#tonight i’m resting though bc my head is once again killing me B(

[tvrningout-a]

“ bel where have you been? ” to be perfectly honest, i’ve been hyper fixating on re4 when i should be studying for my korean final uvu

[carelessannie]

maybe it goes like this: tony courts peter (part 7)

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten | Epilogue

Read on A03

Read the Stuckony backstory

Word count: 5.7K

Pack focus. This means Clint x Peter x Annie (OFC), Clint x Steve, Steve x Peter, Bucky x OFC, and Steve x Tony x Bucky x Clint x Annie x Peter (wow)

It all goes to hell, because, of course it does. But it’s exciting to fix it, because everyone is falling in love.

Major warnings: D/S Au, A/B/O Au, subdrop, almost a fight bc Clint is aggressive

---

maybe it goes like this:

“So… have you heard from him yet?”

Annie sighs, rolling her eyes, and refrains from shaking the precious Omega standing behind her,

“Not in the past three minutes, Peter.”

“Sorry, I just—”

“I know, you’re nervous,” she tries to drop the tone, squinting in the bathroom mirror to finish her eyeliner, “why don’t you just call him? Or your boyfriend?”

In the reflection, Peter pouts, crossing his arms, “I tried, but both went to voicemail. He should have been done by now.”

Annie takes care to sweep perfectly symmetrical wings across each upper lid, before exchanging her eyeliner for a brighter tube of mascara. It’s taking a lot of effort to ignore Peter as he stresses over their evening, but no one has ever called her a quitter.

Peter continues his spiral in her silence, “What if they got into a fight? Could he be dead— is there a chance Steve killed him? Or what if he dropped again, and there’s no one there to help him? What if they’re in the hospital—”

Enough.

“Peter, stop it,” Annie finally turns away from the mirror and grabs Peter by his shoulders, “if any of those things happened, one of their packmates would have called by now. I know we have to leave soon, but there’s really nothing we can do, okay?”

Peter’s eyes tear up a bit and he sniffles, looking down at his outfit, which currently is one of Clint’s shirts and a pair of leggings, “Annie, I’m not— I’m not even dressed yet.”

“Let me help you, okay Pete?” she steers him out of the bathroom and towards their wardrobe, picking up her phone to try calling again as they sort through possible outfit choices for Peter.

The phone rings— once, twice, three times— before,

“Yello.”

“Clint Barton! Do you know how many times we’ve tried calling—”

“Annie! Holy shit, Annie— is Peter there? Do you have me on speaker?”

She shakes her head in disbelief while pressing the speaker button, making sure Peter can hear too.

“Is that Clint?” Peter asks, pointing at the phone. Annie nods, and Peter gasps, “You asshole! I tried to call you so many times, where on earth have you been?”

“I’m so sorry, Omega, honestly— the conversation with Steve went longer than I expected and I’m driving back now. But please, I have to tell you— I’m compatible with him!”

Both Omegas exchange a look, clearly confused and doubtful of their Beta.

“What does that mean, Clint?”

“It means I’ve got a chance. I thought I’d hate him, or be forced to put up with him for your sake. But, honestly… he’s pretty amazing. I can tell he cares a whole freaking lot about his pack and I think he’s in this for real.”

Peter reaches out to grab her hand, and Annie can’t help but smile back.

“Did you tell him your history?” Annie prompts, pulling Peter next to her so that they can sit close together on the floor.

She can almost hear Clint waving his hands around, animated in his response. “Yeah, I shared most of it with him and it made him cry, honest to god. I also told him he could catch his mates up to speed—”

“— oh my god, did you see Tony?” Peter cuts in, eyes lighting up as he wrings his tiny hands together nervously.

“Yes, needy Omega, I saw Tony. I gave him the flowers, and we had a little heart to heart, too. Real sexy, you know—”

“Shut up, Clint!” Peter squeals as Annie breaks down into helpless giggles at seeing his face light up pink, “does that mean you talked to all three of them, then?”

A small pause, “... no, actually that was kind of awkward. They said that… it seemed like… they had just finished a scene together when I showed up.”

“Oh, shit.” Annie breaths.

“Yeah, Tony definitely didn’t know I was coming,”

Peter covers his mouth, eyes going wide, “Oh god, I’m so sorry, I literally can’t believe I forgot to tell him. That sounds so horrible, C!”

There’s a chuckle on the other end, “Don’t worry, Petey, no harm done. I’ll be home soon, and we can head back out there, okay?”

Annie gives Peter a small kiss on the cheek before standing, grabbing her phone, saying, “sounds good, see ya Clint,” and hanging up without another word.

She spins, taking in Peter’s lost expression and the clothing scattered around their closet.

Okay. Motivation.

Peter yelps as Annie hauls him up by his armpits, “Time to get ready, Peter. C’mon— you are gonna look absolutely stunning tonight.”

Finally Peter’s expression melts and a genuine smile breaks out over his face. He pulls Annie closer, leaning in for a quick peck on the lips— careful to avoid messing up her lip gloss.

“I adore you, Annie,” he whispers, “— these boys are not gonna know what hit ‘em.”

She reaches up to twist one of his curls playfully before returning a smirk,

“You’re damn right.”

---

“I don’t see why I have to be in the backseat. I clearly called shotgun.”

Clint has been whining ever since they left their apartment, insisting that he was severely wronged by his insolent Omegas. Both of those Omegas are having fun ignoring him— turning up their music and talking louder to drown out his voice.

It took a half hour for Clint to get home after his call, and by some miracle, all three of them were dressed and ready to go with time to spare. Annie had spent time curling Peter’s hair into perfect ringlets before finishing his makeup with sparkly-pink eyeshadow and gloss. Both of them were ready and dressed before Clint got home, and had pushed and prodded the bewildered Beta into a nicer button up with dark jeans and combat boots.

Annie is proud of her and Peter’s outfits, of course. Not many Omegas can pull off pink like they can, and her powdered pink coat goes flawlessly with Peter’s pink polka dot button up. But even more than their outfits, she is proud of how put together their chaotic Beta looks.

After catching Peter glancing back in the rearview mirror for the third time, she decides to say something.

She turns down the music, “You look like a snack, Clint.”

Peter snickers as Clint looks down at himself in bewilderment, “I swear, I’ve never seen these clothes before in my entire life. But, thanks. I guess.”

Since Peter insisted on driving, he can only glance quickly to try and gauge Clint’s expression.

“Those boots are yours,” Peter says.

“Yeah, but when did you guys even have time to buy me clothes?” Clint’s back to complaining, and grumbles sneaky Omegas under his breath.

Annie turns, lightly slapping the inside of Clint’s thigh where he’s sprawled across the backseat, “Hush and take a compliment, Beta. I think I speak for both of us when I say we want to climb you like a tree.”

Peter gasps, swatting at her with one hand, as Clint’s eyes go wide.

She continues, “I mean, it has been awhile since we’ve had a scene, and the mention of Tony’s pack has me—”

Clint leans forward, posture straightening as he grabs her chin to silence her, “— you feeling horny, Omega?” he purrs, a feral grin taking over his face.

“M— maybe.”

“Have I not been taking care of you, Annie?” he moves closer, and forces Annie to turn almost completely in her seat.

“... Clint.”

He grips harder, “Try again.”

“Fuck, Beta. Please.”

“— guys, can this wait—” Peter tries to interrupt, but is quickly shut down by Clint growling, low.

“Sweet Omegas, is that why you dressed me up? Feeling all needy and shit?” he releases his hold on Annie’s chin and moves back to his seat, relaxing again before letting out a sigh, “but you’re right, Pete. This can wait.”

The silence is charged. Both Omegas wiggling in their seats in response to Clint’s dominant display, and Annie whimpers— a small sound that causes Peter’s breath to catch in his throat.

“Aw, Annie. No— come here,” Clint leans forward again, and as she turns he catches her lips in a lingering kiss, licking into her mouth quickly and coaxing a grin out of her.

“Don’t want you to drop, gorgeous. You know I’ll take care of you both, right? Love you so much.”

She pecks him on the lips, satisfied to see some of her pink lip gloss stain his mouth, “Love you, Clint. And you do look amazing tonight.”

“Thanks, pretty Omega,” even though it’s dark in the car, she can tell he’s blushing by the way he ducks his head bashfully.

Annie turns back to face front and catches the slight pout on Peter’s face. She crosses the center console to kiss behind his ear, and enjoys the surprised squawk from the younger Omega.

“Annie! I’m driving!”

Clint laughs, and reaches forward to rub Peter’s shoulder, “We love you too, Petey-pie.”

“Shut up.”

Both of them crack up as Peter shakes himself free. Annie intertwines their fingers and Clint settles back into his seat, quietly staring out the window at the oncoming traffic. She feels a small squeeze and looks up, exchanging a reassuring smile with Peter.

The rest of their drive passes in relative silence, and soon they are pulling up a long, winding driveway into what Annie would swear is a rainforest jungle.

As Peter navigates around the property, he explains, “Tony said that he bought this land right after Steve and Bucky courted him. A lot of it is a nature preserve, and it backs right to the Jamaica Bay. I know all of them wanted to stay in Brooklyn, but Tony absolutely refused to live near anyone, so they built this house together with the hope of living here with their future pack.”

Both Annie and Clint are glued to the window. They watch as the looming trees suddenly part, revealing a modern, sharply-angled, and breathtakingly enormous house. There are at least three stories, and the whole structure seems to be built into the surrounding forest, with a noticeable extension out into the bay.

“Peter,” Annie breathes out, still stunned speechless.

“I know, that’s how I felt earlier.” Clint replies, still looking out at the quickly approaching home.

Peter hums quietly, but Annie can see him shaking slightly. As they pull up and he parks the car, she gives his knuckles a kiss, “Peter?”

He turns and she catches a NervousDistress scent radiating off of him.

That’s not good.

With a quick look to Clint, they both jump out of the car, rounding the side to Peter’s door, and pull the startled Omega out of the driver’s seat.

“What are you— hey!”

“Come here, nervous Omega, and let us hug you,” Clint pulls Peter in, wrapping him in his arms, as Annie turns the car off. She joins the group hug and lets Clint wrap his arms around both of them.

After a few moments, Clint pulls back, gently scenting both of them for any lingering distress. Instead, he groans, “Damn, you two smell like fuckin’ ice cream. So sweet.”

Peter giggles and Annie leans up for a kiss— earning one from Clint first, then Peter.

“Feel better, Peter?” Annie asks, pulling away to look at his face.

He shrugs, “Yes, I just need to trust Tony to do his part, and… I think I’m just really excited to see him again,” he ducks his head, and Clint places another kiss on top.

“Let’s go get ‘em, tiger.”

“Ew, Clint, stop.” Both Omegas complain as Clint tows them towards the entrance, knocking firmly on the door.

They are still arguing about the merits of cheesy nicknames, when the door swings open.

“Tony!” Peter shrieks, throwing himself forward and into the larger man’s arms.

“Hi, baby,” Tony coos, picking his Omega up and spinning them around, “you look so pretty, Pete. You all do, honestly. Such a pretty pack.”

“Thanks Beta,” Peter stretches up to give him a peck on the cheek, and then freezes.

“Peter? What—” Tony puts him down, and Annie watches as two figures approach them in the hallway.

She hears Clint growl behind her, and immediately her eyes turn to Peter. She can only see the side of his face, but his eyes are wide, pupils dilated, and he sucks in a quick breath.

“A— alpha,” he moans, swaying on his feet.

The larger man— Steve, probably— steps out of the shadow and pushes Tony to the side, looming over Peter and reaching to grab his neck.

There’s an echo of growls, one behind and one ahead, before Peter collapses to his knees.

“Fuck no!”

Clint reacts suddenly, pushing Annie behind him. He jumps forward and aims a blow towards Steve, who’s still looking down at Peter, eyes glowing red. Before the hit can land, both Tony and Bucky step forward, blocking the attack on their Alpha and tearing Clint away.

Tony grabs Peter, pulling him to his feet, and pushes him into Annie’s arms.

“Down the hall, to the right. Settle him in the living room and we’ll handle this, okay?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer before grabbing Clint and dragging him back outside, hopefully to calm down. Annie struggles to carry the larger Omega down the hall, and thankfully neither Steve nor Bucky are anywhere to be found.

When they finally reach the living room, she drops Peter in a large nesting chair towards the corner and searches for blankets. After finding a few, she wraps him in them and climbs into the nest, throwing the others over top of them to enclose the space.

“Petey?”

No response. Shit.

She moves them so he’s facing her fully, and tries to shake him awake. It seems like whatever happened actually knocked him out, and she checks his eyes, his breathing, before holding him close.

“Petey, you have to wake up for me.”

It’s hard not lacing her words with a dominant tone, but the direct order seems to reach him and Peter’s breath picks up.

“Open your eyes, sweetheart, c’mon.”

His eyes blink open wide and he looks around frantically.

“— Alpha?” he whimpers.

“No, Peter. It’s me. Tell me what you need, Pete.”

He focuses on her then, lips opening and closing before he’s able to speak, “Need’ta come up, Omega. Please.”

Annie strokes over his brow, “Okay, Pete. I’ve got you.”

She uses one hand to block his eyes and the other to peel back the blankets, looking around for someone to help, and sees Bucky in the kitchen.

“Bucky, help,” she whispers, hoping the other Omega can hear her across the room.

His head shoots up as he takes in the situation, and he swiftly walks over. He looks into her eyes, sees her hold on Peter, and drops to his knees next to the nest,

“What do you need, Omega?”

She has to stop herself from reaching out to touch him, and instead keeps her eyes on Peter, “Please tell me you have apples, bananas and carrots? Or crackers?”

“I do— do you want them sliced, Omega?”

“Yes, thank you,” she agrees, turning back to Peter as Bucky hurries back into the kitchen. She cradles his head, keeping one hand over his eyes to block them from the light, and lets him curl in closer to her as he floats.

“Sweet Omega,” she whispers, pulling him closer, “so good for me. So good, Peter.”

“Here,” Bucky says gently, and offers her a plate with slices of each food. He also hands her a bottle of water.

“Thanks, Bucky. Can you dim the lights? Maybe light candles if you have them?”

“Of course.”

He walks away to lower the lights, and Annie finally takes her hand off of Peter’s eyes. He blinks up at her, adorably confused, and gives her a small smile.

“Apple, Peter,” she says, pressing the apple slice up against his lips. He takes a small bite and she watches as he chews and swallows before offering another.

Once the apple is gone, she holds up the next fruit, “Banana.”

He takes the softer fruit in one bite, and Annie notices his eyes clearing up and he tightens his grip on her arm.

“Last one, Peter. Can you tell me what it is?”

“Carrot, Annie,” he says, smooth and steady, chewing the carrot slice while maintaining eye contact.

After he swallows, she hands him the bottle of water. He drinks it slowly, taking in the room and turns his gaze back to her.

“What— what happened?”

Bucky comes back over to them and looks to Annie for direction. She motions for him to join them in the nest, and they both move over as Bucky climbs in, pulling the other Omegas to nestle into his side.

“What do you remember, Peter?” Annie asks, reaching over to hold his hand on top of Bucky’s chest.

“I… I’m not sure. I remember being in Tony’s arms, and then— did I meet Steve? And someone attacked him? I don’t know Annie, I just remember floating and then coming back up.”

Bucky makes a pained noise, “Stevie reacted to Clint’s challenge, an’ his display caused you’ta drop.”

“Display, what—”

Annie sighs, “Basically, Clint saw you react to the new Alpha. His hindbrain registered that as a threat, and he growled— challenging Steve. I think Steve must have released some type of Alpha pheromones, because my mind went hazy too. After that, both of them were growling and you kneeled for him.”

“For— Steve?”

“Yeah, Pete. He pushed Tony away to get to you and Clint attacked him. That’s when Bucky and Tony took control and split everyone up. Nothing happened to you— to anyone, okay?”

Peter still looks devastated and pulls his hand away, sitting up in the nest, “I can’t believe. I just— submitted like that. I didn’t even do that with Tony, but with a random Alpha—”

“Peter, hey,” Bucky grabs his hand, trying to calm him down, “it’s instincts, darlin’. Steve is really dominant, and in this setting— with everyone on edge and feelin’ horny and stuff— honestly… I’m a little pissed we didn’t plan better. Especially after Clint came by earlier.”

Annie sits up then, drawing Peter closer to her to sit across Bucky’s lap, “He’s right, Pete, none of us have ever dealt with a Dominant Alpha meeting a Submissive Omega before. There’s no way we could have anticipated how Clint was gonna react.”

They sit for a few more minutes before Bucky stands up, “I’m gonna check on Tony and Clint— I think I have a plan for tonight.”

It’s a few more minutes that the two Omegas can sit in silence, eventually moving from the nesting chair over to the couch and preening each others’ hair and makeup. There’s a sound from down the main hallway, and a figure comes barreling towards them.

Annie throws her arm over Peter and yells, “Hey!” to get the person— Clint, it’s freaking Clint— to stop. He falls to his knees, only a foot or two away from them, and crawls the rest of the distance.

“Petey, I’m so sorry. Sweet Omega, I had no idea— I didn’t mean— I’m so so sorry, oh my god, I completely freaked out and ruined your night, please—”

“Beta, come here,” Peter opens up his arms, and Clint falls into them, clawing at Peter’s back and scenting him thoroughly, “it’s okay, C, I understand. I forgive you.”

Annie looks up to find Bucky and Tony standing, bewildered, in the entrance for the living room. She gestures towards the couch next to them, a clear invitation to take a seat, and Tony quickly moves to sit next to Peter and pull him into a hug after Clint releases him.

“So— Annie, Peter,” Bucky starts, shifting on his feet, “I have an idea, and our Betas have agreed to it.”

“What is it, Bucky?” Peter asks, surrounded now by both Tony and Clint, and looking beyond satisfied.

Bucky looks off, down the hallway behind the kitchen, “I think we should go to my nest. The— the three of us. Omegas, I mean. And meet Stevie there.”

“But… why?”

“It’s neutral,” Tony chimes in, “and Peter needs to meet Steve somewhere safe. Bucky’s the only one who can really bring the dumb Alpha out of his head— so the nest seems like the best idea. And a balance of chaperones that are all Omega should help ground everyone present. It’s a good idea.”

Annie stands up, crossing her arms, and looks at the two Betas, “You’re serious? You’re both completely okay with this, and anything that could happen in that room?”

Tony nods, but it’s really Clint’s reaction that she’s waiting for. The Beta also agrees, nodding slowly, “I told you I would try.”

Peter gets to his feet, wiping off his pants, and offers his hand to Annie. He then walks towards Bucky and offers a second hand, “Lead the way, Omega,” he says, grinning at them both.

Bucky gives a tug, and pulls them down the hallway. They pass the kitchen, a few other rooms that are all closed, and turn a corner. On the right side is a set of french doors with curtains— bedroom?— and the left—

“Holy shit.”

“Oh my god.”

Bucky steps away from them to gesture to his nest, the large fixture taking up the majority of the space in a room that could have otherwise been a large library. Or a sunroom.

Two of the walls are windows— they stretch from floor to ceiling and meet at the arched apex of the ceiling where a large, twinkling chandelier cascades down, filling the room with warm light and extending over the white canopy that dominates the center of the space. Twinkle lights surround and flow around the nest— dropping over and under the structure— and a few smaller lamps sit strategically both outside and inside.

The nest itself seems to be slightly elevated— giving the illusion of floating in the center of the room on a simple wooden palette. There are vines and ferns sprinkled around the base, and Annie can see the legs of at least one table that reach underneath the canopy. It’s a cloud. It’s a dream.

There’s definitely someone inside.

“Bucky, this is… amazing.” Annie is still frozen with Peter in a similar state beside her.

“C’mon,” Bucky finally reaches back and snaps his fingers, breaking them out of their trance. He grabs Peter first, kneeling up on the entrance to push back the curtain and let Peter in. Annie ducks down, following Peter through the opening.

Okay, the meeting in the hallway earlier did nothing to prepare her for the giant, hulking Alpha in Bucky’s nest. Even with his head down and neck exposed, Steve is a sight to behold, and by far the most dominant Alpha that Annie has been around in her entire life.

Strong hands grab her from behind, and Bucky settles both of them near the entrance to watch.

Steve has his eyes down still, throat exposed, as Peter inches forward. They all freeze as his scent changes to CuriousInnocentDistressedOmega, and finally Steve looks up.

The sound that comes from Peter is not quite a whimper. He turns his head to the side and makes it again.

An invitation.

Steve moves immediately and folds Peter into his arms. He makes a low reassuring noise, and Peter just melts, a high pitch chirp leaving his lips before his body goes limp. Steve has a tight hold on him, and turns their bodies to settle the tiny Omega underneath him. Almost in sync, they bare their throats and scent each other.

Annie scoots closer to Bucky, letting him wind his arms around her as she rests between his legs, against his chest. He stretches his legs out, and she turns slightly to add her legs to the tangle.

There’s a small sniffling noise, and both Omegas look up. Steve is still holding Peter close— but now they’re eye to eye, and Peter is crying. Annie immediately sits up to separate them, but Bucky holds her back, whispering for her to wait.

They watch as the Alpha and Omega cry together, sharing comfort and tears, as they continue to scent-mark each other.

“Is it uncomfortable to watch your Alpha connect with another Omega like this?” Annie whispers.

Bucky, still behind her, just draws aimless circles on her arm as he responds, “We talked ‘bout it. Doesn’t feel weird— just feels right, ya know?”

She nods, “It definitely looks right.”

And it does. Annie thinks about her mom and dad— how many times she’s envied their bond and the love that they share. Even then, they are a VersAlpha and VersOmega couple and they’ve never been able to build the pack that they want, even though their relationship has been full of love and their pack is strong.

With Steve and Peter… it feels like watching a King and his Queen. It feels like the ocean meeting the shore, like stars in the sky, like pen on paper. The perfect balance, opposites fated by biology, Alpha and Omega.

It feels right.

Annie is crying now, and notices it when Bucky reaches up to wipe one of her tears away. She leans into him, moving her hair and exposing her neck for him to scent. He intertwines their fingers around her waist and she can feel his nose, his mouth, pressed against her sensitive bonding glands.

In an uncharacteristically dominant move, Bucky lifts one of his own wrists for her to scent. She pulls it closer and sniffles at his pulse point, enjoying his warm Milk Chocolate and sweet Orange scent.

“Oranges and Strawberries,” he breathes, tickling her neck.

“Chocolate and Caramel,” she takes one more inhale before turning in his arms, letting the other Omega stare into her eyes.

She licks her lips, “I’ve missed your scent. I can’t believe how compatible… I mean, you know— how good—”

Bucky chuckles, playing with a piece of her hair, “I can’t believe how compatible we are either, darlin’.”

Damn, he’s sweet. Annie can feel her face heat up, but she’s helpless to look into his eyes, steel-blue and darkening by the second. He’s holding her so close, and he’s so warm. She closes her eyes, letting a quiet purr build from deep in her chest.

There’s a soft press on her lips, and she gasps, fluttering her eyes open to see Bucky pulling away from her face with a shy smile.

“Sorry, sorry, I thought—”

“— why’d you stop?” Annie asks, returning his smile.

This time she sits up, pushing into his space, and locks their lips together. His hands clutch tighter around her waist as he tilts her head back, deepening the kiss. His lips move slowly, sweetly, and she keens into the feeling, opening her mouth a little more, inviting him to take.

Instead, he slows the kisses down further, releasing her waist and brushing his fingers over her eyelids, her cheek, and she rests her hands on his chest. He pulls back after one last kiss, lips red and bruised, and a smile lights up his face. She hums her approval, sure her face looks similar, and moves one hand to brush back the hair off his forehead.

“Wow.”

The voice breaks the spell— Peter and Steve are staring at them, mouths agape. Annie pushes Bucky away and he laughs, trying to catch her around the waist before she can escape. Peter giggles, still so cute and tiny in Steve’s monster arms, and Steve can’t help but laugh along.

Okay, so maybe making out in the nest wasn’t a great idea.

She looks back at Bucky— head thrown back in laughter and eyes bright with joy— and honestly she doesn’t care. She feels her heart soften, almost literally, and pulls him in for one more kiss— ignoring the protests coming from the back of the nest. Bucky’s lips taste like heaven.

Once they break apart, Peter crawls over, nudging her to change places with him.

“Real quick, Annie. You haven’t even met him yet.”

“Okay, okay— pushy Omega.”

Peter immediately snuggles into Bucky’s arms, and the two turn to watch as Annie shuffles over to where Steve is still seated.

He gives her a hesitant smile, and offers his hand, “Hi Annie, I’m Steve.”

She looks down at the professional handshake he’s trying to give her and back up to him in disbelief. Boys are idiots. Shaking her head, she crawls the last few inches and sits squarely in his lap, offering her neck, “Hi Steve, I’m Annie,” and she guides his hand back around her waist and his nose into her throat.

There’s a moment where she can tell he takes over, and she lets herself relax in his strong grip. He nuzzles into her neck, scenting her deeply, and she slowly leans down to do the same.

Oh. Oh no.

“Oh, oh my god, Steve—” she mewls— yeah, fucking mewls— into his skin, and is horrified to feel his pulse under her tongue.

Annie, you are fucking licking this man. Get yourself together.

No. He tastes delicious.

And it’s true— Steve tastes like actual Summer Storms and strong, Espresso Lattes, and she cannot keep her mouth off of him.

The other two Omegas are chuckling from the other side of the nest, and she huffs in irritation, trying her absolute hardest to pull away from this Alpha’s body.

“S— sorry, fuck. I can’t believe. You’re just... you’re just so—” get it together, Annie.

“Hey,” Steve thrums, and she looks up into his deep, blue eyes, “I’m flattered— no harm done. For the record... I think you smell delicious, too,” and he winks at her, making a point to squeeze her tighter before they separate.

“Peeeete,” she whines, falling back to look at her packmate, “we’re marrying them, right?”

Peter giggles, “Seems like we might be.”

ProudSatisfiedContentAlpha absolutely saturates the nest, and all three Omegas turn to look, suddenly thirsty for Steve’s Coffee.

Bucky moves first, putting the smaller Omegas behind him and moving quickly to his Alpha. Annie watches as they share a quiet moment, before both men turn towards them with similar fond expressions.

“Sorry, uh�� let's go see our Betas, okay?” Steve asks, ushering them back towards the entrance.

Annie and Peter stumble out of the nest, waiting to be led back to the living room. Bucky is careful to turn the lights out and straighten the nest, displaying the care and importance he obviously places in his home. Steve loops his arm around Bucky’s shoulders, pulling him in for a quick kiss, before giving him a playful shove to get them moving down the hallway.

It’s clear the Betas are laughing and enjoying each other’s company as they arrive, and Annie heads quickly to Clint’s side, ruffling his hair and accepting a kiss on the cheek. Steve sits in an unoccupied loveseat, but Bucky doesn’t go to join him. Instead, he and Peter exchange a few words and Bucky sits next to Tony, ducking under his arm.

The room is quiet— only a few whispers between Tony and Bucky— and Peter turns to settle onto Clint’s lap. Annie lets him go, watching as Peter scents— no, scent-marks— him thoroughly, rubbing the combined scent of Alpha and Omegas into his skin. Clint’s breathing picks up and he looks at Peter, confused.

“Omega, what—”

“Hush,” Peter grabs his face, whispering intensely, “you are going to ask that Alpha to scent you, and you’re gonna go sit on his lap. Don’t you dare come back to us until you smell like him, do you hear me?”

Clint looks properly chastised as Peter hops up off his lap, grabs Annie’s hand, and pulls them to sit with Bucky and Tony on the couch.

They watch Clint’s internal crisis as he walks over to Steve’s seat, obviously uncomfortable but oh so stubborn and determined.

He stops in front of Steve, who looks up in question, “Steve.”

“Clint.”

“I need… Can I— can I formally scent you?”

Steve actually looks shocked, “I… yeah, of course, Clint. Whatever you’d like.”

Clint looks back at them— Bucky flashing him two thumbs up— and steels himself, grabbing Steve’s shoulders before climbing onto his lap. Steve raises his hands, obviously not expecting the submissive posture, and looks to their couch for some direction.

Both Bucky and Tony give him a shrug. Helpful.

When Clint settles in, wiggling a few times, Steve bares his throat and lowers his eyes in submission. Every person in the room gasps, and Bucky might even let out a small, hysterical laugh.

Clint doesn’t say a thing. He leans in and gently presses his nose to Steve’s pulse point, audibly inhaling. His body visibly relaxes, and he pulls Steve in to scent him in return.

Annie settles back against Peter, letting the three men fold her into their embrace. The room feels light and heavy at the same time. All six packmates are relaxed— breathing in each others’ scents and eyes closed to the warmth of close bodies. The joy of shared kisses.

Behind her, there are soft sounds of kisses and whispered promises being exchanged. In front of her, her best friend and future Alpha are wrapped in an intimate embrace, crying and clutching at each others’ faces.

There’s a hand on her shoulder, and she turns to face Peter’s half-lidded, giddy expression,

“I love you so much, Annie.”

He leans down— kissing her head, her eyelids, and her nose— and holds her close as he presses a tender kiss onto her lips. Both of their eyes close, and they smile into each others’ mouths. Peter gives a small nip to her bottom lip as both of them break apart laughing.

They look up and see Steve and Clint, finally standing and making their way to the couch. Annie opens up her arms to catch Clint as he dives forward, and all of them groan as he gets comfortable in their arms.

Annie glances up, watching Steve. The Alpha looks so proud and happy— and even as Bucky and Tony start to whine about being hungry, it seems as though the only thing Steve wants is to make his pack happy.

And that’s something Annie can get on board with.

[happytroopers]

A Knight in White Armor // pt. 3

Rex X Royal!Reader

nearly two years later, brought to you by the burning desire I’ve had to yell at the trade federation since I was 6 years old. I’m a SLUT for plitical drama and for Captain Rex

for those of you who are new here:

Part one Part Two Part three Part Four Coming Soon or possibly in two years. 

Did i pull an all nighter to rewrite this bc tumblr deleteed it YES. An no, I don’t know why the formatting looks like that. 

Uhhhm if I tagged you, it’s because you expressed interest recently so if you want me to leave you alone (or want to be included) lemme know.

So, taglist: @robotxtrash @mackstrut @clonewarsreturns @94pigeons @skdubbs and about ten other people who messaged me on anon lmao 

Y’all know the drill, this sucks and its unedited blah blah b;ah 

______________

A day and a half. That’s all you allowed yourself to wallow in self pity. After that, you forced yourself to remember that whoever sent that assassin only sent them because you were doing good work. 

And once you reminded yourself of that, you were back in the spotlight like you’d never left. After you made some changes, mind you, like dismissing the maids they provided and bringing in your personal maids that you’d known since you were sixteen.Of course, Rex was by your side and more protective than he had been. With his formidable presence ever present, even the more hostile politicians were hesitant to get in your face. Yes, you were back, and more determined than ever to truly make a difference.

You were also grappling with other feelings. Feelings that you buried deep into your heart until you were alone. Ever since the first time he called by name, Rex had held a soft spot in your heart. You tried to be reasonable, tell yourself that he was only doing all these things because it was his job. He was only so protective because he was ordered to do so, only candid with you because you asked him to be, so on and so forth. Those things were easy to write off, to kill any hope of him returning your feelings. 

But then, he’d go above and beyond his job. Listening to you complain about other politicians, offering you a steadying hand when you were going down steps in those cumbersome skirts you had to wear, laughing at something you said, staying with you if you felt uneasy at night, carrying food and water with him because you had an awful habit of forgetting to eat between engagements…. A particular memory that always turned your cheeks red was when you were posing for an official photo and your skirts got tangled up,  before a maid could fix it, Captain Rex was on one knee expertly fluffing your skirt back out and laying your train flat. That certainly wasn’t his job. Those were harder to write off and any hope you previously squashed came back with a vengeance.

It was then you’d have to remind yourself it could never happen. On the off chance he did feel the same way,  you knew that there had to be some terrible punishment- it probably fell under insubordinates. Additionally, no matter how persistent the butterflies were, you weren’t naive. You were a princess, royalty, top of the nobility, and you weren’t even the first born. It was only a matter of time before you were married off to satisfy some ally you’d never met before. You’d long since made peace with the fact you marriage would be arranged for the good of your people. As royalty, you sacrificed very few things and lived very fortunately, this was the price. Royals didn’t get true love. Besides, love was a bit melodramatic. You could content yourself with fluffy daydreams for the moment.

That being said, you hardly had time to day dream. Middle of week two (in the month of peace talks), and you were so busy you barely had time to think of anything but public policy, war treaties, and trade negotiation. Trade Negotiation being the first thing on your mind that evening as your maids flurried about, preparing you for that night’s engagement: an invitation from the trade federation to talk about your planet’s charters with them over a private dinner. You were reticent to accept the invitation, especially after Padme’s warnings about them. Even though you were young, you well remembered the siege and blockade of Naboo. But, after speaking to your advisors and parents (the reigning King and Queen), you decided to go. At the very least as a show of strength, and at worst to warn them off bothering your people.

Rex wasn’t all too happy with this dinner either. He’d heard of the trade federation blockade of Naboo from Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, and he’d read the HoloNet articles about the Blockade of the Pantoran Moon. Not to mention all rumors of kidnappings, Separatist ties, and assignation (attempts and successes) that surrounded the Trade Federation. He’d even heard rumors that the Trade Federation ordered a hit on your planet’s senator. Ultimately unsuccessful, but it didn’t make him feel good about you sharing a meal with them. Rex had a feeling that the Neimodians were just as slimy as they looked, and he made his opinion quite clear as he watched your maids assemble your look for the night.

“(Y/N), you don’t have to go. No one will think any less of you.” He assured you from his spot, leaning against the arm of the couch nearest you. Out of your sight, or at least they thought, (and without Rex paying attention), your maids shared a look, as if to say, did this soldier just address the princess by her first name?

You turned your head slightly towards him, but the maids quickly adjusted your posture, “They will, but it’s not about that, Rex,”

You paused, to let the maids know that you definitely saw the looks that time, they hurried back to their work so you continued, “I’m going so that they know that I won’t be bullied into a terrible deal for my people.”

Seemingly finished with your makeup, you watched as the oldest maid pressed your tiara into your hair. Pleased with your appearance, you stood straightening the skirt of the slip you were wearing (the youngest maid had tried to shoe Rex out, saying it wasn’t proper for him to see you like that before you assured her it was alright). They brought over the stiff, heavy, formal dress that would go over the slip, and unlaced the back. You held your arms up and allowed them to slip it over your head. Rex was still watching with an uncertain look in his eyes as they laced you up.

“They can threaten me all they want to, but I will not allow them to threaten my people because they think I’m too young and naive to notice.” You voice was firm, you hadn’t even raised it a decibel, but still commanded all the attention in the room.  Finally, you turned to look at the Captain, and he finally understood. 

While you always looked Royal, you generally weren’t overly fussy about your appearance, but tonight was different. If Rex understood your culture correctly, this was a modern, toned down take on traditional war paint and battle dress, what a princess or queen would wear in a time of war. You meant business tonight, more so than usual. There was no room for argument. Nodding, Rex slid his helmet on, “Then I’ll be right beside you the entire time, your highness.”

Once again, your maids shared a look, somehow using your formal title seemed more intimate than using your real name. Nevertheless, they finished off this look, quite proud of their work by attaching a long, dark, velvety cape to the shoulders of your dress with jewel encrusted clips that probably cost more than a starship. Finally, at the height of regality, you nodded to him and with a flourish of your cape you were out the door.

“Let’s be off then.”

__________

As it turned out, this dinner was not as private as you were promised. Having expected this, you enjoyed the look of frustrated shock when Senator Amidala entered the dining room. Rex nearly flinched as you took a sip of your wine, you’d been quite adamant in not having it tested for poisons.

(“If they’re stupid enough to poison me at their own table, let them dig their own graves.” You had told him, but this didn’t ease his mind. He didn’t trust these people, and Kix didn’t carry many anti-poisons with him.)

If you were worried about poison, you didn’t show it, only raising your glass to Lott Dodd, the republic representative of the Trade Federation. Since you were the only royal in attendance, you were sat at the end of the table with your host, Lott Dodd, on the other end, ten feet away. On your right, Padme, decked out in a tight, black dress with a large, jeweled neckpiece, sat confidently beside you. On your left however, there were two members of the technounion, and two other member of the trade federation. On the other side of Padme was a hologram of a Muun banking clansmen. Of course along the back wall were all of their security, mostly droids. Behind you and Padme,  the walls were lined with Rex’s men and Padme’s own Captain Typho.

“I see you took the liberty to make this dinner not so private, I’m glad I always overdress.” You mused, eyebrow raised in challenge. As if wishing he’d tell Padme to leave.

“I could say the same thing about you, your highness.” Lott Dodd replied lowly with a sugary fake smile.

“The more the merrier, right?” You asked, flashing an equally as fake smile. The neimodian only nodded before taking a large gulp of his wine. If anything was to tell Rex how the rest of that evening would go, it was that interaction right there. As the first course was being served, you half listened to a member of the techounion, Trev, propose a partnership in the technounion and your planets Science Research Division and also his interest in your fuel reserves (which was suspicious all together because it was common knowledge that you planets top scientific priority was developing weapons and medical supplies/technology for the Grand Army of the Republic). Beside you, Padme was in an intense conversation about banking regulation with the Muun hologram. Rather quickly, this was brought to a halt as Lott Dodd gathered your attention, 

“Princess, shall we discuss business now so we can get it out of the way?”

“Of course, I’d love to get it over with quickly.” You nodded, motioning for him to continue.

“I’m sure you read the earlier proposal I had delivered to you?” He asked, again you nodded but narrowed you eyes at you glass before lifting cold eyes to him. You could register the shock at your change in demeanor, so you just continued on.

“You mean the proposal to decrease the regulations on the good you import while you also increase the prices, and at the same time decrease the already low prices and taxes on the exports we sell to you?” You clarified, raising a defiant eyebrow at the representative. “I’m no economist, but I’m sure you know that a charter like that would crash our economy. We’ll have to renegotiate.”

“Perhaps our proposal was a bit heavy handed, surely we can find a way for it to work without resorting to unseemly measures. Young people like you don’t seem to realize how trying war time can be.” Lott Dodd tried to regain control of the situation without losing ground on his proposal, but you caught the way his brow ridge twitched and the hidden threat behind his words.

“Oh, like a blockade?” Senator Amidala couldn’t help but mutter into her glass. You breathed a laugh but didn’t comment, if the other guests noticed they didn’t either.

“Hmmm.” You hummed ignored the stammering of your host, instead turning towards the banker, “When money is involved, the banks always have an opinion, so tell me, what do you think of all this?”

The Muun was clearly uncomfortable with the sudden amount of attention on him, but cleared his throat before giving an obviously rehearsed answer, “The Banking Clan does not interfere with any business outside of our own, but no matter your decision if you should need a loan, the banking clan would be honored to work with you to draw one up.”

“How generous, and I’m sure you’ll be the first ones to hear if our economy does crash.” You mused, taking a sip of your wine as the banker gaped at you.

“I’m sure I don’t understand what you mean.” He humphed, the blue hologram flickering. You offered a sweet smile. 

“I’m sure you don’t.” The phrase was innocuous but the smirk on your face told everyone exactly what you meant. You even earned a chuckle masked as a cough from Rex behind you.  Apparently, some of the other guests had had enough of you.

 “Did your parents send you here just to mouth off?” One of the members of the technounion, the one you didn’t know, snapped, and the room went silent as you stared at him. You waited a moment longer than what would have been comfortable before laughing directly in the Skakoan’s face, or well, mask considering they wore those ridiculous suits.

Quieting yourself, you looked to the man who had snapped at you, not many were brave enough to openly insult you to your face, so you’d give him that, 

“First of all, sorry I didn’t get your name,”

“It’s-“ He started but you just kept going.

“No, no, I didn’t ask it doesn’t matter, my parents didn’t send me. Since our senator is still recovering from an assassination attempt,” you paused again to flash a seemingly meaningless look at the Neimodian beside Dodd who flinched, before continuing, “Out of all my siblings and all the royal officials, I was appointed to come here, no, not to mouth off, you’re right, but to represent my planet’s wellbeing and interests. But mouthing off to people who give me dumb proposals sure is a bonus.”

The Skakoan stuttered for a moment before Lott Dodd drew your attention back to him, raising his voice and slapping a hand against the table, this caused Captain Rex to shoot his hand towards the holstered blaster on his hip. You simply reach back out of the other guests sight, not stopping until you hand found his armored knee, a silent show to let him go on. And go on he did.

“Princess (Y/L/N). I realize you're young, princess, but I’ll ask you to respect my guests.”

“Representative Dodd.” You mirrored, slapping the table lightly, "I’ll ask you to show me some respect. I have many drawbacks as a person, but my age isn’t one of them so I you insist on taunting me find something better. Furthermore, don’t assume I’m so young and naive to let you bully and trick me into something that will only benefit you.” “The princess is right, the senate won’t be pleased to hear about these contracts. If their economy crashes, the republic would lose its number one weapons and medical supplier.” Padme added before turning to the technounion member, “I’m sure the senate would also want to know what the technounion wants with their Science Division considering almost all their research is for the military. War time makes people paranoid, and I’d hate for anyone to assume anything too terrible”

Tension in the air was thick, and the trade federation was desperate to regain the upper hand. Feeling a storm coming on, you turned back to Rex and beckoned him down to you level.

He obliged as you whispered, “Could you move one of you men where they can get this whole table in the frame and tell them to video record until it’s over? I want to show my advisors exactly what was said and happened here tonight.”

Nodding, he set your plan into action as Lott Dodd tried a new approach, intimidation, “I’m not as radical as some, but I’m sure some in the federation will call for drastic measures if your planet doesn’t wish to compromise with us.”

“I’ve heard how well you compromise.” You challenged, before flicking your eyes around the table. The banking clansmen was listening intently and the Technounion members were glaring at you sharply from behind their goggles. These negotiations, if you could even call them that, were derailing. This time you voice wasn’t a challenge, it was firm, stern, an order. "Since this no longer concerns the rest of you, you may leave.”

The banker was the first to go, his hologram flickering out before your anger could be directed at him, Trev and his parter were next and they filed out with their security droids filing behind them. Padme gave you a look, and you nodded to her assuring her you’d be alright. With one last comforting hand on yours, she got up and gracefully exited but not before throwing one last glare at Dodd. Along the walls most of the droids had dispersed, so you decided to even the playing field. If he wanted to play the intimidation game, you’d play it, but you wanted him to be intimidated by you not your security forces.

Turning to Captain Rex, you loudly announced, “Captain, you and four of your men stay. That should be plenty to escort me back to my quarters when we’re finished. The rest can be dismissed.”

You could tell under his helmet his was not happy with your plan, so quietly you continued, “The trade federation is stupid, but not so stupid as to murder me right here. Besides, there’s maybe 5 droids-“

“6.” He corrected shortly.

“6 droids, you and your men should be more than capable of handling them if it comes to it, which it won’t.”

With a sigh, he carried out your orders and you watched as half the squad filed out before he returned to your side. With that done, you turned back to the three Trade Federation member that sat ten feet across from you.

Currently relaxed in your chair, you gave each of them a once over before adjusting your posture so you sat stick straight, elbows resting on the armrests but hands clasped in your lap, shoulders back and down, chest out, chin up, eyes narrowed. You managed to look down on them despite being ten feet away and a whole foot shorter than all of them.  Captain Rex saw the change in your whole demeanor, you went from conversation to looking like a marble statue on a throne in the blink of an eye. He saw it long before he heard it in your voice which wasn’t far behind.

“Now, I sent them out so you could save face. I’ve shown you that kindness, you’re welcome.” Somehow even you voice had an edge to it, slightly lower than you usually spoke and had a certain coldness that he’d never heard from you. “With them gone, please, feel free to openly threaten my people. The propriety and pleasantries will keep us here all night, and I was hoping to enjoy better company this evening.”

Lott Dodd was stricken silent, so the shorter one next to him nodded fervently, 

“Of course, your majesty, I’m positive we can wrap this up quickly if you-“

He was interrupted by Dodd snapping back to his senses, “If you agree to our proposals, I’m sure we can work out something for your people.”

“Stop calling them proposals, they are demands. They are ransom demands of my people which you haven’t even taken hostage yet.” You remarked, angry words but an icily calm voice.

“I’m not as radical as some of my fellow Tradesmen, but if you insist on bringing it into the conversation, blockades of planets that don’t meet the requirements in our charters are well within our senatorial rights. If you refuse, your planet can be blockaded and sieged until we work something out.”

“I understand I have two options.” You began.

“Finally, we’re getting somewhere.” The third tradesmen smiled, but you weren’t finished yet.

“First, I could sign this charter right now and by the time I return home, my economy would crash, people would starve, citizens would riot, and then, look at that, we’d have to take a loan from the banking clans to stimulate our economy. This lets my people starve and suffer. Second, I could say no to this ridiculous offer and you think you’ll blockade my planet which will again let my people starve and suffer.”

“I do not think, I know.” Lott nodded, finally speaking some truth. This time you shook your head.

“No, you think. First of all, if you blockaded out planet and kept the Grand Army of the Republic from getting it’s much needed supplies during war time under Marshall law- which renders that funny senatorial right of yours null- they have every legal right take care of you for us.” You paused, forcing a bittersweet tone, “War Times can be trying for all of us.”

“Things work so slow in the senate, that could take months. Your people could be with out food and supplies for months, and when politicians, even royals, fall out of favor, well I sure you remember last weeks dreadful incident.”

He was referring to the assassination attempt, there was a twinge of anxiety when you recalled the night but you pushed it down, “I find, actually, that politicians, even royals, are in most danger when they piss off other politicians. But I’m sure you don’t know anything about that, Representative?”

He cleared his throat, “Of course not, princess, regardless of public opinion, a blockade, even a short one, can do untold damage to a planet’s resources. I’m a humanitarian and I’d hate to see your people suffer- starvation, disease, shelter crises, riots…  I hate to see that happen because you wouldn’t sign a treaty with us.”

That was the tipping point, you’d heard and seen enough.

Standing so fast, you tipped over your chair you were quick to cut into the Neimodian, “Even if the military doesn’t come to our aid, if you haven’t noticed every planet you’ve blockaded in the last decade have been crucially underdeveloped weaponry wise. That is not the case of my planet or my people, we will not be afraid to fight back. If you blockade our planet, we will be all too happy to use our ground-to-upper-atmosphere plasma cannons to shoot you out of the sky. So, please, I invite to you blockade my planet, it’ll give me great joy to see you efforts wasted.”

“Secondly, you think I’m so young that I don’t understand the thinly veiled threats on my life? The references to assassins? I’m not a senator, I’m royalty and a threat on my life is considered an act of war. And believe me, my planet will wage a war on the Trade Federate rage and determination, the likes of which, you very well have not seen before.” Words fell from your lips like venom, and though your voice was raised it was a controlled form a shouting that resonated through the whole room, and was honestly much more intimidating than if you were screaming. But you weren’t done yet.

“But, go ahead, threaten me and my life all you want. I simply do not care, but if you threaten my people with suffering like that again,” You stopped, hand falling to the table top and finding its target as your fingers wrapped around the handle of the knife, picking it up and burying it into the polished wood surface, "I will execute you where you stand by my own hand. I don’t relish in the death of others, but unlike others present, I don’t hire assassins, I’ll get my hands dirty for my people. And yes, not only is that a threat, that is, by my family’s name, a promise.”

You paused to take a breath, ready to continue laying into them but Rex placed a a warning hand on your shoulder as if to say, you’ve made your point, stop while you’re ahead. Nodding, though he hadn’t said anything, you observed your audience who were all staring at you in both awe and slight fear.  Breathing slightly heavy, you took one long and slow breath.

“Now,  you better be grateful I’m the person they chose to send because I’m far more understanding than any of my siblings. They would go ahead and cut all charters with the trade federation right this moment, but since I’m much more forgiving… First thing tomorrow morning, you will get a call from my planet’s chief economist and head financial advisors. With them, you’ll devise a new charter that benefits both sides, and I wouldn’t get too greedy considering how tonight went,” You ordered, eyes narrowing in on Lott Dodd, “Please do remember what I told you tonight, all of it.” With that, you turned naturally (re: purposely dramatically) throwing your cape behind you as you went. Your fury was only punctuated by the wind off your cape hitting the Tradesmen who only watched you stride away cape billowing and soldiers marching behind you. _________

Later, that same evening, you were pacing the length of your quarters while Padme reviewed the video you gotten from one of the troopers, Jesse his name was. You’d long since abandoned the cape, formal dress, hair pieces, tiara, and gotten rid of most of your makeup, leaving you in a lounge dress you deemed fit for company. Afterwards, you dismissed your maids for the night- it’d be a while before you could even think about sleep.

Captain Rex had gone to talk to the general’s about tonight’s events which left you alone with the Nubian Senator, not that you minded. You’d considered her a friend long before these peace talks, considering how close you were in age, she was only a handful of years older than you. Even with her there, you were still going over the earlier events. Even though your parents and advisors had already seen and approved your actions, now that the righteous anger had faded you were left with nervous anxiety.

As the video clip ended, Padme looked over to you (you had paced behind the couch she was on) and tried to assure you, “Some may say that you got a little carried away, but other than that I see nothing wrong with this.”

You only hummed in response as you turned and crossed the room again, “If you’re worried about the senate, the proposals were ridiculous and the trade federation is on thin ice after their Pantoran scandal, so the senate won’t look twice at this.” 

This time you nodded as you turned on your heel, but this time, as you strutted past her, she caught you by the wrist and pulled you onto the couch with her. (Part of your head reminded you of how you’d basically put yourself on Rex’s lap to escape Kix’s disinfectant- on that very couch. But you cleared that funny memory before you even got the chance to blush.)

Despite her approval, the approval of every high advisor, and even your own parent’s approval, something still didn’t feel right but you couldn’t find the right word for it. 

Fortunately, Padme seemed to sense this and put a comforting hand on top of yours, “I know how you feel. The feeling that you still have more you want to say, the feeling that you said too much, anxiety about the enemies you might have created, anger that they threatened your people’s safety, frustration you couldn’t do more, fear you didn’t do enough. I had the same feeling with the trade federation years ago, and I wish I had the confidence to talk to them like that, then. And if all this gets out and into the media, your people will be proud to see their princess standing up for their rights. You have nothing to worry about.” 

Just like that, she put that feeling into words and somehow that made it easier to deal with. With a small smile, you took her hand in yours and gave it a squeeze.

“Thank you, Padme, your friendship means more than you know.” You admitted, she returned the gesture. 

“For the look on Dodd’s face, I should be thanking you.” She joked to ease the mood, you remembered every single look on his face, and she was right, worth it. To your surprise, she actually leaned forward and hugged you. Returning the embrace, you relished in the touch, not remembering the last time you’d been hugged like this, it was nice. When she pulled away, she smiled again, “Now, you should get some rest, tomorrow is another mass peace discussion and you can’t walk into that with a tired mind.”

With that, she smiled once more before turning to leave. On her way through the door, she was met by Captain Rex who gave her a quick salute as he carried a small tray in. Once the door slid shut, the captain set the tray down on the table nearest you before plucking off his helmet.

“You didn’t eat much at the dinner before it derailed, so I thought you might be hungry. I asked your maid to find something suitable for you- all I had were ration bars and I’ll barely eat them.” He explained. You weren’t hungry at all, but you still thanked him sweetly for his thoughtfulness as you picked at the plate so it wouldn’t be for nothing. This level of thoughtfulness wasn’t part of his job, you thought to yourself before correcting that line of thought. Instead, you imagined the butterflies in your stomach being fumigated, watching him as he did his routine safety checks.

As if he could feel your eyes on him, he simply asked without turning around, “Something wrong?”

Your eyes immediately fell back to the plate, critically analyzing the color and texture of every piece of fruit in the fancy spread, “No, no, I was just worried about what happened tonight but Padme very helpful.”

“She’s a good woman, especially for a politician.” He nodded, checking the balcony doors. Even though you always encouraged him to speak candidly, sometimes his honesty caught you by surprise. You couldn’t help but laugh at his distaste for politicians, a subject that had come up before.

“Yes, she is. And a good friend.” You sighed, picking at the side salad as you shamelessly continued observing him as he checked your closets next. He was tense, something was definitely bothering him. So this time, it was your turn, “What about you, Rex, something wrong?”

Though it was only for a millisecond, you caught that look of I wish I kept my helmet on and the side glance he threw at it where it sat on corner of your bed. Sans helmet, it was much easier to read his emotions, even though he was fairly good at hiding them. You could see him debating on whether or not he wanted to tell you. And for a moment, you feared you’d upset him- you rarely gave firm orders, maybe he was upset you gave him orders at dinner?

Finally he looked over to you and ended your spiraling thought process, “Brave and Impressive as it was, the next time you wish to shoot off like that, please give me some notice. Further more, please keep in mind that one day you might yell at someone who carries a blaster.”

Oh, there was that honesty again. You felt a little hurt for a second until you caught his eyes, and then you understood his plan. Say something just harsh enough to distract you from what was really wrong. You’d play along, for now.

“Well, I’ll try to keep that in mind the next time someone threaten’s my planet’s security, Captain.” You nodded playfully, abandoning the picked over plate to move to your vanity. Scrubbing off the remainder of the makeup, you watched him move from your closet to the floor to ceiling windows, using the wall panel to close the blinds for the night.  

“You know your security is my top priority, (Y/N).” He shot you a glance, half playful, half serious. You relaxed a bit at your name, it made everything less formal and stiff. He seemed to sense this too, so he just continued, “I thought Jesse was going to piss himself when you sassed that banker. We had a closed circuit conversation going during the dinner.”

He explained, and you just smiled taking your hair of of the braid and pulling a brush through it. Through the mirror, you saw his helmet. You’d often wondered about the sound proofing they hand, and now you had your answer.

“Glad I could be of entertainment.” You teased as he disappeared into your bathroom. He emerged shortly afterwards with a small smile.

“Hardcase asked me if you carried a blaster, apparently you seem like ’the type’, whatever that means. He assure me that ’the type’ is a high compliment, apparently Senator Amidala is also ’the type’.” He continued. You always enjoyed hearing him talk about his men, he obviously cared a lot about them, even if they drove him crazy sometimes.

“Well, I think I should know how to fire a blaster before I make a habit of carrying one around.” You thought aloud as you went through the process of putting serums and creams on your skin, a ritual usually reserved for your maids but you were just as capable. Out of your eye sight, Rex cast you a funny look before remembering normal children weren’t brought up learning to assemble, aim, fire, clean, and disassemble every type of firearm the military had access to.

Instead, he offered, “If this place had the facilities, I could teach you.”

You both knew it didn’t, so you just smiled, “Or perhaps, I’ll just try not to get shot.”

“Yes, that works too.” He nodded with a grin, “Well, rooms all clear so you’re free to go to sleep whenever you want to. Unless you need anything else, I need to speak to my men before dismissing them to get some rest.”

He was already walking away by the time you called back to him, “Actually, Rex, before you go, you want to tell me what’s really bothering you?”

He stood wide eyed for a moment before you explained yourself, “Rex, it doesn’t take a Jedi to see that you're tense.”

He stayed silent for a moment longer that you felt comfortable with, so you hid the hurt in your voice with, “Alright, if you really don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. Goodnight, Rex.”

But just as you could read his emotions, he had gotten rather good at finding what you really meant from what you said. He could easily hear the disappointment in your voice, so tried to remedy it with a rushed, “No it’s not that, it’s just that I-“

He paused again, so you turned around to fully face him and prodded him to continue, “You what?”

“I’ve... developed some unprofessional feelings during this assignment… for you. And, please don’t take this as a negative light on my men or the Republic. I would never act on it, or let it interfere with this job. I’m not expecting you to do anything or reciprocate anything,” He paused to look away, “You’ve made it very easy to forget who you are, who I am. Made it easy to forget that even on the impossible chance you reciprocate these feelings, that we could never be anything more than what we are right now. But tonight, seeing you command a room like that, as Brave, and amazing, and stunning as that was to see, it was a painful reminder of every reason why it would never work. So, I didn’t want to tell you because it would only hurt the two of us more. ”

You barely heard the last part over the pounding in your ears, sweaty palms balling up your skirt- he was right, knowing but not being able to act on it, especially hearing it from his lips, hurts worse than wondering. He took your silence as the only answer he need as he turned to leave again.

“I, uh, understand if I’ve offended you or made you uncomfortable. So if you’d rather not see me anymore, I can send someone else to be your personal escort for the remainder of this assignment. Just send a maid to tell me by morning.” He instructed stiffly before the door swooshed open. It took a moment for everything to process, but then, before you could stop yourself, you bolted off after him. Catching him by the wrist, you pulled him back into your quarters. It took a moment to gather your thoughts, but after an awkward pause of you just holding his wrist, you stammered,  “That won’t be necessary, Rex, because, these feelings you have, they, uh, don’t bother me because, well, because I���ve felt the same way for a while now.”

For a singular moment, you allowed yourself to forget about your responsibilities. Allowed yourself to think like a normal young woman and be happy you just found out the man you fancied returned you affection, and in that moment that regular young woman threw her arms around his neck and hugged him like her life depended on it. Felt his chin stubble against her face and how his armor poked the softer parts of her body. Slowly, he brought his arms around her waist and held her there, silently enjoying the touch for a long as she would allow herself.

When you pulled away, Rex subconsciously kept a hand on your hip as you looked up to him and pressed one tentative kiss to his cheek- all you dared to do. This time you pulled away and put a bit more distance between you and him and wrapped your arms around yourself to keep from reaching out to him- any closer and you weren’t sure you would say what needed to be said. In the pause, you reminded yourself of every reason you weren’t that regular young woman.

For a moment, you stared at the Captain with sad eyes truly debating if you had to stop yourself. Firmly, you reminded yourself of your responsibilities, but Rex already knew you had made up your mind. Still, he let you speak, knowing it was more for you than for him.

“I’m sorry, but you were right. Even though we share these feelings, nothing can come of it- we both have responsibilities.” At first you tried to keep you voice clear, as if you were addressing the public, but that didn’t work so you switched back to you normal tone, softer and just for him, “Rex, I don’t even want to know the punishment for this, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to you because of me. So, you’re right let's just end this before we both get hurt, and just carry on as we were before, right, Rex?”

You’d never asked for guidance, and Rex considered being selfish, but he knew he couldn’t do that to you. You were asking because you needed him to tell you that you were doing the right thing, and if you needed his strength he’d give it to you.

“Of course, we’ll carry on and get through this just like we have been.” He assured you, which even though you knew it was the right thing, it was the exact opposite of what you wanted to hear. Rex turned to leave after a quiet goodnight and this time you let him.

“I just never thought you‘d be-“ You started with a sad smile, but the door cut you off, Captain Rex never even heard you over the door closing, separated the two of you physically as you had just done metaphorically, you couldn’t stop yourself from finishing though, “the first person I loved.”

You comm unit beeped on your nightstand, Rex’s voice immediately followed, “I’m sorry did you need something, I thought I heard you say something.”

You quickly answered, forcing a nonchalant tone, “No, just talking to myself. Goodnight, Rex.”

“Goodnight, your highness.”

Somehow that stung worse than ending something that never had its chance. But that’s the price of royalty.

[barrysjumpsuit]

the dark side - jj maybank x shoupe’s daughter (ch. 3)

w/c: 2.5k

warnings: underage drinking, mentions of other illicit activity, typos probably, but this is mostly just jj fluff

summary:  catherine shoupe has the perfect life. when she gets hired by heyward to run groceries, she has a new coworker - jj maybank. as the deputy’s daughter, she can’t help but hate him. but when jj decides to bring her to the dark side and woo her over, cat not only has to hide her activities from her father, but learn who her father really is.

a/n: i’ve been super busy and lacking inspo, so i knocked this out in about an hour and a half (and tbh i’m kinda proud of it).  this is definitely based on that time last week i drank 8 beers while swimming and was so drunk i fell off the dock then cried while making a pizza bc i started thinking about drew starkey  

side note, the tags weren’t working on the last two chapters, so if you could reblog this that would mean the world to me :)

get caught up on other chapters here! or check out my masterlist!

----

JJ’s words ate at Cat as she drove home. Leave it to JJ to put that foul taste in her mouth - was he trying to turn her against her own father? Or wanting her to come to the dark side with him?  Of course JJ didn’t like her dad. He was a troublemaker, flirting with all the punishments that were associated with breaking the law. 

Cat got home ten minutes later. Her dad was waiting up for her - it was later than she realized, and she was too caught up with JJ - and then flustered - to text him. “How’d it go?” he asked, seeing her face and pulling her into a hug.

“It was okay. I’m just tired,” she said quietly, her head pressed against her dad’s shoulder.

“You want any dinner?” he asked, and she shook her head. “Okay. Good night, sweetie.”

That night and all of the next day, she couldn’t stop thinking about what JJ had said to her.

Cat spent her day off with her best friend. They shopped before dropping their bags off at Cat’s, changing and going to the beach.

“Tell me about your new job,” Kya insisted, laying beside her. Her eyes were hidden by large, pink sunglasses, a smile plastered on her face.

“Well… it’s different, that’s for sure. I like spending most of my day on the water.” Cat threw an arm up to shield the sun so she could see her friend better. “The guys I work with keep it… interesting.”

“Heyward’s kid? What’s his name?”

“Pope. Yeah, I like him a lot. I usually work with either him or JJ.”

“Maybank?” Kya asked, pushing herself up slightly, and Cat nodded. “Woah, seriously? You haven’t killed each other yet?”

“Actually… we made up for everything last night. Got dinner and everything. He wanted to air everything out, and we had a good night.”

“You got dinner with JJ Maybank?” 

Cat sighed as her friend took off her sunglasses to look at her, her eyes wide. “Yes, Kya, why is that such a big deal?”

“You know he’s a total pothead, right? And his dad’s into all sorts of drugs.”

“Well, that’s a good thing I only work with him, then,” Cat responded cooly. “I just want to be friendly enough to make work not insufferable. I don’t care what he does in his free time.”

“Does your dad know?” Kya asked, and sat upright when Cat shook her head. “You’re kidding me, Cat.”

“He doesn’t need to know, he’d just worry.” Cat tried to ignore how worked up all of this made Kya. “Beside, I’ve made it clear to him I don’t want to get involved in anything he or his friends do.”

Kya sighed, laying back down beside her. “You better not. You’re the only friend I have that hasn’t gone all party mode.”

“That’s not gonna happen any time soon.” Cat tried to reassure her, but remembered JJ’s words. I’ll get you out of your bubble, he had said, a charming grin lighting up his face. Everything about JJ’s existence seemed effortless - he didn’t worry about what people thought about him, and didn’t particularly care for impressing people or following every single rule.

All throughout high school, like Kya had said, they lost friends until their once tight-knit friend group shrank to just the two of them. Everyone discovered alcohol, which was easily available at keggers and parties that seemed to happen almost every night. Some started smoking weed, others started doing harder stuff. People changed, and Cat knew that, but she didn’t like that type of change. Even if she did still want to be friends with those people, she knew it wouldn’t fly with her father, much less with Kya’s mother.

Kya Peterkin was the one person who had Cat’s back while they were growing up. Whenever their classmates adopted the we-hate-cops attitude, they were shunned together. They obeyed the same sets of rules, and since their parents worked so closely together, they were bound to become best friends as well. 

Sometimes, though, Cat wanted to break the rules. She was tired of being under the watchful, critical eye of her parents. Maybe JJ was what she needed - someone to be that person to get her out there. There was something about the way he spoke to her the other day, like he knew something she didn’t. About her, and about her dad. 

The next day, she worked with Pope. 

The day after, she worked with JJ.

It was the first time she actually enjoyed working with JJ. The talk they had eased the tension - JJ sat on the bow of the boat, his vape pinched between his lips, swinging his feet in the air while Cat slowed the boat as they approached the no wake zone. As she eased up to the dock to complete the last delivery of the day, JJ hopped off and tied the boat while Cat started readying the groceries.

Cat wanted to ask him, so, what are you doing tonight?, but she had been taught to never invite herself to things. Luckily, JJ seemed to read her mind, a cocky smile tugging on his lips as they loaded bags into the carts they would haul down the sandy paths to the McEvers’ house.

“You busy tonight?” he asked casually, passing groceries from the boat down to her. 

“Not at all,” she replied. 

“Wanna go for a boat ride?” 

“With who?”

“Me and my friends,” he replied, jumping down from the boat to be next to her. He had a red work shirt on, matching his backwards red hat. 

“What will be happening on said boat ride?” she asked, partly because she was curious and wanted confirmation, partly to annoy him.

“What, you turning into a cop?” JJ asked. “Your dad knows what we do, everyone on the island knows and everyone on the island does exactly what we do.”

“And what do you do?”

JJ raised his eyebrows before taking a hold of the handle of the cart. “Just a little booze cruise is all. Don’t worry, Pope’s the DD.”

“And you’re not worried I’ll rat you all out?” she asked, taking her own cart and starting to haul it down the path after him.

“No, because you would never let your father know you’re hanging out with me.”

JJ’s words and tone were cocky. Cat smiled, trying to wipe her expression blank as JJ turned to look at her, but failed. “Sure. I’ll come tonight.”

“You got a swimsuit on you?”

“I’ll have to run home and pick one up, just let me know where to meet you.”

JJ flashed her a thumbs up, and before long, they had completed their delivery. The rest of the shift was uneventful; they boated back to Heyward’s, ran through the closing procedures, and JJ told her how to get to John B’s house.

“Just come out back to the dock when you get there, we’ll be waiting on the boat,” he had told her. Cat quickly drove home, telling her dad she was going to treat herself to a night out at the movies, changing before driving south to the Cut.

Two cars were parked in front of John B’s house. Following JJ’s instructions, she walked around the side of the house, seeing the dock lit up with deck lights, hearing voices from a boat tied to the end.

The voices became hushed as she walked down the dock, and she saw someone shove JJ, while another threw a hat at him. As soon as she grew close enough to see JJ’s crew, Cat instantly regretted her decision of coming.

“Shoupe’s kid? Really, JJ?” she heard Kiara hiss, before plastering a big smile on her face. “Hey, Cat.”

She stopped hesitantly on the end of the dock. Just go back home, a voice inside her brain told her, and she was about to start back towards her car when JJ stood, grabbing her hand, pulling her onto the boat.

“Be nice, please,” he said in a sing-songy voice, knowing that Cat had overheard them. 

“Dude - really?” John B asked bluntly. He had dropped the hand holding a beer down in a subtle attempt to hide it.

“My lips are sealed.” Cat caught Kiara’s eye roll out of the corner of her vision, and Pope sighed, obviously disliking the conflict.

“Well, let’s go then,” John B said, tension still apparent in his voice. JJ nodded towards the back of the boat, and Pope moved to make room for her to sit.

“Want a drink, kitty Cat?” JJ asked, but before she could answer, Kiara was making a gagging sound and John B looked at him with wide eyes.

“The fuck you call her?” John B asked, and JJ grinned.

“Kitty Cat.”

“I thought I told you to never call me that ever again,” Cat said, leaning forward to look into the cooler. It was full of Pabst and White Claws. She started reaching for one of the latter, but hesitated.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Pope said quietly, but Cat could feel everyone’s eyes on her.

She looked up to JJ, who shrugged. “The black cherry is my favorite,” he said.

“You admitted it! You like them!” Pope burst suddenly, pointing accusingly at JJ, who just shrugged before speaking.

“There ain’t no laws when you’re drinking Claws,” he claimed, pausing as Cat grabbed one of the black cherries. “Atta girl, Cat.”

She popped the top and took a sip. It was okay, the sharp taste and the carbonation causing her to make a face. The second drink was easier.

As John B pushed the throttle, the conversation died down as they made their way across the water. Cat sat against the back right side of the boat with Pope, while Kiara sat on the back left side, JJ going off to stand next to John B.

“You don’t have to let him pressure you into doing this, you know.”

Pope’s words were sudden, almost lost in the wind. Cat pressed her lips together into a small smile before looking at him and responding. “It’s been a long time coming.”

He smiled back at her, and Cat reverted her gaze to JJ. He still wore his work shirt and that backwards red hat, but had changed into a pair of tropical patterned board shorts and flip flops. Leaning over John B, one hand on the dash of the boat and one on the back of the seat, he was talking with a serious look on his face, and John B was sitting, his jaw set.

After twenty minutes, they reached what Pope informed her was their favorite place to swim and watch the sunset. She had finished her drink, a slight warmness filling her body. 

A lime White Claw was next up. It sat on the edge of the boat, half-drank, as they all jumped into the water, the setting sun coloring the water orange, as if it were on fire. Swimming up to the boat, she finished it, tossing the can back into the cooler.

“Atta girl,” JJ praised from out in the water, just his head and beer visible. She burped in response, giggling a little. “Help yourself to another, kitty Cat, you’re off tomorrow.”

She grabbed a lemon before swimming back out to the group. Pope, Kiara, and John B were deep into a discussion about the skunk ape of Florida, and if there was a North Carolina equivalent. As the evening progressed, they seemed to relax slightly at Cat’s presence. 

“You feeling okay?” JJ asked as she swam up to him, cradling a life jacket in one arm while she held her drink with the other. She nodded and he took a sip of his beer.

“Can I try it?” she asked.

“You never tasted a beer?” She shook her head, and JJ handed it towards her. “Don’t judge it off this one, JB has shitty taste.”

“Hey!” there was a protest from John B’s direction, and Cat made a face at the taste of the slightly warm beer.

“Why would you want to drink that?” she asked, handing it back to JJ. He shrugged and took another swig, tilting the bottom towards the sky before crushing it in his fist and throwing it back towards the boat, where it met the other cans with a clink.

Before long, it was dark, and the group swam back to the boat. “You feeling okay?” JJ asked as Kiara heaved herself up, Cat putting her empty can with all the other ones and nodded.

“I feel… fine.” Cat was kind of disappointed; she felt warm, a little fuzzy in her head, but other than that, not how she expected to feel.

“Wait until you’re in the boat,” John B said, watching as JJ heaved himself up. “Better yet, until we get to shore.” JJ yelped as John B pushed him up with a hand to his ass, and John B pushed himself in easily.

Cat tried to haul herself in, but couldn’t. John B chuckled, and he and JJ each took a hand, pulling her up, and as soon as she was sitting on the floor of the boat, she understood what John B had meant.

“Come on kitty Cat, to the bow,” JJ was saying, his hands in her armpits. He helped her to the front of the boat, which was open and flat. 

“Can you get my towel?” she asked, the evening breeze cold on her wet skin. She knew it would just get worse as they started the ride to shore. JJ left her on the bow as he went to the back of the boat for her towel, and she felt him lay it on her shoulders as he returned.

He sat down beside her, and they were silent as Pope pulled up the anchor and John B started up the boat. As they started moving, Cat was unsteady, and JJ chuckled as she had to plant her hands on the ground to keep herself from falling over into him. 

“How many you have? Three?”

“Four,” she said, holding up four fingers in his face. “One of each flavor.”

“And it’s your first time? You’re seasoned already. If only your dad could see you now.”

“Don’ talk about him,” Cat said, putting a finger to his lips, telling him to hush. “I don’t wanna think about it.”

JJ laughed again. “Okay, then, we won’t.” He put his hand on hers, gently rubbing it with his thumb.

If Cat wasn’t drunk she probably would have noticed the way John B raised his eyebrows, the way Kiara rolled her eyes, and the way that Pope smiled softly. She would have noticed the way he caught her as she swayed unsteadily when they hit a wake, how he brought her towel back up on her shoulder when it blew off. 

She probably would have noticed the way JJ looked at her, his eyes devouring every inch of her, his body relaxed for the first time in who knows how long.

--

taglist (lmk if you want to be added!)  @letsgofullkook @stargazingstarkey @sortagaysortahigh @jjsmentalpolaroids @ims0golden @jjmaybcnks​ @shawnssongs​ @queenk00k @broken-jj​​  @danielle-yeah​​ @wicked-laugh​​ @obxhoe​​ @talksoprettyjjx​​ @kt219567​​ @abrunettefangirlnerd​​ @apoguecalledjj​​  @rollinsstuff​​

[kettlewrites]

vampire!renjun

summary: after roaming the earth for hundreds of years, you accidentally come across a cute dark-haired boy who was talking to himself about feeding on the poor little rabbit across the pond

warning: spooky season fluff / renjun’s snaggletooth is back bc i miss it 

 [BEST VIEWED ON DESKTOP THANK YOU]

you’ve been a vampire for what seemed to be three centuries and a half,, but who was really counting after the first half a century

you were stuck at the prime age of 18 for the rest of your life,, but since you were pretty smart you had gone around the past few centuries jumping around ages

although supernatural entities had existed in the world, you hadn’t encountered many of your own kind often as there weren’t many left after the war between original borns and turned ones.

you never really were one for fighting out wars,, which is why you had constantly jumped locations but once you found seoul you couldn’t seem to say goodbye to the beautiful city scene

“says the one who’s been to each of the world’s best sights.” donghyuck snorts as he brewed up some odd potion that he was working on to use on mark

“i told you to stop listening into my thoughts!” you whined, shifting on the bar stool as you stared aimlessly at his beaker

“i don’t know how to reverse the spell.” he shrugs before pouring a concoction of liquids to change the potion’s color

“bullshit.” you sigh before going back to scrolling through your timeline

which is why you had stayed in seoul for half a century now,, mainly because you had found friends who understood you

one of them being your best friend, donghyuck who was a witch that caused mostly chaos between his friends and mark who was surprisingly just a human who was too dumb to question the odd drinks that donghyuck gives him

it was quite lonesome to have a witch as a best friend when you could go back to your family who’ve you been running from for decades now but you’d rather stick with some magic rather than fight to the death with your blood thirsty relatives

and you hadn’t encountered any vampires since you had arrived in seoul at least not until the prior night to this odd potion watching hang out session you were currently having with mister witchy over there

“and you’re saying he was just out?” he asks, waltzing around the kitchen with his cat roaming around with him

“just sitting there at the edge of the pond with a poor rabbit in his cold hands.” you laugh, thinking back to the situation

you watched the dark haired boy talk to the rabbit in a hushed voice but you could hear it a mile away with your enhanced hearing

“i don’t want to hurt you,, but i’m so so so hungry.” the boy cries as he stared right into the rabbit’s eyes

you watched his every move in pure curiosity as you believed he was just a human that might’ve been out of his mind to go to such extremes to fulfill his hunger

then you watched as he contemplated back and forth with killing the innocent creature

the closer you got to him,, the more you realized how he wasn’t very much human at all

his one abnormally pointed fang pointed in the direction of being one of your kind which made you even more curious as you wanted to know of his lineage

“i can’t do this!” he huffs before letting the rabbit escape his hold

“you must be new.” you tried to conceal your laughter as he almost stumbled into the pond that he was sitting beside

“and who are you?” his voice was shaking as he backed away from you

you watched as his fang went back down to a normal length,, “i could ask you the same question, who turned you?”

“you’re a vampire?”

“as are you. now please answer my question and i’ll help you feed.”

the mysterious dark haired boy continued to cower back away from you,, “why would i want your help?”

“well presuming i’m older and i just want to know who else is in this town that i should be aware of. plus i have this.” you respond before taking the unopened plasma bag from your bag waving it in front of the poor boy’s face, “you won’t have to hurt a thing if you just tell me. granted that’s my favorite part of this whole vampire thing.”

“they didn’t tell me their name. just skinny and tall with a oddly charming smile.” 

you hand him the pint of blood as you promised with his answer, “probably just yuta, glad to know my favorite japanese vampire is back in town.”

he ripped the bag open with ease, bringing it to his mouth and gasping at the taste of human blood

“enjoy pretty boy, but you do know that one day you’ll have to kill for your feed.” you smirk before walking off back in the direction that you were already heading which was home

“so you just left him there?” donghyuck questions

“obviously not if i started off this story with ‘hey donghyuck guess what i have a date with a recently turned vampire but it’s not really a date because i’m teaching him how to hunt’ please get with the program and also you are going to kill mark if you keep adding things to that potion.”

“actually you didn’t start off the story at all until i read your thoughts and i know very well which is why i’m starting a new one.”

you hear another splash on liquids before you heard donghyuck sigh in annoyance

you didn’t bother to look up and continued to scroll through your timeline,, a picture of yuta appearing with his bright red lips and smears of blood all around them

and you felt giddy when you saw a notification from the boy you had been thinking about

from renjun: are we still meeting tonight?

to renjun: definitely, wouldn’t want such a pretty boy to starve for not knowing how to feed

from renjun: you never gave me your name and that would be pretty useful

to renjun: what do you have me saved under then?

from renjun: pretty vampire

to renjun: that’s all you need to know darling

“i swear to god i’m going to poison jeno.” you heard donghyuck mumble under his breath which causes you to look up

“what did he do this time?” you ask as you typed the time and location for your little date with renjun

“i may be overreacting but i think he got semen all over my fucking beakers after he borrowed them.”

“why would you even think-”

you didn’t further question it as he slammed a hand over your mouth to silence you before going back to dealing with his potion

you sat for another hour watching donghyuck before leaving to go off to the woods,, as the sun was already going down and your time to meet renjun was coming close

it wasn’t a problem for you to rush there anyways,, but it startled you when you arrived and saw him already standing there waiting for you

“s-sorry. i haven’t gotten adjusted to my speed yet so i got here really early.”

you smile as you watched him stumble on his feet to get over to you, “how new are you renjun?”

“i think a couple of days,, y-yuta says i was out for a few days before i woke up hungry.”

“and that day was the yesterday i suppose?”

renjun gives you a soft nod, his fang poking out when he gleamed and smiled as you laughed at his shyness as he grew a dark red after nodding

after spending a few hours teaching renjun how to caught smaller animals as his prey,, he was finally getting the hang of it

“i only have one fang.” he mumbles while the both of you take a break to feed on a rabbit you used as an example during the lesson,

“it’s your cute snaggletooth that’s probably keeping the other one from growing in.”

“you think it’s cute?” his voice quivers before he tries to hide his blushing mess babble by sinking his teeth into the animal for his hunger

“in all of my years of roaming this earth,” you start as you watched him eat, “you by far are the cutest vampire but don’t tell yuta.”

“i haven’t seen him since i ran out to find something to eat.” he quickly says trying to push aside the fact you had just called him cute

but it was no use because it was all that he could think about,, you,, the really pretty vampire who had just saved his life by teaching him how to not be coward and actually hunt,, calling him the cutest vampire

“it’s getting late. do you have somewhere to stay junnie?” you ask as you looked at the moon in the sky

“how can you tell the time?”

you shrug with a smile, “some things come with the amount of time you’ve lived on this earth, but in my case i just looked at my watch. answer my question though, if not i won’t be able to rest easily knowing you’re just on your own.”

and that’s how donghyuck started housing the smaller vampire in his mess of a home

it’s been around two years since you had first met renjun at that pond, still frequenting it as you found yet another reason not to move away from seoul

“why don’t just you ask y/n out?” you hear mark ask renjun in the kitchen as you were upstairs with donghyuck

“did you drink another one of donghyuck’s potions because you’re more stupid than usual. y/n is y/n,, and i’m just me.” renjun snaps as he takes a swig of his drink

“one, you’re meaner than usual. two, just ask them out it’s not like you’ll have to live an eternity of shame if they turn you down.”

renjun scoffs, not knowing how donghyuck or even you put up with mark’s lack of braincells over the years

“if you hadn’t noticed mark, i kind of do.” the smaller framed boy says with a sarcastic laugh before trying to change the topic

you laughed quietly at their conversation before donghyuck nudged you to come back to the conversation you had clocked out of to listen to renjun

“you know i can totally give you a love potion.” he smirks as he waters his magical herbs

“save that for mark, i don’t want anything to do with your potions anymore.”

“i said i was sorry for almost killing you!! i really thought it was the healing one! jeno messed up my label printer.” 

“which is definitely another reason to add to my list of not to drink a potion from lee donghyuck ever again.” you chuckle as you helped him water the herbs

the both of you worked in silence before he brought up the topic again

“why hadn’t you said anything to him anyways? it’s quite odd that the two of you keep avoiding the topic but already act like you’ve been married for an entire century.”

“yuta at first thought renjun’s liking towards me was an accidental sire bond, so i’ve just been so hesitant to act on my feelings.”

you heard donghyuck snort before clasping his hands over his mouth to hide his loud cackle

“you believe yuta? the vampire who thought sprites were only apart of literature before realizing his boyfriend of a century was one.”

“well!”

“you just don’t want to reveal your true feelings for the cute snaggletoothed vampire because you, y/n, have lived three centuries being a coldhearted vampire.” donghyuck says with the biggest smile on his face as he read you like a book

“you know what i hate more than your face?”

“when i’m completely, one hundred percent right.”

you scrunch your face before nodding, “i hate it when you’re right.”

“just tell them.” you heard mark say yet again, but at a closer distance this time

you tried to distinguish where exactly they were, but you were too late before you realized you were making eye contact with the very vampire that made your dead heart run marathons for

“h-hey y/n.”

you felt your stomach twist with those razor sharp butterflies as you went to wave as a response

“cat got your tongue?” mark teases

“it’ll have yours soon.” you glare before trying to return to your simple task of watering donghyuck’s plants

after a few seconds, you felt a presence at your side before realizing renjun was also trying to help you

“hey y/n.”

you look up from your water pail to look at the boy who was already blushing a bright tomato red

“will you go on a date with me? i mean!! you don’t have to and i’m fine with living out the rest of eternity like mark said in shame if you don’t want to!! and i’ll probably get over it with a few decades or so!! god what was i think, you’re you and i’m me! for gods sake i couldn’t even hunt before i met you!”

you smile before shutting him up with a kiss on his check, feeling his cool skin against your lips

“i’d love to renjun.”

[runningwitches]

Blood is Thicker Than Water (Young Justice x Reader)

Prompt:  Can u pls do 21 where the reader is the joker's daughter or smth and hes super abusive to her and she finally escs and Batman has her join the young justice bc he knows she needs the support of other people at that hard time in her life but bc her past the team is super wary bc its around the time that kaldur thinks theres a traitor and so they want her to stay behind when they fight the injustice league but she has to go to finally let go of the fact that her father didnt love her or smth

21: “No way in hell am I going with you”

Word Count: 3281

A/N: This was a lot longer than I thought it would be, but I really like the way it turned out.

Warnings: Violence, Abuse, Mental Illness

You stared at the ground, not daring to look at the people standing in front of you. Batman had his hand on your shoulder, and you prayed that he was only telling them good things. You tried tuning out the conversation, the idea of living somewhere new giving you more anxiety than you thought.

Just last year, you were living with your father at his base of operations, you hadn’t heard from your mother in six months at the time. When people looked at you they figured you were normal, or as normal as you can get in Gotham at least, but what they didn’t know is that your father was the Joker, and you mother was Harley Quinn. Your mother was able to run away from the abuse of your father, but she wasn’t able to take you along. Or she didn’t even try. You still don’t know.

Either way, one year after your mother had left, you were able to find your escape, right before one of your father’s terror attempts. He kept most of his plans from you, but he allowed you the knowledge of the date and the location, hoping that you would join him on his journey. This was the first time that you were left by yourself, without any of his goons watching you, without your mother insisting you stay. And, this time you had more resources. You had some money and a backpack that you filled with necessities. Things like a change of clothes and the only stuffed animal you ever owned.

The stuffed animal that you held close to your chest as you cried yourself to sleep after your father’s worst nights. If he was successful it meant he killed people, and if he was unsuccessful it meant he came back to take his anger out on you or your mother. Sometimes both.

Standing here with that very backpack in front of these people that Batman told you would be your friends, you thought back to your first night of freedom, six months ago. That was the first time you met Batman too. Or at least truly met him. That was the night that the Joker attempted to bomb a diner. Your favorite diner. You didn’t know if he knew it was your favorite, but after you escaped the base, you ran there. You couldn’t let your father see you, but you knew you had to stop it. You knew you had to get Batman’s attention, so you did it the only way you knew how.

Putting yourself in the line of danger wasn’t something a normal person would do in an attempt to stop even more danger. Most people would call the police, but you couldn’t interact with the Gotham police force. They had a target on your head to match your father’s. So you threw yourself into the middle of a bar fight. More like an escalated bar fight. It started in the bar, but once the patrons were thrown out, it continued in the alley next to it. So you stood there, a 14 year old girl, next to this bar fight and you waited. Eventually Batman came. He arrested the people who took part in the fight, and then he turned to you.

“Are you oka- I know you from somewhere,” Batman had said, beginning to ask of your well being before recognizing your face. “Tonight at 11:00 my father plans to bomb the diner on the corner of 10th and B. I don’t know the details, but he’s expecting me to show up to help him. Obviously, I’m not willing to help, but if you could stop him that would be preferable. At least make sure no civilians get hurt,” you told him flat out. There was no use lying to Batman anyways, because the chances that he was going to arrest you as well were almost 100%.

“Ah, that’s why you seemed so familiar. You’re the Joker’s daughter. Why are you telling me this anyways, is it a trap?”

“I hate my father, please do not associate me with him. I’m telling you because I don’t want innocent people hurt. I’m telling you because if you stop his plans, I won’t be there for him to take his anger out on anymore. If you don’t believe me, that’s fine, but the blood of innocent people won’t be on my hands anymore, it’ll be on yours.” You knew you had a way with words, that you could convince him to go. And in convincing him, you were saving lives, but you were also escaping. Escaping from the life that you hated so much. Escaping after 14 years of hell.

“What’s your name?”

“I don’t like going by my real name, but when mother allowed me to go to school, they enrolled me as (Y/N),” you told him truthfully. “(Y/N) (Y/L/N). That is my preferred name.”

“Well, (Y/N) (Y/L/N), thank you for the tip,” he said, before heading off in the direction of the diner. The bomb never went off.

After that encounter, you knew that Batman was looking for you. He claimed he wanted to help you, but you could only believe that he was planning to imprison you alongside your father. Once you finally met him though, you found out that you were wrong. He did want to help you. He wanted to be able to put your training from your parents to good use, and you did too. So one week after your second meeting with Batman, you found yourself standing in front of a group of young heroes. Batman told you that they were going to be there for you, and that they would help you. And you were to help them. He wasn’t hiding your past from anyone, and if you were honest, you didn’t want him to. These people had the right to know that you were raised by a crazy clown and if they didn’t trust you because of it, well, that would be fine, it’s not like you wanted to work with the team anyways. You finally brought yourself back to the conversation Batman was having with the team.

“(Y/N) is as much a part of the team as the rest of you, and I expect her to be treated as such,” he told them, with a pointed look to each of them.

The one with the “S” on his shirt stepped forward angrily. “So you just expect us to trust the daughter of a super villain? You’re insane.”

Though most of the eyes in the room were trained on Superboy, you noticed two pairs travel to the girl called Artemis, who looked down, almost ashamed. She was clearly hiding something from the team. You looked to the boy, your eyes sad. You knew you would never be trusted here, but you wished that you could. You looked back to Batman and simply said, “I told you they wouldn’t want me here,” your voice unwavering.

He rested his hand on your shoulder again before speaking, “And I told you they wouldn’t have a choice. Superboy, you are not to speak of (Y/N) like that again. She is part of your team now. I understand that you may not trust her, but I do. In the time that I have been in contact with her, she has been a wonderful help to me and to my work, and now she is going to be of help to your team. I apologize if you don’t like it, but you don’t have a say.” The entirety of the team aside from Robin looked at him in shock. He had never spoken so fondly of anyone, not even Robin, but then again, the team wasn’t questioning Robin’s credibility or trustworthiness.

After staring Superboy down, he left through the zeta tube behind him. Robin, the only one that you had met prior to this encounter stepped forward to offer you a tour around the mountain, and to show you your room, but was interrupted.

“When was the last time you saw him?” one of the boys asked. Aqualad. You tilted your head in confusion, unsure as to who they were referring to. “Your father.”

“I haven’t seen the Joker in over 6 months,” you answered honestly, making sure to emphasize the fact that you did not perceive him as your father.

“And when was the last time you spoke to him?” Superboy asked accusingly.

“It’s been over 6 months,” you simply responded.

“What about your mother?” Artemis asked. Though she didn’t sound accusing, she sounded concerned.

“I believe it’s been about a year and a half.”

“Your mom left you with your crazy father? Why would she do that?” was the next question, which came from Kid Flash.

“My mother wasn’t exactly sane either,” you responded, getting a simple ‘oh’ of realization from the redhead. Robin sent him a glare before finally offering the tour.

Now, you stood in the main room of the cave, watching Kaldur and Robin spar. It had been a month since you joined the team, and yet the only two on the team that seemed to trust you were Artemis and Robin. Perhaps it was because you helped them when the cave was taken over, or maybe it was because the three of you were the only ones on the team who were aware of Artemis’s true family. Whatever it was, the rest of the team wasn’t having it. They wouldn’t practice with you, they wouldn’t speak to you. It was as if you didn’t exist in their eyes, their mistrust often clouding their better judgment.

As you stood there listening to Wally complain about Captain Marvel’s food consumption the computer spoke up, “Recognized, Batman 02.”

“Computer, national news,” Batman commanded.

As the screen pulled up the news and you saw the giant plants attacking the city, you couldn’t help but mutter under your breath, “Pamela.” Robin recognized the name and placed his hand on the small of your back in an attempt to comfort you, confirming your suspicions with a small nod.

“Should we get out there?” he asked.

“No,” Batman responded, “The League will soon have the situation under control, that’s not why I’m here. According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus Blockbuster Formula to Kobra.”

“Who combined it with Bane’s venom to create Kobra Venom,” Wally continued.

“Which The Brain used to create his animal army.”

“And upgrade Wolf.”

“The Brain also used inhibitor collars, like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary.”

“Batman, is it possible that plant thing is on Kobra Venom too?”

“I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis, the vine cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant,” Batman confirmed.

“These cannot be coincidences,” Kaldur stated.

You continued, “Unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide.” As you spoke, Robin removed his hand from your back and began to type.

“Exactly,” Batman confirmed, yet again. “It’s now clear our enemies have formed some kind of, secret society of super villains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning.”

“You got that right,” Robin said, pulling up more images on the computer. “Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei-” and then the computers cut off.

Wally got upset before Robin told him that whoever it was was taking over all of the satellites, and the team waited to see what was to happen on the screen.

The Joker’s face appeared on the screen and you began to feel nauseous. You felt the team’s eyes on the back of your head, and Robin returned his hand to your back, in another attempt to comfort you. You watched the screen with wide eyes, knowing that the majority of your team was questioning your allegiances. You shuddered when you heard your father’s high pitched laugh. Robin once again let go of you and began typing again, this time to obtain the identities of the villains that appeared on-screen. “Count Vertigo, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Wotan, seven heavy hitters. Probably behind everything and everyone we’ve faced.”

As they began to discuss the secret society, you began to think of way that the ‘Injustice League’ could be stopped. When Batman said he had a different job for your team you were unsure of whether you should be excited that he trusted you or wary due to the people you’d be facing. As Robin pulled up a holomap and Zatara placed the location of the villains, your mind began to reel.

“Coordinates locked in,” Robin confirmed, “The Louisiana Bayou.”

“And what will she do?” Kaldur asked. You knew the question was coming the second you saw the Joker’s face on the screen, yet you cringed at the sound of it anyways.

“Come with us, obviously,” Robin informed the leader, “She’s just as much a part of this team as you are.” You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding and looked at Robin.

“She’s too close to this case!” Superboy shouted, causing you to flinch. The first fourteen years of your life trained you that when yelling started, violence followed, so the feeling of Robin’s hand returning to the small of your back became a comfort, reminding you where you were and that you were safe, especially in this situation.

“Hardly!” Artemis yelled right back, “Just because you don’t trust her doesn’t make her any less a part of this team. Her knowledge of the Joker is precisely what we need to slip past his defenses unnoticed.”

Wally looked at Artemis and then at you and Robin before sighing, “They’re right. We need her.” You gave him a small smile to show your thanks before Kaldur and Superboy conceded, heading to change and to the bioship.

M’gann began to talk about feeling sick, and then the bioship lost control and landed in the murky waters of the bayou. As water flooded the ship, you began to panic. You never were the strongest swimmer. When Robin looked at you, he noticed your panic as well, and made sure you got out safely, pulling you with him as he swam to the surface. When you all reached the top, you were caught by Count Vertigo. He used his powers to subdue the team, and Superboy had a run-in with Black Adam. Kaldur commanded Robin and Miss Martian to disappear, in order to fulfil the mission.

I’m going with them, you thought to the rest of the team, before disappearing into the shadows with Robin, They don’t even know I’m part of the team yet.

You ran alongside Robin towards the building. M’gann told us that she lost contact with the rest of the team, but Robin made sure she knew we had to finish the job first.

A voice from behind you spoke up, “Well, hello,” and then the three of you were wrapped with giant plants as well. The other two began to struggle, but you knew Pamela too well. You simply held still and stared her down. “Hey Aunt Pam!” you exclaimed, causing shock to appear in not only her’s but also Ultra Humanite’s eyes. In her shocked state, she dropped the three of you and you commanded them to run over your brain link. Humanite followed Miss Martian while Poison Ivy turned away from you to watch Robin run away.

“Sorry Boy Wonder, I’m putting an end to your little reconnaissance mission.”

You quickly climbed a tree, and followed in Robin’s direction, hoping the three of you would meet up eventually. He stopped, and you landed on the ground directly beside him when you heard M’gann’s voice in your head again. Robin, she’s made contact. Of course she still decided to ignore your existence, but at least she kept you on the link this time.

Artemis? Robin asked.

No, you thought, and Miss M confirmed soon after, the bioship flying overhead and stopping the villains that held the rest of your team.

As the battle raged on below, you, Robin, and Miss M made your way to the top of the building, and you helped him place explosives around the entirety of the plant sticking out of the roof. After the plants exploded, the Joker and Atomic Skull came out of the building.

You followed Robin down the building, and fought by his side the whole time. When the Joker came out of the forest to see not only the Boy Wonder, but also his daughter, he acted unfazed though the surprise was clear in his eyes. You knew he thought you planned to help him, so when he began to charge at Robin with his knives and you jumped between them his eyes went wide and he stopped.

“My little Jester, how wonderful it is to see you again,” he said before letting out a crazed laugh. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you miss your daddy?”

“You. Are. Not. My. Father,” you told him through grit teeth.

“Oh, c’mon my child. Come fight alongside me, and then we can head home. I know how much you probably miss home.”

“No way in hell am I going with you.”

“But my little Jester…” He continued to ramble which kept him distracted. Rob, I’ve got this covered. Go help the rest of the team.

(Y/N), I’m not going to leave you with him in that state. The argument got cut off before you could really discuss because the Justice League began to descend from the sky.

As the majority of the Injustice League began to surrender, the Joker started to ramble again. Before you knew it he was waggling his fingers and spores on the plants began to burst.

“Joker Venom spores! Don’t breathe,” you commanded, flipping over your father’s head, landing, and swiftly kicking him in the side of the head, causing him to fall unconscious. “And yeah, I learned that from mom,” you mentioned to his unconscious body.

Before the venom could spread, Dr. Fate began to pull it out of the air. The Justice League began to arrest the villains as the team waited and hoped that Dr. Fate would free Kaldur. Finally, Kaldur was free, and the team began to celebrate, but you stayed seated on the ground beneath you. The team still did not trust you, and that was fine, in the end, you did as Batman said you would. You helped them.

Robin came and sat down next to you, placing an arm around your shoulder this time. You leaned into him as he spoke. “Thank you, (Y/N). We wouldn’t have been able to do it today without you.”

Next Artemis came over and thanked you, along with Wally and M’gann. Finally, Kaldur and Conner came up.

“I believe I owe you an apology,” Kaldur stated.

“We both do,” Conner continued. “We’re sorry we let your family make us think you were going to betray us. I mean, the whole blood is thicker than water thing kinda freaked us out a bit I guess.”

You looked at him quizzically for a moment. “But, blood is thicker than water…” you stated. The whole team turned to you wide eyed. “No, no, I mean the full quote. ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb’? The blood shed in battle bonds soldiers as friends more than genetics ever will?”

“Huh,” Rob began, “I guess I’ve had the saying wrong my whole life.”

“It appears we all did,” Kaldur added as the team laughed, and for once you felt welcome. For once you felt at home.

A/N: Okay I just wanted to put another author’s note because I like to think that in season 2 when Kaldur says ‘blood is thicker than seawater’ he means it the proper way, and Nightwing knows this but everyone else is just thinking of it the backwards way. In reality Kaldur is telling them of his true allegiance but nobody realizes. Idk just a little hc I had and I thought I’d share. 

[mechanicalriddle]

rundown of last nights fucking insanity

so long story short, we’re on the hunt for these artifacts, the most powerful man in the world is on the hunt for us, and everything is really touch and go! but we figured we still had time for a party. so we all went and bought nice outfits n shit and attended a grant award gala for a university. im sure nothing at all will go wrong at this party because parties in stories are always nice and fun and never get crashed right

everything is going great, @doctormoreau is still workin on gettin wit Ayrs whose a scientist (they’re both old elf scientist gays & its really cute) and also he’s our bro who hosted us overnight.

Anyway so that happens, the scientist who the gala is being held for (her name is Mabel) mistakes them for a married couple, which was pretty awkward & objectively great. amira is dancing with her tragically soon-to-be-outie scar-crossed-lover drow, isobel is being a goof while the character SHES tryna get wit is just kind of staring her down. 

siobhan is... in the corner moping, because everyone here is very old. eventually she finds a student to dance with, and they have a short scene which is about where shit started to get wack. so we’re dancing and this kids fuckin... sleeper cell programming kicks in. things get awkward before my dance partner fUCKING JUST. CHANGES FORM, PULLS OUT A GUN AND SHOOTS ME DIRECTLY IN THE FKIN FACE (turns out her true form is also a tiefling, hence why i had a premonition earlier of me shooting myself in the face)

thanks to ~*magical destiny bullshit*~ (i think specifically amira’s) the bullet stops right before it hits me and falls to the ground. cue two teenage girls trying to murder each other. klaus DM rules that i can use hellish rebuke so i set her on fire, then try to strangle her, and she grabs me by the arm and t h r o w s m e t h r o u g h a t a b l e (ouch)

then ANOTHER fucking agent (who we all failed perception checks to notice) runs up out of the crowd and goes for amira’s relic necklace, but he can’t yank it off because its essentially superglued on her by magic. so what does amira do? uhh shoots the motherfucker in the stomach. he goes staggering backwards off the stage, falls on his ass, and starts scooting away, probably leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

me + Argyris (WIZARD SQUAD) take down the tiefling, who just kind of falls limply on the ground like a ragdoll but cedryc uses Spare the Dying (and closes her eyes, cuz it’s super fucking creepy why are they still open) then we all kinda converge on this other guy. Amira steps on his coattails and siobhan, who is somehow the best intimidator in the group, fires up burning hands + thaumaturgy and with advantage scares the absolute piss out of this guy (”WHOOOOO SENT YOU”) she kneels down and grabs the guy by the shirt-collar to try and intimidate again, but the guy pops a cynaide pill and dies in her arms.

then the sprinklers go off (THANKS miss i-need-to-shoot-fire-outta-my-hands at every given opportunity) siobhan finally drops him and starts bawling, because triggering your own PTSD is never fun

shortly afterwards we grab the other tief and book it back to Ayrs’s research lab, then strap her down to a table and wake her up. 

When we do wake her up, her sleeper-cell training has clearly turned off, and she’s basically scared to death and strapped down to a table with 4 now quite capable fighters interrogating her. but it doesn’t take too long to notice that something is clearly very, very wrong. a few questions later, we learn her name (Illucid) and successfully determine that this character has been, for lack of a better word, bucky-barnes’d. shes also STILL like my (siobhan’s) age, and has clearly been manipulated for years, because @tillaneesia loves deliberately ripping out my heartstrings. asshole.

Siobhan, who was standing in the doorway, decides now is the time to dash into the room, grab onto illucid as best she can (considering shes strapped down to a table) and the two have a moment, and i drop some dank backstory hints that siobhan and illucid might have a little bit more in common than she is willing to admit

Mabel is also there because Ayrs dragged her along. she has an inkling, and feels around on the back of Illucid’s head where she locates a device that has been essentially installed into the back of her skull. She then states that she thinks she can successfully remove it, and asks Ayrs to bust out all of his marine biology equipment so we can do some quick-and-dirty surgery on this poor kid.

at this point i’m crying, amira is crying, basically everyone is crying. after we all hug it out we leave Mabel alone to... well, work her magic.

we all retreat to our rooms, knowing that our archenemy is  onto us and we will all need to leave tonight. 

BACK TO ISOBEL, and Tachian, who is the DM (@tillaneesia‘s) character. tachian has essentially worn a full body covering for the entire game, and panics every time some article of clothing comes close to falling off. Tachian essentially ran out after Illucid started erratically shape-changing due to incredible emotional distress (i guess the thing in the back of her head let her do that) so after everything’s kind of died down, isobel tries to track her down. the room is completely dark, and isobel (who has fucked up in this aspect before) decides to just. hang out by the door and not look inside. but for once, Tachian actually lets her in. Cue big reveal.

Tachian pulls down her hood. she takes off her gloves, and her eyepatch. turns out she’s like, 8 levels of fucked up. isobel grabs the rest of the group bc i guess we all broke down tachian’s walls enough to get to know her tragic backstory.

turns out, she was born in a laboratory and is, in fact, a failed supersoldier. of course. this geneticist was essentially i guess trying to hand-program a doppleganger who could be controlled and used for military/espionage purposes; unfortunately tachian was one of his earlier iterations, and the first one to actually survive and be a person. she didn’t work right, couldn’t shift, instead wound up being a horrifying patchwork of different races and because of her terribly conflicting biology was essentially in constant, agonizing pain.

i think this was approximately around the time i went and did this:

she was essentially locked in a basement for the first twenty years of her life while her creator would drop by every couple of months, try to fix her, fail, then leave again. unfortunately we found out this guy already drank himself to death, though had i the money i would shell out 25k for a true rez so i can kill the motherfucker a second time. eventually someone found the lab & this poor, incredibly damaged 20 year old with no social or survival skills and brought her to a monastery, and that was like 15 years ago. she spent her isolation reading her “father’s” research materials, became obsessed with finding these artifacts, and eventually set off on her own to meet us, the people who are destined to possess and use the artifacts to unlock their true potential.

also important to note that tachian essentially confirmed that illucid was, quote unquote, “The me that worked,” meaning someone stole her father’s research and is now using it against us. cool cool cOOL COOL COOL COOL

after all this deep ass shit, we all finally decided it was time to leave. All of our new friends. this meant cockblocking the fuck out of poor Argyris and leaving illucid, who was just starting to recover from having a thing, yknow. yanked out of her brain. and we did this with the knowlege that we genuinely may never see these people ever again.

but i know better. what i know, that my character doesn’t know, is that this is a d&d campaign.

@tillaneesia

#BRINKBACKILLUCID2K17

[bazzaya]

the underground

Minerza AU. Erza is a grad student who is trying to be responsible after her chaotic undergrad days. Minerva is a street dancer and the frontman of her group that performs in competitions with other b-boys.

Summary: Erza just wants to get an early night’s rest for once, but Bacchus and Cana are insistent on reliving the glory days of their undergrad years by dragging Erza out for a night. The last thing she expects is to become immediately captivated by the hot dancer who can work absolute magic with her hips.

A/N: This is... entirely self-indulgent. I imagined Minerva in a hot outfit on accident and my brain told me to write an entire AU just as an excuse to put Minerva in such an outfit. It also has Erza reaching unfathomable levels of thirst for Minerva, and honestly same. This got away from me. Have fun looking into my elaborate fantasies that keep me up at night. I didn’t proofread it at all. I’m too tired and I’m desperate to post. Also, @gsut, you said you wanted tagged. Here you go.

Word Count: ~6.6k. FUCK.

[Ao3 Link/FFNet Link]

Sorry! I mean... Enjoy!

Erza turned out the light to her bedroom with a content sigh, piling into bed shortly after. She plugged her phone in to let it charge, and there she saw the time- 10:23. That was an early night for her compared to most other nights, where she stayed up until ungodly hours in the morning with grad school work. She was going to savor a night of full sleep.

Just when Erza was close to curing her exhaustion with sleep, her phone buzzed on her nightstand. She was jolted from her calm state by the sudden noise, but she forced herself to forget about it and go back to sleep. Her phone kept buzzing however, at least once every thirty seconds or so, and soon enough Erza got fed up with the noise and threw the blanket off of her, reaching out for her phone and nearly tearing it off the charger.

[Bacchus:] hey

[Bacchus:] hey

[Bacchus:] hey Erza

[Bacchus:] are you asleep already?

[Bacchus:] HEY ERZA WAKE UP

[Cana:] dammit erza wake up we're tryna reach you

[Cana:] what LOSER sleeps at 10:30 anyways?

[Cana:] has grad school turned you into a grandma

[Bacchus:] did grad school fuckin kill you

That was ridiculous. She was getting bombarded with messages as if she hadn't just spent time with her friends five days ago. They knew that grad school hadn't killed her. They were just being annoying now. Begrudgingly, Erza typed out her reply to Bacchus only (she figured he was with Cana), her fingers loudly clashing against the screen of her phone. She was mad. Why can't she sleep in peace.

[Erza:] If someone important hasn't just died, I don't want to hear it. I finally have one night where I can get an early night's rest. Let me sleep in peace!

[Bacchus:] :(

[Bacchus:] loosen up sis! we were lookin to invite you out for a wild night

[Erza:] I'm sleeping. Maybe some other time.

[Bacchus:] come on! it'll be fun! cana's here with me it'll be like old times back from the undergrad days. unless you already forgot about your fun undergrad days bc of your fancy grad school

[Erza:] We literally hung out five days ago. We went clubbing.

[Bacchus:] it'll be like old times back from five days ago!

[Bacchus:] Cmon Erza. We really mean it this time. We even found something new and WILD to do

Before Erza could reply, she got a text from Cana.

[Cana:] before you say no you should know we are literally outside of your apartment building rn

[Cana:] and we did not just waste a trip and taxi fare over here for nothing

Erza sighed, climbing out of bed and heading to her window. She pulled back her curtain and looked down at the street, spotting Bacchus and Cana, who waved to her. Letting out another sigh, Erza typed back her response.

[Erza:] Give me ten minutes.

[Bacchus:] aight but there ain't no need to doll yourself up too much. it'll be dark and looking too refined'll make you stick out like an idiot

[Erza:] Good lord then.

It took her all of two minutes to throw on some torn jeans and some sort of shirt. She didn't turn the light back on so she hoped that it matched somewhat. Erza grabbed a jacket as she left since it was nighttime and a bit drafty, and to hopefully tie the outfit together. She strolled outside the apartment building soon enough, watching as Cana and Bacchus nearly cheered at the sight.

"She lives!" Cana exclaimed loudly, face lighting up with a wide smile.

Bacchus crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn't wearing a shirt, just a leather jacket. Erza wondered how he wasn't freezing. "You're rockin' the rugged look, sis! You'll fit right in!"

"Thanks." Erza replied, voice dry and affected by her exhaustion, "What have I been dragged out of bed for?"

"Follow me! I'll explain on the way." Bacchus spun around cleanly on his heels and pointed in front of him, "Yo, so you know how I had to bail on you guys two weeks or so ago because the boys pulled me away for a night?"

"Erza and I still had fun on our own even if you couldn't make it." Cana looked at Erza with a smirk, laughing under her breath.

Erza just stared ahead of her, "Go on."

"So, Nobarly got invited to go to this underground music spot because he knows a guy, and he invited me and the boys out with him. Now lemme just tell ya' this, it was the WILDEST thing I've ever seen, yo! And your man just got an invite for tonight's gathering." He glanced over his shoulder at Erza and Cana, a sly look on his face, "I thought I'd bring the two wildest girls I know with me! You'll love it!"

Cana flicked at Erza's shoulder with her wrist, clearly unable to contain her excitement, "You ready for something incredible?"

"I'm ready for bed…" Erza's shoulders sagged and she let out a sigh, eyes falling shut.

Cana frowned at that, regarding Erza with a concerned look, "Y'know… If you really don't wanna join us, there's always next time. We can walk ya' back to your apartment."

Bacchus looked over his shoulder again, an eyebrow raised, "She's right, sis. We wouldn't know how ballbusting grad school is. We didn't mean'ta overstep if you're really that beat."

Shaking her head, Erza tried to force a smile, resting her hands on her hips, "Nah… I'm good. I could use the break. Don't pay me and my complaining any heed. I'll wake up soon."

"Now that's wild!" Bacchus regained that excited swagger to his step, "I guarantee ya', one second of action here will keep you up all night!"

"But I have an 8am class in the morning.." Erza began though she cut herself off shortly enough. She wasn't going to sour the mood any longer. "Right. Show the way, Bacchus."

Bacchus nodded gleefully, "Got it, sister!"

A little while later, Bacchus led them to a rundown parking garage. The whole thing was sketchy as Bacchus showed them to the lower levels of the lot, and Erza got a bad feeling in her stomach. She wondered if she could hold her own if she got jumped. Then she remembered she once punched a guy in the face for saddling up to Cana one night while she was particularly drunk and the guy wouldn't take no for an answer. The guy was knocked out immediately. The memory made Erza feel slightly safer. Besides, she had a muscly guy on her side in Bacchus plus an utterly ruthless, dirty fighter in Cana. They could probably take a robber.

On the lowest level of the lot, a lot practically empty and covered entirely in graffiti, Erza was able to hear the sound of hip-hop music clearly, and there were a lot of people crowded together. There were two tables set up, one with alcohol and the other with a mixtable and a laptop. Speakers were on either side of the table with the music equipment, and a guy was manning the table, eyes on the laptop and hand toying with the disc of the mixtable.

As Erza walked around and took in the sights, there was only one thought in her mind. "Did we just join a gang?"

"Nah." Bacchus shook his head, he and Cana both making a beeline to the table with alcohol, "It's a dance battle, yo! And we gonna watch!"

"I was really afraid it was gonna be a rap battle." Cana said, snatching up a red cup of beer, "A dance battle is better. Hey Erza, you want some?" She turned to Erza and pointed with her thumb at the table.

Erza shook her head, "I really shouldn't. I can't show up to classes hungover anymore."

"You can limit yourself to one!" Cana pointed out.

Letting out a laugh, Erza just shook her head again, "And you should know that's all it takes to get me hammered."

Cana just nodded at that, flashing a smile, "You got me there."

"Think fast!" Bacchus suddenly shouted. Erza turned towards him and saw something flying at her, and she was able to react quickly enough to catch it. It was a can of soda. "Y'know, since you ain't gonna drink." He paused for a moment, "...You might not wanna open that for a few seconds. I didn't think that through."

"Yeah, I don't want to get soaked before this starts. But thanks though." Erza grinned his way.

Bacchus slung his arm around Erza then, pulling her closer to the action, "Do ya' know how this stuff works?"

Erza shook her head. Cana slid into the conversation, "This is our first time, man." She pointed out, speaking into her cup of beer.

"Fair 'nough. Alright, so I hope you brought some cash with ya', because how this is judged is that teams go up against each other and dance to a song they picked beforehand, but they also have to dance to a song the other team decides! The winner is judged by audience reaction, so whoever gets the loudest screams, wins. The cash is to show your support. They like it when they get paid."

"So… like a stripper?" Cana asked. Her expression was entirely serious.

"Not that far off!" Bacchus laughed, "But for real, it's like, polite or somethin'. You should really shove some money their way. They get like a guitar case or somethin' out for it once it's underway. You'll see."

Erza nodded along, crossing her arms, "Alright, I think I got it. I'll keep it in mind." Her eyes drifted across the people amongst the crowd. The crowd was pretty organized, gathered in a huge circle to allow room for the dancers, though no dancer was out yet. Erza was trying to scan the people for who she thought the dancers would be. One thing she noticed was how she and Cana were practically the only women there. Her cheeks puffed out at that; she didn't mind, but it was a little disappointing. She couldn't resonate with anyone so far. She didn't know who she'd fork her money over to.

"Ah, man…" Bacchus stretched an arm over his head, getting himself psyched up for the show, "I hope that trio from last time is here… God, the hell were they called again? The… Pussycat… Dolls? Wait, no, that ain't it… Damn, I must've been more wasted than I thought.."

"Not surprising…" Cana again spoke into her cup.

"Pot, meet kettle." Erza laughed under her breath, shaking her head.

Before Bacchus or Cana could protest, everyone was silenced by a loud, screeching mic. The crowd all looked to the DJ station, where the DJ was holding the mic.

"LET'S GET THIS SHOW STARTED!" The DJ, whose name was actually DJ, shouted into the mic, earning him excited shouts from the crowd and applause. Erza clapped her hands together, feeling a little out of place with these energetic, wild fans. Cana and Bacchus fit right in.

"TONIGHT'S FEUD IS THE BIGGEST AND BADDEST! WE GOT A LONG-STANDING RIVALRY HERE! OUR FIRST TEAM IS NONE OTHER THAN THE DEVILS IN THE DARK!" DJ motioned towards a quartet of men who stepped out into the circle, causing the audience to shout in excitement.

Erza only raised a brow curiously and looked at Bacchus, nudging him with her elbow, "Is this the bunch you were talking about that were super good?"

Bacchus shook his head, "Nah, ain't them. It was a trio."

"I dunno about you two, but this bunch looks super good…" Cana nodded in approvement, raising her glass.

"AND THEN WE GOT THE SABERTOOTH TIGERS! AND GET THIS, FOLKS! THEIR FRONTMAN, RIGORA, USED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE DEVILS IN THE DARK! IT'S SOME REAL BEEF IN HERE TONIGHT! OOOOHHH!" DJ cheered, and the audience joined in out of surprise.

"The Sabertooth Tigers! There we go!" Bacchus snapped his fingers proudly.

"How the hell did you get The Pussycat Dolls from that?" Cana huffed, furrowing her eyebrows.

Bacchus shrugged with a laugh, "I told ya'! I was wasted as hell!"

Erza's focus, however, was on the dance group itself. Immediately two guys entered the circle. One of the guys was blond and had his hair spiked up, and he was dressed in a lot of fur and tight-fitting clothes. He seemed to be the more energetic of the bunch, and he dragged his thumb across his neck at the Devils in the Dark as light from the parking garage reflected off his single earring. The other guy was a stark contrast, with black hair and baggy, dark clothes. His expression was entirely stoic, almost bothered and angered, and he stared down the Devils as well. That was two of the tigers, but… didn't Bacchus say they were a trio? Or did Bacchus drunkenly mix up the details again? Whatever it was, Erza's answers came shortly enough, and they sure floored her.

The light and dark tiger were standing side by side, but they were shoved away by someone behind them, and that someone stepped out in front of them both. They had long black hair underneath their "OBEY" hat, and some of the hair was done in braids on either side of their head. They were wearing baggy black pants, a purple crop top that read "HUSTLER," and a grey sweatshirt was tied around their waist. A blue tattoo was situated right above their left hipbone, and their exposed stomach was incredibly toned… Erza found herself biting her lip at the sight, and then the figure had lifted up the visor of their hat, revealing a very feminine face done to the nines in makeup. She was the only other girl there besides Cana and Erza, and she was the frontman of The Sabertooth Tigers. Where was that money bin Bacchus was talking about before? Erza was ready to throw her entire life savings into that bin for this dancer…

Cana looked at Erza then back to Bacchus, "Something tells me she found a team she likes…" She mused in a teasing voice.

Bacchus smirked at the sight of Erza practically drooling, "Keep an eye on the sis, yeah? We don't want her to throw away all of her money just because she's thirstin'."

Pursing her lips, Cana waved her hand in front of Erza. "I think she's so far gone she can't even move to reach her purse!" She said, laughing.

"AFTER LOSING THE COIN TOSS, THE TEAM DUKING IT OUT FIRST WILL BE THE DEVILS IN THE DARK!" DJ doubletapped on the trackpad of his laptop, starting the music, "LET'S GO!"

The start of The Devils In the Dark's song sounded damn near satanic, but Erza drowned it out as best as she could. Her focus couldn't be on them if she tried. She was spellbound by that tigress just by her strolling out into the circle. If she was that taken back by that tigress merely walking, she was going to be destroyed by the time the tigress actually danced, if Bacchus's word was of any merit. Erza watched as the tigress talked with the two males on either side of her, whispering between themselves. She tried to read their lips since their words were drowned out by the music. There was something the blond one said that she couldn't quite make out with his lips due to it not exactly matching up with what he was saying prior. Could he have said the tigress's name? Off of the blond's mouth, it seemed as if he was saying 'Minerva'... Well, Erza would just assume she was named Minerva then.

Soon the song faded out, and Erza was jolted from reality at that point. She had caught absolutely none of the Devils' performance. Not that she really cared; all four of those men were pretty ugly and unappealing. No wonder Minerva seemingly defected from them. They were pathetic.

Minerva lifted her hand closest to DJ and snapped her fingers. DJ didn't even give them an introduction; that action of Minerva's alone was enough. It was obvious who was really in charge here.

Before Erza could stare for too long, Bacchus nudged her with his elbow, "I know ya' got a clear fave already, but keep an eye out on those two fellas by her sides. They were the Twin Dragons before the tigress came along. They were legendary in their own right, but now they're even bigger and badder with that sister by their side!"

Erza only nodded, and both of them knew that Erza wasn't actually going to take her eyes off Minerva. It was worth a shot, though.

A clear distinction between the Tigers and the Devils was that while the Devils focused on hard, heavy moves and techniques, the Tigers were more fluid with their movements, the in-betweens of wow moves just as captivating as the wow moves themselves. Everything was so expertly linked together, flowing with ease, and it oozed mastery. When the chorus came, suddenly the Tigers' movements exploded into something far faster and harder, but their synchronization and fluidity remained even with the change of pace. Minerva moved with grace, every move executed with precision and purpose, and there was no mistake or stumble in sight. The icing on the cake was when the end of the chorus came and there was a slower break, which led to the body waves in the choreography. Erza watched how Minerva's hips and body rolled with ease, how Minerva drew in her bottom lip and smirked as she moved, how Minerva far outclassed the word sexy with her confidence and swagger. The body waves drew out raucous cheers from the audience, Cana included probably in support of the Twin Dragons, but Erza was the opposite, stunned into sheer silence as she stared. The breath had been knocked out from her body, her mouth agape. She was taken entirely.

Even when the song ended, Erza wasn't freed from her captivation. She was fixated on the rise and fall of Minerva's chest from being out of breath. She couldn't help but notice the added glow on Minerva's skin from the sweat of all the fast and constant movement. It was around that point where Erza finally opened that can of soda she got from Bacchus. She was getting pretty thirsty. Even she was seeing that now.

She forced herself to focus on the Devils when their challenge song rolled around. The Tigers gave them a pretty difficult song to dance to on the spot seeing as it wasn't hip-hop, as the lot of underground dancers were typically used to. It was a simple song, almost slow with its groovy instrumentals. For a group accustomed to hard and heavy moves, being forced into a song where there were no explosive instrumentals was a severe disadvantage to the Devils. The Tigers picked well. Somehow, however, the Devils were able to incorporate some hard, rigid moves into the song by matching the drum beat, and it appealed greatly to the audience. They were earning loud cheers, but Erza couldn't see the appeal at all. Then again, she was heavily biased at this point. There was no looking at the Devils objectively anymore.

Even if the Devils sucked, Erza had to applaud their tactics in choosing a song for the Tigers to dance to, for many reasons too. Seeing as the frontman and visual of the Tigers was female, the Devils chose a song that was sexy but in a very masculine and aggressive way in an attempt to trip up Minerva. The Twin Dragons were able to fall in line with the music and atmosphere easily, moving smoothly to the beat and taking up at the front of the formation. It was smart, being at the front and nearly shielding Minerva from sight at first. Their moves were appeasing the crowd as is; Cana was losing it over those two. However, it seemed like they were just out front in order to stall, since Minerva returned to the front when the chorus hit, reinvigorated after feeling the music for some while. She was able to plan out some moves to the song while she let the Twin Dragons take up the front, so it made for an explosive return when she hopped back in front. She fully immersed herself in the atmosphere of the music, juggling between quick, sharp movements and slow, flowing ones. Every move had a scandalous flair to it, matching the tone of the song, and Minerva's body flowed so perfectly to the music. It was as if she were floating with every movement, gliding easily across the pavement and moving as if she were weightless. The sex appeal wasn't lost on Erza as well. She was even more entranced than in the last song, if that were even possible. Minerva's expressions as she danced, biting her lip, letting her eyes fall half-lidded, every quirk of her brow… Erza was gone. She was ready to throw all her money at the Tigers. She was completely fine with that.

It seemed as if the Devils weren't expecting the Tigers to adapt so easily to their song, so already their confidence in winning was fading. Their expressions turned sour and they shook their heads, grunting in anger and irritation as they turned away and stormed off. They tried to salvage their reputation by rebelling, calling the whole thing rigged. That was a forfeit if Erza's ever seen one. She wanted the Devils to be crushed.

"LOOKS LIKE THE SABERTOOTH TIGERS WIN THIS ONE BY DEFAULT! LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR THE VICTOOOOOOOORS!" DJ shouted, throwing his hands in the air. He blasted some music to celebrate too.

"WILD!" Bacchus crushed his empty red cup in his hands from the energy flowing through him.

Cana was shimmying to the music that was playing, sure to keep her drink safe so it wouldn't spill, "This music ain't half bad… I could probably join one of these dance battles at this rate, eh?"

"We'd make the wildest dance team! Ain't that right, Erza?" Bacchus looked to his side in search for some sort of agreement, but Erza had vanished. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Bacchus looked around and spotted her following the lead of some of the other guests, tossing some bills into a case. Bacchus could only flash a sly expression at the sight, "To think the sis was tryna bail on us tonight! Bet she enjoyed it more than we did!"

"I dunno, man.. Those guys were some nice eye candy…" Cana lifted her cup to that, starting off after Erza, "I got a thirst deposit to make too!"

Bacchus hurled his crushed cup towards a far-off trash can with perfect accuracy from tons of practice before following the two girls, "Ain't nothing wrong with some good ol' physical appreciation, I guess!"

When Erza finally got to that cash case, she noticed how the Tigers were standing there and chatting amongst themselves, with Minerva's back to the case for the most part. Erza got out the money she wanted to leave before walking up and throwing it in, and there she saw Minerva glance over her shoulder and look Erza over before flashing a sly grin. Erza's expression looked blank for a moment in response, but she hurriedly spun on her heel and turned away, dragging Cana off with her with widened eyes.

"Wha- hey! Let me be thirsty too! What the hell?!" Cana shouted, trying to fight against Erza's grip.

"She smiled at me." Erza said in a hushed voice, "I've been noticed."

"Oh my god, you are so pathetic!" Cana growled with a shake of her head, "So what?!"

"Ladies, ladies…" Bacchus slid into the conversation and slowly but surely guided the two of them away from each other, "Remember the rules! No fighting unless it's certain each person has had an equal amount to drink! And you, sister, are sober!" He turned his attention to Erza in that moment.

Rolling her eyes, Erza glanced over to the Tigers again. The Twin Dragons were walking the opposite way, and there was Minerva, looking right at Erza, beckoning her forward with her two fingers. Erza just watched as Minerva spun away after that, almost certain Erza would follow eventually. "Hey guys…"

"What now?" Cana crossed her arms.

"Remember that Halloween where I drank so much that I let you guys convince me to crash that one party dressed as a fairy?"

"That night was wild! No one ever let ya' live that one down and they all just kept calling you Fairy Queen!" Bacchus smiled at the memory, "But, uh… why the sudden trip down memory lane, sis?"

"We all know that ain't you anymore." Cana pursed her lips, glancing Erza over.

Erza shook her head, "Bad Decision Titania's not dead." She ran after Minerva once she said that, not even sparing Bacchus and Cana a second glance.

Bacchus pointed after Erza as she ran off, looking over at Cana, "Now that's wild."

"Welp." Cana smacked her lips and just strolled right back over to the money case, "At least now I can give my money over in peace…" And she set her cash down on the pile with a flourish.

Meanwhile, Erza had followed Minerva into a deeper portion of the lot, situated underneath the ramp that led to the upper levels. Erza slowed down from her near sprint, looking to level her breathing before reaching Minerva so she didn't look too desperate, and her heels clicked on the floor and echoed throughout the garage as she approached the hideout under the ramp.

"So…" Minerva spoke, not even facing Erza but her voice still able to carry to the other, "I take it this is your first time around here?" She asked with a knowing tone, gaze fixated on something she was working through on the table in the little hideout.

The fact that Minerva wasn't actively looking made Erza react normally, instead of trying to be composed. She smiled nervously, shoulders sagging, "Is it that obvious?"

"Well, I had hoped you weren't a regular that made a habit of dropping that much money every time. That would be a sure fire way to run anyone broke." Minerva laughed to herself, turning around and leaning against the table, "Besides, girls aren't too common around these parts, and I surely would've remembered one with such vibrant red hair showing up before."

Erza ducked her head to keep her face out of view, brushing some hair behind her ear out of embarrassment. Minerva was onto her, that was for sure. "Heh… You're right. My friends dragged me here for a night out. They're the partying type."

Minerva tilted her head, an amused and intrigued look on her face, "Sounds like you weren't exactly a willing party out there tonight." Yet she did not falter in the slightest.

"I was looking forward to a nice night of sleep before my 8am class tomorrow. That never happens." Erza tried to laugh to soften the blow. It came out very forced and awkward. "Though… my 'unwilling' mind changed once I got here."

Letting out a satisfied hum, Minerva pulled off her hat and ran a hand through her hair to fix it. Her face was much more clear to Erza now that the visor wasn't blocking most of it, and Erza drew in her bottom lip between her teeth at the sight. That was not lost on Minerva in the slightest, and Minerva pushed herself off the table and started walking closer. "That's good to hear. It really is refreshing to see more women around here… Sometimes all the men around becomes a bit of a drag, you know?"

"I would imagine." Erza noticed how Minerva was moving closer, and she wound up taking a few slow steps back. Her heel hit something however, and she realized how she had walked her way towards a large support column. She was only a few inches away from having her back pressed against it, and she glanced back to Minerva who wasn't deterred in the slightest. "Uh…" Erza stammered, struggling to find something to say. Her eyes wandered Minerva's body- brilliant move, eyes -and Erza remembered how Minerva was only wearing a sleeveless crop top. "Aren't you… cold?"

Minerva shrugged indifferently, placing a hand on her hip. "Doesn't bother me." She had backed Erza up against that support column, and there she rested the flat of her arm against the concrete above Erza's head, barely any space between them. There was still room for Erza to slip out if she so wished, but Erza again biting her lip and letting her eyes wander more told Minerva that that probably wasn't happening. "Care to give a lady your name?"

"Erza." She had managed to cough out. Restraining herself was growing damn near impossible.

Minerva grinned at that, "They call me Rigora around these parts, but… for you, I think you can call me Minerva."

Erza managed to smile in response, letting out a laugh, "What an honor.."

"What can I say? I like you already." Minerva tilted her head, speaking in a coquettish voice.

Hearing Minerva's tone so seductive and smooth was Erza's breaking point in holding herself back, and suddenly her hand slipped around to the back of Minerva's neck. "Thank god…" She whispered, voice laced with desire as she pulled Minerva towards her and joined their lips together at last. Minerva half expected for Erza to have jumped on her the second the conversation started, so she wasn't surprised in the slightest and merely closed her eyes and jumped in when Erza forced their bodies together.

Erza's back was fully pressed against the support column now with Minerva's weight against her, though she couldn't bring herself to care about being so caught within Minerva's trap. The only thing she could think about was how Minerva wedged her leg between Erza's own, and how Erza had somehow come to wrap her leg around Minerva's waist. Minerva's free hand came to grip Erza's thigh, her nails digging in enough that Erza could feel the pinch through the fabric of her pants. It brought out a moan from Erza during the kiss, and that caused Minerva to let out a low laugh when she pulled away for air. Instead of diving back in for Erza's lips, Minerva instead trailed down Erza's jawline until her lips definitively settled on the base of Erza's neck and attacked fully. Erza threw her head back, biting down on her lip with a soft moan at the sheer intoxication sensation brought on by Minerva sucking on and toying with the skin of Erza's neck with her teeth. Gradually Erza's hands wandered Minerva's body, and soon Erza was reaching up underneath the loose fabric of Minerva's top until Minerva seized both of Erza's wrists in her grasp.

Minerva guided Erza's hands off of her as Erza only got a fleeting touch of her chest, and her fingers fumbled with Erza's own while Minerva pulled away from Erza's neck. "Let's not forget about that 8am class now… You wouldn't sleep a wink tonight if I let this go any further." Minerva laughed under her breath, voice still carrying that salacious tone even if she were the one to break things off. What a tease.

Erza pursed her lips together and let out a heavy exhale, still out of breath from what had happened. She damn near let out a whimper of protest in response too, but she followed Minerva's lead and slowly lowered her leg from around Minerva's waist as well as freed her hands from Minerva's own. "...Right. I should go."

"Oh, come on. Don't sound so disappointed, Erza." Minerva leaned in closer, a smirk on her lips, "I fully intend on finishing what I started. I just know that if I kept you up any later, you'd feel like hell in the morning. That's why you were so apprehensive about coming out here tonight, right?"

Letting out a sigh, Erza crossed her arms and leaned against the column. Judging by how intense that got in a few moments, Erza figured if she let it go all the way, she would never be able to fight the exhaustion during class. She hated how Minerva had a point there. "Uh-huh. And just how are we going to get around to finishing this?" There was a hint of bite to her words as she spoke.

Minerva only raised an eyebrow, impressed by such bite. She reached down to the jacket wrapped around her waist and started to untie it, and it was like a smack to the face for Erza, watching Minerva take it off but for no purpose. "Easy, now. I'm here every week with Sting and Rogue. I have a feeling we'll run across each other far before then, though." She teased, throwing her jacket on and adjusting it before stepping back to pick up some of the things she had stashed in that little hideout.

"If you say so." Erza pushed herself off the column, arms still crossed.

"Enough with the glum look." Minerva walked back towards Erza after grabbing her hat and bag, slinging the latter over her shoulder. She took Erza's chin between her index finger and thumb, "I always follow through on what I say and do. I'll make sure we get what we both want."

Erza couldn't fight that, and instead she loosened up some and let her arms fall to her sides. It brought a playful grin to Minerva's lips.

"Better." Minerva said, walking past and waving halfheartedly behind her, "Catch you around, Erza. I'm sure I'll see you soon…" And her last note was a low snicker.

Erza could only watch as Minerva walked off, letting out a heavy sigh. She couldn't believe she just got led on by the underground dancing tiger.

Her hopes and dreams of a long good night's sleep were squashed the second Erza left her apartment to join Bacchus and Cana, and she only got a few hours in by the time she returned home. It felt like hell to roll out of bed in the morning and get herself ready for class, but she made enough coffee to power through it.

Erza was one of the first to arrive to the lecture hall, and she slid into one of the seats in the back. She didn't want to risk accidentally falling asleep in class in a front row seat, so she took the safe route in taking a seat far away from the professor. That way, if she passed out in class, it wouldn't be that noticeable. She took a long drink of coffee from her mug to try and get herself attentive enough to focus, but as she expected, it wasn't working very well. It seemed as if she would just have to suffer through the day.

Suddenly, while Erza had admittedly half-lulled herself back to sleep, she heard a voice nearby.

"Is this seat taken?" The female asked in a droll.

Erza rolled her eyes and sighed. The lecture hall was near empty and this person wanted to take a seat right next to Erza. She still cleared up some of her sprawled up belongings, clearing up a seat to her left. "No, go ahead." She spared a quick glance at the evil female who was pulling this stunt on her, catching a glimpse of how her black hair was cleanly pulled back into a tight, high ponytail without a single strand out of place.

The female smoothly slid into the seat next to Erza, setting her bag down and leaning back in her chair. "My, my… Here I thought you would be happier to see me, Erza. I told you we'd be running into each other soon."

Erza groggily looked over at the female, a raised eyebrow distinguishing itself from a blank, exhausted expression. She didn't say anything. She was just confused and annoyed.

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten…" She spun some of the fabric of the bottom of her sweater around her finger before lifting it up, flashing a blue tattoo right above her left hipbone.

The realization hit Erza like a brick to the face, and she suddenly blinked a few times as her eyes shot wide. "Minerva?!" It was easy for her to miss; Minerva looked completely different than she had the night prior. She was in a grey sweater and black leather pants, and her makeup was less colorful than the warpaint-esque look she had before. The flawless ponytail threw her off as well, but Erza realized that the stark red of Minerva's lips was the exact same. She had spent enough time staring to know.

Minerva only smiled slyly as a result, lowering her sweater over her stomach again, "I knew that red hair was familiar from the second I saw you at the lot. Hearing you complain about your morning class only solidified things. The world's smaller than one might expect, no? Looks like we're classmates."

"And you're the one who always shows up to class looking so perfect and stylish that it puts the rest of us dead-inside students to shame…" Erza commented, eyes taking in Minerva unabashedly, "I would have never envisioned you and her being the same after last night…"

"What can I say? I do have a bit of a wild side…" Minerva teased, that coquettish voice from the night before returning. She leaned closer so that her lips were right by Erza's ear, and she rested her hand on Erza's thigh as she did so, "Once this class is over, I say we have some unfinished business to get to, don't we? I'm not through with you yet, Erza.."

Minerva's seductive whisper sent chills down Erza's spine, causing her to close her eyes and shudder in anticipation. It felt as if her cheeks were burning and up in flames, but even so, there was a ghost of a smile on her lips.

Erza didn't pay attention to a single word of her professor's lecture. She could only think of what paradise awaited her once class was over.

It was everything she expected and then some.