#um it's roo's fault

[simperoniandcheese]

Post- Top Gun Maverick Fic- Meeting Back Up

this fic was labelled in my docs as 'dagger shenanigans' so do with that whatever???

enjoy :D

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“You’re not gonna post that.”

“I am–I’m gonna post it, Roo,”

“You’re posting it?”

Swish.

Nat clicked the send button, and she looked back up at Rooster across from her, who caught her grin with a flat stare, and she folded over in giggles at his impossibly solemn expression like your average toddler would.

“Wow.” He faked a gusty sigh, lips pursing. “Typical Phoenix.”

“Sorry.” She managed before laughing again, tucking a stray hair back behind her ears, taking a swig from the beer in her other hand.

“I want to say I hate you, but you wouldn’t take that shit seriously.” He replied mid-smirk, possibly doing the best face-palm she’d ever seen a mid-30s manwhore with ridiculously toned muscles in a vibrant Hawaiian-style overshirt do.

Not that there were many others that fit that description.

“I like how we can just haul ass over here after a long day thanks to Penny and her magic friend bonus.” Natasha admitted, setting her phone face-down on the fuzzy green of the old pool table.

“Same.” Rooster answered, chuckling. “Hey, you up for a round of darts, Nat? Winner pays for everything.” He leaned into the polished wood of the seat behind him.

“Sure thing. Hope you like losing.” She shot back, picking up two empty beer bottles in each hand and placing them on the front bar counter, where Penny looked up from her notebook, smiled, and hooked out a small container with her feet from under the desk.

“Thanks, Penny.” Nat called over her shoulder with a wink as she strolled back to the dart board, giving Rooster a playful slap on the ass as she passed the pool table. “You coming, or have I won already?”

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Bob turned out of the highway cautiously, his hands trembling. Usually it was just him in his car, but he’d agreed to give Halo a ride to The Hard Deck, and he’d ended up falling short of words.

“So, um…” He fumbled as Callie looked up from her phone, her brows knitting together a little, a question forming on her parted mouth.

“How’s it going with, uh–with Phoenix? Are you guys still close?” 

Her eyes caught the light as she caught on with a small “ah”, and she broke into a smile as she twisted to put her phone in her pocket. 

“We could be closer, it’s just after the mission, she’s been hanging out a lot more with Rooster. My fault really, I’ve been caught up in my own shit I didn’t even stop to think of Nat.”

Bob nodded a little. “I know how you feel. I miss her being up front. When I got shipped up to Nevada to train more on the F-16s, it just wasn’t the same, flying without her. Without everybody.”

“Aviators that blow chunks together, stay together.” Callie rolled her eyes, looking out of the window at the paling sky. “How far away are we again?”

“See that big sign that says “The Hard Deck, 5km” a few blocks down?” He faked an intrigued expression, grinning as he saw her eyes crinkle with her wide smile.

“Right, right.” She laughed.

“I can’t wait to see everyone again…” She mused, resting her head back on the car headrest.

“Yeah…”

“Me too.”

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“Payback, I won’t ask again, get your ass out of my bunk or else!” Hangman snapped, his expression borderline murderous.

“We’re not going to vandalise your bunk, shitbag.” Fanboy dangled his long arms over the small railing, fixing his dark brown stare on the offending blonde. “Cool it.”

“Uh, what he said,” a distracted-sounding Payback answered from his phone, chewing on his lip as he sat cross-legged next to Fanboy on the bunk.

Hangman exhaled through his teeth, muttering something about shaving as he walked away.

Fanboy chuckled to himself, turning his head to face the fourth person in their shared flat as they shut the wooden sliding door behind them.

“Yo, Coyote, are you going to the Hard Deck tonight?” Fanboy inquired, still half hanging out of the top bunk. Coyote looked up at him, and was about to answer, when-

“Holy fuck- Rooster’s got a massive glittery di—“ Payback choked out, jaw on the floor as he practically cried with laughter, Fanboy and Coyote scrambling to see with matching expressions on their faces.

“What the…shit, what do I even say??” Coyote looked on in horror.

“Say bad bitch energy, he’s sure rocking that Easter Bunny With A Giant Sex Toy look,” Fanboy wiped his eyes with a loud sound of joy that wasn’t quite laughter. He turned around and reclined on the bunk, tucking back his curls into a simple green hair elastic. 

“Why the Easter Bunny, of all the famous figures?” Coyote almost cried, so much so that Hangman poked his head around the short threshold with shaving foam all over his lower face. 

“W’assat?”

Payback turned the screen away, a sly smile on his face. He was definitely up to something.

“Come see, Hangman.” He urged, not ignoring the alarmed look that Coyote shared with the blonde.

Jake hesitated. 

“...If that picture involves anyone in particular, I’m going to get myself shipped back to Lemoore and fucking Star Wars Canyon myself.” He threw his hands up and his head retreated back into the small ensuite. “Let me finish shaving first.”

Fanboy glanced up to Payback with a should I film this? look. Payback, eyes narrowed, responded with be nice, even though it’s Hangman.

“You guys have mind reading or something.” Coyote remarked as he put his boots on. “I’m going now,” He called, most likely as well to Hangman, who answered with a mildly concerned yell from the other side of the sliding door.

“Wait, shit, everyone?” Payback did a double take, grinning. Fanboy said less, nabbing his friend’s car keys from under his mattress, scooting past them.

“Well, I guess we’re going to the Hard Deck,” Coyote rolled his eyes, getting out of his seat.

[blessedcvrsed]

trips to his cousin's apartment weren't exactly infrequent, though they were usually much, much earlier than this. it had really been his own fault; the hours that led up to the late night encounter spent pacing the hardwood floors of his apartment while he sought out, with failure, any kind of distraction from his thoughts. maybe he could have messaged someone, a trusted friend, such as ava or noah, asking for their input... but he hadn't. as the hands on the clock crept forward, seokmin was certain that he'd contemplated every possible outcome of the situation. as he stood outside of the fellow artist's home, he half contemplated just going back on his decision, but it was too late, now, the doorknob twisting and revealing an aweary atticus on the other side. “ i, um... ” had he woken him up? sparing a glance down at the time on his phone, it had absolutely gotten away from him in all of his reverie. once the invitation was given, he entered the apartment with a ducked head, his four-legged companion beside him as he pressed the door shut, digits deftly working at the multifold of locks without any thought; an anxiety-driven assuetude that had become second nature. “ everything's okay, i think, ” a light sigh was huffed, eyes gliding while he pored over what to say. “ i just... ” rehearsed words never panned out. “ i didn't want to worry roo, because i know he would, a-and he'd probably not let me go, so i thought you'd be the best person to... ” he babbled, “ i-i figured someone should know where i'm going, in case something happens, or if i don't come back? ” a pause. “ not that i plan on that... again, ” too much time had been spent with the youngest of the nam's, it would appear, the dry, dark humour untypical.

Night calls would usually go unanswered... It was unintentional, betwixt a coupling where one was prone to a dead sleep and the other legally intoxicated by a heaping dosage of Risperdal kicking in. Without the bulwark of medications, he was a relatively light sleeper due to the garden variety of night-time hallucinogens haunting his middle ear and terrors to loom over the bedside, immobilizing him to the same carefully drawn breaths. Self-preservation of monsters that were not there to anyone else, a spirit realm chastising his existence in red seafoam. If he was actually awake past ten, it wasn't a good night. Rolling over when he registered the knocking at the door — phantasms abound at this hour, typically indiscernible between his own designation and benumbing mind-games, he heaved himself out of bed and trudged toward the door after looking over his shoulder to ensure that his ethereal spouse didn't stir. Too late and pitch-black, he opened the door. It refused to budge more than an inch, obstreperously guarding its owners from intruders with the myriad of locks attached. A yawn couldn't be staved off as the figure on the other side was recognized, followed by perplexity — Seokmin lived in the same building, so it wasn't uncommon for him to visit after-hours or on off-days, but — "Primo, why are you here so late?" The heel of his hand dug into his eyesocket as he ground for reality from the selfish cinches of the sandman, grey eyes blending with the shadows of the din. "Hang on..." The door slammed shut with a dull thud, sliding away the safety locks and wrenching it open. Bumbling steps back invited him in, stifling another intuit to his own exhaustion. "Is all well?"

[keepswingin]

I feel like the werewolves would be afraid of needles. Can you write something where one of them (Wyatt, Willa or Wynter) has to go to the doctor or get a check-up or something that involves them having to get a shot or something that involves needles? And the other two have to calm them down? I think it'd be super hilarious.

ANTI-MONSTER RULE NUMBER TWELVE You cannot, under any circumstances, miss mandatory appointments.

Wyatt stares at the notice for a long time; he wonders when their lives started to depend on scraps of ink stamped fresh onto crumpled paper.

He finds he can't pinpoint an exact moment.

"What's that?"

He flinches at the voice. Berates himself for it as he allows his claws to shred clean through the newly issued notice, tiny pieces of card stock fluttering to the ground as Willa comes to a stop beside him. He doesn't have to look over at her to know that's she's already angry, fingers squeezing tight into already scarred palms.

He lifts his gaze to the forest. It stretches farther than any of them could know, so many acres sitting unexplored and unmarked, waiting. Watching. He thinks that maybe they could run. Maybe they could actually make it away before they even realized they were gone. Maybe they could find a new den before this one was burned to the ground, maybe they could--

"You know we can't," she interrupts bluntly, more of a leader than a sister. "The pups wouldn't be able to keep up with the rest of the pack's pace."

His exhale is sharp, exasperated. "We could carry them."

"We couldn't. Not with the ground you want to cover."

He blinks. Something hot begins to build within him, searing at his insides like skin to silver. She doesn't move to sit or readjust, instead continuing to stand beside him, distant like a shadow that couldn't quite reach, steady like the rock he rests on.

"We could leave them places, then. Scout ahead, come back, rise and repeat, until we're far enough that it's safe for them--"

"That's not you, Wyatt."

The fire within him roars as he shoots to his feet, whipping around so that he can face her. "Goddamn it, Willa!" he yells, loud enough that his voice bounces off the rocks jutting out around them, loud enough that he's sure the entire den has heard him. "We can't stay here! Don't you get it?"

His chest is heaving as the words that had been weighing him down finally escape. The burn inside eases, and it's easier to inhale, but exhaling is just as hard and Willa she's-she's just standing there, why is she just standing there--

"Wyatt," she says, softer than she should be. She's not supposed to be soft, she's barbed wire and sharp tongue. She's supposed to be everything he's not, not a shell of everything he's ever known.

He blinks. Her face wavers in and out of focus, like a camera lens readjusting. Her eyes are fearless, and then they are dull, and then they are empty. Her lips are curved, and then they are straightened, and then they are missing.

He blinks.

His breath leaves him in a rushing gasp as he finally sees her, sees her right here, now, twenty-four years into this forest instead of sixteen, and that fire inside of him extinguishes like it was never there at all.

Burns, never fully healed, litter what he can see of her arms, and nearly all of her body markings are gone, some skin torn from bone, some scratched over like pen to paper. Her neck is slit from one side to the other, cut and patched, cut and patched, cut and patched, the mark left stark against the color of her skin. Her cheek still holds the mark of an alpha, shaky lines atop marred skin, but he can still remember what she had said after they had given her back, lifeless body left in the middle of the forest without any warning after he had searched every creek and nook and cliff.

I-I can't, brother, she had whimpered, clawless fingers grasping at the furs of his vest, blood smearing in their wake. It had been the weakest he had ever seen her. I can't lead them anymore.

You can, he had said, voice far stronger than he had felt. We're gonna clean you up, I'll be right there the whole time, and then you can--

If I can't even protect myself, she had whispered, sob hitching at the back of her throat, how can I protect them?

"Stop doing that," he tells her, eyes flickering down to where blood slips down her wrists. "You're hurting yourself."

Willa looks down at her hands and then back at him, lips pressed in a firm line. Still far from who she used to be, but better as the days ticked by.

"They'll find us, brother," she says then, sure as he's ever heard her. Her right hand begins to tremble, one finger, and then two. "They have no plans to let us retire back into hiding. We're..."

She grabs her shaking hand with her other.

It still shakes underneath.

"We're theirs, now."

"No," he says, strong as stone. He takes a step toward her, pulls her hands into his, holds them carefully tight. Willa's eyes flicker with something he'd rather not know. "No. We'll never be."

He pulls her into a hug, drops her hands so he can wrap his arms around her shoulders, and tries to forget the shaky exhale she releases against him.

"What happens when they come for someone else?" she mutters against his neck, so quiet he can barely hear her.

"I'll stop them," he promises, something tight lodged in his throat as he says it. Willa is silent for a long moment, fingers curling around the soft fabric of his shirt.

"What about when they come for you?"

The den is dark against the curve of the midday sun, hiding away the countless lives within. The wolves within. The family within. Words are hard to find when there is no correct answer.

"They won't be able to catch me," he whispers, like it's a shared promise between them.

Willa pulls him closer, after.

He doesn't let go.

--

The needle stares at him for a long time; he wonders what sits waiting inside of it, grey liquid thick and unmoving as the doctor taps against the side of it, once, twice.

Willa sits to his right, stiff in her own chair, eyes stuck in a stare at the doctor. Wynter is on his other side, eyes flickering between the needle and him. They are both free to move, but fear stops them still. He is strapped to a medical chair, two wrists snapped against soft leather.

Just in case, the doctor had assured easily, tone smooth as silk, pulling tight on mud-brown restraints, you never know what could happen.

"Now then," the doctor says, smiling Wyatt's way as he sides over closer, resting one hand on Wyatt's forearm. He is an older man with a balding head and too easy of a smile. Wyatt thinks he fits perfectly for a job such as this one, because anyone who helped this town do such things was sure to be unhinged in their own special way. "I'll count to three and the needle will be in and out. Will we need any assistance today?"

Wyatt's eyes drift over to his sister's stony expression.

(He knows what hides behind it.)

"No," he whispers. The last thing he wanted was more men, men with guns or tasers or worse.

"Very well," the doctor replies as he angles the needle. "One, two--"

As soon as the needle enters his skin, Wyatt knows something is wrong. The liquid inside moves slow, far too slow, and his arm locks up as soon as it flows into his skin. The burn comes after, soft and then burning, burning, burning--

His whole world is on fire before he can utter a single word.

--

He's laying in the forest, grass peaking through his outstretched fingers. His entire body aches with a fire that will not go away, seeping into his bones like poison. His skin is hot, and something wet slips down his arm, dampening his fingers and sticking to his palm when he attempts to curl them.

There's a scuffle to his right.

He thinks that if he's going to die, at least it's in his home.

"Little brother," a voice breathes by his ear, arms struggling to pull him from the forest floor. "Wyatt I'm, I'm sorry I-" their voice catches on a sob he recognizes. "I couldn't-I--"

He doesn't think he can talk.

He does, anyway.

"W-What...what was it?" he ask her, voice barely a rasp. Words hurt, slithering their way right through the fire that engulfs him much like a struck match.

She's quiet for a long moment. He's pulled closer to a chest and he reaches up, hand caught by another and squeezed tight.

It hurts.

He doesn't say it aloud.

"Silver," his sister finally answers, voice hoarse. "When you didn't die they...they resorted to other measures."

He wants to laugh.

He does laugh, the sound disjointed and wheezing.

Skin torn from bone. Cuts. Burns. Skin torn from bone. Scars. Silver.

"We're...quite the p-pair. Aren't we?"

He wants Willa to laugh.

She doesn't.

[rukia-writes]

Shanks x naive! Marine! Reader

Part 1

Setting: canon/movie (Return of the Gran Tesoro)

It was nearly noon and three weeks since Shanks met Sengoku’s beautiful daughter and ever since then the pirate had been moping around the red force. Thinking of how he could see her again along with other thoughts. However, there was an obstacle in his way. While it wasn’t the marines or any admiral it was Sengoku himself, the man detested pirates.

Shanks thought of talking to him but he knew that wouldn’t work out so well.

In his cabin Shanks had his lip pursed up with a sad face, Benn in all his years of knowing Shanks had never seen him like this. Sighing Benn wished his captain would come out of his funk and just as he thought this Lucky Roo waved a newspaper in Shanks face.

“Look! Look who is in the newspaper!”

Shanks eventually grabbed the newspaper with his pout still until he saw the huge section featuring (Name) headline saying “Beautiful marine tells all!” Shanks made an unrecognizable sound as his emotions did a 360 as his smile was as bright as ever, his crew mates thought it was the sweetest thing.

The interviewer asked her a bunch of questions from “What is your favorite food?” To “What is Sengoku like?” Shanks learned a lot about the marine and if his crew mates knew any better turning into a fan boy.

An emperor of the sea turning into a fan boy.

“Should we remind him?”

“Let him have his joy for a bit Benn.”

Benn wanted to remind Shanks that (Name) was off limits not because she was marine but because of Sengoku. In any case the crew mates decided to let their captain enjoy himself for a few minutes as he thought to himself what was the sweet and innocent marine up to.

”and then he told me “You should definetly change the marine colors to pink and white. Blue is so old fashioned.” and I told him “You are so right. We’ve had this lame color since the beginning of time and its definitely time to change colors.” Then we talked for another hour or so before we went out seperate ways. That Ace is really nice. So is his tan-omg he told me how he tans-“

Sengoku knew his daughter could talk for days with out even realizing it as he sat his desk frustrated to the max that once again his daughter let another pirate go and not just any pirate but Portgas D. Ace. However, it was his fault in asking for a report at a very late hour, but he was a busy man and he needed her report. (Name) had her pajamas and sleep mask on while painting her nails her favorite color. The goat would try to lick the nail polish a few times but (Name) stopped him just in time.

“(Name), we’ve been thru this letting pirates go is unacceptable.”

“Yeah, but he was so nice and he bought me drink. So did that one pirate…oh..what was his name..Um..oh yeah Smoker.”

“…Smoker? Smoker is a marine-“

Sengoku ahead to chuckle at his daughter before he quickly turned serious.

“What is Smoker doing giving you a drink?!”

“Well, he offered to give me one of his cigars. But I turned that down, so instead he bought me a drink last week. It was pink too and smoke was coming out of it and we had lunch too. It was really nice, he was nice for pirate.”

“He’s a marine, I told you. A captain.”

“…he is? Oh my god he is! My fault.”

“Anything else happened?”

“Not that I can think of-oh! And can you please tell Sakazuki to stop looking at me?! He’s always staring at me. Old man.”

Sengoku let out a confused laugh as he was confused by his daughter catching Sakazuki looking at her but also laughing at her calling him an old man.

“What do you mean he’s always looking at you?”

“I mean like, he always gives me these scary glares and turns away. But then I catch him just staring at me-is it because I keep letting pirates go?”

“Most likely. I’ll have talk with him. Don’t worry.”

“Aw, thanks dad. You’re the best as always.”

The two chatted a bit longer talking about family and current events before (Name) retired to her quarters to read some of her fan mail while Sengoku had to stay up and finish some paper work.

A few days later Sengoku noticed that (Name) had a lot of fan mail, apparently the interview was quite popular among the citizens, marines and pirates. Sengoku didn’t think much of it and was actually proud so many people liked his daughter.

When (Name) told him she was going on vacation and wouldn’t be back for a few weeks he was really taken back, however it was most welcome since she it had been awhile since she had a vacation.

It wasn’t like a emperor wrote her fan letter and told her to meet her on the Gran Tesoro.

“Shanks! You made it!”

“Of course, I’m glad you could make it-“

Shanks had been in a few fights in his life time but he was certainly amazed by how tight she could hug him, after getting some air in his lungs he looked to see her how much luggage she had, which was a lot.

“(Name), we are only here for a week.”

“Well, I couldn’t decide what to wear and what to bring. So I brought my cutest clothes and stuff.”

“Well, they say it’s better to be over prepared than not at all. Ready to have some fun?”

“Of course!”

While it was supposed to be a week the two actually stayed three weeks on the Gran Tesoro, having fun from gambling to simply relaxing and taking it easy. (Name) called it the best three weeks of her life, on the last day Shanks told her to keep what happened on the Gran Tesoro a secret. (Name) wasn’t too thrilled about that as she had so much fun with Shanks and wanted to tell her friends but Shanks had his way of making sure she kept their little vacation a secret.

“Keep this and when you get lonely you can talk to it. At least until we meet again.”

“Where did you get this?”

A surprised gasp left (Name)’s lips as she saw the cutest plushy doll immediately taking it from Shanks and cuddling it.

“Gambling. I figured it would help when you’re alone.”

“It will! and it’s pink too! You’re the best!”

While Shanks was expecting another bone crushing hug although a soft kiss on his lips was welcome too. Shanks could feel his heart flutter during the kiss and when (Name) walked on her ship with her plushy doll she blew him a kiss to which Shanks “caught” it with his bright smile.

Thirty days later Sengoku received another request for a vacation from his daughter, and while he really needed the help he didn’t want to upset his daughter so he approved it. On the exception that it wouldn’t be three weeks, pirates were causing havoc and he need the help. The Fleet Admiral did notice his daughter was happier than normal, thinking to himself that vacation she took must have been really fun.

On the Gran Tesoro in the same room Shanks was calmly waiting for a certain marine until the door opened and in walked (Name) with her bright smile and of course with multiple suitcases. Again Shanks had to chuckle at the sight and helped out with her suitcases.

It did cost her a kiss; a price that (Name) was willing to pay.

✨Rukia-Writes✨

[andilovetowrite]

Initial Shyness(P.P x Reader)

Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: Confessions are cute, right? Especially when you have been waiting for years to say it out loud. But what happens when the initial shyness wears off? And we all know Peter isn’t as innocent as he seems ;)

Warnings: Nothing but some unending fluff. Lots of Peter rambling and awkward kisses :)

Based on a request, you can find it here!

Here is my Masterlist in case you want to find more of my work :)

“C’mon, you can do it!” hissed MJ from beside you. She pushed you toward’s Peter’s door, making you stumble. Still, you tried to hold back against MJ, who you realized, was freakishly strong.

“I can’t! Nope. No way.” You shook your head, crossing your arms. MJ sighed, probably too tired for your crap.

“Oh come on Y/N! I cannot hear another word about Peter again.”, she said, looking too serious.

“But-”

“Not one more word”

“I-”

“So what you are going to do is go into his room, go up to him, confess your feeling, and then kiss him.” She looked at you expectantly. “Am I clear?”

“Uh- just one component you are missing out on���.I don’t have the balls to tell Peter I like him!”

MJ rolled her eyes, coming to stand next to you. “Yes, you don’t. And that’s why, I am really really sorry for what I am going to do next.” You didn’t even have time to figure out what she meant before you were pushed into Peter’s room harshly by Ned and MJ. As soon as most of you was inside, they shut the door behind you and you heard the door lock behind you.

“Oh COME ON!”, you said, trying to open the door.

“You know what to do!”, MJ said back, her voice muffled. You sighed, turning around to see Peter looking at you, a slight smile on his face. Oh, and what an amazing smile he had. His eyes crinkled, and small dimples showed up on his face. His pearly whites showed through his pink lips that you have dreame-

“Hey Y/N...what’s up?” Peter asked, snapping you out of your Peter-sized daydream.

“Huh-uh, so um- MJ just wanted some-uh alone time with- with uh Ned. Yeah”, you said, trying to think of anything other than the fact that you had a gigantic crush on your best friend.

Peter’s eyebrows scrunched up, confused. “Why would she want to talk to Ned?”

“Uh-um wanting to know something about uh-English…”

“Okay”, Peter said, drawing out the word. You could see he didn’t believe you so you did the most logical thing. A logical course of action that anybody in your situation would do. Lie.

“Well, she actually wanted me to show you something, um-on the roof”, you said, biting your lip, trying to figure out what to do once you got on the roof.

“Alright, let’s go!”, Peter said quickly, holding his hand out to you. You grabbed it, feeling the warmth seep into your body and make it’s way up to your cheeks. You held on, knowing that this would be the last time if Peter didn’t reciprocate your feelings.

Jumping out the window, you let out a small yelp as Peter grabbed your waist, holding onto you tight as he pulled you two to the rooftop. Landing onto the ground, you held on for dear life, looking at Peter.

“Give me a warning next time! I thought you were going to chuck me out the window…”

“Oh please, then who would I have to annoy all the time?”, he asked teasingly. You let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding in.

“Well, you would lose your best friend…”

You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t see the way Peter’s face contorted into a grimace as he looked down.

“Yeah, but not only my best friend but the coolest person in Queens!” You cracked a smile, a red tint making its way up to your neck as you heard him speak. “I mean, you are so damn smart and pretty...Not to mention, so badass. I mean, I saw how you elbowed Flash in the-”

“Okay, let’s not relive it” You interjected. Peter smiled at that, walking both of you over to the other side of the roof. “Where are we going?”, you asked, confused.

“Uh, so I just wanted to-uh. Just come and see this”, Peter said, scratching his head slightly. Not knowing what to do, you just followed him, hoping you would see what he was talking about. And you weren’t expecting this.

A plush rose blanket spread out across half of the roof, with rose petals thrown here and there. In the middle of it was a small picnic box, with food sticking out of it. You could see some books stacked in the corner and a couple pillows as well. The light reflected off the buildings around you, giving the entire space an orangish-pinkish glow. You were so engrossed in the spread, you didn’t even notice Peter shakily taking out a small bouquet of roses from behind him.

“Peter, wha-what is this?”, you asked, shocked.

Bringing out the roses, he held it out to you, a blush the same color as the flowers making it’s way up to both of your cheeks. “I-um, heard what you and uh MJ were talking about a-a couple um days ago. So-I uh decided to ask Mr Stark to help me out with thi-”

“Wait a second. Tony Stark helped you out with this?!”, you asked, shocked at why your dad would help Peter out with this small thing. I mean, it-he shouldn’t care so much about Peter’s best friend, right?

“Yeah-uh, so I um set this out for you, and asked MJ to help me get you in my roo-”

“MJ has been in on this?”, you asked, suddenly remembering how she and Peter had been talking discreetly a few days ago.

Peter just nodded, looking down as a dopey smile made it’s way to his face. You cleared your throat, trying to figure out what was happening. You weren’t dumb, but you didn’t want to jump to conclusions to quickly.

“Why-why would yo-is this-uh”, you tried to speak, with little success. You could feel you face heat up in embarrassment, so you just stared at the flowers in Peter’s hands.

“I-uh really, um like you Y/N. Like more than a-a friend. And much more than a best friend. I know yo-you may not like me back, but I couldn’t keep it in any longe-”

You know it’s rude to interrupt someone when they are speaking. But you couldn’t hear anyother word come out of his mouth, because otherwise you would’ve melted. So you did the next best thing. You kissed him. Hard.

His words got caught in his throat as his lips met yours. And for a second you were worried you went too far, pulling back. But as soon as he felt you doing that, his hands went to your hair, pulling you flush against him, kissing you back with fevour.

You wish you could’ve stopped time. Right there. During a beautiful sunset, on the roof surrounded by rose petals, and with Peter in your arms. And in your mouth. But sadly, you needed air to breathe, so you pulled away, probably looking like a fish straight out of the water. Opening your eyes, you could see Peter’s face. His pupils were dilated and his entire face was a pink hue. His lips were plump and red, but pulled up in a lovesick smile.

You knew you had the exact same expression on your face. Smiling softly, you looked at Peter, and at the same time, you both said.

“I really like you”

“I really like you”

Giggling, you hesitantly took the crushed flowers from Peter, breathing them in.

“They got squashed”, Peter said, running his hands over the petals.

You shrugged, not caring. “Well, it wasn’t only your fault. I think it was a two-person thing..”, you said cheekily, smirking at Peter.

He laughed, throwing his arms over you and pulling you in for a hug. You breathed in his signature scent and melted against him, your heart full. It would’ve been perfect if not for the eruption of clapping and whistles from behind you.

“Wha-”

“GOOD JOB PETE!”, MJ yelled, running to the both of you, Ned and May close behind. Crashing into you, you laughed as she looked at Peter. “Better take care of her, got it?”

Peter nodded, kissing my cheek. And just as he did that, a flash went off fro next to you. “Nice job Underoos. Watch the lips though. Don’t get too close to my daughter.” Tony’s voice went through the air, making you jump.

“Dad?!”, you said, shocked.

“Mr Stark?!”

“Yes yes, I was spying on you. But at least I’m not like Nat and Thor. They have been circling the building for the last 15 minutes.”

Tony said, shrugging as he pointed to the sky, where you could see the two of them waving at you.

“Oh god”, you groaned, throwing your head back. Peter looked at you, white as a ghost, before giving a scared nod at your dad.

“Yes sir, I’ll be very-um-uh good to Y/N. I mea-she is uh so pretty-wait that’s not-uh and smart- but that’s not-,” he stuttered, eyes wide. Helping out the poor boy, you shooed everyone away.

“Bye, dad. Please take Nat and Thor home with you. We’ll be back soon”

“Not later than 11, got it? And remember Peter, hands to yourself.”

“Yes M-Mr Stark”

Giggling, you watched as everyone walked away, leaving you with Peter. “Sorry bout that”

“Oh, it’s fine. I got the girl of my dreams tonight. Nothing could beat that” Blushing you pulled him in for a short kiss, before hugging him tightly.

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

Wish you say that was the end of the story. That you both lived happily ever after. But sadly, with a group of friends and family, privacy was not the best. And you were very sorry to say that you scarred more people than you had hoped to scar in the next few months.

The first victim though was none other than Aunt May. And boy oh boy did she not look at you two for weeks after the incident.

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

Alright! This was really fun to write, and this is such a cute idea, so I kinda want to make this into a series where people walk in on Peter and Y/N, so let’s see where it goes. But the next part will be out in a couple of days once my exams end :) Also, on that note, wish me luck, since I have my math exam tomorrow. Anyway, until next time!

Taglist: @a--1--1--3 @idkatee @eternalscribblesforthesoul @loudbluepancake @poisondevotion @scram1326 @t-hollanderr @305weasley @starknik22 @marvelfansworld @lou-la-lou @lomlparker @marvelfansworld @wowitsel @vanteguccir @fullcheesecakeengineer @ifyouknewhowmiserylovedme @ladykxxx08

[conduitandconjurer]

Tell us about the best and worst date the Doctor has ever taken you on

"A-hoooo, well!"

Klaus is obligatorily half-naked, from the (low) waist up, wearing nothing but teal leggings and Grace's old, plentifully frilly, pink apron.

"Best 'n worst, alrighty-roo. Well there. Aren't that many bad ones...? That were his fault, anyway."

He lets loose a nervous whinny of laughter, and grimaces, spatula held blankly aloft over the pancakes he's frying.

"....So there was this Classical-Greece-themed planet with a killer agora, like a farmers market meets an art fair on steroids, but um...tiny problem, it was populated with brain-muchin' ghosts, and...even with my extra training, it kinda caught me way...way off guard. Took me a bit to recuperate, ya know. Mentally. BUT!"

He aims the spatula at his conversant, now.

"After I convinced Five not to kill him," he pauses to scoff, and pantomime polishing his turquoise-painted nails on his chest, "we haven't had a bad date since! Favorite's gotta be our first, on a planet with like, these amazing bodies of water that were so crystal clear that they were like sheets of glass, and extra gorgeous alien fireflies...I think that's what they were, at least. Damn, I hope so. ...Anywho! Any time we went and swam in a pretty body of water, and had a great dinner, and danced, I was the happiest gal this side of I dunno where. This one time we banged at a Japanese bath house circa 1900, and he was soooo worried someone would walk in on us, but I got him convinced it was fun. Oh and the carnival planet was pretty rad. And the alien ice cream parlor. Like. 200 flavors, and no lactose! But just last night mighta topped it all. He lit like 900 candles and surprised me with Glen Miller music and we danced all night."

He wiggles his eyebrows.

“As it were.”

[pixie-in-trebleland]

R.U.N.

I. The beginning

Amberdine had been the wealthiest city in the continent for centuries. With buildings of marble, gleaming stone and gold, it was as if you stepped into a whole other world upon entering its gates. The streets were bustling with citizens and tourists alike, the noise dampened by the materials used to make the city. It was, in essence, perfect in its design: a true escape from the exterior sectors of the continent.

Days passed quickly in the city, simply as a result of the pace of its world. And the world outside of it all, dear reader, was something entirely different. To the south were the deserted planes of Earthigg and the Business epicentre known as Mirza. To the west, a sector known as Reswick, where only the strongest survived. And to The north was Delta, known as foreign territory to most. Lush trees surrounded the borders of Delta, leaving it a mystery to most of the outside world. But no matter where you stood, no matter the sector, the gleaming flood lights surrounding the golden city of Amberdine could be seen. Always in sight, always in mind.

No one expected for things to change as quickly as they had. No one, including a young, nine-year old child who stood at the gates of Amberdine for the first time. She looked up with a quivering lip at her older brother, making sure to hold his hand tightly.

“I don’t want to go in.” she whined as she stared at the gates before her.

Her brother sighed, but smiled at her. He radiated warmth, something that seemed to keep his baby sister close to him on the cool, fall day.

“We won’t be here any longer than we have to, Roo.” he murmured. He knelt down on one knee and adjusted the thin, steel frames of his glasses. “Papa needs us to do this for him, okay? You know we wouldn’t have made the trip this way otherwise.”

“I still don’t like it! It’s...um…”Roo frowned as she thought of some reason to avoid the glowing city.

“It’s what?”

“It smells bad.”

Her brother couldn’t help but laugh. “Does it smell that bad?”

“Yep.”

“What, exactly, does it smell like?”

“Um…”she paused again. Her brother was starting to irritate her with all these questions. “It smells like when Maman burned the popcorn in the micro-onde.”

“It smells that bad?”

“Uh huh. Alexei, I wanna go home. Please?”

Alexei sighed once more. He stood up and straightened out his black and ivory jacket. From top to bottom, his fingers ran along the smooth shell buttons that held it together. Roo was stubborn to a fault, but he adored his sister unconditionally.

“I’ll tell you what.” he spoke once more once he came up with a plan, his smile unwavering, “Why don’t you hop on my back and I’ll carry you. We can go and drop off what we have to to the receiver here, and then take the train home.”

Roo’s eyes widened. “The train?”

“Yes, the train.”

“We don’t have to sleep here?!”

Alexei laughed. “Little Roo, the plan wasn’t to sleep here. It’s supposed to be quick. We wouldn’t want to worry Maman and Papa, would we?”

Roo couldn’t help but shake her head excitedly. Mirza was anything but exciting, but it was home. She wanted to get back sooner than later. With help, she quickly climbed up her brother and wrapped her arms over his shoulders. She kept her grip tight, afraid of the ground below her. Alexei began to walk through the gates, earning a side-glance from a nearby officer stationed on one side of the gate.

The officer, dressed in white and gold hues, watched closely as the siblings walked through the gate. They were expected to be here an hour ago, but given their travel arrangements, Alexei knew better than that. They were, as usual for a Mirzan courrier, precisely an hour late. With a gentle nod of acknowledgement, Alexei continued on his way, weaving through the streets as his sister hummed and sang songs of her own creation.

“Have you thought of words to your songs yet?” he would ask from time to time as he kept an eye out for the holograph street signs that would flicker to life from time to time as he passed them by. Sometimes, he would receive a grunt in reply, or a few words or phrases, but the girl upon his shoulders didn’t care. She was content with her music making.

An hour and a half had passed before they managed to deliver the letter to the receiver and arrive back at the station. Roo couldn’t help but rub her eyes and yawn as she was set down on a nearby bench. The metal was cold beneath her, sending a chill up her spine. She hummed a little once more, the noise noticeable in the fairly vacant station.

“Nobody here…?”she asked softly, looking to Alexei in hopes of an answer.

Alexei looked down at his watch. “It’s supper time, little Roo. Nobody takes the train at supper time.”

“Why?”

“Well...it’s because everyone’s at home eating supper.”

She paused before asking her next question. “What about the lady driving the train?”

“Hm?”

“Does that mean the train isn’t gonna work because she has to eat supper, too?”

Alexei smiled and ruffled his sister’s hair. Her chocolate brown hair fell into her eyes, causing her to pout. “Oh Roo…”

“What?”

“Nobody drives the train anymore.”

“Huh?!”she exclaimed, her brown and blue eyes widening in shock.

“It’s...magic.” Alexei explained. “There’s nobody that drives the trains. Even Maman and Papa don’t remember anyone driving the trains when they were little.”

Roo folded her arms against her chest. “But, my books say that there’s a lady that drives the train!”

“Maybe there’s a lady that watches the trains.”

“Why would she watch the trains?”

“To make sure they don’t get lost, little sister.” The older sibling fiddled with his buttons once more, counting them absentmindedly. The train was starting to pull in, and he held his hand out for his sister to take. “Just like I watch over you to make sure that you don’t get lost.”

“But...what if I get lost?”

Another smile. “You won’t. Not while I’m around.”

The two took their seats in the train and watched the sunset, the glowing of the city starting to fade further and further into the background. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, the child enjoyed the day in the golden city.

A shame it was the last day before it all went to hell.

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

@spiccykels @shadowtigress2 @yivurnkani @abirbable @immabethehero @lupineguardian

[bastardtetsu]

{day 03} people will say we’re in love | kuroo x reader

pairing: kuroo tetsuro x f!manager!reader

genre: fluff, friends to lovers, confession

wc: 1.2k

warnings: f!reader, a tiny bit of swearing, soft k*roo being a jackass as usual

⍋⋆*❅｡. 25 days of fic-mas mlist .｡❅*⋆⍋

don’t sigh and gaze at me your sighs are so like mine your eyes mustn’t glow at mine people will say we’re in love

—people will say we’re in love; oklahoma! (music & lyrics by rodgers & hammerstein)

the first few times it happened you just played it off. people assume incorrectly all the time, and you honestly couldn’t blame them for assuming that the handsome young man you seem to be around all the time is your boyfriend. besides, it was easy enough to explain that he’s actually just the (incessantly annoying) captain of the boys volleyball team you manage, whom you have no romantic feelings for whatsoever.

that is, until that stopped being entirely true.

you’re not sure when it started, but you began to realize when you noticed that benign misunderstanding starting to fluster you more and more each time. there’s a reason people always mistake you for a couple, after all: kuroo not only dotes on you, but he is shamelessly flirting every moment he’s around you, even when you negate his flattery with exasperation - which just makes you seem even more like an old married couple

of course, being flirty and teasing is just a part of kuroo’s personality, so it’s not like that makes you special, and what might look like fondness towards you is actually just him sucking up to his manager for extra gym time. but, it’s enough to get you thinking about what it would be like if you were really together like that, and once you start thinking about it, you find it hard to stop.

you still try, though, reminding yourself that getting romantically involved with the captain of the team you’re managing is messy and unprofessional, and you don’t even know if he has any feelings like that anyway. this is all just a joke that’s been blown way out of proportion.

at least, that’s what you try to tell yourself when the same convenience store clerk mistakes kuroo for your boyfriend the 3rd time this week.

“why does she keep doing that??” you huff in frustration once you’re out the door, “how many times am i gonna have to explain that we’re not dating?”

“people sure do that a lot, huh?” kuroo muses, “i wonder why.” your face burns at his provocative tone.

“well it’s not my fault,” you retort defensively, “you’re the one who’s always doing shit, like—“

“like what?” he challenges, smirking down on you with an entertained look in his eye. you glare back at him.

“well first off, maybe don’t throw flowers at me in front of the entire cheering squad at a game.”

“those were from the team!”

“hush. you could also lay off sucking up to my family—“

“whoa. if you’re trying to get between me and your mom’s cooking right now we’re gonna have a huge problem.”

“that’s not the—ugh,” you groan, your exasperation mounting, “just stop acting so in love with me, okay? don’t laugh at my jokes or look at me all lovey-dovey like you do, just cut it out so people will quit suspecting things!”

there’s a brief pause as your words hang in the air. kuroo cocks his head.

“who laughs at your jokes?”

you deliver a hard smack against his chest with your bookbag.

“hey!!” he cries, “not fair! you know, some might say that you’re just as much to blame as i am.”

“excuse me?” you glare at him.

“what about the time you went out of your way to bake my favorite dessert?”

“i made that for the team,” you protest.

“or the time you made me carve our initials into a tree like we were a couple?”

“ok yeah, but i didn’t ask you to draw a HEART around them!”

“well what other shape was i supposed to draw?? an octagon!?”

“GOD you’re hopeless,” you groan. just then, you begin to feel raindrops start to come down. kuroo notices too.

“i’ve got an umbrella,” he says, pausing to rummage through his book bag. you stand there waiting for him as the rain begins to fall, dampening your hair and jacket.

he finally finds the umbrella, popping it open and holding it out for you first.

“you shouldn’t wait in the rain for me if you don’t want people suspecting things,” he purrs.

“shut up,” you jab, subconsciously taking his arm as you attempt to fit both of your bodies underneath the small umbrella.

“probably shouldn’t do that either,” he grins impishly, glancing down at your hand gripping the crook of his elbow. you just roll your eyes, trying to hide your embarrassment but keeping your hand firmly in place.

as the two of you continue your walk home together, the breeze picks up as the rain continues. you rub your hands together, starting to feel chilly. kuroo notices, just like he always notices everything.

“here,” he says, moving his free hand to wrap it around your cold fingers. you can feel your face flush and your heart speed up at the loving gesture. ordinarily his hands aren’t much warmer than yours, but this time you could swear you feel some sweat on his palm as he heats you with his touch.

“i guess this should probably be off limits too,” he says, “you know. if we don’t want people saying things.”

“it— it’s ok,” you mutter hesitantly, “this feels nice.”

“yeah,” he almost whispers, hoping you don’t notice the heat rushing to his own face as he musters up the courage to say what he’s thinking next. “i don’t mind when people say those kinds of things, you know.”

“huh?” you look up at him, stunned.

“like when they think that we’re dating,” he says, “i don’t mind— i guess, um, i wouldn’t mind—if it were true.”

your heart skips a beat. you can see the flush of pink dusting his cheeks now that you’re looking at him straight-on, even though his own eyes are currently glued to the pavement. your hand is still enveloped in his, the warmth now permeating much more than just your hand.

“i… don’t think i’d mind either,” you utter in the smallest voice possible.

it’s loud enough to get kuroo’s attention, though. his head jerks up to meet your gaze, eyes incredulous.

“what was that?” he presses.

“i— i wouldn’t mind either,” you repeat a little louder. his eyes are practically glowing now.

“y/n,” he breathes, “you… want me to be your boyfriend?”

holding your breath, you gather the strength to look him in the eyes. all you can manage is a tiny nod.

this is enough for him though, his face lighting up in an uncontrollable grin. he takes a deep breath, then, lifting his head up and out,

“HEY!!! IF ANYONE OUT THERE CAN HEAR ME, I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT Y/N IS MY GIRL!!!!”

“tetsu—“

“SHE WANTS ME TO BE HER BOYFRIEND!!!!”

“KUROO!! shut the hell up, they’ll hear you all the way in miyagi!”

“let ‘em.” he turns his gaze back to you, grinning as his strong hand squeezes around yours, having never left its place.

you can’t help but smile back at him. despite your embarrassment, the feeling of that hand intertwined with yours is enough to assuage any concerns of what other people might say.

as long as you can keep holding onto him, nothing else matters.

a/n: aight this was absolutely one of my favorites to write for multiple reasons: the first is obviously that i am a big simp for the rooster head man. but i am also a big simp for the sexy 2019 oklahoma! revival and its entire company - ESPECIALLY damon daunno, whose interpretation of curly fits kuroo’s character so well it makes me sick, and could also make me c*m untouched with just his voice. seriously. i am begging you to click on the linked songs at the top of the post (i kinda combined the song with its reprise in act ii for this fic - i suggest listening to both for the full experience) you will thank me i promise. if you want visuals i like this concert performance they did - there’s no staging, but you’ll get to see damon daunno (warning: he is as hot as he sounds) and rebecca naomi jones (equally hot, unfortunately) and that should be enough to ruin your life for now. i’m not even gonna bother linking any performances or recordings that aren’t the 2019 revival, no other version of oklahoma! exists in my mind. n e wayz sorry this author’s note was so long lmao i am very passionate about this one, but i hope you enjoyed it too <3

taglist: @izagraceee @musicgetsmeoutofbed @azo-musxas @tsumurai

[subarus-gentle-butterfly]

"Oh um... I want to help! It's partially my fault, too." Miu crowches down and glances at her ankle before reaching across the floor to pick up the nearby papers. "And I had actually already finished all my work.... I-I was just out... um... because uh..."

What could she possibly use as a cover up for what was going on...? Hm.... Surely, it wouldn't hurt to lie this once? She was already so late in meeting Ayato... Hopefully he wouldn't use this time against her.

"I was heading to the restroom!" Although... every second spent with Roo would be more time to brace herself for whatever the stupid vampire boy would have in mind.

@lucidesunderstander

The papers flew everywhere. All over the staircase. And all over the poor girl that Roo bumped into.

“Agh-! I’m so sorry!” he apologized profusely. “I should’ve watched where I was going!”

It was Roo’s turn this week to fetch the printed assignments for the teacher. And the printer just happened to be on the first years’ floor. Normally, he wouldn’t be down here, being as he was a third year, but, obviously, it was necessary in order to complete the task at hand. And now he was reminded why he never liked walking down the stairwell.

“Do you need help up?” he asked. Although, it didn’t really matter her answer, as he was going to help anyway. Roo gently grabbed the girl’s arm and guided her back onto her feet. “I think we should go see the nurse,” he said. “…Just in case. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

[from @lucidesunderstander ^__^!!]

"E-Eh?" Miu winces at the pain in her ankle, lightly touching it before looking up at her assailant — if this older boy could even be called that. His eyes were full of concern and softness, Miu could read that easily. However, it didn't matter to her ankle. "I'm sorry, I also wasn't really paying attention, it's my fault..." She mumbles as he helps her up, trying not to show that she's in pain. "I-I should be fine, we don't have to see the nurse! But thank you, anyways..."

[residentanchor]

Skirting Around the Problem

I wrote a demiboy Patton fic because! :D

Word Count: 1.3k

Summary: Patton was feeling confident enough to try a skirt but some people are just jerks.

Ship: Moxiety

Warnings: transphobic assholes, insults, threats, insecurity, misgendering, blackmail(kinda)

Patton had really hoped that college was going to be different than high school. 

Not that high school was bad! It was just… absolutely dreadful. All the insecurities piled on top of the hormones and the desperate need to be validated was just a terrible mix. Much like Patton was, everyone else in their graduating class was figuring themselves out. So, they had hoped college was going to be a nice, fresh start! They were going to a college far enough away that they had really, really hoped that it would all be a new experience.

A week in, Patton had learned that it would not be the case.

Some of the popular kids from their high school were there and had run into them. Seeing ‘Patton the shy boy’ in high school didn’t help ‘Patton the bold demiboy’ in college. Seeing them in a pretty floral skirt on a they/them day had torn all of Patton’s confidence away in an instant. The mocking and insults came swiftly as someone took photos to text to everyone back home. This isn’t how Patton wanted to explain everything to their parents. This wasn’t how they wanted to show themselves to the world.

“Should we start calling you Patty now, huh?”

“Yeah! You trying to be a girl or something?!”

When they had put on the grey and blue bow in their hair that day, they had been confident enough to try out a skirt. Of course, this was the day they found some of their old classmates. “I don’t have to be a girl to wear a skirt…”

The group burst out laughing, pointing at Patton as they did so. “Oh yeah?” One of them spoke out. “Says who?”

“I do.”

Patton turned and jumped in surprise. If running into the old popular bullies from high school was a shock, Patton didn’t see this one coming at all. The school punk, the scary kid at the back of the class. The one no one dared mess with… was standing right behind them.

Virgil seemed taller than Patton remembered, but maybe that’s because they had never really been this close. Virgil was wearing a new purple hoodie, with the hood up of course, and a leather jacket on top. His hair was newly dyed purple, brighter than the last time Patton had seen it. They looked just as bored and as intimidating as they remembered him to be, however. 

“Oh, look who it is! You coming to protect your new girlfriend?” One of the bullies taunted.

Virgil’s blank expression didn’t change before he looked down at Patton. “Your pronouns?”

“H-huh?”

“Your pronouns? What are they?”

Patton jumped after they realized what Virgil was asking. “Oh! Um, he/him?”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, the first change of expression Patton had seen. “Are you asking me or telling me?” His eyes shifted a bit before flickering back down to Patton’s. “Your bow, is it the demiboy flag or is that a coincidence? Do you use they/them as well?”

“I knew you were all talk!” One of the bullies cut them off, not letting Patton answer. “Bet all those rumors about you were fake!”

Virgil took a step forward and placed a hand on Patton’s shoulder. “Let me handle this.”

The bullies let out a collective ‘Ooooh’ as Virgil stepped between Patton and the rest of the group. “Gonna do something about it, emo boy?”

Virgil frowned and stood up tall. Patton had realized he always slouched a bit, but seeing Virgil at his full height was a bit of a shock. He was easily over 6 feet, but Patton wasn’t going to ask just how tall he was. 

“I do have a problem. You make fun of someone and misgender them, of course I’m gonna have a problem.” 

The head bully started laughing as he smiled at Virgil. “Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?”

“I don’t know, Paul. You tell me?” The head bully, Paul, laughed as all of his friends joined in. “If all people who wear skirts and dresses are girls, should I start calling you Pauline?”

Paul immediately grew angry as the laughter stopped. “You saying I wear skirts?”

Virgil looked away with a bored expression. “I’m not saying anything. I just know you like wearing that blue dress you keep in the back of your closet when no one’s around. Maybe don’t pick on other people because you are afraid what you see in yourself, huh?”

Paul bared his teeth and squared his shoulders, immediately becoming defensive. “You got proof, huh tough guy? Or are you just asking me to knock some sense into you?”

“Yes.” Paul froze at Virgil’s still very bored expression as he dug a phone out of his pocket. “About the proof, I mean. Would you like your friends to see?” He looked down and began typing away with his one hand. “It hugs your form nicely. It genuinely is a nice color on you.” Virgil stopped and looked up. “Or you can leave Patton alone and delete all the photos you took of them.”

“You’re bluffing.”

Paul looked unsure as his friends behind him began to whisper amongst themselves. Virgil took out his other hand from his jacket and began typing away at his phone quickly. “I can upload it right now if you want?”

All the color from Paul’s face washed away as he leaned back. His friends began to laugh and he turned around, panicking. “Shush! There is no photo! I never wore a dress!”

“Hmm, maybe,” Virgil spoke up. “You just have to walk away right now and leave Patton alone.”

With a huff, Paul turned around and waved at his friends. “Come on, guys. Let's get out of here.”

There were barely a few feet away before Virgil called out to them. “Paul! You ever wanna talk, I’ll delete it!” They didn’t act as they heard them as they walked away.

Patton watched in awe and took a few steps closer, peeking over at Virgil’s phone. A photo was displayed right on the front, just as Virgil had said. It looked like a surprise photo of Paul in a powder blue dress as he was caught by surprise. Patton barely got a glance before Virgil tapped away and pocketed it once more. “Y-you had a photo?”

“Yeah, but I’d never share it. I’d never sink that low.” Virgil kept his eyes on the retreating group as he spoke. “Paul only calls you names because he sees himself in you and that scares him. He’s jealous because you’re braver than he is.” Virgil turned and smiled down at Patton, causing their heart to flutter. “Name’s Virgil.”

“I know! We, ah, we went to high school together?”

Virgil turned and looked surprised this time. “You remember me?”

Patton stuttered a bit at the response. “Remember you? You were the coolest kid in school! Everyone was too afraid to bother you!”

“Ah, a lonely existence. Very unlike you, Patton. Always talking to people, surrounded by friends…”

They ducked their head away and grabbed their skirt in their hands, swaying it back and forth. “Ah, I just didn’t like being alone.”

“So, was I right?” Patton looked up and Virgil pointed at their bow. “A demiboy?”

“Oh, yes! It’s a bit more of a they/them kind of day but I wouldn’t mind either today, honestly.” Patton looked back down at their skirt. “I was feeling a bit confident but it was probably a bad idea.”

“The skirt? Why is it a bad idea?”

“Well, it’s kind of asking to be picked on, isn’t it?”

“No.” Patton looked back up and saw the serious look on Virgil’s face. He wasn’t kidding. “Absolutely not. It’s not your fault that they’re dicks. You should be able to wear what makes you comfortable without having to worry about someone saying something.”

“Well, that’s a nice thought but…”

“Not a thought, not while I’m around.” Patton looked up at Virgil, eyes widening and… was that a blush on Virgil’s face? “Ah, where are you headed? I only had one early morning class and I’m free for the day. I could escort you?”

Patton couldn’t stop smiling if they tried. “That would be wonderful!”

---

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[virgyvandijk]

Ok so! Single!Parent Virgil and Reception teacher Hendo👀

virgil is new to the area, moved after a bad divorce. it wasn’t anyone’s fault, really – his ex wife wasn’t well after she had roos and she couldn’t bond with her. virgil absolutely loved his little girl and was more than happy about having sole custody. in fact, he saw it as a blessing

they moved to rotterdam, into a sweet little cottage that backed onto the water, in nesselande. it was perfect for roos – a huge park just down the road, a lake with a section of beach, and the company that virgil worked for had an office in the district. he loved the house, too, and he knew that they’d be really, really happy there

he takes roos to the park and meets one of the mums there. she says that the local primary school is brilliant and that virgil should go along in the morning to talk to them about getting his little girl to start asap. she gives him her number when she leaves, and he promises he’ll let her know how it goes

he gets roos up at the crack of dawn because he wants her to look presentable and make a good impression. she’s not happy about it – she definitely got her grumpiness in the mornings off him, but he perseveres. he knows that the teachers won’t have time to chat when school actually starts, so they go in early 

there’s only one teacher there. he introduces himself and roos at the reception window and mentions that he’s new to the area, plays it up a bit and mentions that he’s on his own. it doesn’t hurt to play on the fact that he’s a single dad, because elderly women love that and do anything they can to help him out

this time isn’t any different. the receptionist shows him to one of the classrooms, tells him that jordan henderson is their best teacher. the kids love him, apparently, and all the parents are desperate for their children to be in his class. luckily, she says with a wink, an opening has come up in his class this morning 

the teacher looks up when they walk in, smiles when the receptionist explains why virgil is here. he stands up, steps around his desk, and holds his hand out for virgil to shake. laughs when jordan calls him mr henderson, and says, just jordan is fine, really

he’s kind, smart, clever. tells virgil all he needs to know about the school, about the other parents, even about himself. he explains that he loves the kids, that he’d do anything for them. that he loves to watch them grow and learn and expand their minds

“sorry – your accent,” virgil says suddenly. “you’re not from here, are you?”

jordan laughs. “is my dutch that bad?” he asks, and dismisses virgil when he flushes red and apologises. “no, i’m not. i’m from sunderland, but i moved here when i was 21 and fresh out of uni. my options back home were limited, and i fancied a change, so i came here and fell in love with the place. i’ve never looked back.” 

just before virgil leaves, jordan tells him that the place is open for roos if he wants it. he smiles, because of course he’s going to accept it, but he still wants to talk to roos first. she’s the most important thing in all of this, and he likes to include her in all plans that are about her

he’s not accepting the place because jordan is attractive, either 

but maybe that’s just a tiny, tiny part of the reason why. still, it doesn’t hurt to look

roos is excited about it. she misses her old friends and hates being cooped up in the house, but she understood why they had to move. now, virgil explains, she gets to go to a new school and make new friends. he tells her that her teacher is really really nice and his name is mr jordan, and he’s pretty sure she starts counting down the days until she starts

mirella is lovely. her partner, gini, is there too, and he and virgil get on like a house on fire. roos seems to have found a new best friend in their son, and virgil feels a lot more relaxed about everything now

roos’s first day at school comes round quicker than virgil expected. he fusses over her, makes sure she’s had a good breakfast, does her hair nicely, takes pictures of her in her little uniform. it’s hard to leave her at the door of the classroom, but jordan squeezes virgil’s arm and promises that she’ll be fine, and that’s all it takes to convince him

life goes well. she’s constantly getting praised at school, has plenty of friends, and virgil is so proud of her. he’s getting on well, too – gini and mirella become his best friends and his support network when he needs it, and his job is going even better than he expected. the move really was what they needed, and he’s glad it’s paying off 

he sees jordan at drop off and pick up, and occasionally volunteers to help out on trips. they still get on well, and virgil still fancies him (even more probably, now he’s gotten to know him). he’s getting very good at ignoring it though, because roos has always come first

until one day, when gini picks up his son instead of mirella. he doesn’t say anything, just watches virgil talk to jordan, and then when they get back to virgil’s, he smirks and says, “so you and mr henderson, yeah?”

“um, no,” virgil says, before he can even think about it. his burning cheeks are giving him away though, and gini just smirks. “he’s just a nice person. i don’t fancy him.”

“i didn’t say anything about you fancying him,” gini says with a tut, knocking his knee against virgil’s. “why haven’t you asked him out, then? you’re clearly into him, virgil - and i’d say that he’s into you, too.”

“he’s roos’s teacher,” virgil sighs. “isn’t it just - wrong?”

“if he doesn’t think so, and you don’t either, then just go for it,” gini says, giving virgil’s arm an encouraging squeeze. “you won’t know if you don’t ask, virg.”

he thinks about it and decides that he will ask. not yet, because he feels like he needs a plan, but gini was right. he’ll only regret it if he doesn’t try

he asks towards the end of the school year. it’s early july, a nice warm evening, and it just feels - right. roos gets so much praise, about her intelligence and her kindness, and virgil is so proud of her

jordan ends it with, is it any wonder with a father like you?

virgil takes a deep breath, glances over his shoulder to make sure nobody else is around. “look, i don’t normally do this - and i understand if you say no - but... would you like to go for a drink?” he asks

“as a date?” jordan asks, leaning across the table

“as a date,” virgil confirms, even though his cheeks are burning

jordan stays silent for a minute, considering, and then he smiles. “i’d like that,” he says, and that’s all it takes

their date is great. virgil hasn’t laughed so much in a long time, hasn’t ever wanted to make someone laugh so much. he cares about what jordan thinks and that’s — that’s special. that’s new

“i don’t normally do this,” virgil says, and it reminds both of them of when he asked jordan out. jordan flushes bright red and nods, because he knows what virgil is saying without hearing the words, and reaches out to take his hand

he gets waken up by a tiny hand patting his arm, and roos’s big brown eyes staring at him. she’s clutching her favourite teddy, still in her bambi pyjamas and she asks, “daddy, why is mr jordan in the kitchen?”

“because he’s daddy’s friend,” virgil says softly, sitting up and pulling roos onto his lap. it’s the best way he can think of describing it.

roos pauses for a second, looks like she’s deep in thought. “good,” she says decisively, nodding her head all serious. she’s 5 going on 15, his daughter. “i like mr. jordan.”

“sorry,” jordan says sheepishly, padding back into the room. he’s got two mugs in his hands, passing one to virgil, and he’s wearing virgil’s joggers and t-shirt. he looks like he belongs, and it takes virgil’s breath away. “i didn’t really know what to do. should i have waited?”

“it’s fine,” virgil says, can’t stop the beaming smile that’s spreading over his face. roos climbs onto the bed and sits between them, and jordan cards a hand through her wild curls. “i don’t think we could have done this any better.”

[ashley-incharge]

Going for a little less misery | Ashroo

Roo meets with Ashley to help her out and Ashley...is Ashley [dated: May 14th]

@littlemister-roo

ROO:

Roo knew he must be crazy. Why was he going through the trouble of getting anything for Ashley when she rarely treated him as anything but an idiot? Clearly he was way too soft. But whatever. It still seemed like the right thing to do. She'd mentioned the stretch marks and how much they upset her and he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask his mom if there was anything to be done. She was a nurse after all and she'd probably had the same experience when she'd been pregnant all those years ago. Sure enough, she'd come through and had brought home some super moisturizing goopy stuff from the hospital that was supposed to help.

So he'd texted Ashley and asked her to meet him at the park—he had no desire to go to her bestie's house and endure murderous stares from the redhead. Seriously, he was pretty sure the girl wanted to hurt him. He reached the meeting point first, for once, and settled himself on the park bench, placing the paper bag containing the tub of goop beside him. He pulled out his sketch pad and pencil form his backpack and set to drawing the scenery around him as he waited.

ASHLEY:

Ashley hadn't exactly stayed out of touch with Roo. She didn't like to give details of her life to anyone, but considering the fact that he had helped put her in the position she was in...well she bitched. Yeah. She definitely bitched when she saw these horrid marks starting to form on her thighs, her boobs, her hips...and of course the belly itself, though they weren't that extreme yet. Extreme or not, they were ugly to Ashley, and she had to bemoan this fact to someone. That someone was Roo. At seventeen weeks, Ashley was definitely feeling pregnant.

The round curve to her stomach was undeniable. As she made her way out toward the park, she'd selected a comfortable pair of leggings and a stretchy top that showed her body off while it was still somewhat nice. As a result some bitch thought she could just put her hand on Ashley's stomach. Ashley was unashamed to say she kicked the woman before continuing on her way to the park. Any idiot that thought they could touch Ashley would pay for it. She glanced around the park for a long minute before she finally spotted Roo, making her way over and settling down next to him before he could get the chance to see her approach. She was feeling pregnant and self conscious about it. "So...what's up? Did you want to know about the next doctor's appointment?"

ROO:

"Oh, hi Ashley! It's so good to see you! I hope you are doing well!" Roo teased, chuckling in response to her curt greeting. He was used to her being grumpy, though he wasn't sure if she was always like that or just when she was around him. It didn't really matter, he supposed, and chose to just shrug it off. "And sure, I want to know about the doctor's appointment, but I would have just texted you about that." He gestured to the paper bag between them. "My mom got this stuff from work and says it should help with you, umm, skin problem." She'd been pretty mad about the stretch marks so he didn't want to say the words in case it set her off.

ASHLEY:

Why did Roo have to be so stupidly nice all the time? It wasn't doing him any favors. In her opinion anyway. Even if he was joking around. She couldn't help but sigh, running a hand through her hair and making a face at him. "Nice to see you too I guess." Not really, but they were kind of in this together. She felt less guilty about bitching to him than she did with her girls. Her girls understood her but they..well. Ashley didn't want to force them to hear about the baby all the time. She couldn't help but be startled by the bag, and she cautiously peeked into it before reaching in to study the stuff that could help with her stretch marks. It was surprisingly thoughtful, and Ashley didn't know what to do with that. 

"Thank you...you didn't have to do this," she pointed out, because he didn't. And Ashley didn't really want to owe him anything...but it was nice. She hated her stretch marks. She hated the way her body was changing. She had a lot to be frustrated by. She took the container out to study it a bit more carefully, her other hand tracing over her stomach absentmindedly. "This really works?"

ROO:

Roo snorted. He was pretty sure she didn't mean it, but at least she was trying. Sort of. And of course he didn't have to do anything, but—he figured that if they were in this together, he could make an effort to make her life a little less miserable. Maybe if she was less miserable, she would be nicer to him? It was a long shot, but worth it.  Besides—it just seemed like the right thing to do. And after talking more with his mom about her experience as a pregnant teenage girl, he wanted to do his best to be sure that Ashley didn't feel alone in this. "Supposedly," he shrugged. "My mom says it does. She's a nurse and usually knows what she's talking about. I guess its suppose to make stuff hurt less and if you use it daily the, um, problem should fade in time."

ASHLEY:

Ashley hummed. "Well I'll take it. Anything to make my body look less gross." And okay, the stretch marks weren't that bad yet, but it would only get worse right? She felt fat already and she wasn't that far into the pregnancy! The stretch marks would undoubtedly get worse. She carefully placed the stuff back into the bag and turned to face Roo. "Since you're here, I was wondering if you could do me a slight favor?" Up until now, she had been documenting this pregnancy with her phone mostly and trying to get decent angles of her stomach on her own, but she was no miracle worker. "Would you take a picture of me? Or pictures? I can't decide if it's better to just have a picture like this or if I want to lift my shirt and get a shot like that too you know? And I'm going to make our kid a photo album."

ROO:

Roo blinked. She wanted him to—take a picture? Of her? He was surprised that she was asking for help, even for something small like that. And even more surprised that she wanted him to do something that would involve him looking at her for more than two seconds at a time—he had the feeling she didn't want any more of his attention than was absolutely necessary. But he was glad to help. Besides, making a photo album for the baby seemed like a good idea. Their circumstance was not exactly ideal but that wasn't the baby's fault, now was it? "Umm, ok. I can do that, sure!" He glanced around. "Like, with your phone? Or...what?"

ASHLEY:

Ashley snorted. "Yes with my phone. I don't have a good quality camera on me." She didn't really when she'd been taking the pictures she had so far. She reached into her purse, tugging out her phone and unlocking it for the camera setting quickly, offering it up to Roo so she could get it over with. She realized this meant she was going to have him look at her, but well. Ashley usually liked people looking at her, and she'd just ignore it if he said anything weird. "I kind of want a front profile and a side profile picture. I think that'd be good. Don't you?"

ROO:

"Sure, sure," Roo agreed easily, taking the phone from her and stepping back to look over his subject. What? He may not be a photographer, but he was an artist and had an eye for this sort of thing. He frowned. It was the middle of the day and sun was high in the sky, which meant that the shadows on her face made her look really splotchy. He knew she'd hate that. "Why don't you stand underneath that tree?" he suggested, gesturing to a shady spot just a few yards away. "The lighting is way better there and I think you'll be much happier with the end result."

ASHLEY:

Ashley was surprised that Roo took it so seriously, but she wasn't going to complain. Her baby deserved the best pictures, and if he was going to capture her properly, the right lighting would be better too. She moved over to the spot he pointed to, turning so she faced him head on first, a hand resting lightly just under her bump. "How's this then? Better? Can you even really see my stomach like this?"

ROO:

Roo grinned, nodding with satisfaction. "Yeah, that's a million times better!" His lips pursed thoughtfully as she struck her pose, however. She was right, from straight on, it was hard to tell that there was a belly that was supposed to be the focus of the picture. He knew exactly how he would solve the problem if he was drawing her—a strategically drawn curve at the top and bottom along with a bit of shading would define it nicely. But how to do it with a camera? "Hmmm, no actually. You have a point. It's hard to tell from this angle but—oh!" His eyes brightened as he noticed the way her hand rested at the bottom of her stomach. "What if you put your other hand on top of your belly? I think that would show it off really nicely."

ASHLEY:

Ashley hummed. "You're right that might work. After that we can probably get the side profile. That'll definitely show better than this." She knew that much at least. The front profile would be interesting to have too though. She wanted to have that. So she went ahead and put her other hand on top of the bump. "Okay...how's that? Better? Does it look okay?"

ROO:

"Perfect!" Roo touched his thumb and forefinger together in an 'a-ok' sign. "Alright, now you just need to smile. C'mon just think about how gorgeous you are, that ought to do it." Was he laying it on thick? Maybe just a little. But he wanted her to smile, pretty sure she wouldn't be happy with the photos if she was doing that scowl thing she did whenever he was around in every pic. Once he'd lined up the shot and snapped the photo, he said, "Wait, don't move. I wanna get one more—" Before she could react, he whirled around, putting his back to her and raised the phone up to snap a quick selfie with her (baby belly and all) in the background. "There, now there's at least one with me in it," he laughed, hoping that if he acted natural, she'd go along with it and not murder him with one of her death glares. "Now, turn to the side and we can get that profile pic real quick."

ASHLEY:

Ashley snorted, though she did manage enough of a smile for the first picture. Flattery always worked pretty well on her, and she was pretty sure that he knew that. It was embarrassing. But oh well. At least there would be a good picture of her. She was feeling pretty good about it until that idiot went and snapped a selfie of the two of them just like that. "Hey! You could have just asked you asshole!" Ashley was indignant, a scowl forming on her face. "If you just asked I probably would have given you a picture. Our baby could have one shot of both her parents together." Still, she should just move on. Get the other picture she needed and get the hell out of there. That would suit her best. She turned to the side, a hand rubbing over the bump that she had. "Better this way isn't it? I mean you can really see it right?"May 12, 2020

ROO:

Roo tried not to laugh, really he did. But he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy getting a rise out of her on his terms once in awhile. Just like old times—old times being, what? Like nine or ten months ago? Back when things were way more simple, or as simple as anything involving Ashley could be anyways. "I could have asked, but where's the fun in that?" He grinned crookedly before turning his focus back on her pose. "Yeah, it's definitely noticeable this way. You picked a good shirt for this, which helps." He raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to one side as he asked, "Have you ever thought about modeling, by the way? Because I have to say, you look good, Ashley." There, another compliment to try and smooth things over.

ASHLEY:

Ashley scoffed. "I don't know, maybe a semi decent conversation for once would be good for you." Not that she cared that much really. It didn't matter. As long as they worked together enough for the baby, Ashley wouldn't care what he did. A smile spread across her face, and she tossed some of her hair over her shoulder. "You know I did consider it. Especially now that I am pregnant to be honest. I must be the hottest pregnant chick in town right now. Modeling would be a smart move." She traced a thumb over her stomach, glancing down at it with a litlte smile. "I look pretty good for a pregnant chick."

ROO:

Roo rolled his eyes, though he was still laughing. There was no such thing as a semi decent conversation when it came to Ashley. Had he asked for a picture with her, he was sure she would have mocked him. At least this way, he could play it off as a joke. It stung less that way. Those feeling feelings vanished, however, as she smiled genuinely and began to preen. At least he was getting better at judging how to put her into a better mood. He smirked, snapping photos while she preened and then caught that last one as she looked down, still smiling. There was something so soft and intimate about the gesture, it took his breath away. "You are definitely the hottest pregnant chick in town," he said, clearing his throat and pretending he wasn't gawking at her like an idiot. "You should totally do it. And here—" he walked over and handed her the phone. "Check these and see if they work for you. I can retake them if you want."

ASHLEY:

Ashley laughed. "Well I'm glad you can agree with me. There are a few out there in town these days." But Ashley didn't think they held a candle to her. And modeling the belly would be fun. Maybe she should do it. She just wasn't sure how she'd get herself into it. But the money might be worth it. She reached out for Roo's phone, carefully scanning through the photos he'd taken. "These are great. Thank you. Really. I want to document as much as possible you know? My mom didn't really do that for us and...I don't know...I think it's important."

ROO:

"I get that," Roo agreed, sincere. "My mom did a little, more after I was born though since she was alone, ya know? And even though I think the photos are totally embarrassing," he laughed, "It also means a lot to me to know that she cared enough to do it." Though he had no illusions of a future where he and Ashley were settled down as some loving, happy couple, he was going to do his damndest to do his part to make sure their baby knew they were cared for and loved. "Seriously, Ashley. I know you said you've been taking photos every week, so if you need me to snap a few for you, just let me know." His soft smile shifted to a grin and he winked. "And I promise, no more selfies without permission."

ASHLEY:

"She clearly loves you. It doesn't take a genius to see that much." Ashley was a little jealous of it at times, though she would never admit to that. Roo had a mother around who cared about him, who didn't treat him like the plague for having knocked a girl up (though she supposed it might be different too being the boy in this story). He was a lucky kid. He got to stay at home where he belonged. Ashley in the meantime would wonder and worry over whether her brother and sister were well fed. If her parents had thought to make sure they did their homework well or whatever. Those were things she worried about, just as she worried about whether she could even be a good mom to the kid she was carrying. Looking at her family history it didn't seem promising. "Well then maybe you can help me with my week by week photography. I want to have a progression you know? Some people do it with videos, I want to do it with pictures. I want to document the journey. Really. And...I mean I don't want pictures we don't agree on, but I suppose pictures of you would also be warranted. Especially if you gained sympathy weight."

ROO:

Of course his mom loved him. Roo had never once doubted that, in spite of his fury over the secrets and lies that had been the beginning of all of this mess. And he knew just enough about Ashley's family to be all the more thankful for his own mother and her care for him over the years. He snorted. "I can't make any promises about the sympathy weight thing, but I'll sure try if that's what it takes to make it into the baby book." He grinned at her, thinking it was nice when they got along and hoped this could continue. "And sure, I'd be glad to help with the weekly pics. Just say the word and I'm there."

ASHLEY:

"It doesn't require weight gain on your part really. The kid deserves to know what their dad was like at this point in time." Even if Ashley didn't like him and would prefer to make the book exclusively about her. It wasn't. She knew that it wasn't. Ashley turned toward Roo and smiled. "Oh I will. Don't worry. I don't want to skip a week like last week because I couldn't get a good angle. You're in for it now Romeo."May 13, 2020

ROO:

Roo couldn't help but grin hopefully. Maybe this teen parenting teamwork thing wouldn't be so hard after all? If she truly hated him, she'd be doing everything her power to keep him out of the baby's life, right? "Good," he replied with a grin. "I'm here for it." He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and checked it real quick. "Oh shoot, that was my alarm. My lunch break is almost over and I gotta get back to the Barn." He eyed her questioningly. "Need anything else from me? Or are we good for now?"

ASHLEY:

Ashley snorted. "You better be honest about that one. Because I want the best pictures I can get. If I wanted to model the pics should be so good that I theoretically could." She replied and then snorted. "No okay, mostly kidding. But I do want them to turn out nice." Her eyebrows shot up at the alarm. She wanted to say something snarky, but the guy needed that job. Ashley didn't have one, and their kid would probably be an expensive little gift. "No no. Go on then. I'll let you know if anything comes up."

[lilsherlockian1975]

Made a customer apologize to me last night, just for coming into the store...

First of all, I must explain that every person in town waited until YESTERDAY to buy Easter candy/plastic eggs/grass. I got to work at 1.30pm and I swear the line was never shorter than 5 deep. By 6pm we had no eggs. We had no grass. We were Peepsless!!! "I'm sorry, we're out of plastic eggs"- "How can you be out!?!" -".....we...sold...them...all" 😒 (you dinkas!)

Also, let me say that I really like my job and am usually very nice even to the nastiest customer and am quite ashamed of my behavior last night. Everyone has off nights, though.

We close at 10pm but people just kept coming and coming and coming. The hours are clearly posted. I always start vacuuming at 9.30, but not last night, no. At 9.37 I finally get a moment to get out my new fancy vacuum. By the third time of having to stop and check out a customer, I'm at my wit's end. Look, I'm fully aware that this isn't 'their' fault- that I'm just tired and stressed from moving (and I can't find my work shoes- had to wear pair a 14 year old Roos™ that felt working barefoot for 8 hours), but I digress... Dude walks up to the register and I cut off my vacuum once again. I look down and he's got nothing but a snack sized bag of Doritos. I must have given him a death stare because his eyes go wide. "Um..." he says. I say, "is that all?" through gritted teeth. "Yeah, um, you've had to stop..." he motions to my vacuum. "You're my 4th." I pause. "For Doritos." - "oh, wow. I'm...so sorry." - "you should be." I ring him out. "Ah, c-can I tip you?" I cross my arms. "No. I'd have to give it to the store." - "I am really sorry." - "not your fault. I shouldn't have snapped at you," I tell him, "but this day has been harder than giving birth." He laughs awkwardly and says, "and you don't even get a pretty baby at the end. Can I finish vacuuming for you?" (Now I feel like shit). "No, just don't call corporate for my bad day." - He's all, "oh, of course not!" By this time it's well after 10 and 4 more customers have walked in. We didn't get out until 10.20😠

[ticklishhpickle]

Worth The Whisk (4/?)

Summary: When superhero Dan Howell gets paired up with fellow hero and arch nemesis Phil Lester for an important mission, he’s pissed beyond belief. But as the two are forced to work together to take down the evil Dr.Bickletwist, Dan finds Phil might not be as awful as he first thought… (Phan superhero AU) 

Previous Chapter

Ao3 link

Dan was walking down the hallway with Tyler, dreading the mission ahead of him. He’d spent the whole weekend studying the papers the commander had given him and it was safe to say he was extremely well-prepared for the mission of hell with a certain black-haired man. Phil had interrupted him many times too, turning up to his and Tyler’s dorm, obviously in a panic and asking Dan about the tiniest , most insignificant details about Dr.Bickletwist. Dan was all for being well-prepared for the mission, but being enemies with Phil, it was just annoying.

The last time Phil had ‘visited’ Dan had kicked him out abruptly, slamming the door in his face seconds before hearing Phil swearing his revenge on the boy. Dan guessed it was kind of his fault for doing that, it would just serve to make the next day, or days, or weeks- however long it would take to defeat the villain- even more awkward.

“Excited for your mission, whiskorino?” Tyler chirped, in a suspiciously happy mood considering his best friend was leaving on a potentially life-threatening mission.

“No. To the nickname and your question. Of course not. Phil and I had another fight yesterday so it’s going to be even more awkward now! I literally cannot wait until this whole thing is over and Bickle is behind bars where he belongs.” Dan huffed, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, why are you in such a good mood? Aren’t you gonna miss me?” Dan asked teasingly, though secretly he was insecure about the fact that Tyler might not miss him as much as he was going to miss Tyler.

“Oh, of course I’ll miss you. I’m just really happy you’re gonna get to go on this mission of a lifetime! You’re gonna go down in history, Dan! You’ll be as well known as the Ocean Liner himself!” Tyler exclaimed, his blue eyes lighting up excitedly.

“Yeah, as if. No way someone like me could ever be as good as the commander. But I appreciate the sentiment, Tyler. I’ll try and make you proud.”

“Well I think not, but okay. And you will make me proud, as long as you try.”

The two friends walked for a couple seconds in comfortable silence, finally reaching the spot Dan was meeting Phil and the commander before Tyler stopped suddenly and grabbed Dan’s arm.

“Wait! Before you go, I have something for you. The first, is a piece of advice. Don’t let your hatred for Mr. Sunshine get in the way of the mission. There’s no way you’ll be able to do this alone, as great as I think you are. You have to work together.” Tyler said, all traces of the usual humour and jovialness gone from his face.

Dan sighed and rolled his eyes. He’d heard this a million times before, it was getting old and no one seemed to understand that Phil was well, kind of an ass.

“No, Dan. Listen to me. I don’t want you to ignore me on this, I hate being serious almost as much as you do but you need to take my advice.”

Dan looked at his friend’s face, feeling ashamed of his admittedly immature behaviour.

“Alright, fine. I’ll keep it in mind. And what’s the second thing?”

A huge grin spread across Tyler’s face, replacing the stern look that was previously occupying it. His hands twitched in excitement.

“Oh ho ho, mister Howell. You’re gonna love this.” Tyler reached into his pocket, felt around for a few seconds and extracted something small that he kept covered with his hands before bringing it to Dan’s face.

Tyler opened his hands like a clam.

“TA-DA!!!” he giggled, studying Dan’s face intently for a reaction.

Dan’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor and his eyes widened in rage or shock- he wasn’t really sure which, probably a mixture of both. Insider Tyler’s soft baby hands lay a teeny-tiny whisk on the end of a thin silver chain, shining innocently in the bright lights of the corridor.

Dan looked at Tyler with a face straighter than Tyler (and Dan’s) sexuality. He took a deep breath in to calm himself, and then breathed out. He looked at the ground, refusing to meet Tyler’s excited gaze.

“Tyler, you’re literally half a whisk joke away from me leaving your gay ass behind and getting a new best friend.”

Tyler scoffed.

“Yeah, good luck with that one, your equally-as-gay ass is as intolerable as mine. And I promise you this whisk-lace is not just for aesthetic appeal. It has a function too.” “I’m actually bi but whatever… Tell me what the function is then, if you want me to actually keep it.”

“All I’m gonna say Danny, is that they don’t call me the Flame-ingo for nothing. And you’ll regret it if you don’t bring it with you, trust me. But only use it in an ABSOLUTE emergency, you hear me?” Tyler poked Dan’s chest sternly, smiling gleefully.

“Ugh, fuck it. I’m already going on this stupid fucking mission with Lester, could wearing this whisklace really be any worse than that? I managed to escape one shitty name from hero school, I guess the universe wasn’t kind enough to let me escape my actual hero name.” Dan sighed and took the necklace from Tyler’s hand, making sure to put it on backwards so that it would be hidden by his cape.

“Oh, you mean ‘Dani snot on fire?’ I remember that! No one even said it correctly by the third week of year eight! Who even thought of that dumb name?”

“Uhm, it may have been me…” Dan admitted sheepishly.

Tyler nearly cried out in shock and delight, but Dan quickly put a hand over his mouth to stop any sound from escaping.

He looked around before lowering his voice to a small whisper. “Look, I don’t tell a lot of people, or anyone really, this. But as you know, my lesser known power is that I’m immune to burns and fire, so I thought it would be… cool to, you know, call myself ‘Dan is not on fire’. It was an ironic thing, really, and I was twelve but it took so damn long to shake off that name. It still haunts me to this day.” Dan cringed at his old self.

“Anyway, you are never to speak of this to anyone. If anyone asks, you still have no idea who thought of that dumb-ass name.”

Tyler was red in the face, clearly trying to hold back a dramatic fit of giggles. “Mm-hm!” he squeaked out, his voice being muffled by Dan’s hand.

“Now swear you’ll never speak of this to anyone. This is my darkest secret. I memed myself over.” Dan looked Tyler in the eyes sternly and lowered his hand off Tyler’s mouth cautiously.

“Okay, whisk-o. I won’t. But you can’t forget about the whisk. Just promise me that, okay?”

“Okay, I won’t. Thank you Tyler, for everything really. And if I don’t come back-”

“No! Don’t say that, you will!” Tyler rebuffed dramatically, not wanting to believe it.

“Tyler, it’s a possibility. If Dr.Bickletwist twists me over, just know that I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for me, despite your excessive whisk jokes. Thank you.” Dan smiled at Tyler before putting the code into the door and walking out.

“You’re welcome! Come home soon, I’m nothing without my number one whisk-a-roo!” Tyler joked, but Dan could see the tears welling in his eyes.

Dan quickly ran back to his friend, wrapping him in a hug. “This is stupid, we know I’ll be fine. I’ve been on so many missions before. I’ll come back soon, we’re being ridiculous. That bickle is no match for me.” He squeezed Tyler tighter in the hug.

“You’re right, I’m just really emotional because I think Louise’s period is coming soon and-”

Dan looked at his friend quizzically.

“You know that shouldn’t really affect your body, right? Just Louise’s.”

“O-oh. Um, I knew that.” Tyler sniffled.

“If you say so, Tyler. If you say so.” -

It had taken Dan a good few minutes to pry the flaming homosexual off of him, causing him to be a little late for take off. The commander was not happy.

“Daniel, I hope you know this is your second strike for tardiness. When i set a time for you to leave for a mission I expect you to be there at that time, not fifteen minutes after.”

Dan shrunk into himself, embarrassed that he’d let it happen again. It wasn’t his fault though, Tyler was literally clinging to him like a limpet.

“Sorry, it won’t happen again. Tyler had a little trouble saying goodbye… he’s very attached.” Dan said sheepishly.

“Well you and your boyfriend are going to have to find a way to be apart for a couple of days if you actually care enough to defeat Dr.Bickletwist, Dan.” Phil spat out saltily, particularly enunciating the word ‘boyfriend’ with venom.

Dan narrowed his eyes at Phil for what was probably the billionth time in his existence. “He’s not my boyfriend and even if he was he’s allowed to be upset that I’m leaving for a while even if it’s not going to be that long.”

Phil opened his mouth to retort but the commander stopped him.

“Daniel, Philip, I think it’s time you two stopped acting like children and starting acting like the heroes I’ve trained you to be. We don’t have time for your childish bickering.” The commander’s voice was sharp and cold, shutting the both of them up immediately.

The commander smiled when the silence was sustained after a few seconds. “Good. Now take these. They have everything you need in them.” The commander handed Dan and Phil identical compact purses. They did look small, but Dan knew they would probably carry fifty times the amount they looked like they should. The Ocean Liner was good at what he did.

“Don’t complain about the design. It looks great and you know it. Now off with you two.”

Dan awkwardly stuffed the purse into his pants, making it look like he had a hernia. He didn’t bother to fix it, today was already way too long and tiring.

The two men walked to the take off zone as slowly as the Ocean Liner would allow, which was not very slow at all. Dan looked down at his feet, up at his commander and finally directly at Phil. He exhaled slowly before hovering in the air. This was going to be his longest, hardest mission yet. An indefinite amount of time spent with his enemy was the last thing he wanted, or quite frankly needed at the moment, but he was going to have to do it. It would be worth it. Worth it for justice.

Next Chapter

[monaisme]

Day 17: field surgery

Day 17: field surgery

“I can’t believe that Mr. Harrington thinks this can make up for the whole MOMA thing.” Flash whined. “Seriously, guys? Camping?!” He spit out the word with a disdain Peter hadn’t heard from Flash since before The Blip, and that had been when he was talking about Peter.

Huh. Maybe things were finally starting to normalize?

“You didn’t have to come, you know that, right?” MJ replied to his complaint. “Seriously, Flash. It’s been five years. Can you maybe stop being so—“

“Hey! Look, everyone,” Mister Harrington interrupted before they could find out what MJ was going to say. “I know we’ve all had an interesting stretch with everything that’s happened over the last while, but this is an opportunity for us to all get to know each other outside of the chaos and distraction of the world...”

Mr. Harrington continued to drone on, but Peter was distracted by what he’d said. It went without saying that the world was definitely a place of chaos—Homeless rates were up all over the globe, domestic violence was on the increase, and suicide rate were... well.  After the fourth stumbled upon attempt, Peter had taken a couple of training sessions with a Sam to better be able to deal with all of the sadness out there. And there was so much sadness.

Yeah, Peter really needed to be back in the city. This was frivolous! He should have put his foot down—

But Ned wanted him to go.

May wanted him to go.

And then Mr. Stark had insisted that he go. “C’mon, Roo,” he’d urged. “You deserve a break. It’s hasn’t been that long and already we can all see you’re over-stressed. With the Junior Avenger training and helping with Morgan and then my physio plus working on my prosthetic for when my arm heals... and then school, homework and decathlon ON TOP of Spider-Manning!? Go on the damned trip Peter.”

Peter had still been hesitant and then Mr. Stark tossed in the whole, “Hey! It’s a Friday morning to Monday night. Only four sleeps, kiddo. If nothing else, this can be a practice trip for when you do Europe in a few months, right?”

’Cuz, yeah. Peter was worried about leaving behind all of the things he’d already left behind for five years...

“Buddy, it’s just a little break. A chance to take a deep breath, enjoy time with your friends... rest. It’ll all be waiting for you when you get back. I promise.”

So he went, against his better judgement, and now, here he was—in a van with his best friend, plus MJ, Flash and a mix of old and new faces, like Brad. Ugh. Mr. Stark was going to owe him big time for this.

He tuned back into the present, “... new members combining with old! Or old combining with old new? Or...” Mr. Harrington sighed and gave up that line of thinking. “Let’s look at it this way. The world is different. Let’s all find our place as team together—here.”

So Peter looked around to see exactly where ‘here’ was, which coincidentally coincided with Mr. Harrington pulling over onto a small patch of gravel and a small sign reading ‘Seneca Lake Survival Camp.’

“Alright, group! Here we are! Right on schedule!” Their teacher called out brightly, “Our guide will be meeting up with us shortly, so let’s unload our gear.“

It took only a few minutes for them to empty the vehicle of their own bags plus the food and gear they’d be bringing in. It took maybe a minute more for the drama to start.

“Um, guys? Did anyone else know there wouldn’t be any cell service out here?!” Flash panicked.

A chorus of ‘What?!” and one ‘We’re DOOMED!’ came from the group.

Mr. Harrington had it all in hand. “Settle down, everyone!” He gestured for them to calm. “First, if you read the permission slips, it mentioned that you were to leave all electronics at home.” Mr. Harrington made his way to his own bag and, with a flourish, pulled out a large zippered plastic bag. “So thanks for reminding me about that, Flash. Alrighty then, into the bag, folks.” The groans were audible as the phones were turned off and collected. “Second,” he called out as he zipped up the bundle of phones, “This is a “wilderness excursion,”” Yes, he’d air quoted. “You’re all smart people here! We cannot have wilderness if we are bringing the noise with us!”

More groans came from the small group, and then Betty gasped. “What happens if someone gets hurt while we’re in there?” She clutched at her chest and gestured to the woods. “We’d be trapped until the guide comes back to find us—unless we’re all dead!”

It was funny to see Ned rolling his eyes at Betty, especially since he’d been mooning over her for the last couple of weeks, but Peter couldn’t blame him as he’d done the same.

Mr. Harrington, however, had a solution to her concern. “Calm down, Ms. Brant, I promise we’re going to be absolutely fine. I have experience with the great outdoors from back when I went to university in Virginia, and the guide will be providing us with a sat phone for emergencies. We’ll be okay. I promise.”

That had the two friends sharing another eye roll—and Peter worrying that their entire weekend had just been jinxed with his declaration.

Flash had another thought and raised his hand, “Sir, I have an emergency.”

Mr. Harrington shut him down right away, “Flash, not having internet or wifi does not count as an emergency.”

Flash lowered his hand and scowled.

Sometimes Mr. Harrington could be just a little bit of a badass.

“Now I’m going to keep the phones with the van so that nothing happens to them at the site... and no, the van is not being parked at the side of the road for the duration of our getaway. The company will be driving the van to a garage for safekeeping, and then will drive it back at time of collection, so they’ll be nice and safe, okay?”

They were all just processing what an actual electronics free weekend would mean, so Mr. Harrington headed over to the van.

A rusty old pick-up truck pulled up behind them just as Mr. Harrington had finished storing the cell phone stash in the glove compartment. A middle aged man wearing red plaid, well worn jeans, and hiking boots jumped out the passenger side of the vehicle, and with an unnatural excitement, he introduced himself. “Greetings, y’all! I’m Cody...”

Peter looked down at his Midtown Aca-Dec hoodie, brand new jeans and the yellow converse Mr. Stark had insisted on buying him. He exhaled slow and tried to listen.

This was going to be a very long weekend...

* * * * * *

Peter would be the first person to admit that he was wrong because, in this case, he was.

The hike out had been ridiculously interesting. They’d examined tracks and foliage and all sorts of cool, outdoorsy stuff. Cody had even explained what to do in the event you needed to, well... #2 in the woods. The jokes afterwards had been hilarious—and they could absolutely joke about it because the campsite proper had an actual outhouse. Yeah, it wasn’t a bathroom with running water, but a seat is a seat when you need to have a private moment.

Setting up camp was even uncomplicated.

Cody had lingered after making a production of handing over the sat phone with instructions on how to use it so they had expert advice, though Mr. Harrington hadn’t been joking when he said he had some experience with camping.

By the time Cody had left to head back to the road, the tents were set up, the food was secured in a safe place, and a water/wash station was ready to go.

The fire took a little coaxing, but that was more the fault of the rain the area had been getting over the last few days—but it eventually caught, so they were good. The ghost stories told around said fire, however, were the best.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Ned interrupted the story Mr. Harrington was sharing. “You’re telling me that the call was coming from inside the house, but how was that even possible back in the 80s? Like- I could see it if VoIP had been a thing back then, but it wasn’t so...”

MJ cuffed Ned in the back of the head. “Why do you overthink things, loser? Honestly. I’m afraid you’ll also believe the metal hook jammed into the trunk of the car was an actual thing!”

Ned looked confused, “It wasn’t?”

Peter took his turn to cuff Ned in the back of the head, and shook his own head in disappointment. “Dude.”

It wasn’t too long after that the group decided to hit the sack.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

* * * * * *

Mr. Stark had been right.

As a boy born of the city, Peter was pleasantly surprised by what a good night’s sleep he’d gotten there in the woods. He’d expected hours of staring up into the darkness, but the wind through the trees and the clean, fresh air worked better than any sleeping pill—if he wasn’t an enhance spider-kid who couldn’t take sleeping pills. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d waken up feeling so rested and refreshed.

The plan they’d made the night before was pretty loose. Mr. Harrington had wanted the weekend to be as unregimented as possible so on Saturday morning, they all woke up when they woke up. Breakfast would be granola bars and apples with a bagged lunch for the road so they could get going once breakfast and clean up were done. Once they were ready, they’d head for a hike to one of the tributaries leading to Seneca Lake and have a little science fun.

It seemed that after the success of yesterday, everyone was pumped and set for an adventure. In fact, the lot of them were ready and on their way out of the camp by nine o’clock—which had shocked and horrified them all. The only hitch was that it looked like the day was calling for rain, and from how the sky looked, this wasn’t going to be a drizzle either. They’d all brought jackets and other essentials in their backpacks though, and Peter was sure that Mr. Stark would get him a new pair of sneakers, so they were up for anything.

Mr. Harrington was in his element, and if it wouldn’t have sounded so weird, Peter would have told him how nice it was to see him so happy. (Everyone had heard about his wife faking her death during The Blip and all, so...) Anyways, it didn’t always work out that a field trip would be such a rousing success, but this one definitely was, so far.

The rain started about half an hour into their hike, not that it had made any sort of difference. Even Flash was being a good sport about it all.

They’d been discussing the effects of deforestation on the stability of river banks when it happened. Mr. Harrington had turned to walk backwards while pointing out a red-tailed hawk that was perched and watching them from the trees He’d stopped to mention the plumage, something about spots, and then he was... gone.

Honestly, in any other scenario, Peter would have laughed at the similarities between this and the old Looney Toons episodes he and May used to watch on Saturday morning when she hadn’t worked an overnight or double. The problem was that this wasn’t Daffy Duck, and Mr. Harrington was not going to magically pop back up and keep talking like nothing had happened.

No one moved for the split second it took to process and then they were all rushing forward.

The word rushed from his mouth before he’d even thought it, “STOP!”

Everyone froze.

“We can’t all go rushing to the edge! It’s not stable and if we do, we’ll all end up down there!” Peter’s brain was going a mile a minute. “’kay, I’m really light so I’m gonna head to the edge and see what’s up.” Then he’d pulled off his backpack and was on his belly, shimmying to the edge before anyone could argue.

He could hear Flash’s grumbling, “Why does Parker need to be the hero?”

There was more coming from behind him, but now it was time to focus. He’d gotten close enough that things could go wrong in a split second... and then he was looking over the edge.

“Shit.”

Ned was the one to call out, “What’s happening, Peter?”

“Hang on!” he called out impatiently, then looked at the fifteen foot drop that Mr. Harrington had just managed thanks to river bank instability. He wondered if Mr. Harrington would ever see the irony of it, but before he could do that, Peter needed to figure this mess out. “Mr. Harrington? Can you hear me?” he called down.

He showed no signs of response.

Double shit.

He looked back at the group. They’d all been taking turns carrying the extra backpack and he hoped... oh, how he hoped that one of them was carrying it.

“He’s unconscious, guys, and I think he’s hurt his leg. Whose turn was it to carry the phone and kit?”

No one answered.

Triple shit.

Peter’s thoughts went to his Starkwatch—the one that never came off, like ever. Mr. Stark had made sure of it when he’d gotten back from being dusted. Peter would never be untraceable again. It would be so easy to just press the emergency alert, but doing so would unleash the hellfire of a thousand suns... or the Avengers... and that would give Mr. Stark a heart attack.

“I’m gonna have to climb down there and get the sat phone, guys.”

It shouldn’t have surprised him that both Brad and Flash had stepped forward, like Peter would let them go in his stead.

Ned was on top of it, though. “Nah, man, he’s got this. Just let him do his thing.”

The idea of Ned speaking up at all about something so serious brought them up short, and gave Peter the time he needed to get over the ledge and partway down the steep wall of the riverbank.

The rain that had been barely a bother was starting to come down more heavily. The rocks and roots Peter was using as hand and footholds were slippery and becoming more of a hindrance than a help. He took a look up to see if anyone was watching. Then, seeing no one, made a final leap to the muddy bank and starting assessing.

The first thing Peter did was make sure that his teacher was breathing.

He was.

Peter called up to his friends, “He’s breathing!”

They all cheered in relief.

Mr. Harrington had landed on his side, when all was said and done. His head was literal inches from the water’s edge. His head had obviously impacted, made obvious by the furiously bleeding head wound. His neck looked good, but he didn’t have x-ray vision or anything so he would only be guessing. The thing that made Peter’s stomach turn was Mr. Harrington’s leg. It was broken, plain and simple. The thin branch that had pierced through his thigh, most likely on his way down, was gonna be an issue though. Yeah, Peter had to take a few deep breaths for that one.

And then Peter pulled himself together and said a quick prayer of gratitude to whatever deity was in charge of small favours ‘cause he’d only just finished his Avengers level first aid training and if you’d asked him, he was feeling pretty confident that Mr. Harrington would be okay. He just needed to find the sat phone that must have been tucked in the torn backpack hanging loosely off of his arm.

And then Peter heard it.

One of the things Mr. Harrington had mentioned as they’d hiked along was the constant changes in the speed and depth of water levels during weather events. “You never know what’s happening further upstream, kids,” He’d said. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he knew that they were about to see an example.  

“Dammit!”

“Pete?” Ned called down, “What’s going on?”

One of the major points the Avengers kept hammering into Peter during his first aid training was that sometimes, even when everything thing tells you that they shouldn’t be moved, a victim has to be moved.

Mr. Harrington’s hair was suddenly floating in the water.

The victim HAD to be moved.

Ned and the others were now all peeking over the ledge. There was no way he could do this without...

Now he really felt nauseous.

But maybe they wouldn’t figure it out?

With a sigh of resignation and determination, he did a final assessment, and then, “Ned, we’re coming up! Get away from the ledge!” Peter yelled. “Move now!”

Ned immediately ushered his classmates back. “You’re clear, Pete!”

It was barely a moment before Mr. Harrington was slung over his shoulder and Peter was scaling the unstable riverbank. His classmates, already back from the edge, jumped back further as Peter and the body of their teacher moved effortlessly up and onto the grass.

And then the water came.

Betty and MJ were the first to approach the water’s edge, but MJ was the first to speak. “Good save, Pete.”

Peter barely gave her a smile before he was carefully positioning Mr. Harrington on the ground under a tree and out of the worst of the rain. He disentangled the bag from his body.

“Ned, c’mere!” Peter called him over and tossed him the bag after fishing out the first aid kit. “Find the satellite phone and call Cody! Mr. Harrington can’t wait that long.”

Peter opened up the first aid kit with its bandages, tongue depressors, and tensor bandages and froze. Mr. Stark would shit bricks if he saw this set up. He couldn’t use this. He scanned the area and then saw it, “Betty! Pass me my backpack, please!” He had started pulling away the denim of his teacher’s jeans from the wound.

She moved from her spot by the edge and grabbed the bag that she’d been closest to. She was already opening it for him. “What do you need from it,” she asked.

“The blue and red kit at the bottom.” Yes, Mr. Stark had a sense of humour.

She rushed to find it, but they were all distracted from their tasks when Ned uttered a meek, “uh, Pete?”

Peter turned to Ned and paled. Oh, boy. Mr. Stark was gonna buy Seneca Lake Survival Camp and turn it into a paddleboat rental and picnic area. Satellite phones were made to last beyond a tumble down a riverbank—and this one was in pieces.

Peter closed his eyes and took in a centering breath.

He was grateful that Mr. Harrington was his favourite teacher. If he was about to throw his secret identity to the wind, at least it would be for a good and kind-hearted person.

He released the breath, nice and slow, opened his eyes and saw Ned watching him. Yeah, Ned understood and gave an encouraging nod of support. He only hesitated a second, and then pressed the emergency button on his Starkwatch.

Yup. Hellfire was coming. But until then, he pulled himself back together and got back to business. “Betty, the first aid kit, now.”

She pulled it from the bag and handed it to him.

“Ned, come help me. You helped me study for half of this...”

Ned dropped the bag and phone to the ground and rushed over, kneeling beside him as he pulled out scissors to cut away Mr. Harrington’s pant leg.

Now Brad had something to say, “Wait a minute, why are we listening to Parker all of a sudden? I’m the oldest one here, I should be in charge.”

MJ wasn’t having any of it and stepped in front of the boy before he could cause a problem. “Look, Brad, I’m gonna have to ask you to bring your Lord of the Flies shit to another island, okay?”

Peter snorted at her response. Geez, he loved her so... wha? Nope. Not the time, brain. Pack it away...

And then Flash piped up, “He needs a tourniquet, right?”

“Only if you want him to lose his leg,” Peter replied as he rifled through the gloriously stocked kit. He found the supply of gloves and snapped on a pair. Before anyone watching knew it, he was also creating a ring out of a cotton sling. “Ned? Get gloves on. You need to hold this.” Ned was on it like lightning, then placing the fabric ring around the branch protruding from the front of the unconscious man’s leg. Peter made another, brought it to the second side of the man’s leg and guarded the branch there. With a quick, secure wrap, the puncture was dealt with.

The splint was a little more effort, but MJ had found some branches for him to use as a splint when she realized what they’d need. He hadn’t wanted to mess with it too much just because, but he felt confident that it was as stable as they could make it for the situation.

That done, Peter rested on his heels for a second. He’d been most worried about the branch—first because it was just gnarly to look at, but second because...

Mr. Harrington groaned and started to writhe—weakly, and Peter was grateful for prioritizing the leg. But then the man gasped out, “sick,” and Peter was back to work.

“Help me, Ned!” The two boys quickly positioned Mr. Harrington into the recovery position and watched as he vomited into the grass. Once Mr. Harrington was done, the still gloved Peter carefully wiped away the worst of the sick so Mr. Harrington wouldn’t fall into his own mess and discarded his gloves.

If that wasn’t a reminder that the head wound still needed to be dealt with...

Peter looked up at his classmates, feeling torn. Mr. Harrington needed stitches. Leaving the wound open wouldn’t kill him, but leaving it open could put him at risk of all sorts of nasty infection.

But that part of him was hoping that, for all of the panic, they hadn’t noticed him scaling up a crumbling fifteen foot river bank. No one had said anything so maybe? Even the Avengers could be explained, right?—and Flash would finally give the whole intern thing a rest. But how do you explain away a sixteen year old knowing how to do field medic quality stitches?

He gave Mr. Harrington a quick visual assessment, saw the bandages stabilizing the wound, and then laughed. Okay—maybe it was a little too late to worry about that.

Peter grabbed the hand sanitizer from the kit, using it before grabbing a new set of gloves. He dug around and found the rubbing alcohol and stitch kits, then grabbed one and looked over to his classmates. “Um, guys! If you’re squeamish, you may want to look away, okay?”

No of them moved, seemingly captivated by the scene playing out in front of them.

He grimaced. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” and proceeded to clean the gaping wound on Mr. Harrington’s forehead before he pulled out the pre-threaded needle and got to work.

Peter smirked as he heard Brad gag and rush off into the trees. There went their mighty leader.

Ned had stayed next to Peter, his trusty ‘Guy in the Chair,’ and held Mr. Harrington’s hair away from the gash. “Peter,” he whispered, “You are a beast.”

“Thanks, man.” He whispered back as he tied the last of the stitches off. “There.” He’d done it. And now he’d wait and see.

Peter put the needle into the little sharps container also found within the kit and cleaned up all of the bloody gauze and gloves he’d tossed aside as he’d gone.

Brad was just stumbling back to the group so Peter called out to him, “You doin’ alright there, Brad?”—not at all intending to sound smug so if it had been misconstrued, that wasn’t his fault at all, was it?

Brad flipped him the bird and chuckled. “Bite me, Parker.”  

MJ stepped away from the others, “So what’s next, Peter?” Yeah, she totally knew who he was.

He simply lifted his hand to show the Starkwatch on his wrist. “Now we wait.”

* * * * * *

It was forty-five minutes later that Iron Man came rocketing into their small patch of clearing.

Peter was on his feet before the man could land. “Mr. Stark, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at the cabin! Does anyone even know that you’re here?”

Mr. Stark stepped out of the suit, and ignored the gasps from the kids behind them. “My kid set off a distress call. Do you think I’m gonna sit on my ass and wait for someone to fill me in after all the fun is over? Try again, kid.” He looked around and caught sight of Mr. Harrington lying still on the ground. He looked back at his boy, “I’m guessing this is the reason...”

“Yeah, the satellite phone was busted and we had no way to get help so...”

Mr. Stark walked over to the man and crouched down to assess. “Your stitches?” he called over to him.

“Yeah,” Peter replied.

“Good work! Sam’ll be glad to see how even they are...” and then he caught a glimpse of the leg. “Do I want to know?”

Peter shook his head, “Broken, puncture wound. It’s gross so...” he shrugged.

Mr. Stark nodded in understanding. “Got it.”

In that moment, Mr. Barton and Dr. Banner came stumbling through the trees dragging a spinal board and med kit with them.

“Hey, everyone! Did somebody call for an Uber?” Mr. Barton called out like the goof that he was, even as he scanned the area for threats.

“Sorry, Mr. Barton, no uber for you today.” Peter called him over. “Med evac would be great, though.”

Mr. Barton and Dr. Banner immediately got down to business, but not without Dr. Banner giving Mr. Stark a quick lecture on what rest and retirement mean.

And then Mr. Barton explained. “We’ve set down in a clearing about ten minutes north of here. We did a scan of the area and got a read on the situation, so we’re good to go.” He and Dr. Banner were already working in tandem to get Mr. Harrington onto the board.

Dr. Banner was looking confused as he set about to secure the man’s head and neck. “Hey, Pete?” he called out, “What did you say your teacher’s name is?”

“Mr. Harrington, why?”

“Do you know his first name?”

“Sure, it’s Roger.”

“Son of a bitch!” Dr. Banner laughed, even as he worked. “I wondered what you’d gotten up to, Rog!” He looked up at Peter and then the kids all standing around them. “I went to school with Roger! Huh? I thought for sure he’d end up working in tech somewhere.” Dr. Banner shook his head as he chuckled, “Small world, huh?”

Peter just shrugged, “I might be a little freaked out about this, so I’ll just agree.”

“Forget freaked out! This is alternate reality shit!” Ned couldn’t help but blurt out even as he and his classmates watched on.

Peter looked back at his friend, “I know, right?!”

Dr. Banner finished securing the final straps on the board and looked to Mr. Barton to confirm that he was done, too. With a nod, they were good to go.

“Alright, everyone. Grab your gear. We’re all gonna head back to the city and get your teacher some help. Okay? We can contact parents and guardians on the jet.” Mr. Barton called out. “We’re moving nice and steady so don’t worry about keeping up—and we’ll swing back to clean up your site tomorrow. Got it?”

Everyone nodded and rushed to put their backpacks on. Peter had grabbed his own bag and was scrambling to collect the discarded satellite phone and first aid kit when Mr. Stark came up beside him. He looked at the items in Peter’s hand, “I’m guessing I don’t want to know about that either?”

Peter shook his head and laughed. “I’m sure you’re about to hear all about it on the jet, Mr. Stark.”

Mr. Stark looked at the boy fondly. “I’m sure I will, kid.” Then he looked around the clearing. “You did good, kid. I hope you’re not regretting the trip after this.”

Peter thought about for a second. He didn’t know what would happen after this, or when his friends would put all the pieces together, but he couldn’t regret being here to help. Not ever.

He smiled then, and simply said, “Mr. Stark, I have the best bedtime story to tell to Morgan when we get back...”

 @febuwhump

[perditaalottachocolate-blog]

One of His Best Kittens (2) - Plag Appreciation Week, Day 2: Snark

Day 1  |Day 2|  Day 3  Day 4  Day 5  Day 6  Day 7  

Warning: Contains spoilers to season 2.

Also on AO3 / fanfiction.net

Day 2: Snark

‘Long time no see, Plagg,’ Nooroo chirped, but he had never been able to fool the black cat. Plagg immediately picked up on the subdued tone in his voice. Although he could tell his fellow kwami was really happy to see him, the lavender sprite didn’t look good. His violet eyes were dimmed and reddened, his skin ashen. The butterfly wings seemed unkempt, ragged at the edges. And gone was the joyous, sparkling manner in which Nooroo held himself for millennia. Now the butterfly looked one step away from cowering in fear.

‘You don’t say,’ Plagg chewed the reply before letting it out. He instantly regretted the acid he poured over his voice. Nooroo’s eyes glimmered with the promise of tears. ‘Nice place you have here,’ he decided to change the subject. ‘Lots of colleagues, I see.’

‘I guess,’ the lavender butterfly shrugged and looked around as if seeing the place for the first time. ‘I usually don’t have any opportunity to enjoy this space,’ he confessed. ‘And it’s always dark unless...’ his voice broke and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

Plagg clenched his fists and scrunched his nose.

‘Who is it,’ he asked, barely keeping the accompanying growl under control. ‘Who did this to you? Who’s doing this to my Chosen?’

‘Tall, thin, with a stick up his butt and a cow licked hairdo. It’s not like he introduced himself, you know,’ Nooroo complained. ‘One moment I’m slumbering in my brooch, in the next here I am with this stranger who’s asking all those questions!’

Plagg could be many things, but stupid he was not. Especially not when he had known Nooroo for so long. ‘What did you do, Roo?’

‘Me?’ Nooroo’s eyes widened comically. ‘I didn’t do anything!’

‘Really?’ Plagg spat. ‘Then maybe you’d care to explain why am I spending half of my days trying to prevent my charge from getting killed, while one supervillain after another is after my miraculous?’

‘Um…’ the lavender kwami tilted his head and cast the black cat a bashful look. ‘Yes, that was a bit my fault,’ he muttered settling on the ground. He chased away a few butterflies that landed on the box of cheese and sat there.

‘Hey, get your bug butt off my treat!’

‘Sorry, Plagg,’ Nooroo cowered next to the box.

Plagg sighed. His butterfly friend never had acted like this wrecked ball of nerves. He would have a cheeky comeback ready in a blink of an eye and he would deliver it flawlessly to keep their banter flowing. Where was the friendly rapport they had developed over the years they had spent together? The little cat was as sour and exasperated as usual, but deep down he realized that at least he had a charge who was fit for him. He got his cheese and his trash can and Adrien’s friendly face. And what did Nooroo get?

The black sprite pushed the lid aside with a grunt, and then patted it invitingly. Nooroo scooted closer and soon blinked in surprise at the generous piece of camembert shoved in his face.

‘Thank you,’ he murmured and began nibbling on the treat.

Plagg said nothing. He chewed his cheese absentmindedly.

‘I’m glad you came,’ Nooroo continued.

‘I’m glad you made me to,’ the cat finally replied. ‘What happened?’ He asked gently, purposefully averting his gaze from his friend.

‘I thought he was my new Chosen,’ the lavender bug said after a while. ‘He had the brooch after all. And the book. And the scrolls.’

Plagg nodded and resumed chewing.

‘You know how sometimes we remain dormant for so long. I saw that the world had changed. I thought maybe this was a new guardian who needed my help. He said it himself he needed me.’ Nooroo swallowed a piece of cheese and hiccupped. ‘He said he couldn’t read the book in full, that the temple was destroyed and part of the knowledge was lost.’

The black sprite snorted. ‘Clever little shit. He wasn’t lying about that, you know.’

‘He wasn’t?’ Now Nooroo turned to face Plagg with horror in his big violet eyes. ‘So he is my Chosen?’

‘No!’ Plagg spat the cheese he’d been chewing. ‘He never has been and never would be your Chosen. He’s not worthy of miraculous stone.’

‘B-b-but you said…’

‘The temple. I meant the temple,’ the cat rubbed his nose irritably. ‘It really was destroyed and young Fu barely made out of there alive. But the idiot lost you and Duusu. And the book. And the scrolls.’

‘Oh,’ Nooroo hung his bulbous head. ‘That’s not good.’

‘Wouldn’t have put it better myself, friend,’ Plagg chuckled.

‘The bastard manipulated me, I know that now,’ the butterfly kwami sighed. ‘I told him about the powers of moth miraculous and…’ he waved his paw dismissively. ‘You know the rest.’

‘Indeed,’ the cat muttered. ‘But you still did a good job,’ he patted Nooroo over the wings. ‘It’s obvious he still doesn’t have full control or understanding of his powers.’

‘Yeah,’ Nooroo admittedly timidly. ‘But he is a fast learner. In other circumstances and with different agenda he would make a great wielder, had he been chosen as a youngling.’

‘Believe me when I say that, but you couldn’t have been more right,’ Plagg nodded gloomily.

‘So his son really has your miraculous?’ The butterfly wasn’t at all surprised. He must have seen Adrien and for the butterfly kwami it only took one look. After all he granted the power to create superheroes. He knew exactly what potential was hidden in every person. And there was no denying it – the boy was one of Plagg’s best kittens. ‘Finally a stroke of luck.’

‘Roo, my friend,’ the cat snickered humorlessly, ‘if it’s luck you want, you’re clearly talking to the wrong kwami.’

‘Oh, I’m sure I got the right one,’ Nooroo looked him straight in the eyes and Plagg gasped. That sparkle of defiance, he thought the lavender kwami had lost, was still burning in them, if you bothered to look. And Plagg, despite carefully maintaining the opinion of useless glutton alwaysbothered.

‘Tell me,’ he moved closer to his colorful friend. ‘Did you have something particular in mind?’