#& he made a quip as she poked at him about how 'usually i ask for more money before i get to this point'

[orcelito]

lmfao

tfw this person u barely know but is friends(?) with the person u killed a prince with so theyre coming with u on the run. they go out to get clothes with said friend. accidentally nearly kill a guy & then get the town guards looking for them. & they come back to ur place so u pull them into ur room to hide out as the guards talk to ur adopted mom at the front door. and after they leave ur gonna go to look out the front window of ur room and ur like "You should hide under the bed to make sure they can't see you in here." & theyre like "Are you Serious?" & u (aka Fang) is just like. a lil snarkily, "Or you could hide in the bed. We could say you're a customer." & theyre like "Oh, don't tempt me with a good time." & then u just kinda Smirk & push them towards the bed b4 going to peek out the window as they ultimately hide under the bed and just

what . a fuckin moment . fang is not rly one to flirt outside of the job so this kinda took me by surprise lmfao. but i think a lil friendly flirt banter with a new friend is a GREAT vibe we r starting

[ellecdc]

Running Late

poly!wolfstar x fem!reader who is visually impaired

CW: reader has a degenerative eye disease that has left her with little sight, boys are obsessed with her, Marlene and Regulus read Sirius like a book

A/N: another fic no one really asked for but, after my post with our sweet wheelchair user!reader, our resident pink heart emoji felt courageous enough to share their own experience with visual impairment and I was inspired by her to write this - so, I hope you enjoy it 🩷 (and everyone else who might need it 🫶)

There was a time that you and Sirius rivalled one another for who took the longest to get ready, but lately it seemed that you usually won in that regard. 

Remus didn’t mind, however; he’d wait on you for the rest of his life if you’d let him. 

He had a certain amount of patience for you that he, admittedly, did not have for Sirius; seeing as you had your degenerative eye disease to blame on your tardiness whereas Sirius was just a slow and lazy sod who lived to drive Remus mad. 

He and Sirius had been dressed in their best in the living room as they waited for you to finish getting ready before heading to Regulus’ birthday party that Lily and James were throwing for him, when Sirius couldn’t take it any longer.

“I’m just going to go see what is taking so long.” He explained before he disappeared down the hall.

But that was almost 14 minutes ago and now Remus had lost two of his partners in his own flat.

He slowly made his way down the hall to the bedroom door that was currently propped open, allowing him to watch Sirius who was perched on the vanity table as he hovered over you with a stick of eyeliner in his hands. 

You used to be quite adventurous with makeup; always watching new tutorials and trying out different styles. But as your eyesight deteriorated, you opted to remain more natural in your looks, working primarily off of memory than visuals when having to hold a mirror so close to your face no longer allowed you the dexterity to work as you were used to. 

And Remus knew for certain you hadn’t touched that stick of eyeliner in what had to be months. 

“Don’t you trust my abilities?” Sirius asked teasingly; his tongue poking out the side of his mouth as he focused on getting the wing just right.

“‘Course I trust you, Siri. I just-”

“-don’t want to look silly, I know, doll.” Sirius finished for you softly as he leaned back to consider his work. “I’d never let you leave looking silly.”

“When has she ever looked silly, Pads?” Remus asked then, alerting the two of you to his presence. 

“Not once; never.” He answered readily, causing you to scoff.

“See, this is why I don’t trust you; you’re not objective.”

“I am too objective!” Sirius quickly denied.

“Sirius, you think I look sexy with my retainer and flannel pyjamas.” You deadpanned in return. 

“But… you are sexy with your retainer and flannel pyjamas? You just look so cosy which makes me think about bed, which makes me think about going to bed with you, which makes me think about what we do in said bed and-” 

“Alright, alright.” Remus interrupted with a hand on Sirius’ shoulder as he inspected Sirius’ handiwork. 

“How does she look?” Sirius asked him, leaning into Remus’ side as they both watched you flush under their attention. 

“Breathtaking.” Remus offered. 

“You’re not objective, either.” You murmured, pulling the small mirror close to your face in order to scrutinise Sirius’ application. 

“Fine, you want objective, gorgeous?” Sirius quipped as he pulled his phone out.

“What are you doing?” You asked warily as you heard Sirius’ phone begin to ring. 

“Calling the most objective people I know.” He answered just as the ringing stopped.

“What the fuck do you want? And also, where the fuck are you?” Regulus asked his brother.

“Hey Reg, you’re on speaker phone and I need a favour.” 

“On my birthday? You’re asking me for a favour on my birthday?” Regulus asked incredulously. 

“Relax you git, I just need you to find Marlene and put your camera on so you can answer a question for me.” Sirius called back.

You grumbled in protest at Sirius’ theatrics but acquiesced at Remus’ kiss to your temple and thumb rubbing along your shoulder where his hand rested. 

“The fuck does he want!?” You all heard Marlene ask Regulus, causing the two of you to snort and Sirius to scoff in offence. 

“You guys are fuckin’ horrid, listen; how do I look?”

Marlene went first. “Slutty.”

“Like you tried too hard.” Regulus continued.

“Like you’re still trying to piss off your parents even though you don’t talk to them anymore.” 

“Like you were lost at a Paramore concert back in 2007 and still haven’t been picked up from the venue.”

“Okay, okay, Jesus.” Sirius sighed before repositioning himself. “And how does Moony look?”

“Better, I guess.” Regulus offered. 

“If I had to pick a man.” Marlene continued.

“Great.” Sirius said sarcastically. “And what about Y/N?” He asked as he pointed the phone to you. 

Remus could tell you were trying your hardest not to completely turn in on yourself, which he himself was selfishly grateful for as he got to enjoy the view.

“God, she’s such a doll.” Marlene breathed out. 

“You look stunning, love.” Regulus called out.

“Great, you guys are both wankers, love you, see you soon.” Sirius responded before abruptly ending the call.  “Was that objective enough for you?” 

You let out a sigh of faux exasperation and threw your head back. “Okay! Okay.” You relented, allowing Remus to pull you up by your hands and kiss your forehead.

“Oi! Watch the makeup Rem!” Sirius admonished him with a pat to his arse. “We worked hard on that, don’t you know?”

And Remus did know, though he didn’t think you had to. 

Because you were beautiful - always had been - and the way you carried yourself with grace and determination even when you felt as though your body was failing you left you, somehow, even more beautiful. 

Remus had known you before your eyesight started to deteriorate, and he was lucky to have been able to love both versions of you.

Though, selfishly, he thought perhaps he loved this version of you more, simply because it was his.

Simply because it was you; here, now. 

And judging by the lovesick look adorning his boyfriend’s face as he watched you stand and give him a twirl, Sirius felt just the same.

[vxnuslogy]

– in between missions.

pairing: sunday x gn!reader

premise: it's been an eventful six months since sunday joined the stellaron hunters. today marked one of their very rare day offs, and what better way to spend the day with the people that's taken care of him.

– warnings: slight angst if you squint, mentions of blood in some parts.

– author's note: updated the lore in this little mini-series (?) LMAOO thank you sunday leaks on sunday for bringing me back to life. so sorry for being a bit ia, tumblr has been such a pain in the ass that it slightly demotivated me to write. new layout for sunday fics too so yippie!! (totally not foreshadowing). art credits to 冒火锅海台 on Weibo for the art. | 4.1k words (LMFAO).

MORNING — 6:00 A.M.

before, sunday would wake up at the crack of dawn; waiting for the sun’s rays as he watered the plants he’d been taking care of. now –he still wakes up earlier than most– he spends his mornings in a big kitchen with the sound of kafka’s humming filling the bubbles of silences that start to form. it was always a pleasure helping the older woman cook everyone’s breakfast without having their loud bickering in the background (though sometimes he would grow paranoid if he never heard it throughout the day; he’s grown used to your voices).

before missions started, all the petty quips, and the laughter, sunday appreciated the quiet moments he gets to share with kafka.

“sunny, can you take over for me? i need to defrost silver wolf’s nuggets.”

sunday only hummed in response. body lazily slipping itself into kafka’s previous position of frying the leftover rice from yesterday. “sunny” was the woman’s name for him; a form of endearment, you said, she does it to everyone. sunday would never admit it himself (kafka often teased how adorable his morning voice was so he tried not to speak until after breakfast), but hearing that little nickname always sent a flurry of little butterflies down to his chest. collecting the pollen from the flowers you’ve carefully placed in between his ribs and spreading it all over his chest. no one has ever given him such a casual nickname before, so sunday had started to cling to it like a lifeline.

when the clock strikes 7:30, it usually means you're about to wake up. after patting his hands dry on a spare kitchen towel, sunday lifts his head and there you are. a small smile spread across his lips when you greeted kafka with a side hug. you still had your bed hair and your eyes were barely open; it was an endearing sight to see.

“good morning,” sunday snaps out of his daze when an arm wraps around his shoulder and pulls him close to your chest. sunday could distinctly smell the chocolate you ate with silver wolf the night before and the soft remnants of your scented candle. he let his head lean more into your touch as he mumbles a soft good morning straight to your heart. ignoring the pair of eyes that crinkle in amusement behind the kitchen counter.

by the time 7:50 rolls around, you’re fully awake. a cup of coffee in your hands as you, him, and kafka go door to door to wake up your little group. from the corner of sunday’s eyes, he sees kafka peer over blade’s door and a grumpy okay go through. on the other end, he sees you greet firefly good morning with a hug before disappearing into another hall to come and get elio. 

before he could even knock on silver wolf’s door, the wooden thing pulled open and he was met with the sight of the silver haired girl looking down at her game console. he chuckled in amusement, patting down the stray hairs that poked up and guided her to the kitchen. he made sure to ask if she’s beaten the boss yet and when she replied with an angry huff, sunday took it as a sign to not bring it up for a while.

it's already 8:10 when everyone is sitting down around the kitchen table. plates of warm fried rice, chicken nuggets, some slices of fruits, pancakes, and multiple cups of teas and coffees were laid down on the table. small chatter started to arise and sunday could feel the energy start to spike as well. as he took bite after bite until he felt your knee bump into his. when he turned to you, he was met with the sight of you pushing more food in his direction.

“you need to eat more,” you said before taking a bite of your pancake. “you’ll need the extra nutrients if you want to fly again.”

sunday just smiled and accepted your offerings without as much as a word.

roughly an hour passes before everyone is cleaning up their spaces. blade was on dishes duty while the rest went back to their rooms to get changed. sunday was in his quarters, buttoning up a spare polo blade had given him when he heard a knock on his door.

“good morning again.” you greet with a smile.

sunday smiled in return and urged you to come in. “good morning to you, too.”

“kafka and firefly are going out for groceries. do you want anything?”

sunday was taken back to the days where he would water the plants in his office back in the penacony. how he would run his finger down each leaf and smile to himself when a flower starts to bloom. if sunday only joined a few weeks ago, he’d declined immediately. but it's been almost half a year since he’s joined, and he’s feeling a bit more comfortable with asking for more personal things.

“plants,” he replies. “the small ones that are easy to take care of.”

you tilt your head curiously like an owl. “why plants?”

“i used to take care of some flowers back in dewlight pavilion every morning. i’d like to get back into that, if you don’t mind.”

sunday recognized that little smirk of yours. with a shake of his head, he accompanies you out his room after fixing up his hair and bid farewell to kafka and firefly.

“let’s get you all the plants you want then.” 

AFTERNOON — 2:38 P.M.

training in the afternoon was something sunday didn’t get quite used to. even now as he’s exchanging blows with blade, he feels quite unsure of his grip around the hilt of the wooden sword; how his footwork felt sloppy and uncoordinated. sunday wasn’t shocked (maybe, just slightly, a bit bitter) when the dark haired man knocked him off his feet for the seventh time in under two hours.

“you’re overthinking things too much,” the man grumbled, offering his hand to him. “it’s written all over your face; stop thinking about the nitty gritty things and start focusing on the task at hand. if you keep focusing on your opponent's footwork, you’ll end up ignoring his swings.”

“right, apologize. let’s go again.”

sunday had never felt such a competitive surge of emotions come over him whenever he trained with blade. the way he swung the charred sword in his hands; his body and how it moved so fluidly like water; and his determination to win despite beating him by more than a mile; it made sunday want to genuinely get better. blade fought like it would be his last battle, and he would go down with a fight.

“mister is getting better,” muttered silver wolf as she collapsed face first by your side, finishing her own training with elio. “he’s keeping up with the old man now.”

you brush away the bangs that stuck to her forehead and offer her a towel. elio, now in their cat form, sat down on your other side and started playing with the orange peels. “sunday has improved a lot huh? it feels like it was just yesterday when he first joined.”

“for reals.” the silver haired girl stretched and tried to reach over for the oranges.

a memory resurfaced in sunday’s mind when he caught sight of you peeling oranges for silver wolf. how you looked particularly at peace in the moment. his mind replayed the image of robin when she came back to penacony after the accident. he had such an intense amount of guilt for not being by her side at such a hard time, he isn't quite sure how to put it into words. 

“brother!” shouted robin as she entered his office, a bright smile on her face and her phone in hand.

before he could utter a word she had shoved her phone to his face, “an orange?” he asked with a confused tilt of his head.

robin nodded and said, “they say when someone close to you peels your oranges, it's a sign of having a strong relationship! is that why you’ve been peeling my oranges for me recently?”

sunday felt the wind be knocked out of him as his world turned upside down. blade had flipped him over to his back and as the cherry on top, whacked him on the head with his wooden sword. 

“for not paying attention,” he grumbled. “let’s call it a day.”

he didn’t get much of a word in when blade was already seated beside silver wolf (the girl shoving an orange slice to his mouth and him accepting it silently). sunday gets up from his lying position, patting down the dust on his (blade’s) clothes and takes a seat next to you. 

“do you mind opening your wings for me?” you ask as you place a small plate of orange slices on his lap.

taking one in his hand and a small bite, he lets the pair of wings by his waist stretch out and lay on your lap. your careful fingers and observant eyes scanning over every feather, smoothing out the ones that stuck out. it wasn’t long before silver wolf put down her console and started poking at his wings too.

“do you feel that, mister?” she asks.

he shakes his head with a small smile, “no, i do not.”

she only hummed and looked up at you. “will he be able to fly soon?”

you take a few seconds to respond.

“soon,” you mutter as your hands re-adjusted the exoskeleton that’s been supporting them. “they look better than when you first arrived. you seem rather curious, what gives?”

silver wolf pouted and shoved at you lightly. your chuckle rang in his ears like music. the same melodies he would play on his record player when the night feels too long. sunday leaned more to your side when the younger girl showed a pixelated character in her game and pointed to its wings. 

“when you fly again, mister, you have to take me with you!” she excitedly exclaimed with stars in her eyes. “i’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to fly.”

sunday felt a tug deep within his heart when he looked into her eyes. silver wolf, surprisingly, was very welcoming of him when he first joined. they got along fine and would even spend their free time in each other’s company. her excited demeanor reminded him of how robin looked when he first took to the skies. the animated expression on her face; her grin reaching her eyes; and the way she’s leaning forward in anticipation.

“when i fly again, i’ll be sure to let you know first.”

his reply was all the more worth it when the girl jumped in delight and landed on blade’s back. your laughter along with silver wolf’s excited blabbering and even blade’s protests made more flowers bloom inside his chest. sunday ceased his chuckling when he realized he had run out of oranges to eat. before he could even ask for more you’re already replacing his empty one with a new plate filled with peeled oranges.

“i can peel them myself, [name].” he says almost in a whisper.

“i know you can,” you dangle the orange peel in front of elio and let them play with it and stack them in a pile. “but let me do it for you.”

EVENING — 6:00 P.M.

“it’s my turn to decide what we get to eat!”

“it’s been your turn for two weeks. if anything, it’s my turn now.”

sunday could only push the two further and further apart, or at least try too. blade was a foot taller than him and obviously more bulked up than him; silver wolf might be the shortest but she knows how to use it to her advantage, zooming from one place to another like a little mouse. he could only plead with a lopsided smile when you enter the kitchen, your towel around your neck to catch the stray waters that dropped from your hair.

you sighed with the shake of your head and pulled silver wolf back into your chest. two arms snugly wrapped around her small shoulders as she kicked and pointed at blade. sunday on the other hand stepped in front of the man with a stretched arm, trying to calm down the silver haired girl as best as he could.

“at this point if you two can’t decide then i’ll just cook whatever i want.” you joked. both heads turned towards you and glared, but you only laughed and let silver wolf stomp her way to sit on the kitchen counter. “how about some sweet and spicy chicken for dinner? that way you both get what you want.”

sunday watched in amusement as silver wolf jutted her lower lip and mumbled on how she wanted cake. blade only slumped his shoulders and grumbled a low fine and started helping you take out all the ingredients from the fridge as well as the pans and bowls.

“i swear you two have worse cravings than a pregnant wom– ow!” you didn’t get to finish when blade purposely knocked your head when he opened a cabinet. your eyes narrowed at him while he only shrugged. a playful smirk on his lips as he shoved your head lower when you went to berate him.

a soft nudge on sunday’s back pushed him a bit forward. elio’s blue eyes in their cat form met his own gold ones and the two stared for a while. the cat motioned his head towards you and blade who chatted over dinner, not long, silver wolf also joined. 

“go join them.” was all they said before jumping down from the table and going to who knows where.

sunday didn’t get a chance to reply when a pair of arms snuck around his waist. he let out a noise between a surprised gasp and a shout that made you snort in amusement. when he turned to glare at you, you only stuck your tongue out and tied the apron around his waist.

“come help us make dinner, sunday.” 

and how could he say no when you’re already dragging him by the apron to the kitchen aisles with all the ingredients laid down.

by 7:15 p.m., kafka and firefly enter through the door and are met with a memorably amusing sight of sunday almost collapsing on their dining table as elio pushes a carton of milk to his direction. you and silver wolf were laughing at him with pointing hands and tears in your eyes. even blade cracked his own chuckle and rolled his eyes playfully as the halovian kicked him in the shin.

the taller woman surmised that sunday had fallen victim to blade’s insane spice addiction. the stray silver spoon on the table with the sauce was evidence. kafka let out a chuckle as firefly came over to his side –still keeping a bit of distance– and asking if he was alright.

“thought you were only getting groceries?” you ask with a raised brow. eyes surveying the amount of bags she and firefly had in their hands.

“there was a sale for clothes,” kafka reasoned. “how could we say no?”

you shake your head in disbelief and give the woman a side hug. “dinner will be ready in ten. help the poor angel soothe his tongue in the meantime.”

kafka laughed as she dropped her bags by the living room couch and guided sunday to sit down. firefly handed him an empty glass and offered to pour the milk in it. he shook his head no and did it himself. the poor boy downed the drink in one go and it didn’t seem enough to soothe his burning tongue so firefly went to get another carton from the fridge.

sunday furrowed his brows and stuck out his tongue. no doubt his taste buds won’t be working for a while.

“why does blade put so much spice in his food?” he questions the older woman who only smiled. her eyes glazed over to where the said man was and sunday followed. 

“bladie can’t taste anything that isn’t spicy,” kafka said, her eyes not once leaving blade’s figure. “a living corpse can’t really taste anything. spice is considered a pain sensation; pain is the only thing he can feel and taste.”

sunday frowns at this new information. he knows little of blade’s past and had made no effort to try and dig it up. he was curious, yes, but it must be an incredibly sensitive topic if every night the man slips away from his bedroom seeking you or kafka out to soothe the mara that’s coursing through his body.

“i… see.” a hand came to ruffle up his hair. he looked up to see kafka smiling down at him and handed him another cup of milk.

“try to ask him about it someday. maybe you’ll be able to help.”

sunday keeps that information at the back of his mind until everyone finishes cooking dinner.

the clock hit 7:25 and everyone decided to eat by the living room to see what kafka and firefly bought in their mini shopping spree. he sat in between you and blade on the floor, using the small coffee table in front of you to hold your food while silver wolf sat on the couch behind him. her legs over your shoulders and slouched on the couch.

time surprisingly passed slowly tonight. only ten minutes had actually passed of kafka showing off her new coat, but to sunday it had felt like eternity. he absentmindedly tossed his food around his plate, pushing away all the spicy pieces of chicken to the edge of his plate.

“not eating the spicy chicken now are we?” sunday whipped his head to blade and glared. warmth rising to his cheeks, wings fluttering in embarrassment when he remembered what had happened not too long ago. 

“your “normal” amount of spice nearly sent me to a coma,” he rebutted with a roll of his eyes. “so pardon me for not wanting to be sent to the hospital.”

you let out a loud laugh and leaned back on the couch. silver wolf was now using his head as support when she agreed wholly with his statement. firefly let out a quiet cough to silence her laugh while kafka chuckled. blade only rolled his eyes and took the pieces of chicken on his plate and placed it on his own.

“you said you wanted to try.” he argued back. a teasing lilt to his voice as he placed a piece of chicken to his mouth to add more salt to the injury.

“a grave mistake that was.”

you cease your laughing and lean on your propped up arm. “well look at you two, getting along so well!”

sunday scowled while blade scoffed. both picking up pieces of food and silently chewing. what started as a small bump of sunday’s elbow turned into a small petty argument about spice tolerance.

“it is quite sweet of you bladie,” kafka started. “for taking all the spicy pieces off of sunny’s plate, i mean.” 

you jumped to the wagon immediately and nodded. “agreed! you’ve never done that for anyone here before. i’m starting to think you’re playing favorites.”

“one more word and i’m dumping the rest of the chili oil on your plates.”

that had shut you up immediately. for extra measures, you scooted away from them both with your plate close to your chest. “shutting up now…”

NIGHT — 11:20 P.M.

sunday let out a long sigh as he tossed and turned in his bed. he had lost count of how many times he’s replayed tonight’s dinner in his mind to at least try and get some sleep and not be plagued by his nightmares. tonight was joyful, and he’d like to keep it that way till the end of the day. but his insomnia had struck him again like always. he’s already drunk two pills from the medication you bought him and it's yet to take effect.

with one last sigh, sunday threw off the sheets over his body and stalked out of his room as quietly as he could. the base was dark in the dead of night. the halls looked more ominous and longer than normal, something he believed was taken out of a horror film. when he first wandered these halls at this hour, sunday would feel the pricks of his paranoia.

but unlike the first time, there were no longer stray feathers of ravens following his wake. his feet weren’t stained by his blood as he dragged his body to the direction of salvation. in these halls, sunday wasn’t carrying a knife he used to plunge into his own chest to try and make the weight of the sins he didn’t commit a little lighter. he was free; free as he could be in the safety of everyone’s presence.

his gaze shifted to the slightly ajar door that led to your workshop. he frowned as he realized you were staying up late again. when he peered into the small crack, sunday was met with the sight of firefly hunched over your desk, sound asleep with stray pieces of fabric by her feet.

the nights at base were usually cold so sunday quickly walked to his room again to get a spare blanket. as quietly as he could, the halovian entered your workshop, silently cursing when the door creaked slightly. making sure he didn’t step on any of the fabrics on the floor, sunday draped the blanket over the girl’s shoulders.

another memory of his resurfaced. on nights like these, robin would sneak into his office with a pillow and blanket in her hands. she would guide his head gently to lay on the pillow and not the harsh wooden table and make sure the blanket over his shoulders didn’t slip until morning came. by instinct, sunday’s hand came to smooth down firefly’s hair and whispered good night.

he started picking up the stray pieces of whites, blues, and blacks from the floor and neatly folded them one by one. placing them in neat piles on your table. with one last look to firefly’s figure, he smiled to himself and quietly shut the door behind him. his next stop was the kitchen to brew himself a cup of tea.

“he’s gone now, firefly.”

even as you called out to her, firefly did not budge and kept her head in between her folded arms. you shook your head and sat down next to her. you had witnessed what happened and you could only guess the conflicted feelings the girl felt.

“do you think he’s a bad person, little knight?” you ask, hands picking up one of the fabrics sunday had graciously folded and laid them on the table. a measuring tape around your shoulders and a pencil snuggly on your ear.

“he’s done bad things, but…” you hum in reply. firefly’s voice was muffled because of her arms but you heard her perfectly fine, much to her dismay. “i don’t think he’s a fully bad person. i just find it… awkward to interact with him.”

“do you want to interact with him?” you wonder. “as friends i mean.”

firefly finally raised her head. hand clutching the blanket draped over her shoulders as the other ghosted over the spot where sunday had patted down and whispered good night.

“i don’t know.”

you only hum. “sunday is rather strange isn’t he? he’s quite the piece of work if you ask me.”

“what about you?” firefly fires back, scooting her chair closer to you. “do you think he’s a bad person.”

“no. no i don’t.” you answer immediately and feel firefly pause. “he’s kindest person i’ve ever met.”

“i see…”

you pat her head gently and fixate your gaze back to your table.

“he’s a lot more like us than anyone expected. sunday has done bad things that hurt those around him, but we’ve also done that haven’t we? take your time. all of us were lonely at some point, so it’s also his first time he’s ever craved someone’s company. we’ve all done that too, didn’t we?”

when a new day started (around 1:56 a.m.) she made her way back to her room. sunday’s blanket was still wrapped around her even when she laid down on her own bed. she never pointed out how you purposefully drafted a space for the ticket you’ve always hidden on sunday’s new uniform.

© vxnuslogy 2024. please do not copy, repost, or translate any of my works.

[bbina]

since you finished packing yesterday, you were the first one to get inside the cinema room so that meant you had a loveseat all to yourself. immediately. you plopped your feet on the other side of the sofa so no one else would sit beside you. this was the last day for lounging around in a house with all your friends

not even a moment later the rest of the guys all start coming in, you figured everyone just finished doing their own thing.

suddenly the other side of the sofa dips. you look at the culprit who had the audacity to sit next to you only to see it was wonbin.

“hope this seat isn’t taken” wonbin quips, patting your leg as he moves it to the side so he can have some space to sit.

“it is, now move” you say, trying to kick him off the loveseat but he doens’t budge. instead, wonbin lifts your legs and places them on his lap.

“too damn bad” wonbin pokes his tongue out at you, leaning back as he makes himself comfortable.

eunseok passes by and makes a “bleugh” sound before sitting down on the sofa with shotaro following suit

shotaro makes eye contact with wonbin and grins, making a heart sign with his hands, referring to you and wonbin.

anton, sohee and seunghan all sit near the projector, arguing about which movie to play first.

“i say crayon shin chan!” seunghan proposes, snatching the laptop off anton’s hands as he types his favorite show onto the web. sohee lets out an irritated sigh before snatching the laptop back

“i don’t want to watch shinchan over and over again!” sohee argues, looking up new movies that everyone hasn’t seen yet.

“uh have you guys asked everyone what they wanted to watch though?” anton looks at the rest of you, just waiting for what movie they were gonna put on. eunseok hears the commotion and suggested trolls 3. you countered that by saying you wanted to watch a horror movie. but wonbin chimes in that he doesn’t want to watch anything scary the night before you all leave back to seoul, shotaro adds that he doesn’t really care what movie they’re gonna play.

at this point everyone was just talking over each other

while everyone was arguing, sungchan and his girlfriend wordlessly come into the room. they just had a little argument prior to coming and it was evident on sungchan’s face.

yujin was accusing sungchan about some baseless accusation that he was “too” concerned for your well being and that he should just drop the fact that you were with wonbin. sungchan argued back by saying he has the right to be concerned for you as you were his best friend.

not wanting to ruin the group’s plans, they just made amends for the sake of not ruining the last group bonding.

sungchan’s eyes trail towards you and wonbin when him and yujin find a spot to sit. the way your legs are on wonbin’s lap, wonbin massaging your legs as you play on your phone. sungchan couldn’t pinpoint what he was feeling over this. why does it hurt him that you’re acting like how you usually act with him with another person?

yujin notices sungchan staring and clicks her tongue in annoyance, promptly bringing sungchan back to his senses.

“them again? seriously sungchan, this is getting annoying and weird” she grumbles, arms crossed over her chest.

sungchan rsisted the urge to roll his eyes. “you’re just seeing things, jin”

yujin doesn’t say anything else and simply goes on her phone, ignoring sungchan.

“jesus christ let’s just watch everything!” you yell, having enough of everyone being indecisive.

“i wanna watch everything everywhere all at once too!” you hear sohee excitedly say to anton and seunghan who also agreed that they wanted to watch it too. not even a minute later, anton plays the movie and projects it to the big screen

you and wonbin start giggling at the fact they heard you wrong but it evidently prompted the youngests to start the movie marathon.

and so, everyone settles in and starts watching the first of many movies.

—

a couple movies in, you couldn’t take the cold much longer. you didn’t put into consideration how cold anton’s cinema room would be. you find yourself shivering next to wonbin who looked all warm and cozy thanks to his hoodie. you wrap your arms around your body, trying to conserve body heat, fidgeting next to wonbin.

“what are you doing?” he asks, noticing your discomfort

“nothing, just fixing my position” you reply, attempting to appear nonchalant (and failing)

wonbin notices the goosebumps on your skin and the way you were shivering a little. he sits up and takes off his hoodie before offering it to you.

“here” he says, handing over his hoodie to you. you hesitate for a bit before you shake your head no and refused his hoodie. wonbin rolls his eyes and pushes his hoodie back to your hands

“i’m not taking no for an answer” he says seriously, giving you a look that made you feel fuzzy. wonbin just had this effect on you when he was being serious. so you reluctantly accept the hoodie. wonbin smiles at this, commenting that you look cute in his hoodie before he resumes watching the movie.

you continue watching whatever movie was playing on the big screen, ignoring wonbin’s comment and that weird feeling in your stomach again

suddenly, wonbin removes your legs off his lap and stands up from the couch before leaving the room for a moment. when he returns, he drapes a blanket over you.

he plops back down on the couch and resumes watching the movie up front. you sit there dumbfounded by his act of service. he really took his time to get you a blanket from another room even after he already offered his hoodie.

you feel yourself blush as you sit there, touched by wonbin’s actions. who would even have thought that wonbin was that kind of boyfriend. but oh wait, he’s not your boyfriend. he’s just pretending to be. you start to feel a little conflicted. you shouldn’t even be feeling like this towards wonbin. never in a million years you’d find yourself imagining what it’s like to be wonbin’s real partner.

in attempt to pull yourself back to reality, you remind yourself that this was all fake. you and wonbin aren’t together. you never were. it was all just pretend til this whole thing is over.

maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try and be an actual couple.. even if it’s just for tonight.. you think to yourself. you were in a room with all your friends and sungchan’s girlfriend after all, might as well play the part

your eyes peer over to wonbin who was focused on the movie. you kick his back a little to grab his attention. wonbin turns around with an eyebrow raised. you motioned him to join you under the blanket

wonbin’s worried eyes glance over at eunseok who was at the other end of the room, laying on his back as his attention was fixed on the screen. even if this was all just pretend for him, he still fears eunseok just a tiny bit. he was your older brother after all and he can only guess what could go wrong if he actually pulled a move on you

wonbin feels you kick him again. he holds out his hand out, telling you to wait before scooting right next to you. you smile as you drape his side of the blanket on him before snuggling further into the couch, finally feeling warm

besides the kiss, this has been the closest wonbin has ever been next to you in front of the guys. you had a rule where there would be at least an inch of space between you just to keep things at bay but after everything that happened recently, it's safe to assume that rule has been ruled out

feeling a little risky, and tired from the awkward stiff position wonbin was in (he’s literally sat still with his hands strictly on his lap and his legs straight as a board with eunseok around), wonbin thinks that it may or may not be a bad idea to at least wrap an arm around you

wonbin suddenly leans down and whispers something to your ear

“can i wrap my arm around you? my arms is feeling a little cramped from sitting so straight” he whispers. you didn’t even need to answer him with the way your response was immediately laying your head on his chest. wonbin takes this as a yes and carefully wraps his arm over your shoulders, pulling you close to him

at that exact moment, everything suddenly feels like it’s fallen into place. this whole ordeal suddenly feels right for the both of you. you can’t deny the fuzzy feeling you’re feeling anymore. the way you are snug in wonbin’s arms just feels so right.

you can’t help but smile and sigh in content. wonbin takes it up a notch and leans his head on top of yours while rubbing random shapes on your exposed arm. almost as if this was second nature to him

you two remain in that position for a while, simply enjoying each other’s company while watching the movie. you even started absentmindedly playing with his free hand. wonbin pays no mind and even thinks that you look cute while doing it

“i need to wash my eyes with bleach, jesus christ” eunseok suddenly blurts out. his eyes wide at the sight before him. the rest of the guys look around to see what he was referring to, and their eyes fall on you and wonbin cuddling

you and wonbin simply ignore eunseok, as well as the teasing from the other guys

“eunseok just let them be” shotaro interjects, feeling happy for his best friend

“they’re so cute” seunghan adds

“wonbin hyung is so…” anton trails off, cringing a bit at the sight of his wonbin hyung being lovey-dovey

“will you guys shut up, we can’t hear the movie” wonbin grumbles. trying to block out the surprising supportive comments from his friends. despite his heart swelling at the thought that they actually like you guys together. he reminds himself that this was all for show

“bin is there popcorn left?” you ask, sitting up a bit to look over the table for the bowl of popcorn

wonbin removes his arm around you and looks for the said popcorn bowl which was empty. he shakes his head no and offers to grab some more but you pull him back to the couch, saying you’ll be the one to get it since he already went out of his way earlier to get you a blanket. you say this would be truce so you didn’t have to owe him anything. wonbin simply laughs and ushers you to hurry up before returning his attention back at the movie

with that, you leave the room to grab some more popcorn. sungchan notices and follows suit

“where are you going, chan?” yujin asks when sungchan removes his arm around her. “i’m gonna get a drink” he says, slowly getting up but is stopped when yujin clutches his shirt.

“let me come with”

“no, just stay here and keep my seat warm, okay?” was all he says before kissing the top of her head. she pouts, making sungchan’s heart swell and agrees. “fine, but could you get me a glass of water? thanks babe” she chirps before sinking further with the couch

sungchan spots you by the kitchen counter watching the little corn kernels pop. he smiles at the sight of you giggling as you watch more kernels pop and pop. you probably just added a new batch and was waiting for it to cook

he sneaks up on you before poking your side. instantly, you jump and let out a small yelp.

“fuck you” you cursed, glaring at your best friend.

“haven’t had a proper conversation with you in a while and the first thing you say to me is “fuck you”? i’m hurt, y/n” sungchan pouts, pulling out the puppy eyes on you

you huff as you divert your attention back at the popcorn maker. “what do you want sungchan”

sungchan? not jinsu? sungchan thinks to himself. he shakes his head before trying to make you look at him

“what? can’t i talk to you anymore?” sungchan raises a brow, “and whats with the government name? what happened to jinsu?” he continues, why are you suddenly mean to him?

“that’s your name isn’t it?” you sassed, hoping that the popcorn machine finishes soon. you couldn’t stand to be near sungchan much longer

“y/n” he frowns

the popcorn machine dings, signaling that it was done cooking. you hurriedly scoop a handful to pour it into your bowl. once the bowl is filled to the brim, you walked around sungchan, silent indicating that the conversation is now over

“why are you avoiding me these days?” sungchan turns around to look at you, clearly frustrated with your constant brushing off of his attempts to make a decent conversation with you

“i’m not” you deny, not wanting to continue the conversation. why can’t sungchan take the hint that you didn’t want to talk to him?

“ever since this trip started, you’ve done nothing but brush me off or avoid me. what gives?” sungchan accuses.

you stop on your tracks. a part of you just wanted to drop the bomb on him right there. you were tired of hiding your feelings for him but you know that won’t change anything. he already has yujin so what’s the point?

“are you still mad that i didn’t tell you? god, i said i was sorry already!” sungchan throws his hands up in frustration, “i’m sorry i have a girlfriend now. there, is that what you wanted to hear?” he rants

you snap your head towards him, incredulous at his accusation. yes, you were upset with him over that but that doesn’t mean you were mad at him for having a girlfriend that isn’t you.

“what the fuck is wrong with you, sungchan?” you fumed, slamming the plastic bowl filled with popcorn on the kitchen island. sungchan’s eyes widened at your outburst. already feeling regret that he said those things to you so easily

“sorry to burst your little bubble but i don’t really give a shit if you have a partner” you continued, seething “in case you haven’t noticed i’m with wonbin now” you add, the words just tumbling out before you can stop yourself

hurt flashes through sungchan’s features at the mention of wonbin. so it really is confirmed now. that you really are with wonbin

“wonbin, huh” sungchan chuckles wryly. “so you really are dating him.. since when? why tell me this now?” sungchan continues to throw out questions

that’s when it hits you. that you admitted your “relationship” with wonbin with sungchan. the initial plan of not confirming anything long gone. you internally curse yourself for digging a deeper grave, realizing that you now have to keep up the act til god knows when

“why does it matter to you? you have a girlfriend now so i shouldn’t be your concern anymore!” you bark. having enough with this conversation, you stormed out of the kitchen empty handed, leaving an upset sungchan alone in the kitchen.

“fucking hell” you cursed quietly, walking back to the cinema room. til you spot wonbin leaning by the wall, who seemed to be eavesdropping the entire time

“how much did you hear?” you ask frantically, your hands shaking.

“the part where you confirmed our “relationship” to him” wonbin says, “even if we just said we wouldn’t be doing that” he mumbles the last part.

feeling overwhelmed with everything, tears well up in your eyes. wonbin notices and quickly makes his way towards you, immediately engulfing you in his embrace. your initial irritation with sungchan gradually turns into frustration as you begin to cry

wonbin doesn’t know what took over him when he suddenly plants a kiss on your forehead, ushering you that everything will be alright but somehow it made you feel a tad bit better. the feeling of frustration slowly dispersing

you pull away for a bit, feeling a little embarrassed that wonbin’s shirt was now wet with your tears.

“sorry” you murmured, wiping your snot with the sleeve of his jacket that you were wearing, “wow i can’t believe i let someone else that isn’t eunseok see me cry” you try to crack a joke mid breakdown

wonbin chuckles, tucking the messy strays of hair away from your face. “even in a breakdown, you still managed try and crack a joke?” he muses, trying to make you feel better. it does make you feel better that wonbin was taking care of you. something was just so comforting about wonbin especially when he has you like this in his embrace.

sungchan suddenly appears, a glass of water in hand as per his girlfriend’s request. he feels his chest tighten at the sight of you and wonbin having a moment. he suddenly hears you sniffling and that’s when he realized that he made you cry.

at the same time, wonbin looks up to see sungchan staring at him with wide eyes. wonbin averts his gaze back to you, rubbing your back as you hug him again. sungchan apologizes for interrupting before heading back to the cinema room.

you didn’t bother to look back at sungchan and just stayed still in wonbin’s embrace in the middle of the hallway.

when wonbin was sure that sungchan was out of earshot, he pulls away from the hug to look at your face. your tear stained cheeks and swollen eyes. eunseok might kill him on the spot if you return to the cinema room in that state

“do you want to head back or..?” wonbin starts, unsure how to ask you if you wanted to be back at the cinema room or elsewhere

“i’d rather be anywhere than be in a place where sungchan is in” you grumbled, recalling your argument in the kitchen. “let’s go to my room” you say, grabbing his hand, intertwining it with yours before heading towards your room.

you ignore that weird feeling you had in your stomach again whenever you were like this with wonbin. the feeling of warmth and comfort that he unknowingly provides you

back in the cinema room where almost everyone but yujin was passed out, sungchan hands her the cup of water she requested.

she sits up and gratefully takes the cup from sungchan.

“what took you so long?” she pouts, taking a sip of water, watching her boyfriend who seemed to be frustrated.

“got caught up with y/n and wonbin and we just had a little talk” he says, avoiding the topic.

“y/n again?” she mutters but sungchan doesn’t hear it, before putting the cup in the cup holder, “okay..” she says, dropping the topic. sungchan wasn’t in the mood to talk about it, so be it.

between the lines ★ why does it matter?

⤷ from what started as a simple arrangement to hide your feelings for a certain someone by getting into in a fake relationship soon turns into a tangled mess. in which some things are hard to tell when you can’t read between the lines

 ˗ˏˋ prev | next  ˎˊ˗

★ notes .ᐟ oops

★ taglist .ᐟ @callanton @annswwa @renjuneoo @pinkraindropsfell @lecheugo @ilovejungwonandhaechan @ahnneyong @haechansbbg @snowyseungs @sseastar-main @odxrilove @leeknowarchives @onlywonb @wonychu @leehanascent @jaeyunsb @au-ghosttype @revehosh @keilovr @kyusqult @pinkskiesdream @ether-yeol @yangasm @qwonbani @starwonb1n @ffixtionista @daegale @scrumptiousloser @seunghancore @marksluvs @wonbinfiles @ohmykwonsoonyoung @reenfluffmarshmallow

[digitaldiarystuff]

Enemies (To Lovers?)

so i’m shocking myself with how many stories i upload in one day but let’s not jinx it lol

this was a request but i can’t find where, anyways hope you enjoyy💖

————

pairing: Declan Rice x Y/N

summary: you and Declan never really clicked but now that you’re locked in a room what other option is there than to talk it out

genre: slight angst maybe also slight smut

————

“Ugh I hate him” you told your friend Ariana the minute you entered the villa.

“Who?” she asked not understanding how you got involved in beef even before talking to anyone at the party.

“Who do you think?” you asked her in a duh voice.

“Dec? Girl you two seriously need to drop this petty act.” she whined fed up with you.

But you couldn’t. You couldn’t just stop this childish hate for Declan Rice, the Arsenal ‘superstar’ You have been in the same friend circle since last summer. When your friends first told you about him you were pretty optimistic actually, everyone told you what a great and genuine guy he was and you thought ‘wow we’d get along well’ but it wasn’t the case. From the moment you first met, Declan had a weird vendetta against you. He showed how much he didn’t like you from the first day you met by spilling his drink on you, granted he might’ve accidentally do it but his actions after were enough.

“Stop laughing” you snickered trying to get the red stain out of your white blouse but Declan kept on smiling.

“At least now you have some colour in your life.” he bit back and you couldn’t believe this was the guy everyone told you about. He certainly didn’t look that great to you, apart from his piercing blue eyes and charming smile that obviously didn’t work for you.

If he’d just apologized like a normal person you’d of course let it go but he didn’t, in fact he constantly made fun of how angry you were and poked fun about it. That’s why you didn’t want to be here today, at his multimillion dollar mansion celebrating his team’s newest win but all your friends, especially Ariana, told you you had to be there. They had this weird fantasy about Declan actually liking you more than you realize and trying to show it like a third grader, pulling your hair and throwing erasers at you. You found it stupid, he was a grown adult and showed how much he disliked you like he was and you returned his hatred by hating him.

“Did I hear my name?” Declan suddenly appeared behind you and put his arm around Ariana and you were thankful he didn’t try it with you.

Deep down, what upset you the most was his behavior towards everyone else. He was seemingly cute and warm with everyone else while he always made fun of you and that made you feel uneasy, what was it that made him dislike you this much? You felt left out but you’d never admit it of course.

“Y/N was just telling me how proud she is of you.” Ariana tried lightening the mood and offer peace but Declan had to ruin it by rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m so proud you make millions by kicking a ball for 90 minutes a week. That’s really noble of you.” you sarcastically said.

“Not all of us has to be chained to a cubicle 40 hours a week” he quipped back and you felt even more angry at him.

“Yeah because some of us need money to pay for real things like rent and food.”

He thankfully left you alone after that and went back to being his other persona.

“Y/N I know you don’t want to hear this but you need to stop being so hostile towards Dec. He’s really not that bad.” Ariana said.

“You’re right Ari, I don’t want to hear it.” you shut her down and grabbed yourself a drink.

You weren’t usually this cold but he had something about him that made you snap instantly. But there was no way you’d be the person to break the friend group so you were just going to have to deal with him.

It was well into the party and you felt the buzz from all the alcohol you consumed which was a lot. You needed it very much to calm your nerves and not start any more fights. You were just sitting on the sofa humming to the song in the background when one of your close friends Kayla suddenly turned to you.

“Y/N can you grab me some painkillers from the guest bathroom? My head’s killing me.” she whined.

You really didn’t want to go snooping around Declan’s home, one because you didn’t know the house quite well and two because you didn’t want him to say anything negative about you.

“Is there anyone else who could do that? I don’t know the house well enough.” you tried but she insisted everyone was either too drunk or outside so you reluctantly agreed. She even gave you the directions to the room and you went upstairs, you’d never admit it but Dec had a good taste in interior design. He didn’t have one of those all white lacking personality type of home, his space had character with some pops of colour in every room including the guest bedroom which was the size of your apartment. You cursed yourself for liking something about him and went into the en-suite connected to the guest bedroom trying to look for the painkillers Kayla described.

You were shuffling around the cabinets having a hard time because you had to steady yourself a few times a minute when you heard some footsteps and figured you took too long and she came to get them herself but as luck would have it, it was actually Declan.

“Oh, it’s you” he said with more softness than he did when you first walked in so you figured he must be intoxicated as well.

“I thought someone was trying to steal something.” he said as he walked over to you.

You didn’t stop looking around to look at him.

“I’m surprised you didn’t accuse me yet.” you scoffed.

“Oh I’m getting to it.” he laughed dryly. “What are you doing here anyway? Trying to see if I have a girlfriend?”

You couldn’t even comprehend his sentence when you heard the door shut. You immediately looked back and saw Declan lean against the en-suite door with his arm. His muscles were flexed as he turned to the bedroom door surprised it has shut down.

He made his way over to the door trying to open it only to be unsuccessful. He wiggled the door knob a few times.

“Why don’t you open it?” you asked and he looked back at you like you were stupid.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?”

“I don’t know, you look like you built those muscles for nothing.”

He tried again but in vein. The door was stuck.

“What the fuck?” he said still trying and you started laughing at your faith.

“You’d think after spending millions of pounds the doors wouldn’t be stuck.”

“Would you stop whining?” he asked clearly agitated.

“Only if you open the door.”

“Do you think I want to be stuck here with you?” he harshly asked and you felt your confidence slipping. You were always self conscious when drunk.

When you didn’t respond he turned his attention to you.

“Y/N, I-

“Why do you hate me so much?” you asked finally trying to get an answer to the question you’ve had for months.

“What?”

“Why do you hate me so much?” you repeated.

“I- I don’t hate you.” he murmured but you knew it was a lie.

“Yes you do, you love everyone else. You’re so nice with them but you’re rude to me. I know I’m not the best either but I feel bad when I see you with the others. What is it about me that you hate?” you felt the weight lifting off your chest as you spoke. Yes it was the alcohol that made you say those things but they were true.

“I think we should talk later when you’re not drunk.” he dismissed you and it only angered you more.

“I’m not drunk.”

“Yes you are, you’ve had a million cocktails.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I watch at you anytime you’re not looking!” he raised his voice startling you. In all the time you’ve known Declan he’s never even gotten mad.

“Why? So that you can use the things you see against me?”

“Do you really think that’s what I’m doing? You can’t seriously think I’m going out of my way everyday just to argue with you. I’m watching you because I like seeing you interact with people and it kills me that you’re not that kind to me. I wish you’d be like that with me but if bickering is what gets you talking to me I’m okay with that.” he finally let go of the door and went over to the bed sitting on it without looking at you.

You were in shock about all the things you just heard.

“Declan you’re being mean, you can’t play with me like that!” you shouted at him thinking this was his way of messing with you.

“Do you really think that low of me?” he finally looked up at you and you saw the sincerity in his eyes that everyone was talking about. He looked more genuine than ever. He combed a hand through his hair.

“I- I don’t know.” you murmured conflicted about the whole situation. On one hand you really didn’t think he’d stoop so low but on the other hand you couldn’t believe his admission that easily.

“Why do you act like a prick then?” you asked trying to get to the bottom of it.

“Because that’s the only way you’ll talk to me even if it’s to argue.” he admitted with his head low.

You stood in front of Declan with your hands against your hips trying to wrap your head around the situation but it was hard considering he was wearing a tight shirt hugging his body perfectly and his hair disheveled. With a sudden confidence, you walked closer to him and stood in between his legs and he immediately looked up at you with confusion. If you didn’t have any alcohol in your system you’d never be this forward but with it you could actually do something you actually want for once. You placed your hands on his shoulders as his hands went over to your hips. He was still wary of your reaction but you threw every sane thought away and pushed him onto the bed he was sitting on. He pulled you with him so now you were straddling him, both of you were shocked by your sudden boldness but he didn’t complain. In fact, he never said anything but sat up properly holding you down and started devouring your lips. You kissed back immediately with months of pent up frustration and infatuation.

“You’re so perfect.” he complimented you as his lips found your neck kissing and sucking on your skin. You felt electricity from his touch and cursed yourself for not doing this earlier.

By this time he was slowly pulling your dress straps down your arms and continued his kisses against your chest and you hastily lifted his shirt finally coming in close contact with his abs.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted this.” he murmured as he rolled you over so he was on top of you.

“Then why didn’t you?” you asked.

“Because I thought you’d slap me.”

“I’d much rather if you slapped me.” you said without thinking and his eyes turned even darker if that’s possible. His movements became more rough as you gave him the permission and he peeled your dress down your legs leaving you only in your underwear. You’d normally feel vulnerable and exposed if it was any other man but given the circumstances you just felt hot because Declan told you a million times.

“You’re so beautiful.” he kept telling you as you tried reaching for his belt. He let you take it off and now you were both in your underwear.

He did everything right in that moment, making you reach your orgasm multiple times even before he entered you and made everything about making you feel good. Even if it’s the first time you��ve ever had sex with him, it felt like he knew you better than anyone and you loved the feeling.

After both of you reached your highs moaning each other’s name once more he finally pulled out and laid on the bed pulling you to him. Your head was resting on his chest as he played with your hair occasionally leaving small kisses on it.

“I hope you know I meant everything I said.” he whispered and you looked up at his beautiful eyes knowing he wasn’t lying.

“I know.”

“And I’m not letting you go now that I have a taste.” he smiled.

“Does this mean this isn’t a one time thing?” you teased with a smile on your lips.

“Oh definitely not, in fact I was thinking about having a second round right now.” he wiggled his eyebrows as you laughed and lightly smacked his chest.

“Are you guys cool now that you’ve had sex?” you heard someone yell from outside of the door startling the both of you.

“What the hell?” Dec asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah idiots, we locked you in there hoping you’d talk it out but this is even better.” you heard Ariana yell and your cheeks flushed knowing they must’ve heard somethings but right now you were more thankful than angry.

“Now come out we’re starving.” one of your friends said and you got out of the bed putting your clothes back on with a smile on your face.

Declan Rice wasn’t that bad after all.

[baldurs-gape]

Pulling githtails

Sometimes people had very peculiar ways of making friends. If Gale had ever felt like he was not very well equipped in such a skill, watching some of his current tadpole infected companions made him reconsider his own aptitude. Sure, there were some like Karlach who were larger than life, laughed and drew in all those around them. She had an easy time making friends wherever she went. So did Wyll, his earnest determination didn't even have to wear people down, he simply existed in their orbit and people let him in. By contrast, Shadowheart seemed to choose being aloof, something something Sharran teachings about connections leading to nothing but grief. It was fine, that was her choice. Meanwhile Lae'zel seemed to simply not care for forging bonds. She was on a mission and that was all that mattered. Those who could assist were welcome to share her space in order to obtain their goal but that was it. Last but perhaps most fascinating was Astarion. His aloof manner and poorly disguised vampiric nature were made all the more interesting by his incessant need to poke and prod at people.

At first Gale had been irritated. He didn't enjoy Astarion's digs at his abilities, his past with Mystra or even his fashion sense. Yet every one of his rebuffs was met with a laugh and quip rather than Astarion leaving to pester somebody else. Truthfully, Gale had thought Astarion would be more like a cat that needed a subtle approach until he was accustomed to his presence. Instead, he found himself being treated like a cat but by a five year old who tugged at the cat's tail for attention and perhaps even trying to poke at the limits of a boundary. Either way, the end result was that Astarion's snide comments became less about Gale himself and more about life in general. And, actually, Gale found himself rather enjoying Astarion's company once he'd calmed down somewhat. It also afforded him the luxury of watching the same process of making friends take place while comfortable in his own standing.

After a fight where they were all covered in viscera, blood and who knew what else, Astarion gave Lae'zel a long look from head to toe. In another situation it could have been misconstrued as something more but now Astarion just smirked.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a githskanky," he announced and grandiosely pointed towards the river. "Please wash off that stench before I lose my lunch."

Grumbling, Lae'zel stomped past but made sure to flick her braids near him and Astarion got a glob of mushy red on his cheeky. He scowled, nose crinkling and looked at Gale.

"I guess she took double lessons in fighting at the cost of etiquette lessons." As if that would put someone like Astarion off. If anything, he was spurred on as he trotted after Lae'zel. "Wait! Lae'zel!"

She was wading into the river, already half stripped and rinsing the worst off her armour. Head snapping up, she took in the approaching vampire.

"What?"

"I had the sudden concern around your relations with water," Astarion explained. However, his mouth was already pulled into a badly hidden grin, betraying the incoming joke. "You're of the lizardy sort and they're not usually very water oriented in these parts. It would have been a rather unfortunate oversight on my part to not ensure you are safe. After all, I'd hate to be respinsible if our merry little group had to remember you as their githsanky."

A helmetful of water was hurled rather expertly in Astarion's direction, drenching him. But it didn't wash the smile off his face.

Astarion didn't ease up. At dinner he asked Lae'zel about washing up and whether she was their 'dishyanki' which earned him pot washing duties for the rest of the week. No matter how much he complained about not actually using any of the equipment, the whole camp seemed in agreement he needed to atone for his terrible jokes. At least Gale was more than happy to accompany him to the quiet spot with the flat rock that plates could dry on. And maybe the dishes weren't the only thing getting wet, something which Astarion's dick very much approved of (so did Astarion but that wasn't something he was ready to think about yet).

Trading with the woman wanting the githyanki egg was fortuitous. They had all been carrying rather a lot of scavenged wares they had no use for. To be able to offload it all was a relief. Until Astarion spied a ring in the woman's wares. Trying to bargain for it hadn't worked, neither had he managed to pickpocket her much to his frustration. Determined to get the ring, even if it was outside of his means, Astarion did the only thing he could.

"Lae'zel," he said in a singsong voice. "I know you plan on leaving this plane as soon as we're successful in our mission. Having all that gold would only weigh you down, it would be useless to you in the Astral Planes where you'll fight glorious battles."

"Spit it out."

"I don't suppose I could pretty please alleviate you of such a heavy burden?" Astarion paused, fluttering his lashes. At the lack of reply he shrugged. "No? I could make it up to you in other ways." Hearing that made Gale's heart clench. "Just think, I am a dab hand with swords, I could sharpen yours each day for a tenday. Consider it a loan maybe? I'd pay you back whatever you gave. And with interest! What say you? Be my githbanky?"

Lae'zel marched away from him without dignifying a response. Pouting, Astarion tried to play off his disappointment as over the top dramatics. That evening through, he couldn't hold back the surprised little "ooh" as he spotted the much coveted ring on his bedroll. His eyes met Lae'zel's but neither of them said anything.

Any worries Gale had about Lae'zel's intentions towards Astarion were laid to rest that same evening when she rather loudly and in a prolonged manner claimed Shadowheart as her own. Come morning, sat around for a snack of nuts and fruits, Astarion leaned into Shadowheart's personal space.

"So, you played githyanky?" A glare was his answer but he was undeterred. "Guess you must be on best behaviour or you'll get a githspanky."

"I wouldn't let her hear you say all that," Shadowheart replied airly. "She can get quite irate when tired. Let's just say she stayed up very late last night."

"Oh I know. I think we all heard." Not missing a beat, Astarion bumped his shoulder against hers. "We'll blame you for the githcranky."

A blade was under his throat and lifting his chin to turn away from Shadowheart. Lae'zel glared down at him. With zero sense of self-preservation, Astarion let out a giggle.

"Oooh. A githshanky!"

The flat of the blade smacked gently against his pale cheek before it was dropped back down. Lae'zel seemed to feel she'd made her point and turned away, already fully armoured and ready for the day. Her head turned as he looked at Astarion with a crinkle at the corner of her eye as though smiling.

"No. A githpranky."

[idontplaytrack]

I’ll make it anywhere

Janis ‘Imi’ike x Regina George(+ little sister reader)

Warnings: fluff, coarse language

Part 2 of 3. Read part 1 here.

“I asked her out.”

“And?” Regina asked.

“Thea said yes. We’re going out Friday after school to see a movie and hang out at the mall.” You nearly squealed.

Regina chuckled, “See? We told you everything would be fine.”

“I just…don’t really want to be too excited about this because mom’s been keeping a real close eye on me ever since you’ve been out of the house.”

“I get it.” Regina answered. “Have fun, though.”

“I will, Reg. Thanks.” You sat down on your bed, dropping your backpack on your desk chair.

You got up on your feet a minute later, still on the phone with Regina when you put your phone on the dresser and put her on speaker mode. “How’s Janis? She had the flu a couple days ago, didn’t she?”

“Hi, y/n.” Janis greets, “I’m all better now, thanks for asking.”

“That’s great.” You smiled while opening up your dresser drawers to grab a change of clothes. While you got changed, Janis asks, “How ya doing?”

“Cannot wait for summer already.” You sigh, flopping back onto your bed with your phone in hand.

“Plans?” Regina asks, curious.

“I barely made a few hundred over spring break. Not sure if I wanna continue working while school’s ongoing.” You laugh, “Just dreaming about the city again, and the bagels, god the bagels.”

“We can fly you in again, you know.” Regina mentions. “Or let mom know and you two will be here before you know it.”

“Eh, true.” You chuckled. “Can I stay with you guys again?”

“Of course.” They answered in sync.

You hung up after awhile, wanting to take a nap. “I’m gonna go, I wanna take a nap.”

“Okay, remember to do your homework.” Your sister reminded you.

“I will, right after I get some sleep.”

“Bye, ladybug.” Regina says with a laugh, “Talk to you again soon.”

“Bye, Reggie.”

You tossed your phone aside and quickly fell asleep. When you woke up, it was only because your mom knocked on your door.

“Dinner’s ready, honey.”

“I’m up, Mom. I’ll be right there.” You rolled over onto your back, stretching your arms out. You took your phone with you and sat at the table with your mom to have dinner together. “You’re not going to meet up with Dad?”

“No, I already told him. The answer will always be no. He left us. I don’t want to be around him anymore.” You bite back a sigh, poking your fork into the vegetable lasagna. Dinner went by as per usual, some questions here and there about your day, but it was generally…okay, sometimes a little awkward since you wouldn’t have much to say. You really just didn’t have much going on right now.

“Hey, honey.” She held onto your wrist, and you stopped walking.

“Yeah?” You turned around to face her.

“How is that situation with um…” She began.

“Doran?” You asked expectantly, “He apologised and hasn’t stared at me since. Let’s…hope it stays that way.”

She nods, giving you a hug, “That’s great. But you know what to do if—”

“I’ll tell you, and tell the school.”

“That’s right.” June nodded, “Okay, have a good night, honey. Sleep tight!”

————

“Hey.” You felt a tap on your shoulder, causing you to look back swiftly.

“Oh, hi, Thea.” You smiled, “What’s up?”

“Nothing much, wanna sit together at lunch?”

“Sure, whoever gets to the cafeteria first finds us a table?”

Thea agrees, “Sounds good. You have calc before lunch?”

“Yeah, in 313.”

“Oh.” Thea nods, “I’ll be in 117 right near the cafeteria.”

“Nice, would be helpful since we only have thirty minutes for lunch.” You chuckled.

“Thirty minutes is not enough.” Thea quips.

The first bell rings, interrupting the conversation. “Especially with you.” She continues. You looked away so quickly, feeling your cheeks heat up. She gives you a hug and says, “See you at lunch. Have a good day.”

You laughed awkwardly, “See you at lunch, Thea.”

The rest of your day seemed to drag on. You were practically buzzing with excitement, staring at the clock watching the time tick by. You couldn’t wait for lunchtime. She kept creeping into your mind— it was distracting.

Three hours later, it was finally time for lunch. You made a beeline for the cafeteria, winding your way through the sea of students in the hallways. You saw Thea sit down at a table, so you walked faster to get to where she was. “Hey!” Thea’s face lit up at the sight of you.

“Hi, Thea.” You set your bag down, “Let’s go get our food before the line gets any longer.”

“Good call. I hate queuing up for lunch, we barely have enough time to eat most days.”

“I actually thought of making my own lunches. But I don’t wanna sacrifice my sleep.” You laughed, moving up in the line.

“If you ask me, sleep is more important. Considering how early school starts, and we have to get ready, have breakfast, make our way here.”

“Exactly!” You exhaled, “Most days I get home from school and I just crash until dinner. Then I have dinner, do my homework or some revision, I shower, then I barely have enough time to do anything else for myself.”

“It’s probably only gone get worse from here, y/n.” Thea chortled, “We have one foot out of high school to college.”

“Ugh.” You groaned, “College freaks me out a little right now, if I’m being honest.”

“It’s pretty scary.” Thea agrees, “It’s still quite far away, but near enough that we know we gotta quit playing around.”

“I have like seven schools in mind, three dream schools, four safetys.” You revealed,

“I have eight. Four each.” Thea scoffs, “I know I’m a good student but somehow it just doesn’t feel like enough. The grades show it, but I can’t help but feel like I will still suck somehow,”

“Our minds…tricky.” You nodded, lips pursed, “We could be doing the best we can but sometimes still feel like our best isn’t good enough, even though we may be working ourselves half to death.”

Thea quirked a brow, nodding.

“Well that took a dark turn.” You bit the inside of your cheek, sipping on your sparkling water.

“It’s the truth. I agree with that, life can be tough in that sense.” Thea shrugged, unfazed.

“Mm.” You hummed, glancing at her.

————

After that little lunch thing with Thea on Tuesday, that’s how the rest of your week went. You sat with Thea during lunch whenever possible, and got to know her outside of class. Turns out, the two of you had pretty similar beliefs. In particular, how the universe always had three answers for people: no, not yet, or I have something better for you.

You believed in that for as long as you could remember. But ever since getting to know Thea, that belief has only strengthened.

School let out early on Friday so you went home right after to get ready to go out with Thea in a couple hours. You met up with her at the mall, watched the movie and was then walking around just chatting. Everything was going great, you felt like you two really clicked. She was really sweet and went home with you that night to make sure you got back safe and sound. So absolutely nothing would have prepared you for the hell that was the coming weekend. Thea asks you out to brunch the next day and being excited to spend more time with her, you agreed. Everything went fine— like usual, the conversation was unending, lots of anecdotes shared…along with laughter. But then it came to a screeching halt when she mentioned that her parents were out of town, and invited you to her house. You chewed the inside of you cheek, feeling your heart beginning to race. The way she asked you…you were sure she didn’t just want you to go to her house to hang out. She wanted to hook up with you. You wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but then she continued and asked if you wanted to have sex. She actually explicitly used those words. And well, your eyes looked like they were going to pop out from your head, having not expected a question like this. Even though the thought has crossed your mind once, actually going through with it was scary.

Somehow, you were in her room, making out with her— you’d let desire take over instead of letting your head freak you out. Thea did say that you two didn’t have to do anything more if you didn’t want to.

You feel her hand roaming lower and lower, and your sobriety became more and more apparent. “Mm-mm, no, no. I don’t want to. I’m not ready.”

Thea instantly pulled away. “That’s okay.”

“Excuse me.” You stumbled out of her bed, asking her where her bathroom was.

“Right across from the hall.” She told you.

You walked in there, locking the door behind yourself as you stared at yourself in the mirror, hands grabbing the edge of countertop till your knuckles turned white. You took deep breaths until your breathing evened out again, screwing your eyes shut until the racing thoughts died down.

“You alright, y/n?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I uh— I just— I just need to go, I’m sorry. It’s been a lot of fun, but I freaked out and I’m sorry—”

“Hey.” Thea looked at you, concerned, “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it, we’ll let things happen naturally. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it’s fine too.”

You exhaled harshly, “Okay.”

“Do you want me to drive you home?”

“It’s okay, I want to be on my own for a bit. Thank you, though.”

“Yeah, of course. Have a safe trip back home.”

From the moment you got home and have been debating in your head who to talk to. It then became a toss up between Janis and Regina. Your final choice was Janis.

“Hey, what’s up?” She chirped.

“Uh, so— I don’t know if Regina told you but I went on a date?”

“With Thea yesterday.” She replied.

“And today.” You continued.

“Okay.” Janis answered calmly.

“It was great at first, we just went out to brunch and talked a bunch then she suddenly told me that her parents weren’t home and asked if I wanted to go over to hers,” You started to explain, “I thought, ‘okay, that would be fine’. But no, she said more— she asked if we should hook up. Well, long story short I did go over but we only made out. But she wanted to go further, I stopped her because I didn’t want that yet. I told her I couldn’t do it, she said it was okay but I was still freaked out and decided to leave…to go home. I don’t even know why it’s such a big deal because things turned out to be okay, I’ve been home a few hours now I thought of calling Regina but I thought you’d be the better choice— I just don’t wanna worry her. And she can be a little— overwhelming.”

“I get it, it’s a lot to process but it’s still very early on. If it makes you feel any better I was so damn nervous about my first time but if it’s with the right person, you just forget about your worries eventually. If you two had a conversation about it, and things were okay before you left her house, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Take the rest of the weekend to clear your mind, focus on yourself, doing what you want. To put it simply, if she really likes you and cares about you, she wouldn’t force you into anything. A relationship isn’t just about the physical things.”

“I- I know. Thanks, Jan. I just needed to get that out of my system. Thanks for hearing me out.”

“Any time, bubs.” She assured, “And um, it was a good thing you didn’t call Reg because she went to bed early— her back started to act up today and she took painkillers then just slept.”

“Oh, no.” You sulked, biting your nail, “Is she okay? Did the meds help? Sometimes it doesn’t help.”

“She’s fine, it did help. It took away some of the pain, she managed to fall asleep pretty quickly. I’ve been up for a bit to complete a new art piece and keeping an eye on her. So far, everything’s going well.”

“Okay.” You gnawed on your bottom lip, “Don’t sleep too late though.”

“No promises.”

“Janis.” You warned, “Come on.”

“Alright, alright. Thirty minutes then I’m off to bed. You, too, okay?”

“Fine.” You sulked.

“Good niiight.” She chuckles.

“Night, Jan. Thank you.”

She joked, “Of course, bubs. Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

🏷️Tag list:

@ashecampos @auliisflower @cheesysoup-arlo @frogs00 @ludoesartandstuff @pda128

💭A/N:

Took wayyy longer than expected but I got it done. Hope you enjoyed 🥲✨

[offworldlamb-writes]

here's a snip of the stardew valley fanfic i said i was going to write but then only did parts of, enjoy

xxx

Not a lot of thought went into the veg that started appearing in the kitchen. There was nothing new about that-- the kitchen was usually at least partly stocked with fresh food, but it was hard to miss the fine layer of dirt on everything as the basket holding it all sat on the counter, filling the air with the smell of wet earth. Abby's dad sold veg but they were never that fresh, and with a cup of coffee in hand it didn't cross his mind again until the next basket turned up the following week.

Now Sebastian knew his mum didn't go down to the village that often or that routinely, especially for vegetables they didn't use much of, and yet once again there were parsnips, carrots, potatoes and green beans all in the basket and bringing that wet dirt smell back to the kitchen. He didn't mind that so much-- it was one of the things he liked when he went out for a walk-- but knowing there was mud on something that was going to be food later kind of put him off.

It felt like it was everywhere these days. If it wasn't his mum tracking it in after finishing some building job it was customers bringing it in when they came to her for work, the hallway running past his staircase matted with hundreds of layers of dirt. Regularly mopping the floor didn't seem to do much and he had a feeling no one except him bothered cleaning anywhere beyond the hallway that led to the rest of the house, as every day brought a fresh wave of visitors and a fresh load of dirt. It was starting to come down to his room but he made sure to take his shoes off at the the bottom of the stairs in an effort to keep it clean, but that didn't stop his mum from doing it anyway no matter how many times he asked her.

She walked in as he poked about the basket, greeting him brightly with a smile as she went to pour herself a glass of water. "Isn't the new farmer nice! She brought that over this morning, and she comissioned a chicken coop! I'm heading over in a bit to get some measurements done-- I can't wait to see how that place is looking now!" she said eagerly, missing the bemused look on Sebastian's face as she downed her water, before finally returning the look. "Shepherd, the new farmer. Up at-- really, Seb?" she added with an incredulous chuckle when her explanation yielded nothing but more confusion. "She's been here since the beginning of the year! You must've met her by now!"

Unimpressed with his flat 'no' in response she shook her head with another little laugh, giving his arm an affectionate pat in passing as she headed back towards the hall. "I know you're busy, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if you went outside for more than five minutes."

His huff went ignored or unnoticed-- it didn't matter which one-- as she bid him farewell on her way out, and once he had his fresh cup of coffee he headed back to his room again. They weren't meant to be cruel comments but they always left an uncomfortable bristle down the back of his neck, and without fail they just made him want to leave the house so much less than he already did. His cigarette breaks used to be on the front doorstep or out by the garage but the neverending quips had him walking all the way to the lake most days, which he didn't mind doing for the most part, but that just invited all the more unwanted conversations from anyone who happened to be walking by.

This new farmer seemed to be all anyone was talking about around town, and Sebastian couldn't understand how he hadn't heard of her before. Once he was down the pub even Sam and Abigail were talking about her, about all the work she'd done on the farm and how much she'd been helping out in the village, and started teasing him about his 'hermit' lifestyle when he grumbled about having no idea who they were talking about.

"She's super sweet; you need anything and she'll get it for you!" Sam said brightly, watching Sebastian rack the balls while leaning on his pool cue. "Heard she's really turned that farm around, too. Shane said she's making bank with the stuff she's already grown-- Lewis sells it off for suppliers for her, apparently."

There was a hum of approval from Abigail chilling on the couch nearby, leaning against the armrest with her legs stretched out across the seat as she watched the TV on the wall. "Dad says she's buying so much stuff. I don't know how she has the time to get all that work done and keep running around doing deliveries. She doesn't have a car or anything!"

"The roads here are rubbish and everything is five minutes away from everything else. Why get a car?" was Sam's amused response, setting the white ball at the top of the table and managing a somewhat clean break. What followed Sebastian's shot was an agonising five minutes of pacing on Sam's part, circling the table like a vulture as he studied the position of each red ball on the table with studious concentration, and wafting away any little hints to 'just take the damn shot' with a huff and a flap of his hand.

"It's a half hour walk to my house," came Sebastian's flat response, and he smirked when Sam dismissed him with another hand waft.

"You're a special case-- and you have a motorbike! You could be riding down to the village but you make the choice to walk, man."

When Abigail chimed in with an amused 'he's got you there' Sebastian rolled his eyes. "I'm still working on it. And where the hell would I park it--"

"'And the track is bad and the road's too short'-- all I'm hearing is excuses," came Sam's rebuttal, his teasing mimicry not going unjudged by Sebastian but making Abigail snigger all the same. It took a threatening jab to the back of the knees with a pool cue to get him to finally take his turn, which he undershot by a fair amount, and Sam barely had time to think of his next shot when Sebastian potted two yellows and nearly had a third.

Their first game was done fairly quickly thanks to Sebastian's competence at pool. Sam liked to talk more than he liked to play sometimes, and Abigail didn't like playing at all, but Sebastian gladly suffered through all the pacing and planning and ridiculous strategies if it meant getting a few rounds in. It was infinitely better than hanging around at home and hearing the same nag from his mum about how he never left the house, and they always had the back room to themselves whenever they were here which meant a change of scene without the hassle of unwanted company. Gus and Emily didn't count, obviously, and when Shane wad in a good mood he was always good for a slightly more challenging game of pool.

That's what he liked about the Stardrop Saloon: familiar faces with no over-familiar behaviour. Barely anyone registered that they were there and there was never a fight to get the table, and even if someone was using it when they arrived there was always the arcade machine to tide them over until it was free. The faint smell of beer about the place was usually covered by whatever Gus had on the specials menu that day but nothing serious enough to put him off going entirely: it was one of the only places in the village other than Sam's house that he felt even remotely comfortable occupying, and that was mostly because they'd been going here a few years now on Fridays and it was a good little routine.

But maybe too much routine wasn't good. They played three more games, Sebastian won all three, Abigail won a couple of rounds on Journey of the Prairie King, they argued on who would get the last round of drinks and the last song on the jukebox, and then they went home. The walk home passed in a blank, Sam's joke of Sebastian disappearing until practice later that week rubbing him the wrong way and really making his mood take a nosedive, which was a bummer after a good night out. The predictability didn't hurt so much as the monotony-- he knew it was going to be another week of the same thing and it was painful to think that nothing would ever change, but when almost everything outside his room brought the crushing weight of discomfort nothing was ever going to be different.

[semicolonsspace]

Today was not a good day for Y/n... but it got better.

First: she was fired. Second: she was almost positive that Derek, her boyfriend had forgotten their anniversary. But for now, she decided to ignore her problems and watch some TV.

Plopping onto the couch she sighs, turning on the TV to something random. It was a random cartoon, and she loved it- especially after a hard day.

When she was little she would watch cartoons as well. When her parents were arguing? Cartoons. And when she got a booboo? Cartoons. Even now it was still a habit to watch some cartoons when things got stressful.

Y/n let out a little squeak when she felt herself being picked up. She may have gotten a bit too immersed in TV. "Hi, Dare bear," she says with a giggle. He gave her a warm smile and positioned her in a bridal style. "Hi, sweetie"

Her eye caught his pearly k9 tooth, her favorite to see when he smiled. When it showed, it was a genuine one. And it seemed he never faked one toward her, and she loved that. She loved how genuinely soft the big strong werewolf was for her, a nature faerie.

Derek carried her to their bedroom, laying her down on the huge bed. "I have a surprise for you," He happily shrills as he jogs to the bathroom to fetch something. He comes back with a huge box, along with a few other things.

He hands her a card first, wanting her to open it. She grabbed it gracefully, glancing at him to see his eyes sparkle with happiness. Or maybe it was Eargernes... She giggled, "I thought you forgot." He shook his head, looking a bit offended at first. "I would never forget about you, my love."

She gushed at him, almost shedding a tear from the cuteness. He never seemed to make her feel disloved, she always felt appreciated.

Y/n opened the card, reading it and shedding a few tears as she read it. It talked about the day they met how much he knew she was the one for her. and how he wanted to spend the rest of his wolfy life with her.

"Aww, Derek! You're the cutest!" Yn squealed. She then got up and rolled under the bead to get the present for him.

"You, haven't even opened the other one!

"Wait! I got a bunch of lingerie and I wanted you to judge them!"

Derek tilts his head humorously with a smirk. "Today is about love but when the clock hits midnight we'll do that," he grunts, his veins flexing in his neck as he rolls it to look away bashfully.

Y/n pauses. "Derek, it's 10 p.m."

"I know, now open the present!" he yells, ushering her as he shoved the big box onto her lap. He removes takes a peek under the bed and growls, "How much did you get? Damn," he asks, amazed at how many boxes there were under the bed. "A bit... like 20 pairs... plus some toys."

"Toys?"

Y/n ignores him and rips open the wrapping paper. She squeaks at the big frog stuffed animal with a top hat. "Ahhh! His name shall be George!"

She squeezed the stuffed animal, wrapping her legs and arms around it like she was a koala bear. The soft frog was almost twice her size!

"Great now I'm gonna have to sleep on the couch! you found a new cuddle buddy," Derek teases. He picked her up again, sitting her on his lap once he sat next to where she was. He then opened her next present showing her the necklace with her and his initials on it. He put the necklace on her, kissing her cheek. He patted George on the head. "I think you might like George more than the custom necklace," he jokes.

Y/n gave him a sly smile. "Of course, I do! Look at him, but I don't mind having your initials on my body as well; that's nice as well," She shrugs, blinking at him. He rolled his eyes playfully.

"I love you," Derek whispers and then kisses her cheek. He turns to George, the stuffed animal, "I guess I love you too, George."

This made y/n giggle which caused the two of them to enter a big laughing fit. "George is mine!" She warns with a squint of her usual big eyes.

"Well,  you're mine; so, technically he's mine as well," Derek quips with a poke of her cheek. "Okay, mister guard dog," y/n jokes.

"Don't test me, I'll bark."

"Please don't."

He opens his mouth and she covers it swiftly. He licks her hand as soon as her hand touches his mouth. It doesn't deter her. "Hon, I've had your other fluids on me, your saliva doesn't gross me," she laughs. He winks at her and nibbles her palm.

Derek squeezes her, his head going to her neck and planting a small kiss on the sensitive area just below her ear. Y/n shivered and giggled as it tickled her. "If you're hungry I can make you something, silly," Y/n jokes. Derek shakes his head at her and snuggles into her body more. "I'll have my dessert in a bit."

[softly-potter]

Freezerburn week 2024 - Day Three

Day three submission for fbw❄️ hope you like it!

@freezerburn-week

Prompt: D&D

Word count: 1,471

Warning: none

-

D&D is a heartless, intense thing; which is why Weiss never plays.

She smiles lightly as she watches Yang animatedly describe a new campaign to her group of players, her excitement nearly palpable in her voice. Around the table, Nora and Marrow groan and the three of them begin to talk over one another in an attempt to figure out how to proceed in their gameplay.

Weiss doesn't understand a word being said; but the game makes Yang happy, and that's enough for her. In years past Weiss had attempted to play D&D before, especially when she was trying helplessly to get Yang's attention. The irony of it all was Yang had gotten so good at playing in her attempts to win Weiss over. The board game hasn't been the thing to truly seal the deal for Weiss, however.

Cardin had been his usual dickheaded self during lunch period, poking fun at the younger students. Yang's little sister had been the object of his afflictions that day, and while Ruby had done her best to brush him off, Cardin kept at it, shoving her not so playfully. 

Yang had stood up and slung her arm over Ruby's shoulders. “You can always count on Cardin to cause a ruckus!” Yang had quipped, side hugging her sister before narrowing her eyes at the older boy. “But do that again and you’ll regret it.”

Yang and Ruby had walked away, big grins on their faces and leaving Cardin rooted and angry. Weiss had watched them move, her cheeks flaming when she realized just how pretty Yang's smile was.

Lucky for them, Velvet swooped in and lead him away before he could cause a bigger issue. Yang and Ruby had made it back to their table unharmed, and from her spot, Weiss watched.

After the run in with Cardin, Weiss began to notice the taller girl with blonde hair, and she realized two things immediately.

One, Yang was the head leader of the school's D&D club. They played every Friday after classes, and practiced most tuesdays. Two, Yang was insanely attractive. 

Trying to come up with ways to get closer to her, Weiss decided to learn all she could about the game, and for the next week, she researched random facts and campaign ideas in between classes.

She waited for the perfect opportunity to spout her new found knowledge, and in between classes she had found her chance.

Yang and her friends mingled in front of the doorway to the physics room, but before she could blink, Yang's friends walked away and she turned, headed straight down the hallway.

“Hi.” Weiss said, stepping in Yang's path. Yang had stopped in her tracks, looking at her blankly.

“Hey.” she responded in a bored tone. Weiss’ cheeks had burned.

“I,” she tried and cleared her throat. “Was wondering, if I could, join. Your club.” Yang had looked beyond confused, tilting her head and furrowing her brows.

“The D&D club,” Weiss had explained, getting hotter by the second. Yang slowly looked her up and down before letting out a small snort.

“You don’t look like you play.”

Weiss had flushed in embarrassment and clutched her textbooks closer to her chest. “Are you judging me based on my appearance? That's not very accepting.”

“I guess it’s not,” Yang had replied, her face changing into a smile before looking Weiss straight in the eyes. “Fine then. See you tonight.”

Weiss had felt like her brain had shut down.

“Today?”

Yang smiled, the same expression that had made Weiss notice her in the first place. “No time like the present. Plus we're starting a new campaign.”

She had walked away then, and Weiss had nearly jumped for joy.

Looking back on her first night playing D&D, Weiss had to laugh. It had gone horrendously.

While it started out smoothly, the minute Yang asked for her character name, Weiss had blanked. She picked a random one out of panic, but then Yang had asked for her level and class, and Weiss had broken out into a cold sweat. Nora and Marrow had snickered good naturedly but it didn't change how embarrassed she felt. Marrow, sensing the ruse, attempted to ask her more questions but Yang had waved him and allowed Weiss to simply watch instead of participate.

“Watching is the best way to learn.” Yang had commented, picking up her round of orange dice.

Weiss had tried, really hard, but even after watching intently the whole night, she was still lost.

After the session was over and Nora and Marrow had said their goodbyes, Weiss had apologized profusely. Yang had giggled before turning serious and asked why Weiss would even pretend to be a D&D player if she didn't know how.

“I… needed an excuse to talk to you,” Weiss had whispered, looking down at Yang's boots. “And, D&D is your thing so…”

Yang had placed a hand on her hip and let out a soft laugh. “I’m sure there are other things we can talk about.”

“Really?” Weiss had asked, and Yang had shrugged before giving her that damned smile.

“I’m a handful but so are they, so if you were willing to put up with us and our bullshit, I'd say you deserve some attention.”

Weiss had laughed with relief, so caught up that she hadn’t noticed Yang's lingering stare. The blonde had walked her to Weiss’ car, learning the smallest bits about one another. Weiss found out that both Yang and Ruby were being raised by their dad, and Yang found out while Weiss came from a contained family, they were never home. Weiss learned that Yang loved to play guitar, and Yang found that Weiss was a music enthusiast.

After a while, Yang had wished her a goodnight in a hushed tone, and as Weiss had driven away, she couldn't wipe the smile off her face, and things had only gotten better from there.

Numbers had been exchanged and smoke sessions had occurred. Since her parents were never home, Weiss offered her balcony as a place to hang out, and Yang would often lean against the porch post with a blunt between her fingers that they’d split.

A year into the friendship and Yang had plucked up the courage to ask Weiss out. Of course the white-haired girl had said yes, and Yang had taken her to the movies before getting ramen. Afterwards Yang had driven her home, her hand wandering to the passenger seat and taking Weiss’ fingers between her own. Weiss couldn't have stopped the blush on her face if she had tried.

Reaching her house, Yang had walked her to the door, still holding her hand before giving it a gentle squeeze. “Did you have fun?”

“Yes,” Weiss had breathed, her feet moving closer. “Thank you, so much.”

“The thanks is all mine.” Yang had grinned, her eyes dropping for a moment to their joint hands. She dropped their hands so that she could brush Weiss' bangs from her eyes, tucking the hair behind her ear.

“Will… there be another?” Weiss had asked, hoping she didn't sound too cringy.

Yang had smiled before placing a hand on Weiss’ hip and pulling her forward. “Absolutely another, and then if i’m lucky, one after that.”

Yang had pressed a kiss to Weiss’ forehead. “And another after that,” she’d whispered, and placed a kiss on her cheek. “And maybe even another.”

Pulling her face back, Yang had lifted Weiss' chin with her opposite index finger, and searched her face, eyes so intense it made Weiss’ hands shake, and when Yang had finally kissed her on the mouth, her stomach had flipped.

Weiss had grabbed Yang by the shoulders and pulled her closer, the dim light of the porch  bouncing off their clothing as her lips danced gently against Yang's.

Eventually she had pulled away, finding Yang's cheeks were pink and she was wearing the biggest grin. In that moment, Weiss had felt nothing but adoration and love, and she had pressed a kiss to Yang's cheek. “See you tomorrow?”

Yang had begun beaming as she nodded, shoving her hands in her pockets. “See you tomorrow.”

Returning to the present, Weiss blinks, lets her gaze focus on Yang who is already staring at her.

“What’re you smiling about?” Yang asks with a soft expression, and Weiss notices the game infront of her is nearly forgotten.

“Come on Yang focus!” Nora shouts, the other party members agreeing, but Yang ignores them, her gaze settled on Weiss.

“Nothing,” Weiss says with a little shake of her head. “Tell you later. Promise.”

Yang smiles and leans over to squeeze Weiss’ hand. Even after a year of dating Weiss loves the small acts of affection, and she settles back in her chair to watch them play.

[mklegends-smokescreen]

Mortal Kombat Legends: Blood Bound

Chapter 9: Mixed Feelings

As our idiots went on their way back to the palace, Muchacha hopped off her horse, because she had no space due to the wizard's body not giving  her much area to sit. Robin also hops off his steed, to whisper something to Muchacha.

ROBIN: So, like, what do we do with the brother from Blood Diamond over here?

The general, hearing this, whispers back

MUCHACHA: Same as with this magician. We take him to the Kahn, and let her decide his fate.

ROBIN: Are you serious?

MUCHACHA: You heard me, and you heard what he’s capable of. If he lives, he lives. And If he dies, well… How is it that you Earthrealmer’s say? No comment?

Nico, a bit confused and angry, talks back to Amara.

ROBIN: Dude, he barely knows what he did, besides, you can’t kill someone with such a cool design just like that.

Muchacha, who is starting to get annoyed, pokes Robin’s chest.

MUCHACHA: Do you remember what happened last time you disobeyed my word? That's right, I almost tossed you off this cliff. So for that, I will just tell you this. I don’t suggest toying with my temper.

Robin, a bit angry, steps back, and the two walk back, and see Sabbia and Kounterfeit standing close. Robin and the general look at eachother, and Robin is the one to speak.

ROBIN: Listen up here, sister. I'm not going to let you do that. You're going to talk to Kitana about this. I can't have a clear conscience knowing you're going to kill a kid, no matter how dangerous he is.

Muchacha, now greatly annoyed, steps towards him. The general, putting her hand on his shoulder, and staring at him, she responds.

MUCHACHA: Listen closely, because I'm not repeating myself. I don't give a damn about your morals. You'll do as I say, and not question my authority. And if you disobey me again, you're going to get a taste of my foot in your teeth.

Robin, as usual, responds with a quip.

ROBIN: You know, for some people, that's a massive turn-on. For me, that's just trash talk, and, if I'm being honest, you're not really good at trash talking. Also, not that I care, but you ain't even good at making decisions for people's fates, and instead you rely on Kitana's orders-- 

MUCHACHA: Are you done yet? Or are you going to ramble on and on and on until you bore me to death? I could be doing better things with my time than this.

ROBIN: Nope, I can do this shit for days.

The snake and the blood bender listen to their conversation, trying not to say anything too loud.

KOUNTERFEIT: I swear, I can almost hear her blood pressure rising. Who are they, exactly? And what are they arguing about?

SABBIA: I'll explain later, for now, let's step back a little bit, we're in earshot.

The two move a few meters back, and Sabbia looks at the general and crusader. Robin, who was just talking, stops, and the general sighs. She then speaks, her voice raised.

MUCHACHA: If you yap for one more minute, I can and will shove my sword down your throat. Is that what you want? A sword lodged in your skull? I can assure you that will end your career faster than I can swing this blade. Now, are we done here, or will we continue to waste our time, bickering like a couple of toddlers. I have places to be, and a job to do.

Robin, getting pretty tired of her not agreeing with him, gets a bit angry and steps towards her, pointing his finger in her face.

ROBIN: Listen, lady. I understand that you don't like me, and frankly, neither do I, but that's how the writer wants it. And, for once, can you be a bit nicer, or, at least, not threatening me and the people around you. Because I swear, if you hurt that guy over there (Kounterfeit), I will make you regret every decision you made up until this point.

MUCHACHA: Listen, I couldn't give less of a damn about what you think of me, and how I treat the people around me. Now, I'm not asking anymore. Shut. Your mouth.

The two are staring at each other, and Robin moves away from the edge, closer to Sabbia and Kounterfeit. He sighs and shakes his head, and then looks back at the saurian and the boy.

ROBIN: Hey, you two, stay right here. I'll go calm the lady down. If I don't come back in 5 minutes, run, and never look back. Understood?

SABBIA: I don't recommend it.

ROBIN: Why? 

KOUNTERFEIT: She's, uh, chewing on a rock. Aaaand swallowing it. I have a feeling she's really mad at you.

Robin, a bit concerned, looks back at Muchacha. He starts walking towards the general, and she looks at him, as her eyes glow a bright orange, triggering a terrified facial expression. Muchacha, noticing the change in expressions, stops chewing. She speaks to the crusader. Her tone is more soft, and calmer. 

MUCHACHA: I apologize for that... to be fair, you pushed my buttons, but still. I'm sorry for threatening to, um, cut your limbs off and stuff. I was just being a bit angry, is all.

ROBIN: A bit, sure, yeah. But it's fine. You're not the worst I've seen, that's for sure. I've dealt with worse folks. Can we just, you know, get the whole "I hate you and you hate me" thing out of the way so we can just do this dog garn job? Please? 

MUCHACHA: ... Sure. Whatever. It's a truce, I guess. Once we're done here, you're dead to me. Are we clear?

ROBIN: Crystal.

He said, reaching in his bag, pulling out a cookie and breaking it in half.

ROBIN: Cookie?

Muchacha, who needs something real to eat, reaches out, and eats the cookie in seconds. She looks back at Robin, who's eating the cookie.

MUCHACHA: Do you have another, by any chance?

Robin takes his bag and shows it to Muchacha, showing it full of cookies of many variations.

ROBIN: Literally the only thing I packed for this trip. You guys want some, too?

He gives the two on his left some of his stupid choice of supplies. They both look at him, and then each other, and they both shrug, and take some. Amara is a bit surprised by his offer, and she responds.

MUCHACHA: Why are you so nice all of a sudden? Just a minute ago you were yelling at me and now you're offering your food to people you barely know. Is this some kind of weird Earthrealm thing or are you just being an idiot.

ROBIN: ... Yes. and it's called "forgive and forget", Watson. You should try it sometimes. It'll improve the way people look at you and your overall mood.

Amara, who is a bit confused, responds. She says in a quiet tone, as to not be heard by the other two. Her tone is a mix between sad and confused. 

MUCHACHA: Listen, I don't know if you've noticed, but not many people like me. Especially because of my past, and to me it seems as if you're not that different. So please, save your cookies for yourself, and don't waste them on people who will forget you once you're out of their sight. Understood?

ROBIN: You wanna go right here and now? In front of these two, with a hundred meters above sea level? I could take you, and best hope I mean in a fight.

MUCHACHA: By the Elder Gods... Fine. Once we're done here, you will have a fight on your hands. Understood? And I won't lose. Not today, not ever. 

As the team would keep going, the blood bender would hop on Nico’s steed and Sabbia would keep walking, not getting tired one bit.

[runwithwolvcs]

Addicted to You

three - Bad Habit

Smuttish

word count: 2826

As much as she loved animals, Sulli had finally come to terms with the downside of being a veterinarian. Helping injured animals made her happy, she loved seeing the smiles on their owners faces when she gave them good news. But seeing the animals that couldn’t be helped, or the ones that were surrendered to the clinic because the owners didn't realise how hard it was to take care of animals, or worse, because they just didn’t want them anymore, broke her heart.

Sulli wished she could take them all home with her to love and adore them the way they deserved, but that was just a fantasy. 

“Hey babes, you’ve got mail.” She heard Kaycee call out to her as she shut the front door.

Sulli collected the mail for her from the table in the entry way as she walked into the living room. She nearly groaned out loud as she noticed Collin cuddled up to her best friend, and Brady sat stretched out on the adjacent couch.

“We were just about to start a movie, do you want to join us?” Kaycee asked her with a smile.

“Is it Teen Wolf?” She jabbed, causing Collin to glare at her. Guess he hadn’t informed Kaycee of his extracurricular activities.

Kaycee laughed and asked, “No, why is that the first movie that came to mind?”

“Dunno.” She shrugged,  “I’ll be upstairs.”

Sulli picked up her cat, Tommy, from underneath his little heat lamp that was meant for the plants littered throughout the living room. It was his favourite spot to wait for her in. Even with the many cat trees scattered throughout the house, he never looked happier than when he was under the lamp or in Sullis arms.

She brought him up to her room and carefully placed him on the small cat tree in her room.

Sulli sat on her bed sifting through the mail that was hers. Only one letter caught her attention. She carefully opened the envelope and took out the paper. It was a classic white letter sheet, with a handwritten letter. The little drawings caught her eye and she couldn't help but smile. She turned her head to the door as two soft knocks sounded throughout the room. 

“Can I come in?” Brady asked as he poked his head in. He didn't wait for a response and let himself in, a look of concern on his face as his eyes drifted down to the letter in her hands, he grimaced and wrang out his fingers.

She rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the letter in her hand. She read it quickly and let out a shaky sigh. She quickly wiped the lone tear that had fallen before standing up and placing the letter on the desk in her room. 

“I need to change.” She muttered, trying to keep her tone even. She didn't want to cry in front of him. She didn't want to seem weak, because she wasn’t. She was tired, tired of people pushing her around for no reason. As if she didn't get that enough when she was a teenager.

“Nothing I haven't seen before.” He quipped, sitting on the edge of her bed where she had just been sitting.

She scoffed, “You have a lot of fucking nerve”

“Sulli, I--” He started to defend himself.

“Brady,” She stopped him, bringing her hands up to her face to prevent herself from losing it at him. She still considered him a friend, even if what he was doing was cowardly,  “I’ve had a hard day and I really don’t want to do this right now.”

Brady looked at her with concern, and suggested, “How ‘bout we go for a ride, just you and me?”

“You said that you were told--” She started, only to be cut off.

“I know,” He grabbed her waist and guided her towards where he sat on his bed, “But I can’t stand to see you cry, Sulli.”

“I’m not crying.” She brooded. Though her voice and sniffles told another story.

“I’ll take you to Cows and you can get your usual chocolate chip cookie dough cone, hows that sound?” He offered as she pulled off her top and untied her pants.

“Sounds like coercion.” She said, stepping out of her scrub pants, “Besides, I think I’m in a Sasquatch Trails mood.”

Brady watched her undress, leaning back on his hands, and with a grin he stated,“Whatever you want, babe.”

------

“So, you know our secret.” Brady asked, looking for confirmation. 

The ride between the ice cream shop and his house had been filled with questions avoiding the topic. Though she could tell he was dying to ask. Now, as they sat on the porch of his home, looking out at the stars that she really gets to see in Forks, he must’ve felt more comfortable asking. Or maybe it was because she had ice cream in her system.

“Mhm.” She hummed, and continued to slowly eat her ice cream cone. Brady had opted for a cup as the driver of their ice cream run. They had been going back and forth sharing their own preferred icecreams. Sulli knew that he got cookie dough because she had mentioned it was her favourite early on in their friendship, it was a nice gesture.

She handed him the cone and he showed his self restraint by not wolfing it down. She giggled at the thought as he handed it  back.

“How do you know exactly?” Brady asked, giving her a spoonful of his ice cream. 

“Before I went into foster care, I stayed with Sue Clearwater. She's my aunt.” She explained, licking her lips free of excess ice cream. 

Brady gave her a shocked look, “Sue told you?”

“No, Leah and Paul did.” She corrected with a shake of her head,  “Well, they showed me.”

Brady nodded, before asking, “And you haven't told anyone?”

“Not a single soul,” Sulli confirmed. She knew how important it was, even if she didn’t exactly care about the pack, she knew they couldn't control their genetics. Why make their lives hell just because hers was? She sighed and slumped down in her seat,   “Unlike them, I keep my promises.”

“Paul--” Brady started and Sulli rolled her eyes at the name before cutting him off.

“I don’t care, Brady.” She tutted, “And you shouldn’t let him tell you what to do, it makes you look like a pansy.”

“He's kind of the last person on earth I’d want to piss off.” He mentioned with a laugh, “Though, this probably will.”

“Seems like tomorrow's issue.” She said licking her ice cream cone suggestively.

He watched intently before looking down at his cup and stabbing the remainder of his icecream with his spoon, “Sulli, I want to, I do. But we really can’t.”

“Why? He’ll already be pissed off at you.” She asked, but the look on his face, one of regret and pain made her concede, “Fine.”

“We can still break in that blanket you got me. It really does help.” He suggested.

“Six feet apart?” She mocked.

Brady laughed boyishly, “No, I'll need to keep you warm. I know how cold you get.”

“Deal.” She grinned at the compromise. Pulling out her phone quickly, Sulli texted Kaycee to let her know that she would not be coming home for the night. She knew her best friend would take care of Tommy just as well as she could for the night. She slid her phone back into her pocket before Brady grabbed her hand and let her upstairs to his room. He shared a house with Collin and for two boys in their twenties, it was extremely well kept. Even his room was quite clean, with only a few items of clothes thrown about. 

He grabbed the folded duvet off of his dresser, “You might need this.” Brady dropped it onto the bed and spread it along the edge of the bed, so that she could reach for it if necessary.

They two got into bed together and Sulli immediately knew she would be too cold as she inched closer to him. Brady wrapped his arm around her, the two as close as they could be, before he switched on the little tv on his wall and threw on the Movie Network. She knew it would just be background noise while they talked over it. It always was.

“You’re so warm.” She murmured, sliding her hand underneath his sweatshirt as she laid her head on his chest. The feeling of his skin radiating a comforting heat onto her hand made her crave more. She was glad the cooling blanket worked well enough for him though, she could barely feel it saddled up next to him. She couldn't imagine how hot he was underneath the duvet.

“Sulli,” He whispered softly.

She looked at him with a serious look, her hand stopping its travels on his solid abdomen, “Say no and I’ll stop.”

“And if I don't?” He asked with a cocked eyebrow. They were both losing this ‘no sex’ battle. Though there were more consequences for him than Sulli. 

“I want you, Brady.” She whispered. Sulli almost cringed outwardly at how desperate she sounded. The heat pooling between her legs stopped her from caring, her needs were more important in that moment than her pride.

She gasped as he flipped their position without notice. As she looked up at Brady, the want was clear in his eyes.  “I’m practically a dead man walking at this point,” He stated with a chuckle,  “What's one more nail in the coffin?”

“Are you sure?” She asked. A part of her felt guilty to put him in this position, but the feeling of his hips pressing into her own reassured her that he was just as wanton as she was.

“I regret not keeping you to myself.” He muttered. Brady stroked her hair out of her face and behind her ear, before softly mumbling, “It’ll be like closure.”

“Hey,” She said, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek with a sly smile,  “I get it, sort of. They’re like family to you, but I still want to be friends with you. No matter what Paul says, he can't take you away from me. Not if you don't let him get to you.”

 “I’ll try.” He said earnestly, before grinning as he added, “You’re like the coolest girl I've ever met.”

“I don’t need the flattery, Brady.” She chewed on her lip as she arched her back, pressing their chest together. The throbbing between her legs almost painful, “I just want you to fuck me.”

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

“Goodmorning,” she whispered, throwing her leg over his body to straddle him. It was official, Sulli had succumbed to her heat addiction. She never wanted to feel cold again. “You’re alive,” She teased, brushing his dark locks out of his eyes.

He hummed in delight, “I like waking up like this.”

Brady's hand travelled her spine, causing goosebumps to raise across her body. “I can tell.” murmured softly. She could feel how hard she was, and she knew how easy it would be to slip him into her if she wanted to. Just one dip of her hips and the tip would slide right into her heat. She trusted Brady enough to not get tested for STDs but not enough to let him enjoy her raw. Sulli dipped her head down and pressed a kiss to his lips, pulling away slightly to ask, “Do you have work this morning?”

The door to his bedroom flung open, surprising both of them. Brady had been too focused on the slick heat she was pooling near his length as he resisted taking her right then and there, to hear anybody coming up the stairs.

“Brady, you’re--” A man's voice interrupted, the tone of disbelief had her looking over her shoulder to see who was speaking, just as the man muttered, “Oh, he’s going to kill you.”

“Jared!” Brady shouted, but he seemed more concerned about the unnamed man not seeing Sulli naked.  He wrapped her in the duvet as she sat up, still warm from their body temperatures melding together underneath the sheets. Brady grabbed his boxers and slipped them on clumsily before sitting next to her on the  bed. She inched closer to him to seek out more of his heat. 

In all honesty, she was hoping for a third round before her next shift at the clinic.

“God, you are so dramatic.” She groaned, “We were just sleeping.”

“Sulli,” Brady shook his head, with a serious look on his face. As if he was telling her to be quiet. 

She didn't even know who this man was and it felt like he was judging her. Judging them. All because some guy from ten years ago has some weird sense of entitlement over her. 

“No, I’m allowed to sleep with, and fuck, whoever I want.” She shot back at him, narrowing her eyes at the man who had barged in, “Who even are you?”

“Jared.” He said politely, looking toward Sulli who had stood on her knees to grab Brady's sweater from the edge of the bed. Tossed aside from the night before. His eyes widened as he took in her lack of clothes,  “And you’re naked.”

He turned to look away, swearing under his breath. She giggled at his uncomfortableness. 

“He’s Paul's best friend,” Brady said. He had put on a pair of gym shorts, but was still without a shirt. With every honest answer, he just got hotter and hotter. She knew she liked him for a reason.

“Best friend, huh?” She questioned Jared, “So you know all about his sex life?”

“Unfortunately.” He grimaced.

Sulli smirked, asking, “Right, so has he ever fucked any of your friends?”

“No,” He said quickly.

“But he fucked Jacobs sister.” Brady countered. Sulli grinned at the newfound confidence her friend had pulled together before Brady added, “Pretty sure he still is.”

Jareds eyes widened as he looked at Sulli to the younger boy, “Brady!”

Bingo!

That was all the information Sulli needed. How was Paul going to tell Brady to stay away from her when he was fucking his own friends sister?! In her books, that was arguably worse. He didn't even really know Sulli, and she definitely didn’t know him. Only bits of memory from her eleventh birthday and Christmas had been ingrained in her mind, that was it.

“Thanks, Brady, now all you need to do is grow a pair.” She said sweetly, patting him on the shoulder before turning back to Jared with a scowl, “And you can tell Paul hes a fucking hypocrite and that he doesn’t know me like he thinks he does.”

The older boy laughed, “You can tell him yourself at the bonfire.”

“Jared,” Brady shook his head, a silent conversation happening between the two boys.

Jared sighed in annoyance, “You didn’t do it, did you?”

“Do what?” Sulli asked him in confusion.

“He was supposed to ask you to come,” The older boy explained, adding,  “Your friends coming so you might as well tag along,”

Her lips parted at the mention of Kaycee attending, no doubt in her mind that she would be going with Collin. The way Jared had mentioned it so nonchalantly made her blood boil. She didn't care that Kaycee was going, that's another argument, for another day. 

The idea of begging her best friend to ditch the wolf she was currently shacking up with had crossed her mind, but that would just make her a hypocrite considering whose bed she woke up in.

“Fuck you, I’m not going.” Sulli swore at Jared before turning to Brady and pointing an angry finger at him, “And fuck you, thats the only reason you were over yesterday, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t going to ask you.” He said honestly. She knew he was telling the truth, she could see the desperation to be believed on his face.

“You weren’t?” Jared asked with a cocked eyebrow as he folded his arms over his chest, “You told Paul you would.”

Of course he did. She was almost stunned by the idea, but the fact that Brady didn’t follow through and instead actively tried, and succeeded in making her day better is what stopped her from lunging at him in anger. She was aware of the bounty that would be on his head once it got out that Jared had found them naked in bed together, and now that he had apparently failed to do what was asked of him, she could only imagine how much worse it would be once Paul found out.

“She was crying, bro.” Brady said as shook his head. 

“I’m going home,” Sulli said in disbelief. She no longer wanted to listen to this conversation, glaring at Brady as she told him, “Text me when you’ve cut the cord, Brady.”

[bbygirl-aemond]

After reading this last chapter, I totally envision Daemon as someone who would really enjoy poking at Aemond just to get a rise out of him. Very pulling pigtails as you described it. That he’d even like the opportunity to tussle with Aemond. A little physical roughness would get him going. But I also see him as being completely horrified if he took it to far and his jibes or quips really upset Aemond. Then he’d be out of his comfort zone. Rhaenyra, on the other hand, would be a great comforter! But if she got mad, whoo she seems like the type that you’d realize you messed up. Anyway, that’s how I see them. I’m interested in your take. What do you think?

ooh yes i love and agree with all the points you made! i don't wanna just rephrase your ask, so i'll add something that's related. you've mentioned daemon would have to take care not to go too far with aemond; i think rhaenyra will also have to be more careful than she's been so far.

rhaenyra is used to dealing with daemon, who doesn't mind harsh treatment and even thrives in it. this is true for sex, where he's a masochist and probably doesn't mind being called things like "naughty" and "dirty" and "bad" (all of which would probably send aemond spiraling). but it's also true for their marriage in general. rhaenyra is willing to steamroll ahead on things without consulting daemon, because she knows he won't hesitate to speak up if she ever misjudges what he wants. rhaenyra observes this as early as chapter two, but we've also seen this play out in more recent chapters.

rhaenyra's also so accustomed to handling daemon that she's pretty good at predicting what might make him upset, and talking to him about it beforehand, like with aegon and jaehaera's proposal. still, she knows if she ever messes up, daemon will tell her.

aemond is... a whole other situation. he's much more fragile, both because of his unique traumas and because he's still very much in a position where his ability to consent is compromised. we saw in chapter twelve that he actually doesn't speak up when rhaenyra does something he doesn't like. and the fact that rhaenyra is publicly making decisions involving aemond without checking first proves she's treating aemond like daemon and assuming he'll correct her if he wants to.

so i think there are gonna be situations where rhaenyra errs on the side of too rough or too pushy with aemond, absolutely unintentionally, just because she's used to a partner who doesn't hesitate to let her know when he's not loving something and who usually wants that sort of treatment in the first place. this dynamic is present in all scenes with them rn, sex or otherwise.

i'll also add a disclaimer that i don't write sa. if there's ever a sex scene and a character begins to feel uncomfortable or triggered, the sex will immediately stop and an honest conversation will be had between the involved parties. so please don't get nervous that either daemon or rhaenyra will sa aemond in this fic! they're always going to react properly to hitting a boundary, but just won't always be great at avoiding hitting the boundary in the first place.

[taanoir]

Jen took Josh out to the Last Drip. She wanted for him to meet her big friends group.

He was a little hesitant as he wasn't exactly the coffee shop type, he was more of a whiskey guy.

They made their way in and put their orders in

The shop was pretty packed for a Saturday afternoon and Josh was visibly uncomfortable.

He still wasn't sold that this was a great idea, but he did want to meet her friends.

Fernando "Nando" and Itzel "Izzy"stopped over to say hi and meet Josh. Nando was a media manger consultant, he took classes with Jen's sister Tiffany but became friends with Jen. It was still intriguing to meet the mystery boyfriend. Jen talked about him all the time, it was nice to finally put a face with the name. Izzy asked how he liked Silverglint, she knew a couple people that worked in Human Resources and one that worked as a file clerk. Their experiences were worlds different. Josh liked the work he did there, though some of the project managers weren't great.

Josh was curious about what a media manager consultant does. Nando explained that they are hired to help companies cultivate their brand and public image in social media spaces. As a consultant they are usually brought in after a problem to do damage mitigation, once the problem is fixed, the day to day duties are turned back over to the in-house team. Josh thought it was a fascinating career path, how'd he end up in it? Nando laughed, "by accident, I was working for a company that had a community manager go rogue and start fighting with trolls. They let him go and put me in the roll. I walked in doing clean up and did it well enough another company hired me to do it full time. I'm not behind the keyboard anymore, now I'm dealing with bigger picture items. I still like what I'm doing though."

Jen went to get more coffee and Glenn stole her seat. He wasn't as friendly and Nando and Izzy. Glenn saw Jen as a little sister and gave Josh a stern warning about treating her poorly. Josh swore he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Glenn wasn't convinced.

Jen came back and Glenn had to bounce, he gave Jen a smile as he made his way out. Izzy poked a bit, "Glenn never does that for me, you sure your dating the right guy?" Jen quipped "I think Caitlyn would have a problem with that" Izzy scrunched her nose and chuckled "I don't know, maybe she's down for that". Josh laughed and dipped his toe in the conversation "I can go chase him down, if you want to ask" Izzy laughed and shook her head.

Josh was getting along well with Izzy and Nando.

Jen left Josh to chat with them while she talked to Arnold. He hadn't been around lately and Jen was worried about him. Arnold had been in Mt. Komorebi for the World Skiing Championships, Wrightburg didn't have a good showing but it was a fun trip.

They had a great day and he thanked her for bringing him to meet her friends.

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 5

Episode 23: Sister Twister Part 1

Season 5 Masterlist

~In the Man Cave~

Friends. You can't beat them. But, sometimes, it's so very tempting. 

That's what Charlotte thought. She, (y/n), and Henry were in the Man Cave, chilling and hanging in out as they waited for the next disaster to happen, which was nice--for some. 

The heroine was sitting on the couch, some cheesy romance novel in her hand, so she occasionally let out a squeal when she reached a good part. As if her life wasn't filled with romance already, what with Casanova Ray swanning around the place or wherever he was. Before he left, he'd gone off someone for something supposedly essential but didn't neglect to give her a parting kiss. 

At least it made her happy, something which the girl sitting at the computer desperately hoped for. Not an icky boyfriend, no, but some peace as she read off one of the monitors. Well, she said she was reading, but nothing was sticking in her brain, possibly because of her oh-so-lovely friend poking his head over her shoulder. 

Henry - did he know how annoying he was being?

"So, whatcha reading?" he asked as she flicked from webpage to webpage, hoping he'd get the hint from her frosty aura, but, as ever, Henry couldn't read body language or pick up a hint from a girl.

"It's this really interesting article about how annoying it is when someone reads over your shoulder," Charlotte replied sarcastically, assuming something would finally cement in that thick skull of his, but clearly, Henry was just dumb.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hate those people--oh, real quick! Click on that link right there! Ten Celebrities You Didn't Know Were Double-Jointed? What? How'd they know that?" the boy gasped, the only laughter in the room coming from him. Charlotte rolled her eyes as (y/n) chuckled, amused by the situation as she turned a page and kept reading about a woman torn between seven lovers. 

Talking about lovers, the secret door opened without warning, causing everyone to glance over and see Ray frantically run out from behind it. He wasn't running back due to a (y/n)-attention deficiency since it'd only been half an hour since he'd wandered off, but whatever it was, it had sure excited him. 

"Henry! Sweet girl! Swellview needs us!" He exclaimed as he skidded across the room, stopping only to throw them their gum tubes. 

The sidekicks reacted immediately, knowing they had to get ready first and ask questions later, so novels and online reading were abandoned for action, but it would be nice to know what they were doing a little bit. After all, it's not like they didn't have their own gum tubes stuffed in their pockets. 

"What's going on?" The kid asked as he caught his tube and took out a ball anyway. (y/n) sidled over to her doofus and lovingly pressed a kiss to his cheek after not seeing him for ages, mimicking his actions of necking some gum. 

"No time to explain! Let's chew with urgency!" The hero growled, spurring his sidekicks into moving faster since it sounded like something serious was going down. 

"We don't know the emergency..." (y/n) retorted as she swallowed some gum, ready to follow her handsome hero anyway, even if they knew nothing. She was sure he'd explain before they got there - it's not like Ray was full of bad ideas.

"Good one!"

"Thanks!" She smiled when Charlotte recognised her talent for coming up with a quip in no time, and they shared a brief, friendly smile before things got serious. Standing in a line, the trio chewed their gum thoroughly before blubbing three luminescent bubbles, snapping into their super-suits as usual--only nothing was ordinary about the little or big additions they seemed to be sporting. 

"Dear god, what is that Raymond?" (y/n) was the first to spot it. As always, they each shook out after transforming to get used to the new fabric, but when she then looked at her doofus, too in love to look at anyone else's face first, her bright smile fell into a deep frown - because of what was strapped to his collar. 

A cape - the one thing she refused to let him wear as a superhero. 

It was long, a deep scarlet colour, lined with gold thread, and trailed down his back until it reached his ankles in a swoop of majesty. Well, that's how he'd describe it; to his sweet girl, the cape was a waste of her best bulletproof material and a damn tripping hazard if she'd ever seen one. What was he thinking?

"Oh, noooo..." Charlotte, too, wasn't inspired and instantly bit her lip before she got herself fired, not that (y/n) would stand for that. Everyone knew how she felt about cloaks, capes and ponchos since she made no secret of her dislike for the useless, big-headed morons who swanned around wearing them, laughing when they fell over or sniggering when they befell unfortunate ends because they got snagged. 

Capes were trouble—the end. 

"Is this the emergency? You wanted to show us your new cape?" Henry sighed, seeing how the woman next to him was growing agitated, a state he found growing in him too. It wasn't like he'd been busy before, but he didn't get much time to himself either, so he hated Ray crying wolf--especially for something he knew would set fire to or shred in the end. 

"No...I wanted to show you our new capes," Ray smirked, causing his precious girl's face to darken even more as Henry's brows twitched. 

"What?" He gasped, wondering what he was talking about. He wasn't perverse to capes, per se, unlike (y/n), so he felt a glimmer of curiosity in his tummy before extinguishing it. He couldn't let himself think things like that, not when he already felt sorry for the poor soul who thought capes were a good idea in the first place. 

"Yeah!" Ray exclaimed, thinking they'd be thrilled, but there was a big difference between his cape and theirs. A huge difference.

"What?! Wait--what--what is this? Doofus? These aren't capes! Are you kidding me right now?" (y/n) growled as she and the teen twisted in circles to try and find out what he'd sneakily done to their uniforms with his stupid new gum. In the end, they had to use each other to grab hold of them because all they had were small, square flaps of red silk stitched onto their shoulders - hardly a quarter of what Ray boasted. 

"I am one hundred per cent serious, darlin'," her lover replied throatily, facing her with a smouldering look born from the confidence he oozed in his majestic cape. His hands gently settled on her face, thinking he'd be able to appease her about the shortness of their capes since he'd long since mastered the art of making his precious girl weak at the knees. 

If only he remembered the first rule about superheroes. 

"Why? You know how I feel about these--these death traps!" she spat, feeling like a fool as she tried to angrily gesture with her cape in hand, only to discover she could do that without looking like she was having a stroke. So, in the end, she settled for grasping the red material of his, yanking at it as she pushed away his tender touch. 

"Sweet girl..." Ray whimpered and launched his not-so-secret weapon. Fluttering his eyelashes, he gave her his best puppy eyes, hoping they'd be enough to subdue her since they made him look all stupid and adorable - like a doofus - which usually melted her heart into forgiving him. Usually. 

"Don't sweet girl me, Raymond! No capes!" (y/n) huffed, prodding his chest with an angry finger as her lips pursed. Did she need to remind him of all the great heroes who'd met with sticky ends because the capes they loved to show off with got stuck or sucked into something? Or should she mention Henry's first day and uniform fitting when she put her foot down about a caped costume? 

If this was how he was going to be, then it was going to be a very long, challenging day. 

"I've made up my mind on this, sweetheart," Ray told her tiredly, walking off as though he didn't want to argue anymore, but it would simply end there. Just because he swished his cape around and felt all cool didn't mean they were done; even if capes were allowed, why was his so grand and theirs so puny?

"You don't need a cape if you don't fly!" Henry exclaimed, reaching around his neck to try and rip the offending square from his back, but like his fellow sidekick, he couldn't reach. 

"You don't have to fly to have a cape. You just need to own it," the hero scoffed as he climbed onto the back of the couch, where he thought his cape would look the most beautiful. Why he got these silly ideas in his head was anyone's guess, and as he stood up there in all his pompousness, (y/n) tried her best to be stern...and not check out his hulking body. 

"Doofus, every superhero who's ever had a cape ended up getting caught, killed, or looking stupid!" She snapped at him, looking up with her arms folded as her eyes dragged across his broad chest, down his trim waist, to his beefy thighs. Under any other circumstances, she'd be melting, but all the red ruined it. 

"And why are ours so much smaller than yours?!"

"Yours and Henry's are smaller because you're the sidekicks...and I'm the hero," he replied in a low, gravelly voice, crouching down to her level to give her his smoulder again. It worked--it so very nearly worked as he tilted her chin up at him and used his Captain Man charm to steal her breath and make her heart quicken, but then, she remembered what she was fighting for. 

"I don't want a stupid, tiny cape, doofus, and neither does Henry!"

"Yeah, dude!" The boy joined in with her protest, glaring at his boss as he spun around in circles like a puppy trying to catch its tail, only he was trying to grab a corner of the dishcloth stuck to his back. 

Ray was sympathetic to their disposition; he figured that his sweet girl would come around to the idea of wearing them - something else to highlight her beauty - so he came up with a compromise, which went well.

"Well, maybe we can come up with a system where you could earn extra inches for your cape by doing things like being a good listener...or giving me a kiss and making me a nice pie," he suggested, sounding as if he genuinely believed the utter drivel falling from his lips as their faces became stony. 

"Do we look like girl scouts, Raymond? Or better yet, do I look like a nineteen-fifties housewife to you?" (y/n) asked in a sweetly sarcastic voice, watching with narrowed eyes as he sat on the table, thighs deliciously spread far apart - perfect for her to stand in between as the pie baked and she kissed h--no. No, no, no, he was doing it again - he was being too perfect for his own good.

"Ooh, you'd look all cute as a girl scout, sweet girl. I wonder if they do sweet girl sizes..." the man mused, a broad smile spreading as he took everything as a joke. It planted a seed of irritation in her stomach, which would undoubtedly begin to grow hideous roots if he continued to be annoyingly rude, but she ignored him and his poor, smutty flirting for now.

"Well, you won't be getting any of my cookies tonight if you don't drop this thing," they bantered back and forth, growing increasingly icky with their clever comments, which always hid subtle flirting no matter what, and Henry and Charlotte wished they had no ears. 

She was meant to be annoyed with him, but even so, the heroine couldn't help but tug the cape before stroking Ray's cheek, meaning she wasn't so stern after all. 

"Just get these things off us before I puke, dude!" Henry interjected, his lips twisted into a sneer as his boss angled to sneak a kiss. His charms were working, and he smiled at his sweet girl as she stood there, pouting and puffing in protest - did she know how she had him wrapped around her finger?

"I found the fan you wanted!" She would if he wasn't such a show-off today. Everyone turned to the secret door again as it opened, and this time, it was Schwoz. As usual, he was in high spirits and doing some menial task set by Ray, wheeling a large fan across the tiles typically used to circulate air in the seldom-visited rooms. 

Only now, Ray wanted a slight breeze to emphasise his cape, which endeared him to his family even more. 

"AH! Prepare to be blown away!" The man giggled at his pun and clapped his hands as the genius pushed the fan in front of him, meaning it captured his attention and not his precious fiancée. (y/n) huffed and pouted some more as he stepped past her, whipping the right side of her body with that glorified towel and leaving any girl scout-related flirting as he did. 

"Aw, this is going to be good. You're going to want to get your phones out," he said to Kid and Miss Danger, who didn't look impressed at the command. 

"I'm not doing that."

"Yeah, I'll pass on that, doof," they scoffed and shared a dry look as Ray quickly faced Schwoz again, eager to look at his glorious machine whilst they fanned his vanity.

"Oh, do you have a slow-mo setting?"

"No."

"You're going to want to take a picture of this. It's going to be the best thing ever!" Ray insisted as they stood there, half-amused, half-irritated by his whining for a photo. Neither moved to take out their PearPhones and waited for the so-called "best thing ever" to start. 

With crossed arms, (y/n) watched as her lover posed in front of the fan like a model, body tensed to bulge his muscles whilst Schwoz flipped the on-switch. 

The fan roared to life and steadily increased its wind power from a slight breeze to a wind strong enough to make Ray's silken cape dance in the air behind him. In the name of fairness, one might say it gave him a mighty, perhaps even impressive air, given how he placed his hands on his hips and became a figure of all things manly, but Henry and (y/n) wouldn't know. They could see anything but red silk lined with gold thread. 

"Do you love it?" The arrogant hero shouted above the fan's racket, hoping his pretty girl swooned over how good he looked since she looked extra beautiful today. He didn't know what it was, but he wanted to take her into his arms and have her all to himself - much like every day, so he was eager to get her approval, even if it would never come.  

"No!" The boy and woman replied together, faces screwed up as the cape tickled their skin. Perhaps she'd have a change of heart if she saw how epic it made him look; after all, it was no secret that she, the Swellview Tech graduate, qualified engineer and kicker of evil ass, could become a babbling idiot if he looked hot enough. 

"I am currently loving it!" Charlotte butted in as she reclined on the supercomputer's chair and observed the whole thing. It was all right for her; she had a good view and could appreciate how the cape complimented Ray like a rippling red sea spread out behind him. He looked good, so it was probably good that her friend couldn't see him - they'd have to pick her tongue up from the floor. 

"Charlotte loves it!"

"Don't encourage him, Char!" (y/n) shouted as she battled with the flapping cape, spewing and spluttering when it whacked her in the mouth. Honestly, she didn't need to see the front to know he looked hot - she knew that from both experience and how his biceps looked from behind, but she wouldn't cave. No capes!

"She can have mine!" Henry joked, causing his friend to raise an eyebrow at the thought. She'd seen those handkerchiefs when they turned around and snorted at how ridiculous they looked. So, on this occasion, the boy was more than welcome to keep his kindness to himself. 

"I'm good!" she quickly replied, just as an emergency call flashed on the monitor behind her, ending Ray's fun since he had to knuckle down and focus on something severe. However, he didn't deflate; instead, he saw it as an opportunity to look fabulous in front of the paparazzi and his adoring fans. 

"Emergency call!" He shouted, only to fall over when the breeze became too strong and the red silk too heavy. He would look fabulous if he didn't get twisted up in his cape and fall over like a nincompoop.

"That's why I don't like capes..." (y/n) giggled, watching with little sympathy as he plopped onto his butt, face smothered by the thick material as he clawed to peel it from his eyes, which was no mean feat when Schwoz still had the fan blasting him with air. 

"Schwoz, turn it off!" With no further dallying, the genius hit the button to save himself from the hero's wrath and swiftly skedaddled with Charlotte behind the secret door so whoever was calling didn't see their identities. Meanwhile, the pompous hero and his sidekicks gathered around the computer, some straightening their fancy capes whilst others rolled their eyes at his fussing- no guessing needed. 

"Hey, Vice-Mayor! What's up?" Henry answered politely as the sulking man appeared on the screen like a grumpy bulldog. He hadn't been overly fond of the heroes since their fuck-up with Mob Boss Rob Moss, but he was learning to put it behind them since the city had no other heroes. If only he'd take the time to learn Miss Danger's name--or at least properly acknowledge her role within the troupe. 

"I need you at City Hall right now!" The politician demanded, leaving no room for arguing as Ray comfortably slipped an arm around his sweet girl. 

The movement coated her in his cape and cologne, which always seemed to permeate through all fabrics, even if he'd only worn them for five seconds. It made her feel warm and safe - knowing he was standing right next to her - and she rested her head on his shoulder as she thought about how capes had one positive. Only one.

"Uh, could you ask politely? Manners cost nothing, y'know..." (y/n) frowned, crossing her arms in defiance of Vice-Mayor Willard and all his moodiness. He might've been the guy who ran the place and paid their paychecks, but she hated being manhandled--unless Ray was doing the manhandling. 

"Or maybe notice my cape?" Speaking of Ray, he still obsessed over his new garment and tugged it over his girl's form until it nearly covered her entirely, highlighting the rich material and quality stitching. 

"Oh, it looks great!" Willard exclaimed, a little smile stretching across his features as he analysed the cape covering the hero and...uh, Miss Danger, ma'am. Of course, he was nice to Captain Man; he was the muscle; the other two were like mere decorations - backup, at the very least. 

"Thank you."

"Good for you, dude," Henry sneered to his boss, who gazed at him with a shit-eating grin as he basked in the Vice-Mayor's praise. Finally, someone liked his cape, and in his excitement, he pulled his sweet girl closer, turning her around so he could scatter tiny, affectionate kisses across her cheeks. 

And as he met her lips, it gave the politician a great view of what she and the kid had pinned to their backs, which was humiliating. 

"And your tiny cape is adorable, Kid Danger!... And, uh...yours too, Miss Danger, ma'am."

"It's not--I don't want to be adorable, okay? I'm a man," Henry told the statesman, growing agitated at the thought of being bundled up like some baby. He could tolerate his mom and even (y/n), who still saw him as that cute little blondie, but he'd grown since then. He'd grown a lot. 

"Well..." Captain Man and Miss Danger, however, disagreed. He'd grown, definitely, and perhaps he wasn't a child yet, but saying he was a man pushed it. He was too gangly for that, couldn't grow a beard, couldn't drive a car, lived off instant noodles on his own, and still squealed at the first snow of the year. Man? No. One of (y/n)'s little babies? Just about. 

"You're still adorable, sweet girl. So cute and soft...so precious," Ray murmured in the woman's ear as Henry sulked, too caught up in his pubescent mood swing to become too nauseated over the sight of his boss nuzzling his nose behind his friend's ear. 

The hero practically purred as he did, inhaling deeply to take in her floral scents as she giggled and writhed in his arms - ticklish and highly aware of how the Voce-Mayor glared at such frivolous behaviour. Y'know, Captain Man used to be much more attentive before she came along, but he went on strike whenever the City Council complained. 

"Captain Man, I ask that you put your lady friend down and get your butts down to City Hall! I'm the Vice-Mayor, not the say-it-thrice-mayor. So, that's the last time I'm going to say it!" Willard snapped before clicking off the video call angrily. 

"Jeez, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," (y/n) muttered as the trio were left in silence, Ray's embrace awkwardly loose around her after getting told off by the Vice-Mayor of all people. He didn't care, and even if Willard had threatened him, he'd continue to pack on the PDA whenever, wherever. 

"Whatever. You heard what he said we should do with our butts. Let's go!" The large man exclaimed, patting his sweet girl's ass once as a silent, secret fuck you to the Vice-Mayor. He'd never see it or know about it, but they would, and as he ran toward the tubes, cape fanning out behind him, mischievous smirks spread across their faces. 

"All right, just give us a second!" Henry called out, and it was only when he was loitering on the right tube pad that Ray realised his sidekicks were lagging. He watched in horror as they took their laser controllers from their belts and helped zap the pathetic flaps from their backs in a coordinated pincer movement. 

"What are you doin'? Those capes were gifts!" He hissed as the squares fluttered the floor, singed, unwanted and left behind. 

"Relax, we're coming with you," Henry said cooly as they trotted up to the tubes and took their respective positions. To calm him down, the boy ushered (y/n) into his arms, and Ray gratefully received her as always, bringing her in close so they could both fit--and so he could enjoy the proximity. 

Tapping their belts, the glass lowered around them, cramming the couple into the cylinder with seemingly less room than usual, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing in their case, but (y/n) still blamed his cape. Not only was it getting stuck under their feet and the tube's metal rim, but it made his shoulders feel too padded - as if there was hardly any muscle there. 

"But what about your capes?"

"No capes!" She repeated firmly as he held her figure to his and rested his chin on her head, glum at the thought of his kindness being rejected. He took it way too personally, even though it wasn't like that at all - she would always love him, even when he looked like a moron. 

"Up the tubes!" Henry quickly shouted before any arguing could ensue, and they shot off at the speed of light. However, a minor factor that Ray hadn't taken into his calculations was that his cape was so grand and weighty that under the tube's suction, it was like a parachute. 

As he and his darling girl took off, the material pulled back against the whoosh until the vacuum became too much, and the stitching gave way. Ray cried in anguish as he felt the warmth quilting his back pull away, leaving a puddle of scarlet satin under them and him as dull as he was before. Still, some minor losses can be victories for others. 

"Awww, m'cape!"

"HA!" (y/n) cackled as she felt the cape swish around their legs and then disappear. He'd sulk when they got to the top, but she could work with that; the only thing that mattered was that her lover was now a lot safer and, in her humble opinion, even more handsome, if that were possible. 

He didn't need ornaments or clutter to make him mighty - his actions had already proved something he should've remembered. 

And if he wanted to find a new way to Miss Danger's heart, then spending hours at her sewing machine, using her best threads and materials to embellish himself, wasn't going to help either. 

(y/n) fell in love with the man, what he did, what he fought for and what he believed in, not what he wore or what others thought of him. But, for the love of god, if he only ever remembered one thing from their relationship, whether long or short, she wanted it to be this. 

No capes. 

~Some dirty, backstreet alley, Stank Street~

"God, this is disgusting..." (y/n) grumbled to herself as she shimmied through the end of the tube, stuck behind her doofus and Henry. 

In fairness to the boys, they'd done the decent thing and let her go last; after all, those in skirts... But no one could save her from the grime that coated the tube inside - one of the oldest and least used in the system. It wasn't visited regularly for a good reason; Captain Man wanted some secret exits to be genuinely secure, so this tube end came out in the middle of a back alley, strewn with garbage, discarded food and a broken-down car. 

That was the disguise. Schwoz had managed to dump the car and fit a hole through its hood, creating the perfect illusion and cover for the heroes to come and go as they pleased--except they weren't. 

Henry hated being in the middle, especially since he had to follow Ray's butt once the suction pushed them into the final stretch and left them to do the last climb. 

Ray hated it because of his dilemma. On the one hand, he sorely wanted his sweet girl to go in front since he'd never complain about getting to stare at her butt for a duration, but that would mean putting her in the firing line should there be an ambush waiting. There wasn't; no one ever used the alleyway, given how grotty it was, but he refused to take the chance, so he went first—no butt-staring for him. 

And (y/n) hated the smell. And the dirt. And the crawling. And the idea that someone might see them sneaking out of the car and get curious. According to Ray, that was highly unlikely, but she didn't like taking chances, so she grumbled the whole way there about the dirt, smell, crawling and so on. 

"Don't worry, darlin'. We're here," Ray chirped, throwing a grin over his shoulder even though only Henry could catch a glimpse of it. There was no way he'd pass on the message; he'd probably have to throw in a kiss or something too, and he was above that, but at least they'd finally be able to breathe fresh air.

"Coast is clear!" The hero announced as he lifted the car's hood and looked briefly to see if any hoodlums or bums were loitering. Nope, not a soul, just as he thought, so he wasted no time stepping out into the open, relieved to be out of the confined space with no fiancée near him.

"Did you actually check to make sure the coast is clear, or did you just say that?" Henry asked as he poked his head out, albeit with a little more caution than his boss had. Ray was impatient, but even in a shitty alley like this, the kid hated the idea of someone discovering a way into the Man Cave. 

"It's Stank Street, man. No one's ever here," Ray replied, watching as his overly way sidekick clambered out of the car. Then, to his instant joy, (y/n) looked over the top, looking as cute as a little meerkat as she thoroughly checked from left to right before slowly emerging. 

"You can't be too careful though, doofus," she said, stumbling as her heels wobbled upon breaching the hole's lip, so Ray leaned forward to hook his hands under her arms. Carefully, he lifted her up and out, bringing his darling girl to his chest, so her feet touched the ground gently, and they stayed that way even when it was time to pull away. 

"Sweet girl, coast is clear is just one of those things that people say like, look both ways or stay in school," he told her as they gazed at each other, noses rubbing as he refused to stop cradling her small form against his massive one. 

Henry sighed at the sight they made and wasted a few seconds by closing the hatch, so their secret tube was hidden again, but when his eyes returned to them, they were still at it. 

"You're such a doofus, doofus," (y/n) giggled, the cutesy sounds stifled when Ray placed his lips on hers, too entranced by the warmth and comfort she provided to let go. Her arms looped around his neck to pull them closer together - if that were even possible - and they sighed as they melted into the kiss, oblivious to the impatient boy and chaos around them. 

"Dude? Dud--hey, by the way, dude, why'd you tube us out at Stank Street?" Henry butted in, raising his voice when his initial attempts didn't cut through the love haze. Ray didn't look happy when his lover pulled back, and he soured even more when she rubbed the cherry lipstick from his mouth, but Henry didn't care. 

"There's tons of other exits in Swellview that don't stank."

They were needed at City Hall, and he'd hate to think of the shitstorm the press would create if they saw Captain Man wearing Miss Danger's smeared lipstick, even if he wore it with a smirk. God, the embarrassment...

"It's the one closest to City Hall," the large man told him frostily, feeling a little miffed that his girl wiped all the evidence from his face, but he quickly got over it, "Besides, it's near the store that sells...things."

"Do you mean capes?" (y/n) asked, folding her arms as Ray stared at her boots and shuffled his feet. A smarmy expression crossed his face as if he was fighting a smile, which ultimately failed when he glanced up and saw her pretty eyes. 

"I dunno..."

"What's the place called?" Henry asked, curious to see if they could drag it from the man's lips, although he wouldn't go crazy like the woman once they did. 

"Nothing But Capes!" Ray revealed excitedly, grinning like a kid at Christmas as he thought about running down the cape-filled aisles with his credit card raring to go in his wallet. (y/n) sighed tiredly, feeling the same old annoyance creeping up within her again at the thought of such reckless spending on something so...stupid, ruining the sacred moment.

It wasn't like they were saving for a wedding, and it wasn't like weddings weren't expensive. It wasn't like she'd sworn the whole cape thing was over once they'd left the Man Cave. And it certainly wasn't like she wanted to be in a relationship with a grown-up, just one time. 

"You're a child," she told him flatly, crossing her arms to show that she wasn't in the mood anymore, not when he seemed more interested in running around, pretending he could fly than discussing wedding details. 

They still hadn't picked the flowers. He hadn't given her the cheque for the third payment chunk for her dress. They hadn't worked out a colour scheme. None of the invitations had been written. He still hadn't told her who he wanted to invite from his family. They didn't have a venue, a date, a hope in hell.

And yet he was smiling in her face like the happiest day of their lives wasn't in tatters at their feet. 

"Who will soon have a cape!"

"An enormous child!" She growled and stormed past him, enjoying the mad click-click of her heels against the concrete as she headed for City Hall. Ray gleefully followed her, ignorant to her darkening mood as he let out a childish "wheeee!" and skipped behind his darling girl, dreaming about how he'd soon be splashing their cash on matching capes. 

"We're not wearing capes!" Henry called out behind the couple, hoping to mediate between them. Just because Ray couldn't read women didn't mean Henry couldn't--well, he could read (y/n) and hear the anger in her every footstep. So, he ran after them, praying they'd behave in the Vice-Mayor's office and save whatever was brewing for home. 

But things wouldn't be all too peachy there.

Another lesson for Ray to learn; always check if the coast is clear. Like Piper, you never know who might have fallen over behind parked cars. She didn't mean to eavesdrop on their conversation, really she didn't, but it's hard to switch off when you hear the unmistakable voices of Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger. 

It wasn't her fault she was in Stank Street, either. The stupid judge just had to give her community service in the grossest alley in the city, and she just had to fall over after taking off her gross orange jumpsuit too. 

If anything, her hearing and seeing where they'd come from was Captain Man's fault - he should've looked instead of making out and bickering with Miss Danger, who wore her hair in a very familiar style today, although the girl couldn't work out where she'd seen it before for the life of her. 

She didn't dwell on the fact or how her red lipstick reminded her of someone else, and instead, she tiptoed out from her hiding place, peeking down the alleyway to see the heroes retreating toward the city. 

It wouldn't hurt to take a peek at the car, right? She rattled her knuckles against the hood in a few experimental knocks, finding it as hollow as she thought. They'd climbed out of it. Therefore, there had to be something inside, so to satisfy her curiosity, she lifted the lid, glancing over her shoulder to ensure Captain Man wouldn't shout at her for snooping through his secrets. 

A gasp tore from her throat as she saw the tunnel, expertly hidden within the car where the engine should be. She shouldn't snoop; her mom taught her better than that, and from the looks of things, it was impossible to tell how deep the fucking thing went. 

"Hello?" She called down the hole, hearing it echo through the tunnel until it travelled too far for her to hear. Miles and miles of blue plastic-lined walls and not knowing where she'd end up. 

"Curiosity killed the cat," she thought to herself, pausing when she truly realised how deep the tunnel was and something in her mind told her it would be safest to pull back now that she'd stuck her nose in. 

"But satisfaction brought it back," another voice whispered, egging her on to look closer. It was nothing major; stick her head in and shout to see if someone called back—no harm in that. 

Deciding to go with the latter, Piper leaned in, wrinkling her nose when the contained smell of Stank Street wafted up from the tube, but in some ways, that was a good thing. A draught meant something was on the other side, so she leaned in more, hoping to find some more clues as to what the mysterious hole was - but then, she went too far. 

Her hand slipped as it rested against the propped-up hood, and she fell forwards. With nothing but smooth plastic suddenly around her, the girl had nothing to grab onto as she slithered face-first down the tube, hearing nothing but her scream and the slam of the heavy metal falling shut behind her as she zoomed down. 

She learned her lesson: never be curious. 

The satisfaction wasn't worth the trip down...or so she thought.

~

A couple of hours later, the trio were finished at City Hall. The Vice-Mayor had told them some convoluted story about a porch package thief and how he wanted them to do something about it, but it was as Ray said. 

They were superheroes. They dealt with a severe crime. The petty, run-of-the-mill stuff could be left to the cops so that they did something worth the taxpayer's money. It didn't make Willard happy, but that was a him-problem, so they strolled out of his office with confident smirks, glad that they'd stood their ground and refused to cave for one common misdemeanour. 

A quick stop at the local fried chicken place made the trip worth it, and then, it was back to Junk-N-Stuff, where they could wait for a real emergency to come in. Henry wasn't complaining; Ray graciously bought him a mini bucket, so he couldn't, but he swore he only went to get the food so he could feed (y/n) and see her bright smile when he dabbed the crumbs from the corner of her mouth. All annoyance over the capes was forgotten, and their roaming hands proved all was right in the world again. 

It was almost enough to put him off his fried chicken, but then he remembered this was his doing, and he had to admit he wouldn't have it any other way grudgingly. They'd stay in love forever if it were up to him; he just wished that Ray watched his damn mouth sometimes. He really knew how to screw things up.

"Ahhhh, my face!" Jasper yelled as they chatted and walked in - before all the upset. It was all right for Charlotte, who stood at the cash register with electric hair clippers in one hand and a comb in the other as she trimmed a funky plant. It looked like a man with a busy, green afro and eyebrows, and it was her job to neaten it up whilst Jasper cleaned the soot and grime from the dinosaur head's teeth. Very different tasks, very different danger levels.

"Oooh, whoopsies."

"Sorry, dude."

"Curly, are you okay?" the three heroes cringed as they froze in the doorway, instantly feeling guilty as the T-Rex breathed fire like it always did, but this time, Jasper was in the way. The right side of his poor face took the full brunt of the flames, singing the hair there until his eyebrow looked cleanly shaven, not that he knew. 

"Is it bad?" he asked innocently, looking at his friends with a hopeful expression like he was praying the scorching temperature made his skin sore and left everything else all right. 

"Nah..."

"Well..." At least Henry and (y/n) were subtle and considerate, reluctant to tell the boy he looked weird with just one eyebrow, but as always, Ray didn't pick up on their cue and reverted to his typically blunt manner. 

"Did you use to have two eyebrows?"

"I think so..." Jasper replied pensively, looking as though he was deep in thought over such a trivial thing. Meanwhile, Charlotte took her hair clipper and carefully removed her clay head's right eyebrow, trimming the delicate leaves until it bore a remarkable resemblance to her clueless friend, who could be left in ignorant bliss as the weary heroes came in to eat their chicken. 

"So, why'd the Vice-Mayor need you guys at City Hall?" The girl asked as the boys took seats on two wooden stools, eager to sit down after such a pointless trek. (y/n) predictably sat on Ray's knee, snuggling into his side as she took another leg and began munching on it, softly smiling when Ray's arm curled around her waist to keep her steady. 

"Somebody stole a package off his front porch," she told her friend through a mouthful of chicken as she squirmed from the feeling of Ray dotting kisses down her shoulder line. He smirked against her skin, triumphant that he could evoke such a reaction from her, although he had to stop when she offered him a bite of chicken. How could he refuse that?

"Yeah, a box full of neckties with his face on it or something," Henry shrugged as he snacked on his own food, ignoring how affectionate the couple were so he didn't barf before he could enjoy it. 

"Anyray, we told him we'd get riiiiight on it," Ray nodded, acting as though he was bothered by his promise to Willard, but he didn't seem too eager as he languished kisses from his sweet girl's cheek, down to her jaw, down her neck, and to her shoulder. Anyone would think he had all the time in the world, something that made Charlotte wonder since (y/n) didn't make a move, either.

"Doesn't sound like you're gettin' right on it. And you won't find the thief inside (y/n)'s mouth," she retorted, eyeing how her boss pecked at her friend's lips a few times before lingering. She could make out the movement of his tongue against the woman's lip, making her wrinkle her nose in disgust, wishing they'd give it a rest. 

"It's not worth our time. We're superheroes. We don't care about some package thief," Ray told her once he pulled back, with an enchanted smile at having the best girl in the world all to himself. He couldn't be happier or more chill at that moment, feeling on top of the world as his fiancée leaned into him and relaxed.

"Yeah, the police can get off their butts and sort it out. We're happy waiting here for something serious," (y/n) added, leaning in to kiss her lover again as if to confirm her words. They'd move when a real job came in, but for now, it was just them, their chicken and plenty of sweet kisses with nothing to ruin it. 

But goddamn, they wouldn't order from that fried chicken place again. Her tummy was feeling all weird - woozy and topsy-turvy like there was a washing machine inside, and even though it fried her nerves, she did nothing about it. After all, no one saw it coming when Henry's phone beeped.

"Whatcha got there, fella? Little text?" Ray asked casually after pulling back his sweet girl, intrigued by the kid knitting his eyebrows together in thought. He had that blank stare that all kids have when texting, and when Henry went to reply, he didn't even think about his answer, speaking robotically despite the touchy subject.

"Yeah, it's from my mom," he replied and (y/n) tensed instantly. It was reflexive, a natural defensive for when anyone mentioned that woman because she was...floozy material. She didn't have proof, she didn't have witnesses, and she didn't have any leads, but there was history and her gut to tell her that Mrs Hart consorted with her doofus. She'd seen them whispering, and no one could forget Ray's endless flirting both before and after they got together, so the woman practically brought her out in a rash. If only she would do something to tarnish her perfect reputation, so she didn't feel horrible when deeming Henry's lovely mother a bitch.

"Nice..." she held her tongue and punched out the acid-coated word as she deposited the stripped bone back into the bucket. Her appetite wasn't what it was all of a sudden, her stomach lurching at having to cross paths with Mrs Hart again, even if Ray remained perfectly calm behind her and gave her no reason to worry. 

"Yeah...she says that, uh, her new hairdryer was supposed to get delivered today, but it got stolen off the front porch," Henry explained, briefly glancing over the text and thinking nothing of it, despite the connection to Vice Mayor Willard's request. It should've been no big deal; after all, they didn't deal with that shit as superheroes, but you'd think the end of the world had come if you saw Ray's reaction.

"Saddle up and ride, Henry! There's a thief needs killing!" The hero spat, abruptly standing up, so the bucket of chicken and (y/n) tumbled from his lap. At least the woman managed to save herself, unlike the food scattered across the floor for either Charlotte or Jasper to clean up, but she wasn't concerned about that. She couldn't care about anything when her heart lurched from her fiancé's telling reaction to a crime against the beautiful blonde. 

It was one rule for one and one rule for hot moms - and that broke her heart.

"What the fuck, Raymond? The chicken! Me! What?!" She spat, and Jasper and Charlotte joined her protests about the wastage, but they weren't focusing on the bigger picture - like he was obsessing over Henry's mom again and adding colour to her nightmares. 

"This is no time for greasy, delicious chicken, (y/n)! There's a crime wave, and it just hit Henry's mom!" Ray growled, not realising he said her real name or how that wounded her even further since she turned her back on him to hide the tears pooling in her eyes. 

Henry's mom, arguably one of the biggest yet most unlikely supporters of their relationship, a genuinely lovely lady who gave him sound advice when he still didn't know how to approach a meaningful relationship, had been targeted by some scumbag. And she was family to his family; it made sense to help out now it was personal.

"Now, we're gonna find this package thief, and we're gonna ruin his life," the doofus went on, unaware that (y/n) was spirally further and further into self-doubt and betrayal. She trusted him with her life and heart, but she wouldn't trust that woman as far as she could spit, and rested her arm on the cash register's edge as she held her nerve and gritted her teeth, knuckles turning white from how tightly she clenched the wood. 

"Okay, just relax, dude—" Henry, bless his heart, tried to calm his boss as he saw his friend work herself into a frenzy over what might be or have been and how Charlotte placed a hand on her arm to try and ease her mind. Anyone would swear Ray would never betray her like that - the guy was too in love - but it was hard to tell when he clenched his perfect jaw and muscles for someone else's problem. 

"I'm going to hurt him until he cries, and then, I'm going to collect his tears, boil them down and use their essence to make a high-end cologne called Not On My Watch!"

"Whoa!" "A little too far!" The teens said through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to shake some sense into the man as the tears finally rolled down (y/n)'s face. She wiped them away even faster, panting to stem the flow since she didn't want him to see her cry or anyone else. It was just a damn pity the kids of all people saw them as they were the last ones she sympathy from, knowing that Henry and Jasper didn't deserve to have her issues dumped on them and that Charlotte swore that no guy was worth crying over. 

But Ray was. 

"What's our first move?" She asked in a voice that was far too put together for how torn-up she was feeling inside, but Ray was too entangled with revenge to see her red, watery eyes when she quickly turned around like all was okay in the world. Everything was fine; if he wanted to use an Uno reverse card and care about the package thefts, then that was fine - she just wasn't sure if she wanted to be there when Kris threw her arms around him in thanks.

"I'm not done." Oh, good - what piece of her heart hadn't he stomped on? 

"Then, I'm gonna cover him in honey, roll him down a hill of fire ants—fire ants that shoot lasers out of their butts—that's when things get real crazy—"

"Orrrr...Orrrr.. or we put a fake package on my front porch as bait. We wait in the surveillance van until the thief steals it, and once he does, we grab him, and we take him to jail," Henry suggested, thinking as rationally as possible in the hopes that they could smooth the situation over without damaging the star-crossed relationship they secretly cherished. It didn't bear thinking about what would happen in the Man Cave if Captain Man and Miss Danger should go pear-shaped in whatever way. 

"Okay, love that—you just earned two inches on your cape, buddy!" Ray grinned, chipping another fragment from (y/n)'s heart at how he jumped to help Mrs Hart and showed more enthusiasm for her damn delivery than he'd ever done when planning their ceremony. All those times, it felt as if she was tying him down when clearly, he was meant to fly - probably with a cape.

"Wait, what? I don't want—"

"Two inches to Kid Danger's cape!" Henry tried to get him to quit it or to be serious for once, but it was no good. Annoyance surged alongside the heartbreak, and as her lover turned to march out the door, (y/n) firmly planted her feet on the ground, knowing that if she had to listen to him sing capes' and Kris' praises in an hours-long stakeout, she might go insane.

"Ugh, y'know what? Let's go—you coming, (y/n/n)?" The kid asked, looking at her with a kind, understanding smile since he had to handle the man-child too, but he could see it in her eyes. All the money in the world wouldn't convince her to help his mom, whether she was technically duty-bound. 

"Uh, no, I'll sit this one out. Gotta find some burn lotion for Jasper," she lied and gave him the glimmer of a sickly sweet yet half-assed smile. It wasn't meant to convince, just put him off, and Henry didn't push her any further; he could try and tell her Ray was just excited, a people pleaser, and in one of his funny moods, but devoted to her. 

It wouldn't change anything, so he nodded and left, hot on Ray's heels as the man yanked the door open and bolted to the garage where the manky, old surveillance van was. Seeing him go was never pleasant, especially when he went to that woman's house, but the time apart would do her good. At least she had something to distract her when the T-Rex breathed fire again, burning the other side of Jasper's face and his other eyebrow.

"Is it bad?" He never had much luck, and the girls winced as Charlotte remained silent and shaved the other eyebrow off her plant head. Her silence spoke volumes, and the teen grimaced at the thought of looking like a mole rat and, from how sore his skin was, secretly thankful that the Man Cave's nurse decided to stay behind. 

"I'm gonna need a bigger bottle of lotion...and possibly a stiff drink," (y/n) sighed, dipping her head to them before slinking off into the back room, where it was safe to shed some more tears and curse herself for being so damn jealous.

It wasn't right; Kris was kind, pretty, generous, a good mom and wife, and she'd never done anything wrong, save for the egg incident - hardly worth eternal damnation. Ray was funny, gentle, adorable, a brave man, a good mentor, an even better fiancé, and he'd never crossed any line, save for the odd comment here and there - hardly worth her blazing wrath and fury. 

So, Miss Danger swallowed the lump in her throat and skipped off to go and root through her medical supplies, determined not to let the worst side of herself show. She treated Jasper's sizzled skin like a professional before going downstairs to help Schwoz with some repairs like an angel, and to someone who didn't know her, she seemed all right. 

But they knew her better than that. In the ten hours Ray and Henry were gone, Jasper, Charlotte and Schwoz saw the doubt in her eyes, the pain behind every smile, and how she checked her phone every five minutes to see if "Doofus ❤️" had texted something mushy to ease her worries. He hadn't, for reasons that wouldn't become clear until later, but she insisted that was fine, just like everything else was. 

Everything was fine, but Charlotte sure wished they could return to when fine meant she gagged and retched at the sight of the couple kissing, snuggling and holding hands, back to when she swore she'd trade anything if it made them quit all that icky stuff. 

Now, she would trade anything to bring it back if it meant everything would return to being fine. 

~Ten hours later~

"Where the fuck are those morons?" Yeah, things weren't fine anymore. 

Charlotte cringed as she heard her friend mouthing off while she paced back and forth behind her. The girl stood by the supercomputer, with Schwoz in the seat, hoping to make contact with the idiotic boys who'd gone on a stakeout and then gave them nothing but radio silence for hours after. It made the heroine sick with worry to know that her beloved doofus and fellow sidekick were out there, doing god knows what with god knows who, but every time they tried to call them, there was no answer. 

Gone was the sadness; in its place was pure fury, and (y/n) swore she'd relieve Ray of something when she got hold of him. Charlotte wasn't too sure what that something was, but before she could ask, the woman always moved on to another topic to rant about. She was pissed off - obvious - but what was less pronounced, except to her nearest and dearest, was how torn she was, bottling everything up because she could decide whether she was the bad guy here. Ray was in the wrong too, no doubt there, but she was the green-eyed monster.

"I can try them again," the girl told her with an understanding smile, and for a split second, (y/n) smiled at her helpfulness. She hated being like this; mean, rude, bossy and spiteful, especially with her family, but she had to know what was going on in that van and whether they'd found the package thief or not. Whether they'd recovered the hairdryer or not. Whether Mrs Hart had slipped in to reward their valiant mission or not. It was eating her up - not knowing a thing.

What had they been doing? Whilst she tossed and turned in bed, arm stretched across the cold chasm where her fiancé usually slept, rife with the cruel imaginings from the darkest parts of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder - had he thought about her as much as she did about him?

"Man Cave to surveillance van, Man Cave to surveillance van...Ray? Henry? Can you hear me?" Charlotte spoke into the radio, growing increasingly impatient with each passing moment since they should be able to hear her. She turned to (y/n) with an apologetic wince, cringing again when she pinched her nose and released a tired sigh - exhausted from an entire night of little-to-no, nightmare-filled sleep. But then, everything became apparent, and the clouds grew darker still.

"Five more minutes, mom..."

"Thank you...Henry's mom." With the speakers raised to full volume so they could catch the slightest peep, the small group huddled around the computer heard the boys' sleep talk as clearly as if they were in the room, and Jasper, Schwoz and Charlotte could pinpoint the exact moment (y/n) saw red. 

Not only was it an insult to them that they'd fallen asleep on the job, which was why it was always best to take Miss Danger with them to avoid such things, but it appeared like they were dreaming of a certain blonde. And that was fine for Henry, but when Ray muttered those four heartbreaking words, it was like the world stopped. 

She wasn't a dream-reader; (y/n) had no way of knowing what her doofus was thanking Mrs Hart for, but she doubted it was for anything fucking good. Of all the men she'd ever felt something for, she would never have guessed he'd be the one too...she really hoped he hadn't—wasn't—whatever.

"Hello?! We haven't heard from you in ten hours!" Charlotte snapped into the speaker microphone, seeing how her friend twisted her engagement ring with a stony face that also reflected a million emotions. She felt for her, aware that Ray would never look at, consider, dream, or imagine someone else now that he'd found her, but (y/n) didn't see it that way. She wasn't aware that his eyes were on her at all times, that he smiled when she came into the room, frowned when she left, pined every waking second until she came back - that she was the centre of his universe.

"Dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude!" Henry groaned as he slowly woke up and realised the time. He shoved Ray in the chest, which eventually woke him up, too, spluttering and moaning because he didn't remember his darling girl's hands being so rough. And since when did their bed feel so lumpy and uncomfortable? He cracked open his eyes to see the blinking lights of the surveillance van's computer screens, servers and endless cords of worm-like wires, and then, he remembered. 

This was stakeout territory, not the cotton-down heaven with the soft-skinned angel he'd been dreaming about.

"I think we fell asleep," the kid grumbled, recalling how he'd only closed his eyes for a second - just to let them rest - and then accidentally let ten hours slip by. 

"You fell asleep?!" Ray spat accusingly, whipping his eyes to scan his slacking sidekick. He'd given up a night between the sheets with his sweet girl for this—to help his mom as thanks for giving him so much advice on married life. And he took a nap? Utterly shameful. 

"So did you!" Henry quickly responded, glaring at the hypocrite, who snuffled and rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his eyes to clear the sleep from them. They were in this together, and if he felt so strongly about it, Ray was more than welcome to go back to the Man Cave and crawl into bed with (y/n). Hell, he'd do more good there than he was doing here, so very close to his mom. 

"Prove it..."

"I just woke you up!" They bickered, the boy too tired for his boss' games, what with his ruffled hair and blurred vision. He couldn't believe they'd slept through the night after preparing so well, but now that he thought about it, warm milk and ocean sounds weren't exactly meant to keep people awake. Oops.

"You know, I was having such a good dream. Your mom was there at my wed—"

"What?!" Henry baulked at the news, not wanting to hear the story's end since it creeped him out to think that Ray thought about his mother in his sleep. Not like that, of course, no way. No, Ray still smiled about it now, recalling how Dream Mrs Hart patted him warmly on the back as she kissed his cheek and congratulated him on his marriage to that lovely girl (y/n). She fondly remembered her wedding and told him there was nothing more beautiful than a bride on her big day and that he shouldn't keep her waiting before the first dance. 

Such a shame it had to be cut short. 

"Man Cave to the surveillance van, Man Cave to the surveillance van... Can you hear me?" Charlotte repeated impatiently, and finally, Henry picked up the other microphone. It was too late; the damage was already done. (y/n) heard every word uttered by the boys, including about her lover's dream, and felt her insides clench as they turned green - the ugliest colour, making her want to puke. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we hear you loud and clear."

"Did you two fall asleep?" The woman asked as she took the radio from Charlotte's and mashed the button so hard, it nearly broke. Her tone was curt and frosty, indicative to Henry that she was in no mood for playing games, but to Ray, her dulcet voice was music to his ears just like any other day. It brought a dopey grin to his face.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, we did not."

"Good morning, darlin'!" The doofus interrupted in his cheeriest voice, snatching the mic as she had with Charlotte, only when her tummy tingled with butterflies, her heart stopped, and the butterflies fell dead. It always came back to this, does he or doesn't he bullshit. She wasn't one for going in circles, but she'd always return to him, her fatal flaw. 

"Yeah, hi, doof. And, yes, you did, Hen. Don't lie to me," she returned his affection half-heartedly, scared to show her love again for fear of getting it wounded again, but he made it show easy. She'd always fall for his unending, adorable charm - that was the problem. 

"We didn't fall asleep, sweet girl. We were just resting our eyes," Ray replied smarmily, perhaps in a brattish manner. He recognised her subdued response and felt his heart deflate a little at the lack of warmth in her nickname, but he didn't dwell on it. The clock had barely struck eight, and he was in a crabby mood from the early start away from her; maybe she was tired too. 

"Okay, well, if you didn't fall asleep, then what's the status of Henry's lovely mom's lovely package?" she questioned bitingly, her voice light and sweet as she pictured Mrs Hart smiling and glowing in her mind. On the other end, Henry snatched the microphone back, glaring at Ray as the man slumped into his chair - dejected that his lover wouldn't flirt back. 

"Uh, the package...yup. Let me see," the kid mumbled as he grabbed a pair of binoculars and glanced across the street. He zoomed in on his porch and the spot where Ray had left the box in plain view, only to come across a slight problem.

"The package is...gone." Schwoz chuckled at that whilst the girls rolled their eyes and groaned. They had one task and nothing but a simple solo mission, but it seemed even that it was easy to screw up for the hero and sidekick, who didn't appreciate being laughed at. 

"Shut up, Schwoz!" Ray snapped and tossed the microphone down, so he didn't have to hear the taunting noise. However, Schwoz wasn't so dumb and quickly dialled his boss on his private PearPhone, which Ray was dumb enough to answer. 

The embarrassment was real, and there was no escaping it, but Ray didn't care about that. He was more concerned, dare he say irritated, by his fiancée's crabby mood. When she was angry, he was furious. When she was sad, he was miserable and strived to cheer her up to be his happy, smiley girl again. 

But for his life, he couldn't work out what was wrong. 

~In the Man Cave~

Needless to say, the embarrassment had stewed when the boys made it home. The journey to Junk-N-Stuff was brief but painful, especially with Schwoz cackling for the entire five-minute drive, so Henry and Ray were steaming by the time they got down to the main room. 

Things only worsened when Ray walked up to his sweet girl, wanting some affection to perk up his mood. As always, he leaned in for a kiss, badly needed fortification after going ten hours without one, only to feel his stomach plummet when his lips met her cheek and nowhere else. 

He despised the cold shoulder - hated it with every fibre of his being, but he couldn't even call this that. She didn't avoid him, didn't ignore him or walk out of the room; instead, she clung to his side like she always did, allowed him to hold her hand and gave brief, gentle smiles when he looked down at her. 

She was his sweet girl, as always, but she was holding out on him, curled up, protecting herself in her shell as she did all those years ago. She didn't want to talk, and he hated that even more. 

A storm was coming.

"Ahhhh! How could we fall asleep?!" The man bellowed from up on high, near the sprocket. If he couldn't relax in her arms and melt his anger with her kisses, then he figured shouting it out was the best alternative. Henry copied his actions, spurred on by his boss' pettiness and foot stamping and the tension between the couple. 

"How could we let that guy take the package right from under us?!" he asked, pulling a growl from Ray's throat. Meanwhile, (y/n) and Charlotte were being clever - as usual - taping a box shut since it was part of their foolproof master plan. And it gave the woman a distraction from her grief, which she didn't want to unleash on her doofus if he pushed her away. 

"I am so angry!"

"So am I!" They yelled, pacing back and forth in some weird competition on who could become the angriest in the room.

"I'm angrier!"

"That is a lie! Because I am the angriest!" Henry argued as Ray stomped, torn between his rampaging and pulling his sweet girl to the couch. Maybe if he did that, she'd smile and tell him to let it be because where would being angry get him? But then again, she could also frown, thump his chest for being so rough and march away, offended. Angry it was, then...

"No, I am King Andor! Ruler of Mount Furious!" Now, it was just getting strange. Ray seethed as he looked down upon his kingdom, neck pulled so tight, the veins and tendons there pulsated through his skin - pining for his queen.

"Yeah? Well, I am Rage! Vengeful God of Anger!"

"Well, I am (y/n), queen of are you guys done being angry? Because you're giving me a headache!" The heroine interrupted, shouting over their nonsense since she could feel the pressure mounting between her temples.

"Does it sound like we are?! Does it sound like we are (y/n/n)?!" Henry growled and held his ground, refusing to come down when he was enjoying acting like a five-year-old. People should shout and scream and complain like this more; he loved it. 

"Can't you see us stomping?!" Ray snapped, too and shuffled over to the couch where she was standing so she could hear his sneakers drag across the floor. And just for good measure, he kicked the spongy back a few times as he showed his pouty face to her amused one, hoping his tantrum would earn him a scrap of the attention he so desperately craved. 

"Yes, I can see that, but you look like a constipated chicken, Raymond," (y/n) told him flatly, crossing her arms as she waited for him to finish. He held eye contact with her, refusing to break it since she'd been avoiding his eyes since they came back, but Ray was disappointed to see nothing in those pretty peepers - not even a smidge of sympathy and comfort for the man-child within. 

"Well, she only asks because we're done making another bait package to put on Henry's porch," Charlotte piped up, drawing the two out of their trance, so they looked away. 

People always say that eyes are the windows to the soul, and (y/n) prayed that wasn't true because if it were, her doofus would've been able to see the envy, insecurity and despair rise behind her (y/e/c) pools upon the mention of sending him back to the lioness' den. 

"What?"

"Well, THANK YOU!"

"That's actually incredibly helpful!" They replied haughtily, too stubborn to drop the angry façade but not rude enough not to give them credit where credit was due. Suddenly, the red haze fell, and the boys didn't need to shout so much, making them feel pretty stupid after all that mouthing off, so to save their blushes, Ray stomped over to collect what they'd so lovingly prepared.

However, when he wrapped his beefy arms around the box...it wouldn't budge. Not even Captain Man,, with all his super strength, could lift it without doing something serious to his back, so after a few seconds of straining and grunting, he pulled away and looked at his precious girl with a baffled expression. 

"This package is too heavy, sweetheart!" He whined, trying to come across as all tough and moody still, but he was more like a puppy as he whimpered and growled, too soft for her to ever use any malice. 

"Why's it so heavy, swee--I mean, (y/n)?!" Henry quickly asked and corrected himself even quicker when he copied his boss' gross nickname in his grumpiness.

"Because we put Jasper inside," she replied, giving them a courteous smile as her tummy fluttered from her fiancée's attention. She wished he wasn't going back out there since everything was terrific until Henry's mom came into the picture.

"Hey, guys! I've got a taser in here!" Henry and Ray stared at the box in shock as they heard Jasper's muffled voice coming from inside--and then the unmistakable buzzing hisses of him messing about with the taser. Yeah, giving it to him in such a tight space wasn't a good idea, but it was too late now. 

"Ow!... It works!"

"That way, he can jump out and tase the package thief in case you two fall asleep again," Charlotte explained when Ray gave her a dirty look for involving that moron. It was a great plan, but they didn't take too well to her accusations; they didn't know the meaning of sleep; how dare she?

"Fall asleep? Fall asleep?"

"Oh yeah, we're going to fall asleep two times, Charlotte! King Andor does not sleep! He stomps!" They shouted as Ray jumped in front of the girls and started thumping his feet against the floor in a mad display of his petulant stomping and arm-waving. 

"Yeah, I'm just getting chicken vibes again, doof," (y/n) giggled, feeling her heart grow lighter than it had since yesterday, and for a brief moment, Ray gazed at her with hope in his eyes. Oh, how he'd longed to hear that giggle when the van got cold at night. 

"How could we possibly fall asleep when we are this angry?!" But Henry came in and ruined the moment, yelling until his throat was sore, and when he stomped, so did Ray. Watching with unamused faces, the girls stood and waited for them to calm down with folded arms. 

They left eventually, roaring about victory and drinking their enemy's blood or something as they hauled the Jasper Package into the elevator. He warned them not to be so rough with his delicate little body, but Ray hurled him in any way. 

He had more important things to do, like sidling up to his sweet girl and promising he would return soon. (y/n) tried to give him her most convincing smile and pulled him into a tight hug before Henry groaned and called for Ray to step into the elevator. 

"Time to go, darlin'," he murmured as he reluctantly pulled away from her arms with his same-old cocksure smirk and leaned to peck at her lips. She sighed into the agonisingly brief kiss, wishing she could freeze time and keep him there forever when he loved her and didn't think about anyone else. 

Kris Hart didn't know how lucky she was - that she had such a brave man wanting to give everything to help her out...and that she hadn't had her face ripped off for straying too close to the green-eyed monster.

~Later that night~

"Where are they?" (y/n) grumbled as she strolled around Junk-N-Stuff, hands wedged deep in her pockets to look casual. It wasn't working; three times she'd circled the centre display, five times she'd sat down on the manky, old couch to stand up again, and seven times she'd counted the money in the cash register. 

She couldn't sit still, not the sunset, and the darkness fell. Ray and Henry had been gone all night and day, camped out in that stupid van, but they weren't answering the radio. The last she'd heard was a goodnight text from "Doofus ❤️", but that was hours ago. Many hours ago, enough to make her go grey and become so worried that Charlotte caught her nerves. 

And she was usually the level-headed, unflappable one. 

"I'm trying to call them," she told her friend, tapping Henry's contact again, only for it to immediately go to voicemail. His phone was turned off - the same for Ray's - and whenever they tried to call, no one would answer. It drove them insane not knowing, but then, Schwoz came in, looking all innocent and friendly like he always did as he came up to "see how they were doing".

"Oh, Schwoz, have you heard from Ray and Henry? We've not had a single message from them, and I'm getting wor--" the heroine explained, not looking up from her cell as the genius approached, so neither of them saw his mischievous smirk until it was too late. 

"No greenie, yes peenchie!" he squealed in his funny voice and reached out with both hands to pinch them on the arm. They gasped from the brief yet excruciating pain and glared as they rubbed the sore patches he'd given them for seemingly no reason.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Ow! What the heck, Schwoz?!" They yelped. It wasn't so bad for (y/n) since the pain and subsequent bruise healed almost instantly, but Charlotte would feel it for the next ten minutes. What was wrong with that fuzzy coconut?

"It's Avocado Day!" He told them happily as if it was apparent, something everyone knew, and they were being dumb. 

"Eh?

"Avocado Day!" he told (y/n) with a gentle eye roll as she frowned in confusion, "If you're not wearing green, you get pinched on your skin!"

"No, that's St. Patrick's Day!" Charlotte corrected him as she quickly swatted his hand when he went in for round two. Yeah, he didn't like it when they returned the pain...or when they pointed out that he had his green-based holidays mixed up.

"What the heck is Saaaaaaynt Paaaaaaytreeeeck's Daaaay?" The genius asked, his eyebrows knitting together as he tried to pronounce the funny words, but (y/n) wasn't playing ball. He could say 'day' at least - he wasn't that bad. 

"Saint Patrick's Day is the day when Saint Patrick died. Y'know, the patron saint of Ireland? It's a big thing, Schwoz. I'm surprised you haven't--" she began to explain after carefully enunciating the name for him, but she was cut off when something alarming stepped through the door. 

At the tinkle of the bell and the breathing fire of the T-Rex, everyone looked at the door, expecting a customer or, y'know, something normal. What they didn't expect to see what Ray and Henry were stomping into the shop, covered from head to toe in glitter. 

From their hair to their faces to their shirts, they were doused in glitter - the fine, annoying, powdery stuff that clung to everything it touched and refused to come off. Only, it did come off sometimes - onto whatever they felt. A sparkling trail followed behind them as they entered swiftly, giving a unicorn a run for its money at the stardust left in the air whilst (y/n) stared at them in shock. 

What the hell had happened?

"You will never guess what happened to us!" That's what she said. Ray growled as he came to stand in front of her, sprinkling her jeans and sweater with glitter as he got so close their chests bumped together. She didn't mind the proximity - welcomed it - but when he stepped back, and she was left coated in silver specks, too, she wasn't too happy.

"You fell asleep again, then the package thief delivered the glitter bomb to the surveillance van, and you opened it without realising what it was, and now you look like a unicorn pooped on you?" Charlotte suggested, taking a step back and analysing the situation briefly before coming to a sound and uncanny conclusion. 

"No..."

"Maybe...why'd you have to be so smart all the time?" The boy replied coyly, scuffing their feet against the ground, so it too became glittery, and upon clocking what he dusted her with, (y/n) jerked away from her lover with a gasp. 

"Oh, doofus! This stuff doesn't come off, and you've got it all over me!" She whined as her hands frantically brushed her sweater to no avail. Despite only touching him for a second, the glitter found its way between the fibres and, once there, refused to move even when she plucked and flickered and prayed for it to go away. 

"Oh, sweet girl, let me--" Ray gasped, seeing the mess he'd made across her chest and immediately reached out to help clean it up. The problem, however, came when he failed to remember what was on his hands until it was too late and an even bigger streak of shining glitz stretched across her clothes.

"Thanks," (y/n) said dryly, sighing in defeat as his hands stilled on her ruined sweater, meaning she had to swat them away because whilst he had no issues standing with his hands on her boobs, she did - especially when others were in the room. She loved that sweater, and now it would have to be tossed out, which stoked the fires of fury within her even as her lover sheepishly apologised. 

The clouds were growing darker. 

"No greenie, yes peenchie!" And, in the worst possible moment, Schwoz snuck in between the hero and sidekick and pulled the same mean trick he'd done with the girls. As if Ray wasn't in a steadily declining mood, he nipped his skin between his forefinger and thumb - hard - drawing a sharp "ow!" from the man before the pain faded. It hurt like hell but then he remembered... "Is it Avocado Day?"

"Yeah!" The genius replied with a playful grin. 

"Man, I forget every year!" He grinned, seeing the fun side of the situation, even though it trickled into his growing pool of annoyance. He didn't show it, but that pinch would fester, as would the glitter in his hair, shirt, and pants. Hell yeah, it was in his pants; glitter was coarse, rough, irritating, and it got everywhere, but worse was he'd have no one to help him wash it out later if his sweet girl kept giving him that scolding expression. 

"Okay, what is Avocado Day?" Henry asked, perplexed by their bizarre interaction. 

"No greeny, yes pinchy!" Ray squealed, imitating Schwoz's voice, though it would never be precisely the same. Although the pain Henry felt when his boss leaned forward and pinched him roughly on the arm was the same - mean-spirited, excruciating, perhaps even a bit cruel. 

"Ow! What the heck, Ray?!" He whimpered as the man retreated, appealing to (y/n) for help with his best "I'm one of your babies. Please come help me against your doofus" looks, but she merely shrugged. There was no way she would get any more glitter on herself, not after a couple of days she'd had. 

"It's Avocado Day. You're not wearing green, so you get pinched."

"But that's St. Patrick's Day," the kid disagreed, giving the large man a skeptical look at how he'd hurt him for a misunderstanding, which was more common than it seemed. Well, common between repairmen and doofuses. 

"Stop making up fake holidays!" Ray shouted back, disliking all the sudden insubordination going on around him. The atmosphere felt mutinous, and made him uneasy, not that he'd ever suspect anyone in his family of betraying him. His mind told him theoretically everything was safe, but his heart and gut were saying something else, and it led back to...

"Stop shouting at Henry, Ray! It's not his fault you mixed up your holidays!" (y/n) bit back, jumping to the side of her blondest baby since she didn't like the accusatory of her beloved. She didn't know why but it was one of those days, having finally figured out where she was so furious. 

It was just a day out of three-six-five when he pushed her buttons more than usual, not for any reason, but things had pooled together and stretched her thin as not enough jelly spread across too much toast. She couldn't be everywhere, do everything, and please everyone, but in the Man Cave, that was her job, and some days, she was sick of it. 

"We gotta find a way to stop this package thief, (y/n)!" Ray hissed, looking down on her, not at her, for the first time in a long while. Every couple hit rough patches every once in a while, and they were no different since they drove each other crazy by being crazy for one another. They were opposites, too so both hindered and helped to push them together, even when circumstances conspired against them. 

"You're right. You're right..." Henry nodded, patting the woman on the shoulder to say thanks and call her off. He loved her mother bear instincts but not when they led to bickering, so she stepped away and left it for the sake of him and Charlotte. But that didn't mean she was finished. 

"Well, step one, stop falling asleep!" She told them sternly, pointing a finger straight at their faces as if to say, "I mean it". And that was fine; Henry knew they couldn't nap through another package thievery, or this would never be put to bed, but Ray, suddenly finding himself in an accusatory mood, fought back with the dirtiest of tactics. 

"A—a—choo!" He sneezed violently, feeling it creep up his spine with no warning - that bit wasn't his fault; after all, Mother Nature moves in mysterious ways. However, he wasn't faultless when he pointed his snot rockets in his sweet girl's direction, not to mention poor Charlotte - the victim of circumstance - and, contrary to how his mother brought him up, sprayed her in his droplets and snotlets. 

His head shook from the force, meaning not only was she showered in his saliva, but a fine dusting of glitter settled over her and Charlotte like the first snow falling. If she thought the sweater incident was terrible, then this was horrific. Glitter on their bodies, hair, and shoes - it was like they'd been victims of the bomb too, except they were merely victims of a doofus who fought like a child when he wasn't happy. 

"No—Raymond Manchester! That was deliberate, you...you...god! I cannot believe you!" She growled as her chest heaved and her hands froze in mid-air - useless in their attempt to shield her body. Upon hearing her friend's drawn-out "ewwwww!", the girls retreated to the counter, where they stored some alcohol wipes and tissues, grumbling about how stupid boys stupidly spray it and don't say it.

"Now, to catch a package thief, you got to think like a package thief," Ray smirked at Henry once they were somewhat alone, despite his heart roaring at him to shift his ass and apologise. There was no need for that, and honestly, he had no idea why he'd done it after feeling the powdery glitter tickle his nose, but it was too little too late. He hoped flowers and a box of chocolates would make up for it. 

"We start stealing packages ourselves!" Henry suggested, thinking like his boss and not his usual, rational self. Jeez, he had to stop hanging out with Ray; he was starting to rub off on him. 

"Okay, love that! Gas up the van, warm up some milk and let's roll!" And Ray being Ray, he loved that idea, so they shared a grin, a high-five, and made for strolling out of Junk-N-Stuff, leaving nothing but a trail of magic and a wounded sweet girl behind them. 

"Uh, guys," Charlotte butted in, having something much more straightforward in mind, which she thought would work out in their favour since the lovers could stick together. Sure, they were going at it like a cat and dog today, but they always faired worse when separated and even if they wouldn't sit down and talk it through, at least they could be near each other and feed off that. "I have an idea."

"Wait!"

"What's up, big dog?" Henry was there immediately, halting when Ray called for it since he was a good, obedient sidekick expecting to hear his friend out. But no...

"I got a better idea!"

"Listening..." he nodded, all his attention on the leader, despite his brain telling him that history had taught him Charlotte's ideas were nearly always better than Ray's. The girl rolled her eyes as he completely blew her off and shared an exasperated look with (y/n), who, for once, was powerless to help since she wasn't exactly feeling peachy with her doofus either. 

"We go down to the Man Cave. We get Schwoz's pot of gold—"

"I'm sorry, what?" Henry frowned the minute said that features contorting in bafflement since it sounded so strange. Schwoz, who incidentally was wearing green for "Avocado Day", owned a pot of gold like some literal leprechaun at the end of the rainbow. This he had to see. 

"We get Schwoz's pot of gold. We leave it outside the store as bait—"

"Schwoz has a pot of gold?" The kid asked, too shocked to care about Ray's plan now that he'd received the news. He knew the guy was weird, but riches beyond belief were far out there - perhaps a little too far out there. 

"Pfft! A pot of gold! I'm not a leprechaun! Why would I have a pot of gold?" The genius scoffed, playing coy, so they didn't suspect him, but he wasn't a brilliant actor. Henry could smell a liar a mile away after being Kid Danger for so long, and it seemed like something Schwoz would have, from whichever land he hailed from. 

"He does, though...fiddly-diddly-dee," (y/n) smirked, staying quiet at the cash register, but she couldn't help but sprag on her friend. Not in a mean way, that wasn't like her, but Schwoz was a liar and loved to show off his pot whenever he could. It was only when someone wanted it that it suddenly went missing, and the fear of Ray getting ahold of it was enough to make him bolt. 

"You can't have my pot of gold!" He exclaimed angrily and like an angry little leprechaun, skipped off to hide it away from prying eyes and grabbing hands. He looked so funny as he scampered through the beaded curtain, causing (y/n) to giggle silently and shake her head - he was never good at hiding things.

"We'll get it," Ray hissed to the blond boy, proving her point, although she refrained from smiling at him. Her heart said yes, yes, yes, smile at soulmate now, but her brain said no, no, no, we're supposed to be mad at him, you can't have it both ways. 

"Uh, I said I have an idea!" Charlotte called to them, trying her luck again once the genius disappeared, but like every time before, it seemed she was invisible or they were rude. No, they were rude. 

"Okay, so we get Schwoz's pot of gold, maybe run some electrical wires through it..."

"We warm up some milk, and wait for the package thief to show up!" Ray grinned at his young sidekick, who seemed to be full of unique ideas today,. The girls looked on, exasperated at how life had landed them working/loving such morons and why they hadn't yet received a medal. 

"Do some meditation, get in that zone, you know what I mean?"

"Listen to songs of the humpback whale?" The hero suggested, sounding like he was in severe pain as he imitated the whales and their lonely song. Henry was the only person who liked it, unaware that outside their little bubble, they looked and sounded ridiculous with their oo'ing and awwing.

"You guys!" (y/n) snapped abruptly, slicing through their conversation with pure frustration at how her poor friend hadn't gotten a word in edgewise, and all they wanted to do was make whale noises. Instantly, they looked at her, taken aback by her sharp, uncharacteristic tone because she never yelled like that and certainly not at one of her babies or her beloved doofus. 

"Charlotte has a plan that doesn't involve whales or milk or Schwoz's pot of damn gold!"

"Thank you, (y/n/n)," the girl inhaled calmly, bowing her head at her friend as she massaged her temples before carrying on with her explanation, "I put an ad online yesterday that says Junk-N-Stuff buys things now."

"So?" Henry asked, confused at what she meant by that. So what if they bought crap now? Didn't matter to him. 

"So, the ad said we'll buy stuff, pay cash, and not ask where they got it from," she smirked with a mischievous glint in her eye, feeling so intelligent and smug for the trap they were leaving. It was all legit and the perfect way to lure in the thief, who had to be one clever bastard if he knew where to return the glitter bomb package after noticing he was being watched. Now, if only Ray could understand that...

"Uh, I did not authorise that, so I will subtract the cost of the ad from your paycheck," he told the girl with an air of authority that didn't wash with his sweet girl. Usually, she loved it when he played the big, strong, hot leader as it reminded her of his strength and extermination, but now he was coming across as arrogant and dictatorial. Plus, she supervised Charlotte all day, said she could publish the ad and even called it a great plan. What about her authority?

"Yeah, well, I authorised it, so I will add the cost back into her paycheck for doing our job for us," (y/n) folded her arms as Ray stood in front of the cash register. Now they were getting into the ridiculous part of the argument, where they questioned each other on stupid stuff, and as she gave him a complex, challenging look that no one else would ever get away with, he found himself biting his lip and glaring back. 

"You didn't ask me first?"

"I didn't think I needed to ask for permission for a stupid online advert." The hairs on the back of her neck bristled at his cold voice, and she huffed at the insinuation that he'd suddenly changed his mind about how everything was run. What was he was hers - that's how things were, and she'd never assumed she could cross any line, but it was plain to see he was being stubborn. As was she. 

"Check next time."

"Yes, sir, no, sir, three bags full, sir," she scoffed, unafraid to mock him since he wounded her pride with his haughty instructions, despite telling her numerous occasions that he didn't give a rat's ass about Junk-N-Stuff. She cared more about it. Therefore, he left most of it to her, saying she'd have half of everything when he finally got to call his wife, which would be in a million, billion years if he was planning the wedding. 

"Don't be a child, sweetheart," he sneered as he turned away, done with the conversation, but he couldn't help when the nickname slipped from his tongue. He could never use it with malice, even if he were being hypocritical, stupid, and stubborn, so he wasn't ashamed about it as he looked at Henry, just about their poor handling of the situation. 

"Me?! A child?! Have you heard yourself? That's rich com—"

"Come on, kid. Let's towel off this glitter, take a quick power nap and steal Schwoz's pot of gold," he grinned at the kid as he cut her off. How they were tired after so much sleep was anyone's guess, but it was probably something to do with the fact they slept in a van; for all his pouting and foot-stamping, Ray could never deny he slept better in his bed, with his precious girl, after tiring themselves out. Maybe it was that that made him so crabby. 

"Good call; I am so tired..."

"I know, right? Must be from all that sleeping," they shrugged and grabbed some towels from one of the shelves just as Schwoz dashed through the store with a small cauldron suspiciously full of gold coins. He ran so fast that he spilt a few as he zipped out of the store, practically hissing at anyone who looked at him or his treasure, whether they were a friend...or foe.

"You'll never get my pot of gold!" Ignoring Ray and Henry's promises that they'd get that pot eventually, he bounced out of the store, proving to be a peculiar sight for the guy who walked in as he left. At first glance, he was like any other customer, just a guy with a box of junk under his arm, so the heroes didn't stop towelling as he walked up to the counter. 

"Hi, can we help you?" (y/n) asked politely, switching to her demure, perpetually smiling mode as she did for every customer she served. A quick rake of her eyes over the young man and his demeanour made her tummy feel funny, not in that way, he was far too young for her, and as much as he pissed her off, she was a taken girl, but this guy seemed shady - jumpy, maybe. Highly suspicious. 

"Yeah, I saw your ad online," the guy replied as he walked up to them and placed his box on the counter. Huh, a glance inside told (y/n) everything she needed to know, recognising the contents instantly, but they pretended to be innocent. No point going in for the kill before getting a confession. 

"Oh, did you?" Charlotte asked loudly, hoping the boys were still paying attention, even with the towels over their heads.

"Yeah. Said you'll buy stuff, pay cash, not ask where it came from?"

"You know, that is what the ad said. I bet you came top of the class for your reading skills," (y/n) smiled brightly and ignored when the guy noticed and frowned at the glitter coating her and her helper. She really hoped he wasn't intelligent enough to put two-and-two together, and thankfully, he didn't say anything despite seeing the sparkles, preferring to get in and out with the hot goods. 

"Whatcha lookin' to sell?"

"Uhh...I got a bunch of neckties with the Vice Mayor's face on them. You interested?" He told them, holding up the hideous, bright blue ties with Willard's face splashed all over them. The girls hated to think what they'd been ordered for but pushed the thought to the backs of their minds as Henry and Ray slowly stopped rubbing their hair. Neckties? With Vice Mayor Willard's face? Now that caught their attention. 

"We are very interested in those. Got anything else?" Charlotte asked, seeing her friends turn around in the corner of her eye as the thief rummaged through his box again. 

"I've got season two of Will and Grace on Blu-Ray!" He told them, holding up the DVD so they could see it. It wasn't on their list, but it was stolen. The guy didn't have many morals in that box of his. 

"That's a good season!"

"It's a great season!" (y/n) recoiled when the shady guy snapped at her, causing Ray to put his hands on his hips as his anger rose. Whether they were in the middle of an argument or not was beside the point; no one, and he meant no one, yelled at, intimidated or was rude to his sweet girl. She was the loveliest, kindest, gentlest soul he'd ever encountered, and he loved her more than life itself - this guy would pay. 

"I've also got this hairdryer specially made for hot moms," he moved on and lifted the hairdryer so they could see it. (y/n) clenched her jaw at the description, wondering why on Earth the hot mom bit was so important and why salt seemed to pour into her wounds every time she turned a corner. Kris Hart this, hot mom that, was there any wonder she hated that she hated that woman?

"That—that is fantastic stuff. Where'd you get it?" Charlotte questioned as the hero and sidekick pulled the towels from their heads. They were dense but not that dense and suddenly aware that Charlotte's plan had worked - the guy came straight to them. Who was dense now?

"The ad said you wouldn't ask where it came from," the thief replied frostily, unaware that Captain Man and Kid Danger were now stalking his ass right as he copped to the entire job. "But whatever. I stole it."

"Oh, wow, and nobody tried to stop you?" Miss Danger raised an eyebrow, curious about what he'd say and her doofus' reaction. The poor guy didn't know he was signing his death sentence as he and Henry loomed over him from behind, jaws clenched as he started insulting them freely. 

"Well, there was this old guy and his son in a van trying to catch me."

"Old guy?!" Ray spluttered as he heard the terrible insult. Henry let it go like water rolling off a duck's back, but he knew how touchy his boss was about his age - forever strung up about how he would someday lose his fresh-faced, boyish youth and be forced into retirement. It didn't matter if it happened to everyone; he hated how it was happening to him, and he hated that he already had six years on his future wife when he wanted to spend every second of her life with her, worshipping everything she did. 

"Oh, yeah! There you are," the guy laughed breathily as he turned around to see the numskulls he tricked, unaware that the girl and hot lady at the counter were cringing at how he was the numskull, "you like that glitter bomb, old man? EUhhhhhhh!"

As he laughed at his mischief, the others joined in, cackling like he was the best comedian in the world for pulling such a good prank on those trying to hunt him. Whilst they laughed, (y/n) nudged Charlotte, telling her it was time to make herself scarce as Henry went over to the door, intending to lock it so the three heroes could take their revenge on such a gunch. 

"What's going on?" The thief queried as the shopkeepers and numskulls kept laughing to the point where it was getting creepy. He didn't understand why the old dude was slowly creeping towards him and twisting the red towel in his hands into what looked like a rope.

"Why's she heading toward the back?" He asked, feeling the joy leave his voice as a shiver ran down his spine. Things didn't seem so funny as he took in the situation and suddenly felt like an animal getting cornered, his instincts telling him to run even when all the exits were covered. 

"Why's he locking the door? And why's she coming over here?" He asked again as the fake laughter died down into chuckling and then into silence. The thief found himself staring down Captain Man of all people, with Miss Danger breathing down his neck and Kid Danger looking down on him, but it would be okay, right? They were just three weirdos in a junk store - nothing scary there. 

"...Say, friend, I couldn't help but notice..." Ray whispered to him in a husky voice that had (y/n) shivering from how undeniably hot he sounded, even though it wasn't the time or place to go all gooey, "you're not wearing green."

"And it's Avocado Day," Henry hissed, too, staring at the man as he stood in the doorway. 

"Sort of..." (y/n)'s hot breath rolled down the man's neck as she leaned in to murmur in his ear, and he jolted at having her so close. Never in his life had he felt so caged, and the thief hated how they all glared at him like that, especially when the old guy with the...huge muscles growled from the lady getting so near and when he realised what Avocado Day meant. 

"Oh, god..." he gulped, fearing what they'd do to him as Ray tightly gripped the towel. Oh, he didn't have to worry that much. He wouldn't pinch too hard. 

At first. 

~A while later~

There was nothing like job satisfaction at the end of a long day. Being able to say that the packages of Swellview were a little safer, thanks to them, made the job worth it for the Man Cave crew, and now that the asshole thief was in a police car on his way to the jailhouse, they could rest easy. 

Well, some found it more straightforward than others. 

Against her better judgement, (y/n) agreed when Charlotte asked if she wanted to help get the glitter out of Ray and Henry's hair, saying that the man wouldn't let anyone but her touch his. Then, she did some very well-played grovelling, saying all sorts of stuff like how she loved to touch her fiancé's hair, how no one could remove glitter as she could and how she, her poor helpless baby, needed some help from mama bear. 

That tugged at her heartstrings, and the woman caved, tearing up at the thought of the girl struggling against two boys and their beloved hair, so they got to work. Saying nothing, (y/n) picked up a hairdryer and began blowing Ray's hair, using her famous patience and perseverance to get down to the root where the glitter caked every strand. They were still arguing, at least in her head because Ray could joke, grin, purr and smirk at her all he wanted, but she was at the end of her rope. 

The storm was nearly here. 

"Man! How crazy was it that that package thief guy just happened to walk into Junk-N-Stuff, right?" The doofus shouted over the noise from the hairdryer, feeling cocky and victorious after pinching the hell out of that lowlife as his sidekicks held him down. Now, he got to lie back and think of honey-laced lips and soft hands that stroked through his hair so graciously, which was all down to luck. Nothing else. Definitely just luck.

"Uh, he walked in because Charlotte put an ad online," she told him, prodding his head to ensure he was listening, but Ray didn't reply. He stared off into nothingness with a dopey grin because the work and stress were done now, which meant he could quickly patch it up with his precious fiancée. Oh, it was tragic how he didn't feel himself falling until he hit rock bottom. 

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, dude. Luck is a skill," Henry shouted, ignoring the outrage stewing behind him. Neither recognised how arrogant and conceited they were or how cruelly unfair to Charlotte as they sat back and enjoyed the spoils of war whilst those who did the actual work paid them a kindness. 

"Yeah, well, lucky for us, we got that skill!" Ray smiled and bumped fists with his youngest sidekick as they boasted about how amazing they were - and that was the last straw for poor Charlotte.

"Well, good luck getting the glitter out of your own hair," she told them in a sugary voice before slamming the dryer down and briskly walking to the secret door. She ignored (y/n)'s calls for her to come back, knowing that she'd end up ripping their heads off if she stayed any longer, wondering how her friend hadn't already. 

She didn't care at that moment; she didn't care what was said or done between the boys or between the couple; she just needed some air, so she left them to it. And that didn't go down very well with (y/n), who huffed and death-glared the giggling children on the couch as she too, approached the end of her rope. 

"What's her deal?" Henry asked blankly, wondering why his friend stormed off like that, but as a male running off cocky endorphins, he couldn't work it out, and neither could Ray. 

"Uh, she gets like this every Avocado Day," he replied with a shrug, not realising he was digging his hole deeper, even when (y/n) copied the girl and turned her hairdryer off. Sometimes, it baffled her how he could be so dense, emotionally stupid and inconsiderate. It made her wonder why she had to go and fall for him all those years ago because, certainly, there were easier men out there. 

"Well, who's gonna blow the glitter out of my hair now?" Henry questioned, glancing around the room with a vacant, almost expectant expression. Okay, (y/n) would have to remember to stop waiting on him hand and foot because this was ridiculous. She thought it was bad when her lover sat there with his mouth open and hands out, expecting everything to be given to him, but she wouldn't do it for both of them. Hell, she didn't want to do it for anyone right now. 

"Nah, it's all right. (y/n) can do both of us, right, sweet girl?" Ray suggested, tilting his head back so he could smile at her as she stared at him in disbelief. Since when had she turned into the Man Cave's maid?

"Raymond, I am also covered in this fucking glitter. If you think I'm going to run around after you two, then—"

"Ooh, I got an idea!" He cut her off with a high-pitched gasp, causing the heroine to bite her tongue until it risked bleeding. It was like he was using every trick in the book to try her patience, toeing and crossing every line, so she had to reign in her temper before she said something awful, but he was making it so damn difficult. 

"Sweet, dude. I'll warm up some milk," Henry grinned and went to stand up. She couldn't blame him when he was feeding off the boss' energy - Ray was the ringleader, the one barking orders and Henry, bless his heart, wasn't one for being so...fucking annoying. And he'd never intentionally jeopardise their relationship by encouraging his friend's pigheaded behaviour - he'd invested too much time and effort in it. 

"No, no, no, no, no, we can't nap our way out of this one, pal," Ray stopped him before he reached the auto-snacker, standing up to take his gum tube from his back pocket. His sidekicks eyed him curiously, wondering what he was thinking as (y/n) impatiently tapped her foot against the tiles. 

"Check it out. Pop a gumball, transform into Captain Man, Kid Danger and Miss Danger, and poof! All the glitter is gone!" He grinned as if he'd just solved world hunger, looking from the kid to his sweet girl, who scoffed at the notion of him finally acknowledging her. She'd been invisible all day, or he'd ignored everything she'd said, so now he was including her made her even angrier because it played into his ego. 

"Ah, question—do you ever get tired of being so awesome?"

"Don't encourage him, Henry. You'll make his head even bigger than it already is," she told the boy bitterly, causing him to freeze as she glared at Ray, whose entire body tensed up at the ice in her voice. What was her deal?

"Uh, well, actually, I've been tired the past couple of days, so I don't know why you're getting so moody," he scoffed, turning his back on Henry so he could fully face her, which used to make mousy (y/n) (y/l/n) back down instantly, but now, she was ready for an argument - gloves on, fury boiling over, venom prepared to spit. 

"Oh, you're tired? Are you tired after sleeping on the job for two days straight? I've been worried sick, running round, and cleaning up all your crap, Raymond, and you dare to call me moody?" She hissed, jabbing the space between his pecs with her finger, and he grabbed it in a tight, rough grip, ready to fight if ,that's what she wanted. 

"Yeah, I'll call you moody 'cause my fiancée can't seem to let me do anything without getting her panties in a twist. Don't shout, Ray! Don't eat with your mouth open, Ray! Don't talk to Henry's mom in case she flashes you, Ray!" He growled at her, riling her up with a mocking tone that was supposed to be her, although, in sane minds, neither of them would say she ever sounded that shrill and bossy. 

"I don't see why you have to bring her into this!" (y/n) whispered harshly, glancing over her shoulder to see Henry scuffing his foot against the tiles awkwardly. It was like getting caught between his mom and dad fighting, even if that was part of the problem. He could pinpoint the moment the woman internally panicked at being called out, recoiling into her best defences rather than admitting she was nothing short of jealous. 

"Oh, please. Do you know how difficult this mission has been, knowing you're at home sulking?"

"Difficult? Try twelve years loving you, and then you'll know the meaning of difficult, Raymond. I've put up with so much shit from you and never complained about it!" She shouted, growing increasingly frustrated and upset as she did her best to hurt him, and he did his best to hurt her. Tears sprang in her eyes at the scowl on his face, knowing it was directed at her as he fought them back, too, knowing he was making her cry. 

"Well, why don't you just leave if I'm such a bastard?" He asked cruelly, hating the question the moment he asked it because he didn't want to know the answer. He didn't want her to take it as rhetorical either since that would mean he'd have to stomach everything being over, and he couldn't do that. This would blow over like always, right?

"Because everyone knows you would fall apart without me! This place barely ran before I got here!" It was her turn to brag, gathering what was left of her pride and using it to batter him - a terrible, cruel way of showing him that she wanted to stay because her place was in the Man Cave, as part of his family. She wouldn't leave, even if the shouting match implied otherwise. 

"Well, there you go, then. Stop shouting, and you can stay as long as you want, darlin'. I'm sure I can make us forget all about this..." Ray replied with a smirk, feeling his anger melt into cockiness as he interpreted her words as a desperate cry for affection and validation. So, in a terrible misjudgement, he stepped forward and placed his large, warm hands on her upper arms, the smirk never leaving his face as he wiggled his eyebrows at her in the suggestion that they could fuck and this would all go away. 

And then the first stab of lightning struck. 

"What? For God's sake, Raymond, why do you always have to be so cocky, smug, and annoying?!" She cried, exasperatedly hitting her fists against his chest as his attempts to calm her down made her heart bleed even more. What should've made the tears stop and her words dry up made her feel trapped like she had nowhere to go, but into his arms and for once, she didn't want to be there, not when she felt like this, so she lashed out. And wounded them both. 

"God, Ray, I just—-I—fuck, sometimes, I—I hate you!" She screamed as her fist connected with his chest for the final time, and as it did, it was like the world stopped. Ray felt his heart stop as she hit him like she took what she held and crushed it in one simple squeeze. 

All the joking died within him, his smirk falling as she held her glare and breathed raggedly, hoping in her anger she'd done enough to be set free, but as his face drained of colour, she knew what damage she'd done. 

His fingers became loose and shaky on her shoulders, allowing her to wrench free from his grip so she could turn away from him and walk around the couch to stand alone for a moment. She cut a lonely figure, arms curled around herself to provide comfort as she cooled down and reeled from the argument, where she'd said and done things she didn't mean - but she'd said and done them anyway. 

Ray blinked a few times, surprised and expecting at the same time to feel tears in his eyes, and he tried to process those three ugly words. 

Only in his nightmares had he heard them, the darkest, cruellest ones that could never be real when he woke up in the morning to find his beloved still in his arms, smiling and in love with him. It didn't feel real, and in another moment, he would've worked out that she said it out of spite and anger, not from her heart, but he didn't want to listen to reason. He wanted his sweet girl, but she didn't want him. 

He always knew this would happen. 

"Um, let's just pop some gum and get this glitter outta my bum," Henry piped up in a small voice, not knowing what else to do. It was an awkward and clumsy attempt to break the ice, but no one could blame him for trying, not when he'd had to endure seeing that between the strongest couple he'd ever known. They'd never fought this bad, and a part of him was genuinely worried that things had been said and done that couldn't be taken back. 

"Y-yeah, popping, kid," Ray replied breathlessly, his hands shaking as he titled his tube until a glowing orb landed in his palm. He shoved it past his teeth quicker than Henry could ask if he was all right—he obviously wasn't, but he didn't know what else to say other than he'd bet his left kidney that (y/n) would rather die than end up hating him. 

He wanted to tell him everything as an outside observer, but he couldn't because his dad had an uncanny knack for calling at precisely the wrong moment. 

"Sup, pop-pop?" He answered the call as (y/n) begrudgingly trudged over and swallowed a gumball too. In the five seconds, she'd had to think, she knew that this was the lowest point in her life and possibly the one where her future self would look back and curse her for being so careless and cruel. That wasn't who she was; she was (y/n), the girl people went to for her kindness and caution, but in a split-second, she forgot herself and made the biggest mistake of her life. 

Telling the man she adored that she hated his guts - how could she ever forgive herself? Would he ever forgive her?

"Hey, happy Avocado Day. I'm looking for Piper." Mr Hart told his son, chirping before growing more serious since he hadn't seen his youngest in days. He couldn't think where she could've got to, but then again, she never told him of her movements or business. 

"Uh, when was the last time you saw her?" Henry asked, wishing this could wait until later since he had two broken lovers chewing gum, but he perked up in concern at the news about his sister. 

"Been a couple of days, and according to this parenting book I've been reading, I should be worried!" Well, duh, his daughter was missing. Why wouldn't he be worried? 

"Wasn't she picking up trash for community service?" Henry suggested, vaguely remembering the screaming match between Piper and their mom about something involving a stolen elephant. He'd had enough of those for a lifetime and felt antsy to get off the line so he could get the morons standing on either side of him to apologise and go back to being soulmates, but it seemed a good enough excuse for his dad. 

"Ah! We'll go with that!"

"Yeah, anything else? I gotta go," he told him quietly, glancing up to see the lovers standing uncharacteristically three feet apart and looking anywhere but at each other. That was not how it was supposed to be; they were supposed to be three millimetres apart and looking at nothing but each other, preferably with their eyes shut and their lips touching. Not that Henry would ever confess to thinking the icky sight was cute. 

"Yeah. There's a really big package on the front porch. Did you order something?" Mr Hart asked as he circled the mysterious box, which appeared out of nowhere, and his wife swore she hadn't ordered. She was too busy mailing out wedding invites and writing a list of good florists on behalf of her son's nice boss to order anything. 

"Um, I don't think soooo—-oh, no, we forgot about Jasper, dude! He's still in the box on my porch!" Henry cringed as he remembered their second failed stakeout and how his poor best friend had sat throughout the night just to be forgotten on his doorstep. 

He covered the receiver so his dad couldn't hear anything and looked to Ray for help, but he didn't feel like helping anyone when he pictured telling everyone he'd bragged to that he was no longer marrying the hottest, loveliest, sweetest girl on the planet, all because he pushed her to the brink. 

"I'll just open it..." Mr Hart shrugged as the line went quiet and figured that if someone had left it on their porch for so long and not come looking for it, then it was his to explore. Sort of. 

"No, no, no, no, no, no, don't open it!" Henry told his dad quickly, keenly aware that Jasper was lurking in the box with a goddamn taser in his hand, but it was too late. Mr Hart pulled his PearPhone away from his ear and reached down to remove the tape from the cardboard. All Henry heard in the final seconds what sounded like Jasper yelling, and the sound of a grown man suffering one hundred thousand volts of electricity before a thud, and the line went dead. 

Oh well, hopefully, that problem would sort itself out. 

"How—how's your dad? Say anything i-important?" (y/n) asked wearily, her voice shaky and scratchy like she was trying not to cry again because who was she to be upset? She'd done this, no one else; if anything, her doofus should be the one crying because he made the mistake of falling for the biggest bitch ever. She made Kris seem like an angel, and she selfishly felt her heart crack when she dared to glance up and see her steeled gaze - so strong even when she ripped holes in him. 

"Not really. Jasper tased him. Piper's missing. Let's get this glitter off," Henry told them, bringing them up to speed so they could finally remove the offending glitz. It would be the first of many remedies, and the kid planned on the second being shoving them in a room until they came out all lovey-dovey again, so even though the melon holy woman looked concerned at the mention of the missing girl, they took their places and began to blow. 

The bubbles pushed past their lips as the lovers awkwardly stood next to each other, closer than either would've liked since they were sure the other was wildly uncomfortable. Still, they ignored the tension and behaved like adults, steadily blowing the bubbles until they were nearly ready to pop. 

And that's when everything went wrong. 

In a shocking, bizarre twist of fate; a sharp squeal came from behind them as a small, dazed figure dropped from the tubes and luckily landed on its feet. Piper. 

She'd crawled through those goddamn tubes for days, taking every twist and turn in good humour until her stomach growled for food and her brain melted into mush from how far they went. She was sure she'd never find her way out after two days of crawling from Stank Street and that stupid car (looking inside was a massive mistake), but then, there was a sudden drop, and she had no choice but to go down. 

She landed on hard, solid ground - a relief after crawling on her knees for so long and she breathed a sigh of relief as she'd finally made it to the other side, wherever the other was. But then, her breath was stolen as she peered up through her messy hair and took in the bright, wacky room she'd landed in—and that's when she saw them. 

Her brother, Henry Hart, standing next to one of her best friends, (y/n) (y/l/n), standing next to her dumb fiancée and his boss, Ray Manchester, each of them blowing a luminescent bubble, and then, they popped. 

"Henry? (y/n)?" She asked in confusion, wondering what the hell they were doing down here and what that stuff was they were blowing, but it was too late for excuses. There was no time to run, and there was nowhere to hide. In a flash of light, Piper witnessed it all as the trio stood there in shock, powerless to stop the red and blue uniforms materialising around their bodies as they became those unmistakable figures. 

In front of her stood Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger, in the flesh, in their masks and shock. And she knew who they were. And they knew she knew; there was no denying it as she screamed at the top of her lungs from the pure shock. 

Her brother was Kid Danger. 

One of her best friends was Miss Danger. 

She was getting married to Captain Man - possibly. 

And now, the shitstorm was here.

[cantsaythetword]

TickleTober Day 26: Claws

~A/N  - Another reader (READER !!!!) self-insert fic with the avengers (mostly Steve cause... of course! lol).

Hope you guys like it!!!

- Enoy! ~

Tag List:

Masterpost Link || TickleTober 2022 Masterpost Link

While Charades was usually a game reserved for Christmas time, anything was made better when you added a touch of Halloween spookiness. Especially when you and Peter got to laugh at two old men getting frustrated at each other.

"Soup!" Steve guessed. "Stew? Chef making stew? Evil chef... Baaaad Chef... Gordon Ramsey?!"

Bucky grunted in frustration and continued to act, as Peter whispered his (correct) answer into your ear.

"Chef with hat! Long pointy hat! Ratatouille?" He continued, bouncing on the edge of his seat.

"No!" Bucky groaned. "Come on! Pointy hat, stirring things, evil...?"

Steve was absolutely perplexed, the cogs in his brain ticking away to no avail. While this was funny, it was probably time to put the old dog out of his misery.

"Would it perhaps be a witch, Bucky?" You smirked, laughing at Bucky's exasperation at Steve's lightbulb moment.

"YES!" Bucky exclaimed. "It was a CAULDRON! With a POTION! And she had a HAT! And she's EVIL!"

Steve gave an indignant gasp. "Don't get all high and mighty with me, you could have done a broomstick, or long hair, or something from the Wizard of Oz!"

"What was I supposed to do, sing 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road'?!"

Peter was absolutely pissing himself laughing, as the pair went back and forth arguing over who was more incapable of playing the game.

"Maybe you guys are just too old for this." You quipped, grinning at the glares you got in response. "I'm just saying, maybe marbles is more your speed."

"You know what, how about you guess the next one." Bucky said sternly. "No help."

You grinned cockily. "Easy."

"And I'll be the actor, give you a fighting chance." Steve smirked, taking a card from the deck. His smile only got wider as he read the prompt, and something told you he wasn't just smiling at Bucky's little scoff. He stood as still as a soldier for a few moments, readying himself.

And then it happened.

His hands stretched out towards you, fingers wriggling and opening and closing over and over again sending tingles of anticipation and down your back. You squealed, hiding your face in your hands for a second or two before looking up again.

He hadn't stopped. Those hands still in that prime pre-tickling position ready to get you. How was this the card he drew?? Steve knew about your... Thing... Both how weak to it you were and (even worse) that you actually enjoyed it - plus all the embarrassment and flustered feelings that went along with it. Why did it have to be that prompt?!

"You got it yet, Y/N?" Bucky asked amusedly, leaning closer to you and giving you a poke to the side. "Come on, say it!"

You shook your head, unable to look at Steve's threatening wiggles.

"Oh come on, guess!" Bucky grinned. "Just look at his haaaands~."

Steve's hands were still going! Clenching and unclenching, fingers bent at the perfect angles for attack.

"You can do this Y/N." Peter encouraged excitedly. "It could be zombie! Or werewolf... Or-"

"Hey!" Bucky interjected. "No helping! That was the rule!"

Peter gave him a look, moving sideways to playfully sulk at Bucky's words. Leaving you alone to deal with not just one supersoldier's teasing, but two.

"Y/N, it's easy." Steve smirked. "This is used to attack people on dark, spooooooky nights!"

"That's a great clue Steve, but I don't think we can guess it just with that... It's just too haaard~!" Bucky said in a sing-song voice, smiling cheekily at you the whole time.

Peter gave a confused face, obviously not following what the two older heroes were teasing you with.

"Alright..." Steve continued, moving a step closer to you. "When people see this, they tend to get very nervous."

Your face was on fire, every word left you jumping at the slightest movement in the room.

"These tend to target softer areas of your body, for maximum efficiency..."

He wouldn't... Not in front of Peter and Bucky... Though prior experience of getting tickled by Steve disproved your theory.

"And they come out of fingers and sink into their victim..."

"CLAWS!" Peter yelled out, saving you from what felt like an eternity of torture.

You were shellshocked. Claws?? That was what was freaking you out this whole time? CLAWS?

"Peter!" Bucky groaned. "Y/N was almost there!"

Steve could obviously feel your surprise, sitting next to you on the sofa with the biggest smirk on his face.

"What? Is that not what you were thinking?" He asked innocently - though you could taste the fakeness in his voice. "I thought you were just nervous under pressure!"

Your brain had been fried from the last 5 minutes of short-circuiting teases, you couldn't form a snappy response. Which left Steve to continue his assault of words.

"Whatever could you have thought of that would get you so worked up..." He pondered, a finger tapping his chin. "It's used as an attack..."

"Makes people nervous." Bucky joined in, sealing your escape on the other side of the couch.

"Target softer areas..." Steve continued.

"And sink into their victim..."

"Oh..." Steve said in that voice. "Oh I get it..." He let out a low chuckle.

Uh oh.

"What is it Steve?" Bucky continued, playing naïve. "What were they thinking of?"

"No no no Steve please!" You begged, eyes flicking from Bucky to Steve and back again, not knowing who would start the ticklish assault. You flashed Peter a desperate help me look, but even he seemed to be catching on to the teasing.

Steve turned to you, his face looking downright evil. And out of his mouth came your least (but really most) favourite word on the planet. One that was only followed by an all-out attack from all sides, that would break you into a squealing mess. But of course, the rules of Charades means you can't say the word, you have to show it.

Actions do, after all, speak louder than words...