#you can hear my screams from at least 2 miles away

[the-better-parts-of-space]

Me: And you're absolutely sure there are no more edits? I owe press files by noon today.

Project Manager: Yes, totally sure.

[bedtimescenarios]

Hii! You asked for prompts to stay motivated, so I thought I'd share my all time favorite as a possible request?

I'm a SUCKER for an injured whumpee who's incredibly scared of the caretaker, not understanding that they just want to help them! Maybe they lash out or try to run away and have to be held down to receive the medical care they desperately need, with the caretaker trying to comfort them as best as they possibly can... You know?

/nf of course!! Have a great day!!

This is my first time requesting whump stuff, I hope I'm doing everything right aaa

hey there, anon!! thank you so much for the prompt:) it's actually helped me get to writing, and it's even a bit different from my usual stories, so i had an opportunity to diversify my writing!!

i hope you like this and that it fits the prompt well enough, and thanks again!

p.s i am supposed to be sleeping and have written this at 2 am. if there's any mistakes in there or something that needs to be re-done please let me know😭

. . .

As the door swings open with a squeak, Whumpee instinctively presses their back into the wall and lowers their head. Whumper must have had a bad day, otherwise he would've let them heal before another session. They're not getting that luxury now, they think, as the wounds on their body throb and sting with the reminder of their situation. They prepare themselves. They unclench their jaw so they won't bite down on their tongue, shifting so their knees are facing outwards,- they'd rather endure another leg fracture than be nauseous all week- and they tightly shut their eyes.

"Whumpee?"

The voice that rings out is different.

They don't raise their head, but they hear the person's next footstep resound closer. Another one is their cue to cower, pressing an arm against their bleeding abdomen. Did Whumper send someone else to hurt them? Oh, God, he sent someone to finish them off. He got bored, they're finally going to die, or worse-

"Whumpee, I'm not here to hurt you." The voice says, as if reading their mind, and Whumpee takes note of the apparent gentleness of it. A trick.

They look up through the fallen strands of hair stuck to their forehead, trying to assess the amount of danger- no, pain- they're about to be in. A man stands a few feet away, and they quickly identify him as the owner of the voice. Fuck, he's strong, Whumpee thinks as they notice his buff, tall build. He could break their wrist bare handedly, without much effort. Their eyes slowly trail up to his face, noting the short, dark dreads pulled back into a ponytail that ensures an unperturbed view of his surroundings. Increased efficiency and a boost in fun. I can pair your screams with clear images, Whumper used to say.

Caretaker's obsidian eyes meet Whumpee's, and they imagine him saying that same thing to them. They ignore his manipulative attempt at an empathetic, pitying glance. Having been through this too many times already, they can recognize it from a mile away. They just want their break, at least until their wounds close. And they won't let this random stranger take it away from them. Their gaze hardens slightly, yet it's still tinged with raw fear.

"I'm Caretaker. I won't hurt you, I swear- Just- Whumpee, we need to get you to a hospital."

Another lie. But... taking them to another location? No, no no no. Whumpee's hand clenches around their wounds. Another lonely gathering of walls where their screams will echo for eternity. Whumper is giving them away for good. They're so, so tired. Death suddenly doesn't sound as bad.

Alarms blare inside Whumpee's mind, turning their world to hues of red. They feel their veins burn with adrenaline, and before they know it, they're on their feet, scratching at Caretaker's face. They use all their strength, a final attempt at freedom- one way or another. Like a wounded rabbit scratching at the fox whose jaw is clenched upon its ears.

They expect a hard blow to their temple. Or the sharp prick of a syringe. But nothing comes, except for pressure pulling their hands away from the man's face. As they're pulled away, writhing in the grip, they internally swear at themselves for omitting the possibility of backup. Only when their arms are held firmly to their sides is it that they notice themselves trembling, and only when the two people next to them lower them to their ground do they realize how much of an effort each move is. How much pain each shift brings.

As the people behind them hold them still, hands quickly shuffling through a first aid kit, they can finally make out Caretaker's expression. Beyond bloody streaks, his face is painted with genuine shock- or simply incredible acting. He doesn't step forward again as Whumpee sobs in terror, their eyes glassy and breathing labored. Though, if they look closely enough, they can distinguish tears at the corners of his eyes too. He tilts his head, and the corners of his mouth turn upwards softly.

"Shh...It's okay. We'll make you all better, and you'll be able to trust again sometime."

[teapartyprincess4two]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WRITE SOMETHING FOR MATT BASED ON THE SONG HEARTBREAK GIRL BY 5SOS.

Idc how long it is (the longer the better)

pls pls pls I will sell my left foot to read it 🙏

Heartbreak Girl- M. Sturniolo

pairing: Taken!reader x BestFriend!Matt

classification: angst

warnings: pining, clueless reader, toxic relationship, jealousy, heartbreak, friendzone, slight cursing, use of y/n, unrequited love, mentions of cheating, panic attack, no happy ending (sorry, the song calls for it)

inspiration: request^^, Heartbreak Girl by 5SOS

summary: Matt’s in love with you, but you’re too in love with someone else to realize it.

Heartbreak Girl PT.1, PT.2

—

Matt’s phone rings loudly on his bedside table, waking him from his sleep. His eyes jolt open, the loud ringing scaring him. He knows who’s calling, but hopes it’s someone else this time so he can hang up without being eaten alive by the guilt. A sigh leaves his lips as he checks the caller ID, your name shining brightly on his phone screen. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he answers, “y/n?” Your sobs immediately fill the room as they emit from his phone speaker, he grimaces slightly at the loud noise and holds the phone away from his face.

It was always the same thing with you, you’d call him late at night complaining and crying about something your boyfriend, Mike, did. Matt would comfort you time and time again, advising you to just break up with that loser and sometimes you’d listen. You and Mike would break up, sometimes for as long as a week, but you’d always end up welcoming him back into you life at the slightest apology.

���What did he do this time?” Matt asks, another sigh leaving his mouth. He’s propped up on an elbow, his head hanging forward with his eyes shut as he tries fighting sleep. If you were anyone else he would’ve stopped picking up your calls a long time ago, but you’re his best friend and he feels a sense of responsibility for you. “First, he called me annoying and then we got in this big fight and then he left. He said he’s going back to his ex,” you hiccup, barely sounding coherent through your sobs.

Matt wants to scream into his pillow, was this not the same fight you had with Mike last week? “Well-” Matt begins, but is quickly interrupted by you. “He accused me of cheating too! Doesn’t he know I love him? I’d never cheat!” you exclaim through the phone, your words coming out a mile a minute.

Love. Matt cringed at the word, how could you possible love a guy who’s favorite pass time was making you cry.

Matt could tell you were entering a stare of hysteria, your breathing was erratic and you wouldn’t stop crying. “Alright, y/n. Try to calm down,” he whispers sternly, trying to bring you back to reality. With every late night phone call Matt gained more and more reasons to hate your stupid boyfriend. “Okay… I’m calm,” you reply, bringing your voice down and attempting to steady your breathing. He knows you’re faking it, but he appreciates that you’re at least trying.

“Okay, now telling me what happened,” he instructs, a part of him wanting to hear all the details of your argument so his hatred for your boyfriend would be more justified. You retold the events in excruciating detail, mentioning everything that was said and done. So much of it repulsed Matt, how could two people treat each other like that? He felt his heart breaking with each word, but the anger he felt was much stronger, “he really called you that?!”

Matt’s jaw was clenched, his teeth grinding against each other in the process. He heard your sniffles on the other side of the phone, a part of him wished he could just hold you. “Yeah, but he’s not that bad,” your voice was hushed, almost like you were afraid. You sounded scared to admit it, mostly because you knew Matt would get mad. You, of course, guess correctly because Matt replies angrily, “He’s not THAT bad?!?”

If he had any common sense he’d just hang the phone up now because there was obviously no getting through to you. But, a part of him is praying that one day you’ll realize what a loser Mike is and then maybe you’ll realize that he’s been here all along. “Well, I mean, it takes two to fight,” you reply in an attempt to defend your last statement. Matt rubs his temples, trying to massage his growing headache away.

“Y/n, stop being so naive,” he says harshly. At this point his anger has completely consumed him but he bites his tongue to stop the venom from spilling.

“Don’t be mean,” you mumble. There was no excuse for Mike’s behavior, not that you were much better, but you couldn’t let this become your forever. “I’m not being mean. I’m being real,” he replies, his voice softening a bit when he realizes how harsh his words sounded.

A brief silence settles in the conversation, but Matt can hear soft mumbling in the background. Matt assumes you’re talking but somehow the audio got muffled. “I can’t hear you,” he says, turning the volume up on his phone. The mumbling gets a little louder and then suddenly he hears it, it’s Mike. He must’ve come back once he cooled off, he’s sure to reel you back in with broken promises and empty apologies.

“Matt, I have to go. Mike is here,” you whisper into the phone, clearly scared to be caught venting your problems to your best friend. Mike, Mike, Mike. What was so special about Mike anyways? Sometimes, if Matt repeated the name enough it almost sounded like his own name. Matt, Matt, Matt. He wished it was.

He wants to beg you to stay on the phone, but he knows there’s no use. All he can do is advise you to choose better and hope that this time you’ll listen, “y/n, don’t do anything stupid.” There’s a lot of shuffling coming from your end, if Matt closes his eyes he can imagine every single movement. “Okay, bye friend. Love you,” you say quickly.

Friend. That is a word Matt will be reduced to for the rest of his life. He wants to be more than that with you, but a part of him knows that you two will be stuck going in circles again and again. You fight Mike, you break up, you cry to Matt, you make up with Mike, and Matt’s lost his chance with you yet another time.

Before he can reply he hears the phone click, you hung up. He knows that you’re probably already reconciling with Mike and even though it makes him mad, it mostly makes him feel helpless. Matt tosses his phone back onto his bedside table before dramatically falling back onto the bed. He knows that if you just opened your eyes you’d realize that he was here all along, that he’d never hurt you.

But, despite his better judgement, Matt will keep picking up your phone calls because he’s a sucker when it comes to you.

—

The sound of arcade games echo around the building as Matt and his brothers walk around the arcade in an attempt to find the perfect game. They only had a few tokens left, so they had to spend them wisely. You were there too, but you were so immersed in Mike’s presence that it was like you weren’t. Matt had invited you in hopes to finally get you alone, away from Mike. But, that stupid guy followed you like his life depended on it. You were so enthralled by Mike that you hadn’t even played a single game, even Nick and Chris found it annoying.

“What about ski ball?” Chris suggests, the three of them had lapped around the arcade a billion times and still couldn’t find the right game. “No,” Nick says, peering around the arcade for a better game. “Bumper cars?” Chris suggests again, running out of options to say. “We don’t even have enough tokens for that,” Matt scoffs, joining Nick as he looks around the room.

“Fine you pick,” Chris grumbles, leaning against the nearest game as he waits for his brothers to choose. As they’re surveying the room, Nick and Matt see you in the corner talking with your boyfriend. You two seemed to be caught up in an argument like usual, earning an eye roll from Nick. “I don’t know what she sees in that guy,” he comments, trying to read your lips to see what the argument is about. “I hate that guy,” Chris chimes in, joining his brothers in their watch party.

Matt hums in agreement, not wanting to say too much in regard to the situation. He can only assume that you did something Mike didn’t like and now you’re getting in trouble for it. The conversation seems to get heated enough for you to storm off, making your way towards the triplets. “Oh shhh- she’s coming, she’s coming,” Chris warns, trying to act casual.

Nick does the same, leaning against the machine closest to him. Matt’s eyes widen, all he can think to do is turn quickly on his heel to face his brothers. They immediately engage in a fake conversation in attempt to convince you that they weren’t watching. It seems to work.

“Ah yes, McDonalds does have the best chicken nuggets. Good point, Chris,” Nick says as he looks towards his brothers expectantly, but you’re so mad you don’t even notice the ridiculous conversation topic. “Guys you can have my tokens, I’m leaving,” you say, not even introducing yourself with a hello. You pull the tokens out of your pocket, dumping them all in Chris’s hands. He was so excited to have more tokens that he didn’t even care you were leaving.

“Is everything okay?” Matt asks, watching as you hurriedly try to get rid of all your tokens. “No, bro. Stupid Mike, dude. He got mad that I wanted to play so he brought up his ex again, can you believe that?” you scoff, still fishing for more tokens in your pockets. Why was every argument you had with Mike about his ex?

“Gross. Why are you leaving though? You haven’t played a single game,” Nick asks, taking a few tokens from Chris for himself. He and Chris also disliked your boyfriend because you two were always fighting about stupid stuff. But, they weren’t as involved in your love life as Matt was, so they didn’t know how often you two were actually fighting. “Cause he’s my ride and he said he’s leaving,” you grumble, finally looking up from your pockets to look at your friends.

“We can take you home,” Matt suggests, not wanting you to leave just yet. He says it so quickly and eagerly that his brothers give him a weird look, he catches it and coughs awkwardly. “I mean, if you want to stay,” he mumbles in an attempt not to seem so desperate.

You look between your friends and the arcade entrance, trying to decide whether you should stay or go. Matt bites his tongue, trying to prevent himself from saying something he’ll later regret. He wants to grab you by the shoulders and scream that you should just leave that stupid loser.

“I don’t know, it’s getting late,” you attempt to reason as you check your phone for the time. It was only 5pm, but your heart really wanted to follow Mike before he decided he was done with you for real. Upon checking the time, you see a message from Mike that made your stomach turn.

Mike: I left. have fun with your friends. we’re done.

Matt watches as your expression completely drops, you look like you just got the life sucked out of you. “Did he leave?” Matt asks softly, not trying to upset you more than you already were. You shove your phone into you pocket and put on a fake smile, ignoring his question. “It’s only 5, we got time,” you say excitedly, trying to pretend like you didn’t just receive the most heart breaking message ever.

Nick and Chris don’t know any better, so they immediately perk up at this and drag you back into the arcade. Matt, on the other hand, can read you like the back of his hand. He sees how your shoulders slump and how a frown replaces your smile when you think no one’s looking.

Throughout the whole night he wants to scream out, ‘you can be with me now!’ But he knows that you’re not ready, maybe you’ll never be ready. And that, to Matt, is so frustrating.

—

For the rest of the night the boys work towards distracting you from Mike. They use your tokens to win as many games as possible. Matt is focused primarily on convincing you you should leave Mike for good this time. He watches as you attempt to get the basketball into the net as he says, “I’m just saying, you’d be much happier without that guy.”

You fumble with the basketballs in front of you, missing each shot terribly, but welcoming the distraction from the conversation Matt was trying to have. He watches as you roll your eyes and continuing trying to play the game, “tell me one good thing he’s done.” This statement catches you off guard, you’re sure that Mike is a good guy, but for some reason you can’t think of a single good thing he’s done.

You scoff at Matt, throwing the last basketball at the net only for it to hit the rim and fall out. “He does a lot of good things,” you reply annoyed, watching as the machine disperses your tickets. All you earned from this game was 8 tickets considering you missed more than half the shots. “Okay, then name one,” he retorts, ready to challenge you whether you liked it or not. Your mind is racing trying to think of one good thing Mike has done that Matt would find valid, but you still can’t think of one.

Annoyed, you snatch the tickets from the machine, accidentally tearing the last one in half in the process. Matt watches you, noticing how the frustration seems to get the best of you. He knows you won’t be able to think of a single good thing Mike has done, especially not after he ditched you here to fend for yourself. “See, you can’t even think of one. He treats you so bad, y/n. You don’t deserve that, you deserve someone who’ll treat you right,” Matt says, the both of you walking in the direction where you last saw Nick and Chris.

“Oh yeah? Who would that someone be?” you retort, looking around the entire arcade in search of Nick and Chris. You desperately needed to find them so they could serve as a buffer between you and Matt right now. He was asking too many uncomfortable questions and honestly was starting to push your buttons, he doesn’t know Mike like you do. “I mean, I’ve always treated you right,” Matt’s reply is so bold that it even catches him by surprise, what the hell was he even saying right now? He knew he was setting himself up for heartbreak and the friendzone, but he couldn’t stop himself from saying it.

You look at him briefly, a little shocked that he’d even say that. I mean, you two have been best friends for so long that a relationship with Matt would be like dating a brother. The thought is weird, but you don’t want to offend him, “yeah, but you’re my best friend. Friends are supposed to be nice to each other.” Each time you say friend it feels like a stab to the heart. He seemed to be stuck in the friendzone again and again.

“Y/n! Matt!” Nick calls out from the ticket machine, both he and Chris feeding their tickets into it. You perk up at the sight of them and walk over immediately You feel a wave of relief wash over you when you see them, finally you’ll be able to escape this awkward situation Matt put you in. Matt can’t help but feel sad, but he tries not to show it.

“We’re gonna get a remote control car!” Chris says excitedly, referring to the prize they were going to cash in for using all their tickets. Without another word he takes all yours and Matt’s tickets so he can feed them into the machine. You chuckle at this, finding it amusing.

Matt offers a small smile.

—

After redeeming your prizes, the four of you decided it was time to head home. You picked out a giant plushie while the three of them combined their tickets for Chris’s remote control car.

Matt pulled up to you house reluctantly, wishing he could kidnap you and take you to their house once he saw Mike’s car parked outside. “Mike’s home?” Chris asks you casually as soon as Matt places the car in park. “Yeah, guess so,” you reply as you unbuckle yourself, trying not to sound too excited. Deep down you were bubbling with emotions, mostly happiness because if Mike is home that means he’s definitely not done with your relationship.

“Bye guys, I had so much fun!” you dismiss yourself eagerly, all you want to do is go inside and reconcile with your boyfriend. Nick and Chris bid you goodbye but Matt stays silent, he doesn’t want you to leave. You hug Nick in the back seat and pat Chris’s shoulder as you open the car door. You offer Matt a small, awkward smile before grabbing your plushie and hopping out of the car.

Matt feels so defeated, if he weren’t such a pushover when it came to you he’d tell you the truth. The truth is that Mike is leading you on, playing with your feelings, abusing of emotions, and flaunting you around like a trophy when he feels like it. The truth is that Matt is in love with you and has been since the first time he saw you, but he’s too scared to ruin your friendship to admit it.

Matt watches as you walk up to your front door, plushie tucked under your arm. There’s an eager pep in your step that makes Matt want to throw up. Chris is scrolling through his phone, forgetting about you as soon as got off the car. Nick is watching Matt, confused as to why he looks so sad. “Are we gonna move? I’m fucking hungry, dude,” Chris groans from the passenger seat, throwing his head back dramatically against the car seat.

You were inside already, but Matt stayed outside your house and watched as the lights in your house turned on one by one. He knew you were searching the house like a madwoman for Mike. “Can you drive?!” Nick chimes in, grabbing Matt by the shoulder to break him from his daze. Matt’s eyes remain trained on your bedroom window, watching as the light turns on and your shadow comes into view as he responds, “yeah, sorry.”

He puts the car in drive, slowly letting the car roll down the street. Matt’s breath hitches as Mike’s shadow comes into view, he’s praying that you’ll just run out of the house and back into the car. The car is slowly rolling down the street, Matt’s foot hovering over the break in an attempt to slow the car down even more. Your shadow and Mike’s meet for a hug and soon enough you’re kissing. Matt’s foot slams on the break suddenly causing the car to jolt forward, he knew it was coming but it didn’t hurt any less.

“What the fuck Matt?!” Chris exclaims, looking up at Matt in bewilderment. The seatbelt was choking him slightly and his phone flew off his lap. Nick’s head hit the front seat headrest slightly, causing him to gasp in surprise. “Matt what the actual fuck are you doing?!” Nick yelled, meeting Matt’s eyes through the rearview mirror.

There was no way Matt was about to admit that he was watching you through your window. So, he made up the quickest lie he could think of, “Sorry. I got a cramp.” He offered both his brothers a fake smile in hopes that they’d believe his lie. It seemed to satisfy them seeing as they rolled their eyes and returned to their phones. Matt took his foot off the break, looking back at your house one last time.

The lights were off.

—

Matt doesn’t hear from you until two days later. You called him at 12pm, which was completely uncommon for you to do. You were usually calling him at 12am, breaking him from his deep sleep to rant about Mike.

“Hello?” Matt answers the phone immediately, if this is another call about Mike and his stupid actions he’s ready to be honest this time. “You busy?” You ask, propping the phone between your shoulder and your face so you can freely look through the racks of clothing in front of you.

Matt examines his surrounding, trying to decide whether he’s truly busy or not. He’s not. “Mmm not really. Why?” He asks, getting up from his spot on the couch and walking over to his room. He hears the metal hangers scraping against the clothings racks in the background before you reply, “wanted to see if you were down for lunch.”

This was the first time you’d asked him to hang out since dating Mike. He couldn’t fight the smile that grew on his face. “Just you and me or Nick and Chris too,” he needed to sound casual, but he was kicking himself for even mentioning Nick and Chris. What if you said yes to inviting them and his time alone with you turned into a group hangout?

“Up to you, I was hoping for it just to be us,” you reply, picking a shirt off the rack. You examine it carefully as you try imagining yourself in it. You decide you don’t like it and put it back. Matt is doing a silent happy dance on the other side of the phone, he feels like this is his chance to tell you the truth. Plus, you don’t seem to be upset with Mike which means that the conversation probably won’t revolve entirely around that loser.

Matt calms himself down, taking a deep breath before replying, “Cool yeah. Should I meet you somewhere?” He’s trying to act casual, but there is no such thing as casual for Matt when it involves you. “You can. Or I can pick you up?” You reply, walking out of the store and to your car. You walk the street cautiously, thanking the people who let you pass with a small hand wave. For you, this conversation really was normal. Just a friend asking another friend to go out to lunch.

For Matt, this conversation felt like the beginning of something new. A new relationship with you, a new attempt at admitting his feelings, even a new outlook on life. He felt positive. “Yeah that works. Are you close?” He has the biggest smile on his face as he looks through his closet for the perfect outfit.

“I’m like 10 minutes away,” you say mindlessly, pausing as you dig through your purse for your keys. “I’ll let you know when I’m there, okay? Love you, friend,” you finished saying once you found your keys and unlocking your car.

There was that word again. Friend. It made Matt shudder, but he tries ignoring it. He wasn’t going to let that sour his mood. “Alright, bye. Love you too,” he replies, but he means it. He intentionally doesn’t call you friend in hopes that you’ll take the hint.

All you do is hum in response and hang up. It breaks Matt’s heart, but he ignores it.

—

You pick Matt up, arriving to his house exactly 10 minutes later. The two of you decide on a restaurant, engaging in light conversation throughout your meal. Matt couldn’t find the courage to confess to you, especially not with the thought of Mike looming over him.

Matt felt incredibly anxious, his mind racing uncontrollably with all the possible outcomes of tonight. He could confess and it could go one of two ways, you could feel the same or you could reject him for Mike like all the times before. Or he could keep it to himself and remain in the friendzone forever.

The two of you are now walking back to your car, ready to call it a night. “Thanks for coming out with me,” you say with a smile as you hop into the drivers seat. Matt follows suit, getting into the passenger side before replying, “of course, anything for you.” The comment was simple, but it had so many underlying messages that he wished you’d pick up on. ‘Anything for you.’

You seem to pick up some sort of message because you reply with a chuckle, “you’re always saying sappy stuff like that Matt.” He gulps nervously, was this his chance? You start the car, the radio playing dully in the background. The noise replaces the previous silence, only adding to his own frustration, especially because he hated this song. He couldn’t decide whether to do it or not.

“I hate this song,” you mumble, changing the station to another song quickly. He takes this as a sign, a sign to just bite the bullet and spill it all. He needs to start off slow though, if he’s too abrasive it’ll scare you, “so, how are you and Mike doing?”

You two hadn’t spoken about Mike the entire night and for good reason too. The night you got back from the arcade he made a bunch of empty promises, adding in a bunch of fake apologies in between. You, of course, ended up forgiving him only for him to mess up again the next day. So, you decided you were finally done with him and broke up with him for good. Usually when you two would break up you’d allow him back into your life within hours, but this time you blocked him on everything and forced him to move out. Today was your first day as a truly single woman and it felt like a breath of fresh air. You were repulsed by men and decided you were going to be single for a while.

“We broke up actually,” you say calmly, making a long story short. Matt knew all the details of your previous arguments with Mike so there was no point in explaining the obvious. He’s in shock, actually in shock. This is the first time you’ve ‘broken’ up with Mike and weren’t completely hysterical about it.

“When did this happen?!”

You turn the corner onto Matt’s street, nearing his house slowly. “Yesterday morning. I kicked him out and he’s coming for the rest of his stuff tomorrow,” you say like it was the most normal thing ever. How were you so calm? So casual?

Mike moving out was the best news ever, that means that it’s real this time. “Wow. How are you?” he asks. He needs to test the waters before diving head first, especially if he’s going to confess something so important.

“I’m okay. Honestly, I’m not as sad as I thought I’d be. I’m just ready to be single,” you reply, placing the car in park in front of his house. He digests the information, trying to come to terms with the fact that you want to be single. “Right now I’m repulsed at the thought of men. I’m just so done crying over guys, you know? I’m ready to just hang out with my friends and be free.”

“I’m a man. Are you repulsed at the thought of me?” Matt asks in an attempt to make light of the information you just dumped on him. He’s trying not to freak out right now. “No, dude! I mean like men that I’d date. You’re my best friend, it’s different,” you reply, the words cutting into Matt. Everything you just said felt like an insult.

The car is filled with an awkward silence, neither of you know what to say after that. The same song from earlier plays, the song you hate and suddenly it feels more like a bad omen to Matt. You cough in an attempt to break the tension, but Matt remains silent, he feels like he can’t breathe right now.

“Well I had fun today, Matt,” you finally say, unlocking the car so he can use it as an excuse to escape this situation. You don’t know why the conversation suddenly became so awkward, all you know is that this felt weird and you didn’t want to sit in it for longer than you had to.

“Me too,” he replies meekly, struggling to unbuckle himself. “Here let me help,” you offer, reaching towards his seat to help him with the buckle. It all becomes too much as he pushes your hand away, “stop. I got it.” You look at him in shock. What was his problem?

Before you can comment on his behavior, he opens the car door and stumbles out. He can’t seem to leave this situation fast enough. You watch in confusion as he walks into his house without another word. You are worried, but decide he’s just being dramatic and drive off.

Once he’s inside he feels the emotions intensify as he immediately collapses onto the floor. He’s out of breath and his head is ringing with the words you said, ‘No dude! I mean like men that I’d date. You’re my best friend, it’s different.’ He’s hyperventilating at this point, the tears flowing uncontrollably down his face as heaves in an attempt to catch his breath.

Nick and Chris who were in the living room hear this and immediately bolt towards Matt. “Matt? What’s wrong?” Chris asks frantically, getting on his knees to be eye level with his brother. Matt doesn’t respond, instead he grabs onto his Chris and pulls him in for a hug and sobs into his shoulder. He’s desperate for comfort, but nothing seems like enough. Chris understands what his brother needs, holding him tightly in an attempt to console him.

“He’s having a panic attack, let’s take him to his room,” Nick says equally as frantic, squatting in front of his two brothers so he can rub Matt’s back. Chris and Nick attempt to pick Matt up, but he’s glued to the floor, still holding on to Chris for dear life.

“It’s okay buddy, I got you,” Chris says calmly, not wanting to escalate the situation any further. Matt continues to cry, allowing his brothers to comfort him. “Deep breaths, Matt. Deep breaths,” Chris instructs, pulling Matt off of him slightly so he can get it together. Matt nods his head, using all his will power to stop crying and focus on his breathing. Finally, he’s able to calm down and his sobbing is reduced to sniffles.

“Wanna talk about it?” Nick asks lovingly, sitting next to Matt on the floor and rubbing more circles onto his back. “No,” Matt replies, his voice hoarse from all the crying. He looks down at his hands and plays with his rings to occupy his mind. “That’s okay, we’re here for you when you’re ready,” Chris chimes in, taking a seat on the other side of Matt. He rests his head on Matt’s shoulder, patting his thigh to signify that he’s willing to sit here with him for as long as necessary.

“Thanks,” Matt replies sadly, resting his head against the wall behind him. He’s never felt as defeated as he does right now. He’s stuck in the friendzone again and again.

—

MASTERLIST

A/n:

Honestly such a great request, but I had to keep re-listening to the song to write a story as accurate as possible to it. That’s why there’s no happy ending because the song clearly states that he’s stuck in the friendzone again and again, but I’m willing to do a pt.2 with a happy ending or just a diff outcome. Hope you enjoy.

Also, I’ll be expecting the foot

- L.A.M.B👼🏻💗

[docholligay]

How did you get bit by a rattlesnake??? I want the story!!

It was a hot, sunny day up in Helena, Montana, and my girlfriend at the time--a cattle ranch kid with Young Leo good looks and a bad attitude that was only surpassed by my own--decided that we should go for a hike up in the nearby gulch. We called a couple of friends, packed some sandwiches and beers, and went on our way.

The hike itself was mostly a nondescript affair, in that I'd done it dozens of times. Just off of a bunch old digging sites from the gold days, down into some trees and then up along a rock ridge.

The ridge would be the problem, here.

I'm a decent person to hike with, a lot of the time, because I'm great at keeping bears away. I like to talk, and my voice carries, and I am in good enough shape that it takes something to wind me. So we're cresting the ridge, where we're going to sit and drink a beer, so I'm looking forward to it--a fair criticism of my hiking style is that I don't like to sit and look, I want to achieve the objective--and I'm talking along about some irrelevant bullshit, as I am wont to do.

Which means I don't hear the rattle. I hear my girlfriend.

"Doc! Don't move!"

Which I immediately disobey by whirling around to face her. At my ankle is a huge fucking rattlesnake. Before anything else can happen, it lashes out and digs both fangs into my calf, then dashes off into the grass.

Now, there's a certain calm in the worst that can happen just having happened. What the fuck else was going to happen, a grizzly come screaming out of the bushes? unlikely.

We're about four miles in, so the decision is made that because we're about an hour or more drive from the hospital, we had best try to keep me immobile. So between my girlfriend and her friend, they take turns packing me out of there like a goddamn mule.

Every few minutes, she's asking me, "You okay?"

"Minus the giant puncture in my calf, I feel fine"

About 2 hours later, we get our way to the truck, a 1980s Silverado with a grey side strip and flaking paint, and an hour after that, we get to the hospital. Now, having sat in the car for an hour gives people plenty of time to stop being tired, and start being worried, and my girlfriend has taken full advantage of this opportunity. There's no point in giving everyone an earful while you're all doing whatever it is you can--at least if all four of you are Montana kids, which we are--but the second we get the truck parked, she throws me onto her back and runs into the emergency room.

I can only imagine what it must have looked like from the inside of that waiting room, some butch dyke in a rolled-sleeve western shirt piggybacking a twin braided redhead with burnt shoulders and short shorts, like some kinda goddamned redneck rodeo.

And she comes in yelling, "My girlfriend's been snakebit!"

Well, after some conversation with the doctor and more than a little snickering from the nurses, I get asked if I'm doing okay. I tell the doctor same as I told her: Other than a pretty annoying puncture wound I feel fine.

Burning? No.

Tingling? No.

Any kind of blurred vision? Not at all.

So, come to find out, rattlesnakes aren't quite as stupid as you think, and half the time when they bite humans they don't envenomate, because they know they can't eat it. They don't tell you this, because they want you to come to the damn emergency room.

I walked out of there with a fancy-looking bandaid.

[i-cant-sing]

hi! clarification- this isn't a request to write or anything, i just had an idea and wanted to hear your opinion on it

i know you haven't touched the demon slayer scene in a while, but considering uzui's whole nightmare house thing and tanjiro's act of I Do Not See It, do you think that y/n would actually run to another hashira as a last resort?

honestly if yes, i'm betting its giyuu. man is a platonic yandere but would not stand for shit and is probably one of the least insane (although that means. very little in the grand scheme of things). idk i just have the idea in my head of giyuu smuggling y/n into his estate when she needs a break, and going papa wolf whenever uzui fucking breathes in her vicinity, deep-seated insecurities or not. he may not win, necessarily, but dammit will he try.

(can you tell i have a bias-)

No cause I 10000% agree with you. With Tanjirou constantly ignoring your story about being fucking abused physically and psychologically by Uzui+wives, and not paying attention to Nezuko being distressed over your ptsd state, and EVEN looking away when Uzui and the wives are constantly trying to create opportunities to corner you and being a little to touchy with you (and you're flinching away), someone else has to step up and help. And I have 2 people in mind for that.

First, is ofc Giyuu, cause why wouldn't he??? His moral compass is clear as day and he doesn't even need to be a yandere for him to absolutely shred everyone to pieces just to protect you. He can see the fear in your eyes, he can practically feel the hopelessness and anxiety you're suffering through. I think he may even try to convince Tanjiro to see that you're actually telling the truth, but he's not going to break his back to make him believe it. No, he doesn't exactly need him to protect you. Again, I see Giyuu becoming a platonic yandere, maybe more of a brother than as a father figure, and while he's... emotionally stunted, he's going wayyyy out of his comfort zone to console you. Expect a lot of head pats and deep words to assure you. He's a great listener, if it helps. ALSO, I can also see that if Uzui+wives come with other Hashiras to fight Giyuu for you, then Giyuu doesn't exactly have any qualms about joining forces with demons to protect you. Like I just know that if reader vouches for him to papa Muzan and the 12 moons, they would (hesitantly) accept Giyuu and you. After all, he has been the only human so far who's been kind to you.

Another option that I think would step tf up for reader is Sanemi, as a romantic yandere. Because this man, he's got love on the brain and he's fucking KILLING ANYONE WHO TRIES TAKINGBL YOU AWAY FROM HIM. Fr fr, he will actually fight all the hashiras and 12 moons for you. Will he win? No one knows for sure because like I said, he's absolutely batshit crazy when he's in love. Like one peck on the cheek from you is enough fuel for him to obliterate everyone with in 12 miles. Imagine what he's willing to do if he sees you waking up screaming and crying from the nightmares you have of Uzui.

[kairiscorner]

(reblogs are greatly appreciated, it helps get my content out there! if you guys like what you see, please reblog it too <:D)

mfw the rest couldn't fit in one post, so imagine:

atsv babes with an insomniac partner (part 2!)

(part 1)

pav would have received a miss call from you, which you regretted later because you knew how worried he gets when he misses a call or a message from you. the minute he heard his ringtone and watched as the light faded from his phone, he panicked when he saw your caller id and immediately called you back, even if it was 1:15 am when you called. you answered, because of course, what could you do? you didn't wanna worry him anymore, you wanted to explain you called randomly because you couldn't sleep, but boy was asking you questions a mile a minute. "babeareyouokayimsosrryicouldntpickupiwassleepingohareyouokaypleasebeokayimissyouandiloveyouandifyoustillneedmeimhereaaaaahpleasetalktomeee" he said that all in one damn breath, and the only thing you could pick up was the "are you okay" and "please talk to me". "i'm sorry, pav, it's just... i called you because i had trouble sleeping." you admitted, a little ashamed of yourself that you called and worried him for such a minor detail, or at least, a minor detail to you. to pav, it was okay to have done that, not a lot of people are in their right state of mind when they're running on a body that's barely slept and can't sleep. if anything, he's happy he was the first one you thought of telling and confiding in about it, it goes to show you trust him and want him to know. "love... it's okay. i'll be here for anything and everything you're going through, even if i can only help at a distance right now, i'll never fail to meet you halfway. i'm spider man, after all, i can do everything for you a thousand times over, just ask me to do something for you, and i'd do it." he told you over the phone, which relieved you so damn much. "would you... be willing to listen to me ramble all night until i sleep...?" you asked seriously, but you wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to. but, surprisingly and unsurprisingly, he said yes. "and hear your voice and have a peek of your mind? yes!" he beamed as he settled in his bed, hoping to hear your voice all night, until the instant you both finally doze off.

hobie would have probably caught you leaving your house in the middle of the night while out on the streets as spider man. "hey, what are you doin' out here? last time i checked, you were on a curfew you so religiously follow. not that i'm upholding authoritarian rule over adolescents by shirty 'rents... but i'm a li'il worried, y'know? you good?" he asked in a concerned tone as you avoided his gaze. "not... exactly." you croak out as you look up at him. "well, lemme hear it. wait, before that..." he muttered as he gently grabbed hold of you by the waist and swiftly swung the two of you up to the roof of a tall apartment complex. you screamed as hobie smirked. "still not used to it? that's ar'ight. sorry for startlin' you, love." he said as you breathed in and out heavily as he still held you in his arms. he sat down by the edge of the building's roof and took off his mask, patting down a spot on his side for you to sit down. "so... what's wrong?" he asked again as he caressed your cheek with his palm. "i can't fall asleep." you said briefly in an exhausted manner. he nodded as he looked at your sullen face. "well, tomorrow's a weekend, innit? how about you and i make the night ours?" he suggested with a comforting smirk on his face. you raised an eyebrow at the suggestion. "we can go anywhere you want tonight, do anything you want--my treat." he said as he stood up and extended you a hand. "let me help you live a little more, so what's one night of not sleeping? a whole world of possibilities, is what." he said with a small chuckle as you smiled up at him. "take me away then, spider man." you say as he mutters a, 'wicked' underneath his breath. he holds you close as you cling on to him, and he swings you all around the city; taking deep plunges and high jumps--the wind behind your hair as you two scream into the night in excitement and adventure; he may not be very consistent, but if you ever wanted, he'd stop everything he was doing and take you out for an adventure, just for the two of you in your own world in the night.

[steddieyes]

Chapter three: And Who Said Love Was Dead? I Sure Didn't.

(Part 2)

Ao3 @Arloooh

Gasping and clutching where her own heart once was, Bryce drops to her knees, putting an arm out to keep herself up. What the fuck was Bobby doing here, he's supposed to be... 

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER!" Bobby all but screetches, in a tone bryce had never heard before... Is he.. crying-? Whatever- I can worry about that later, my fucking hearts exploding here. 

There's maybe twenty people around her, maybe a hundred, hell if she knows. 

Gasping and coughing, she keeps her head hung low as arms grapple at her sides and arms. She's wheezing by the time Bobby gets to her, not knowing how he'd suddenly appeared right infront of her when being a football pitch away just moment before. Or maybe it has been long, she doesn't know, her fucking heart is failing. 

Well wasn't this a way to go out, I finally made it to graduation only for this stupid heart to fail after seeing him again. Who said love was dead? 

-

"I SAID, /OFF!/" Bobby yells, yanking prying arms and hands off of Bryce as if she was his to hold. He kneels down as fast as he can, not knowing what the fucks going on but he needs to fix it, and quick. Internally cursing "what the fuck whatthefuckwhatthefuck-" on repeat with staggered breaths, Bobby grabs on to Bryce's shoulder to help her up and off of her knees only for her to groan in pain now lying on her side. When did her face get so pale? When- when the fuck did her eyebags get so dark? Is she a fucking vampi-

"Bobby.." she says clawing a hand across the floor. He looks to her with baited breath, wait this isn't how it's supposed to happen, not like this- THIS ISNT HOW ITS SUPPOSED TO END- "one of you dickbags help me up, and don't fuck up this hair-" she says with that 1960's tone, the sound of authority in her voice that the men around can't help but oblige, but not without Bobby clawing at them to get back while yelling about how "this isn't how it's supposed to end, I'm not- IT ISN'T FAIR!"

And, oh- they're EMT'S. They've been here the whole time trying to pry him off of Bryce. 

"Sir, you need to- stop- sir, you need to calm down-" 

"YOU CAN'T TAKE ME AWAY FROM HER! SHES NOT- I'VE WAITED SO LONG-" He yells as arms surround his and lock under his armpits, trying to keep him still so he can be dragged away kicking and screaming with marks all over his arms from the EMT'S efforts. He can see at least a good ten people surrounding Bryce as she groans for "you to get off me, prick! Fix this, asshole!" But that doesn't ease Bobby, if not make him want to get back over to her even more. 

But he's being dragged away for his wounds. 

"No. You need to calm down and /sit/" the stern, albeit soft, voice of the EMT says, pushing him down onto a bench nearby with the slow fall of two other paramedics lowering him down to sit. Bobby looks to him with furrowed brows and a scowl "..YOU CANT JUST-" His efforts for fighting back are quickly shut down as another puts a hand over his mouth, proffesional, right? Effectively shutting him up. He gives an stern look to the EMT infront of him and slowly licks his hand to give him his freedom back, a devilish smile on his face for just a split second as the man wipes his hand away. But Bobby's soon back to the same attitude.

"Tell me what the fuck is happening with Bryce or I swear to shit I WILL GIVE YOU A FUCKING SEX CHANGE!" he yells, teeth bare and sharp as he tries his best to move and kick out of the paremedics grasp, but before one could get a word in, he frees himself out of their joint grasp after biting ones arm enough to draw blood. What? He was too close. 

Bobby allbeit bolts to Bryces side where she's being loaded onto a stretcher into the back of an ambulance. It wasn't hard to find her when anyone within a 10 mile radius can hear her yelling. The only people by her side are paremedics, not a parent to be found. 

Before he can reach for her, there's multiple men tackling him to the ground before he can get away.

*

Location: 'whatever the fucks' local hospital. 

Bryce is rushed into the loading dock and wheeled through the corridors and doorways, Bobby soon following behind as he sticks to the back of a paramedic, hoping to get in and through to Bryce. He doesn't know what the fucks going on and he can't lose her, not again. He's waitied almost ten years and isn't going to have Bryce ripped away from him again.

But he's soon ushered into a waiting room.. cell? He falls to the hard, cold floor and is met with shutting doors. Scrambeling to get to his feet, he's already yelling and screaming, pulling at the bars of this cage. 

"Calm your ass down. Lady got you down, kid?" A stern voice calls. And glaring to the side he spots an, officer? Something of the sort. Broad and tall, definitely the build of authority. 

Before yelling back, Bobby scowls with an angry expression, one knowing that he won't win this fight. With gritted teeth he gets out "No lady's got me down, and I'm not a fucking kid, shitbag. Why am I here." There's an uneasy rage to his voice that no doubtlessly registers to the officer. 

"Well then what's got you down, son? Mama got hurt?" The man asks with a gruff voice, looking way too interested in what Bobby's got to say that it actually irritates his soul. You're not /supposed/ to care about me. No one does. 

"No.. my fucking GIRLFREINDS HAD SOME SORT OF FUCKING HEARTATTACK-SEISURE SHIT AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCKS GOING ON, SO STOP /CARING/ ABOUT ME AND LET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING CELL!" He screams as his balls fist up while clutching the bars, voice going higher in the way it always has when he screams. Not noticing what he'd said in the heat of the moment, but before he knows it he's being berugantly let out of his cell by a scared looking man. 

- 

Squinting her bleary eyes, Bryce opens her eyes to a bright light and the smell of sanitation. Y'know, I didn’t think hell would be this nice. And then there's a flashing light. 

"-ust? Ms. Tankthrust? Ma'am, we know you're awake." A nurse instructs with the click of a flashlight. Okay, so not hell, but close. 

"What 'd fuck..." she slurs, her signature tone lost to the anesthetic. 

"Bryce, you've had surgery. We had to get a second party to approve your form with your mother denying to pay a fee. Do you know of a Bobby Worst? ..ma'am?" 

Bryce stares up to the nurse with a blank expression, save for her furrowed brow. Since when did Bobby change his name to wors-? "Wuh, I-... I'm sorry, you said a Bobby Worst?" she asks, voice in awe, but now more awake and aware. Her now signature tone present. "Yes. He's here to see you actually if-" 

"Bryce.."

[blossom-adventures]

I asked my family to pick a number from my @badthingshappenbingo list, my Brother-in-law picked I’m Not Afraid of You Anymore

So here it is, from my FFXV story, Guard and Glaive

Ruins of Insomnia

Violet led Luna through the back alleyways of Insomnia, trying to avoid the destruction being caused by both sides; the war ships of Niflheim and their Daemons and the Lucian Old Wall were destroying what was left of her home

“We’ll meet with the others on the edge of the city” Violet spoke surprisingly calm, despite everything that was happening around her, she looked over her shoulder to the Oracle. “Please tell me you still have the Ring?”

“I do, Lady Amicitia do you even know where we’re going?” Violet raised a brow at Luna before pointing over to the far side of Insomnia

“We need to get to the West Gate, from there we can meet up with the others and get out of Insomnia” from where the 2 women were stood they could see the West Gate, but it was miles away and between them and their escape was a battle between The Mystic and a Daemon that Violet had heard getting called a Diamond Weapon. Violet looked at Luna, her eyes were wide with fear as she looked over the expanse of Insomnia they had to cross. “Right… Princess, we need to get moving” Luna refocused and agreed with Violet.

Violet and Luna began to make their way through the ruins of Insomnia, dodging falling rubble, and avoiding the Daemons. As they got to a clearing that used to be a apartment block a tall armoured figure landed in front of them, essentially blocking their path, Violet moved in front of Luna as General Glauca stalked towards them, she summoned her sword into her hand.

“Another Shield to break,” Glauca’s voice sounded smug as he approached, “the city is in ruin, the King is dead, as is his Shield…” Violet took a trembling gasp, being reminded of the horrific sight she’d arrived to in the council room where the treaty was being signed, she looked up at the General, his swagger was just how it was when she was last left alone with him, she felt her chest tighten in fear, but her fear was overwhelmed by her anger, he had caused her so much pain, he had killed her father, her uncle and so many of her friends. “You are, once again, at my mercy”

“I’m not afraid of you anymore, Glauca” Violet snapped

“Then you’re a fool,” Glauca pointed his sword at the 2 women, “surrender the Ring”

“No!” Violet hissed, gripping her sword tightly in her hand and moving to a defensive stance in front of Luna

“Then I will take it from you!” Glauca snarled as he lunged towards Violet and Luna, everything seemed to go in slow motion for Violet as she watched the giant sword begin to swing down towards her, she was going to try and block it with her own blade, but she knew she wasn’t strong enough to hold it back, she was injured from the initial attack and he was seemingly unharmed and far stronger than her anyway.

Violet could hear Luna scream behind her but her focus was on Glauca.

“Join the King and his Shield!” He shouted as his sword crashed against Violet’s or at least, that’s what she expected to happen, but instead it struck a magical barrier. Violet looked to her right and saw Nyx drop his shield and fire a powerful lightning spell at the General, throwing him backwards. Nyx looked over to Violet and Luna.

“Are you both alright?” Violet didn’t answer, but instead hugged him tightly, Nyx returned the embrace “Violet are you alright?”

“Yes… yes, I’m ok”

“Good,” Nyx stepped back. “You both need to get out of here, I’ll deal with Glauca” Violet kissed him before ushering Luna away, she shared a knowing look with Nyx, she didn’t want to admit what they both knew; that this might be the last time they’ll see each other.

“I love you, Violet, stay safe, please”

“I love you too, Nyx”

[destinygoldenstar]

GoldenStar and Crescent Knight meet for the first time. (GoldenStar of the Sun and Moon) (The Golden Star Rises Part 2)

She keeps running. She doesn’t know where she’s running, but she can’t think straight right now. Her brain is on autopilot, and said pilot is her confusion and fear.

She’s dreaming. She has to be dreaming. That’s it. She’s dreaming. 

She fell asleep on the beach somehow. That’s what happened.

It’s all a bad dream. There’s no monsters. There’s no weird transformation. 

She’s going to wake up. She’s going to get woken up by someone. She’s going to be woken up by a teacher. She’s going to be yelled at for not going back to her class. She’s going to be punished. 

Yes. That’s what’s going on. It’s all a bad dream. There’s no creatures. There’s no knight dude. There’s no light powers. 

So why isn’t she waking up?! 

Why isn’t she-

SLAM!

She smashes face first into a rocky cliff. 

Well, good to know the pain isn’t entirely gone. She clenches her head and stumbles back. 

These beaches go on for miles. How is she at the end already?! She’s only been running for a few seconds!

Right. Dreams. Of course normal running speed doesn’t apply. 

She just has to pinch her wrist, and she’ll wake up. 

…

All that does is make the back of her hand hurt. 

No. No, this is a dream! There’s no way this is not a dream! She must be sleeping harder. She was up for hours writing the past week of nights. She’s just passed out.

“Miss!!” The guy’s still coming after her. His voice is echoing in the distance. “Miss, wait up-”

Without thinking, she turns to the cliff. She can climb it, right?

In her own impulsive, dumb, clueless mind, she attempts to jump on the rocks to try and climb away.

Instead, she’s launching herself several yards into the air, at the very top of the cliff. 

It’s so fast that she almost doesn’t catch it. She’s in the air, off the beach, and is crashing down in a tree as quick as she makes that jump.

She lands in one of the many palm trees in these forests, and one of the leaves tries and fails to support her weight.

She tries to hold on, despite her body leaning the leaf and herself in an uncomfortable diagonal position. 

“Come on, wake up…” She whimpers to herself. “Come on, this is a bad dream…”

She takes one hand and slaps herself across the face.

Nothing.

Maybe she didn’t do it hard enough. 

She screams, “Wake up!!”

And she slaps herself again, as hard as she can. 

And dear stars, it HURTS. 

The echo of the slap is enough to make seagulls from miles freak out and fly away.

Why won’t she wake up?!

At least that guy is off my tail…

“I wouldn’t choose the self harming route if I were you, it never works.”

He jumps up to meet her face to face. His silver hair is strained downward from the gravity of his jump. 

“WAAAHHH?!?!?” She screams, loses her grip on the leaf, and falls off the tree. She crashes into a hibiscus bush. Some of the flowers come off and flutter to the ground. 

He hears her mutter, “Ow…”

Crescent Knight lands on the ground smoothly, and makes his attempt to approach her. He’s slow, trying to be calm about it since she’s freaked out. 

“Miss, I just want to talk…”

She pops her head out from the bush, a hibiscus in her hair. She’s still freaking out, but now she can get a good look at him.

He has a mask over his face, so she can’t tell if it’s a stranger or not. He has a similar outfit pattern to what she has, only his is pale toned and covered in silver. His hair is delicately gelled into a crescent shape on his head, without many strands out of place. His movement is slow and calm, in an attempt to be soothing.

“Don’t try anything, dude!” She screams. “I-I have a… a…”

The flower on her head falls off. She picks it up and aims it at him. “A flower! And I’m not afraid to use it!!” 

“You’re the Sun Guardian.” He tells her.

“...what?” 

“I’m not gonna hurt you, I just need to keep an eye on what you’re doing with it.” He says. He asks, “What do you want with that power?”

“What power?!” She’s confused. He doesn’t think she’s an enemy, does he?!

“Do you want to take over this island?!”

“Huh?!”

“Destroy it?!”

“NO!” She screams. “No, I don’t, crazy dude! The only thing I want to do with this power is get rid of it! And wake up from this bad dream!”

“You-wait…” He’s taken off guard when he realizes. “You DON’T want anything to do with the Sun Guardian’s power?”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” She proclaims. She tries to hide in the bushes. “If you’re gonna kill me, make it quick. Or-or torture me, I don’t care, just so I can wake up.”

Crescent Knight sighs. “This… this isn’t a dream, kid.”

Kid?! He’s calling her a kid now?!

He thinks about it.

Technically, yes, he can just kill her right here. Then the power would be out of her, and they could get it to Bri. It would be a cruel fate to whoever this is, but it’s for the benefit of the Moon Empire and it would save him from punishment.

But… he just can’t do that. Not to someone who’s stumbled into his own mistake. He can’t kill her.

So he assures her, “Just… just let me explain it. I can help.”

She doesn’t flinch.

“Come out of the bush, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“You have weapons.”

His glaive and shield are on his back. So… yeah, that’s a good point.

He takes out both the glaive and the shield. 

She watches as he tosses them behind him and out of his reach. He’s disarming himself and putting his hands up.

He asks, “Is that better?”

She doesn’t move. He’s willing to risk that? 

He really doesn’t want to hurt her??

He offers her a hand out of the bush. “Come on out.”

She’s hesitant, a little scared, but… his expression is showering her with empathy and care. It’s… addicting to her eyes. 

She takes his hand, and he helps her step out of the bush.

Her breath hitches. They’re both wearing gloves, and yet she can sense his cool aura just by touching him. 

She does feel calmer, but she has to admit, “I don’t want this…”

“I know,” He says in sympathy. “But we’re gonna help you.”

She yanks her hand off. Her heart sinks in removing his touch on her. She’s stepping back, still not fully trusting him. 

“You were struck by a blood gem of the previous Sun Guardian, Soleil.” He explains to her. “You have her powers.”

“Remove it, then!” She begs, holding her arms out. “I want my normal hair back!”

She didn’t even have her powers for an hour, and she already wants it gone.

He breaks the news to her. “...you can’t.”

Her eyes widen in horror. 

What does he mean she can’t get rid of this power?

“The only way those powers can be taken away is if you die.” He says. He places a hand on his chest, his fingers framing a faint silver calming glow that’s appearing on his chest. “I’m the same way.”

Confused, she does the same hand notion on her own chest. Sure enough, a faint glow also appears, but it’s a bright flaming gold. 

She removes her hand, and that glow is gone.

He removes his hand to remove his glow, and tells her, “It’s in your system. You don’t have a choice.”

“Who are you to decide that?!” She snaps. She’s resorting to anger now. “Don’t tell me I have no choice!”

Then all of a sudden, her blue eyes flash a dark shade of red, and her hair and arms begin to spark flames on it. They’re cool, dark red flames, but still flames. 

Crescent Knight steps back. “Don’t be mad at me! Please, don’t be mad at me! Try to relax!”

“Now you’re telling me to relax-” She holds an arm in her view and she sees. Her arm is on fire.

She screams and steps back, and her anger drops.

Then the flames instantly vanish. Her eyes are back to their normal color. There’s no burn marks on any part of her body. 

She didn’t even feel it…

“So you don’t, you know, do that.” He awkwardly says. 

She’s starting to freak out and breathe hard again, unable to get her eyes off of her hands. 

RELAX?! So she doesn’t set her body on FIRE?!

“You want your clothes back?! I know how to get your clothes back!” He tries to change the subject to get her focus away from it. 

She doesn’t turn to him. She’s still scared. She doesn’t respond to him, but she hears him.

“‘Golden Light, Rising Sun’ is how you get in the mask. You want it off? It’s ‘Dimming Light, Setting Sun’.”

She doesn’t respond.

“You want to try that? Just so I can see who you are?”

Oh. So that’s what this is about.

He just wants her identity.

He wants to use her.

She looks at him and says, “No.”

He takes it brushingly, and asks, “Can you tell me your name?”

She asks back, “Can you tell me yours?”

“Crescent Knight.” He says. No hesitation. 

Crescent Knight… so he means persona names.

“Who are you?” He asks again.

“I…” She doesn’t feel comfortable using her real name. She doesn’t know what her persona name would be either. “I’m… uh…”

“IS SHE DEAD?!?!”

Dekkai’s voice echoes through the woods.

That sparks her panic back up again. There’s someone coming with the intent to kill.

“DID YOU GET HER?!?!”

“No no no no! Don’t panic!” Crescent Knight, despite panicking himself, tries to calm her down. He tries to touch her. “Don’t panic, we can talk! It’s not what you think-”

“GET OFF!!!” 

The moment she yanks her hand away and screams at him, her body flashes with a blinding light.

The light covers the area, making it impossible to see anything. 

Once it fades, she’s gone.

Dekkai is there behind Sliver, arms crossed in disappointment. 

Sliver proclaims in a firm tone, “Good job dude. You freaked her out.”

“That’s the extent of your problems?” Dekkai can’t believe him. “There’s a Sun Guardian on the loose.”

“And she doesn’t know anything about her powers.” Sliver adds. “I don’t know who the girl is, but she’s in danger if she doesn’t know how to control her abilities.”

“We’re going home. Bring this up to Empress Cynthia.” He tells Sliver. “You REALLY screwed up this time, Sliver.”

Sliver can’t help but admit, head over his shoulder, “I know.”

Part 2 of the origins is coming soon

[jeffys-my-name]

First Fleet

                  First fleet

                        A historical narrative 

Entry one  1779 May 12

My name is Tomas siddle. I was born in 1762 and at a young age, my parents died in a tragic fire. Fast forward to the present, I live in a run-down hut on the borders of London. Life here is terrible. My hut has no doors, no windows and not even a bed. I barely have enough money to live here. This book is the only thing I have to remember my parents by. I’m writing this by moonlight. 

Entry two 1799 May 13th

I am so sick and tired of living a poor life. The only thing I have had to eat is moldy bread. I walked into town this morning and I was tempted to steal a fresh piece of bread but I didn’t. 

Entry three 1799 May 14th

Guess what? Today I went into town and stole a loaf of bread. I was lucky not to be caught. I ate well tonight. Devouring the loaf of bread in one sitting.

Entry four 1799 may 15th

Well now I’ve gone and done it. I stole another loaf of bread but got too cocky and decided to steal some silk. The shopkeeper caught me and signaled for a policeman to come over. I elbowed the shopkeeper in the stomach and made a break for it. I looked behind me and chuckled. They’ll never catch me I said but I wasn't looking where I was going and ran into a streetlight. I got caught and was thrown into a hulk to await my trial. I’m writing this in my cold damp crowded and smelly jail cell among several other men. I looked around the cell. It had stains on the wood and a crudely made window. I heard squeaking around my shoes if you could even call them shoes. I looked down and saw several rats.

Entry five  1799 may 17th

 Question: Well guess who’s allowed out of these hulks?

Answer: not me. I was sentenced to 7 years in a faraway land called terra australis. Me and a bunch of other unlucky people. We leave on May the 19th . Which is only 2 days away.

Entry six 1799 may the 19th

Today we were loaded onto the ships. I got put on the scarborough with a bunch of other men. When we got sent down the ships were even worse than the hulks. Everything was cramped and small. I couldn't even fit in my bed! Well at least here we get a bed. I suppose this journey will be harmless…

Entry seven 1799  may the 20th

I take back what I said in my last entry. It's horrible here. Several men including me got seasick and vomited everywhere. I can hear it sloshing around by my feet. Did I mention Rats? They’re everywhere! You name it. There are mouse droppings everywhere, even in the eating spaces. The food we were given I don't even want to talk about it. The food is all stale. A fight broke out during lunchtime over a bowl of rice.Everyone was fighting for food. Two people were even flogged when the officer came down to see what the noises were.

Entry eight 1799 may the 21st

A bunch of people even wanted to escape. I chose not to escape as If I got caught more years will be put on my sentence. I just want to go back to London away from this mess. Not that my life will get better though.

Entry nine 1799 may the 22nd

I was woken up by some commotion on the deck. I looked around and saw that several beds were empty. Then I heard several gunshots up above. Poor souls I thought as I pulled the sheets up higher. It was getting super cold. The blankets were really thin. It's like they were not even blankets. Not that I would know. I didn’t have any sheets, just my ragged clothes.

Entry ten 1799 may the 23rd

The guys that were caught were whipped so hard that I had gotten used to the sounds of screaming up above. As I’m writing this The guys are still getting whipped. Dinner tonight was plain rice, nothing else, just plain rice. I was so shocked that I actually looked for more food. 

Entry eleven 1799 may the 24rth

I looked out the portholes and saw nothing but ocean, no land for miles. Nothing much happened today.

Entry twelve 1799 may the25th

We’ve finally arrived at terra australis. I looked out the portholes and saw marshy wetlands. Honestly It looked better in my mind. Nice smooth sand everywhere, sun gleaming through the english oak trees. Magpies everywhere, but it was the complete opposite. No magpies as I could see. I looked at the trees. They didn't even look like trees. They looked like bushes with yellow balls growing out of them. There were huge trees growing out of the ground that looked 198 ft tall. As I was looking out the window I overheard a conversation on the deck above. “ Absolutely unacceptable” “ ships sinking in bog” “ Not as Mr banks described” “have to move locations”

It sounded like we were moving locations.

Entry thirteen 1799 may the 26th

We are currently relocating from our last destination because It was marshy wetlands and the ships were sinking in the sand. There are voices up above “ Port jackson”

One says.  Not much, well nothing happened today. Just us prisoners laundering about the convict quarters. Breakfast, Lunch and dinner were: bread,rice and more rice.

Entry fourteen

We have finally arrived at port jackson. I looked out the window.It looked much better than botany bay, light seeping through the tall trees. The grass waving in the wind like it was welcoming us. It looked like heaven. After we docked we were sent out of the boats and onto the land. I was about to wander away when a soldier put a metal ball on my leg. The rest of the day was setting up. While I was pitching the tent I overheard a conversation. “ After today let's set the convicts to work. We will only keep them in our sight and won’t let them go anywhere else”

Entry Fifteen

My, was today sweat -inducing. We Started building some roads of some sort to transport people around the place. I even saw some natives watching us work. They had spears. The spearheads were made from stone. It was very strange. They were living in the past. It was very extraordinary. We have moved past those times and somehow these people are still living like we did many years ago. They were isolated from further development. It was just bizarre

Entry sixteen

Today we have finished the road. I didn't see the natives again.

Entry seventeen

Great news! Since I’ve been doing such phenomenal work they’ve given me a conditional pardon. All though I’m not allowed to leave the colony. They granted me a small bit of land to farm on and a nice little cottage to live in. Maybe if I work even harder here I’ll get an absolute pardon

GLOSSARY

Scarborough- A ship used to transport convicts when they embarked on their journey to Australia 

Embarked- Who knew? A word that was in the glossary is in the glossary. To board a ship, aircraft and other vehicles for a journey.

Flogged- having been beaten by a whip/ stick

Terra Australis- A name used by everyone before Explorer Mathew Flinders called it Australia.

Seeping- to pass flow or ooze through a porous substance

Conditional pardon- When you are free but can’t leave the colony.

Absolute pardon- when you are free to roam or go back to the place you were originally in

Laundering- Wandering

Ragged- Ripped, wrecked or destroyed 

Crudely- In a way that lacks care finish or completion 

Bizzare-  Weird/ amazing

[gh0stlyfixation]

5 reasons you’ve cried while pregnant

Johnny “Soap” McTavish

Simon “Ghost” Riley addition here

John Price addition here

Tagging: @birthofvcnus

1. Poor johnny got the shot end of the stick when you became pregnant, you were mean. Pickles were something you craved and sheathed you liked them before or not, you sure as hell did now. But to make Johnny's life a little harder, it had to be the McDonald’s pickles.

“I just need a lot of pickles, like a lot.” Johnny says to the women at the register.

“Sir, I can’t give just pickles.” She tells him.

Johnny takes a deep breath, “I cannot and will not go home without the pickles, my wife is pregnant and mean. Please, I need the pickles I'll pay for a whole meal, please.” Johnny says, begging the poor woman. She walks away for a few trying to see what she should do.

She comes back, a very large jar of pickles, “on the house. Good luck.” She tells him.

You nearly cry at the sight of pickles and to the generous lady at McDonald’s. Full on sobbing

2. It’s month 5 and you’ve been on a silent hunt for a puppy. Simon's wife had put her mind on adopting a puppy after she adopted a cat. It’s all you wanted now but to no avail, you couldn’t find the right one.

You sit on the couch sobbing. Wet tears drip onto your laptop that laid on your lap. Johnny comes in rushing to your side asking what was wrong.

“I can’t find the perfect puppy. All of them are perfect!” You cry. He’s confused, he never talked about adopting a dog.

“Since when we’re we getting a dog?” He asked, nope, wrong thing to say.

You sob even harder, “I knew you wouldn’t say yes so I wasn’t gonna say anything! Now I can’t even get a puppy.” You wail loudly.

Johnny is confused about what to do or say, he remembers Simon telling him about his wife’s random outbursts but he never understood until now, just gotta agree and deal with it, and be nice! Simon told him one day.

3. This sandwich you ate was stellar, everything about it was perfect, but as it got smaller and smaller your face frowned more. Johnny notices your face scrunching up. “What’s wrong lass?” He asks you.

Tears form in your eyes, “it’s just so good, I don’t want it to end.” You sniffle. At least you weren’t having a break down.

“I can make you another one?” Johnny asked softly rubbing your lower back.

“Just like this one? The same amount of meat, cheese and pickles, do not forget the pickles!” You exclaim, pointing a finger at him as Johnny gets up. As long as you weren’t incolsable, he’d make twenty more.

4. You were angrier this last term. You were miserable carrying the weight of your already 10-pound baby, “fucking hell.” You yell as the baby kicks.

“I swear to fucking god Johnny, I’m going to hit you if you ever put a baby in me again!” You randomly snap at him on the couch.

By now he’s used to it, he just nods and lays a hand on your thigh. He hears the familiar sniffle from next to him and he sees you have tears running down your cheeks, “Sorry Johnny.” You whisper now feeling guilty for snapping at him.

“It’s okay sweets, I know you don’t mean anything.” He says pulling you to his side, placing a hand on your belly and rubbing soothing circles.

5. Johnny sits in a debriefing meeting with Simon and Price when his phone starts to vibrate, the screen facing down. By the second vibrating sound going off Johnny turns his phone over and sees your pretty face light up the screen, “hold on, sorry.” He says Walking outside the door.

“Hi baby,” he cheerfully says.

“Well, I’m glad you having a grand time while I’m fucking not.” You yell through the phone, obviously crying. Johnny pulls the phone away from his ears and the boys laugh after hearing you scream.

“What’s wrong honey?” He asked, being very careful on how he sounds.

“I’m hitting every single red light on this 20-mile road and I’m so upset.” You sob into the phone, “like why can’t I just get a green light so I can get home quicker!” You whine with a broken sob.

“Honey, sometimes we can’t control the lights. Why don’t we do the breathing exercises together to calm you down, yeah lass?” He asked.

After finally calming you down and getting you through three more red lights, you were almost home. He walks back into the meeting when price speaks, “Our wives, they are crazy.”

“Yeah, mine is pregnant again, so we have a hamster now.” Simon scoffs, “mine is worse.” He finishes.

[lcvernat]

That Stupid Red String Part 2 | Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Part 1 | Part 3

Summary: Natasha Romanoff is your soulmate. Although you've both agreed to take it slow and not rush into anything, even though you find yourself falling deeper in love with her as time goes on. In other words, the journey of Nat and R's relationship.

Word Count: 4.3k

Content Warnings: soulmate au, gn!reader, strong language, tooth-rotting fluff, a tiny pinch of angst for some flavor, original female characters, mention of injuries/knife wound

A/N: part 2 is ready and at your service. this honestly went a different direction than i was intending, and i honestly planned on this being really cute and fluffy but then the music i was listening to turned sad so a tiny bit of angst happened. don't worry, it's the tiniest bit and the majority is tooth-rotting fluff like actually would give you cavities type of fluff but i hope you enjoy either way!

"Shut. The. Front. Door. You're serious? Like completely serious? You're not joking with me right now are you?"

"No, I'm not joking. Why would I joke about something like this? I'm being serious."

You wince as Kya's exhilarated scream rang through the phone. She has really got to stop doing that. "Please stop screaming in my ear."

"Yeah, okay, sorry," she says, "but oh my days. Natasha Romanoff is your soulmate. I can't believe this. I was right? Natasha Romanoff is your soulmate! Did you know that Natasha Romanoff is your soulmate?"

You feign a gasp, "No way, seriously?" You had stepped outside to call Kya after breaking the news to Natasha, knowing your best friend would likely want to murder you if she found out before you had told her yourself. Plus, if you were being totally honest, you really didn't know how to talk to Natasha now and you desperately needed some best-friend-who-has-already-found-her-soulmate advice right now. What were you meant to say to someone that you knew was your soulmate? 'Hey, soulmate, so... do we kiss now? Or?' just sounded wrong.

"Okay, but seriously, I need your advice."

"Hit me bestie, I am right here."

"What do I do now? I mean, we agreed to take it slow but... what do I say? Can you really do small talk with someone you know is your soulmate?"

Kya hummed in understanding, "Well, whenever I met Jamie, we just went out to a restaurant first and just acted like it was a regular first date. Yeah, it's kind of weird when you know in the back of your mind that this person is who you're meant to be with, but we tried not to talk about it. We just wanted to see if we actually connected, and thankfully we did. So I'd suggest just act like she's another Tinder match and you're trying to determine whether or not you click or not."

You nodded, even though she couldn't see you, "That's a good idea, kind of. Excluding the fact she's currently in a hospital bed and we can't go out for dinner."

"Stop overthinking everything, Y/N, God. It'll be fine, trust. I really got to go now though, my patient is really going to be wondering where his-" she cut off, as if she was reading something, "low fat chocolate milk is. I'll talk to you later though! Don't stress!"

You murmured a quick goodbye before she hung up. Kya was right, you just had to stop overthinking this. It'll be fine. Probably. Most likely. Hopefully. You took a deep breath before reentering the MedBay, to find Natasha already staring at you.

"Did you tell Kya?"

You startled, "How did you know?"

"You could hear her scream from a mile away."

You nodded, "Um, did you hear anything else?"

She shook her head, even though there was a knowing glint in her eye, "Nope." At least she was nice enough to save you from dying of embarrassment.

Jarvis had indeed informed Steve when Natasha had woke, and he arrived a couple hours later. It was 9am, and you were on your 6th cup of coffee when he had arrived.

"How is she?" He asked you first upon entering.

"Fine, if we're excluding the fact that she's more peeved about having to stay in here than being stabbed in the stomach."

He shook his head in amusement, "That's Natasha for you."

"You know I can hear you guys!" She shouted over at you both before Steve walked up to her, you trailing behind slightly.

"How you feeling Romanoff?"

"Horrible, actually. I have nothing to do. Wanda came over earlier to give me a change of clothes," she gestured to her pyjamas, which Wanda had helped her change into so she wouldn't rip her stitches, "but I'm so bored. I'm going to have a new scar to add to the collection though." She lifted up her pyjama shirt to reveal the wound.

"Bye bye bikinis," Steve smirked at her. Natasha's lips lifted in a half smile, a knowing glance being shared between the two of them. Definitely an inside joke you did not understand.

"Yeah, I bet I look terrible in them," Natasha responded, her tone soft.

"Okay, well, I need to go do the latest mission report. Clint told me to tell you that Laura and the kids would be around some day this week to 'check on their Auntie Nat'."

Natasha groaned, her head falling back onto the pillow, "Can I please do the report? I have quite literally nothing to do."

Steve looked as if she had said something incredibly offensive to him, "No. I am not going to ask someone who was stabbed not even 24 hours ago to do a literal mission report on said mission which she got stabbed on. Read a book or something."

"I have no books."

"I have," you piped up, the first time you had spoke during the entire interaction, "books, I mean. Most of them are at home, obviously, but I always carry one in my bag in case I'm bored in public. Have you ever read Pride and Prejudice?"

Natasha shook her head.

"Perfect, you can read that then. Because it's relaxing, and you need to rest and relax. Which does not include work, by the way." You turned around, walking over to your bag to grab it, missing the knowing glance that Steve sent Natasha's way.

You came back and handed it to her. She accepted it delicately, as if afraid the pages would rip when she touched it. "Thank you," she murmured quietly, a fleeting expression crossing her face - gone before you could figure out what it meant.

"Alright," Steve broke the silence that had encompassed the room, "really gotta get going. Bye, Nat. We all miss you beating our asses in training!" He winked playfully before exiting, leaving you and Natasha alone. Natasha didn't speak, and neither did you. She was still staring at the book you had handed her, looking as if she had never saw a book before in her life and didn't exactly know how to use it.

You glanced at the clock on the wall, and realized it was your lunch break. "Oh, it's my lunch break. I'll call in Dr. Cho so if you need anything, just ask her, okay?"

She merely nodded, and you left silently. You wanted to know why she was so affected by you simply handing her a book, but you didn't want to ask her. You didn't think it fell under the 'taking it slow' category. You knew little about Natasha other than the fact that she's an Avenger, but you didn't want to push her to tell you everything about herself. She can do it in her own time.

Maybe if you weren't so preoccupied with your thoughts, you would've realized that you were about to collide with someone. Unfortunately, you didn't notice until it happened. "Oh!" You yelled in surprise, staggering back only to find Wanda staring at you with an amused expression.

"We really have to stop meeting this way."

"I am so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going-"

"It's fine, Y/N. Don't apologize. By any chance, are you on your lunch break?"

The random question caught you off guard, "Uh, yes?"

"Perfect!" She smiled enthusiastically before grabbing your hand and pulling you along, "I made a lot of chicken paprikash, a bit too much if I'm being honest. Have you ever had it before?"

"No."

She gasped, "You are missing out. You're going to absolutely love it."

You arrived at the kitchen, and looked around you, uncertain, "Am I meant to be in here? Considering I'm only a doctor and not an... Avenger."

"Don't be silly," Wanda dismissed your concerns, "'course you're allowed in here. Plus you're with me, so it'll be fine. Here." She slid a plate of chicken paprikash over the kitchen island, and you sat down on one of the stools.

"I don't have a knife or fork."

"Oh right, yeah," she said before doing something that nearly made you fall off the stool. She hadn't even moved towards any of the cabinets, but instead had flicked her hand and one of them opened, a knife and fork floating towards you, being carried by some red wiggly woos.

"What the fuck?" Was all you could say. The knife and fork were placed down perfectly next to your plate.

"It's my powers," Wanda explained, "one of my many skills."

You nodded, even though that did not make sense in the slightest and you were still shocked by what you had just saw. But Wanda was staring at you, eagerly awaiting your opinion on the dish, so you had picked up the magic fork and took a bite.

"Oh my God," you say through a mouthful of food, your hand covering your mouth, "that is fucking delicious."

Wanda beamed at you, "I knew you'd love it."

You swallowed, fork halfway up to your mouth for another bite, before Wanda's next words made it drop out of your hand, clattering onto the plate. "So, Natasha's your soulmate, huh?"

"How did you know that?"

"I can also mind read."

That totally wasn't unsettling at all.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to unsettle you. I normally don't read people's minds, but your thoughts are kind of screaming at me right now. It's like a mini battle going on in your head. I couldn't resist."

You simply nodded, clearing your throat awkwardly, "Um, yeah, she is my soulmate."

Wanda hummed, "Why don't you look happy about that?"

Your head snapped up, eyes widening in shock, "What? I am happy. Ecstatic, even. I think anyone would be thrilled to find that your soulmate is none other than Natasha Romanoff. It's just-" you sighed, "I don't know. Awkward, kind of? We agreed to take it slow but, I just don't know how to really talk to her. At all."

Wanda hummed, "Natasha is..." she trailed off, trying to find the right words, "a complicated person, to put it simply. I'm not going to say much, since it's not my place. But, she's been through a lot. More than anyone deserves to go through. Truthfully, all the Avengers have been through a lot," something pained flashed across her eyes before she blinked and it was gone, "so just, give her time. Space, if she asks. She's a wonderful person, you just have to tread gently with her before she learns to trust you. If it seems like she's pushing you away, she isn't doing it to be a bitch. That's all I can really say, I think, it's Nat's place to tell you more when she's ready."

You nodded, thanking Wanda for her advice. Which was, admittedly, extremely helpful. You ate the rest of your food in silence, before thanking her one last time and heading back in the direction of the MedBay.

Clint's family had arrived a couple days later, 3 days into Natasha's 7 day stay in the MedBay. She was not particularly happy that it had only been 3 days, but her expression instantly brightened when Clint's kids had come running in, followed by who you suspected was Laura and clearly, Clint.

"Auntie Nat!" The little girl squealed, "We would've come sooner but mommy and daddy were busy."

"Don't worry, Lila, I'm glad you're here now." Natasha smiled at the girl. The girl, Lila, had begun to attempt to climb up onto the bed before Laura stopped her,

"No, Lila. Auntie Nat does not need you jumping all over her stomach."

Lila pouted, crossing her arms and stomping her foot as Natasha shook her head in amusement.

Clint looked over at you, and then back to Natasha, "So, soulmates, huh?"

You hadn't expected the topic to be brought up so quickly, if at all. You and Natasha had been skirting around that topic, instead talking and acting as if you were merely friends. She had nearly finished Pride and Prejudice, so you had long conversations over that, and also just the general getting to know each other questions: 'What's your favorite color? Food?', 'When's your birthday?', 'Your favorite song?'. 'Black', 'peanut butter sandwiches', '3rd December' and 'don't have one' had been her answers. You had to admit, it was nice just getting to know each other and not rushing into anything too quickly. Even though you found your eyes straying to her lips a little bit too much.

"Yes," Natasha merely shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

"What's a soulmate?" Lila asked, looking around at everyone in confusion.

"You'll find out when you're older, sweetheart," Laura responded.

The footsteps and noises outside of the MedBay, grabbed everyone's attention before the door swung open and in flew Lillian, Kya trailing behind her with a box of donuts in hand. Oh, you had completely forgotten that Kya had told you she was bringing Lillian around after her shift.

Lillian ran straight up to Natasha, "Black Widow! Are you okay? I heard you got hurt fighting the bad guys! But don't worry, I brought something to cheer you up!" She laid it on the bed, and you walked over to see what it was. It was a blanket, with Natasha's face on it. You snorted.

Natasha looked as if she was trying really hard not to laugh, and she was clearly fighting a losing battle, "Don't worry, Lillian, I am fine. This one," she pointed at you, "is just being annoying and has said I need to be in here for a week."

You looked at her in exasperation, "Hey! I am doing my job!"

"Anyway," Kya chimed in, "I didn't realize you had the whole cavalry here," she said, smiling at the Barton family, "but I brought donuts. Who wants some?"

Once everyone had got a donut (everyone had insisted Natasha take two to speed along recovery which had been 100% backed up by science), Kya whispered to you, "I was originally coming here to ask you whether you'd want to go on a double date with me and Jamie once Natasha's healed. It was his idea. But I think it'd be kind of awkward to ask when Clint's family is around."

You nodded, turning to her, "I'll ask Nat later."

Kya wiggled her eyebrows at you, "So you're on nickname terms now, huh?"

You whacked her on the arm, "Shut up."

"What are you two being so sneaky about?" Clint spoke up, and you turned to him.

"I could say the same for you, Barton. Don't think we haven't noticed all those weird best friend only glances you and Natasha are having over there." You countered, smirking at him.

He nodded, "Fair point," then he turned to Natasha, leaning in to act as if he was whispering even though everyone could hear him, "I like them."

Natasha rolled her eyes, and everyone returned to their own conversations, and if you hadn't been paying attention to her you would've missed it, but you didn't and heard her say, "Me too." You turned away, a smile making it's way onto your face even though you tried to stop it.

2 weeks, a set of stitches removed, and a happy to be away from the MedBay Natasha later, and you both were getting ready for the double date that Kya had suggested. Surprisingly, Natasha had accepted the idea. You had expected her to be totally against it, you didn't really think it was something she'd be interested in, but she continued to surprise you every day. Neither of you acknowledged the fact that technically, this was your first actual date actually going out somewhere.

You had a couple of movie nights together, but it was only really as 'friends' and you had never dared to do anything more. You had kept Wanda's advice, and didn't want to rush Natasha into anything she didn't want to do. She hadn't made a move, and neither had you. Even though every time you were near her, the unspoken word 'soulmate' always hung in the air. It was the elephant in the room that you both chose to ignore. But a part of you couldn't help but question why? Why hadn't she made a move? Did she not like you? Did she only like you as a friend? Two sides of your brain were in a constant war with each other, one side demanding you ask her what kind of tightrope you both are walking on and the other side telling you to not question it and to just be satisfied with whatever you had going on right now.

You were pulled out of your thoughts by a knock on your apartment door. You checked yourself over in the mirror one last time, fixing your outfit before you took a deep breath and made your way over to the door. You opened it and were greeted by the sight of Natasha, in a knee-length red dress. She had clearly curled her hair, the auburn waves framing her face perfectly. She was undoubtedly the most gorgeous woman you had ever seen.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," you replied.

"You look nice."

"Thanks, so do you."

"Should we go?" She asked, stepping back to allow you to leave.

"Yeah, let me just grab my keys and wallet." You walked back in, grabbing said items from your kitchen counter before leaving and closing the door behind you.

The walk to Natasha's car, and the entire car ride, was silent. It wasn't an awkward silence, per say, you would probably describe it as peaceful. But there was that annoying voice at the back of your head telling you to ask her why you both were ignoring the whole soulmate thing. You didn't though, and you soon pulled up at the restaurant.

Kya and Jamie were waiting for you outside the entrance. "Hey!" Kya called over to you when she spotted you both.

"Hi," you smiled at her before turning to Jamie, "hey, Jamie. How have you been?"

"Hey, Y/N. I've been good, glad to see you've finally found your soulmate," he smiled before turning to Natasha, "it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Natasha smiled, but it was tight.

Kya coughed, "Alright, should we go in? The reservation is for 8 and it's 7:58."

"Yeah, yeah, let's go in," you followed Kya and Jamie into the restaurant.

Once you four had been seated, Jamie turned to Natasha, "So, you really gave Y/N a hard time before they found you."

Natasha laughed awkwardly, "Yeah, um, did you feel like... every pain I've felt?" She directed the question at you.

"Well, yeah, that's the way it works. Only physical pain though, if that's what you're asking." You answered.

She nodded, her gaze focusing on the menu in front of her, "Sorry, for all of that pain."

"Don't worry about it, nothing you could've done, being an Avenger and all."

"She wasn't an Avenger all her life though, so what was she doing before?" Jamie questioned, clearly ignoring the glare Kya sent his way and the nudge she gave his ribcage.

"I don't want to talk about that." Natasha's reply was short and clipped, leaving no room for continuing.

Sensing the overwhelmingly awkward tension at the table, Kya changed the topic, "Anyway! What are you guys thinking of ordering? I might get the sirloin steak."

"Oh, yeah, me too," Jamie said, before starting up another random conversation with Kya about one of their many soulmate things.

You turned to Natasha, "You alright?"

She nodded, but avoided looking at you.

"Hey," you say softly, cautiously placing your hand on top of hers. You felt her stiffen under your touch, "what's wrong? You can talk to me."

She swallowed, "I'm fine."

She clearly was not fine, because this was not the Natasha you knew. She seemed smaller, more fragile. As if she wasn't quite here, as if mentally she were somewhere else.

"Are you sure?" You questioned again.

She pulled her hand away, "I said I'm fine." She stood up abruptly, grabbing the attention of Kya and Jamie, "I need some fresh air." She walked away before you could stop her.

"Nat! Natasha!" You called after her, standing up too, "I'm so sorry, but I need to-"

Kya cut you off, "It's fine, Y/N. Go."

You nodded in thanks before rushing off after Natasha. You exited the restaurant, and it had somehow started pouring it down while you were inside. You had the odd sense that you were trapped in some dramatic romance movie, the rain soaking your clothes as you run towards your soulmate. You spot her making her way towards the carpark and you ran after her, grabbing her wrist, "Nat! Wa-"

She whirled around, "What?"

"What's wrong?" You ask, out of breath.

"Nothing." She yanked her wrist away from your grip, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to protect herself from whatever she was feeling.

"Nat, please, you can talk to me. I'm your soulmate."

"That's the problem, Y/N."

"What?"

She groaned in exasperation, annoyed at herself and everything, "You deserve someone better. I can't be your soulmate, Y/N, I'm sorry, but I can't. You don't deserve someone who made you go through years and years of constant agony, you deserve better than that. I'm not cut out for this life. I can't be this cute, happy, soulmate couple. I have a lot of enemies, people who would want to hurt you just because you love me. And I can't have that. I can't be like them. I can't."

You knew she was referring to Kya and Jamie.

You sighed, taking a cautious step closer to her, "Nat," you took another step closer when she didn't move away, "do you think I really care about the pain? Yeah, I'll admit it kind of sucked. But it wasn't your fault, I doubt you intended to get yourself shot or stabbed or punched just so I could be in pain. I don't know what happened in your past, and you don't need to tell me until you feel comfortable, but I really don't care, Nat. I also could give less than two fucks about these so-called enemies, because I have an amazingly cool and badass Avenger as a soulmate to protect me-"

She laughed slightly at that, and you smiled, glad that you got her to laugh even just a bit, "but Nat, I love you. A lot. Even if we weren't soulmates, I would still love you. I am completely, irrevocably in love with you, Natasha. We can still take this slow, but I just needed you to know that. I want this."

She stared at you, mouth parting slightly in shock. You were very much aware that it was still raining, and your clothes were soaked through, but you couldn't bring yourself to care as you leaned in slowly. She didn't stop you, so you leaned in until your lips connected. The kiss was slow, giving her ample time to pull away. She didn't, instead wrapping her arms around your neck, pulling you in closer. You wrapped your arms around her waist, deepening the kiss - trying to convey all of your love for her through a single kiss.

You pulled away eventually, resting your forehead against hers. "How about we go back to mine and get changed, watch a movie?" You suggested. She nodded and you pulled away, kissing the tip of her nose before you linked her hand with yours and walked towards her car.

You both got into her car, absolutely soaked to the bone. Grabbing your phone out of your bag, you quickly texted Kya that you both would be cancelling the double date and maybe you could possibly reschedule for some other time. She responded a minute later: 'that's okay, hope nat's okay. have fun you two'.

You woke up the next morning, Natasha's limbs entangled with yours on your bed. She hadn't planned on staying the night, but it was 2am by the time you two had finished your movie night and you would not let her go outside that late, even though you knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself. You had originally slept facing away from each other, but it was only inevitable that you would wake up cuddling.

You woke up first, the early morning light streaming through the curtains as you gazed down at Natasha. The sunlight shone on her face, her eyelashes fluttering as she unconsciously squeezed her eyes shut further against the light. She looked so peaceful sleeping, whatever demons that haunted her mind leaving her alone for just a bit. Truthfully, you'd fist fight her demons yourself if you could. Because how dare they hurt your Natasha?

You placed a soft kiss on her forehead, and she groaned, annoyed at being disturbed. She opened her eyes slowly, blinking, trying to remember where she was and why she was here. When her mind had registered that she was okay and safe, she turned to find you staring at her.

She cocked an eyebrow, "What?"

"Nothing. You're just really beautiful."

She blushed, "Stop joking."

"I'm being serious. You're gorgeous."

She turned her head, hiding her face in the pillow to hide the red inevitably flushing her cheeks.

"Awwww, is Natty blushing?"

"Oh, be quiet," she grabbed her pillow and whacked you with it.

You gasped in shock before grabbing your own and whacking her back. Soon, you both were in a full blown pillow fight, like two little kids. Though, you were careful not to hit her stomach. Even though you were pretty sure a pillow fight in bed didn't count as 'strenuous activity', you didn't want to risk it. Not to mention the fact that you were the one who ordered her to take it easy for at least a month after.

You both collapsed back onto the bed, laughing and gasping for air. You turned to her, "I should probably get ready for work."

Natasha shook her head, latching onto you like a koala, "I'll call Fury. Tell him you're sick and you can't go in. We're spending all day in bed."

You weren't going to argue with that. You wrapped your arms around her too, kissing the top of her head. Maybe the Red String of Fate wasn't so stupid after all.

tags: @the-autie-wolf @geico-insuranc @uxiagarcas @neverylee @unholyhelbig @fxckmiup @hayeeonn @hotcocoandonuts @inlovewithfaberry @maximoffwitch @username23345

i tagged everyone who asked/was interested in a part 2 but if i forgot you/you didn't want to be tagged, i do apologize!

[web-spinning]

Okay I hope you're prepared for a flood of reqs lmao

- So Reader's like, new to the mercs (she works as a mercenary too)

- She's kind of like Scout how she's kinda annoying and energetic/happy-go-lucky

- Everyone kind of.... either don't like her or think she's like... oddly happy all the time (so they find her weird)

- One day they just here screaming and stuff

- She's literally in her room curled into a ball (she's like facing the floor and stuff)

- Hitting her head and sobbing

- She's not saying any coherent words, just screaming and crying, not noticing anyone come in

- What's everyone's reaction?

(I've decided just to ask you one for now, but I hope you know I have like, 2 others in my head rn XD)

A / N- Aaaaaa please please keep your ideas in for like until Monday, okay? I have so many requests, I am running low on doing them because of the match ups. Please, have mercy.

Mercs reaction to a usually happy and energetic reader crying.

Tw. Slight mentions of a mental breakdown, hurt / no comfort in Soldier's, Heavy's and Medic's one.

Scout 

- he's not a kind of person to let anybody see him at his worst as well,

- he probably just wanted to exchange a word, or take back the sport magazine he borrowed you earlier ( he can't read, but he likes to look at the pictures ), 

- however, when he notices you curled up in bed, crying, he's out of words, 

- at first he wants to leave, but he realizes you noticed he already entered the room, 

- calmly, he approaches your side and asks what's wrong, 

- he's a bit awkward about it, still tries his best to cheer you up, 

- he doesn't think much of it. He realizes it's hard to show off your emotions in front of everyone, 

Soldier

- we all know Jane be a bit not understanding, 

- but if he ever spots you in a situation like this, he has no idea what to do, 

- at first he wants to come in and tell you to man up, 

- then he realizes if he was in this situation he wouldn't like someone to say something like this, 

- quietly, he walks away, 

- never once mentions it again, 

Pyro 

- they hear a crying person from five miles away, 

- quickly walks to your room, enters without knocking, 

- he's not alone. They're bringing a Balloonicorn plushie along, 

- probably shoves it to your side, which makes you turn your attention to him, 

- " Murr hurr? Mh mhph hurr mpha mprh ", 

- they gladly sit by your side, and listen to you rant about what's bothering you, 

Demoman 

- Tavish was probably going back to his room in the base, when he heard odd noises coming from your room, 

- he knocked, but received no reply. A bit concerned, he opened the door and entered the room, only to see what condition you were in, 

- he asks if you want to talk about it, 

- it's okay if you say no, however he will stay in the room with you, 

- he doesn't want you to hurt yourself in any way, 

- probably tries to cheer you up, 

- when you're feeling better he will invite you to watch a movie together, 

Heavy 

- he's not the kind of person you would expect to care, 

- on the outside, he doesn't seem to care, 

- he won't enter the room, but he gives himself a mental note of what he saw and heard, 

- doesn't tell anybody about it, 

- although you can clearly tell he started caring more for you on the battlefield, for example by telling you to back off and taking it on himself, 

Engineer 

- Dell is probably the least awkward person about it, 

- he just carefully asks if he can come in, approaches you and tells you not to worry, 

- most likely even pets your back to make you feel better, 

- you can tell him everything that's on your mind, he won't judge, 

- reassures you it's okay to have worst moments, 

- after that, he makes sure to check on you a bit more often, 

Medic 

- he acts an awful lot like Heavy, 

- the difference being, even though he walks away, he then calls you in into his lab, 

- asks you general questions about your mental state, 

- he pretends it's for science's sake, when actually he doesn't want your state to affect your performance in the team, 

Sniper 

- it's like his worst nightmare, 

- he's not the best at comforting, and he would feel like a coward if he walked away, 

- probably enters the room, tries to reassure you and thinks he's making it awkward, 

- where in reality, he's very helpful, 

- eventually he runs out of words, which results in him just inviting you to his van for a drink, 

- please accept, he's lonely there, 

Spy

- don't expect any good words from this snake,

- pretends not to hear, walks away…at first,

- it's none of his business, he prefers to care for himself, or people way closer to him, 

- then midway through he realizes that’s a bit too cold, even for him, 

- he sloppily knocks on the door, 

- if you let him in, he will try to cheer you up, but the best he can do is bring you into a hug. 

[ragingbookdragon]

My Brother's Best Friend Is The One For Me

Wally West x Batsis!Reader One-Shot

Word Count: 3.6K Warnings: Explicit Language

Author's Note: Got to rereading my Batsis fics and came across the "What A Flashy Romance" and wanted to do another one with Wally because I love him. Enjoy! -Thorne

Being the middle child and also the only girl in the Batfamily meant two things:

1. She had four brothers that treated her like a porcelain doll, despite the fact that she could throw a punch at 336 PSI.

And

2. She followed an unspoken rule that Dick and Jason’s friends were off limits when it came to dating.

In all, neither of those things were major problems. She’d learned at a young age how to avoid Dick and Jason’s overbearing-protective-brother-modes, and Tim and Damian were younger, so she didn’t have to worry about them. The second one was also avoidable—most of her older brothers’ friends were the same, and she wasn’t around most of them to develop any feelings.

Well, there was Wally, but it was just a crush. A stupid, little school-girl crush—that she’d never really grown out of—that didn’t matter in the slightest. Except whenever Dick brought him over to the house and she had to pretend that sitting next to him didn’t make her heart race like she’d run a mile.

And the most annoying thing about the whole crush is that she couldn’t tell if Wally was ever interested in her or not. Most of Dick’s friends, Garth, Kyle, Roy, they treated her like a little sister—hell, they even said “Love you lil sis!” to her regularly. And yet, Wally didn’t. Now, there was the occasional head pat, but even that was an affectionate gesture that siblings and SO’s did all the time. It was infuriating, and so was Wally—but she was going to sort it all out the next time he came over because the worst thing he could say was “No”, and either she needed to hear that…or “Yes”.

***

Normal Sundays for the Wayne household usually meant Ultimate Waffle Breakfast and sitting on your ass all day until patrol—it was the one day of the week where they could do anything and nothing and didn’t have to stick to schedules. Everyone loved Sundays, especially (Y/N), because it meant that all of her family was home, even Jason (who tried to deny that he enjoyed coming home to hang out, but if that mile long grin was any help, he was lying). And while everyone was home, that usually meant that everybody’s friends were coming over too.

***

She swiped the syrup out of Jason’s hand when he swung it back around, grinning at him when he glared at her.

“I was gonna use that, (Y/N),” he griped, and she shrugged, uncapping the bottle.

She tipped it over and watched the syrup lazily pour out of the container onto her waffles.

“You were taking too long.” Her eyes twinkled with humor. “I guess you were as…slow as molasses.”

While most of the table groaned at her terrible joke, Dick snorted into his milk, causing it to splatter on his plate and across the table.

“Nice one,” he coughed, wiping his face and the dark oak surface.

(Y/N) bowed dramatically. “Well, I did learn from the best.” When Dick’s face lit up, she turned to Alfred and smiled. “Alfie, thank you for teaching me your ways.”

The old butler merely tipped his head, a hidden smile crossing his lips at the way the eldest son’s jaw went slack. She turned her attention to Bruce who was quietly chewing, eyes following along the research paper she’d asked him to check out.

“Dad, what’s on your agenda for today?”

He swallowed and flicked a line out with a red pen, etching his own comment in the margin. “Lucius has a few ideas about some new gadgets he wanted to run by me.” Another line went out. “I’ll call him after breakfast.” Bruce looked at her. “You?”

(Y/N) nodded at the paper in his hands, then slapped Jason’s who was reaching over to take a piece of bacon from her plate. “Waiting for you to finish tearing me a new one so I can redo the paper.” She cut into the waffle with the side of her fork. “Once I salvage what little scientific dignity you’ve left me with, I’ll probably laze around.”

“You mean what you do normally?” Bruce quipped, grinning when she glowered at him; his eyes went back to her paper. “You’re doing well so far.”

She huffed. “Tell that to every red line you’ve marked out in that paragraph.”

He flashed the paper. “I’m writing in the margins how to change it. This isn’t a dissertation, sweetheart. You’re allowed to make mistakes. We all do.”

(Y/N) grumbled as her cheeks warmed and she went back to her plate as the conversation flowed around her.

Most of it was the discussion of what everyone was planning on doing, Damian was going to play video games, Tim was going to join him (which she knew was going to be fun while the moment lasted until the petty sibling rivalry got in the way and their gaming dwindled into a physical fight that she and probably Dick were going to have to break up), Jason was going to use the workbench in the cave to upgrade some gear, and Dick apparently,

“Wally and Garth are gonna come over later and hang out.”

She paused, mid-stab of her fork and looked at up. “Wally’s coming over?”

He nodded. “And Garth. We were gonna go to the mall and get some new clothes.”

Jason snorted, laying an arm over the backs of Tim and (Y/N)’s chairs. “Spending money with daddy’s credit card, Dickie?”

Dick smirked. “Just like you.” Jason merely matched his grin, and while the entire table was cracking up at Bruce’s frown, (Y/N) was silent, heart beating faster at the thought of seeing Wally.

“(Y/N)?” She startled and looked up at Dick.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you were okay. You got quiet all of the sudden.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Yeah, just thought about all of the corrections I’m gonna have to do because somebody CAN’T STOP MARKING OUT MY PARAGRAPHS.” Bruce merely smiled and knocked out another line.

It was a lie. It was the biggest lie she’d told right next to the one she told when Bruce had asked her where she was on prom night her senior year a few years ago—she was totally not saving a different sector of the universe with Kyle Rayner, she was dancing with Sam Reilly all night—she strongly believed her dad knew the truth—Batman knew everything.

Bruce handed the paper back to her and she groaned as she scanned the red lines on every page. It was going to take her hours to go over this.

Jason leaned over and read the title, “Cellular Division and Mutation Under Extreme Elemental Circumstances…a composition by (Y/N) Wayne.” He cocked a dark brow. “Go big or go home, huh, baby girl?”

(Y/N) hummed. “Doctor Halberd wanted us to pick challenging topics for the research paper this term.” A crooked smile crossed her lips. “I’m nothing if not ambitious about proving I’m smarter than everyone else.”

“You need another source,” Bruce murmured, sipping the steaming black coffee. “One-fourteen is good, but I’d go for one-fifteen.”

She groaned and dropped her head. “Are you kidding me? I had enough trouble gathering that many.”

“Why don’t you use Barry?” Tim piped up, mouth full of whip cream and strawberries.

“Master Timothy, we do not talk with our mouth full,” Alfred admonished, and Tim blushed.

(Y/N)’s head shot up and she stared at her brother. “That’s actually a good idea. Speedsters would make for perfect references about cellular division.” An idea popped into her head and she glanced at Dick. “And since Wally is com—”

“Nope,” Dick interrupted, pointing at her. “Wally is coming over to hang out, not to be poked and prodded to finish a paper.”

She let out a whine and turned to Bruce. “Dad, tell Dick to let me at least talk to Wally about it.”

Bruce turned his attention onto Dick. “Let your sister talk to Wally about her paper.”

“Oh, come on,” he complained and (Y/N) stood from her seat, hurrying around the table to stand behind Dick’s seat.

She draped herself over his shoulders, tucking her chin in the crook of his neck. “I promise I won’t be annoying if you let me come with you. I’ll ask two questions every thirty minutes and I’ll go do shopping on my own, so I won’t be in the way.” (Y/N) craned her neck and pulled the most pitiful puppy eyes she could. “Please?”

Dick’s eyes darted to her face and then he looked away. Just one more push.

“Please frate?” she begged and when his eyes went wide from the usage of his native tongue, she knew she’d won him over.

He deflated and let out a sigh. “Fine,” he grumbled. “You can come with us.”

(Y/N) squealed and pressed a kiss to his cheekbone, as she grabbed the paper and hurried towards the door. She halted and spun around, looking at her father.

“What do I need to be most specific about?”

“Division under elemental circumstances.”

She glowered at him. “No shit Sherlock. Specifics.”

“Molecular division under terrestrial gamma-ray flashes.”

“That’ll work,” (Y/N) nodded and exited to room.

Jason looked out the door then back to his brothers. “She’s way to excited about science sometimes.” They merely laughed.

***

She raised the red lace, cold shoulder V-neck shirt to her chest before frowning, and switching it with the full lace blue shirt with mini golden lightning bolt charms hanging off the trim. After a moment, she pulled the blue one down and sighed.

“You know, if you want to impress him, I’d wear the red shirt.”

She jumped and barely managed to suppress the scream that was coming up in her throat as she swiveled around to face her door. Jason stood in the doorway, a knowing look on his face. She could play this one of two ways: she could be truthful, or she could lie—she chose the latter.

“What do you mean?” He snorted and walked into her room, taking a seat at her desk.

“I mean if you’re trying to impress Wally, wear the shirt that’s the color of his suit, (Y/N).” She looked away and into the mirror, but she couldn’t escape the eyes boring into her back.

“Is it that obvious?” she asked quietly, and he laughed.

“That you’re head over heels for Dick’s best friend? Oh yeah. Totally.”

She sighed and sat on her bed, pulling the red top over her torso. “It’s just a crush.”

“Seems like more than a crush to me, baby girl.”

(Y/N) pulled the fabric down and looked at him. “Are you gonna tell Dick?”

Jason scoffed. “Do I look like a narc to you?”

She cocked a brow and deadpanned, “Just the other night you told dad that Damian lifted Two-Face’s wallet when he was being put in a cruiser.”

“Well, that wasn’t something important,” he countered and nodded at her. “This is.” He paused and shrugged. “Nah, I’m not gonna tell Dickhead. Play this out however you see fit, baby girl.”

(Y/N) stared at him for a moment then averted her gaze and let out a sigh; Jason huffed.

“That sounds like a heavy sigh, (Y/N). What’s wrong?”

She shrugged. “I don’t even know if Wally would be interested in me. He’s him and I’m me.”

Jason stood and walked over, kneeling in front of her. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

(Y/N) met his eyes. “Anytime he’s had a girlfriend she’s always been super strong or really outspoken.”

“And you’re not?” he quipped, causing her to huff.

“You know what I mean, Jay.”

He nodded. “Okay, so you’re not an Amazon or shoving your head up someone’s ass for a story. But you’re you.”

“And that means?”

“You’re the only daughter of the World’s Greatest Detective who’s a wicked smart science major by day and a badass vigilante by night.” He cupped her cheeks. “You are intelligent, warmhearted, talented, and absolutely beautiful.” Jason smushed her cheeks together and grinned as she giggled. “And if Wally doesn’t see any of what I just said, then he’s a damn fool and not worth your time. You hear me, baby girl?”

She nodded. “I hear you.”

Jason gave her a firm nod and let go, standing to his feet. “Now come on let’s go do your makeup.”

(Y/N) blinked. “You can do makeup?”

“Baby girl, I can do a lot of things. Now hurry up. That razor sharp eye liner and golden eyeshadow isn’t going to do itself.”

***

She waited beside Dick with a pleasant smile on her face, and despite the fluttering heartbeat in her chest, Jason’s pep talk kept running through her head and with every passing moment, she felt her confidence rising. He was right, if she told Wally and he didn’t feel the same, then it was his loss and her gain to move on and find someone else.

A black sedan pulled up at the manor and the passenger window rolled down, revealing Wally at the wheel and Garth in the passenger’s seat. Dick waved at them.

“Hey guys,” he greeted. “How was the drive over?”

“Oh, you know, we saw three carjacking’s and one armed robbery,” Garth quipped. “I assume that’s normal for Gotham though.”

“It’s a bit below average actually,” (Y/N) piped up. “Hi Garth. Hi Wally.”

Wally smiled and Garth waved in return as the two siblings started getting in the car.

“You’re coming with us, (Y/N)?” Wally questioned and she nodded.

“Do you want me to lie to you or give you the truth?”

He chuckled. “I’m always open for a good story.”

“I wanted to buy out Victoria’s Secret and piss off any boyfriends who are in hot water with their girlfriends.” The guys laughed and she admitted, “Truth though, I need one last source for a research paper.”

“Gonna find that source shopping?” Garth asked and (Y/N) caught Wally’s eyes in the rear-view mirror.

“Actually, my last source is Wally.”

They fell silent and looked at her, though the speedster’s focus was on the road.

“What are you gonna source Wally on?” The Atlantean inquired.

“My paper is over cellular mutation under distress from elemental conditions.” She smiled at Wally. “Our speedster here, is a walking subject perfect for the paper. I can only hope that he agrees to be a willing participant.”

Wally chuckled. “I’d be willing to part with a few secrets for you. Of course, I’d have to—”

“Remain anonymous.” (Y/N) winked. “I’m sure my professor would be okay with me citing ‘The Flash’ so long as I had a picture with him to back it up.”

“I like pictures,” he murmured, pulling into the parking lot.

“That’s good to know,” she replied and when he put the car in park, she took her purse and added, “So I’ll leave you boys to do your shopping and Wally, I’ll text you any questions I have.”

“You’re not gonna hang around?” Garth asked and she shook her head.

“Nah, I don’t wanna be the annoying little sister who follows her older brother and his friends around.” She smiled at them. “Besides, Dick was kind enough to let me come along. Least I can do is stay out of your way.”

(Y/N) opened the door and waved at them. “Text me when you’re ready to leave and I’ll meet you back here.”

***

Despite the initial joke that she was going to buy out the lingerie store, there was actually some truth in the statement, and she drew her fingers over one of the lace baby dolls as she looked at her phone, grinning like a dope at Wally’s response.

Well, I wouldn’t say I’d grow a second skin from how fast my cells regenerate, but I can make my body heal instantaneously. -W

Can you regenerate limbs or major organs? –(Y/I)

Major organs or useful ones? -W

(Y/N) paused at his response and thought for a moment. It was risky. Sending the text, she was thinking about was risky, but it’d sure get her point across that she was into him. With her heart hammering in her chest, she pushed send and stuck her phone in her pocket.

Whichever ones are useful to you, Wally? ;) –(Y/N)

Her phone didn’t buzz for a good minute, and Wally took less than a second to reply, so he was doing one of two things: A.) Telling Dick that his younger sister sent a flirty text, or B.) Trying to figure out how to let her down easy. (Y/N) didn’t know which one was worse. Her hip buzzed and she inhaled shakily, pulling her phone out of her pocket with one eye cracked open to see how screwed she was.

Do you have a useful one in mind, beautiful? -W

She had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from letting out the biggest gasp any human had ever made, and she nervously looked around her to make sure no one else was staring at her. She grinned as she replied to him.

Oh, I could think of one…or two or three…Why? Is there gonna be a pop quiz over this later? I’ll have you know I’m an excellent test taker. –(Y/N)

Is that so? Well, what happens if you were to fail this particular pop quiz, (Y/N)? -W

I guess you’d have to stay the night for a study session and help me make a better grade ;) –(Y/I)

As she waited for another response, someone’s hand touched the small of her back and she reacted, immediately stepping away from the offending touch to spin on them. Her eyes went wide when she saw Wally standing before her, a grin on his face, phone in his hand.

“I think an overnight study session is possible, (Y/N).”

Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, like a fish until she finally got her brain to work and asked, “I thought you were shopping with Dick and Garth?”

He shrugged. “Told Dick you asked me an advanced question that’d be easier to answer in person than over text.” He wiggled his brows. “You know, advanced equations and scientific gibberish.”

(Y/N) huffed a laugh and turned back around, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks as she picked up one of the teddies. And when she realized what it looked like, she only felt more flustered. Crimson with baby blue trimming and was practically a shoelace.

“Well, that’sa hint if there ever was one,” Wally quipped, and she pulled the lingerie out of his line of sight.

“It was just the first one I grabbed!” she exclaimed, snapping her mouth shut when people looked over at them. Her cheeks felt like they were wildfires, and she pressed her head against the cool metal of the rack, sighing with what little relief it provided.

“You know, (Y/N),” he started softly. “If you’re not comfortable, this doesn’t have to go anywhere. I can forget this ever happened if you want me to.” (Y/N) opened her eyes and peered at him, at the concern but also the kindness in his gaze.

“I just—” she murmured and trailed off before letting out a sigh. “It’s kinda complicated.”

“Okay,” Wally nodded. “My mouth might work faster than my brain sometimes but lay it on me.”

She cracked a smile and thought back on Jason’s words. If Wally doesn’t see any of what I just said, then he’s a damn fool and not worth your time.

(Y/N) took a deep breath and looked at him, admitting, “Wally, I have…feelings for you.” His eyes widened and though she felt the sting of embarrassment, she pushed out her words. “It’s stupid, like one of those dumb childhood crushes that just sticks with you, you know?”

She averted her gaze and looked at her peep toe heels. “I just don’t wanna screw anything up because even if you don’t feel anything like I do, I don’t wanna lose you as a friend. Because I do value your friendship.” She sighed. “And Dick. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable about coming over to see him if there’s a chance you’ll have to see me too. I just—”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Wally interrupted gently, a smile growing on his face. “You’re thinking way big here, (Y/N). Bigger than you need to right now.”

She met his eyes. “Right now?” she repeated, and he reached out, taking her hand in his. His fingers felt tingly against her palm and he smiled.

“I like you, (Y/N).”

She blinked at him, practically dumbfounded. “You…you do?”

Wally nodded and confessed, “Have for a couple years, but I didn’t wanna make a move not knowing if you were interested.” His cheeks tinged pink, and he said, “But I’m glad you are. Like super glad.” (Y/N) giggled, suddenly feeling really foolish for all her worry and Wally let out a chuckle too.

She stared at him for a moment, relishing the coolness of his skin before pulling away, toying with the teddy in her other hand.

“So, about tonight…you staying over?”

Wally let out a groan and looked between her and the lingerie. “Probably, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away long enough to spend some time alone with you.”

(Y/N) let out a ‘pfft’ and winked. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Flash. You are the fastest man alive.”

“You’re into quickies? Good to know,” he grinned.

“Shut up,” she giggled.

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS: Voyage

Percy Jackson X Reader

Another year passed and now they're back as the camp needs them.

Chapter 2: Taxi Of Death

Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley down Church Street. She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.

"Where'd you find him?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.

Now, under different circumstances, I would've been really happy to see her. We'd made our peace last summer, despite the fact that her mom was Athena and didn't get along with my dad. I'd missed Annabeth probably more than I wanted to admit.

But I'd just been attacked by cannibal giants, Tyson had saved my life three or four times, and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like he was the problem.

"He's my friend," I told her.

"Is he homeless?"

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

She looked surprised. "He can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."

"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.

I couldn't believe she was being so rude. I was about to call her out when a smack was heard.

"Do NOT be rude." An assertive voice from behind Annabeth echoed.

Y/N came out from the shadows riding a dog that was bigger than the hellhound that had attacked me in camp when I got claimed. She looked pretty much the same from her photo if not more mature. Her clothes were different as well, but she still had the knife and headband on her.

"That hurts!" Annabeth hissed.

"And it'll hurt more if you continue to be rude. He helped Percy, he deserves credit."

Remembering what happened to Tyson, I examined his hands, which I was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine—grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips—but they always looked like that. "Tyson," I said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Annabeth muttered.

"I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around." Y/N chuckled looking at Tyson.

Tyson seemed fascinated by Y/N's dog. He was hesitant to touch it until Y/N took his hand and brought it to D/N's head.

"Annabeth," I said, "what is she talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Canadians," she decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams... about Grover?"

Their face turned pale. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

I told them my dream. "Why? What were you dreaming about?"

Annabeth's eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour.

"Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks? Either of you?"

Y/N looked on the ground and shrugged.

I shook my head. "None all year... until today."

"None? But how..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?"

Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something... Son of the Sea God?"

Annabeth, Y/N and I exchanged looks.

I didn't know how I could explain, but I figured Tyson deserved the truth after almost getting killed.

"Big guy," I said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—"

"Yes," Tyson said.

"Well... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries , so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals.

Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for me to get to the point.

"Uh, well, Annabeth, Y/N and I are half-bloods," I said. "We're like... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

I stared at him. He didn't seem surprised or confused by what I was telling him, which surprised and confused me. "So... you believe me?"

Tyson nodded. "But you are... Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."

Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then..."

A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.

"We don't have time for this," Y/N said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" I said. "You know how much money—"

"Trust me."

I hesitated. "What about Tyson?"

I imagined escorting my giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us.

"We can't just leave him," I decided. "He'll be in trouble, too."

"Yeah." Annabeth looked grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."

I didn't like the way she said that, as if Tyson were a big disease we needed to get to the hospital, but I followed her down the alley. Together the three of us sneaked through the side streets of downtown while a huge column of smoke billowed up behind us from my school gymnasium.

"Here." Y/N stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

All around us, sirens wailed. I figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and I were the bloodthirsty cannibals.

"I have one." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that I recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

"Annabeth," I said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

She handed the coin to Y/N.

"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"

As usual, the moment she spoke in the language of Olympus, I somehow understood it.

She'd said: Stop, Chariot of Damnation!

That didn't exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was.

She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.

It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door—something like GYAR SSIRES—but my dyslexia made it hard for me to decipher what it said.

The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"

"Three to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at me to get in, like this was all completely normal.

"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take his kind!"

She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.

What was it? Pick-on-Big-and-Ugly-Kids Day?

"Extra pay," Y/N promised. "Three more drachma on arrival."

"Done!" the woman screamed.

Reluctantly I got in the cab. Tyson and Y/N squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last. D/N was somehow smaller than he was when he arrived and had settled on Tyson's lap.

The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy—no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.

The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!

I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I wasn't that desperate... yet.

The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.

Wait a minute. Give her the eye?

I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.

"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left my stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.

"Excuse me," I said. "But ... can you see?"

"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.

"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.

"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.

I looked at the two. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."

"One eye?"

"Yeah."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total."

Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."

"Oh, man," I said, because I'd seen Tyson get carsick on school field trips and it was not something you wanted to be within fifty feet of. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"

The three gray ladies were too busy squabbling to pay me any attention. I looked over at Y/N who was rubbing Tyson's back saying some... comforting words? I guess something that could make him better. Then to Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and I gave her a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look.

"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."

"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"

"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."

"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"

"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"

"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.

"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"

"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"

"But I'm driving, you old hag!"

"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"

Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing me between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.

The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.

Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"

Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.

"Uh, if anybody's interested," I said, "we're going to die!"

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."

This coming from the daughter of Athena, but I wasn't exactly reassured. We were skimming along the edge of a bridge a hundred and thirty feet above the East River.

"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"

"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"

"The location you seek!" Tempest added.

Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"

"What?" Y/N said.

"What location? I'm not seeking any—"

"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"

"Tell me."

"No!" they all screamed.

"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.

"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.

"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"

"No!" yelled Anger.

"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"

She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into my lap.

I jumped so hard, my head hit the ceiling and the eyeball rolled away.

"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.

"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.

"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.

"I don't have it!" I said.

"There, by your foot," Y/N said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"

"I'm not picking that up!"

The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.

"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.

"Annabeth," Y/N yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"

"Are you crazy? Percy get the eye!"

Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.

At last I steeled my nerves. I ripped off a chunk of my tie-dyed T-shirt, which was already falling apart from all the burn marks, and used it to pick the eyeball off the floor.

"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew I had her missing peeper. "Give it back!"

"Not until you explain," I told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"

"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"

I looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.

"Percy," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."

"First they have to tell us," Y/N said. And signaled to me.

"Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic." I continued.

"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"

"I'm rolling down the window."

"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!"

They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.

"What do you mean?" I said. "That makes no sense!"

"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree, which contained the life force or a fallen hero.

"Percy!" Annabeth said more urgently. "Give them the eye now!"

I decided not to argue. I threw the eye into Wasp's lap.

The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"

She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."

"All right," I told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."

"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out now."

I was about to ask why, when I looked up at Half-Blood Hill and understood.

At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.

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[marvelouslytrekking]

Hidden Injury

Pairing: Leonard McCoy/Reader Summary: An away mission goes south (as they do) and you’re left running for your life and even once you’re mostly safe, you try to keep your injuries from you boyfriend. Word Count: 1280 Warnings: maybe a swear word, brief mention of injury, passing out A/N: Wow it has been forever since I have written for Bones or Star Trek. This was kinda request from an anon for some hurt/comfort not sure if this really fits that but I wrote it in like 2 hours and it’s been awhile since I have had the ability to do that so I am proud of it and hope you enjoy it!

Just once, just one time, you wanted a mission to go according to plan. You were so sick of hearing the words “This one will be simple, just a diplomatic stop,” only to find yourself running through a jungle while being chased by the other species on the planet that hate the ones you were there to meet with.

And just once, just one time it would be nice if when things went south that the transporter would work so you weren’t stuck running for longer than your legs and lungs liked. What was the point of advanced technology if it never actually worked to get you out of these types of situations.

And worse yet, you never seemed to manage to be able to stick together, easily being split up so you were not only running for your life but you had no idea if your crewmates were okay or not. You vowed to yourself that next time Kirk thought he needed an engineer on the planet you are going to refuse to be the one. Let Scotty risk his ass, not you. You would much rather be running around onboard the ship trying to get transporters online.

You’d think that having been in a similar situation multiple times, you would have learned a few things, but evidently you had not. You turned around, trying to see if you had made any headway on getting away from the aliens but unfortunately, you hadn’t, and you managed to miss the giant log in front of you. You crashed down to the ground hard. You could tell immediately that you had definitely not only gave yourself a small concussion but something in your foot did not feel right. But at that moment you didn’t have time to dwell on either so instead you quickly pulled yourself up and continued to run. You continued to move in a zigzag, trying to dodge their spears and whatever else was being launched against you, as well as trying to lose them. Finally you made enough crazy turns that it seems they were no longer behind you.

You felt relief when you noticed a small cave and you limped your way into the opening, hoping it would hide you for long enough. Once you stopped and had a moment to catch your breath, you suddenly could feel the sharp and overwhelming pain in your foot. There was no way that it hadn’t been broken, and running for another few miles probably had done you the opposite of any good for it. You found yourself sliding down the wall of the cave. Trying not to dwell on the pain in both your foot and your head.

Your pain had distracted you so much you missed the footsteps that had been approaching you.

“Oh thank god, you’re okay.” You startled when you heard a familiar voice.

“Jesus Len, don’t sneak up on a person like that,” You scold him.

“Sorry,” He apologizes before joining you on the cave floor. “You okay? You’re not hurt are you.”

“I’m fine, Just sick of running from angry aliens all the time.” You tell him. You know you should mention the foot at the very least. There was no way if you needed to run you were going to be able to and he literally was a doctor but you just didn’t want to deal with it at the moment. You didn’t want to be the engineer that got injured on the mission and slowed everyone down.

“I agree with you there,” Bones grumbled, but you notice him running his eyes over you to make sure you truly are okay. “You sure you’re okay though?”

“Yes.” You tell him, you hope he doesn’t notice that you’re gritting your teeth.

He gives you a slight skeptical look but doesn’t push it any further. You figure he must have lost his tricorder if he hasn’t pushed it in your face already. You aren’t sure if you’re relieved or not about that fact.

You two sit in silence for a while, you find yourself wanting to close your eyes and go to sleep but you force yourself to stay awake. One thing you know is that falling asleep with a concussion isn’t a great idea. But you don’t stop yourself from resting your head on Len’s shoulder. He doesn’t seem to mind, happy to have you close.

It isn’t an issue much longer when you suddenly hear both of your comms go off.

“Transporter’s back online! We have a lock on your location and will be beaming you up shortly!” You hear Scotty’s voice.

“Took you long enough,” You tease him, not showing how relieved you truly are to hear his voice.

“Well my best engineer wasn’t here to help me out.”

Bones starts to stand up as you’re talking with Scotty and suddenly you realize you’re going to have to get up as well.

Before you can say anything, Bones has his hand stretched out for you to take. You try to position yourself in a way that you won’t have to put pressure on your leg. And it almost works, but the sudden movement of standing, or getting mostly pulled up, has your head spinning, and to get your balance, you instinctively put pressure on your foot.

You felt yourself scream out in pain as arms wrapped around you and darkness started to cloud your vision as the pain became too much.

` You wake up with just a dull pain over your entire body. Probably from the amount of running you did. But you immediately recognize that you are in one of the private rooms in the medbay. You weren’t sure your injury had warranted a private room but when you noticed Leonard sitting beside you, you realize it is probably less to do with the injury and more to do with the fact you were about to get yelled at.

“Don’t even think about pretending you’re still asleep.” He grumbled when he noticed you trying to close your eyes again.

“What if instead I just try to fall back asleep.” You countered.

“Not until after we’ve talked.”

“What are we talking about?” You asked as if you didn’t know. “How pretty the trees on that planet were?”

“No. We’re talking about the fact that you promised to stop hiding your injuries from me.” You could hear the frustration in his voice.

“I thought that was in reference to like, cuts and burns from engineering.” You tried.

“If I am worried about little cuts and burns, don’t you think I’d like to know when you completely shatter your foot and give yourself a mild concussion?” Leonard huffed. You can tell he is annoyed, but you also can hear the worry in his voice, especially when it dropped lower and he added, “You scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” You mumbled, refusing to look up at him.

“I know, just please don’t hide things like this from me again.” Leonard pleaded softly, resting his hand on your cheek, pulling your face to look at him. You notice how tired he looks. You felt terrible. He had to run for his life as well and when you could have been safe and relaxing, you scared him by passing out in his arms.

“I promise.” You told him. While you knew it wasn’t going to be easy, you much preferred not to be a burden, you also knew that you couldn’t keep doing these sort of things to him so you would make an effort. Especially because you hated seeing the disappointment on his face and much preferred the one of longing and love.