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arcadia-of-pluto · 1 month

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Twist of Fate; Chapter Eight

Pairings; LADS OT4 x reader

Word Count; 2,969 (nice)

Themes; isekai, eventual smut

Rating; 18+ for swearing and some mature language

Notes; Last chapter for the weekend, so I hope you all enjoy it! Also, the first of many Sylus-centric chapters. I'm a Rafayel girlie at heart, so it feels wrong to have so many Sylus focused chapters, but it feels like Sylus needs a lot of chapters since he has a lot of good scenes.

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Don't forget to check out my ideas for the future to see what other plans I have for this story and any future ones I plan to write! Also since I accidentally posted seven early, I might as well post eight early as well and then I'll do nine later on today as a treat! 🩷

The next time you wake up, you're in the back of a van with your hands tied together. Your head was pounding, your mouth felt drier than a desert and you could taste something metallic on your tongue. You really didn't even want to open your eyes because of the pain, but you do take a few mental notes. The smell of cheap leather and that the van was still moving, be it shaky and rickety. You're most likely on a dirt road or a road that hasn't been used in some while.

Even though the man threatened to inject you with the neurotoxin, you really thought he'd at least keep his word and not go through with it if you didn't fight, but it seems like he did anyway. Good thing you took the inhibitor Xavier gave you.

Even though it's dark inside the vehicle, you notice your jacket is off to the side but your watch and your guns are missing. Possibly in the vehicle somewhere. As you think of a way to get out of this mess, you notice the man is talking on the phone.

“I took a big risk snatching prey from the Nest. The reward needs to be better than that.” You try to look and see what the man looks like but he's wearing a black cap and a mask over his mouth, though you can at least see his hair. It's not white so he's not the man you're looking for.

You begin struggling with the binding on your arms, trying your best to make them even a little bit more loose.

“You sure this is right? I've driven down this same road three times. I'm not going anywhere.” You hear the man sigh before the van makes a noise. “Just my luck. The car broke down all the way out here..” He angrily opens his door to step outside before he opens the back of the van. “Get out. We'll wait here.” He grabs you by your restraints and pulls you out of the van. You take the chance to look around at your surroundings hoping to see anything familiar but it's dark out.

He all but throws you to the ground on your already injured knees and you hold back a hiss between your teeth. “Not a soul to be seen..Just an abandoned yard. Hurry up and send someone over.” The man was still on the phone.

You notice dead trees, a metal fence that seems to have been broken before, large boulders and rocks. This place seems more like a graveyard than anything. Your gaze turns to a dirty cobblestone structure nearby, you assume it used to be white but its more of a cream or light tan colour now.

“You're wide awake, huh. Guess you're a tough gal but I'm warning you, don't try any trick on me. You hear? I'm not against hurting a woman.” The man scoffs, clicking his tongue as he brandishes a pocket knife and taps it against his palm. “So you're just a middleman. Are you working for people in the N109 Zone?” You ask with a raised brow, putting on a tough act.

“Shut up. Let me inspect the goods before I hand you over.” His voice was cold as he points the knife at you. “Where did you hide the aether core?” You can't help the laugh that bubbles from your lips, finding it amusing that he's looking for something intangible. He'd have to cut it out if he really wanted to 'inspect the goods'. Though before you can say anything else, you hear another voice.

“Kidnapping Onychinus’ prey without letting us know..Wow, that's not exactly polite now, is it?” The disembodied voice sounded amused and taunting.

“Who's there?” Your masked kidnapper quickly pulls you to your feet, holding the pocket knife to your throat as he looks around. Seems like he's panicking. But Onychinus? Hmm…so it seems like they weren't the ones who kidnapped you.

“She's ours, by the way. We called dibs a long time ago.” and then, seemingly out of nowhere, the man's hand gets cut.

You flinch and the man drops you from the sudden pain in his hand. You fall to the ground once more, scowling at the pain in your legs before sitting down on the ground so as to not hurt your bloodied knees anymore. Maybe a skirt was a bad idea… You turn back to look over at your kidnapper who was now on the ground as well, holding his arm.

Your eyes widen as you notice two masked men appearing from red and black smoke. “I'm really curious..She's brave enough to drink from a black glass.” One of the newcomers twirls a knife around in his hand before resting his foot on your kidnapper's back. The other man starts walking toward you. “I wonder what will she do when backed into a corner?”

The masked man kicks your kidnapper to the side, taking a few steps toward you and that's when you notice they're both wearing a full black mask with a hooked beak. You can't see their eyes or anything. They have their hood up and it seems like there's tiny red horns on the top of the hood. “You're pretty bold for releasing information about the aether core in the Nest like that.” The one with a piercing through his left horn says and the other, who has one through his right, leans his whole upper body to the side. “Explains why boss is interested.”

“I see…So Sylus sent you.” The man on the ground laughs as he rises up to his knees. “But the aether core….is mine!” He suddenly pulls out a gun from behind his back and aims it directly at you before shooting.

The smell of gunpowder fills the air as you flinch back with your eyes closed. Though, you don't feel any pain. Instead, when you open your eyes, you see the man covered in a dark crimson and black mist. His actions constricted and the bullet, so close to your face, wrapped in the same mist before it disintegrated the bullet as if it were never there. The fog wraps around the man's hand, causing him to drop his gun before it swells up around him, wrapping around his neck and lifting him into the air. The mist swirls around him, almost seeming like it's working its way through his body until the man…explodes. Or at least that's what you think.

You see no blood, only the smoke slowly falling down toward the ground as if it's job is done. Then you notice that the two men in crow masks are walking away. It seems their part is done so that must mean…your gaze is brought back to the cobblestone structure, there's now a person standing on top of it with their thumb looped through their belt loop. The sound of a large bell chiming in front of a seemingly red moon.

You now realize your binds are undone, you could leave at any time but you're paralyzed with fear. You haven't been sure what to expect for awhile now and you honestly thought you'd be happy to see Sylus for the first time but, in fact, it's actually terrifying.

A crow caws, flying through the sky until landing on his shoulder as the man on top of the wall reabsorbs his energy with a stretched out hand. He then steps toward the edge of the wall and disappears in a swirl of that same coloured mist before appearing a few steps in front of you.

“Take out the vermin that are still running amok.” The white haired man says, his voice a deep timber that you'd usually be freaking out over but right now you're freaking out for an entirely different reason. The men in the crow masks echo a ‘yes sir’ as Sylus slowly walks up to you. Once he's in front of you, he tilts his head to the side with a scoff.

“You're…also here for the core, right?” You manage to say, trying your best not to look at him because he's hot, but also scary. He crouches down, leaning a bit forward as he says, “Even if you wanted to sell your soul, you still have to find someone who can pay the price.”

He reaches down to grab your chin, lifting your head to look at him. “Look at me.” His voice void of any emotion, even though his facial expression was rather soft. “You-” you flinch as his right eye begins to glow. Voices that you feel like shouldn't be here begin chanting in your head. “Devour him..” They echo. "Take the power.”

Your head begins to pound as blood rushes to it. You suddenly look down and your hands are bloody. “Take it…” “Just…kill him.” You want to hit your head, you want to tell yourself this isn't real because you know it isn't. You're confused and your head hurts and you try to look away from him, realizing something is wrong with his eye.

Your hand darts out to grab the dropped pocket knife and you find yourself cutting Sylus’ cheek, the black and red energy holding your wrist in place so you can't cause anymore damage.

He chuckles, amused by your actions. “Is this how you greet a new friend?” He swipes his thumb across his cheek, the wound disappearing as if it were never there. “I guess you don't remember anything.” He says as he brings his hand up to brush his knuckles against your cheek. “Allow me to jog your memory.” His hand goes further down before wrapping around your throat. That's when you begin to panic, grabbing his wrist with your free hand. “Let go of me.” But your attempts are weak at best.

With his hand around your throat, he makes you look back into his eyes. “From your past to your future…to even all of the crimes you'll inevitably commit. After all, you and I… were the same. True kindred spirits.”

You've must've blacked out because the next time you come to you're on the ground. “Three days. Yet we're unable to achieve even a simple resonance. How disappointing.” You hear Sylus before you see him. Three days? How come you don't remember any of that? You wince and turn your head to look in his direction, noticing that he's sitting with his legs crossed on a plush red chair. It almost looks like a throne.

With a wave of his finger, his evol wraps around you and pulls you toward him. “What do you want?” You ask, exasperated and you're almost to the point of giving up. Especially when you don't know what'll happen next or even what path is the safe one. You tug at the energy wrapped around you but your hands go through it like smoke until you find yourself in Sylus’ lap. Now any other time, you'd be throwing a party about being in a hot man's lap but right now? You're not sure how to feel.

“You went through all that trouble to enter the N109 Zone. I must fulfill my duty as your host.” He says before he uses his evol to lift your arm up, his fingers dancing along the soft skin of your wrist before making their way to your tightly closed hand. His index finger trying to wiggle its way under your fingers before he adds a bit more pressure, using his evol to pry your hand open. His palm pressing flat against yours before he intertwines your fingers and pulls your connected hands to his chest. His eyes closing as he tries to force the resonance. “Stop-” you try to pull your hand away but his energy evol keeps your hand and your body where he wants it.

The voice in your head coming back to rear its ugly head. “Devour him…He's yours..” You get that, you get that he's hot and all, but do you really need to devour him? It's not like he's yours either- “He's right there..before your very eyes.” Damn okay voice, chill. Thirsty much? “His..” “eye..” the voice is cutting in and out, you can only hear a tad bit of what it's saying until the energy dissipates with a tiny flash of light. The resonance worked?

Sylus scoffs, looking at the light dancing across his hand, “It's a shame your evol has deteriorated into its current state.” You take a deep breath, trying to steel yourself and you throw some bait out. “My family's deaths…You're behind them, right?” If he's a love interest, you know there's no way he is but you have to, at least, act that way to find answers. “Family?” Sylus chuckles to himself, “The people closest to you might be the ones who want to kill you the most.” Your brows furrow at that. Huh, that was a theory you never thought about. But who?

Wait, act angry. Right…uh say something, anything. “Shut up! Right now, I just…I just..” your head begins hurting again, “I just want to kill you myself!”

What? That's not what was meant by “say anything” but alright.

You flinch as soon as the words leave your mouth. You didn't mean to say that, did you? Though as you're unable to control your actions, Sylus catches your hand. “Do you think your evol will help you in a fight against me? Your courage is admirable.” He pushes your hand away with an unamused expression. “You're lucky I don't like picking on the weak, kitten.”

…what?

Before you have any time to dwell on what he just called you, he holds his hand out and uses his energy to pull something toward him. One of your guns lands in his hand. “What're you doing?” You ask, a bit nervous at the firearm held firmly in his grasp. He makes sure it's loaded, cocks it, and then holds the gun out to you. “Didn't you want my life? Or do your words just ring hollow?”

Ah shit, here come the voices again. “Kill him.” Wait, the voices didn't want you to fu- Nevermind that, you really don't want to grab the gun but it's out of your control. Your hand moves on its own, taking a hold of the gun and even your mouth moves on its own. “You think I won't do it?” You hold the gun up to his head, internally screaming and pleading to not let this happen because it would be a shame if you were the one to kill such a handsome man. “Now…that's much better. Though, you do owe me a curtain call grander than death itself,” Sylus muses, wrapping his fingers around the muzzle of your pistol as he slowly brings it lower and presses it against his chest as your hands shake.

“I..” “Why're you trembling? Has your resolve already begun to falter? You weren't just bluffing, were you?” He tilts his head to the side and you honestly want to yell at him and ask if he's crazy or thinks he has nine lives or something but you can't since whatever mysterious power you have inside of you is still controlling your movements. “No, of course not. It's just..” you trail off and he slowly moves his hand down to wrap around both of yours on the gun. “Want some help? Yes? No? Maybe so?”

He's so hot, he's so-

Bam.

You…you shot him? You actually shot him? Are you sure you won't regret this later? That's actually like crazy that you shot him just now. Well- it's not like you had any part in it. You couldn't control your actions to begin with..

Darkness.

Darkness is all you see. You felt so…hungry. So empty. Anything would be great to fill this emptiness you felt inside.

“Devour him..” Shit the voices were back. “Its…your power.” It was probably Sylus’ power, but pop off voice.

You weren't sure how long you had to endure the voices but they finally went silent. Leaving you in the dark, alone. It almost…felt cold.

The ending is a bit abrupt, so I'm going to apologize up front for that- I honestly didn't realize just how cut it was since it lines up pretty well with the next chapter. You'll have to wait to see that next week though, unless I end up feeling excited enough to post chapter nine early! 🤔 Either way, I hope you liked the comedic turn I took with the second half of the chapter. It was too good to pass up. Also, I tried something different with the paragraphs. I added double spaces between specific, important ones and just the standard singular with everything else. Let me know which you like between (between chapters 6-8 and I'll start doing them like that in the future!)

Anyway, if there's any spelling errors and stuff like that, then that's on me. I've re-read all of these chapters so many times and re-worked so much of it, but I'm bound to miss some errors so hopefully it's not too bad!

Taglist; @orphicmeliora

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xaviernottheprofessor · 5 months

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Concrete Jungle (where dreams are made of) | Flavier

Featuring: Xavier and Fletcher ( @fletchervanhall) with mentions of others Location: NYC, Empire State Building, Millenium Hilton Hotel Time Frame: Afternoon, April 25, 2024 Notes: Fletcher surprises Xavier in NYC and tells him something really important!

FLETCHER

Fletcher shouldered a duffle bag while walking into the hotel DJ told him Xavier was staying at. There was a small prickle of anxiousness sitting in his chest--partly because he had never done something this grand for someone he was in a relationship with, partly because he was literally across the country from his daughter and uncle, and partly because it was the first time since he was a teen that he was back in New York. Fletcher had yet to tell Xavier that he was from The Big Apple or that his parents lived here. As much as he'd let Xavier in, there were still a few things he hadn't shared about himself. Most were just talents of his but these intertwined facts of his hometown and parents were the biggest ones. While Fletcher knew that would change sooner or later, for now, he was focusing on surprising Xavier. He'd been doing his best not to give the prickling much attention if he could help it because he wanted this. He wanted to come and surprise Xavier, and he knew that his boyfriend deserved thoughtful gestures like this.

While he knew the front desk clerk wouldn't give him a key card--least of all to the room of someone of significance like Xavier--DJ told him the room number. So after giving a call home in the lobby to Drew and Emiliana to check in, Fletcher proceeded to the room. Taking the elevator up and walking to the door, Fletcher knocked, placed an index finger over the peephole and said, "Room service, Mr. Mitchell," in a voice entirely different from his own.

XAVIER

Xavier was half-way through a big writing week for the season finale of SNL. He wouldn't have an entire summer to do nothing but he'd have more time at home which made him happy. Even with that known, this week *felt* difficult. Being away from his kids, his boyfriend and his friends was a lot at times and while this would be his last week for a while, Xavier still hated it. He was glad that he was honest with his director about his plans to be home more but it still did create such a void when he had to get on that plane. He had spread out some sketches he had written along with index cards containing cast members names. He wanted to distribute material fairly but also wanted to keep in mind who was more popular. Marcello was deserving of more sketches because of that. He stacked up the remaining cards and left them to the side before moving his papers to join them. His eyes had been burning from staring too long at his pages that Xavier needed a break. Winter had sent him a playlist to his Spotify and he pressed play as he plopped down on the couch. He had a nice Facetime conversation with kids a few minutes prior to start his writing. Xavier hadn't heard much from Fletcher but he assumed his boyfriend was probably working. Wondering if he should order something to eat, Xavier began to aimlessly scroll through Reels when he heard the knock on the door.

Hearing the odd voice on the other side of the door, Xavier wondered if this was some hoax. His co-workers tended to do things like that. "Room service?" He muttered and stood up, making his way toward the door. "I didn't order any..." He tried looking through the peephole and when he couldn't see who it was on the other side, he unlocked his door and opened it. Nothing could have prepared him for seeing Fletcher standing there and happiness quickly replaced his perplexed expression. He smiled brightly as he opened the door wider for him. "Baby...I--what are you doing here?"

And before he could get an answer, Xavier practically tackled Fletcher, pulling him in for a warm embrace as he showered his boyfriend with kisses. "Wait, are you ok? Everything ok?" He took his hand to guide him inside the room. "You're--here!" Xavier chuckled and pulled him back to his frame.

FLETCHER

Fletcher hadn't dropped his hand until the door swung open. His lips tugged up in his crooked smirk and then a toothy grin. "Hi. Hello. Greetings. Hola. Salutations," Fletcher replied to Xavier's shock. He stumbled back when Xavier threw himself at him and chuckled from all the kisses. "Damn, I should find ways to surprise you more often." He hadn't gotten past the doorway but held Xavier's hand and squeezed it. "Babe, yes, I'm fine. Everyone's fine. I just came to spend a couple days with you. I thought I'd surprise you." He slipped the duffle bag off his shoulder and let it set on the floor so he could properly hug his boyfriend. Fletcher kissed Xavier on his forehead and then said, "I missed you, and you looked so sad when you left. So I'm just here for two nights and then I fly back. I know you're working so I wont be bugging you with going places and doing a lot. I figured it would be nice to just be near you when I can, and maybe sleep or bum around here when you have to go to any meetings or anything like that."

XAVIER

Xavier let out a quiet laugh, still completely shocked by Fletcher's appearance. All he could do is attack him with kisses as he had done and stare at him incredulously. "You've got to give me a second here to make sure I'm not dreaming or hallucinating because anything is possible on the little sleep I've gotten out here." He loved surprises and he loved it even more that Fletcher had been the one to do this for him. He sighed out of relief learning that everything was fine and his smile returned quickly as he relished in his boyfriend's embrace. He pulled back a bit so that he could cup Fletcher's face and her smiled widely. "I missed you too and consider me pleasantly surprised. No one's ever...well I...I'm just speechless that's all." He listened to how long Fletcher would be in New York, feeling even happier knowing he'd be flying out to California a day after. "Thank you. This is...I rather like this." His cheeks were burning at the confession. He was usually better versed than that but Xavier was still happily taken aback by the gesture. He kissed Fletcher's lips and smiled. "Sleep. Sleep is so good." He beamed at the thought of Fletcher getting some rest while he was out here too. "I'm so happy to see you. I *was* sad. How transparent of me..." With a smile pulling at the corner of his lips, he remained in his boyfriend's arms before taking his hand. "Come in. I'll show you around my boring room which just got a touch of glitz with you here." he pulled Fletcher inside, taking his duffel bag and placing it on the couch. "This is it. Where the magic happens. It's why I get paid the big bucks. I get a microwave and telly too. Oh, and a fridge for leftovers." He chuckled. "The bathroom is to the left and a little kitchenette over to the right over there. Are you thirsty or hungry?"

FLETCHER

"I could pinch you if it'd help you believe I'm really here," Fletcher said, bringing a hand low on Xavier's butt, priming to pinch him there. He listened and planted a kiss on Xavier's temple and then his lips, slowly returning some of the kisses Xavier showered him with a moment ago. He caught what Xavier stopped himself from saying and then gently pressed his nose to Xavier's cheek, whispering, "If the roles were reversed, I know you'd do it for me." He felt the growing warmth on his boyfriend's skin and smiled before kissing him there too. He held him for a little while and then walked with him to look around the hotel room. He chuckled a bit as well and then said, "It’s a nice room." He took a seat on the edge of the bed and said, "I ate a sandwich on the way over here, but I ate it within the first hour of my flight. Are *you* hungry? Have you taken a break to eat?"

XAVIER

"I say you pinch me anyway." He grinned playfully, his smile never leaving his face as he relished in all the kisses given to him. Xavier places his arms on Fletcher's shoulders and when his boyfriend whispered, he nodded. "Definitely." And while that was true, that Xavier would do the same for Fletcher, it still meant so much to him that he had done this for him. As Xavier showed off his boring room, he smiled listening to Fletcher. "Uh..." He looked over to his work, realizing he only had hotel coffee and some eggs in his stomach. "Don't kill me." He moved to gather his pages into a pile and hide them in book bag before throwing that into the closet. "I've had some awful coffee and some off my omelette from this morning. I should really take a break now and since the most amazing, gorgeous, man has stepped into my hotel room, I really want to take a break with him. Want to grab something at the deli? We can walk around. I'll take you to the Empire State. Let you have your way with me later, you know the usual." He grinned as he looked in the mirror to make sure he didn't look like hell and applied some lotion to his face, hands and arms followed by a spritz of cologne.

FLETCHER

Fletcher didn't wait for Xavier to backtrack before he closed his thumb and index on his boyfriend's ass. He tenderly pecked Xavier's lips a few times and then moved to the bed. He heard the hesitant response and lifted his brows at his boyfriend. And then his face fell to non-amusement while watching Xavier hurriedly gather up his papers. "Oh I'm not gonna kill you. But I *am* gonna make you take a break now. A proper one as you'd say." His eyes stayed on Xavier, following him about as he freshened himself up. Fletcher stood and stretched his arms while walking up to stand behind Xavier. "That sounds like a good idea to me. All of it. Hell, I'd even be fine skipping the trip to the Empire State and going right to the usual," he half-joked, wrapping his arms around Xavier from behind and bending his head to inhale the freshly-applied cologne. "Maybe even skipping the walk too now..."

XAVIER

A soft chuckle fell from his lips from the pinch and Xavier's smile widened at Fletcher's words. "A proper break it is. I'm done with writing for the day anyway. My eyes are going to fall out at this rate." he watched his boyfriend from the mirror and smirked playfully. "Empire State? What's that? Never heard of her." He smiled at the reflection that now included Fletcher and lowered his arms to pull Fletcher's and tighten the grip on his waist. "Mm, boy if you don't stop..." He chuckled and lolled his head to the side so that his boyfriend could get better access to the new scent. "I am as incorrigible as you are, you know that..." He turned slowly, still in Fletcher's arms. "There's always room service...and you're *soo* tired from your flight to walk, I'm sure." Xavier reached up to run his fingers through Fletcher's hair. "It's only been a couple of days but I've missed a lot about you, love."

FLETCHER

"Well we don't want that," Fletcher replied of Xavier's eyes falling out. He held his boyfriend from behind and smiled, kissing his neck and enjoying the enticing scent of his cologne on his skin. He smirked at the way Xavier spoke of the Empire State Building and then shamelessly grinned despite his, "What?" full of false innocence. "Mm, no you're definitely worse, but believe me, I'm not complaining in the slightest." He righted his bent head when Xavier turned around to face him. "I've missed you too. And truthfully, I wouldn't mind a little walk. I'm sure you'd like to get out of this room since you've been working so hard. I disrupted your day so whatever you wanna do today, count me in." He shut his eyes, drawing in a deep breath while enjoying the familiar feeling of Xavier's fingers in his hair, and then he let out a content sigh. "Yeah... whatever you want to do."

XAVIER

“Definitely not,” Xavier laughed softly, watching his boyfriend through the mirror as his eyes rolled back for a moment while Fletcher kissed his neck. He then smirked, his eyes opening again. “Mmm I don’t know. You’re pretty bad too.” He chuckled thinking how they both had a tendency of indulging in one another whenever they wanted caring very little about where they were. They’d always find a way. When they were facing each other, Xavier snapped out of his naughty but pleasant thoughts and smiled. “We’ll go for a walk and we’ll order some room service for supper.” Xavier grinned , watching Fletcher’s reaction. God, he loved this man. He took advantage of his boyfriend’s eyes being closed and kissed his lips. “When we get back I’ll do what I want to do.” He murmured against Fletcher’s mouth and then kissed him again. “See? I have some kind of restraint. It’s quite hard but…” he laughed. “It’s there.”

FLETCHER

“Not as bad," Fletcher argued in between kisses. He certainly did lean into his emotional, intellectual and physical attractions to Xavier. And unless he was absolutely dead on his feet, he never turned his boyfriend down. Hearing what Xavier proposed for them to do, Fletcher nodded, "Sounds good," and then pecked Xavier's lips. While enjoying the small caressing of his hair, he'd been caught by surprise at the kiss but responded in kind in a split second. "That type of restraint will get you into some trouble," he chuckled after opening his eyes. He grinned a little, his lips tugged up a little higher on one side. "Get your shoes on, babe. Let's go take this walk."

XAVIER

“Ehhh you say tomato…” he laughed, teasing his boyfriend, still in some disbelief that he was there with him. He grinned at Fletcher’s reaction to the surprise kiss. “I’m a troublemaker but you love it.” Xavier pressed a quick kiss against Fletcher’s neck and then reluctantly pulled away to grab his sneakers from his bed side. He slipped them on and then grabbed his jacket and wallet. “In the spirit of surprises, I actually have one for you. I was going to save for when I got home but since you’re here, I can tell you.” He took Fletcher’s hand in his opened the door to the hotel room. As they walked out, Xavier gave his boyfriend’s hand a gentle squeeze. “This is the season finale we are working on which you knew but what you didn’t know isssss drum roll, babe…” he grinned and began walking backwards so that Xavier could look at Fletcher. “I’m going to be home for six months.” He smiled widened and he stopped to lean against the wall beside the elevator. “I just have to be in NYC for a special in June and that’s it. I have no big jobs here and I’ll be focusing more on little things coming up domestically. So…” he stood up straight when the elevator arrived, “you’ll get to see this mug more often.”

FLETCHER

"And you say 'toe-*mah*-toe'," Fletcher quipped with his version of a British accent on the produce item. "Damn right you are. And yes, I do." He lifted his brows at Xavier saying he had a surprise for him. Fletcher was about to open his mouth to say something ahead of this, but he closed his mouth and walked out of the hotel room with Xavier--his own phone and wallet still in his pockets. He listened to his boyfriend and glanced just ahead of them to make sure the hallway stayed clear for his backwards strides. His blinked twice as a smile slowly spread across his lips. "No shit?" Reaching past Xavier, he pressed the 'down' button on the elevator and then said, "That's the best news I could've gotten today. Next to my flights all being on time." He flashed a grin at his little joke and then wrapped his arms around Xavier. "I'm glad you'll be around more for a long while, sweetheart." As he drew back to look into Xavier's eyes, he said, "It'll give me more chances to not only show but tell you I love you."

XAVIER

“Are you making fun of me, Rizz?” He smirked, super excited about the news he just broke out and even more excited about Fletcher’s reaction. “Yes shit.” He chuckled and shook his head at his own words. Getting to see his kids and Fletcher and his friends more made him so happy. “I’m glad you like the news. And when I get back, you can help me look for a family car. Something we can put a car seat in and that Drew will feel comfortable in so I can take him places too.” He already had so many plans. He wanted to help Drew with his garden, help his boyfriend more with the baby, take Winter and Henry out more and spend time with everyone. “Me too.” His lips pulled up into a wide grin upon hearing his pet name and at the little joke his boyfriend made. He’d never grow tired of any of this. He was convinced. He wrapped his arms around Fletcher too and Xavier kept his gaze on Fletcher, looking up at him full of joy. His grin melted into a small smile, his lips twitching slightly before he let a soft chuckle fall from him. “You love me, huh?” Xavier whispered before the ding of the elevator went off. He was all smiles, his teeth taking across his bottom lip as he walked into the elevator with his boyfriend. “I love you too. *so much*.”

FLETCHER

"Some people are so touchy," Fletcher easily fired back with the movie quote. He laughed a bit with Xavier and listened some more. "A family car, huh?" Hearing some of the reasons Xavier wanted one had a warmth spreading from Fletcher's hart, out to every orifice of his body. The way that their two worlds were melding was somthing Fletcher hadn't expected and not at the pace it was happening. But he didn't want to fight it. He had no real reason to. He knew how he felt about Xavier and his kids, and he knew Xavier's feelings for him and his family. When the elevator doors slid open, Fletcher headed inside the lift with his boyfriend. "I love you," he clearly repeated, pressing the first floor button and then taking hold of Xavier's other hand as well. "I know you do. I couldn't be more humbled to be loved by you, X." His eyes were fixed on the younger man as he said, "I guess I could've waited until we were on our walk to tell you - make it a little more romantic like you deserve. But I promised I would tell you as soon as I knew." It was a promise he'd largely made to himself and he was committing to it. He kissed Xavier's forehead and then dipped his chin to kiss his lips. "I love you, Xavier Mitchell."

XAVIER

Xavier laughed at Fletcher's quick response, loving the fact that his boyfriend knew the reference. "A family car. If I can get a 7 seater, imagine all the trips we can all take over the summer." He didn't know how to express the fact that Fletcher's confession had made his entire body light up and that he was feeling a pleasant warmth course over his body. He took his boyfriend's hand and listened intently. He has never felt this way toward anyone. Xavier found himself feeling excited about future plans. Long-term future plans that might have scared him to even think about in the past. He smiled as his boyfriend spoke with great vulnerability and genuine intent. Xavier appreciated the openness and the fact that Fletcher had waited until it felt right for him. "What do you mean? This is romantic. It's coming from you and I know it's from the heart and that is what makes it memorable and romantic to me." His heart literally soared and Xavier returned his boyfriend's kiss. "I love you. I could hear that over and over again, you know. I don't think it'll get old. I'll take care of you, Fletcher. I'll take care of your heart." He'd never hurt him. Xavier was his. Glad that no one decided to get on the elevator, Xavier kissed his boyfriend on the lips once more before they got to the first floor. As they walked out, he kept his hand in Fletcher's. "You know, it's funny. Going back to when I first kissed you and how we had our reservations because of our personal lives and everything...now all I can think about is how we came into each other's lives for a reason." He held the door for Fletcher and smiled as he walked out after him. "Thank you for telling me. When it felt right for you. It makes it even more special." They walked hand in hand.

FLETCHER

"You're adorably thoughtful, you know that? A seven-seater sounds like you're gonna be looking at a minivan or a big SUV. Do either of those seem like something you're interested in?" Fletcher knew they'd talked about Disneyland already and figured that was going to be quite the trip in itself for the summer. A new car and a trip for both of their families sounded like a full Summer to him, but he could be wrong. But he and Xavier had time to sort out Summer plans for themselves, their kids and Drew. For now, h was letting himself feel the bit of jitters that he wasn't showing but came with him telling Xavier out loud for the first time that he loved him. He meant it and he was glad that he'd said the words to his boyfriend. "You give me a lot of leeway, sweetheart," he replied, gently disagreeing on how romantic a gesture he'd executed with his first time telling Xavier that he loved him. "Well you're going to hear it over and over from me. Taking care of my heart's more than I could ask for. I love you and I'll do all I can to take care of yours. You're nurturing to me and my family and I can only hope to be that to you and yours whenever you guys let me." Fletcher walked through the door, smiling as he thought back to their first kiss--how unexpected it was, how it completely caught him off guard and how he may have had mixed feelings at the time but was quickly drawn to how kissable Xavier's pillowy lips were. He continued holding Xavier's hand as they walked out of the hotel and down the street. His eyes went to the younger man, and then the building he pointed out - a small smile appearing at the kiss to his knuckles, followed by the sight of the NBC logo and knowing what it meant. And then he circled back to Xavier's question. "I knew before I got here. I've never jumped on a plane for someone before in my life. Booking that flight? Yeah... I knew you had my heart and I wouldn't be leaving San Francisco to come here if I didn't love you."

XAVIER

"Stahppp Adorable I am not but yeah! I'll even get a pair of New Balances and a plaid shirt with cargo short. I gotta get a hat that says *ask me about my dad jokes*." Xavier squeezed Fletcher's hand and chuckled. "What do you think? I can make an SUV sexy." Xavier was already enjoying the idea of being able to mesh both families together for a trip. Ever since Disney was mentioned, he had been filled with excitement. "We're going to have these little fights all the time, I think." Xavier smiled widely. Thinking back to their first kiss, it was one of those times when his extroverted confidence paid off for him. At the moment, Xavier felt that if Fletcher decked him, he'd be valid but everything that happened after continued to pleasantly surprise him and it was pretty clear that they couldn't get enough of one another. "Well, now that I'll be home more, maybe we can arrange our schedules so that I can bring the kids with me to your home and you guys can come by more often like we had discussed. We can stay at each other's places here and there as long as Drew is taken care of. He's important to me so I'm always going to consider his safety, time, and feelings. And Winter and Henry already love Phoebe and spending time with all of you. It's very humbling to see how easily our families do that." Xavier continued walking toward the Empire State. There was a grill and deli shop a few stores down and he was hoping to get some food and goodies on the way back to add to whatever they wanted from room service. Fletcher's explanation made Xavier smile and even blush all over again. "And you say it wasn't romantic. I don't care what we were doing at the time, that's pretty grand gesture of the Rom Com variety. Look out Ryan Gosling...my man's got them all beat." He glanced over to Fletcher and winked. "No one has ever done anything that big for me. Ever. I'll never forget it."

FLETCHER

"Oh Jesus, yeah way to suck all the adorable out of it with that mental image," Fletcher joked. "And if you get that hat, just know it's not one I'll be buying for you. But you *are* for damn sure adorable. Period. End of story." He chuckled a little, "I think it'd be more of a challenge with a minivan than an SUV but in this case, the man's gonna make all the sexiness - not the car. And yeah, we probably are gonna have these little fights. You'll be wrong each time you're denying that you're adorable or cute or anything else that's true about yourself." Time had flown so quickly from when their first kiss occurred. And so much had changed between them from before then and after it as well. He was glad for the changes that followed their first kiss, namely because it led to them being where they were now.

"I like the sound of that. And I love you for taking Drew into consideration. Phoebe too, but she's more adaptable to whatever we decide to do." He smiled a little while thinking of his little girl being back home, and he hoped that she wasn't giving Drew or Emiliana too much trouble. "When I get back, I'll get the spare room arranged. If Winter and Henry don't mind sleeping in the same room, I can put an air mattress in there, or I can set one of them up in the living room so they don't have to worry about sharing space with Phoebe and think on being quieter or shit like that when you guys are over." He thought about investing in a cot or something that might be more comfortable than an air mattress. He was thankful as well for how well their families blended already. His eyes only briefly wandered around their vaguely familiar surroundings before they landed back on Xavier. "I'll hav to add some sorta comedy to it to make sure I cover the 'com' part of this rom-com you've got us in." He snorted at the mention of Ryan Gosling. "You're more than deserving of the gestures, big and small, sweetheart. Don't ever forget that either."

XAVIER

"Gotta get the daddy look going!" He smirked at Fletcher's words and feigned disappointment, placing his free hand on his chest. "I'd have to get it stitched at one of those places at the mall because no way that hat exists." Xavier chuckled, unable to keep his happiness hidden. "I won't argue with you because you're in love with me so you'll probably win most arguments." He laughed, every so often leaning into his boyfriend as they walked. "Well, I want you to go shopping with me next week . I trust your taste and I'm super impulsive so you'd be my anchor." Xavier smiled. He knew that they balanced each other well that way. "So I'll be a sexy daddy in my SUV dating the sexiest daddy. I love how confident you are in my erroneous behavior." He kissed Fletcher's cheek quickly. "We should go to the Brooklyn Bridge tomorrow after I drop off my pages to Lorne and I give you a tour. You'd love Brooklyn. We can hit up some food spots."

"Of course. I know you are a big part of his life and betterment, and I wouldn't take you away or anything like that. If anything, I want to help you and him as much as I can especially now that I'm free as a bird for a few months." He smiled when Fletcher spoke. They were nearing their destination and Xavier had to add, "You know, darling. Your face just lights up every time you talk about her. It's the sweetest bloody thing. I adore it. And Winter and Henry won't mind it at all. The first few months they moved into my house, they shared a room because it felt safer for them. They share a very unique and precious bond. They're super adaptable so whatever I can do to help you figure it out, I will. I have two spare rooms now so I can make a mini nursery for Phoebe for when she comes over with you. Winter will have a field day with that. She's really into interior design like my mum. " He chuckled after Fletcher spoke. "I think you've got the com part covered. I think you're pretty funny."

Once they arrived at the Empire State, Xavier pressed another kiss against his boyfriend's cheek once more. "Thank you. I don't know if you know how much that means to me. You being so thoughtful and all. I'm very lucky." They entered the building and Xavier showed off his City Pass and SAG ID. The young man at the ticket booth seemed thrilled to see a celebrity come up to the booth but kept himself as reserved as possible. "Enjoy your afternoon at the Empire State Building, sir." Xavier nodded and tucked away his pass and ID into his wallet before taking Fletcher's hand again to walk toward the elevator "This is my first time going to the top. I've done the exhibits and I've eaten downstairs. I hear the view is phenomenal."

FLETCHER

"Next thing I know, you're gonna be walking around in sandals with socks on. And we both know you've got better fashion sense than all of that." Fletcher wouldn't consider himself the most fashionable person in the world but he knew how to dress well enough when the occasion called for it. Xavier, on the other hand, regularly had impeccable fashion which was something Fletcher found attractive about him. "Well there's no fun in you already deciding I'm gonna win the arguments. Besides, now that just makes me wanna start stupid shit I know isn't true to see how far you let that go." He smiled a bit and then said, "I can do that. Whether you just wanna look and do some behind the wheel tests or if you wanna drive off the lot in something, I'll be there to help you make sure it's not some suburban-type of car." He chuckled, "I'm gonna remember you said that you love that. And it's not erroneous, it's facts." He listened and nodded a bit, "Whatever you wanna do, as long as I'm not getting in your way."

Fletcher knew one of the other things he loved about Xavier was how understanding he'd been when it came to Drew and the role Fletcher played in his life. And he was grateful to Xavier wanting to help him, even if he himself didn't know what that looked like just yet. "Thank you," was all he could tell him for the time being, and he did. So after lifting their joined hands and planting a kiss on the back of his boyfriend's. Fletcher listened to Xavier some more and cracked another gentle smile. He'd also been happy to hear that the arrangement of them dividing their time between each other's homes seemed doable. "Is that what Winter wants to do when she graduates? Interior design?" He gave Xavier a light and good-natured nudge when complimented that he thought he was funny.

Walking inside of the building had Fletcher glancing around but his eyes caught sight of the badge and then arched a brow. He'd still been following Xavier to the elevator when he asked, "Uh-huh. So, uh, wait, the badge you showed. Is it also some Empire State VIP pass here?"

XAVIER

““Oh no I stop at sandals with socks. “ Xavier grinned, glancing over to his boyfriend. Looking good helped with making him feel good and Xavier did his best to live by that. He was smiling the whole time Fletcher spoke knowing damn well that he was going to let him win arguments easily and was simply teasing. His smile turned into something a little more devilish and he wiggled his brows as if challenging or taking the challenge of keeping it up only to chuckle. “Don’t worry, we will still argue.” Xavier glanced over lovingly every chance he could. He still couldn’t believe that Fletcher had come out to see him. This was a grand gesture in Xavier’s book and he’d always remember this. He was glad to hear that Fletcher was willing to go with him to start some car shopping. In truth, he knew he wanted the McLaren but a family car would be incredibly different and he was excited to shop with Fletcher especially when he wanted him to have a set of keys in case he needed a bigger car. “Thanks, babe. Well got to Volvo for starters when I get back.” He chuckled, loving Fletcher’s feisty spirit. It was just one of Xavier’s favorite things about him. “You’re not getting in my way. You’re saving me from boredom” he had already finished most of his pages and was ready to assign skits. The rest of his stay would be easy and then he’d be home free.

He smiled at his boyfriend, wanting nothing more than to always reassure him that he was going to be there not only for Fletcher but every aspect of his life and that included Drew and Phoebe. His kids also loved them and that made Xavier so happy. “Always.” He smiled at the kiss against his hand. “I think she wants to get into design at some capacity whether it’s interior or fashion. She keeps telling me she wants to look into fashion and design schools so that’s what we will be doing next year.” He chuckled at the nudge, genuinely thinking Fletcher was hysterical and loving that it was just for him sometimes.

Xavier smiled and handed him the city pass and SAG ID unsure which one Fletcher was talking about. “Most people come to the 82 floor. You need reservations for the top deck and an Express Pass to skip the lines. The City Pass is to get easy admission and the ID helps with skipping the lines without a reservation. Usually it’s insane but we’re going to the 102 floor and we will get a panoramic view of New York City. Also, it’ll be more private.” Xavier pressed a kiss against Fletcher’s lips and headed toward the elevator to the top deck where someone was waiting for them to take them up.

FLETCHER

"Well thank fuck there's a line," Fletcher quipped and smirked to his boyfriend. He'd probably float the idea to Henry and Winter to get him some sort of 'dad'-related baseball cap for Father's Day though. "I'm sure we will. Besides, wasn't there a talk about great makeup sex when it came to arguing?" He gave a tiny grin at that and briefly thought about his and Xavier's relationship, mostly about how loving Xavier was in every way possible. While Fletcher didn't have much in the way of meaningful dating history, he'd been with enough people to honestly say that Xavier was the sweetest person he had ever met. He was both strong and gentle at the same time, funny and emotional, thoughtful and easygoing. He was a devoted friend, a wonderful lover, and he made Fletcher feel like it was a true honor not only being in his company but being his boyfriend. He thought about this as they walked and conversed with each other. "Volvo huh? Alright, sticking with the speedy, foreign luxury cars, I see." He winked, knowing full well that while Volvo was foreign to both of them, the McLaren cars were very much British. He chuckled a little, "Boredom? Do you have some other kind of meeting or something before you have to fly back?" Fletcher would only be there for one more night after this evening, but he'd come in the middle of Xavier's NYC stint.

Listening on some more, he took in what Xavier was saying about Winter's design interests. "As long as she keeps knowing she can do anything she sets her mind to and puts in the work for. She'll be great regardless, and she's got plenty of time to explore her options." And when Xavier handed over the two cards, Fletcher realized he'd seen the SAG ID and thought it was what Xavier had shown to gain them access inside. He'd been vaguely familiar with the city passes from his childhood but hadn’t seen one, let alone held one since he was a kid and his class had taken a field trip to the American Museum of Natural History. He remembered his dad being convinced Fletcher would need one while his mom argued that they would just need to send Fletcher with a one-time discounted payment along with the permission slip. Fletcher's dad bought the city pass anyway, only to learn that in the end, his wife was right. Fletcher had been listening to Xavier while staring at the city pass and thinking on the memory, only to mentally swat it away. Returning fully to the present, he handed both badges back to his boyfriend as they rode the elevator up. He met and returned the kiss and stared around at the elevator's interior. "How many times did you say you've been here before? This is your first time to the very top, right?"

XAVIER

"I mean, even I have limitations." Xavier chuckled knowing his line existed way before sandals and socks. At the mention of makeup sex, he couldn't help but smile wider and give his boyfriend a playful sideways glance. "Uh, yes. Main reason I'll pick arguments with you so can have your way with me after and vice-versa." He kept his voice low just for Fletcher. He wasn't argumentative at all and while he didn't mind conflict, it rarely came looking for him. Jeremy was probably the most troublesome person he had met. Going to therapy has helped Xavier with effectively sharing his feelings and conflict resolution. While arguing was healthy and he agreed that is was, he didn't think it would ever get to the point of being explosive however if it did, he had the tools to resolve things. He loved Fletcher and with that came understanding and patience that would help their relationship flourish. He laughed at the Volvo comment, nodding at Fletcher. "I love nice things, what can I say?" he then added, "And it's a super safe brand so I feel like it would be perfect with all the precious cargo I'll be carrying." He smiled, thinking on his work week. "I mostly have to make sure I write all the pages assigned which I have and assign them. I'm due to perform on Saturday obviously but from tomorrow until then, I'm free after I drop off my pages unless I'm pulled into a meeting to discuss anything."

"I want Henry and Winter to follow their dreams, whatever they are and I want to help them accomplish that. Winter has a lot of potential. She's so bright and so good at what she does. She plays around with her school uniform all the time. She tells me how her classmates constantly ask for a 'Winter Original'." Xavier beamed proudly as he thought about his daughter and son. "I think Henry is going to be a Pokemon master. Haven't told him that isn't an actual trade but that's okay." He chuckled once more. He watched Fletcher go somewhere else in his thoughts and tilted his head.

Taking the badges back, Xavier smiled at his softly as he tucked them away into his wallet. "Are you alright, baby?" When they went into the elevator, Xavier greeted the operator and then responded to Fletcher, "It is my first time at the top. I've been here a couple of times since I'm right down the block . Usually to get my mind off things or wake up and get some coffee. The restaurants are nice and the shops too. There's so much here. They even do a movie night. I think Mama Mia is happening tomorrow? It's magnificent how much operates in just one building. I'm glad I'm going to the top with you though. It seems right."

FLETCHER

"And thank god for that," Fletcher quipped even though he had full confidence in this already, given Xavier's fashion sense that was always on display. He grinned at the look on the younger man's face as well as his response about make-up sex and murmured a, "Good," as they continued walking. And while Fletcher knew he could be stubborn and was often blunt, he was grateful for Xavier's maturity as well as his own, particularly when it came to things that truly mattered. He wasn't bothered in the least by Xavier liking nice things. "I like them too sometimes, I just can't always afford them," he replied with a single, light chuckle. It wasn't meant as any sort of dig or even to comment on the difference in their finances and income. Fletcher was just very matter-of-fact when he wasn't being so obviously sarcastic. "I'm looking forward to us taking a look around." And when he heard what all the rest of Xavier's week was likely going to be, Fletcher nodded a bit and then said, "Look at you, getting ahead on your work. Good job, X. And if you end up in meetings or something while I'm here, I can nap it out at the hotel."

One thing he’d quickly grown to love about Xavier was how caring a father he was. Winter and Henry were his children in every way that mattered and he’d been a loving, doting and nurturing father to them which from what Xavier had told him, both children had been lacking–Winter in particular. “You will help them, and because you will, they’ll be great in their paths in life.” He’d really had no doubt in that and knew the two kids were just as lucky to have him as he was, them. He smiled a bit, “Maybe he’ll be able to channel that Pokemon mastery into a career path. Hell, if I knew as a kid that people made money from playing video games, maybe I would’ve gotten into them more than I did.”

When asked if he was alright, Fletcher glanced down at Xavier, “Yeah, just thinking is all but I’m listening.” He leaned over and pressed an assuring kiss to his boyfriend’s forehead and then heard him answer about the Empire State Building. “A movie night, huh? I didn’t know that.” He cracked a small, crooked smile about it seeming right for Xavier and him going to the top together. “Another first with me, huh?” He’d looked to the doors as the elevator slowed to a stop but spoke to Xavier again. “I’m glad we’re doing this together too. The view’s gonna be wild, I’m sure.”

XAVIER

Xavier let a light-hearted chuckle fall from his lips as he walked hand in hand with his boyfriend. He enjoyed all of Fletcher's reactions to his responses and the banter they partook in was just one of Xavier's favorite things about their relationship. A gentle smile appeared against his features at Fletcher telling him he liked nice things too but couldn't always afford them. Xavier was just happy with the chance to spoil him and his family. "Yeah, and this economy is bonkers too but I hope you'll let me continue spoiling you." He nudged him with a grin. He would never want to make his boyfriend uncomfortable but he'd try to do little things here and there for him. "Me too! And I must get a car seat for Phoebe too so you can help me with that since I'm clueless about those things." He did feel very accomplished with his work in his last week in New York City but he owed it all to wanting to get home and spend all the time he could with the people he loved. "Thank you, thank you. A nap sounds nice! You need it, that's for sure, baby."

Thinking about the future of his children worried Xavier but he also looked forward to seeing them grow up. They have only been in his life for such a short time but he felt like they have been a family forever. Imagining Winter going off to university and Henry starting high school often got him teary-eyed. They meant so much to him. "Thank you for saying that. I plan on making sure they get where they want to be." He smiled at Fletcher's comment. "Yeah, I mean look at Riley but what you're doing now, you're incredible at it. You have such a talent. I know I'm biased here but I mean it. I've seen your Instagram, and seen the comments from people who admire your work. Now that you've mentioned it though, I'm curious about Fletcher as a kid. When you were Henry's age, what were you into?"

Smiling at the kiss, he then nodded in response to the movie night. "Yeah, it seems nice." Xavier laughed and waited to be out of earshot from the elevator operator and murmured, "Always popping my cherries." When they stepped out, Xavier's smile widened immediately. There weren't too many people at the top mostly because it was mid-week in the middle of the day and because reservations were hard to get but man was it breathtaking. "Oh, wow. Take a look at that."

FLETCHER

"Tell me about it," Fletcher agreed when Xavier commented about the economy. But he squeezed his boyfriend's hand. "As long as you don't go crazy with it, you can still be my lowkey sugar daddy," he teased a bit. Considering much of the spoiling had been for his family and not him directly, Fletcher had been fine with it. The fact that Xavier was keeping his uncle and daughter in mind while talking of car shopping for his own family was spoiling for him. And Xavier organizing the sip and see for Phoebe was extremely sweet as well. He knew the gift giving was a love language of Xavier's as well and since Xavier wasn't taking away from Fletcher still being able to do things for himself and his family, he wasn't bothered. "Don't worry, babe, I'll help you out with the car seat."

He'd gone from thinking about a nap to thinking about Winter and Henry and he smiled a bit, listening to Xavier. "I know you will." He nodded a bit, "Yeah, although Riley makes money from designing the games, not playing them, right?" And when Xavier turned the conversation to him, Fletcher took the compliments in humble silence but raised a brow when he asked about him when he was younger. "Young Fletcher was a little shit. Just ask Drew," he snorted and then abruptly stopped. "Actually, don't ask him. He's got too many stories." He glanced up in thought and let out a pensive sigh, "Let's see, when I was around Henry's age, I was into the Niners, *Xena: Warrior Princess*, *Street Fighter* and *The Legend of Zelda*, and being a little shit to anyone who criticized or made fun of me. What were you like?"

He grinned at Xavier's cherry-popping comment and then quipped, "And what an honor it is." He stepped out of the elevator but his gaze had been on Xavier until the younger man indicated the view. Fletcher looked out and gently parted his lips. He'd never seen NYC like this before and all he could manage to say then was, "...Shit..." at the seemingly endless skyline. "What a view."

XAVIER

"Oh, yeah? I kinda love that." He grinned at his boyfriend's words, glad that he was open to him getting him a few things here and there. He brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed Fletcher's knuckles. "Thanks, love." Xavier smiled at the other, keeping his gaze on him when Fletcher wasn't looking. It made him incredibly happy having the older man in his life and to hear that he felt the same as Xavier did had put him on cloud nine. He felt so lucky to have found someone to share all the big and little things with and was even more grateful that it seemed to have happened at the right time for both of them. It was one of those times where the stars really did align.

"That's right. Luna does the playing." He chuckled, finding it curious his best friend and Khamani's wife found each other on that island. It really was wonderful how they were all in each other's lives now. "He started telling me a few things but hasn't gone to deep into stories. I'll get some from him soon though. I'm sure you were a little shit though." He laughed. "Oh no, no. You've activated curious Xavier and you know I'm relentless." Xavier bit his bottom lip as Fletcher went on. "Oh! Xena! I love Xrna and Hercules too! All the greats I see and of course you were dishing it out even then." Xavier flashed him an easy-going smile. "Me? I was bossy. Always telling Clayton what to do and just wanting things a specific way. My dad insisted I was a perfectionist but I'd say I just liked things a certain way." He smirked. "Had a great deal of anxiety so I joked around a lot to get over it. Was the class clown, loved to hear people laugh. There was always something electric about it all. I was obsessed with Toy Story especially Buzz Lightyear. Power Rangers were everything to me aaaanddd I had a giant crush on the pink ranger."

Xavier then laughed again. "And the green ranger." He sighed softly and then let his gaze fall on the scenery before it shifted toward his boyfriend. "Yeah...shit." He walked over to get the best view of the city line and beyond. "This is truly stunning. I see why it's considered so romantic." He wiggled his brows comically and chuckled. After a few minutes of taking it all end, he added, "Thank you for coming here. Grand gestures...they're kind of my weak spot you know." He gave Fletcher's hand a squeeze, "thank you, my love."

FLETCHER

"Want me to start calling you 'Sugar' or 'SD' for short?" he joked although he wasn't totally opposed to calling Xavier 'sugar' when he already called him 'sweetheart'. Both were fitting pet names for his boyfriend in his eyes. There were moments where being there in NYC with him felt absolutely surreal. But the hand squeezing and kissing with Xavier grounded him all over again. Eventually, he'd end up telling him how this wasn't his first time in the big apple and how he'd actually been born here and still remmwbered parts of it from childhood. But now wasn't the time to open that Empire State-sized can of worms.

"Ugh. Yeah I'm sure it won't take much for you to get those stories from him," he replied with a faux soured face. "But yeah, I was. Drew and the assistant principal knew each other on a first name basis when I was in middle school, and I wasn't much better for most of high school." He wasn't necessarily proud of it now but back then, it took him time to grow up and mamage his anger and resentment in ways other than mouthing off to people and getting into fights. He smirked and raised his brows, a bit surprised hearing that Xavier was bossy. "Really? That's hard to picture, you being bossy. But how much did your brother actually listen to you?" The organization made sense. He knew Xavier kept a clean home and car, and when he cooked, he was good at cleaning as he went. "Class clown doesn't surprise me but Toy Story, huh?" He liked learning these things about Xavier, including the Power Ranger crushes. "I mean, who *didn't* have a crush on Kimberly?" he chuckled a bit and then grinned when Xavier added the green ranger to his crushes.

He took in the view around them, still keep his hand in Xavier's while committing as much of the moment to memory. Not just the sight but being up there with someone he loved and felt glad to be sharing this moment with. He looked to Xavier, really looked into his eyes and smiled warmly. "I'm learning that. And I'm glad we did this." He kept his eyes on his boyfriend for a bit longer before leaning in and kissing him on his full lips. His free hand came up to cup his jaw and cheek and when he drew back, he told him, "I love you," followed by another brief, tender kiss. "Do you want to take a couple pictures up here before we head back down?"

XAVIER

Xavier smiled at the pet name. “Sugar reminds me of Rogue from X-Men.” His smiled widened a bit more at the thought. “I’ll just call you mon amour.” Xavier adored the idea even though every time Fletcher called him ‘sweetheart’ , it did something to him. He couldn’t explain it but he knew he loved it.

Xavier listened intently, smiling as Fletcher spoke. He knew that the other had been a trouble maker when he was a lot younger and knew that Drew was responsible for his turn around. “And look at you now. Still a trouble maker but in a hot way.” His smile grew some more. “But seriously, thank goodness for Drew. You just needed the right guidance and he made sure you got it. I wonder if we would have been friends. Like, if the age gap wasn’t a thing. And yeah really! I was bossy but Clayton never listened.” He laughed and shook his head thinking about growing up with his twin and with Riley and Athena. “He fell in loved when he was 12 and never looked back.” Xavier smiled. “Look, Toy Story was all the rage. I really wanted to go to Disney World and meet Buzz and get all the merch. We never go to as kids but my parents threw me a Toy Story birthday party and got a character for it and it was delightful.” When Fletcher made his comment about Kimberly he laughed and nodded. “Right?! And Tommy was a crush no one knew about. Not even Riley or Clayton. Tommy and Prince Caspian are responsible for my bisexual awakening.” He shook his head at himself and then directed his attention to the view. He was sure that he had never felt this way about anyone. Xavier loved Fletcher fully and wanted to have more memories like this one with him and their families too. There was nothing in the world that seemed more special.

“Me too.” Xavier whispered, his gaze flickering up to meet Fletcher’s. The slight breeze gave him a little chill down his neck as he returned his boyfriend’s kiss, raising his free hand to rest against Fletcher’s.

He smiled hearing the proclamation for the third time that afternoon and Xavier knew he’d never grow tired of hearing it. “I love you too.” More than he’s ever loved anyone romantically. “And definitely. I’ll make it one of my lock screens and put it on my desk.” He smiled as he pulled his phone from his pocket before accessing the camera and turning it to selfie mode. “You have longer arms, you do the honors.” He handed Fletcher the phone and then pressed a kiss against his cheek as one of the poses.

FLETCHER

"I mean, I could say it in a raspy, Southern accent whenever I say it if that does something for you," Fletcher replied seriously, despite the twitch of his lips.

Hus lips did end up forming a sly smirk though and he quipped, "No regrets," at being called a troublemaker by his boyfriend. "Yeah I owe Drew more than I could ever say or do for him." Fletcher knew it wasn't the first time he'd said something like this to Xavier but it was no less true then as it was now. "It's hard to say if we'd be friends or not. I wasn't the kid who gave other kids the 'let's be friends' vibes. I could probably count on one hand the number of people who were friends back then. Weirdly, even though I wasn't the most openly friendly, it didn't really seem to stop people from trying to talk to me or be friends or whatever though." He remained a tentatively listener to Xavier and softly grinned. "Your love for Toy Story's adorable. Are there pictures somewhere of you from this birthday party? But Tommy and Prince Caspian, huh? You like your brunettes, don't you?" He chuckled and kissed the side of Xavier's head, and then got to looking at the view with his love.

While he prepared to take his phone from his back pocket, he listened to Xavier and chuckled, "Oh is that all?" He smiled and then chuckled again, accepting Xavier's phone. "Sure thing, sugar," he answered with his best Rogue impression, positioning the camera and smiling softly as Xavier kissed his cheek. He took the picture and then turned his head to nuzzle Xavier's temple for another picture before muttering, "C'mere," tilting his head to meet his lips for a kiss. He remembered to tap the camera button a couple of times before drawing back and then asked, "Should we take one where we're *both* looking at the camera?"

XAVIER

Xavier glanced over at his boyfriend with a smirk and then chuckled softly. "You do that and we're not leaving the hotel room after we eat."

"hm, I bet." Xavier kept his smirk. "Bad influence is what you are." He replied playfully thinking how much he loved Fletcher for who he was. He then smiled gently at the mention of Drew who had become someone Xavier respected and appreciated in such a short time. "Remind me to thank him a million times for everything." He was a rock for Fletcher. He was his boyfriend's anchor and he'd go as far as saying he was his savior and if not for him, perhaps Xavier would have never met him and his boyfriend wouldn't have had the opportunity to know what true parents were like. "I could see that. All of that. I was a little awkward. A lot went into that with being one of the only black kids in my class raised by a white family. So comedy...that's how I made friends. But I probably would have been one of those trying to be your friends." He sighed, holding on to Fletcher's hand, enjoying the easy conversation. He felt his cheeks flush at being called adorable for liking Toy Story. "Aw shucks, thank you." He then nodded. "I know my parents have tons. I'll have them send me some to show you. Also, just remembered their Facebook has photos. And you know what? yeah, I do—troublemakers with a big-ass heart brunettes. I'm a giant sucker for those." He laughed as well, completely engrossed in their moment.

"Yeah, that's all." He chuckled too and then bit his lip as he smiled at Fletcher's Rogue impression. "Oh, you're in trouble now." Forgetting they were taking pictures, Xavier closed his eyes momentarily as his boyfriend nuzzled his temple, letting a soft laugh fall from his lips before they were met with Fletcher's pair. He nodded at the question that came next and Xavier softened his gaze, admiring his troublemaker before looking at the camera with a giant smile.

Once the photos were taken, he pocketed his phone and continued admiring the view. "We'll get our sandwiches to go and then you can do whatever you want with me." His gaze flickered up to meet his boyfriend's eyes. "Make some fantasies come true. Anything." He reached up to gently run his fingers through the side of Fletcher's hair. "Proper thank you for coming out here for me, mon amour."

FLETCHER

"You say that like it's a threat, but all I hear is a challenge." Fletcher met his boyfriend's smirk with one of his own and started thinking about Southern accents.

"Moooi? A bad influence?" He said, faux shock with his free hand pointing to his own chest. "Well that's just painfully accurate." He knew as much and didn't actually have a problem with this description of himself. And he listened to Xavier, speaking kindly and highly of his uncle while not knowing the full extent of how much Drew deserved all the thanks. One day, Fletcher would tell him about his parents and why he ended up I'm Drew's care, but today wasn't that day. He was far too happy and had plenty to relish about their time and having told Xavier he loved him. He listened to the younger man and sobered a bit hearing some of the reason behind Xavier leaning into comedy and being the class clown. Fletcher squeezed his hand, "I can't imagine what that had been like growing up especially. The fucking stupidity of some people." He lifted their joined hands to kiss Xavier's, and then let their hands remain held at their sides. A small grin appeared at Xavier's "type" and then he chuckled, "A half dozen tattoos might be a bonus to that, hm?"

He'd taken a few more pictures for them and then arched his brows, "No, no, I'm the trouble-maker, not the trouble-getter." He kissed Xavier on his lips and had taken a couple more pictures before handing the phone back to his boyfriend. "Oh really? Hot damn, sweetheart. Say less." He smirked and pressed another, lingering kiss to Xavier's lips, his free hand cupping Xavier's neck while gliding his thumb along the Brit's jaw. "We better get outta here or we'll never make it to getting sandwiches."

XAVIER

"Take it as you will." Xavier shook his head all the while stealing a glance at Fletcher's smirk only for his lips to do the same.

"Uh yes! But I kinda sorta love this bad influence so I guess it's okay." Xavier teased Fletcher. He loved the way his boyfriend challenged him and taught him new things. He had become open to exploration he wouldn't have known about if not for meeting him and it was just one of the reasons Xavier had fallen for the other. He smiled softly at Fletcher's reaction to how and why Xavier had chosen comedy. "Mm. I blame the parents. I always said if kids are out there spewing unkind things, what are the parents teaching them? It's okay though look at me now, bitches!" He laughed. "Kidding. Kind of. Nah, eat shit." He laughed again, his expression melting at the sight of Fletcher kissing their joined hands. Little gestures were just as incredible as the big ones. "The tattoos were definitely a bonus. I got myself a baddie." He playfully nudged Fletcher with his shoulder and grinned.

"I think you can be both." He laughed and kissed his boyfriend. If he could, he'd devour him there. Xavier took the phone from Fletcher and quickly sent them to him, a smirk landing on his face at Fletcher's words. He looked up at him and returned the kiss, turning to face him completely, a sly little smirk playing against his lips. "We need to eat. Sustenance. I saw my trainer this morning so I have a lot of energy..." He chuckled and went back to taking Fletcher's hand, gesturing toward the elevator. "I need you to wipe me out."

FLETCHER

"You know I will," Fletcher quipped. And then he gave Xavier a questioning glance, "You *kinda sorta* love the bad influence thing?" He pecked Xavier's temple and then gazed out at the skyline as the two of them continued to talk. But his eyes fell back on his boyfriend when they got back to talking about what kids were like when Xavier was growing up. "Eh, yeah parents can be a big part but other dumbass people are influences too. Peer pressure and shit like that. I'd had idiots I'd gotten into fights with because their friends were idiots too and they were just copying what the other was saying or doing." After squeezing Xavier's hand, he said, "Yeah you better own that. You're amazing, smart, handsome, loving, sexy, successful, and funny." When he lowered their hands between them, he chuckled, "The baddie and the zaddy," pointing between the two of them.

"Eh, I can be and I have been. But in this case, I just wanna make a little trouble." He kissed Xavier deeply, only reluctantly lightening the kiss to mutter against his lips. "Didn't you say room service was a thing?" He kissed the corner of his mouth and to his jaw, heading to his neck where he murmured, "You need that, huh? Well I've been sitting on an airplane for hours so I've got plenty of energy that needs to be used up." He nipped Xavier's ear and then lifted his head, "Let's go. You've got me wanting to show you how much I love you, and wanting to fulfill that need of yours all at once."

XAVIER

Xavier loved the banter. Fletcher never had a problem keeping up and conversations were always easy even when they were teasing one another. "Okay, I really fucking love it." He smiled at the kiss against his temple, sighing contently. Even amid heavier topics, Xavier and Fletcher found ways to support each other and still find some levity. He nodded in agreement to Fletcher's response. "You're right. There was plenty of that growing up. Sorry that you had to deal with it too." Xavier listened intently, a smile forming on his lips, the warmth rising in his cheeks. If he smiled any harder, his cheeks would begin to hurt. "You're complimentary today." He grinned once more. "Ohhh I like that. The baddie and the Zaddy." Xavier knew he had struck gold with Fletcher and he'd make sure his boyfriend was reminded of that as often as possible.

"Only a little?" Xavier closed his eyes, returning the kiss as a part of him wondered if there was anywhere they could run off to but thankfully the hotel wasn't too far away. "Room service is always a thing..." He bit the inside of his cheek and then the corner of his lips as he tried to focus. By now, Fletcher knew exactly where his weakest spots were and he was hitting some of them now. "Mm hmm. Desperate." He barely got the words out secretly wishing there was no elevator operator. "There are better things you can do for hours." He chuckled, grabbing his boyfriend's hand and pulling him toward the elevator to leave for the hotel.

#para: concrete jungle #flavier #paras

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gothicknightz · 2 years

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the book of immortality — xavier thorpe.

:: wanted to catch up on the wednesday trend as i love the series. reader is female, this will become either a short story or a two part.

Dancing on the edge of the balcony, you stared out into the luminous night sky, the sweet harmonies of a cello barely grazing your ears.

Having multiple dances like this, you never failed to notice the black raven perched in front of you as your graceful movements were elusive in the presence of others.

The bird would stay still in it's place, only moving on occasion and after you had finished dancing, making you wonder why the bird had come to make an acquaintance.

But tonight wasn't the night; you had promised Enid, Yoko, and Bianca a girls night at a place you had found somewhere in the woods.

Despite the danger of what may be in the night, you all had eyes and ears; Yoko's friends could be there within seconds, and in sight of the fact that Enid hadn't ‘wolfed out’ yet, you were sure to have them if danger was near.

Enid had packed a small bag filled with an array of nail polish colors and some makeup, humming contently to herself as she was excited for the upcoming girls night. Unbeknownst to her roommate, Wednesday was too focused on her novel to realize that the pastel clad girl had slipped out. But it was nonetheless not her concern.

Slipping through the halls unknown, the girls had collectively made it to the spot in the woods where you had promised a proposed girls night.

Supposedly the building you were all in had been a former part of the school, an unecessary room then needed for a treatment of Hydes, a species no longer admitted into Nevermore.

“I can't believe this building was ever here (y/n)!” Enid exclaimed, looking around in awe as you had set up the place prior to the girls arrival. “This is definitely the *new* library.”

“Speaking on things similar to that,” Bianca had announced, “(y/n) has yet to tell us about the secret admirer she's been having.”

Enid's eyes had lit up almost instantaneously at the mention of a secret admirer. Despite pining for her own love secretly, Ajax, she was always in on others love lives, preferably her friends.

“Come on, (y/n), spill the tea!”

You sighed and smiled at Enid's excited personality, “Whoever it is, I believe they keep watch on me with a raven when I dance at night.”

“Don't you think that's a bit odd,” Yoko added, “For them to be watching you dance at night? From your dorm?”

“Yeah,” Enid sighed, “It's really creepy, but also really cute since they probably want to make sure you're okay!”

Bianca stayed silent, but truly, her mind was working at trying to put the small amount of clues togeter.

You turned your head to look at her, “Bianca?”

As if she was snapped out of a trance, she hummed and looked up, “Hm?”

“We wanted to know what you thought of (y/n)’s sweet but creepy admirer!” Enid answered for you, practically bouncing as she said every word.

“Oh, um,” She paused, “Wait, I think I hear something outside.”

The four of you cautiously lined up behind the door, slowly opening it as you looked to see what was causing a minor commotion to your girls night.

“I don't see anything,” You said, “But I'll check it out, I know these woods better than anyone. You guys stay right here, I'll be back.”

As soon as you're about to step out, Enid grabs you by the arm, making you turn around.

“Here,” She said, handing you a flashlight, “Take this.”

You thanked her before stepping out into the woods, looking around the area you were in before coming across a raven, the black bird squawking at you before flying off.

“This time,” You muttered, “I'm going to follow you.”

You went out after the bird, the fall leaves gently crunching against your feet. The bird was flying at an average pace, so you were able to keep up without loosing track or sight.

You kept going for about five minutes before coming across a slightly aged shed with it's lights on.

The raven squawked again before hopping towards the door, which was unlocked.

The bird prompted you to open the door gingerly, with you cautiously peeking your head in to hear soft punk rock music playing.

“Hello?” You asked, not getting any response other than the music that was already playing.

Assuring yourself that the coast was clear, you stepped inside to be invited by various paintings that were beautifully sketched and dressed in colors alike.

But as you got closer to some of the poorly hidden ones, you recognized a face on them. A face you could recognize anywhere.

And that face was you.

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hunterlilith · 4 months

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‧₊˚⊹ Hunter Lilith ₊˚⊹‧

" I hunt to keep you safe and for us to have a future. There's no rest for the wicked. "

Backstory to my hunter/MC hybrid OC:

You know how Mc has heart situation in game? I solved that, offered my soul to Demon Queen Lilith. She accepted my offer. But that means you sometimes get sweet Lilith, and sometimes not so sweet demon Lilith who can be pretty saucy. I still have the same evol, but some added benefits are super strength/speed. I can take life out of a person as well as give life back to someone, healing them but not without shifting the balance of life. HQ does not know, of my deal with Lilithi. She prefers me keeping it secret.

"Lilly's perspective: -My name? Lilly is what they used to call me. But a demon came a long and we are now known by many names. One of them being Lilith, THE demon queen. We were once called Eve, wife of Adam and later Lucifer. Maybe you are familiar with our story in the real world? Lilith's perspective: -I currently reside in a world, unknow to me. In a lil frail hearted girl who once came to me for help. I’m a demon, I make pacts and who am I to deny a precious gift and her worship. I let her do her own thing most of the time, but I’m a demon after all.. - Would you like us to tell our story?"

// Now that I've introduced Lilith/Lilly/Lil, I guess I should say a few things about me too. I'm not an english native speaker, so there will be spelling and grammar errors in my work even when I check it like 5 times xD Some may be 100 % without NTSW material, some might have a lil and some might be pure cheeky time. Depends what I'm feeling on the day when I type. I might just type them out of Lilith's view. Cus I realised they have a lot of my personality is infused and maybe less of mc, though I won't use the name in all of them. So if your personality vibes with mine, you can still read it as if it was you!

The chronicles of Lilith the hunter, will have multiple focuses. So there will always be one for Rafayel, Xavier, Zanye And Caleb, who gets sorta of two. One as if he was still with us the other as if he is dead will be mixed in with Zaynes, it makes the most sense to me this way. If you have questions about this? Feel free to drop one in the comment section! I hope you'll enjoy your stay here.

You can also find me here:

// Love always Hunter Lilith, duty calls.

#fanfiction #lads #love and deepspace #The Chronicles Of Lilith The Hunter

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miraculouscontent · 3 years

Note

so... could you write some more adrien/chat salt? your fics and posts salting on him are always so good 🥺

Thank you! And of course~

—————

Ladybug had considered what to say multiple times over the day she'd had to think about it. She'd thought about all the different ways she could've said it, and what would've been the most effective when who she was talking to was taken into account.

However, sitting there on the rooftops with Chat Noir, there was a point where she just had to say it, no matter how it came out.

"Give me your miraculous."

Chat jerked his head over to her, jarred from the silence and eyes wide as his brain seemed to process the statement. Ladybug, meanwhile, stared ahead at the night sky, as if she hadn't said anything out of the ordinary.

After a few more seconds, she got a reply in the form of laughter, Chat buckling over with a hand on his stomach. "That's quite the Hawk Moth impression, Bugaboo!" he exclaimed, though calming himself enough to give her a half-lidded gaze and add, "But you don't have to do that to impress me, you know."

She didn't reply, only turning to look at him with her expression entirely flat, not showing any reaction to the mixture of teasing and flirting.

He was still grinning for a while, but as the silence dragged on, he began to falter. "...Ah—" He shook his head, leaning towards her and trying to force a smirk. "—if you want a wish that badly, all you need to do is say the word, m'lady! I can grant all your wishes."

She remained stoic, maintaining eye contact with him but not encouraging his banter. She could practically hear the gears turning in his head as it became clear to him that she was very much not joking.

One of Chat's ears twitched in confusion. He leaned back to his normal distance from her, seeming at a loss for what to say now that the atmosphere was finally registering with him.

Ladybug took a breath, noting that she had his attention. She straightened and looked back over Paris, saying, "I can't do this anymore."

He followed her gaze, squinting as if the answer would be written out there in bold letters for him. "Being a hero?"

"No, us. Us being partners." While he gaped at her, she stared down at her lap, her hands clutching her thighs as if that would give her some sense of stability. "...Chat, do you think this is a game?"

Chat shifted and rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not having expected the conversation to go here. It was hard to tell whether he was trying to keep things light or if it was just his genuine reply when he responded, "W-well, I'm definitely in it to win if that's what you mean—"

"I talked to Xavier Ramier today."

She watched his expression carefully, his hand leaving his neck and hovering awkwardly in the air as he looked at her. He seemed puzzled, not knowing what this had to do with the conversation, though his brows rose briefly like he'd remembered something.

She continued, trying not to show too much in her reaction as she explained, "Since I'm not as busy right now, I thought I'd check in on some of the people who got akumatized but I didn't have time for earlier. He was one of them." Idly, she pulled out her yoyo, almost mindlessly tapping away at it as she navigated through the various menus. "He said you came by to check on him a while ago; said that you were sitting there, just enjoying the day with him. He told me that you asked him if he missed being Mister Pigeon, or if he was feeling any negative emotions."

"I—" Chat tried to interject.

She didn't hear him, too focused on telling the story. "Then I asked him when you showed up, and he didn't know exactly when, but..." She showed him her yoyo, the messages Chat had sent clearly being timestamped for reference. "I figured out from what his rough guess and asking around that it was when you were supposed to be on patrol."

"I was on patrol!" Chat protested. "I was just checking up on him."

"You were relaxing on a bench," Ladybug reminded him., her tone remaining consistently flat. Snapping her yoyo shut and returning it to her hip, she added, "I even asked around and people told me they saw you go into the Grand Paris Hotel. I heard from one of the butlers there that you were sulking, and got excited when you saw Chloe and Sabrina fighting."

He opened his mouth to explain himself, but she could tell that he was struggling to come up with an excuse; he honestly believed that she'd never find out about any of this.

"I trusted you, Chat. I trusted you to cover for me when I'm not there, no matter what." She needed to swallow back her emotions for that one. "Why would you do that? Why would you hope for akuma to happen? Why would you lie to me?"

"I didn't!" Chat insisted, waving his arms frantically. "I—see... it was an off day! I was just—you know I can always do my best around you, and I did patrol! I just... made a few stops along the way! I wouldn't lie to you!"

"So you don't lie to me," she stated cautiously, "and you've never lied against me."

"Of course not!" he assured.

She paused for effect, just long enough for him to grow uneasy, then said, "Theo Barbot waved me down a while back."

Chat visibly cringed, and she could hear a hissing sound as he sucked in a breath.

"He wanted to congratulate me. He saw the picture of us kissing on the Ladyblog and said that he was glad we could finally go public about our relationship." Her gaze sharpened even as she stared at nothing in particular. "I asked what he meant, and he told me that you said that we were a thing. He said that that's what got him akumatized."

"It wasn't..." He averted his gaze. "...a lie exactly."

In response, Ladybug stood, throwing her arms outwards as emotion began to seep into her voice. "This is about more than lies, Chat; it's about everything! If you can only do your best around me, then what happens if an akuma gets me?" She didn't need him to answer. "You'll lose it. I need someone who I know will take care of things even if I'm captured."

"I would!" Chat retorted he stood up, the nervousness now showing on his face. "I would do everything to get you back, I—"

"Party Crasher," she cut in without missing a beat.

He recoiled like she'd physically struck him.

"And it's not just that I can't rely on you if I'm taken out; I can't rely on you not to take yourself out," she said pointedly, turning away from him and taking a few steps away to distance herself. "You're always throwing yourself in front of me and sacrificing yourself, sometimes when you don't even have to and always without just talking to me about it! Do you have any idea how that feels? You tell me all the time that you'll listen to me and how I'm the planner here, and then you go and make plans without me."

She heard Chat's hurried footsteps from behind her as he tried to match her pace and argue, "It's not like that! It's just—it's because..."

She turned just as he reached her, her stern gaze making him stop. "Because my anger is so irresistible?" she asked. "I'm just so adorable when I'm mad that you won't listen to me?" She advanced on him, forcing him back. "Thanks, Chat, that makes me feel so much better that you can't take me seriously because you just love me that much," she said sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant!" he argued, though at that point it seemed like all he could do was weakly protest that he didn't mean anything that way. "I'm only teasing, Bugaboo!"

"Then what do you really mean?" She clenched her fists at her side. "I've told you to stop calling me Bugaboo and you never do! You're too busy bantering and talking about our relationship to focus on the fight, and when that kiss happened - the one that happened because you got shot by Oblivio and I had to save you - you laughed at me for being upset and you didn't care. I'm tired of having to deal with all of that; I'm dealing with enough as guardian!" Reminded of her own status, she steeled herself up and held a hand out to him, managing to calm down enough to say, "Now, revoke your miraculous. I'll give it to someone else."

Chat retreated, his hand moving to cover his ring protectively. The nervousness had partially faded away into him being generally upset, though he also didn't try to defend his actions anymore. "You... if you give the ring to someone else, you'll know their identity!"

"I've already got a plan for that," Ladybug stated, holding her hand out more insistently.

Because of course she did. She wouldn't have been doing any of this if she hadn't given it a lot of thought first. There were pros and cons to bringing in a new cat, and when she really weighed it all together, this was the only way forward. Chat wouldn't learn, and she'd been stuck in a limbo of shouting at him, being ignored, and having to push down her feelings in the future or risk damaging their teamwork. She'd devalued herself - devalued her emotions - in order to believe that she could make it work because she needed him.

Except, she didn't. She needed a cat; someone to use the more active miraculous to balance out the lack of firepower that the ladybug miraculous had. It wasn't that it could be just anyone, but it certainly didn't have to be Chat. While she deeply regretted going back on one of Master Fu's decisions when he couldn't even have a say in it anymore, the fact of the matter was that she was the guardian and she made the rules.

Chat backed away a few more steps, his eyes darting around as he sought a way out of the situation. Then, facing Ladybug, a mixture of upset and offended, he argued, "We're a team! We still come out fine no matter what happened! You don't even know my identity, I've kept it a secret just like you wanted!"

He was reaching, and they both knew it. That had always been the reason for revoking someone's miraculous: someone else knowing their identity. However, there were reasons beyond that, and them "coming out fine" from a battle was hardly a high bar for someone getting to keep theirs. Ladybug knew that well enough after having dealt with Miracle Queen; even if Chloe's identity hadn't been revealed, she was still a bad person who felt entitled to a miraculous.

But Ladybug also understood the game Chat was playing at: that it wouldn't be right to take his miraculous when he's protected his identity. The logic was flawed, but she nonetheless crossed her arms and gave him a blank look, staring into his green cat eyes and starting to fit pieces of a metaphorical puzzle together.

Kung Food, Horrificator, and Startrain: those at minimum were times where Chat's civilian form had to have been inside at the time the akuma happened. Chat had also mistaken Francoise Dupont for an elementary school after they'd defeated Kwamibuster, but she mentally acknowledged that he could've been lying. He had to have been, if they were trapped in that building together with Horrificator. It narrowed things down significantly, and she knew that he had to have been a teenager like her due to the timer on his miraculous.

And while she was aware that Chat's green eyes meant nothing considering that she got green eyes as Lady Noire, there were little coincidences sprinkled throughout their history together that didn't add up unless she came to one final conclusion.

Chat showing up at the museum even though he'd have no way of knowing that an akuma could've been there. Chat knowing that Volpina's illusion was fake. Chat's mysterious loss of his miraculous when Style Queen was attacking.

The feather allergy.

Then, Ladybug glanced at the hand he was covering; the one she knew had the cat miraculous on his right ring finger. She almost felt like congratulating herself for constantly resisting the temptation, because when she actually thought about it, it was so obvious.

She knew that hand, as she'd seen it so many times. She had pictures of it plastered all over her wall and the realization made her feel sick, her heart dropping as opposed to skipping a beat.

"...Adrien Agreste," she said finally. "You're Adrien Agreste."

He blinked, his expression blank at first before dread started to take its place. His mouth slowly fell open, words trying to escape but there weren't any to be found.

She let the moment drag, stepping forward to close the distance between them. Adrien's face flashed over Chat Noir's for a moment and she swallowed, summoning all of her confidence to address him properly.

"Tell me, Adrien. Tell me that this hasn't been a game for you. Tell me that you wanted to protect Paris all this time. Tell me that this hasn't all been about you."

She waited, not expecting or hoping for any answer in particular, because it no longer mattered; the conclusion would the same regardless.

Ultimately, she got no reply, and within the next ten minutes, the cat miraculous was in her hands and Adrien was promptly taken home.

—————

Marinette took a breath of the cool night air, having chosen to walk home rather than get there as Ladybug. She needed time to think, and walking helped her clear her head from the rush of everything that'd happened.

Her purse rustled, Tikki popping out and leaning off the side to look up at her. "Is everything okay, Marinette?"

"Yeah." She nodded her head, just to reassure Tikki further. "It was for the best. It's a lot, but... I wanted to do it; for me, and for Paris."

Regardless of how many emotions she had to deal with, she was glad she knew. She supposed that she could've taken Chat's miraculous without seeing his identity - though it would've been complicated - but it helped her sort through so many thoughts in her mind.

She let out half of a chuckle, idly thinking that she dodged a bullet. If dating Adrien would've turned him into any level of Chat Noir - or, honestly, just knowing that he was Chat Noir - then it was definitely for the best that she figured out his identity. She wasn't sure how she'd behave around him the following days, but just the idea of things being any semblance of "normal" in the face of "the famous model Adrien Agreste," with no stutters or freak-outs...

It was nice, making everything feel a little brighter. Maybe Alya would even stop claiming that she's just "jealous" of Lila, the girls would stop teasing her so much, and she could put all that time she used to spend thinking about Adrien into something more productive. There hadn't seemed to be a downside in sight, actually.

As Marinette kept thinking on the subject, her gaze wandered off to the side, taking in the sights around her, and she paused when she noticed that she was right next to the Seine. The revelation didn't surprise her - she knew she'd have to pass by it to get home - but it did inevitably remind her of Luka, especially since they'd broken up only a day ago.

The metaphorical wound was still fresh, not helped by the fact that Lies had come right afterward as if to remind her of why she had to break up with him; she couldn't have a normal life, and she certainly couldn't have a boyfriend. It didn't matter if she loved Luka and he loved her back, because she would always have to leave their dates at the first sign of an akuma.

Yet, nevertheless, there was some form of comfort in staring out at the river, and she found herself traveling down the nearest set of stairs to walk right next to the Seine instead of so far above it, her eyes trailing along the surface of the water to search for the Liberty.

It took a few minutes of walking, almost making her wonder if she'd passed it without realizing, but then she saw the ship resting in the water, right where it always was. She approached, taking in the various colors and the silly rainbow weathervane, her body automatically relaxing at the memories of those two weeks of crafting kittycorn-themed costumes from paper mache.

Curiously, she noticed that the gangplank was up, as someone presumably had forgotten to pull it back before going to bed that night. Marinette walked over, crouching down and wondering idly if it was possible that it had been put up but had just fallen over at some point, yet it was clearly set perfectly in place.

Mentally trashing the thought, she placed her hands on her knees and started getting up. As she straightened her back, her eyes involuntarily scanned over the deck of the ship, a familiar color palette of blues, blacks, and whites registering in her mind before she fully recognized what—who it was. Her eyes locked onto the figure, and she had to slap a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from letting out a yelp.

It was Luka, sitting down on an instrument case with his guitar in his lap, though Marinette noted after a moment that he was actually asleep. Concern furrowed her brows as she took in his posture, one of his arms resting on the case while the other was perched on the guitar's base. His back was arched against the taffrail of the ship and his head was tilted back to the point where his hair was falling into his face.

There was no way that was comfortable.

Marinette hesitated, feeling almost like she was trespassing, then gave Tikki a look to hide inside the purse while she walked across the gangplank Any footsteps against the deck of the ship seemed unusually loud due to the otherwise quiet night, but Marinette tried to ignore it, approaching Luka cautiously so as not to startle him.

He was frowning, and she involuntarily copied the expression onto her own face. Outside of the bumps in their dates and the break-up itself, it was rare to see him as anything but calm or happy, and she got the distinct feeling that it wasn't just because he was asleep that he was making that face.

She reached up, lightly fixing his hair in case to try and keep it out of his eyes when he woke up, then lowered her hand to his shoulder. She gave him a light shake, then another with a little more effort when the first failed to stir him. When that failed as well, she leaned close, looking side to side like she was afraid someone would see her and think she was doing something strange. However, no one else was around, allowing her to safely whisper his name to him.

"Luka."

She stiffened when she got an immediate response to that, Luka letting out a low humming noise as he shifted. She jolted back, trying to give him space and blushing at the thought that shaking hadn't woken him in the slightest but her voice had immediately.

Luka's eyes opened halfway, staring blankly up at the sky. Brows lowering in confusion, he tried to move, though a whine escaped him when his body protested at the uncomfortable position he'd gotten himself into. He winced, but eased forward and leaned on his guitar for support, only then looking forward and meeting her gaze.

She shifted in place, feeling awkward but knowing that it was too late to back out now.

"...Mmmarinette?" he asked, squinting like he wasn't really sure she was there. He blinked a few times, his eyes widening a fraction when he confirmed that she was real. "Marinette?"

"Ah—hi," she replied, waving awkwardly. "Um, sorry, it was just—I was walking, and I saw you, and you were sleeping weird—not that you sleeping is weird or you look weird when you sleep!—but you seemed really uncomfortable so I just..." She gestured vaguely at his current state of awareness.

He let out a tired sound that may've been an "oh," then ran his fingers into his hair and rustled it, like he was attempting to shake the tiredness out of himself. That done, he managed a small smile at her that didn't stretch anywhere near the amount it usually would. "Thank you. I'm glad you care about me that much."

"Of course I do!" she blurted out, a little offended at the idea that she wouldn't. She realized belatedly how loud she'd been and rubbed an arm in embarrassment, but didn't take anything back either.

Deep down, she knew where he was coming from. It must've been hard for him to watch her ditch him and then deal with her ending their relationship with next to no explanation. Even with the confidence he constantly radiated, not having any information on the 'how's or 'why's must've been difficult, and she hated keeping secrets from him.

Even Chat got better than that...

Luka tilted his head at her, the anxiety probably written all across her face. Concerned, he began to ask, "...Is everything—"

"Luka," she called suddenly, straightening to face him fully. "I—" She swallowed, needing a few seconds to compose herself. "I know this is a bad time, because I'm not really supposed to be here, and you can say 'no,' but... can we talk? About what happened?"

She bit her lip nervously as he sat up, his body noticeably more awake than before. She felt like he deserved to know more about the whole situation, but he also had every right to refuse her for waiting - even if it wasn't that long ago - so the possibilities were nerve-wracking.

Thankfully though, Luka relaxed after a moment, lifting his guitar out of his lap to set it aside, the bottom of the body resting on the deck of the Liberty while the neck was supported by the taffrail. Settling his hands in his lap, he then gave her his full attention, even offering a soft look of reassurance.

Her shoulders eased; he was going to hear her out. Part of her almost felt bad, wondering if maybe he was forcing himself, but she also knew it was important for him to get closure on the matter.

"Okay..." She breathed, acknowledging to herself that she hadn't planned this is the slightest. After some internal debate, she sat down on the deck of the Liberty in lieu of a proper seat, earning a look from Luka but no further comment otherwise. Running her hands along her capris, she stared up at him and finally began, "It—it wasn't you."

He raised a brow, silently encouraging her to go on.

"I mean, maybe you weren't worried about that, but I just... I needed you to know that." She shrugged half-heartedly. "You didn't do anything wrong, Luka - you're amazing - and if it wasn't for me always having to leave and rush off and make you feel bad, I would've stayed with you."

"...Really?"

She blinked at his tone, the corners of her lips quirking up as he covered his mouth, clearly not having intended to blurt that out. She simply nodded at him, falling back into her serious state as she continued, "You deserve someone who can be dedicated to you, and I just—I can't, and I can't tell you why either." She slumped, ashamed at the secret she was forced to keep. "I wish I could. I do trust you, but it's not about that. It's—" She pursed her lips, struggling to find the right words. "—it's not really something I can say?"

She dropped her gaze to her lap, but didn't miss the flicker of understanding in his eyes. It was important to her, for him to know that she believed in him and that he'd done everything right in their relationship.

"...Are—" Luka paused, voice laced with worry. "Marinette, are you being blackmailed or something?"

She almost laughed at that. His deduction wasn't entirely wrong, as "go defend Paris from a supervillain and tell no one about it, and if you do then they might be in danger," certainly did sound like blackmail. Still, she shook her head, reassuring, "It's nothing like that. I'm sorry. I really want to tell you, a-and even be with you, but I can't do either." She clutched at her knees in an attempt to ground herself, glancing back up at him with a mixture of sorrow and guilt. "I don't know what you see in me, Luka, but I feel so lucky that you like me so much, and then unlucky because—" She choked briefly, her cheeks heating up as she realized that she'd never said the exact words to him before. "—because I like you too and I want it to be that simple but it's not. You want the truth and the truth is that I can't tell you no matter how much I want to. I know I forget things and had to skip out on dates because I was so stressed out, but you made everything fun and not stressful and I loved every date we went on until... you know." She gestured wildly to imply 'unsaid things happening.'

He was quiet, not showing any particular reaction, though she'd spent enough time with him to know that he was glad that she was talking more openly about it and clearing some things up that he might've been wondering about. His expression seemed blank on the surface but he was relieved to know something even if her words were pulling his emotions in every direction.

Mentally preparing herself for the next step, Marinette pushed herself up and walked over to him, finding it hard to meet Luka's gaze even as she hunched over and boldly placed her hands on top of his. Out of the corner of her vision, she could see his eyes searching her face, not knowing what to expect next.

"...I'm sorry," she murmured. "I know I apologized already but I'm sorry. I should've known things would end up like this but I wanted to date you anyway. I can't even tell you when this is all going to end so I can't ask you to wait for me either because it's not fair. You deserve a relationship that isn't so complicated... that doesn't involve me."

She flinched at the emotional punch to the gut she'd just given herself. She'd already known that dating would be near-impossible so long as she was Ladybug, but it was a completely different feeling to face Luka and say it to his face. She wasn't sure if she'd been his first crush, but the thought left a bitter taste in her mouth that it'd all gone so wrong and there was no hope of getting it back.

She took another breath to calm herself, slowly raising her hands away from his. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to say," she murmured, still not making eye contact with him. "Thanks for trying to show me a good time, Luka, but... maybe you should fall in love with someone else."

She turned away before her emotions could get the better of her, about to walk off when a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist and jerked her back. She squeaked in surprise, glancing behind her to see that Luka was on the edge of the instrument case, arm stretched out like he'd impulsively hurried to stop her. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, but he spoke first.

"Why?"

"W...why?" she echoed.

"Why should I fall for someone else?" he asked, his tone somewhere between hurt and serious.

"Ah." She tilted her head, confused and with no idea of what he was getting at. "Because of everything I said?"

"That you enjoyed our dates? That it wasn't us who cut the song short?" His other hand reached up, holding her hand as well while he looked at her tenderly. His voice grew quiet, like he couldn't believe what he was saying. "That you like me?"

Marinette blushed, but found it hard to look away from him this time. "I...I do like you. Um—only you, but—Luka, the dates..."

Luka slowly stood up, gently squeezing her hand in a show of support. "I didn't even think that I'd be taking up too much of your time, Marinette. I wanted to be together with you, but I didn't want it to be hard either." He offered her a lopsided smile, adding, "And I'm glad you told me, because I don't think you being busy means we can't be together."

"...What?" Marinette gaped at him in disbelief. "I thought you said that you wanted the truth, and—"

"You gave it to me," he reminded her. "You said you can't tell me and I believe you."

She waved her free hand wildly. "Y-yeah, and I'll have to run off and we'll never know when!"

"Then we don't have to date, or we don't have to date as much." He'd said it like it was the simplest thing in the world, and maybe it was. "Why should we be playing sad solos when we can play a happy duet instead?"

She went to retort, but he'd so swiftly shot down her arguments that she was left speechless. She hadn't even considered that - trying to compromise with him on their dates - because she thought she wouldn't be worth it for him, yet here he was, offering himself to her again now that everything had been laid out for him. It seemed too good to be true, but...

He was her Second Chance, and every moment she spent with him just reaffirmed why she'd adored being given that chance in the first place.

She made a small noise as she tried to hold back emotion, her hand shaking in his. "You want me that much?"

His smile grew wider and more genuine, clearly recognizing that she was about to accept him. "Yeah. Do you want me too?"

Afraid her voice might crack and ruin the moment, she nodded and turned fully towards him. She held out her other hand for him and he took it happily, both of them able to enjoy each other's company once more.

Once things had properly settled down, she held back a shy giggle and asked, "S-so, do we just... pick up where we left off? Or just—before everything started going wrong?"

He hummed, seeming to honestly think about it. "I guess so. What verse do you want to start from?"

She retraced all of the bad dates in her mind, like she were rewinding a movie. One moment in particular stuck out to her, and she tried not to grin too much as she suggested, "The cinema? After I gave you the necklace?"

She didn't have to clarify any further, his eyes lighting up in remembrance. He grinned and leaned down to be closer to her level, her getting up on her tiptoes to meet him halfway in a kiss, thus finishing what they'd started from what felt like forever ago. She could feel Luka's hands caressing hers, as if to reassure that everything was alright and he was happy.

She waited until the kiss broke apart, then looked at him to ask teasingly, "Better than setting up a whole date to do that?"

He pressed his forehead to hers, sighing happily. "Definitely."

She beamed at him, almost tempted to kiss him again before she remembered what time it was. She gasped, inadvertently surprising him with the sound, then recoiled and placed her hands firmly on his shoulders, sitting him back down on the instrument case.

"You need to sleep!" she told him, then corrected a second later, "But—not here! Not right here anyway! It needs to be in a bed! Your bed!"

He laughed at the abrupt shift in tone, but nodded obediently at her, resting his fingers along her wrists. "I will. You'll sleep too, right?"

She nodded back, her heart skipping a beat at his care for her. "Yeah, I promise."

Her hands lingered on him, as did his with her as she pulled away from him. As much as she would've liked to stay with him, it was late and she still had a lot to take care of.

Rushing across the gangplank, she waited until she was safely on the other side so she wouldn't risk tripping as she turned to face him, walking backward and waving excitedly. "Bye, Luka!"

He suppressed a chuckle at the happiness-induced loudness of her voice, then waved back at her. It was only when he got up to take his guitar inside that she finally turned around and started officially heading home.

—————

When the last of the Adrien photos had been shoved into her trash bin - even the ones on her corkboard - Marinette allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief and collapse into her chair. It'd taken a little longer than she'd thought, but she was still satisfied with the change. The walk home and conversation with Luka had brought all of her thoughts together and made her feel optimistic about how the day had gone.

"Marinette?" Tikki looked up from the chocolate chip she'd been nibbling on, her being the only kwami awake at that hour. Voicing the inevitable, she asked, "What are you going to do about the cat miraculous?"

Marinette turned, acknowledging her, then reached into her purse to pull out the ring in question, turning it a few times in her hands. It was weird having it in her possession while she still had the ladybug earrings on, but it wouldn't stick around for long anyway, so she wasn't concerned.

Tikki continued, an urgency in her voice, "You're Ladybug, and you're not supposed to know anyone's identities, but you're also the guardian now, so you're supposed to give out miraculouses and know everyone's identities!"

Marinette, much to Tikki's apparent surprise, flashed her a smile and held the ring up confidently. "That's exactly why you're going to pick the next cat, Tikki."

Tikki blanked, dropping the chocolate chip in shock. "Wh—me?" Her voice squeaked. "Why me?"

Marinette would be lying if she said that she didn't find some amusement in Tikki's befuddlement. With a bit of effort, she pushed herself up from her seat, setting the ring down on the table and walking towards the sink at the other side of the room. "Because you've been with every ladybug who's ever existed, which means that you've known every ladybug and cat duo that's ever existed." Giving Tikki an expectant look, she added, "If anyone knows what kind of cat I'd need as a partner, it's you."

"But—" Tikki floundered, the thought clearly having never occurred to her. "It's the guardian who has to hand out miraculouses!"

"I won't know the new cat's identity this way," Marinette reminded her, idly tracing her fingertips along the sink's edge. "Sure, it'll be someone we both know, but if I didn't figure out that Adrien is Chat Noir until I tried, then I won't figure out this one either."

Her eyes scanned over the various drawers in her reach and she pulled open one in particular, a small box jerking forward from the momentum. It was the same box that held her ladybug earrings all those months ago, and now it would be the box for the new cat as well.

Holding the box to her chest and silently wishing luck upon it, Marinette returned to her table to see Tikki staring quietly at the ring in thought, apparently still processing what she'd been told. Marinette paid her no mind for the moment, setting the box down and searching various other drawers for a white cloth big enough for the box to be wrapped in. Then, once she'd successfully found one, she laid it out neatly on the table and opened the box to place the ring inside.

The moving of the ring snapped Tikki out of whatever trance she'd been in. She flew up, clinging to Marinette's hand and begging, "Wait! At least tell me what you'd want in a cat!"

Marinette supposed that was a win, since Tikki wasn't outright rejecting the idea and had little argument against it. She dropped the ring inside the box and smiled at the gentle 'click' it made when she closed it, then turned to address Tikki. The nervousness on display made a modicum of sense when considering that kwami were supposed to obey the guardian, so being told to do what they wanted was probably a little strange.

Marinette just took it in stride. She leaned against her chair as she considered her ideal cat, having been so used to Chat Noir that she needed a minute to imagine someone who really matched her.

"Thoughtful," she answered, nearly blurting the word out when it finally came to her. "Someone who thinks the way I do so I'm not doing everything myself. They can be selfless, but they have to have limits, and with good instincts so they won't throw themselves in front of me." Her expression growing fond at the idea of such a partner, she took the cloth and wrapped the box in it, sealing it with a strong knot as she added, "And... they have to be understanding, where I can cover for them and they can cover for me and we'll just—click."

She snapped her fingers for effect, watching as Tikki flew over to the wrapped-up box and tested it to ensure it was safe to carry. While she was tugging at the knot to confirm it was tight enough, Marinette stood and headed up the stairs to her bed, opening the way to her balcony so Tikki had a way out.

By the time Marinette peeked over the bed to check on Tikki, Tikki had already taken hold of the cloth and flew up to be eye level with her, the box being a noticeable yet manageable weight. Marinette moved to the side, allowing the straight-faced Tikki to go past her and go up to the balcony.

Thinking that Tikki had already gone, Marinette was about to close the trapdoor when she heard a soft, "Marinette?"

Her head turned to see Tikki, hovering above the little table with the box still held in her paws. She seemed conflicted, like she was struggling to find words, but eventually settled on, "You're a great guardian."

And with that, she left, Marinette blinking in surprise for a moment before a smile formed on her face. She closed the way to her balcony, then slipped back down the stairs to start getting ready for bed.

At the same time she'd be settling in to sleep that night, her tiny Miracle Box would be set down delicately in the Liberty, specifically on Luka Couffaine’s amp.

#((And some Lukanette obviously because I have no self control.))#MC's Writing #writing: story #category: salt #salt: chat noir #episode: Lies #other: ml spoilers #relationship: Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain Cheng

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batmayne · 3 years

Text

𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆? - peter maximoff

author’s note: this is my first Peter fic so I apologize if I mischaracterize him! Also some notes, Peter is 17 in 1973/Days of Future Past (he was born in 1956) and 27 in 1983/Apocalypse. The X Men timeline is mad wonky so I just have Logan waking up sometime in his future when the timeline has been fixed. Reader is referred to with she/her pronouns. I hope y’all enjoy!

genre: slight enemies to lovers, fluff

word count: 1350

1973

As you watched the pot filled with some strange boiling liquid hurl itself toward you, all you could do was hold your arms up in a feeble defense. Though a mutant yourself, nothing could’ve prepared your powers for the amount of commotion and chaos that was occurring at the moment. Even with three strange men showing up at your door randomly (with one claiming to be a friend of yours in the distant future), you still hadn’t expected to lose your life already, you were only 16 for goodness sake! There was so much more to life than killed by a stray pot containing a sad excuse for food.

A couple of seconds passed and instead of being knocked unconscious, you felt a swift breeze rustle your clothing. Removing your hands from your face, you were met with a smirking Peter Maximoff holding said now empty pot a few inches from your face - much to your disappointment.

Despite only knowing him for several hours, Peter had managed to get on your nerves more than anyone you’d ever met, which was saying something. That being said, he wasn’t exactly too fond of you either, hence why he attempted to spend every minute of your time together trying to get under your skin. He could tell by the look of disapproval on your features that you weren’t in moral agreement with the stacks of stolen merchandise that lined his basement walls. But for the sake of breaking Magneto out of prison you two agreed to get along for the time being, it took a lot of reassurance from Logan though.

At one point he had to pull over on the side of the road because your bickering was distracting him from driving.

“Are you two going to stop flirting long enough for us to reach the Pentagon?”

“Flirting?” Peter questioned incredulously, placing his arms behind his head and slouching further in his seat. “I wouldn’t date her if she was the last woman on this planet.” Instead of responding with a sarcastic remark, you just shoved him and ignored his comment. Crossing your legs and peering out of the window as Logan pulled off the curb, you had asked yourself why that last comment bothered you so much. But what you didn’t know was that Peter would be asking himself a similar question when he stared at you for a couple of seconds too long when making sure the pot and it’s contents didn’t hit your head. Sure, he couldn’t see your face because of your hands and while your body position was rather comical at the moment - he had to admit, you were cute. Not that he would ever say it aloud though.

“Thank you.” You replied quietly, and attempted to shuffle out of the room along with Charles and Erik.

“What?” He called back at you, causing you to stop and let Logan brush pass you into the hallway. “No response this time?” He asked once again, wondering why you didn’t call him stupid or at least have some sort of comeback, but all he got in return was an eye roll.

“Y/N, Peter, I just want to thank you both for helping us, it is greatly appreciated.” Charles and Hank bidded you both farewell, and handed the keys over to Peter. “And Y/N, make sure he gets the car back safely please, and Peter make sure she gets back home safe.”

Peter’s horrid driving skills made you wonder why he wasn’t imprisoned with Erik for being a danger to society, but that wasn’t a surprise to you of course. You thought everything about him was reckless, which was the sole reason you couldn’t see eye to eye. As stated earlier, Peter found you insufferable as well, thinking that you were allergic to fun or something. Despite that, couldn’t deny that the way the afternoon sunlight coated his features made your stomach flutter the slightest bit. What were you even thinking? You were obviously suffering from exhaustion from the days events that were clouding your mind anyway.

“Where do you want me to drop you off at anyway?” Peter asked, breaching your thoughts as he ran another light.

“U-um, the public library is fine.” You stuttered out quickly, now concerned as to why him just glancing in your direction caused you to temporarily lose your usually cool composure.

After about an hour of awkward silence and Aerosmith blasting from the radio, you reached your destination.

“Thanks for the ride, make sure you get it back safely.” You eyed him seriously before waving briskly and closing the door. Before you could even reach the top stair, you heard him call your name and so you turned around.

“Hey Y/N!” He shouted from about 20 feet away, catching the attention of onlookers. “Tell your mom I said hey!” Instead of getting angry you found yourself chuckling quietly before waving again as he sped off down the road.

After phoning a relative via a pay phone to come pick you up (fully expecting to hear an ear full for disappearing for an entire Saturday), you took a seat on a bench outside. Mulling over the intense events of the day, one would expect you to feel relieved that it was over and that you were away from all the craziness, but you instead felt quite the opposite. Growing up in a rather sheltered home, a part of you missed the action and adventure, but another part of you was missing Peter for some reason? Sure, he was aggravating and annoying and you were sure that he felt the same way, but at the same time he was the closest thing you’ve ever had to a friend.

Being a mutant was already difficult enough, and controlling your powers in a high school setting certainly wasn’t a day in the park. Everyone treated you as if you were some sort of alien or simply avoided you, but at least Peter treated you like you were normal? But there was no sense in pondering about that anyway, it wasn’t like you’d ever get to see him again.

1983

Once you had graduated high school and then gone on to higher education all the way up to receiving a masters degree, you were somewhat at a loss with what to do with your life. Having such a unique mutation as your own, you felt that you could be of use other than in a common workplace. Lucky for you, you got a call from a familiar Professor with his own school.

Having been a part of the staff of Xavier’s School for Gifted Individuals for several years now, you had achieved a steady routine, often operating as the school's nurse whenever a student was injured - which happened often.

It had started off as a normal enough day before you heard a rather boisterous explosion from deep within the school’s basement. Before you even had the chance to move or react, you found yourself outside with the rest of the students… in someone’s arms. Supporting your back with one hand and the underside of your knees, there stood an older Peter whose gaze was currently focused on the exploding building in front of you.

“Peter?” You gasped confusedly, still attempting to fathom the events that were occurring around you.

“Hey.” He replied dazedly, looking down at you with a lazy smile.

Hearing a helicopter approach in the distance, he gently set you back onto your feet. Darting around to check on the confused students, you were completely caught off guard by the wave of energy that hit you, effectively knocking you and everyone else out.

Eventually waking up and recovering after all of the commotion occurred a couple of days later, you helped treat Peter for his broken knee, which was a bit awkward. While you obviously weren’t thinking about him every second of the day, you would poke into Charles’ office occasionally and ask if he had heard about his whereabouts.

“What have you been up to these days?” You asked tentatively, not looking up from wrapping his bandages.

“I originally came here to look for my dad, er Magneto, but I think I’ll stick around a little while.” He replied, smiling as he placed his hands behind his head.

“I think I’d like that.”

The Future

Waking up years after the events of time meddling into the future, Logan found himself quite disoriented as he bumbled around the hallways. The first thing that immediately caught his attention was two voices behind a nearby door, opening to reveal an older you and Peter - with intertwined hands.

“You were supposed to be ready thirty minutes ago.” You complained light heartedly, stepping further out into the hallway. “For someone with super speed you sure do take-“ Peter abruptly brought your hand to his lips and placed a kiss on it, effectively shutting you up for the time being.

“Aw, babe, you know you’d never get rid of me.” He teased with a smirk, nodding his head slightly in greeting to Logan, while you rolled your eyes and gave him a wave.

Logan found himself giving the slightest smile at the sight of the matching rings on your hands.

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moonbaby26 · 4 years

Text

Title: Aftermath

Pairing: Peter Maximoff x Reader

Summary: Continuation of previous chapter. Set after the battle with Apocalypse, you and the others are finally picked up from Cairo by allied forces and transported to a nearby aircraft carrier for temporary shelter/debriefing while you try to arrange travel back into the U.S. The reader helps Peter work through the continued emotional fallout from realizations of all that his father Magneto has done.

Warnings: Some cursing. More emotional baggage being unloaded. But also fluff/comfort, and eventual brief makeout session to help with the stress relief.

Chapters: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Taglist: @drikawinchester , @n0obmaster69 , @alexloveskili , @what-a-silver-lining , @bluesprings18 , @weakmoony-stuff , @slytherinsi-mp , @wintwrsoldiwr , @tommy-braccoli , @amourtentiaa , @cringingmemeries , @bi-panicatthe-disco

Peter Maximoff x Reader Masterlist

——————————

Like Magneto had warned, it’d still been a long time before anyone had come to help. Trying to put back together some semblance of working communication equipment from the remnants of the jet, and whatever they could scavenge from the damaged homes and buildings all around had taken Hank and Moira long enough.

But even when Moira could finally establish renewed contact with the outside world to put out a distress call, finding a U.S. ally willing and even capable to fly into ground zero to pluck all of you out was another matter.

Unfortunately, you had eventually realized that the destruction here in Cairo hadn’t been all there was. Most population centers through the world had been impacted, many of the larger air and naval bases among them. It was hard to say how much had been Apocalypse, and how many had fallen solely because of Magneto though. From the little bit Moira did relay back to you all, the more metal any structure had had in it, the more likely it had ended up decimated.

It was only helicopters that finally came, no runway area available in all the rubble for any larger plane. When the soldiers exited them, you picked up that they were all speaking Greek.

“We’ll all be going to the island of Crete.” Xavier had confirmed, meeting with you all before boarding. “There is an allied naval base there, where U.S. officials will be awaiting to debrief us.”

It was no surprise that he could sense the unease in the majority of you, after all that had occurred the last time you’d been forced into helicopters with men dressed in military fatigues like this.

He had changed then to communicating telepathically with each of you individually, to give the soldiers no chance to overhear. Though the message was the same for everyone. “We will all be split onto only two helicopters. I will be in one, and Jean in the other. If they should even think of anything unsavory, we will, let’s say alter their plans to otherwise. But everyone stay at least paired please as precaution. Together, you are all your own best protection.”

It’d been no question that you would board with Peter. On one helicopter it would end up being the Professor, Moira, Peter, yourself, and the white haired girl you now knew as Ororo Munroe. On the other, Hank, Raven, Jean, Scott, and Kurt.

Ororo had actually been rather nice to talk to, once she was no longer trying to blast you out of the sky anyway. You’d learned she’d been living on the streets of Cairo for quite some time, just stealing to survive before she’d run into Apocalypse by chance when he was first trying to recruit powerful mutants.

When she’d spoken about having no living family, and thereby no desire to stick around in Egypt any longer, Kurt had been the one to excitedly tell her all about the school. Which the Professor had already vowed to rebuild thankfully, inviting Ororo immediately should she wish to join you all.

Gladly, she accepted, and by the time the soldiers were sliding the helicopter doors closed, the sun was finally setting. The interior lighting was already dim, as you glanced over to Peter in the growing darkness, seated together on bench like seats along the inner hull. He’d been waiting until the very last moment you thought to see if Erik would come back, but he never did. Though you couldn’t imagine Magneto ever would have agreed to travel like this. Or that the Greek airmen would have even allowed it, still knowing he was wanted worldwide.

You did believe Xavier though. When the dust finally settled, you thought Erik would be back. He’d find his own way home. And to contact Peter again, he’d only have to reach out to the Professor. Which of course Erik would no doubt, as those two old friends always crossed paths again eventually from all the stories you had heard. They never gave up on each other in the end, despite all their differences in beliefs.

You didn’t fight it when you finally began to nod off. Even over the pulsing of the helicopter and the radio chatter coming from the soldiers’ headsets, it was all just white noise eventually. Peter had his arm around your waist, his head leaned back against the hull and yours on his shoulder as you’d both fallen asleep somewhere over the now moonlit Mediterranean Sea.

——————————

Waking up had been much harder. As stiff as you were from the helicopter ride, you still had been in no hurry to move as you’d heard your name called. Xavier was trying to round you all up before the soldiers got impatient.

They’d at least provided him a wheelchair you noticed as you all groggily reconvened on what was actually the flight deck of a large U.S. aircraft carrier now docked in the bay alongside the Greek naval base.

All of you certainly looked worse for wear, Peter especially had his glasses skewed almost comically now, hair mussed in about every direction as he yawned big, standing on one leg with an arm thrown over your shoulders for support.

Once you were all accounted for on deck, the Professor spoke quickly. “Given the state of things, there will not be any transatlantic flights available currently. We will be staying here in the short term. For all of you, you will be given medical treatment as needed in this ship’s sick bay. We have also been provided sleeping arrangements separate of the crew. I am asking all of you to please rest up as best you can tonight. Moira and I will speak to these gentlemen as to the events that have transpired today.”

The “gentlemen” Xavier referred to looked about as pleased to be here as you all had been to wake up in Stryker’s base. You knew little of actual military rankings, but from the amount of bars on the fronts of their uniforms, you’d guess they were pretty high up there in authority.

But the Professor only continued in your heads for good measure. “Please understand that non-mutants especially are on edge right now. There were fatalities and very extensive damages to some cities today. I implore you all to be patient with any persons you may encounter on this ship. I believe they’ve moved the majority of the crew to the mainland already to better quarantine us here and limit tensions. But please remember, that by your demeanor and your choices, you represent us all. I will reach out to you all as soon as I know anything more on our options for returning home.”

He’d bid you all good night then, leaving with Moira and the most senior looking of the men while the rest of you had followed some nervous looking officers to the lower decks. You got the sense that Hank and Raven now felt obligated to chaperone and protect the group, as the oldest of you now, only second to the Professor.

Raven had assumed her blonde, human appearance before the helicopters had arrived, but without his medicine Hank could only remain in his Beast form. You could tell how uncomfortable both he and Kurt now made the soldiers as Hank had requested to accompany you and Peter to the sick bay, while Raven went with the others to whatever living quarters you were being given.

You’d be lying to say that their obvious judgment on Hank and Kurt’s physical appearances didn’t bother you. But you tried to remind yourself that they also didn’t know any better. They didn’t know how ridiculously smart, and even a bit nerdy and loyal Hank could be. Or how kind, forgiving, and genuine Kurt was.

When you did get to the sick bay, the doctor on call also looked like he’d just been dragged in there against his better judgement. But he did greet you all, saying he’d been made aware that there was a broken leg he needed to set and make a cast for.

His reaction to the metal splint Peter already had though was almost something funny. You knew Peter wanted to joke so badly about his “dad making it for him”, but you’d all agreed before the helicopters had arrived to downplay Erik’s role in all of this if he didn’t show himself.

Xavier had promised to make clear to the U.S. officials that Erik had been on your side in the end though. Yes, Magneto had blood on his hands from past and present, but having the world pursue him any further would only lead to more violence. It wouldn’t undo anything that had already been done.

Beast had been strong enough to unbend the metal with his bare hands, carefully removing the splint. He’d also helped Peter get out of the flight suit and dirtied clothing to wash up. Though they’d just cut his clothing away from his broken leg with surgical shears, not to injure it any further.

They’d put a screen up for some privacy while they worked on him. You knew Hank would protect Peter, so you were okay focusing on yourself a bit as you also got undressed and a nurse checked you for broken bones. With your clothes off, you finally got to see how badly bruised you were everywhere. But they’d agreed that your only actually damaged bones were cracked ribs, which there was no real treatment for save going easy to give them proper time to heal.

After the examination, you were allowed to take a shower. Which was honestly more amazing than you expected, not realizing just how much dirt, sweat, and blood had accumulated through all of this. Afterward, you’d gotten dressed with some clothes they’d left you. A plain white t-shirt with a small U.S. Navy insignia, and dark blue sweatpants essentially.

They’d offered to escort you to where the others were bunked. But you declined, choosing to wait for Hank and Peter instead.

And it had been a while, but eventually they cane back out. You could see they’d gotten the same treatment as you while here. Both had showered, though Peter made a point to laugh at how poor Hank had had to help him essentially get a trash bag tied over his leg cast first so he wouldn’t get it wet.

They had on the same white t-shirts as you as well now. Though even in the largest size, Hank’s looked uncomfortably small. Hank also got the same blue pants as you, but for Peter it was only blue shorts to accommodate his cast. You all looked like you were late for P.E. class honestly, albeit maybe at a U.S. Naval academy somewhere. You’d gotten a good deal of amusement from that.

They’d given Peter crutches too, which he was clearly playing with as he tried to see how quick he could move on them. Hank reprimanded him more than once when Peter had almost fallen flat on his face a few times on your way to the bunks.

The soldiers hadn’t separated you into guys and girls for the sleeping arrangements. Probably because to them the separation was more mutant/non-mutant only in all reality. But it didn’t bother you any. Really you felt safer knowing everyone else was close. By the time you had gotten to the bunks though, it was already lights out and Raven was the only one still awake waiting for you three.

“Sleep where you want,” She said, motioning to all the still empty beds. It looked like this block was meant to house a lot more than just your small number, but had evidently been cleared out for your arrival. Still being on a ship though where space was at a premium and the beds were double stacked and inset into the walls, it would be sleeping like books on a shelf.

You’d walked down a ways past your sleeping friends to find some open ones. Naturally you started to climb into the top bunk, knowing Peter would need the bottom with his cast in the way.

But you didn’t even have both legs pulled in before he startled you by grabbing your ankle. “What?” You breathed in a whisper, not wishing to wake the others as you tried to look down at him in the dark. With the main lights off, there was only the faintest glow from small emergency type lights sparsely spaced along the walls.

Mostly you could just see the white of his teeth, knowing he was grinning back at you. In this moment it reminded you only of the Cheshire cat, mischievous and a little disconcerting.

“There’s room down here, goofball,” He whispered back.

“Peter,” You answered, the tone saying far more than the short response. You weren’t alone here, and it, well it just didn’t seem proper. With the immediate threat of death now finally passed (hopefully), it really felt more like being back at school for the moment. There were standards of behavior and-

“If one of Hank can fit in these, then two of us definitely will.” He was clearly unfazed by your sudden reservations, though seemed to realize the cause pretty quickly. “Raven doesn’t care. Where do you think Scott and Jean ended up? You didn’t even notice did you?”

You could hear the bit of amusement in his voice. But no, you didn’t count heads as you were walking by. Why would you? If Scott and Jean had made it into the same bunk already, it wasn’t your business.

Which, yes, admittedly if you felt that way, would the others be as okay with it for you and Peter? He’d rightly guessed that it was more the fear of being judged that made you hesitate, than actually being uncomfortable sleeping beside him. You’d already slept side by side in the helicopter on the way here after all, but that wasn’t quite the same as being in the same bed.

“Still waiting,” He reminded, squeezing your ankle lightly.

You knew if you actually said no, he would drop it. It was only your indecision that he was waiting for you to resolve. But, how often would you have this chance again? Thinking of it in those terms, you relented at last, climbing back down.

You could still see his smile in the dark, no doubt excited over the small victory as he scooted back as much as he could to allow you in.

Trying to get into a comfortable position was a little awkward at first, especially with his cast. But you eventually ended up both laying on your sides, your back against his chest as he wrapped an arm around you under your shared blanket.

You were quickly learning how much he seemed to be comforted by physical contact. It wasn’t long at all before his breathing steadied out and you realized he was fast asleep, his head nuzzled into the back of your neck.

The feeling was warm and pleasant though. Yourself following suit not long after, sleeping deeply at last for a long deserved rest.

——————————

When morning finally came, there was no real way to know it. There were no windows to let in the daylight. By the time you’d woken to hear the others’ voices and the fluorescent lighting buzzing back on when one of them hit the switch, you’d learned it was actually almost noon local time.

Which none of you were complaining about. But you were hungry now. Sleep had been the primary physical need beforehand, and with that now met, you needed some more calories to burn.

Peter especially. You could actually hear his stomach growling as you’d all gotten up and headed into the common bathroom to brush teeth, brush hair and the like with the standard toiletries they’d left in there for everyone.

“Yeah, I’m like a hummingbird basically,” He’d explained nonchalantly on your walk to the mess hall afterward. “I just haven’t fallen out yet here because I haven’t gotten to run since dickhead busted my leg. But normally yeah, high octane all the time to keep things going. My blood sugar tanks if I don’t keep snacking at least. Twinkies are a personal fave in the old survival kit.”

“Those are good,” Kurt agreed. “I like the little pies too,” He gestured a circle shape with his hands, “With the little...the dried purple fruit, what are those in English?”

“Raisins, my bro.” Peter responded. “Old raisin creme pie. I swap back and forth on those. Oatmeal pies are alright too, but you know where it’s really at is zebra cakes, man.”

“Zebra...cake?” Clearly Kurt was trying to envision in his head how a zebra would have anything to do with the naming of a cake.

“It’s got white icing with brown stripes,” You answered. You weren’t super into junk food, but you did grow up in the U.S., so a lot of this knowledge was entirely unavoidable.

“But zebras have black stripes?” Kurt replied with some bit of bemusement.

“I don’t think Little Debbie or Hostess are too concerned with accurate representations of wildlife.” Raven chimed in, halfway amused at the randomness of the topics you all came up with, but still looking quite unimpressed.

“They do have brown stripes when they’re juveniles, before they get their adult coat.” Hank corrected though, glancing down at her.

“So they should be called baby zebra cakes. Got it.” Scott finally piped up, though also clearly thinking this ridiculous.

Raven and Jean just exchanged a look of their own as Ororo glanced to you. “Is it always like this?”

“Pretty much,” You answered with a slight smile. It was good to see Peter meshing in so well with the others though, even if he was a little bit older. You hoped that whenever the school was rebuilt that he’d consider staying. Xavier always seemed to be able to make room for any young mutant willing to learn and also work as a mentor to the even younger kids.

You were all still chatting lightly as your group walked through the mess hall doors. But after being just the few of you for so many hours, it was a bit of a shock to see several tables worth of sailors look up at your sudden intrusion.

It was clear by the amount of still empty tables though, that this wasn’t near the normal occupancy rate. You remembered the Professor commenting that he thought a lot of the men had been forced to disembark to the mainland, just to make a larger bubble for you all.

And by all the expressions on the faces of those that were left, it seemed that most disagreed whole heartedly with that decision.

Your group quieted immediately, everyone picking up on those stares and the bit of whispering as you got in line together. The mess hall was set up cafeteria style, so you had to grab trays and slide them along, picking what you wanted as the kitchen staff would spoon out or serve whatever it was you’d chosen onto your tray.

“Maybe we should just take the food back to the barracks?” Kurt asked quietly, looking down with an evident bit of anxiety building.

“It’s okay,” Raven answered, “Just keep your head up. We won’t be long.”

You were conflicted though. You shouldn’t have to eat, segregated out of everyone else’s sight like some sort of criminals, just because your presence might offend someone. But then again, what purpose did it serve in the larger scheme of things if you antagonized these sailors into an avoidable confrontation right now?

As the Professor had said, tensions were already high. Throwing any spark into that powder keg couldn’t possibly end well.

Hank had volunteered to carry Peter’s tray for him, as Peter needed both hands to work his crutches. You were glad for that at least as you could only envision yourself dropping it all in spectacular fashion. Especially when Peter insisted on a triple portion of some kind of strawberry cake desert they’d had.

“I think we should go back to the bunks,” Jean spoke up though when you were all about to walk away from the line with your trays and drinks. “There’s one of them, he’s about to go off.”

You all paused, looking to Raven and Hank simultaneously, seemingly all deciding without speaking that they’d become the de facto leadership in the Professor’s absence.

“Fine,” Raven relented, obviously not wanting to roll over in this situation, but also remembering all you’d already been through recently. Just getting to eat in peace should be a reasonable thing to want.

But even turning the other cheek, didn’t seem to be enough.

“Hey!” One of the sailors called out before you could get close enough to the door.

“Keep walking.” Raven just directed.

“Do you even know what the rest of the world looks like right now!?” He kept on, standing up as his voice only grew louder. “My Mom and my little brother were in San Francisco. Their goddamn apartment building collapsed!”

Peter was the first one to stop, looking back then.

You could hear the tone in the man’s voice change though, and in that moment you knew he was not going to attack anyone. But it almost made it worse that he didn’t as his voice broke, nearly pleading to you all. “I don’t even know if they’re alive, if they made it out or not. The phones won’t work...no one can get through.”

“We didn’t do that,” Raven spoke up as calmly as she could, looking back to him as well then. “I’m sorry.”

“But you know who did, don’t you!?” He countered. “It was him. Wasn’t it? The one from Washington D.C. that could move metal. And he got away. You let him get away!”

The men next to the sailor were trying to pull him back down to sitting now, trying to remind him something about orders, making you realize they must have been given a similar talk as you all had. Don’t cause trouble, don’t antagonize, keep the peace because you’d been told to.

Even with two food trays in hand, Hank was now trying to usher you all through the mess hall doors just as intently as the man’s friends were trying to make him stop as well.

But Peter just twisted right out of Hank’s reach in a blur, calling back suddenly then. “It was Magneto. I’m sure it was. But he’s gone, man. He ran.” Peter looked pained, but shook his head. “His family was killed...but that doesn’t mean he had any right to take it out on the world. I hope you find your family. I really do, and I’m sorry.”

With that Peter shoved through the doors, going on ahead of you all and not looking back. His frustration was palpable as the crutches limited him. If his leg hadn’t been broken you doubted any of you would have seen him leave at all. Like he too wanted to run away now, instead of having to face the painful reality that this was.

——————————

Nothing was said about the incident for quite some time as you’d all eaten quietly in the barracks. The food was plain, the simple kinds of things that could be made in bulk to feed a large crew on a ship like this. Macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, rice, and the like.

You were sitting on the floor eating while Peter was sitting on his bottom bunk, now just picking at the strawberry cake he’d most wanted with a fork. “This was definitely some pre-made frozen crap they just defrosted and put whip cream on.” He commented in dry disappointment.

“Yeah, I guess it’d be hard to keep fresh strawberries for long on a boat,” You replied, sipping one of the soft drinks you’d brought back. At least these were canned to still be carbonated well, but it wasn’t all that cold anymore.

He smirked. “I’d go crazy living on this thing out at sea. Not too many steps up from a prison cell really.”

Though you could imagine submarine life would be even worse, you didn’t think he was far off base. “It takes a special kind of person to enlist that’s for sure.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed, going back to silence for a while as he dissected the cake idly.

You’d about finished all your food before he spoke to you again.

“What do you really think of him, (Y/N)?” Peter asked you in a somber tone then. “I mean, am I an idiot for trying to get to know him? My whole life I thought about what it would have been like if we’d had a real dad. If it wasn’t just Mom stressed the hell out all the time trying to keep us from getting evicted, or me from getting arrested honestly, or her worrying about Wanda being depressed so much. It’s like we were always broken. I had this idea if we’d just had that missing piece of a father, that everything would have been fixed. But then I finally meet him, finally find out who he really is, and he’s just as fucked up as anyone.”

You moved your tray to the side, considering your words carefully as you got up to go sit beside Peter on the edge of the bed. “You’re not an idiot.” That was the easiest point to make first. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to know who your parents are.” But the rest, that was muddled and complicated.

“I mean, that was the first time I’ve actually ever met him in person. So I only know the stories really.” You continued. “I know the Professor thinks highly of him. They’ve always been close.”

“Xavier punched my dad right in the damn face the first time I saw them together.” Peter responded, turning his head to look at you directly. “Knocked him on his ass actually.”

You blinked. “Um, well...I have heard their relationship has had its rough patches too. They disagree on a lot of things as well. But they always seem to care about each other in the end, when it’s all said and done.”

Peter laid the last of the cake back down on the floor, before laying back down behind you in the bunk. “So you’re saying that’s what I have to look forward to? Alternating between wanting to kick his ass, and wanting him to stick around and have a relationship together?”

You could only be honest. “Not really what I was going for, but, I mean, that’s kind of Erik right?”

“But he’s killed people hasn’t he? How do I get past that?”

That was really the hardest question of all, wasn’t it? And now the one probably weighing on Peter’s mind the most after the interaction with that upset sailor in the mess hall.

“His sins aren’t your sins, Peter.” Was what you finally said, sighing and looking at your hands now in your lap. “Erik has lost so much too. His parents, your grandparents, I know they died at Auschwitz. The Professor told us that. And they experimented on Erik, tortured him to try and use his powers as a weapon. Erik ended up killing the man most responsible for that. But Xavier had tried to stop him anyway and ended up paralyzed for it. It was an accident though.”

You could feel Peter shift behind you, sitting up slightly in the bunk. It was most likely that he’d never heard any of this. You hated that it had to come secondhand from you. That you, this random mutant would know more about his own father’s history than himself.

But you continued. “And then what he told us in Egypt, about his wife and daughter....I mean, my God. Like you said, it doesn’t mean he can just go around hurting everyone else just because of what’s been done to him. But what would anyone else really do? How can we say where our own breaking points would be?” You weren’t trying to absolve him by any means, but how could you sit here and judge him either?

“Yeah,” Peter answered, sounding distant. “I mean, I tried not to think about it too much, everything was already so messed up. But I’ve got to tell Wanda all of this too at some point. And I don’t know how. We had a little sister, and she’s already gone. How do you...how do you even process that when you didn’t even get to meet them? How do you get closure?”

You heard him moving around like he was wiping at his face with his hands. You didn’t think he was crying, but maybe his eyes were trying to build up something that he wasn’t willing to allow yet.

“Can we just lay here for a bit?” He asked you after another moment.

“Sure,” You answered, laying back down in the bunk with him. This time you didn’t care if the others would pay any mind or not. He needed someone right now.

You were just laying the same way you’d slept last night with your back to his chest. But after a while you felt him tug at your side.

“Turn around,” He asked.

You did hesitate momentarily, knowing how much more personal that would be in the confines of the small bunk. But you allowed it, rolling over so that now you were nearly face to face, torsos touching as he wrapped his good leg over you before pulling up the blanket.

“Hey,” He smirked, seeming to cheer up at your awkward look. Your stomach flipped as you thought he was going in for a kiss, but he just ended up kissing your forehead once before pulling back.

Whatever expression you made then got a real laugh out of him.

“I was just going to tell you thank you.” He said teasingly, before leaning back in to whisper in your ear, “But you look kind of disappointed...did you want a little more?”

There was no question you were fully flustered now as you felt that heat rising in your face yet again. You’d have to make a mental note to apologize to Jean later if she was getting any of this broadcast to her. But then again, she did live in a house full of teenagers doing God knows what at any given time. Maybe she was already used to it. But you didn’t even want to think about Xavier possibly picking up on your current emotional panic either, that would be mortifying.

Sensing your spiraling distraction, Peter lightly touched one fingertip to the end of your nose. “Boop. Earth to (Y/N), have we lost signal? Overheated the engines already?”

You blinked. “That’s not funny.”

“Oh, it’s hilarious. And still waiting, dear. Always waiting...”

To be honest, when you finally kissed him, it was more just to wipe that smug look off his face. But on second thought, maybe that had been his plan all along. To taunt you into action. But it worked. It worked extremely well, as you’d both closed your eyes. His hand pressed into your back, making sure you stayed tight against him as you’d let it happen again and again. One kiss after another.

It’d been different too. The first ones back in Cairo had been so desperate more than anything, just a burst of emotion like a dying wish when neither of you had really expected to make it out of that desert.

While this now was far slower, much more thought behind each. It did make you forget everything else for those moments except the taste and feel of him.

But as much as you liked the sensations, you also knew you had to be the one to steer you both back out of it. When you felt his hand starting to move under your shirt, sliding up greedily across your bare skin, you realized he was already wanting more. And this wasn’t the place, not the time. Not yet at least. You weren’t immune to those feelings either, but it’d be much better if you waited. As much as you knew he hated waiting...

You’d pulled your lips away, but he then only moved to kissing your neck instead as you had to speak his name to try and call him back out of it. “Peter.”

“Mmm?” He responded after a moment, at least pausing, even though his lips were still touching against your throat.

You tugged his hair a little to try and get him to look back up at you.

He resisted slightly, not a lot, but you knew he was stalling as best he could before he finally relented. “Stop sign comes out huh?” He breathed, though not upset, just clearly having trouble coming out of the mood as his hand slid back out of your shirt to rest only on top of your clothes.

“Not exactly enough privacy here,” you responded quietly. Which was of course a huge understatement as the others were probably just out of earshot right now. If you were lucky anyway.

“It’s a big ship, babe. I’m sure we can find a place,” He joked, but only partially you were sure. As you really thought if you said the word right now, he’d make it his mission to find such a place immediately.

You toyed with his hair a little more, moving the messy silver strands out away from his eyes. “I think it’s getting to be pretty inevitable if you really want to know the truth.”

He leaned into the touch, just kissing your hand once more as your palm neared too close to his mouth. “You make it really tough either way, I’ll say that.”

You knew better than to lecture this one on the virtue of patience. But this was already the most physical you’d ever been with anyone as it was, and all so soon. Yet you knew it was only a matter of time. These new feelings were only growing. None of this would be fading any time soon.

You just laid your head back on his shoulder after a while, speaking to him, “Hey, after we’ve cooled down a bit more here, you want to see if anyone will allow us on the flight deck? It’d be nice to see the ocean at least before the sun goes back down. Get some fresh air.”

“Romantic stroll in the ocean breeze you say? Well maybe more a romantic hobble for me.” He chuckled dryly. “I’m game.”

——————————

(Continued in next chapter here)

#quicksilver #quicksilver x oc #quicksilver x y/n #quicksilver x you #quicksilver x reader #peter maximoff #peter maximoff x oc #peter maximoff x you #peter maximoff x y/n #peter maximoff x reader #x men #pietro maximoff #xmen #xmen fic #x men fanfiction #xmen apocalypse

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portsidewonderland · 3 years

Text

Okay, I’ve been wanting to write this for the last three weeks, but I’m finally - finally - sitting down to do just that.

First, I’m a Rogan shipper. I’ve been a Rogan shipper for the last 20 years, but in that time, I’ve grown, I’ve experienced my own sense of love, and I’m a writer so I’d like to think I’m familiar with structure, characterization, and the like.

Second, I’m focused on the film franchise, strictly speaking. Just wanted to make sure that is clear.

Having said that, when I discuss how utterly wrong the X-Men franchise is, I’m talking about from a story standpoint. When I speak of Logan and Rogue, if that ship isn’t your jam, fine, but the points I make still stand.

Finally, spoiler alert for all of the movies.

Okay, I think we’re ready to jump in.

1. After the first movie, everyone forgot the heart of what made the first movie so special: Wolverine & Rogue

I don’t necessarily mean together. I mean, the movie focused primarily on Logan’s story and Rogue’s story. It was told through THEIR POV. This is important because, essentially, we’re asked to connect with these two characters AND WE DO.

The dialogue, the acting, and their stories (which reflect each other’s as well as stand on their own) draw us in and we are hooked.

Even the critics thought some of the best scenes are the ones Logan and Marie share together. Multiple critics discuss chemistry, how they add to the scene, etc.

Regardless of whether you ship them or not, there’s a compelling story between the two. This vulnerable, slip of a girl is the most powerful X-men out there (or one of) and this growly, fierce angry, broken man who’s been alone for so long that out of everyone he’s met and seen, THIS girl brings him to his knees.

And it’s because she isn’t scared of him.

Even after watching him beat the shit out of his opponent, even after seeing the claws threaten humans and slice through a barrel of a gun, she still thinks, I can trust him.

And when he catches her in his trailer, she STILL isn’t afraid of him. She gives him lip. She calls him out on his shit.

That’s how she manages to slide through the cracks.

And that is BEAUTIFUL.

I’m not here to talk about the performances, but Jesus Christ, I love this scene so damn much. The chemistry RADIATES. The glances, the confusion, the curiosity, and the attraction. (Sorry not sorry, it’s there on both parts, I’ll die on this hill.)

Anyway, the first movie is about how this girl brings the savage, feral Wolverine to his knees. How she gets him to STAY. How she gets him to open up.

Yes, Logan wants info on his past, but he’s staying for Marie. We all know it.

When he threatens Jean after first waking up, Jean is scared. And for good reason, obviously.

But Logan STABS Marie with his claws, and guess what? She’s still not scared of him. She’s worried about him.

This is THEIR story.

Do you really think Wolverine is going to go running around in leather for anyone but Marie? Yeah, I don’t think so. I mean, he literally STABS HIMSELF IN THE CHEST to free himself and get to her.

He PROMISES her that he’d take care of her. Do you think Wolverine bullshits? Hell no, he doesn’t.

And that’s why....

2. The whole Jean thing was just not great.

Okay, can I tell you something?

I don’t see Jean as a sympathetic character. She’s engaged to Scott and suddenly, Wolverine comes strolling in and she can’t get her shit together?

I mean, okay, I get it, let’s be real.

But Scott isn’t a bad guy. He nay be a dick, but he treats Jean well. Because we’re not in Cyclops’ or Jean’s head, we as the audience don’t see any marital/romantic issues between them. Hence, when Jean gets flustered by Wolverine to the point where she lets him goad her into reading his mind, she knows what she’s doing. She likes it. She likes Logan’s attention.

Not because she likes Logan.

(I read this fic where basically Jean tells Logan he could have been anybody, and I thought that was so perfect)

But because he’s giving her attention. He makes her feel desired.

And she leads him on.

Right there, I don’t like her, and I think that’s why a lot of Rogan shippers don’t like her is that she has no problem toying not only with Logan’s feelings, but with Scott’s.

But that’s not even the worst part of this.

At the end, when Logan asks for Marie and Jean makes her comment, she adds, “I think she’s taken with you.”

Like - why would Jean say that? Why mention it?

That’s petty ass shit right there.

To me, what she’s trying to do is align herself with Logan as adults and belittle Marie for having a little crush on him. Like it’s so juvenile.

And the worst line of this whole movie is when he says, “Tell her my heart belongs to another.”

Want to know why?

Because the writers/director haven’t SHOWN this. This line is forced here to TELL the audience that we should be shipping Jean and Wolverine. It’s sloppy writing. It tells me they think the audience are idiots.

Really, Logan?

Jean has your heart even though you completely go against Tall Dark and Feral to pick up a girl, then stay at the school with her, leave a fucking mansion to bring her back, make a promise to her, go after her after she’s kidnapped, stab yourself in the chest, fling yourself on the Statue of Liberty AND RISK YOUR FUCKING LIFE TO SAVE ROGUE’S JUST BY TOUCHING HER and you want me to believe your heart belongs to Jean????

Please, tell me, why the FUCK should I buy that?

Oh, because they’re the same age?

LOL no.

Anyway, I didn’t like Jean’s characterization because of that. Because she’s leading people on, because she needs to put down Marie’s feelings after her ordeal because of her insecurity, because of it all.

Which is why I’ll never ship them together.

Logan is at his worst when he’s around Jean.

Anyway.

And Jean is just the worst.

3. They took something meaningful and they fucked it

Logan promises to take care of Rogue. Do you know important that is for both of them as individuals and their relationship?

Rogue only goes back because of Logan. Not for anyone else. Not even Bobby. She comes back, she stays, for Logan.

Where do we see that after the second movie?

He’s so goddamned focused on Jean, on everything about her, that he barely notices that Rogue is ready to get the cure.

I’m GLAD they got a scene together. Because of their looks.

I am.

But shit.

It’s like Logan has completely forgotten all about Rogue, and I’m sorry, but after that first movie, I just can’t buy that.

I can buy that he leaves to check out his past. The dog tag scene is one of my absolute favorites. That’s perfect. Makes sense.

(Also, side note: Fic is so beautiful about this but he isn’t afraid to touch her. Like, he doesn’t HAVE to play with her hair but he does. It’s playful and flirty. It IS. He could have just said he liked her hair BUT HE HAD TO TOUCH IT. And this is HUGE for Rogue because honestly SHE’S afraid to touch and of herself but if Logan isn’t afraid, she stops being afraid - if that makes sense.)

But seriously? He’s not calling the mansion, not writing to Rogue?

I don’t believe that for one second.

This is why I will never watch The Wolverine after that first time (I refuse especially after the director said he was contemplating adding Rogue at the end and didn’t and FUCK EVERYTHING.) because he just leaves because he’s upset about fucking JEAN

I’m sorry but the Wolverine isn’t ABOUT Jean.

If that was the case, we should have had point of views between Logan and Jean in the first movie, not Rogue.

We should have SEEN their development, but we didn’t.

We’re TOLD it.

I’m sorry, but how do you want me to believe that the big bad Wolverine runs off to Japan because he’s sad about Jean? Like, so he’s just going to leave Rogue alone with all of those threats? Are you fucking kidding me?

Show them keeping in touch or SOMETHING. You can’t expect me to see such a huge transformation arc in Logan in the first movie that just gets shit on in every other movie (besides the second). Because that makes Wolverine look like a big, gigantic ASSHOLE and I get that he’s supposed to be that way, but NOT with Rogue.

Which is why Days of Future Past pisses me off as much of the rest them (I’m only discussing the Rogue Cut because I refuse to acknowledge that Bryan Singer - who gave us the first movies - regulated Rogue to such a fucking small cameo.) because Rogue was treated as garbage.

Now, I’m going to assume Logan doesn’t know about what really happened to Rogue because no one told him. But honestly? If he cares about Rogue the way I know he does, he should be asking about her every single time he and Xavier talk.

I love that Logan can sense Rogue when she steps in to help. I love that Rogue refuses to let go of Logan’s mind even in the heart of danger (@bigfrogbestfrogs has an awesome breakdown of these scenes). But I’m appalled at how Kitty is chosen before Rogue? Like, even when coming up with the idea for this movie, why not involve Rogue more?

I refuse to discuss Bobby and her together at the end.

Fuck that.

4. The timelines

Look, I’m not even going to go into the shit that is the timelines.

But honestly?

Fuck everything about that.

I get Singer wanted to retcon X3, but I don’t care.

Based on Apocalypse, the future still sucks so everything failed and then the movie LOGAN takes that shit and amplifies it.

5. LOGAN (the movie)

I’m sorry, but this movie is amazing in some ways and sucks in others.

Want to know why?

Because it takes everything about what made the first movie great and emphasized it.

Laura is too young to be a love interest, so clearly, it’s paternal, and I’m here for it.

But there are so many parallels between logan and Laura and Logan and Rogue that for Logan not to say anything or feel anything in a way tgat tells the audience he’s feeling something just boggles my mind.

Even if he carried HER picture or played with the dog tags and thought of her, something that shows the audience he remembers her, dammit, and she MEANT something to him.

But FUCK how could he NOT?

And that’s why the scene where he’s reading that comic book and he sees himself saving Rogue is so poignant.

Because his gaze lingers.

I mean, obviously I’m assuming she’s dead (which is bullshit but whatever). But still.

And then when he’s dying and Laura is holding his hands and you get that prophecy of him dying with his heart in his hand and I loved how they paired it with the Logan and Rogue song. I loved that callback.

And if the films in between them weren’t such shit, it would be enough.

But it’s not enough for me.

There was so much potential and everything got shit on and it angers me soooo much.

Anyway.

That’s me venting.

Luckily we have so many talented Rogan fic writers and that our ship has survived 20 years.

But still.

What could have been...

Shit.

#logan x marie #wolverine x rogue #Logan x rogue #Wolverine x Marie #Anna Marie #wolverine

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Prep and Landing Mini-Retrospective Finale: Mansion Impossible and Naughty Vs Nice (comissioned by weirdkev27)

Ho ho ho all you happy people and welcome back to Pop Culture Buffet. I’m Jake, I review stuff and things and today I finish out my quick look at the prep and landing tetralogy. For those just joining us Prep and Landing was a breif series of Disney Shorts and one comic book tie in about Lanny and Wayne, two elves who work in the titular branch of Santa’s elves to prepare houses ahead of time (knock out anyone still awake, make sure the cookies aren’t stale, etc), to help Santa reach his “all the kids who write to me and are good in one night goal”. It was a clever premise.. but I found the first special a bit lacking, while the second, the shorter operation secret santa, was perfect and not just for using the almost 100 years old betty white as Mrs. Claus.

So I had no idea how this final special or i’ts companion piece, an 8 page comic adventure at the Avengers Mansion , would play out. Would they be tinsel or a trashfire? The only way to find out is to join me under the cut. ‘

Mansion Impossible: So this is an interesting little artifact. Mansion Impossible was an 8 page story in the back of Marvel Adventures Super Heroes, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man and the mainline avengers book in december of the same year as Naughty Vs Nice. It’s something a lot of people who liked the specials didn’t even know existed and I didn’t even till kev had me covering it.

I”m glad he did. While I don’t have much to say about this one the premise is brilliant: The Elves have to prep the avengers mansion. For those MCU fans scratching their heads the avengers had a mansion in the comic. They got the tower later, it’s a whole thing. They also had a butler, Jarvis. Jarvis rocks.

So we simply get some fun gags as our heroes deal with security, the hulks underwear and use a combo of shield surfing and one of iron man’s gloves in the wash to get the job done. Not much to say here honestly: it’s 8 pages with a very simple gag at the core. it works even if I feel it coudl’ve been more avengersy, but hey for an 8 page story clearly meant to hype up a new special, it works. And i’ll never object to elves sliding down caps shield. I do question where the avengers were but they were all seeing that hip new musical working boys I reckon. I don’t know what the timeline for these avengers are, I just know prep and landing has it’s own set.

It also has it’s own x-men as the ending sets up the boys going to the xavier mansion for a prep, something we sadly never got. Maybe because the writers thought wolverine would stab them, I dunno. They forget that the X-Men are tight with leprechauns, so unless theirs some racial tensoins between elves and leprechauns they should be fine.

Naughty Vs Nice:

So as I outlined last time while the first special wasn’t bad, it did have some flaws mostly piling on Wayne, with both Magee and Lanny calling him out when, while he did screw up royally, they don’t acknowledge, WHY he was being such a dick at all. So you’d THINK the sequel would avoid this, do better and give us a better story where Wayne is either more clearly a dick or just not one and they focus on something else.

Yeahhhhhh Naughty Vs Nice dosen’t do that and instead has Wayne have a conflict where he’s treated as entirely in the wrong even though he has some points, and has to learn a lesson. Yes he’s still a bit of a jerk but ONCE AGAIN you can’t hardly blame him, and at least want his greviances acknowledged. But to fully grasp why they botched it, we have to go into the story sooo...

This time around we start with something I like as the opening focuses on the Coal Elves, who were seen breifly last time and were one of my faviorite bits of world building. The Coal Elves are Prep and Landing’s oppisite number: While P and L focus on preparing houses for good kids, the Coal Elves double check the bad ones and give them coal. The special even makes the whole lump of coal thing more palatable: The Coal Elves check for comformation the child is still naughty, via evidence they can find and scan, and once they have enough then they send the coal, with a “be better next year” ribbon attached. It shows Santa, true to his words in the previous full special, knows kids can slip and dosen’t WANT to give them coal, but has no choice if they give him none, and gives them every opportunity.

Things go plum shaped though as the coal elves are assaulted by a mystery child in a mask and her robot dog, whose not only ready for them but takes their fruitcake device. How this child, given the screen name jinglesmells, knows all this .. is never really explained, and while it’s a bit of a plot hole I can let it slide as she is easily the best part of this special.

So enter our heroes who are pulled out of holiday shopping (Lanny getting gifts and Wayne getting a sled). And to Wayne’s credit, and to the special’s discredit.. wayne simply has them hold the sled. Wayne gladly dashes away all to go do his job when given a red alert. He has grown.

So Magee gives them the mission along with the smarty pants head of elf intelligence, played by my boy Chris Parnell: they need to stop jinglesmell before she can use the device to hack the naughty/nice database.

So they go to the coal elf bar.. which has some weirdly cheery song about the coal elves playing. It just.. dosen’t remotely fit the grimy, rough and tumble bar astetic at all. You might as well play this over it

youtube

So then we meet our heroes Coal Elf helper, as Magee assigned one.. and asked wayne not to be mad. Turns out he has a reason to as their contact is Noel, who not only bought the sled Wayne wanted.. but is Wayne’s baby brother, just a big bigger than him.

Yeah we have as a year before this, we got the Regular Show episode Don where Rigby also had a more successful younger brother whose taller than him and people liked more, but isn’t making his life miserable on purpose and geinuiley loves and looks up to his older brother.

The problem is Don actually treats the older brother’s concerns with some respect, while still painting him as an ass. In Don, Rigby’s forced to, against his will, call his accountant brother don for help, as the Park’s being audited. He dosen’t WANT to and is stubbornly forced into it by his boss on threat of firing, not unresonably given the park’s future is on the line. Rigby is petty, mean, and agressive to his brother the entire visit before eventually scarring him off. He’s still throughly a dick and his actions nearly get the park repossesed.

But what makes the episode work is Rigby isn’t being a dick for no reason. A bti MUCH of one. Of course, and that early in the show he did this shit all the time, so i’ts not a huge suprise. But he has a valid reason to resent his brother: everyone PREFERS his brother to him, with even his own best friend taking Don’s side, and Don constantly upstaged him without meaning to.

But to Rigby’s credit he mans up, explains this to don.. and apologizes realizing he was too much of a dick and finding out his brother really does love and respect him and he was cruel to the poor guy for nothing. The two reconcile, the part is saved from being sucked into the void. Goood ep all around.

Here it’s about the same.. except unlike Don.. Noel’s not that likeable. While you do get the sense he really likes wayne, even recounting a story about a sled wayne wanted in his youth and how close they were, playing superheroes together, he’s also a boistiorus dick who chooses barging in over stealth and repeadetly botches the mission as a result. Don was just a geninely sweet guy who didn’t MEAN to upstage his brother. Noel dosen’t mean to but he makes his job harder. Noel then accidently gets the device.. and gets the position of elf of the year Wayne wanted from this. Is wayne doing this mission for the glory right? Not especially no. But is wayne understandably upset his brother is set to get an award wayne worked his ass off for and did all the hard work for? Yup.

And that’s the problem: if like don the obvlious party at least admitted they were sorry or got that they do this all the time it’d work. But instead Wayne hurts Noel’s feelings, makes it very clear ot him WHY he’s so hurt, and .. endds up having to apologize because he goes too far and wishes he never had a brother. Once again Wayne is only the bad guy and the grey areas are glossed over. Merry fucking christmas.

And I say this as someone whose BEEN like Noel, whose made his brother’s life harder without meaning to. I’ve also been like wayne, a resentful dick. So I empathize with both when the special clearly dosen’t. and that’s what makes it fall apart: once again it only grasps one side of thigns and unlike last time dosen’t have the santa ending to help fix it. Wayne gets what he wants by working with Noel, noel learns nothing, chrismtas is saved.

It also seeps into what’s an otherwise GOOD emotoinal arc with our antagonist: As it turns out Jinglesmell.. is just a very smart little girl who simply wants to be on the nice list again, and has only been acting out because she got a baby brother, one who steals all the attnetion, destroyed her faviorite doll and whose crying prevented her from asking santa for a new one. She’s doing something stupid and destructive, but you get why and thus feel terrible for her when her gambti backfires, corrupting the database to make all kids naughty. That, combined with the two idiots above fighting, gets her to realize how far she’s gone and geinley atone for it... as well as realize her younger brother is just a baby and looks up to her. Granted I don’t like this specials message that older siblings should just take all the shit, i’m a younger sibling and even I think tha’ts gross, but overall jinglesmells does the arc better,and her ending, saving christmas and still getting a present from Santa after all.

I WANTED to like Naughty Vs Nice: it has increased worldbuilding, intresting new characters.. but the main emotional crux drags it down. It just dosen’t CARE what Wayne feels and has an awful unteitonal moral of “Well if your the older siblings you shoudl just eat shit and take what you got because the little one respects you blurgh blurgh blurgh” Look having a sibling can be difficult, I know from firsthand experince.. but the reasl message should be you should love each other, try to understand each other and make things better through commuincation not one side buckling entirely. Overall a disapointment if a watchable one and a downer to end this special on as I really feel this franchise SHOUDL continue. I’d like a movie or a reboot series at some point, I feel it has legs. It deserves another shot even if it’s bigger works.. came out like two large lumps of coal. Happy holidays and thanks for reading

#prep and landing #wayne #lanny #noel #magee #disney #disney+#christmas #holiday

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master-sass-blast · 3 years

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This Life is Infinite: Chapter One.

OH YEAH. IT'S TIME, BITCHES!!!

Summary: The Infinity War Fic aka I do whatever the fuck I want with the Russo's canon.

Get ready for the most ambitious crossover in CHC history.

Pairing(s): Piotr Rasputin x Reader, Nathan Summers x Wade Wilson, Alexandra Rasputin x Nikolai Rasputin, and Kitty Pryde x Illyana Rasputin.

Rating: M for canon typical violence and death threats.

Word Count: 10k... oops.

Set after "Children of the Gods: Part Three."

Author's Note: Tentatively, I’m back from my hiatus. Things are nowhere near settled with my mental health, but I’m feeling well enough to post again.

I think it mostly goes without saying that updates for this series might be a little irregular going forward; not only do I need to take care of myself, but I also need to find a better balance with posting fanfiction and the rest of my life. As always, I will do my best to be clear with you all about what to expect in terms of updates and wait times.

Thank you again for your compassion and understanding.

Taglist: @marvel-is-perfection, @chromecutie, @super-darkcloudstudent, @girl-obsessed-with-things, @leo-writer, @emma-frxst, @sadstone-s

It’s not every day that mysterious, leather-clad men appear –quite literally, considering they teleported in—in your kitchen unannounced.

(Okay, perhaps they don’t qualify as “mysterious” when one of them is your dad, one of them is your brother, and the third is your uncle, but there’s a fourth man with them that you don’t recognize, so you like to think that the principle of the expression remains intact.)

You glance between Nate, Wade, your uncle, and the aforementioned unrecognized fourth man, then lift the box of cereal you’d been pouring into a bowl by way of greeting. “Breakfast?”

***

(The fourth man, as it turns out, goes by the code name “Kronos” –which, in terms of super cool code names, ranks at about an eight.)

“There’s a war coming,” Nate explains while the four of you stand around your kitchen counter. “Apocalypse is stirring. He’ll be sending his allies to Earth to initiate the first stage of the war, so that he’ll encounter less resistance when he comes to rule.”

“‘s called ‘The Decimation,’” Wade interjects as he shovels spoonfuls of Lucky Charms into his mouth. He points at his bowl, then jerks his head at the fridge. “D’ y’all have chocolate syrup?”

“Yeah, second shelf on the door.” You take another bite of your cereal, swallow, then ask Nathan, “What… what happens with ‘The Decimation?’”

“One of Apocalypse’s allies, Thanos, will arrive with his armies and generals. He’ll use his own forces to annihilate the heroes of Earth, then he’ll finish assembling the Infinity Stones and gauntlet and use them to wipe out half of all life across the cosmos.”

You purse your lips together and eye your dad warily. “If… if this was anyone other than you saying this, I’d say this all sounds like a hackneyed comic book and-or movie plot.”

“His information checks out,” Kronos says, voice low and gravelly. “Our cross-temporal intel confirms communications between Apocalypse and Thanos. We might have a few weeks to prepare for Thanos’s arrival –and that’s if we’re lucky.”

Wade snorts and mutters something that sounds suspiciously like “handwavey bullshit” under his breath.

You look to your uncle. “And you’re here because…”

“Need to talk to Xavier,” your uncle answers, “and then alert the Avengers and anyone else that can help us face Thanos.”

“Right,” you say slowly. “And you stopped here first because…”

“I was hungry,” Wade blurts as he drizzles more chocolate syrup on top of his cereal.

“You have credibility,” Nathan says while shooting Wade an equally annoyed and endeared look. “Xavier and Piotr listen to you, and the rest of the X-Men listen to them. We can’t afford to deal with a bunch of hesitating and infighting right now. We need to get our shit together and defeat Thanos, or the world as we know it is fucked.”

“Question.” Wade lifts his spoon. “Does Donald Trump die in this decimation bullshit?”

“We’ll deal with him later,” your uncle stage-whispers to Wade.

“If you’re all sure…” You wait for all four of them to nod, then sigh and shrug. “Alright. I think most of the X-Men are training right now. Let’s go talk to them.”

***

“This all sounds fucking insane.”

Wade gasps. The eyes on his mask widen as he lifts a gloved hand to where his mouth is under his mask. “James Doohan used a no-no word! My goodness gracious golly!”

Scott Summers scowls, but otherwise ignores Wade. He turns to the Professor, expression incredulous. “Do you believe… any of this?”

Xavier grimaces. “Our sources through Kronos” –he gestures to your uncle’s colleague—“have been confirming the intentions of Apocalypse for several years now. The difficulty was always in determining when Apocalypse would act, and in which timeline –though, now that we have Cable’s intel, we’ve been able to figure those two details out.”

“If Thanos is as powerful as you’re saying,” Ororo pipes up, looking at Nathan, “then how are we supposed to defeat him?”

“Any way we can,” Nathan fires back, expression grim.

“Our intel says that Thanos only has three of the six Infinity Stones, along with the gauntlet,” Kronos adds. “If we can keep the last three stones out of his hands and defeat his armies here on Earth, we’ll have better odds of facing Apocalypse down the road.”

“Right,” Jean says. “And where are the last three stones?”

“The Mind Stone is in the possession of Vision, an android created by Ultron, who now works with the Avengers,” Kronos explains. “The Time Stone is in the possession of Doctor Stephen Strange, who leads an order of sorcerers and magic users in New York. The Soul Stone… has yet to be located.”

“And we’re sure that Thanos is coming here?” Ororo asks, brows raised in skepticism.

“One of the unifying features across the pertinent timelines is a battle that takes place on Earth, specifically in the country of Wakanda,” Kronos answers. “Regardless of the other features in the timeline, there is always a major confrontation between Thanos and the forces of earth there.”

“Great,” Rogue deadpans, expression flat. “Now we just have to convince them to let us in. ‘Excuse me, your Majesty T’Challa, but there’s an evil spaceman that is collecting all powerful rhinestones and he’s going to come here to try and wipe out half of all life on Earth, so we need you to let us into your country with strict visitation policies to we can help you fight him.’ Yeah, that’ll go over real well.”

“We don’t have time to waste on sarcastic bullshit,” Nathan grits out, cybernetic eye flaring as he glares at Rogue. “We’ll handle getting the Avengers and Wakanda on board,” he says, turning to the Professor. “I take it we can trust you to get your team and Magneto collected?”

“I’ll contact Erik,” Xavier promises before looking over at your husband. “Piotr, would you mind calling your family? I believe, given the severity of the coming conflict, having as many hands as possible would be in our best interests.”

Piotr nods. “Konechno –of course.” He looks up at you from where he’s sitting, confusion clear in his sky blue eyes—

“You good to come with us?” Nathan asks, tapping your shoulder lightly to get your attention. “We’ll need help talking to Stark.”

“Huh? Uh –yeah. Sure.” You look back at Piotr; the request to ask for five minutes, just five minutes, to talk to your husband is on the tip of your tongue—

Nate tugs you –gently—a couple inches closer, then says, “Bodyslide by five.”

The room blurs, then disappears from view.

***

You’ve only bodyslid with Nathan a handful of times –and each time you do, you’re always caught off guard by how fucking weird it feels.

Your stomach lurches like you’ve just gone down the steepest drop on a rollercoaster, even though the ground remains steady beneath your feet. In a flash, there’s a brand new room in front of you –sleek, monochromatic cabinets, white marble countertops, stainless steel appliances and fixtures, the works. The space oozes sophistication, function, style –and money. So much money.

Given everything you’ve heard about Tony Stark, it makes sense.

“Deep breaths,” Nathan says. He places a steadying hand on your shoulder while you blink rapidly. “In through the nose, out through the mouth.”

You do your best to comply –though it’s a bit difficult, given that your brain is shrieking ‘sensory overload’ while trying to adjust to the new lighting, the new sounds, the sensation of having moved without really having moved at all, at least in the sense of walking or riding in a car—

And then alarms start blaring. Red lights flash, klaxons go off, the works.

Wade swears and claps his hands over his ears. “Christ! For a guy who has literal robots that can wipe his ass with dollar bills, you think he’d invest in something a little easier on the ears!”

“Wilson!” The klaxons and red lights cut out, replaced by various whirring noises and the sound of hurried, angry footsteps. “I swear to God, if you’ve hijacked one of my jets again, I’m gonna –who the fuck are all of you?”

Tony Stark looks… nothing like what you see in the papers. Granted, his face and hair look largely the same, but he’s not wearing the crisp, stylish suits that all the magazines, articles, papers, and interviews feature him wearing. He’s got on a worn, holey Metallica shirt, ripped, grease stained jeans, and a pair of scuffed sneakers that look like they might’ve been purchased ten years ago, for all that they’re barely holding together.

The army of security bots hovering and whirring around him, however, do fit his press image.

“Jon Snow!” Wade chirps, waggling his fingers at the harried “genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist.” “Long time, no talk. How’s Daenerys doing?”

“Summers, would you do me a favor and put your psychopath on a leash?” Tony asks, tone less than polite or pleasant as he focuses on Nate. “Preferably a nice short one that’s far away from me?”

“We’re here to talk,” Nathan says –though he does stop Wade from trying to play with the knives in the block on the kitchen counter. “It’s a matter of life and death. The well-being of the entire universe is at stake.”

“Yeah, been there, done that,” Tony says, looking none too impressed.

“One of your colleagues may have mentioned his name,” Kronos interjects, taking a step forward. “Does the word ‘Thanos’ ring any bells?”

Tony’s expression sobers for an instant, but he hides it quickly enough. “This is private property, and you’re all—”

A red being with a green suit and a yellow gem in the center of his forehead emerges from the floor. He places himself between Tony and the rest of you. “Would you like me to escort them out, Mr. Stark?”

“Ah, Casper the Friendly Android with No Concept of Personal Boundaries Despite the Infinite Knowledge!” Wade fires back, waving cheerfully. “How you doing, twenty-twenty?”

Vision sighs, longsuffering. “You have been expressly forbidden from these premises, Mr. Wilson.”

“Unless he’s here under my direct supervision,” Nathan fires back. “Stark, we need to talk about this—”

“Tony?” A tall, elegant woman with red hair wearing a tailored, navy blue dress walks up behind the man in question. She flashes you all a polite smile, but there’s no missing the way her gaze cautiously assesses each one of you. “I’m guessing these aren’t –oh. Wade’s here.”

Wade waves in response. “Hi, Miss Potts! How’s being a CEO?”

“It’s going very well, thank you,” Pepper replies politely –though, this time, she’s scanning the room for missing objects and-or visible damage. When nothing turns up, she looks back at Tony. “Are we escorting them out?”

“They claim to have information about the end of the world,” Tony says, tone flippant –though the grave expression on his face belies his snark. “About Thanos.”

Recognition flashes over Pepper’s face, though her polite mask never fully slips. She nods, then says, “Are we going to listen to them?”

“Probably should,” Tony replies in the same lackadaisical tone. “I’m not turning off the security drones while Wilson’s here, though.”

“Just for that, I’m pissing in your Ficus before I leave,” Wade huffs.

“That seems like it’s for the best,” Pepper tells Tony, smiling going tight at the edges while she stares at Wade. She takes a breath, steeling herself, then steps past Tony and nods at the rest of you in greeting. “Sorry for the confusion. Would you mind coming with us, so we can talk somewhere more comfortable?”

***

“I started connecting the dots after Thor left,” Tony explains, twirling a pencil between his fingers as he paces back and forth. “He mentioned Thanos briefly –but with the destruction and repurposing of Loki’s staff, the straggling records of Dormammu’s attack and the use of the Time Stone by Strange, the roles that the Tesseract and Loki’s staff played in the attack on New York by the Chitauri…” He sighs, pausing to stare out at the window at some unseen object before grimacing and shrugging. “It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

You’re all gathered in a conference room –which, as with the kitchen, carries the same modern, sleek style. Floor to ceiling windows show off the training grounds and the forest that conceals the base from the rest of the world. A massive plasma TV takes up one of the far walls, while the other walls are taken up by various dormant, holographic and electronic displays (made by Stark himself, no doubt). A black, oblong table sits in the center of the room, with leather, silver studded swivel chairs positioned around it.

“How many are there?” Tony asks, looking first at Kronos, then at Nathan. “How much time do we have?”

“There are six Infinity Stones in total,” Kronos says. “Thanos already has three –the Space stone, which was contained by the Tesseract, the Reality stone and the Power stone. Your colleague, Vision—” he gestures to the android “—is in possession of the Mind Stone already, and Stephen Strange has the Time Stone. Our agents have been unable to confirm the whereabouts of the Soul Stone, but we’re certain that Thanos doesn’t have it.”

“Yet,” Tony adds, tone pessimistic.

“As far as time goes, we have a few days at most,” Nathan says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Maybe a week, if we’re lucky.”

Tony grimaces. “That doesn’t bode well for rebuilding international relations on a dime. Or team morale for that matter.”

“Sort it out,” Nathan gravels out. “We’ve got bigger issues.”

“We won’t have time for issues if we can’t even pull a team together,” Tony snaps.

“If it helps…” Kronos withdraws a flash drive from his jacket pocket and holds it out to Tony. “The evidence of Thanos’s collection of the stones and his plans to come here.”

Tony accepts the flash drive. He turns it over in his fingers a couple times –no doubt mentally comparing the drive to the technology he’s created—then pockets it. “And Xavier’s on board with all this?”

You blink when you realize everyone’s staring at you. “Uh –yes. He’s contacting Erik Lensherr for some additional support, and the rest of the X-Men are ready to take on Thanos as well.”

“Great.” Tony stares down at the table for a moment, expression slightly melancholy but otherwise inscrutable, but then he snaps back to his usual self. “Good meeting. I’ll text you with the details.”

“Ooh, does that mean we’re trading numbers?” Wade gasps, pressing his hands on either side of his face. “I’ll put you on my favorites list.”

“I’ll contact Xavier,” Tony amends, shooting Wade a slightly harried look.

“We’ll be ready,” you assure him, at a loss for what else to say as you hook your arm around Wade’s to keep him from messing with the holographic display system.

“Vision will escort you out,” Pepper says with a polite smile and nod.

“I’ll make you a friendship bracelet, Tony the Tiger!” Wade calls as you and Nathan gently usher him towards the door. “Wait –stop shoving me! I need to get his wrist size!”

“Later, gorgeous,” Nate says with a barely suppressed smile.

Under any other circumstances, you’d laugh, but the stony foreboding weighing down your gut makes it too hard to even muster up a chuckle –especially when you catch Tony slumping down into one of the conference room chairs with a despairing expression on his face. You force yourself to focus on getting Wade out of the Avenger’s headquarters without stealing anything –though that does little to calm your swirling thoughts. How in the hell are we gonna pull this off?

***

“Are you okay?”

You sigh, instinctively wriggling back against Piotr’s chest as he lays down behind you. “Define ‘okay.’”

It’s nearly midnight now. Between contacting other allies for help –Nathan had you all bodysliding around New York for the better part of the day to reach out to the Hell’s Kitchen figures—and learning up about Thanos’s army and what could be expected in a confrontation against him, you didn’t get home until well after dinner.

You’re in bed now, too tired for anything else. You stare out the windows that overlook the balcony, purposefully trying to keep your mind blank so you don’t grow overwhelmed by the chaos buzzing in your brain.

Because this is insane. This is beyond mutant trafficking or petty grievances between groups of mutant rivals or even being gunned down by the mafia. This is beyond abusive parents, groups of hateful bigots, or anti-mutant legislators.

It’s –quite literally—the fate of the entire world. The entire galaxy. Based on Nathan’s reports of the future, half of all life is wiped out. People, animals, plants –all gone, dissolved into piles of ash… and for what? So some egomaniac can have his moment of glory?

Your stomach curdles when you even try to contemplate a life without Piotr.

“Hey.” Piotr draws you in close when you start crying. “Tische, myshka. Everything is okay.”

“But it’s not.” You sniff, wiping at your eyes with your sleeve. “Nothing about this is fucking okay, Piotr. Someone’s gonna wipe out half of the damn universe because he wants to jerk off to it later.”

“He has to go through us, first,” Piotr reminds you as he presses soft, sweet kisses against your cheek.

“We don’t have the numbers,” you point out bleakly. “We don’t have the ammunition. We don’t have the time to make a solid plan, or to prepare any extra defenses, or—”

Piotr hugs you tight. He kisses the top of your head. His hand strokes up and down your arm in an attempt to soothe you.

You grip his other hand, holding him close to you. You focus on how warm and solid he is. How wonderful he is and how lovely your life is with him. “I love you, Piotr.”

“And I love you, Y/N.”

You squeeze your eyes shut and cry some more.

***

The call comes in at five thirty in the morning.

“Stark’s brought around the other Avengers and Wakanda,” Nathan says, sounding far more alert than you ever will at this godforsaken hour. “We’re lifting off at seven.”

“Roger that,” you manage while Piotr turns on the bedside lamp and blinks the sleep out of his eyes. “We’ll be ready.” You set down your phone when the call ends, then groan and drop your head into your pillow. Why can’t the end of the world ever happen in the afternoon?

***

The Blackbird jets are loaded to maximum capacity. Aside from carrying the X-Men and the X-Force exclusive members, you’re also ferrying the Hell’s Kitchen vigilantes, Piotr’s family and Allison, your uncle and his team, and the younger children and their parents to Wakanda for safe-keeping (your uncle’s reasoning was that an enemy of the institute might notice the sudden lack of protection and decide to attack the younger, more vulnerable students and their families for vengeance, so it was better to be safe than sorry).

You keep close to Piotr or to the cockpit, but there’s still no avoiding the tense, cramped feeling.

You’re not the only “birds” in the sky, either. It’s practically a whole convoy, flying out to Wakanda in what might’ve been a formation if Wade didn’t occasionally grab the control and try to do a “barrel roll.” Magneto and his forces are flying in their own airship, while the Avengers are leading their pack in Tony’s custom, “cutting edge of technology” jets.

You watch the small fleet of jets that belong to the Avengers, lips pursed into a tight line. Your gaze darts over to the navigation board every few seconds, tracking your miniscule progress across the Atlantic Ocean towards Wakanda.

There’s a heavy sigh behind you, and then an even heavier pair of arms settle around your shoulders. “Myshka. You should rest.”

You “hmm” softly to let Piotr know you heard him, but you don’t step away from the cockpit door.

He kisses the top of head and starts gently rubbing your neck with his thumbs. “Will be several hours before arrival, dorogoy. There is nothing you can do until then.”

“It feels like wasting time,” you murmur back –because, naturally, Piotr’s seen to the heart of the issue already. “We’ve got so much to do.”

“And we can do nothing until we arrive in Wakanda.” Piotr kisses your temple, then gently nudges you away from the cockpit. “Come sit with me, lyublyu. You will need full energy when we land.”

And that, above all else, is the only reason you let Piotr usher you over to the nearest seat.

You crawl into his lap once he sits, curling up in his arms. You lay your head on his shoulder and let his warmth combined with the gentle thrum of the jet’s sonic engines lull you to sleep.

***

Wakanda is simultaneously everything and nothing like what you expected.

There’s a force shield that surrounds the inner part of the country that gives way as the convoy of ships pass through it. It almost seems to shimmer out of view before revealing an elegant, shining palace and curved, glimmering towers that comprise the larger part of the city. Lush jungle and towering, ice-capped mountains border the city, split by a winding river and rushing waterfalls.

It almost looks too beautiful to be real.

The awe-inducing visuals and technology don’t stop as the convoy flies out to a glittering, black glass structure that, on the navigation board, is labeled as the lab of Princess Shuri. The convoy swoops around to a massive hangar at the base of the building, landing just inside on the polished stone and metal floor.

Waiting for all of you in the hangar is King T’Challa Udaku; he’s wearing a black robe embroidered with silver thread and a vibrant kente scarf, and generally looks every bit as poised and unflappable as he did in the UN interviews. He’s flanked by his Dora Milaje soldiers –who are undeniably badass with their armor and spears, and you catch Ellie, Yukio, and Kitty all staring at the women in awe—and his partner, Nakia, and his sister, Princess Shuri.

Tony and Professor Xavier handle the introductions with the King, which lets you stretch and take in the hangar and throngs of superheroes. You recognize a few of them –Captain America aka Steve Rogers, Ant-Man aka Scott Lang and his entourage --including a man with dark hair styled like Elvis that you recall seeing in some sort of news interview a while back and a young woman with curly brown hair and warm eyes that’s holding his hand-- and War Hero ,aka James Rhodes, aka Tony’s best friend and “work wife”—but some of the entourage members are new to you.

You take a moment to stretch out your back –sleeping in Piotr’s lap isn’t the worst quality rest you’ve ever had, but given the configurations of the jet seats it was a little cramped—and admire the glimmering, inlaid lights on the hangar ceiling. Swanky.

“We have space prepared for the upcoming preparations and hosting all of you,” T’Challa says, voice cutting through the din of the crowd with ease. “If you would all follow Princess Shuri, please.”

Shuri smiles, then motions for everyone to follow her out of the hangar.

Half of the Dora Milaje break away from the formation, keeping a protective line between the princess and everyone else.

You fall into stride alongside your husband, well-practiced by now at matching your steps to his long stride.

***

The “prepared space” winds up being three massive rooms, each with smaller rooms sectioned around the main spaces, a kitchen-slash-rec area that joins the three massive rooms in the center, and three large, communal style bathrooms with multiple stalls for toilets and showers. The main rooms have several long, workstation style tables at them, with some beds stationed at the fringes, and the smaller rooms function only as bedrooms, mostly for the families with kids and the handful of couples present.

“This interface,” Princess Shuri says as she taps on a small disk embedded into the wall, “will let you contact security and staff if you have questions or need to speak with someone. There’s one in each room, for easy access. It will begin glowing and beeping if someone’s trying to send a call to you; you answer by pressing the base,” she explains, demonstrating on the disk.

“We’re expecting another group of people,” Tony pipes up. “Strange is collecting some of our allies from the South Eastern Quadrant. They should be here in the next sixteen hours, give or take.”

Shuri nods. “We’ll contact you when they arrive.” She offers the group a magnanimous nod and smile, then strides out the hall you all entered through, flanked by the Dora Milaje soldiers.

For a moment, no one moves. You all stand around, hesitating as you all try to take in the new scenery and space.

Alex moves first. She sighs, then grabs her duffel and strides towards the nearest workroom. “No point in waiting.”

Her initiative seems to jolt everyone else out of their daze. Everyone sections off, largely sticking with the groups of their original affiliation.

You amble alongside Piotr, peering around the workroom as you try to decide where to set your pack. Here goes nothing.

***

We’re staring down the apocalypse, you muse as you watch everyone set up shop, and it’s all coming down to sewing machines.

It’d come as a shock when Alexandra had lugged the sleek, white machine out of its carrying case. She’d set it on one of the tables, then lifted bolts of thick, rugged Kevlar out of one of her duffels next. Thread, scissors, measuring tape, and gridded cutting boards follow the Kevlar—

And then the sewing machine jammed as soon as Alex turned it on.

“Ty meshok der'ma,” Alex mutters under her breath as she fiddles with the internal mechanisms of the sewing machine. She glares at the gears, grumbling and swearing while she prods at them with a pair of tweezers. “Kakogo khrena tvoya problema?”

The situation seems mundane in its inanity.

The end of the damn world, and we’re being thwarted by twenty pounds of plastic and metal.

“Day mne poprobovat'.” Nikolai crouches down next to his wife. He adjusts the reading glasses perched on his nose, then aims a small flashlight at the interior of the machine. He murmurs and tuts in Russian while prodding at the machine –and then he makes a soft noise of exclamation. “Broken needle. Pryamo tam.”

“Sukin syn.” Alex uses her telekinesis to draw out the metal shard, then lets out an exasperated sigh and spreads her arms when the machine finally makes the proper start up noises. “Thank you.”

“Be nice,” Nikolai chides her with a teasing grin. “Is uncomfortable, having metal stuck in organs. You would not want to work either.”

“I’ve had metal in my organs,” Alex grumbles as she gets her sewing machine configured. “I still managed.” She smirks when Nikolai laughs, then kisses her husband’s cheek before motioning for you to approach. “Come here, ptitsa. I want to reinforce your suit; I need your measurements.”

You round the table, shucking off your sweatshirt so Alex can measure your torso. “Is there anything I need to do?”

“Just hold still, malenkiy,” Alex murmurs as she runs her tape measure around your waist.

“I make no promises,” you joke.

Alex snorts, then moves her measuring tape up to your ribcage.

***

The waiting is, somehow, worse now.

At least on the plan there was a promise of a destination. A sense of the temporary, that you’d be up and moving and doing again within a few hours.

Unfortunately, reality is so often different from how you envision it, just as it is now. Because the reality of the situation is that there are only a limited number of people capable of helping. Nate and Tony are working with the Princess to configure weapons to fight Thanos’s forces, Hank and the healers are preparing a makeshift medical bay, Frank, Wade, Mikhail, and Neena are cleaning and checking guns, Alex, Piotr and Nikolai are taking turns working on fabricating armor for those who need it—

Leaving you with nothing to do. Aside from keeping those who are working well fed and hydrated and managing the kids, all you can do is sit and watch while everyone else prepares.

It’s agony. Your chest aches from stress, and your stomach’s churning so much you can barely choke food down at mealtimes. I need to help more. I need to do something, dammit.

It’s like being in line for random execution and having no idea whether you’re going to be shot or not.

You stay close to Piotr. You run food and snacks and drinks for anyone who needs it. You help manage the kids when the need arises –but since most of their parents are here, the incidents are far and few between.

You sit. And you wait.

It’s all you can do.

***

“Absolutely not.”

“You need to be reasonable.”

“I am. It’s perfectly reasonable to keep a fourteen-year-old off a fucking battlefield!”

Alex sighs. She leans back in her seat and raises an eyebrow at her eldest daughter. “Normally I would agree, but I don’t think you’ll have much say in the matter. Your ability to control her is notably lacking.”

Artemis huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. “You try reining in a teenager who’s realized there’s no consequences to her actions.”

“I’m not judging, merely observing,” Alex assures her daughter. “But, at any rate, it’s not unreasonable to predict that she’ll join the fray at some point. Body armor is a necessity.”

“It’s an invitation! She’ll take it as permission!”

“Artemis?” Allison sticks her head into the room, then strides over to her mentor-slash-surrogate mother. “Is everything okay? Who’s getting permission to do what?”

“No one is,” Artemis grumbles, even as she holds her arm out so the teen can lean against her side. “Especially not you.”

Allison lets out a disgusted sigh and rolls her eyes. “I already told you—”

“You’re not fighting.”

“I can handle myself!” Allison snaps. She jerks away from Tatianna, scowling. “You’re treating me like a baby!”

“Compared to me, you are a baby,” the older woman points out drily.

“It’s not your burden to bear,” Alex interjects, fixing the testy teen with an even –though not harsh—stare. “Teenagers shouldn’t have to fight for the future of the world. That’s for adults to handle.”

“No one gets to decide,” Allison grits out, “what my burdens are. And this isn’t about ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t.’”

The corner of Alex’s mouth twitches. She looks up at Artemis, brows raised.

Artemis sighs. She tips her head back, staring up at the ceiling, then looks down at Allison. “You need body armor to keep you safe. That does not mean, however, that you’ll be joining us in the fight against Thanos.”

Allison sweeps her tongue along the inside of her cheek. She crosses her arms and cocks her head to the side. “Pretty sure you don’t get to decide that.”

“Pretty sure you should listen to me,” Artemis fires back, “since I have more experience and am telling you that it’s too much for you to handle.” She lets out an exasperated breath when Allison rolls her eyes, then waves her hand dismissively as if to say ‘I tried.’ “Get her set up.”

Alex nods, then waves Allison over. “Alright, malenkiy. Let’s get you sorted.”

***

“Are you asleep?”

“Nyet.” Piotr rolls over, drapes an arm over you, and kisses your forehead. “I would ask you the same, but…”

You manage a small chuckle. “Pretty obvious answer, yeah.”

The two of you are in one of the private rooms –if only because (aside from your status as married) it has a bed big enough to accommodate Piotr. There’s a small window that overlooks a cavern beneath the lab. Dim, blue light seeps through the glass pane, but it’s not enough to properly illuminate the room.

Piotr’s fingers skim over your upper arm. “Why are you not sleeping, myshka?”

“Can’t,” you admit, voice wavering. You take a deep breath through your nose and try to calm yourself. “I just… I can’t handle not doing anything. It gives me too much time to think about what might happen.”

Piotr croons gently, drawing you in closer so he can tuck you against his chest. He cradles your head with one massive head. “Dorogoy. You know such things are not good for you.”

“Yeah, I know,” you grumble, eyes stinging with unshed tears. “Doesn’t mean that knowledge stops my brain any.”

“Ya znayu,” Piotr murmurs as he kisses your temple. “But everything is going to be alright, myshka.”

“Except it really might not be,” you argue, voice shaking. You grip the material of his shirt, as though he might be wrenched away from you at any moment and whisked away into the wind. “It really might not, Piotr.”

Your husband doesn’t say anything in response to that. He merely holds you closer still and strokes his fingers through your hair.

You press your forehead against his chest and start weeping quietly.

***

The second day is much like the first –a slow, agonizing crawl punctuated by overwhelming anxiety and exhaustion.

You linger at the table where Nate, Tony, and Ellie are modifying guns, handing the three various tools and materials when they ask for it. You watch their progress numbly, brain devoid of anything other than wordless worry.

At least, you watch until Nate texts Piotr to come get you.

“Davay, myshka,” your husband coaxes as he lifts you off your stool. He grunts slightly as he shifts you into a bridal-style hold, then carries you away from the table and out of the room. “Let’s have lunch.”

“But—”

“Is important to stay fed and hydrated.”

“—I was helping.” You peer past Piotr’s arm –then sigh when Nathan gives you a sympathetic, concerned smile and waves you along. “Baby—”

“Just for little bit.” Piotr sets you down when you ask, but he keeps a hand on your shoulder, just in case. “Is not good to sit and stew in anxiety.”

You drop your gaze to the floor. “You can’t prove anything.”

Piotr lifts his hand from your shoulder and cradles your cheek. He strokes his thumb against your skin, waiting until you look up at him before speaking again. “Come have lunch with me, moya lyubov’,” he says with an adoring smile (which you’re certain is a deliberate, tactical move on his part to make sure you don’t try and argue, and dammit if it isn’t working). “I would enjoy your company.”

You scuff the toe of your sneaker against the floor, but ultimately acquiesce. “Alright. I guess I should take a break.”

***

The snooping starts after lunch, while Alex is chewing Frank out for spray-painting his bullet proof vest.

“What, are you looking to ruin perfectly good Kevlar?” Alex gripes as she tosses Frank’s “Punisher” vest aside. “You want to break down the material? Get shot out like some schmuck because you decided to be an artist?”

“It’s strategic,” Frank argues with a good-natured, crooked grin. “Keeps my enemies’ line of sight trained on where I have the most protection.”

Alex nods and makes a sarcastic noise of assent. “‘Strategic.’ Is that what it is? Ya ne mogu v eto poverit'. V moye vremya my nazyvali strategiyu pobedoy, a ne stavili svoyu grebanuyu vizitnuyu kartochku na kazhdoye sovershennoye nami proklyatoye ubiystvo. Get your ass over here, drama boy.” She scoffs and starts measuring Frank’s chest and shoulders. “‘Strategiya,’” she scoffs. “What a load of horse shit.”

“Akh akh,” Nikolai tuts as he walks into the room with a plate of food and glass of water. “What is happening here?”

“I’m pretty sure I upset the apple cart, sir,” Frank says, unabashed.

Nikolai chuckles while Alexandra brings up to speed, ranting in irritated Russian. He sets the plate and glass on the table next to his wife, kisses her head, then ambles back out to the kitchen—

And that’s when you notice it. Or, rather, her.

Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow. Renowned spy, assassin, weapons and espionage expert, and former member of the Avengers if the debacle surrounding the Sokovia Accords is to be believed.

She’s sitting at the kitchen counter on barstool, tapping away at her phone –which isn’t inherently suspicious, but her line of sight lets her look directly into the room you’re all situated in and—

She’s watching Alex.

At first you think she might be watching Frank (which, fair enough, having a mass murderer, somewhat unstable vigilante around is a reasonable cause for caution). But when Frank gets up and walks out (probably to go find Karen), Natasha doesn’t even move. Her gaze –when she’s not looking at her phone—stays fixed on Alexandra while she works at her sewing machine.

For once, you’re grateful Piotr is as large as he is; he makes a great hiding spot to do countersurveillance from.

Natasha approaches slowly, but deliberately. She talks to someone on her phone –whether she’s faking or not doesn’t matter to you, because she still uses it to get off the barstool and amble around while she’s talking. Then, she has a conversation with Captain Rogers, which she uses to get a few feet closer to the doorway.

At some point, you’re not certain if she realizes you’re watching her, only because she gives up the pretense of trying to hide her snooping entirely. She leans against the doorframe, watching Alex intently while she marks, pins, and cuts out fabric.

It’s Illyana who has enough of the whole thing first. Three minutes into Natasha standing in the door way, the blonde sighs, sets her phone down on the work table, and glares up at the red head. “Kakogo khrena ty khochesh?”

Natasha purses her lips slightly. She acknowledges Illyana with a brief glance, then turns her focus back to Alex. “Alexandra.”

“Natalia,” Alex says by way of greeting, not even bothering to look up from her work. “Are you here to help, or are you here to waste my time?”

She grimaces, but recovers and smiles politely. “It’s been a long time.”

“So, you’re here to waste my time,” Alex surmises as she pins a pattern to a piece of heavy black Kevlar.

Natasha swallows reflexively, then turns on her heel and walks away.

***

Half an hour later, it’s Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes’s turn.

The two supersoldiers are far less covert than Agent Romanoff. They stand in the middle of the rec room, a few feet away from the door, and don’t make any attempt to hide their conversation or the fact that they’re watching Alex (and, to some extent, her children and Nikolai as well).

Illyana says something to her mother a few times, but Alex waves her off –and, in general, seems unbothered. “U nas yest' rabota, snezhinka. U nas yest' rabota.”

“Did you know him?” you ask, later, when the Rasputin kids are out of the room. “The Winter Soldier?”

You’ve heard enough through the grapevine to know about the basics of the man’s story –captured by Hydra, experimentation, brainwashing, being coerced into murdering.

(It all sounds chillingly familiar.)

“We crossed paths,” Alex admits with a shrug. She slides a piece of ceramic armor plating inside a Kevlar pouch, then starts sewing the pouch shut. “Overlap was common back in the day.”

“Do you think he remembers you?” you murmur, glancing out at the kitchen (fortunately, Rogers and Barnes are gone for now).

Alex pauses. She purses her lips, then shrugs and resumes working. “I don’t know. He went through a lot with the forced mind wipes. There’s really no way of knowing.”

“Are you going to be in trouble if he does remember you?”

Alex huffs and favors you with a gentle smile. “I’ve gotten out of worse, ptitsa. Don’t worry so much.”

You say that like it’s easy, you think while the knot in your stomach coils tighter.

***

There’s a brief reprieve around dinner. You even manage to relax a little, smiling and chuckling as Piotr and Mikhail bicker and generally irritate each other as much as humanly possible.

Work starts up once more as soon as everyone’s done eating. You nestle yourself against Piotr’s side, relaxed via the virtue of being too tired to be stressed—

And then Tony Stark walks in.

Or perhaps “walk” isn’t the right term. He moves with an air of grandeur and utter self-assurance –which, even with your limited exposure to Tony Stark, you can tell is a “brand standard” for him. He tosses an apple up and down in one hand as he breezes along, expression blasé to the point of looking disinterested as he strides up to the table where Alexandra works.

If it weren’t for Natasha, Captain Rogers, and Sergeant Barnes scoping out the Rasputin matriarch earlier, you would’ve pegged Stark’s visit as entirely coincidental.

“What’s your deal?” Tony asks, leaning against the table next to where Alex is stationed at her sewing machine.

No pretense. No niceties. No attempt at subtlety.

Alex’s lips quirk into an annoyed grimace. She looks up and over the top of her machine for a moment, staring at Nikolai (likely trying to find any scrap of his infinite patience for herself), then lowers her gaze once more and says, “Usually, it’s not answering vague, pointless questions asked by nosey individuals.”

“You’ve got half my team twisted up just by being here,” Tony continues, unruffled. “I’ve seen Romanoff stare down the Hulk on a rampage without flinching. What about you is so special that you make her nervous?”

“Interesting,” Alex comments, almost to herself. “And here I thought, after the Berlin incident, your ‘team’ was largely disbanded. Something about ‘not agreeing with your leadership.’”

Tony’s face twitches, mouth briefly stretching into a pained grimace before he smooths it back out. “You don’t exist.”

“Everyone’s concept of self is different,” Alex mutters as she rips out a crooked seam on an armor pouch.

“There’s no record of your birth. Or your parents, for that matter. Your marriage license has no given maiden name. No history of education, doctor’s visits, driver’s license –nothing until you turned twenty-four.” He takes a bite of his apple, swallows, then says, “People don’t just ‘poof’ into existence as full grown adults. It doesn’t happen.”

“Perhaps,” Alex retorts as she resews the faulty seam, “you are just not very good at finding things.”

“I can find anything.”

“Except, it would seem, a way to keep from trying my patience.”

Tony watches her for a moment longer –then, when she doesn’t say anything, he turns and starts striding out of the room. “I’m going to figure out what’s up with you. There aren’t any secrets that can hide from my A.I.”

Alex doesn’t dignify his departure with a response –but her eyelid twitches as she continues her sewing.

You look up at Piotr, only to find he’s watching Nikolai. You look over at the Rasputin patriarch, and your heart sinks when you see the worried expression on his face.

Nick sighs, then stands and rounds the table. He ambles up behind his wife, drapes his arms around her shoulders, and kisses the top of her head before he starts murmuring to her in quiet, loving Russian.

You lean against Piotr’s side, giving him a reassuring squeeze even though the only thing you feel is disquieted. You force yourself to take a deep breath and relax your jaw as fear starts crawling up your spine once more. One thing at a time. One thing at a time, that’s all you can do.

Except, it seems, when everything decides to happen at once.

***

Meeting the Norse god of thunder is… intense.

Though, that may have to do with the entourage of people he brings with him.

Around three in the morning, Dr. Strange shows up with the remaining allies –Thor, god of thunder, and his brother Loki, god of magic, Bruce Banner aka the Hulk, a woman by the name of Carol, and a group that calls themselves the “Guardians of the Galaxy” (which happens to include a talking raccoon and a sentient tree).

“Just when you thought, like, it couldn’t get weirder,” Kitty mutters to you as she stares at the newest arrivals.

You nod. Granted, your usual metric for all things weird is Wade, who has basically explored every avenue of zany, bizarre, and disturbing—

But yeah, this is pretty fucking weird.

“Where do we stand in preparations for the arrival of Thanos?” Thor asks Tony.

“We’ve got most of the busywork done,” Tony says, outlining the weapons upgrades and the armor work that’s been done. “We waited for major planning until we had everyone here and better intel.”

Thor nods, then gestures to two women standing with the “Guardians of the Galaxy,” one with green skin and dark hair and the other with blue skin and cybernetic enhancements. “This is Gamora and Nebula, daughters of Thanos. They’ll be able to provide information on the strength and size of his forces.”

“Good,” Steve pipes up from where he’s standing with Sam Wilson and Sergeant Barnes. “The sooner we have a plan, the better.”

“It can wait until we’ve slept,” Alex decides, voice crisp. “We won’t come up with anything good while we’re fried.”

Tony blinks, then scowls. “Thanos could be here as soon as this coming morning.”

“Then we’ll be doubly fucked if we’ve stayed up all night trying to scrape together a plan,” Alex replies, unmoved. She crosses her arms when Tony glares at her. “The younger and less experienced of us need rest if this is going to work.”

“I’m with the lady,” Quill pipes up, brushing past Tony. He gives Stark a smile that, if you had to wager, is supposed to be charming but just comes off as arrogant. “I think you’ll find that we… don’t really roll with plans. It’s not our style.”

Alex stares at Quill for a moment, expression vastly unimpressed. She sighs, blinks slowly, shakes her head, then turns on her heel and strides back to the room she’s been sharing with Nick. “Absolutely not. I’m going back to bed.”

As if waiting for a cue, everyone else disperses, muttering about being tired and “needing an IV drip of espresso.”

You shuffle off with Piotr, hand in hand, shivering slightly from nerves. Please just let this go well.

***

“Both the Chitauri and the Klyntaar forces number into the tens of thousands. The Chitauri have sentient airships capable of carrying infantry forces while wreaking their own havoc, in addition to chariots that can carry up to five marksmen at a time. He also has tanks the size of this building that can demolish anything in their path.”

Everyone is gathered in one of the main work rooms. A majority of the people present hang back at the fringes, content to watch while Tony, Captain Rogers, King T’Challa, Alexandra, your uncle, Thor, Quill, and Natasha hash out a strategy.

“He’s trying to overwhelm us with sheer numbers,” Steve says in response to Gamora’s information.

“It might work,” Natasha murmurs, gaze focused on the worktable in front of her. “We don’t have near enough firepower to chip away at that many grunts.”

“Not if we play our cards right,” Alex says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“There’s also our siblings,” Gamora adds with a pained grimace.

Off to the side, Nebula scoffs. “They’re hardly family.”

“Thanos collected beings throughout the galaxy to serve him,” Gamora explains. “To act as his eyes and ears and eliminate his foes. Aside from Nebula and I, he has four other ‘children.’ They’ll be acting as his generals and commanders in the fight –and helping him track down and capture the final infinity stones.”

Tension ripples through the room.

“What do we know about these Infinity Stones?” Alex asks after a moment of fraught silence.

“The stones were originally created by the Celestials,” Loki pipes up from where he’s leaning against a wall. “Their magical properties are tied to aspects of the universe –time, space, reality, and so on. Only beings of immense power can wield them without severe consequences.”

“Thanos has the gauntlet that accompanies the stones,” Thor adds. “With it, once he assembles all six stones, he’ll be able to use them simultaneously.”

“He wants to wipe out half of all life on Earth,” Gamora says, voice wavering slightly. “That’s been his single goal ever since I’ve known him.”

“All men want to be gods,” your uncle jokes half-heartedly.

“Can the stones be broken?” Alex asks.

Loki chuckles, incredulous. “These are magical tools created by the most powerful beings ever known to the galaxy… and you want to break them?”

She shrugs. “Best not to overlook the simplest solution.”

“I’m taking that as a ‘no,’” Steve interjects. “So, if we can’t destroy them, how do we fight them?”

“The only thing powerful enough to combat the effects of the Infinity Stones are the Infinity Stones,” Loki answers.

“And we only have two,” Natasha surmises, expression drawn and grim.

“Three.”

Everyone looks up and turns when Illyana speaks.

She smirks, tilting her chin up when Natasha meets her gaze. “We have three Infinity Stones.”

“Vision has the mind stone, and Dr. Strange has the time stone,” Kronos argues, shaking his head. “The soul stone is still missing.”

Illyana’s smirk broadens. She lifts her hand, curling it as if she was holding something.

A sword materializes in her hand –and in the center of the sword, small but unmistakable, is a glowing orange gem.

Your uncle’s eyes widen. “Holy shit.”

“Three,” Illyana repeats, looking supremely confident and self-satisfied. “Unless there is elusive seventh stone?”

Loki smiles ruefully, shaking his head. “The Goddess of Limbo pulls through. Well done.”

“Okay, but Vision’s stone is in his head and Strange has his stone in a necklace around his neck,” Tony interjects, gesturing to each person in turn.

“Amulet,” Dr. Strange mutters under his breath.

“Your stone disappears if you’re not holding it,” Tony continues, pointing to the sword as Illyana dematerializes it once more. “What’s stopping Thanos from finding it and taking it?”

“I am only person who can use Soul Sword,” Illyana says, arching her eyebrows. “It is bound to me until the next in my line is ready to take my place.”

“My family has been bound to Limbo’s magicks for generations,” Nikolai clarifies when Tony starts sputtering. “Illyana is the keeper of the sword, which means only she can call upon it. Thanos would need our blood to have access to it.”

Tony grimaces. “Still risky.”

“Better than nothing,” your uncle fires back.

“We have a shot of taking down Thanos with the other three Infinity Stones in our camp,” Steve says, planting his hands against the worktable's surface. “Without them, we’re as good as sunk.”

“Well then,” Alex says, smirking. “Let’s make sure we don’t waste our opportunity.”

***

“For the love of god, stop talking.”

“I’m just saying,” Quill starts, spreading his hands in a defensive gesture.

“You’re not saying shit!” Alex snaps, lifting her head from her hands to glare at him. “You’re just wasting our time!”

Once the planning started, a large portion of the crowd dispersed to help wrap up the last of the weapons modification. The leaders from each faction stayed behind –Tony, T’Challa, Steve, Natasha, Thor, Peter Quill, Xavier, your uncle, Alexandra, and Erik—to plan, along with Gamora, Nebula, and Loki so they could offer up information on Thanos, his forces, and the Infinity Stones.

You’d also hung back, since you didn’t have the skills necessary to do the weapons modification. If all I can do is sit around like a nervous lump, may as well do it where I won’t be in the way.

“This plan just isn’t our style,” Quill argues, either immune or completely ignorant to the exasperated sighs and death glares the others are giving him. “We like to take things looser, add a little pizazz.”

“How many times did your parents drop you as a baby?” your uncle asks, staring Quill down. “No, I’m serious,” he adds when Quill glares back at him and opens his mouth to argue. “I’m genuinely at a loss for how you can be this fucking dense.”

“We’re up against overwhelming numbers and powers no one here has ever seen, let alone fought against,” Natasha adds. “We need to allocate our resources carefully if we want even a chance at victory. The three wave strategy is our best chance.”

“Okay,” Quill says, pressing his hands together. “I think we just all need to relax—”

“You’ll be pretty fucking relaxed when I gut you,” Alex grumbles as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Look, the way I see it, Thanos can’t take us all at once!” Quill reasons. “If we hit him with everything we have—”

“We have to survive his armies, too,” Tony adds, words clipped. “Or there won’t be any of us for Thanos to be hit by.”

“No.” Alex glares at Quill when he keeps trying to argue, startling him into silence. “Look at them.” She points at Gamora and Nebula. “These are your friends, da? Your teammates and companions, da? This is their abuser we’re facing. If we lose, what do you think happens to them? Do you think someone that wants to destroy half of all life will have mercy for them? Hm? If you care about them, you pick the plan that has the best shot of ensuring their safety. Got it?”

Quill swallows reflexively. He stares down at the holographic display of the future battlefield, jaw working. He exhales through his nose, slow and stuttered, then nods. “Alright. We… we do the three wave strategy.”

“So glad we can agree,” Alex says, turning her attention back to the battlefield schematic. “Now, we were discussing where to put our snipers…”

***

“—I need both their arms. Trust me, it’s the only way this is gonna work.”

“Look, I’m normally all for a little dismemberment, but I don’t think forming our own amputee league is gonna net us a win here.”

You shake your head as Wade banters back and forth with the talking racoon –whose name is Rocket, apparently—then look over at Nathan. “How long have they been at this?”

“Going on three hours now,” Nate replies. A soft, endeared smile flits across his face when he looks at Wade, but his expression sobers when he resumes his soldering job. “How’s the final plan looking?”

“Everyone but Quill was leaning towards a three-wave tactic.”

Nathan grunts. “Yeah, he seems like a jackass.”

“Alex threatened to gut him.”

“Hey!” Wade shouts, sounding genuinely wounded. “No disemboweling without me!”

“Quill wanted to do an ‘all for one’ attack directly on Thanos.” You sit down next to your dad, studying his face while he works. “You’ve actually fought against these people before. Do… do you think dividing our forces up will actually work?”

“The issue is the land and air forces,” Nathan says, shaking his head. He attaches a power unit to the base of a rifle, then starts welding the compartment shut. “This time doesn’t have the necessary shielding to repel the Chitauri and Klyntaar forces for that long. We’ll have to fight the grunts; holding some of our people back to make sure we have someone to take on Thanos is our best bet.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll win, though,” you point out.

He offers you a melancholy half-smile. “That’s war, kid.”

Your heart sinks further. “Do we even have a chance?”

“Statistics says we do,” Nathan says he strips a piece of wire before threading it into the gun.

“That’s not what I asked.”

Nathan sighs. He looks at you for a long moment, then says, “I think we have the best shot possible with what we have right here, right now.”

You gulp, then nod. It’s still not technically an answer to your question –let alone a positive one—but…

You’ve learned that, sometimes, it better not to dig at these sorts of questions at all.

***

“We’re dividing our forces into thirds.”

You’re all crammed into the rec room post dinner. In the center of the room, by the counter, Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Alex are addressing the crowd in turns.

“The first wave will consist of high stamina fighters and snipers,” Steve says. “There’s a shield system that extends several hundred kilometers around the lab’s perimeter. Wakandan soldiers will join the line of snipers who will pick off any of Thanos’s forces that make it through the shields.”

“We’ll also have any fighters with enhanced stamina on standby, in case there’s a larger breach,” Alex adds. “Their job will be to protect the sniper line from being overrun by the enemy forces.”

“The second wave will be air support,” Tony continues. “Myself, Rhodey, Wilson, and any flying mutants will head out when the Chitauri airships come in. Princess Shuri has a fleet of attack drones at the ready, which can be manned from headquarters in the lab. HQ will have a complete look at the battlefield; all intel will be coming from them during the fight.”

“Third wave is everyone else, save for Illyana, Dr. Strange, and Vision,” Natasha says. “We’ll join the fray when the second wave of Thanos’s forces arrive. The final three” –she nods to Illyana, Dr. Strange, and Vision in turn—“will wait in central headquarters until Thanos arrives, to prevent early capture of the remaining Infinity Stones.”

“In the meantime,” Tony says, “we’re going overtime on modifying rifles to be sonic weapons. They’re more effective against the Klyntar forces than regular firearms. All hands on deck. If you can’t solder, you can run supplies back and forth and help perform diagnostic tests at the firing range. Clear?”

Everyone nods, then breaks off to start working on constructing and testing more “awesome guns.”

You slid your fingers between Piotr’s. Your heart’s in your throat, racing a mile a minute. Your mouth feels dry.

If you were the religious type, you’d start praying. As it is, you make a plea with the universe on the off chance it decides to listen to you –for once.

Please. Please just let this work.

***

“So… about the three-wave plan—”

Tony slams down the compartment piece he’d been working on against the table. He glares at Quill, face strained with barely constrained rage and impatience. “What the fuck is your deal?”

“It’s just not sitting well with me,” Quill continues, leaning against the table. “I’m more of a ‘solo moment’ style person. More of a lone wolf.”

You gape at him. “You… you work with a team of five!”

“I just think that there needs to be a more focused confrontation with Thanos. Y’know, for someone to challenge him, man to man—”

“Some get this idiot out of my face,” Tony snaps, looking around for anyone that might be willing to assist –or, at the very least, drag Quill out of the room by his jacket collar.

“You’re not listening to me!”

“You’re wasting my time!”

“Why does every problem come back to you?” Alex stalks into the work room, eyes glowing a dull shade of copper as irritation takes hold in her. She strides over to Quill, looking like a menace in black leather and Kevlar. “How much more of a nuisance can you possibly make yourself?”

“I’m just pointing out some flaws in the strategy!” Quill argues, holding up his hands in a defensive gesture. “I’m being the devil’s advocate!”

“You’re pointing out dick,” Agent Barton, alias Hawkeye, points out from the side (where he’s modifying some of his arrows to release sonic pulses).

“Look,” Quill presses on, ignoring Clint’s comment. “We need to make sure this thing is airtight—”

“We don’t have time for ‘airtight,’” Nathan growls, cybernetic eye flaring. “The goal is to survive, not to create perfection.”

“I really just think—”

Alex scowls –and then her hand snaps out and closes around Quill’s neck. She slams him against the edge of the table, sneering down at him while he coughs and claws –futilely—against her iron grip. “You’re past the point of being a nuisance. You’re a fucking liability.”

Quill wheezes, face slowly turning red.

“If I was paid every time a man like you told me how to do my job…” Her voice trails off, and she lets out a sardonic chuckle. “Let me make something clear to you, Peter Quill.” Her hand tightens around his neck, which makes some ominous creaking noises as she presses against layers of tissue, cartilage, and bone. “I am not about to have an asshole like you risk the lives of my children, the people who are putting their own lives on the line to protect the world, or the future of the damn universe. If you’re going to keep being a jackass about this…” She smirks. “I’ll kill you. I’ll do it right here, right now. I am not going to have a hazard like you on my team or on that battlefield.” She grins nastily, leaning in closer as Quill’s eyes bug out. “Best thing is, no one really knows you’re here. No tracks to cover, no family to pay off, no authorities to worry about. You’d be an unfortunate casualty in war. No one would fucking miss you.”

A chill runs down your spine. You gulp, stomach twisting as you look from Alex, to Quill, to Alex again. Is anyone going to stop her...

“I really don’t know how to make this any fucking clearer, but since you’ve proven to be thick-headed, I’ll summarize: you stray from the plan in any way, and you’re dead. Got it?”

Quill nods hastily. He gasps when Alex releases him, collapsing to the floor. He hacks and coughs, one hand rubbing at his throat while his skin slowly fades away from an angry magenta color.

“So glad we understand one another.” Alex smirks, then turns on her heel and strides out of the work room like nothing even happened.

You purse your lips, trembling while everyone goes back to work like nothing even happened. You try to focus on sorting pieces into containers for the fabricators to grab from, but with your shaking hands it’s near impossible. You duck your head, gritting your teeth together as your stomach churns angrily. I just want this all to be over.

***

The call comes in a couple hours later.

“We’ve got temporal disturbances outside the shield perimeter,” Kronos shouts while alarms blare overhead. “Thanos’s forces have arrived and are attempting to break through to our location.”

Your stomach drops as everyone starts scrambling. You grab your flight jacket and goggles, throwing them on haphazardly. You start running towards the hangar –then stop and switch directions. “Piotr!”

He pauses when he hears your voice, turning and catching you as you leap into his arms. He kisses you briefly –desperately—then pulls back and cups your face in his hands. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” You give him a quick hug, then pull away and start sprinting towards the hanger where the rest of the air support is gathering. Tears sting your eyes, but you wipe them away and force down your fear and preemptive grief. Focus. You have to focus.

It’s time.

#sass writes #piotr rasputin x reader #nathan summers x wade wilson #alexandra rasputin x nikolai rasputin #kitty pryde x illyana rasputin #aka my 'fuck you' to the russo bros #get ready for some big canon divergence #i am literally just doing whatever the fuck i want #deadpool fanfiction #x men fanfiction

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