#much left so it should be easy. hopefully. and I’ll ask for help and go from there????

[x-doom-and-gloom-x]

I got thru the entire first season and got exactly one and a quarter totes packed. But at least nanami and tomoe finally kissed?? Like ACTUALLY kissed and not like just for the contract??

[team-free-avengers]

Is it Worth it?

Summary:Working for congressman Barnes is not easy, especially having to keep your feelings for him a secret. Things get even harder when those feelings get revealed by accident.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Mentions alcohol, Kissing,

Word Count:2,579

AN: Any names apart from canon Marvel characters are completely made up and are not actual characters in MCU. I'm sorry it came out a day late. I just couldn’t figure out where to end it.

//

You’re working furiously on your computer trying to rearrange your bosses schedule making space for the two meetings you had to reschedule when you sense a presence at your desk. Standing above you was the man who caused all this himself, James Buchanan Barnes, your boss. He was holding a cup of coffee in each hand and wearing a sheepish smile on his face.

“One of those better be for me after the morning you’ve caused,” you half joke nodding your head towards the cups causing him to hold one out in your direction.

“I even got you an apology scone this time,” he says cheekily, producing a package from his blazer pocket.

“I suppose that makes things a little better,” you joke accepting his gift while simultaneously passing him a few large manilla envelopes, “These came for you this morning, the one on top is everything you need for your meeting in thirty minutes but luckily for both of us it’s downstairs in one of the conference rooms giving you more than enough time to look through what you must. When you get back you hopefully should have about another thirty before you are expected to be at a lunch meeting wit-”

“I thought I was free for lunch today, that’s what the schedule you made says,” he says in a childish annoyed tone cutting you off mid sentence, “I wanted to go to the deli down the street.”

“Well since you missed two meetings this morning I had to move some things around. I was able to reschedule Congressman Hotch to the time you were supposed to meet with Mrs. Andleline since she had to cancel due to a personal matter. Unless you wanted to spend dinner time talking with the veteran support committee, lunch is the only time I can fit into your schedule,” you explain, shooting him a sympathetic look before the phone starts ringing and you have to return to work.

The rest of the day goes by in a flurry helping you keep your mind off the adonis supersoldier that is your boss. This job isn’t easy by any means but the hardest part is keeping your feelings a secret in order to stay professional. Some days you can’t help but think he likes you too, like today when he bought you the scone you usually buy yourself if he asks for coffee. After a while of letting the fantasy play out in your head, the what ifs of it all, you are pulled back to reality. Mr. Barnes walks out of his office in a different outfit, he’s always bring extra clothes so you aren’t surprised by the sudden wardrobe change. You know it means though and the knot forms in your stomach, he’s going on a date.

Quickly you look away busying yourself with what little work you have left hoping he’ll make the goodbyes quick. It might be childish but it’s hard to look at him sometimes knowing he is going to spend his time with another woman.

“I’m going to head out now, don’t stay here too much longer, head home and take some time for yourself, “ He says casually.

“Have a good night Mr. Barnes,” you say, glancing up quickly before returning to your work.

“You too Y/N,” he calls over his shoulder on his way to the elevator.

You try your best to focus on the last task you have left for the day as he leaves but you can’t. Your mind keeps wandering back to him.

‘It’s hard to long for someone everyday but know that you can’t have them. He hasn’t gone out on a date in a while but everytime he does it’s like a punch in the gut. Maybe at another point in life when I’m not just his assistant I’ll have a chance with him,’ you think to yourself.

After what feels like forever you’ve finally finished everything you needed and are on your way home yourself. Checking the time as you step out into the evening air you notice you missed the bus and let out a sigh.

“The next one isn’t for an hour and a half so I might as well walk. At least it’s a nice night,” you think aloud as you begin walking down the street.

On the way you decide to stop for some takeout and grab a bottle of wine, yes it's only Thursday but you feel you deserve a treat with how hectic your week has been. It doesn’t take you long to walk home but when you do you’re exhausted. Not only physically but emotionally from having to deal with this battle inside yourself over your boss. As you eat your dinner you decide that you are going to write everything down to see if it helps with the weight you feel inside.

You pour another glass of wine and find a blank piece of stationary amongst the mess of paper you were preparing for him tomorrow.

‘I’ve never actually written what a feel before but here goes nothing,’ you think as you begin to write as if you’re writing a letter to him

Mr Barnes,

I don’t know how much longer I can work for you and keep these feelings a secret. It’s been two years and I want you more than anything. I want a chance to get to know the charismatic person that I can sense you are and have conversations beyond our jobs. You make my heart skip beat everytime you smile, even when it’s that cocky sarcastic smile that you love to do. Every so often you will do something that makes me think and dream I have a chance with you, then you come out of your office dressed for a date and the hopes that I have a chance are gone all over again. I know that while we work together I can never tell you any of this and it kills me so I figured I’d write it out instead and hope it helps.

You don’t remember falling asleep but you must have because you wake up on the couch disoriented and confused by the sound of your alarm going off in the other room. Apparently yesterday exhausted you so much you knocked out on your couch without even taking your work clothes off. Quickly you rush to shut the alarm off and jump in the shower knowing that you might be late since you didn’t do any of your usual prep work last night. After your shower you throw every paper that’s onto the desk into the envelope for Mr. Barnes to look through today in order to prepare for any meeting he has and shove that into your work bag as you rush out the door. Lunch is something you’ll have to worry about later, you don’t have time to make one you’ll be lucky if you make it to the office on time already.

By the time you reach your desk there are two minutes to spare and you still have to check the answering machine, as well as make sure any emails sent throughout the night are answered in case there's something important. You’re busy writing down what messages are necessary and rearranging the schedule you had set for the day. There aren’t many meeting Mr. Barnes had today, just two, a majority of his day’s going to be spent reading proposals and signing off on things that required his approval.

‘It’s actually going to be an easy Friday,’ you think to yourself in shock when you see Mr. Barnes strolled in only ten minutes later than when he was supposed to.

He looks just as tired as you do if not more meaning he had a late night, maybe his date went well. Or maybe he was reading over some of the files all night, the ones he had brought home with him for further review. Either way you didn’t want to think about it too hard because you will start spiraling before you’ve even had a cup of coffee.

“Good morning Mr. Barnes, how are you this morning?” you greet him with as cheerful of a smile as you can muster.

“Good morning Y/N, you don’t think you could go on a coffee run could you?” He replies, his voice is still raspy with sleep and it sends a shiver down your spine.

“I was just waiting for you to arrive then I most definitely planned on it. I need a cup myself,” you reply, shooting up from your chair and rushing to the elevator calling over your shoulder on the way, “That whole stack on my desk is for you.”

He grabs the pile and heads to his desk with no intention of even looking at them until you return. That’s until a sheet written completely in your handwriting catches his eye, it looks like a letter.

‘I wonder what this is,’ he thinks to himself, pulling it out further to inspect it.

Mr Barnes,

I don’t know how much longer I can work for you and keep these feelings a secret. It’s been two years and I

Before he can read any further you appear in the doorway holding the cup of coffee he requested. He slipped another folder over the letter unwilling to reveal that he has already begun reading the letter you have left for him.

“My savior!” He cheers jokingly as he reaches for the cup smiling at you.

“I figured you probably didn’t have a chance to eat anything either so I grabbed you one of those muffins that you like as well,” you as sweetly placing the bag in front of him.

As you do you notice something odd peeking out from under the folder on his desk. No.

‘There’s no way he has what I wrote last night. It’s not possible,’ you think to yourself, panic setting in instantly.

“Y/N? Is everything okay?” Mr. Barnes questions pulling you from your thoughts.

`”Oh, uh yeah, I just remembered that I have some stuff I have to finish up,” you stammer out heading back to your desk as quickly as possible.

Once you’re there you retrace your steps from this morning trying to figure out how he could have ended up with that letter. You must have mixed it up with the rest of the paperwork on the desk since it was on the same embossed stationery the rest of it was on. Yes you wrote it to him but you had no intention of anyone ever seeing it, in fact you planned on throwing it out. Now you don’t know what could happen once he reads it, you could get fired for an hr violation or something along those lines. He could just simply feel you are too unprofessional to work with anymore. Or the one you feel is least likely, he could reciprocate those feelings.

Instead of pondering any longer you decide you might as well just finish your work and whatever happens will happen, there’s no stopping it now. The day goes on with little communication between the two of you apart from a request from him here or there, or you transferring a call to him. You’re beginning to believe that he's not even going to acknowledge the letter when the end of the day has rolled around and nothing has been said or done about it. That is until he stops in front of your desk watching you pack your bag silently for a moment.

“Do you think I could walk you to your car so we can talk about this?” Mr. Barnes asks quietly so he doesn’t draw the attention of the few people still left in his office.

“I take the bus,” you reply glancing up at him, “but you can walk me outside if you’d like.”

“How about I give you a ride home instead then,” he proposes.

It takes you a moment to respond since you’re unsure if you want to be trapped in a car with him for this conversation but ultimately you give him a slight nod, “Ok,”

Once you’re in the elevator you begin to speak before he can, “I just want to start off by apologizing for you receiving that letter Mr. Barnes. It was never my intention for it to leave my house unless it was in the trash.”

“Call me Bucky, I tell you that all the time and also you don’t have to apologize Y/N, I'm not upset with you. I ju-” before he can continue a few more people join us in the descent to the garage pausing the conversation until we’re in the car.

As soon as the engine is started he begins to speak again, “I don’t want you to quit, last start there. No matter where this conversation goes I need you to keep working for me. You are the only one who has been able to make this whole job be bearable so I can’t have you quit. I’ll even give you a raise if you want it.”

“Mr. Bar-” you begin to say but he shoots you a look that makes you correct yourself, “Bucky, I thought you were going to fire me I have no intention of quitting at this moment. I just wrote that in a bit of a haze when I saw you leaving for your date last night,” you explain in one rushed breath.

“That wasn’t a date,” He says with a chuckle glancing over at you, “I was going out with Sam for some drinks to catch up. It’s nice to know from the beginning that you have a bit of a jealous side to ya though.”

“I just- I wasn’t jealous I was just-” you stammer trying to find an excuse.

“It's an okay doll I think it’s cute,” Bucky says casually causing your heart to skip a beat, “In fact what I was trying to tell you in the elevator was that I feel the same way believe it or not. I never feel like I could tell you or act on these feelings since I am your boss after all and that is an abuse of power but since the moment I was introduced to you as my new assistant I’ve wanted you to be my girl. If we were to give this relationship a shot we would have to keep things on the downlow in the office until things are established. If that's something you can’t deal with then I completely understand but I couldn’t go another second without telling you. It’s been eating me alive all day. I just wanted to call you into my office and tell you that I feel the same way.”

By the time he is done talking the two of you are parked in front of your apartment, before you notice what you are doing your seatbelt is off and you’re leaning over to kiss him. Bucky reacts almost instantly pulling you over into his lap deepening the kiss.

After what feels like forever he pulls aways smiling up at you, “I take it that’s a yes to this? To us?”

You smile climbing off of him, “Of course. But I feel like this conversation is best finished upstairs before someone gets a compromising picture of us,” you respond, stepping out the car leading him upstairs to the privacy of your apartment.

[shimii26]

Not Always Peaches And Cream

61 days after the crash…

“F-Four months of food left?” Anya repeated back to Jimmy who had relayed out the reality of the situation to each of the crew members.

“Yeah, Daisuke double counted what we’ve got left minus what’s probably left in the vending machines.” Jimmy confirmed. “If we have the discipline, it should last us the same amount of time as our remaining air supply.”

“I suppose that means no more mocktails by Daisuke on the weekends…” Anya mumbled under her breath.

The Pony Express crew had been under emergency protocol and off course from their original travel path for the past two months, with a distress signal seemingly being sent out to hopefully nearby rescue stations everyday, the team had gone through what could be extracted initially from the foam without tools and evaluated what wasn’t damaged from the blast. While their ship wasn’t prepared enough for emergencies as is, a good half of the supplies they did have were either destroyed or hidden under the foam, and most likely wouldn’t be accessible as it would be too risky to remove too much of the foam for the chance there could be another foam trigger. It was clear for all of them that while they were waiting for rescue, they would have to make do with using any supply sparingly and with thought, or risk starving to death before help arrived.

Curly was already causing quite a bit of conflict in how medical supplies were used, he required round the clock care of new dressings, painkillers, and a lingering sense of doom for the crew, considering everyone besides Jimmy was under the impression that this whole situation was his fault. Nevertheless, the team agreed to keep him alive and do what they could to reduce some of his suffering, but it wasn’t an easy task given the fact that Curly was basically completely helpless. With no appendages on his limbs and barely any skin left, he was at the mercy of the crew’s help, and couldn’t even communicate to them anything he needed. So due to the unusual language barrier, it was mostly guesswork by Anya and Jimmy who would take turns giving him his painkillers, food rations, water, and maintenance everyday. Anya handled most of the task as she was the crew’s onboard nurse, but lately administering Curly’s painkillers had been difficult for her, the noises he made when she had to insert the pill down his throat was gut-wrenching to put it lightly, each round made her stomach turn worse and worse, which meant Jimmy sometimes had to take her place and take care of it. It wasn’t an easy ask from him after he inserted himself as the new captain, along with Anya having to walk on eggshells around him after he had assaulted her before the crash. She was taken out of her looming deep thoughts about where the crew’s plans would go from here when Jimmy asked her a question she dreaded hearing.

“By the way, have you given Curly his medication today?” Jimmy sternly asked her, knowing he would most likely be the one to do so again.

“...I, w-well u-um…” Anya stuttered, not wanting to upset him with a ‘no’ answer.

He wasn’t in the mood to negotiate with, it was clear he was on edge about a conversation he must’ve had with Swansea about checking the cargo they were hauling all this time. She knew damn well that if she didn���t muster up the courage to bear through the nausea and give Curly his painkillers today, Jimmy would surely take his irritation out on him and further worsen his injuries. He let out a frustrated sigh and took a step forward.

“...I’ll take care of-” Jimmy started, but was cut off by Anya.

“N-No, I-I got it this time…” she interjected, trying to improvise her answer. “...Afterall, ‘People have to be worth their titles’, right?...”

. . .

Jimmy paused before answering. She flinched as he stepped back from her.

. . .

“...Fine, just get on with it. I’d like to sleep tonight without his interruption.” he huffed and turned away, heading for the door back to the lounge. “Keep an eye on Curly while I’m searching for the code scanner.”

“...Y-Yes, Captain…” Anya managed to squeak out, swallowing hard.

Once Jimmy had left the room to look for the code scanner, Anya released the tension in her shoulders and sighed in relief, any chance to take a break from dealing with him was welcome in her book. She had always been wary about her actions around Jimmy ever since he had assaulted her months ago, of course none of it was her fault, but she felt it necessary not to get on his bad side anymore. She leaned against the gurney, turning her head to face Curly, who was now staring at her with concern, he wasn’t shy about the conversation that just happened, he knew what was about to happen now was going to hurt.

“I’m… sorry you had to see me like that, Captain… Let’s get you feeling a bit better, okay?” she whispered to him.

Curly responded with a soft grunt.

After a couple moments of awkward silence and staring, Anya got up and stepped over to the counter where the remaining painkillers lied and she grabbed a bottle, taking out one of the pills inside. Taking a prepared breath, she sanitized one of her hands with the remaining hand sanitizer on her desk and got closer to Curly, trying not to make too much eye contact. She slowly tilted his head back and opened his mouth, readying her hand with the painkiller in it. Squinting her eyes a bit, she quickly inserted her hand into his mouth and hesitated from the slimy yet burnt texture of his tongue. The nausea wasted no time filling the pit of her stomach with its presence, but she knew she had to persevere, so she extended her hand further. Curly’s eyes watered and he began to choke, but attempted to hold it together, knowing that the pain would be over before he knew it. Finally, Anya stuck the pill far enough for Curly to be able to take care of it from there and swallow the painkiller down. Once she knew the pill was gone from her hand, she retracted it without as much care as before due to her panic and foggy mindset from the nausea. Curly flinched and coughed quite hard from the hand removal, gasping a bit for breath. Her hand had quite a bit of blood on it from irritating the more sensitive parts of his throat, a bit of guilt washing over her, she didn’t want to hurt Curly, but she had no other choice of pill administration since he couldn’t swallow properly. She took a couple breaths of relief as she closed his mouth and tilted his head back into its original position.

“...Sorry Curly, but… At least you won’t have to deal with Jimmy tonight now…” Anya reassured him as she wiped his tears away with his hospital gown.

Curly groaned in agreement and settled down a bit.

Anya stepped over to the sink and washed Curly’s blood off her hand, the sickly texture of his mouth still lingering in her mind as the nausea took its usual course. She decided to take a moment to try and settle the feeling and talk to Curly, so she slid her nearby office chair over to his face and bent over slightly to be closer to his eye level.

“...Y’know, despite the fact that I’ve yet to earn my nursing degree from my university, I’m surprised how well my lessons of emergency treatment were retained…” Anya began to trail off in conversation. “I mean, it’s very difficult now to keep the standards all the way given the fact that we’re out of most of the supplies we need to keep you the most comfortable, but we’ve managed to get by so far, right?”

Curly didn’t respond back, his stare giving her no reassurance about her explanation. She took the hint that despite the care she was giving him, he was still in a lot of pain and she sighed.

“...Okay, maybe ‘most comfortable’ isn’t the best description for your situation. But, at least we can keep your pain under control for a little while with the painkillers… But then… I’m unsure where to go from there with your care, pain isn’t easy to ignore without some kind of medical help once they run out…”

Anya placed her hand on Curly’s head, giving it a little pet.

“...But in any case, I won’t abandon you… not with Jimmy around…” she whispered to him, letting her eyes slowly close if just for a moment.

He responded with a little huff, putting all his trust in her better judgement.

Suddenly, Curly’s head jolted up from feeling a sharp pain in his abdomen, his limbs curling up in response too. A harsh, raspy barrage of grunts erupted from his throat as he tried to fight through the pain, the painkiller hadn’t kicked in yet, so he could feel the entirety of what was happening to him.

“C-Curly? Wh-What’s wrong!?...” Anya nervously asked him, getting up from her chair. “Where does it hurt?”

Grrooowwrrlwll…

Curly’s stomach let out an uncomfortably pained and empty noise, the painkiller hadn’t been taken with food, so it’s coating was causing some inside irritation within him.

“...Oh, that’s right…” Anya realized, looking at Curly’s strained expression. “When was the last time you were given something to eat?”

She knew Jimmy was the last person to feed Curly his rations, and he typically never wrote down the times he did so, but it was clear it had been quite some time given Curly’s current predicament. She had to feed him something as quick as possible with the minimum amount of viscosity since he had trouble swallowing and didn’t want to risk choking him. Plus, she couldn’t waste time feeding him slowly as his stomach needed help digesting the painkiller right away, and the more food in immediately, the better the outcome. Anya remembered one of the groups of cans of various foods they had stockpiled after the crash included cans of peaches with their juice, something that Curly should be able to swallow without much struggle. Despite the fact that the whole crew had to make four months worth of rations last six months, he was included in the crew’s calculations, so it wouldn’t be a total loss if a whole can was cracked open for him to eat. Anya gently rubbed his head and tried to softly shush him into a calmer state, eventually he managed to get ahold of himself long enough to listen to her.

“I’ll be right back with something for you Curly, try to breathe deep while I’m away, it should help subside the pain a bit.” Anya reassured him. “I won’t leave you like this, okay?” His exposed eye kept eye contact with her and he nodded, it was clear he was holding a bit of tears back from the pain.

Wasting no time to get back to Curly as quickly as she could, she ran out of the room and into the lounge, stepping into the kitchen area where the majority of their canned food rations lay. Following her finger to guide her eyes to quickly scan the labels of the cans, she managed to find one of the cans of peaches with the fruit juice on the counter. It was much larger in size compared to the other cans of the same product, but right now that didn’t matter to her, Curly needed her help right away, and she wasn’t going to disappoint him and Jimmy about her care for him. A clean enough spoon lay on the counter next to the cans, not the most ideal since it was on the smaller side, but it would do, so she took that with her back through the hallway. Daisuke sat nearby the kitchen and watched silently as Anya panic grabbed one of their ration cans and rushed it to the medical ward. He knew it probably wasn’t a good sign considering the whole crew was just made aware of their need to conserve rations, but he decided to trust her better judgement and didn’t get involved with what was going on. Ripping the top of the can open once she returned to the medical ward, she sat back down in her chair and prepared a scoop of peaches and juice on the spoon and scooted her chair next to Curly, her arms approaching his mouth.

“Relax Curly, this should help you settle back down, okay?” Anya softly whispered, trying to keep her nerves together. “Open up.” He turned his head to face her direction, taking notice of the spoonful of peaches next to his mouth. It wasn’t exactly a meal for someone struggling to heal from an almost complete third degree body burn, let alone balanced and nutritious, but it was clear there was thought put into his current swallowing obstacle. Peaches in a can were quite soft and moist, they could easily slide down his throat with minimal effort, and would be alkalizing enough to speed up the process of the digestion of the painkiller. Curly took a couple of rough breaths before uncurling his body and slowly opening his mouth to receive the food Anya was feeding him, the juice first coating every bit of surface in his throat. Most of his taste buds were destroyed from the blast, but enough remained that he could detect the syrupy goodness of the subpar peach juice, it was almost intoxicating to him. Once his throat was thoroughly lubricated with juice, the peach slice easily slid to the back of his throat without resistance, and he eagerly gulped it down, feeling almost instant relief from finally having something that didn’t taste like cardboard or charcoal. His tongue licked the remaining juice off his teeth, making sure not to miss a single drop. Anya seemed to relax in her seat, knowing Curly was now in a much calmer state of mind. She warmly smiled as she prepared another scoop from the can.

“Heh, you look like you enjoyed that. Haven’t seen you so excited for any of the Pony Express food.” Anya chuckled. “...But I guess any food would taste good if you’re hungry enough for it…Ready for another?”

Curly panted with anticipation, he couldn’t wait for another taste of temporary freedom.

. . .

Freedom from hunger, freedom from pain, freedom from his own personal hell…

. . .

If only just for a little while…

. . .

She spoon fed him another slice, this one almost tasting better than the first, sweeter and juicier, he happily took down the helping, and another, and another. The empty void in his belly fading as it was now filled with the sweet nectar of the Pony Express can ration Anya provided for him, the irritating pain subsiding as the painkiller soon took effect, rushing to his brain and giving him an instant euphoric high. The joy-filled experience for him intensified, he needed more mouthfuls of peaches and their juice, so her administration of each spoonful got a bit faster overtime. Spoonful by spoonful, the can of peaches slowly emptied to about half filled before Curly’s consciousness dwindled and it became harder for him to swallow effectively without coughing a bit. Anya soon realized that his painkillers had taken full effect, so he would most likely be in no condition to continue eating safely, so she decided to call off serving him another peach slice. The can she chose was quite large, so given that Curly managed to consume about half of its contents, he had probably eaten about a pound of peaches and drank a good half liter of the juice, probably a bit much of a portion for someone who hadn’t been able to eat much since the accident, but at least he hadn’t thrown it up like the last couple of feedings he had in the past.

For now, Curly was taken care of, medically distracted from the agonizing pain, and given a hefty meal of sweet bliss. Anya couldn’t hold back a chuckle as a bead of drool rolled down Curly’s mouth and a little snore escaped through his teeth. She could almost hear his stomach softly gurgle with contentment as it got to work extracting whatever nutrients it could from the meal to use towards further healing. If he wasn’t now just an almost inhuman looking pile of unsettling muscle, bone, and memories, the sight of him in this content state would’ve probably been kinda cute. She gave his belly a soft pat after she wiped away the drool off his face, it was one of the only parts of him that wasn’t completely burnt clean off, so she didn’t worry about injuring him with the pat.

‘...You’re not the greatest captain, you’ve let all of us down by not standing up for what’s right, but…’ she shuddered. ‘...Compared to Jimmy… You’ll always be the captain in my eyes… Captain Curly…’ she thought to herself.

Anya looked down into the can of peaches, the smell of them was actually a bit pleasing, enough to pique her appetite as well. She was pulled from her daydreaming and realized that she hadn’t eaten much today herself, and with the fridge in the kitchen no longer operationable from the foam’s impact, it wouldn’t be worth trying to preserve what was left in the can and eat something different. She shrugged and figured it was better to just finish them off for her ‘meal’ and call it a day, unless Jimmy managed to find the code scanner tonight. She stood up and took the spoon over to the sink and gave it a quick rinse before using it to scoop out a slice for herself. It still felt a bit odd eating food straight from a can, but nevertheless, it was technically edible in this manner, so she gave one a taste. To her surprise, the peaches were almost reminiscent of the fruit cups one might pack into the lunch bag of a child, nostalgic in their flavor, and decently seasoned in their own juices. No wonder Curly was so excited to eat them, it was one of the best tasting food can rations the Pony Express probably offered, and the two of them got to share the experience together, albeit not as together right now since he was a bit incapacitated with his painkiller high.

She sat on the edge of the gurney and watched over him as she took her time polishing off the other half of the peaches and juice, making sure not to let any little bits on the side go to waste. If they were going to be sparingly eating their rations to stretch their supply out for an extra two months, every bit from the can might as well be eaten to ensure they were all getting enough to eat when they did. Once all of the peach slices were gone, Anya sipped on the remaining juice and got up, giving Curly a once over check before deciding to step out for a break to maybe speak with Daisuke for a bit. However, once she entered the lounge area, she noticed that he was no longer in his original seat. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, which caused her to jolt a bit, quickly turning around to see who it was. Luckily it was just Daisuke and not Jimmy, but she was now quite irritated with him for scaring her like that.

“Anya?-” Daisuke started, but was cut off from Anya’s yelp.

“-Don’t scare me like that!” she scolded him, keeping the can of peach juice close to her body. “...What’s wrong?”

It was clear that Daisuke was on edge about something, having one hand holding his other elbow as he spoke.

“...Jimmy found the code scanner, and managed to find the combination to our cargo hold… He wants all of us to be there when he opens it.” Daisuke explained.

The cargo hold. The Pony Express didn’t allow the crew to utilize anything from the cargo they were hauling without some kind of reprimand for breaking the rules. But what other choice did the crew have? If anything, it could be of use to them somehow. It’s not like after their possible rescue they were going to finish their transport mission, but then again, The Pony Express wasn’t very kind to those who had just gone through work trauma.

“...Oh, I see.” Anya nodded, keeping her eye contact minimal. “Whatever’s in there, I hope we’re doing the right thing by checking it… Let it be medicine, food, or water. Any of those will be a major help for our situation…”

“I’m keeping my hopes up that that’s the case, and if not… I can’t imagine what we could possibly be transporting for over a year like this.” Daisuke agreed, beginning to make his way down to the cargo hold.

“...I just hope it isn’t dangerous…” Anya mumbled under her breath, not wanting another reason to keep away from Jimmy. “...I’ll be right down.”

“Alright, but don’t take too long, he wants to open the cargo hold tonight.” he said as he turned back around to head down the steps.

She slowly shut her eyes and tried to clear her head, worried about the unknown outcome all of them were about to face by discovering what they had been hauling all this time. If it was survival supplies, then it could be a complete game changer, if it was something completely useless, then the panic would surely wash over them like an overpowering minty teeth cleaner after a serious dental procedure. All they could do was find out now. She opened her eyes back up and gulped down the rest of the peach juice before placing the empty can into the recycling bin nearby in the kitchen, and following not too far behind from Daisuke to meet with the rest of the crew.

It was time to find out what The Pony Express had them transporting all this time…

Mouthwashing characters belong to Wrong Organ ^w^

[witchoflegends]

Radioactive Wounds [2] - Old Wounds

Pairing: John Walker x Female Reader

Summary: 

When a new international threat pops up on the radar of the New Avengerz, they are forced to go undercover and need the help of an ex-Avenger. With one phone call from Bucky Barnes, you are reluctantly pulled back into the world of heroics. It is only one mission, but can your own reservations about the new team be pushed aside long enough to get them out alive? Or will it be too much for you when you're simply trying to move on from the past? Will you crack under the pressure or will something else?

Warnings: slow burn, one sided affections (you had a crush on Steve), rivals to lovers, explicit language

AO3 link if you want to read it there. Note: AO3 will always get updated first

Masterlist

AN: Please don't expect such quick back to back releases. I wanted to get this one out asap since I know the first one didn't have a whole lot of actual John interactions. Also, as I was writing this chapter, I was starting to see some Bucky/reader possibilities. So let me know if you'd like this to become a John/Bucky/reader fic. I'd be more than happy to write the tension between the three of them. Still not beta'd. Sorry

You had found a small laboratory space across the city for rent that wasn’t going to cause you to go bankrupt, and was relatively easy to convert for your needs. The month paid for in cash, of course. You had even set up a separate space to house highly radioactive material just in case the Avengerz somehow got their hands on something dangerous. It felt like a safe assumption to make that they might go the hard route. Anything was possible with that band of misfits. Luckily, it seems like you didn’t have to actually worry about that as when you gave Bucky the address, he dropped off some uranium.

“What did you do? Go digging for this?” You ask as you turn the yellowish rock in your hand. Common uranium wasn’t dangerous to touch, but you still wore gloves just to be safe.

“Honestly, I didn’t ask. I sent Ava looking at she came back with this. Anything stronger probably would have put attention on us.”

The geiger counter in your other hand beeps softly as you pass it over the isotope. “Well, I didn’t need anything highly radioactive. So this will work great.” There’s a pause before you softly add, ”hopefully.”

“Hey.” Bucky is beside you in a second. “It’ll be fine. I believe in you.”

“Too bad belief has nothing to do with scientific facts. I just don’t want to disappoint you.”

“You never could,” he assures.

Being on the run had been hard, but sometimes you wonder if returning back to regular society was harder. At least when you were on the run, you had your friends. Out of your group, there was only you, Bucky, and Sam left. You thought being a scientist again would be easier compared to being a government fugitive. Instead, you just felt empty and alone.

You give Bucky a tightlipped smile. Not quite sure if you believe him or not. “Thanks,” you say weakly. “It’s late. I should probably head home. I’ll start working on this tomorrow after work.“ Placing the uranium safely inside the box it was brought in, you then reached into your pocket and pulled out a key along with the document from your lawyer you need them to sign. Offering both to Bucky. “Spare key. Just in case. And written confirmation that I am not a part of the New Avengerz. Everyone needs to sign.”

“You know you don’t have to do this alone, right?” Still, he takes the key and stuffs it into one of his jacket pockets.

“If the other option is the tower, I’d rather do it on my own. The hero life never really was for me. Things just got out of hand so quickly.”

Bucky nodded and turned to head out. “Keep me updated. I’d hate to wake up to a story about how a conservationist somehow succumbed to radiation.”

Your eyes roll at his teasing, and it actually manages a small smile from you. “Oh, shut up. Go home.”

~

It’s been nine days, and you still haven’t been able to affect the stupid uranium. You were convinced there was no way you could do what they thought you could. So you took your time heading to your secondary lab after your normal shift. Stopping to get dinner and drinks with some coworkers. You even considered going straight home and not even bothering with any tests today, but you made a promise. So you reluctantly made your way to your secret lab. Unlocking the door and turning the lights on, you’re greeted by John in his U.S. Agent uniform sitting in one of your rolling chairs.

“It’s past eight. I thought you’d be here sooner.” John states as he spins a pen between his fingers.

You dropped your bag on the floor near the door with a thud. “What are you doing here, Walker?”

“I came to check up on things. Bucky hasn’t given us any updates.”

“There are no updates,” you hiss. Making your way around the desk to attempt to tidy up some notes. “The uranium has had no changes since last week.”

He tosses the pen onto the desk and stands. “So you’re giving up. Just like that.”

You bristle at his words. How dare he- Your hand slams down flat in frustration. “Just like that?! I have been trying to make this work for over a week! Nothing is happening! So yeah, maybe I am giving up.”

“What great help you are,” John scoffs.

“Better than you! What, you just come here to show off your fancy government uniform? Screw you.”

John’s lips turn upward into a scowl as he looks down at you. “I came to make sure you were okay. We hadn’t heard from you in days.”

“Maybe that’s because I’ve been working nonstop, nights and weekends, to figure this out for you dickheads pretending to be heros! Yet I come in and get chastised by the Steve Rogers wannabe.”

“I’m not Steve Rogers,” he growls out. Stepping closer to you.

Either you don’t notice him getting closer, or you just don’t care in your rage. You’re too busy trying to distract yourself with the mess that is your work station. “Exactly. That’s the problem. But here you are, acting all high and mighty as if you didn’t ask me for help. At least the Avengers would appreciate me trying.”

“Is that what this is? You want the old Avengers back?” John is right behind you. Almost pinning you against the desk. Breath hot against your back. “In case you forgot, the ones that aren’t dead are so scattered that they’re only Avengers in memory. The world couldn’t wait for who was left to pick up the pieces and decide they wanted to be a team. So after what happened with the President, they got us.”

Fuming, you whipped around and pushed as hard as you could on his chest. He barely stepped back and that infuriated you even more. “Those were my friends! The name should have died with them. Instead, it’s being used to prop up misfits with questionable pasts as heroes. You’re not the Avengers.”

“Funny how you seem to hold the least contempt for Bucky, but he’s the one that’s done the worst out of any of us.”

Before you even realize it, you’re lifting your hand to smack him. However, John catches your wrist easily. Keeping you from making impact. “Don’t talk about him like that,” you say. "That wasn’t him. He never made those choices for himself. You made the choices to do the things you did. You ruined Steve’s legacy.”

John’s eyes narrow and he tugs you close by your wrist. “You listen here, princess. Steve’s legacy is doing just fine with Sam. What I did, destroyed me. Put me on everyone’s hit list. You think I don’t regret that? That I let them use and discard me like I was nothing? I’m trying to make penance here.”

“That doesn’t mean I’ll forgive you.”

“Well, you don’t have to,” he says as he lets go of your wrist and takes a few steps back. “But we do have to work together until this is over.”

“It is over,” you argue. “If I was going to be able to affect radiation, I’d be seeing changes by now. There’s nothing more to be done.”

John shrugs and starts moving towards the door. “You’ve been using one thing this whole time. Why not use a banana or something?”

“What?”

“Yeah, a banana. Don’t they have a tiny bit of radiation in them?”

“Sure, but why would I use a banana when I can’t change an isotope?”

John shrugged once more. “I don’t know, you’re the scientist. I would have thought you’d try multiple things by now. Not just a dumb rock. Unless you’re hoping to fail.”

The last part was an obvious challenge, but he wasn’t exactly wrong. Maybe you didn’t want to get back into the hero life so badly that you were unintentionally stopping yourself from finding a solution. Perhaps you wanted to tell Bucky that it wasn’t possible. That you weren’t this impossible person that could make anything happen.

John looks back at you one more time as he makes it to the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll give Bucky back the key, and no one saw me. So our secret truce is still secret.” With that, you were left alone in your thoughts.

There’s no point in doing any more tests for the night. You’re tired, and all you wanted to do was go to bed after that less than pleasant interaction. By the time you got home and settled in bed, your mind was still racing from your fight with John. Was it so wrong to want normalcy after having everything you could have ever dreamed up ripped from you in a moment? You had learned the hard way that heroes die much sooner than they should. Getting close to new people and losing them like that again wasn’t something you could handle. So you fell asleep thinking about those you had lost. Steve and his unwavering morals. Natasha and her steadfast support. Wanda and her big heart. Tony and his jokes. You missed them all, but you missed Steve the most. He had been the constant in your life for so many years that it was hard to move on now that he was gone.

First thing in the morning, you headed to the store and got five bunches of bananas. If anything, you were going to make the fight last night useful. Sometimes even stupid ideas warranted merit when you had nothing else left. A normal geiger counter wouldn’t pick up the radiation from a single banana, and there was no way you were going to buy a truck’s worth just to see if this little theory could work. So you had to call in a favor from an old coworker to get the most accurate radiation detector installed in your little makeshift lab. 

“What’s this all for?” They asked.

“I’m trying to see if there is any way to quicken the decay of radiation,” you say truthfully. Having already prepared the little white lie that came next. “There’s so much land that we can’t use because of nuclear fallout. If we could find a way to speed up the decaying process, we could give that land back. Use it for forests, or farms.”

“Look at you. Always thinking outside the box,” they praised.

By that evening, everything was all set and ready to go. You pulled a singular banana from one of the bunches and placed it in the glass containment area. It was almost comical; seeing an everyday food item where you had designed highly radioactive material to be held. Turning on the sensors, you jotted down the initial readings. Then, taking a deep breath, you focused in on the banana. Urging it to change in the way you wanted it. Picturing the radiation as a mist that slowly shrunk until it was almost non-existent. Glancing over at the readings, you were convinced it would be another failure until you caught sight of something. The potassium readings had changed. You had done something.

You do a few more tests to make sure it wasn’t some error or weird fluke. Still in the middle of fluctuating the potassium level at your whim when you text Bucky. ‘I think I had a breakthrough.’

Within the hour, you had the whole Avengerz team standing in your small lab. Everyone but Bucky, Bob, and Alexei looking like they were ready for a fight. Alexei was in his overly sponsored clothes that hurt your eyes to look at, Bucky in his casual clothes, and Bob wore an oversized sweater and sweatpants. Why the latter was even there, you didn’t know. He didn’t seem to go on missions with the others. Then there was Antonia staring at you like she was studying you. It made you uncomfortable. 

“What the fuck?” You rubbed your forehead as you felt a headache starting to form. “What about me not being associated with you all isn’t clicking?”

“I tried,” Bucky pleaded, “but they were determined. Wanted to see what you were doing.”

“Bananas? Really?” Yelena questioned as she tapped on the glass on the containment area. As if trying to rouse a sleeping snake.

“John’s actually,” you said quietly. 

“Oh! Johnny boy had a smart idea for once,” Ava teased. “That’s a surprise.”

“I have lots of good ideas!” John argued.

Ava rolled her eyes. “Sure.”

“Stop!” You took a deep breath to center yourself. This was all too much. “I changed the potassium amount in the banana. In turn changing the amount of radiation. I have been trying to directly affect the radiation of the uranium for a week and nothing. It’s not the radiation that I can affect. It’s the

“Living,” Antonia speaks up, and you all turn to look at her. Confusion clear on everyone’s face until she continues. “You affect live things. A rock is not alive. A banana is.”

“I- suppose that’s another way to put it,” you say slowly. 

“How is that useful for what you guys need to do?” Bob asks.

The silence in the room is deafening as you shift through your thoughts. “I don’t know,” you admit.

“Great,” John lets out. “So instead of being at zero, we’re at zero point one.”

For once, you don’t bite back at him. You simply look around the room before focusing on the banana. He was right. You had made one small step, but it wasn’t anywhere near as close to anything useful as you would have liked. You were still failing.

[bridesoftheshamans]

‘Why can’t reading Japanese be as easy as speaking it? I’m never going to make heads or tails of any of this!!’

It was a miracle Ambrosia even found the music shop in the first place, with how confusing all the little characters were to try and read to someone who could only read in one language despite speaking three fluently. Another matter entirely, was telling from album covers alone who each artist was and what genre she was even looking at. Having no distinctive Japanese traits, she’d been mostly written off as a tourist alongside her masters, who were at their rented apartment sleeping after a bender, from the moment they’d landed in Tokyo ahead of the Shaman Fight’s start. They’d arrived weeks ahead of schedule, to get a lay of the land beforehand (granted, Ambrosia didn’t even want to participate in the first place, but had been forced to by her also participating masters). Of course, explaining that she was two fourths Japanese hadn’t helped either. That just seemed to annoy folks around here, for some reason not like Papa had lived long enough to explain that issue, much to her chagrin.

Now, trying to find a new CD to listen to, she chewed on her lip trying to figure out what to do. At least, until Banshee, one of her two spirit allies, caught her attention by speaking through her pink headphones.

“Orange headphones, over there! To your left!! Ask him, he won’t be mean!! Even if you tell the truth, he won’t be mean!!” the starling told her, prompting the augury witch to look up and left. Indeed, there he was. Brown hair spiked up in the back from (she imagined) how his orange headphones sat on his head, a pair of store headphones placed over his ears as he was listening to a sample. Open button down shirt, green pants with rolled up cuffs, chunky wooden sandals, and what looked like a necklace with claws as the centerpiece. Of course, she knew Banshee’s predictions were always right, so Ambrosia trusted the words of the ascended spirit, but she could have at least given a warning that he’d be so damn hot!! Even from the side, that much was clear.

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Ambrosia walked over to the boy. She just had to ask him if he didn’t mind translating some of the writing, that’s it… ‘Banshee is always right, Banshee is always right…!’

“E-Excuse me…!” Ambrosia spoke up, hopefully loud enough to be heard over the music he was listening to. She didn’t want to tap him, it felt even ruder than this already felt! Even though it would only let her buy one CD if she offered to buy him one for his help, or anything else, it felt only right since she was bothering him…asking the store clerks had gotten her nowhere at every other store she’d been to thus far (her other spirit ally had told her she should just start speaking Italian, but that felt like a waste of knowing her father’s tongue)! Her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest, if it kept hammering on like this…!

“I-I’m sorry to bother you, but…if you have a minute…I can’t read anything in the store, so I can’t tell what’s what…could you please help me with the translations…? I’ll make it worth your while, I promise!”

The girl who had come up to him, while her spoken Japanese was flawless…her appearance was nowhere near Japanese, unless you could count her pale skin which was flushed from shyness and shame. She had big, bright turquoise eyes, and long brown waves that cascaded just past her rump. She wore a black sweatshirt with a pink star on the breast, a little pink dress with flowers, and fishnet stockings paired with black boots. There was a black belt around her waist, with one holster at the hip that looked like it held some kind of weapon, and a garter around one thigh that held throwing knives. Like Yoh did with his own orange ones, she wore her bubblegum pink headphones off her ears, but atop her head. A little choker with a blue feather in the center was the final piece to the interesting puzzle that had presented itself.

@cpirits

[chibi-celesti]

Time for Your Tune Up (Part 6: Idia Shroud)

A/N: I apologize for not updating this story. I had trouble trying to pin down the next few since by this point everything was close to getting repetitive. 😅 

Plus, Idia is a character who, while I can relate in social awkwardness, I could not think of a perfect scenario for. I again apologize if his interaction with Yumei isn't the best.

Also, this is set a lil after Book 06.

~TFYTU~

“I-I can't do it. It's too much!”

“Idia-senpai. We haven't even started yet… ” Maybe going to the Ignihyde Dorm Leader wasn't a smart idea. He was one of the few people who seemed interested in Yumei’s background as a Reyvateil considering the knowledge of Ar Ciel having advanced tech would pique his curiosity. 

…but the Prefect didn't expect that the Wallflower Otaku would panic over something like giving a Life Extending Agent to a friend.

“That’s what makes it worse. Why would you throw me into an Expert Difficulty like this?! And with NO TUTORIAL!!!”

“I told you I was gonna show you when I got here, senpai.”

“THAT DOESN'T HELP!!!” He hid his face deeper into his hoodie(or as much space he could hide in.)

Yumei cringed at the volume of his voice. He did not expect for things to get this intense. ‘Maybe I should’ve asked someone else…’ He shook the thought away as soon as it appeared. ‘NO. Idia swore he would try to get to know more about me after everything that happened. And this was what he offered to help with.’ That last part still confuses the Reyvateil since he’s sure no one else knew this part all that well. ‘I’ll ask him later about that.’

“Look, you wanna help me or not, senpai? It’s fine if you don’t.”

The fiery haired boy peeked out from his hoodie to see Yumei looking at him with a patient smile. “It’s fine. I’ll show you, and hopefully whenever you have freetime in your internship you can try it for yourself.”

Idia avoided looking the Prefect in the eyes.“...You’re too kind to a shut-in like me.” He moved away from his fetal position and moved a little closer. “It’s your arm, right?”

“Yup. Just move the sleeve, or not, and place the crystal there.” He moved his left arm to the Ignihyde Housewarden for easy access. He then gave him an Agent from his bag.

“...” Mind concentrated and secretly sweating Idia placed the Life Extending Agent on the other boy’s arm. Watching as it slowly merges into him and noting the small finches during the process.

“...Does it hurt often?”

“No… not like my first time.”

“You really should word that better?”

“Word what?”

“N-Nothing,” he tried changing the subject. “Anyway, mission complete.” He chimed a jingle from one of the many games he played.

Later that evening:

Ortho came by to check on his brother once Yumei had left for the evening. “So~ How did it go, Nii-chan?”

“That was the most excruciating moment of my life. So worth the wait. I even got a Level Up out of it!”

“That’s great! I still find it astonishing Lifeforms like Yumei exist out there that utilize Artificially made Crystal for survival.”

“Indeed. Whoever thought of the concept is either the Mad Scientist type, or the Playing God type. And we know how well those turn out.” He hated recalling that incident again, shoving it back into the depths of his mind. “I’m gonna look into converting some magestones into those Agents for Yumei Archambeau.”

“Nii-chan?”

“He’s running low. Better to have enough to make it to forty, right?”

“Right!”

[catless-and-covenless]

N if you’re still reading this, which I doubt because you’re a good boy who would have realized this is my spam and vent post place and never wanted to invade my privacy, don’t read this one please. (Or any of them is my preference but again you’re a nice boy who would never encroach on a lady’s privacy right?) (Hopefully this is a useless first paragraph)

I need to spew my thoughts without thinking someone I know can see this.

Cr is safe at the dorms and sleeping. I hope his dreams are sweet and kind since life has been anything but. My sweet boy. I trust him, so I’ll trust that he has this under control. It’s out of my control and it will be okay. If I can trust Cr to be my heart reborn I can trust him to keep himself safe.

I left him to rest. I left him without saying it. I can’t. I want to. Cr deserves to hear it. Before he goes. Before he comes back. Or if he lets me-before I go. I want to be brave. I’m trying. I will. One day. I hope so anyways. I don’t want to not say it.

I wonder what he thinks of what we found in the well. I want to know what he wanted to tell me. I want to know what G thought.

That was my first time being..a voice piece. It was interesting. I know it is so dependent on what is channeled but it was so nice and sleepy. I do wonder what it looked like from the outside., I feel like I keep finding new things I’m good at the more I lean into being a witch or practicing brujeria. I do wonder how far I can take this. How powerful I actually am. Modern witches are powerful but this….is more like what we used to do. What we do in M. What we DID in M. Before everything happened in history. I do wonder….what I could do with the right materials and rituals.

I have too many thoughts. So I did what I always need to do when I get like this. I went and laid on the earth next to Abuela. I asked her questions and watched her dance around them like a butterfly does before it finally lands on the flower. But such is the nature of elders. She’s supposed to guide me to the answers, not give them to me. And she is my elder for a reason. She’s getting older. She gets lost in memories. I’m just thankful she’s still here to teach and guide me. Although I know when the time comes she’ll definitely be as active as Abuelo. Still teaching me.

And it helped. At least it definitely eased some worries in my mind. I mean at least…still. I need to get over myself. Proper witches used to dance naked in the woods at midnight and now I’m blushing over such small things even Jane Austen would call me a prude. I just…the properties of the gift are so interesting. And now I have the smallest of plans forming. Plans I think could work. Especially if I start dipping further into my own practice. Maybe it is time to make rumors come true.But that requires so much planning and talking and agreements that I’m too tired to think about it right now.

Using the gift seems like an interesting use of my talents. Friday should be interesting. I want to use a small bit just to see what it looks like. I hope it doesn’t affect anyone too much. Especially…I guess I don’t want to miss out but I don’t want any connection I make to only be that kind of connection. And in that scenario I would only ever use it on me.

I already had my heart broken. It hurt. I don’t want that to happen again. It will be worse than the what ifs if I do make a giant jump of trust like that…I don’t know what I want. Not within that realm anyways. Everything else is so easy to know what I want. Snacks, Movies, and just some privacy. It feels like I especially never get the last one now.

It’s all so confusing in my head. I should go talk to Papa. It’s so much easier there. I know I just have to be a smart and sweet daughter. And he loves me so much that that box is so easy to fall into. I just want him to hug me. He won’t like my sweats but since I’m just running errands I think I can convince him I’m not being a mess. And I can put my hair in a ponytail before going over so it’s not too messy. And maybe I can get some chamoy and mango to snack on while I watch Game of Thrones tonight while I’m there. I don’t know. I don’t know if he has time to see me. I’m not a kid anymore and it is his work place. Maybe I shouldn’t. Ugh I don’t know what to do but maybe I’m just trying to fill the time to not think.

Anything to not think about Cr going to that house and G from going into that place.That text message was so….surprising. And random. At least to me. It’s-what do they need that for? We already tried it. The funny thought of Ir loading a water gun with it and spraying everyone with it like a baptism to lessen R’s influence crossed my mind and made me giggle though. And it’s Ir. Whatever they want it for I’m sure it’s for a good reason. Ir and G will take care of each other.

I’m still going to be worried until I get the A-okay text messages from both of them.

Maybe I should call N. At least answer whatever questions he has over a phone call since he never text me back when he was free this weekend. And I’ll be busy tomorrow. Unless he wants to come over so we can walk through Friday's ritual together? Actually…that might be nice….to have some company :)

It also leaves out the possibility of….well. I’ll think about it. Phone call. Maybe. I feel like I want to just split myself into quarters so I can do everything all at once!

I need to go into the woods soon. Clearly I’ve been in town for far too long without being in nature. That’s probably why my head is all confused about everything. So jittery. I need to go and dance barefoot in the grass and just lay underneath a tree. Normally everything is so clear. Or maybe there's just more pieces? I’m clearly out of practice since middle school of dividing my attentions. But I'm ahead on classwork and homework. So I can afford a night of GoT and snacks and being a teenager before I go back to being respectable, responsible, and all knowing. And tomorrow after class I’ll schedule some time to go to the library to handle anything Friday’s class will give me. Oh I’m so excited about tomorrow’s class. I wonder what it will be about. I wonder who will be in it.

I hope it’s not M. She can go dive into a Pollock splatter.

She better not be in my class. It’s bad enough she’s in a class with all my boys.

Hm. Time to think about Mangoes and Chamoy and GoT.

[abbatoirablaze]

Shameless, Chapter 2, Frank The Plank

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings:  mentions of violence, mentions of smut/sex/cheating, slight angst.

“Thanks for the ride Tone…”

“You got it, Sof…” he smiled, “thanks for helping out at the station.  The chief loves having you there.  And so does everyone else…you’re really making this easy on administration while Janet’s out.”

“I’m sure that’s only because I buttered him and you guys all up with baked goods!”

“You are a hell of a baker,” he chuckled, shaking his head, “but that’s not it.  Everyone loves you there!’

“You’re too sweet to me, Tony!”

“You’re my best friend, Sofia.”

You pressed a sweet, but lingering kiss to his cheek, and then unbuckled your seatbelt, “your mom still wants to do Sunday dinner again tomorrow?”

“Wants to?” he chuckled, “I’m sure she’s living for it now.  You’ve been over for two Sunday dinners already.  I’m expecting her to ask me when we started dating at tomorrow night’s dinner.”

“She wouldn’t!”

“She hinted about how nice it would be to have some grandkids soon, just last week.” He laughed, “there’s no doubt in my mind that mom likes it when you’re around, Sof.”

A blush rose to your cheeks once more and you couldn’t help but look away, “That’s not funny, Tony.”

“I wasn’t laughing either, Sofia…”

Your eyes met his once more, “w-maybe I shouldn’t go Sunday.  I love being around you too, but I don’t want your mom getting the wrong idea!”

He frowned, and you felt like your heart went into the pit of your stomach, “did I say something wrong?”

You bit your lip and shook your head, but he was quick to grab your face in his hands, “Sof…if I did something wrong, tell me.  We’ve been best friends since we were practically in diapers.”

“Tony…” you whimpered, leaning in.  

Just as your lips were about to touch, the front door slammed.  You jumped, your eyes going wide as you saw an angry and confused looking Steve coming out of the house and roaming down the sidewalk towards his car.

“Shit…”

“Is everything okay?” he asked quickly, already unbuckling his own seatbelt as he sat forward, “do you-do you need me to come in with you?”

“No…no…I-I should take care of whatever this is myself…you know how Fi is…she probably went Fiona on him!  It’s probably just a silly fight between the two of them that will blow over before they go to bed.”

“Alright.  If you’re sure…so, Sunday?” he asked hopefully.

You felt your throat drying up as you nodded, “y-yeah…Sunday…”

He leaned in and pressed his lips to yours, catching you off guard.  For a second, you didn’t react, but it all felt too right, too natural.  You forgot about what was going on outside of his car as you melted against him, your lips beginning to work in tandem with his. 

But just as quickly as it happened, it stopped, and you were left breathless by your best friend.  Your eyes fluttered open, and you couldn’t stop the smile from coming up onto your lips as you noticed the same goofy smile on his face.

“For the record…I’ve liked you since head start, Sof…”

“Me too!” you admitted softly.  He bit his bottom lip, and you grabbed your bag, “Sunday?  We-we can talk about this.  Us?  Whatever this-“

“You’re freaking out…” he chuckled softly.

“What?  No, I’m not.  I jus-“

“You ramble when you think too much!” he pointed out.  He reached up and stroked your cheek, his thumb grazing over your lips, “I like you…you like me…we have time to figure it out…you know, until my mom starts bugging you about when you’ll give her grandkids and when am I going to put a ring on your finger.”

“I think both of those things would only happen after you moved out of your mom’s place, Tony…”

“So, you’re saying there’s a chance.” He asked, “you know…that it could happen?”

“Oh, most definitely.”

“Go on…get inside…I’m sure whatever’s going on, Fiona needs your help!”

“Okay,” you agreed.  I’ll see you then!”

“Yeah!”

You got out of the car after lightly kissing him once more.  And while you had originally thought about talking to Steve, he’d already pulled off, leaving you confused about what had been happening. 

When you made your way into the house, everyone was relatively quiet, and there was a somber air in the house.

“Everyone okay?”

“Upstairs!” V nodded, “Frank headbutted Ian…”

“What?”

Instantly, the first thing that came to your mind was that your younger brother came out and that was your father’s response to it.  Your heart fell into your stomach, and you began to feel the worry and anxiety coursing through your nerves, setting them on fire.

You ran upstairs and saw Ian holding ice to his face when you burst through their door. “Ia-“

“Eddie Jackson!” Lip said quickly, cutting you off.  You frowned, knowing about the situation from the first day it had happened.  And while you were sad that Ian was injured, you were happy to know that his secret was still safe.   

Lip had wanted to see if Ian was really gay, or just unsure, so he’d brought him over to the girl’s house that he was tutoring so that she could give him a blowjob.  And so for the course of the week, while Lip’s foot healed, everything seemed to be okay.  But this seemed to be the reignition to the fire you thought was nothing more than a pile of ashes.   

Frank hurting Ian. 

“Shit…I…”

“I’m okay!” he said quickly, trying to put on his tough guy act, “Frank was drunk.  He-“

“That’s no excuse, Ian.  You’re a kid!”  you said defensively as you rushed up to him and stroked his cheek, “let me see…did V already check you out?  It’s not broken, is it?”

“At least it wasn’t because of something else!” Lip hinted, trying to calm you down while changing the subject.  He knew how much of a worrier you were, and he saw you spiraling as you rushed Ian with questions.

“Phillip Ronan Gallagher!”

He smiled, chuckling to himself, “just saying…that kind of news pops off around here, and that’s how a guy gets shived!”

“Alright, enough about murder!”

“Murder and disappearing!” Lip chuckled, agreeing to your statement, “they wouldn’t’ just stab him Fi Fi.  He’d disappear.”

“Only one that deserves to disappear around here is Frank,” you grumbled.  Ian frowned and you stroked his hair, “you sure you’re okay, kid?  Anything I can do?”

“I’m good, Fi Fi…”

“Alright,” you sighed, “you two get in bed…I work the Alibi Room tomorrow night, because I’m picking up for Kate, but I’ll be here in the afternoon.  Lip, more SAT prep?”

“Yeah…”

“Good night boys…”

“Night Fif…”

“Night Fi Fi.”

“What day is it?”

“Friday! Why?”

Your sister held up the orange envelope and your brow furrowed before your throat went dry.  Frank nearly tackled the mailman for it every month, “Frank never misses a check!”

“Just what I was thinking.”

She started up the stairs and you knew she was gonna go drop off the check to the man who was probably passed out in his bed if he hadn’t been waiting for the mailman.  You shook your head.  It was rare for him to go on a bender the night before the check came.  Usually, he waited until it was in.

“Ian…give Carl his plate?” you asked softly, handing the sunny side eggs up to your brother.

Carl smiled as Ian took the plate and passed it off. 

“Who’s next?” you asked, pointing the spatula at your siblings, “Fi said you all gotta eat breakfast today because you skipped yesterday when I was at the station!”

There was a knock at the door and Ian looked at you, “expecting someone?”

“No?” you questioned, “grab it?”

“Yeah!”  he agreed, opening the door to Steve with a box of donuts and a carrier of coffees, “hey!”

“Morning campers!” he grinned.

“What you got?” Lip asked curiously.

“Jelly, plain, glazed,” he shrugged, “didn’t know what everyone likes!”

“Thank god…we’re out of eggs after Carl!” you smiled, “one of the coffees on that tray there for me?”

“Yeah!” He agreed, setting the carrier down while Deb dug into the box. Steve dipped some of the toast into the eggs and went to town while you jogged around the island and took a coffee, giving Steve a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks Steve!” you smiled.  You patted Lip on the shoulder, “don’t forget.  It’s your turn to walk Debs and Carl home from school today!  I gotta work the bar tonight with Kev, but I open, so I won’t be in.  But you can drop em off there, and I can make sure they get dinner.  Liam too.”

“Oh, great!” your sister frowned as she noticed the coffee and donuts, “I’m trying to get them to eat a healthy breakfast.  Fi Fi.  Why didn’t you tell him no?”

“Carl got the last two eggs, and I didn’t get to cook anything else,” you shrugged, sipping on your latte, “it’s better than them not eating breakfast again.”

“Lip just had those teeth pulled from sugar rot!”

“Alright, fine,” you shrugged, pulling the glazed donut from Lip’s hand and taking a bite, while replacing it with a plain one, “Fi’s rules.  No sugar.  That latte got any in it?”

“Fuck off!” he chuckled, drinking his own coffee. 

“Hey, Fi.  I got a date Sunday night at-“

“Officer Tony!” Debs giggled, cooing at you, “again?”  

“Bring home some more of those leftovers.  Ms. Markovich is a great cook!”

“On it!’ you nodded, before realizing your sister still had the envelope, “Fi…where’s Frank?  You still got the check!”

“Anyone seen dad?”

“Behind the arm chair!” Debs shrugged, “I left him a cup of coffee this morning.”

“Why is there a tent in the living room?” Fiona asked a second later.  You followed after everyone else and stopped beside Steve to see your sister stalking towards the entrance, “Fi?”

“I’m gonna check V and Kevs and see if they saw dad!”

“Alright…I’ll get the kids off to school.”

She nodded and you got the kids coats on, their lunches, and went out the back to start them on their way.  You were stopped a second later when you reached the corner.  Your sister had a look of panic on her face, “Fi Fi…I think Frank’s missing!”

“Fucking Canada?”

“Yeah…I thought it was wild too…”

He chuckled and shook his head, wrapping his arms around your middle, “that’s crazy though.”

“You’re telling me,” You laughed, “Frank fucking hates Canada…”

“Frank hates everything.”

“Not drugs…or booze…or my mom!”

He smiled and took a long sip from his beer, “Technicalities…so, have you given any thought to coming to the awards with me on Thursday?”

“I’ll be at the Alibi Room,” you frowned, “I’m working the night shift there!”

“Call off,” he shrugged, “come out with me and enjoy the night.  You can meet the kids I coach and there will be plenty of leftov-“

“I can’t just call off, Tony…”

“Just one night!”

“I know those kids mean a lot to you, and I think it’s amazing that you’re a coach and getting an award, but I can’t call off,” you frowned, “Fi hasn’t been able to get a job this week so I’m the one paying the bills right now.”

“Fi’s off?” he asked, “do-would you be mad if I asked her to come with me?”

You felt your stomach turn, “y-you wanna take Fiona?”

“She is my other best friend,” he shrugged, “I mean those Catholic ladies hate her, but-“

“Sure…” you said quickly cutting him off as you tried not to think too much about the situation.  “sure…ask Fi.”

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?”

“YOU FUCKED TONY!” you screamed at your sister as she was left hunched over from your physical confrontation with her, “YOU FUCKED-“

“So, what,” she shrugged, “he’s single.  I’m single.  We fucked in his cruiser!”

“You’re unbelievable,” you scoffed, shaking your head at your twin sister, “you’re un-fucking-believable, Fi!  Tony was a virgin.”

“Fi Fi, wait!” she begged as you walked away. Fiona looked at Debbie who was shaking her head at her elder sister.  Ian glared at her, “What?”

“She’s had a crush on him for forever!” Debs said as though it was the most obvious thing ever.

“So?” Fiona laughed, “we’ve all known each other since head start.  They’ve never made a move on each other.”

“She’s been going to his mom’s place every weekend and bringing back leftovers,” Ian reminded his sister, “obviously they weren’t just hanging out.”

“She hangs out with Tony all the time!” Fiona shrugged, “There’s nothing there!”

“He kissed her last week!” Ian frowned, “did you really have to go and have sex with the one guy that Fi Fi’s been in love with for as long as you guys have known him?  Was it really that hard to not ride his dick?”

“Ian!”

“Just asking, Fi?” Ian grumbled, “Fi Fi’s never done tha-“

“Craig Heisner!” Fiona said quickly, shaking her head, “she fucked Craig Heisner and I had a crush on him in high school.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Ian frowned as he lit up a cigarette, “Tony asked you because Fi Fi was off making money at the Alibi Room, and she didn’t want to fuck us over by calling off…and you fucked the guy of her dreams in return.”

“Oh don’t lay it on so thick,” Fiona scoffed, “Tony isn’t the man of anyone’s dreams…”

“Yeah, well Fi Fi is the one keeping us afloat and you shouldn’t have done that!” Ian grumbled.

“That sounds like a pretty shit thing to do!” Lip added in, taking the smoke off his brother.

“Fuck off, Lip!”

Chapter 3

[faelune-home]

FFXIVWrite 2023 #19: Weal

(A/n: Trying to tell myself not to do more than twin pieces in the few prompts I've been able to do this month and yet twin ideas keep coming to mind. Not that I see anything wrong with providing more cute twins or twin adjacent plots, but I just feel I should diversify a bit more. But ah well.

So how about that all important duty to the star, ey Fourchy? Is it worth the long hours and the time away from home and the secrecy? All for the wellbeing of your kiddos, ey? Lol, I rib on him but I do like the conflict and the character motivation, even if I still wanted to kick him for the end of shb/start of endw, and even now he's kinda still on thin ice.

Word count: 773)

“You’ll be glad to hear that they’re both settling well, they’re sleeping easy in their new room. All the familiar blankets must be helping of course, but it’s still good news.”

“Good, good. They weren’t comfortable with sea travel at all.” Many a night punctuated by wailing and screams, overpowering the sound of creaking floorboards and crashing waves.

“They really weren’t, poor dears. Oh but I don’t think Alphinaud likes the cold much here, he’s always terribly upset whenever we go out for walks around the city. I have him with some extra blankets in his crib for now, see if it helps.”

“I see…we should hope that it doesn’t require a chirurgeon to come in and check on him, but hopefully he’ll adjust soon.” After all, they’ll both be growing up there, in this new-old city; new for the young ones, but many many decades old, even if it had been left with a smaller population for much of that time.

“He will, I’m sure of it. But I’ll keep the household on high alert should we need a healer on short notice, just for your peace of mind,” Ameliance smiled, a small glimmer in her eye as she both teased and placated her husband. Fourchenault didn’t quite have the heart to answer with much enthusiasm.

“I envy your confidence my dear,” he sighed, a hand held to one of his temples.

“Well, I know you worry for them, but they’re stronger than you might think, even at this age. They’ve made it this far, travelling across the world after all. I think this is a sign they’ll be firm fighters when they grow up.” He didn’t want to doubt or refute her words, he’s sure they would be quite fine at this age, with all the help and comforts they could need.

But the worry festered in his mind anyway, casting images of both children only hours old, so small in his arms, the slightest jolt or noise or anything that could hurt them if he wasn’t careful.

Those words stayed trapped in his throat though, finding himself unable to douse his wife’s optimism. She was a balm to his fears.

A chime rang from the chronometer in the room.

“Oh is that the time already?” Ameliance frowned.

“I’m afraid so,” Fourchenault answered, getting to his feet. Their reunion was over so quickly and he had to return to work. They moved to the foyer by the main door, though he waved off the servant ready to open them while he turned to his wife once more.

“I do hope you’re resting. Your work may be important but you can’t work effectively on little sleep,” she said, her frown looking a touch more stern.

“I try to, Ameliance, but really, tis easier to push on and see it done quickly.” Knowing what was at stake, he had to give all he could. He wished sometimes that he could tell her why but…

“But do try harder,” she insisted, “The children would like to see you hale and whole when next you visit. You will visit again soon, yes?”

“As soon as I can. But all this work is for them just as much as it is for every Sharlayan.”

“Oh I know that, of course. But telling them is one thing, at this young of an age, would they even understand the importance of it?” Ameliance asked. When he didn’t respond, she stepped closer to him, a gentle hand upon his cheek.

“I’m not trying to challenge you darling, nor do I disagree with your work or your reasons. Just don’t forget to come home to your children. See them with your own eyes and not just as an update on another missive. If all your work is for their well being in the future, then remind yourself of what you’re working for.” He reached up to hold her hand in his own.

A cry sounded deeper in the house, a quick word from Celia allowing her to slip off and see to the noise without breaking up the pair.

Fourchenault lowered her hand to her side, but gave it a light squeeze, keeping hold of it for a moment longer.

“Very well.” They finally separated, the door opening at the nod of his head. A distant ‘Milady’ sounded further up the stairs, paired with babbling sniffs.

“Lady Alisaie wished to see you–”

It was the last thing he heard, glancing back just quickly enough to see his daughter’s teary blue eyes staring after him before the doors closed.

It wouldn’t be proper to turn back. He had work to do.

[foggyfanfic]

Love and Fury

Chapter Preview: Cicero cut himself off when the room suddenly darkened, and a sharp wind started swirling around the church. Everybody swiveled to look at Pepa, but she was looking up at Bruno, who had left his pew to stand in the middle of the aisle. He glared darkly in Cicero’s direction, eyes not just glowing but seeming to come alight with green fire.

Ch1 Prev Next Master List

Chapter 31 Malidicion

Bruno waited outside the church with Leandra while Félix took his turn answering questions. She had taken his hand and practically dragged him outside, but then had been oddly deflated when she saw Felípe standing outside, gently bouncing Julio in his arms.

“Just taking the kiddo for a walk-about to help him sleep,” Felípe said, “Rosalie’s been real stressed out and he’s picking up on it.”

“Ah, sí,” Leandra nodded, tightening her grip on Bruno’s hand, her eyes oddly cagey, “and you thought you’d bring him by the trial?”

“Wanted to wish you and Félix luck,” he shrugged, “why? Don’t you want the support of one of your oldest, closest friends?”

Leandra sighed through her nose, giving him a look. He smirked back, eyes darting down to their joined hands then back up to her face. There was clearly something happening that Bruno hadn’t picked up on.

“I’m telling Rosalie about what happened at her thirteenth birthday party-.”

“What? No! You promised we would never speak of it again,” Felípe hissed, glancing over his shoulder as if he expected Rosalie to just pop up out of nowhere.

“W-what happened?” Bruno asked, and Felípe’s head whipped around to stare at him. 

Slowly, he smirked, “I’ll tell Bruno what happened at your sixteenth!”

“I didn’t have any clean bloomers, thought I could get away with going without, only to trip and flash my panties at a room full of people,” Leandra said, then stuck her tongue out at Felípe. He looked so offended Bruno found himself beginning to chuckle.

He wondered if dating Leandra meant hanging out with her friends the way she hung out with his sisters. It would actually be kind of nice having more friends.

Although, from what she’d told him, her closest friends were Agustín, Rosalie, and Felípe, and at this rate those three were all going to be family soon.

Agustín was going to marry Julieta, and apparently Rosalie and Felípe would be getting married, and Felípe was Félix’s brother, who would hopefully be marrying Pepa. So even if dating Leandra meant spending time with her friends, he would somehow continue to only socialize with people within his own family. Was he bad at making friends, or could he just write it off as an act of god at this point?

He got a girlfriend, that had to count for something, right?

Felípe and Leandra were still teasing eachother while Bruno contemplated whether or not it was really his fault if he didn’t have friends soon. Felípe, like Félix, was always careful not to exclude or alienate Bruno, which he’d always appreciated. He certainly wouldn’t mind having both men as in laws, but were in laws friends?

He frowned at the side of Leandra’s head, was a girlfriend a friend? She should be, right? What’s the point of dating somebody if you don’t like them?

And they started out as friends, sort of, so that had to count. For his own sanity he was going to say, yes, that counted as him successfully making a friend without anyone else’s help.

“Bruno,” Felípe got his attention, giving him a friendly grin, “you good there chavo? You look like you’re thinking real hard.”

“Oh, I-, sí, I’m just,” Bruno felt his cheeks grow warm just thinking about sharing his real thoughts, so he said, “I’m just thinking about the trial.”

Leandra nodded, giving him a gentle smile while she wrapped her other hand around his bicep, “I’m guessing telling you not to worry too much won’t help?”

“I wish it were that easy,” he said, then feeling bad for lying, tacked on, “d-don’t worry about me, the trial won’t last forever.”

“Mm-hm,” Leandra sighed, and shifted so she could lean her head on his shoulder.

“Besides, everybody knows what he’s done now,” Felípe grinned, and there was something very cold in his eyes, “Rosalie’s name has been cleared, and his is good as mud. Even if the village allows him to stay, it’s only a matter of time before he finds living here to be impossible.”

“Literally?” Leandra asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Who's to say,” Felípe shrugged, but clutched Julio a little bit closer and gave the door a dark look.

Bruno didn’t say anything, he wasn’t dense, he’d certainly contemplated the merits of killing Cicero. That was what shocked him the most about all of this, the discovery that a part of him saw murder as a solution. That was sinful, and wrong, and not the sort of person he wanted to be.

But what would Cicero do if he was allowed to stay? Leandra wouldn’t be safe, neither would Rosalie or Julio, hell, Felípe would probably have to watch his back too. Pepa would probably be fine, since lightning tended to strike whenever she was a tiny bit startled, much less afraid, but what was to keep Cicero from targeting Julieta in order to punish the Madrigals. Not to mention, all the other girls and women in the village.

And it wouldn’t just be Cicero. If it was proven that Encanto won’t punish rape, would they suddenly discover that Cicero wasn’t the only rapist in town?

If Encanto votes to allow Cicero to stay, what could they do to protect the women of the village?

He sighed and lightly kissed Leandra’s head where it rested on his shoulder. When he looked back at Felípe, the man was giving the baby in his arms a worried look. 

“Do you think it’s too soon?” he suddenly asked, looking at Leandra, “Rosalie only just told me she loved me last night, but if I asked her to marry me-.”

“It wouldn’t be too soon, you two have been dancing around eachother for years. But maybe wait until the trial is over anyways,” Leandra said, “if people try pushing Cicero into Julio’s life, then sí, get married and lay claim to the kid as quick as possible. But if they don’t? Don’t you want the chance to date Rosalie the way you were going to before all this happened? What about that dream wedding you were always going on about when we were kids? You really want to pass that up if you don’t have to?”

Felípe nodded, “Ay, I know, I just-. I love her, and I love this kid. I almost lost her once already to all this, I don’t think I could stand losing them both.”

“You won’t,” Bruno blurted, then grimaced, “th-that’s not a vision or anything, I just- alright, I know this isn’t any of my business, b-but Rosalie is too smart and loves her son too much to let anyone other than you be his Papá.”

Felípe looked initially surprised, then he grinned, “Gracias mi compa’ that helps.”

“Oh, it’s-, bien,” Bruno tried to avoid looking directly at Felípe but didn’t miss the thumbs up he flashed Leandra.

She started to say something, asking about work at the mill it seemed, but the church door opened and Félix stepped out.

“Your turn, hermana,” he said, holding the door open for her.

Her grip briefly tightened, then relaxed. She let go of his bicep so they could walk through the open door, but still held his hand.

“Good luck,” Felípe said, quietly so those in the church wouldn’t hear him.

Leandra walked with her head held high despite the many eyes following and scrutinizing her every movement. By now, everybody knew that she had allowed herself to be targeted by Cicero in order to catch him. Some thought it was manipulative, others thought it was stupid, but a couple of women, and one padré, had thanked her for taking that risk. It brought the matter to the whole village’s attention and people had been a little more cautious because of it.

Bruno walked beside her, when they got to the pew where he had to part from her he paused to kiss her hand. She looked at him and he could only hope his eyes told her everything he didn’t want to say out loud.

She smiled, it was small and nervous, but genuine.

Leandra released his hand, walked to the chair at the front of the church and sat down, facing her entire village. She examined them each, searching faces one by one until one of the questioners cleared his throat. She turned her attention to him instead.

“Señorita Lopez,” he started, then seemed to hesitate.

“Should I just start at the beginning?” she asked, somewhat dryly.

“If you would,” one of the other men said, waving a hand in invitation.

Leandra turned back to the village, “I believe, the most important place to start, is when Cicero first started pursuing Rosalie. It was about two and a half years ago now, we had always been friendly with him, but never close, so it was pretty obvious when he suddenly started inviting himself to join Rosalie, Agustín, Felípe, and I whenever we went out for a night on the town.”

Cicero watched her, scowling.

“I had a boyfriend and Agustín was about to start dating Julieta, so our main objective whenever we went out was helping Rosalie and Felípe get up the courage to admit how they felt about eachother,” Leandra said, “they’ve been in love since we were children, but as you know, Rosalie comes from quite the well off family and Felípe used to worry her parents wouldn’t approve of him. So, he hesitated, and Rosalie worried it meant he didn’t feel the same way as her.”

Leandra turned and regarded Rosalie’s parents next, surprised they had shown up. They both turned away from her eyes, she frowned at them.

Neither of them had tried to apologize to Rosalie yet, despite everybody in town turning on them. It was now considered gauche to blame Rosalie for what had happened to her, and there were many who didn’t want to condemn Cicero, but her parents? Her parents were fair game.

Leandra hoped they were never allowed to forget what they’d done to their own daughter.

“This matters you see, that Rosalie and Felípe were already in love when Cicero started chasing her skirt, because Rosalie never entertained his advances. She never flirted back, never encouraged him, never even contemplated being with somebody other than Felípe. And she told you, she told you she was in love,” Leandra spoke directly to Cicero, “she didn’t lie to you, or try to use you, she told you flat out that you shouldn’t waste your time pursuing her. Did you think she was lying? Playing hard to get? You claim to love her, but you hurt her. How could you?”

Alma lightly tapped her gavel, “Leandra, please, stick to the facts.”

Leandra and Cicero stared at eachother, he wasn’t scowling anymore, but there was still a stubborn tilt to his jaw. She shook her head, and turned back to the rest of the village.

“The day before the party, Cicero had asked Rosalie out, again. He told her he loved her but she figured it was just a line. She told him she was in love with another, again. And he got angry at her, he asked her what she wanted from him,” Leandra looked at the panel leading the questions, “we got dressed for the party together, she wore a red dress because it’s Felípe’s favorite color, and on the way there she complained about the argument. She was baffled that he was even pursuing her at that point.”

“What happened at the party?”

“As soon as we got there, Rosalie said she wasn’t going to drink tonight. Not too gossip, but she said Felípe was looking extra handsome that night, and she was worried if she drank she would say something to embarrass herself,” she almost laughed remembering it, and a few people chuckled, Leandra turned and made eye contact with the people who were grinning, “yeah, I made sure to tease her endlessly about that. And then…”

She gulped. And then it happened. And then her best friend’s life was ruined. And then Leandra learned her home wasn’t as safe as she thought it was.

“Señorita?” One of the men prompted her.

“Cicero came up to apologize to her, she accepted and forgave him, he offered to get her a drink as a peace offering,” Leandra’s voice shook, she glanced at Cicero but felt nauseous and had to look at Bruno instead, “Rosalie didn’t want to accept it, she told him she wasn’t drinking that night and he offered to grab her punch from the kids’ table. She still hesitated, but he insisted, and-, and Rosalie hates being rude, so…”

She stared down at her skirt, taking deep breaths and trying to hold back tears. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she would spend the rest of her life obsessing over the moments that came next. Wondering, what could she have done differently, could she have stopped it, would he have given up.

“She drank it, repeated that all was forgiven, and thanked him for,” Leandra shook her head, laughing bitterly, “she thanked him for respecting her feelings.”

This time, when she examined the villagers one by one, nobody interrupted her or prompted her to continue. They all knew what happened next.

They were all there and they did nothing to help her.

“Cicero left the party, then Rosalie started feeling a bit off. I offered to walk her home but my boyfriend at the time, Omar, wanted me to stay, and she lived nearby so she told me not to worry about her. I shouldn’t have listened, to either of them. I- I should have-.”

When the silence stretched on a bit too long, Alma gently said, “Leandra.”

She took a few deep breaths, “Rosalie left. The next time I saw her was after Floréz found her in her family’s barn. She- she wasn’t the same after that, her parents were already being cold to her, when she found out she was pregnant, they kicked her out. I could barely get her to talk to me. Nobody believed her, she didn’t even want to believe-. You were our friend, we grew up with you. Why?”

“Señorita Lopez.”

She frowned at Cicero for another few beats, then shook her head. Her eyes caught on Cicero’s parents. His father couldn’t look at her, but his mother glared at her as if she was Satan himself.

Leandra glared back, she only barely resisted the urge to yell at her.

“Timing wise, it was pretty obvious it was Cicero who raped her, I started watching him at parties, and the next time he showed up with a date,” Leandra shrugged, “well, you’ve heard the testimony. My plan was to catch him in the act and challenge him to drink his own poison in front of everybody.”

“So what changed?”

“Time passed. I watched him at every party, but he was sneaky, and only tried anything on girls he was already dating. I was actually beginning to doubt that he was the one who did it. But the timing of Rosalie’s rape, the fact that his dates both showed identical symptoms? That couldn’t be a coincidence, you know. I thought I was never going to catch him.”

“And then you did,” Alma said, “what did you do?”

Leandra laughed at herself a little, giving her audience a slightly crooked grin, “Panicked.”

A few people chuckled, and she shrugged almost sheepishly. 

“Why did you panic?” One of the men asked, “You’d been hoping for this moment for a year.”

“Actually, I was hoping he’d stop,” Leandra corrected him, “I was hoping his morals would prevail and he would remember that we are his village. That we all cared about him, trusted him. I was hoping that he cared about us too.”

She glanced back at Cicero and he was scowling again, teeth clenched. She was once again tempted to ask him why, but she had the village’s ears, she didn’t want to waste this chance.

“I saw him sprinkle something extra in Pepa’s drink, and suddenly… It was somehow ten times more real than his last two attempts, he was actually planning to-. Sweet Mother Mary, he didn’t even look guilty, he was smirking, almost laughing, like he was pulling a dumb prank,” she wrinkled her nose, “it was like knowing the devil is probably hanging around then suddenly having him standing in front of you talking about the weather.”

“So, you panicked, and did what?”

“The first thing that popped into my head, I dropped a plate of food in Pepa’s lap,” she grimaced, and looked at Pepa, “I am still so sorry about that, by the way.” 

Pepa waved her off, shrugging the apology away.

“Thankfully, Cicero started laughing so hard he didn’t notice me whispering her a warning and I was able to distract him while she left.”

“And then you decided to pretend to date him?”

“Uh, no,” Leandra fiddled with her skirt and looked up at Bruno.

She had asked how he’d feel about her telling the village the whole story, and he had been hesitant, but on board since he didn’t want to risk lying. Still, she wanted to check with him, one more time.

He sighed, but nodded.

“So uh, funny story, you guys kind of sort of forgot to tell Bruno what Cicero tried to do,” Leandra said, addressing first Alma, then Julieta and Pepa.

The three women frowned, and looked at eachother, growing more visibly startled as they realized Leandra was right. Nobody told Bruno. Alma pressed her lips together, while Pepa and Julieta began whispering apologies at Bruno. He grimaced sheepishly, and said something that made them settle back into their seats.

“Yeah, so uh, both he and Cicero assumed I was trying to steal Cicero from Pepa. For whatever reason this was enough for Cicero to start pursuing me, and Bruno was determined to come in between us, for Pepa’s sake.”

Pepa looked at Leandra, then at Bruno, and she smiled, giving him a one armed hug. He grinned sheepishly back and whispered something to her that made her smile turn a bit watery.

Leandra shrugged, “Obviously, I didn’t want to be pursued by Cicero, but the last time a girl turned him down he raped her. And as long as he was distracted by me, he wasn’t hurting anyone else. Bruno being there kept Cicero at bay, but also meant I never had to directly reject him.”

“So how did you end up dating him?”

“That would be my fault, actually,” Alma spoke up, addressing the village at large, “I had hit a dead end in my investigation, but when it came to light that Cicero had turned his sights on Leandra, I saw an opportunity.”

People started whispering, and she felt compelled to come to Señora Madrigal’s defense, “Honestly, I was still trying to figure out how I could prove Cicero was a rapist, if Señora hadn’t asked me to help the investigation, I would have probably done something stupid. Well, I probably would have done something stupid sooner.”

There were a few chuckles at that last admission, but not everybody was seeing the humor in it. Cicero was looking a bit red in the face, and he was grinding his teeth.

“So you started pretending to date him?”

“Sí, admittedly, I didn’t learn much, just that he was still angry at Rosalie for rejecting him, a little over a year later. But I was able to get him to lower his guard. I knew it was only a matter of time before he drugged somebody else, and if I made sure I was his next victim, I could lay a trap.”

That earned a few more whispers, Cicero glanced at the village then turned back to her, chest heaving. His father put a hand on his arm.

“And I take it that Bruno eventually learned the truth?”

“Sí, he-.”

“Lying, conniving bitch,” Cicero hissed, it wasn’t loud, but it seemed to echo through the church.

Alma tapped her gavel, “Cicero, I advise you-.”

“No, you know what, I don’t have to sit here listening to this dirty whore-.”

“Cicero,” his father tried to shush him.

“-brag about how she manipulated me! And now she’s trying to act all high and mighty as if this cheap bitch-“

“Cicero, that is enough,” Alma banged her gavel on the table.

“-hasn’t spent this entire time leading me on while she spreads her legs for-.”

Cicero cut himself off when the room suddenly darkened, and a sharp wind started swirling around the church. Everybody swiveled to look at Pepa, but she was looking up at Bruno, who had left his pew to stand in the middle of the aisle. He glared darkly in Cicero’s direction, eyes not just glowing but seeming to come alight with green fire.

Nobody moved.

There was no sand, but the wind picked up every spare bit of dirt the church had to offer. Dust swirled around them, and Leandra could almost see the vision in the thin cloud. 

“I don’t think you’ve realized exactly what sort of danger you’re in,” Bruno hissed, and a grin that bordered on savage had found its way across his face, “are you truly going to throw a hissy fit over your wounded pride when you are surrounded by those you have betrayed?”

Leandra gulped, squeezing her thighs together. She recognized that grin, the way he was holding his body, she knew exactly what Bruno was doing. He was playing a character, The Villain to be exact, she knew that. But damn was he playing it well.

Cicero did not realize Bruno was playing a character. He shrank in his seat, eyes wide as Bruno spoke. He tilted his head back, seeming to stare down his nose at Cicero, a strand of hair whipping across his cheeks while the rest bounced behind him.

The grin shrank away, replaced by a cold, solemn frown.

“We once trusted you, but now everybody knows what you are capable of. Even those who claim to support you will be on guard, they will warn their women away, clutch their daughters close. From this moment on your every twitch, scowl, or sneeze will be taken as evidence of yet more treachery. The village will watch your every move, waiting, convinced it is only a matter of time before you strike again. And nothing you try will convince us otherwise.”

Vague shapes danced through the air, ominous for their ambiguity. The vision could be of anything. When it was over, the dust coalesced, but there wasn’t enough to form a full tablet.

“Fear and suspicion turns so easily to rage, it turns calm men into guarded mobs, and friends into spies. Fear robs us of our wits, of our compassion, our caution. Fear keeps us poised on our toes, waiting stiffly for the next blow.”

A glowing green stone dropped into Bruno’s hand, too small to hold any useful image. He held it up for everybody to see and a collective gasp rippled through the crowd. The only thing the stone showed was Cicero’s face twisted with fright.

“The fear of those who once called you a friend will fall on your shoulders, it will bury you, it will be the dirt that covers your grave.”

Bruno’s words echoed, bouncing off the smooth walls of the church. The wind died and the light returned, but it didn’t seem to matter. Nobody spoke, or even breathed. 

He had his audience completely mesmerized.

Leandra had to tuck her hands under her legs to keep from clapping. She looked at Julieta and Pepa, sure that they must know as well as she did how clever Bruno was being, how brilliant; but they watched him with serious expressions, seemingly just as awed as everybody else. She glanced at his mother, but she was eyeing the glowing stone with a grave expression.

Finally Leandra looked back at Bruno, he held the stone up, and kept his glare in place, but his stillness gave him away. She could practically hear him thinking “Alright, now what?”

Quietly, she cleared her throat, everybody turned to look at her, some people even startling at the sound. With nothing else to say, she answered the last question that had been asked, “Sí, Bruno eventually figured out what Cicero tried to do.”

Chaos erupted, everybody shouting at once, most of them hurling questions at Bruno. In turn, Pepa snapped at everybody to back off. Cicero’s mother was trying to defend her son, trying to claim that he was pushed into doing everything by “sinful whores”. When she threatened to send Leandra to hell, her Pá stood and told Señora Gutierrez to “shut her trap and accept that her brat was a monster”. More shouting followed that statement. 

Señora Madrigal banged her gavel against the table, persistently, until everybody quieted down.

Leandra watched Bruno, watched as the fearsome seer faded into the sweetest man she had ever met. He looked at her and something in her melted.

God, she loved him.

While everybody else in the church looked to Señora Madrigal for her leadership, Leandra subtly clapped her fingers together, a silent mimic of applause. 

Bruno’s face was equal parts sheepish and proud, he bowed his head minutely.

“-I think we all need time to settle, and think about what we’ve heard today,” Alma was saying, “we can pick this back up after the market closes tomorrow. Leandra, you may go.”

Leandra stood and rushed to Bruno’s side, grabbing the hand that wasn’t holding the glowing green stone and kissing his cheek.

“Enough waiting, it’s time you and I spend some quality time together,” she whispered to him, then pulled back to receive her Pá’s hug.

As soon as she could without her father noticing, she raised a questioning eyebrow at Bruno. He nodded, grinning shyly.

[aurora567]

Lyrical Abstraction Ch. 4

Warning: this story will contain mature content such as but not limited to sex, cursing, blood, violence, kidnapping, torture, ptsd, trauma, depression, mentions of death, Aoi is anti hero and anti hero society.

Summary: Izuku learns something important to know about Aoi, and as much as she hates that part of herself Izuku shares a little about himself.

Word count: 3690

Last Chapter Next Chapter

By the time she returned home she was exhausted, her feet hurt and her arms felt heavy as she carried a couple of bags of things. Most of them were groceries that she had used the rest of her tips on when she stopped at a discount grocery store a little out of her way but it was worth it for every yen saved she could. Her guest would need protein and meat. Things she rarely bought but she imagined he was used to eating more filling meals than she was usually living off of. Using her foot to close the door she carried her bags of groceries to the kitchen placing them down on the counter before she grabbed a small bag and headed for the bedroom.

She gave a soft knock before walking into the bedroom to find the man on his phone apparently watching tv since he could get his own internet service from his home. He had forgotten to ask about what her internet password was before he left. Though Izuku had not yet realized she did not have internet. It was all she could do to afford basic tv and her cell phone.

“I see you didn’t kill over. That's a good sign. Here I got these for you. I'd suggest you take one a day,” She said reaching into the bag to pull out an old worn looking prescription container and tossed it at him watching the confused look on his face as he read the label on the container telling him it was some sort of antibiotic.

“How did you get these?” he asked that hero tone he used on the tv started to slip through.

“You will not like the answer but since you're refusing to do this the easy and right way you have left me with no other options. I also grabbed you some basic painkillers. These may not help a lot but hopefully it will do something,” She said walking over towards the nightstand to place the unopened new box of painkillers for him to use.

Midoriya wanted to argue with her and refuse to use the clearly illegal drugs that the woman had bought. But it was hard to argue when she had been right. It was his fault she bought illegal drugs in order to help him because he didn't want to go to the hospital, and ended up with it on the news he was hurt and once again upset his poor mother. He was being incredibly selfish and in turn this woman who didn’t even know him was having to pay for his selfishness.

“Thanks. I won’t ask again how you got these. Are you sure they are safe though?” He couldn’t help but be a little skeptical. She smiled softly at him and gently shrugged her shoulders.

“My source is as reliable as street scum comes. But he wouldn’t give me something that could kill you. So you should be okay,” she admitted. After all, she couldn’t blame him for being a little unsure. There was always a risk of getting anything off the street. Grabbing his glass she left him in the bedroom before she refilled the glass and returned to the bedroom placing it beside the bottles of pills on the nightstand.

“I am sure you're hungry. I’ll get started on something to eat,” she said simply as she placed the glass down on the nightstand.

“You look exhausted. You’ve had a long day Sugahara. Why don’t we order something in? It will be my treat. It seems the least I could do,” he said, simply flashing her a wide innocent grin. That did all sound like such a great offer. Take out food. When was the last time she ate take out that wasn’t leftovers from the restaurant? It had been a long time. And it wasn’t going to be a cheap microwaveable meal from a convenient store. And if he was paying then she could order all the food she wanted right? It would also mean the food she bought would last longer. But still she was arguing with herself about taking him up on the offer as she nibbled on her bottom lip.

“Come on I know a great place that will deliver out here. They make a great katsudon. Not as good as my mothers but still it’s pretty good,” he said, smiling that innocent boyish grin at her. It was really hard to argue with him. And it did help his case that he was paying. Passing up a free meal would be stupid.

“I can’t remember the last time I had katsudon,” She mumbled as she gave in as her mouth started to water and she could hear her stomach growl as she thought about a nice hot meal.

“Great I’ll order us both some katsudon then,” He said as he reached his phone which he had placed down on the bed while she was getting him a fresh glass of water. It always cost a little extra to get his favourite meal delivered but he didn't mind knowing that it was a good distance from the restaurant to this apartment complex. And the fact they always delivered the food nice and hot so it was always worth the little larger price tag on the meal.

“Alright you order and I’m going to put away the groceries and get changed,” she said as she moved to walk across her room to fetch herself something much more comfortable to wear. Another loose t-shirt and this time some tight soft leggings was her choice of clothes to relax in. But first she needed to put away her groceries, unable to leave them on the counter but that only took a minute before she was making her way to the bathroom.

Dragging her feet slowly she headed to the bathroom. First things first the face paint had to go, it was annoying to wear and running a cloth over her face felt heavenly as she washed away the makeup and worked at cleaning her skin before she changed into her more relaxing clothes.

Walking out of the bathroom she felt at least a little bit of energy having returned. But she paused for a second, usually she would crash on the couch and watch a little bit of tv before bed. But she felt bad just ignoring the man. He had been home alone all day. So she headed to her bedroom and knocked softly before strolling in.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as she slowly stepped into the room and towards the bed.

“I’d be lying if I said I felt fine. It still feels like I got run over by a bus,” he said simply admitting his body hurt a good bit.

“For all I know you did get stabbed and ran over by a bus. Hopefully the antibiotics and painkillers can help a little but I feel without someone with a healing quirk you're going to be hurting like this for a while. What are you gonna do for work? I don’t need cops knocking on my door because they think you’re missing,” she realized she didn’t have a clue if his work was aware of his state or even where he was for that matter even though he hasn’t even been in her place for a full day yet.

“Actually I called them earlier. Our healer is busy if I am lucky then maybe tomorrow she will be available but otherwise it will be the next day before she gets here. I’m not dying so I didn’t want to force her away from other matters. I hope you do not mind,” he said simply. His large scared fingers were suddenly fidgeting with her bedsheets as she moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. It felt too weird to stay standing while he was forced to stay on the bed.

“No, that's fine. At least someone can come get you healed up eventually,” she said with a simple shrug of her shoulders. Though now she needed to figure out what she was going to do about her sleeping arrangement. Her couch was not comfortable. She didn’t have a futon. Looked like she was going to be sleeping on the floor of her living room for the next night or two. Oh well wouldn’t be the first time she slept on the ground. At least her apartment was dry and warm.

Before he had the chance to say anything else a knock at her door had her jump to her feet as she listened to Midoriya tell her it was already paid for. So that made it easy, all she had to do was grab the take out bag from the delivery man and head back to her bedroom. Once returning she found Izuku had squirmed his way to be able to kick his feet over the edge of the bed and looked like he was about to get up.

“Stay put idiot,” she said simply as she walked towards him with the bag of food in hand. She watched him blink his eyes as he looked over at her.

“Huh?” He softly tilted his head a little confused as she told him to stay put.

“We can eat it while sitting on the bed. You do not need to get up,” she said simply as she moved to sit beside him and started to pull food from the bag, handing him one container and some chopsticks while she took the other container.

Both mumbled their thanks for the food and started to eat. The silence felt a little awkward, or at least Aoi found it to be. She didn’t mind though as the food smelled delicious and it was all she could do not to make some embarrassing noise as she took her first bite of food. Still the silence did not bother her that much, she had not eaten a meal with someone in her home in a long time. She rarely had company, she didn’t have a lot of friends she liked having in her home. Izuku must have felt the same awkwardness since they only ate in silence for a moment before he broke it by asking her a question she never expected.

“So what do you do for work?” He suddenly asked in between bites of food.

“Mostly waitress,” she answered softly after she swallowed the mouthful of rice she was eating.

“Mostly?” He asked with an arched eyebrow.

“I’ve done odd jobs as well. Sometimes I’ve worked nights at a bar not too far from here. But the pay isn’t worth the danger,” she said simply thinking about that job. It paid better than cleaning tables. But walking to and from work in the dark was scary. And the amount of patrons who scared her and made her worried about even reaching her home after a shift had her quit fast. Still she worked the odd shift when she was desperate. Which she had a feeling she would be doing after he left. And of course she watched his eyebrows pull together softly and suddenly he started mumbling about how working night jobs had dangers, if the bar was close it was most likely not in a great neighborhood. The rambling continued even as she paused in her meal and arched an eyebrow as she struggled to both hear and keep up with his rambling.

“Do you always ramble on about things sugar cookie?” She asked with a light chuckle before she continued eating again.

“Oh sorry. I’ve always had a habit of doing that,” he said blushing and gently running one hand through his wild and slightly tangled hair. She would need to remember to go get his hair brush or comb the next time she goes to his place to get him anything else.

“You're quite the nerd aren’t you?” She asked rather bluntly and yet that had the man beside her start laughing till a hiss of pain quickly followed and ended the laughing rather quickly.

“Kacchan calls me a nerd all the time. Did as kids and still does. But you're both not wrong,” he admits flashing her a wide smile as he continues to eat.

She had slowed down on her eating already and although she wasn’t completely full she had half her meal left and yet she had slowly stopped eating. Feeling the need to keep the rest for later to help ensure she would have a meal tomorrow she found herself closing the lid on her take out container and hopefully that would get rid of the temptation to continue eating. Some habits she had developed long ago were hard to shake.

“Are you done eating already?” Midoriya asked as he noticed she had stopped eating while he still had just under half his own meal to finish. And he was not yet full.

“Yep. Not all of us are mountains of muscle and strong quirk's. I don’t require as much food as you do,” she said with a soft smile hoping that would be enough for him not to push the question more. But maybe she would have rather than the next question he asked.

“Oh so what’s your quirk then? If you don’t mind me asking,” he seemed so interested and excited over getting to talk with someone about their quirk. But that question had the last of her meal tasting sour on her tongue and her stomach tightening, threatening to remove what she had just eaten. Silently she pushed herself to stand up and turn her back to him not wanting to see the look on his face when she answered. But in doing so she also missed the look of concern that crossed his face.

“I’m quirkless,” she said simply as she walked away taking her food with her so she could use it as an excuse for why she ran from him. He never even got to apologize for the question. It was clearly a subject that bothered her and Izuku could understand that. Pangs of his past feelings about being quirkless quickly had him feeling guilty and bad for asking her about it. And clearly it was a sour spot for her as well. Now his own meal was forgotten as he contemplated if he should attempt to get up and go after her to apologize. But seeing how he barely got himself to the bathroom alone without her he couldn’t imagine he would get far even in her small apartment. And so he looked down at the carpet under his feet as guilt ate him and he waited for her to return.

Aoi quickly put her left overs into the fridge. No longer hungry she was more than happy to toss the container into the fridge. But now she needed to figure out what she was going to do. She just ran out on Izuku and it wasn’t his fault it was a harmless question to him. He did not know her enough to know she was quirkless, and surely in his line of work he only knew people who had quirks. She should not have been so rude to him but still she did not want to go back and face him. Even if she apologized, would he look at her the same way others did? Would he pity her? Or would he be repulsed? Those were the two most popular looks she got. And she hated both. But still she couldn’t hide from him all night. And it was rude of her to run.

Slowly she dragged her feet back to her bedroom and found the man sitting on the edge of her bed staring sadly at the floor before his feet no longer eating his dinner. Now she felt bad for how upset he looked. She may as well have just kicked the guy's puppy. Sighing she continued into the room and slowly walked towards him.

“Don’t look so sad there hero. Your food is going to be cold if you just keep staring at the floor,” she said trying not to let her voice sound upset as she walked over to sit beside the man.

“I’m really sorry,” he said softly before picking up his gaze to look at her as he seemed to be blinking back tears.

“Don’t apologize. It was a simple question,” she said, simply trying to remind herself that it was a harmless question more than him.

“I know what it’s like to be quirkless,” he said simply though the skeptical look she gave him had him quickly continue, “I was a late bloomer. I didn’t get my quirk till right before high school,”

Well that was interesting to learn, she would have never guessed that the number one hero went over a dozen years without a quirk. But he was lucky he still developed a quirk. And yet she recalled the image of Deku with who she assumed was his mother in his apartment. But she didn’t recall seeing any images with a male. So where was his father?

“How did your parents take that? Assuming you were quirkless?” She was curious to know if he could understand her pain with being quirkless.

“It devastated me at first. I had always dreamed of being a hero. And learning at five I was assumed to be quirkless; it crushed young me. My mother could have handled it a bit better, at times I felt she could have been more supportive that I still could have been a hero. Still though she loved me and still did what she could at the time to soothe me,” he answered talking about his mother. But there was no mention at all of his father. Maybe he simply was not around at the time.

“Lucky,” she mumbled, not actually meaning to say that out loud. But it seemed she did and that the man beside her had heard it.

“What about you?” He couldn’t help but ask after seeing how she had reacted to his question about having a quirk and the way she looked upset herself he was already quick to assume her experience had not been as good as his but he still did not expect the answer she gave.

“My parents were in denial for years. At first it wasn’t so bad at five and six. By eight they seemed to be coming to terms with the realization their first born was quirkless. So they started trying for another. A little before my tenth birthday they gave birth to a little boy. And I found myself kicked out and discarded. There was no need for a quirkless child in their house. Both my parents had strong quirks, and they had big plans for a future pro hero with a strong quirk. With the chance my brother could be that they kicked me out,” she said simply ending it there not wanting to tell a near stranger that she lived on and off the streets for over a dozen years since. Even though neither of her parents were hero’s they had both always wanted to be but never made it. Forcing their children to live their dream they were enraged when they could not do that any more.

She watched his reaction as she told him the sliver of what her life was like. And of course he seemed to go through a mixture of emotions as he took in what she told him. Though what caught her off guard was the anger that settled in on his face. Usually people settled on pity when they heard her story. But Izuku seemed mad about it.

“How could they do that? They were your parents, they should love you no matter what,” he was nearly growling as he clenched his hands into fists.

“I have no clue how they could be that way. But it’s fine. I haven’t seen them since. I am alive and well. It’s in the past,” she said simply with a shrug of her shoulders, a little unsure how to get him to settle down.

“Still it’s not right,” he growled.

“And yet it happens. You would be surprised at the amount of kids I met on the streets who were disowned due to their quirks or lack of,” she said simply and watched the surprise cross his face before he sighed and settled down.

“I don’t think I want to know. I have a friend who grew up in an abusive home due to his own fathers drive for strong kids and a protégé who could one day beat and surpass All Might. And he had a quirk. I can’t imagine what life for him may have been like had he been quirkless,” Midoriya said as he thought of Todoroki. He probably shouldn’t have been talking about such a personal matter that was not his story to tell. But still he couldn’t help but tell her wanting to show her he could understand her.

“Even with a quirk do you ever still feel helpless?” She asked softly, not wanting to comment on his friend's story. She had heard similar stories from kids and friends she had made growing up. She had a good idea of what the poor person's life must have been like. She almost wondered if maybe she had met this friend of Midoriya’s since most runaways came from abusive homes like that. But she didn’t ask.

“All of the time,” he said softly, which was both surprising but also somehow nice to hear. To know that even with a strong quirk and strength he still was human and felt helpless at times.

“Oh do you want your food warmed back up?” She quickly changed the subject as she wanted to get away from the personal conversation. A silent nod of his head was all she needed to grab his take out container and run it to the kitchen to warm up and bring it back for him to finish eating.

Next Chapter

[callsignmercy]

No fear - Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky.

Prompt: Tom Kazansky has no fear. But maybe almost losing you can change that.

Words: ~3k

Warning: Iceman being a dick, crying, near death experience, language? Happy ending, fluff, Charlie being nice.

Note: Happy 100 followers to me! Thanks you everyone. Here’s an Iceman fic for you! Still having a writer’s block but hopefully I can get rid of it soon. Highly unedited. English is not my first language. Sorry for the easy vocabulary and bad grammar. Please do not republish translate or do whatever to my work.

Y/C/S: your call sign

Your RIO’s name and callsign: Jack/Sunset.

————————————————————————

Lieutenant Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky has no fear. He flies fast, with precision and never misses the target. As they say, ice cold, no mistake. And you resent him with every fibre of your being.

He’s so obnoxious and arrogant, always sure of himself. Everything that you are not. You’re cute and nice and kind and you wish you could show that side of your personality but in the field you’re in it’s impossible. Unless you want to be stepped on. You’re a woman, which doesn’t help your case in the first place, but being nice on top of it? No way. So you fake a mean attitude all the time, as well as a confident personality and you try to not take shit from anyone.

It’s hard but you manage.

The Top Gun class of ‘86 welcomed a woman for the first time in history and you wanted to make women all over the USA proud of it. You had fierce opponents like Maverick and Iceman but you wanted to prove them all that you were fit for the task.

They had all pretty much tried to flirt with you since the beginning of the week but you didn’t pay them any mind, not wanting to be affiliated with any of them. People might think that you were trying to get points by flirting with the others and you didn’t want any of that, so you stayed away from them.

The only one that didn’t come after you was Iceman. You didn’t really know why considering his RIO even asked you out, but you were grateful that at least one of them had a little decency.

He was polite and said hello to you whenever you passed each other in the halls and smiled at you but nothing more.

During a night out at the bar that you were mainly spending alone as your own RIO had decided he was gonna try his luck with one of the girls there.

Sitting at the bar you were nursing your cocktail, paying no mind to anyone, trying to have a little fun but not really succeeding in the task. The sound was too loud for your liking and the bar was packed. You couldn’t turn without bumping into someone. You really hated this kind of atmosphere but you played the part, not wanting to be considered dull for not enjoying yourself.

Your RIO kind of forced you to come, so you had to fake having fun but you would rather be in your room, reading a book or watching a movie right now.

Iceman noticed you sitting alone at the bar and walked up to you. “Having fun round here?” He asked. “Best time of my life.” You said sarcastically. “I can see that. Why are you sitting here alone?” “I don’t feel like talking to anyone or just being here altogether but Sunset kinda forced me to come, so here I am.” “You don’t like parties?” “No, I do, it’s just that it’s too packed and too loud for my liking and I don’t have any friends other than Jack and he just left to go see some girl so I’m on my own.” You answered.

“Do you want to get out of here?” He asked, which surprised you. “I wouldn’t want to make you miss the party or the opportunity to get home with a girl. I can stay on my own, don't worry. You should go back out there.” “It’s alright I don’t feel like it tonight, do you want to go get some food?” “Really?” “Yeah.” He smiled. “Alright.” You bit your lip. “Let me just go tell my RIO and I’ll meet you at the door.”

He nodded and you went to see Jack to tell him you were leaving. A few minutes later you met Tom at the door and you walked the few metres that separated you from the diner.

You spent the evening talking and laughing with Tom. It felt easy and nice to be able to talk with someone other than your RIO. You didn’t feel like he was trying to flirt with you which felt nice for a change.

After a few hours you both went back to base and he bid you goodnight before going back to his own dorm room.

You went to sleep that night with a smile on your face and the feeling that you had made a new friend and didn’t feel so lonely anymore.

As you headed to class the next morning you harboured a soft smile on your face which differed from the hard look you usually had. When you entered the classroom all the guys were already here smirking at you. Your smile disappeared as you felt this couldn’t be a good omen.

You decided to sit down next to your RIO, as usual, without paying any mind to any of them but they kept smirking and shaking their heads.

“What’s happening?” You whispered to Jack. “Apparently you slept with Iceman last night.” He murmured. “Excuse me?” You said, louder than expected.

You turned your head to Iceman. “Care to explain?” You asked him with a cold tone. “It’s okay sweetheart. I asked where he went last night and he told me he left with you and he didn’t deny when I asked him if you fucked so…” Slider answered for him. “Why are you lying to them? You know nothing happened between us.” You exclaimed, still looking at Tom, ignoring the others. He shrugged, unphased and you scoffed, shaking your head before facing the board in front of you as Charlie came through the door.

You tried to focus on the course Charlie was teaching but knowing that nobody respected you anymore because of a simple lie was destroying you inside.

You knew people would assume you really did it, and that you did it to get in Ice’s good favour and score more points like this. And on top of everything, you knew that if it were to be known by any superiors, you might be dismissed and removed from the program for it, ultimately penalising your RIO as well. The image of women in the navy and in any army corps would be worsened and they wouldn’t be taken seriously anymore as everyone would assume they were all like you.

You almost cried in the middle of the classroom that day, thinking about what you had done. Which, in the end was, well…nothing. And yet, men won again.

So that day you decided that for the remaining of the thirteen weeks of the program, you wouldn’t talk to any of them, unless absolutely necessary, and keep any communication to the bare minimum.

And you had never felt so lonely in your life.

You weren’t the nice, kind and cute woman you were before entering Top Gun, or the stern, emotionless woman you appeared to be at the beginning of the program. Now you were just plain empty. Neutral face on, at all times, no more smiles, no more charisma, no more hellos and goodbyes to your comrades. You didn’t speak a word to them anymore, you didn’t smile at them, didn’t participate in class, nor volunteered for anything. Everything felt dull.

Jack, your RIO felt it too, even though you still spoke to him, he felt like you weren’t your usual self. He knew the real you, the cute and kind you, the always nice and polite you but now this part of you was gone.

“Are you alright?” Charlie asked you one day at the end of a class as the last of your comrades walked out the door. You put on a fake smile and nodded. “You don’t have to lie to me, you know. I can see something is wrong. Also Maverick told me.” She admitted. Your smile faded as she spoke the last words. “Then you already know the answer.” “You know, they’re still boys in their head, they don’t understand that we feel emotions differently than them and they don’t know how such lies can affect our lives. They believe it’s pointless, that nobody will pay any mind to it but they’re wrong. Maverick and Goose know it, if it can make you feel better. They know you didn’t do anything and it was just a lie. They feel sad because you don’t talk to them anymore, they really enjoyed your company the first few days before it happened. They told me that you were really nice and that they enjoyed talking with you and Sunset.” You gave her a small crooked smile before thanking her and leaving as well.

—

At the end of the thirteen weeks Iceman and Slider won Top Gun with you and Sunset coming second. You didn’t really mind that they won, you managed to make some people proud and you hoped women would be more considered now that you had proven you were capable.

Everyone was having a really nice time at the party. You were conversing with Jack when you saw Iceman approaching you both. You turned your back to him, still not ready to face him nor talk to him. You knew he wasn’t going to apologise for anything.

You didn’t see it, but his expression saddened when he saw you turn your back to him. Jack saw it too and understood your move. He got up to approach Iceman in order for him not to get too close to you. “I just wanted to say congratulations to you both.” Iceman said. “You did a really great job together.” “Thanks man, we really appreciate it.” Jack answered, shaking Tom’s hand.

Iceman’s eyes wandered above your RIO’s shoulder, seeing you were still ignoring him. He smiled at Sunset again and left with a small sigh.

“Thanks for this.” You told your RIO. “I’ve always got you, you know that.” You gave him a small smile. “Why do you still not want to talk to him? It’s been like twelve weeks.” “You don’t understand the power a small lie like that holds. It can literally ruin my career.” “How so?” He asked kindly. “Well first of all, he lied to everyone, it’s something everyone believed I did, and after that everyone was going to think that I slept with him to get an advantage on the ranking. Second of all, if it were to be known by any of our superiors I could have been sent back to our squadron, and you would have too, because we’re a team here. Ultimately losing any opportunity we had to finish Top Gun and humiliating every woman in the navy because I couldn’t keep it in my pants so every man would assume we were all like that and not give us chances anymore.” “Wow, I didn’t really think about all that.” He said, stunned. “Yeah, well now it’s done so let’s just go back to our lives and hopefully not see any of them again.”

Your hopes were cut short as you were immediately called for a secret mission along with Maverick and Goose and obviously Iceman and Slider.

As you were getting ready to go on the mission the next day, Iceman came up to you. “Hey, can we talk?” You jumped at the sound of his voice. “Jesus, give a girl a warning.” You replied coldly. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to apologise.” “Okay, but I do not forgive you.” His expression dropped at your words. “Understandable.” Your face remained stoic while looking at him. “I don’t know why I did what I did, that was really stupid of me.” As you didn’t reply he kept going. “I really liked you, still do actually. And I realised how stupid of me it was to have lied like that.” “Then why did you do it?” “Honestly I don’t know, it was just supposed to be a joke and then Slider told everyone and it escalated and I’m sorry.” “You know I really liked spending that evening with you, I thought we were friends and then you screwed me over for no reason.”

“I know I’m sorry.” He replied, head low. “I wanted to ask you out on a real date.” “Well it’s too late now isn’t it? You’ve wasted every chance you had. And you know what? I think I would’ve said yes, because you were the only one that didn’t hit on me and the only one with whom I felt truly happy being with. But you’ve wasted this. And maybe I could’ve been happy right now, instead of being sad.” You say gripping your bag and walking out the door.

A few days later you were risking your life along with your RIO, and four of your Top Gun comrades trying to shoot down enemy MIGs. Maverick managed to shoot down three of them but one was following you and you didn’t seem to be able to lose him.

That’s when you felt it. Bullets shot through your F14 and you started losing altitude. Being unable to control your plane you quickly got closer to the ground. “Eject Y/C/S! Eject! Eject!” You heard Iceman scream through your helmet. Panic came over you as you were trying to recover your plane and not kill yourself and your RIO in the process. “For the love of God Y/C/S eject!” He shouted and you almost felt like you heard his voice break.

As Iceman saw your plane get closer and closer to the ground his eyes welled with tears. “Y/N!” He couldn’t help but scream. And as you nearly crashed on the ground you managed to restart your aircraft and shoot up to the sky. A sigh of relief could be heard from everyone through your helmet. “Why the hell didn’t you eject Y/C/S? You and Sunset could have died!” Maverick was the first to speak. “I went through something like that before, I knew I could escape and save my plane.” You replied. Iceman didn’t say a word, he was traumatised. He didn’t want to think about what could have happened to you and how he would have coped with it. It was all too much for him.

You managed to shoot down an enemy plane after that and complete the mission. The three aircrafts landed on the carrier. You didn’t want to think about what could have happened up there so you got down your plane quickly, followed by your RIO. “I’m sorry I put your life in danger, I shouldn’t have done that.” “It’s alright, I knew you’d either save the plane or we’d have to eject. I was waiting for your instructions, I trust you with my life.” You give him a soft smile and head to the office to debrief the mission.

On the other side of the carrier Iceman is stuck in his plane, not being able to move. Slider gets up from his seat and looks at his pilot. “Hey, you alright man?” Iceman’s head shoots up. “Yeah, uhm yeah, I’ll meet you inside.” He replies.

It took him a few more minutes and a mechanic to get him down from his plane. “You okay Lieutenant?” The mechanic asked. “Uhm, yeah sorry.” Tom replied and got up from his seat.

He headed towards the conference room walking at a slow pace, trying not to think about you. As he got up the stairs and opened the door to enter the premises he was surprised to see you sat down behind it. You were hugging your knees, holding your helmet and tears made their way up your eyes but didn’t seem to go down your face yet. You quickly wiped your face when you heard the door open and hurried to get up on your feet. Only to see that it was Iceman standing in front of you.

He looked at you for a few seconds before speaking. “You scared the shit out of me, you know that?” He said quietly, hurt evident in his voice. You looked down. “Is it going to become a habit? Breaking each other’s hearts like that?” He said and your head shoots up to look at him. “I could have lost you today and I don’t know what I would’ve done if something happened. Because now I can still pretend you’re going to forgive me for what I did and I still have a chance to be with you but if you had died then there would be nothing giving me hope anymore.” “Do you really believe what you said?” “Of course I do. I would never be able to apologise enough for what I did but I hope one day you can forgive me and my stupidity and actually go on a date with me.” He said hopefully.

You take a look to your right and left to see if anyone was there and grab Tom’s collar and pull him to you, crashing your lips on his. He was surprised for a second but quickly returned the kiss and pushed you softly behind an electrical panel so no one could see you. You break the kiss, gasping for air and smiling like a high school girl kissing her crush. He smiles back and kisses you again.

Now Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky only has one fear, the fear of losing you. But the joy of loving you is stronger than anything.

[stardust948]

A zutara prompt, modern au, bending optional.

Katara, sees Zuko and falls in love at first sight. Zuko is confused and concerned about why a really pretty girl would be staring at him.

She should be studying.

She needed to be studying. Spirits, that was the whole reason she was in summer school in the first place! But Katara couldn’t help it. Every time she forced her eyes back to the text book, they’d wonder right back to the window where she could see the training arena. Where she could see him.

The boy was beautiful.

Pale skin sparkling from sweat in the summer sun. Dark hair tied up in a hasty topknot with loose strands sticking to his face. Ripped muscles coupled with a well-defined chest.

Katara flushed, feeling as hot as the fire the boy wielded. She’d give herself five more minutes then return to her anatomy books. Besides, if she thought about it, she technically was studying anatomy right now.

~*~

“Still slow as ever, Zuzu.” Azula teased as she opened her water bottle. “But you nearly grazed me this time, so I’ll give you that.”

“Yeah whatever.” Zuko dumped his water on his head and sighed, letting the steam waft off him.

“Dramatic much.” Azula muttered.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Your secret admirer would beg the differ.” Azula nodded towards the dorm building.

Zuko followed her gaze and saw a Water Tribe girl watching him from a window a floor above them. Even from here, he could see her deep blue eyes and bright red flush. Zuko’s heart fluttered when they made eye contact. The girl flinched and quickly looked away.

“What was that about?”

“Seriously?” Azula asked dryly.

“Maybe she’s never seen advance firebending forms before.” Zuko rubbed his chin and thought about the tension between the Fire Nation and Water Tribes. Since campus was practically deserted during summer school, he’d figure it was fine to firebend outside. “I hope we didn’t make her uncomfortable.”  

Azula rolled her eyes. “You’re unbelievable.” She stole his water bottle and finished it off. “Loser buys ice cream!”

Zuko groaned. He glanced back at the window and caught the name of the building. Whitman dorm. He decided to drop by and clear things up with her.

“I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Fine. You owe me. Plus interest.” Azula shrugged.  “And don’t expect me to go easy on you next training session.”

Zuko waved her off as he headed towards the dorm.

~*~

Katara had never been more embarrassed in her entire life.

She buried her head in the textbook to muffle her scream. That’s it. No more using the study room. Katara quickly packed her bags and ran out. It was a 20 minute walk to the library but she clearly couldn’t focus here. She should had left sooner. Spirits, why did it take a hot guy catching her ogling to come to the decision.

Once inside the elevator, Katara sighed deeply. She’s never going to live this down. Hopefully, she’ll never see him again. The elevator ding snapped her out of her spiraling thoughts. Katara barged out, eager to put some distance between her and the embarrassing memory, when she crashed into someone.

“Ow! Watch where…” Katara trailed off.

She knew that chest.

“Sorry about that.” The boy rasped. “Oh, you’re the girl from the window!”

Katara wanted to die.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable with my bending. Since it’s pretty empty out I thought no one would mind.” The boy scratched his head sheepishly. “Um, my sister and I can use the gym if you want-“

“No!” Katara blurted out.

The boy gave her a confused look.

“No, uh, it’s no problem really. I’ve never seen firebending up close and was amazed by your… form.”

“Really?”  

Katara nodded, throat growing dry. Up close, he was even more enamoring and sincere.

“Wow, thanks. That’s a relief. I’m Zuko by the way.”

“Katara.”

“I was about to head to the cafeteria. Wanna come?” Zuko glanced at her bag. “Oh, unless you were heading somewhere.

“It’s fine really.” Katara smiled and shook her head. “I love a good distraction.”

~~~

This was so fun! Thanks for the prompt ❤️

[dancingbabya-notes]

Lost pokemon

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I wrote this on a whim. I had a better idea than what I ended up with but if I ever remember what that was supposed to be I’ll try again. Think of this as a Pokémon AU thing but no quirks.

Characters: Bakugo, Kirishima, Kaminari, Midoriya

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What was it? Leaving their little town to visit family, or was it the dratini wandering from their side?

“Igneel, where are you?” It was rare their companion left their side. Much less disappear like this in a crowd.

What if someone stole them? Or worse thought he was a piece of merchandise? Their head swam with worry as doubts and fears built up into panic. No, not down that alley. Not there.

They were just about to give up hope when they heard someone approach. Looking up they hug Igneel, still a bit peeved that he disappeared without saying anything.

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Bakugo

“Keep a better eye on your Pokémon dumbass,” the young man standing next to you scolded.

The Quilava next to him jumped into your lap earning a surprised squeak.

“Igneel just disappeared before I realized he was gone,” tears started again and due to this simple reaction the trainer talking to you picked you up.

People were gathering around you. Now embarrassed you covered your face with your hands. Yeah what a way to make a scene, sitting on the ground crying to a complete stranger. You were dropped unceremoniously on a patch of grass closer to the woods, you did have to admit maybe you should have put Igneel in his poke-ball.

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop fucking apologizing.”

“But-

“What’s your name?”

“(Y/N) this is my first time in Castelia city.” You mumble awkwardly.

“Bakugo, and wow it wasn’t obvious by the big ass suit case you were lugging.” He scoffs.

Frowning you cross your arms after finally standing up again. “Well sorry not all of us grow up in metal jungles, city boy.”

“What did you jus-

“(Y/N)!”

Rolling your eyes you leave the conversation. “Let’s go Igneel, Aunty probably made something tasty for us to eat.”

That probably won’t be the last time you talk to him.

Kaminari

As you hug Igneel, you suddenly feel your hair standing on end. Looking down you giggle as a Jolteon is practically giving you enough static to charge up your body.

“Hey Spark! Stop it, you're gonna hurt them!” A young man with blond hair quickly lunges for the Pokémon.

Before you know what’s going on, he gets shocked. Quickly pulling out your first aid kit you try to tend to his wounds but he seemed fine.

“No worries, she’s just excited. I’m Kaminari,” the boy smiles.

You giggle, taking your bandana and cleaning his face a bit. “(Y/N). It’s a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for returning Igneel, he doesn’t usually leave my side.”

“Have you never been to Saffron city before?” He asks.

Shaking your head you both get back on your feet. “I’m visiting family, my uncle slipped a disk so he needed me to help.”

“That’s terrible.” He gasps.

“He’s fine, we keep telling him to take it easy. He just needs to follow the doctor's orders and everything will be fine. But I’m not all that sure about battling trainers, I don’t have any fighting type Pokémon either,” you laugh nervously. “Hopefully I can do this well enough.”

Kaminari looks at your Dritini. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Igneel doesn’t like fighting, um…” looking up at the clock tower you gasp. “Oh fiddlesticks I gotta go, I’m gonna be late.”

“See you round?”

You give a thumbs up as you wave Igneel to follow you.

Kirishima

Even though you were usually steady on your feet you didn’t expect to get pounced on by an energetic Rockruff. A storm of excited licks and a thumping tail as the Pokémon sat on your stomach you tried to gently fight them off.

“Down, he-hey stop I’m ticklish.” You giggle trying to get your bearings.

Suddenly the weight was gone and you finally had a moment to breathe. “Get off them Dusk, I thought we talked about just- (Y/N)?”

Cleaning your face with the handkerchief you keep, you look up at the trainer holding the Rockruff. “Rocky? I mean-

Embarrassed you cover your face.

“Please kill me. I know you said you didn't like it when I called you that when we were kids but it was the first thing that came to mind. I didn’t mean to cause problems the moment that I return to Vermilion city, sometimes you just can-

“(Y/n)!”

Blinking, you stand up and give a weak smile. “Hey Kirishima.”

He laughs, crushing you into a firm hug. “I missed you, how have you been? Did you get any new Pokémon? What’ve you been up to? Wait are you-

Laughing, you hug him back. “I can only answer one question at a time, Kirishima. How about we talk on the way back?”

“Of course!”

Midoriya

“Hey um, sorry. I never realized that a Dritini would just-

You wave your hand dismissively. “Igneel isn’t exactly used to big cities like Castelia, don’t worry. I’m more upset with him. Thanks for bringing him back.”

The green haired young man seemed awkward as he stood before you. “He kind of led me to you.”

Upon hearing this you turn to your Pokémon. “I thought we talked about this. You shouldn’t lead people to me just because they seem nice. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s nothing I just-

The Kubfu that had been clinging to his back jumped from him to you. Chuckling you hold them in your arms with a smile. “Hello, you’re mighty cute. Just like your trainer.”

“Huh?”

“I said you're cute. Let’s go find a place to sit, wouldn’t want to take up too much walking space. Uh… there should be a seating area near the docks,” you offer waving him on.

“Wait now?”

You nod. “Unless you want me to walk off with your Pokémon, not my intention but they won’t let me go.”

The green haired man seemed to think about it for a while before nodding. “We shouldn’t block off the street.”

“Right, come on. I’m (Y/N) by the way.” You smile.

“Midoriya, and you have Cookie in your arms.” He responds and you have to hold back a laugh.

“Such a cute name. I bet they're strong Pokémon right Cookie.” You tease.

Master list <-‡—‡—‡—‡—‡—‡—‡—‡—‡—‡—‡—‡—‡-> next maybe?

[thegreencanary]

The Wrong One

Based on this request!

Summary: The gang goes out to a party and Billy has to stay behind with the kiddos. Until he gets a call.

Paring: Billy Hargrove x Female Reader

TW: Fighting, Cursing, Breaking the Law, Light sexy times (no full smut), Smoking. MINORS DNI. I’LL GET HOPPER ON YOUR BUTT.

A/N: this is my original work. I give NO ONE permission to copy it or post it somewhere else claiming as their own.

P.S: I was almost done and forgot to save the draft so now I have to START OVER 😭😭😭

7:45pm

Leather pants, Judas Priest T-shirt, and red heels; you felt good. Nancy, Vickie and Robin were in the kitchen pre-gaming, Jonathan and Eddie were in his van smoking and Steve was probably still screwing around with his look in the mirror. You managed to steal away to the room with the phone and made a call.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come tonight? I’m pretty sure El and Max can take care of that whole group…”

Billy had to play babysitter tonight, it was his turn; but you didn’t like going to parties without him. He was your safety net, it didn’t help that you’d been in love with him for years.

“I know they can, but Neil isn’t gonna be happy if I leave Max with kids her age…you know—“

“No I understand. We’re both babysitting tonight.”

Billy’s deep, sweet laugh made you smile and play with the phone cord. God you were in deep.

“Yeah I’d take the brats over drunk Wheeler any day. Plus you’ve got Princess Steve and I’m assuming Jonathan is getting high with Eddie.”

“Yes, yes and yes. BUT Nancy and Jonathan will be in a room before midnight screwing each others brains out. Eddie and his new boo thang will probably be the first to leave the party and Robin, Vickie, Steve and I have fun together.”

There was a pause on the other side of the line.

“You and Steve are going to be hunting tonight. I swear to God if you get drunk and hook up with Harrington I’ll never let you forget about it.”

“Oh come on Billy. Not in a million years. He’s like my brother! If anything I’ll be wingmaning him tonight and flying solo like always. ”

The pause was even longer this time. It felt heavy, a little awkward. You always stayed single because no one matched up to Billy in your mind.

“Well…make sure you have my number on you. If shit goes south call me. Or make it easy for someone else to call me so I can come help.”

“You got it. Hopefully you won’t have to ruin your night to come save us dumb drunks.”

“You’re cute when you’re drunk. MAX WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU— I gotta go, Max just started my car I’m gonna kill her.”

You chuckled as he hung up. A bright red blush painting your face as he called you cute.

“Y/N!!!!!! Come onnnnn we’re leaving!!”

Nancy was already drunk. This was going to be a long night.

—————————————————————

11:55pm

Eddie and his partner left. Nancy and Jonathan were nowhere to be seen and you laughed to yourself. You really should start placing bets on these things. You’d found a couch to sit on while the party raged around you. Vickie and Robin were secluded in a corner, away from all the dumb drunk idiots. You sipped your beer, not really feeling up to partying much longer, when two guys sat on either side. Immediately you tense up and looked for a safety net. You could see Robin, that was good.

“What do you think is better? A guy who plays sports or a guy who has a nice car?”

The one leaned in, a little too close, and asked. He smelled of vodka. The other put his arm around you over the couch.

“Well…my boyfriend drives a Camaro and plays basketball so…I won’t accept anything less than both.”

“I could beat your boyfriends ass in basketball.”

“And I could beat his car on the road.”

You smirked.

“But it would take two of you to beat one of him.”

God you were uncomfortable. You wished Billy was there, and you wished you wouldn’t have to lie about him being your boyfriend. The one who was trying to prove he had a nice car touched your thigh and you stood up quickly.

“Goodbye boys.”

“Wait! Hold on hot stuff. What’s your name at least?”

You shuddered. Hot stuff. Gross.

“Sixx. My friends call me Sixx.”

It was a fake name that was always the sign of a red flag. Everyone had their own, you picked Sixx because of Nikki Sixx.

You walked towards the emptier part of the house where Vickie and Robin were in conversation. You slipped into the conversation with ease and both girls could tell you were uncomfortable. Without even mentioning it, the two of them covered you and that helped lot.

What you didn’t realize is the other one reached in your pocket and took your keys when the loud one touched your leg. Billy’s number was on your keys.

Ring…ring….ring…..ri-

“Whoever this is you better have a good fucking reason for calling me right now.”

“Your girlfriend is gonna get her ass beat on the front lawn and there is nothing you can do about it. Sixx is our whore now. You little bitch.”

They hung up, high fived each other and went back to the party. The one stuck your keys in his pocket. They were going to see you again.

——————————————————

12:13am

Steve was MIA which you were kind of proud of, while you Vickie and Robin were starting to have a really good time. The commotion at the door grabbed everyone’s attention though.

“Where is she???”

That voice sounded really familiar. You tried to peak over the crowd but it wasn’t hard to spot him. Billy stormed through the party, sweat dripping down his chest, the golden hair placed perfectly around his face.

“Billy?”

You called out and his head snapped in your direction. The audible signs and groans of disappointment from all the other girls at the party were drowned out when he wrapped you tightly in his body.

“Well hello to you too?”

You muffled into his chest. His hug was desperate, not too far off from the one he gave you after you saved his ass at the mall. After about a minute and a half he finally let you go, worry ghosted over his face but it was being relieved as he looked you up and down.

“You’re okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

Billy closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’ll tell you in a later. Where is everyone?”

The party just continued as if Billy’s dramatic entrance didn’t happen. A few people came around and said hi to him but he just ignored them as the two of you talked.

“Robin and Vickie are right over there and…”

You hesitated as you felt Billy hug you from behind as you pointed to Robin and Vickie. He was being very touchy. Not that it bothered you but it was a little out of character for him.

“…and Steve is missing in action it I’m sure he’s getting his own.”

Billy

You were answering his question but he couldn’t focus much. The way the leather pants hugged your curves, and your shirt didn’t even show cleavage but he couldn’t stop thinking about your tits under it. Billy had wanted you for a long time, but you were more than just another fuck. He wanted to do it the right way with you. Tonight didn’t help, you smell like alcohol and roses and your outfit looked so good on you.

“No action for you tonight?”

Billy asked in response to you making the comment about Steve. The blonde didn’t want to overtly cock block you..just secretly.

“Oh no haha. I just came for the drinks. The music sucks too.”

He watched you wrap your lips around the red solo cup rim. God you were so fucking beautiful. But someone had threatened you. He had to find out who.

“I’ll be back in a minute. I’m gonna find someone really quick. Be back before you can finish that beer babe.”

Billy winked at you and walked off. He loved the shade of red you got when he used pet names on you. Now he was going through the crowds, looking for anyone who was specifically avoiding him. Billy made the dramatic entrance for two reasons.

1. So you knew he was there, and you’d find him immediately. He had to make sure you weren’t harmed.

2. The fuckers who called him would see who they were messing with.

Billy scoped the whole floor, couldn’t find anything. He tracked downstairs where there was a pool game going on and two guys immediately turned around and tried to avoid him.

“Bingo.”

Billy made a b-line to them. His intention was to just talk to them; but when he saw your keys hanging from one of their pockets, his vision went dark.

You

“FIGHT!”

Someone came running up the stairs and you immediately knew it was Billy who got in the fight. How you knew, you didn’t know but you left Robin and Vickie and sprinted downstairs to see Billy beating the shit out of the two guys who were being extremely creepy with you earlier.

“Billy!”

He knocked out the one with a punch and grabbed the other in his hand.

“We’re these guys hitting on you earlier?”

“Billy it’s not worth it.”

“WERE THEY HITTING ON YOU. YES. OR. NO.”

“Yes! But I told them to fuck off!”

Billy hit the other one hard, knocking him against the pool table.

“You threaten me or my girlfriend again; you’re dead.”

You noticed something in his bloody hand. He walked over to you and firmly grabbed your arm; taking you upstairs. It was your keys. The Creeps must have grabbed them.

“Billy slow down!”

You had a lot of questions. What did he mean threaten again, how did he have your keys, did he know those boys? The girlfriend comment didn’t mean much. You figured he just said that to prove a point.

“Billy you’re hurting me!”

You whimpered as his and gripped your bicep hard enough to bruise. Immediately he let you go, remorse swimming in his anger filled eyes. You took his hand in yours and softly spoke.

“Let’s get out of here. Vickie can take my car home. She stopped drinking hours ago. You can take me home. Okay?”

Billy grunted in agreement, you gently took your keys and found Robin, Billy still latched to your free hand. She took your keys and handed them to Vickie, thanking the girls you headed out. He opened his passenger door for you.

“Billy?” You got in. He walked around and started the car. Billy took off in a true speedster fashion. After about 5 minutes he spoke.

“I got a phone call, some douche called you a whore. Said your name was Sixx. They threatened to kick your ass on the front lawn. I found your keys in one of their pockets. It’s how I knew it was them.”

“Mmmm. I see. Well, thanks for coming to my rescue. Sorry to ruin your night.”

“Shut up. You never ruin my night, I love seeing pretty women who need a big strong man to save them.”

He chuckled but you wiggled nervously in the seat.

“Why do you tease me like that so much? It’s not fair.”

Maybe it was the alcohol…definitely the alcohol, but you spoke up about how much he flirted. Billy pulled into your drive and Killed the engine.

“Oh I’m not teasing you. I think you’re gorgeous. I just know what you think about my reputation with women. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to flirt with you and try to win you over Anyways.”

“Why haven’t you said anything before?”

“Come on Y/N. Think about it…’Hey babe. Can I talk to you about my emotions and feelings and shit?’ Like I would ever do that.”

“But you can with me.”

“I know…it’s just…hard.”

“I understand.”

You gently placed your hand on top of his white knuckles that were gripping the steering wheel. He relaxed and you leaned in to kiss his cheek.

“Thanks for the ride hom-mmm!”

Billy’s hands were on either side of your face pulling you in for a deep kiss. He’d caught you mid sentence and began exploring your mouth with his tongue. Slowly his hands went from your cheeks to your waist as he pulled you to straddle him in the drivers seat. Your arms wrapped around his neck as you indulged the kiss. A soft moan escaped your mouth when Billy squeezed your ass. It made you both pause.

“Billy…I- I don’t want to rush-“

“No you’re right. I want to do this the right way. As much as I’d love to carry you inside and throw you on your bed, I want to prove to you I’m different now.”

His hips bucked into as he talked about throwing you on the bed and you gasped. A smile rippled through his face as yours became more red.

Placing a soft kiss on his lips you opened the door and got off of him.

“Call me tomorrow?”

“Nah. I’m gonna pick you up tomorrow. So I’ll see you then.”

You smiled biting your lip.

“Okay then. See you tomorrow.”

Billy smiled, winked and drove off.

————————————————

The end! I noticed I’m a sucker for mutual pining and friends to lovers stories 😂😂😂

Hope y’all liked it!! I’m slowly working through my requests! I have a lot of Billy so if y’all can ask for some Steve or Eddie I’d appreciate it ❤️❤️❤️

Like, comment, reblog!! Thank you! As always, kind constructive criticism is welcome!

[footballxixstars]

Learning and Lying • Phil Foden

Child/Parent Prompt List • Number 10

“Look what I did in the potty!”

“Look what I did in the potty!” Your child said running into the room, seeming really proud of themselves. You and Phil were in the middle of potty training them which was proving more difficult than you thought that it would be. They had shown signs of being ready for it like taking off their own nappy and asking you or Phil to change it for them but now you were actually training them they never seemed to want to do it. No matter the rewards that you promised them if they actually went in the potty they still wouldn’t go. Maybe it was just the potty, that was one of your thoughts but still, they wouldn’t go on the actual toilet either. They had watched both you and Phil go there just to them where they should be going but still, nothing seemed to be working. Maybe they weren’t properly ready for the potty training yet. That’s what you thought anyway until you heard your child say those words.

Instantly you and Phil stopped what you were doing and made your way to the potty wanting to see if they had finally gone where you had been trying to get them to go for days. Both you and Phil were about to give up on it and then try again in a few weeks when they may be more ready for it but after that call, you may have to rethink that decision. When you made it to their potty you could instantly sense that something wasn’t right with it. The potty that they have was white so it would be easy to spot the colour of the pee and the ‘pee’ was very clear, a little too clear and you knew that they had not drunk that much water to make their pee that clear. There also seemed to be a lot of pee in the potty, maybe a little too much. Something definitely was not right about this.

“Did you really pee in the potty?” Phil asked them, obviously feeling and seeing the same thing as you. The guilty look instantly came over your child's face and you just knew that they had lied to you, you can read them well.

“Why’d you lie baby?” You questioned them. There was obviously some reason as to why they felt they needed to lie and you wanted, needed, to know why. You just hoped that it wasn’t because of how much pressure you and Phil were putting on them to go in the potty. Neither of you thought you were putting that much pressure on them but you never know how the child feels so you just have to hope you weren’t pushing them that hard.

“I wanted a treat,” they said with a frown on their face. You could tell that Phil was a bit impressed and somewhat proud of the lie and how they came up with it to get a treat but you didn’t want your child to lie to you especially not over something so small as peeing in the potty. He probably didn’t want them to lie to him either yet couldn’t help but be slightly proud of this little plan your child had come up with. To be fair so were you but your child can not know this. Both you and Phil will have to watch out as they get older because they will become an evil genius.

“You don’t lie to mummy and daddy to get a treat. If you want one then you ask and then you may get one but you don’t if you lie,” You told your child sternly trying to teach them that lying isn’t the way to get what they want and how lying isn’t the way to go about things. Phil’s small quiet laughs from behind you weren’t helping you much though, especially with the little giggles your son was letting out too.

“How about you sit on the potty, I’ll go get a game and we can play a game whilst you sit there and maybe you’ll go on it and get a treat,” Phil suggested and your child instantly nodded their head starting to take off their trousers and nappy to sit on the potty whilst Phil went to get a number of games. You left the two of them to it, allowing them to spend some quality time together whilst also hopefully getting your child to actually go on the potty.

Phil and your child were sitting in the bathroom for some time playing games whilst your child stayed sat on the potty meanwhile you were getting dinner ready for the three of you. You were getting stuff out of the oven when you heard your son shout excitedly. You hadn’t heard them in a while, usually, there's a lot of screaming and laughing when Phil and your child are together but for a while, there was silence so when you heard your child shout you did jump out of your skin but luckily had already placed the hot pan down.

“Look what I did in the potty!” Your child screamed once again but this time they actually did a wee in the potty. It may seem like a small achievement to most people but to your son and you and Phil, this is a massive achievement. One step closer to being fully potty trained they just have to do this more often but now they’ve done it once it will hopefully encourage them to do it on the potty more often.

MASTERLIST | MORE FODEN