#we are going to a conference together in 10 days and i have no idea whts up 😭 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wndaswife · 2 years ago

Text

young fidelity

「 wanda maximoff x gn!reader 」

tags: smut, angst, fluff, mentions of trauma, depictions of violence, blowjobs, degradation, some slightly boring avenger mission details, sub!wanda maximoff, dom!reader. MINORS DNI.

word count: 10 872

summary: Even months after Ultron's death, you haven't forgiven Wanda despite her attempts to become close with you. You plan to get by with little interaction when you are partnered together for a mission, but she has other intentions.

“We’ve received signals of active HYDRA technology in northern and eastern Nunavut. There are approximately two bases north and two in the east,” Steve announced to the conference room. “But because of the nature of the province, it’ll be much easier to split up into pairs — take down each base together, separately.”

“Nature of the province?” asked Sam.

Steve pulled up an image of Nunavut’s map onto the projector. About a third of the province in the northeast was dispersed up into dozens of distinct sections of land.

“North can mean this,” he said and circled about twenty different patches of land before doing the same for the right-hand side of the province, “and East can mean this.”

He continued, “It would consume too much of our time to travel between each patch of land to the other. Fortunately, what we can tell for certain is that these bases are small. The signals they’re sending out are from HYDRA technology nonetheless, but the signals are weak and the technology is outdated.”

“A base of about ten or less,” Natasha noted, leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed and facing the projector screen.

Rhodes added, “Or much less.”

“Exactly,” Steve conceded. “We’ll head out in two days, give ourselves enough time to pack for the climate. Here are the pairs I’ve outlined…” He continued to announce the mission’s partnerships, but the back of your neck prickled with the feeling of being watched.

You looked over your shoulder to see Wanda’s eyes on you. She looked away quickly when your eyes met and she shifted in her seat, crossing a leg over the other and looking up to pay attention to Steve.

“Then lastly, Wanda and Y/N.”

At Steve's words, Wanda’s head lifted slightly in piqued interest and you looked back at him.

“Why do we have to pair up at all?” you questioned immediately. “Each of us could easily take ten or more on our own.”

“I know that’s right,” Rhodes agreed cockily before exchanging a nod with Tony, who considered your commentary comedic.

“These areas of Nunavut, of Canada, are unexplored territory,” Steve answered. “The weather conditions are extreme up there, and the terrain may not be safe or predictable enough for us to go out in it individually. This will be a quick mission, three days and no more, during which a portion of it will be trying to map out the province. The actual overtaking of the bases will take much less time.”

You weren’t able to find a way to object to that, so you sank down in your seat, something bitter brewing in you at the thought of having to work alone with Wanda.

“We’ll be picked back up the same way we’ll arrive — by the Quinjet in an isolated area at the edge of Nunavut where the land is much less dispersed, closer to the centre of the province but not nearly as populated,” Steve said, and with that, he concluded the meeting.

When Wanda stood from her seat, she spent a few extra moments tucking her hair behind her ear, adjusting her rings, and playing with her sleeves as an excuse to wait for you to walk ahead first so she could approach you.

But Vision met with her first and she looked over at you hesitantly, worried that she’d miss you leaving the room.

You began heading forward but instead of leaving, you started a conversation with Steve.

Now sure that she could spend a few moments talking with Vision without losing sight of you, she entertained his commentary on the upcoming mission despite not being included in the list of Avengers that were going.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” you told him, leaning back on your heels nonchalantly as you attempted at repressing what felt like a raging wildfire set ablaze in your chest.

Steve turned off the projector and started storing away some of the wires. “Two days isn’t enough to prepare, is it?” he questioned suddenly.

“No, two days is fine, I think,” you said.

You continued with a quiet tone, aware of Wanda and Vision conversing only a few feet away, “Wanda isn’t trained to go out with only one other person yet. She’s not ready for this.”

“She’s been doing just fine during training and other missions,” he reasoned.

“But she’s always supervised, and always with people who can support her if she screws up.”

With a smile of slight inexplicable amusement, he replied, “Then you can train her.”

Your fingers twitched at the mere suggestion.

Then, a voice chimed in from behind — Wanda’s. “No, I can fight. I’ve been training for months,” she insisted.

From the corner of your eye, you could see that she’d stepped away from Vision and was now standing by the edge of the table, only two or three feet away from you.

Wordlessly, you left the room, overcome by her very proximity.

Wanda followed after you, initially silent. She spun her rings around her fingers, watching the back of your head as she trailed behind you.

“So… when are we going to start training?” she eventually asked.

You walked through the hallways, heading straight to your room and avoiding having lunch until you were sure Wanda was no longer following you like an aimless puppy.

“I thought you said you didn’t need training.”

Suddenly filled with joy because you had actually answered her instead of ignoring her like you often did, Wanda sped up and joined your side.

“No, I never said I didn’t need training,” she corrected. “I just said that I could fight. But I would like to train with you. Before our mission. I think it would help. When can we start?”

“Not now,” you replied.

“Then when?”

You reiterated stubbornly, “Whenever I feel like it.”

Wanda bristled and she said wrapped her hand around your forearm. You tore it out of her hold and she looked at you, shocked at your resistance to be touched by her.

She swallowed and straightened in spite of herself then said, “I’m just trying to do my job”

“It’s not your job to bother me.”

“I’m not trying to bother you, I’m just trying-"

“To do your job,” you interrupted. “Right.”

She stared at you silently, unsure what to say yet not wanting to walk away from you.

“Is that how you rationalise things?” you inquired, your eyebrows furrowing together. “Is that how you rationalised what you did?”

Now feeling desperate for your validation and worn from the way you’d been avoiding her since the battle on Novi Grad, Wanda opposed, “I know that you’re angry, but everyone has forgiven me for what I have done. You are the only one who hasn’t.”

“You want to train?” you asked out of the blue.

It took a moment for Wanda to realise what you were asking and to decipher if you were being sincere in your question. When she supposed you were, she nodded cautiously.

“Then let’s go,” you muttered and turned to walk the other way, down to where the gymnasium and training room were.

When both of you changed into the proper clothes for training, you met Wanda in the middle of the holopad. You programmed a few rounds of holographic HYDRA members to attack her, and a few other adversaries the Avengers had previously fought to fill the time.

Wanda strapped on her sensory gloves, designed by Tony to signal to the holopad where she directed her powers and with what magic she used for the holograms. It had been helping her with her training to a great extent as it allowed her to use the technology in the training room as every other non-magic-wielder did.

She stepped onto the ten-by-seven metered platform and you set the tablet down by the staircase.

You noticed her looking over at you before the holopad flashed white once, signalling the beginning of the training session, and Wanda then looked away from you.

It began slowly at first, several scientists running at her from different directions and Wanda’s red magic flowing out of the centres of her palms and darting out from the tips of her fingers. Her magic made contact with the holographic foes, Wanda’s sensory gloves connecting the direction and intensity of her magic to the location of each moving hologram. They scattered into tiny pixelated squares when her magic came into contact with them, floating up and dividing into smaller geometric shapes before disappearing entirely.

The speed of the enemies quickened and with it Wanda’s reflexes.

This was the first time since the final battle against Ultron on Novi Grad that you’d seen Wanda’s fighting. Several months have passed since then, and she improved substantially. You’d never say it aloud, and you looked away from the brunette to avoid even admitting it to yourself, but she would be the perfect partner for the mission to Nunavut.

Eventually, the holopad flashed white, indicating the end of the training session when Wanda defeated the enemies you programmed her to fight.

She stepped off of the platform and stood in front of you, a glistening sheen of sweat on her body. She was panting softly and you blinked inquisitively for a moment at the grin on her face. “Come on,” she said and took your hand before pulling you up onto the holopad with her.

Wanda positioned you on one side of the platform and she stepped back from you. “So, what will you show me?” she asked.

“I don’t know how to train someone with magic.”

“We can go hand-to-hand,” Wanda suggested, running her palms down her sides. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

When you did nothing but stare at her, perhaps out of scepticism or curiosity at her mood switch, she added with a laugh, “What? Are you scared?”

There was not a single person in the compound but you who knew this side of Wanda; a playful side of her, one that was presently unburdened by the weights of her losses and the solemn monotony that cast over her like a stagnant shadow when she was with anyone other than you.

There was a feeling of laxness that settled within her in your company, a freedom she felt with you that she hadn’t been familiar with since her time with Pietro.

You chose to think little of this lest you fall victim to Wanda’s deceptions as you had when you first met her. The very recollection of that moment of weakness awakened chills up your spine and formed a terribly large pit in the centre of your chest.

“Okay,” you said. “Fine. A quick skirmish, that’s all.”

If she was lucky, she’d sometimes walk in on you training and watch you for as long as possible while being as inconspicuous as she could manage. She’d watch the way you fought and moved your body, the confidence in your strikes and flexibility of your limbs. You were nothing less than inspiring.

In many ways, Wanda idolised you.

The corners of Wanda’s mouth tugged upwards before she made an attempt to repress her giddiness to have a serious one-on-one with you. She raised her fists and bent her knees, eyes darting down your form to correct her posture accordingly. She took notes from you where she could.

In training skirmishes, the objective was to take the other down, get them off their feet and cause them to lose balance.

You watched Wanda’s footing, the way she rounded and approached you by subtly cutting away at the inches of space that lay between the two of you.

Despite the sternness of her brow, there was a vague outline of a smile on her lips.

Your attention on her incomprehensible smile sullied your focus on the skirmish; Wanda extended her leg and in one swift movement, rounded your body so she stood outside your line of sight. Her knee lifted to nudge your thigh forward and throw you off balance but you turned quickly, a hand wrapping around her hip.

Before you could push her back and move your legs out of her range of contact, Wanda’s foot raised and she knocked the back of your knees forward with the length of her shin. You tumbled backwards, and with your hand gripping Wanda’s hip, you pulled her down with you.

Her arm extended past the side of your head, a wispy lock of red magic coursing out of her palm. The burst of magic slowed the speed at which you fell, breaking your fall and letting your back meet the ground softly.

It was only when the brief panic of falling backwards abated that you heard Wanda laughing. Stands of dark hair were falling in her face, her expression light and free of the burdens that normally followed her around like a shadow.

When her laughing settled into a fit of giggles, she opened her eyes and looked down at you, her gaze flickering between your eyes and your parted lips. She pushed her hair back and she lifted herself up with the heel of your hand placed on the platform by the side of your head.

Her chest parted from yours but her hips stayed pressed against your own, your legs intertwined and her other hand resting on your stomach.

You removed your hand from her hip and let it fall to the floor underneath you, damning yourself for the way you watched every movement of her soft lips.

“Come on, you’re not even trying,” Wanda teased. She used her hand by your head and the other on your stomach to prop herself up, slipping off of your body and getting on her knees by your hip. She then proposed, “Let’s go again.”

“I promise I’ll go easy on you this time,” she jested and extended a hand to you.

You sat up on your own, Wanda’s hand dropping into her lap. “I said we’d only do one,” you reminded her and stood up. “We’re done.”

Following you, Wanda got onto her feet. “You’re such a sore loser,” she joked with a laugh and trailed behind you as you stepped off the holopad. She unstrapped her gloves from around her hands and set them by the tablet.

“What will we do next?” she asked.

“Nothing,” you told her, picking up your things and heading to the gym exit.

Wanda’s smile fell as she heard your stern tone. “But we’ve only just gotten here. There’s still so much I want you to show me before we leave,” she reasoned, speeding up and trying to get your attention as you walked ahead without regard for her trailing behind you.

You told her with finality, “Get someone else to show you.”

You exited the gym and Wanda decided to stop following after you. She watched you speed away, hands by her side as she stood alone in the training room.

Dejectedly, she wondered if she had done or said something wrong — something to drive you away. It seemed she couldn’t do anything right around you when it was you she desired companionship and intimacy from the most.

You exchanged not even a word with Wanda for the remainder of the day, though dinner was filled with yearning stares from her across the table and never any words, partially because Vision filled her time with endless conversation. He was fond of her, and you often wished she would’ve glommed onto him instead.

The following day, you saw Wanda for a short time during a meeting in which Tony outlined the rest of the mission.

Deliberation between Tony, Agent Ross, and the provincial officials of Nunavut resulted in the Avengers’ permission to enter and explore their grounds granted they limit any destruction of the land and would provide the required funding necessary to repair any damage otherwise caused.

After the events on Sokovia, it was also decided that it would be best if the mission went as smoothly and as covertly as possible. This meant that the Quinjet would only take them as far as the edge of the northeast to lessen chances of being seen in the air, and would be stationed in an isolated space until everyone returned from their respective missions.

Additionally, government action would be taken to set a seven-mile radius around the Quinjet prohibiting any public access and ensuring the mission stay entirely under wraps.

Comms would stay open during each individual operation and after three days or less, they’d all meet back up at the Quinjet to depart as simply as it had arrived.

Everyone was working on their preparations for the rest of the day — going over Nunavut’s map and geology, Tony refining communication technology to guarantee they work throughout the mission despite the distance that would be between the team throughout it.

The evening before the morning of departure, you were preparing for bed when a quiet knock came at your door.

Wanda was at the door holding a saran-wrapped dish of some type of pastry in both hands. “Hi,” she greeted with a tiny smile when you opened the door. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“No, I’m just getting ready for bed,” you answered.

“I made blinis,” Wanda said, holding up the plate of what looked like a small stack of thin pancakes.

You stared at the dish for a moment then questioned, “At eleven in the evening?”

“Ever since moving here I’ve developed a bit of a habit of cooking when I’m nervous,” she explained, fingers tapping against the rim of the plate.

Then she continued, “You can save these in the fridge if you aren’t hungry.” It was a kind gesture, though you were convinced she hadn’t made them with you in mind.

You hadn’t spoken with Wanda since her training session. You wondered how she was doing with her practice and wanted to ask what was making her anxious. But you withheld your questions, having learned from experience the faults of coming to Wanda’s aid.

“Thank you,” you uttered and took the plate from her. Wanda seemed grateful that you accepted her dish and smiled at you when she transferred the plate to your hands.

An awkward silent moment passed between both of you. Wanda inhaled, her shoulders raising as she readied herself before asking, “How are you feeling? Are you nervous?”

“No,” you answered. “I’m sure it’ll be like any other mission.”

There was a strange look of despondency that struck momentarily across Wanda’s face at your response. She smiled at you then nodded.

“You have always been so strong,” she said, her gaze softening as she ventured through your eyes with her own. “I knew it from the moment we met. You’re different from them. Strong-willed. That’s why it was harder for me to-”

She cut herself off, her mouth closing to ensure she doesn’t slip up and let the next few words out: ‘That’s why it was harder for me to take over your mind.’

You looked at the floor between the both of you and took in a breath, then nodded. “Thank you for these,” you told her, lifting the plate of blinis up.

“O-Of course,” she replied and tugged at the hem of one of her sleeves. “Then, goodnight.”

Wanda headed back to her room in deep remorseful thought, tugging at her necklace and going over her conversation with you. She hadn’t meant to bring up bad memories, let alone the one that caused the divide between you and her, one that could not be crossed or mended no matter how hard Wanda tried.

She had only intended to compliment you, to offer to you in her hands what she stored so close to her heart — an affection and admiration for you.

But she failed to reconcile things with you.

Again.

That night you dreamt about your time with Wanda, before the fight between Ultron, the twins, and the Avengers.

You met Wanda before the rest of the team had even heard of the twins, a few weeks before their retrieval of Loki’s sceptre.

It was a strange series of events.

As was typical before the sceptre’s retrieval, you monitored any signal of its usage, any similar waves of power or sighting reports. After detecting a faint ring of energy in a mountainous plain of isolated land in Sokovia, you chose to go out on your own. What you saw on the monitors was a completely empty plot of land, but upon arrival you discovered a heavily-guarded compound stationed at the foot of a mountain and reaching an astounding height, and a young girl sitting by the edge of it, near the still water and under the waxing moon.

You never told any of the team about her nor her twin brother whom you never saw before the Avengers travelled to the HYDRA research base to retrieve the sceptre.

Wanda knew little of Loki’s sceptre, only that it was kept in a heavily protected sector of the compound. Despite the time you spent together, which eventually ended up being every night after the base’s scientists retired for the night and you were on your own in the lab, you couldn’t avoid telling your team about the sceptre’s location.

Retrieving it was part of something larger than your budding friendship with Wanda, though you still refrained from telling them anything about her and Pietro and their enhanced capabilities.

When the Avengers breached the HYDRA research base, you held no ill will to Wanda. The both of you were simply on opposite sides of a conflict that was long-running and complicated. You continued seeing each other though things became largely difficult once Ultron found the twins.

Though for a moment before the Maximoffs teamed with the android mastermind and they were unsupervised and not experimented on for the first time in several years, everything was blissful with Wanda despite everything else that had been going on between Ultron and the discourse within the team.

You saw her for hours at a time instead of a few fleeting minutes. You could travel anywhere with her rather than having to stick to the research base for the entirety of your time with her. You talked about anything that came to mind, sitting by a remote riverbank or under an evening sky discussing everything from Wanda’s childhood to your time with the team.

You cared for her and Pietro where you could, organising for them to stay in an unoccupied safehouse the team owned and keeping their activity there off the monitors.

When you returned to visit her one morning, their place was cleaned out and you found no trace of either twin. It was only until the Avengers made contact with Ultron that you realised where they had gone, who they had aligned themselves with and on what side of the battle they chose to fight for.

The team took a hard hit, each one of them falling victim to Wanda’s mind tricks, yourself included. She knew what specific memories to conjure, what fears to incite, what nerves to press on. She knew it because you’d told her all of it. She asked you for the best way to take the Avengers down and you told her — willingly.

You could never forgive her nor yourself for becoming the weak and unsuspecting piece in her game.

None of your teammates blamed you for what happened and made an effort to convince you that you had no hand in the Avengers’ collective loss. But you blamed yourself in spite of that. It was your fault.

You skipped breakfast with the team in the morning, your dream weighing heavily on you and the recollection of your blunder from months ago eating at you again as you recalled you’d have to spend the next three days with Wanda. Your mistake did not bring you as much guilt as it had months ago, but rather it made you angry. It made you bitter.

Despite having missed breakfast, you met up with the rest of the team by the foot of the Quinjet as planned. You packed a single bag full of your things, making sure to pack light to make sure travel wouldn’t be so tiresome.

Natasha recapped everything that happened while you were gone in the morning, which wasn’t much. Steve took some of the bags into the Quinjet while everyone else buckled themselves in.

Wanda, who was yet to be seen, finally arrived.

“Y/N, I’ve been looking for you,” she said, slightly breathless when she stood beside you. “I thought you were still in your room, so I was going to get you.”

You weren’t sure what to answer her with and you considered ignoring her and boarding the jet. But if you wanted anything from the mission, it was to come back to the Quinjet successful and to have minimal conflict with her.

So you answered with an acknowledging nod, “No, I just got here.”

“Are you okay?” she asked, placing a hand on your upper arm. “You skipped breakfast.”

“I’m fine. I wanted time to myself.”

“But-”

Natasha intervened, beckoning the two of you over and saying it was time to leave.

Wanda looked over at you, concern still drawn across her expression. But you ignored it and walked ahead, boarding the Quinjet with Wanda following silently behind you.

The high speeds the jet could reach allowed for the trip to Nunavut to be no longer than three hours, which wasn’t all too strenuous as trips often were before the latest Quinjet models that now incorporated several rooms and even a kitchen.

Despite the room on the jet, Wanda stayed in one place for a majority of the journey. She got up twice for the kitchen, but largely sat around the main seating deck where you were. No conversation took place between the two of you though you did catch Wanda looking at you several times.

As planned, the Quinjet landed in its designated spot.

Comms were secured and designed to reach the very northern tip of Nunavut to the very east, though bases were expected to be no further than six-hundred kilometres out, allowing for the team to exchange updates throughout the mission.

After double-checking each other’s supplies and going over the mission plan once more, you each set out for the HYDRA bases.

High-speed snowmobiles charged for week-long usage were supplied for travel. You drove the vehicle while Wanda clung onto you from behind. You had the company of Rhodes and Tony for the first forty minutes before they branched off, following the signal of their assigned base.

Though it was snowing heavily and there was nothing but blinding white plains and mountainous terrain in the distance for as far as the eye could see, the tracker Wanda held grew stronger as you travelled further into the snowy Nunavut.

She fed you directions from behind every so often, arms wrapped snugly around your midriff.

You couldn’t see the way Wanda laid her head against your back, often forgetting to give you directions as she hugged herself close to you, feeling the most secure since the two of you last spoke before she partnered with Ultron, even if you didn’t converse very much. It’d been quite a while since the two of you spent so much time alone together.

“It’s ahead, Y/N,” Wanda told you after fiddling with the tracker and ensuring it was working properly.

“Ahead?” you repeated. “Already?”

Wanda replied after a moment, likely adjusting the antenna of the tracker and double-checking the screen wasn’t broken. “It seems like it,” she said finally.

You sped ahead, eager to get the mission over with and head back to the Quinjet.

“There’s something strange about the signal… It’s getting stronger. Stronger than the signal back at the compound.”

“I know visibility is pretty low right now, but I can’t even see it. How is the signal that strong?” you told her. “Are you sure it isn’t picking something else up?”

Wanda assured, “It has the same signal impression, so it’s definitely the same base they picked up. But the technology they’re using is a lot stronger than what the compound detected.”

“Stronger… So, modern technology?”

“Which means more scientists,” she figured. “And the signal is only getting stronger. There’s maybe a lot more than ten scientists, Y/N.”

You looked ahead, letting the sound of the blowing wind and snow null things out momentarily as you considered the options. “How many more?” you asked Wanda.

She estimated, “If I were to guess and assume that the signal was only to get stronger before we arrived, then maybe thirty of them. I think we should wait for one of the others to finish. I don’t want to go in without knowing what’s waiting.”

“You said thirty of them.”

“But that’s only what I think. I’m not Tony or Steve, I don’t know how to read this as well as them. I’m not as experienced either.”

You heard the twinge of self-criticism in her words but you kept quiet about it, looking ahead and focusing on driving forward when your mind couldn’t detangle itself.

When several more moments passed without a response from you, Wanda’s arms squeezed gently around your waist. You felt the reassuring pressure of her embrace through your layers of winter gear.

“What are we going to do, Y/N?” she asked.

You gnawed at your bottom lip. “It’s only been about two hours since we left the Quinjet,” you uttered, shouting above the noise of the wind. “Even if we waited for help, it’d probably be at least eight hours until even Stark and Rhodes could meet us, and they’re the closest to us right now.”

“So we meet them instead? Come back together?”

“No,” you answered. “There’s not much else we can do but power forward for now. We’ll map out the base, try and get an estimate of how many scientists we have to deal with, and if things seem to be in our favour we’ll continue with the plan. If not, we’ll wait.”

There were several small safehouses scattered around northeast Nunavut built covertly by SHIELD decades ago. The plan was to clear out the HYDRA bases, avoid casualties if possible, rest in the nearby safehouses whose coordinates were also programmed into the tracking devices, then head back to the Quinjet as soon as the journey could be made. If you had to wait for help, you’d have to do it in one of the safehouses.

The both of you chose not to alert the team of the base you were approaching for fear that it might distract them and take them away from their respective missions. They would be updated only in the case that the base would be too much to handle without help. There was nothing to gain in telling them what wasn’t absolutely necessary.

Wanda guided you forward for the next thirty minutes, her arm squeezed even tighter around your waist then it previously was. “We’re approaching,” she told you then looked past your shoulder.

You squinted through the thick blanket of snow, looking for a light or an outline of a building, anything for you to pinpoint where the base was visually.

“Can you see it?” Wanda asked.

“No, I can’t. Are you sure we’re close? Maybe we’re still a few miles out.”

Then in an urgent demand that made you break the snowmobile so hard that you nearly fell out of it, Wanda blurted out, “Stop, stop!”

After catching your breath to calm your thumping heart, you looked back at her. “Holy shit, what?” you gasped.

“The HYDRA base should be right here,” she said. At the sight of your mistrusting expression, she lifted up the tracker and showed you the blinking red dot representing the base and the smaller blue dot that represented the snowmobile. They overlapped each other, meaning that it should’ve been right in front of you.

You got off of the vehicle and walked ahead, squinting and looking around at the snowy plain. Greys and whites stretched on for as long as you could see, and it was all you had been seeing for the last three hours.

Wanda got off of the snowmobile too, wrapped up in a heavy layer of winter gear and walking up to you as a circular ball of jackets and scarves. “Do you think it’s really out here? Maybe the tracker got water damaged or something.”

“I don’t think so,” you replied, stepping through the blinding white sheets of blowing snow.

The young witch ran up beside you, afraid to lose you in the hurricane-like winter. She buried her face further into the shelter of the scarf, leaving her eyes uncovered to allow herself to follow you closely.

“The signal and… now this,” you continued apprehensively. “There’s something that isn’t right with this base, and not just because we can’t see it.”

In the white expanse of snow that went on for kilometres more and mountains that lined the horizon, there was a single outlier.

You approached what looked like a metal pipe coming out from the ground, uncovered by the snow despite the way it had been coming down for the last three hours. A steady release of steam bellowed out from the pipe. You removed your glove and steadied your hand on top of the steam, only for it to be warmed. The snow that fell on your hand melted on-contact.

“Look how strong the signal is now,” Wanda mentioned, pointing to the edge of the screen.

You lifted the tracker up again, looking back down to those overlapping red and blue dots.

“The base is underground,” you told her, your eyes running across the snow you were standing on, then further down where you were sure the building stretched out below.

Eventually, an entrance was found after wandering through the shadowed tundra — a snowy stone walkway and a metal door rusted from years of usage and neglect.

“Should we… go in?” Wanda asked you, clinging to the sleeve of your jacket with both hands. “Is it safe?”

In concealed irritation, you took your arm away from her and opened the door. A warm burst of air hit your face and you kicked away the inches of snow behind the door to allow yourself enough space to step inside.

Wanda followed after you, her cheeks tinting a soft pink when the door closed behind her and the two of you were immediately developed in the warmth of the underground bunker. She pushed her hood back and removed her gloves.

The entrance den was small, giving off the illusion that one had found a storm cellar instead of a research base of an underground terrorist organisation.

You walked forward despite Wanda’s quiet whispers of forewarning, across the slotted floors that made visible piping from below and a leaky cement foundation that made you wonder how old this base must be.

As you walked deeper into the bunker, the tracker’s coordinates of the technology that was sending out signals became more precise. It was stronger, quicker, and indicative of transmitting hundreds of gigabytes of data every few minutes. It wasn’t nearly as fast or efficient as the monitors Stark found in Sokovia’s research base where Wanda and Pietro were stationed, but perhaps only a few models behind.

Voices could be heard from around the corner, and the tracker specified that their primary monitor was but a few metres away.

Wispy tendrils snaked around Wanda’s fingers as she readied herself for any sudden attacks.

Carefully, you unzipped your jacket and pulled out a thermal camera. The base didn’t seem to be well insulated, which was likely why they had to make up for it with the amount of heating they used. Fortunately, this meant that the thermal camera could detect individuals through the wall you were hidden behind with ease.

They were positioned poorly around the lab, as if not under any suspicion that someone might intrude their base. There were six people walking on a levelled platform a few metres up by the ceiling, rounding the room’s perimeter and doing nothing in particular. Five people circled around the southern area of the large room, and there were seven in the centre where the lab monitors were.

You expanded the thermal camera’s range until it reached the outer borders of the bunker and found no outliers.

“Eighteen of them?” Wanda whispered, looking over your shoulder as she stayed close to the wall. “Why so few of them for such advanced technology?”

“For somewhere so far out and underground, maybe they had to overcompensate,” you supposed.

Wanda looked around, then at the details of the ceilings and elevated levels. “It looks like this used to be a bomb shelter repurposed for HYDRA,” she observed. “Pietro and I were experimented on in something similar.”

You bristled at the mention of their experimentation. You recalled the hours spent with Wanda as she talked about what Strucker did to her and her brother, the inhumane treatment and the trauma she received from it.

“If I go from up top and bring them down, we can move in on them in the middle of the lab,” you proposed, fidgeting with the thermal camera and looking up at the elevated floor above the staircase ahead.

“Wh- We’re going to separate?” Wanda whispered.

You reasoned, “We’re not going to take on eighteen of them coming in from one direction.”

“But where will you go?”

“Stay here and wait until you see me come through right there,” you said and pointed at the wall wherein the entrance to the lab’s elevated walkway could be seen beyond it.

Wanda stared at you as if to survey whether you were being sincere and looked away when you met her gaze. “Okay. I’ll wait here,” she uttered and stepped back, away from the view of anyone in the next room while having a clear view of the walkway.

Without another word, you turned and went back up the staircase you descended. You took a left and followed the path down to where the other side of the room became visible.

Wanda watched you intently, ready to come to your aid if you were to suddenly need her help. Her eyes darted between you and the walkway in the other room.

You weren’t much for combat, so you helped Tony design weapons similar to Natasha’s Widow’s Bites. Vial-like ammo were ejected from small silent guns, attaching to a target’s exposed skin, preferably the neck, before releasing a toxin and attacking and incapacitating a target’s nervous system for up to an hour. From complete stupefaction to a remarkable loss of one’s senses, they were perfect for a swift in and out.

The first four people went down quickly with the other two fleeing for the stairs. They made to escape through the exit Wanda was waiting in but were quickly paralyzed with a wave of her fingers.

At the sight of you jumping down from the walkway, Wanda kept the scientists in the lab from escaping while you stunned four of the ones by the corridor and knocked the fifth unconscious.

You quickly disposed of the empty gun and switched to the other, landed two vials on two different scientists while Wanda clouded the minds of the last five.

You eyed them when they dropped to the floor.

“They’re just in a trance,” Wanda explained suddenly when she saw you looking at them. “I haven’t done anything to their minds.”

She hadn’t used her magic to brainwash anyone since her and Pietro’s fight with the Avengers, and certainly not after her argument with you.

Ignoring her, you moved to the monitors and took out a USB before extracting data from the primary console. The parts were easier to navigate because they were older, but there was a lot of data to extract. You’d get data out first then corrupt what the base had left.

Wanda was flipping through their files as you did your own work, looking up at you occasionally and eyeing your body for any sustained injury.

The monitor screen flickered on when you moved the mouse accidentally, and on it was a file that caught your eye. Though it was in Cyrillic, it was easy to read — The Enhanced.

A gasp came from Wanda that startled you and you looked over to her to see she was holding a file in two hands.

“What is that?” you asked.

Her words were firstly a jumble of stutters, but she eventually answered you. “It’s information on me and Pietro. They were studying the experiments on us.”

You looked at the file on the monitor.

The Enhanced.

She read from the file and thought out loud, “Underground and in an old bunker like this, they were trying to replicate the experiments, make new weapons and reuse the progress that Ultron made with the Mind Stone.”

After making the connection, Wanda looked around at the research base then at the scientists on the ground. Her hands trembled and she dropped the file, running her fingers through her hair and scratching at her palms to ground herself.

“I cannot be here. We have to leave,” she told you.

“Just a few more moments, Wanda, this is almost finished.”

But she insisted angrily, “No, we have to go now! You do not understand the kinds of things these people do. I cannot be an experiment again. You cannot.”

She suddenly reached her hand out and placed it on top of the USB. The progress percentage on the console boosted up rapidly. Its internal wires glowed a dim red, an advanced version of Wanda’s neuroelectrical manipulation.

Within seconds, the data finished extracting and Wanda ejected the drive and placed it in your hand.

“Let’s go now,” Wanda told you hurriedly and took your hand, rushing the two of you up the stairs and down the walkway.

You left the way you came, but when you turned to get onto the snowmobile parked just outside, Wanda was still standing by the exit.

“Wanda, what are you doing?” you called down to her, the loud blowing wind encapsulating the two of you once again.

“We need to get rid of this base. Forever.”

You walked back over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Limited casualties,” you reminded her.

When she turned to you, her eyes were filled with tearful fury. “Let me do this,” she said sternly.

You stared at her for a few moments before nodding and letting go of her.

A gas pipe was snapped in half, so it blew out into the bunker.

With shaky hands, Wanda sped up the release from the heating pipes, bundling them up into a focused ball of hot steam so its temperature rose.

It continued to rise until the metal from the pipes and walls distorted from the heat, and you were sure Wanda’s wrath on its own contributed to that ball of heat’s temperature.

At the first sight of a spark and a quick lick of a flame, Wanda shot the ball to the side at the expelling gas without warning.

It happened within seconds; the bunker filled with purple flame and rushed right up to Wanda’s face.

You reached over her shoulder and shut the bunker door before wrapping your arms around Wanda and moving her away. Her back made harsh contact with the stone wall adjacent to the door when you pushed yourself against her body, protecting her from the explosion.

The purple flames cooled into orange, bursting out from the frames of the door and turning the snow on the ground to water.

“Holy shit,” you breathed out, your heart racing.

You looked back over to Wanda, whose face was flushed pink with parted lips. She was no longer crying but her eyeliner was smudged beneath her waterline. She was looking at you though you could see the reflection of the flames in her green eyes.

“Are you okay?” you asked.

Her mouth closed and she swallowed. She blinked and simply nodded in response.

You nodded and said, “Okay. Good, okay.”

You stepped back from her and zipped your jacket up then put your gloves back on.

“We should head to the safehouse now,” you advised. “Update the team then get some rest, and we can leave for the Quinjet tomorrow morning.”

Wanda only nodded again. She watched you as you ascended the steps and mounted the snowmobile. She fitted her hat back on and then her gloves, and caught her breath as she followed after you.

She took her seat behind you on the snowmobile and wrapped her arms around your waist.

“Ready?” you asked.

She nodded, feeling the back of your jacket against her cheek. “Ready.”

You held the tracker in your other hand as you drove to the nearest safehouse. Tony and Rhodes wouldn’t be there, for their nearest one was thirty miles south. But you didn’t dread being alone with Wanda as much as you did before.

A part of you that hadn’t been awoken since the last you spent those evening hours awake talking with Wanda sparked a modest flame. Recollections of your time with her spread out during the last few months came to you in the blinding white plains of the Nunavut tundra.

On the way back to the compound after a mission a few months ago, Wanda had stayed with you in one of the rooms and tended to your injuries. She was surprisingly proficient in bandaging you up and keeping you elevated, and while you sat in quiet disdain for her, she reminisced aloud about how she and Pietro had to care for themselves for most of their life on their own and how caring for someone else often made her think of him.

The journey to the safehouse was a twenty minute drive. The building was larger than you envisioned.

You dug through the depths of your jacket for a key safely stored for the safehouse and opened the garage. It was miraculous that it still worked.

The team was reassured that the buildings were safe from being built with any malicious intent during SHIELD's active operation, and were nearly forgotten until the exploration of Nunavut was proposed.

You stepped off of the snowmobile and had Wanda unlock the door and take the bags in while you pulled the vehicle into its proper storage inside so it wouldn’t be frozen outside by the time you left in the morning.

Locking the door behind you when you stepped into the house, you shedded off your layers and hung them from the hangers, moving your boots to the side beside Wanda’s.

The place felt brisk the moment your jacket came off so you wandered around looking for a thermostat. From what you were all told, each safehouse came with three bedrooms and bathrooms, a common room, and a kitchen.

You found the kitchen first, then a hungry Wanda who was standing by the counter with canned tuna and a glass of tap water.

“Are you hungry?” she asked you, offering you the can of tuna.

Looking around, you took the fork from her. “Where did you find this?” you inquired with a laugh.

“There’s some food here, but they’re all raw or canned. Made to last, I would think,” she noted and took out another can from the pantry before peeling the top open. She took a fork from the counter.

“I turned on the heat when I came in,” she told you. “It should get a bit warmer in a few minutes.”

You looked through the pantry and took out a box of macaroni and cheese, then turned on the oven, feeling the prongs heat up. “Do you want to share some pasta?”

“Yes, please.”

Within forty minutes, you’re sitting on the common area couch with Wanda in silence, eating cheesy boxed macaroni.

For the first time, you felt strange looking back at your history with Wanda before Ultron. It twisted something in your stomach and made your shoulders tense.

Looking at her docile expression, unsuspecting and delicate as she sat across from you, legs crossed on the couch as she ate with you. The dim lamp from the corner of the room beside the broken television cast the silhouettes on her face you often used to follow with your eyes when she laid beside you in the plot of grassy land in front of the hideout she and Pietro used for a period of time after Strucker vanished. It was warm – the last few weeks of summer.

It was March now, months since the battle on Sokovia and even longer since the last time you spent this kind of time with Wanda.

Wanda put her empty bowl down and took a sip of water. She wrapped her fingers around the cold glass, her thumb running over the ring on her index finger.

“I know you don’t like me,” she uttered suddenly, “so I would understand if you never forgave me for what I’ve done to you.”

You looked up from the bowl in your lap and at Wanda, who was looking down at her fingers avoidantly.

“But I will always look up to you,” she continued. “You are so brave and kind. You are what I had wished I was becoming when I worked with HYDRA, and when I allied with Ultron. But I made a mistake. And I keep making mistakes.”

“You’re doing okay,” you told her suddenly before you realised what you were saying.

Then you added, “Everyone thinks so.”

Wanda looked at you, studying your face for what felt to you like quite a while. “When I looked inside your mind,” she said, “I saw something pure. I feel the same for you as I did before, if not with more gravity. I want to know more about you and these things I can feel that you love.”

“What do you want to know?”

“This Shakespeare — I have read him and understand very little of what he writes about, or rather how he writes. I made my own way through several acts of Hamlet but found I could not pretend I found any sense of enjoyment in his writing. His works are enjoyable to you?”

And then you were laughing a kind of laugh that made you place your bowl on the coffee table to avoid spilling it over.

Wanda smiled as she watched you, the crinkling of your eyes that she found pleasing to look at and the unrestrained sound of sincere joy that came from you, especially when it was because of her and no one else. She laughed, quietly and with a few chuckles.

“That was funny?” she asked, still smiling.

You nodded and answered, “Yes.”

But she continued to look at you, anticipating an answer.

“He writes strangely, but because he lived from quite a while ago when the English language was different,” you said. “But also because he was an artist, and like any other artist, his work can be interpreted. Overtime, it’s become easier for me to understand his age of English, but the poetry of his works have become no less interesting to me.”

“What’s interesting about it?”

“There’s an eloquence to his style of writing, I think,” you thought aloud. “And for certain works like Hamlet, for example, it’s tragic and ironic, with beautifully written characters, all within a bound book of one of the most artistic styles of writing I’ve come across. He’s-”

Wanda leaned over, the sudden act making you halt your words and look over to her, only for her hand to find the side of your face. Her lips met yours in one swift movement and her eyes fluttered shut.

Her nose was decorated with freckles.

You stumbled back in your seat and Wanda’s hand lifted to your knee.

She parted from you, looking down at her hand on your knee and her fingers slowly retracting from your cheek.

“I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered, her cheeks flushing.

Carefully, you took the glass away from her and placed it beside her empty bowl. Wrapping your hand around her wrist, you pulled her closer to you until her other hand was forced to remove itself from your knee and lay itself down on the couch by your hip.

You kissed her with a sudden ferocity that made her breath hitch.

“Wanda,” you breathed.

She moved closer to you so she was sitting up on her knees in front of you.

Your hands moved down her body, arching her back with your fingers pressing into her sides so you could kiss up her stomach then between her clothed breasts.

With a pleasured sigh, Wanda’s hands came up to the sides of your head, her fingers playing with your hair and urging you to kiss her body.

Now irritated by the distance between you and her bare skin, your fingers hooked around the collar of her long-sleeved white shirt and yanked down.

Wanda hid a grin in your hair and kissed the top of your head.

You kissed the swells of her breasts, burying your face in her chest and nipping at her delicate skin. You craved more and your fingers pulled down her bra, exposing rosy nipples. Your tongue ran up one of them and they hardened at your contact.

“I like that,” Wanda said, an arm wrapping around your neck and pulling you closer to her.

“Yeah?” you answered, looking up at her from between her breasts. You kissed up her chest and neck, running your tongue up her pulse point and making her squirm. “What else do you like, pretty girl?”

She blushed at the pet name and hid her face against the side of your head.

“Anything, Y/N,” she answered. “Anything from you.”

You wrapped your arm around her ass and picked her up from the couch, making her giggle and wrap her legs around your hips. Your other arm was wrapped around her waist.

Wanda kissed your forehead and your temple while you peppered kisses against her throat.

You carried her up the stairs and towards one of the bedrooms Wanda pointed at. You flicked on the lamp on the nightstand and lowered Wanda onto the bed.

She pulled your shirt off when you leaned over her while you unbuttoned and slipped her jeans off. Her legs were smooth and you couldn’t help but run your hands up the sides of them, gripping at her soft thighs and her hips.

Her shirt was pulled off next while you took your pants off.

You tucked your hands under her ass and you lifted her further up the bed, which made her laugh. You leaned back down when she was laid in the middle and kissed her.

Her hands ran up your stomach and undressed you until you were bare on top of her. You unclipped her bra and wrapped your lips around one of her nipples, kneading her other with your hand.

Her back arched up against you and she wrapped a hand around the back of your neck, pulling you close.

“Gods, you’re beautiful, Wanda.”

She shuddered when your hand ran down her bare stomach and you grinned against her cheek when you realised how sensitive Wanda was.

Your free hand pinched one of her nipples between your thumb and index finger and she yelped before burying her face in your hair.

You slipped her panties off and dragged your fingers through her folds that were already slick with her anticipation.

Wanda’s cheek warmed your lips when you kissed them for she was flushed, overwhelmed and embarrassed being exposed for someone like you. She idolised you, regarded you with high praise and adoration.

To have you kiss breasts and call her beautiful, to touch her in a way she hadn’t been in years. But even her first time had been rushed, a decision made at the snap of her fingers.

Your fingers were brought to your lips and you licked her juices from them. Wanda’s eyes widened at the act and you grinned down at her. You ran a thumb over her bottom lip and kissed her, her flavour melding between your dancing tongues.

You reached down between your stomachs and jerked your hand around your stiff cock. Wanda’s eyes followed your hand and her lips parted at the sight of you. You pecked her lips, amused at her awe.

A hand ran up her cunt, collecting her slick and coating yourself in it.

“Are you ready, Wanda?” you asked, looking up at her.

She nodded eagerly, hugging her arms around your neck tightly. “I’m ready.”

You entered her with a long groan, feeling her soft walls squeeze around your cock. Her eyes were squeezed shut, shaky whimpers leaving her.

“Y/N,” Wanda groaned. “That hurts.”

“You’re so tight,” you told her. “I’ll be careful.”

She opened her eyes and pulled you down to her so she could kiss you. “No. I want you, please. Harder.”

You wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting the lower half of her body from the bed and angling her hips down against your thighs.

With two hands on either of her hips, you pulled her up and down, fucking her on your cock as Wanda’s mouth fell open, broken moans and cries of pleasure singing from her throat.

She reached a hand down to you and you took it, interlacing your fingers as you dug your other hand’s nails into the side of her ass.

Her ass slapped down against your thighs and you could only stare at her in admiration, watching her breasts bounce on her chest with every thrust into her, the sounds that came out of her that were for you, the sound of your name on her tongue that was moaned in a way that no one would ever have the pleasure of hearing for their own names.

Your hand moved between Wanda’s hips and you laid your hand flat against her lower stomach while your thumb began drawing circles around her clit.

“Oh my, Y/N!” Wanda cried. “Oh, I feel so strange.”

She was quite sensitive, nearing her climax so soon. You kissed up her stomach and let go of her hips, laying her flat down on the bed and mounting yourself over her. You kiss her and massage one of her breasts.

“Let me see you, Wanda. Come for me.”

Wanda buried her face in your neck, her hot breath panting against your chest while your thrusted into her and grasped harshly at her hip to maintain a strong hold on her delicate body while you fucked her.

She babbled out a mess of half-finished words and her walls tightened around you.

You lifted your head to see her and Wanda’s head was thrown back, her fingernails digging into your upper arms as she came. Her orgasm washed over her in heavy forceful waves, making her shudder and tighten her knees around your hips.

There was a certain pride in making Wanda come, a young girl so often taken by timidity and whose inner feelings were unshared with those she did not find solace in. To have her shudder under you, hands grasping desperately at your body while she cried out your name sent bursts of warmth up your chest.

She took your head between her hands and pressed shaky kisses to your face, up the bridge of your nose and against your cheekbones, to your forehead and finally back down to your lips. “Let me get you off,” she whispered.

You switched positions with you now laying on your back, Wanda on her knees by your ankles. You reached down and ran your fingers through her hair in admiration, then down her cheek. Wanda smiled at you and kissed your hip.

She firstly took your cock with both hands, flicking the tip of her tongue against your tip. She ran her tongue through your slit gently then wrapped her lips around you, hands jerking you slowly.

When she had you with your head thrown back and your cock stiff in her hands, Wanda let go of you and kissed up the length of your shaft.

“Y/N, you’re so beautiful,” she said, looking up at you from below. “The most beautiful person I’ve ever been lucky enough to know. I haven’t treated you as I should. I do not deserve your patience, and certainly not any permission to see you this way. But I hope to show you how much I adore you. Because I do. I truly do.”

“Wanda…” you uttered quietly, ready to protest before she wrapped her lips around your tip again and bobbed her head down.

She took a few inches at a time and you felt her throat open up for you as she moved her head down. One hand rubbed at your thigh and the other was placed atop your hip. She adjusted her position, kneeling and arching her back to get as low as she could, her ass stuck up in the air. She inched further down, relaxing her throat until her nose brushed your lower stomach.

She took your hand with hers and placed it against the back of your head.

You took hold of her hair and pulled her up along your cock and back down. You could hear Wanda’s mouth attempting to accommodate you with every entry into her mouth. She breathed through her nose, her grip tightening around your thigh as she drooled around your cock.

You pulled her up further occasionally so her lips reached only your tip, allowing her space to breathe before pushing her back down.

Wanda never protested, only looked up at you with sheer determination to bring you pleasure. She did gag at the depth you were fucking her throat in, though still that seemed to please you and Wanda was satisfied.

After ten minutes, you pulled Wanda off of your cock, wiping the drool from her chin and uttering, “Good, Wanda. That was good.”

But she was drunk on the taste of your cock, the pre-cum she was treated with occasionally when she curled her tongue around you a specific way and sucked at you with a certain velocity.

“I want more,” she objected and kissed up your cock again, her tongue running up your veins and kissing your tip, running it through her lips and sucking at it teasingly. She rubbed her cheek against your wet cock then ran her tongue up it.

So you took her head between both hands and positioned her over your cock. She parted her lips instinctively and you jutted your hips up into her face, thrusting her throat down onto your dick at a speed vastly different than before, your speed having increased tenfold.

Wanda grasped the blankets and scratched at your hips while she tried her best to take you as deep and fast as you wanted, using her for nothing but your own pleasure. Her eyes filled with tears and her saliva coated the base of your shaft.

Your hips bucked up into her face and Wanda looked up at you, studying intently the line that formed between your eyebrows and the way your eyes squeezed shut. She flattened her tongue and wrapped it around your cock, flicking it side to side where it could fit.

“Wanda- Fuck, I’m coming!”

You shot your cum down her throat, your hands on either side of her head pushing her back gradually to fill her mouth with your cream, then finally you pulled out altogether to cum onto her face.

With the tip of your cock, you rubbed your cum against her lips and cheeks. Wanda smiled and kissed your shaft proudly.

You wiped it off her face and ran your coated fingers through her messy hair while Wanda swallowed what she could, licking your cum from her fingers too.

“God, you’re fucking filthy.”

Wanda grinned and climbed up.

You wrapped your arms around her body, kissing each other’s tired faces.

She twirled your hair around her fingers and with her cheek pressed against yours lazily, she whispered, “I’m tired, Y/N.”

“Sleep,” you answered and put a hand to the back of her head, letting her rest her head on your chest. You kissed her hair damp with sweat, and rubbed her smooth bare back as she dozed off.

You muttered confessions of your adoration of her against her head, kissing her forehead in her sleep and eventually covering your bare bodies in thick blankets.

For now, she wouldn’t know how you admired her, her intelligence and her kindheartedness, her strength and her beauty. The green of her eyes and the softness of her smooth curves, the feeling of her lips and the smoothness of her skin.

But perhaps she would know at some point or another, and that brought you joy – a future you could imagine with her.

You pulled Wanda against your chest and kissed the top of her head.

A future with her.

The very thought comforted you, and you fell asleep soon after her.

#wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff smut #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x y/n #wanda x reader #wanda maximoff fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #marvel smut

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bts-hyperfixation · 2 years ago

Text

Outside of the fox

Chapter 10 of maybe 30ish (2186 words)

Y/N longs for a new life when the one she'd been living comes to an abrupt stop. Without much thought to those she is leaving behind, the little fox packs a backpack and disappears. She stumbles across the shelter and makes an interim home for herself while she works out exactly what she wants from her second chance.

Last

"Day 1 are you ready?" Jimin asks as he hands you a brown bag.

You sneak a look inside to find it filled with snacks to get you through the day along with a post-it note that you can't quite read from this angle. You fold the bag closed carefully and thank Jimin for the lunch.

"Yeah, I'm ready, at least as ready as I'm ever going to be."

"It'll be great I'm sure. You said you already kind of made a friend right?"

"Taehyung? I'm not sure he was a bit hot and cold, but I'll be okay, I'm a big girl."

Jimin sweeps you into a hug before you can even reach for the door. You indulge him, allowing yourself to enjoy the feeling of being held close. He sends you off, standing at the door as you walk down the drive and around the corner, standing there until you can no longer see the door.

____________

The office is still relatively empty when you walk through the doors. The same severe-looking lady is standing at reception. You offer a smile which she returns.

"Y/N welcome back. Glad to see you got the position. I don't think I introduced myself the other day. My name is Ronnie and we will be working closely together."

Ronnie shows you officially around the office pointing out various essentials that you would need to know within your first few days. It feels as though you should have a notepad to write down all of the information you are being fed at lightning speed. Only about half of the information sticks in your brain.

It's not a humongous office. Maybe 10 cubicles and 3 offices with real walls. 2 conference rooms sit at the far end of the space. The company specialises in helping foreigners to move to the country assisting in work placement and visa procurement. You are introduced to the other two people that have already arrived in the office and then Estelle is setting you up with her at the front desk.

She hands you a brand new company-branded stationary set with your company ID tag and login information. Then she leaves you to breathe, fetching a drink from the break room. Slowly people filter in through the main doors, introducing themselves to you as they go. Everyone is extremely welcoming but you can't help but notice the absence of the asshole from the other day and Taehyung.

You set about answering phone calls and forwarding emails as Estelle had shown you, it was boring busy work but it certainly beat hanging at home alone doing nothing at all. Sometime just before lunch Taehyung finally strolls through the doors. He grins cheekily at your colleague as she chastises him for being late.

"Don't think you're special just because of how you got the job Taehyung-ah, you have to get here on time just like the rest of us."

"I know Estelle, I just didn't fancy getting out of bed this morning." He shrugs.

The panda grabs a handful of candy from the dish in front of Estelle and sauntered into the main room. The older woman grumbles under her breath about disrespect but the look on her face is one of pure adoration, not dissimilar to the look a grandmother might have when her grandson plays up.

"Don't go around getting ideas from him, that boy's trouble." She says to you.

"Am not!" Taehyung calls from behind the half wall that separates the main room from reception. "Hey Y/N we are going for lunch in thirty minutes okay?"

You don't respond to the disembodied voice as it calls out to you, opting to focus on the work you'd been assigned instead.

True to his word he reappeared in front of you exactly 30 minutes later carrying your brown bag and a bento box of his own.

"Come on there's a lovely little park for a picnic across the road. You get an hour for lunch."

You glance at Estelle but she just shakes her head and signals for you to go with him.

__________

The park is a very short walk away. Almost directly opposite the building, if your offices had been on the opposite side it would've provided the cutest view. Taehyung produced a blanket from a tote bag you hadn't noticed and laid it on the floor for you to sit on together.

It was a really beautiful day with no clouds, but it was a little chilly. This close to winter an outdoor picnic was an interesting choice. The breeze makes you shiver just a little. Before you even get a chance to shield yourself, Taehyung has produced another blanket to drape over your shoulders.

"I love the cold, my DNA is built for it, but I sometimes forget others aren't as accustomed... But this time I remembered!" He claps his hands together clearly proud of himself.

He opens his bento box and produces 3 courses worth of meals. He has white rice with some kind of marinated tofu, a salad with balsamic vinegar, and cookies. There is also a small Thermus from which you can smell the tea as soon as he twists it open.

"Go on then what did you bring for lunch? Maybe we can do swapsies, I don't really fancy tofu." He reaches eagerly for your bag, not giving you a chance to snatch it bag.

He pulls out your chicken sandwiches that Jimin had wrapped messily in the last of the tinfoil roll. Then he reaches in for the apple and crisps, coming back with the note that had been sitting in the bottom.

"Y/N have an amazing first day we are so proud and can't wait to celebrate again when you get home, Jimin." Taehyung reads aloud. "Who is Jimin? You're boyfriend? I'm hurt you would lead me on this way Y/N"

Taehyung mocks being shot through the heart, dramatically falling back onto the blanket as he clutches the pink note in his hand.

"I can't have led you on in less than two conversations Taehyung. And Jimin's no one... just a friend."

You reach to grab the note back from him but he keeps it just out of reach causing you to tumble into his lap.

"Well maybe I should try to make him my boyfriend, I want little notes in my lunch too." He pouts.

His breath tickles your face as you try to scramble back up without flattening him in the process. He just laughs at your efforts and makes no effort to help you get off of him. Although he does hand you the note back.

He takes your crisps and gives you his cookies as a consolation prize. He asks you various questions and you strategically avoid answering them directly the same way you'd done with everyone else. What you didn't expect was for him to be doing the same. You couldn't tell why exactly but you were fairly certain there were things he was omitting from his story as he told you how he came to work at the firm with you.

Lunch comes to an end very quickly and you help him pack up the blankets that don't seem to want to fit back in the bag they came from. Eventually, he just punches them until they are in enough to carry them back. He deposits you back at your desk dead on one hour after you left and then disappears for the remainder of the day.

_____________

Apparently, it would seem working takes a lot out of a person. By the time you trudge back into the cottage at 6:00 pm, you are shattered. It seems impossible not having done that much and yet you can't keep your eyelids from drooping and your ass hurts from sitting for so long.

Jungkook is the only one home when you walk through the door. The only part of him you can see are his ears peaking up over the sofa trying to determine who just walked through the front door. You expect them to droop a little when he realises it's you but instead they twitch excitedly.

"Hey Jungkook, did you have a good day." You ask, approaching the living room slowly.

"Yeah, iI didn't do much." He answers.

"Do you want some dinner? Or shall we wait until the others are home?"

You peer over the back of the sofa and watch him playing on his switch until he is at a point where he can pause and speak to you.

"I wanna wait." He glances up at you briefly and then back to his game.

"Okay in which case I'm going to change, work clothes still feel too weird to relax in."

You go to the study and change into sweats. You're pretty sure the front door opened at least twice since you went upstairs signalling the arrival of some of the others. Jungkook's caramel scent wafted happily around the house as it started to mix with Namjoon's campfire. No other scent came to you though leaving you confused as to who else might be in the house.

Hoseok is sitting in the big armchair in the lounge when you come back down. Yoongi wasn't due to be home for another half an hour but clearly, that didn't matter.

"I got lonely at my house, so I thought I'd wait for Yoongi here." He shrugged when you sent him a questioning look. "Anyway, how was your day? we are all dying to know."

He shuffles forward to literally be on the edge of his seat and Namjoon and Jungkook stop the conversation they were having to listen.

"It was nothing special. I didn't realise how tiring working was though."

"Surely you've had a job before though." Namjoon scoffs.

You shake your head and are met by three very surprised faces.

"Even I had a paper round when I was a teen." Jungkook baulks.

"I haven't really had the opportunity to pursue a career until now I guess... I studied a lot." You try to shut down the conversation before they go any further, still not ready to divulge a lot about your past.

Luckily Jimin and Yoongi make it through the door together. Each of the homeowners exchanged kisses before the two new arrivals made themselves comfortable.

"Are we supposed to be working on something today?" Yoongi asked Hobi, confused by his presence, although clearly not disappointed you notice.

"Uh-oh busted. I just had a lot of fun hanging out yesterday... I can leave if you want." The human's usually cool and collected facade cracking a little.

"No of course you can stay." Namjoon answers. "Now what are we thinking for dinner?"

______

Again the night goes on, Hobi is invited to stay once more, this time Yoongi offers his and Namjoon's room so Jimin can have his own bed back for the night. Although you suspect there may be alterior motives involved when Yoongi suggests they share the room and Namjoon share with Jungkook. Hoseok doesn't flinch, and happily finds his own way upstairs.

"Yoongi, darling, you seem to be getting a little... protective of your new friend." Namjoon points out carefully.

"So? I'm protective of a lot of my friends, I'm protective over you guys aren't I?" Yoongi gets a little defensive.

"I should hope we are more than friends." Jimin points out.

"Do you want to pursue Hobi?" Namjoon asks seriously.

"I don't know, maybe? I don't know it's been a long time since I've actively pursued anyone. And I'm not sure you even count Joonie." Yoongi contemplates.

"I think even if maybe you haven’t thought about it you should, clearly your hybrid parts are already starting to think of him as ours, or at the very least yours." Namjoon reasons.

"Yeah, you're right. I have definitely been feeling more anxious when he isn't around me." Yoongi stands and says he good nights, following Hoseok upstairs to probably work out exactly how he feels.

"So you guys consider new mates then?" You ask tentatively, although you aren't sure why it should concern you.

"When the right people come along who are we to turn down more love?" Jimin asks in reply, looking off dreamily.

"That makes sense I guess, I've always been told that more partners just results in more jealousy." You say, thinking about the things your ex used to say.

"Why would someone you love experiencing more love ever make you jealous? It always makes me so happy when everyone else is happy." Jimin moves on to the sofa next to Namjoon and Jungkook and cuddles in closely.

"That's... that's really lovely." You answer, and then fake a yawn. "I think I'm going to head to bed, goodnight."

You thought you'd be asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow but find yourself struggling to fall asleep. your eyes keep blinking open as thoughts of a pack of your own swim through your brain. A group of people who love each other so much that jealousy isn't even a thought in their minds.

Series masterlist

Masterlist

Please send asks, reactions, most to least, and general smutty thoughts to my ask box to keep me writing they do not have to be connected to this story. I just like giving myself extra work to do so. Please join in

#bts fic #bts smut #kpop smut #kpop fic #jungkook smut #namjoon smut #bts slowburn #bts hybrids #jimin smut #seokjin smut #yoongi smut #taehyung smut #hoseok smut #hybrid bts

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fckinwild-kiwi · 1 year ago

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Dec. 10th: Happy Little Family

Day 10: Unexpected Gifts/Kids

Day TEN (10!!!) of @comp-lady’s Domestic December writing challenge!

Warnings: Swearing (This is an 18+ blog, minors dni) Word Counts: 1.5k+ Words Pairings: Steve Harrington x Reader

“I have a crazy idea,” Steve blurted out as we were walking around the Christmas tree farm.

“And what does this crazy idea entail, Stevie?”

“Well, you know my parents are out of town again, right?”

“Sure,” I urged. His parents had left two days after our dinner at the country club. Mr. Harrington needed to be in Chicago for another weeklong conference and Mrs. Harrington needed to chaperone. Steve tried to hide his feelings about this with indifference but I could tell he was hurt. To ease his, clearly, anxious mind, I joked, “Are you trying to get me back to your place alone, Harrington?”

“That was not my crazy idea,” Steve said, coming to a stop. “But I can be persuaded.”

“You dirty boy,” I giggled, pushing his shoulder. “What were you thinking then, baby?”

“I want to host a Friend’s Christmas with everyone,” Steve said, turning to face you. “Potluck style because if we don’t specify those gremlins will think we are making everything. And we can all draw secret Santa names tonight when we are all at Eddie’s trailer for movie night. We can all meet next week with food, games, and gifts.”

“Aw,” I sighed. “A fun little family get together!”

“Exactly!” Steve said.

“I love it, and I think everyone else will too,” I said, before pressing my lips against his. Steve’s hands coming up to grip my waist as he pressed his body against mine. Reluctantly pulling myself away from Steve, I whispered, “If we don’t pick a tree soon, I think they’re going to think something happened to us.”

“I hate it when you’re right,” Steve groaned. “Let’s pick out a tree.”

After picking out a tree, Steve and I went back to house to put it up and begin decorating. It felt like looking into the future and seeing our life play out in front of me. It was refreshing and reassuring to feel the love and see exactly how it is shaping our future. If I could have told myself that this would be my Christmas season this year, I would have laughed. Funny how things work out.

Two weeks later, Steve was frantically running around the house, making sure the decorations were put in “the most perfect location”, his words. To prepare for the day, I prepped a tiramisu the day before so it was setting in the fridge. Today, Steve had tasked me with cooking the turkey and wrapping the presents. In our drawing, Steve had picked El and I had chosen Dustin.

Before long, people started arriving. As visiting Steve’s house had become such a constant activity between the party, we had all just stopped ringing the doorbell, coming in as we please.

“What’s up, I’m here!” Dustin yelled, walking in with Eddie, Lucas, and Max.

“So are we, loser,” Max retorted, pushing Dustin out of the way and making her way to me. “Hey, Y/n!”

“Hey sweet girl,” I responded. “Everyone put your gifts under the tree and bring the food into the kitchen. I will get it situated there!”

Within the next half hour, everyone else had shown up and Steve was finally sitting down, allowing himself to calm down. “Baby,” I called in to the living room, causing Steve to jump up and make his way into the kitchen. “Grab the plates and have everyone help you set the table. I could use two people to help me bring the food in.”

Giving me a quick nod, Steve rushed out of the room, Max and Robin taking his place to help me bring the food in. “Guys, give Steve a break tonight, I’m not sure why but he’s insanely stressed today. I think he just wants this to be perfect.”

Robin, laughing gave you a thumbs up as Max rolled her eyes. “He’s so dramatic,” She said, walking into the dining room.

“She’s got a point,” Robin agreed, bumping my hip with hers as she followed Max.”

“As if I don’t know that,” I whispered out, grabbing what was left and following them. As I got to the dining room, everything was set up to start digging in.

“Before we start,” Steve began. “I wanted to tell you guys how thankful and proud I am to call you guys my family. We’ve been through the most challenging times but we always find a way to be there for each other and I couldn’t love a group of people more. And everyone needs to thank Y/n for what she did to set this up tonight.”

“What? Steve,” I said, involuntarily giggling. “No way, you put this all together. I love you guys too but Stevie was the mastermind behind this.”

“Oh my god,” Mike groaned. “Everyone loves everyone, can eat now, Dad? Mom?”

“Did he just call us-“

“We’ve been calling you Mom and Dad now for like a year,” Dustin interrupted before grabbing some turkey. “You guys act like a married couple and you take care of us like we’re yours. It’s a thing.”

“Did you hear that, honey?” Steve asked, mockingly. “It’s a thing.”

“Well in that case, eat your vegetables or you’re grounded,” I joked out, everyone laughing except for El who grabbed more green beans.

After dinner, we all decided to pass on the dessert for the moment. The idea of presents looming in the back of everyone’s mind was causing everyone to get antsy. Once the kids helped load the dishwasher and Robin, Nancy, and I loaded up to-go containers for everyone to take tonight, we all settled in the living room.

“Oldest gets to start,” Eddie said, causing everyone to groan and roll their eyes. “Hey, I don’t make the rules.”

“Okay, Eds, you’re first,” I said laughing. “Who had Eddie?”

Mike stood up, grabbing the gift he brought and handed it to Eddie. With a childlike reaction, Eddie shredded the paper and destroyed the box to find a Monster Dungeon Master kit that had a new booklet of monsters, monster tokens, and a new dungeon master screen. “Thanks, man! I’m going to use this to crush you guys when school starts again!”

“Jesus Christ, Mike,” Dustin groaned. “We will never have a chance.”

“That’s the point, Henderson,” Eddie said, slapping Dustin on the back. He grabbed his present before handing it to Steve, “I had ole Stevie.”

Steve, grabbed the gift, his face lighting up with excitement. Quickly pulling the paper out of the bag, Steve was met with a can of Farah Fawcett spray and a new Queen cassette. “Thanks man, I know the hairspray is a joke but the jokes on you because I needed a new can.”

“I know, I checked,” Eddie said as he barked out a laugh.

“Shut up,” Steve mumbled, his cheeks turning red. Steve leaned over, grabbing a small wrapped package and handed it to El. With slow hands, El began peeling the paper back.

“Makeup!” She said excitedly. “Mike, I can put this on you too!”

“No makeup for me, El,” Mike said, shaking his head.

“I don’t know, man,” Steve said, shooting Mike a smile. “I think she’d make you look beautiful.”

“You’d be so beautiful,” El confirmed before grabbing the gift she brought and handing it to Jonathan. El had gifted him with new film. Before long, Robin was handing me the last gift that was under the tree. As I opened it, I was speechless.

“Robs,” I muttered, grabbing the photo album.

“It’s a scrapbook, I’ve been saving things that we have done as a group and that you’ve mentioned doing with Steve. Once you guys finally got together, I thought it was the best time to gift it to you. Figured it might be meaningful one day. I was playing the long game.”

“This is the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me,” I choked out, wrapping my arms around her. Every memory and moment that we could document in ticket stubs, photos, receipts, and notes were in the album with the last bit of the book open for future events.

“There’s more,” She said sheepishly as we pulled away from each other.

I quickly reached in to the bag, pulling out a sweater. “Oh my god,” I squealed before looking at Steve. “Baby, now we can match!”

“I know how much you love his yellow sweater,” Robin said, laughing. “Can you guys go to J.C. Penny’s and take Christmas Card photos wearing them?”

“I’d love absolutely nothing more,” I gasped, leaning across the circle to grab Steve. “Babe, do you want to?”

“Of course I do,” Steve responded quietly as to not cause a scene with the party.

“Can we come too?” Dustin asked. “It can be a whole family affair.”

“Mom and Dad need some time away from the kids sometimes,” Steve groaned.

“We have to take them, Stevie, we can’t leave the kids out.”

“You’re the best parents ever,” Robin screamed, causing everyone to laugh and echo the sentiment.

“We have the best kids ever, don’t we,” I giggled, leaning in to Steve.

“Yeah, yeah,” He agreed, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead.

“Can we get some dessert now?” Argyle asked. “I’m starving.” Everyone else, agreeing with Argyle, got up and started heading to the kitchen.

“Let’s go, handsome,” I whispered, turning to look at the boy beside me.

“Give me a second, it’s our first minute alone since our children got here,” Steve sighed. “Let’s enjoy it.”

“Okay,” I sighed back, relaxing into Steve’s side as I looked into the kitchen, watching everyone talk and serve themselves dessert. This family was perfect, flaws and all.

#Steve Harrington #Steve Harrington Fluff #Steve HarringtonxReader #steve harrington au #Stranger Things #Stranger Things AU #Stranger Things Fic #Stranger Things Fluff #fckinwild kiwi #fckinwild kiwi writing #comp lady domestic december #domestic december #fluff

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violetfairydust · 1 year ago

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20 Questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @dear-massacre thank you! I love you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

0 as of yet, but I do plan on posting soonish!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Out of all of the fics I've written for Teen Wolf, my total word count so far is 1,115,142

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Predominantly Teen Wolf. I used to write for The Hunger Games and Divergent, but those have taken a back seat.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I haven't posted full fics yet, but my mom's approximate top 5 favorites are

Spring Breaking the Rules - Liam and his friends are going on spring break and he invites his crush without consulting with his friends

Skating By - The Hales go rollerskating and run into some interesting characters who want Derek's attention. Features very jealous Stiles

Teacher Conferences - an AU where Stiles and Derek are dating during 3A. They run into Jennifer at the store the day before school starts and Stiles is jealous she's talking to Derek, and then the following day at school they get into a sass off

Operation: Hayden - Mason, Corey, and Nolan are afraid Hayden is coming back to Beacon Hills to reconnect with Liam even though he's moved on and they try to prevent the two of them interacting with the most ridiculous means possible

I Love You, You Love Me - all human AU where Scott dresses up for kids' birthday parties for extra money. Malia hires him for her young sister's party and he has major issues with his Barney costume

My top 5 most popular snippets that I have posted are

Stiles and Isaac argue about costumes from 'Here for the Boos'

Stiles' wetsuit from 'Lydia and the Princess'

Derek is concerned about Stiles from 'What Sees Us in the Dark'

Stiles is sick and Derek plays doctor from 'Doctor Derek'

Stiles wants to adopt the weird teenager from Louisiana from 'Needs a Waterpark'

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

When I was writing on FF dot net, I would sometimes, but I didn't have a lot of time. As soon as I get posting more, then yes.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Nothing Left to Lose. Bring on the brooding, inner turmoil, and mutual pining.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics end on a happy note, or they're not super angsty. Off the top of my head I'm going with Family Practice because it's the fic where Stiles and Derek become parents and it's a very happy occasion.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have in the past, yes, and it was one of the major reasons I stopped posting at all.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

In my mind, yes. On paper, no. I used to, but I never posted it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I have not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I posted on FF dot net a fic that was really popular and then I found out one of my readers wrote a very similar fic. It wasn't stolen or a direct rip off, but I could tell it was very clearly based off what I wrote.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've collaborated ideas, but we didn't write it together.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

I gotta go with Sterek. Always and forever.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

One of my old Divergent fics. I wrote it in Tris's POV and posted all of it, but then I was going to write it in Al's POV and I got halfway through, but readers will know how it ends.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I can come up with some funky fics. I enjoy my creativity.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Description. Either of the setting, characters, or actions. I try to flesh it out in editing, but it's difficult for me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't personally do it because I'm not fluent in other languages. I'm totally fine with other people doing it. I just don't know enough to make it good.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oof. I think it iCarly or Harry Potter.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I'm proud of so many of them. One that I always go back to entertain myself is If I May Say because I gave myself an excuse to watch YouTube while writing. Scott challenges Malia to only reply to people with the last thing she heard in the video she's watching and her replies were perfect and concerning.

#tag game #sorry this took me so long to get to #i had to ask my mom her favorite fics and she had to think

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kellymcsblog · 7 months ago

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Running is my life. No really it is. It controls my life in every way. I need a certain amount of sleep, I need to eat at certain times so it won’t affect my run, i need to maintain normal stress levels. Running has found a way into every aspect of my life. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. I’ve always loved to run since I can remember. I grew up racing people in the elementary school field. I loved the pacer during gym class and that carried me all the way to Cross Country in 7th grade. I love to run. The feeling of completing a 10 mile run with your team or a 5 mile workout run is like no other. Luckily i’ve been blessed with the best team I could possibly ask for. Back to what I said on how it affects my whole life. I am in Spanish Immersion which I graduate on Tuesday. Unfortunately, we have conference for Track that day. There is no way around either it comes down to picking which one to go to. I can’t do both. The choice seems simple. Go graduate obviously. It’s not that simple. Because running is my whole life it comes with an enormous amount of guilt when you don’t or can’t race/run. That’s my last chance to race before sections which determines if I go to State. Okay so skip graduation and go to the race. Not so easy either. I’ve been with this group of kids for 13 years and that is the last time we will be all together. It is also the last chance to see all my old Immersion teachers. I’ve been going over it in my head thinking what i’ll be glad I did in 10 years but i really don’t know. I have my future college coach watching my times for Track. Normally I know what to do but with this I have no idea.

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frontproofmedia · 7 months ago

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Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson and Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano New York Press Conference Quotes and Photos

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Published: May 14, 2024

NEW YORK, NY – Today at the iconic Apollo Theater in New York, the Problem Child, Jake “El Gallo de Dorado” Paul (9-1, 6 KOs), and the Baddest Man on the Planet, Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) came face to face for the first time since Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) announced their upcoming fight. Paul vs. Tyson is set for an eight-round professional bout with two-minute rounds and will stream live globally, exclusively on Netflix on Saturday, July 20, 2024, from the 80,000-seat capacity AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

In the highly anticipated co-main event, Matchroom’s undisputed super lightweight world champion Katie Taylor (23-1, 6 KOs) will defend her undisputed title over 10, two-minute rounds against boxing trailblazer and unified featherweight world champion Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano (46-2-1, 30 KOs) in the most anticipated rematch in women’s boxing history.

Over 120,000 people have signed up for early access tickets here. All remaining tickets will go on sale on Thursday, May 16, at 12 pm ET. Netflix and MVP will host a second Paul vs. Tyson and Taylor vs. Serrano press conference later that day, at 7:30 pm CT, at Texas Live! in Arlington, Texas.

In today’s press conference hosted by renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani, Paul, Tyson, Taylor, and Serrano had plenty to say about the upcoming fight:

Jake Paul Quotes

On how hard it was to get Mike Tyson: Yeah no, he was game. I think he's always wanted to do this. This has been a long time coming. We've been calling each other out for years and we finally got to make it happen on Netflix, the biggest platform in the world, and things just keep on getting bigger and better. The co-main event [Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano]... I mean, this is quite literally history that we're looking at right here. Mike wanted this. Mike wanted it to be a pro-fight. He wants the war, and so I respect that. I respect him for taking this fight, for stepping up to try to put an end to me because that's what all these fighters have been trying to do is end the YouTuber, and if Mike can do that, then he's a hero.

On how the deal came together with Netflix: Yeah, look, it is Most Valuable Promotions that have been changing the game since we came into the promotional business, and we just continue to level up and do things differently and see gaps in the market that no one else has identified. We wanted to work with Netflix, they liked the idea and see the vision in what we're building, what type of events we can put on. This is quite literally the biggest fight of the 21st century because of the fact that it's Mike Tyson versus me, but also the fact that it's in 700 million households on Netflix for free, for everyone who's a subscriber to watch.

On those who doubt him: I'm going to show the world that I can outbox Mike Tyson, prove everyone wrong, and show that I will be the one doing the killing.

On the importance of it being a pro fight: After the contract was signed, we got a call from Mike's team, and they were like, ‘Hey, he wants it to be a pro fight for sure. He wants that. He wants to put it all on the line.’ I respect Mike for that, and if he wanted it to be that, then let's run it.

On taking on Mike Tyson’s power: I'm a natural-born heavyweight. This is what I was born to do: to move up into this weight class. I'm going to show Mike who has more power because he's underestimating me. I think everyone else is underestimating me and I believe that I hit harder. I know it's going to be tough. I know I'm going to have to fight through adversity. I know I might even go to the canvas. I'm scared, don't get me wrong, but it's not about the fear stopping me. It's about going into it, even though I am scared. That's what true bravery is.

On whether he can take a hit from Mike Tyson: Yeah, look, they call him Iron Mike Tyson, but I'm titanium Jake Paul.

Mike Tyson Quotes

On why he ultimately said yes to the fight: It was a no-brainer. He was a new up-and-coming guy on the scene, and I like shaking the sports world to its core, and I'm doing it now. It's just something I want to do.

On their age difference: I'm beautiful. That's all I can say. (Crowd roars with laughter.)

On whether the goal is to end Paul: Once he’s in that ring, he has to fight like his life depends on it because it will be.

On the modified rules: I wanted the shorter rounds because I wanted more action. If we only have two minutes, we'll fight more.

Katie Taylor Quotes

On whether we're headed to a trilogy or putting the rivalry to bed: The trilogy is not on my mind right now. I beat her the first time, and I plan on beating her the second time

On how the fight came together: Well, I just got a phone call from my manager Brian a few weeks ago saying I was going to be on the same card as Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. And this is just a dream for me. I think last year my family had said to me, what do you want to do before I retire? Is there anything I want to achieve in a sport or anybody who I'd want to meet? And one of the things I said is I'd love to meet Mike Tyson and here you beside me, an icon of the sport, a legend of the sport. And this is just incredible.

On being on the same card as Mike Tyson: He's just a legend and icon on the sport. And I fell in love with a sport in the nineties and Mike Tyson was the biggest name of boxing during that time. He was ferocious and is super exciting to watch and he's a real historian as well. I love your knowledge of boxing. I love listening…. I just cannot believe I'm sitting next to Mike Tyson right now. I'm pinching myself.

On fighting at 140 pounds: Yeah, I feel really good at this weight….lots of women fighters do go up and down the weights, and so I do feel very, very strong this way. The last fight myself and Amanda fought, it was an epic fight. It was an iconic fight. It was in front of 20,000 people in Madison Square Garden. It felt like the whole of Puerto Rico and Ireland were there on the stage during that night and now we get to do it again in front of 100,000 people. This is amazing for the sport live on Netflix. Just thank you so much to MVP for giving us this opportunity. This is absolutely iconic.

On advice she has for women that want to learn how to box: Just go for it. I think they're the hardest step. Sometimes just a first step into a boxing gym. It can be intimidating to step inside the boxing gym. It takes a lot of courage. So the first step is always the hardest. So just go over it and don't let anybody out work in the gym.

Amanda Serrano Quotes

On getting a chance to avenge her loss to Katie: I think it was always going to happen because Katie and my name are always going to be attached to each other no matter what, and I'm glad to be a part of this to be alongside Katie Taylor. She's a great champion, but we're going to go out there and prove to the world that we deserve this platform.

On moving up to the super lightweight class: Listen, everyone knows I'm the unified featherweight champion. I've said it many times, anything over that [weight], it's hard for me. Obviously [at] 135, I [didn’t get the win against Katie], but for the opportunity to fight Katie Taylor [again], I took the fight [at] 140. Her team said, ‘you’ve got to do it at 140’. I really want the fight. The fight is for the fans, so greatness requires sacrifice. So once again, I'm sacrificing my body. I'm sacrificing everything to go up three divisions. The last time was two divisions. I believe I won. I heard Katie, I think going up another division, I can do the same thing. My power was going to come with me and this is a great opportunity for both of us and it is what it is. I just got to eat more. I’m a Latina, so I get to eat a lot more rice.

On what she’s bringing to the ring on Saturday, July 20: [I’m going] to go out there and give it my all. I got training. It's a little different. I'm training smarter, not harder, and I'm going out there being vintage.

On a possible trilogy vs. Katie: I mean, we'll see that night if Katie wants it. I don't know. We'll see. I'm just concentrating on this fight, concentrating on making the 140 and going out there and giving it my all.

On recovery from her March eye injury and what she’s looking forward to: I'm one hundred percent fine. It was the eyelid; it wasn’t in the eyeball, so I'm completely fine. I'm good and ready to go on July 20th. I want to thank everybody at MVP, my trainer, Jordan Maldonado, Netflix, everybody, even Katie Taylor's team for making this happen. I'm super excited. We're going to be fighting in Jerry's world, so I'm excited, and I can't wait till July 20th. I’ll become a two-division undisputed champion. What can I say?

(Featured Photo: Amanda Westcott/Most Valuable Promotions)

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sportsminorityreport · 8 months ago

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"Peek around the Corner" suggests PAC-2 expansion may be coming soon.

So for those living under a rock for the last two years, Greg Flugar's You tube channel "Peek Around the Corner" is the best source for realignment discussions today. He broke the story on USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and has been right on almost every realignment move since then.

I have tracked and written about sport conference realignment since the last days of the Southwest Conference and I can tell you his run over the last 2 years is amazing. Really unprecedented and unlikely to ever be matched again. No one else has ever figured out what positions you should talk to get the right information on realignment. Flugar's figured it out and built a network of those guys. What he is doing is next level.

He is now talking about Pac2 expansion stories being imminent, although no new school is currently committed to join yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZZFZ37Kz6g&t=1s

I would encourage Cougar and Beaver fans to check out his report. (Warning, he babbles on about other crap for the first 52 minutes.)

I have been advocating the PAC2 build a conference for quite a while. It now seems like we have a pretty good idea of the plan they chose. It is a little ham-fisted and leaves a ton of available meat uneaten (could be A LOT richer), but when I look at it I see a solid plan that could come together very quickly that a risk-averse leadership would put together.

So lets get started talking about it.

The plan

Buy out the 6 MWC schools with the greatest current media valuations using the PAC treasure trove: Boise State, Air Force Academy, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and UNLV. All 6 schools are likely willing co-conspirators as their media payouts will go up and might actually double and they don't have to do a thing.

That immediately gets the conference to 8 schools and solves their conference problems.

Follow that by a raid of specifically the Texas schools (UTSA, N. Texas, and Rice) in the AAC as well as Tulane, Memphis, and Navy. These schools would move to a better home for the two revenue sports and would also likely see raises.

I think it is quite viable. Props to the PAC 2.

Valuation, the engine that makes this possible.

What is the value of the new Pac? Well. I think we can pretty much guess at it. The PAC1-12-2's hired media evaluators advised the conference that "FAIR MARKET VALUE" of the PAC 12-2 was about $34M per school. Then the conference asked ESPN for $50M each --- pissing off ESPN and leading the "sports leader" to lowball the conference throughout the rest of the negotiation and even pull out of a last-minute offer when Colorado left.

Apple lowballed the PAC because for most of the negotiation period, the were no serious linear providers competing. Many Pac schools were looking at $25M per school as an amount they would tolerate to stay. Apple was going to guarantee something like $23M per school, so I think logically you can say that $27-34M was the general fair market valuation of the PAC-12-2 schools.

Now 6 of those schools are making $32M or more in their new conference homes.

Now obviously the 2 schools no one wanted in the power conferences were WSU and OSU. So you'd have to expect their valuation to be something between the best conference in the non-power ranks --- the AAC (~$9-10M) --- and maybe $25M.

Neither school has really built the kind of basketball support they should have and their football attendance averages were among the worst in the PAC, so pressed I would suspect OSU may be valued at about $20M and WSU at around $13M.

Now let's talk about the MWC. It is a 10/11 conference that is paid on the non-power conference scale. If memory serves they make about $6.5M per school, so the media money pool is about $70M.

The MWC is generally 3 layers of mediocrity although the MWC has a media king --- Boise State. BSU is good in football/solid in BB and has a national fanbase due to their stellar play 10-20 years ago capturing a generation of nationwide fans.

In the first tier of mediocrity, you have schools with definite TV value. After Boise State, you have #2 San Diego State (good FB, great BB in a top 30 DMA), #3 Colorado State (solid football/BB in a top 20 DMA), #4 Fresno State (good FB with great support, mediocre basketball in a forgettable DMA), and #5 Air Force (decent FB, very, very strong national brand).

Arguably, UNLV, Utah State, New Mexico, and Nevada are the next tier. Mediocre football schools with solid basketball programs which are pretty much in a down period across the board. UNLV is liked more than it should be by media companies who still remember the Jerry Tarkanian years but their fan support just sucks.

Then you have the bottom tier. Wyoming is OK in the revenue sports but their fan support is tiny and they are the conference's 2nd team in the Denver DMA. San Jose State has a strong media market but they have some of the weakest programs in the MWC. Their fan support is not valued highly. Hawaii is a football-only member of the MWC and is undergoing a very painful stadium problem that will likely leave a far weaker program than what existed before.

I am not going to go into great detail with this. Let's start at the $70M. Now the value of the MWC schools is discounted because like the Pac-12, they lack markets and footprint population. There is a low ceiling there.

Let's say that the top 5 are collectively worth $40M of your $70M, or basically $8M each. The next tier of 4 may be currently valued at $20M or $5M each. Finally the last 2.5 schools combine to generate the last $10 M, so they maybe are worth $2-4M each to the networks.

I think these premises are reasonable enough.

Now the implications of Flugar's report is that the initial gambit for the new Pac is to add the MWC's top 5 plus UNLV. Now Assuming the networks overpay for UNLV by a million --- reasonable premise --- you are looking at adding their $46M valuation to the Pac-2's $33M.

Now in general, the PAC-2's value is obviously going to be lessened much more by playing Boise State instead of Washington, but the MWC 6 would be enhanced a little by playing Oregon State rather than Wyoming.

We are just working for a quick and dirty breakdown so we are just going to drop the total valuation of $79M to $76M for the initial 8 schools, or roughly $9.5M per school.

Now this is where it gets interesting. Assuming that ballpark is about right, that puts the new Pac essentially on a financial par with the ACC. This means that considering the PAC is no longer a financial issue. It is about "Which conference would house my revenue sports better, the AAC or the PAC?"

The answer is the PAC.

Flugar had suggested that Navy and Tulane were working in unison for some reason as the next most likely to join. Navy I get. That puts Navy and Air Force in the same conference… something they have wanted for a long time, but have been unable to convince Colorado State to move with Air Force to the AAC.

Tulane…. Hmmm… I don't see the specific connection to Navy, but I think I get why they might be ahead of Memphis and the Texas 3. Tulane profits recruiting-wise from being in a conference with access to the 3 largest DMAs in Texas. Tulane has been good in football recently. Tulane might be creeping out the door to try and pull that foursome with them and guarantee Tulane has a slot in the new PAC. That may have been guaranteed to them if they lead.

So then you have 4 central schools --- UTSA, Rice, Memphis, and North Texas which have apparently been given a pitch from the PAC-2 and are likely cautiously listening to see how the PAC8 are valued.

Now I want to be clear, if the PAC 8 values out at peer status, it is HIGHLY likely those 4 schools will move west. Now if this occurs, the new Pac will be able to do something the old PAC with it's academic snobbiness could not --- they will have paired Texas media markets with the markets of the West.

This is something that a lot of media folk had been telling the PAC would save them, but the PAC never did it. It is opening up 11 AM Eastern games. It is making the PAC directly relevant in 3 time zones and tangentially relevant all across the US.

In simple terms, adding Texas gives people on the West Coast a reason to watch Texas Football and people in Texas a reason to watch West Coast football.

I am pretty sure that will push up the per team payouts to $12-14M, which makes it worthwhile to everyone.

So is this your new PAC-14?

What would this cost OSU and WSU?

It is all laid out here.

It would seem like it is going to cost $67.5M for 6 MWC schools assuming each school pays their personal $5M+ exit fee, which should be doable given their likely raises in media payouts.

And this may end up essentially costing the PAC 2 …. possibly as little as $24.5M each for WSU and OSU.

$24.5M each? Why so cheap?

The PAC 2 was already on the hook to the MWC for $18M for scheduling alliances. It is possible that if they might not owe that if they add the 6. I don't know... and really when you are sitting on $222M in PAC money, the difference between $49M and $67M to have a good conference home is not that significant.

Should WSU and OSU pursue this?

Yes. Absolutely.

But wait!!! Now, is this worth pursuing with ACC membership possibly becoming available? Well, Flugar says that OSU and WSU are structuring this so if that if an ACC offer comes in they can just bail on the new PAC.

That sounds crazy that teams joining them would be OK with that, but if you peel back the onion it makes sense.

OSU and WSU are using their PAC windfall money to buy the best programs out of the MWC and drop them into a more lucrative home. Regardless of whether the PAC 2 are there or not, the new PAC is still going to pay those schools 50% to roughly double their current annual tv rate.

The central schools would likely reach similar conclusions. The American is kind of a haphazardly slapped-together conference, much like the CUSA that they raided was. This PAC is a much stronger home for their revenue sports even without OSU and WSU.

Will the pac2 be part of a western ACC division?

My gut is screaming no, but a lot of media people are saying "maybe" including now Flugar, a real realignment follower with strong ties. who mentioned it as a possibility. I am not going to lie. I hate that I even have to discuss it as a possibility.

The ACC has continuously snubbed West Virginia, a similar academic school with much, much more valuable program than either WSU or OSU and a much larger fan base in both revenue sports.

Is it possible that an ACC could decide after being gutted and told by ESPN that their payouts are going down say $5-20M per school, that they might decide, "Hey, you know what would make this even better? How about a fat bill for annual trips to the Pacific Northwest in all sports?"

I think WSU and OSU are wise not to count on that. If it shows up, you are building exit clauses. That's probably the right level of consideration for it.

Build a conference that works for you and don't look back. The difference in pay between what this conference would pay you and what a gutted ACC on ESPN's back side might get is a wash and the travel is much better here.

Is this a good plan?

Yes. They have extracted a very, very manageable deal out of MWC commissioner Naverez.

Are there things I would do differently?

Yes. A lot of them, but this is an EXCELLENT frame.

I hate Boise State as a potential member because they are a horrible conference mate. But..... The Leadership at the PAC 2 has done a terrific job planning this out on the MWC side and has left Boise State where they kind of have to go along with the terms and they won't have an American with equal payouts to play off for a better deal. It kind of makes them behave like a decent, honorable conference mate.

SDSU and CSU are worth spending the money to acquire.

Air Force is also worth buying out of the MWC. Think about how many Americans have served in the Air Force or have a family member in the Air Force. That is a huge fan base. And there is every reason to expect if you get Air Force you also get Navy which is also a huge fan base and that you might end up getting Army football in a few years, completing Mike Aresco's long desired trifecta.

It's Fresno State and UNLV where I have problems with this plan. I would argue for Hawaii and UNM instead, even though they are horrible football values today. I think they would cost the PAC 8 stage about $6M in total valuation putting your totals in the $8.5M range. would that skunk your ability to add AAC teams? I don't think so.

Why? Because I firmly believe that within 5 years Notre Dame will carry Stanford into the Big Ten. When that happens Cal will be the only ACC school west of Dallas. If you handle this right you could easily have the perfect home to absorb Cal. Cal would rather be in a home with Hawaii and UNM --- two state flagship schools that do research than Fresno State and UNLV.

Plus I think UNM projects FAR, FAR better in this 14-team layout than UNLV. I can see UNM leveraging Texas recruiting and dominating in basketball and becoming an annual bowl team in football. I am talking about having success like they have never had before because they have NEVER had a good conference footprint. Having that kind of BB program --- paired with Memphis in an eastern division --- interacting with the three Texas schools could jump-start basketball at your Texas schools. UNM makes sense.

I see pretty much the same UNLV as exists today, but weaker and weaker in football as they lose football ticket revenue to the Raiders. They are already an afterthought in basketball. I think that is just a bad add, but I recognize the networks would push them and pay a relative premium for them and that may be something OSU and WSU believe they would need to get the AAC schools.

Fresno State would be an admitted competitive loss. They support football like champions and I hate pooping on their addition, but you KNOW Cal is not going to want to be in the same conference as Fresno State. And their media valuation cannot be that high.

Hawaii on the other hand is a super liberal state (cal friendly), they do a ton of research, they HAD a pretty decent football fanbase, draw acceptably in basketball, and they are a gateway to recruits and students from Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. That is money in your coffers. More to the point, that is all Cal-friendly stuff. Trips to Hawaii are a recruiting tool. Given the footprint of the Western division, the costs would be bearable. A lot of Hawaiian and Samoan talent fed the old Pac-12 schools and now could be easily harvested by OSU and WSU at the cost of their "big brother" universities... Hawaii is like UNM... a forgettable school in a weak conference, an immensely strangely valuable school in a stronger conference. And specifically could help OSU and WSU in recruiting.

With money to recruit California, New Zealand, and Australia, Hawaii would be above average in football in this conference. Probably Fresno State level on the field.

But I would understand if the PAC 2 saw Hawaii as a "future add" candidate with their current stadium issues. (Build a 40K stadium state of Hawaii!). There are a lot of options with those last two spots that you can pull off spending less and getting better results.

So I would argue in general to build "pro-Cal". I anticipate when Stanford and Notre Dame bail on Cal, Cal will be working hard to get into the Big 12 but will probably have a vote problem. A Cal-friendly Pac would land them, I think, and that would push the new pac into a higher level.

I am going to stop here, but there are other things that could be done to add millions to their conference coffers annually, but great start Pac 2!!!

#osu beavers #washington state #new mexico lobos #uh manoa #colorado state #memphis #tulane university #utsa roadrunners

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rediron4568 · 1 year ago

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the-firebird69 · 2 years ago

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Watch "The Byrds - 8 Miles high" on YouTube

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Thor Freya

#Youtube

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hakesbros · 2 years ago

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tuiccim · 4 years ago

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Dimensional Pain

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 3363

Warnings: Angst, minor violence, fluff, implied smut.

Squares filled: Heartbreak for @star-spangled-bingo.

A/N: This is for the HBC’s @the-ss-horniest-book-club Drunk Drabbles / Divider by @firefly-graphics

Earth-616

“Everything ready for the test?” Bruce asks as he comes into the lab.

“Looks like it.” You say.

“Everything is ready. I’ve figured this thing out down to the molecular level.” Tony grins.

You roll your eyes at his overconfidence. The machine was an unknown entity that you thought may be an interstellar communication device but, truthfully, no one knew what it really did. You, Bruce, and Tony had studied each part of it in the lab and, now that you had gleaned all the information you could, the only option left was to run a test.

“Alright, let’s do this.” You say.

“The honor is all yours.” Tony grins.

You switch on the machine with 10% power and look at the readouts, “This is strange.”

“Let’s turn the power up.” Tony says as he turns the dial. “This is fascinating. I’m going to full power.”

Tony cuts the power, “Are you okay?”

“What the hell were you thinking? Have you lost your mind? We don’t know what this is!” You yell before turning to him. Your brow furrows as you take him in. Something was different but you shake it away.

“These readings are insane!” Tony exclaims. “Bruce, do you see this?”

“Look at these spikes.” Bruce’s face is alight as he goes over readings.

“Am I still alive? Hello?” You shout.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Are you okay?” Tony asks already turning back to the computer

“Fine.” You grouse. “I’m done for the day.”

“But look at this!” Bruce looks at you but his smile fades when you look at him with a murderous gaze. “Yeah, you should, uh, take a break.” He stammers as you walk out.

Things feel strange as you wander through the hallways but still you can’t put your finger on it. You are steps from your bedroom when Bucky comes out of it and nearly collides with you.

“Hey Doll.” Bucky grins as he wraps his arms around you and pulls you to him for a kiss.

You push away from him shocked. “What are you doing? Why were you in my room?” You ask, wide-eyed.

“What are you talking about, Doll? I was just heading to find you for lunch.” Bucky says.

“Why?” You look at him surprised.

“So we could eat together.” Bucky says, “Are you okay, Doll?”

“Wh-, I, you… Why were you in my room, Bucky?”

“What’s wrong, Doll? What did I do wrong? As far as I knew, it was still our room.”

“Our room? What the hell are you talking about?” You burst through the door and look around the room. Everything is different. There is a king bed instead of your queen and all the furniture has been moved. The colors are different. You walk back out again to make sure you are in the right room and walk back in again. “What the fuck?”

“Doll?”

“Is this a prank?” You are beginning to panic. “Bucky! Is this a prank? It isn’t funny!”

“Doll, you’re starting to scare me.”

“This isn’t funny Bucky! Stop it!” You yell.

“Hey!” Tony enters the room with Bruce at his heels, “We have a few theories on what we think happened. Uh…” Tony’s eyes bounce between you and Bucky.

“Okay?” You prompt.

“We don’t think you belong here.” Bruce says.

“What does that mean?” You furrow your brows.

“We think the machine has something to do with space-time continuum.” Tony says.

“Tony, Wha… Did I go forward in time?” You look at him incredulously.

“More like sideways.” Bruce says.

“Sideways? Dimensionally?!?” You exclaim.

“Yes.” Tony looks at you with a smirk and you can see his scientific mind turning it’s wheels.

“This is a different dimension?” You ask.

“Well, let’s compare some notes and see.” Bruce says.

“Are you and Natasha together?” You look at him.

“Uh, we broke up, kinda.” Bruce says.

“Are you and Pepper married?” You turn to Tony.

“Engaged.” Tony says.

Looking at Bucky your heart hurts, “And we’re together?”

“We’re not together in your dimension?” Bucky asks.

“No. We’re just friends.”

“We’re going to have to get into that later.” Tony says and then calls for an emergency meeting of the Avengers. You move to the conference room and watch as each of your team members filter in. They were your team and they weren’t. It was utterly confusing as you watch Natasha, then Steve, Sam, Wanda, and Vision walk in.

Once everyone settles in Tony explains the situation you currently find yourself in. You spend a couple of hours going back and forth with the team about the historical and scientific differences of each of your dimensions.

“Can we reverse this?” Steve asks.

“I don’t know but Bruce and I will work on it.” Tony answers truthfully.

“This is twisted.” Natasha says.

“Yeah.” You scoff.

Bucky’s eyes zero in on your hand. The ring he had placed on your finger only a few weeks ago was gone. Seeing it missing tore at his heart. “We have to fix this.” Bucky says emphatically to Tony and Bruce.

“We know.” Tony says.

“We’re going to fix this.” Bruce says kindly.

“You damn well better,” Bucky growls.

“We’ll get her back.” Tony says.

“Preferably before the wedding.” Natasha quips.

“Wedding?” You look at Natasha for understanding.

“You and Bucky got engaged a few weeks ago.” Natasha says softly.

“We… we did?” You look at Bucky.

“Yea. I’m engaged to the other you.” Bucky turns back to Tony, “And I want my fiancee back!”

“We’ll get her back, Bucky! Until then, you’ll be confined to the building.” Tony says turning his attention to you.

“Are you serious?” You ask.

“It’s for the best.” Steve says reassuringly.

“Yeah, so is this.” You turn and punch Tony as hard as you can. Tony doubles over as Steve grabs your arms.

“HEY!” Steve yells.

“No, no, I deserved that.” Tony waves him off as he holds his face.

You pull your arms from Steve’s grip and stare down Tony and Bruce, “Let’s get to work. Now.”

Three days later, Bucky finds you in the rooftop garden. He watches you for a moment full of longing to hold you in his arms. He found this situation torturous. He was looking at you, at the face of the woman he loves and he can’t touch you. His heart twists as he watches you knowing that it was just as hard, no, harder on you. To have everything be familiar but none of it is yours. You turn to him when you hear his approach.

“You always come up here when you need to think.” He says.

“Yeah.” You smile sadly. “Will…”

“What?” Bucky asks.

“Will you tell me about us? How did we get together?” You ask.

“Are you sure you want to know, Doll?” Bucky looks at you questioningly.

“Yeah. In my world, you’re my friend but you… I… we’ve never made that leap.”

“It was the same here.” Bucky says. “We were great friends, worked together, hung out together, everything. Then after one of Tony’s parties we were all hanging out and you tripped over your heels and landed in my lap. You were laughing at yourself and then we just looked at each other. I had been in love with you as long as I had known you and that was our moment. I kissed you and you kissed me back and the team cheered like they’d been waiting for us to finally realize we were meant to be together.” Bucky smiles with tears in his eyes as he looks at you.

“I took them off.” You whisper. “I took off my heels.”

“What?” Bucky asks.

“The party. I took off my heels before I got up because they were hurting my feet. I told you good night and patted your shoulder as I walked past. I missed it. I missed our moment.” Tears cloud your eyes as you realize.

“Do you love me? Him. Your Bucky?”

You nod. “Almost since I met him.”

“What’s stopping you?” Bucky asks.

“I didn’t realize he feels that way for me.”

“Almost since he first met you. If he’s as smart as I am.” Bucky smiles at you sweetly.

“Thank you, Bucky.” You smile and reach out to hug him.

“No!”

You jump back, wide-eyed and gape at him, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry I didn’t mean-”

“It’s not you, doll. It’s me. I can’t- I can’t touch you.” Bucky says.

You nod and hug yourself, “I understand. Sorry.” Moving away quickly, you look back at him only when you reach the door. Giving him a quick smile, you go through.

Two more weeks and Bucky is nearly a mad man. Tony and Bruce avoid him like a plague and you know him seeing you is killing him. Everytime he sees you his face lights up for half a second before it falls with realization that you aren’t his. You had worked with Tony and Bruce on a solution, run scenarios, and had even recklessly tried some runs. Today, however, you rush through the compound looking for Tony and Bruce and pause as you nearly run past Bucky.

“Come with me.” You shout and run for the lab. “I have an idea!”

“Doll?” Bucky follows you.

Tony and Bruce are in the lab and stare, eyes bouncing from you to Bucky.

“We haven’t been able to recreate the experiment because we don’t know when the other me will be trying. I have an idea. Bucky, is my grandmother here named Brigid?”

“Um, yeah.” Bucky says.

“Tomorrow is St. Brigid’s Day.”

“Okay. We still need a time.” Bruce says carefully.

“She’ll try on the angelus. We’ll have three chances.” You explain.

“The angelus?” Tony raises an eyebrow.

“6, 12, and 6. The time of prayers.” You explain. “Look, it’s worth a shot, right?”

“I’ve had worse ideas.” Tony smirks.

“Many.” You grouse, narrowing your eyes at him.

“We’ll get this done.” Bruce says turning back to his computer.

“I’m going home tomorrow.” You look at Bucky, “And she’s coming home.”

---

Meanwhile on Earth-678…

“These readings are insane!” Tony exclaims. “Bruce, do you see this?”

“Look at these spikes.” Bruce’s face is alight as he goes over readings.

“Am I still alive? Hello?” You shout.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Are you okay?” Tony asks already turning back to the computer

“Fine.” You grouse. “I’m done for the day.”

“But look at this!” Bruce looks at you but his smile fades when you look at him with a murderous gaze. “Yeah, you should, uh, take a break.” He stammers as you walk out.

Things feel strange as you wander through the hallways but still you can’t put your finger on it. You are steps from your bedroom when Bucky comes out of his old room and nearly collides with you.

“Oh, thank God.” You say as you wrap your arms around his torso and hug him to you. “Tony tried to kill me with that flipping device.”

“Uh, hey, doll.” Bucky says wrapping his arms around you awkwardly.

“Baby? What’s the matter?” You look at him concerned.

“Baby?” Bucky looks at you like you’ve lost your mind.

You let go of him and back away with your stomach in knots, “What’s the matter with you?”

“Why are you calling me baby?”

“That’s what I always call you.”

“Hey!” Tony jogs towards you with Bruce at his heels, “We have a few theories on what we think happened. Uh…” Tony’s eyes bounce between you and Bucky.

“Okay?” You prompt.

“We don’t think you belong here.” Bruce says.

“What does that mean?” You furrow your brows.

“We think the machine has something to do with space-time continuum.” Tony says.

“Tony, wha… Did I go back in time?” You look at him incredulously.

“More like sideways.” Bruce says.

“Sideways? Dimensionally?!?” You exclaim.

“Yes.” Tony looks at you with a smirk and you can see his scientific mind turning it’s wheels.

“This is a different dimension?” You ask.

“Well, let’s compare some notes and see.” Bruce says.

“Are you and Natasha broken up?” You look at him.

“No, we’re still together.” Bruce says.

“Are you and Pepper engaged?” You turn to Tony.

“Married.” Tony says.

Looking at Bucky your heart hurts, “And we’re not together?”

“We’re together in your dimension?” Bucky asks.

“Uh, yeah.” You hold up your left hand showing your engagement ring.

“We’re engaged?” Bucky’s eyes grow wide.

“Yeah.” You say softly.

“But you... I… how?.” Bucky says.

“We’re going to have to get into that later.” Tony says and then calls for an emergency meeting of the Avengers. You moved to the conference room and watched as each of your teammates filters in. They were your team and they weren’t. It is utterly confusing as you watch Natasha, Steve, Sam, Wanda, and Vision walk in.

“Can we reverse this?” Steve asks.

“I don’t know but Bruce and I will work on it.” Tony answers truthfully.

“You keep twisting your engagement ring.” Natasha says.

“Uh, yeah. Nervous habit.” You say.

Bucky’s eyes zero in on the ring on your finger remembering your earlier conversation before his eyes find yours.

“Who are you engaged to?” Natasha asks.

“Uh… who am I with in this dimension?” You look at Natasha.

“You’re single here. So…?” Natasha raises an eyebrow.

“Um, I’m engaged to Bucky.” You look at him as you say it.

“I knew it.” Natasha smirks.

“What?” Bucky looks at Natasha.

“Oh, come on, you’ve been pining for her forever.” Natasha giggles.

“Nat!” Bucky exclaims.

“We did pine for a while.” You smirk and then your face falls realizing even more now that, as familiar as your surroundings are, this isn’t home. This isn’t your Bucky and this isn’t your family.

“We’re going to fix this.” Bruce says kindly.

“Until then, you’ll be confined to the building.” Tony says.

“Are you serious?” You ask.

“It’s for the best.” Steve says reassuringly.

“Yeah, so is this.” You turn and punch Tony as hard as you can. Tony doubles over as Steve grabs your arms.

“HEY!” Steve yells.

“No, no, I deserved that.” Tony waves him off as he holds his face.

You pull your arms from Steve’s grip, “I’ll be in my room. Or what I assume is my room.”

You stand in the middle of the room that is this dimension’s yours. It’s the same as it was before you and Bucky moved in together. Your heart ached. You needed comfort desperately but the person who comforted you the most was a dimension away and this Bucky was still just your friend. You stare around the room and wrap your arms around yourself. Your mind raced and you decided to throw yourself into the only other thing that could possibly help at this point.

“FRIDAY, tell Tony and Bruce to get back to the lab. Now.”

---

Three days later. This was torture Bucky thought to himself as he made his way to your room. He had finally decided to tell you how he felt and now this. He wanted to be with you so badly, but you aren't his. Or you are his but not in this dimension. So, does that mean you feel the same way about him? How different are the dimensions?

He knocks softly on your door and stands frozen for a minute when you open it. Longing is thick between you.

“Hey.” You break the silence.

“Hey, Doll. I mean… is it okay for me to call you doll?”

“Yeah. It’s what you’ve always called me. It’s... comforting. I’m sorry. This is insane. I’m going to lose my mind. I need you but I can’t have you because you aren’t mine. I… I…” You bury your head in your hands.

“Come sit down, Doll.” Bucky guides you to the couch.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You’re okay. This is all very strange for you.”

“Yeah.” You nod.

“Will you tell me? Tell me about your world.”

“How about I tell you about what you really want to know?”

“What’s that?” Bucky smiles.

“Us.”

---

2 weeks later

Bucky watches you from across the dinner table. You were drawn and had lost weight. The failed experiments had depressed you and Bucky ached for you. He wanted to hold you, to comfort you, but he couldn’t. You weren’t his to touch. Any justifications he could come up with were empty. He finds you in your room afterwards.

“Hey Doll. You okay?” Bucky asks.

You close your eyes. The pain at looking at him and being unable to touch him at this point is unbearable. It was as if there was a magnet pulling the two of you together and the only thing keeping you apart was the understanding that you weren’t you. Not the right you.

Two weeks of this and your brain still hurt. Everything was familiar and foreign. Bucky was the best and worst part of it. At least you had part of him but at the same time it was torture not to have all of him.

“B-Bucky. Will you hold me? Please? Just hold me. Nothing else. Please.”

“Is that a good idea, doll?”

“No but I need it.”

Bucky settles onto your couch and you sit in his lap, wrapping your arms around him and sobbing. After a while, you pull a little away. “Thank you. I miss my Bucky. I want to go home.”

“I know, doll. I know. Go to bed. Things will look better tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow. February 1. February 1st! Saint Brigid’s Day! I have to find Tony. FRIDAY! Tell Tony and Bruce to meet me in the lab. Now!”

“Doll, what are you talking about?” Bucky runs after you.

“I have the answer. I’m going home!” You shout.

The next day you stood ready at 5:59 am for the first try. Tony had complained about the early hour until you silenced him with a look and fisted hand. Bucky and Bruce stood across the room watching the computer with the rest of the team.

“If this works, thank you all. It’s been interesting knowing you.” You smile at them. “And, Bucky, she loves you. Don’t waste anymore time.”

Bucky grins at you and nods. The clock changes to 6 and you and Tony begin. Everything repeats the same as last time until the flash of light engulfs you again. Once it dissipates, you look around hopefully.

“Doll?” Bucky asks.

You stare at him for a moment before turning to Tony, “Married or engaged?”

“Married.” Tony says carefully.

You burst into tears and grin, “It worked! It worked!”

“Doll!” You are picked up off of your feet and wrap your arms around his neck.

When he sets you down, you look up at him, “Did we miss our moment?”

“No, Doll, no. This is our moment.” Bucky says before kissing you for the first time.

---

Earth-616

“If this works, thank you all. It’s been interesting knowing you.” You smile at them.

“Find your moment, doll.” Bucky grins at you and you nod at him smiling. The clock changes to 6 and you and Tony begin. Everything repeats the same as last time until the flash of light engulfs you again. Once it dissipates, you look around hopefully.

“Doll?” Bucky asks.

You stare at him for a moment before turning to Tony, “Married or engaged?”

“Engaged.” Tony says carefully.

You burst into tears and run to Bucky’s arms. He picks you up and walks out of the lab with you. Passion and desperation overtake you both and you don’t even make it to the bed. You end up making love on the floor of your room. Kisses, thrusts, and moans as you finally make it home, your real home.

Masterlist

Permanent: @badassbaker @thefridgeismybestie @strangersstranger @cherthegoddess @sherlocksmanwatson @cap-n-stuff @finleyjayne @caplanreads @connie326 @daydreamerinadazedworld @bugsbucky @chrisevanscardigan @harrysthiccthighss @palaiasaurus64 @rebekahdawkins @tllynn15 @learisa @jelly-fishy-babie @fistmebuckyskywalker @nerdy-bookworm-1998 @liebs82 @stuckyslutt @a-really-bi-girl @saiyanprincessswanie @baddie-barnes @aikeia @paleo-runaway @marvelgirl7 @starlightcrystalline @xxloki81xx @kcd15 @slytherinambitious @sallycanwait68 @slytherdorxmd @fangirlforever2412 @rainbowkisses31 @whisperlullaby @thejemersoninferno @thehumanistsdiary @supraveng @dispatchvampire @juenenfeu @sxbby-barnes @allonszassbutt @y-napotat @is-it-madness @harold231 @buckysbaby32 @purselover2 @ene-rene @chrisevansbaby @mrsbarnes-rogers @sarahp879 @rosesanchez12298806 @xxpapasfritasxx @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @softie-socks @bestofbucky @bella-bear03 @randomfandompenguin @jjsoccer11 @hiddles-rose @courtneychicken @prbykt @awaywithtime @automatic-tragedy @ximebebx @magnoliamermaid @milkymil-k @get-me-some-chai-bitch @freckleblaze @ofatabuna @angrythingstarlight @unknownmystery22 @buckysnumberonegirl @buckyfan12

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ashintheairlikesnow · 3 years ago

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📋 Hello I am putting a formal request in for more Chris Saves Himself AU ft Mama Nakamura taking him I’m home only to realize the full situation

Continuing the Chris Saves Himself AU: One | Two |

CW: Grief, memory loss, recovering whumpee, some very brief and very vague references to noncon, minor whumpee (OC is 17), angsty fluff, reunion

It takes six days for the cops to let Akio's mom bring Tristan back to their house.

He's ready to be discharged from the hospital by day two, but there's nowhere for him to go. WRU is still saying there's no record of his existence, even with the barcode on his wrist. Tristan's only known living relative, Joanne Botham, is claiming he ran away from home and she had no idea what happened to him, that what she had told the Nakamura family was out of frustration and anger at Tristan for disappearing. The governor is out on bail facing charges for keeping Tristan in the mansion in the first place.

There are a lot of charges.

Akio feels by turns numb and enraged when he hears a news anchor read them out loud, bloodless words that don't seem to reflect at all how serious their meanings are.

The first few, he can process - false imprisonment, bodily assault - but then they keep going, and they get worse in ways Akio can barely even begin to imagine.

What Tristan has lived through... Akio's brain refuses to let it coalesce fully, but he has nightmares, dreams about Tristan screaming for him and being on the other side of a door Aki can't open.

He dreams about hands on Tristan's body and the way he might have screamed for help. Akio wakes up crying, retching, running to the bathroom to throw up whatever he's eaten that day as if he can rid himself of the poison of knowing.

His mom calls a therapist.

His father tells him to stop watching the news.

Akio just waits until they're in bed and searches for everything he can find on twitter, on reddit, on every-fucking-place anyone is talking about this. And it's everywhere.

He stops telling his parents about his nightmares after the second night.

Oliver Branch says WRU sold him a product they knew was outside the bounds of the law and lied to him about it. WRU says they don't know what he could possibly mean by that and they have no paperwork or documentation that Tris was ever in the system at all, and if he was, then there must have been a mistake about his age. They swear they'll do a total review of every single Box Boy, Babe, or Buddy to ensure absolute compliance.

The soundbites make Akio's mouth dry.

How many are there, then? If they have to keep looking to find more? How many like Tristan?

How many?

Joanne Botham, who never answers Aimi's furious calls and then changes her number after the second day, goes on TV and says she did nothing wrong and there's no proof that anything happened except maybe Tristan lying about his name and age to make WRU agree to take him in. Oliver Branch says he has the proof WRU knew, and he'll provide it in exchange for immunity.

They all point fingers at each other on national television, in press conferences and through their attorneys.

Through it all, Tristan sits in a hospital bed staring out the window at the blue sky as though it will be stolen from him all over again, waiting to be told where to go, what to do.

And it takes Aimi nearly a week to get the police to agree to allow her to take him home. She brings everything she can think of to meetings with the detectives heading up the case, shows them reams of team photos and home movies, folders and folders of everything Aimi and Mrs. Higgs had ever talked about or done together with the boys.

The hospital needs the room, needs the bed. The detectives don't want to put him into foster care when he barely seems to understand he's a person. The social services people won't take him because they're not equipped to handle a situation like this one. The adjustment houses don't want him because of something to do with what kind of Boxie he was, and Aimi doesn't elaborate and something in the set of her expression makes it clear Akio shouldn't ask.

After a week of mostly just being able to look at him through the small little square window in the hospital room's door, Aimi finally gets legal permission to take him out of there.

Akio isn't prepared for the slew of news vans that are there when he and Aimi arrive, someone having tipped off reporters that they might get a glance of the governor's secret Box Boy today. Aimi, though, simply sets her shoulders, slides a pair of dark sunglasses on, and walks through the crowd like a queen with her head held high, a small duffel bag handle in hand.

Akio hurries behind her, hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched, hood pulled over his head, trying to ignore ten thousand camera flashes. It's so much worse than the leadup to the Olympics would have been, if he were still performing at elite.

Or at all.

He has a strange, surreal hope that Tris won't be disappointed in him for quitting after Tris died.

Even though he's not dead.

They step into the hospital room around 10 in the morning to find Tristan not in the bed, but sitting on the couch built into the wall under the window, curled up on the crinkly plastic cushions to look out the window, humming low, soft and tuneless.

The hum makes Akio's heart ache with a sudden realization that this odd waking dream he's been living for a week isn't a dream at all. Tears flood his eyes and he has to blink them away as fast as he can. He's heard that hum in his ear as kids during sleepovers, he's heard it when Tris was nervous before performing a new routine, he's heard it while they waited anxiously for scores or studied for school.

"Hey, sweetheart," Aimi says, her voice low and soft, but even so Tris jumps and turns to look at them with wide, startled eyes. One hand goes up to his neck, and Akio swallows when he sees Tris has wrapped gauze around his neck to sit like the collar he was wearing when he fell from the governor's bedroom balcony.

Akio watched the cell phone video that made the rounds over and over and over again. The flash of red hair, shirtless, the bruises he was covered with, his hazy drugged eyes. Over and over and over again.

Watch him fall, watch him land, watch the people run to him and get him out of there when Akio has been sitting here crying his eyes to red half the time for a dead best friend who wasn't dead at all.

"H, Hello," Tristan says, but he doesn't know them. Akio can tell, the way his eyes move between them is uncertain, unsure. "Hello, ma'am. Can, can, can I, what..." He swallows, shivering, and Akio watches the fear move across his face. "What... what can I... do for you?"

His slowed-down voice makes Akio feel sick. He's only ever seen Tristan do that when he's with people who don't understand him or love him for who he is. Now it seems like it's the only way he remembers how to talk.

All Tristan's muscles from gymnastics are gone, leaving only faded shadows of his strength behind. He's skinny, so pale he nearly reflects the light from the ceiling. His freckles are faded, and his hair is shorter than Tris ever liked it.

Being so thin makes his eyes even bigger, they seem to overwhelm the rest of his face.

"Honey, we're going to take you to our house," Aimi says, keeping her voice the same low gentle cadence. "While we figure out what happens next. Aki and I will be taking care of you for a while. How's that sound? Would that be okay?"

Tristan looks between them again, and something shifts in his face. A kind of desperation moves there, and he turns more fully to face them, leaning over a little to look up at them. Hair falls over his forehead, and his hands move to rub over the texture of a loose pair of sweatpants someone gave him to wear under his hospital gown. "To... your house? Would I be... yours?"

He looks at Akio again, and there's something in his face that says he sees that as the best case scenario, that he was ready for far, far worse than simply changing owners. That he's... hoping he'll be Akio's property now.

Akio's stomach flips at the thought and he has to put a hand over his mouth and turn away, catching the sob before it can make its way up out of his throat.

Aimi's arm moves around his shoulders instinctively, and she leans over, pressing a kiss to her son's short black hair. "It's okay," Aimi whispers. "It'll be hard at first. But it's going to be okay, Aki. Saishūtekini wa daijōbudesu. Tristan wa mada anata no shin'yūdesu."

Tristan, sitting on the little couch, blinks a few times. "Friend," he says in English, a little haltingly. "Shin' yu. Means... best friend." He scoots closer to them along the couch, and his eyes are so big and so very, very green. Just how Akio always remembered them.

Aimi's head raises and turns to look at him, her arm tightening around Aki, breath catching in her throat. "You remember that?"

"No." Tristan shakes his head. Scoots a little closer, even. "Yes. I don't know why. Are you..." He looks at Akio. "Wa-... watashitachiha... sh-shin, um, shin-shin'yūdeshita. Yes? Did I-... did I say it right?"

Tristan's Japanese was never great, he'd just picked up some here and there from all the time he spent around the Nakamuras at home and in their car. They used to lay awake at night during sleepovers practicing over and over until Tristan had a new phrase to impress Aimi with.

But hearing his voice, his living breathing real live voice, sounding out the words...

It's too much.

It's too fucking much.

"Yeah, um, y-yeah, you-..." Akio's words are suddenly gone. He chokes on his fear that this somehow is a dream he will wake up from to find Tris still cold in some unknown open grave, and he can't keep the tears back any longer.

His knees buckle under the onslaught of grief and hope and fear and love, and he drops to the cold tile hospital floor, hands pressed over his mouth until his lips are pushed painfully into his teeth, and he wails, muffled but loud enough that there's rustling as the cops guarding the door turn to look inside through the viewing window.

Aimi drops into a crouch behind him, rubbing at his back as he curls over himself. Her voice trembles with tears she doesn't shed. Akio remembers the days after they were told Tristan was dead, how she would cry in her room at night with Aki's dad when he was home from work, but somehow when he and Emi were bawling their heads off, her voice stayed calm, she kept her composure.

Right up until she was alone.

Now, though, she's barely hanging on as her son sobs on a hospital room floor before the emptied-out shell of his best friend.

Bare feet pad along the floor until Tristan drops down in front of him, reaching slowly out. Cool fingertips touch the back of Akio's hand, and he pulls them slowly down to look and see Tristan only a foot or so away from him, kneeling, watching him.

"I know you," Tristan whispers. "It hurts, but... I know... you. Don't, um, don't I?"

Akio can barely see him through the tears that have turned the world to watercolor suggestions. Nothing's in focus. But he grabs onto Tristan's hand, those familiar always-cold fingers, and holds tight.

"You know m-me," He manages. "You do, Tris. You know me. We-... we know you. We want to t-t-take you h-home."

Tristan tilts his head to the side, and it's such a familiar gesture, one he was so sure he'd never get to see again. "My... name is Baldur," He says, softly. "My Sir named me-"

"Please don't call him that. Can you... can you answer to Tristan? Please?" Akio is the one to reach out this time, touching Tristan's shoulder, hesitant. Waiting for him to pull back and away, to flinch like he's been doing when they watch him with the nurses.

Instead, Tris takes a breath and leans into the touch.

"It hurts," He says. "But, but, but, but-... but I can try."

Akio nods, and then Tristan is moving forward, and their arms are around each other and Akio is scared of himself for a second, scared of the welling of feelings he can't control. He's afraid he'll crack Tristan's ribs with how tightly he holds on.

Tristan's face buries itself against his neck, into the crook of his shoulder.

"I missed you so much," Akio whispers against the coppery hair. He's going to start crying again. He can hear his mom sniffing behind him, digging into her purse to pull out the little pack of tissues she always has in there. "I missed you so, so much, Tris."

"I think... I think I, I, I missed you, too," Tristan whispers back, and Akio isn't sure if he can even know if he means it, but he also knows that it's so good to hear the words that he doesn't even care.

@burtlederp @finder-of-rings @endless-whump @astrobly @newandfiguringitout @doveotions @pretty-face-breaker @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @boxboysandotherwhump @oops-its-whump @cubeswhump @whump-tr0pes @what-a-whump @whumptywhumpdump @downriver914 @whumpiary @orchidscript @nonsensical-whump @outofangband @eatyourdamnpears

#whump #chris saves himself AU #chris the strawberry blond romantic #akio nakamura #rescued whumpee #escaped whumpee #recovering whumpee #memory loss #dehumanized whumpee #reference to collars #grief tw #referenced death #caretaker and whumpee #memory recovery #bbu #box boy universe #box boy #box boy whump #minor whumpee

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