#they'd been keeping them in the outside fridge

[boyjoan]

I suppose i should mention....

[they-call-me-whiskey]

Promise

pairing: JJ Maybank x Marie Routledge (oc)

summary: the secret relationship isn't a secret anymore.

warnings: a bit of angst (not really), a bit of fluff, some humour. English is not my first language.

author's note: this is my first completed fic, and I know it's not good, but let me know what you think anyway.

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when Marie arrived at the Chateau, it was suspiciously quiet. usually she could hear noise from several meters away, but now, she didn't hear anything, even when she opened the door. she headed straight to the kitchen and let out a sigh of relief seeing JJ rummaging through the fridge. she leaned casually against the counter a playful smile spread across her face.

“looking for something?” she asked, giggling as he jumped a little.

“you scared me,” he said back, sliding the fridge door shut and stepping closer to her with sly grin growing on his face. “but you’re exactly what I wanted to find.”

she let out a soft laugh, and JJ took her hand, tugging her closer, his eyes dropping to her lips. it has been a while since they'd had any time alone together, as if everyone conspired to keep them from any time just the two of them, and it was starting to seriously piss him off.

“where's the others?” the question was haunting her since she got there. it was almost sunset, and by this time everyone was usually at the Chateau, either watching a movie, playing cards, or whatever else they usually did. but she hadn't seen anyone except JJ.

“they're at Hayward's. needed help with something,” he answered, kissing her neck as his hands slid to her hips.

“they left without the Twinkie?” she asked, remembering seeing the car parked outside.

“they took the HMS Pogue,” JJ said, then suddenly picked her up and sat her down on the table. she squealed out of surprise but the squeal quickly turned into a laugh, making him smile. looking at her sitting before him made his heart beat as if it was ready to leap out of his chest.

“why did you stay?” she asked after a minute of silence. she raised her hand to fix his hair.

“I thought maybe we could have some time for ourselves.” his grin returned, and he leaned in closer. she smiled and met him halfway.

“what the hell?!” a voice broke through the silence, snapping them both back to reality.

JJ pulled back as if he’d touched a hot stove, and they both turned to see John B standing in the doorway, eyes wide with disbelief. Marie jumped down from the table.

“John B—” she started, but he wasn’t looking at her.

“out of limits, man!” John B practically exploded, pointing at JJ. “my sister, JJ? are you kidding me? we’re like brothers, and you… you betray me like that?”

JJ looked stricken, hands raised defensively. “John B, it’s not—just listen for a second—”

“are you serious right now?” John B cut him off, his voice raising with every word. “you went behind my back with Marie, of all people? and I had to find out like this?!”

Marie, caught between anger and embarrassment, raised her voice, “hey, stop acting like I’m not here—”

both boys ignored her, too caught up in the heat of the argument. John B couldn't believe it. his best friend was kissing his little sister. in his own kitchen.

“look, I swear it wasn’t like that,” JJ tried again, his voice desperate, “it’s been a real relationship—”

the word relationship hung in the air, stopping John B cold. his face went through a range of emotions—shock, confusion, then something more intense as the realization hit.

“wait.” he turned fully to Marie now, his eyes sharp. “you guys have been doing this… this whole time? what else have you—?”

JJ winced, bracing himself for the reaction. “John B, listen, I… I know it sounds bad, but… it’s serious.”

John B gave a hollow laugh, clearly too angry to hear any of it. “you… out,” he ground out, grabbing JJ by the arm and dragging him toward the door. JJ barely got a chance to dig his heels in as John B shoved him out onto the porch.

“what’s going on?” Pope mumbled, appearing on the porch, with Kiara right behind him. they'd just gotten back from Hayward's, and while Pope and Kie was tying up the boat John B had run to the Chateau to check if Marie was back.

“JJ’s a dead man,” John B snapped, shoving JJ onto the front steps. “and he’s staying away from Marie.”

JJ, catching his balance, held his hands up in exasperation. “John B, man, just listen—please, it’s not—”

Marie had followed them outside, her voice cutting in, “John B, stop! just let him explain!”

but John B wasn’t having it. he took a threatening step toward JJ. “you say one more thing, and I swear—”

JJ shook his head, running his hand through his hair, looking right back at his best friend. “fine, hit me if you need to, but I’m not staying away from her. I love her, alright?”

a stunned silence fell over the Pogues as they processed what he’d just said. Kiara, squinting at JJ in disbelief, was the first to speak. “wait… you do?”

then Pope echoed, “you do?”

finally, John B, arms falling limp at his sides, just stared, a mix of anger and confusion on his face. “you do?”

JJ, glancing back to Marie, nodded, his voice soft but resolute. “yeah… I do.”

the words hung heavy in the air, tension slowly melting into an awkward silence. Marie looked at him, her expression tender but a bit surprised. they'd never really talked about this; she didn't even know if they were a couple. but what he said—the way he said—made her think that it wasn't just to save his ass. she couldn't help but smiled, her heart doing a somersault.

John B sighed, running a hand through his hair, still looking frustrated but maybe just a bit less angry. “this… this is just a lot to process,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, you and… my sister?”

JJ looked at him, dead serious, almost pleading. “I wouldn’t mess around with her, John B. I swear. she means too much to me for that.”

Kiara stepped up, putting a hand on John B’s shoulder. “look, it’s obvious he’s serious,” she said softly. “and maybe… maybe that’s not such a bad thing?”

Pope nodded, shrugging, “yeah, I mean… it’s JJ. if there’s anyone you can trust with her, it’s him.”

John B finally met his sister’s gaze. though she was smiling like an idiot, he could still see the worry in her eyes. he let out a long breath, shoulders slumping. Pope was right—it was JJ. his best friend. he could trust him. maybe. “fine,” he said at last, looking between them. “but don’t you dare break her heart, JJ, or I swear…”

JJ nodded, looking back at John B with the same promise in his eyes. “you got it, man.” his gaze shifted to Marie's smiling face, and he couldn’t hold back his own smile. “never.”

[junos-jrabbles]

Hi! I have a TF2 request/suggestion for you if you want. You can choose the mercs you like to use, though I may humbly request Engie. Romantic or platonic, and in whatever form you would like.

The team has a new recruit! They are one of the most genuine, patient, friendly, sweetest people one could ever meet. They make everyone breakfast in the mornings, they listen to people's problems, they volunteer at a puppy orphanage, talk down muggers in the street, essentially a bottle of sunshine as a person.

On the battlefield however, they are most certainly one of the scariest people alive. They are incredibly strong and durable, no need for weapons when they can tear people apart with their bears hands and teeth. They are brutal, carnage incarnate, and have absolutely no fear whatsoever.

Now, their sweetness is genuine, they are not faking anything. Outside of battle they are one of the most pleasant, stable people on the team. If ever asked, the best reply they can ever give is "This is a war with no true death. (Thanks to the respawn machine) When you can play a game with no consequences, why not have a little fun? ~"

What do the mercs think about their new teammate? How did they react to seeing their first time on the battlefield? How scary is the game with a player who doesn't care?

(sorry for the length there, I get all excited. This would obviously only really work if the respawn machine is a part of the setting.)

Thank you so much for the request!! My first one :) And don’t worry about the length!!! I love excited rambles x3

Sorry that this is short!! i wrote a little hcs list for this for a little more content, but it might take a lil longer to post LOL I'll link it here when it's ready <3 and sorry for the wait, i hope this is what you were lookin for!!

Wild, meet tame.

Engineer/GNC Reader, 1k words

It was like watching a switch flip, he'd never seen it before, ever. Not as drastically as it would with you, at least. One minute he'd be wiping encrusted blood off the turret of his sentry, remnants of some poor enemy Scout, when he'd turn his head to see you barreling into the front lines. The team's Medic struggles, then practically gives up trying to keep up with your rampaging pace.

“It's like zhey don't… don't care!” Medic howls, crouching down by his dispenser to recoup lost energy. He shrugs, you're one hell of a bottled storm out here, and he can only wonder if there's anything deeper down that you're hiding away. He can see you still, just barely, from the vantage point he'd set his nest in, and by God was it a bloodbath down there. The enemies are torn to shreds in seconds, not unusual when under fire from the hulking Heavy and his repertoire of miniguns. But, the lack of gunfire is what was most unsettling.

He could see you, teeth bared, lunging in a fruitful hunt for blood, the enemy soldier screaming as he tried to kick you off of him, nearly blowing you both to bits, but sky high like a bloody firework. It was effective, and their offensive pushes were a lot weaker with someone like you guarding the captured points. There was always a nervous hum in the air when someone would call out your death, a moment for the enemy to recoup, only for them to be torn down by your wrath again.

It'd been nothing but victories recently, and it was unlike anything they'd ever experienced. Even those above them had been a little nicer recently, and boy it sure was infectious.

“Y’doing alright there, Engie?” He closed the fridge door, and looked around. What had he come in here for, that your voice had drawn him out of his search for? The cold air that brushed past him raised a shiver across his skin.

“Whatever you're after, I can cook up, I don't mind.” You're humming, pouring something into a pan on the stove, and whatever it is, smells amazing.

“Those pancakes?” He asks, stepping over gingerly, usually anyone brave enough to cook in the communal kitchen would tell any company to get out, lest they be branded by a scorching hot spatula across the face. Not you though.

“Yeah! I'll make you a few. You been eating enough, all holed up in that workshop of yours?” The sweet smell is even stronger now as you flip the pancakes, your words just as sweet, with a simple, kind hesitance in the playful tease. He knows you wouldn't poke fun at his work.

“I think there's some honey or chocolate chips around here if you want some in ‘em, hon.” And with that small mission given, you're back to humming some classical piece he'd heard playing in Medic’s office once or twice, familiar.

There's a beat of silence as he just… watches you. Only for a moment, eyes lingering where they should, just curious. He wants to ask something, but the words don't exactly come easily. He turns, and begins to rummage through some of the slightly-too-high cabinets, finding the chocolate chips, which some dickhead has placed just out of reach. He reaches high, tip toed, fingers just barely tickling the bag before he manages to swipe it down off the shelf, and bring it over to you.

The bag hits the counter with a rattly thwump, and you lean over, looking inside. “These’ll do just fine…” The smile on your face is nearly eerily pleasant as you take the bag and dump a small handful into the poured batter. There's a smoky smell in the air, but the baked goods seem fine, and Pyro isn't hanging around yet.

There's been a few moments where he questions you, your motives, your actions, but… You hadn't done anything to seem like a bad person. If anything, you'd done nothing but prove the opposite! Hell, even the Doc's birds liked you, and that's a real feat! “Thank you kindly, ma’am.” He muttered, pondering you deeply, though trying not to, you'd done nothing to earn such scrutiny.

He's staring, he's sure, but he can't seem to pull his gaze away from you. “What made you erh…” Ordinary of him to start a sentence without being sure if where to take it. “Consider… this, as a mercenary, ain't the greatest work for kind folk like you.” He huffs, stepping over to your side, leaning against the flour smeared counter. “As kind as you want to be, at least.” He squints curiously, you're not quite looking at him, glancing to him out to corner of your eye once in a while.

“Am I being investigated, copper?” You coo, smiling coyly, and flip a pancake onto a plate to your left before turning right to face him, crossing your arms across your chest. “I know what you're thinking.”

The air around you is warm, and swirling with the delectable smells of baking and everything sweet. “It's different here, than out there.” You turn back to the pan, prepping another pancake.

A shrill squeak rings out from the hall, and you both snap your heads to the noise, before it squeals down the hall, away from the kitchen.

“What in tarnation— I don't think you're some… monster,” He chides, shaking his head and wringing his gloves hands.

“Not at all, but it's just… So fascinatin’. Watching you go about, tearin’ them to shreds like it's nothin’ to ya, don't even flinch when the enemy Sniper gets a pick on you!”

Even he was prone to a nervous moment or two in a fight, but you seemed to have some sort of miraculous handle on it all though.

“I know it's different.” He resigns, and you slide another pancake onto the plate, then towards him.

You shrug, and turn the stove off, placing a small cover over the larger plate of previously made pancakes.

“There’s no harm in going a little crazy out there, I might come back with a new scar if I'm unlucky, but, well…” Your lips are pursed tightly as you mull over your next words.

“Well, there's nothing to it, we can't die, Dell.” You murmur, he takes a pancake and gingerly bites into it.

“The real fight is only lost when one team gets bored and gives up, basically, so why not have a little fun with it?”

[turnupswritessometimes]

Bring it on Home to Me - Ash/Eiji Oneshot

A thanks to @holographiccs (who I bullied into reading Banana Fish) for imitating Ash's gang and their New York accents with me and inspiring this fic! <3

A03 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59433925

Summary:

Eiji heard Bones say it when he was posted outside their apartment. A friend of his had stopped by and asked both him and Kong out for a good time. Loudly. Loud enough for Eiji to hear in the kitchen. "Can't. We're guarding the boss' girlfriend." * Eiji finds out he's known as the boss' girlfriend - and he doesn't hate it. Ash should hate it - but he doesn't, either.

Word Count: 4,156

Bring it on Home to me

Eiji heard Bones say it when he was posted outside their apartment. A friend of his had stopped by and asked both him and Kong out for a good time. Loudly. Loud enough for Eiji to hear in the kitchen.

"Can't. We're guarding the boss' girlfriend."

Eiji’s stomach twisted. He stopped chopping vegetables - realised he was cooking Ash's dinner, like a girlfriend, and his stomach squirmed again – and looked to the door. It was closed; they probably didn't even know he'd heard.

What else had they heard? Had they heard him and Ash? Was that what they really thought about them? It wasn't not true, but it wasn’t true, either. He didn’t know what this thing was between him and Ash. He was already too soft for Ash's world, that had been made clear. The implication that he was his girlfriend didn’t sit right with him.

It hadn't been said with any judgement – not like they hated or looked down on him for it – just as a matter of fact. Not even, Eiji thought, as some kind of joke. He thought that was worse. Definitely worse.

He didn't feel like cooking up a nice, homemade meal anymore. He scooped the chopped vegetables into a bowl, and put them back in the fridge. They'd have a couple of TV dinners, or takeout, instead.

Bones came in, not long later, to catch his show on the ridiculously large TV Ash had brought. He always did, even though they were both meant to stay outside. It was their secret, between Eiji and Bones.

"You ain’t making dinner?" Bones asked, as he clambered over the back of the sofa to collapse into a heap on the too-firm cushions.

"Not tonight," Eiji replied. He picked up the book on the side, as though he'd been reading instead, but Bones wasn't even looking. He was already helping himself to the remote, and flicking through the channels.

Eiji watched him, for a moment. He thumbed through the pages of the book. His voice came out much smaller than he wanted it to: "The boss'...girlfriend?"

"Huh?" Bones craned his neck to look at him. "You heard that?"

Bones' voice carried; Eiji heard most things he said, though it was mostly him and Kong chatting about nothing. "It's just – I'm not – it's not—"

"It ain't about girls or boys," Bones said. "A girlfriend's the one who keeps house for you. Who you come back to after trouble."

Eiji still didn't think that was the right word. But maybe this was some new American slang he didn't understand. "Oh."

"It's a good thing." Bones smiled, showing his sharp canines. "And being Ash's girlfriend? Gives you a hell of a reputation."

Because Ash had a hell of a reputation. Because Ash was a gang leader, and he had the respect of most other gangs around New York. Did they all know him as that? As the Lynx's girlfriend?

"I'm not Ash's," Eiji said, because his stomach hadn't just squirmed, it had somersaulted, at that thought. He did not want to be just the Lynx’s property.

Bones tilted his head to one side, frowning. "That ain’t bad, either. I'm Ash's. Kong's Ash's. We're all Ash's."

It was as simple as that to him. He followed Ash, so he was Ash's. And Eiji supposed he could try and deny it, but he did the same thing. Stubbornly stuck at Ash's side until he'd stopped telling Eiji to go back to Japan. Didn’t have any plans to leave him, any time soon.

He was Ash's, he realised, through and through.

"Right." His voice was distant, but he didn't think Bones heard anyway; his show had started and that always hypnotised him. Eiji took his book to his bedroom, heart thumping. It was something, he realised, that he'd known for a while. He'd known it, but he'd only just realised it, and it felt overwhelming. Just how much he was Ash’s.

He sat on the end of the bed, and wondered what Ash was doing right now. Gang business. Dangerous business. And Eiji was the one he came home to – who he’d chosen to come home to. They didn’t have to live together, alone, here, but Ash had chosen that, and Eiji hadn’t argued. This was Ash’s safehouse, and that Eiji's job was to be there, when he came home.

His mind didn't settle to read. He flicked on the radio, and shifted restlessly, waiting. Thinking about fights and guns and gangs and realising he didn’t know much about how it worked at all.

Ash called from a payphone, to say he was on his way back. Eiji called for takeout. It arrived minutes before Ash himself, and he had to sacrifice a handful of fries to Bones and Kong when they saw the delivery boy. They clapped Eiji on the back as they said goodbye, then stopped to debrief with Ash in the hall. Eiji couldn't keep up with their conversation; their words were too fast, and their accents too heavy. He leant against the doorframe, and watched Ash's expression; that tense, serious expression he had around the gang. His eyes glinted green, his jaw set.

It relaxed, when he met Eiji at the door. Softened. His hands found Eiji's hips, and he brought him close for a hug. Eiji's arms went around his neck automatically and he pressed closer. Smelt of sweat, cigarettes and smoke. It was unpleasant, but it was Ash's.

He pulled away, ghosting his lips over Eiji's cheek. "Honey, I'm home."

It was a joke. It had started as a joke and because of Ash kissing him in jail. He still teased that they were together, like that. Every time it made Eiji duck his chin, and laugh, cheeks warming. Americans were too free with being intimate.

Ash was too free with being intimate.

He stepped away, not seeming to realise Eiji hadn't responded, and saw the paper bags sat on the table.

Eiji leant his back against the door to close it. "Sorry, I—"

"It's alright." Ash looked back at him. He raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I'm not going to beat you with my belt for not having a roast on the table after my day at the office."

It was another joke, but Eiji didn't laugh. He could see why the boys thought what they did. Ash noticed. Tilted his head to one side; his hair fell with the movement, gold in the artificial light. "Seriously, don't worry."

Eiji bit his lip. He wondered how to tell Ash about what Bones had said – wondered if Ash knew – if Ash called him that, himself. Wondered if he’d see it as another joke, and Eiji didn't know if he wanted it to be. Didn't know how he could even word it.

Ash stepped forward, again. His hand grazed Eiji's arm; brushed his hair behind his ear. It was genuine, and he looked up.

"What's up?"

Eiji tangled his fingers in Ash's. Took a deep breath. "The boss' girlfriend."

Ash frowned. "Huh?"

Eiji looked at their joint fingers. Ash's looked like the colour of ivory, against his. How was it that this boy could spend a summer outside in New York, and not tan at all?

"That's what they call me," he said. "The boss' girlfriend."

"Ah." Ash paused, for half a second. "Right."

"I don't hate it," Eiji continued. His voice came out much smaller than before. "At least, I don't think I do. It's – the food will go cold."

Ash let him get away with that. "Right."

But he didn't drop his hand, as he crossed to the table. Not until Eiji had to step around to the other side, and he absolutely had to. His fingers fell away, slowly. Then he was pouncing on the bags and pulling out the burgers and fries, smiling like a child.

"No weird Japanese dish tonight?"

"Sometimes I think you really are just an uncultured American," Eiji replied, and for a moment, it was just like normal. He unpacked his food. Caught Ash glancing up, smiling at him. A soft smile that made his heart squeeze.

But Ash saw through him. "This is because of what Bones said."

Eiji nodded. He helped himself to fries, chewing slowly. Ash ate like he hadn't in a week; like he was barely tasting any of it. Eiji picked at his own food, steadily.

When Ash finally came up for air, he said, "It’s not your cooking. Just – this food is predictable, you know?"

"Predictable?"

"You know exactly how it's going to taste, because it's come out the machine that way."

"I don't think it's all made by machines."

"It's – safe." Ash met Eiji's eyes, his were shards of emerald, then away again. Back to his food. But there had been something in that gaze; something vulnerable. It was the same kind of vulnerable he'd seen at Cape Cod; that glimpse of Aslan Jade.

It felt like a peace offering. Ash had offered up that, about himself, because Eiji had mentioned the girlfriend thing. Probably looked vulnerable too.

Ash was weird about food. He'd noticed that. Noticed that sometimes he ‘d eat like he hadn’t in a week, or didn't eat at all, or would only pick at his food. That the other boys would eat three or four hot dogs back to back, and Ash would find a subtle way to toss the rest of his out. Eiji didn't press about it. He’d do his best to push Ash towards eating more healthily.

He continued steadily through his own meal. For once, Ash finished long before him.

"I'll tell them to knock it off," Ash said. "I've half a mind to bash them."

"You...didn't say that, then?"

That there was this thing between them. The same thing as in jail; in that road trip across America; in Ash lying in his lap in the middle of the night. They were joint by this thing. They weren’t just friends; they were something more.

"No, I didn't." Ash's mouth twisted. "They're idiots."

"They aren't," though Eiji's protest was half-hearted.

Ash raised an eyebrow, unbelieving, and Eiji had to look away, biting his cheek in case he started laughing. He liked Bones and Kong, but he understood why they were often stationed outside his safe apartment building, where nothing happened, as opposed to the real work Ash had done today.

The work Ash had done today. The work that left him smelling like gunpowder. When Ash was like this, domestic and teasing, it was hard to equate him with the feared gang leader – whose reputation Eiji had by association.

He gathered the trash from their meals together, and threw them away. At least he didn't have to wash up tonight – and that was another part of playing house, wasn't it?

When he looked back, he saw Ash examining the back of his hand. Even from where Eiji stood, he could see the knuckles were red, starting to turn purple and blue.

"You've been fighting," Eiji said, automatically getting the first aid kit from under the sink. It was replenished nearly weekly.

"It’s nothing," Ash replied. He left his chair untucked, and flopped onto the sofa. He went over the arm, lying lengthways, and Eiji wondered if any of these boys were capable of sitting normally.

He crossed over, with a bag of peas. How many times, he wondered, could you refreeze peas before they were no longer safe to eat?

Eiji tossed them to Ash. He caught them without looking, and pressed them against his hand. Eiji perched on the arm of the sofa. Ash's hair flopped over his face, but he saw him wince at the ice.

"Bones..." Eiji swallowed. "Bones didn't make it sound like a bad thing."

Ash didn't answer, immediately. "That right?"

"He said – a girlfriend – is who you come home to, after a long day at war," Eiji said.

Ash smiled. A slow, unconscious smile that sent a rush of warmth through him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Ash sat, properly, his back against the arm of the sofa, his knees drawn up. He nodded to the empty space. Eiji slipped onto it, aware of his elbow knocking against Ash's knee. The touch tingled.

"And Bones didn't say what you did after a long day at war?"

Eiji's cheeks felt hot, at the suggestion. "I don't think he knows about that kind of thing."

Which made Ash chuckle. His knee bumped Eiji again, and he but his lip. It felt mean to laugh at Bones, but it was easier than this thing, and he loved making Ash laugh like that. He chanced a glance at Ash from under his bangs, only to see him watching Eiji closely. It sent that wave of heat down his neck.

"And – do you?" Ash's voice was soft; soft enough Eiji suspected he could pretend not to have heard, if he wanted.

"I..." He traced the gain of the sofa with one finger. "I have an idea, or two."

"Yeah?” Ash sat up further, leaning forward. “Care to share?"

He'd turned to Ash, and he wasn't sure when he had. But now his face was only inches away.

"You mean – demonstrate?"

Ash smiled – smirked – and Eiji's stomach twisted. "Only if you want to."

Eiji wanted to. He wanted to, but then it wouldn’t be a joke, anymore. Things would change. Still, he didn’t wouldn’t back down. Ash had that effect on him; made him want to rise to the glint in his eye.

He leant forward – didn’t let himself hesitate – and pressed their lips together. He felt Ash’s part, like he was surprised Eiji actually did it, before he kissed back. He moved slowly, as if he was savouring it, one hand sliding into Eiji’s hair. The bag of frozen peas fell to the floor with a loud thump.

Eiji shifted, so he was securely between Ash’s legs, hands on his knees to steady himself, as he kissed him back. Only pulled away when he felt lightheaded, and not far enough to see Ash clearly.

“That okay?” Ash whispered.

“If that’s – if that’s okay with you?” Eiji replied.

Ash pulled away. Eiji let him, though he was still very aware of how close they were; how he was pressed between Ash’s legs. His lips tingling. Ash raised a hand, brushing Eiji’s bangs from his eyes. His fingers trailed over his cheekbone, green eyes examining him. Eiji stared back, heart pounding. There was everything, and nothing, to say. Ash made a noise, then stopped. Tucked Eiji’s hair behind his ear.

“I like coming home to you,” he murmured.

Eiji felt heat rush through him, like he’d just sunk into a warm bath. His hands had moved, he didn’t know when, to Ash’s shoulders. “I like you coming home.”

Because Ash had been fighting, and he may only have come home with bruised knuckles today, but he could easily come home much worse. Eiji kissed him again, pressing their foreheads together.

“Please come home, Ash.”

Ash took a breath that Eiji felt against him, pressing his hands against the small of his back. Pressed him closer, until they were inches apart. He nodded, his hair falling over his eyes. It hid his expression. He pressed his mouth against Eiji's cheek. Properly, this time, lashes brushing his skin.

Eiji held Ash back. Felt his spine, his shoulder blades, and Ash's mouth moved to his temple. Kissed there, too, and then tugged him down so he could rest his chin on Eiji's head. He let him, falling ungracefully against Ash's chest, their legs tangled on the sofa. It wasn’t quite big enough, for this. They were very close. Closer than ever before, and this time, it was serious.

He didn't want to pull away. Listened to the steady beat of Ash's heart under his ear. His fingers reached up to curl a blonde strand around his finger.

"I'll try my best," Ash murmured.

"I'll hold you to that." And he felt Ash's chuckle as a rumble. He shifted, to look at him, their faces so close that Ash's eyes were a sea of green. "I promise, Ash Lynx."

"Well—" Ash kissed him. Long, slow and savouring and Eiji felt as though he was melting. "Then I can't let you down."

His voice was soft, like a purr. He pressed kisses to the corner of Eiji's mouth, trailing down his jaw. Eiji twisted Ash's hair in his fingers. This was earnest – so earnest and reverent, that it made his chest ache.\

He kissed Ash back. Kissed his temple; his cheekbone; the hollow of his jaw, and felt Ash's breath catch under him. He drew him even tighter against him, so there wasn't even room for that. They lay on the sofa, hearts beating against each other.

His eyes half-closed, and he didn't mind the smell of sweat and gunpowder. It was Ash's smell. This felt right, Eiji thought. Thought perhaps he was Ash's boy, after all, because this felt like where he belonged.

*

"So, who started it?"

Ash leant against the bar, and did his best glower at Alex. Made sure to sweep said glower over the guys standing around, so they all knew he was bothered by something. Bones ducked behind Kong; maybe he guessed what was up. Eiji, though, was in the thick of it, being taught how to play pool.

Alex smiled, but he looked tense, too. "Started what?"

Ash tilted his head and raised his eyebrow. "Started calling Eiji the boss’ girlfriend?"

Alex's grin stiffened. He swigged from his beer bottle, either buying for time or building up his courage. Ash didn't relent his stare.

"Ain't it right?" Alex eventually asked.

Ash huffed, taking a drink himself. His was an excuse to look over at Eiji. He was concentrating hard, lining up a shot, his brows together. He was biting his lip, and it made Ash's stomach twinge. Adorable.

"I never said that," he said; it came out much too defensive.

Alex shifted. Glanced across at him, and Ash stayed scowling. It was half the job of being the boss – he had to be imposing – had to have his respect and reputation. That was how you survived in New York. That was what Ash loved about New York.

Alex leant across, looking straight ahead, probably watching Eiji too, as he said, "You didn't have to."

Ash's stomach twisted. He watched Eiji as he took the shot. A ball fell into the pocket. The boys cheered him like he'd won the game, clapping his shoulders. Eiji laughed, the low lighting casting a halo on his hair. He looked like he was glowing, from the inside out. Those dark eyes found Ash's.

He looked away. "That obvious, huh?"

Alex half-laughed, like he wasn't sure if he'd get hit, if he did. "Yeah, boss, that obvious."

That was bad. Ash finished the bottle, and lined it up on the bar alongside the others. Beer wasn't his drink of choice, but it was what they drunk here, so he did too. At least it filled him up.

"It ain't him," Alex continued. Conversationally. "It's you. The way you look at him."

"Well, shit," Ash said it on reflex, like he'd dropped a glass or missed a shot. Like it was an accident. It was an accident. Being around Eiji was making him soft. He knew that, knew it particularly when they were alone together, but he hadn't realised it seeped through to everywhere.

He glanced up just in time to meet Eiji's eyes again; stood at the side of the table, with his pool-cue held like a staff in front of him. He smiled.

"I gotta smoke," Ash said. Snapped. Headed through the back of the bar. Stalked through, so that Bones leapt back out of his way. The lynx on the warpath.

He tried not to think about how that would seem to Eiji; for him to storm away just after being smiled at. But he needed space. Needed air. Needed to slam the door to the tiny courtyard and fumble for a cigarette in his pocket. He lit it with fumbling fingers, and leant against the brick wall.

Said courtyard was a square of cobblestone, surrounded on all sides by tall buildings, a hodgepodge of brick and stone, fire escapes twisting around them like ivy. Just a patch of sky at the top, and the light pollution of the city meant no stars or moonlight got through. It cast everything yellow.

Ash took a deep drag, and let it out slowly. The smoke drifted into the night air in a gray ribbon. His muscles relaxed, his mind numbed.

Alex pushed open the door. He leant against the frame, and watched Ash. He didn't look away from the patch of night, but held out the cigarette pack. Alex took it, and pulled out his own. Handed it back, and kept his palm out for the lighter.

Ash didn’t give it to him. He stepped forward, holding the lighter up to where Alex held the cigarette between his teeth. It was a challenge; to see if you flinched, at the flame so close to your mouth. If you trusted the person with the lighter.

Alex didn't flinch. His blue eyes held Ash's. The blue of new jeans.

Ash leant back against the wall.

Alex blew out smoke. "You know we don't mind, yeah?"

"It's not you." Ash held the cigarette between his fingers, and focused on the warmth of it. "It's – if you can tell, anyone can."

"Not anyone." Alex leant next to him, just as he did at the bar. There was no shaking him, and Ash thought he loved him for that. "But we can. Because you're different with him. You didn't beat him to a pulp for waking you up – things like that. We knows you, is all."

"And other people know me." Ash tapped the end of his cigarette, sending a miniature meteor shower to the flagstones. "Golzine knows me."

So if Alex and the boys – if Bones – could tell, Dino Golzine definitely could. Every time Ash went out with Eiji, he was parading his Achilles heel. If he was Achilles, he thought, as he took another drag, Eiji was Patroclus.

There was that painting. Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus. An image flashed in his mind of Eiji, that pale – that dead – and his chest ached.

Alex didn't press for those details; respected Ash's privacy when it came to his past with Golzine – even those visits before all this Banana Fish business that were much too recent for his liking. Just why had it taken him so long to get out of there – completely?

Ash's smoke blew out shakily.

"We'll protect him," Alex said. "We won't let anything happen to him."

It already had. Ash had been there, in California, and he'd not been able to do that. Eiji had been taken, right under his nose. If Ash Lynx couldn't protect him, then what hope did anyone else have?

Now everyone knew he had a weak spot.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah." Alex paused. Smoke came out his nose, as he laughed. "'Cos he's your girl."

Ash punched his shoulder. Enough to smart, but not to bruise. He took the final drag of his cigarette, and crushed it under his converse, as he headed back inside. Didn't correct Alex.

Came face to face with Eiji, once he was back inside the bar. Eiji, dithering with a bottle in his hand, and looking concerned.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, when Ash was close enough.

The dim lights made his eyelashes spidery shadows on his cheeks. Caught in his dark eyes, and if Ash looked long enough, he could map galaxies in them. There was something about Eiji Okumura. He was unreasonably kind and thoughtful and if Ash was feeling philosophical about it, he would say something about his innocence – that boy had never seen a gun. But it was that stupid stubbornness Ash felt drawn to, like a moth to a flame.

If they were alone, he’d kiss him. He didn’t think that was possible, even if the boys knew, because he didn’t think Eiji would want that.

Instead, he smiled. Flung his arm around Eiji's shoulders, and steered him towards the bar. Eiji let him. It didn't matter if anyone saw, Ash thought, because all the boys knew anyway. The knew, and they'd protect Eiji.

"Everything's fine," Ash said. Aware that he stunk of cigarettes, but Eiji didn't pull away. If anything, he leant into him slightly. "Just peachy."

He didn't think Eiji believed him. He didn't quite believe himself. He felt itchy, ready for an attack, like a guard dog. Eiji was in danger, because of him. Because it was obvious how Ash felt about him.

But the gang would protect him. Ash would protect him.

Eiji was his.

[beforetimes]

amusing myself with a post-dofp, pre-apocalypse fix-it wherein peter goes back to the x mansion much earlier and gets to help in fixing it up. because, like, as lowkey traumatizing as erik's speech probably was for peter in the moment, i can't imagine he'd want to squander the opportunity to take a look back at these ppeople who had brought him into the fold of this new world they'd introduced him to before anyone else knew about it. i think it's plausible that he didn't go back to the school after that speech because, maybe he wanted to lay low so his little sister and mother wouldn't get dragged into whatever mess he'd been complicit in unleashing on the world. but i don't buy that he wouldn't go back earlier, either, especially with all the time in the world to think [agonize] over these strange people who were like him when he didn't know any mutants before, either.

so! let's say peter goes back to the mansion following erik's news broadcast to keep distance from his family to keep them safe. what next?

well when he gets there, it's obviously a dump compared to what it used to be. charles hasn't bothered to fix it up when he was on a ten year bender and hank was busy keeping charles from self-destructing and logan was there for a day at most

peter, however, is armed with superspeed and is an overzealous teenager who was challenged ("how fast do you really think you can clean all this? what, half a day?" "half a day for one room? you're kidding, man—") and now he has his pride on the line so obviously he commits to clearing out dust to prove he's the best duster to ever step foot in this stupid mansion

and he's maybe, like, halfway through the first room before he's realized what he's been roped into but also he doesn't really care because he's so bored and by now he'd probably have ramsacked a grocery store near home for more food he doesn't need but his heart squeezes a little at thinking like that—thinking about using his powers so openly after seeing this guy threaten to kill the president and now everyone knows about mutants and their only examples are 'terrorist' and 'not terrorist' and he really doesn't want to think about his sweet little sister still small enough to sit in his lap watching him step outside to break the law like that man did and phew why does being associated with this guy he broke out of prison make his chest hurt so much? whatever he'll just ignore that and keep cleaning because if he's cleaning he's not putting his family in danger and who knows maybe other kids will find their way here

and then he imagines little gap-toothed mutants about five or six years old running down the empty halls of this forboding sad mansion and the dark hallways make him feel a little more sick so he runs through and opens every curtain in about two seconds and feels less like throwing up and wow he doesn't think he's ever felt this lopsided in his life

and so peter works through about two floors by the end of the day and crashes in a bed to sleep for five hours before immediately raiding the fridge for about three thousand calories worth of food and makes his way through most of charles' newly restocked perishibles before the man even makes his way into the kitchen looking for some coffee or whatever

and peter isn't really mad but he is feeling a little off-centre about the fact that this was the guy who brought him to the pentagon to break a terrorist out of jail and even though it was really cool and he had so much fun doing it and it was the first time in a while he wasn't bored for an entire day he still feels a bit cheated because he didn't know he was breaking out a terrorist but charles definitely did and he was mad but he kind of didn't care and he left peter with a car to drop off and nothing else even though he dragged peter into this mess and was now pretending nothing happened

so peter leaves the room before charles can blink and spends the next week dodging him and hank is stressed and charles is stressed and the woman from the cia who visits, like, once, can feel it too because peter can tell she's stressed by the look on her face he snags a glance at when he's rooting through her wallet in superspeed and everyone is tense and stressed and peter is kind of regretting this because he could just hide in his basement until he's absolutely sure no one from the pentagon remembers his face and the fbi won't break down his mother's door to take him away from his family

and one night he's really not feeling it so he calls his mom and he doesn't really look at the date but he guesses it's important because the moment the phone picks up and he says "hello?" his mother is just spilling out so many things to him like one secret after the other and peter can usually notice everything because he's always got time to look at the details but everything feels syrupy and goes in one ear and out the other until the next morning when he sits down at the table and is in the same room as charles for the first time in weeks and all he can think is my mom knew someone who could do that

so now he's got this whole mess to think about so he doesn't have any time or energy left to be mad-not-mad at charles and hank which is crazy because he has so much energy all the time and he guesses that the pair of adults are taking their blessings without questioning them because they continue on as normal and peter only gets one day of things being sort of not entirely awful while the news settles in before he opens the door at eleven in the evening and finds magneto from the news on their porch with blood all over his side

and peter kind of blanks out or he stares too long or something because magneto says something and then all of a sudden peter's rushed the two of them down to hank's lab where hank pretends he wasn't listening to black sabbath because he's distinguished or whatever and there's a lot of yelling and panicking and peter stays at the side while charles joins them a few minutes later to talk calmly while everyone yells and eventually no one is yelling and magneto is fixed up and charles is staring and hank is glaring and peter opens his big dumb mouth and trips into the worst situation of his life entirely by accident

which is where he invited magneto to stay until he's feeling better

and everyone looks at him and even he's not sure why he said it because he doesn't know how he feels about magneto because he's been dreaming about having a father for years and years and he always imagined him as a boring old man who wasn't particularly anything special at all and the type of person who would float from city to city just working as a placeholder for a lot of other women instead of specifically screwing over peter's mom

and he didn't think his father would be a terrorist and he doesn't know if he wants to imagine magneto and father in the same sentence but all he's really thinking about is that new animated robin hood thing he saw with his sister and how that marian wondered if robin remembered her and robin wondered if marian remembered him and they were both thinking about each other without knowing it and peter doesn't know if his—magneto—remembered his mother but he can't stop himself from offering anyway

so now after a lot of silent conversation between charles and hank where peter is left out of the loop because his brain makes charles nauseus, magneto is given a room to stay in under the condition he doesn't try to, fucking, blow up the school or whatever the hell he wants to do to make everyone think mutants are evil. peter paraphrases the rules to sound like that in his head because charles is much more formal aloud

and if he thought the stress and regret and everything else that made him want to throw up was bad before, then phew he had no idea what was lying in store with him when it came to magneto because that guy is a perpetual storm cloud over a bright and sunny day no matter what happens, somehow

and peter knows he probably has a tragic backstory because he heard as much from charles late one night when they both couldn't sleep and peter couldn't help but ask what magneto was like when he was younger and charles looked so sad peter almost regretted asking but didn't because curiosity was going to eat him alive before he got a chance to blink

so peter doesn't know all of it but he knows it was bad and magneto is allowed to be upset but also it isn't cool he tried to murder the president and that's the one part that keeps screaming in his head every time he reconciles with the fact that he invited this guy to stay at someone else's mansion when the only reason peter was here was to keep his family and by proxy himself safe from this type of stuff

so he's proven to himself he's the dumbest person alive about three times over and he's still helping with renovations in that stupid mansion and he's wiped at the kitchen table when someone slides a glass of orange juice to him at ten in evening and he looks up and hey it's magneto he knows that guy

and that guy is like, terrifying as fuck so peter kind of chokes on his thanks which makes magneto's eyes look stormy and kind of sad and wow he didn't know that was a thing that could happen he sort of throught terrorists were above feelings especially after attempting to kill presidents

so peter kind of says sorry and magneto says sorry and no one says anything until magneto says its very impressive how much he's been doing to help out around here and peter is like wow really you think so because he still loves praise and people seeing how cool he is and it bugged him the tiniest bit that magneto walked by without saying anything when he broke him out of the pentagon btut he's glad that dusting and sweeping and mopping has impressed this guy so much

and magneto says something about how he's greater than he knows and that his gift is something that no one else possesses or something like that all peter knows is it's verging into territory he doesn't like and he keeps thinking about how much magneto hates humans and he keeps thinking about how his kid sister and mom are humans and he wonders if his dad hated his mom and thats why he left and he zooms upstairs to grab his walkman and put on his headphones before coming back downstairs while magneto's mid sentence to make him go away because peter was here first

magneto kind of blinks and goes blank and peter sort of welcomes it because magneto is frightening when he gets so into this whole mutant supremacy thing he has going on and peter is regretting asking him to come by at all before the guy stiltedly asks what he's listening to, which, like, what?

and peter finds out that magneto has never listened to like, a single band that wasn't playing on a radio he accidentally happened to be in the vicinity of and peter blinks and all of a sudden he's bugging a terrorist who hates humans to listen to his vinyls because he's somehow convinced himself in a moment of hysteria or delusion or psychosis that if he woos magneto with human music he'll decide that he doesn't want every human dead, just the bad ones and peter won't have to try and kill him or something and wow that's a lot to think about because peter doesn't think he'd ever murder someone but his dad murdered a lot of people or tried to and if they're blood related there must be some of that in him or something but thinking about that makes his chest twisty and he's only like eighteen or nineteen so he throws that worry aside but doesn't do too great of a job at it

because he's sitting in his room and they're both listening to queen and peter's mind can't stop going in circles and circles and circles and his mouth is open and he's asking magneto hey do you think you'd kill a human even if you loved them once before he can stop himself and magneto's staring at him and peter's staring at the ceiling and his chest is this tight ball of frizzy hairs of anxiety or something gross that feels like a million pounds

and magneto very slowly says why do you ask before he continues like he's peter and he can't bear to be interrupted and says something or other about how no humans are trustworthy and peter can't shut his dumb mouth so he asks more directly if he's loved a human before

and now magneto's staring and not saying anything and peter's kind of hoping and kind of not hoping that this guy who he's spent the past few weeks bonding with over late nights and vinyls and breakfast-for-dinners will either put the pieces together or say no and prove peter right and peter will make sure he never knows that peter's kid sister and his mother even exist

but magneto surprises him and says he's loved someone once and it would be a lie for him to say he hasn't loved humans when they didn't know what he was and when people found out what he was there was always a problem and that's why humans are a problem

and peter wonders if finding out that someone was pretending to be something theyre not would make magneto as upset as it did humans because he thinks he's going to go insane if he keeps pretending he's not magneto's kid and he's still kind of hoping for magneto to be more outwardly evil about hating his mom and kid sister so peter can just mentally disown him and get this weight off his shoulders

and he keeps waiting and waiting and waiting and magneto doesn't say more and peter doesn't say more but now this thing is sitting in between the two of them and peter's given away more of the game than he wanted on the last day before magneto's supposed to leave because of his fully healed wounds—which he had many of

except when he goes back to down to breakfast the next day he finds a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee and magneto is sitting at the table reading the newspaper that charles somehow gets delivered here and when peter finishes his glass and has four more magneto tells peter to call him erik

so now it's peter charles hank and erik living here and peter waits and waits and erik doesn't leave and they don't talk but he doesn't leave and peter is still waiting for erik to leave when charles wheels in a few days later and says they're going to go look for students and when erik just hums and says he'll come with peter stares and charles stares and hank stares and no one says anything

and then the days pass and they get a longer and longer list of students and peter's run out of places to clean and erik is still here and they don't talk about it but they listen to vinyls and erik is still here

erik is still here and peter is still here and nothing is really fixed but nothing is broken either and peter is content to sit in this space of being and not being until he's sure that there's more erik in magneto than there is magneto

and erik is still here. and peter is glad. secretly

[virtualvault]

Love You to the Moon and Back

Pairing: Moonknight System x Gn!Reader

Summary: The Boys are away for Valentine's day but they make sure to leave behind some thoughtful gifts to show you how much you mean to them.

Warnings: just fluff and a brief mention of the boys touching reader's butt at the very end (Just couldn't help myself)

WC: 1.2k

A/N: thought I'd try writing some fluff with valentines day around the corner. Enjoy :))

You awaken to a cold, empty left side of the bed. You rub your hand over the indent left behind and sigh. Being apart was hard enough, but on Valentine's Day especially, their absence was glaringly obvious. You knew they'd be gone, but it didn't stop a wave of loneliness from washing over you. You had spent the previous evening together, knowing they'd be gone for the actual day. You had worked late, so you only really had a few hours to cuddle on the couch and fool around a bit before you had to head to bed. You agreed to celebrate properly when they get back, but you don't want to endure the wait. All you want to do is wrap them in your arms and spend the day in bed.

Before the melancholy can completely consume you, your nostrils are filled with the scent of freshly made breakfast. You get up and make your way into the kitchen and are immediately taken aback at the sight. The counter is covered with an assortment of all your favorite breakfast foods. The quantity is impressive, and it looks like a little buffet.  Alongside the food there is a note that reads, 'Enjoy!' and informs you of fully prepped lunch and dinner in the fridge. You immediately know it's Jake's doing. He takes care of you in so many ways but keeping you well fed has to be his favorite.

 At the center of the counter, you notice a beautiful white orchid. You smile. That was surely from him as well. You had mentioned your interest in getting one a while back and his eyes lit up. He’s a plant dad through and through and he's been sharing his hobby with you, showing you how to nurture and care for a variety of plants. It initially piqued your interest just seeing how committed he is to them. His gentleness and attentiveness when it came to his beloved flora warms your heart. You noticed it mirrors his care and devotion for you.

 As your eyes scan the various plates down the counter, they land on a pink heart shaped cloche. You lift it to reveal a Swiss roll with hearts decorating the outside. This, you know, is from Steven. He knows you enjoy baking and he had asked you a while back to give him lessons. Now every time you step into the kitchen, he’s at your heels, soaking in all the knowledge you can offer. You’re quite impressed with his roll, something you didn't teach him, so you know he went out of his way to learn by himself. The thought of him venturing out on his own to learn how to do it widens the smile on your face.

 Alongside his treat, he also got you a teddy bear. The little name tag on the ribbon reads, 'Little Steven' and you giggle. Every time they come home you always mention to him how much you miss his cuddles and how you resort to snuggling up with their pillow as a substitute. You cherish that sort of physical intimacy with all of them but especially with Steven. Sometimes he'll read to you, or you'll just chat about anything and everything. Other times you just lay there in silence, completely enveloped in the warmth and love of one another. It’s a time for connection and to be present with each other. It brings you closer together not just physically, but emotionally and it's hard to go without it for extended periods of time. So, he decided to gift you something as a sort of place holder to snuggle up with until he can get back to you.

 As you reach the end of the counter, you notice Marc hadn't contributed to the buffet, but that comes as no surprise. Marc is a disaster in the kitchen. Whether it's cooking or baking, or even making a cup of coffee, he's completely clueless. Just last week he tried to make you Ramen and almost burned down the house. Although there is no treat from him, what he left you was better than anything you could have asked for. He wrote you a letter, expressing his love for you. He talks about how you hold a very special place in his life and his heart and how he is grateful for you every day. The note itself was touching and it made you tear up, but the gesture meant just as much. He had been the hardest nut to crack amongst all three of them. Jake was quicker than him to open up, which surprised you.

Marc had been very closed off, emotionally, but you understood. You had been very patient with him, not wanting to pressure him and push him away. So, you were determined to let him go at his own pace. This eventually started taking a bit of a toll on your relationship and you voiced that concern to him. Your gentleness and understanding was enough for him to feel comfortable to start to make the effort. He speaks about this in his letter, saying you help him be more in touch with his feelings and not just shoving them deep down inside and shutting everyone out.

 Through your tears you start to chuckle as you eye the homemade “coupons” that accompanied his letter. They ranged from offering a massage, a cuddle session, trip to the farmers market, picnics, and a few other sweet offers. These are all things he would more than happily do with you anytime you asked but the gesture was appreciated.

 As you go to grab a plate, your eye lands on a small black box that sits next to the teddy bear and orchid. Feeling like you already got more than you could've hoped for, you reach for the box hesitantly. You can tell it's jewelry, which isn’t your typical type of gift. You prefer just spending quality time with your boys. When you open the box, you let out a small gasp. It is a simple but beautifully delicate moon pendant on a thin gold chain. The box is engraved with, “To the moon and back”. Tears, yet again, threaten to spill from your eyes. You immediately put it on, and you feel so full of love, even in their absence.

 As you begin eating, you open the card they got you. It had a sweet inscription, “Sorry we can’t be here to shower you with love like you deserve, but we’ll make it up to you when we return.” It's very sweet but what catches your eye is what's written on the bottom of the card. The boys left their own personal 'P.S' and you giggle as you read each one.

P.S. “give that cute butt a squeeze for me” -Steven

P.S.S “and a slap from me"- Marc

P.S.S "and a bite from me…oh wait…guess I'll just have to do it myself *wink*”-Jake

 You’re still missing them terribly, but you’re grateful to have their sweet words and gestures to keep your heart full until they come home.

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 106 (A Cautious New Year's Eve)

Ray Pierce, the Landgraabs' driver, arrived after dark to pick up Ash on New Year's Eve. Heather's parents, Daisy and Neal, had come from Henford to spend the night with Lavender, as Heather and Conrad had intended to catch Johnny Zest's stand-up at the Calico Lounge that evening.

"Sorry I'm late," he said. "Would you believe there was an accident on the Simmerloop tonight?"

"It's alright," said Heather, as she and Conrad pulled on their outerwear to head to the Salty Paw. "My sister made it with her wife and said Johnny's having a great show! We'll still be able to meet them at the bar well before midnight."

Despite the dangers circling their lives these days, the police detail outside their home and the clinic remained in place. Conrad had checked the number that called Ash on the police database, and found it had been passed around a few telemarketing scams. With reports of similar threatening calls from the same number, he concluded it was likely nothing more than a robocall and a prank, and not targeted to Ash whatsoever.

Though still uneasy, Heather accepted this and was, for once, glad her son was headed to San Myshuno to stay with the overbearing but security-heavy Landgraabs. Malcolm hadn't aired a story on Simlandia National, just as they'd hoped, and she knew she couldn't let her fears of a curse - or worse - affect her son. They would not let Ximena control their lives from wherever she was hiding.

"Have fun at your Dad's place, buddy," said Conrad, as they sent him and Ray on their way.

Before they left for Fisherman's Wharf, they showed her parents where Lavender's beloved yogurt melts were kept inside the fridge. Their picky eater had finally found foods she loved - unfortunately, they were all sugary finger foods like yogurt melts, Oaty-O's, and Peanut Butter Puffs. "Try the banana slices with her first," Heather pleaded. "Or she'll be up all night from too much sugar."

Daisy grinned, kissing her granddaughter's forehead. "I'd stay up all night long just to hang with this cutie."

Neal spent time playing with Mayor Whiskers and didn't really look at Conrad, which wasn't all that surprising. The precinct hadn't made any progress on the search for Ximena, so it wasn't like there was much to say. The lack of progress bothered Conrad much more than it did Neal, anyway.

"When you see Nicola, tell her we say hello," said Daisy. "We missed not having her at Winterfest this year, but I know it's been hard for her mother ever since poor Eddie's death."

Heather smiled. She wasn't convinced the only reason Nicola didn't join Hazel for Winterfest with their family was because of her grieving mother, Kim. But for Hazel's sake, she kept her opinion to herself.

She remembered her conversation with Hazel the night they brought home Felix Psyded, and worried things between her and Nicola had only gotten worse since, not better. But they would both be in town this evening, and she hoped they'd both be in good spirits.

The Salty Paw was full of revelers by the time they finally made it to the bar. Johnny and Eva were already there, preferring to watch the countdown to midnight with their friends - instead of a room full of complete strangers at the swanky members-only yacht club that paid him to perform.

Hazel and Nicola were with them, and Hazel shot her sister a pained glance as soon as they got up together to order a round.

"We fought all the way here," lamented Hazel by the bar. "She complained about everything, she thought the show wasn't funny. She almost decided to stay at the yacht club without me all night."

"Things are really that bad between you these days?"

"No matter what I do, I can't make her happy. And lately, it's reciprocated. No matter what, I get anxious whenever she walks in the room. I don't know what kind of mood she'll be in and I just...freeze. Wait for the tornado to pass, you know?"

"Hazel, I'm sorry. Have you tried counselling?"

"We keep talking about it, but we can't get our schedules to line up."

"You're both here tonight," Heather pointed out. "Are you sure it's not that you just can't get your schedules to align for therapy? That's kind of telling..."

Hazel sighed, with a small nod of her head as they returned to their table with drinks. "That took a while," Nicola sniffed. "I hope my ice hasn't melted."

"Yeah, well, it's freezing outside. You could keep your drink cool with some nice Brindleton Bay snow."

Nicola sneered, pasting on a facetious smile. "You mean snow covered in stray animal droppings? Only you have a taste for that, Hazel."

"So, anyway, has anyone made any resolutions for the new year?" asked Heather, desperate to change the vibe while her baby sister's marriage all but crumbled before their eyes.

"I'd like to travel more!" offered Eva.

"Wouldn't we all," Heather agreed, grateful Eva seemed as anxious as she did to silence Hazel and Nicola's bickering. Conrad glanced out the window in the midst of their chatter and did a double take, spotting a familiar figure standing in the snow by the patio tables.

"I'll be right back," he said to Heather, before making his way outside. Eyes wide, he stared at the man before him, reaching out to shake his hand. Though he looked as corporeal as any human sim, their hands slid right past one another. "It's really you," he said. "You're back."

The old man smiled. "Hello, Sargent. The name's Ben Gordon. Nice to formally meet you. Finally." ->

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[steddiebang2024]

how to wake a dead boy. | M |  33.7k

Author: @punkslovepoints

Artist: @bleedingoptimism

Beta Reader: 100_Thrown_Out_Speeches (AO3)

[Link to fic] | [Link to art]

Pairings: Stever Harrington/Eddie Munson

Characters: Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley, Nancy Wheeler

Tags: Childhood Sweethearts, Childhood Friends, Time Jump, Angst with a Happy Ending, Mutual Pining, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Apocalypse, Steve Harrington Has Powers, Alternate Universe - Pushing Daisies Fusion, Inspired by Pushing Daisies, Necromancy  

Trigger Warnings: Parental Death, Child abuse, Neglect, Some horror elements, Blood, Mild Gore, Some lingering Stancy

↳ Keep reading below for a summary!

They pull up outside the funeral home. An austere building masquerading as homely, it reminds Steve of his own house. Dustin looks nervous as Steve turns off the engine, sits with his hands on the wheel, just waiting.

Dustin has removed his hat and is tracing his fingers along the words, muttering to himself as he does.

“You don't have to go in, you know.”

Dustin snorts in response.

“I mean it.” Steve leans towards him, forces Dustin to look at him. “I know it may feel like giving up to not go in now, but it's not. We can do something else, throw a party in his memory or something. You don't have to punish yourself.”

Dustin continues to trace the outline on his hat. “No. I want to.” He looks up then, makes eye contact. “If you're given a chance to say goodbye, a real goodbye, you've got to take it right?”

Steve stares at him in shock, Dustin’s words forming an idea in his mind. A very, very stupid idea. Dustin continues to talk, explaining that this'll be his last chance to see Eddie. That he needs to do it, for closure.

“Wait here.”

“What?”

“Just,” Steve opens the car door, steps out and leans in, “I need to let them know we're here, there'll probably be paperwork. I'll come back and get you when they're ready.”

He closes the door before Dustin has a chance to respond. Walks the short distance from the sidewalk to the driveway as if his heart hasn’t started to pound and his legs don't feel like jelly.

He hasn't used his power in years. After working out the rules, he’d gotten good at hiding it, thinking of it as more than a curse than a power. And on the odd occasion he’d been forced to touch something dead, he'd perfected the old double tap method. Even Dustin hadn't noticed the split second of alive-again-dead-again back when they'd stuffed the demodog into Joyce Byers fridge.

By the time he reaches the entrance, he's made up his mind. He’s going to wake Eddie.

One minute.

A chance to say goodbye.

Properly this time.

The funeral director gives Steve a look of annoyance when he steps through the door, refuses to shake his hand, and just grunts a curt, “This way,” as he leads him through the building. Steve has gotten used to it over the past week, those who believed the stories, who see Eddie as nothing more than the murderer the press make him out to be. Steve tries not to care, just lets the guy lead him through to the back, thanks him as he waves a dismissive hand towards the door and returns to the desk mumbling that he doesn’t understand why they didn’t let Eddie rot in the hell he created.

Steve watches him go, steps into the room, closing the door behind him. It’s quiet. Steve doesn’t know why he expects anything else, just knows it feels strange to be in a room with Eddie and it be silent, not when Eddie himself was so loud. 

The room isn’t large, just a table with a vase on it that should contain flowers but doesn’t. The casket is sitting closed on a raised platform. Steve steps closer, his heart hammering in his chest, he’s muttering to himself how this is a bad idea, a bad idea, a bad idea.

Still, he opens the lid of the casket and there he is.

Eddie.

He’s paler than he’s ever looked before, make-up smeared across the worst of his facial wounds, but done without care or precision. He’s glad that Dustin isn't seeing him like this, he looks barely better than the day he died, although at least the shirt he’s wearing isn’t covered in blood.

He gives himself a moment. Steadies his breathing before reaching out and with a delicate touch, places a finger on Eddie’s cheek.

[captainsophiestark]

Office Most-Eligible

Daniel Sousa x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: Marvel

Day 20 Prompt: "This better be good."

Summary: When Jack ropes Daniel into eavesdropping on the telephone ladies' breakroom, they both might hear a lot more than they'd bargained for.

Word Count: 2,387

Category: Fluff, Humor

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

Daniel's POV

I sighed as I shuffled the papers in my hands, mentally running through the million things I had to do today. Peggy, Jack, and I had managed to stop Leviathan from leveling New York City and destroying Howard Stark, but that didn't mean the last six months since then had been any more relaxed. If anything, it had gotten busier than ever before.

There had even been talk of opening another branch of the agency in LA, which was a whole other insane possibility fluttering around in my mind. It was enough to distract me to the point that I didn't notice Thompson, half-hidden by the entryway to the agency, until I ran into him.

"Thompson? What the hell are you-?"

"Sh!"

He raised his finger to his lips and glared at me. I glared back.

"Why are you-"

"Sousa! Shut up and listen," he hissed, jerking his head towards a grate in the wall. I frowned and made a demanding "what?" gesture, but he just nodded towards the grate again. I sighed, so long-suffering it wasn't even funny, but shuffled closer.

"This better be good," I grumbled. Jack just waved his hand at me.

Through the grate, I could hear voices talking and giggling loudly. It sounded like all the ladies who sat outside the entrance to the agency, guarding the door and keeping up the front that this was a phone company, talking together like they were in the break room. I paused, curious enough to entertain Thompson's nonsense for another ten seconds.

"-saying is, there's a definite ranking of all the guys in this office. And yours ain't it."

The girls dissolved into another fit of giggles, and I scowled. I grabbed Thompson's arm and yanked him away from the grate, out of earshot.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I demanded, keeping my voice low just in case. "You're eavesdropping on coworkers in their breakroom? Instead of working? You're the Chief!"

"I don't know if you caught it, Sousa, but they're talking about us. Specifically which one of us they'd most want to date. I'd call that research and intelligence work for future opportunities."

Jack gave me a smirk as he drifted back towards the vent. I scowled and followed to drag him away and make him do his damned job, but froze when I heard the ladies welcoming our newest addition to the agency, the second female agent in SSR history. She'd been here a little over five months, had become instant best friends with Peggy Carter, and had me head over heels within a week of knowing her.

And apparently she'd just walked into the breakroom.

Jack gave me a knowing smirk and raised an eyebrow, and I glared right back. But I couldn't quite manage to drag myself away either, no matter how much my brain told me I should.

****************

Y/N's POV

"You came at the perfect time!"

I pulled a snack out of the fridge and looked suspiciously at Mary, one of the switch operators who worked outside the SSR. In the short time I'd been here, I'd gotten to know her and Rose pretty well, since they mostly alternated shifts for our main door guard. Rose and I had quickly bonded over our mutual feminism and desire for independence; Mary and I had bonded through being troublemakers, and I had a feeling I was about to see some more of that.

"Why?" I asked, drifting halfway to the door now that I had secured my snack. Mary smiled.

"We were just talking about the boys in the office. We have a few different opinions about who would make the best boyfriends and husbands, and since you know them all so well... I mean, I can't think of anyone else with a better reason to chime in."

I scoffed. "Nice try Mary, but no way am I engaging in this conversation. See you all later!"

The rest of the women in the room booed playfully, but I didn't turn around as I reached the door. Mary, however, knew me well enough to figure out how to stop me in my tracks.

"Well, I guess that means Jack Thompson is the definitive winner!"

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the door in front of me, hand on the half-turned doorknob. I'd come so close to avoiding this nonsense, and it still wasn't too late for me to take the exit. I scowled and scrunched my nose, then turned around to squint at all my coworkers looking back at me.

"Be completely honest, I'll be able to tell if you're lying," I started, still only half-turned away from the door. "How many of you would put Jack Thompson at the top of your 'SSR's Most Eligible Bachelor' list?"

A few hands shot into the air, followed by a few more tentative hands that must've heard the disgust in my tone. All in all, about half the room had their hands up for him. I sighed, long and heavy.

"And the other runners up were...?"

A few people called out names of other men in the office, most of whom were barely better (or definitely worse) than Jack. I looked up at the ceiling and shook my head.

"You all have terrible taste in men."

Half the room, Mary included, started laughing, and the other half looked offended. I shook my head and turned to leave again, but Mary stopped me again before I could go.

"Who would you choose then, if not Thompson? You can't criticize our taste without giving us some insight into your process."

Her grin stretched across her entire face as she stared at me, waiting for me to take the bait. Her hand had been the first in the air for Thompson, but I could tell she genuinely wanted to debate me more than she wanted to defend him.

I sighed.

"Fine. But I'm going to make this quick and then I'm gonna go do my job, because I have a ton of stuff to do today," I said, finally stepping away from the door to stand in the middle of the room. Everyone stared at me, leaning forward in their seats a little, Mary most of all. "...I can't believe I'm about to engage in this."

Mary scoffed and I rolled my eyes, but then took a deep breath and dove in. What the hell, right?

"Okay, first of all, let me clarify: I can understand, from a surface level, why you might pick Thompson. He's handsome, and if you didn't spend much time with him, I can see why you'd think he might make a good partner. Honestly, in the five months I've known him, I've even seen a few glimmers of hope that there might be a heart of gold underneath all that arrogance, posturing, and chauvinism. However. In terms of best guy in the office to have as a partner? He does not even come close to touching Daniel Sousa."

A few people raised their eyebrows, half leaning forward and half leaning back and crossing their arms. I ignored them all (especially Mary, who beamed at me), and continued.

"Listen. Sousa is... kind of ridiculously attractive. He's handsome, with the warmest brown eyes you've ever seen in your entire life... and he's super strong. I've seen him one-handed lift a bunch of different things the other agents struggled with using their whole bodies. He looks incredible in a sweater vest, to say nothing of suits and non-sweater vest clothes."

I saw considering nods around the room as people took in my words. I paused and took a deep breath, then continued.

"More than all of that, though... Daniel is kind. He's strong in his morals and his character, not just physically. He's got a great sense of humor, and his jokes don't rest on being a mean, close-minded jackass. And, above anything else, he respects me. He respects Peggy. He treats us as equals. I don't know about you guys, but... that means everything to me. And finding a man who's kind, smart, strong, handsome, and will treat me as an equal partner? Come on. Daniel's got it all."

I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the expressions of everyone else around the room while I was talking, but now I focused back in to see the majority looking thoughtful. I cleared my throat, suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious, and started backing towards the door.

"Uh, anyway... long way of saying I'd put Daniel at the top of my list."

Mary grinned at me as I continued heading for the door, then pushed out of her chair and called out to the whole room.

"Hear that? Sousa's off limits, these two are going to be dating in the next month if we have anything to say about it."

"MARY!"

****************

Daniel's POV

Jack and I stood in the hallway, stunned into silence as we stared into space. My brain had been telling me to stop listening a while ago, but I'd been shocked enough that my body had refused to listen. Now, my heart was telling me I was on the verge of a cardiac arrest.

"You go get him, girl!" Mary's voice continued through the vents. Then, with determination and glee dripping from her words, "I'm staying after Thompson. I'm gonna fix him."

I heard some light-hearted laughter, and then a door shutting. In a few seconds, the girl who'd just poured her heart out to me without realizing it would be coming into the office, a few feet from Jack and I's stupid hiding place.

"You look like you're about to puke," said Jack, a beaming grin on his face. I scowled.

"Why don't you? You just got called a couple pretty bad things."

"What? Like 'attractive'? All I was hearing were positives." He grinned at me, then sobered slightly before slapping me on the shoulder and taking a few steps away. "Don't psych yourself out on this one though, Sousa. She's a catch, and she's clearly in love with you. If you don't take a shot, I might have to."

I scoffed and shook my head. I knew Jack didn't really mean that; it was his own, terrible way of trying to be supportive.

I sighed and tried to brace myself as I walked over to the entrance to the SSR. Thompson was wrong about many, many, many things, but he was right about this: I needed to take my shot.

****************

Y/N's POV

"Holy- Daniel!" I nearly dropped the snack I'd taken a detour to retrieve as I cleared the SSR doors and came face to face with Daniel, especially since I'd just poured my heart out about him to a bunch of our coworkers. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Uh... sorry," he said, shifting his weight around a little and running a hand through his hair. He looked almost as comfortable as I felt.

"Is, uh, is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Well, sort of. I just..." He cleared his throat, then jerked his eyes away from the floor and the wall to meet mine. "I need to tell you something, and then I need to ask you something."

"...Okay?"

"First, I... I heard what you said in the breakroom. About me. And about Jack, which was fun too, but... It feels important that you know I heard the stuff you said about me."

My heart stopped in my chest, and I blinked a few times as black spots danced at the very edges of my vision. I was going to kill Mary.

"Uh..."

"Before you say anything, I'm sorry," he said, holding up a hand. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just... I let Thompson suck me into something I should've known better about. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Daniel," I said, a little breathless as my legs finally started working to move me past him. I could not deal with this a second longer. "Don't worry about it, I'll... I have to go-"

"Wait!" he cried. He put one hand on my arm to stop me, then quickly dropped it when I turned back to look at him. I watched him take a deep breath, my heart hammering a thousand times even though it only took a few seconds, then he continued. "Look, I know I might've lost a few points in your book for the eavesdropping, which is fair, but... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't head over heels for you too. Have been since the first few days you got to the agency. You're smart and strong and funny and... God, listen to me."

He looked down and shook his head, and I noticed a slight blush rising up his neck and cheeks. Slowly, my heart dropped back to a normal rhythm, and I started to smile.

"Okay, what I'm trying to say is... I feel the same way about you that you do about me," he said, finally looking up at me again. "And if you'd still be interested... I'd love to take you out to dinner sometime."

I beamed at him, unable to stop the smile completely overtaking my face. I looked down, and when I looked up again, Daniel's stare was still on me, a smile hopefully flickering in and out of place.

"Daniel, I'd love that," I finally said.

"You would?"

"Yeah. I really, really like you, eavesdropping and all."

He huffed a laugh, the shaky smile turning into full-on beaming.

"Great! How's tomorrow night sound?"

"Sounds perfect."

"Good. I'll pick you up at eight." He started to back away, so both of us could get to the mountain of work we had to tackle at some point today, then stopped. "If that works for you, that is?"

I smiled. "That absolutely works for me."

"Alright, great! I'll see you then. And, uh, around the office, I guess."

"I'll see you around the office."

We shared another set of dorky, ridiculous smiles as we backed away from each other, going to do our separate tasks for at least part of the day. Thank God Thompson wasn't around to see either of us.

At some point, he and the rest of our coworkers would probably catch on to the two of us dating, unless the first date somehow went so horribly there wasn't a second. But I'd meant every word I'd said to the rest of our coworkers about Daniel. And if a little eavesdropping had led to him asking me out, I couldn't bring myself to be too upset about any of it.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury

Marvel Taglist: @valkyriepirate @luv-ghostie @songbirdcannabe

[thepenultimateword]

...Arranged Marriage for (Civilian Identities of) Villain and (heroic) Sidekick?

Disclaimer: I definitely know that arranged marriages are often happy and healthy and completely normal for many people. When Sidekick refers to their arranged marriage with Villain as not a "regular" marriage, it has to do with their own outlook of their situation, and not my personal views on the subject.

Sidekick noticed the bruise right away. A perfect shoeprint on their new spouse's cheek, suspiciously alike to the one Hero struck under Villain's left eye earlier that night.

Everything Sidekick had suspected and ignored over the last month came crashing down like a tidal wave, pressing down heavily on their shoulders, crushing the breath right out of them.

"What happened?" they managed through constricting lungs.

"Nothing." Spouse tugged their chin-length hair in front of their face as they slid off their shoes and workbag. "Is there dinner?"

"You have a shoe print on your face," Sidekick said, unsure why they were pressing for an answer they really didn't want. "That's not nothing!"

Spouse shot them a mildly annoyed glance before swiping past them and poking around the contents of their fridge themself. "If you want the truth, I'm being bullied at work."

Bullcrap.

But what was Sidekick supposed to say? Prove it? I know you're lying? I know who are you?

Anything they said could immediately be turned against them, and the last thing they needed in this already tense arrangement was for Spouse--Villain--to uncover their secret identity.

"Are you ok?" they said instead, surprised that it slipped out so easily. Even with a small semblance of worry. It was worry for themself of course, for a future where they shared living quarters with a villain who recognized them as an enemy. Needing to watch their back every second of the day, keeping one eye open while they slept.

It shocked them when Villain's face softened.

"Hurts a little." They closed the fridge door, hunger forgotten, and ambled a little closer.

Sidekick fumbled internally for the correct response. What would they do if this was a regular marriage? One where they hadn't each weighed the benefits to their families against their personal feelings. One where Spouse wasn't Villain, and Sidekick didn't know.

Sidekick ghosted the edges of the bruise with the back of one knuckle. "It's a nasty one. Do you need me to beat anyone up?"

Villain's eyes sparked amusement. "I'd like that. But I wouldn't like you getting into trouble for me."

"Since when do you care about that?" Sidekick said, a little harsher than intended.

Villain cocked their head.

Shut up, Sidekick!

"Is this about me exposing your late-night comings and goings to your parents during our engagement?"

Actually, in the wake of other problems, Sidekick had forgotten all about that incident, for as infuriating and stifling as it had been at the time. They had been unable to help Hero on their patrols for over a month. But Villain had given them an out, so they shouldn't squander it.

"I wasn't allowed outside past 10 until the day we were married. What did it even benefit you?"

Villain stepped a fraction closer. "At the time I was upset with our situation. My family's money for your's reputation seemed an unbalanced, unworthy trade for my life. I took it out on you. And that was wrong." Their fingers crept along Sidekick's wrists, holding them light and gentle in front of them. "Forgive me?"

Sidekick slid out of their grip and took a cautionary step out of the range of soft, green-eyed charm.

"You haven't given me many opportunities for forgiveness. We barely even see each other."

"Not all my fault is it?"

Sidekick's stomach lurched. They thought they'd been sneaky about their absences from home; if they weren't waiting for times when Villain was out of the house or asleep, they at least always had a genuine errand to complete with it to excuse them.

"I have... Zumba," Sidekick said and immediately cringed. Zumba? All the time? Even at midnight?

"Whatever it is you have...or I have, I think we should make some changes."

Sidekick raised a brow. "Changes?"

"Dinner, every night, and at least one date a week."

Sidekick stared, mouth agape. They hadn’t been married long, but this was the first indication they’d given Sidekick of wanting to try for any sort of amicableness.

“Why?” They knew it sounded strange, it was stranger continuing as they were, but they couldn’t shake the suspicion growing in their gut.

“Because like it or not, we are married. And I want to love my spouse. And…from what I know of you…that doesn’t seem an impossible feat.”

Sidekick had to resist the urge to counter. This was the best thing. Hiding their identity in a comfortable relationship was probably easier than in a tense one. That was how Sidekick discovered Villain after all, the constant questioning, distrust, and watching giving way to another all to familiar persona.

“That seems…reasonable,” they said.

Villain smiled. “Why don’t we pick a day for date nights? A day where we don’t make other plans.” They’re smile grew. “I’ll try to schedule around your Zumba.”

They definitely didn’t believe that lie.

Wait. This was an opportunity. If Villain was out with them, they weren’t causing arm to the city. Sidekick was still helping Hero, just…less conventionally.

“Fridays?”

Villain pondered that moment, probably thinking about how much they enjoyed ruining Fridays for everyone else with their chaotic schemes.

“Works for me.”

Sidekick nodded brusquely. “I'll get the first aid kit."

“You’re patching me up?” Villain said, sounding amused and thrilled for some reason.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“No reason. Thank you.”

The genuineness in their voice caught Sidekick off guard. They had to shake themself back into motion. “You’re welcome. Um…there’s some left over spaghetti in a bag on the bottom shelf if you want to warm it up. If you’re still hungry that is.”

With that, Sidekick retreated, trying hard not to think about how they were sharing food with a criminal, and how they didn’t completely mind it.

[queenofbaws]

Would love some Jossam feat the Washington siblings because I love them

It took every last bit of her self-restraint to keep from laughing as she stared forward at the tv, pretending to be too absorbed in the movie to notice the slap-fight going on behind her.

It had started innocently enough: The twins had invited her over to hang out for the day, to chill in the air conditioning while the sun baked the concrete outside, to raid the fridge while their parents were out, all that good stuff. Thing was, they'd managed oh-so-conveniently to forget the whole...thing going on between her and Josh (had, in fact, been conveniently forgetting it more and more often the longer that thing between them went on), and now that they were face-to-face with it, well...they didn't seem to be enjoying the day as much as they'd hoped.

Josh had whispered something to her while the movie loaded and Beth talked over him; Josh had gone to pass her the popcorn and Hannah had whipped the bowl out of his hands; Josh had maybe looked at her for a second to long and suddenly Beth's phone was up in her face as she showed her something funny that had happened in the group chat; and now, having made the unforgivable mistake of trying to put his arm around her shoulders, Josh and Hannah now seemed to be locked in a (not-so-subtle) slap-fight to the death.

Sam bit down even harder on her lip, but she already felt her resolve crumbling - this was what she got for dating her best friends' brother, she guessed.

six sentence sat(or)sunday!!!

[townofcadence]

The Crow found himself approaching a building that appeared to be abandoned, though he knew better. There was a presence there, one he recognized. He proceeded to fly in through the window, landing not far from the man that he knew.

The man looked different, yes, but he could still tell that it was the same person he'd met in the forest. The snakes hardly deterred him from approaching him anyway. The Crow shed his feathers, taking on the shape of a man before taking a few steps closer to Artair, still keeping some distance between them, as he always did. "He...helllo." His voice was still a tad creaky, though it sounded like he'd been practicing his speech since they'd last met.

The stairs have been restored, so there was no danger of falling through or shoddy support. The rage room..... he'd replaced the floorboards and spackled and repainted the walls. He'd redone the halls and all the carpets had been cleaned and refurbished. Contract work wasn't new to him, so the whole process of making this place livable was....meditative, almost. He'd gotten outside tended of all the weeds too, and mowed down and tilled for fresh gardening. There was a compost pile now, already started in preparation, he'd replaced the fridge, and was setting tile against the backboard of the kitchen wall, leaning on a countertop he'd replaced earlier in the week.

There's a fluttering sound, and a familiar feeling. He doesn't immediately place what it is, as in his own head as he is while he works. But he does pause with a tile still perched between his fingers, listening. Something-- changes, magic shifts near him, and that feels even more familiar, a similar shifting of threads he's felt before.

The soft greeting unknots him from his surprise, and he finds his voice again. "Crow-- is that you? Oh--." He's-- very different right now, he drops the tile and instead curves his hands over his serpentine tresses as if to corral them. His band is still on, but he swallows. "Um. Wow. I didn't expect-- are you okay? Is everything alright?"

[melmac78]

Here’s chapter 2 of the Lexington WIP.

This includes the scene that was beautifully drawn by @lenle-g which I encourage you to see on her page. I had to split this into two parts (I am working on where I want to do chapters anyway), so I think here it is has a good break.

For the first part, here’s chapter one:

••••••••

Gordon Tracy was staring out over the ocean, the wheel in front of him and a compass to direct him.

"Let's take her hard to port Ensign Tracy," he said, turning to his left.

Alan Tracy rolled his eyes and looked at the ship's controls before taking his brother's photo. "Very funny - the wheel doesn't even turn much bro," he said as they continued walking through the bridge area to a doorway leading outside.

The two had been enjoying studying the details of the bridge area, including the captain's second quarters there, before Gordon was to show off Thunderbird 4.

"You know, I *could* make you walk the plank for that," the elder brother said, pointing to the bow of the ship.

Alan snorted. "Gordon - that's the old anchor brake. It's completely fenced off to be a plank as a joke," he said, laughing.

The aquanaut conceded. "OK, maybe not this time," he laughed as he and Alan saw a set of nautical signal flags for a variety of situations.

"They're missing few letters of the alphabet," muttered Alan looking inside the box.

Gordon however looked up. "That's probably because they've posted some colors on the mast," he said, gesturing toward said item.

Alan looked up and saw the variety of colors and patterns on the mast. "What do they say bro?" he asked, remembering Gordon's WASP training.

The aquanaut studied them and shrugged. "Not sure. These are scrambled," he said, lying slightly. Gordon realized one set, by letters, spelled a curse word - he hoped by mistake.

Shaking his head imperceptibly at the notion, Gordon continued. "If they were flown individually however, they'd have a different meaning."

"Cool - give me an example," said Alan, interested in learning a bit more about flags.

"You see that one that's got a red square inside a white square and bordered with blue?" said Gordon, and his younger brother nodded. "That's 'W' - or Whiskey in the alphabet. If it were flying alone, it would tell other ships 'I need medical attention'."

"Hopefully we won't need it for John," said Alan, frowning slightly. He had noticed the occasional issues his brother still had from his space sickness.

Though Gordon's example was chosen simply because it was an easy to identify flag, he realized his error. "I should've chosen a different flag," he admitted, Alan's frown. "But yeah - I hear you Alan. John's passing out on us the other day still gives me the creeps. If I hadn't been there to catch him when he started falling toward the lounge stairs..."

Alan gave a slight smile and wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulder. "Yeah, I know. Your 'Squid Sense' instincts were really good," he said. Seeing his aquanaut brother smile at the compliment, Alan continued. "John's too good at hiding he’s unwell at times -"

"Let alone goes long periods of time without eating and rest..."

"So much so I'm about ready to ask EOS to lightly enhance the air with delicious food smells at certain times of the day to make him hungry so he eats more," said Alan.

"Bit underhanded you know," quipped Gordon as they descended the stairs to head to the flight deck.

Alan chuckled. "Nah, I figured that one out - Brains has created a space-safe stasis 'fridge where John can keep a variety of good food fresh for months at a time," he said. "All John would have to do is program the 'fridge to give him what he wanted to eat, and it comes out while the rest stays in stasis. Only thing he'd have to grumble about is having to heat and eat it in gravity."

"Why hasn't Brains sent it up to Five yet?"

The younger of the two shrugged as they landed on the deck. "Well... there's been an issue or two with flavors. Sometimes the flavors blend in to another food - which is OK if savory, but..."

"But what?"

"Let's just say I don't ever want to eat Virgil's homemade chocolate cherry chunk ice cream with essence of salmon again," said Alan, and Gordon roared in laughter heading to Four.

As the two youngest were chatting, Virgil was laughing as he peered inside a gun turret, watching as Scott tried to climb out gracefully. So far he was having about as much luck as Virgil with bunk beds... the door was better suited for a person Gordon's height, not 6'1" Scott.

"You know - it might be better if you try the turrets on the hangar deck," he said, as Scott finally gave up and took Virgil’s hand to keep his balance exiting.

Many people had tried their hand at those turrets, which had more room and used cranks to maneuver the machine around.

The pilot smiled as he followed his brother to the T-34 mentor he was going to present a lesson about. "Yeah - but I want to know what it was like for my predecessors to serve and fight," he said, growing a bit more somber. "It's an amazing piece of history we have here, but at the same time, it also reminds us about the ugly side of human nature."

Virgil looked a bit more somber himself. "Even now - though I'm thankful we live in a time where for every one bad thing there are countless good things that happen," he said. "Life's definitely improved for most of the world since the 2040s."

Scott nodded as they started looking at the airplanes on the deck. "I really wish I could fly one of these," he said, placing his hand on the Flying Tiger plane.

"Yeah I bet - but the inner gears have probably needed a tune up since the 1990s," Virgil chuckled.

The eldest smiled mischievously. "You think you could fix it," he teased.

"And let my speed loving brother destroy a priceless artifact - not to mention them having me walk the plank?" said Virgil in the same tone, making Scott chuckle. "How about after your presentation to the Scouts, we try that simulator downstairs later on?”

Scott smiled. “You're on," he chuckled as the elder headed to the plane. Virgil elected to continue the tour on the deck and just below where a lifeboat and first aid display were.

888888888

John was near the stern, looking out to sea. He had enjoyed looking at all the planes on board as well as the ships sailing by - business and pleasure, but this too was a sight to see.

He was amazed at how the light and clear blue sky would reflect off the Gulf of Mexico, turning the normally brownish waters the same beautiful color. Out in the distance, some offshore oil rigs still dotted the distance.

While biofuels and renewable sources were finally being produced with an even lower waste footprint, there still was the need for some oil products.

He was feeling a bit tired and warm from the sun, even though his uniform had some thermal controls, as he leaned over the side to look at what appeared to be a pod of dolphins swimming by... or were they those blue men-of-war that Gordon said don't touch?

There were others sounds, but they seemed distant and blurred.

John watched the pod seem to double and triple in size, confusing him.

Then his head started feeling light.

"Oh no," he thought vaguely as a few moments later as he hit the rail at his waist.

The pilot gave a faint yelp as he tilted over, the vertigo getting worse as he saw thick netting and a more angry water churning by the hull.

His vision started to swim as he kept moving forward. He tried to grab the rail, but caught air instead...

A pairs of rough hands grabbed his baldric and pulled back. John stumbled from the course correction and fell back, still feeling as though the world was going down a drain...

The same hands cradled him under the arms now, as he was then set on the ground. The person was propping him up against their legs and chest.

There were running sounds on the deck toward them.

The person holding him had a hand on his jaw, trying to get him to look at them. He could see someone, even though the image was slightly blurry as grey edges flickered in his blind spots. John just couldn't speak.l

There were more muddled sounds nearby, like a distant flock of seagulls. That was until louder bass timber - voice John reminded himself - shooed them away.

The same voice then tried again to get John to speak. He tried this time, but all that came out was a soft moan.

John then felt the other person's hand run through his hair, who also assured him he was all right.

Between the hand and then a light kiss on the top of his head, John realized he was indeed conscious and being held by a brother. Otherwise, he'd be stretched out on the deck - and admittedly the kiss would be a little odd.

Then the same gentle hand was at his throat, checking his pulse. "John - can you hear me now," said Virgil as he leaned into John's view, gently lifting his chin again to check the redhead's eye reaction.

A pair of aqua eyes lifted to met Virgil's, and to the medic's relief looked to be clearer.

John nodded after a beat, then heard a sigh of relief from Scott, realizing the eldest was now beside them.

Scott had heard Virgil’s “man down” yell and came over to assist.

John took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, I hear you Virgil. I just got overheated and had another dizzy spell," he said factually as he started trying to sit up more on his own.

Scott and Virgil gave a sideways look, frowning. "Another? How many have you had since you've arrived?" asked the oldest brother, placing the backside of his uncovered palm against John’s cheek

The middle brother swatted it away, but Scott wasn't happy with how John’s skin felt.

"One," said John, though his eyes betrayed him. He noticed the others not believe him so he continued. "OK, two - the other at the gallery tour, but it was brief."

Virgil's eyes lit up slightly. "Was that when you leaned on a railing to look at the mannequin in the combat information center and told it that it looked funny because ‘his face is crooked’?"

John gave a quick nod.

"I thought it was odd you of all people would start chatting about the animatronics," added Scott. “That said, it may explain why Gordon was encouraging you to tease it.”

"Knowing him, Gordo was also sneakily checking my alertness," the astronaut groaned as his two younger brothers came over. They had assisted on moving the gawkers away.

"Hey, you know you're not supposed to run on - " said Scott.

Gordon glared. "This is a medical emergency - I think decorum doesn't apply when you did it too," he said, and Scott - seeing common sense, also agreed.

The aquanaut then kneeled by John, frowning. "Hey, you OK John?"

"Yeah, just a case of vertigo," he said, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Saw that. If you wanted to swim with the fishes I'm sure the aquarium would be happy to work out a way we both can scuba dive," Gordon said, smirking.

Privately he was worried - he had indeed noticed John's slight dizziness in the quarters tour and was kicking himself for not making his brother rest then.

John snorted. "No - that's your game Squid Kid. I'd rather float in space," he said, then looked at Virgil open his mouth. "Look, I know what you're about to say Virg."

"And that is?" the older man humored.

The astronaut cleared his throat. "'John, you nearly passed out and are very lucky I kept you from falling overboard'," he said, mimicking Virgil's voice. Hearing most of his other brothers chuckle, he continued, normal voice. "So yes, I’ll go cool off and rest."

Virgil snorted. "Now I know you're needing to," he said. John rarely if ever admitted he was ill.

John ran a hand through his red hair and nodded. "Well this time I agree - I'd be better off taking a nap for the next hour or so, " he said, adjusting his baldric. “Plus, my part of the program is the CIC tour later this evening.”

"And given mess isn’t too long from now, we don’t need the wardroom turned back into a quarantine area if you fell," added Alan, who had a friend tell him the history of the dining quarters. He'd have to climb down and up a ladder just to eat.

The youngest then held a hand out to John. “I'll take you back to the berth."

"You sure Alan?" queried Scott. He wasn't sure if that was the best course of action.

Alan knew Scott was worried about his abilities to assist John to the ground if he collapsed, but continued. "Yeah - I'm sure. I presented my speech already on the importance of education and being a Thunderbird,” he said, chuckling at Scott’s rolling his eyes. “Besides, want to go look around the hangar deck anyway.”

John took his brothers hand and, with the guidance of his older two, stood up. He didn’t miss the soft sighs of relief he stayed upright.

Alan however had refrained in solidarity to John’s annoyance at being babied some and, him eating his fellow space brother’s stomach growl, continued.

“We'll stop by the snack bar for some water and - since I think you're hungry, candy or fries. Plus, we'll take the elevator."

John started to roll his eyes, but thought better of it as it could lead to him falling over. "FAB. Thanks Alan," he said as he put a steadying arm around his youngest brother's shoulders.

Alan chuckled and wrapped a support arm around his brother's waist. "You're welcome - I've been in your shoes too," he said, and seeing John's look of inquiry, smiled cheekily. "I just didn't try to swan dive off an aircraft carrier."

John snorted. "Well, since you're less prone to diving, lead the way Corpsman Alan," he said. The younger brother only chuckled there and they headed toward the elevator.

••••••••

Real life pics of places mentioned. Note the first two are the gun turret. For reference - I’m 5’8” (1.73m) and had to duck to get out.

[oryu404]

Alrighty guys. I know a lot of us had hoped for Rei to get a cat at the end. It's obvious he has a soft spot for them, he deserves the world, give that man his cat, am I right? And there have to be plenty of strays where they live, too. A food establishment by the beach.

So how about this...

---

The first stray sighting happens shortly after they've moved. Kazuki sees Rei looking at the cat, hesitant but obviously wanting to approach it, and says something like

"Nuh uh. Not gonna happen."

They argue. Kazuki isn't thrilled about the idea of adding a pet to the chaos that is their life at the moment, but Rei did prove himself as a caretaker and responsible adult over the past year. Not to mention he's a lot better at fighting for what he wants than he was last time they had this conversation, and Kazuki finds it endearing enough to almost cave.

But pets aren't cheap, their daughter is going to get more expensive as she grows older, and they have a business to run. It's not really a no; it's a not now. They should get settled here first, see how well the diner fares. Maybe they can talk about it again in another year?

Rei begrudgingly agrees, because Kazuki does have a decent point there. He's pouty for the rest of the day.

For a while, Kazuki doesn't really notice anything different. They're way too busy building up their brand new life. But as the dust settles and their new routines start to become familiar, some things start to stand out.

Like Rei happily taking out the trash every night. Like, very happily, as if he'd been looking forward to it. He always takes his sweet time doing it, too. Surely dumping a few trash bags into a container wouldn't take that long. Not that Kazuki would ever complain or comment, because the guy was disabled, for fuck's sake.

Another thing is the strays he keeps spotting. Had there always been this many? Were they reproducing that fast? Kazuki shrugs it off. It makes sense, they're likely not getting spayed or neutered. And of course they'd hang around the diner. It's doing quite well, apparently drawing in more than just customers with its delicious smells. Ahhh the magic of good cooking.

It's not until things from their pantry and fridge go missing, that an internal alarm bell goes off. Leftover chicken or salmon, Hamburg steaks, sausages, cans of tuna. He barely dodges another fight with Miri when he assumes she's eaten them (what? She's a growing girl? He can't blame her for being hungry!) but manages a last minute save. Rei is awfully quiet during this whole conversation, but confesses to his crimes later that night when Miri is asleep in her bed.

"I have to show you something."

And Kazuki wonders if he should be surprised when Rei leads him downstairs, outside through the back, where he squats down and cracks the lip of a can of tuna with one hand. The sound summons what have to be at least a dozen cats from various different directions, all meowing loudly as they twirl around Rei and headbutt his hands and legs.

"I don't need to get a cat anymore," Rei says as if he hasn't officially adopted the whole neighborhood pack.

"I bet," Kazuki sighs, helping him open the can and dump the Tuna on the concrete. "Miri... Is she your accomplice?"

".... Maybe."

So a yes, then. Not that it matters, because Rei might be the closest to beaming he'll ever get, and Kazuki is only slightly weaker to his partner than he is to their daughter. Which is to say, he's totally screwed.

"They stay outside," is all he says, squatting down beside Rei to pet the cat closest to him.

A few days later, Miri's latest masterpiece–a donation jar with cat decorations– graces the countertop of the diner. After all, they'll need to help do something about the population control before they go broke feeding strays.

[therealgamble]

Brian turned slowly down the loop of campsites as Tabby watched for the number they'd been given. They passed by Campers and RVs, tents set up in the long grass, and small campfires burning even in the afternoon sun.

"This is it, babe." She could hardly hide her excitement, bouncing slightly in her seat as she pointed towards the right where an extremely long motorhome was parked. There was just enough room left in the long driveway for Brian to park the Corvette that Riley had gifted him a few years ago.

Tabby practically burst from the car the moment he had it in park, her excitement as infectious as always. He followed just as Riley came around from the other side of the motorhome. "You made it!" He grinned, giving Tabby a hug.

"I should have expected you'd go all out." Brian laughed, taking a moment to look down the long side of the house on wheels.

Riley gave a shrug. "These ladies deserve a palace. Come on, I'll give you the tour."

Brian rolled his eyes but followed anyways, walking around the car and the end of the motorhome. At that moment he and Tabby both got their first glimpse of the rest of the campsite and they stopped short, taking it all in.

"Holy shit." He breathed softly. Directly in front of the palace were the normal fire pit and picnic table. Riley had several bundles of wood ready at the firepit and a ring of comfortable looking chairs. The table had been completely taken over by Beth. She had surrounded it with a screened tent-like structure, keeping all the bugs out. On the table was a tablecloth and a vase of flowers. Strung inside were fairy lights and lanterns.

But that wasn't what made them stop short. Beyond the firepit and table was an expanse of grass, lined with tall pine trees blocking the view of the neighbors on both sides, and ending with an unobstructed view of the lake below. It wasn't close enough to walk to, but the view was breathtaking.

Riley let out a laugh and clapped Brian on the shoulder. "I told you, they deserve the best." Brian could see Tabby bouncing out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah they do." He replied, "Alright, show me this thing." He turned towards the door of the motorhome as Riley opened the door.

"You two can have the bedroom on this side." He stepped up inside and Brian and Tabby followed.

Brian was not prepared for what he saw on the inside. It was what he expected Aerosmith's tour bus looked like, but with less groupies. Everything was polished and clean, creamy tan leather and thick carpet. The appliances in the kitchen area were paneled with light colored wood.

Corinne sat on an overstuffed couch facing a window with the lake view, a sketchbook in her lap. Beth and Jay were playing cards at a polished table. They all looked up and smiled as the trio walked in. Tabby ran to give them all hugs and share her enthusiasm for the weekend.

"I brought our tent." Brian turned down the offer of the plush bedroom.

Riley sighed and rolled his eyes. "Tabs, you're welcome to stay inside with your own bathroom and a real bed while this caveman sleeps outside."

"Me like caveman, sleep outside." Tabby grunted with a low voice. Then her voice changed back to normal, "But I'll take you up on the bathroom part." She grinned, "And if the weather turns on us I'm totally sneaking in."

"Thunderstorm slumber party." Beth sang happily, dealing another game out on the table.

"Christ, man." Brian laughed, still looking around and taking it all in. "You don't do anything by halves, do you."

"Nope." Riley confirmed, opening up the fridge and grabbing a couple of beers. "Just wait until you see the boat I rented."

Brian let out a long happy sigh as he took the beer that Riley held out for him. "I fucking love you."

"I know." Riley answered automatically.

-------

Memorial Day Riley style - with all the crossed streams. @tabbyrp @corinnebaileyrp @morgansmornings @brooklynislandgirl @tarnishedhalo

[mal-urameshi]

Chronicles of Mama Okoye and Riri! VII

Friendships

Okoye and Riri walked hand in hand towards The Citadel. The Palace where the Golden Tribe resided and where her mother reported for duty. Riri had only been there a handful of times and usually she'd wait outside where the other Doras were while making conversation.

Riri was familiar with many of them, her mother being General and all.She knew while on duty they couldn't talk to her, but that didn't stop her from talking to them, though. When waiting for her mother, Aneka or Ayo to be relieved she would walk up and down the hallways where each Dora was stationed and list off random facts to keep them entertained.

"You know, four seconds is the perfect duration to keep your oreos dunked. Well, that's what the amateurs say. But 3.774563 seconds is the exact value. I checked." Riri crossed her arms as she made huge steps down the hallway again. She then walked in front of another Dora whose name was Ashei.

"You know when you go into a really dark room, it isn't really pitch black. It's really called eigengrau. Basically it's just a reeaaalllyyy dark grey! Personally, I think it's funner to say eigengrau, but to each their own I guess." She shrugged while doing a little spin.

Riri then grinned and looked at the line of warriors, "Does anybody want to see me do a flip? I bet I can do it better than you guys!" She was met with silence but she knew that they were paying attention to her.

Riri got into position before she maneouvered into a back hand spring. She repeated the action ten times down the hall before she held herself upright in a handstand and then dropped to her feet again with a smile. "Don't tell Mama, but I do it better than her. She gets dizzy after eight and she turns off her axis by 2.0032 degrees. It's not perfect but I'll allow it. Nobody can be perfect like me."

The Doras weren't able to stifle their smiles at Riri's antics. They loved seeing Okoye's child entertain herself and by extension them as well. Riri was too adorable for her own good.

"Fun Fact, my favourite snacks are Shuku Shuku these days, so if y'all feeling generous, you can send them my way via Umama."

Loud clapping caught Riri's attention and she bristled, "Ah, ah! Riri! What are you doing trying to weasel snacks from the Doras, hm?"

Riri gave a light shrug, "They love giving me snacks! It would be blasphemy if I didn't take advantage!"

This caused a collective smile to come from the Dora Milaje before Okoye shooed her off and waved goodbye.

Riri added a skip to her step as she entered the Palace walls and left to her own devices with the Doras in their leisure lounge. Okoye had informed Riri that she just had to make a report to the King and Queen and then they'd leave for their Mommy-Daughter date.

Riri was greeted with hugs and kisses from the Doras on duty and given a bag of treats to which she excitedly accepted.

"Okoye said she was stopping by, so we had to get our favourite lecturer some snacks." Ashei informed as Riri kneeled on the ground and rummaged through the gift bag with feral vigor.

"Yo!! You guys got me Spicy Bigfoot?! I always wanted to try these!" Riri excitedly ripped open the feet shaped snacks and munched into them. "They're so good!"

T'Mara opened the fridge and clicked her tongue to catch Riri's attention, "Heads up!" She threw a bottle of soda at her, which Riri expertly caught and cracked open immediately and chugged a few sips. Riri then let out a large belch which made everyone laugh.

"So Riri, what new inventions have you come up with now?" T'Haylet queried.

Riri grinned, "It's for my own leisure, but I made some water guns! But not that dumb super soaker nerf stuff. I'm talking about Pokemon style hydro-pump attacks! All the other kids like it so much! You full a pack full of water that's connected to the gun and you shoot! Pray you don't blast off like Team Rocket though." She snickered.

The pinging of someone's kimoyo beads caught Riri's attention.

"I have to go relieve Aneka from her post. See you later, guys!" K'Maria announced as she started to walk out the room.

"Aunty Aneka?! K'Maria! I'll walk with you to go see her." Riri swiftly got up from the floor an put her bag of snacks on the table before following the Dora out.

Riri followed behind K'Maria at a decent distance until she saw Aneka come into view. K'Maria stood in front of Aneka where they both gave each other the Wakandan salute before switching places and finally tapping their spears on the floor, which resounded through the halls.

Aneka the briskly turned away from K'Maria and started to walk down the hall in the direction of Riri.

"Aunty Aneka!!" Riri rushed forward with open arms.

"Umtshana!" Aneka closed the distance and scooped Riri up into a hug and spun her around, "Did you come all the way here just to see me?"

"Of course I did, Aunty! You know I'd never miss a chance to see you. You should really tighten security though. I was like a shadow behind K'Maria and she didn't even suspect a thing! I should be a War Dog at this point." She brushed invisible dust off her shoulder in a display of haughtiness before they both broke out into laughter.

"Well, I should inform the General of that then. No, would it be considered a plus that her daughter can infiltrate the palace in a show of her expertise? Or a negative that a little girl waltzes in without being caught?" Riri put her hands on her hip, "Definitely a plus, duh. It means General Okoye is doing something good."

Aneka rubbed her hands over Riri's cornrows, "Aye, aye. Watch the merchandise, Aunty! These are fresh from last night!"

Loud footfalls and laughter came running down the hall and Aneka turned around to see what all the commotion was about. But was nearly bumped backwards.

"Princess!"

Shuri grabbed her arms around Aneka's waist while her body shook as she tried to quiet her laughter.

"Princess, what did you do?" Aneka asked in a knowing tone.

Shuri pulled back with a smirk playing on her lips, "I may or may not have poured some slime on top of T'Challa's head while he was trying to make a move on Nakia."

Aneka gasped, "Princess! That's not nice!"

Shuri shrugged, "What! Nakia thought it was cute! She even wiped his face while he gave her googly eyes. Those two are so adorable it makes me sick." She faked a gag before laughing again.

Riri peaked out from behind Aneka as she regarded the Princess. She never interacted with Princess Shuri before, but her mother said that she was a sweet girl. And that she loved to invent stuff to boot.

Shuri caught sight of Riri and walked around Aneka to better look at her, "You're so small I didn't see you there. If you were any shorter you'd be squished." Shuri joked.

Riri looked Shuri up and down, "And you look like you'd topple over should the wind blow too hard."

Aneka folded her lips to stifle her laughter at the exchange.

Shuri laughed and circled Riri," Oh, really now?"

Riri smiled, "Yea, beanpole."

"Beanpole?! You have some nerve, half-pint!" Shuri snapped back, but there was no animosity in her tone.

Riri shrugged, "I just call it as I see it, Princess."

"What's your name?" Shuri inquired.

"Riri."

Shuri gasped, "You're Okoye's daughter! She talks so much about you!"

Riri smiled, "Yea, she does that a lot."

"I'm so glad I finally get to meet you! You're a scientist too! Kindred spirits!" Shuri grabbed Riri's hand in hers. "Do you want to come see my lab?" Riri's eye lit up, "I can?" She bounced on her toes at the offer.

"Yes! It's my own personal space! My brother helped convince Mama and Baba that I can have one, thank Bast! Big Brothers are great for something."

"I wouldn't know. I'm an only child."

Aneka looked on as the girls got lost in their own world, forgetting that she was there. They were so cute! "Riri, aren't you supposed to go out with your mother?"

Riri looked over at Aneka and then back at Shuri and then Aneka again, "Yea, but I think she's still talking with the King and Queen. It'll just be quick, right Shuri?

Shuri grinned and nodded, "Yea, Aneka! It'll be quick! I'll even walk her back to Okoye when we're done!"

Shuri didn't even wait for an answer as she pulled Riri down the hall.

"Woah!" Riri spun around and looked around at the lights overhead and then at the art painted on the walls. "You decorated yourself?"

"Yea! It's my space, so I did some personalization."

Riri smiled as she placed her fingertips along the tabletop of one of the work stations, "You're so lucky! I wish I had a lab like this to work in."

Shuri hopped on a vacant work station, "Where do you usually work?"

"I just build a bunch of stuff in my room, or the backyard, depending how big it is, or the living room. But Mama gets so mad when I do that. The amount of times her feet drew blood because of my scattered parts...I lost count." Riri allowed her eyes to wander again, marvelling at the apparatus that lined the walls along with unfinished and completed inventions alike.

Shuri kicked her feet and smiled, "You can come use my lab any time you want."

Riri almost gave herself whiplash with how fast she looked over at Shuri again. "You're being for real right now?" She ran over to the older girl's side and leaned on the table.

Shuri nodded, "But under one condition."

Riri shifted all her weight on her forearms and she balanced on the tabletop, "What's the catch?"

Shuri tapped her chin and hummed, feigning contemplation. She then looked back at Riri, "You have to be my friend."

Riri fist pumped. "Heck yeah, I can do that! We're friends now!"

They both high-fived each other before Shuri hopped off the table to show her one of the projects she was working on.

It wasn't even a proper hour before Okoye was ringing Riri on her kimoyo beads.

"Riri, where are you? I thought I left you with the Doras?"

Riri opened her mouth the answer but Shuri butted in, "I kidnapped her, Okoye. We're holed up in my lab, but I'll walk her back to the entrance."

"Oh and Mama, can you stop by the lounge area to pick up my snacks please? I don't want to forget it." "Hm, I can. But I'm taxing you one snack of my choosing for picking it up for you!"

"Wha! Mama!" Riri couldn't even get any other words in because Okoye had already cut the call.

"I'll race you to the entrance!" Shuri said before taking off out of the lab. "Yo! You're a cheater!" Riri gave Shuri chase as their laughter reverberated through the hallways.

They both were neck-a-neck as they rounded a corner but they both ran into someone.

"Shuri." Queen Ramonda's motherly tone was laced with silent warning.

Riri balled her fists at her sides as the Queen's gaze fell on her. Uh oh. Was she gonna get in trouble?

"Sorry Mother! I was just having a race with my friend, Riri! For someone so short, she's surprisingly fast!" Shuri lightly jabbed.

Ramonda smiled at the shorter girl, "Okoye's child. It's a pleasure to meet you again, Riri."

Riri smiled in return, "Hello, Queen Mother. It's nice to meet you again too."

Shuri spoke up again, "Mother, since I have you, I want you to know that Riri will be coming over more often. She loves my lab! And we already started building something! She's an absolute genius! Second to me anyway."

"Hey!" Riri shoved Shuri which caused the other girl to laugh.

Ramonda looked at the exchange between both girls and she clasped her hands, "The both of you seem to have hit it off really well." The Queen looked over to Riri, "Well Riri, you are welcome at the Palace whenever you like."

"Thank you, Queen Mother!"

Shuri held Riri's hand and walked off, "I have to get her to Okoye before she gets a spanking or something!"

"I do not get spanked. But if that's what Queen Ramonda does to you, I won't snitch or nuthin'." Riri teased.

"Oh, please! Do I look like I do anything to warrant spankings?" She faked an innocent face.

"Pray your brother doesn't tell your Mom what you did." "T'Challa isn't a 'snitch'. So I have nothing to worry about!"

Soon enough, both girls met Okoye at the entrance.

"Mama! Me and Shuri are friends now!" Riri ran up to Okoye and gave her a hug. "What? You are? That's good news!" Okoye smiled over at Shuri who looked proud of herself.

"Yea, she did it proposal style at everything. Talking 'bout 'Will you be my friend?" She snickered.

Shuri tackled Riri's ribs with light jabs of her fingers, "Hey! I let you use my lab and that's what I get?"

Riri giggled while trying to swat away Shuri's hands, "And the Queen said that I'm welcome to come by any time I want to hang out with Shuri, Mama!"

"That was awfully generous of her. Well, as long as Shuri's available, you can come over."

Riri turned to Shuri and gave her a big hug.

"Wait, wait, wait! Before you go, gimme your kimoyo ID! That way we can talk!" Shuri urged and held out her hand. "For sure!" Riri held out her own wrist and touched their beads together which logged the necessary data.

"I'll call you when I get home, okay?" Riri promised.

Shuri nodded and hugged her again, "I'm holding you to that."

Okoye smiled at the girl's exchange before waving Shuri farewell.

Riri and Okoye had sat down for dessert after they had their lunch, Riri scooped some ice-cream out of her mother's cup as she prattled on about Shuri, "And she's so hilarious, Mama! She's got jokes for days! And did I tell you she has plutonium? How come you never let me play with plutonium? I could do some serious stuff If I can get my hands on some plutonium." She gobbled up what was on her spoon before she went for her mother's cup again.

Okoye pulled away her cup, "You have in your cup, Riri."

"But Mama!" She whined, "Your flavour is better!"

"You should have thought of that before getting boring chocolate." She chided lightly but extended her cup towards Riri so she could have her fill.

"I called her a beanpole too." She laughed at the recent memory.

Okoye leaned closer to her daughter, "Were you being mean to her for no reason?"

"Nuh uh! She started it first, saying I would be squashed 'cuz of my shortness. So I just told her what it was." She stuck out her tongue playfully.

Okoye smiled and took a spoonful of Riri's chocolate ice cream, "I'm really glad that you found a friend in Shuri. She's a very nice girl. And bright like yourself, as you've seen."

"Definitely. She's trying to make a molecular Ant-Farm. I asked her if she liked bugs. She said not really, but she said that she could definitely do it better than the Pym-Particle guy. She's cocky, but I like it! She talks a big game and can back it up, that's for sure." She plucked the cup from Okoye's hand and pushed her chocolate ice cream over to her mother.

Okoye was happy that Riri had a new friend that could stimulate her mind as Shuri could, but she never realized how obnoxious it would have gotten. She would make sure Riri went to bed by 9 and she would hear Riri up talking and tinkering with her machinery at almost one in the morning.

"Riri!" Okoye pushed open the bedroom door to see Riri with thousands of sheets of blue prints lining the floor and a hologram of Shuri talking a mile a minute.

"Ma! This is important! I went to bed and the calculations just hit me like a bag of bricks! Shuri is helping me out." She quickly scribbled another sequence of numbers on a cluttered sheet of paper.

"Riri, you have school later. You need to rest."

"I'm already top of the class, I can miss a day." She muttered, half listening to her mother.

"Oooh smarty-pants doesn't need school." Shuri egged her on.

"I mean, the other kids are good of course, I'm just better." She shrugged.

"Bed, now!" Okoye gritted out.

"Mama, please! Just gimme 10 minutes!" Riri rummaged through her blue prints and told Shuri another series of numbers for her calculations.

Okoye wiped a tired hand down her face. "Five."

Riri nodded her head in understanding and continued her discussion with Shuri as her mother closed the door.

A few moments later Okoye came back through the door.

"You said five minutes!"

"Yes, and I gave you six! It's currently 1:38 am. Tell Shuri good morning and give me your kimoyo beads."

"What? Mama! No!" Riri cradled her wrist.

"Do not make me tell you again, Riri." Okoye said sternly.

Riri sighed and looked at Shuri, "I have to go but I'll talk to you when I wake up again."

Shuri smiled and waved, "Okay Riri, good night!"

The next morning, Riri barreled into Okoye's room and flopped onto the bed. "Mama! My beads! I need my beads! It's morning!" She jumped on the mattress until Okoye paid her some attention. Okoye deeply inhaled and took Riri's beads from her bra and handed it to her. She couldn't be too safe.

"Thank you, Mama!" Riri grabbed them and zoomed out the room.

Okoye finished making breakfast and Riri was on a call again with Shuri.

"What are you eating?" Riri asked as she bit into her eggs.

"I'm eating a bowl of mangoes." Shuri showed off a piece of the fruit on her fork.

"That's it?"

"Yea, what are you eating?"

"Pancakes!"

"What? Your Mama makes you pancakes?" Shuri marvelled.

Riri nodded vehemently, "Yea! I convinced her to try it some years back and she likes it." Riri shows off her own piece of pancake on her fork.

"What are you gonna do today though, Shuri?"

"I have lessons from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. Then I'm free for the rest of the day."

"What! You're lucky! I have school from 7:45 am to 2:00 pm."

"Maybe we can talk during our break times today and then when we're done with our lessons!" Shuri offered.

"Okay, cool! We can do that!"

Okoye ended up having to confiscate Riri's beads every night so the girl could get a decent night's rest, much to Riri's annoyance.

But soon enough, they found a way to combat that problem!

"Mama! Mama!" Riri rushed into the backyard where Okoye was tending to her garden.

Riri smashed into Okoye's back and hugged her neck, "Mama! Shuri wants me to come over to have a sleepover."

Okoye looked over her shoulder and pressed a kiss to Riri's cheek, "When are you to leave?"

"She wants me to come over tonight!" Riri shook her mother's shoulder in excitement, "Can I go? Can I go please???"

Okoye smiled, "Yes, my love you can attend her sleepover."

"Yes!" Riri turned on her beads to call Shuri and ran to her room.

"Do you have your toothbrush, Riri?" "Yes, Ma!" "And your washcloth!"

Okoye smirked when she heard a loud groan and then Riri's rummaging through one of the drawers for a new washcloth.

Riri bounded out of her room with a backpack full of her essentials along with a few of her blueprints that she quickly spread on the table.

"Are you carrying all of that?" Okoye queried as she put on her shoes at the door.

Riri tapped on her kimoyo beads a few times as she scanned the blueprints, "Nah, these are the last of my designs that I needed to download for the thing me and Shuri are working on... Okay, done!" She grinned before running out after her mother.

Okoye threw an arm around Riri and hugged her closer as they walked, "I can't believe it. Your first official sleepover! Are you excited?"

Riri grinned and pumped her fists in the air, "Yea I'm excited! Shuri has it all planned out! We're going to eat a bunch of junk food till we pass out in the lab from burnout!"

Okoye shook her head, "And who has to take care of you when you make yourself sick, small girl?"

"You, Ma! That's what you're here for! I do stupid stuff and you scold me after and you make me feel better."

Okoye affectionately caressed Riri's neck, "Try to get at least some sleep, okay?" Riri nodded, "No promises though. We're scientists. So sleep is for the weak!"

Okoye and Riri arrived at the Citadel where Queen Ramonda and Shuri were waiting at the entrance. Shuri jumped and waved at Riri before Riri ran up the staircase to meet her friend.

Ramonda greeted Okoye with a smile. "She's in good hands."

"If she gives any trouble, don't be afraid to get her in line." Okoye reminded.

Ramonda waved Okoye off, "You know me. I won't hesitate. Now go home and relax or something. I can handle the girls."

Okoye nodded and called Riri over. "One more kiss goodbye."

Riri gave her mother five more kisses, an 'I love you' and a hug for good measure before running back to Shuri, disappearing further into the palace.

And thus began the start of an unbreakable friendship between the two girls.

Taggies: @somethingcleaverandwhitty @karimwillia @neptoons1998 @pantherheart