human presence in it. She did promise he would be the first to know.

“Well, I’ll be. You really did charm the young lass, didn’t ya, lady? No way to go but up now.” He said with a smile, pouring them both a cup of tea once again. She leaned against the wall, fiddling with her bag strap in a mixture of happiness and embarrassment.

“Not like I expected, though.” She managed, starting to think of her next move.

“Why is that? Did she turn you down?” He asked as he handed the Guardian a saucer and teacup.

“Quite the contrary.” She said, staring at the dark green surface of the liquid. “She had fun, so she invited me to do it again.”

“Heh, you did good. Went with the good old ‘dinner and a movie’ tactic?”

“There was no tactic, I winged it. Simple City date.” She sighs, recollecting her memory of the day.

“Took her to my favorite library, she talked with a lot of passion about machinery. Learned a lot that day. I bought her a mechanics book she had her eye on for a while, earned me a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.”

Hiver unconsciously opened a grin as she said the last part, then continued.

“Then she spotted a flower shop, and dragged me inside since she saw the plants in my house. I taught her about how to care for the ones I knew, and she got herself a nice little cactus. She asked me for a name. I called it Nora.”

“Interesting. Why Nora?” Devrim inquired as Hiver sipped her tea.

“It was her mother’s name. Like the cactus, she was resilient. Needed to be, to handle the road to the City.”

Devrim nodded politely, but kept silent.

“In the late afternoon, she accepted to stay for dinner. I made us a… fondue? Think that’s the name of the thing. Simple to do, but oh so good. The look in her eyes tasting it… she was shining. As always. She loved it and we ate while sharing tattoo ideas, favorite songs and other trivia about ourselves. Then I gave her a ride home and said goodbye with... a peck on her cheek. She seemed so happy, and asked to do it again this week, so... I’m making plans.”

“I’m glad you two are making progress. Finding love in a dead Earth is a blessing... not many of us can have.”

“So that’s what you want my help with?” Selene asked back on the present day, interested and eager like a puppy ever since Hiver told her about her crush.

“To plan this date, yes.” The Warlock says, arms crossed and a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Atta girl!” Her Hunter wingwoman said, moving closer to Hiver and hugging her shoulders from behind. “This is gonna be GREAT! When’s the date?”

“In two days.”

Selene nods, thinking. “Alright, alright. What does she like to do? Except… building and fixing stuff.”

“Huh… other than machines and vehicles, she’s shown an interest in cartography and astrography. She loves seeing landscapes from outside the City walls, too.” Hiver has to more visibly collect her thoughts. “I’m probably getting her into plants and cooking. And she apparently has been practicing a secret hobby of sketching.”

“Joan, you got that?” Selene asks her Ghost.

He turns around and spins excitedly. “Yup, totally did.”

Selene makes an okay sign with her fingers. “I know what to do. I’ll tell you some time before you do it, but now I gotta go, my bun-bun Cupcake needs my company.” She says, getting up from the couch. “Just act normal until the day comes, alright?”

“Okay… Bye, guys. And thank you.” Hiver says, half-grateful and half-concerned. How was she supposed to do anything with the date right around the corner?

“See ya Selene, Joan!” Trinity says in farewell. They leave the apartment and transmat into orbit.

“You should keep your mind busy.” Trinity says, turning to Hiver. “Want to get some weapon frames with Reyla and Junko then ignite some Forges?”

“It’s like you can read my mind, Trinity.” Hiver says, transmatting her armor onto herself.

“Technically, I can.” Trinity says, floating out of her pillow. “Let’s go.”

The next few days for the Gunslock were kind of a blur due to anticipation. She did her strike missions, resource-collecting, bounties and every other thing she was already used to doing on autopilot. Her clanmate, Selene, was scribbling ideas for her friend’s date in between missions.

The night before Hiver and Amanda were to go out again, Hiver was picking her outfit for the day, and Selene sent her the ideas for the day, times, coordinates and everything. The Warlock traded looks with her Ghost and both chortled.

“I can work with this.”

The following morning, she checked herself in her bedroom’s mirror for what seemed the thousandth time before she was sure everything was on its place. This time she went with a white top with lace decorations, thigh-length wine red skirt, matching ribbed thigh-highs and black combat boots.

“You got this…” She muttered to herself as she looked at herself in the mirror again, throwing her long moss green parka on.

“You got this, you got this...” She repeated, checking her silvery nail polish and buckling her ornate grey leather bag to her waist and thigh.

“Gonna need any guns?” Trinity asked her.

“Uhm, get me just the Duke.” Hiver said, opening her bag and letting her Ghost transmat the cannon into it. “Never know when anything can jump us. How do I look?” She asks, bringing her hands together near her chest.

The Ghost eyes her from the bottom up. “Great. You’re ready to go. You need me, I’ll be resting.” Trinity encourages her before transmatting away. She smiled, for she had a long, and hopefully great, day ahead.

The shipwright awaits near one of the artificial lakes in the plaza for her Awoken date, basking on the calm early morning sunlight. Hands neatly tucked inside her sheepskin-like pilot jacket’s pockets and mouthing a catchy tune they had sung together before at their secret spot.

“Wonder... whatchacallit?” She tried and failed to remember its name. With a shrug, she adjusted her own shoulder bag as she looked to see Hiver jogging out of her apartment building to meet her, like a puppy greeting its owner.

“Hey there, cowgirl.” She said, winking at the Awoken girl, who waved back happily.

“Hello, Amanda!” She took this time to examine her partner’s outfit. On her bottom half, brown combat boots, and ripped black jeans that exposed her mechanical joint.

The most notable feature was her open jacket, collar lined with short fur and adorned with patches; Tex Mechanica’s emblem on her right arm; Vanguard’s ‘V’ and the Sparrow Racing League symbol on her right breast; her left arm had a “Remove before flight”-styled tag with “Amanda Holliday” written on it. Finally, on her left breast, was a black, circle-shaped badge with a golden embroidering of six ships soaring towards the skies.

“Hey girl, why you starin’? Got something on me?” Amanda said with a chuckle, grabbing Hiver’s attention. This time, she was ready.

“Yes, you do.” She said, motioning with a finger towards her crush. “It’s just a bit of overwhelming beauty, don’t worry.”

Amanda gave a charmed laugh at her smoothness. Back to her sheepish smile, they started to walk towards nowhere in particular.

“Bet you got a cannon in there.” Amanda said, eyeing the bag on Hiver’s thigh.

“No!”

The human raises an eyebrow at her companion. She can’t resist it.

“...Yes.” She says as she shows her her Duke hand cannon.

“Haha! So, it’s one of two things. Either we’re doing some expeditioning… or you like the cannon more than me.”

“You’d be surprised how hard that is.” Hiver thought. “First option. But first, how about we get breakfast? I’m starving.” They start to walk, Hiver leading the way to the nearby café Selene pointed her towards.

“Aww. Don’t get to eat your homemade cooking today?” Amanda says, in faux-sadness. Well, not all of it. She did really like Hiver’s food.

“Later, if you’d like.” Hiver said to give her partner some hope.

After some minutes of walking and talking, they make it to the café. A little, cozy, brown and beige space, run by a weary but gentle-looking man and a woman that appeared to be his wife. The women greet the couple, sitting down at the elegant wooden table. Theu get served a stack of pancakes and two slices of a cake with an interesting name. “Red Velvet”, they called it. Beside that, was one mug of latte with a layer of whipped cream and one of hot chocolate. Darting between a distracted Hiver and the whipped cream, Amanda had an idea, sipping at it.

“Hiver.”

“Yes?” The Warlock answered, looking up from her cake to see Amanda had a thin cream mustache on her face.

“Ready to bang knuckles?” Amanda said in a husky voice, a purposefully poor imitation of the City’s shadiest individual. Hiver couldn’t hold her laughter, which made the shipwright extremely satisfied.

As she licked the cream off of her upper lip and got to eating, Hiver was machinating her turn.

She threw her hood on and spoke very nasally, while holding the menu like a datapad. “Why, miss Holliday, banging knuckles is not going to find us any Golden Age archives! Keep your priorities in order.”

It was Amanda’s turn to laugh at Hiver’s shenanigan as she took the hood off of her head. Both continued their breakfasts before it went cold, glad start their days off with a bit of good fun.

“That was a good start of the day, lady-killer.” Amanda says, her face propped up on her hands, kicking her legs in teasing expectation. “Where to now?”

“A bit of flying, if you don’t mind. Got places I want you to visit.”

“When did I ever mind flying? Let’s get right to it!”

Trinity took this cue to transmat both of them into Hiver’s ship and trace a course to the Old American Empire. Hiver had them en route to a place who kickstarted their ‘relationship’, so it was time to show them some gratitude.

They touched down right at Quinn’s village’s gates, which was definitely livelier than the last time. The rainclouds had passed and they were working more towards expanding and defending their perimeter. While Amanda takes in the scenery, Hiver notes the recently added plaque that says “St. Winter”. She makes a mental note to ask about it later.

“So,” Amanda turned to her, “this is the place you saved for pitaya?”

“It was worth it, alright? You were so happy that day. Plus I saved the Vanguard the headache of investigating some… possible resurrection of the House of Wolves. Aaaand made some people happy along the way. Everybody won.”

The cheerful man from the last time Hiver was there shows up, after the citizens spread word of the “return of Old Lady Winter”.

Amanda looks at her curiously. “Lady Winter.”

“First Gunslock and then this… being fair, I guess I didn’t give many people my name yet.” The Gunslock says, shrugging.

“That’s right!” Quinn says as he steps closer. “But ice blue as your skin is and deadly as your passing was to these pirates, no title is more fitting.”

“Hello, Quinn. This is my, uh, date, Amanda Holliday.” She says, motioning towards Amanda. “Amanda, this is Quinn, the man who helped me secure their supply routes.”

“Wassup!” Amanda says with a two-finger salute. He smiles politely under his black beard.

“My pleasure to meet you, Amanda. This woman is truly virtuous.”

“Yeah, she does crazy stuff for me sometimes.” She said, eyeing the Awoken girl who is shrinking into herself in embarrassment. “Hope she knows I appreciate it!”

“Wait… was it…” Quinn makes an ‘oh’ face in realization. “Was it her you came to grab the fruit for, Hiver?”

“Shut it!” Hiver rebutts in shame, trying to find another place to look at. Amanda chuckles at her flustered date.

“Hohoho, that was a knightly quest. “Labor of love”, she told me. A lot of labor… means a lot of love. She’s a keeper.” He winks at Amanda, who laughs nervously while blushing and scratching her nape.

“Would you two like to stay in our little town for lunch? Thanks to your lover there, we now have an abundance of food coming in.”

“Sure, why not? Hiver?” Amanda answers, taking off her jacket and looking at her date, who is now a flustered mess ten feet away from them.

A shy “Yeah” is all she can muster before they follow Quinn into the restaurant-like building that is the communal mess hall. It has a rustic interior, many long tables and a little platform, presumably for public announcements. Directly in front of the door is a bar counter leading to the kitchen, with people coming in and out, carrying food, plates and drinks.

They get the end of a table with people cheering the Guardian and her partner, soon dying down as people began to talk and eat their meals; They’re served chicken steak with a layer of madeira sauce, french fries and rice.

“Ooooooh....” Amanda ogles over the meal being put in front of them. “Quinn, would y’all have beer, by any chance?”

“Should have it.” Quinn goes to the bar counter and after some minutes returns with two mugs filled with foamy, golden orange liquid, placing them before the two girls.

“Here. Homebrew.”

“Asskickin’!” The blonde says, 

“Uh…” Hiver stutters, staring at her mug. “I’m sorry, but is it a bad time to tell you I don’t like alcohol?”

“Not at all, Guardian. I’ll take your mug.” Quinn says, dragging it to the side of his plate.

Hiver gets up from the table, looking around for any indication of a restroom. “In the meantime, I’ll go look for something else to drink, and… a restroom, or something.”

Quinn points to a passage beside the platform. “Down that hallway.” Hiver thanks him and takes her leave.

“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Quinn stealthily asks Amanda, who is swallowing a bite of her steak.

“Yeah. When I heard her story ‘bout how she came all the way to the Old America to get ONE fruit… just to see me smile… I realized how wonderful she is.” Amanda said before biting another fry. “Of course, wasn’t the first time she did somethin’ for me, but the rest was more casual, see? Never was on ‘traveling across the continent and risk her life to find a thing I ate as a kid’ level.”

Quinn closed his eyes and nodded happily at Amanda’s talking.

“Like… damn, how can I ever repay that kinda stuff? Just how far would she go for me?” She took a sip out of her beer. “Which’s why, one day, she invited me to a date and... I said yes. Seemed to make her the happiest girl in the entire system. It was so simple, and yet enough to, well, ‘repay’ her for the trouble she went through.”

She sighs and looks around, seeing all the people eating or talking over their empty plates. A band is apparently setting up at the platform.

“Honestly? Being here, and seeing how happy she made these people, even thinking about me, makes me realize that she is more wonderful than I imagined. And I want her to never change.”

“You could always be by her side to make sure she doesn’t.”

Amanda just blushes and chuckles nervously, looking around for a way not to reply to that.

“Heeey, cowgirl!” She says to her unknowing savior, who arrived just at the right time to avoid admitting something awkward.

“Hello, Amanda! Hey, Quinn!” The Warlock sits down and immediately gets to eating, being hungry since she ate so little in the morning. While she’s entertained with food, Quinn shoots Amanda a smug smile, to which she makes a flat expression and mouths ‘shut up’ back.

After some minutes, their attention is caught by acoustic guitar chords and the hitting of a bass drum. The more art-inclined folks have started playing a classic song, and the citizens either watch gladly or sing along.

“Life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze…” The male lead sang soulfully.

“Country roooooads~” Amanda softly sings along with the band and the other people at the mess hall, bobbing side-to-side with the rhythm and closing her eyes to focus on the song better. Hiver giggles at her date’s moment of freedom. It was one of her favorite styles of music, after all.

All the songs being over, it was almost the mid-afternoon. There was one last place the Guardian wanted to take Amanda.

“Hiver,” Quinn called out as they went out of the Mess Hall, “I have great news for you.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Folks are building another village in the horizon of the hill our supply route goes through. We might all go there to negotiate with them.”

Amanda and Hiver trade looks and smiles of gleeful surprise. “Guess the Titans weren’t lying when they said Last City would one day be known as the First City.”

“We’ll be on our way now, Quinn. I’ll come to visit whenever I’m available again.” Hiver says, bidding farewell.

“Nice to meetcha! Glad my girl here could do some good around here. ‘S near where my ma was born, after all.” Amanda states, putting her jacket back on and looking at the settlement in longing.

“Have a safe flight, ladies. We’ll be expecting you, hopefully with more good news to tell.” Quinn waves goodbye as they get transmatted back into orbit.

“Well, that was really sweet to see.” Amanda said, sitting behind Hiver in her jumpship.

“Yes, it was.” Hiver says, typing in Selene’s last set of coordinates. “Not as sweet as what we’re going to do now.”

“Ooooh, mysterious.” She says, wrapping her arms around her friend’s neck. “Okay, I’ll trust you’re taking us somewhere nice.”

Hiver giggles. “When have I not?” The jumpship picks up speed, and they depart to their last stop.

After some minutes of traveling, they arrive at their destination.

It was a beach that faced the west. Completely untouched by either human or Darkness presence, save only for eroded rocks, sand, and the serene sea quietly crashing at the shore. Amanda had never seen a place like this before. The shipwright and the Guardian leaned against a rock, the former closing her eyes and allowed herself to feel the wind in her face, and the salutiferous smell of the sea breeze. 

It was… clean. It was calm.

Peace, was the word for what she felt.

They admired in silence as the sky turned a beautiful mixture of pink, blue, and golden, the sign of night starting to paint itself unto the heavens. As dark covered the beach, Trinity took distance and illuminated the two women as softly as she could. Soon, the clean night sky revealed a mesmerizing sight to both women.

Purple. Pinkish red. Blue. Gold. Nebulae, cloudy shapes of the galaxy, dancing in the horizon. Hundreds of Constellations, some unknown, some brighter than others. A soothing, abstract work of art, painted in the everlasting and infinite canvas, extending from the sea eternally upwards, reminding the girls.

“It’s gentle.” Hiver says, quietly.

“How so?” Amanda replies.

“We were once in the starlight. Trillions of years back. When life began.”

“The stardust gathered. It made Earth. With a combination of factors, and a speck of luck, went on to create us.”

Amanda listened quietly to the soft voice of her date, calmly amazed at everything going on around her.

“You and I, Amanda… we are the stardust. Our bodies and souls were once part of this infinite beauty. Its little building blocks are now part of us.”

“I used to hear we were insignificant to the universe. I believe not. I believe… we are part of it.”

Their hands touch each other. They hold each other’s hands gently.

“As in… we’re universes in our own rights?”

“Yes. We are. There is infinity as we see, but… there is also infinitude inside of us. Sometimes…” Hiver brushes her fingertips against Amanda’s, leading the latter to intertwine them. “I believe they can communicate.”

“Maybe not by talking.”

“Not the outer universe. That’s why we may interpret the signs differently. People over the centuries have tried.”

Amanda tilts her head to look at her Awoken date sideways. Hiver looks at her a bit more directly.

“And the inner universe? How does it talk?”

“Many ways. By ideas. Feelings. Gestures. Expressions. And by those, we made contact with people; and, consequently, we were allowed inside their universes.”

Amanda kept quiet and touched the side of her head on Hiver’s as the Warlock looked down at the ocean waves, swallowing hard.

“I think...” She managed to let out.

“Hm?”

“I think the outer one is gentle because it allowed both of our universes to find each other.”

Amanda slowly turns her head towards Hiver’s. She was very close to her face.

“Come on, girl, don’t fuck this up.” The Guardian told herself as she looked at the galaxy arm once more.

“A-and… the universe that lives in me has fallen… profusely and unwaveringly in love with the one… that lives in you.”

“Hiver, look at me.” Amanda said. Hiver turned her head, almost tearing up with nervousness. It felt liberating to put her feelings out there, but she was never this unsure of what came next.

She felt the hard, warm touch of Amanda’s forehead against hers. A soft sensation of cartilage as their noses brushed. An off-hand around her waist. A hot breath near her own mouth.

The warmth of a protostar as it comes to life. The soft jolt of a comet trail on the opaque black sky. The musica universalis -- the harmony that conducts the perfect circles the celestial bodies move in on -- almost made audible. The addition of two infinitudes whose lights were brighter than ever before as they held each other.

The brushing of lips, delicate as shimmering dew on the morning.

Two women, two universes, telling each other “I love you”.

[theonyxpath]

By Lauren Roy

Jo’s breath fogged the Perspex case, momentarily obscuring the prototype from view. Inside, the device lay dormant, all sleek silver curves and a blank interface awaiting its commands. On its own, Jo told herself, it was just a machine. It made no moral judgments. It saved lives or ended them, and the person who fed it the instructions was to thank or blame, not this lump of metal and wires.

Jo hated it a little bit anyway. She also needed it, and that made her hate it even more.

“Hey, kiddo, shake a leg, yeah?” Blake had been on edge all night. They’d gotten into DuttonTech so smoothly — fake badges letting them into restricted areas, Jo’s disguised tools sailing through security, green lights across every board. Blake trusted Jo and Dana to get them in, sure, but the fact he’d gone the last few hours without having to subdue so much as a slightly suspicious intern was making him antsy. Jo couldn’t blame him; Archangel never hired their crew for the cakewalk jobs.

But she wasn’t going to let Blake’s nerves unsteady her hands. She was elbow deep in the display case’s guts, only the last set of clamps and a weight sensor left to bypass. Easy peasy lemon-squeezy. She’d be home and in her pajamas in less than two hours, cracking a pint of victory ice cream and texting Leanne with the good news, that help was on its way. This was a killing machine in Dr. Alexander Dutton’s hands, but in Leanne’s possession? Jo’s sister could use it to save thousands.

She just had to unlatch the clamps.

Blake checked the cameras for the hundredth time. Downstairs, the security guards in their cozy little command room were watching the same looped feeds of Dutton’s lab Dana had set up hours ago. He knew the timing of their rounds, knew which guards just jiggled the occasional doorknob and which would swipe their access cards and look around the empty, after-hours rooms. He’d studied the dossiers Dana gathered for him over the last few weeks. The patrol team closest to their floor right now consisted of an ex-military type and a guy whose pre-DuttonTech police record was peppered with assault charges from bar fights. Ideally, Blake wouldn’t have to trade blows with either of them, but he believed in being prepared.

Waiting was killing him. He’d offered to smash the case when they first got here, just grab and go, but both Dana and Jo had shot him down. Something about delicately calibrated this and potentially volatile that. Of course, that described everything that DuttonTech put out these days, especially the volatile part. Blake had seen firsthand the damage the company’s products wrought. He’d wielded some of them himself, back in another life.

He’d never stop paying for that. Could never. But working for Archangel assuaged some of the guilt. He clenched his fists and tamped down the urge to find some other volatile thing and pitch it into anything that looked delicate.

Dana had six different data feeds scrolling past on her glasses’ left lens, telling her all DuttonTech systems were normal. She was jacked into the guard station’s audio, listening to two guards being wrong about the top five horror movies of all time. She’d set her little worm free on DuttonTech’s R&D servers — after, of course, she downloaded clean versions of the files to her own drive to peruse later. According to her own internal stopwatch (ONE one thousand, TWO one thousand) her team was right on schedule.

It was too bad they’d never be able to take credit for tonight, because damn, they were good. She imagined herself at some fancy Archangel cocktail party, regaling new cells with the story. Maybe she would embellish it, just a little, add in a tiny scuffle so Blake could have his crowning moment of awesome. Add in a few extra lasers for Jo to have to limbo under, and…

Click.

“Shit,” muttered Jo.

The lights in the lab went red.

There was an extra clamp. There was an extra freaking clamp, and it was so tiny and so obvious in hindsight, exactly where Jo would have put one if she wanted to protect her valuables from someone like herself. It hadn’t been on the blueprints Dana procured in one of her hacks, because of course it wasn’t. Dutton was notoriously paranoid. He’d either installed it himself, in secret, or had one of his lackeys do it and…what? Wiped their memory? Had them killed? Transferred them to a DuttonTech facility in Antarctica? Jo wouldn’t put any of that past him.

But that didn’t matter now. Their cover was blown. Dana was counting off the seconds until security got to them, her fingers flashing over her tablet’s screen. “We’re about to have company.”

Blake came and crouched beside Jo. He glanced at her hands, frozen on the prototype. “Kiddo, we’ve gotta run. Now. If you don’t have it free, you have to leave it.”

“I can’t.”

He frowned. “You stuck?”

“No.”

“Something gonna cut off your fingers if you move?”

“No.”

“What is it, then?”

Jo closed her eyes and pictured her sister’s face. “Leanne. She’s with the LRE in Caracas.”

Blake’s sharp inhale told her that he hadn’t known. Jo didn’t talk about Leanne much. He and Dana knew that Jo’s parents had been dissidents, murdered by their government for speaking out. They knew she and Leanne grew up in safe houses where they were never truly safe, and that Jo had turned to Archangel when she got old enough to be more than a charity case for the organization. That was about as much intel as Jo ever shared, because talking about Leanne made her worry. And worry had sharp, sharp teeth.

“You saw the emails Dana intercepted. Dutton’s going to sell this to the enemy, then that’s it for the resistance. This isn’t just about Leanne.”

Blake might let everyone else in Archangel think he was all muscle, minimal brains, but Jo knew better. He’d read the whole dossier, not just the guards’ vitals. “How long do you need?” His voice was deadly calm.

“However long you can buy me.”

“Get that thing out of there.” Then he was gone.

“We’re doing what now?” Dana gaped at Blake as he assessed the camera feeds on her tablet. She’d managed to lock the guards out of the elevators for the time being but couldn’t keep them out of the stairwells. One patrol had only been a few stories down.

He grunted as the patrol he was monitoring gained another landing. “We’re holding tight until Jo gets that damned thing free. What else can you do to keep them out of here?”

Dana peered around the lab. Until now, she hadn’t really let herself see everything. Sure, she knew the layout, and had a strong idea of what other projects DuttonTech’s brain trust were working on, but being here in meatspace? The temptation to start taking things apart would have distracted her from their mission. She’d kept her eyes firmly on her work and ignored the siren song of the shiny.

Now, though… She took it all in, performing a frantic inventory with a glance. “Get me a screwdriver,” she said, “and every inch of wire you can find.”

For a hasty build, it was impressive. Dana had to guess at what a quarter of the parts she found even were, but as she stared at the small mountain of electronics Blake dumped on the desk, the schematic came together in her head. The spliced wires and electrical tape meant it would never win any beauty pageants at the hackathon, but that didn’t matter.

As long as it did its job.

She dragged her cobbled-together creation out into the hall. It whined as it powered up; the highpitched tone of power gathering combined with a low, ominous hum. Dana listened a moment, until it sounded stable enough, and darted back inside. As Blake shoved a pair of desks across the doorway, Dana scuttled further into the lab and planted herself near Jo. The other woman nodded slightly, acknowledging her presence, but didn’t peel her eyes from the device inside the case.

“How are we looking?” Dana asked.

“There’s a wire on the last clamp. It’s what tripped the alarm. I’m trying to make sure it’s not going to fry the whole thing when I remove it.”

“Smart,” said Dana, then, “Oops, hang on, big noise.” On her tablet’s screen, the camera view showed two guards emerging from the stairwell. She counted (ONE one thousand, TWO one thousand, THREE) and yelled, “Blake, NOW!”

Across the lab, Blake slammed his fist down on the trigger Dana rigged. He dropped into a huddle, covering his ears.

The lab doors were, by necessity, prettied-up fire doors. Sure, deep-pocketed investors on a grand tour of DuttonTech could glance through the extra-thick glass to see scientists bustling about within, but if something exploded during a demo, those investors (and their wallets) would be safe. Now, those same doors muffled the worst of Dana’s sonic barrage. The pair of guards dropped to the ground, hands covering their ears as they writhed in pain.

The disruptor’s effects would only last for so long, though. Already, Dana could tell the pulses were losing their potency. “Thirty seconds, Jo. Then they’re back on their feet and super pissed.”

It was impossible. Jo held the wire pinched between her fingers, this hair-thin filament, and knew it was all for nothing.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Leanne, I’m sorry.

If she’d only taken one last look, she’d have spotted the trap. If she only had another five minutes, she could undo it. But time was well past up. Blake and Dana stood by the doors, their jaws set, their expressions grim. That awful thrumming pulse outside let out one last whump, and an eerie silence took its place.

If she was fast enough, faster than she’d ever been in her life, she could mitigate the damage. Not prevent it entirely, but… But enough.

Jo steadied the prototype with her left hand, readied the wire in her right.

She held her breath.

Pulled.

The spark traveled up her fingers, to her wrist, straight up to her elbow. The sharp tang of hot metal, melted plastic, and seared flesh filled the air. Had she taken the brunt of the jolt? She thought so but wouldn’t know until Dana got a look at the device later. When they were safe. Jo pulled the prototype free of its case and ignored the tingling in her fingertips. She joined Blake and Dana at the door. “Let’s go.”

In the hallway, the security guards were gaining their feet. Blake smiled.

The first one got up. He staggered as his balance betrayed him, but Blake wasn’t going to take that for granted. Guy like this? He had to fight after being pepper sprayed, tazed, or whatever the hell else they made Navy SEALs do. Sure, Dana’s device had done its damage, but Blake bet this guard was exaggerating its extent. It’s what he’d have done.

Three strides and Blake was in the ex-SEAL’s face. Sort of. The dude was a giant, six-and-half feet tall with a neck like a tree trunk. Blake only came up to his chest. His opponent swung, a short, sharp blow that would have knocked a weaker fighter flat. But Blake had training of his own. He deflected the jab, but as he’d suspected, the guard wasn’t as bad off as he’d pretended. More shots rained down, driving Blake backwards toward the lab.

A streak of red skittered down the hall toward him. Jo had liberated one of the lab’s fire extinguishers and shoved it his way. Blake danced out of the ex-SEAL’s reach and scooped it up. Only one shot at this. He swung it in a high haymaker arc, cranking the extinguisher’s heavy bottom into the ex-SEAL’s jaw. The big man went down in a graceless heap.

Blake looked back to where Dana and Jo huddled in the doorway and signaled them forward. Jo winced as she passed the first guard. Then she stopped short. “Uh. Blake?”

He thought the second guy was down for the count. It was the bar brawler, the one who should’ve been an easy takedown except…except he’d managed to unholster his sidearm and push himself to his feet. His arm wavered, but even if his aim was off, the hallway was narrow enough that he’d probably hit one of them.

“Easy, now,” said Blake. “Let’s all be calm.”

“Drop the extinguisher,” said the guard. “And you, put down the device.” He swung the gun toward Jo, and Blake felt his heart hit his stomach. That wasn’t a standard-issue piece. It was a DuttonTech special; destruction in Glock’s clothing. Blake had carried one of the previous generation himself. He’d seen what they could do, how the bullets tore up a body as they passed through.

“Okay.” Blake lowered the extinguisher, hoping to get the guard’s focus back on himself. “Look, we’re cooperating, see?”

“Oh, fuck that,” snarled Dana. She shoved past Blake, keeping to the other side of the hall from the guard — out of arm’s reach, but drawing his attention.

“I’ll shoot!” The guard whirled to follow her. His finger tensed on the trigger.

Blake barreled forward. He could never beat a bullet, but he had to try. The corridor seemed miles long, the air thickened like molasses. The guard might as well have been on the other side of the world, for all the good Blake could do. He saw the trigger pull back in agonizing detail, heard Jo screaming Dana’s name.

Dana just kept walking.

The gun didn’t fire.

Time started again, and Blake plowed into the guard at top speed. He drove him back and slammed his wrist against the wall until he dropped the weapon. Blake got a forearm across the guy’s neck and twisted to look at Dana. “What the hell?”

“Oh. Yeah.” She stopped fiddling with her eyepiece and came to stand beside him, still well out of the guard’s reach. She addressed the guard instead of Blake. “That thing that split your eardrums two minutes ago? I also had it resonating at the same frequency as the timing crystal in your shiny new gun. Probably cracked it. You shouldn’t pick it up again.” She gave Blake an apologetic grin. “I should have told you: I don’t make unitaskers. Learned it from a TV chef. Now will you knock him out, so we can go?”

Archangel paid damned well. Jo funneled most of her paychecks down to Leanne, helping to fund the revolution and keep her sister fed, clothed, and armed. With what was left, she bought tools to help with her craft. One of the first things she’d learned was, to be a good thief, you ought to have a good getaway car. So, she sunk a ridiculous amount of money into an old tank of a car and paid even more to have it tuned up, tricked out, and street legal. It had served her well so far, and now, with DuttonTech heavies chasing them through the city’s 3 A.M. streets, Jo prayed it’d get them home safe one more time.

It took 10 blocks for the black SUV to catch up to them. She’d figured a clean getaway was too much to ask, but Jo cursed the universe anyway. “Get ready,” she said, and jammed on the gas. Bullets hit the car’s frame like a sudden spate of rain. The back window spidered with cracks but held firm. She was glad she’d splurged on the bulletproofing.

The SUV sped up, drawing even with them. Jo stared ahead at the rain-slick street. The good thing about pulling off their heist so late at night was that no one drove in the business district at this hour. They had a good straightaway and, as she watched, all the lights turned green. In the rearview, Dana flashed her a thumbs-up.

Metal screamed, and the whole car shuddered as the SUV slammed into their side. Jo fought the wheel to keep them on the road. In the passenger seat, Blake swore as the door crunched inward.

PULL OVER, came a voice over the SUV’s bullhorn. RETURN WHAT YOU STOLE, AND WE’LL LET YOU GO.

Blake flipped them off.

Another sideswipe, and the car rode up on the curb. Jo swore and yanked them back onto the street, but not before she took out a row of newspaper boxes.

“You know what?” said Blake. “We’re risking our lives for this thing, I think we deserve a demo.” He pulled the prototype from the backpack Jo had shoved it in.

“Uhhhh.” Dana poked her head into the front seat. “Remember that talk we had about delicate and volatile?”

“She’s right. And I might have damaged it when I took it out of the case,” said Jo. “We don’t know what it’ll —”

But Blake was already pushing buttons, and the blank interface was responding to his touch. The options flashing by read stun, pulse, and stream, and a slider ran from low to high. Blake selected pulse and pushed the slider all the way up.

“Point it at them, not us!” Dana shrieked.

Blake turned the device and held the business end up to the window. Jo caught a glimpse of the SUV driver as he aimed. All the color drained out of the DuttonTech security woman’s face. She turned her wheel, disengaging the SUV from Jo’s car, but not soon enough. Blake slapped the automatic window button, and as soon as he could get the prototype’s nose through the gap, he fired.

THOOM.

They couldn’t see the pulse, but they felt it. Jo’s fillings buzzed. Every bone she’d ever broken ached like there was a storm overhead. The SUV flipped up and over, and for one terrible second, Jo could see what the pulse had done to the people inside, how none of their features were in the right places anymore. How everything had gone so very red. She’d be seeing that in her nightmares for years to come.

None of them said anything as they pulled away. In the rearview, Dana’s eyes were wide, her lips gone white. Blake let out a ragged sigh. The device’s interface blurred, cleared, then switched to one blinking red word:

Error.

The sun was coming up by the time they got back to their safehouse. Dana switched on the morning news while she examined the prototype. Not a word about their break-in at DuttonTech. Not a peep about a late-night car chase in the business district, nor any stories about a deadly crash. DuttonTech had covered it all up. Was that good for them, or bad?

Can’t worry about that just now. Let’s make sure we’re not going to explode first.

She handled the device gingerly, as if it might wake up and turn the three of them into human slag, but it turned out there wasn’t much chance of that. She could see the burn marks where Jo had pulled it from its kill switch. Once the casing came off, the insides were about as fried as she’d expected, even though Jo had taken some of the shock. “I don’t know how this even turned on in the car, let alone fired.”

“Is that it, then?” asked Jo. “All that work and it’s just…a hunk of metal?” She didn’t have to say her sister’s name for Dana to know she was thinking of Leanne, how she’d been counting on getting the prototype out intact to help her. Dana had made that connection long before she handed Jo and Blake their dossiers.

“Hey.” Dana set her tools aside. “First off, we’ve set DuttonTech back. They don’t have the physical prototype, and their IT group is going to have a miserable time sorting out the mess I uploaded to their servers before anyone there can even think about building another.”

Blake came in from the kitchen, carrying a tray with three coffee mugs and Jo’s pint of victory ice cream. He’d declared getting out alive a sufficient win, and Jo hadn’t argued the point. “She’s right, kiddo. We’re not even close to done. If Dana can’t get this thing up and running, someone in Archangel will know who can.”

“I have an idea about that.” Dana took her mug gratefully. She was bone tired but needed to stave off sleep as long as she could. There was too much to do. “The woman who taught me to do what I do, she studied alongside Dutton back in the day. If we can find her, I think she’ll be able to fill in a whole ton of gaps.”

Jo frowned. “‘If?’”

“No one’s heard from her for a while. She went off the grid, and we don’t know why. Last place she was spotted was Brussels.” Dana set the prototype aside and tapped her tablet awake. “Who’s up for a rescue mission?

The Trinity Continuum Core Rules and Trinity Continuum: Æon are available in print from Indie Press Revolution (core, Æon) or in PDF/print-on-demand from DriveThruRPG.

[emeraldwaves]

Title: Warmer Than Before Pairing:  Kacchako Rating: T Word Count:  3,662 Read on Ao3 Summary:  

Bakugou Katsuki has never been a part of a ‘couple’ on Christmas Eve. He’s not quite sure what to do with his "not really girlfriend" Uraraka Ochako, but he’s determined to make it the best Christmas date possible.

Wrote this for the @kacchakoholidayzine !! I was so so honored to be a part of this amazing project with amazing artists and writers!!!! Thank you to everyone who supported it!! :D <3

Full fic under the cut    

"Dude! Christmas Eve is for couples! You didn't know that?"

Kirishima's words hit Bakugou like he's hardened his fist with his quirk and smacked him across the face.

Couples. Couples.

Fucking... couples.

He folds his arms and flops back against the couch. "Yeah, I knew." He didn't. Like hell he's gonna tell Kirishima that. "What about it?"

The red-head blinks. "You're not going to do something with Uraraka?"

Bakugou snorts; the sound is loud and echoes in the dorm common area. He and Uraraka are not a couple. Okay, occasionally they spar, or eat together, or she'll brush her hand against his, and he'll give her a kiss goodnight cause he can't resist her cute, pouting lips. But still...

Bakugou shrugs. "We're not a couple."

"You don't think that'll make her sad?"

A growl slips out of Bakugou's lips. The last thing he wants to do is make her sad. "What the hell am I supposed to do then!?"

Kirishima smirks, an expression Bakugou wishes to punch right off his cheeky face. "I thought you just said you weren't a couple."

Bakugou narrows his eyes, glaring at his idiotic friend.

"Okay, okay! I dunno, most couples go out to dinner and spend time together or something!" Kirishima explains, shaking his head.

When he thinks about it, he realizes he's never been on a real date with Uraraka. Probably because they're not a couple. Which would make... Christmas Eve their first real date.

"You okay?" Kirishima asks, interrupting his thoughts.

"I gotta figure some shit out," he says, pushing himself off the couch.

Christmas Eve is only a few days away, and Bakugou refuses to not put his all into everything he does. If he's going to take Uraraka on a date, it's going to be the best damn date she's ever been on.

He whips out his phone and pulls up her chat.

[Text Pink Cheeks]: You. Me. Christmas Eve. Date.

Almost immediately, his phone lights up.

[Text from Pink Cheeks]: A date? Like a real date?

He can picture her face, eyes wide, blinking in shock at the concept of him actually taking her out. He groans, wishing he realized all this fucking sooner.

[Text Pink Cheeks]: What the fuck do you think?

He slams his fingers against the screen of his phone, his finger pushing on the send button.

[Text from Pink Cheeks]: Okay! I'm staying at my parents' house for the holidays. See in you a few days.

He shoves his phone into his pocket, rubbing his finger over the edge of the device. He has no idea what he's going to do, but he does know it's going to be the best fucking date.

~~

It's snows the day before Christmas Eve, which seems appropriate. The snow coats the ground, though Bakugou can't stand the goddamn stuff. It's wet and freezing, and he hates having to struggle to use his quirk, not that he really has to worry about that tonight.

He stands outside Uraraka's house, tucking his lips behind the collar of his jacket as he huffs out a long breath of air. Tonight is gonna be fucking perfect.

Bakugou steps up to the porch, knocking on the front door. "I'll be back!" he hears her yell inside. Within seconds, she opens up, standing before him, looking as fucking cute as she always does. He's glad the cool winds have kissed his cheeks, reddening them enough to hide the stupid blush he has from staring at her.

She's completely decked out in winter gear. She's got her dark jacket zipped all the way up, a pink skirt with black leggings, tall winter boots, and of course, a pink hat with a cute little pom-pom on top and matching gloves. So her.

"Hi Bakugou-kun," she smiles, tucking her hands behind her back as she shuts the door behind her.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbles and takes her gloved hand in his own, pulling her away from the house.

"So..." she says, walking next to him, her arm resting against his. "A real date, huh?"

"Shut it," he grumbles. "Just enjoy it."

She giggles, her smile glowing under the street lamps lining the road. "Okay, Bakugou-kun. So where are we going then?"

"It's a damn surprise."

He leads her to the park, happy when she walks beside him, mostly in silence. That's one thing he adores about her. She doesn't feel the need to incessantly talk at him all the damn time.

They may not be an official couple, but right now, he doesn't mind acting like one.

"Ooo," she says, her eyes widening as they step into the park. "The park? How festive!" she smiles, swinging their hands a bit.

For the holiday season, the local park by Uraraka's house put up a small skating rink for people to enjoy. Skates were available to rent, though many patrons brought their own.

Bakugou has never been ice skating, but how hard can it be? He's seen shit in stupid movies before where the guy teaches the girl how to skate and they hold hands and he helps her across the ice or whatever. Sounds stupid. Uraraka will look cute.

"Bakugou-kun!" she gasps, and tugs on his hand. "Let's go skating!"

He clicks his tongue, scoffing. "That's the plan."

"Really?!"

She looks so fucking happy and Bakugou knows he's made the right choice.

He never asked her if she skated before, but she immediately runs over to the booth. Bakugou pays for both of their skates and they sit on the bench by the rink. She pulls off her gloves, tying the skates up. Her fingers are dainty and he stares at the small pads on the tips of them, watching as she laces them up.

She's oddly good at it. This probably isn't her first time... Fucking hell, that will ruin his whole plan.

"Ready?" she asks. He nods and follows her to the entrance of the rink.

Uraraka steps out onto the ice and she's a natural, he can't take his eyes off of her. She twirls, one foot crossing over the other as she turns to face him. Her small pink skirt swishes around her legs, the material brushing up against her black leggings. It's so hard not to fucking stare.

The small pom-poms on her hat bobble with the movement, her face lighting up with excitement. She's back-lit by the lights lining the rink, and it looks like she's glowing. Like a fuckin', Christmas angel or some bullshit; might as well give her a damn halo. Uraraka is so stupidly beautiful.

He watches her from the entrance to the rink, mouth slightly open like some dumbstruck fool. He's staring at her smile, her eyes, her cute idiotic pink hat, her everything.

"C'mon Bakugou-kun! What are you doing?" she calls to him, waiting.

He wants to take it all in, watching his girl. His girl. It's starting to feel so natural now.

Right. He needs to step out onto the ice.

He lifts his foot and places it down on the slippery surface. His arm immediately flails and he falls to the side, gripping the edge of the rink. "The fuck is this!?" he growls.

Uraraka immediately starts to laugh, and though the sound is fuckin' beautiful, Bakugou wants to punch her.

"B-Bakugou-kun..." she giggles. "Have you... ever done this before?"

"'C-Course I have!" A lie. If he admits he's new to this, it's basically the same as admitting he sucks. And he does not suck. At anything.

She smiles at him, pushing her feet forward to stand in front of him. "Bakugou-kun," she says softly. "Give me your hands."

"Hell no!" he snaps and steps away from the wall. The skates slides against the slick ice and he growls. "What the hell is this stupid activity?!" One leg begins to slip forward, and he stumbles towards her, falling against her body.

"Bakugou-kun!" she gasps and grabs his elbows. "Are you okay?"

He glances away from her, his knees trembling as he tries to keep his balance. "This is so fucking stupid."

She laughs again, her voice echoing on the soft winter breeze. Her hands gently slide down his forearms, wrapping her gloved hands around his. "I'll help you."

"I don't need your fucking help, Round Face!" he snaps, but he sure as hell doesn't let go.

"It's okay to not be perfect at things right away," she teases, winking at him.

"Shut. Up," he hisses. "We never mention this to anyone ever again!" he snaps.

"Okay, okay," she smiles and squeezes his hands. With her, the sensation is strange, his chest feels warmer, his breathing shallow, and he probably looks stupid staring at her face with such a dumbass look.

"Okay, I'm going to pull you forward just a bit. Push off of your feet, kind of, uhm, the side... the arch!" she explains, and gives his hands a gentle tug. It's the scene from all the movies he thought of, only she's leading him and he looks like a fucking moron. He pushes forward, his butt sticking out behind him awkwardly. Fuck. He hopes they see no one. If they do, he'll murder them to silence them forever.

"My dad and I used to go skating together a lot when I was a kid," she smiles. "He was the best teacher." Her smile is nostalgic, a distant look in her brown eyes. This date is supposed to make her happy. Not all weird and distant.

"You're... not doing too bad yourself, Uraraka," he says softly.

A blush sprinkles her cheeks, Bakugou is probably gonna puke up his heart it's beating so heavily in his chest. "I'm glad!" she says, her hands squeezing his again. She closes her eyes, her smile pulling wide. Bakugou can't even move she looks so perfect, his legs still trembling against the ice.

"I'm going to let go, okay Bakugou-kun?" she says, breaking him of his daze.

What? No! He wants to yell at her. She can't just let go, not when she's been keeping him stable this entire time. He can't tell her though, not when his pride is on the line and he already looks foolish enough.

"Oi!" he snaps, and her gloved hands slip from his. He's hunched over awkwardly, his knees already trembling and his feet wobble on the blades.

He needs her. She's his damn support!

"It's okay, Bakugou-kun! Just push off a little towards me!" Uraraka urges, her lips quirk into a small smile. Oh, she's loving this.

And it's not okay. Nothing about this is okay! She's making him look like a total idiot, and she's lucky he doesn't destroy the entire rink. Instead, he presses his foot down and pushes towards her.

Her brown eyes widen, glistening against the ice. She looks so damn excited; it makes his stupid heart flutter and his cheeks flush, especially when her lips curl into the perfect smile, her soft giggle resonating in his chest. "See!" she laughs. "You're doing just fine!"

"OI!" he yells, thrusting his finger towards her, the glove hiding his point, "don't underestimate-"

And with that the world falls backwards, his ass smacks against the ice, and he stares up at the stars twinkling in the night sky. Fuck.

"B-Bakugou-kun!"

Small explosions crackle, melting his gloves, the ashes littering the ice. He's gonna kill someone. He wants to say her, but she skates over and looks down at him and he's a fucking goner. The pieces of her hair not tucked in her hat brush against her cheeks, and her brown eyes are filled with such concern. Her face is a rosy red color from the cool air nipping at her skin.

Dammit. He should hate her for humiliating him but he just wants to kiss her.

"Bakugou-kun," she asks, holding out her hand to him. "Are you okay?"

"I swear to fuck, Round Face..." he growls, and hisses when his bare palms touch the ice to push himself up. He immediately clings to the side of the wall.

"Guess we'll have to buy you some new gloves," she giggles softly. She skates forward and takes one glove off, wrapping her hand around his.

"What the hell are you doing?" he grumbles.

"Keeping your hand warm," she smiles.

"Idiot!" he yells, but he doesn't tug his hand away. "Yours are gonna get colder than mine..." he grumbles, and tucks both their hands into his jacket pocket. The motion tugs her closer to him and her cheek presses against his arm.

Her eyes stare up at him and she blinks, her cheeks flushing. "Y-You know... we don't have to ice skate if you don't like it. We should probably go buy you gloves anyway."

"Y-Yeah..." he mutters. The last thing he wants to do is give up, but he doesn't need her skating around and worrying about him. This day is supposed to be for her.

"Let's go shopping!" she cheers and tugs his hand towards the exit of the rink.

He uses the side wall to pull himself towards the exit and glances around, making sure no one saw that skating disaster. Well, no one who matters.

"There's a department store a little ways around the corner," she says. "We can buy gloves there."

She leads him to the store on the corner and when they step inside, Bakugou is bombarded by Christmas. Music plays loudly through the speakers, decorations twinkle and glisten on the wall, hung from the ceiling. There are sales everywhere, and though Bakugou doesn't hate the holiday or anything, it's things like this that make him want to avoid shopping in these places.

Next to him however, Uraraka's eyes light up, taking in all the colorful sights. "It's so festive!" and Bakugou can only grunt in response.

She's glancing around, looking at the signs, when suddenly she gasps. "Wait right here, Bakugou-kun!" she says, her hand slipping from his.

He twists his lips when she dashes off. What the hell is he supposed to do now?!

His red eyes scan the shelves, and he wonders silently if he should get her a present. It is Christmas Eve and this is a date. Don't couples usually exchange gifts tonight too? He grumbles as he shoves his hands into his pockets.

She deserves the best present, and he has no idea if that present is here. There's millions of Christmas decorations, cheap looking jewelry. He wrinkles his nose... if he ever buys shit like that for her, it's gonna be fucking nice.

Then, he sees it; wrapped around the mannequin in front of him is a pink scarf, almost identical in color to her hat. It looks soft and there are small pom-poms on the bottom. It suits her... or rather... he can imagine it decorating her neck.

"Oi," he mutters, leaning against one of the counters. "I'll take that pink scarf."

After paying, he makes his way back to where she left him. Where the hell did she go? He glances around.

"Bakugou-kun!" she calls out, holding a small bag in her hand. "I got you new gloves!" she smiles.

He frowns. "O-Oi! Why did you run off to do that? I could've bought my own damn gloves."

"Well..." she blushes. "It's Christmas and... I thought it could be your present!" She pulls out a pair of black, orange and green gloves, looking coincidentally similar to his hero costume. "They're perfect, right?"

She looks so proud of the find, and really... they are nice. He takes them from her and slips them on. They're warm and comfortable. He really does hate wearing gloves like this... ones he could incinerate so easily, and yet, he can't help but feel the same intense warmth in his heart. This girl... she makes him feel the strangest fucking things.

"Good thing I got you something too when you ran off," he says, reaching into the bag to hand her the small pink scarf.

"O-Oh!" she gasps and picks it up, pushing her nose against it. "It's so soft! And it matches!" she says, holding it up to her hat.

He has to bite his lip not to laugh at her. She looks so silly and happy, and she must've used her quirk on his heart cause it feels like it's floating away. "Glad you caught on genius," he says and takes the scarf from her, wrapping it around her neck, covering up her chin.

She nuzzles her face into it. "Warm. Like you!" she smiles.

He tries not to ignite the new gloves she's just bought him.

"Let's get outta here," he mutters. "It's getting late."

"Oh! One more thing!" she says and reaches back into her bag. "The real reason I dashed off was... for this!" She holds up a red Santa hat and swings it around him, placing it on his head. "Perfect."

"Oi! What the fuck is this?!" he says, pointing to the hat.

"I thought you'd look cute in it. I was right," she winks.

His eyebrow twitches.

She's a demon. Not an angel. A demon.

"Let's go, Uraraka." He shoves his hands into his pocket and storms out of the store.

She follows him and takes his hand, swinging their arms. "Since you're not taking it off, I guess you like it?"

"Shut it," he mutters, heading back towards the park.

There are a row of trees leading back towards the center where the skating rink and other holiday activities are. They line the path, covering the walkway and they're covered in bright white Christmas lights, twinkling against the night sky.

"Let's go this way," she says softly, and tugs his hand towards the path. The small pom-pom on the back of the Santa hat hits his neck, and he silently wonders why he always caves to every whim of this girl. Why he can't bring himself to really ever say no to things she wants and things she wants to do with him?

"Bakugou-kun!" she gasps and turns her face upwards. "It's snowing!" She smiles at him, the twinkling lights behind her glistening on her flushed cheeks. Her nose is painted the gentlest tone of red, the cold obviously getting to her. The pink scarf rests against her chin, the ends flapping against the soft breeze, snowflakes sticking to the soft material. It's a perfect fit for her.

Bakugou watches her lips curl into a happy smile, innocence returning over the excitement of snow on Christmas.

She takes his hand. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yeah. You fucking are," he mumbles. It's definitely cliche; some asshole has probably used that line in every stupid romantic comedy film he's never watched.

"What?" she whispers, turning her face to meet his eyes, the small poms-poms bounce again.

Bakugou snorts. "You heard me," he growls. His glove brushes across her cheek, cupping the back of her neck as he tugs her towards him, pulling their lips together. He slips his hand around her waist, pulling her flush against his body. Her hands find his shoulders and she presses into the kiss, perfect eyes fluttering shut.

He holds her, snow falling silently around them, the flakes lighting up with the twinkling Christmas lights which line the pathway. He wraps his warm lips around hers, tugging on her lower playfully.

He pulls back slowly, whispering against her lips. "You're my girl... Ochako..." He swallows, the declaration final, as long as she accepts it. Using her first name was maybe a bit of a stretch, but Kirishima is right. They're running out of time; graduation looming on the horizon, and he can't imagine his life without her. He doesn't want anyone else to touch her, to look at her.

He doesn't want to lose her.

"E-Eh?!" she gasps, jerking back to stare at his face, desperately trying to meet his eyes. She wiggles her head and leans her body to the side, trying to find his gaze as he glances in various directions. "Are you asking me out... Katsuki?"

His heart lurches up into his throat, cheeks flushing as red as the stupid Santa hat she bought him. He didn't account for her using his first name back.

Bakugou flicks his red eyes to look at her, seeing how flushed her face is. She looks so cute, lips puckered from their kiss. How could he not call her his girlfriend?! He wasn't a fucking idiot!

"Yeah! What of it!?" he snaps.

"So..." she hums and he sees the playful glint in her eye, "you want me to be your... girlfriend?"

Growling, he rolls his eyes and pokes her forehead. "That's what I just said, idiot."

"No, you just called me 'your girl'," she teases and wraps her gloves around his cheeks, forcing him to stare at her.

"Same fuckin' difference!"

She pushes his cheeks together. "No... say it. Say 'Uraraka Ochako, will you be my girlfriend?'"

He groans. "Forget it, Uraraka! You already know what I want-"

"Say it!" she teases, cutting him off as she tugs on the Santa hat.

Really, she's got him wrapped around her cute little fingers.

"Fine. Uraraka Ochako... will... you be my girlfriend?"

"Of course," she whispers. "I've only been waiting for you to ask me that for months now."

"Oi-"

She doesn't let him speak, pulling his cheeks down so their lips meet in another kiss. She's in control now, or rather, she always has been. Her lips peck at his, pressing against him and he doesn't mind; he wants to stay as close to her as possible. His hands settle on her hips, holding them both in place.

She makes the cold air a little warmer; makes him hate it a little less.

She pulls away, snowflakes melting against her cheeks. Her warm breath floats between their faces, mingling with the winter air. Uraraka presses her forehead to his, her round brown eyes looking so damn happy.

She's perfect, completely fucking perfect.

She smiles and whispers softly, "Merry Christmas, Katsuki."

[jenyacooley]

🇺🇸❤️🇹🇼

July 2nd, 2019

As I spend more time in Taiwan, I’ve noticed some differences in simple ways of life Taiwan is used to yet I’ve never experienced in Phoenix. (I also interspersed some fun pictures of my stay!)

On the first day, I arrived late at night to a platter of multiple cut up fruits. It seems every morning and evening, the family will enjoy the fresh in-season fruits from their markets.

On the topic of grocery stores, there was one a Breeze Mall which was very fancy and somewhat similar to American supermarkets (except for it being in a 9-story building). When Shari took me to a street market, opened daily with multiple vendors selling anything from meat and vegetables to underwear and umbrellas. Each vendor was shouting out what great deals they had, trying hard to attract customers. I was later informed that the sellers would lessen the price as the day went on.

Business owners are the same way. All the time, there are employees or the owner themselves on the street or in front of their store, enticing more people inside. Twice, I have gotten free drinks and food just for ordering from a certain restaurant.

In America, most prices are set with no room for negotiation. Even if the owner was willing to haggle a little, Phoenix doesn’t see people walking up to passerby to tell them what they have on their menu (though you gotta respect the grind). Only at mall kiosks have I seen salespeople leaving their stand to tell people what they have.

On the topic of restaurants, eating out is much cheaper in Taiwan. Most places sell items at $2-3 per person, and they usually give you a lot of food. To eat out even at a fast food restaurant is a strain on one’s pocket in America.

At my home in Taiwan, I discovered that laundry is done every day or every other day. I also learned that each room had a separate air conditioner unit, alongside an oscillating fan. And though I saw a couple of people walking their dogs, I found most people are unable to keep animals due to the small spaces of apartments. Furthermore, it’s a custom to wear indoor shoes inside and leave your other shoes outside the house.

I learned that there is less of a paranoia of theft in Taiwan (though some store vendors will follow you around to ensure you aren’t stealing). On the train/subway/bus systems they were much cleaner than what I have encountered in other US cities with public transportation. (Phoenix decided not to build one.) This cleanliness stems from the no eating policy the Taiwan transport enforces. Shari also told me that unlike other cities, Taiwan actually gains a profit from this, because the city is so dense and many people do not own cars.

I’ve gone swimming twice so far on my journey. Once at a hotel pool and the other at Leofoo Water Park (the only water park in Taiwan). Both places required the use of a swimming cap to enclose your hair. I have never seen these garments worn anywhere except competitive swim before this point in time.

Taiwan is also known as a very rainy city, meaning everyone living there owns an umbrella. Nearly every store sells umbrellas in case a poor person forgot theirs. On my trip, it has rained at least once every day. The day may start off without a cloud in the sky, but quickly descend into a stormy skyline, rain clouds showering the country with rain. In Phoenix, the city with the most hours of sunlight a year compared with the rest of the US, the little rain that comes is seen as a blessing.

Umbrellas are also used for another purpose I’ve only seen a handful of times in America. That is using the umbrella to guard against the sun. More than half the passerby I encounter when the sun shines are holding umbrellas, very much unlike Phoenix citizens who bake in the sun all day. Every place has an umbrella rack outside their door, and others have plastic covers so the umbrellas will not drip.

Obviously a city with so much rain has to be very humid. While my hair is resistant to becoming frizzy, (as shown in the many times I’ve curled my hair only for it to return to stick straight only a few hours later) Sonia’s and Talia’s hair has become much thicker, as if it’s trying to escape. On the other hand, your skin develops a glow I have never seen in the dry heat of Arizona. The only downside was a smattering if acne that flared up due to excess oil.

The heat of Taiwan also was something I had to adjust to. If Phoenix is an oven, baking everyone, Taiwan is a sauna, causing so much sweat. Furthermore if your clothing or shoes get wet in the rain, good luck on them drying anytime soon. In Arizona, the sweat will disappear quickly, as if you never felt heat in the first place. (Though the smell won’t leave!)

This humidity coming from being on an island constantly living with rain brings a much more pesky problem. Mosquitoes suck (Literally and figuratively). I have accumulated at least 30 bug bites from my time here, ranging from on my hands to my face, to my legs and any other place blood-sucking insects decide is yummy. In face due to this influx of bites, my skin had an allergic reaction and the bug bite grew a giant red ring around the bite. When visiting Taiwan, be sure to bring bug repellent. They can bite you through your clothes, and they live everywhere. The trains have them. Restaurants have them. They will follow you into where you sleep.

On a lighter note, let’s talk about 7-Elevens. They are everywhere, and are much more jumbo sized compared to America. I would compare them more to a Walgreens if it had a sitting area and tables to hang out at. Also, most stores require a customer to pay if they need a plastic bag. Some states in the United States have implemented similar laws, but Arizona has not put it into action. (It is coming close though.)

Watching movies is not as popular of a pastime as in America I first learned when I looked on Taiwanese Netflix and found a huge number of more popular shows on it. The cheaper ticket prices were to entice people to attending movie theaters. Even the marketing campaigns are much larger in Taiwan. The Spider-Man: Far from Home advertisements in America were mainly videos online, but Taiwan had the titular character plastered all over buses, and at the mall near Taipei 101 I discovered a life-sized interactive model of Spider-Man slinging a web.

珍娜

Jenna

P.S. More pictures of my stay!