#2) neglected by all her previous owners

[hungry-hobbits]

thinking about investing in some kind of carpeted scratcher for ms kitty but everything is so pricy

[kennabeth]

as a person with anxiety and fear of violent vehicular death, that most people do experience the same amount of car trouble that I do but they usually just. let their car break down before doing something about it vs working themselves into a faint over every noise is a lesson I'm trying to teach myself

[fandomwritingbit]

Caught out pt.2

William afton x fem reader x henry emily

A/n: Hiii, this is a part two of this fic I did a while ago. It's really long ngl over 7,000 words. To the person that requested a part two to this that focused more on the relationship between Henry and Will, I took some inspiration from that so thank you very muchly. I hope this reads well, I'll be editing it over the next few days because writer's block is shagging me hard rn.

Warnings: smut, oral, unprotected sex, inappropriate relationships, sexual tension between henry and william, y/n is absolute filth.

The day after Henry had debased himself, started off pretty shit. The restaurant was fully booked all day and it felt like there were over a million kids tearing through the building and creating havoc, along with many other reasons for the two co-owners to stay back after hours. They were so understaffed, two waiters and an entertainer had called in sick, forcing Henry and Will to step up a bit. Well, Henry stepped up, running plates, hosting, the works; William, though he was present, just cracked the whip on the employees that were there. Both had contemplated getting you out of the security office to help out, but the plethora of legal challenges they’d seen in the previous few weeks dissuaded them.

“Who’s fault is this?” William caught Henry’s arm, his expression as fumingly stoic as it had been so far all day. It was this side of William that initially drove Henry into merging with him, the no-nonsense, no-bullshit, pragmatic approach that he was too nice to use. When they were newly joined, grabbing his arm like this would have made Henry shit scared, just the sheer height of the man alone would’ve done it; now though, Henry just looked from his hand to Will’s face, scoffing. 

“Tiff was on bookings, I’m gonna have a word with her.” He pulled his arm free, “You do know, William, that we can’t have high numbers and easy service.”  

William sniggered, slightly surprised by Henry’s attitude, “Functional service would be nice, though.” 

~

All shit hit the fan about midday. 

And it hit the fan big time. A party of thirty and one of seventeen at the same time had all hands on deck, waiters sweating making sure patrons had everything they needed, bar staff making so many drinks that there wasn’t a gap left on the bar, and Henry and William were trying to cope with everything in between. Namely, trying to keep kids out of staff-only areas or from running full pelt into the servers carrying food and drinks, and keeping feuding chefs calm in the kitchen. The latter Henry’s domain, for obvious reasons. So when the shifty looking fellow slipped inside the building, it went unnoticed. 

“Excuse me?” a woman’s shrill voice called to William, obligating him to approach the table. He didn’t smile at her because the look on her face said this wasn’t a ‘compliments to the chef’ kind of thing. 

“Yes, ma’am?” 

“There’s plastic in my son’s pizza.” She pointed a thickly painted nail at the slice, showing the cling film sticking out underneath. Fuck’s sake.

He nodded, “Right. I’ll get you a new one.” As he spoke, he picked up the plate and the one with the rest of the pizza on it, cursing this whole fucking operation. 

“Got anything that doesn’t come out of a freezer?” she snapped, looking at him with such disapproval he felt a kid again. 

He just laughed at her. God, it was a £5 meal, she’s lucky they even heated it up for that. Neglecting to answer her, he gave a half-arsed apology and went towards the back kitchen to sort her out. 

Whilst this took place, a man with black gloves waited for the boy on the till to leave before wrenching the till open, shoving his hand inside to grab a fist-full of today’s earnings. The staff were too distracted to cop on, and alarm was only raised when the thief knocked into a server. 

“Hey what are you-” shoving her out the way, the figure moved towards the exit. The young lady got the attention of other staff who called out to the man but didn’t physically intervene, forcing the waitress to run to the kitchen and drag William out by his arm, babbling about what was happening.

He gave chase, following the thief out of the swinging doorway while the staff and patrons watched on in awe. It was at this point Henry burst out the kitchen as well, his face a mask of exasperation as he asked around to try and figure out what was going on. It seemed like no one really knew anything. No one knew where the day security guard was or how much money the thief had grabbed before bolting. 

“Fucking useless.” He mumbled under his breath, immediately kicking himself for how much he sounded like William.

It must have only been a couple of minutes before William walked back in, though it felt much longer. Henry looked to catch Will’s eye, quickly realising that he’d failed in the pursuit both the thief and the money by the slouching of his posture and the cut above his brow. He dabbed it with the side of his hand, smearing blood on his forehead. It was a sight and a half.

“You didn’t get him?” he kept his voice cautious, not wanting to send William over the edge.

He laughed, “Course I did. Fucker hit me and jumped in a car. I will say, he were well organised.” William winced again as he touched his cut, a streak of stark red trailing down the side of his face. Henry watched the movement thoughtfully, it wasn’t the first time he’d seen William like this, though usually he wasn’t sober. There was just something about it that made him feel deeply troubled and guilty. William Afton was powerful and scary. Handsome as the devil, everyone said it and the blood on his face tickled a part of Henry that he kept close to his chest and had done for years. 

Henry sighed, “You alright?” it’s asked nonchalantly but there is a tint of kindness on it. 

“Yeah. It’s going to keep bleeding though, you know what cuts to the face are like.” He again wiped the gash, the blood darkly pretty on his fingers. 

“No, no I don’t.” He shakes his head, he had too much sense to go about getting into fights. William just laughed, Henry's judgement always amused him. But his laughter died when Henry bluntly asked, “Don’t suppose you got a licence plate or anything?”

William’s face went stony, “Shit.” he muttered, feeling a little stupid but in fairness he was busy trying to catch the guy. The two were silent for a moment, the quiet awkward between them. Thankfully, it was broken when William again spoke, the idea hitting him out of nowhere, “The cameras. It wasn’t too far from the back doors, we might be able to get the plate on them.” 

Henry nodded, “Yeah I’ll go and check with y/n.” An odd weighty feeling fills the air at the mention of your name, a bizarre and new-found knowledge on the former’s part and gross pride on the other’s. He turns but stops still, “You should uh try and see how much they took. You know, look at the tickets and-”

“Yeah, I know how to do it, mate. Jesus.” he sniggers, not moving an inch out of principle, since when the fuck did Henry give him orders.

Exhaling through his nose, the sensible owner decides not to pursue what he’d asked him to do, hoping he’d comply without an argument, though what was more likely is that Henry would have to do that himself. He heads out the main restaurant and down the staff corridor, a growing feeling of anticipation at seeing you. He’s sure neither you or William know what he did, but the fear of discovery made him tense. 

Outside the security office door, he takes a breath before knocking, hating himself for being like this, if anyone should be ashamed it’s William, but as always he’s the one compensating. 

You open the door and are greeted by the pensive expression of Mr Emily, you knew exactly what he was going to ask and had been reviewing the footage yourself already. 

“Uh hey, y/n, can you show me the footage of the incident?” You step aside and let him into the cramped space, it’s a horrible office really, no windows and the monitor casting a grainy artificial light against the viewer. He would rather have you serving on the front but you insisted this was better because you, quote, ‘don’t want to deal with all the shit out there.’ End quote. 

“Yeah, sure. I had a look…” you speak whilst getting up the recording of the robbery, “but the fella has a hood up, you can’t see anything uh identifiable.” He glances at your face and is surprised to see you smiling, as you wind it back and play the recording for him. 

Your grin is pretty contagious and makes it hard to focus on the footage, “You find this funny?” His brow is narrowed, it’s not asked nastily more curiously. 

“The thieving? No, sir.” You try to disguise your snigger as you skip it forward a few seconds, to show William pulling the waitress off his arm and booking it out the door. “It’s uh that I find funny.”

He snickers himself, god this was a shit show. “Yes, I can see why.” 

“When I clip it for the police, I’ll leave that bit out… might be hard to explain what he was trying to do there.” You watch your boss nod his approval, an understanding between you to try and keep William out of the copper’s eye-lines.  

Henry then recalls what he said about the outside footage. “What about outside? William said that we might be able to see something on the cameras round the back.” 

“Ah yeah, good idea.” You go off the restaurant recordings, and on to the outside ones. They record a little differently in blocks of footage that display in a huge camera roll, you go to the section he means but scroll down too far, clicking on the wrong block. The two of you are met with yesterday’s footage of the bins and it takes you a fair few seconds to realise. 

“Oh this is yesterday’s.” Henry says the moment he clocks on and you blink trying to read the time and date stamp. 

“Oh sorry.” you rush to go back off that recording, hitting the wrong button and instead going to the rear interior cameras in the same block. The intake of breath from Mr Emily, makes you jump. 

“Ah- no. That’s ah-” The time it takes him to speak is enough for you to gauge the reason for his reaction. Though the footage isn't brilliant you can tell it’s him standing just outside William’s office, his back to the wall. It’s too grainy to see precisely but the movement is clear and pitifully familiar to you. You look at Henry for a moment, lips pursed in confusion, then it occurs to you to look at the timestamp: yesterday around 1:30pm, you were on your ‘lunch break’ then with Will- oh sweet lord. 

“Oh my God.” you say out loud, and Henry swears that this must be what a heart attack feels like. The dawning realisation on your face left him no room to lie his way out of it, sure it was muddy but shit, you can still tell he’s wanking. A disturbed and defeated noise escaped from his throat, “Mr Emily, is that-”

“God, just turn it off.” He speaks hoarsely, a little blunter than he meant, but when he pulls the courage to look at you he sees blatant amusement on your face. 

“Like Hell I will. You saw me and Will- Mr Afton in his office yesterday?” you enquire, smirk not budging an inch. 

“Yes.'' His voice is small as his eyes flicker between you and the footage, which is now reaching its literal and metaphorical climax. Your eyes go wide as you take it in, how he bites on his hand his back lifting off the wall, fucking his fist and letting himself spill on the floor.

“And you uh-”

“Yes.” Now he looks at you, his face red before he tries to grab the mouse, futile really, you’d already seen everything. The whole vile, carnal activity. Something so beneath him, it had been on his mind all day. He internally interrogated himself as to how he didn't think about the cameras, the stupid horny bastard he was. Couldn’t wait to get back to the privacy of his office- no he didn’t want to because the sounds of his co-worker and employee screwing was what was getting him off. 

You move it out of his grasp, your eyes sharp scrutiny on his shame. “God, Mr Emily.” you giggle, a sudden giddiness surging through your veins. If you had known that he was there he could have come in and gotten a better view, the mere thought of that made arousal twitch between your legs. “Why didn’t you say anything?” you finally speak again. 

Confusion again twists his features, “What?” He looks handsome like that, you muse. 

“Do you… fancy me, Mr Emily?” A flash of something foreign crosses his face, he just looks at you until you prompt him again, “Well?”

He scoffs, “I- well, you’re attractive, yes. What do you want me to say?” His tone is tinged with disbelief, he can’t believe you’re still in here with him, talking to him, not running into the restaurant to tell William, disgust etched on your face. 

You beam, he really did, it was written on his face. Circumstantial or not, the idea of having two fit older men interested in you, burned your blood. “Then you could’ve said something… I feel guilty if you felt, you know, left out.” 

He’s so speechless he might as well be a statue, so you fill the silence again, “It’s good to know.” He’s just mesmerised by your reaction, you’re almost flirting with him, unperturbed by that god-awful footage, no, engaged by it.

“I’m sorry.” He manages finally, resisting the urge to wipe the sweat from his hands. 

“Don’t be.” You shake your head, still smiling. “I’ll sort the recordings. Check for a number plate and clip it for a report.” You slowly place a hand on his arm, stroking up and down, captivated by the effect you were having on him, you felt powerful almost. “So you don’t have to worry. You can go.” 

And he does. He leaves the room without saying a word, shell-shocked into silence. Your reaction wasn’t what he would have thought, but it still scared him because he knew he was going to be the next topic of conversation between you and William, and if he were to confront him, that heart attack probably would materialise. God, if you only knew the half of who he fancied.

~

The next time you see William, is again during your contracted hours, this time leaving the door purposely open despite his protests, a secret hope that Henry might again come down the corridor, no pun intended. You’d rode William to oblivion in his office chair, taking exactly what you wanted from the man in the form of his huge cock stretching your little hole open. 

Now you remain sat on his lap, watching his hand toy with the mess both of you had made between your legs, his fingers pushing his release back inside, thinking to himself how pretty you looked fuck open like that, full of him just how you wanted. 

“I want to talk to you.” You say through a grin, pulling his hand away and towards your lips, where you suck the mixture of the two of you from his fingers, your tongue swirling reminding him of something else you’re more than good at. A low noise from his chest at the sight makes you smile again. 

He smirks, “This is the bit where you ask me for something, huh?” 

“Nothing you won’t like.” You bite the tips of his fingers, holding them for just a moment between your teeth, making him groan. “Do you know about Mr Emily?” The second you ask it he pulls his hand away, cupping under your jaw. 

“What about him?” 

“He saw us the other day. You know on your desk.” You don’t need to jog his memory, he recalls that in explicit detail. 

“Yeah, got quite the eyeful I imagine. Looked mortified.”

“Oh my god, He didn’t tell you.” You laugh, “Not that I blame him.” adjusting yourself before sliding from his knee. You pull up your panties and then the trousers you were wearing, scanning the room for wherever the hell your shoes have gone. When you look back to him, his brow is furrowed. 

“Don’t tease me, sweetheart, what’s this about?” You can tell that despite the casualness of his tone he really wants to know and your cocky expression was grating on him already. Clearly you talking about Henry was of great interest to him. 

So you smile, taking a moment to enjoy the look on his face before giving him the story, in as much detail as you can. You describe the footage you’d found, how even through the pixels you could tell he touched himself desperately, his pace rushed either due to fear of discovery or simple greediness. You tell him how his coworker was so thoughtless as to let his release fall on the floor, and dirty enough to leave it there. 

William looked at you with a grin, he could taste the second-hand embarrassment on his partner's behalf, thinking to himself that Henry must feel like shit right now. When you finish with some clear glee on your face he chuckles, “Dirty bastard.” He paused, an expression flashing across his face that you’d never seen before. “...Did he delete the footage?”

You laugh, “Why? You want to see it?” You half expected his face to fall at that accusation but a grin just cut wide on his face. “I deleted it.” you shoot him down.

“Well then, that’s a wasted opportunity. You never know when that kind of thing can be of use.” He spoke whilst standing up, pulling the lever under his chair up to return it to the height he needed it, not the one you did to ride him. He moved to begin sorting his desk out but his hands stuttered, not sure where to even begin with how behind on work he was. 

“Cold, Afton.” You grin. “You didn’t actually let me finish.” That caught his attention again and he turned to face you, leaning back on his desk before gesturing at you to continue. 

“I said I deleted it. Only fair, I wouldn’t want Mr Emily to feel… slighted.” You sigh, watching him look at you expectantly. You make him wait a fair while before you dig in your back pocket and clack a USB down on the desk next to him. The blooming smile on his face motivates you to ask him for a ‘favour’. 

Clearly there is something of a tension between the two co-owners. And that can be toxic to a business’ success. Though that’s probably not the real reason for you wanting to relieve it.

William moves to pick it up, but you quickly snatch it from the table, holding it between two fingers you drag it up under his chin. “You can have it… for whatever pervers reasons you really want it.”

“But?”

The saccharine look on your face as you speak is like hypnotism at its finest. “I like the idea of two men wanting me. Like I really like it.” you draw out your words for maximum effect.

He tilts his head back in laughter, “Of course you do.”

You’re not entirely happy with the implications of that. “Hey, at least I’m brave enough to ask for what I want.” 

“And you want to fuck him?” The words are quick and harsh off his tongue. “And you’re what, asking for my permission?” 

A short laugh escapes you. “No. But I do want to fuck him. But I don’t want to make you jealous, so maybe there’s a middle ground. If you get me?” He evidently does, judging by that delicious pinch between his brows. For a moment you think you’ve pushed things a little too far, maybe hit a nerve even, so you just blink at him prettily, hoping that that will nudge him in the direction you want. 

Finally, he sniggers, “... You’re asking me… If I will tag-team you. With a bloke I've known for nearly twenty years?” He laughs incredulously before running his tongue over his teeth. The emphasis of the last part makes you resign yourself to the no, you think you’re about to hear.

“Uh yeah..?” Your tone is as cautious as you can make it, whilst your eyes rake over his face for some read of his opinion on the matter. 

But he just leaves you hanging, sniggering away. Clearly he’s made a decision and you won’t get to know until he thinks you need to. 

~

Later that evening after grabbing his old and dusty but trusty jacket off the hook in his office, Henry checks the pocket for his car keys and wallet. Sighing as the events of the day caught up to him, he finally clocks off just after 11pm, and he’s more than ready to fall into bed. 

He pokes his head around the door of William’s office just to give him the polite goodnight that was expected but is greeted by pitch black emptiness. He tries not to be pissed off that the bastard has gone home already and left him working away without a word exchanged. But it's largely unsuccessful, and he finds himself huffing and puffing as he goes to the front of the building to check everythings been locked up properly.

The restaurant always hits different after hours, an unacquainted person would probably find it creepy what with the children’s play area all shrouded in darkness and the curtains drawn on the stage blowing just a little from the ventilation. Hell, he was beginning to find it unnerving himself. 

The interior doors were locked and bolted and the shutters were down, making this whole thing a little pointless, but if he hadn’t checked he’d be halfway home itching with uncertainty. Especially with the robbery that just happened. 

“You know you could have just checked from outside?” A voice says in the dark of the restaurant, making Henry turn like a gunshot towards it. It takes him a minute in his surprise to clap his eyes on William sitting in a corner booth with his feet on the table. In the complete fucking dark. 

“Jesus, William.” He snaps, moving to the wall to flick the lights back on. When he does, the lurker winces in the bright artificial light. “What are you doing?” 

In response, he slides a bottle of whiskey across the table, one that he’d drunk nearly half of already. “Drinking.” His words are a little slurred so he clears his throat. “Drink with me, Henry.” 

Henry scoffs, “Drinking alone in the dark. New low, even for you.” 

Cackling, William puts his hand over his heart, “Ouch. Well, I'm not alone now, am I? Sit down.” He gestures in line with his words, nodding towards the other side of the booth. 

“It’s late, I should-” He begins his protest but is immediately cut off by an overexaggerated reaction from his counterpart. 

“Oh for the love of god, man. Fucking sit down.” He rolls his eyes, still not moving his feet from the table, even when Henry obeys and sits down opposite him. In Henry’s experience it’s best not to argue with William when he’s half-cut, the man could be persuasive, bordering on naggy.  

It’s only when he’s already sat down that he realises the drunk has only got one glass, he pours it for Henry and then takes a swig directly from the bottle. 

“Thought you were saving this for a special occasion?” He asks, twisting the bottle to read the label and humming approval to himself that this was good shit. Truth be told he hasn’t drunk with William for what must be a couple of years, so this proposal mixed with his posh whiskey stank of an ulterior motive. 

“I’m sick of looking at it.” He answered, slowly leaning his head backwards to rest it against the wall and close his eyes. Henry watched the movement over the brim of his glass. He spent many years working with this man, but it only dawned on him once in a while how handsome he was. Not a hallmark prince kind of handsome, but in a rugged, sleazy, scary sort of way, no wonder you’d trotted so happily to bed with him- or rather to his office on your lunch break. He almost laughed as that thought occurred to him. God, he was jealous, and he hated himself for it. 

Suddenly, William shook his head and sat up straighter. “Fuck, I’m nearly mortal.” He snickered, before taking another swig from the bottle, then pouring more in Henry's glass. "Away, mate. You've got catching up to do." 

Although he tried, Henry would have needed another bottle to make it to William’s level of pissed. Still though, a little over an hour later his head was swimming and even just sitting in this booth was testing his balance. 

He shifts in his place, instantly regretting it “Shit. God… I need to stop. Gonna fucki-” He felt like he was going to hit the deck, yet William seemed to have gone the other way, leaning with his head in his hands giggling at nothing. 

“Language, Emily!” He chastised, “Never known you to have such a dirty mouth.” Looking over at the other man, William could tell he’d drunk well too much. He never could handle it that well, it showed immediately in his eyes, that kind of glassy look that was undeniably due to intoxication; many times the two of them had gotten denied service from pubs for exactly that reason. 

His words made Henry look up properly, a bit taken aback by his coworker. Obviously, he was joking, hardly a sentence from William could go by without some flavour of profanity, but that ‘dirty mouth’ comment was like ice down his spine. He said something like that to you when he eavesdropped on the two of you, in such a darkly aroused way that it stuck with him, practically haunting him. “Just shut up, man.” He mumbled, unhappy with the half a smile crossing his face.

William scoffed, leaning forward across the table to snatch the glasses off Henry’s face. He tried to grab them back, but as always, Will was too quick. 

“What the hell are you-”

He laughed, putting the glasses on himself and blinking quickly in pantomime, “God, you’re really fucking blind, huh?” 

Unable to stop himself from smiling, Henry leans to again try and take them back. He's met with William tilting his head to allow him to pluck them from his face, chuckling like a schoolboy. 

Henry feels his face heat up more than he would have liked. “Yeah, that’s why I wear them. Fuck’s sake.” 

“I forgot you’re so moody on the drink, lighten up, dickhead.”

For a moment Henry just laughed in disbelief, thinking to himself that he can’t be serious. “At least it’s only when I’m drinking, you’re a stormy bastard all the time.” Will’s eyebrows raised in response, he didn’t have a lot to say to that, largely because it’s true. His mood could sway the whole staff’s, his bad day was everyone’s problem, most of all Henry’s. 

William hummed for a beat, taking the time to think if he really wanted to say what he was about to. Your words from earlier echoing in his mind. “You’re right, you know.” He smirked then, a proper conniving expression that almost bordered on sinister. “I’ll have to make it up to you then… Call in on me tomorrow. I have something for you.” 

~

And now is the waiting game. Your shift went relatively quickly and painlessly. Bookings have been strictly limited after yesterday's fiasco that led to the thief digging around the cash register, so it was almost quiet. And now you sit on your boss’s very familiar knee, practically vibrating with excitement. You lean your head back to rest on his shoulder, slowly grinding your hips back and forth on his lap, knowing how much it wound him up. 

“You really can’t wait, can you?” His voice is low and teasing like always, but you don’t miss the way his fingers tap against the top of the desk: he’s nervous. 

You smile, “What? I’m excited.” You roll your hip particularly hard, pleasure jolts through your system when you feel that William is pretty excited himself. “I can’t believe he agreed to this. I’ve always wanted to have two blokes fight over me.” You punctuate your point by pressing your lips against the underside of his jaw. 

He snickers from just above you, “Can I tell you something?” A large hand comes up from your ribs to grab a handful of your breast which you arch your back into. “He didn’t exactly agree.” The second the sentence leaves him, you sit upright, turning to face him. 

Your eyes narrow. “What are you saying?” 

“I told him I have something for him, not that-” Your scoffing cuts him off .

“You- he doesn’t know that I’m here to… You’re such a fucking arsehole!” You could almost hit him, if Henry has no idea what this is all about, it’s not going to happen is it? Disappointment courses through you. “I can’t believe you-” You go to stand and grab your shit and leave, but he catches your hips and pulls you back down on top of him. 

He holds you firm, just grinning at the angry line between your brows. “Calm down, sweetheart. Alright? Just bat your eyes at him like you’re so good at and you’ll get what you want.”

Just as you open your mouth to give Will your grievances, the two of you hear polite knocking from the office door which then slowly cracks open showing a tentative looking Henry. 

The second he claps eyes on not only William but you too, the man feels anxiety prickle all over him as a million thoughts cross his mind. Seriously, what the fuck is this? Some kind of gang up on Henry, make him feel like shit for what he did the other day, situation? Fuck, the shame around him was not only tangible but so thick it was practically visible. 

But not wanting to draw attention to his hallway activity, he elects for a “Oh hey, y/n.” Before he focuses his gaze on William, “What is this then?” 

He laughs, “I said I had something for you…” William then takes his hands off your hips, freeing you to move as you’d like. But before you do, he whispers something unintelligible to Henry in your ear. Something that makes the hard line of your mouth soften considerably. 

“Well, love. You still want to play?” The words caress your skin and it dawns on you that you do. Fuck, you really want to play. And you’ve already gone to all this effort… it would be a shame to waste such an opportunity. You nod at William and slide off his lap, then walking over to Henry who still stood awkwardly a pace away from the door. 

You walk right up to him, standing a little too close to him, so close he feels an automatic blush spread across his cheeks. “I uh…” you begin but falter immediately. The confusion on his face was crystal clear. “I can’t get that image of you out of my head. You know, the footage?... I think I enjoyed that more than a normal person should. I thought maybe we could have some fun- if that’s what you want, obviously.” You keep your voice down instinctively, maybe hoping internally it’d be out of William’s earshot. 

He killed that thought with, “Careful, y/n. His glasses will steam up.” The cockiness coating the words made the other man scowl, which in turn just made Will laugh. 

“Shut it, Will.” You interject, your eyes not moving from Henry as you read him for reaction. 

“...This really isn’t a good idea.” He speaks slowly, voice cracking on the first word, making him have to clear his throat to continue. This was baffling, and he couldn’t tell if it was some sick joke between you and William, something designed to cripple him emotionally. But looking closer, from your small smile to his set jaw made him think that maybe, maybe this was a real proposal. 

“Respectfully,” you take another step forward, so close to Henry that you could smell his aftershave. “I disagree.” Your hand rises up to rest on his chest, a finger prying under the lapel of his jacket.  

He chuckles in complete disbelief, flicking his eyes over to William, who still sat cock-sure as hell in his office chair.  “Don’t look at me, mate. This is all her.” He waves a calculatedly dismissive hand as he speaks, trying to disguise the tension he was wrapped in.   

“Yeah but…” The words fail Henry when you continue touching him, stroking his chest in just the right way to get the physical reaction from him that you wanted. “If I do something, are you going to rough me up?” He attempts some level of nonchalance, but it doesn’t carry at all. 

William sniggers then, “I think she’ll do a good enough job of that on her own.” You giggle, curling your fingers under the lapel and pulling Henry so close that your lips are only an inch away from his making him groan slightly. 

“So what do you say, Henry?” You breathe, already knowing the answer but wanting to make sure that this is something that he wanted. He doesn’t respond verbally, only closing the gap between the two of you with a surprisingly firm kiss. You reciprocate, excitement bubbling in your core, this was insane, not only was it two handsome men here with you at once, but both your bosses, this was certainly going to bollocks up your professional relationships. 

You take both Henry’s hands and place them on your hips, giving him all the cues to deepen this kiss, which he does by sliding his tongue into your mouth and twirling it alongside yours. You let out a light moan, if he kept hitting you with all these surprises this was going to be even more fun than you initially thought. When you press yourself flush against him, it strikes him out of nowhere that this is real, you, pretty little you, were kissing him, pressing against him hungrily, eager for him. It excites him enough for his hands to rake over you, one cupping your tit and the other pinching your arse in such a way that makes you briefly rise to your toes. 

You mouth the word ‘fuck’ against his lips before he puls away slightly and buries his head in the crook of your neck, kissing along your skin until he found your sweet spot. Your hand tangles itself in his hair, encouraging him to keep pulling these cute noises from you. One particularly pretty gasp for you makes him look up, instantly catching William’s eye, his stomach twisting when he sees him chuckling and shaking his head. You grab under his chin, forcing him to put his attention back on you. 

You look over your shoulder, “Have you got a confused jealousy boner, Will?” 

He laughs at your meanness, “If I have to watch, at least put on a show.” You grin before turning back to Henry, intending to follow his advice. You lightly push Henry back until his back catches a side table, there you trail your hand down his body before taking the tent in his trousers in your hand, making him groan again, the sound vibrating through his chest. 

You begin to stroke him slowly over the fabric, grinning up at him, “Fuck, that security footage was so hot, Henry.” You bite your bottom lip and he swears he’s going to melt. “Will you show me in person?”

You feel his cock twitch and it spurs on the wetness now seeping between your legs and collecting in your panties. His hands replace yours, moving to slowly undo his belt, the clinking sound all too revealing, then his fly underneath. You dive in then, helping him pull his trousers down. Flicking your gaze between his eyes and his cock, you trail your finger over the bulge, stopping just at the waistband of his boxers and making him wait in anticipation before you hook your fingers under the fabric and pull them down, letting his hardness spring between your bodies. 

The look on your face is so damn dirty, your pupils so huge that he just blinks at you, gasping when you grab hold of him, feeling his length. He’s thick and you just know he’s going to feel so fucking right inside you. Spitting in your hand, you start a slow pace of stroking him, all teasing, really making him feel every little thing you give him, his twisting expression motivating you to keep it nice and easy. 

“This enough of a show for you?” You say to William, and Henry turns to look at him like he forgot he’s there. 

“Please, sweetheart. I know you can do better than that.” He makes a point of looking the two of you up and down before glancing at Henry and flashing the most wolfish smirk going, making his stomach twist with something absolutely filthy. 

William watches as you grin, his hand taking hold of himself over his trousers. You look such a pretty thing sliding down to your knees, still pumping Henry, though now it was becoming a more substantial pace. His breath audibly hitched when he looked down at the sight of you stroking his cock like that, looking so needy for it. You open your mouth, placing the head of his cock on your tongue for a moment before wrapping your lips around him. You suck him just as tantalisingly, hollowing your cheeks to take as much of him as you could, working your tongue perfectly on the underside of his length. His head was completely empty, soft grunts escaping him when you took him deep in your throat. How the fuck was this even happening? How the fuck was William okay with it? 

From across the room, you both hear the shifting of him standing up, your eyes move to what you could see of him in your peripheral but you don’t stop, if anything you start bobbing your head with more gusto, your hands taking his base and softly stroking him to your rhythm. Henry just stares at William, his hands white knuckling against the table in an effort not to cry out- god, you’re too fucking good at this. No wonder he’s so fond of you. 

William stands behind you, his frame casting an imposing shadow over you on the floor, you can’t help but smile- well, smile as much as you can. He looks between the two of you, watching you give Henry probably the best blowjob of his life, before looking back to Henry’s reddened face, he could tell he’s biting the inside of his cheek, which makes him snigger. He grabs hold of your hair, taking a firm grip of it and following your movement. 

Henry moans and the shame that accompanies it is almost instant. What the hell was he doing? His scrutiny was fucking awful and maybe would’ve made him want to stop, if you weren’t taking him so well. 

“She’s such a good girl, huh?” His voice makes your skin pucker with goosebumps, fuck he sounds so good when he’s horny. 

Henry would have agreed, but all words are absent when Will uses your hair to control your movement. A sudden emerging urge to hear what kind of sounds Henry can make taking over him. You moan, hand reaching in reflex around his wrist, though you let him do as he wishes. He pushed your head further down on Henry’s cock, making tears spring at the corners of your eyes. And then moves you back and forth, forcing you to keep up with it. Something about it is so dirty you can’t help but shift your position so your pussy is rubbing against your heel, the small sensation absolute bliss.   

William catches on quickly and pulls your head back so Henry’s cock pops lewdly from your mouth. You speak immediately, your voice breathy, “Feeling left out?” 

Henry watches in something close to awe as William tilts your head all the way back so you’re looking up at him, his finger rubbing over your lips, the smirk on his face mean. “I agreed to share, not witness.” He leans down and pulls your shirt up, somehow managing to manoeuvre it over your head easily, despite the carnage. He waits, unsure of what to do, his cock glistening with your spit when he takes it in his hand, looking to see your bra being unhooked and the sight of your perfect tits. 

William hooks under your arms and lifts you up, in quite the show of strength, onto the side table. You giggle, “You’re not very good at sharing then.” as you look between the two men, your legs spreading automatically to let William pull your trousers off, your wet panties exposed, he runs his fingers over the damp fabric eliciting a pleased sound from both you and Henry who now touched himself at the view in front of him. 

“You really liked sucking his dick, didn’t you?” His tone is all mocking, though you pick up on a hint of something else. You just nod and lift your hips up against his hand, he obeys your silent ask, quickly sliding your knickers down to your knees and placing his thumb on that needy clit of yours. He gives you just what you need, drawing circles over your bundle of nerves, glancing at Henry whilst he does so, catching his gaze as it flicks from somewhere else, embarrassment written on his face.   

He shakes his head at him before placing his hands on your thighs to keep you open for him as he bends down and replaces the stimulation with his tongue. You grab him instantly, and your want for him makes Henry stroke his cock again, he almost wants to laugh at this attempt to show off, but there’s no denying the look on your face as you roll your hips against him, incoherent moans fleeing your lips. Clearly, William is good at that because when he adjusts his position to press his fingers inside you, you cry out, the sound insanely pornographic. He presses his digits inside you just right, playing you like a fucking violin and you’re close, just the sight of Henry watching could have got you there, but the angle of his fingers pressed against the part of you that made coming undone inevitable. 

William grunts into your pussy, when your hand in his hair lets him know you’re going to cum. You’re a bad one for that, grabbing onto him in your fretful wave, when you’re scared he’s not going to let you get there, his back is covered in scratches from you for precisely that reason. He grabs at himself, palming his erection to the rhythm of your noises and not entirely succeeding. Henry notices immediately, unable to decide what he wants to watch more, you gagging for it, begging to cum, or Will getting off on it.

“Fuck. Will, please.” You choke out, the fucking of his fingers shoving you closer and closer to your end, so quick its near unbearable. He doesn’t stop, curling his fingers more to get you there, still sucking mercilessly on your clit. It hits you hard, your back arching as you cum, your walls clenching tightly around his fingers, fluttering in such a way that it makes it impossible not to bust inside you.

William pulls away from you when your waves begin to die out, to enjoy the sight of you, grinning when he sees Henry looking ragged. 

You see it too, the furrowed brow, sweat lingering on his forehead showing that he’d enjoyed that nearly as much as you had, edging himself helplessly to your pleasure. You can see the precum leaking from his tip and even though you’ve just cum you want more. You want to make him cry. 

“Henry…” The second you say his name he quivers, he remembers your voice sounding like that from before, but the glazed over, fucked out look on your face is new. “Can you fuck me?” You’re sitting up on the table as you speak, your cunt flushed and shining. And you certainly don’t need to ask twice. 

You stand and push him down so he’s sitting in William’s chair, not missing the pissed off look on Will’s face that screams ‘what about me?’.

You straddle Henry facing out towards William, blinking pretty at him whilst rubbing your slick pussy against the other’s cock. Hoping he gets the practicality of this position. Reading your mind, he steps forward, taking your chin in his grip as his foot reaches under the chair to push the lever up, causing you and Henry to drop down roughly to a much more useful height. Henry moans, the jolting movement making him drag against your cunt in the most desperate way. 

It’s not long before you’re lost in the obliteration of two fellas at once. Henry’s thick cock deep inside you, stretching you around him. His hands cup under your behind to give him the space he needs to fuck up into you. You’re whining from it, loving the feeling of his pace, or you would be, if not for your lips being wrapped around William’s cock stifling the sound.

If anyone was outside the door in the former's previous position, they might fall victim to the same impulse he did. The lewd sounds of one using your mouth like his fucktoy and the other fucking out your dripping pussy, no doubt very obvious. As is the mixture of grunts and moans. You can't help but be so thankful for coming across that footage.

[aspoonofsugar]

The Third Wolf

Jabberwalker: YES! READY! STARVING! TAKING!

So, this volume is just LRRH masked as Alice in Wonderland, as you can discover by reading this. Still, there is something missing from my previous post. Or at least, I came up with a theory, which imo complements it well.

In short, Ruby's story this volume centers around 3 Wolves:

Neo

She stalks Ruby around, tortures her and manipulates her into killing herself. She waits for her in a cottage (a pink palace) in the woods and hides behind her illusions, which exhibit mismatched eyes (the Wolf's eyes giving him away).

Even when it comes to her main allusion, Neo being a Wolf fits. Trivia is just the Roman name for Hecate and what's Hecate's sacred animal? The Dog:

Neo is associated to the Jabberwalkers (dark and wolf-like creatures) in the Ever After (the Underworld). In short, the Jabberwalkers are her dogs (wolfs) and she herself is a wolf (dog-like creature).

The Curious Cat

Do I need to explain? (I did in the previous meta anyway :P) They meet LRRH in the woods, trick her while she is wandering around with a basket full of flowers (WBY) and lead her around to make sure she gets completely lost.

Finally, when Ruby reaches the cottage in the woods, they surprise her and try to eat her. Only to end up swallowing up an older woman and the owner of the house. Even when it comes to them possessing Neo, the design calls back to the Big Bad Wolf of the story:

Both the eyes and the mouth are different than Neo's usual ones. Just like the Wolf in the fairy tale is described having peculiar eyes and a peculiar mouth. These 2 attributes are even tied to the Cat completely negating who Neo is. After all, Ice Cream girl is defined by:

her mismatched eyes, which her parents forced her to hide

her muteness, which her parents and teachers forced her to compensate with devices

Right now, Neo has lost both. Her mismatched eyes are hidden by the Cat's ones and her mouth speaks.

Ruby's inner Darkness

The Wolf in LRRH is symbolic of the Jungian Shadow aka everything a person represses. The thing with the Shadow is that the most you try to ignore it, the more dangerous and stronger it becomes. Ruby has been living as the embodyment of life, which means she has been neglecting to tend to her own shadows. To her own feelings. To her own pain.

The result is her spiraling and being engulfed by Darkness. Still, this Darkness has not yet a real representation within the story, which brings us to:

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree And stood awhile in thought.

Interesting, the original poem mentions a fight between the hero and the monster by the Tumtum tree :P

What does the Jabberwalker represent, though? This creature is the only one, who can kill the Afterans. Why? I think because they thematically represent a loss of self:

The Tree is going to transform Afterans according to what they are and to what they want to become. This can lead to progression, like the Paper Pleasers or to regression, like the Red King, who turns into a Prince. Still, what happens if the creature just... can't figure themself out? What does happen if they choose to give up on any new possible identity?

In this case, they would choose to become nobody. They would decide to give in to anonimity, which is the opposite of self-individualization. Anonimity is a trait of Grimms, which are empty and try to fill themselves by praying on human negativity. In short, anonimity can be seen as a declination of Destruction. So, what if when Afterans can't figure themselves out... they end up becoming a Jabberwalker? Or what if the Jabberwalker is a body that collects all the souls who could not properly ascend, neither to regress nor to progress? A body with no proper identity, which can only jabber very basic and instinctive concepts, with no real meaning behind them?

After all, they very clearly allude to zombies, as RWBY even start calling them Walkers. And what are zombies if not people who lost their sense of self? And what do zombies do if not to spread an infection, which in this case is Destruction? Death?

The Tree is the path to self-actualization, so a person symbolically dies when they lose their sense of self completely. When they don't wanna become anything else. Only in this case, they really disappear and become nothing. Only in this case their existance is negated and amounts to nothing.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if this is what awaits Ruby as she is now. She doesn't wanna change. She wants to disappear. It is possible, then, she will risk to be swallowed by the Jabberwalker. It is possible she might become the Jabberwalker herself. A mindless Wolf. Still, obvious foreshadowing is obvious:

The moment Ruby is about to get killed by Neo's Jabberwalker, her whole team comes to her rescue. This is clearly what is going to happen here, as well.

At the same time, I think what should help Ruby conquers this is also something else:

Penny's death has been eating at Ruby throughout the whole volume. It is the news of her loss, which starts Ruby's spiral and her friend keeps appearing everywhere in the Ever After and Ruby's mind. So, obviously she needs to come to terms with this. Ruby needs catharsis and right now I think @hamliet theory is right: only Jaune can give it to Ruby.

Right now, Ruby thinks Penny died by negating herself, by choosing to be nothing out of a death wish. Still, this isn't true. Penny died as herself. It is tragic, but she still managed to affirm her own personhood. She chooses friendship and trust over duty and control. Penny dies, but she doesn't become a "Jabberwalker". She isn't undone into nothing, but on the contrary she "ascends" into gold. Ruby needs to realize this. She needs to realize the kind of person Penny was. And she needs to realize what she herself is doing now is the opposite of how Penny lived and died.

I think such a realization might give Ruby catharsis and inspire her to move on. In general, it would work very well thematically on multiple levels and for multiple characters:

It means Penny symbolically saves Ruby, which would be just a beautiful conclusion to their bond. Ruby is the one who recognizes Penny's personhood first, so it makes sense for Penny to indirectly do the same for Ruby. She inspires her into becoming an idealistic adult.

It means symbolically Ruby's child self saves her. It is that purest and most idealistic part of herself that comes through for Ruby when she needs it.

It gives catharsis to Jaune, as well. It turns out what he was hiding out of pain and shame is the key to save Ruby.

It foreshadows what Jaune will probably have to do in the finale aka conveying to Cinder Pyrrha's teaching about destiny. He can start practicing with Ruby.

It completes the parallel between Jaune/Pyrrha and Ruby/Penny nicely. In volume 5 Jaune's suicidal charge is interrupted when he realizes this is not what Pyrrha did. Here Ruby should realize what she is doing is not what Penny did.

In general, it just works very well with the theme of grief explored this volume. Right now, Ruby has been going through the 5 stages of grief twice, in a neverending spiral:

Episode 1 > negation > Penny's death is hidden and Ruby refuses to talk about it

Episode 2 > bargaining > Ruby needs to bargain for Penny's sword and eventually she bargains the sword to meet the Red King and talks about her feelings for Penny by doing so

Episode 3 > anger > Ruby gets angry at the Red Prince and shouts at him in frustration

Episode 4 > depression > Ruby is undone by Herb's hallucinations

Episode 5 > acceptance > Ruby meets the Blacksmith and is confronted by Penny and Summer's ghosts, but fails to reach true acceptance

So she starts the cycle again

Episode 5 > bargaining > Ruby bargains Summer's emblem to help her friends and mentions "a mother's promise"

Episode 6 > negation > Ruby doesn't even see Summer Rose's reflection in the gallery of mirrors

Episode 7 > anger > Ruby lashes out at others

Episode 8 > depression > Ruby is overwhelmed by her pain and attempts suicide

I think episode 9 and 10 should be acceptance, true acceptance this time. I also think it would be cool if we have a call back to volume 6.

When Ruby uses her silver eyes there, the last 2 people she sees are Penny and then Summer:

Penny leads Ruby to Summer. I think here should be the same one way or the other. Acceptance over Penny should help Ruby face her feelings for Summer. After all, the majority of the narration in the trailer is still missing, which means we should get it in these final 2 episodes. Basically, Summer is coming, one way or the other.

BAD WOLF, GOOD WOLF

Ruby risking to become/to be swallowed by the Jabberwalker would work also for another reason:

Turning Ruby into nothingness, forcing the light out of her to reduce her to a mindless puppet is probably what Salem wants to do. So, Ruby going through this same struggle now will give her the strength to face Salem and her Grimms Experiments when the time comes.

I think this whole volume has a meta-theme to it, which is how stories and fictions help people process trauma and grief. Both in healthy and unhealthy ways. I will write more about it when the season ends. As for now, let's say it is not by chance Ruby is going through her spiral in a fairy tale world, where she conveniently can't die. Imagine if Ruby had drunk poisoned tea on Remnant. She would have died for real. "Luckily" she only sips tree tea, which will be no fatal to her. The metaphorical meaning is clear, right? Ruby is symbolically rereading a fairy tale of he childhood. One her mom used to read ot her. She is rediscovering it from a more mature and darker perspective. She is processing through it all her pain, trauma and grief. Still, she will come out stronger from this. So stronger she will manage to face the challenges of the real world and to survive to them.

So, how is this transformation gonna manifest? Obviously Ruby is gonna come out as herself, once again. Still, if her inner transformation has to be shown, I would like for it to happen through Little:

Mouse Leader: And on this day, we were not the prey, but the hunters!

The Mice Hunters tried to warn us and RWBY since the beginning. Beware of CATS! Still, they also claimed the prey is gonna be the hunter ;)

Now, this can become true in many different ways without Little having to change. Still, I like the idea of Little changing to metaphorically show Ruby's evolution. But if this is gonna happen, then which kind of form should they take?

Little is Ruby's child self, but also an animal-shaped companion. Basically, they represent an inner beast. It is just that at the beginning of the volume Ruby's inner beast is too immature because she is refusing to integrate with her shadow.

So, a more refined version of Little should maintain Little and Ruby's idealism, but also be wiser and show that Ruby has started to integrated with her repressed self. What better form than a Little Wolf, then?

After all:

The Hunter > The Huntress

Little Red Riding Hood > Ruby Rose

The Wolf? > Little

Ruby is unbalanced because she has refused her inner wolf all this time, so what better use can she make of it if not to change it into strength that protects her child self. To use all that repressed energy to refine herself, instead than negating who she is?

And on a light-hearted note... what is better than a wolf to hunt a Curious Cat?

(By the way, this can work well even in the case Neo stays in the Ever After with Juniper and Little. Juniper could be the March Hare to her Mad Hatter and Little might be the Dog to her Hecate) > thanks to @lintuwaterfall for suggesting this

[4thelivingdead]

What is the timeline for this au? :3

I have a more detailed timeline with dates in Excel, but I don't have it rn so here's a shorter one (which is still really REALLY long). thanks for the ask!!! spoilers 4 everything second chances...

Before the animatronics

Part 1 - William's childhood

-Due to the brainwashing, William thinks he lives in a mansion with "his parents and his four siblings" -- there's a forest nearby & William and his "father" go there to hunt animals frequently. William starts going to the forest by himself, and when he's 13, he encounters a ghost kid with a golden bear mask near to the altar of a missing child.

-In the late 40s, William is born in England. He's taken away by Shadow Bonnie when he's a baby, but she brainwashes him into thinking he's still with his family. (this is the #parasiteshadow concept)

-Angry at the ghost, he goes back to the altar and destroys it. But then Shadow Bonnie takes the shape of this ghost kid, and scares William so much he breaks free from her control. Realizing his whole life was a lie -- he didn't have a family and the Afton mansion was never there -- he loses his mental stability

-William discovers Remnant since that's what Shadow Bonnie's made of, and investigates it. By experimenting with it, he manages to create the "Fear gas" that he uses to brainwash other people the way she did to him (this device is used as a McGuffin A LOT)

Part 2

-Years later, when William is 19, he goes to college in USA and meets Henry. He's working on his first ever human-sized animatronic, Fredbear, which reminds William of that ghost he saw. So he becomes obsessed with Henry thinking he's related to his past somehow. Despite this, Henry & William become good friends bc they relate to each other

First pizzeria

-William and Henry open Fredbear's Family Diner, with the only animatronics being Springbonnie and Fredbear at the beginning, but they add Chica, Bonnie, Freddy & Foxy later. William modeled Springbonnie after Shadow Bonnie

-William marries his gf Verna, and Henry marries his friend Barbara. William & Verna have a "opposites atract" kinda relationship, that's fun at the beginning but that gets worse and worse as times passes. Henry & Barbara married just to hide each other's actual preference, but they do get along well

-William cheats on Verna with a former classmate, Lorraine

-Sammy and Charlotte are born

-William and Verna get divorced

-Five years later, William kidnaps two children for the fear experiments:

Michael Brooks (neglected teen that follows Will into his car when he's using the Fredbear suit).

Melissa (also a neglected child, she saw Michael being kidnapped but got caught by Will when she was looking for help)

-They become Michael Afton & Melissa Afton (CC)

-Michael also becomes William's accomplice and:

They build the Funtimes

the Bite of 83 happens.

he kidnaps Charlotte, and she becomes Elizabeth Afton. (#fakeelizabeth) Lorraine witnesses this and William kills her, Lorraine then possesses Ballora. (#scrapballora)

-Aditionally, William kills Garrett & he possesses the Puppet. He also kills the Kids(tm) and they possess the gang as usual. He then injects their Remnant into the Funtimes which makes them act erratically. He opens Ballora Pizza World but it's a very exclusive, rich people thing

-Obviously Fredbear's closes after all that. Fortunately Henry (kinda) realizes what's happening and helps Michael escape from William by hiding him with Verna somewhere far. Unfortunately William passes that as Henry kidnapping Mike and pins all of his crimes on him and his grandma /j

Second pizzeria

Part 1

-Henry is cleared from the kidnapping and murder charges due to a lack of proof and opens a new pizzeria, Freddy's Fazbear Pizza, with the Freddy, Bonnie, Foxy and Chica from the previous establishment...

-William runs away with Elizabeth after Ballora Pizza World falls apart since everybody knows the owner's a killer. and they change their names. This is when William adopts Vanessa, mainly to spy on the people from Hurricane without potentially revealing himself (#aftonshellyfam)

-Meanwhile Henry is building the Charliebots & living with kid-bot Charlie bc he thinks the real Charlotte is dead. Barbara left with Sammy after an incident (Sammy got hurt when playing with kid Charlie and Henry helped the bot instead of his son smh).

-Vanessa tells this to William and they steal the Fourth Charlie. William makes her into Circus Baby

-When Elizabeth is 19 she gets crushed to death by Circus Baby when trying to protect Vanessa from her (ice cream scene almost happens but with Ness). Elizabeth becomes Fake Charlie

-Henry steals Fake Charlie back, and tries to modify her so she looks like his vision of Adult Charlie again. Shadow Bonnie leaves William momentarily to feed on Henry's despair, taking the form of Fake Charlie. This makes Henry thinks she's evil, and he locks her away, not knowing Charlotte's in there

-William gets worse bc Shadow Bonnie has left. He tells Vanessa all about her crimes so she can kill people w him (he hasn't directly killed anyone since he left Hurricane) and she tries to escape but he threatens to hurt her friends if she does

Part 2

-Hearing that Will is gone, Michael returns to Hurricane to investigate bc he wonders what was up w the Funtimes & if Lorraine was his mother. Due to having been brainwashed his memories are very blurry and he mistakes William's actions for Henry's and stuff. Specially since Will used Fredbear's suit when he kidnapped him, and Henry's living with Charlie bot -- the child Michael supposedly kidnapped to bring to his father. So he thinks Henry might be his father and that therefore he might be the criminal everyone fears in town,,

Then, Sister Location, Silver Eyes, FNaF 3 & everything happens.. but as you probably can tell it's still kind of a fractured Mess, so I'll leave the timeline here for now!!!

[dalekofchaos]

Why Sammy Emily should be the CEO of Fazbear Entertainment and the villain of the new era of FNAF

In the Silver Eyes trilogy, Freddy's co-founder Henry Emily has two children. Charlie and Sammy. At first we thought William killed Sammy, then we later find out that Charlie was the one he killed, Charlie is remade via Charliebots and Sammy just lives with his mother.

The games have never alluded to Sammy's existence. The story was not thought out in FNAF 2, but it's suggested The Puppet was originally meant to be possessed by a boy as the Give Cake minigame says "SAVEHIM" so maybe Sammy was meant to be The Puppet. TSET most likely made Scott change his mind and switched to Charlie.

Now what if the fate of Sammy in the books happens in the games. Imagine this. Your father abandons you. Your sister's death is all he thinks about. He lets his pain and grief consume him and leaves you and your mother behind. Throughout your life you are bitter over what your father did and decides to rebuild what his father destroyed, but better.

Sammy is the heir of Fazbear Entertainment and those who want to rebuild the brand would flock to Sammy.

Sammy being the new villain of the franchise would slap. Think of it.

Imagine the story of a kid who's father forgot about him over the grief of his preferred child, Charlie. With Sammy having to grow up in the shadow of his grieving father, always third in his mind two his two favorite kids. His daughter and his business. Imagine if in the story that Henry had rubbed off on Sammy in the worst way possible. And that all Sammy learned from his father is how to step on other people in the ladder to success, which Sammy deciding to use his anger and neglect to not only just walk the way of his dad, no, but to take the extra step and do it better. With Sammy becoming a very successful businessman, growing industry lead tech companies, while his dad and the company he had started just rotted alone in the dark and that is the catalyst for the new era of FNAF when Sammy found out his father had died in a fire in his own crummy little restaurant, Sammy saw it as an opportunity to strike. Using whatever legal leverage he had as the son of the former of Fazbear Entertainment, along with his exuberant amount of cash and influence to reconstruct the company his dad once owned. But unlike his dad, who always wanted to keep the franchise in a cheap and nostalgic past, Sammy was going to take the company to the future. But how exactly? By doing the opposite of his father and dancing with the trauma the franchise had endured. Sammy knowing that the company was a national pariah at this point, but instead of trying to cover it up as previous owners of the franchise had done, he decided to run full force with it. With Sammy commissioning a series of Indie Horror Games to jump on the growing popularity of the franchise becoming a trendy creepypasta/urban legends fodder. Sowing the seeds of well timed publicity stunts for the franchise and at the perfect moment bringing back the Pizzerias themselves, but with a modern twist. Not letting the nostalgia holding the franchise back like his father did, but instead using it as a springpath forward. With all this bringing us the Pizzaplex and Fazbear Entertainment that we all know today and all while creating new monsters within the Fazbear name to sell a profit.

Creating Glitchtrap to create the new boogeyman of the franchise and unintentionally creating Vanny. But to Sammy, a new killer means a new form of profit for Fazbear and further spitting on the memory of his father. You could even have the theory that Charlie is haunting the Pizzaplex as a means to stop her brother and using Gregory to help stop him. Or why not go all the way? Why not make Sammy unwittingly responsible for everything? Have Sammy being the one who locked Charlie out of Fredbear's on that dark and stormy night and this new story is a battle between a cold hearted soulless businessman and a vengeful sister seeking to bring everything he build down.

That would make for an amazing story and one hell of a direction to take the franchise in the future. Focusing on the unintended legacy and domino effects of the hurt that the characters of the past caused, instead of just pointlessly reviving them to pad out the future.

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

What do you think of MCs who literally abandon their goal for "love and family" when they're completely aware of the other party did to them/the original owner of the body? Like sometimes it feels like once they are reincarnated they start losing brain cells cuz Siyeon from Death is the only ending for the Villainess was aware that all of the male leads killed og!Penelope in previous routes and had every right to leave the game cause those people were worth it but when finally given the chance to leave after everything that happened She choose to stay because of Callisto.

And Athanasia finally ran away from her dad only to come back because she misses him? Ma'am did you forget what he did to og!athanasia. Also for your entire childhood you literally to had put a act so you wouldn't die by his hands and at what time was Claude a good parent. Never actually it was YOU putting effort into this father-daugther relationship while Claude just sat there. And you came back because you miss your dad who almost killed you when you were FIVE.

Sorry for going off but it literally pisses me when these girls have a valid reason to leave only to stay or came back because *resaons*.

MC forgiving her abusive love interest? I only like it if it's yandere level toxic and the narrator aknowledges that this is not a love story. MC forgiving her family? I don't like it. I generally dislike the trope where the MC forgives her abusive family even if the family was somewhat redeemable. This is why Beware of the Brothers or A Stepmother's Marchen didn't click for me.

Revenge will always be so much sweeter than forgiveness especially when the forgiveness is not hard earned and instead gets thrown after them for a basic act of kindness. I suppose it could be interesting to see a family repent for what they have done and suffer in equal measure to make up for the abuse they had inflicted on their child, but I have yet to see this kind of redemption in an Isekai. I'm also not sure if I would even enjoy it as I consider child abuse an unforgiveable offence. Their suffering wouldn’t undo the trauma they have inflicted on their daughter. They have ruined someone's key development phase and the least they could do is stay out of their daughter's life but no they have to be trying to insert themselves in it through various ways.

It's always the mc accommodating her behaviour to their needs. The only thing their families do is use money to fix their relationship and if we are lucky give a half-hearted apology to mc and amazingly it always works. What takes the cake is the lenghts the authors go to excuse their shitty behaviour ranging from poison to demons to "political neutrality???" to "I tHouGhT yOu DidN't liKe mE"/ She was to perfect at everything she did I didn't know how to treat her so I neglected her/ I had to traumatize her to protect her (<- grown man to a 12 y/o child) It's not sending a very great message tbh. And the trope is so common that it has become not only stale and boring but also increasingly annoying. Where is the payoff of mc learning a skill to escape her abuser only to give up said profession and become his obedient little housewife? All the manipulation and preparations for an escape seem pointless when the character decides to stay in the end. Image a heist movie where the characters plan a heist for 2 seasons and then not go through with it.

And sometimes revenge makes more sense. The more snippets I read of the novel the more I'm convinced that Claude was miscast as a father, he was made to be a villain and I stand by that. He doesn't pull off the role of a father believably anyways.

MC sucking up to a more powerful man instead of becoming independent seems outdated and anti feminist. Athy raising an army and dethroning her father and Penelope dancing on the ashes of the Eckart mansion after she has killed them all is what I want to see and not them becoming dependent on the very people who have murdered them. How could they ever feel safe in the arms of someone who had broken their trust and made them fear for their life? How would Penelope feel to watch Duke Eckart play the loving grandpa/her brothers be nice uncles to her daughter when she knew the kind of abuse they were capable of? Wouldn’t it hurt her how different their treatment is and that her family was capable to treat a non-blood related child well but choose not to?

In Athy's and Penelope's case it's even worse because they were the person who was tortured and killed. They have a very personal reason not to go back to them but chose to do it anyway. If 15 y/o Athy had gone back to Claude I could understand it somewhat, but our Athy is mentally an adult from modern day Korea and has seen how healthy family relationships look like. The same goes for Cha Siyeon. Why give up on your abusive family in Korea and then go back to an arguable even worse abusive family in the game world? She should have known better. I thought she was a rational person. Love made them dumb. She chose to stay in a medieval world where all her personal connections are men who have traumatized her, when she could have gone back to the real world to her friends who valued her and the prestigious university she tried so hard to get into.

[bishiglomper]

Cannot sleeeeeep. Have to w h i i i i n e

Woke up to stabbies. Been getting these electrical stabs the last couple weeks. Figure its fibro. I dont see why it would be my new pill. But my body picks a spot and then it feels like im being STUNG. REPEATEDLY. Tonight its the opposite spot of my scar's location.

And i hear beeping. I think its bro's alarm. He does not wake up easily. If i tell him to turn it off, he will and go back to sleep.

And the nephew keeps turning on the hallway light.

And I'm obsessing over a niece issue.

Bong water has not been using a litterbox. They're upstairs, i think she just isn't going upstairs anymore.

Conversation with niece went like:

"I picked up 2 piles of poop from bong water last night."

"You can take her back to my apartment whenever you want"

"Are you going to be there?"

"Nope."

"If i bring a litterbox down, will you help me clean it?"

"I dont do the litterbox at MY house."

Bitch. You do not deserve a fucking cat. Or any pet. She killed her rats from neglect.

If i wasnt so against returning poor helpless furbabies to the shelter for insignificant reasons...........

But also we already have FOUR CATS. We were supposed to stop at Cinderbelle. But then Pantera, Pooka and Reno happened....

We cannot own another cat. It's already been a month. If the landlord notices... 😣 We've babysat other animals before but like i said its been a month. Niece doesnt seem to have plans for leaving either. I guess shes fine paying rent for an empty house and just sleeping on our couch forever. If we kick her out, she'll just couch surf. At least her boyfriend is in jail.....ffs

I barely have the executive function to clean MY cats litterboxes, and they're right outside my door. For just this purpose. I'm not gonna be able to do a downstairs one. I cannot tote the container of litter between flights. Just. No.

I dont think i can tell her friend (original owner of bw) to take her because she lives with a toxic af mother and i dont think the situation is safe.

SO, WHAT DO D:

Also the house is so bad. Made worse by now cat shit all over the place. But everyone is really struggling physically, and between the house and our own bodies, our mental health is fucked up too.

Moms stomach is fucked. She does not want to eat. She does. She resorts to junk food when she gets hungry but i cant complain because she wont let us feed her otherwise.

And sissy fucked up her back. I dont know what all shes doing for it but shes done muscle relaxants, back brace and tens unit occassionally. She refuses a heating pad for some reason.

Lately my symptoms are fibro shit, stomach pain, asthma, a strained/tired back, and tachycardia. The tachicardia is the worst because it kicks up when I get up. And eat. It settles down when i rest. Also the asthma. Just going up/down the stairs makes me do this dry throat clearing kind of cough for the next 10 minutes after the tiniest pinch of exertion. And I've woken up gasping a few nights.

Those two need to see some fuckin doctors. Mine can't do anything for me, but at least I jump through those fuckin hoops. I see everyone. All the specialists. I'm trying my best here. I have some major flaws that im sure frustrate the family, but this irritates me that they won't see people.

Mom especially. The only appointments she has are for literal surgical consults and she flaked on ONE situation already. Next one is for somethig else. No idea if she'll ever do anything about her previous issue she needs fixed 🙄😤

And also my sister is going blind and has high blood pressure but won't take her medicine. Her reasoning is because then she'll have to order more and go through setting it up and shit. Executive function issues i guess. Mom has been setting it up and giving it to her but i never remember and sometimes she forgets too.

Like do you know how many pills i take to have some semblance of function and not die? This is also frustrating to see.

I don't know what to do about any of this.

If we got rid of the cat, the niece would disown us. Which honestly, if she werent already riding a fine line of unsafe i wouldn't mind so much, she'd get over it eventually. Once she had the maturity to. 🙄 Because it's not like it would be out of spite. But sissy is on eggshells making sure we dont push her away. Probably into the arms of another halfway house resident. 😒

Uuuhhgggg

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[petnews2day]

Hey Pandas, What Are Some Good Male Or Unisex Cat Names?

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Hey Pandas, What Are Some Good Male Or Unisex Cat Names?

I’m looking for ideas on what to name a new cat. He’s male, 2 years old. He’s a ginger, white with a few large orange patches. I’m still not sure about his true personality, was thinking of a name that matches his personality. His previous owners, my neighbors from across the street were neglectful, throwing him out all night in the cold crying, and they were always screaming, so this cat is skittish, but definitely not aggressive. He’s gentle, and I have a feeling he’s a sweet boy. Anyway, I’d love some ideas! I don’t know what the previous owners called him, usually just “pain in the a**!”

If i had a ginger cat i’d call them Ginger Ninja 😄🐈

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I have always loved the name Jiggles or Noodles for a cat

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Samson, Dragon, Sir Richard the Lion-Hearted, Bean, Toast, Mango, Willie, Noodle, Boris, Bumpus, Franklin, Milo, Hugo. Tell us which one you pick, or if you did something that’s not on this post!!

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if its a black cat with green eyes the call it Loki if blonde with blur eyes then call it Odinson it will be cool if you have two cats of the above description cand call them Loki and Odinson(thor)

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if its grey call it mjolnir or mew-noir for black

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if its chocolate brown or mud colour then call it belgie(belgian chocolate)

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if its whitish pinkish or creamish the call it onion

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as you said, “He’s a ginger, white with a few large orange patches.”… I’ll say : Winnie the Pooh or (Pooh for short) or TWEETY for a girl anyone wondering; Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes i had a soft toy of her when i was a child and absolutely love it

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Based on his colors call him Julius for the orange Julius drink. Lots of good nicknames from that too Jules, Julie, OJ, JJ, JuJu, etc.

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Mittens Alex Fluffy Cheeto

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Since you said, “He’s a ginger, white with a few large orange patches.”… I’ll say the obvious: Ginger 😸

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I always name my pets after characters I like. Based on your description I would name him Malingo. It comes from Clive Barker’s Abarat series. But Malingo is a character introduced as a victim, escapes with the main character from this situation, and is really kind/loyal despite lacking some confidence. (He’s also conveniently orange!)

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Our first male cat was Vergil, but he died very soon. Long story short, eventually we got two new kittens, girl Rikku and boy Dante. Yep, all names are from video games, my husband is a nerd (FF10 and DMC4).

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Ginger bread or cookie. I think they are good names.

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Potato! Works best if he’s a bit on the chubby side. I’ve also always thought that Miso would be a lovely name on a ginger cat.

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I named my cat Fatso Franko. My old cat was a ginger called Meat, short for Meat-Head. My mom had two tuxedo males I called Dingle and Mr. Burt. Mr. Burt had a brother who was all white, I called him Ding-Dong. Cat names really depend on their personality.

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Coco is amazing. Or Shadow. Or Ninja and Midnight

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Jasper. It’s the name of a dragon in a book I just read and the stone matches the cat

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I always thought Linus would be a good name for a ginger cat! My dear departed fluffy ginge was W***y Fabian, aka Pooh Bear or Puddin

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Sammy, Twitch (named after a character in the movie Hoodwinked).

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[cobwebinthegamingchair]

Sooo.... I kinda lied. But not on purpose, I just had a few errands to run today that ended up interfering with my setup of my Pokémon Black playthrough. It'll begin tomorrow for sure, I promise. But in the meantime, I figured I could introduce you to the team!

Being all part of the Bug egg group, they share a common father, a Venipede I caught and aptly named... well, something that definitely would keep it from being transferred to newer games. In all caps. I'll let y'all use your imaginations. Anyways, here's the Half-Sibling Squad.

From top left to bottom right:

Lil' Cobbo the Joltik

He's the perfect hue of yellow. He's a spider. Need I say more? He's the perfect candidate to share my name with, and he's gonna grow up to be a huge support for the whole team with his Light Clay-boosted Light Screen.

Peko the Sewaddle

Named after the Ultimate/SHSL Swordswoman, I plan on taking this normally frail Pokémon and helping her transform into a powerhouse that hunts to KILL. And through training in high-crit sword styles and armed with a crit-boosting Razor Claw, she'll do just that.

Miracle the Larvesta

No joke, this Larvesta's existence IS a miracle. In the Gen 5 games, the only way to get a Larvesta is by breeding a Volcarona, of which only one exists per save file. With a mostly filled-out Pokédex and in a post-game state, SOMEHOW the previous owner of my Black 2 cartridge had neglected to catch or defeat the one Volcarona. You cannot possibly imagine how stressed I was when I realized that I might not be able to use a Larvesta on my team.

ORB the Horse Venipede

Since this Venipede's hatching just a day ago, he - or maybe I should say, it - has exhibited a lot of strange qualities and undergone multiple supernatural-adjacent transformations. Mere minutes after hatching, it began faintly levitating with a light pink aura; its eyes soon changed to resemble Life Orbs, and in the moments that followed, I believe it somehow telepathically commanded me to name it ORB. Oddly, it seems to hurt itself with its attacks, much like young Pichu. I was also told that its mother unfortunately passed sometime after producing the egg. I don't know what happened during its conception, but I feel obligated to keep this Pokémon, if only to study its unusual tendencies further.

ORB IS A NORMAL POKÉMON THAT IS IN NO WAY SUPERNATURAL IN NATURE. ANYONE WHO BELIEVES THE CONTRARY WILL BE STOMPED TO BLOODY DEATH BY ITS INSECTLIKE HOOVES.

Sectonia the Combee

Much like her namesake, this Pokémon will evolve from something small into a true queen bee, using her powers of hypnotism and brainwashing (or in this case, Attract and Confuse Ray) in order to make those below her do her bidding. The gem in Vespiquen's forehead also helps the comparison.

Richter the Dwebble

Get it? Like the Richter scale? He's gonna have Earthquake. And uhh... he's gonna be STRONG! (I'm not gonna lie, it's 1:30 in the morning, I've spent like two hours on this one post and I'm all out of creative energy. Just imagine I said something really fucken funny and clever for this one.)

And that's the team! See you in the morning for the beginning of my mono-Bug playthrough of Pokémon Black!

[misshoneybee]

⟣ 𝑊𝐸 𝐿𝐸𝐴𝑅𝑁 𝑇𝑂 𝐿𝐼𝑉𝐸 𝑊𝐼𝑇𝐻 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑃𝐴𝐼𝑁 ⟢

— 𝐼𝐼. 𝑃𝑂𝑈𝑅𝐼𝑁' 𝑂𝑈𝑇 𝑀𝑌 𝐻𝐸𝐴𝑅𝑇 𝑇𝑂 𝐴 𝑆𝑇𝑅𝐴𝑁𝐺𝐸𝑅, 𝐵𝑈𝑇 𝐼 𝐷𝐼𝐷𝑁'𝑇 𝑃𝑂𝑈𝑅 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑊𝐻𝐼𝑆𝐾𝐸𝑌

Masterpost — OFC Biography — Playlists — Chapter I — Chapter III

❧ Pairings | Post-Infinity War!Steve Rogers x Original Female Character, Minor Original Male Character x Original Female Character

❧ Warnings | Mature content, explicit language, canon-typical violence/injury, themes of mental illness (depression, anxiety, ocd, ptsd), self-harm via neglect

❧ Wordcount | ~6k

❧ Disclaimer | Dividers are by firefly-graphics. If you are a minor, or do not have your age in your bio, and I catch you interacting with this, you will be blocked. If you believe you were blocked unfairly, send me an ask with your url.

I’ve been having a hard time adjusting, I had the shiniest wheels, now they’re rusting ( This is Me Trying | Folklore )

May 2, 2018

Although it hadn't even been a week, the previous five days had felt endless. Time moved glacially as the world tried to make sense of what news stations had deemed "The Decimation." Countries had scrambled to appoint new leadership where it was needed and quickly tried to begin counting their lost.

It was chaos as census takers had needed to break into homes when doors went unanswered; animals were found without owners, children without parents, and some houses were just empty because all its inhabitants had been taken out of existence at the same moment in time. Maggie had been naive to believe that the disorder would have ended sooner when it was just happening in slow motion; everyday brought a new challenge that had to be resolved.

Sitting around the conference table, it was like her head was underwater as she'd listened to Dr. Banner explaining the events that had taken place in Wakanda. A Titan, Thanos, had collected stones and used them to get rid of half of the life in the known universe. After hearing that piece of information, everything else that Bruce said had fallen on deaf ears.

Half of the population of the universe was just...gone. They weren't dead, they just no longer existed. It was almost unfathomable. Picking at her cuticles, she kept her eyes down on the table, staring at the patterns in the wood grain. In the back of her mind, she silently hoped that maybe in some other universe, they still existed. If they were out there somewhere, maybe they were still okay.

The shrill blare of her phone's alarm jolted Maggie awake with a sharp gasp. Sitting up quickly, her vision was fuzzy before readjusting to the dim glow of twilight that lit her small office. With a yawn, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes before checking the time.

She didn't know how long she'd been asleep; her days and nights were inconsequential as she tried to help as many people as she could but it was a never-ending cycle. When one fire had been quelled, six more popped up.

After Pepper had been alerted by F.R.I.D.A.Y. that Maggie had not left her office in more than twenty hours, Maggie had been firmly chastised by her friend-turned-boss and immediately sent home to sleep, although the sleep she'd gotten could hardly be classified as rest; even her unconscious mind couldn't stop working.

She fell asleep thinking of cases and woke up thinking of others. A stipulation of her immediate return was the instruction that she set an alarm for the end of her workday and that she check in with Pepper before she left.

Gathering the files that were littered across her desk, she slipped them into her tote before making her way to the elevator. Like it typically was, the entire floor was silent aside from her existence; it felt like an episode of The Twilight Zone. The sporadic members that still worked at the compound had all left hours earlier; the remaining members of her team had been dispatched across the country while she coordinated everything from their home base.

Knocking gently on the frosted glass door, Maggie stepped into the familiar office. "Pepper?" Taken from her daze, she looked over at Maggie. The corner of her lips quirked up in a suggestion of a smile although her friend's almost-permanently red-rimmed eyes were devoid of any happiness.

Stepping into the office completely, Maggie sank into the cushion of the couch that rested against the wall, pulling her legs to her chest. "I just wanted to say thank you." She played with the rings on her fingers, absentmindedly. "For everything, but especially for Poppy."

The day after Maggie had spoken to Poppy, she'd approached Pepper nervously with her request. She was wracked with guilt for using her connections for help but nothing would stop her from trying to get her best friend home safely.

Pepper had told her that she just needed a name and student visa number then she could try and work her magic; it was like the small distraction of a task was a gift hidden in the madness. Less than thirty-six hours later, a jet carrying several SRF employees and Poppy Stewart had touched down at the New Avenger's Facility and her best friend ran off the plane and into her embrace.

As the two girls held one another, Poppy's shoulders shaking with tears, Maggie realized that things suddenly felt slightly less horrible than they had before. Her best friend was undoubtedly exhausted but she was safe and there wasn't much more that Maggie could ask for.

Although her eyes were dry, she felt so much gratitude as her heart clenched at the memory. "I didn't know if I'd—"

"Maggie," Pepper cut her off, "It was no problem." She tapped her fingernails on the desk, staring at the paper covered surface. Pepper had always been a force to be reckoned with; she was one of the most strong-willed, independent women that Maggie had ever known. She doubted that there was anything she couldn't do but there was no doubt that, without Tony, she'd lost a part of herself. She was adrift in a new sea while trying to find a life preserver to cling to. "I'm glad she's home safe."

Biting the inside of her cheek, they both knew what she was thinking.

'Why couldn't it be that easy to bring everyone home?'

"Me too." Maggie responded quietly, nodding as she looked out through the glass wall overlooking the water. Since leaving her office, the sky had lost its light dustiness and quickly faded into a dusky denim shade. "I think I'm gonna head home—"

"Why don't you just move in here?" Maggie jumped, hearing the hoarse voice come from the doorway. Turning, she spotted Natasha leaning against the doorjamb, sticking a fork in an instant cup-of-soup as she watched the other two women interact. Maggie hadn't spoken much to the mysterious redhead-bleached-blonde aside from passing conversations about countries' organizational efforts; she couldn't pretend that she wasn't at least a little intimidated by the fatale. Despite her tired jade eyes, a small smirk played on her lips as she gave a shrug, prodding, "You know that you barely leave here anyway. Just take a room upstairs."

"She's right." Pepper nodded towards Natasha, a wry smile finally breaking through her new emotionally-armored exterior. "You know there's always space for you." She quickly clarified, "But I would still have Friday put 'Tony' hours on your key card." At Maggie's raised eyebrows, Pepper rattled off, "You can only be in your work area from eight in the morning to five in the evening on workdays and you're required to leave for at least an hour for a break sometime within that time period."

Pepper had a fond expression on her face, undoubtedly thinking about Tony.

It tugged at Maggie's heart but she couldn't stop the rising objection. "But what if I—"

Pepper was firm when she cut her off, "If you need something outside of that time, it goes through me." The corners of her eyes crinkled delicately as she let out a soft laugh. "God, you're so much like him."

Looking down at her knees, Maggie couldn't help but feel her heart break a little more than it already had.

How many times in her life would she be told that she reminded someone else of a loved one that had left them? When she was a child, her dad always told her that she was the spitting image of her late grandmother who she had been named after. Tony constantly said that she was just like her mother with the quick temper and biting wit. And now Pepper was reminded of her lost love through Maggie's insistence on finding solutions to any problem that arose within a ten-mile radius.

Perhaps her heart was just a pieced-together mosaic of every person that she'd ever loved and, while it was beautiful, pain served as the glue that held it all together.

Natasha made her way into the room, sitting on the end of the couch and pulling Maggie back out of the depths of her mind, "It would be good to have another face around here. I didn't think it was possible to get tired of Thor and Rogers' stupid mugs but apparently it is."

Hesitantly, Maggie ran through a quick list of pros and cons. She'd been renting a small house several miles off of the property for the past year. It was a sweet little cottage and although it still wasn't completely unpacked, she still liked the cozy home well enough, though she couldn't deny that it would be nice to not be alone so often.

After several moments of silence, she finally relented with a cautious smile, "I'll think about it. Give me a few days." Wanting to change the subject, she remembered a thought that had stuck in her mind after she watched the news in the morning over her coffee.

She looked across the desk to the woman in charge, "Pepper, is there a part of the foundation that focuses specifically on children?"

Furrowing her brow, Pepper wracked her brain quickly as she took inventory of each of the various divisions and teams, her lips pressed together before she shook her head slowly. "I...don't think so."

"I keep seeing those clips of census workers finding all of these kids and I just— I know we can't bring back their parents but I want to do something." She looked outside, watching a small flock of birds cross the sky, "I can't even begin to imagine how afraid they probably are." Shaking her head, she saw flashes of the dozens of stories that had been done about the issue.

Of course, Maggie had lost her own parents, but she'd been an adult when it had happened. It was hard, but she could manage on her own and build a new life while these children were found home alone and starving, trying to survive without the only caretakers that they'd ever known.

Natasha perked up at the topic, gesturing to Maggie with her fork, "You should talk to Rogers." Twirling another forkful of noodles, she eagerly pressed on, "He's been trying to figure out ways to help and that seems like it's right up his alley too."

Both of the women looked over at Pepper who nodded thoughtfully before she grabbed her phone, quickly shooting a text to the necessary powers-that-be for their guidance on the subject. There were tears in her eyes when she looked back up at them, "I think that's a really good idea, Maggie."

May 19, 2019

It had been just shy of two weeks since Maggie had brought most of her belongings to the compound. Most of her things, aside from furniture, had remained in boxes from their multiple relocations over the past six years which made moving a fairly quick event. The bigger pieces of furniture remained at the small cottage, covered with dust protectors; she hadn't told Pepper that she was keeping it.

Having one foot out the door was in her nature; she'd been caught unaware before and now she always had an escape plan when it was inevitably needed.

While she'd been familiar with the offices and grounds of the sweeping compound, she had never been to the living quarters. The design was typical of Tony, sharp angles and clean lines permeated the architecture and decor. It was simple enough for Maggie to learn where everything was; the rooms were on the same floor with a living area and a small kitchen central to all of them. There were two large locker rooms to be shared but, even in his absence, Tony's nepotism had the benefit of her being given a room with an ensuite bathroom.

On the unreasonably large, king-sized bed, she turned within the stifling, wrinkled sheets once more while the thin layer of sweat on her skin stuck to the soft cotton. Bracing herself, she sat up and threw the colorful, rumpled blankets on to the floor before leaning forward and dropping her head in her hands, rubbing her tired eyes until bursts of light and color appeared on the back of her eyelids. She peaked over at the illuminated numbers from the digital clock; they taunted her that it was still only half past four in the morning.

In the drawer of her bedside table, there was a small bottle of sleeping pills that she'd been prescribed earlier in the year when she'd told her physician that she had difficulty falling asleep. She didn't like taking medications; even as a child, whether it was from stubbornness that she didn't need the substance or anxiety from side effects, she had always convinced herself that she'd be fine without it but now she felt desperate.

Leaning over, Maggie opened the drawer and grabbed the orange bottle, turning it over in her palms. Tracing a finger across the ridges of the lid, it felt like the sensation wasn't even happening to her. Stopping the action, she realized that she almost felt like she was detached from her own body, as if there was nothing tethering her to the moment anymore.

The numbness was familiar to her; it was one of her body's typical reactions to stress.

Being unable to feel had been dangerous when she was younger and more reckless but as she'd gotten older, she liked to believe that her coping skills had mostly matured beyond things involving self-sabotage.

It had been nearly forty-four hours since she'd awoken on Thursday morning and she hadn't found her way back into the arms of Morpheus since. It wasn't as though she hadn't tried to go to sleep. She'd taken long showers with drops of lavender oil swirled into her soap and drank cups of exotic herbal teas (at Pepper's insistence) that had tasted awful, but every time her head hit the pillow, her mind began to play memories like strips of old film turning on a reel.

The memories weren't all bad. Some were of her and Poppy going to the beach on Montauk in high school or the time her parents had taken her to Navy Pier in Chicago when she was a child, but more often than not, the memories that she saw were painful things that she wished hadn't been dredged back up.

It was like she was an observer, watching a much younger version of herself sitting on the living room floor and waiting to hear information as the television showed clip after clip from the battle that had taken place hours earlier. She saw Poppy holding her tightly as she sobbed at the medical examiner's office when she had to identify the bodies of her parents. She watched herself slip out of an apartment silently, leaving only a note behind in her absence. She watched Kate's hand turn to dust before the rest of her body followed.

They played on a loop, never leaving her alone.

Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, she stood and stretched her sore muscles. The edges of her vision went black and she had to close her eyes for a moment to reorient herself. Silently, she moved down the hall in her pajamas to the kitchen. She looked at the door to the office area of the compound and silently cursed Pepper.

She'd followed through on her promise and had cut off Maggie's access at certain hours of the day. Of course, she knew that she needed rest but in its absence, she hated feeling unproductive. It made her feel useless.

Without anything to distract her, she was left to wander the compound silently in the dark like a ghost haunting its old dwelling.

She was on autopilot as she grabbed one of the heavy glasses from the cabinet. Padding across the floor to the fridge, she pressed it against the water dispenser, watching as it filled slowly. The water raced towards the top before she watched in, what felt like, slow motion as it slipped from her grasp and shattered on the floor at her feet.

Dropping to her knees in the puddle of water, Maggie picked up some of the shards and, in her distraught exhaustion, tried to fix it. Picking up the larger pieces, she tried to fit the glass together like an incomplete, three-dimensional puzzle.

It wasn't until she saw drops of crimson blood on the floor that she'd realized her hand had been sliced from the jagged edges and that there was nothing that could ever bring the dozens of tiny fragments back together again.

It was like a dam had broken when the tears began falling at her realization. At once, every tear that she'd prohibited herself from shedding over the past three weeks rose to the surface and fell over the edge like a waterfall. Her chest was wracked violently as the emotions fought their way to the top. She dropped the remaining pieces of the glass, placing a hand over her mouth to muffle the sobs as she fell back on to her bottom.

She squeezed her eyes closed, the barely cognizant part of her brain willing herself to stop crying. Her back rested against a cool, wooden cabinet door and the sharp edge of a knob dug uncomfortably into her shoulder but her limbs felt heavy and she couldn't bring herself to move and remedy the pain.

The sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion had left her feeling completely powerless; she would stay there forever if she was allowed, simply watching as the universe and time passed by her.

Eventually, her shuttering sobs slowed and transitioned into a silent but steady stream of tears that traced down her face. She wasn't aware that it was a possibility for someone to produce so many tears. Maggie didn't know how long she'd been sitting there; there was no indication of the time aside from the shadows slowly moving across the floor as the sun began to breach the horizon.

Through the crack in the shades, she had watched the sky catch fire, clouds becoming illuminated with burning orange and yellow light.

In the periphery of her vision, she didn't acknowledge the appearance of the bearded man in a t-shirt and loose, plaid pajama pants who had quietly entered the kitchen. In the hazy light, Steve's eyes landed on the shell of a shattered girl, sitting on the floor in front of the fridge. The two hadn't spoken much aside from things regarding relief efforts but he felt a strange draw to her.

He knew she was new to the foundation, that she was kind, and that she only wanted to help everyone, so much that she wouldn't allow anyone to do the same for her.

Cautiously, he approached Maggie like she was a wild animal that he was weary of. With each slow step, he could see her more clearly. Her round, espresso eyes were glazed over and stayed trained ahead even as he got closer to her. This was something that he'd seen before but it was typically in soldiers that had seen combat. He was reminded of the night he'd found Bucky strapped to a table in Zola's lab and the terrifying emptiness behind his gaze.

Forcing the memory out of his mind, he crouched in front of her and watched to make sure her shoulders were moving as she breathed; she wasn't even blinking. He reached out, gently resting a firm hand on her arm; he could feel her cold skin even through the thick, knitted sweater. The only other indication of life within her was the unending flow of tears from her eyes.

His voice was soft, not wanting to frighten her. "Maggie?"

At her name, her lashes fluttered and heavy-lidded eyes flicked over to him with a sharp inhale as if he'd woken her. She blinked a few times; she wasn't sure if she was even awake anymore. This could have been a dream for all she knew. Or a nightmare. She could feel the warm weight of his hand as his thumb gently rubbed back and forth across her shoulder like he was almost trying to bring some warmth to her. The touch was somehow both foreign and mildly comforting at once.

"I...dropped my water." She murmured, finally looking at his face. His stare was piercing but she couldn't help but feel that he saw right through her.

A sad smile that didn't quite reach his eyes crossed his face, "I can see that." He had noticed the glass and half-dried water on the floor around her when he spotted her but it wasn't until then that his eyes found the blood as well. "Are you hurt?"

"No." Her response was automatic, like answering 'fine' when someone politely asked how she was.

Steve's expression was reproachful as he tried to find the source of her blood, spotting a bloody palm print on her leg. He gently took her hand and turned it over so he could see the gash across it, she gave a quiet hum when she finally looked down at it. It was like she was seeing it for the first time as she slowly flexed her fingers, her expression unchanging.

Her voice was quiet, as if she knew something were wrong, when she eventually spoke again, "I can't feel it."

At that, Steve took a moment to finally look at her face, taking notice of her bloodshot eyes and the almost bruise-like darkness that framed them. He kept his voice gentle, "Maggie, when was the last time you slept?"

Her tongue darted out to wet her dry lips. Absently, she mused that she wished she'd been able to drink her water before it fell before she registered that he'd asked her a question. Her eyes found his again, "I think it was Wednesday night...or maybe Thursday?"

The days had run together when they weren't each punctuated by a period of sleep.

He pressed his lips together, feeling his heart clench at the girl's response. She hadn't slept in nearly two or three days; it was a wonder that she was even awake at all. "It's Saturday morning now."

"Oh." She gave a small nod as if he'd only told her that it was going to rain that day. On some level, she knew it was bad that she hadn't had any rest. She knew the effects of sleep deprivation, it was dangerous. There was a small possibility that this was a hallucination, that Steve wasn't even here.

Reaching out, she watched as she slowly wrapped her small hand around his forearm like she was trying to find something in reality to ground herself. He covered her cold hand with one of his own, hesitating before pulling out his phone, "I'm gonna call Bruce. You need to sleep."

"I can't." Her soft voice was flat, almost matter of fact.

"Why?" His brow furrowed.

"I have to help them." She looked back at his eyes musing that the light blue was almost the color of the morning sky outside. Her grip on his arm tightened just slightly and she could feel her breath catch in her chest as she shook her head, "I can't stop thinking about them."

They both knew who she was referring to. The ones like them. The ones that had stayed. The billions of people who were left behind in the wake of the disaster to pick up the pieces.

"I think you're in shock." She hummed in acknowledgment of his assessment. Objectively, it made sense. She knew that there was no concrete timeline for the reaction to a tragedy, especially something of this scale. He quickly sent a message before he pocketed the small device and began to stand, "Come on, let's get you up."

"I can't move." She whispered.

"What do you mean?" His eyebrows drew together. Was she more injured than she appeared? Maybe she'd fallen and hit her head on the way down.

Her empty eyes fluttered closed, her head leaning back against the wooden door of the cabinet again. She let go of his arm; nothing felt connected anymore. On her lips, she could feel the sad, grimace of a smile. Her voice was soft, "Have you ever just..." She took a shuttering inhale of a yawn, "been so tired that nothing feels real anymore?"

Her chest began to rise and fall slowly with each deep breath.

Steve hesitated, he knew that she needed sleep but the gash on her hand needed to be checked out and she probably needed a mental status examination if her words were any indication of her state.

"Can I pick you up?"

At his words, it was her turn to hesitate. She didn't want the help but a part of her knew that she needed it if she ever wanted to leave the floor of the kitchen. Her eyes were still closed as she gave him an almost imperceptible nod.

At her approval, he moved closer to her. The limbs that felt like concrete to her were pliant as he placed her arms around his neck before sliding one arm under her knees to gently life her from the floor. She fell limp, feeling safe despite not yet actually knowing the man. Her head dropped to rest on his broad shoulder, the smell of clean laundry filling her nose. His warmth was soothing to her tired body.

Silently, he carried her through the halls of the compound to the infirmary area. He knew she was walking the tightrope of consciousness towards sleep. Other employees had begun to arrive for their workday (weekends weren't really applicable when the world was in tatters) but no one dared to comment when they saw his severe expression.

The automatic door slid open, granting him entrance to the sick bay. He gently sat her on a bed and followed the line of her eyes to see Bruce entering the room as well, sliding his glasses on over his tired eyes, "I'll be right back, okay?"

She hummed noncommittally, drawing her knees back in to her chest as she took in the new place. She was stationary as her eyes roamed around the room. It was sterile and white with glass, white plastic, or surgical steel composing most of the surfaces aside from the bed she rested in. She squeezed her eyes closed as the brightness almost burned.

It was mostly quiet which allowed her to hear the hushed discussion between the two men.

She heard Steve mention the length of time she'd been awake, in response Dr. Banner mentioned something about an intravenous line which finally caused her to open her eyes. It was like she had a moment of clarity, breaking through the stupor.

'You're fine.' 

She didn't need any of this. Quietly, she put her sock-clad feet on the tiled floor before trying to stand. She could feel her knees buckle and an arm reaching out before Steve was at her side once again.

"Maggie, where are you going?" Trying his best not to sound frustrated because he knew that he was just as stubborn as she was, he steadied her gently with a hand between her shoulder blades, the other taking her outstretched hand. Her frozen fingers gripped his tightly, fighting to keep herself standing upright.

She spoke quickly, stumbling over her words as her eyes went between the two men, shaking her head, "I don't need this." She tried to stand up straight but couldn't let go of Steve's hand. In an attempt to regain some composure, she slowed down her words, forcing herself to take deep, even breaths, "I'm fine."

On some level, she knew that she was obviously the picture of stability with her sunken face and shaking hands. "I'm okay. I'm just going to go and—" Her words faltered, feeling the room begin to spin. Her face flushed red in embarrassment.

"Maggie?" Steve's worried baritone sounded like he was speaking to her through a tunnel that was miles long. She knew what was about to happen. The edges of her vision blurred into blackness before she felt her legs give out, gripping his hand tighter and then there was nothing as the consciousness left her body.

As she fell limp, Steve caught her easily before lifting her back on to the bed. Placing her on the starched, white sheets, he took a step back so he was out of the way, running a hand over his tired face and watched as several nurses came in and quickly began working. There was nothing he could do.

They hooked her up to several monitors while Bruce swiftly inserted an IV in her hand, attaching a yellow bag of liquid to the line.

In the small bed, her head propped up by a thin pillow, her face had finally relaxed; the tension had left it along with her consciousness. As everyone bustled around him, he stayed for just a little longer.

Maybe she wasn't his responsibility, but maybe that didn't matter. He hardly knew her and, for some inexplicable reason, he felt as though it were up to him to protect her. After the initial rush of activity, Steve hesitated before turning to a young woman in scrubs, his voice quiet as he inquired, "Could you get me her file? I need to let her family know she's here."

[wickedgamesoyaoya]

From the second of their arrival, the former captain was fixated on the younger Miya twin, with a quizzical expression permanently molded onto his features. His disapproval of the circumstances was implicitly communicated, prompting regret to form a knot in the chef’s stomach. Why did he leave his bed again? If he wanted to experience the glare of disappointment, he would have arranged a meeting with his mother, or worse, with Sakusa.

Atsumu, noticing the tension enveloping his brother, attempted to secure the older male’s attention with an overly affectionate display but when he advanced a step, Kita raised an arm to stop him from proceeding any closer. Dejected, the blonde male exhaled a dramatic huff, another action that was subsequently ignored.

“Why are you staring at ‘Samu like he’s got a second head?” Upon entering the small home, Suna instantly settled down beside the coffee table where dozens of cookies were plated. Stretching out his legs comfortably, he bit into the cookie, before raising an eyebrow at his former captain, awaiting an answer.

“I am thinking, Rintarou.” The rice farmer crossed his arms over his chest loosely, with his eyes narrowing into a calculated stare. Osamu shifted his gaze to the ground, knowing well that a scolding was on the horizon. Once again. Why did he come?

“What are you thinking about? How someone could be so dumb?” Another biscuit was plopped carelessly into the middle blocker’s mouth. When he originally invited the Miya Twins to accompany him, he had an inkling that while Kita would inevitably provide some advice, it would only occur after he vocalized his displeasure with the situation. What he did not account for was the silence that dragged on for the last five minutes.

“Some are prone to make mistakes due to their past trauma. Yet, as far as I know, you both have had a wonderful upbringing.” For a second, Kita’s eyes flickered from one brother to the other, his eyelids still narrowed into a squint. “It is difficult for me to understand why Osamu has elected to neglect his relationship at this point. Has maturity somehow led you astray?” He was certainly questioning how the black-haired male exhibited more consideration for his relationship in his late teens than he did in his adulthood. 

“There’s no answer to that question that will satisfy you, Kita-san.” A heavy sigh was exhaled as the Onigiri Miya owner slumped his shoulders. Exhaustion weaved through his muscles until he could no longer tell where the pain ended and where it began. If he could redo the last few months he would. But the past could not change, all he could do was address the damage that lingered in the present.

“I see,” The softening of the farmer’s eyes was accompanied by a short nod. There was only one question outstanding. “But do you still love her? Or has that changed?” Before his follow up inquiry could come to a conclusion, the younger twin shot his gaze up, with his grey irises burning with intensity.

“Of course, I still love her.” The response was varnished with raw sincerity, and implicitly conveyed an unspoken vow – that he would always love her.

“Good,” Satisfied with the answer, the ends of the white haired male’s lips tugged into a small smile. “Then let’s discuss your next steps with some tea.” Extending out an arm, he provided Osamu a comforting pat on his back.

Flooded with relief, the chef failed to resist the urge to bring his friend into his embrace. Though Kita did not mind, he knew the younger male was hurting, and so were you. He just wanted his two friends to be happy, and that would begin with a nice cup of tea. 

Let’s do it again, shall we - 2 and a half idiots

Masterlist - Previous - Next

A/N: so I’m just gonna tell ya’ll to ignore the timings bc I’m always flipping between what time it should be in Japan vs Brazil. Just know there is a 12 hour difference. 

taglist: @idiot-juice-enthusiast @vicassa  @yourstarvic @bringmelily@newfriendjen  @hikarichannn @anime-simp @tsukkismamagucci @laughingismorefun @astronomyturtle @shegrewupwithoutafather @hyskoa1998 @deephumandragonperson @pretty-setter-bois @raenebalgaire @sugawarabby @justanotherfangirl2 @keijisworld @90s-belladonna @momoinot @sempiternal-amour @cherryblosom111 @yqshirov @haikyuufairy @volleybloop @bloody-bella​ @4fterh0urs @seikamuzu @namyari  @toaster-stick @coconut-dreamz @roseestuosity @prcttylittlcthing @uzumakioden @nerdynstoned @kenmasgameboy @unstableye @ouijaeater15 @aquariarose @fandomtrashpandasposts​ @helloalex80​ @stfucanunot​ @envyusshades​ @cuddlesslut​ @seijohiseliterambles​  @meiikuki​ @cuddlejeongin​ @tchalameme​ @ditu-m9​ @elianetsantana​

Taglist continued in the comments from my personal  ❣️

[princess-unipeg]

I know it’s been days since the season finale but I felt like talking about it. It will be a while until season 2 starts so I felt like getting around to talking about season one finale. Honey ran off with the coyote she dubbed Armando into the night. At first it was fun,free and exciting. But when the sun came up and the reality of “survival of the fittest” came into play Honey just couldn’t go through with killing a defensive rabbit so she just returned home. She came back before anyone noticed she was gone. Her owner Jill decided she wasn’t ready for a relationship so Honey’s not gonna worry about being sidelined for a spouse and some kids anytime soon. Like Jill should give her mother the satisfaction. Chief was oblivious as usual. When Honey told him that she chose him over the wild life all he could do was just leave in a huff and aggressively mark his territory. Coyote met him of course. Chief found himself being drawn to him like Honey was and even went through the same montage sequence. When Chief realizes he was the same coyote that Honey was enthralled with he finally notices that Honey’s too good for him and made him question why Honey would even choose him over the handsome coyote. Then of course there’s a confrontation with Coyote’s pack (which he’s not even the alpha of. He’s the poet!) which Honey gets roped into trying to rescue Chief. Chief confronts Honey on the matter while the coyote pack was circling them. Turns out it wasn’t about Honey choosing a mate between him and Coyote. She just wanted to change herself into a more exciting self. Then in a rare moment of sensitivity Chief told Honey she’s perfect the way she is. Both Chief and Honey get rescued by the group providing enough distraction for all of them to get away. Poor raccoon missed his chance to be the hero twice. It was quite the episode. It was about time Chico confronted his neglectful owner Kevin. Even if it’s through a lot of meows Chico got through to him. I don’t know how well this revelation will stick to him but I hope this means things will be better for Chico. Kevin did choose not to hand Chico back to his ex Dana (who turns out to be Chico’s previous owner) since she didn’t even realize he still had her cat until he made a spectacle of himself on national tv. We’re still waiting on Max’s fate since his new owner intends to cook him for a birthday luau. I’m looking forward to next season.

[icerosecrystal]

Jasonette - A Second Chance Pt. 2: Reactions

Previous

A lot of people wanted a part 2 for my one-shot Jasonette - A Second Chance. Thank you to everyone who requested it. This is basically the reactions of the bat fam and Paris to the deaths and the revelations.

(The BatFam’s Reaction to Talia’s death)

Damian didn’t know what to think about his mother’s death. Yes, she was a horrible mother, but she still raised him. After everything she did to him, she was still his mother. He wanted to kill the girl, Marinette, for killing his mother. For taking away one of his parents. Even if she had bonded with him, her personality could be a facade. He was quite prepared to make her pay for actions. He had even grabbed his katana and was walking to Marinette’s room. He was about to enter and give her a piece of his mind when he heard sobbing. He put his ear against the door to listen better.  

What he heard made him feel so guilty, “I made a promise that I wouldn’t kill anymore. I broke that promise. Deep down, I am a murderer.” He stumbled away from the door in shock. She thought that by killing Talia, she was a murderer. Marinette wasn’t blaming anyone for her actions but herself.

Damian went to his room and reflected on his own life. Now that he thought about it, he was much like her. They had both killed people. They also changed their ways after associating themselves with new people, in both cases the Waynes. Damian could still hear the despair in her voice as she talked to Todd. The heart-wrenching sobs. His family had given him another chance even though he had killed many. Even though he was a bratty child, he got a second chance. That was when Damian Wayne made up his mind. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was like his older sister. He would help her grow and would help her heal from her past. But most of all, he would give her a second chance.

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Bruce didn’t know what to think about Marinette killing Talia. He understood in this situation that it was an act of self-defense, but she could have easily disarmed Talia instead of killing her. Bruce rubbed his forehead in irritation. He never condoned killing, especially after what happened to his parents. His parents. He frowned in thought, did Marinette ever mention having parents? She mentioned the liar, the ex-partner, the villain, and the ex-classmates, but never her parents.  Did she not have any?

Bruce went over to the Bat Computer and put in the name Marinette Dupain-Cheng. He found her record. She was obviously stated as dead. It seems like, at her funeral, her grandparents were present. But, her parents were nowhere to be seen which prompted a lot of questions out of the funeral attendees. When Bruce tried to find her parents, he found that they were very much alive. So why didn’t they attend her funeral? He tried to find something, but couldn’t. But something then caught his eye, some customers of the Dupain-Cheng bakery had commented that a couple of months before her death, Marinette wasn’t seen much at the bakery. Her parents, the owners, were also a lot more temperamental. A lot of customers suspected that Marinette was either being abused or neglected, although they couldn’t tell which. In Bruce’s opinion, both were rather concerning.

Bruce leaned back against the chair in thought, Marinette really had nobody left. She had a valid reason for revenge and took it. He thought back to his own parents’ death. It had been heartbreaking, but he had had people such as Alfred to comfort him, and help him. But Marinette, she had no one through all her heartbreak, no friends, no family, nothing. And now she had that chance, but it was ruined by her killing Talia. Bruce then decided that this would be the one instance that he condoned killing, and he would support Marinette and help her get her second chance at happiness and a family.

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Tim was still unsure whether or not everything was a hallucination. Once he realized it wasn’t he couldn’t believe it. Talia, the person who had somehow managed to escape death so many times was finally dead. She no longer had the ability to manipulate people. Tim didn’t really have a relationship with Talia, not the way Damian, Bruce, or even Jason did. But, he truly believed that life would be a bit easier without Talia Al-Ghul being a part of it. In terms of Marinette killing her, he was willing to give her a second chance, for he knew that she didn’t mean it.

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Dick was ecstatic the Talia was dead. She was a major bitch. Dick still remembered the night terrors that Damian experienced when he first came to the manor. He still experienced them, but they weren’t as drastic, thankfully. But, Dick would always hate Talia for pushing such a young boy to do so many bad things, that the moment he escaped those, he would experience vivid flashbacks of them. No, he was not sad or mad about Talia’s death. Not the way the other members of his family might be. And he didn’t blame Marinette in the slightest. He instead thought of her as a hero, but if she wanted to forget the fact that she was ever killed, he would respect that. He would give Marinette a second chance, the same way he did to Damian a few years ago.

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As Jason listened to his beloved pixie sobbing, it made his heart wrench. She didn’t deserve this, she didn’t deserve any of this. Yet, she had to experience things that many people don’t experience until much later in their life, or at all. He was mad at everyone who hurt her. He wanted to hurt them until they begged and said sorry to her. But, he knew that that wasn’t what Marinette would want. She would want to move on and start a new life and have a second chance as he suggested. As he rocked Marinette in his arms, he thought about Talia’s death. He didn’t think that Marinette killing Talia was bad. She was acting in self-defense, and he would rather it be that manipulative, prostitute of a bitch. His baby girl didn’t deserve to die after everything that she went through.

Besides, Talia had escaped death one too many times. Had she brought both him and Marinette back to life? Yes. Did they owe her anything because of that? No. She only brought them back to manipulate them into her little assassins. She wanted them to do all the dirty work for her. She and her father, Ra’s promised revenge, when really they were using their need for revenge as a leverage for them to stay in the league.

Jason looked down at the perfect little angel with a little bit of devil in his arms. She was beautiful. Her raven hair with navy highlights. Her beautiful heart-shaped face. Her pale skin with mildly flushed cheeks along with freckles sprinkled on said cheeks. Her pink pouty lips. But, his favorite part about her was her eyes. Her eyes were a beautiful almond-shaped, with long, dark eyelashes, and her shimmering blue-bell eyes. He loved the way her eyes held a different type of sparkle depending on her emotion. Yes, everything about her was perfect, and he’d be dammed if he didn’t give her a second chance to have a better life with him.

(Marinette’s Parents’ Reactions)

To anyone else, Marinette’s parents would be considered selfish and horrible parents. But to them, they thought that they were amazing parents. They always let Marinette do whatever she wants and never did ask her where she was because they trusted her so much. What they didn’t realize was that they were neglecting Marinette. When Lila came to their house along with some of her classmates and told them that they were bullying her, they thought that maybe Marinette was acting out because they were caring too much about her. So they stopped talking to her in hopes to give her more privacy and less of a reason to act out.

When she was revealed as the hero of Paris, they didn’t know what to think. And then she died. She looked so sad, but as she died, they saw a small glimmer of hope, as if she was excited to move on from her life. It was then that her parents realized that they were neglecting her. But it was too late to do anything. Their daughter, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, was already dead, and she wasn’t coming back. After that, they stopped doing anything. They didn’t attend her funeral. They didn’t open the bakery much anymore. They were mourning for the daughter they lost, they didn’t think that anything else could happen to make them feel worse until it did come.

The murderer of the Agreste’s except for Emilie and Lila, as well as the revelations that the Agreste’s were villains and that Lila was a liar, was a huge wake-up call for her parents. They then realized everything they did wrong. They started neglecting their daughter even more because of the word of a liar. They were horrible parents. And as they sat down on the couch replaying the murderer of Lila Rossi, they felt tears slip down their face, for they lost their daughter in the worst way possible. That was the day that they swore that if they ever had a second chance at being a parent, they would do everything in their power to be the best parents possible. They owed that much to their dead daughter.

(School/ School Board’s Reactions)

Both Mrs. Bustier and Principal Damocles were receiving a lot of backlash from Paris for being allies in Lila spreading her lies. Yet, they both claimed that it wasn’t their fault that Lila had tricked them. The only problem was that they claimed that in front of the school board who automatically decided to fire them. What school staff didn’t take responsibility for their students?

The bigger problem was when the school board realized that both Bustier and Damocles were probably neglecting the students and taking bribes. These actions should have them in jail. So, the school board started a case against both of them. They gathered evidence every time they took a bribe and every time they neglected a student. They turned the case in and received the news that a trial was being held against the two. All of the students and parents in Mrs. Bustier’s class were present during the trial. When Mrs. Bustier claimed that it wasn’t their fault that they believed Lila, Mrs. Rossi got out of her seat screaming and attacked the two. She was beating up both of them and screaming that if they had stopped her from lying or had told her, then her baby wouldn’t have been killed. It took four security guards to stop her. Once Mrs. Rossi had calmed down, she looked at the judge and announced, “I want to sue both of them.”

The judge agreed, seeing that they both had no remorse whatsoever and were more concerned about saving their own skins. In the end, they both got sued, hat to pay a fine of 200,000 dollars once they got out of jail. As for their jail time, they had to serve two years for educational negligence along with four more years of taking bribery. It wasn’t a good day for those two. What made it even worse was that once they were released from jail, they were forbidden from going back into the educational field. Unlike many others, Mrs. Bustier and Mr. Damocles were not getting a second chance, at least, not for a long time, and that satisfied everybody.

(Now for the best part, the class’s reactions)

The class was appalled by many things right now. They first found out that Lila was a liar and they betrayed and beat Marinette for no reason. Marinette was Ladybug and she was dead. Lila had worked with Hawkmoth, Mayura, and later Chat Noir to betray Ladybug. She was tortured by an unknown person and was later killed. They were each tortured, and it looked like they were tortured based on how loyal there were to Lila, seeing how Alya, Lila’s “best friend” was tortured the most. Mrs. Bustier and Mr. Damocles were going to jail for negligence and bribery, and they were never allowed to cheat again. The last thing they found out a couple of days later.

The whole class was meeting up, not to do anything, just to sit down in silence and look back at their friendship with Marinette. Suddenly, everyone’s phone beeped, which was weird because Hawkmoth had already won. When Alya turned on her phone to see the news, what they saw left them aghast.

There was a picture of a dead Adrien, Gabriel, and Natalie, they were bloody and looked to have been murdered. Then Emilie came into view with a somber look on her face, Gorilla following her. This surprised everyone, wasn’t Emilie supposed to be dead? Then Emilie took a deep breath and started talking.

“Hello Paris, if you don’t already know who I am, my name is Emile De Vanilly. The reason I am using my maiden name is that I found out that my ex-husband, dead son, and ex-best friend hurt Paris in many ways and I don’t want to associate myself with them anymore. If you are wondering what they did, they were the villains of Paris. That’s right, Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth, Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir, and Natalie Sancoeur was Mayura. Both Gabriel and Natalie terrorized Paris, and then later convinced Adrien to join them as Chat Noir and betray his partner Ladybug. Because of my family, Paris was terrorized and Ladybug, or rather Marinette Dupain-Cheng in her civilian identity is dead. And the reason why they did all of this was because of me, they were trying to bring me back”, Emilie cut herself off and started sobbing.

Gorilla moved his hand to her shoulder as a sign of support. He then continued where she left off, “No matter what Emilie says, this is not her fault. She didn’t force them to do this. I myself had no part in all of this. I had no knowledge of it either, but I am sorry Paris, I should have questioned Gabriel’s strange disappearances. I also noticed how aggressive Adrien had been getting and blamed it on hormones. I noticed that Natalie always looked sick, but whenever I asked she and Gabriel would exchanged looks, but not answer me. I am sorry Paris, I failed you because of my naive trust in the family I served and my colleague. This video was just Emilie and I saying thank you for fighting through everything and we’re sorry.”

The video then cut to Nadia Chamak discussing the video but nobody in the class was paying attention anymore. Not only was one person in their class a fake, but two. Adrien, he looked so sweet and innocent. But, he had broken their class apart. He must have known that Lila was lying and let it happen. He let them bully the girl who loved him. He betrayed Paris for his own selfish wants. He had broken every one. And now, he was dead along with Marinette’s other tormentors. But the end to their reign had a price, Marinette’s life.

Nino sobbed in the corner, why had he ever been the best friend of someone like that? Alya felt so guilty, she had betrayed her ex-best friend for a girl with pretty lies, and she would never be able to apologize. The rest of the class felt the same, all of them sobbing their heart out. From that day, Mrs. Busteir’s ex-class never trusted anyone. They were a lot more reserved and wary of others, and would always fact check. They always made sure that they weren’t seeing the mask of a person. Why? Because they owed that much to Marinette. If they couldn’t be there for her then, they would give themselves a second chance, and be there for their future friends.

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

Guilt, happiness, wariness, surprise, sadness, satisfaction, regret, everyone that Marinette knew personally felt something different. But they all had one thing in common, they were going to give her a second chance, give themselves a second chance, stop others from having a second chance. For a first chance broke all of them to pieces, so why not have a second chance, for all of them to do what’s right and make a difference? Because Marinette deserved that much, they had broken her, so they were going to fix others. They were going to do what they couldn’t do for Marinette, for she was special, and she deserved a second chance, everyone deserves a second chance.

[gotnofucks]

Parts of Whole

(No images are mine, but I did edit them. If anyone knows the owners, do let me know so I can credit them)

Pairing: Sam Wilson x Bucky Barnes, Sam x Steve (platonic)

Summary: Steve would see his OTP’s ship sail, even from across the grave.

Words: 3.9k

Warnings: mentions of death (nothing graphic and not very sad), language, angst + fluff

A/N: I saw the trailer for tfatws and I just had to write this. This is also my entry for the amazingly talented @sagechanoafterdark and @sweater-daddiesdumbdork challenge (pic prompts above). Thank you for hosting this and being wonderful. The beautiful dividers are made by @firefly-graphics . Huge thanks to @the-inquisitive-hobbit for beta reading and giving me her very valuable insight.

 It never felt right in his hands. It was his to wield, his to claim, and yet it never felt more foreign. The concentric red and white circles with the star embedded in the blue center glared back at him from the mirror. It had been months, but Sam had never taken this shield with him to any mission. He couldn’t.

It felt starkly cold in his hands, lifeless and materialistic. It was Steve’s symbol of strength and hope. It used to hang on his back, warmed by his body heat. Now, it seemed like the shield only existed to remind him of Steve’s absence. This shield was made for Steve. It belonged to him, it always would. How could he ever stand where he stood? How could Sam ever be the captain that Steve was, take this shield that held more power than a crown on a head?

He put it down again, covering it with a cloth before shutting the door on it, leaning heavily against it. He missed him, he missed him like a throbbing wound that refused to heal. If only he could see the sun shining on those golden locks again, have those baby blue eyes smile at him again. What wouldn’t he give for that.

He didn’t notice he wasn’t alone until a heavy hand was on his shoulder, squeezing gently. Sam didn’t open his eyes, just let the weight of it anchor him, let it bring him back from the chaos that was his mind. The cold metal hand felt like a relief against the overwhelming burden of grief that penetrated his being whenever he touched the circular shield.

“I miss him too.” Bucky said, and Sam opened his eyes. Bucky’s eyes were blue too, slightly grey where Steve’s were green. He could see himself reflected in them and he straightened, looking away, hiding his weakness.

This mantle of Steve Rogers that he was supposed to assume, this legacy he was supposed to take forward felt like cheating. His friend, his mentor, his brother was no more. How could people just expect him to move on? But they did. It didn’t matter he was emotionally compromised, it didn’t matter he wanted to drown, like Steve nearly had at the Potomac all those years ago. The world didn’t wait to create one disaster after another. They needed Captain America then, and they needed him now. Like Fury said, trouble always sticks around.

Sam cleared his throat, making sure he was collected before looking at Bucky again.

“Everything loaded in the Quinjet?” He asked and Bucky nodded. They’ll be leaving for another mission soon, and Sam was glad he’ll have the sounds of battle to drown the war in his heart.

“Sam.” Bucky said once Sam started leaving. “Take it.”

Sam looked at Bucky over his shoulder, his gaze equal parts pain and accusation. Of everyone, Bucky shouldn’t be the one telling him this.

“I’ll meet you in the jet.” He said firmly and quickly marched to his room, shutting the door behind him. He hated coming back to the compound, the lingering memories of their fallen warriors whispering in his ears every time he was here. He preferred his little house in the woods where it was only Bucky and nature with him.

He took out his tactical gear, laying it on the bed and getting out his wings when he heard it.

“You are punishing yourself Sam.” Came his voice.

It was this moment where Sam broke, sliding down the wall and letting a few tears escape. He was gone but he never left him.

“How could you have been so selfish Steve. Why?” He asked, looking up to glare at Steve. Even dead he looked so handsome, so put together with his hands on his hips. He didn’t look like the old man they had buried a month after the battle. No. He was their Steve, their young, beautiful Steve who left them behind.

Sam didn’t know why he saw him. He didn’t know if this was a ghost or a creation of his mind. To him, it was Steve. It was Steve and it was a beautiful suffering to see him again every time he reappeared.

“I am sorry.” Steve said and knelt before Sam, looking apologetic. Sam didn’t try touching him. Not when the first hundred times his hand just went through him.

“You are? What for?” Sam asked. “For leaving behind your shield and title, for leaving me behind, or for abandoning a best friend you promised to walk till the end of the line with? What are you really sorry for Captain?”

Steve didn’t answer, he never did. He let Sam take out his hurt and anger, and Sam cried. In the privacy of his walls, he cried. He was so tired of pretending to be strong, to be happy. He hid behind his jokes and smiles, fooled the world which was so ready to move on while Sam was buried somewhere with Steve in the cemetery, half dead, half alive.

“I am sorry Sam, for everything.” Steve insisted. “But you need to stop punishing yourself for mistakes you never made. You can’t live this way.”

Sam snorted a laugh for even in death Steve was a humanitarian bastard. He didn’t come back to haunt his enemies; oh no the centenarian came back to help his friends. Why didn’t people see that he could never be Steve? That Sam Wilson can never, won’t ever be the Captain that Steven Rogers was.

“I hate you so much Steve, I really do.” Sam whispered, wiping his nose and getting up. Steve watched him getting changed, no barriers of shame between them from that side of the grave.

“You always said that. I have never heard a ‘I love you’ more pronounced than I do in your hate.” Steve commented with a soft smile, it widened when Sam gave him a half-hearted glare. It was amazing how they could go from having a painful conversation to joking, but that was how it worked with Steve. He knew Sam, he knew everything that made him laugh and made him smile.

“What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have a tea party with Gandhi or some other do-gooder like you in the afterlife?” Sam grumbled, tightening the belt in his suit and attaching his wings to it. Steve chuckled, sitting on the chair and watching Sam with a relaxed smile.

“They are too uptight for me. Mother Teresa tried to adopt me the other day” Steve said, and Sam laughed. His wings were the colours of American Flag, a new change. He grabbed his weapons and fixed Steve with a look, hating and loving him for being so him.

“I’ll see you after the mission?” He asked tentatively. He would never admit it, but he feared one day Steve would disappear again. It was crazy, it was not normal to see dead people, but Sam would rather have a shadow of Steve than just a memory.

“I’ll be here as long as you need me Sam. Always.” Steve said, a sad smile on his face when he saw Sam leaving without the shield.

Sharon greeted him in the jet, talking to Bucky and the other agents over the blueprint spread before them. Sam nodded his hello, snatching the half empty pack of Cheetos from Bucky’s hand and munching on it.

“So now you want to steal the show and my food. You’re such a dick Wilson.” Bucky said, poking Sam in his shoulder and Sam poked his tongue out at him, a gap-toothed smile on his face. Their previous somber interaction would not be mentioned, filed again like so many inside the neglected corner of their minds.

“Bitch, I paid for grocery this month. This is technically mine.” Sam replied, making Bucky scowl. Sam knew there was a 70-30 chance he’ll find his bed crawling with centipedes when they got back home.

“Charming, boys.” Sharon remarked rolling her eye. “What are you guys doing for Christmas? Must be nice to have a holiday.”

Bucky shrugged, sharing a look with Sam. It was their first Christmas without Steve, a 6 feet 2-inch void always between them.

“Nothing special. Stay home, watch movies, eat a lot.” Bucky said. A lot remained unsaid, but they rarely needed words to communicate anymore. Sam bumped his shoulder in his, offering him some Cheetos to munch while he silently grieved.

“Well, I’ll leave my address here for you to deliver your presents to me.” Sharon joked and Sam laughed softly, mentally making a note to get her something.

“Alright then, and I’ll just casually remark that my phone and laptop are both in serious need for an upgrade. Just saying.” Sam said. “Hey Buck, what are you going to gift me?”

Bucky crumpled the empty chips packet before sending Sam an amused glare, flipping him off.

“A ball gag, so that I can hear something other than your stupid voice.” He snarked.

“Damn dude, at least ask me out for dinner before getting kinky.” Sam winked and Bucky swelled with indignation, pointing an accusing metal finger at Sam.

“I cook dinner 3 times a week you bastard, and I don’t even burn it!” He protested making Sam laugh louder than ever. He loved making Bucky mad, teasing him into an incensed rage that usually ended in a pillow fight or sometimes with Sam’s head in a headlock.

They straightened as they saw the incredulous looks on the new agents’ faces, baby agents as Bucky liked to call them. It was times like these, when both the battle-hardened veterans missed their lost teammates, the inside jokes that were shot around with as much precision as bullets and arrows on the battlefield.

They got to work again, discussing the mission and its details with the other agents. Sam would run point on scaling the territory and fly down to the enemy base with two agents while Bucky would guide him from up here and take out potential threats. They just needed to secure a technological innovation and it didn’t seem too like much work. As Sam poured over the briefing, his eyes subconsciously went over to Bucky who was fiddling with the equipment, making sure everything was in working condition.

If someone had told him a few years ago that Bucky would become his anchor, his solace in his darkest hours, Sam would have punched them in the face. But as it happened, they came to lean on each other, the only unchanged part of their older lives, the only person who made each feel that were still real, still alive. They were still annoyed by each other, but the arguments were more of a routine than an actual expression of resentment.

He didn’t realize he was staring until someone deliberately coughed behind him.

“He is so pretty, isn’t he?” Steve asked, though it was a rhetorical question. Bucky Barnes was a beauty, from his blue grey eyes to the new golden streaks running through his new arm. Sam tried not to notice the way Bucky’s armor clung to his muscles, his face looking almost boyish as he forgot the world and focused on his task.

“I thought you said I’ll see you after the mission.” Sam muttered, taking care that no one noticed him talking to air. He hurriedly looked away from Bucky when their eyes met, a heat rising in his cheeks that made Steve chuckle.

“I said I’ll be there when you need me. And it seems like you do.” Steve commented. He took the seat next to Sam, so near that Sam swore he could feel the heat emanating from his body.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Sam snapped, the smug look on Steve’s face making him wish he could touch him if only to be able to punch him. Stupid blonde best friends with perfect teeth and beautiful smiles and an ass that looked just as round after being dead.

“Oh, I think you do.” Steve said, shifting his gaze to Bucky. “I liked his hair longer but the shorter is going well with the new arm. Don’t you think?”

Despite himself Sam found himself nodding, admiring Bucky as he’d done a thousand times before. He liked his longer hair too, but without them falling in his face, he could see him better. And the arm. The new arm that gave Sam tingles in the most delicious ways, it had him flustered for three whole weeks after Bucky first showed up with it on him.

He didn’t know when it started, but Bucky had somehow become the most beautiful person to Sam. From the way he would make him the perfect mug of coffee to their little kitchen garden they started to keep themselves busy, he loved everything about him. Those moments where he would sense the turmoil inside Sam and silently slip his hands in Sam’s to assure him that he was there, these little moments endeared him even more.

Sam had lost count of how many times Bucky and he had woken up on the couch, sharing a blanket, both silently afraid to sleep alone. He had forgotten how many times he had spent kneeling at Bucky’s bedside, coaxing him out from a nightmare. Every moment spent in each other’s company, laughing, joking, mourning together, it brought them together in a way Sam had never imagined before.

“Tell him” Steve said, a wistful look on his face as he looked at his best friend. “He feels the same. I know.”

Sam shook his head, tearing his eyes away from Bucky with reluctance. He’d already lost so much, he wouldn’t lose Bucky too. Not because he has a minor, very minor teensy tiny crush on him.

“Man, shut the hell up.” He snapped.

“Who’re you talking to?” Bucky called out from across the jet and Sam’s head snapped up, mouth parting a little before he mumbled out a ‘no one’ and focused on the papers in his hand. Sometimes he felt guilty for keeping Steve a secret, for keeping Bucky away from his best friend. He knew Bucky cried into his pillow at nights, he knew because he’d held him then, tried his best to fill the cracks that appeared in the walls of Bucky’s heart as well as his own.

But then, Steve chose to come to him. Chose to talk to Sam. And he was afraid that telling anyone would disturb this magic, whatever this was. That he would once again have to bury Steve. So, he kept quiet. He buried this secret in the deep recesses of his mind, the initial worry of insanity long forgotten in favor of seeing his friend again.

“Do you even have a plan?” Bucky questioned, watching him prepare for the jump. Sam had a job for every agent accompanying him, but the idiot had not outlined anything for himself.

“I do.” Sam said, and when Bucky looked unconvinced, he lightly punched his shoulder. “You’re my plan, my backup. I scream, jump down and get my ass back up.”

Saying this, Sam jumped, the exasperated look on Bucky’s face imprinted behind his eyelids as his wings flared out and he floated.

Everything that could have gone wrong on this mission did, and Bucky was hysterical even before Sam’s call for backup came. He was going to kick Nick Fury’s ass, but before that he was going to bring his friend back in one-piece and chew him out for giving him a heart attack.

Sam’s wings took most of the weight of the fall, so he came back with a sprained ankle and bruises. Bucky was getting increasingly irritated when they came back home, their little secluded spot in the woods welcoming them with the smell of pine and wild grass.

“It’s not my fault Fury gave us shitty intel.” Sam groaned, “You can stop being salty now.”

Bucky remained quiet, the silent treatment going for almost the third day in row and Sam was at his wits end. It was stupid and ridiculous because Bucky almost always pulled the stupidest moves in the field, like stopping a bomb with his hand or listening to the villain’s evil monologue.

Steve was grinning as he leaned against the edge of the table, and with every suggestive wink he gave Sam, the new Captain America resisted the urge to throw a vase at him.

“He cares so much that he’s speechless.” Steve commented and Sam flipped him off. Dickhead has been giving running commentary of the thick tension in the air since they came back, and Sam was on the verge of calling for an exorcism.

“Why do you do that?” Bucky asked suddenly and Sam was so glad to hear him talk again it took him a while to understand the question.

“What?”

“This thing, looking somewhere and talking to yourself, or – I don’t know, you keep being weird.”

“You’re the one with the cyborg brain and arm and I’m weird” Sam tried deflecting. Bucky frowned, coming closer to sit near Sam, leaving abandoned Christmas decorations scattered around them. Clint had delivered it for them but neither had the heart to put them up.

“Sam.” Bucky deadpanned, and Sam sighed, resting his head back and avoiding eye contact. He looked at Steve who was still smiling, his beautiful face like a slap on the face and caress on the head at the same time.

It was more difficult than one would assume to explain. Why did Sam see Steve, and why did only Sam see Steve? Was it a hallucination, or his spirit? Would Steve go away if Sam confided in Bucky? Would Bucky be mad he didn’t tell him? There were so many questions, so many doubts, and yet as Sam looked into Bucky’s eyes, shining like sapphires, he couldn’t keep it to himself.

“Its…Its Steve.” He said, looking down and playing with the soft lint on his blanket. He didn’t hear Bucky say anything but moments later a metal hand gripped his, stopping its nervous movements.

“Steve?”

Sam gulped, the coolness of Bucky’s hand in his warming his heart, swelling it with hope and an emotion Sam was too afraid to acknowledge.

“Steve, he – he talks to me.” Sam confessed and tentatively looked at Bucky whose eyes were brimming with emotion. He expected him to call him crazy, or to get mad, but what he did not expect was Bucky to shift closer and take Sam’s other hand in his too.

“He talks to me as well.” Bucky said. Sam was breathless, both by the slight smell of cinnamon that came from Bucky and the way Bucky came even closer, close enough that he could count the flecks in his eyes.

“He does?” Sam asked and Bucky nodded.

“I don’t know how he does it with you, but whenever I need him, miss him, I feel him speak to me from here.” With this Bucky placed one of Sam’s hand on his chest, the beating heart under thumping strongly. Unconsciously, Sam’s hand caressed Bucky’s chest, mapped its muscles and the jagged scars that bulged under his left shoulder.

“I see him.” Sam admitted, unable to look away from Bucky. “I can see him”

Tears blurred his vision until they dropped on his cheeks, sliding down, and forging a river down, leaving a trail of hurt, betrayal, and loss in their wake. Bucky’s hand came up to wipe them away, staying on Sam’s cheek, playing with the soft hair on his chin.

“I see him too. In you.” Bucky said and they didn’t know who moved first, but their foreheads were touching and then their lips met in a chaste, hesitant kiss. Sam melted into his touch, molding himself to fall into Bucky’s larger frame, his arms circling his waist and pulling him closer. They kissed as if they had walked a hundred miles just to kiss each other, as if they had saved every last breath just to live this moment.

“I – I, Buck –” Sam began but Bucky shushed him, pulling him into another soul-searching kiss before pulling away.

“I know.” He murmured.

As Sam relaxed in Bucky’s warm embrace, lost himself in the blues of Bucky’s eyes, he noticed Steve from the corner of his eyes. There was sadness on his face, the pain of a goodbye in the creases around his eyes. But when he smiled, he smiled with genuine love and happiness. The two parts of his soul he’d left behind seemed to have found themselves, and with them Steve felt himself complete.

“Till the end of the line pals.” He whispered.

Sam never saw Steve again.

Their Christmas was not very festive in terms of decoration. There was still too much pain, too much suffering in their hearts. Steve and Nat’s pictures beamed at them from the walls, and Sam sent Pepper the confirmation that they’ll come over for New Years.

It was a beautiful thing about human nature, about how one rises from the ashes to become stronger. Sam and Bucky lost someone, but they found each other. In the shared grieve of their hearts, they discovered the love long buried in there, eagerly waiting to be spread and shared.

They stayed warm under the blanket, wearing oversized sweaters that they wouldn’t be caught dead wearing outside. The sweaters may or may not have been Steve's; the soldiers mutually decided to hold Steve close in this way. Sam’s heart was tripled in size, as his head rested in the crook of Bucky’s neck, the smell of chocolate and cinnamon melting together to make a little world of their own. Sam wondered if he would mind growing out his hair again.

“So, what did you get me?” Sam asked, knowing he wouldn’t mind if Bucky did get him that ball gag. Part of him almost hoping for it.

“How rude Wilson, here I’ve given you all of myself and you still thirst for more.” Bucky mocked and Sam tackled him into a hug, peppering kisses all over his face.

“Bitch, you’re lucky I lo-” Sam cut himself off, suddenly shy. The smirk on Bucky’s face melted into a smile, a hungry look in his eyes.

“Say it” Bucky ordered. And Sam did. The Captain obeyed his Sergeant without hesitation.

“I love you. I love you so freaking much! I got us the cheesiest gifts.” Sam said in excitement. He pulled away long enough to grab his gift from under the bed, giving it to Bucky to open. He watched with his bottom lip between his teeth as Bucky opened the box to pull out two chains, each dangling with a rectangular pendant.

Dog tags.

Their dog tags. Bucky raised his eyes to Sam’s, fisting his hand in Sam’s t-shirt to pull him closer into a searing kiss, all tongue and teeth and moans, hips grinding as passion merged with love and emotion.

“I love you!” Bucky growled and kissed Sam again. “And I got you chocolates that look like dicks. I didn’t know this would happen between us when I bought them, and I was going to give you a hint with them.”

Sam’s laughter echoed around their small house, the dopey smile on his face remaining intact as they ate candy and burnt sparklers into the night. In the colourful light that played on their faces, they held hands together, filling the void that was there with the warmth of each other.

“We can use the shield as a sleigh until you’re comfortable using it as a weapon.” Bucky mused and Sam smiled into his neck, thinking of a certain blond asshole who may have gone away, but will never be lost.

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For this fic : @barnesandco​