#Bode will comment on it too and say it looks like he’s sleeping and that’s so rude— But Bode is trash so we don’t care what he says

[thehalfbloodfreak]

On Jedha if Merrin watches Cal meditate she comments on it and it’s the cutest thing ever—

Merrin: You look peaceful when you do that.

Cal *probably blushing*: You were watching me?

Merrin: Yes.

[suzukiblu]

Ko-fi thank-you sentences for @miri-tiazan and @lectorel; the wet nurse omegaverse.

Jon's pheromones smell conflicted, a little. Anxious and unsure, but slowly softening into something calmer; a pup warming up to a stranger who's reached out to them with a kindness. Damian folds his arms and scowls accusingly up at Clark. Bruce shifts between them to buffer the expression before Clark can notice any weaponized preteen disapproval. It isn't Clark's fault that he can't get milked up anymore. Not his fault in a way that can be helped, anyway.

He's explained that to Damian, obviously, but ten years' socialization in the League is still winning out over two in Bristol, at least so far.

"Well, it seems like Chris is taking to Carl's milk alright," Bruce says, less because he finds it necessary to state the obvious and more to keep everyone distracted and head off anything too inadvisably vicious that Damian might decide to say if left to his own devices. The comment about "summoning" Jason was bad enough. Lor is officially deep asleep on Carl's chest and looks to be staying that way, his scent sleepy-warm and satiated, and Jon is smelling increasingly comfortable, if still a little shy. But if Lor is sleeping so easy and his pack bonds to Jon encouraged him nursing from Carl too, and they both seem to like his scent, well . . .

It does bode well for Lor not having any belated negative reactions or the like, that's all.

And it clearly was Lor's influence on their pack bond that had Carl offering his milk to Jon, seeing as he's effectively ignored Damian and Tim. Tim, admittedly, isn't much younger than Carl looks to be, but he's also a bit of a late bloomer and still technically unpresented, and Damian is only twelve. If Carl was just being friendly or polite, he wouldn't have picked out Jon specifically. It's obviously the influence of Lor's pack bond with Jon that motivated him to make the offer.

Again, that's a good sign for both Lor getting decently fed and the development of his pack bonds within the Lane-Kent pack, so at least they've learned that much from this meeting, if nothing else. Bruce has gotten more from less, in fact.

"It does seem so, yes, Alpha Wayne," Travers says, still looking pained and seeming to have decided that just ignoring Carl is the better part of valor. "Your request said the pup was, ah . . . particular?"

"Has a particular stomach, more like," Bruce replies with a careless shrug and an easy laugh, neither of which are remotely honest gestures after all the stress of getting even this far. "Not my territory, though, Clark'll have to fill you in on that one."

"Chris has some digestive issues," Clark says with an apologetic smile that is even less honest than Brucie's careless ease. "That's why our requests were so specific."

Incredibly specific, in fact. Bruce had needed to do some exceptionally careful research and testing to work out what was feasibly "reasonable" to request from a human wet nurse, so far as a Kryptonian pup's dietary requirements. The answer, unfortunately, had been "not enough, but maybe enough to get by on for now". It's an imperfect solution, but it's still something.

"Ah, yes, Alpha Wayne did mention something about that," Travers says, and doesn't ask for details. Discretion is highly coveted in Gotham society and also their specific situation, which is another reason the Waterton Agency made Bruce's list of options, so at least that they seem capable of managing without insulting an omega.

Small favors, Bruce supposes. Anyway, Carl's the one they're going to have to be putting up with on the regular, and his bad manners have been entirely equal-opportunity so far. He's treated him and Clark both exactly the same and the only pup he's been even mildly rude to was rude to him first–and much more so than he was in return, in fact.

And either way, he already clearly adores Lor, so that'd soften a lot more in the way of character flaws than Travers' "politeness" has.

"Of course, we do recommend waiting a few hours to make any official arrangements in these situations, just to be certain the pup's taken to the milk, but if you're pleased with Carly's service, I do have the standard contracts for you to look over and discuss as necessary," Travers says, her tone pleasant but stiff. "And I'd be happy to answer any questions, of course."

Carl tilts his head back to glance at the back of Travers' head over the top of his sunglasses and sticks his tongue out at her. She doesn't notice, too absorbed in the paperwork she's pulling out of her briefcase, but Tim has to muffle a strangled little laugh. His face is still flushed; Bruce makes a note to check he hasn't overworked himself into a fever again. They've been getting better about avoiding that, but "better" isn't "perfect".

Carl's eyes are very blue, some part of Bruce notes and files away.

"Would you prefer to discuss the contracts now, Alpha Wayne, or wait until we have confirmation of the pup's tolerance and Alpha Lane is available?" Travers continues, holding up a thick manilla folder in one hand. Bruce ignores the question and instead glances briefly at Lor, who is sleeping more peacefully than he's seen him manage yet, and then Clark, who exhales once before smiling politely at Travers.

"Lois likely won't be back for at least an hour," he says. "And Chris threw up every milk sample that bothered him by now, so I think we could at least begin preliminary discussions. Save a little time in the long run."

"Er–of course, Omega Lane," Travers says, just barely awkward. "Would your office be suitable, Alpha Wayne?"

She doesn't look at Carl as she asks, but Bruce would bet every dime in his bank account that she's trying to get them away from him long enough to close the deal before he finds a way to actually offend them. Given that's a significant portion of her job, he probably shouldn't blame her for it, but he does find the behavior just a little bit irritating.

Well, it'd be less irritating if she hadn't kept doubling down on calling the kid "Carly", probably.

. . . though if she's actually suggesting leaving her at best barely-legal subordinate unchaperoned with a presented adult in a household that could have any number of other presented adults in it, Bruce will very literally be burning down this agency. Alfred isn't any kind of risk or threat to any omega who isn't a violent criminal, of course, much less with the pups in the house, and even if he were Tim would put him on the floor before letting him lay an inappropriate hand on anyone, but Travers has no way of knowing that.

[drabbles-mc]

Taking Its Toll

Javier Peña x GN!Reader

Request by Anon: Javier (and Steve as bestie). Y/n is their partner and is feeling extremely burnt out; running on empty, coffee, cigarettes and not much else. They're barely sleeping or eating and constantly has a tight chest and racing heart. They both know something is up with them but they just shrugs it off until one day, Javi is out on a raid and they reach their breaking point. Steve manages to get them home but can’t reach Javi until he gets back to the embassy etc. Plus a lil Carrillo cause… Carrillo

Warnings: light angst, hurt/comfort, mentions of minor injuries, smoking, language

Word Count: 4.5k

A/N: This request has been sitting in my inbox for months and I'm sorry it took me so long to get around to it. Also this is the first fic I've finished in a hot minute so hopefully it came out okay. It's been a while since I've written for Narcos. Missed these boys. I tweaked some of the details of the request but I hope you still enjoy it!

Narcos Taglist: @thesandbeneathmytoes @garbinge @meadowofsinfulthoughts @winchestershiresauce @sizzlingcloudmentality @alm0501 @panagiasikelia @616wilsons @hauntedforsst @mirabee @buckybarneshairpullingkink @boomclapxox @nessamc @southotheborder @supersanelyromantic @padbrookcottage @mysun-n-stars @raincoffeeandfandoms @bport76 @marrianena @ashlingnarcos @passionatewrites @artemiseamoon @narcolini @purplesong1028 (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

It was a wonder that the stress alone hadn’t taken out the three of you yet. But the fact that you were all under constant stress, and then compounded it with a continuous influx of coffee and cigarettes while not eating enough real food or drinking anywhere near enough water truly made the fact that the three of you were still surviving a miracle. All of the dangers that you all faced every day, and the reality of it was that a bullet was just as likely to take you out as a stress-induced heart attack. It was a game of chicken to see which one succeeded first. One would make a better story than the other.

The trembling in your hands didn’t bode well for you. Whenever it would get too intense, you’d clench and unclench your hands a few times, hoping that it would make the shaking subside. Sometimes it did. Other times all it did was garner some concerned looks from the two other members of your team. For as much as they wanted to call you out on it, they also knew that it would just be the pot calling the kettle black. None of you were in good shape these days.

You were clutching your coffee mug tight in your hands, using that as your current way to ward off the trembling in your fingers. You were trying to quietly and discreetly take a few deep breaths, but it was proving to be much tougher than it should’ve been. Your eyes were focused on the surface of your desk, but you weren’t really reading anything that was written on the papers there. You just needed something stationary to focus on while you tried to get yourself under control.

“You good?” Javi’s voice forced you out of the bubble you’d been trying to put yourself in.

It took more effort than you cared to admit to turn and look over at him. You forced a nod. “I’m fine.”

His eyes narrowed slightly, clearly not believing what you were saying. “You sure? If you need to you can just—”

“I said I’m fine,” you snapped, but still kept your voice down. You almost felt bad but you were to exhausted and struggling too much to be able to spare the energy for a debate that wasn’t going to get either of you anywhere.

Steve looked silently back and forth between the two of you. He knew better than to insert himself into the middle of it. He had no intention of starting and losing an argument against you. He saw the way that Javi looked like a kick puppy after your comment, but it wasn’t enough to make him get involved. Instead, he just shook his head at the two of you and went back to sorting through his stack of photographs.

The minutes turned into hours and the hours slowly but surely slipped by until the entire floor was empty except for the three of you. A few stray officers crossed the floor as they got there for their shift, quickly leaving to be out and about on the streets. Nothing had really caught your attention until the lights around you started being turned off. More and more of the floor was encased in darkness, except for your desk, and Steve’s and Javier’s.

“Alright,” Steve was the first of the three of you to speak up, heaving out a sigh as he pushed his chair back away from his desk and stood up, “I’m going home.” He grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. “You guys should too.”

You dropped your pen onto your desk and ran your hands over your face, letting out a groan but not much more of a response than that. Javier leaned back in his chair, nodding to Steve. “I’m out in a few.”

Steve looked back and forth between the two of you once more. All the comments that he wasn’t saying were clear as day on his face regardless. “Right.” He grabbed his keys. “’Night.”

You and Javi both say a quiet, somewhat mumbled, “Night,” in return.

When Steve was out of earshot and out of sight, you finally lifted your gaze to look over at Javier. You found him already looking at you, not that you were all that surprised. You shook your head at him. “Don’t start.”

“I didn’t say anything,” he countered, a weak smile tugging at his lips.

“You don’t need to.”

He crossed his arms across his chest. “Ready to go?”

You huffed, shaking your head. “No. But I know you’re going to make me.” You shuffled everything into something resembling a pile before stuffing it into a manilla folder. “So I’m bringing it home.”

“You mean you’re bringing it to my place?” he said with a smirk.

You rolled your eyes but you weren’t successful in your attempt not to smile. “If you knew what I meant, then why—”

“’Cause I like giving you a hard time.” The smile on his face should’ve only made you more annoyed with his response, but it didn’t. He nodded towards the door as he got up out of his chair, grabbing a few things of his own to bring home. “C’mon.”

You sighed but you didn’t argue. You grabbed your over-stuffed folder along with a few other items to keep you busy after Javi inevitably fell asleep before you once you were both back at his place. You felt him watching you stuff your folder and your notebooks into your bag, but he didn’t say anything about it. He waited for you to walk over next to him before you both started to finally leave for the day. It gave the illusion of clocking out even though you both knew too well that you were never really off the clock.

It was some obscenely late hour of the night, but you were still lying awake in Javi’s bed. He was passed out beside you, snoring somewhat peacefully. You doubted that any of you ever got an actual peaceful night’s sleep. But either way, he was getting more rest than you were. You were still up, poring over your notes in the soft light of the lamp on what had become your side of Javi’s bed. You gnawed absent-mindedly at the end of your pen as you scanned over what you had written, comparing it to the new intel you’d gotten earlier in the day.

You were flipping the page in your notebook when you felt Javier start to stir awake beside you. He took a deep breath as he came-to. His eyes weren’t open all the way, but even through his narrow view, he could see the light from the lamp and also that you were sitting upright and were still very much awake.

“What time is it?” he grumbled, his face still resting against the pillow.

“Late,” you replied softly.

“It was late when we got home.” He lifted his head slightly. “You sleep at all?”

You shook your head. “Tried, but I couldn’t. Figured I might as well make use of my time.” Leaning over, you pressed a soft, lazy kiss to his lips. “Go back to sleep.”

He reached for the papers you had propped against your bent legs, no real effort behind the motion as he tried to push them away from you and off the bed. He was mumbling something under his breath that you couldn’t quite make out, but you could take a few good guesses.  You easily lifted them up out of his reach. His eyes were already shut again, so he couldn’t see the way that you were shaking your head at him.

“You’ll be dead on your feet in the morning,” he warned you, the gravel in his tone letting you know that he was only about a minute away from falling back to sleep.

“I’ll be fine.”

You were rewarded with the sound of his snoring a few minutes later.

You didn’t remember falling asleep, but you were woken up not by the sound of the alarm clock, but by the feeling of Javi shaking your shoulder. You groaned, half-heartedly swatting his hand away from you.

He chuckled, gathering up the papers that were still scattered on top of the blanket on your stomach. Apparently it had all eventually managed to put you to sleep, even if it was just for a very brief couple of hours.

“I tried to stop you,” he taunted playfully, “but you wanted to keep working.”

You were rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you said, “I don’t wanna hear it.”

“That’s why I gotta say it.” He tossed your papers back into your bag. “Coffee’s ready when you are.”

It felt like your heart was in your throat as you took your first sip of coffee. You chalked it up to the lack of sleep and the oversaturation of stress. Once a few more puzzle pieces fell into place, you would be able to try and get a little bit of rest. It'd been a marathon-length sprint building up for your team’s next big move with Search Bloc. But, if it all panned out, the extra stress would be more than worth it.

The tightness in your chest didn’t lessen as you drove to work. If anything, it only got worse. You put on your best neutral face, not wanting to give away the fact that you felt like you were starting to fray apart at the seams a little bit. It wouldn’t do any good against Javi or Steve, but if you could fool everyone else you’d be alright.

Steve got in not too long after you did. And, just like you’d expected, he did a double-take when he saw you. He didn’t come right out and say that you looked like shit, but you almost wished that he had. The worried look on his face was far more annoying than an insult would’ve been. Your annoyance was compounded by the way that he looked over to Javi, silently asking what the deal was. You watched their wordless interaction, the way that Javi frowned and gave a slight shake of his head before returning his attention to his work.

You were beyond tempted to rip into one or both of them, but you simply just didn’t have the energy. Despite the large cup of coffee you’d slammed back at Javier’s apartment, you still felt like you were dragging yourself around. Rather than arguing with either of them, you pulled a pack of cigarettes out of your desk and angrily lit one up before starting to sift through the notes that had been dropped off by one of the overnight officers.

It was quiet among the three of you for most of the morning. Scattered phone calls here and there, every now and then something would get passed around your little cluster of desks. But for the most part, you each had your piece of the puzzle you were trying to make fit.

Afternoon was just beginning to come around when Carrillo came striding across the floor of the base. He always seemed to be moving quickly, with determination, so you never knew how to gauge how urgent something was when he was around. Sure, it was all urgent, but there was still a ranking. It was hard to parse it out when it came to him.

He disappeared into his office with a couple of his men for a few minutes before reappearing and walking over to your cluster of desks. All three of you stopped and looked up at him from your chairs, waiting for him to say something. He looked at each of you, seeming to study each of your expressions. None of you spoke, waiting for him to be the first one to say something.

After a silence that was probably much shorter than it felt, Carrillo spoke up. “Peña,” he nodded back towards his office, “with me.”

You and Steve had similar expressions on your face, wondering why Javi was the one being cherry-picked for whatever this was going to turn into. It wasn’t much of a secret that Carrillo had his favorites, but even so usually everyone was in the loop on the gist of it all, even if some didn’t get to know the details.

“What’s going on?” you asked, trying your hardest not to sound too combative.

“Got a tip. Going to pay someone a quick visit—leaving in twenty.”

Your frown deepened, knowing that their visit was going to be anything but. “Any reason that we aren’t all—”

“Don’t need everyone,” he said simply.

It was so easy to take everything personally when it came to Carrillo because of the harsh way he spoke, but you fought the urge. If you were one of his favorites, he made sure you knew. Same went for if he hated you. You had the unfortunate luck in falling somewhere between those two categories, which meant that sometimes it felt like he was trying to slight you, and other times it was clear that he wasn’t putting that much forethought into whatever he was saying or doing. You wondered if he would like you more or less if he knew about you and Javi. You weren’t brave enough to find out.

“Want us to just sit here and twiddle our thumbs while we wait for you to get back, then, Colonel?” Steve asked, his sarcasm as thick as his drawl.

Carrillo’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “I want you to keep doing your job, Agent Murphy. Think you can handle that?”

You saw the way that Steve sucked in a deep breath, and you knew that he was gearing up for some sort of smart response that wasn’t going to accomplish anything but digging him into a deeper hole with Carrillo. You jumped in before he could make matters worse. “Got it, Colonel.”

Satisfied with your response and the annoyance still prevalent on Steve’s face, Carrillo motioned for Javi to follow him, wanting to give him a brief rundown of the plan before they headed off with a few of the other officers from Search Bloc.

“That’s why he never picks you,” you said with a tired laugh once Carrillo and Javi had both walked away.

“If I woke up tomorrow morning and starting kissing his ass it wouldn’t make a shred of difference. You know that.”

“So making it worse is your solution?” You chuckled and shook your head, unable to do much else.

He shrugged, eyes falling back down to the papers in front of him. “Gotta do something.”

A few minutes later, the small group of them reemerged from Carrillo’s office. They all took off at a clip, heading for the door. Javi didn’t even make a full stop at his desk as he grabbed his badge and his gun. The two of you exchanged the briefest of looks, the silent short-hand you’d become so comfortable with as the months wore on.

“Be safe.”

“I’ll try.”

There was more to be said there but you tried not to think about it too much as you watched Javi catch up and fall back into stride with Carrillo and his men. Even when the door shut behind them, you still found yourself watching where they had just been.

Dropping your pen onto the surface of your desk, you leaned back in your chair. You tried to take a deep breath, tried to loosen the ever-tightening knot in your chest. You knew it wasn’t nerves over Javier leaving with Carrillo and his men, although that certainly didn’t help. But regardless it was a feeling that you hadn’t been able to shake for far too long.

“What’s going on with you?” Steve finally asked.

“What?”

“You look like shit.”

Like you said, it was better than the heavy, sickening concern he usually wore on his face. “Yea? Well, you look super well-rested and emotionally stable,” you said sarcastically.

He laughed as he leaned forward onto his desk, forearms almost sliding against all the papers scattered there. “You don’t usually look like shit though.”

You rolled your eyes. “You really know how to pay a compliment.”

“Seriously, what’s—”

“I’m fine, Steve,” you cut him off. “Just, just fucking exhausted like we all are.”

“We’re all exhausted, but—”

“Are you a doctor now, Steve? You gonna fix me up?”

He huffed, lips turning downward into a frown. “Alright, alright. I’ll let it go.”

“No you won’t,” you said with a roll of your eyes.

He laughed, and then so did you. “No, I won’t.”

The afternoon continued to slip by. Neither of you had heard anything, and you assumed that no news was good news. When things went south, word tended to travel fast. You were hoping that the silence from Javi and Carrillo meant that things were going according to plan, whatever their plan even was.

You dragged your hands down your face, all of the words in front of you had started to blur together over the last hour or so. Your eyes just needed a break for a few minutes, to stare at something completely unrelated to your job. You knocked lightly against the top of your desk to get Steve’s attention.

When he looked up and over at you, you asked, “Coffee?”

“Sure, yea. Thanks.”

You nodded as you stood up, trying again to take a deep breath as you stretched your arms above your head. The few pops that went down your spine felt heavenly for a few brief moments. Steve was already nose-deep in his intel again by the time you started to step away from the desk.

The coffee dripped down into the pot at a seemingly glacial pace. You braced yourself against the side of the counter, drumming your fingers as you waited. Your racing heart was telling you that the last thing you probably needed was caffeine, but the prevalent exhaustion you were dealing with pitched a very good counter-argument.

You had one coffee mug in each hand as you walked back towards your desks. You were focusing on your footsteps as you made your way back, feeling like the relatively short walk was taking more effort than it should’ve. As you were about to go down the couple of steps that separated the DEA desks from the rest of the base, your knees buckled, legs giving out beneath you.

Steve snapped to attention at the sound of your fall, the sound of ceramic cracking against the floor. He jumped out of his seat and went over to help you, to make sure you were alright. He knelt down next to you, managing to get you so that you were sitting upright. Your heart was still racing in your chest, your hands shaking. You tried to situate yourself so that you could stand back up, but your legs felt so weak.

“What happened?” he looked at the tiny cuts on your hand where the mug had shattered against it.

You shook your head. “I don’t, I don’t know. All of a sudden my,” you tried to take a deep breath but couldn’t quite manage it, “my legs just gave out.”

“Come on,” he slipped his arm underneath yours to help you up, “come sit.”

You slowly stumbled your way back to your chair, plopping down heavily. You let Steve carefully wipe off your hands and check you over. Despite your fall, you didn’t exactly feel like you were going to pass out. You just felt weak, and tired. You were waiting for him to try and usher you off to the hospital, but he remained silent as he watched you.

“I can take you to the hospital,” he offered. When he saw your face, he said, “Or I can take you home.”

“I can get—”

“You’re not driving,” he was firm about that.

“I don’t wanna…” your voice trailed off as you thought over your options. You knew where you wanted to go—you just didn’t know if you wanted Steve to be the one to bring you there.

“What?”

“Think you can just drop me at Peña’s?” your voice sounded so small.

A smirk instantly curled the end of his mouth. “Sure,” he drawled.

If you had been feeling better, you would’ve shoved him. “I could be dying, Murphy. Wipe the fucking smirk off your face.”

“Wanna die in Jav’s apartment so you can haunt him?” He put his hands up in mock surrender. “Whatever you want.” He walked away without a word, coming back less than a minute later with a cup of water. He handed it to you before saying, “I’ll bring my car around. Think you can make it to the front door?”

“Or what? You gonna carry me?”

“Or drag you.”

You took a sip of the water before shaking your head. “Fuck off. Go get your car.”

Despite the relatively calm demeanor that Steve tried to keep around you, you didn’t miss the way that he kept trying to reach out to Javi. He never got an answer, though. It was about what you had expected, and you assumed that Steve wasn’t necessarily surprised. You couldn’t blame him for being incessant, though.

Steve helped you up the stairs to Javi’s apartment. He was about to reach for his keys but you already had yours out. He was silently smirking as he watched you slip it into the lock. You decided to save your energy and you would rip into him later. He tried to insist on walking you over to the couch but you waved him off, arguing that you could handle the couple of steps between the door and the sofa.

You watched as Steve rooted around Javi’s kitchen in search of something that would pass for a meal. You hadn’t eaten well in a while—none of you had, really. Apparently it had taken more of a toll on you than on them.

Multiple times you had told Steve he didn’t need to hang around. Eventually Javi would be home, and you would just rest until then. But he refused. So the two of you stayed camped out in Javi’s living room. Your cover was blown so there was nothing really stopping you from going and crashing on the bed. But you didn’t want to give Steve any more satisfaction than he had already reaped. So you were sprawled out on the couch while he sat in the chair beside it, both of you somewhat paying attention to the television, but not really.

Steve kept trying to call Javi. A few times you told him to give it up, but you also knew that if the roles had been reversed, Javi would incessantly call Steve if something had happened to Connie. Not that the two situations were exactly the same, but they were apparently similar enough. Thinking about that too much wasn’t going to do anything good for the pounding sensation in your chest.

Apparently the sound of the news and Steve sporadically trying to get in touch with Javi had been enough to lull you to sleep at some point. When you woke up, it was to the sound of the two of them talking in the kitchen. You had no idea how late it was, but it was dark out at the very least.

Javi couldn’t have been home for long—he still had his jacket and shoes on. You couldn’t really make out most of what the two of them were saying, but you did catch Javi thanking Steve for everything, and Steve assuring him that it wasn’t a problem. Steve made his way towards the door, offering you a nod and a quiet goodbye, which you repaid with an equally quiet and tired thank you.

Once the door shut behind him, you heard the sound of Javi toeing off his shoes and shrugging off his jacket. Seconds later he was beside you, managing to perch himself on the narrow edge of the couch so he could be right next to you.

You could see the worry and the exhaustion on his face. “You okay?”

You nodded, shrugging. “I’m alright.”

He let out a tired laugh. “Liar.” Leaning down, he kissed your forehead. “Sorry I wasn’t here.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about.”

“What happened?”

You shook your head as you propped yourself up on your elbows. “My body decided to clock out on me, I guess.”

He chuckled. “Yea?”

“Yea. Steve had to scrape me up off the floor of the base.”

“How you feeling now?”

You nodded. “A little better. Not at a hundred percent, but, you know. A nap and some real food didn’t hurt.”

“You should stay home tomorrow.”

“Javi—”

“You don’t get to argue.” He shook his head. “Not after today.”

You sighed, dropping back flat against the couch. “I know.” After a few seconds of silence, you looked back over at him. “How’d it go today?”

He nodded. “Fine.”

“I’m not going to let you keep working with Carrillo if you’re going to start answering questions like him.”

Javi smiled, and you instantly felt a little better. “We managed to get a couple of the guys. We have them in holding now. Gonna start interrogations tomorrow.”

“That’s good,” you said with a nod.

“Only if they give us something.” You were both silent for a moment before he asked, “Anything I can get you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Wanna go to bed?”

You chuckled. “I just woke up.”

“Naps don’t count.”

You let him walk with you towards his room, his hand steadying you as it pressed protectively against your back. You didn’t even want to put the effort forth to peel off your work clothes before collapsing onto the mattress, but you did. You watched Javi as he grabbed a towel and made his way off to shower. He came back in a few minutes later, towel wrapped around his waist and water droplets still scattered across his shoulders. You were in a sleepy daze but you still saw it, still admired it.

He quickly pulled on a fresh set of clothes to sleep in before slipping into bed beside you. You rolled so that you were facing him, giving in easily as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you closer. His forehead rested against yours and for the first time in weeks you almost felt like you could breathe normally again as you related against him.

You were both exhausted, both just glad that the other managed to make it home at the end of the day in one piece. There was a conversation to be had about it all. You knew that. You also knew that it wasn’t the time as you soaked up the heat still radiating off of Javi’s skin from the hot shower. As his nose brushed against yours, there was one more silent sentence said between the two of you before you both fell asleep.

“We’re safe.”

[luckhissoul]

@agoldenlily​​ asked :: ♘: Cuddling in a blanket fort

she put on music even though he’s not even sure why she did that. this whole bloody thing was kinda stupid. but she had seemed excited enough about it. tucking one end here and there until they were tented in. she had a look of pride and accomplishment on her face as she settled down onto the ground. her eyes are bright, a little overeager. she looked almost childish, didn’t she? he makes a comment on it and she tilts her chin and says something a little ridiculous about her complete and devastating dignity. the bloody woman, he murmurs something close enough as he tosses his arm over his eyes. she pokes his side and he can’t help but laugh. in irritation really. soon enough it’s going to get a little too hot in here. with the heavy blankets and no air coming in. what was the point in caging them in like this anyways? this was probably something she had done way back when she was in school with bode, wasn’t it? it seemed like something preteen girls did at sleepovers. they wouldn’t be whispering and sharing secrets under here there. he’d rather be sleeping. light, he thinks that it would be late. 

she doesn’t poke him again. she doesn’t even say anything. in fact he can feel her shifting about in the blankets, slipping under a couple of them. he could feel the press of her back there to his side. she had said that they were going to talk. she had said that they were going - but then she’s going to go to sleep just like that. she’s going to waste his time and then not even bother trying to get his attention. no, he knew what she wanted. of course he did. the silence of her back to him, the light of her phone glowing just barely there over the top of her hair. her even breathing, relaxed but not asleep. he knows she wants him to go over there to her. she’s practically demanding it. light, he should’ve known that she was going to be that kind of trouble when he had moved in with her. but since then it had only gotten worse. she really thought that she could drag him this way and that, didn’t she? he wasn’t about to go over there and hold her just because - -

he drops his arm from his eyes and looks at her. her hair is fanned out behind her. for a moment his eyes are fixated at the soft curve of her neck. a woman’s beauty can be a vicious thing, can’t it? and elayne - elanye -- “elayne....” he says her name softly and she makes a sound. only a sound in response. so really what choice did he have but to turn on his side and slip his arm around her. she rests comfortably against him, close. and he takes in a breath at the feeling, at the sight of the smile she gives him. it’s bloody victorious, isn’t it? he brushes a kiss to the ide of her neck. she lets out a breath, soft, shaky even. and he can’t help but smile. now that was a victory for him, wasn’t it?

[bethdutten]

Can I have an alfie solomons one-shot please!! Angst to fluff.

Maybe she comes in after he's had a meeting with Tommy so his tensions are high, and he yells at her (calls her pathetic or needy or something?) And immediately regrets it and tries to apologise but she just walks out and doesn't say a word, so then he's just trying to win back her affection.

(Pretty please end it with fluff)

Thanks either way <333

You knew it was bad. But it always was, to some extent, when Alfie met with Tommy Shelby.

The sound of breaking glass and muffled shouting didn’t bode well.

You waited until the man from Small Heath had left the building before you made you way to Alfie’s office, a glass of his favorite rum in hand. You knew something that would cheer him up, if only temporarily.

He was standing in front of the window when you entered, not acknowledging your presence in any way. You sighed, taking in the pile of broken glass in the corner you would no doubt have to clean up later. You set the glass of rum down in the corner of his desk, coming up behind him and wrapping your arms around his waist.

“I brought rum, my love,” you murmured, pressing a soft kiss to his neck. “Let me make you feel bett—“

“Fuck off, woman!” Alfie growled, shoving you harshly away from him. “I’m at work, for fuck’s sake, what is wrong with you?”

You flinched imperceptibly, but Alfie caught everything. He shook his head, waving you off with a dismissive flick of his wrist. “I don’t need to be bothered by some pathetic woman right now, Christ. Go home.”

God knows Alfie has said worse to you, but for some reason, that was the comment that cut the deepest. That you were just some pathetic woman. As if your ‘home’ wasn’t his, too.

You wouldn’t let him see you cry, though, if he bothered to look at you. You gulped down the glass of rum in one go as you left, slamming it down on his desk but leaving his door open.

The noise of the glass against his desk seemed to snap Alfie out of it; what he just said, who he said it to. He turned quickly, calling out, “Shit, wait, love—“ but you were already gone.

You pulled your coat against you tightly as you walked home, the sound of Alfie’s voice repeating over and over in your head. It wasn’t until you got inside that you noticed the silent tears streaming down your face, but you just let them roll off your chin as you passed your coat to the maid and shook your head when she asked if you wanted dinner served.

The house was quiet, cold without Alfie’s presence, but you were used to it. It was barely 3 in the afternoon, but you stripped out of your clothes and crawled into bed just the same, curling up into a ball in the middle of it. The sheets still smelled like him, but you doubted he would be home anytime soon. Your body began to shake with silent sobs, and you squeezed your eyes shut as you willed yourself to just sleep. Eventually, you dozed off.

When you woke, it was to the soft light of the setting sun outside your window. You groaned, moving to turn over before you realized someone had their arms wrapped tightly around you, holding you tight to their chest.

“Alfie?” you croaked, voice rough with from sleep and crying. You hadn’t seen him home before at least 9pm in years.

You felt his deep rumble, a gentle kiss placed on the top of your head. An unspoken ‘I’m sorry’ between the sighs.

You managed to turn in his arms, determined to shove him away like he did to you. But something made your hands stop on his chest, weakly grabbing onto the fabric of his shirt instead. 

Alfie gathered you tighter in his arms, a hand coming up to brush a piece of hair out of your face before he leaned in and kissed you, hesitant and gentle. Scared. Alfie fucking Solomons was scared.

You pulled away with a frown, holding his face. You searched his eyes, wondering if maybe his meeting with Shelby was worse than you thought. “What’s wrong, Alfie?”

His eyes fluttered shut as you scratched through his beard, letting out a shaky sigh. You barely heard his response, even in the closeness. “I thought I pushed you too far this time. Can’t lose you.”

Oh. 

You were what made the feared Alfie Solomons this scared. The thought of losing you. It stirred something in you, primal and possessive, feelings that weren’t entirely foreign to you when it came to this man. Although now was hardly the appropriate time. 

“Alf...” you breathed, kissing him again when he went to speak. This time was slow, languid and deep as you tried to take him in. As much as you wanted to punish him a bit more, make him work harder to get back in your good graces, you really didn’t have the heart for it. 

He pulled away with a reluctant grunt, stopping your hand from where it was fumbling with the buttons on his shirt. “I have to get back to work, sweetheart--”

“Now?” You groaned, a hand trailing down his chest and sliding towards the bulge in his pants. “If you leave me like this, you will lose me, Alfred.

He let out an amused chuckle, knowing your teasing was proof you had forgiven him. For now. “Love, when I get back, I am going to worship that fuckin’ body for hours until you don’t remember what the fuck it feels like, right, not to be filled with my cock,” he murmured in your ear, grinning at the whine you let out.

He slid out of bed, pulling your hands off of his shirt. “Until then, I love you,” he promised, leaning down to give you a quick kiss. “And I’ll be thinkin’ of those tits until I get back.”

You let out a frustrated huff, shaking your head. “You’re lucky I love you, Alfie.”

[genderfluid-insomniac]

Yae Miko, Diluc, and/or Beidou with an artist!reader and they don’t know why they reader only looks at them and never talks to them until reader accidentally drops some papers

hey anon! I hope you like this!! lov ya!

Yae Miko, Diluc, and/or Beidou with an artist!reader and they don’t know why they reader only looks at them and never talks to them until reader accidentally drops some papers

Yae Miko:

She was always curious about why you were just looking up and down then going back to writing something on your paper, the guiji had an idea of what they were up to but decided to keep it to herself. For now.

It wasn’t until you were traveling with Miko doing some errands for the Yae Publishing House and chasing down writers and editors so they could do their jobs. You weren’t necessarily paying attention to where you were stepping because you were too busy with something else.

Yae Miko was a gorgeous fox envoy and you couldn’t help but draw her constantly, hiding from her because you know that if she found out she’d tease you to no end. Choosing to discretely hide your sketches from your girlfriend and hope to the archons that she didn’t find out or so you hoped.

Because you weren’t looking where you were going you tripped on a step and you hands threw themselves out to catch yourself, dropping your art book on the stone below. “Oh, little one, are you alright?” You panicked and stood up, wiping off the dust that had gotten on you and sputtering out an apology.

To your horror, Miko picked up the sketchbook and hummed, flipping through the pages and smirking at you before tossing you your book back. “If you wanted to draw me, why didn’t you say so, human?”

Diluc:

The dark knight is very aware of your habit but unlike everyone else he’s concerned about it and hopes you’re not becoming stressed. He keeps a close eye on it and sometimes get’s peak at what you’re doing, later remembering you’re an artist then stops being worried.

Often it’s when he’s working the bar you’re there in the corner near the entrance on a stool sketching away, you’re being your anti social self and taking quick peaks at your lover before jutting your head down. Kaeya and the Bard strolled in and you shifted your back to them, hiding what you were doing.

Both of them were very much aware of your drawing habit and even more so that most of the time you drew Diluc, teasing you to no end about it constantly. They both chuckled at you, Venti threw a playful rhyme at you and in response stuck out your tongue in a childish manner.

Kaeya ordered drinks before looking to Venti with a grin, “So, Y/N. You seem very attached to that book of yours. Mind telling us what’s got your attention so tight?” You froze and nervously laughed, shaking your head and glaring at him.

The red head firmly put his brothers drink on the counter, death staring the cavalry captain into stopping and putting up his hands in defense. You went to go back to sketching when your sketchbook isn’t in front of you only for hear a laugh, looking over to the Anemo archon giggling and flipping through the pages.

“Venti!-“ “Wow, I knew you loved Diluc but hehe” Using his elemental powers to send it over to your lover before you could do anything. Needless to say, Diluc nearly became as red as his hair from seeing that the entire time you were sketching him.

Beidou:

Now sketching on a ship doesn’t bode well most of the time but somehow you’re managed to work it out, kind of. At the very least if you tell someone you did your art on a boat then they’ll be impressed.

Captain Beidou is so gorgeous and stunning, the way she steers her ship and gives out commands. How could you not choose her for your subject and you were biased because she was your girlfriend.

It was one of those days where the ocean was glass and the sea itself was sleeping, allowing the Crux to make great time and the crew get to relax as they do their work. Kazuha was a bit above you and commented on your art, throwing a tease every now and then to fluster you.

You were so focused on your sketch, glancing up and down, making sure that her features were perfectly true to the real one. The boat shook slightly and you accidentally make a stray mark, panicking and frantically trying to erase it.

A laugh interrupted you and shocked you out of your zone, dropping your art book and looking up to see Beidou, scrambling to get your sketchpad back but unfortunately she already had it. “I knew you were an artist but damn. You’ve outdone yourself, maybe I’ll have to pose better next time~”

[saphirered]

Hi! If you’re taking requests could you write a Mollymauk x Reader where they’re really close friends and he calls her a bunch of cute nicknames but then Molly notices that she starts getting really dejected or just leaves when he starts talking to new people and she ends up confessing that it’s because she’s fallen for him and doesn’t like to be around when he’s calling other random strangers “darling” and “love”? Thank you!!!

Hope you enjoy! 😘

-

When you were walking down the streets in search for a place to stay the night Molly had pulled you along by your arm wrapping it around his, proudly parading around like he usually does, the Nein following his lead, some of them definitely not keeping their opinions to themselves watching you two go. Of course these comments are simply met with a laugh and a kiss to your temple, words whispered in your ear to make you blush. The red creeping up your cheeks as you shoot a glance backwards are usually enough to make those comments from Beau at least to stop. Jester, the hopeless romantic she is will just squeal and take out here sketchbook to capture this moment in detail.

Inn found, the place is nice and cozy but also a bit more pricy than the group had hoped. That’s an easy task for Mollymauk Tealeaf to fix. He lets go of your arm when you reach the bar, the others behind and leans on the counter top on his elbows biting his tongue and giving an innocent half smile letting the pointed canines show in all their glory as he bats his eyelashes.

“Are you sure you can’t give us a special deal? We’re taking four rooms already. Some of us will already share but I don’t particularly enjoy sleeping on the floor. Do you think you’d have a better offer, handsome.” Molly winks at the barkeep who, admittedly isn’t bad on the eyes is also taken aback by the tiefling’s blatant advances. So much so he stutters on offering a decent discount as Molly reaches out brushing his hand over the exposed lower arm of the barkeep who’s more bothered by being seen by his other patrons than the tiefling’s gestures. Molly’s enjoying every second of this as is clear by the attitude he carries, the grin on his face and the mischievous look in his eyes and he’s so caught up in his act he doesn’t notice you excuse yourself taking one of the keys and rushing off to one of the rooms.

“You’re a darling. Thank you so much for your generosity.” That’s the last you hear as you watch Molly lean in over the bar a little closer and the barkeep blushes wildly. With a shake of your head and boiling blood you walk up the stairs, enter the room and slam the door closed behind you dropping yourself onto the bed face buried into the pillow and let out a scream of frustration to be muffled by the the pillow.

It takes a good fifteen minutes of Molly flirting with the barkeep to also get a discount on meals and drinks for the night. He’d gladly sacrifice his time, not only because they’re running short on money and need the coin but also because he generally likes to mess with people and it was so easy. He had the barkeep a stuttering mess in seconds. That’s something to be proud of isn’t it? Either way he prides himself for it. Nevermind, the others are settled at a table, drinks poured but one’s missing. You’re missing. Where did you go? Molly looks around the tavern but doesn’t see you. He doesn’t miss a beat sending a wink to the barkeep when they make eye contact but returns his attention to the Nein.

“The pretty one, where did she go?” Molly asks.

“I’m right here Molly. Or am I not pretty enough for you?” Beau snorts slamming back her drink. She knows fully well he means you and she won’t miss an opportunity to tease the tiefling now she’s got ammo. She’ll play this game any day.

“The annoying one, that’s what you are.” Molly replies as Beau sticks out her tongue and takes the drink Jester slipped to her for seconds. Two drinks right after arrival? That does not bode well for the night… for Beau. He, however will have plenty of entertainment provided by the monk once she starts a drunken bar fight. At least they won’t be the ones getting kicked out. He’s got that barkeep in his pocket.

“Fuck you too, Mollymauk.” Beau grumbles into her tankard.

“I think she went upstairs to settle in but she’s not come back yet. Should we save her a drink?” Jester speaks as she holds back a unclaimed tankard from Nott the Brave who’s already done with her own.

“That’s alright. Thank you, Jester, for providing a useful answer to my previous question.” Beau shakes her head at Molly’s words but holds her tongue as Jester allows Nott to take the remaining tankard and before Beau can claim his, he slides it across the table over to Nott who defends it like there’s no tomorrow. Beau flips him off as he goes upstairs with a laugh.

Opening the door to your room without knocking Mollymauk sees you face down on the bed, belongings discarded at the foot of the bed. For a moment he considers you might just have tossed yourself onto the bed and allowed the exhaustion of the journey to overtake you but your breathing doesn’t match that of your sleeping form. Molly sneaks up to the foot of the bed and wraps an arm around your ankle yanking it. He’s met with a yelp and before he knows it he’s struck in the face with a pillow. When it drops to the floor he sees you sitting up arms crossed. You’re not as amused as he is with his antics. Weird. Usually you’d have laughed or retaliated with a witty remark before you both would be laughing. Now you’re glaring at him.

“What’s got you in such a foul mood, darling?” He asks as clearly you’re not just going to reveal the answer of your own volition because you felt like it. You bite your tongue holding back a comment so instead he sits next to you on the edge of the bed, facing you arm leaning on your raised knees and for just a moment your expression softens. Okay, so you’re not angry at him for something. That’s good. At least he knows he won’t be at the receiving end of your wrath.

“Nothing.” You mutter. Why is hit when his stupid face walks into the room you just forget why you were upset in the first place. Well, you know why but the feelings still disappears, that little voice in the back of your head saying it’s a stupid reason anyway.

“Clearly it’s something, love. You know you can tell me anything, right?” Molly doesn’t feel the need to tease or even try to do something, anything to lift your spirits or make you laugh. This isn’t something that’s simply laughed off. This is something that needs words first.

“I know.” You nod but you don’t move to say anything and just let yourself fall backwards onto the bed wiping your face letting out a disgruntled sigh. You still keep your knees raised providing the support for Molly’s current position and look up at him. The jovial and smug attitude is gone and replaced by one of calm and a hint of worry. He pats your thigh waiting, giving you a moment to seek for the right words or response, anything really.

“It’s stupid. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about me. I’ll get over myself.” You offer him a weak smile but Molly doesn’t buy it. You don’t have him convinced for a second and you know you don’t when he gives you a look pressing you to be truthful. Stupid stupid stupid. Why did he have to have such a hold over you? Stupid feelings.

“It’s not stupid to me and I do worry.” It’s very few times Molly drops the act and allows his words to sound like the most genuine thing in the world. There’s no attempt of persuasion, or sweet-talking. There’s no blunt honesty but a careful one, approaching this as if you’re slipping through his fingers like sand. So that’s here you can’t stop yourself from clinging onto whatever you had. Better rip the bandaid off quickly and maybe he’ll let you down gently.

“I like you. I like you a lot. And whenever you’re flirting with strangers you come across like you do with me I just feel like I’m nothing more than a stranger to you.” Molly takes in your words and his expression remains gentle to the point where you can’t gleam anything but that off it. There’s no response like you expected. No surprise or discontent. You’d hoped he wouldn’t have laughed at you and at least he didn’t but you don’t know if you’re happier with the gentle smile he offers you as it literally doesn’t steer you in any direction. It just leaves you waiting.

Mollymauk’s not surprised by your words. He had suspected for a while but it’s not his place to assume. Sure when the attraction is only physical and never intended to be something of the longer term, it’s easy and fun to mess around with but you weren’t just physically attracted nor was this the short term kind of thing when it came to your feelings as these develop over time, not in a brief moment. So he dared not assume. It’s risky territory for him as he’s had few lasting long term relationships, even less so the ones build on genuine mutual feelings. He’s in no way uncomfortable with your feelings, or his own for that matter but he’s more careful because he’s pretty sure he’d have more success navigating a journey across thin ice, or a death drop below.

“Just say something. Do anything. Please. I can’t bear the silence.” You beg as Molly realises he might have zoned out a little longer than he intended to but when it takes him even longer to shake himself out of it you let your knees drop and making him lose his balance and fall upon your legs. That’s enough to snap him out of it.

“Very funny, love.” He deadpans as he sits back up again, releasing your legs allowing you to do the same and hug your knees leaning your cheek on top of it. Anticipation is clear within your eyes as he hasn’t given you any reaction to your confession just yet.

“Do anything you said?” The unreadable expression returns but his fingers slip beneath your face and gently lift it up. You await his next move not daring to hope where this is going and not moving beyond where Molly guided you to. He looks you in the eyes searching for any hesitation or move to back away but when you don’t offer him one beyond the anticipation he leans in pressing his lips to yours.

“You could never be a stranger. And I don’t know what I’ve done to lead you to believe so but take my word when I tell you I promise you I’ll spend every day of my life reminding you you’ll never be a stranger to me.” Molly’s words hit home and you know he’s someone who lives in the moment but you also know this is real and his words are genuine.

“Now if that means, you want me to stop flirting with barkeeps, and merchants to get some hefty discounts I will, for your sake.” He grins pecking your lips once more

“I’m pretty sure the others will kill me if you do. So best not?” You smile. Molly chuckles. Strangely, that’s all you needed to hear. Maybe your jealousy wasn’t stemmed from the tiefling’s blatant flirting with everyone and everything because you’ve always known Molly to be a flirt, even long before your feelings for him developed. It was just your own insecurities and doubts getting in your way and those were severely discredited by Molly’s words; ‘you’ll never be a stranger to me.’

“Best not then. That barkeep is a handsome one. Could be fun, darling?” Molly taps his chin as if considering and you slap his shoulder. You know he’s just teasing you so when he grabs the hand that hit at him you grab the pillow near your legs and smack him with it. Before you can swing a second time, the two of you giggling like idiots, Molly grabs the pillow throwing it behind you at the head of the bed and uses your held hand to pull you into a deep kiss.

The door swings open and in comes Beauregard, her backpack slung over her shoulder, staff in hand and just groans loudly at the kissing pair on one of the beds. She rolls her eyes disgruntled.

“Fjord! We’re gonna be roommates! Don’t fight me on this!” Beau shouts as she slams the door closed and goes over to a different room to drop her things. Fuck, she needs another drink. Despite everything she can’t fight the smile from slipping onto her lips. She’d known it was a long time coming but you finally having gotten over yourselves and having found some happiness brought her that smile to her face. Not like she’d ever admit it. And now she’s just gotten another thing to tease Molly about. She can already feel the comebacks and witty remarks form in her mind. Prepare yourself Tealeaf.

[robininthelabyrinth]

What if nmy, jgy and lxc can hear each other thought after they became brother?

ao3

1

Lan Xichen was dreaming.

He dreamt that he was walking along a road, dust on his feet, a small pack on his back, and bruises on his face from where he’d fallen; it felt as if everyone was looking at him, gawking at him, every one of them acting as though they knew everything about him just by looking at him and he hated them –

Do not succumb to rage, Lan Xichen thought, the familiar rule popping into his mind at once.

Rage isn’t the problem, some part of his mind thought back at him. The problem is – why do you care what they think? They’re always going to think something.

They were judging him. How dare they judge him? He’d made something of himself, made himself smart and tricky and capable, but no one cared about that, they judged him, they sneered at him –

Sneering for no reason is prohibited.

Oh for – he just said that they were sneering for a reason.

He did not! The whole point of what he said was that they were sneering because they were unfairly judging him, Lan Xichen argued, and was momentarily amused at himself for arguing with himself in a dream. He would have to write down this dream in the morning and see if he could explore whatever internal strife within him was the cause. And that they weren’t worthy of judging him.

I thought ‘Arrogance is forbidden’?

Are you quoting Lan sect rules at me?

Excuse you both, he was trying to think here!

I’d say brooding rather than thinking.

Lan Xichen agreed with that. It really was mostly brooding, brooding on all the wrongs that had been done to him and paranoia against the whole world. Brooding and walking, walking and brooding –

Like a chicken.

He was not like a chicken. What the fuck. Who the fuck compared lusting for revenge to chickens?

I’m just saying, if you’re going to be brooding, you may as well have some eggs –

Lan Xichen woke up laughing. He still wasn’t sure what the meaning of the dream was, but he did meander down to Caiyi town in order to have some eggs.

He passed it off as a craving.

2

Lan Xichen knew from the first sight of the jingshi how this dream would go.

He would be walking, slowly and gravely, knowing already what he would find: the sight of Wangji kneeling in front of his mother’s house. Only six years old, too young to understand, and yet faced with such terrible loss.

He would go up to him and take him by the shoulder, seeking to comfort him, and he would turn and that would be when Lan Xichen would see his face – dead eyes vacant, blood spilling from his mouth, thirty-three whip marks tearing his back apart and yet that did not seem to be the greatest blow…

The dream never changed.

And so Lan Xichen walked.

He walked, slowly and gravely, and he saw little Wangji, and he –

He’s like a little figurine!

Lan Xichen paused. It was true, of course; he’d had that thought a dozen times before when thinking of his younger brother in his youth. Just not usually in this dream.

One of the expensive ones, his bizarre train of thought continued, utterly nonsensical. The ones you can only get in the shops in the city, all pudgy-faced and red-cheeked with eyes half the size of their face. I always thought those were dreadfully unrealistic.

Perhaps a little.

They’re scary is what they are, another part of his brain thought. Can we get to the part of the dream with all the blood instead?

Seriously?

At least he’s an adult when that happens.

Fair enough.

Wait, hold up, go back, since when am I scared of dolls? I’m not scared of dolls.

Neither was Lan Xichen.

Not dolls. Creepy unliving mannikins in the shape of dolls that are almost but not quite human, that move in stuttering motion that is almost but not quite right, that smile and look at you when they shouldn’t be able to move...

Huh. Apparently I am scared of dolls, the first part of his mind thought, bemused, and Lan Xichen agreed. He’d never known about that particular phobia of his before before, but now that he thought about it, it sounded pretty awful.

He really hoped such dolls wasn’t going to be making in appearance in this dream. It was bad enough as it was.

He sighed, and lifted his foot to continue walking.

Couldn’t you just not go up to him?

What?

That’s a good point. If you already know you’re dreaming, there’s no point in just walking through it.

But…Lan Xichen always went. It’s his brother!

Maybe it’s a creepy doll. Can you really tell the difference?

Wangji was not a creepy doll. How did they get on the subject of creepy dolls, anyway?

No idea. But it’s definitely about as stupid as chickens when it comes to stupid dream thoughts.

Great. Now Lan Wangji – sitting there in all his Lan white – has transmogrified into a chicken, plump with white feathers.

Lan Xichen hoped his subconscious was happy now.

No, this is great actually. No killing livestock within the Cloud Recesses, right?

What?

If he’s a chicken, he’s immune from –

Lan Xichen woke up out of sheer frustration.

(Still better than the usual dream, he supposed.)

3

He was walking through a forest, big loping steps that ate up the ground almost like a run. There were so many things to do, and never enough time to do it in – everything was always a rush, and only the dead had time to sleep.

He was walking through a forest, and the moon was big and bright above his head, shining a dull red in the night sky, a killing moon that boded ill. He could feel the pressure of it on his shoulders like a weight, like an extra presence that never left him; it was both friend and foe, loved and hated, for it would show him the way and rob him of it at the same time.

He was walking through a forest, and he wondered to himself why his dreams recently always featured so much fucking walking.

Oh, no, now you’ve ruined the mood, some part of Lan Xichen’s brain complained, and it might actually be him, come to think of it. I was enjoying that. We were going so fast, it was almost like running.

It wasn’t anything like running.

How did you manage to stop the dream, anyway? Some other part of him thought, sounding almost wistful. You barely got five steps into it before you were making unwarranted comments.

Lucid dreaming.

Was it the moon that gave it away? I’ve never seen it hang so low or so threatening.

It’s not a moon, it’s a metaphor.

All dreams are metaphors, really, Lan Xichen protested, but he was snickering. But also, hold up, look up a second – is it just me, or doesn’t it feel like the moon looking at us?

The moon doesn’t have eyes, the smart voice said immediately. It doesn’t have eyes, so it can’t be – okay, never mind, the moon is definitely looking at us. Also, it’s angry about it.

That was because it wasn’t a moon. He really wasn’t sure what was so hard to grasp about this.

The moon is growling at us! That’s pretty hard to grasp!

If this dream is lucid, can it be changed? Lan Xichen asked, trying to force his dream self to move or dodge or something without success. The moon was getting larger in a threatening sort of way that suggested that it was coming closer. Rapidly. A change would be good right now, really –

I don’t want to be eaten by a moon! I don’t want to be eaten by a fucking moon!

Stop saying it’s a fucking moon already! It’s not a moon! It’s just Baxia!

Lan Xichen opened his eyes and sat ramrod-straight up in bed in a single movement.

“Oh, no,” he said.

4

They met in Qinghe, which had the virtue of being Nie Mingjue’s sole domain in a way Gusu wasn’t yet, for Lan Xichen, and which Lanling was likely never to be for Jin Guangyao.

“All right,” Jin Guangyao declared, stalking in through the doors looking more upset than Lan Xichen had ever seen him. “Which one of you was responsible for the chicken comment?!”

Nie Mingjue coughed.

“I knew it!”

“I wasted a great deal of time on dream analysis after that,” Lan Xichen said, because apparently they were going to be discussing this rather serious issue  affecting both himself and his two sworn brothers in the stupidest way possible and he was oddly all right with that. “I even consulted Uncle.”

Nie Mingjue coughed again, except this time it sounded less embarrassed and more like he was (badly) trying to hide laughter.

Even Jin Guangyao stopped scowling and started having to fight a smile. “Really?” he asked. “You told – about the chickens?”

“He thought it suggested a desire to settle down,” Lan Xichen confessed.

“The man wants grand-nephews,” Nie Mingjue said dryly. “You could dream of anything and he’d interpret it as wanting to settle down. Speaking of settling down, would you both like to do so? There’s calming tea.”

Qinghe had a very specific brand of tea they meant when they referred to ‘calming tea’, imported from the west and south for its reputed use in subduing even the most vicious temper, and it was most definitely not made of flowers. However, as mild intoxicants went, it didn’t have quite the same crippling effect on Lan Xichen as liquor, and he was happy to accept a cup.

“So,” Lan Xichen said after a while. “We’ve been sharing dreams.”

“It certainly appears that way,” Nie Mingjue agreed.

“How do we make it stop?” Jin Guangyao wanted to know.

“I don’t know how it started,” Lan Xichen said. “Much less how to make it stop. Unless this is familiar to either of you…?”

They both shook their heads.

“Could it have had something to do with the sworn brother ceremony?” Jin Guangyao suggested.

“Improbable,” Nie Mingjue said.

“There have been plenty of sworn brotherhoods throughout history,” Lan Xichen agreed. “Someone would have mentioned dream-sharing if it were a side effect, if only because it would be so useful.”

“Dream-sharing?” Nie Mingjue said, frowning. “That’s your problem?”

“It’s useful, but intrusive,” Jin Guangyao said. He was frowning, which he rarely did in public – or even in front of Nie Mingjue these days. The revelation had clearly shaken him deeply. “Dreams can’t be controlled. What if one of us started dreaming about, I don’t know, killing each other?”

“We would agree in advance not to take offense,” Lan Xichen assured him. “As you say, dreams cannot be controlled –”

“I don’t mind the dreams,” Nie Mingjue put in. “It’s hearing your thoughts that’s getting to me.”

They both turn to look at him.

“What?” he asked. “Oh, that hasn’t started for you two yet? Something to look forward to, because it’s a pain.”

5

They ultimately concluded that it was a curse.

A curse gone wrong, of course, but it had the markings of one, and after some research they were even able to narrow down to which one it must have been at the start.

“Why did it go so wrong?” Lan Xichen wondered, looking at the historical records they’d dug up in Qinghe’s library. “Whoever it was surely wasn’t planning on us having this sort of connection.”

“Baxia deflected it, I think,” Nie Mingjue said, and Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen shared unnerved looks.

It was one thing to know that your sworn brother had a spiritual weapon to which his soul was tied and which he sometimes spoke of as if it were a person; it was yet another to feel that bond, the foreign energy that seeped into his skull at all times, to know that his lucid dreams were due to his persistent awareness of that extra being, to be able to sense the personality that was Baxia lingering on him like a ghost. Or a guai, more accurately.

“It must have happened during or very soon after we swore our oath,” Nie Mingjue continued, oblivious as always to their disquiet. “Our qi was in parallel at that time, binding us together, and she would have been able to spread the attack between us all.”

“The ultimate goal of something like this is to drive someone mad – specifically you, da-ge, since it seems to be hitting you first and hardest." Lan Xichen said, grimacing. And given the Nie sect’s infamous tendency towards qi deviations, they might have thought they could get away with it without anyone finding out…how utterly vile. “Whoever did it must have a great deal of hatred.”

“Or not a lot to lose,” Jin Guangyao said. His hands were gripped tightly behind his back, thumbs digging into his wrists. He seemed to be thinking the word vile, vile, vile on repeat – possibly he was agreeing? Lan Xichen couldn’t quite tell; the curse was affecting him a little more slowly than his two sworn brothers. “Desperate people do desperate things.”

Nie Mingjue looked up with a frown. “Meng Yao, what do –” he started to say, then frowned, having clearly been sidetracked. “You think it’s an insult when I call you that?”

Jin Guangyao, equally distracted, stared at him. “You mean it as a compliment?”

“I don’t exactly like your father,” Nie Mingjue pointed out, sounding a bit puzzled – which, in fairness, he had never been anything but extremely obvious about his disdain for Jin Guangshan. “Why would I think adding his name to yours is a good thing? I’d rather honor the side of your blood that gave you that brain, since it isn’t the Jin sect.”

Jin Guangyao looked flattered – or, no, he didn’t look anything, but Lan Xichen was getting that distinct impression from him nevertheless. It seemed he’d reached the sensing-feelings stage: Nie Mingjue felt a little embarrassed at the reaction, and they were both feeling warmer towards each other.

Maybe they should postpone curing this thing, Lan Xichen thought briefly. If it could help them repair –

“Absolutely not,” both of his sworn brothers said together.

“We’re fixing this at once,” Nie Mingjue insisted, glaring at Lan Xichen.

“Immediately,” Jin Guangyao agreed.

Lan Xichen made a gesture of surrender. “I already have some ideas on how to cure the problem,” he said. “I won’t drag my feet, I promise.”

“Good,” Jin Guangyao said. “I would kill to get rid of this.”

“Speaking of that,” Nie Mingjue said, and he looked like he was starting to get angry, “let’s go back to that discussion of desperate people and how you were thinking about how to kill me –”

6

Lan Xichen had always respected Nie Mingjue – as a man, as a leader, as a friend – but his respect had recently reached new heights when he realized exactly how much the man wanted to murder just about other every sect leader out there, and yet didn’t.

Baxia’s unstinting support for this idea didn’t exactly help.

Jin Guangyao – who Lan Xichen was discovering to be far more vicious than his pleasant smile might have suggested – found Nie Mingjue’s grudge-bearing pettiness to be absolutely hilarious.

What about that one? he asked gleefully. Do we want to kill him?

yesevilkilldestroy, Baxia murmured. doitnow.

Please do not murder Sect Leader Lu, Lan Xichen said. He didn’t think Nie Mingjue actually would, but he felt the need to put his views out there.

I don’t know, Nie Mingjue said thoughtfully. He tried to flirt with me once.

That’s not a crime –

I was ten.

killevildestroy

I’m with da-ge on this one, Jin Guangyao chimed in. Just murder them all. I can provide an alibi.

He could provide six, in fact, each one of them smoothly unrolling like crisp paper in their mutual mind-space – they’d figured out a way to get some privacy – and Nie Mingjue huffed a mental laugh even as Lan Xichen sighed.

It would just figure that his two sworn brothers liked each other much more now that they had access to each other’s secret vicious thoughts – thoughts Nie Mingjue would never act on, given his principles, to the point that Jin Guangyao had once doubted he even had them; thoughts that Jin Guangyao thought would disgust them both, but which Nie Mingjue seemed to rather enjoy as long as Jin Guangyao never took any steps to actually execute them.

What disasters they both were.

“No murder,” Lan Xichen said sternly, futilely trying to conceal the warmth of his affection for them both.

His uncle turned to frown at him. “Xichen?”

Lan Xichen realized he’d spoken aloud by accident and flushed. “Forgive me, Uncle. I was –”

Reciting Lan sect rules!

“– contemplating the obligation not to take lives unnecessarily,” Lan Xichen said, finishing the lie almost smoothly. He’d gotten much better at it ever since the curse began.

Somewhat worse at self-restraint, though, which was a problem because he was apparently the only one of them with a functioning moral compass – Nie Mingjue had principles, which were most emphatically not the same thing (the concept of unearned mercy seemed to puzzle him, as did sympathy for people forced by circumstance), and Jin Guangyao…

Well, he tried.

Sometimes.

Mostly he faked his way through it.

Which was about what Nie Mingjue apparently did most of the time, too, so…

Lan Qiren was giving Lan Xichen a doubtful look, but seemed to accept the explanation and returned to his own meditation. Which was Lan Xichen was supposed to be doing, but Nie Mingjue was dealing with some minor sect leaders in his district with accompanying commentary by Jin Guangyao (supposedly supervising something in Lanling but actually bored out of his mind), and it was just so much more interesting…

You can meditate later, Nie Mingjue thought at him. I appreciate your level-headedness – as do my advisors. I’ve been getting compliments on how well I’m keeping my temper.

Thank A-Yao for that, Lan Xichen said. He’s the sneaky one.

I am, Jin Guangyao said, utterly shameless. And da-ge’s the straightforward one who punched my father in the face.

They all had a collective moment of gleeful bliss at the memory.

Do not damage others, Lan Xichen finally reminded them, albeit reluctantly.

Do not keep company with evil, Nie Mingjue shot back.

Do not act impulsively!

Do not argue with your family, Jin Guangyao interjected. For it does not matter who wins.

…ouch.

He got you there, Nie Mingjue crowed. A-Yao – mark your words.

Yes, yes, Jin Guangyao grumbled. I acknowledge you both as my real family now; will you stop holding the attempted murder thing over my head?

No, never, since it was quite possibly the only way to squeeze any empathy out of his (charmingly) self-absorbed sworn brother.

Anyway, it turned out well in the end, didn’t it? Nie Mingjue added. He thought I hit him because it turned out that he’d instigated the curse to be set against us.

Only you would end up getting a confession out of punching someone, da-ge, Lan Xichen said, amused. It’s positively unfair to the rest of us.

Yeah, da-ge. Leave some luck for the rest of us.

You’re acting sect leader of Lanling in light of your father’s imprisonment, Nie Mingjue reminded Jin Guangyao. How much more luck do you need?

I got that through hard work, thank you.

killevilliesLIES

…I retract the statement and request that Baxia stop glaring at me. Please.

Nie Mingjue snickered.

Lan Xichen laughed.

“A-Huan,” his uncle said. “What on earth is so funny?”

Lying was forbidden, so Lan Xichen was just – not going to explain.

Ever.

[127-mile]

THE EMPLOYEE'S ROOM.

Pairing: Surf teacher!Johnny x gender neutral reader. Genre: Summer, morning after | Fluff, mention of suggestive content. Warnings: Morning after, marking, alcohol. Plot: Waking up hungover in someone’s bed is not how you planned your first day at the resort. Word count: +1k. A/N: This is part of the Resonance beach collab hosted by @amorajae

Waking up with a hellish hangover is definitely not the way you saw your first day at the resort to be, but you have to believe that plans are not made to be respected, especially in summer.

But it is certainly not the worst.

When you straighten up while rubbing your eyes with the palms of your hands to get rid of sleep, you hear a growl next to you, and you turn your head so fast that you softly whine from the pain that makes your vision shake and misted with tears. "Who hit me on the head." someone mumbles, and your eyes widen.

Maybe you should have reacted to the fact that you woke up naked, in a bed far too small to be the one in your suite, but that's not what struck you the most. The body under the blanket moves, and a tuft of blonde hair comes out, what the fuck did you do last night? You grab the sheet, and slowly pull it down to see the person's face, and you frown.

The man must be barely older than you, with long blonde hair that covers part of his face, and a heart-shaped mouth with plush lips. His lips are red, and swollen, and you really don't want to know if you're the reason behind. And the more you lower the sheet, the more you notice the marks on his neck, on his collarbone and on his shoulder. You don't have to remember about last night to know that you definitely are the person behind so many hickeys and bites.

A hand goes up, a big hand with fingers that probably made you climb to the ceiling last night, and he pulls the hair back from his face. "I want to die." he mumbles before opening his eyes. "Hi." you say, and he turns his head not without another growl, much like you did earlier. "Hi yourself, I don't want to be rude, but who are you?"

"I'm asking myself the same question." you answer, and he frowns as he sits up, the sheet falling completely from his body. He's muscular, and you have to look away immediately. "This isn't one of the hotel suites where we are, right?"

"I work here, it's an employee's room."

It doesn't answer the questions you have, but it's already something, you think as you look around you. Your clothes have been tossed across the room, and you're pretty sure you see the buttons of your shirt scattered next to the little wooden desk. "It's my first day here, and I can't remember shit, it doesn't bode well for the week to come."

"I would have asked if I left a good impression on you, but you probably don't remember." he chuckles and you shake your head, stretching. Your body is sore, and you have no doubt that you had an interesting and eventful night together. "Well, I left my mark on you." you say indicating his neck with your finger, and he gets up from the bed in a hurry to the mirror on the door that separates the main room from the bathroom. "Oh my god, you mistook me for a chew toy!"

You shrug your shoulders looking at him, your head tilted to the side. His back is as muscular as his torso, and he has a nice little butt that is also marked with red claws. "Don't look behind." you comment, and of course he twists himself in half to watch and lets out a noise that's between a cry and a stunned laugh. "What are you, a tiger?"

"Hey! You should take that as a compliment!" you exclaim, and he shakes his head as he finds his phone in the back pocket of his pants. "Oh shit, I'm late for work!"

"What are you doing, here, at the resort?" you get out of bed to get your clothes back, well what is left of your clothes, since you can't find your shoes. You probably left them on the beach, if the sand you find on the carpet is anything to go by. "I give surf lessons."

At least you know what attracted you to him.

You close your shirt as best you can with the two remaining buttons, and you also get your phone back. You have several messages from the friends you were supposed to spend the evening with, but most of them wish you a good night with the handsome blonde on the beach. "What's your name, anyway?" he asks, putting on swim shorts with floral patterns that sting your eyes.

"Y/n, and you?" he ties his hair in a little ponytail, and he looks even more handsome like that, which isn't fair. "Johnny." oh yes, you remember it now, or at least you think you do.

"It's not that I don't want to spend more time with you, but I have to go to work or else I'll get fired." He explains by heading for the door which he opens, and you follow him while nodding your head. "You know where to find me if you have any memories from last night." he adds, heading towards the stairs reserved for employees.

"And if you feel like making new memories, in your room, without us having alcohol running through our veins, you know where to find me." he won't know, the resort is way too big for him to find you, but he doesn't have time to ask you for your number since the elevator doors open, and you rush inside without waiting.

You find your room fairly quickly, and Ten, your best friend, passed out in bed. Well, his upper body on the mattress, and lower on the floor. "Get up, it's time to make the most of this day!" you yell, as if your head was not about to explode. "How about taking surf lessons?" you ask when he moves to show that he is up, and he narrows his eyes. "I hate you." no he doesn't.

[midnightsconspiracy]

Out Of The Blue

Out of the Blue - @midnightsconspiracy

Summary: After experiencing a hard day at work, your boyfriend decides to treat you to some of your favourite things. Although he may or may not have another surprise in store for you

Warnings: Non-Major Character Death

Word Count: 1683

Requested: Yes!

'What about one in which one of them had a horrible day at work and the other found out and decided to prepare a little surprise to make the day better? Just fluffy thing?'

A/N: Keep sending in your requests whilst my inbox is open and drop me a message if you're bored, id love to talk to some of you about Chicago PD, Med or Fire!! :)

Masterlist

Working at Chicago Med was stressful, to say the least. Every day was filled with what felt like hundreds of patients, running around to make sure you were taking care of them to the best of your ability. For the most part being an ED doctor with fulfilling, seeing people come in sick and come out good as new. But other times it was draining, either from being swept off your feet every minute of the day or doing all that you could for a person and it still not being enough. That was what had happened today.

You were content as you entered the ED that morning, having spent the night at your boyfriend’s. Everything about your relationship was absolutely perfect, with everyone around you noticing your positive change of mood since getting together with Hank. Walking towards the nurse's station to log into a computer, Maggie and April came over to greet you, both commenting on the large grin that plastered your face.

“Someones happy,” April teased, watching your cheeks glow, as you looked down in mock embarrassment.

“Couldn’t have anything to do with the Sergeant boyfriend of yours could it?” Maggie lowered her head as well, trying to catch your eyes to find the truth within them. Opening your mouth to reply, you were interrupted by an incoming patient being wheeled on a gurney, the paramedics beside it holding a grim look on their faces.

The patient turned out to be a six-year old girl, she had suffered severe trauma to multiple areas of her body, including broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a mild concussion. You immediately took the case, being the only ED doctor available at the moment, but also specialising in paediatrics alongside Dr Manning. Looking the girl over, you noted each of her injures, seeing it was consistent with a severe car accident, and proceeding to insert a needle into her lung to allow it to re-inflate, before sending her upstairs to the OR for surgery. To an adult, the injuries wouldn’t have been fatal, but for a girl this size, the extent of the trauma didn’t bode well for her chances of survival. Praying for her as she was wheeled up to surgery, you felt a tear come to your eye, hoping that this little girl would actually be able to live her life to the fullest. An hour had passed and you still hadn’t heard any news on the little girl, so instead of dwelling on it, you busied your mind, taking any patients Maggie would give you, from a broken leg to a baby with a fever. But finally, as you were leaving a low-level emergency case, your pager buzzed, signalling you to the PICU, nodding to Maggie on the way up, knowing it would be the girl who had just come out of surgery. Speaking to her surgeon, you waited for her anaesthetic to wear off, knowing it wouldn’t be too long because of the low dosage she was given. It seemed as though she had no family with her, either injured or dead from the car wreck and so you sat by her bed, not wanting her to be alone when she finally woke up.

As she woke, you held her hand, introducing yourself, trying to make her as comfortable as you could. You spoke to her for a long time, completely forgetting about your other duties downstairs, instead, trying to make her laugh, telling stories and attempting to get her to recall the events that had happened earlier that day. Building trust was important to you, knowing she would need someone who she was happy with before all the other doctors and DCFS got involved. But time got cut short as your pager once again demanded you downstairs to deal with another patient. Quickly saying goodbye, you dashed downstairs to deal a man with a GSW to the abdomen. Checking his wound thoroughly, you tended to it before sending him to specialists upstairs. Content with the job you had done, you continued with your work in the ED.

After your shift had finished, you headed upstairs to say a final goodnight to the girl, bringing a small teddy with you that you had purchased in the gift shop, hoping it would keep her company overnight before you returned the next day. But as you walked towards her room something didn’t seem right. The lights were turned off, the bed empty. Maybe she had just been moved to a different room or ward, you thought to yourself, knowing there was probably a good explanation for this. Turning towards the nurse on duty behind the desk, you questioned her on the whereabouts of your new friend.

“Didn’t you hear? She coded and was pronounced dead an hour ago. Sorry Doctor Y/LN, I thought someone would have told you already.” Staring at the women, your mouth dropped open, stumbling backwards a bit to brace yourself on the doorway behind. Tears fell from your eyes, why would the universe allow an innocent young child to be taken so earlier in their life? Moving back downstairs you felt numb, just wanting this tragic day to be over. You texted Hank telling him you were on your way back and that you had the most horrible day, not going into any details on how or why.

Unbeknownst to you, Hank was already preparing your favourite meals, as he knew you were already getting increasingly stressed at work when your text came in. He felt bad for you, knowing the type of tragedies you saw daily, experiencing similar in his line of work, completely aware of the repercussions people felt being surrounded by death constantly. On top of making dinner for you, your text had prompted him to drove to the store in order to go above and beyond to try and boost your mood, buying things he knew would make your day better. Returning home he had about ten minutes before you would be back to try and set everything up, rushing about the house making sure every individual detail was perfect for your return. The table was prepared beautifully, accessorised with fancy silverware and candles, that were flickering slowly, ready and waiting to provide you with a romantic dinner. He had bought you a bouquet of your favourite flowers, already placed in a vase of water so you wouldn’t have to deal with the fuss of it on your arrival, and rose petals scattered along the floor in the direction of the table to add an extra romantic touch. Finally, he had one more surprise for you, hidden away in his back pocket, one that was guaranteed to make you smile.

Pulling into the driveway you exited your car, noting the darkness within the house, uncommon for this time of night and the fact that Hank had said he would be in all evening. Opening the door you called out to him, hoping that he hadn’t been pulled into another case, spending the night in his office once again. But as you took off your coat to place it on the hook you noticed the flowers on the table, to be specific your favourite flowers. You called out to him again, hoping he would appear to explain what was happening. Looking up, he stood in the doorway, a slight smile on his face, as you finally looked round properly noticing the rose petals, candles and your favourite food on the table.

“You did this all for me?” You asked.

“Of course I did sweetheart, I know you’ve had it hard at work recently so I wanted to surprised you with some of your favourite things.” To most peoples surprise, Hank was a true romantic at heart despite the cold exterior he held, just wanting to pamper you and treat you like the queen you were. Whether that be buying you your favourite sweets or complimenting you whenever possible, he did everything in his power to make sure you were happy.

Leading you towards the dinner table, you both sat down, quickly making conversation about everything, except work, that being an unspoken rule between you. Conversation flowed easily, both of you just happy to be in the presence of each other once more. Dinner had been polished off, with Hank fetching the dessert from the fridge after as you uttered the millionth ‘thank you’ to him. You both tucked in, moaning at the flavour that tasted like heaven after the day you had had. Looking up you noticed your boyfriend's demeanour had changed, no longer joyful but instead nervous, staring at his hands in his lap.

“What’s wrong Hank?” You asked, worried you had done something to set off this mood change. Instead of replying he lifted his hands from his lap onto the table along with a velvet box, slowly opening it to reveal a ring.

“Y/N, I know we haven’t been together that long and we haven’t discussed this that much but I’m getting old, and whilst I was thinking about that, I realised you really are it for. I can't even imagine myself with someone else or not spending the rest of my days with you. So Y/N Y/LN will you marry me?” Tears pricked your eyes, never in a million years would you have expected this, but instead of being angry about it, you couldn’t think of anything you wanted more.

“Only if you do it properly and get down on one knee,” you countered, watching as he got off his chair and onto one knee.

“So will you?”

“Yes!” You exclaimed throwing yourself into his arms.

As the evening winded down, you laid in Hank's arms on your shared bed thinking about everything life had given you. You couldn’t have met anyone as perfect as the man beside you. The man you would spend the rest of your life with, bear children with and grow old with. So as you drifted off to sleep, you pictured the little girl, hoping she was in heaven looking down on your life and smiling

[takuyakistall]

tuna | anniversary special

Synopsis: A normal day in Yuu's new life in NRC but, somehow, today made them feel a little bit nostalgic.

Notes: I wanted to write something for Twisted Wonderland's anniversary! This game really means so much to me and I don't think I would've picked up writing again if I didn't stumble upon it. Something about Grim and Yuu's relationship makes me emotional and the fact that Grim got a new card in the game didn't help me cope at all. I ended up writing this fic as a result, this is just purely fluff! (I think) I hope you guys like this.

The smell of charred coal and an oily can of tuna greeted Yuu's nostrils as they stirred awake, grumbling incoherent words as their eyes adjusted to the sudden sunlight entering their room through the window. It was almost peaceful.

Almost.

Had it not been for Grim feasting on his tuna noisily and messily. Yuu sighed as they stood up from their bed and began to arrange it—folding the sheets, dusting the pillows and set them aside neatly. The creaking of the floorboards with each step they took used to unnerve them, afraid that it might give in one day but Yuu learned to get used to it. Though sometimes they can't help but worry for the day when it actually gives in. Maybe they could ask Headmaster Crowley before that happens?

Yuu shook their head and dismissed the thought. The last thing they wanted to hear was Crowley spouting nonsense all over again and then disappearing without a trace. Judging from all the times Crowley has let them down, who's to say that he won't do it again? They pulled out the wooden chair placed by the table and scrunched their face when they saw how Grim was eating.

"You're making a mess everywhere!" Yuu scolded, trying to snatch the tuna can from his hands (paws?) before he could knock the other stuff down on the table. Grim didn't bother refuting as he sat back lazily on the chair, a satisfied grin on his face.

"Mhm... That was delicious~!" Grim let out a merry sigh. The breakfast he'd been used to everyday wasn't something he would look forward to or enjoy. Living in an abandoned dorm meant that no one else was there to cook for them but theirselves and there was no way Yuu was letting the ghosts handle the cooking. As a result, most of their meals were either bland or too little in terms of portions—Crowley wasn't one to ensure these types of things so that's one more thing Yuu adds to the list of 'Why I don't like the Headmaster'.

So when Grim found a can of tuna lying around somewhere, he didn't waste a second to grab the golden opportunity in front of him. Though there was one tiny little problem with what Grim did.

Yuu got that for their breakfast today.

Together.

And much to their misfortune and Grim's doom, the can was empty. Yuu had to pause for a moment to process the sudden discovery—Grim ate all of the tuna. They had to clench their fist tightly so as to not grab the ribbon tied around Grim's neck and shake him like a pepper shaker. Grim was blissfully unaware of the way Yuu was giving him glares that could kill and continued to relish himself in his euphoria. Though that was short-lived when Yuu decided to open their mouth, gentle anger lacing their voice.

"Grim. Did you eat all of the tuna?" They crossed their arms across their chest, a perfect close eyed smile on their face as they tilted their head slightly when they questioned Grim. He froze for a moment, eyes widening and his lips slightly twitching as Yuu furrowed their eyebrows. Clearly, they saw how the sudden realization hit the raccoon-cat (or whatever he was) and how nervous he became. He needs to think of an excuse—fast.

"A-Ah! About this…" Grim started, throwing his paws around in the air, making out incomprehensible gestures. Though before they could hear his explanation, an important thought crossed over Yuu's mind and they felt their blood run cold.

"Hey… Grim. What time is it?" They didn't wait for a reply, feet already scrambling towards their closet as they vigorously looked for a clean uniform. Grim held a confused expression.

"Eh, time? Isn't it…"

"Grim you idiot! We're bloody late!"

"F'nya!! Why didn't ya tell me sooner!?"

"Oh so now it's my fault? You're the one who didn't wake me up!"

"Professor Trein is going to be so mad…"

"Just shut up and start walking!"

Both of them dashed out from Ramshackle, the doorknob at the entrance getting slightly jammed so Yuu had no choice but to break the rickety door down. Not that it was difficult though, burglars could've easily killed them during their sleep—that is, if people even manage to climb a whole mountain to bother stealing from them. They'll just have to explain the door incident to Headmaster Crowley as well later. That is, if they manage to talk to him at all.

But, for now, the only thing stuck in their heads was to run as fast as they can or else it was off with their heads!

“You’re late.” Their teacher, Professor Mozus Trein, spoke in a cold tone. Gingerly stroking his cat’s head as it purred but that didn't give Yuu and Grim any ease at all when they stood there, unmoving, at the classroom entrance. Yuu tried to keep a neutral expression, hands at their side and feet together. Grim, on the other hand, wasn’t doing so well with doing the same as Yuu. He had trouble standing straight on two legs so he decided to climb up Yuu’s back to their shoulder and stayed there.

The sudden shift in weight on one of their shoulders made them grimace slightly.

“Good morning, Professor. Please excuse my tardiness, it won’t happen again.” Yuu bowed slightly, hoping that this would all be over quickly and he would let them go to their respective chairs. They straightened their back, looking at Trein directly before he gave them a slight nod and returning his attention to the chalkboard in front.

Yuu and Grim let out a sigh of relief simultaneously as they quickly went to their respective seats with Grim hopping off Yuu’s shoulder. He grabbed a bunch of books from Yuu’s bag to stack them up. Sitting on it since he wasn’t tall enough to see on his own without the desk obstructing his view.

Yuu caught the sight of Ace trying hard to keep in his laughter in the corner of their eye. They wondered for a moment about what Ace could possibly be laughing about until they heard Grim snarl ever so slightly. As if a lightbulb suddenly popped up over Yuu’s head, it suddenly clicked all too well.

He was laughing at them.

Although Yuu didn’t particularly mind being laughed at by that clown, Ace Trappola, Grim didn’t share the same sentiment. They had to hold back Grim’s tail to stop him from throwing a fit during class—it was a good thing Professor Trein had his back turned or else they’d be in bigger trouble.

A few minutes into class and Yuu could already feel their head explode. Coming from a completely different world than Twisted Wonderland, there was no doubt that they were going to have difficulty understanding things from here. While History of Magic was indeed an interesting subject, Yuu couldn’t help but feel the need to pull their hair out when they saw what Professor Trein was writing on the board.

‘Those symbols… am I supposed to know them? This looks more like a summoning circle more than anything, how am I supposed to understand this?’

They slapped their forehead repeatedly and forced theirselves to stare at the board once more—hoping that staring at it for a while would miraculously make them understand whatever that is. Grim, on the other hand, looked like he was boding well—looking so studious and listening attentively. But the moment he picked up a pen, that’s when the image was ruined. Yuu had to stifle their laughter when they saw him struggle to write on paper.

While it was a bit mean to laugh at him, Yuu couldn’t deny the fact that the drastic change was hilarious.

“Yuu, is there something you’d like to share with the class?” Professor Trein suddenly called out their name. Their back straightened and their gaze immediately snapped to the teacher in front. It seems like the Professor was paying more attention to Yuu.

Someone in the classroom let out a snort. Small, but audible for it to be heard by everyone in the dead silent classroom.

“Ace Trappola, do you have something to say as well?”

Ace stood up almost immediately.

“N-Nothing, Professor!”

Yuu was a tiny bit glad that Ace slipped up. At least they won’t be alone when Professor Trein decides to punish them. They shot a mischievous look at Ace, sticking their tongue out that screams: Serves you right!

“Dismissed.” With one single word from Trein, the class burst into a series of relieved sighs and yawns—a few ones groaning here and there but they were eventually glared at by the Professor and his poofy cat. Ace sluggishly walked towards Yuu and Grim with Deuce, who looked as fresh as ever, following behind.

“Hey, did you get everything Professor Trein said? Today’s class was sooo boring.” Ace whined, crossing his arms over his chest as he asked his three friends.

“Nope.” Yuu answered truthfully as they put back their pen into their case.

“Not at all…” Deuce closed his eyes and clutched his forehead.

“Hmph! Of course I did, I even took down notes.” Grim was proud as he puffed out his chest. Ace’s eyes perked up for a moment, wondering if he would let him view his notes until a sudden realization struck him. He wouldn’t be able to decipher Grim’s terrible handwriting in the first place. His expression slowly turned into one of disappointment—something akin to the feeling of finding out your name wasn’t in the Top 50.

Deuce was the first to comment. “These are….. Notes?”

“Grr! What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“It looks like a bunch of scribbles made by a cat.” Yuu added. Grim was about to be fuming mad until his ears drooped down slightly, Yuu felt a pang hit their chest. Could they possibly be feeling bad?

“Well… I’ll give you an A for effort.” Yuu patted Grim’s head, hoping that they didn’t hurt his feelings too much after that comment. Instead of lifting his spirits up, Grim felt like his soul got crushed. He felt like Yuu pitied him more than actual commendation, but he won’t say anything. He’ll take the crumbs of praise he can get.

Ace straightened up and walked towards the exit, dragging his legs slightly as he called out his friends. “Oi! Let’s go have lunch already, I’m starving!”

“Coming!” Deuce replied before promptly poking Yuu’s shoulder to make sure that they heard Ace.

“Alright, alright. Give me a minute to fix all my stuff, you guys can go ahead.” Grim stared at Yuu, wondering who should he go with—Yuu or Ace and Deuce? He was going to accompany the Heartslabyul Duo until he remembered how Yuu didn’t get to eat breakfast because of him.

He felt a little bit bad for leaving them like this.

He opened his mouth to say that he’s going to stay with Yuu until they suddenly cut into his thoughts like a knife into butter.

“Grim, you can go ahead too. Save a seat for me while you’re at it.”

“Are ya sure?” Grim asked them for reassurance.

“...? Are you going to miss me or something?” Yuu teased.

“No way! Nevermind, I’m leaving!”

Yuu watched as the Ace, Deuce, and Grim exited the door before letting their smile drop into a frown. They wondered if today was an okay date to ask the Headmaster about progress on the whole ‘find Yuu a way back home’ thing. But, there was a possibility that their visit to his office will be all for naught. Crowley was someone unpredictable, after all—eccentric is another way to put it nicely.

They tapped their fingers against the desk rhythmically. Dozens of thoughts running inside their head. The chatter outside the classroom cutting their train of thoughts continuously which annoyed them to death but it was something they took comfort in. The nostalgic noises of a bustling school filled with students going on and about.

It reminded them of their homeworld.

Yuu decided to look for Crowley as they stood up from their chair. A nostalgic bitterness lingering in their mouth as they left.

“Why did I think I would find him today?” Yuu asked no one in particular. Eyes glued to the wall clock as they counted the minutes they had left before break ended and classes started again. They silently dwelled on their regret of visiting Crowley’s office, it was nothing but a waste of time. Now they had less than 30 minutes to go into the cafeteria to get some food.

Each step they took was taxing. They put too much force with every one and perhaps that was a result of getting mad at a useless bird—their temper can’t help but explode a little bit. By the time Yuu arrived, they spotted the idiot trio sitting by the window. They had already finished eating long ago but they were still there. A thought popped into their head.

‘Could it be…? They were waiting for me!?’ Yuu knew it was nowhere near the truth but perhaps they can indulge theirself once in a while with these kinds of thoughts. Grim was the first to spot them.

“Where were you!? Break is almost over.” The grumble Yuu’s stomach let out made their cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Maybe it was because they skipped breakfast? Grim felt bad. This was his fault, wasn't it? Ace and Deuce urged Yuu to go buy something to eat but one look at the line formed by the counter, Yuu immediately declined. They’re going to be late for class if they waited!

Grim stared at the small portion of lunch he set aside for himself for later. Much to no one’s surprise, it was fish. He had a debate with himself—asking if he wanted to keep this or offer it to Yuu. In the end, he went for the latter. He nudged Yuu with his paw before holding up the plate with his two paws.

“Have this if you want… Ya didn’t get to eat breakfast because of me, right? I feel kinda bad but here.”

Ace’s eyes were wide in shock and Deuce dropped his yogurt. Yuu was flabbergasted at the sudden nice gesture Grim was showing but-

“Sorry, but I don’t want rabies.”

Grim had to resist the urge to set everything on fire. Yuu had to bite back a laugh when they saw how mad Grim was—denying everything about him having rabies. The troubles they had about Crowley were long gone and replaced by the bubbling happiness growing in their chest. The sight of their friends—Grim, Ace and Deuce—was enough to convince them to forget about it. Even if it’s just for a short while.

The nostalgic taste danced in the tip of their tongue once again. A sudden wave of sadness washing over them as they thought about the day when they’ll eventually go back to their own world.

I’ll miss this. Definitely.

They looked up to see Grim causing a mess with Ace holding him back and Deuce trying to summon another cauldron. Yuu shook their head.

But, for now, let’s focus on the present.

Is it so bad that Yuu wanted the incompetent headmaster to stay incompetent? Just for a little longer, don’t find a way back.

[dokifluffs]

Babysitters | Ushijima, Sakusa

Pairings: Ushijima X Reader (gender neutral), Sakusa X Reader (gender neutral)

Genre: fluff tehe 

Request: “Can I request babysitting with Sakusa and Wakatoshi (separate)” - anonnie

Author’s Note: Of course you can tehe. Thanks for waiting patiently while I cleared some things off my plate. This, like always, was fun to write. Thank you for requesting and happy reading! PS, i might’ve gotten a lil carried away writing these scenarios aksjdhaksh

Ushi: 

“Hey, guys!” You bent down and swept your niece and nephew up as they ran into your arms, almost knocking you over

“You’ve gotten so big!” You swung their little hands in yours

“Thanks for taking them tonight,” you stood and hugged your sister as she stood near your front door. She had asked you to take care of her kids for the night as she had to head back to work for a meeting

“It’s nothing, plus I haven’t seen them in so long, and Ushi and I can entertain them.” You saw your sister off as she drove off before getting back to the living room, following the sound of the voices of your nephew

You walked into the sight of Ushi standing as your nephew hung from his hand, squealing in excitement while your niece looked in amazement, wanting to go up too but was too shy to ask, clinging on to the bottom of his shorts instead

“They’ve grown so well like last summer’s harvest amshjd,” Ushi looked to you

“And they remember you,” you smiled. You plopped down onto the couch, your niece letting go of his shorts and stood at the edge of the couch, her stuffed bunny in hand

“Hey, sweetie,” you picked her up and she sat down in the little space by your legs, snuggled up beside you as she watched at how “high” her brother was in Ushi’s grasp

You could remember the first time they had seen him, the fear in their eyes seeing such a stoic man, his tall and broad stature looking menacingly down to them when they were even younger

He wasn’t the best at it but you had to get him to smile to make them trust him and think he was a good guy, which indeed he was

It was still early in the evening, just around dinner time which was perfect

“Do you guys want pizza for dinner?” You didn’t know what other response you were gonna get as they cheered loudly, chanting for cheese pizza 

You ordered it online and began playing twister while waiting. Their energies were endless, giggles never ceasing as they played 

You sat leaned into the back of the couch as Ushi tried his best to play along, trying also to not crush them with his body if he lost 

which he did... numerous times, also because he wasn’t the most flexible 

but after a bit, your nephew found one of Ushi’s volleyballs behind the couch near the corner, out of the way. He picked it up and asked what it was and asked to play with it 

The two of you saw no reason to not play so on went the shoes and into the backyard, your laptop sitting on the couch that faced the glass sliding door so you could see how far the pizza was in the stages of it being made and delivered 

The kids stood in front of him as he knelt down to explain volleyball, patient whenever they jumped in, asking a question about how to play and etc while he was in the process of doing to already 

He positioned their bodies, showing them the proper form of how to receive, pass the ball back up

the two of them were pretty bad but they loved it. They didn’t care about the burn of the leathery ball when it bounced off their arms, they wanted to keep playing, even when the pizza already arrived 

they were so eager while eating, the entire topic over dinner about volleyball and Ushijima 

they were filled with so much curiosity, it even made him unsure about what to say sometimes where you fortunately stepped in 

Dinner went by a lot faster than you realized. When they finished their last bites, they were so eager to go back outside but it was too dark and they would’ve been eaten alIve by the mosquitos

“How about you show them some of your games?” you offered as they pouted, sulking on the couch, the ball sitting between the two of them 

“Is it alright?” he asked. He felt like he should put something more entertaining to watch like an adventure movie or something or played more board games and what not instead 

“of course. they had so much fun earlier. Who knows, maybe they’ll even grow to play when they’re a bit older and maybe even go pro like you.” You brushed your fingers through his hair, ruffling the sides as he nodded, listening 

He looked up a couple videos and casted it to the tv. All the gloomy auras around the two of them were off and they were suddenly sitting on the ground, their eyes glued to the screen 

“Woah, that’s you?” Your nephew stood as he frantically pointed to the tv, his eyes wide as he stared back to Ushijima 

“Yes,” he smiled 

The two of you sat back on the couch in amusement watching the two of them watch the game 

their little minds were blown and they wanted to play more 

when you tried to get them to sleep, for the first time, it felt impossible. They were glued to Ushi’s hips so he had to be the one to put them to bed in the guest room, promising them that he’ll take them one day to the gym where they could really learn to play for real 

Sakusa: 

“I am leaving.” Sakusa didn’t even step through the door when he saw you carrying your brother’s baby, your baby nephew

You had told him you were going to be busy with something today and that he was welcome to join but he didn’t know you were going to be babysitting

And babies were the germiest of germs

The thought itself was enough to make him shudder- how they crawl on their hands and legs across the floor then proceeding to play with their toys that’s been bitten and chewed on, left on any surface which who knows has been last cleaned

He almost gagged

“Aw, Kiyoomi, don’t be like that. Just stay with me today?” You asked. “Look how cute he is,” you spoke in a baby voice bouncing him at your side, making the biggest smile appear

“He’s covered with germs,” he grimaced at the young child who looked up to him with such bright eyes. “You should wear your mask and gloves…. I’ll go get some, I have extras in my car-“

“Kiyoomi, no,” you called out to him but there was no point, he was already opening his trunk where he kept a special drawer type of compartment that constantly disinfected and cleaned his gloves and masks

When he returned, you rejected his offer. “Kiyoomi, I’ll be fine, just, please come in. You came all this way just to turn back?” The drive itself was almost an hour away from your guys’ place

“Yes,” he deadpanned before he turned away

“You’re going to leave me all alone, omi?” Your voice itself was enough to stop him in his tracks, turning around to see your saddened look, the feeling of burning guilt swelling up inside of him

You looked down to the ground as you nodded and turned back into the house, walking away from the door as it slowly swung shut by your foot. Checkmate

He could feel his brow twitching knowing exactly what you were doing and the worse part was that it was working

“Weeee, airplane~ Yay~” he could hear the sound of your voice as he walked down the hall, his mask and gloves on as he approached you

He stood hesitantly in the doorway at the end fo the hall that opened up to a tall living room, the golden rays of the sun being blocked by white blinds that made the room glow with a light ambiance

“Wanna fly again?” You asked in a babying voice to your nephew as he burst into a fit of giggles, his hands reaching toward you

“One- two- three, weee!” You lifted him up an arms-length above you

“Do you wanna fly with Uncle Omi?” You turned toward him and approached, Sakusa’s feet stuck to the ground as he stood there

It was too late for him to leave you now that he was here, the door shut behind him

Your nephew clung to your shirt, his infant eyes bright as he looked to your boyfriend, their eyes locking

You were taken aback when your nephew reached his hands out for him, usually not boding well with strangers but he whined meaning he wanted him as Sakusa staggered back

“No, no way,” Sakusa shook his head firmly. “I’m here but I’m not holding him or touching or anything with him.”

“Please? He wants you, omi. Plus, I need to use the bathroom. Can’t you just hold him till I get back?”

You jutted your lip out just the slightest bit. He couldn’t believe how practically identical the two of you looked but caved

“Fine.” He took your nephew from him, holding him securely in his hands but not bringing him any closer than his arms-length as you went down the hall, disappearing

He bit his lip not wanting to be near your nephew’s face, almost gagging and fainting when snot dribbled down his nose

“Y/N, come back,” he called, his voice echoing in the spacious house but nothing

You stood in the bathroom listening to him, not using it at all

“Y/N?” No answer

“Ugh, gross, he commented as he sneered at him behind his mask

But your nephew was entranced by Sakusa

He looked up to him with bright eyes, his hands reaching out and his whines getting louder and more demanding, wanting to be closer

“No, Y/N is gonna come back and take you away. I won’t touch or do anything with you today,” he huffed, looking down to him

But his eyes and aura were too menacing for him. You could hear your nephew as he cried and wailed, squirming in Sakusa’s grasp

“Hey- stop, you’ll fall,” he tried to readjust his hands until your nephew was about to fall, only for Sakusa to wrap his arms around him, securing him in his grasp but now he was pressed to his body

Your nephew’s cries died down a bit now that Sakusa held him close

He instantly clung to his shirt as tears dripped off his chin making little wet spots on Sakusa’s shirt

“Ew, don’t get your snot on me,” he was disgusted seeing his teary face so close to his now, making him feel like he was exposed despite still wearing gloves and mask

“Blow,” he demanded as he grabbed a tissue from his pocket, holding it lightly over his tiny nose. Obeying, your nephew blew into his nose and Sakusa was quick to dispose of the tissue into the trashcan in the kitchen

You peeked your head out of the bathroom hearing running water and followed it toward the kitchen

“Wash all the germs away,” Sakusa held your nephew over the sink counter as he rubbed his hands that were lathered with kid-safe soap, the water warm enough so it wouldn’t burn him

You had to cover your mouth from laughing at such the Sakusa thing he was doing with your nephew, teaching him how to properly wash his hands

Although your nephew wasn’t old enough to talk yet, he looked up to Kiyoomi like he was understanding every word as easy as breathing

“Are your hands dried yet?” Your nephew waved his damp hands around before Sakusa caught them in his, drying them with more tissues. “Alright, let’s go find Y/N,” he took your nephew into his arms and turned, finding you with a sly smile on your face with your arms crossed, your back leaned on the wall

“Seems like you make a pretty good babysitter, after all,” you reached for your nephew, only for him to wrap his short arms around Sakusa’s neck

“No!” He whined, your jaw practically dropping to the ground

“Wow, his first word and he says no to me.”

For the rest of the day, your nephew was clung to Sakusa’s side like he was his father but the sight was memorable for you since you’ve never seen a parental- type of side to him

~~~~~ Thanks for reading! Masterlist for more! Please do not repost anywhere else!

Tags (let me know if you wanna be tagged for all my haikyuu posts): @yams046  @mazey-chan  @sunboikyo00  @kara-grayson04​  @fortheloveofbakugo​ @tsumtsumsemi​ @osamuonigiri @sam-ate-giorno​​​ @1-800-wholesome​ @realityisoftendisapointing@plantisnotplant @k-eijiakaashi​ @pink-panda-pancakes​ @differentballooncollection

[avengershumanresources]

blood 11 - Strange/Stark!Reader

Relationship: Dr. Strange/Princess!Stark!Reader

Rating: M

Warnings: Adult Themes, smut, adult language, implied sexual violence, general violence

Synopsis: Reader is the daughter of the legendary King Anthony Stark, Uniter of Lands, The Iron Defender, and leader of the realm. When the king disappears during battle, hope is lost and he is presumed dead.

When the late king’s uncle, Obadiah, takes the throne until your brother Peter is of age, he quickly arranges a marriage for you with a wicked king in a neighboring kingdom.

With the realms politics in question, and rumors of an upcoming siege to overthrow Peter’s rule before it starts, you quickly learn who is loyal to the crown and who is not.

part 10 - part 12

Masterlist

Chapter Playlist

11 - a battle cry

“Good as new,” Wanda helped Stephen sit up, her arm wrapped around his torso, his arm sling over her shoulders. 

“I feel like a horse ran over me,” he grumbled, pressing a finger to his temple. 

You’d long fallen asleep, though you’d been too stubborn to leave his side and sleep in a proper bed. Instead, you’d curled up in one of the ornate chairs and passed out, hand draped as close as physically possible to the injured sorcerer. 

“It was an herb from Brock’s kingdom that stopped the blooding from clotting,” Wanda explained, summoning the book she’d read the antidote in. “It’s rare, even for that kingdom, and she wouldn’t have had enough to cover all the arrows.”

“Someone must be bitter,” he commented dryly. “I don’t know why, I’ve been nothing but nice to the old witch.”

“You weren’t exactly subtle in your romancing of the princess,” Wanda reminded him with a knowing smirk. 

“Not a good enough reason to try and kill me,” he decided, standing and giving his arms and torso a stretch. The wound still tickled slightly when he shifted, a side effect of the magic used to seal the cut. “Now, do we have any idea why the princess is a homing signal of magical energy?”

Both of their eyes fell on you. Your seidr had spread, making gentle waves of violet light over your skin as you slept. It was almost overwhelming how powerful it felt to the magic users. Stephen felt almost suffocated and he didn’t miss how Wanda skirted the edge of the room, avoiding direct contact with you. 

“Loki sent a raven to Asgard,” Wanda supplied. “Hopefully Frigga has a suggestion.”

“It won’t matter if Amora keeps her wards up,” he huffed in frustration. “There’s nothing at Kamar-Taj on the subject that I’ve been able to find. The ancient Asgardians were effective in their campaign.”

“I’ve solidified the wards around the keep as best I could, but this is going to break through and Amora will know,” Wanda warned, chewing her bottom lip anxiously. 

Stephen tried reaching for your hand but the seidr snapped back at him like a guard dog ready to fight. He ran a tired hand over his face, shaking his head at the situation. This certainly was not ideal.

(—)

“We maintain our plan of attack,” Peter instructed, pouting around the base of the castle. “We’re going to use the tunnels.”

“The wards are all around the castle,” Loki protested. “There’s no way in.”

“My sister, Gods rest her soul, had snuck past every ward that every Master had put on the castle,” he pulled up the map Sam handed him and drew his finger across the page. “They’re outside the boundary lines and protected by older runes. The wards don’t effect them.”

“The problem is, we can’t bring enough men to thoroughly attack their forces from within,” Sam continued, eyeing Loki. “We have to take down Amora and break down the wards so our men can get through.”

“That’s a suicide mission,” Loki frowned. “She’ll kill anyone on sight.”

“And you trained under your mother as well,” Peter noted. “You know her tricks and capabilities. If anyone is getting close to her, it’s you.”

“Peter, I appreciate your enthusiasm but I’ve tried killing her numerous times in the past,” Loki replied tersely. “We’re evenly matched. If she has any other magic users with her, that’s it.”

“We need something more powerful then,” Thor reasoned pointed, looking to Loki with a knowing stare.

“Short of a miracle, we’re limited in what we have until more Asgardians arrive,” Peter countered. “We need to get inside and take back the castle.”

Loki had fallen silent. 

There was a way. A force of magic more powerful than any known user could imagine.

It was risky to say the least, and he knew at least one person would disagree.

(—)

“Absolutely not,” Stephen snapped throwing his hands up. “Have you lost your mind?”

“She’s going to be found regardless,” Loki directed the statement to Tony. “And intrinsically, her seidr will lower Amora’s defense enough for myself or one of us to get a move in edgewise.”

“It isn’t entirely unreasonable,” Wanda voiced, earning a glare from Stephen. “We send in the guard with her to protect her from a physical threat... certainly she would be able to handle any magical ones.”

“She’s untrained,” Stephen stressed again, looking to Tony for support. “What if, Gods help us, the seidr stops doing whatever it’s doing? We don’t know. It’s too unpredictable and unreliable to make a plan centered around it.”

The trio had tasked you with helping some of the wounded men while they debated Loki’s suggestion after he’d returned from the battle front. The general agreement had been that you would have immediately volunteered and that didn’t bode well for some of the logistic issues that needed to be brought up ahead of you charging headfirst into battle.

“It defeats the point of faking her death,” Tony agreed, looking to Loki for a rebuttal. 

“It doesn’t,” he insisted. “Amora won’t see it coming. Not until it’s too late.”

“That’s rubbish and you know it,” Stephen snapped back. “She could be across the kingdom and anyone with a speck of magic in their system would sense her coming. She’s a storm of uncontrolled energy.”

“Is she?” Loki asked innocuously, quirking a brow. “I certainly don’t feel anything in here... isn’t she only the next room over?”

Stephen froze. 

The Asgardian prince was right. 

He couldn’t feel your seidr anywhere in the room, outside of it, or within the castle walls at all. 

“What did you do?” he asked, dumbfounded. 

Loki held up a small amulet and he heard Tony suck in a breath of surprise. 

“Where did you find that?” the king demanded, standing from his chair and reaching for the necklace. Wrapping his fingers around the amulet himself, he ran his fingers around the edges while he listened. 

“Your late queen entrusted it to my mother,” Loki explained. “It arrived an hour ago with her written incantations to seal the seidr temporarily. It had to be taken by Lady Sif to the Asgardian border, then transported to Kamar-Taj by Mordo, and delivered to me by Wong. A lot of trouble went into getting it and I would hate to see it go to waste…”

Tony clutched the the chain of the amulet in his fist and held it up for Stephen to better see. 

It was definitely old, with weathered metal and jewels embedded in the ridges that had long lost their luster to time. 

“If there’s a chance, it would be in this,” he stated firmly in agreement. “Alexandra used it while she was still training her abilities with Frigga. It saved a lot of trouble while she experimented and on her death bed, when her powers were in a frenzy, this protected the kingdom from harm.”

He turned it over and showed the sorcerer the rune on the back. Stephen was, admittedly, unfamiliar with the symbol. It resembled old Asgardian, but the way the letters curved suggested another origin.

“Vanir,” Tony explained when Stephen flickered his gaze up curiously at the king. “She found it in an old temple on the outskirts of Asgard near the old Vanaheim border.”

“The princess keeps it with her, and we slip in undetected,” Loki continued. “We ambush Amora, and Peter’s troops break the siege and the castle is once again under the proper Stark royal.”

“I don’t see why the princess can’t remain here, with the amulet, undetected and safe while we deal with Amora?” Stephen seethed. 

“Stephen, it’s as best a plan we have,” Wanda urged, watching him with a steady gaze. “You knew the potential outcomes. It isn’t ideal, but this isn’t unexpected.”

“What?” Tony looked to her, furrowing his brow. “What do you mean? Was there more than you told me?”

“Nothing has changed in your destiny,” she quickly assured him. “But your children... their paths have been sporadic.”

“Explain, now,” Tony shot back. “Are they in danger?” 

“Your majesty, it’s best not to dwell on potential futures,” Loki cut in, slipping between the king and the sorceress with an arm. “They’re possibilities, not guarantees. Tampering to avoid certain outcomes is how you end up in a worse scenario than anticipated.”

“I want to know,” Tony snapped, looking to Wanda. “What else did you see?”

She looked up at Stephen uneasily and he finally relented, holding up a hand in her direction and taking over the explanation for her. 

“They were cloudy,” he replied. “The princess was in the throne room during the siege. Prince Peter was nearly overwhelmed by a wave of Northern Kree. They were vague and not necessarily connected.”

He left out the part where you were stabbed. 

Stabbed through the heart, more specifically, but Brock Rumow’s sword. It’d devastated him for days after Wanda had shown him the visions. He’d worked so hard to keep you out of the castle, to move you t safety, and avoid the very outcome. 

But it seemed the fates were not done with your part of the story. 

“You told me this ended with me by the throne,” Tony turned on Wanda. “My children out of harms way. Peter’s coronation.”

“Nothing is certain,” Loki caught him by the arm and spun him back toward him and Stephen. Tony from, fixing up the prince who dared touch royalty so directly. “The visions are murky. They’re not clear and if they were to be solidified by the decision we make, we would know.”

Tony looked to Wanda who nodded slowly in agreement. His boyd language softened.

“Is this truly the only chance we have at taking the castle?” he looked between the trio. 

Stephen saw something in the king’s eyes that begged for one of them to disagree. 

But even Stephen could see the inevitable. 

Amora was too powerful and too evenly matched against any or all of them.

Using your seidr was the only way to overwhelm her and kill her.

He hated it. Gods he hated it so much and had prayed, despite not necessarily being a religious type, that someone would have a better plan. Loki and Wanda were among the strongest after himself, after all. 

The room remained silent at the kings question.

When no one objected, Tony swallowed hard and nodded to himself. 

“Bring her in then,” he murmured. “We must move quickly.”

Stephen offered to retrieve you, quickly filling you in on the idea. 

And to no surprise, you readily agreed and volunteered your help in whatever capacity you could manage. Stephen sighed, weaving his fingers through yours while stopping outside the meeting room.  

No seidr was fighting back at his touch. 

Loki’s amulet was working. 

“I’d hoped you would put up more of a fight,” he confessed, lifting your hand and seeing none of the violet glow that once emitted from your body.  

“You nearly died,” you reminded him tersely. “I have a bone to pick with Amora. Not to mention, there’s nothing more I loved to see than Brock’s body skewered on the top of one of our men’s swords.”

There was a venom to your tone that seemed almost unnatural considering your usual caring personality. Never had Stephen seen you so determined to cause harm to another human, but perhaps he’d underestimated the fury you felt toward the enemy king. 

“Right,” he murmured, giving your hand a squeeze and pulling away. He opened the doors, ushering you inside while the others began detailing the plan. 

(—)

Peter was directing his men when a portal opened up and Loki stepped through with Stephen and a cloaked figure. 

“We need a distraction away from the base of the castle,” Stephen explained briskly, maneuvering his body so Peter couldn’t get a good look at the third figure. 

Assuming it was just Wanda, Peter turned his attention to the battalion nearby.  

“I can have them make a move for the western wall, but it’d be pointless if Amora’s sorcerers have up their barriers,” he explained, running an anxious hand through his hair. “They’ve barred us off.”

“We just need attention diverted long enough to slip through the tunnel system,” Stephen supplied, sending a knowing nod in Peters direction.

Three powerful magic users? Going in undetected? 

They were going to break down the barrier, Peter realized and immediately started rallying more men. 

“Thor! We need a distraction,” he called to the Asgardian prince. Thor reached for the large hammer on the ground next to him and lifted it to the air. 

The sky began to crackle above them, and Thor’s expression filled with an excited glee.

“That, my friend, I think we can manage,” he bellowed, grinning between Loki and Peter, turning to wake the Asgardian soldiers who’d been sleeping in the camp nearby. 

“I’ll start the first wave, give us thirty minutes to start an approach before trying to breach the tunnels,” he instructed, again trying to catch the eye of the cloaked figure. 

He couldn’t be sure, but he almost thought the person’s eyes were glowing violet, not red. 

Chalking it up to a lack of sleep, the group started toward the castle in the darkness at the edge of the forest, and Peter focused on readying his men. 

What Peter didn’t know was what his father had planned for after the shield fell. 

The Wakandans had finally arrived and in greater numbers than King T’Challa had originally promised. 

They’d remained discreet and undetected by Rumlow and Obidiah’s forces, and once the shield was down, they were prepared to storm the castle with the entire combined armies of Tony, Thor, T’Challa, Carol, and Peter. 

The final key was taking down Amora and her circle of magic users. 

Ultimately, once she fell, the others would quickly fall in turn and that was exactly why you were trudging through the forest with Loki and Stephen toward one of your preferred tunnels to the castle. While Peter and his men readied their attacks.

“Natalia and James are still inside posing as servants,” Stephen explained. “They have agreed to lead us to Amora. They sent a message through one of the kitchen maids’ sons.” 

“No one recognized them?” you asked in surprise. 

“We both know how talented they are at blending in,” he hummed with a sly smirk. “In fact, I seem to recall Natalia being the one to show you the tunnels in the first place. They didn’t garner their reputation for nothing.”

You let out a small breath of relief. Of course he was right. If anyone had a penchant for survival and adaptability it was Nat and James. Still, they were your friends and beloved companions, you were going to be worried about their well-being assassins or not. 

At least Peter was still in one piece. And Morgan and Pepper were in good spirits in Asgard, at least according to Loki. Your family was safe, but even so, Stephen had insisted upon accompanying you and Loki into the belly of the castle. 

You’d protested significantly. He was healing. He was a target. It was too dangerous with Amora, and he’d countered backwith similar arguments. 

In the end, your father made the final call, sending you both and joking the two of you would do well to protect one another. 

“Perhaps when this is over, you and your sorcerer can come to Asgard to train,” Loki murmured while Stephen scouted ahead for any stray troops. 

“And here I thought the offered had been rescinded after Stephen showed up and started to tutor me?” you teased, recalling the conversation you’d had with the prince at the ball honoring Stephen’s arrival all those years ago. 

“It was always there, you know that,” he replied, glancing you over. “You forget I was tasked to look after you. My mother would be pleased to see you both. When Strange studied in Asgard briefly, she had nothing but high praise.”

You could tell the compliment bristled your old friend and you set a hand on his shoulder. 

“Everything has changed, hasn’t it?” you asked quietly, watching Stephen’s darkened form maneuver the wilderness ahead. 

“The dawn is going to rise on a new kingdom,” he agreed. “My father will be disappointed in your selection of a groom.”

You felt your cheeks warm at the off handed comment, though you didn’t bother to object. Stephen was the one. Your heart couldn’t even consider another. Not now. Not after all you’d been through together and how he so lovingly knew you mind, body, and soul. 

“And your mother?” you asked lightly. 

“She’ll be thrilled regardless,” he hummed. “You’re the daughter she never had. She adored your mother, you know that, and promised to take care of you. Marriage or not.”

You paused, carefully selecting your next words. 

“What about you?” 

He stilled. You must have taken him by surprise, or maybe no one had ever asked him directly. Loki looked forward at the tree line ahead, taking a few moments longer than expected to give you an answer. 

“I’ll be fine,” he said quietly.

You were about to open your mouth to ask him if he really meant it, when Stephen reappeared in the shrubs in front of you. 

“The areas clear and I can hear Peter and Thor have started their attack. We need to move now,” he waved the two of you over and you sent a final glance to Loki who flashed a small, reassuring, smile before following shortly behind. 

One step at a time, you reminded yourself, your heart giving a small throb of guilt at his reaction. Marriage, betrothal, none of it mattered until your enemies fell. 

(--)

12- a memory 

TAG LIST (message to be added!):

@ayamenimthiriel @ladynothing

@im-a-bi-disaster-help @idkwhatthisislol

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[wisdomofme]

Julie and the Phantoms Fic Recs

The JatP Fandom has gone above and beyond when it comes to good fics! I wanted to share with you guys a handful of my favourite ones that I think you might all enjoy (I won’t lie, most of them are Juke)

Don’t forget to comment and let the authors know exactly how much you love their amazing work!!

(all of these fics are on Ao3) ** most recently added

OneShots

a holy thing (to love what death has touched) by heartofwinterfell ** (Juke) (Soulmate AU) - Julie Molina’s words have been grey since the day she was born // I know we all love a good soulmate AU so here’s one that made me smile all the way through it!!

and i know i’ve kissed you before, but i didn’t do it right (can i try again?) by Ephemeral_Joy (Juke) (Modern AU)  - Luke and Julie break up, but if feels more like growing up // Look, LOOK. I know it’s hard to get past the angst of the break up but you gotta. Do it for me, do it for this 19k longshot, do it for YOURSELF. This is a masterpiece and you all better read it.

close my eyes and jump by HomebodyNobody  (Juke) (Post Season 1) - Julie and Luke talk and bask in the fact that handholding is now a possibility // Ultra fluffy cute! Immediately post season 1 Juke just loving the fact they can touch each other now.

favorite t-shirt by jellie_bean ** (Juke) (Post Season 1) - Luke drives Julie to distraction after their first real date // Luke writes Julie a song but it’s cute instead of sad for once and I loVE IT!!

Hallucinations by jatpfan ** (Family) (Post Season 1) - Ray starts seeing hallucinations of Julie’s band around the house. It’s weird // I loved this fic so much! I have a real soft spot for Ray so it was nice to see a fic in his perspective.

Here in Front of Me (Shining So Much Brighter than I Have Ever Seen) by 8ucky8arnes  (Juke) (Post Season 1) - Luke flirts with Julie while in class. It’s… distracting // I giggled my way through this entire fic! I could totally see this happening in the show if they really decided to pursue the Juke relationship. I mean, I can hope!!

i once believed love would be burnin’ red (but it’s golden, babe) by Ephemeral_Joy (Juke) (Post Season 1) - The boys try to figure out what their unfinished business is. It has consequences // A very soft fic that made me feel all the butterflies, if you like this one definitely check out the rest of Ephemeral_Joy’s fics!

I’m Scared of My Piano by emullz  (Juke) (Missing Scene) - Luke and Julie writing music together (between episodes 3 & 4) // Very adorable and made me WISH we had gotten this in the show! Absolutely adorable

Is it cool that I said all that? by smol_fangirl (Juke) (Post Season 1) - Julie can’t sleep but Luke helps // A super sweet fic that feels like being wrapped in the orbit of these two characters. Just a lot of small soft moments that kept making me smile.

i’ve had the time of my life by dearhappy (Friendship) (AU) - The ‘New Girl’ AU you didn’t know you needed but definitely DO! // If you know anything about New Girl then you know that the boys work perfectly as well… the boys. So funny and got me thinking of all my fave New Girl moments with the JatP crew.

Struck a Chord by Anonymous (Friendship) (Missing Scene/ Post Season 1) - Luke and Alex get into a fight. Reggie freaks out (Julie makes everything better) // A really bittersweet Reggie centric fic. Reading this made me hope for some amazing season 2 development for him.

try to change the ending (peter losing wendy). by lukesjulie (Juke) (Future Fic) - Julie falls in love with Luke but life moves on // OW! Like, real sad hours here guys. So, SO, worth the read but be ready for the rain before the rainbow.

unsaid julie by unsaidjulie (juggyjones)  (Juke) (Post Season 1) - Luke writes Julie a song about his feelings. It’s a process // Look, I won’t lie, this fic hurt me a little in ways I didn’t expect. But it was SO worth it. Pining Luke? Yes PLEASE!

we all got a second act inside of us by keep_swinging, rainstorm97 (Juke) (Post Season 1) - Luke’s curse doesn’t break // Seeing Luke in pain hurts but not as much as watching him try to cover it up. An amazing fic that I highly recommend.

MultiChap

A Lesson in Chemistry by Slytherin_Princess_Nysa ** (Juke) (Soulmate AU, Alive in 2020 AU) (Incomplete) - The first words Luke’s soulmate says to him are etched along his ribcage. He’s not too worried about finding out who they belong to // In this house WE STAN SOULMATE AU’s!! Get ready for some mutual pining here kids.

A Familiar Picture by captainkippen (Juke) (Alive in 2020 AU) (Complete) - a 5 + 1 of Julie realizing she loves Luke (and the 1 time she realized he loved her back) // I am such a SUCKER for these fics but REGGIE IS ALSO JULIE’S STEPBROTHER IN THIS?!?! Perfection. Literal Perfection.

Family Matters by morganoconner  (Family) (Post Season 1) (Complete) - Ray accidently adopts a few ghost kids // Okay, to start off with, Ray NEEDS more love and this fic GIVES IT. The best Ray focused fic I’ve seen (also technically has Willex and Juke but they aren’t the focus. Family is <3)

Feels like I’ve opened my eyes again by ICanSpellConfusionWithAK  (Juke) (Season 2 Speculation Fic) (Incomplete) - After everything that’s happened with Julie and her band, she’s tired. She doesn’t stop being tired // This fic is crazy good and has an INSANE update schedule (I have theories on where this may go and I hope they’re right!)

Give me something that’ll haunt me when you’re not around by smol_fangirl (Juke) (Missing Scene) (Complete) - Luke writes Julie an Unsaid Emily // This is one of the sweetest, saddest fics you will find. It takes place before the Orpheum and the FEELINGS that Luke has. This made me wish I could hug fictional characters. Now with a SECOND CHAPTER that RUINED ME even more!!!

Linger by apocalyvse, keep_swinging & rainstorm97 (Juke, Willex) (Season 2 Speculation Fic) (Incomplete) - Caleb vs Julie in (not) Ghost wars // The plot is so amazingly intriguing, every update gets me so excited!! (Julie with powers? JULIE WITH POWERS!)

Love Drunk by captainkippen ** (Juke) (Alive in 2020 AU) (Incomplete) - After a show (and a big night) in Las Vegas Luke and Julie accidently get hitched // Accidental marriage AU- ACCIDENTAL MARRIAGE AU! It’s here guys and it’s FILLED with funny/ sweet moments!

sweet dreams are made of this (who am i to disagree?) by juliemolina (nnegan13) (Juke) (Season 2 Speculation Fic) (Incomplete) - Julie and Luke share a dream after the events of season 1. It doesn’t bode well for Julie // The pure EMOTION in this fic gets me every time. Also, protective Luke is not something I knew I needed till I had it.

The Cheerleader Effect by Bluefire510 (Juke) (Post Season 1) (Incomplete) - Julie wears Luke’s clothes and it breaks his brain // This is like the quintessential Juke fic. Do you want fluff? Second hand embarrassment as Luke blue screens? Read it. 

Unfinished Business by captainkippen (Juke, Willex) (Alive in 2020 AU) (Incomplete) - Julie moves to a new school and meets ‘the boys’ // This fic has so much promise already and I can just FEEL how good it’s gonna get. I am DYING to watch the pining in real time.

Series

Julie the Vampire Slayer by pearlcaddy ** (Juke, Willex) (Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU) (Ongoing) - The adventure of Julie the Vampire Slayer, her ghost Watcher Luke and their Scooby Gang // This may be one of the best AU’s I have ever read. I didn’t think it could work but pearlcaddy does SO MUCH to bring it to life! You won’t regret reading this!

I have definitely missed a ton of amazing fics but I’ll do my best to update this list as I find more!

[thran-duils]

Use All of Me (P.12)

Title: Use All Of Me (Part Twelve) Summary: Fem!Reader x Dark Mob!Steve Rogers. The Avengers are heroes saving the world but in this AU, they are also permitted by the powers in charge to have less than favorable business underneath their guise of mere superheroes. Steve and Tony are at the helm, keeping their empire’s wealth in check, both devious and perilous if crossed. Steve takes a liking to the reader at a party and it may be her undoing to her autonomy choosing to go home with him. Words: 3,008 Warnings: Dark AF, angst, emotional/mental abuse, smut, breeding, death Author’s Note: ♫ Steve is getting desperate ♫

Part Eleven || Part Thirteen || Masterpost (mobile) || Fanfic masterpost

Tony was pacing in front of the cameras he had up on the large wall when Steve entered the room. Bucky, Sam, Clint, and Rhodey were already down there with Tony, sitting or standing. The general feeling in the room was tension and it was permeating the air.

“Get anything from him?” Tony asked as soon as he caught sight of Steve.

“He didn’t know shit,” Steve said gruffly. “Not that I gave him much time to say anything past admitting he had known she wanted to escape. If he was going to help her, he would have driven her off the property himself and disappeared with her. He would not have stuck around afterward if he had assisted her in any way. He was not that daft.”

“I would beg to differ on that,” Natasha commented, coming to stop in front of the cameras, her eyes searching the screens. “Are you only focusing on New York?”

“Larger cities in the north east for now mainly,” Tony answered, coming to stand beside her. He pointed at the lower right corner of the screens. “I have it set up to follow the main tracks of the Amtrak across the country the longer time passes.”

Bucky came up to Steve and asked, “Her family?”

Steve shrugged, “Her parents aren’t alive. Didn’t mention anyone else really. She was an only child.”

“What about her friends? They could have family in other states.”

“I could look into that,” Clint said. “Facebook isn’t that hard to look through and people are always oversharing on that stupid app.”

“Speaking of her friends… if she says anything she’s heard from you, Steve, about the business, that’s not going to be good,” Rhodey said, looking grim.

Uncomfortably, eyes swept to Steve quickly and he shook his head. “I don’t think she’s concerned about that,” Steve said tightly. “She just… wanted space. And instead of asking, she does some impulsive, unsafe bullshit.” He was working himself up again, his hands resting on his hips tensely. “Absolute horseshit.”

Tony turned from the screens, taking a few steps towards him. Trying to reason with Steve and calm him down, he told him, “Look, Pepper did too when we first got together. It takes a while for them to adjust from the hustle and bustle they were used to, but they do eventually. Unfortunately, Y/N had persistent friends. Stupid, persistent friends at that. But we are going to find her. You’re gonna get your kids back and her.” Tony held up his hand as an idea came, “And on that note, you need to register with the putative father registry.” Steve’s brow stitched in confusion. Tony laughed and said, “Trust me. I did it when I was younger because I was a little loose and needed to know if any of the women I was with – and I was for sure the father – were going to do anything with the kid that would blow back on me. There’s a notice to claim paternity form for a child born out of wedlock. With that, you’ll be notified of any court proceedings, such as adoption or guardianship changes.”

Steve’s jaw clenched at this and Tony said, “I don’t think that’s out of left field that might happen.”

“I’d love to see her try,” Steve said darkly, a deep scowl on his face.

Tony had to smirk at that ferociousness. “Hmm, me too. And good thing about this is that she won’t be notified that you registered. You know, not that she would get a notification anyway because she is AWOL, and it would go to her old address. It also doesn’t need to get notarized.”

He clapped his hands and turned to look at everyone else. “So, we’ll keep these on here. Like I said, the Amtrak cameras are going to go down the three main tracks. If it happens she’s gone for longer, we will start scanning outwards of the northeast on the other cameras. Barton, you got the familial ties. Man, big notes if the family is in a bordering state. Oh, I did get access to Natalie and Yua’s phones, but they are unfortunately turned off. Smart cookies. But if they turn them on again, it’ll light up on this laptop—”

“I’ll watch it,” Natasha volunteered.

Tony nodded in acknowledgment. “Unfortunately, we can’t put out a look out on the license plate because well… it’s Natalie’s car and it’s not stolen if she’s driving it.” He sighed and shrugged, “The rest of us… just on standby I suppose until we get something.”

“Do you want me to handle the meeting tonight with the union?” Rhodey asked.

“I forgot about that. Thank you for remembering,” Tony said appreciatively. “So, yes. And don’t let them try to bully you into giving them a bigger cut. Our deal is set, they just need to give us the money from the trade.”

“Do you have the surveillance video? Of Y/N leaving?” Steve asked him suddenly.

“You sure you wanna watch that?” Tony asked, skepticism lacing his tone. “I don’t need you punching a hole through these screens or anything.”

“No, I want to see it,” Steve said. “I want to see what she left with. Make sure she just didn’t hop in a car without anything.”

“Alright,” Tony said, still sounding uncertain. He walked towards another laptop and opened it, working to pull up the video.

Steve was there behind him, looming. He sat in the chair in front of the laptop, watching Tony rewind to the part he wanted to see. It stopped as the women started coming out of the house. Steve leaned forward, his eyes zeroed in on where Y/N was standing saying goodbye to everyone. He watched until it was just Yua with her and then Natalie came out of the house, a duffel bag over her shoulder and a hoodie and hat in hand. She threw it into her car and they moved quickly to put the coat on Y/N and get her into the backseat of the car. She was adjusting the hat and pulling the hood up as Natalie pulled away.

Tony was right. All Steve wanted to do was grab the laptop and smash it repeatedly on the table to try to quell some of the white-hot rage exploding inside, thinking if Bryce’s dumbass had just been outside, they would have never been able to even get her into the car in the first place. And how Natalie had managed to not be stopped in the house by him made him even angrier if possible. The giant oaf had been watching a movie Wanda told him.

He held it together though, keeping his hand steady as he reached up and closed the laptop with a slight snap but not too hard.

“Well, at least she’s got some clothes I guess,” he said to no one in particular. He pushed the chair back with a loud squeak. “I need to go on a run.”

<><><>

“And what? Go back to the city and wait for Steve to find me and beat the crap out of me until I give him information?” Yua asked seriously.

Your mouth fell open slightly at her bluntness. You had asked Yua what she was planning on doing past this as the three of you sat on the back porch of the cabin in the moonlight. When you had suggested going home, she had rose her brows in surprise before saying what she had.

She noticed the look on your face and apologized, “Sorry. That’s just… what’s going through my mind. Filter is a little gone by now.” She held up her fourth beer can sheepishly.

“I don’t think it’s far from the truth,” you said quietly. “So, you’re smart for worrying about it.” You shifted in your seat and admitted, “Steve doesn’t exactly sleep much either. So he’s got more time in the world than most.”

“Insomnia?” Natalie asked.

“No. He doesn’t need to. He would fake it a lot of the time… you know, just to lay in bed with me during the night.”

“That’s kind of romantic,” Yua said and Natalie shot her a piqued look. “What? It is!”

“Or creepy because he wanted to be next to her all the time,” Natalie retorted.

“I think it was a little bit of both. It’s not like he wouldn’t hear me get out of bed even if he was in his study or somewhere else in the house, so it’s not like being right next to me would have made much of a difference in the long run,” you muttered, picking at the blanket. “But, he enjoyed it I think. Lying in bed with me. Snuggling me while I slept. He’d watch TV quietly too.” You chewed on your bottom lip, thinking of how you had enjoyed those moments too, waking up with him there, warm in his embrace. Admitting that out loud though was too hard; like it was fake that you had asked for help.

“Good thing light doesn’t bother you when you sleep. Honestly, I’m jealous of your ability to just fall asleep wherever,” Natalie said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Soaking it up while I can,” you said, giving a halfhearted smile.

“Where are we going to go though? Seriously? We can’t exactly go back to our apartments for our things. I’m afraid someone would be watching,” Yua said and you admired her ability to think ahead like that.

“We could order a moving service. Have them store our things in a storage unit outside NYC. Then after a substantial amount of time, have it shipped to wherever we move to,” Natalie suggested before she sighed heavily. “How am I going to get a good recommendation for a job by just quitting?”

“You could call and tell Brett the truth. Well, not who we are running from, don’t want to get anyone else involved, plus you know… they are already going to be mad about Y/N leaving with secrets. So no need to incriminate them when they’re already expecting it. On the off chance they do find us, not having gotten them in trouble with the law will probably bode well for us. But anyway, you know… tell Brett that you’re helping a friend escape an abusive partner.” Yua suggested. The two of you were staring at her in astonishment and she shrugged. “What? That’s what I was going to do with my boss. I can work from home completely. I already do it half time. He just needs to mail me a laptop and we already have WiFi here. Thank god, I would die without Netflix.”

“You astound me sometimes,” you told her, a wide smile on your lips. And it was quickly replaced by tears of gratitude and she reached for your hand, grasping it tightly. “No, it’s fine. I’m just… overwhelmed. I didn’t want you guys to have to uproot your lives for me.”

“We’ve been friends for a decade. Plus, it’s not like I have anything going for me back there anyway except a high paycheck and a string of hard dicks following behind me like dogs and I can get that somewhere else,” Yua responded, taking a swig of her beer as you and Natalie laughed. She gave your hand one more squeeze before pulling away.

“Plus, New York was getting a little tired anyway,” Natalie chimed in. “I’ve wanted to move. Not ideally like this but… I think we can make the best of it.”

Nodding, you said, “We can try.”

You suddenly stilled, your fingers digging slightly into your abdomen.

Yua sat up quickly, “What? What’s wrong?”

“I… I think one of them just kicked,” you said, a slow smile spreading across your face. The two of them immediately relaxed. You shot Yua a look and asked, “Is that too early?”

‘No, that sounds right on time,” Yua said. “Especially for your first one.”

Looking down at your abdomen, you smiled again softly this time. You tried to will them to move again, imagining them sleeping there. You wondered what they were dreaming about.

<><><>

Steve thanked Tony for bringing him the sandwich he had placed in front of him, taking a large bite. He was and had been planted in front of the surveillance screens for a long while, only getting the minimal amount of sleep he required and only when someone else was there to watch while he was out. Rhodey had just been watching with him and got up to stretch his legs, also thanking Tony for bringing the sandwiches.

A ring cut into the silence and Steve swallowed before picking up his phone. He saw the number on the phone, recognizing it as Dr. Kamal’s office.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Rogers?” A voice said on the other end of the phone.

“Yes?”

“I am calling from Dr. Kamal’s office. It looks like Y/N has an appointment right now and we were wondering if you were on your way…?”

“Shit,” Steve swore under his breath and said, “No, no we are not on the way. I’m sorry. It completely slipped my mind to call and cancel.”

“Would you like to reschedule? There’s an opening later in the day, there was another cancellation. Or we can look—”

“Look, I’m going to be honest,” Steve cut in. “I don’t know where she is.”

“O-oh,” the assistant said on the phone, stammering a bit at that information. “Like today or…?”

“I haven’t seen her for days,” Steve clipped. “She ran off with her friends. I’m not sure to where. I have not had contact with her. So, I can’t make an appointment because I don’t know when I’ll find her or if she’s coming back.”

The assistant said slowly, “Um, well, I suppose then give us a call when you do know.”

“Will do,” Steve muttered before hanging up the phone.

Steve let out a frustrated sigh, slamming his phone down on the counter. His mind was racing thinking about Y/N missing a check up and something being wrong with the babies, with her, or both. He hated not having control of the situation and not being confident she was being kept safe by him.

He looked to Rhodey and Tony. “It’s time to report her missing.”

“Steve, she’s not missing. The cops won’t—” Rhodey started to say.

“I don’t need the cops. If we get her face out there, someone might call.”

“And if that someone is a cartel or something? Saw her face, kidnaps her or all three of them and then demands ransom?”

Steve shouted, “Then I’ll fucking pay it, Rhodey!”

Rhodey closed his mouth and shot a look at Tony, who merely shrugged in return. Rhodey sighed, knowing that Tony would be acting the same way if it was Pepper who had run off on him and would not be garnering any support to dissuade Steve from it from him.

<><><>

Yua came into the cabin quickly, tossing her bags down, startling you and Natalie watching a movie. She stood in front of the TV, blocking the view. “We got a problem.”

“What?” the two of you demanded in unison.

“Your face is all over the place on one of the news channels. I saw it at the mini mart behind the counter.”

Natalie scoffed, “How? Are they saying she’s missing?” Yua nodded and Natalie let out a frustrated noise. “Aren’t those supposed to drop if no foul play is expected? Like… they can easily draw conclusions that you ran off on your own accord. It’s clear in the tapes I’m sure!”

“Money,” Yua said darkly. “They’ll be able to keep up advertisements about it forever probably with all the money they have. Probably banking on everyone wanting to do a favor for Captain America. Who wouldn’t want to be in his debt for a favor? Plus, they’re also playing the ‘she’s not mentally competent’ card.”

“What?” you asked shocked, feeling like you had gotten socked in the stomach.

“You can’t be serious. Just because she’s pregnant?” Natalie demanded.

Yua said nothing which was answer enough.

“How will I go to a hospital?” you asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Natalie assured you quickly, “You can use an alias when they admit you. And when we bring you in, we will have a hood on and a hat, just like when you left. Hopefully there won’t be a lot of people in the ER. Upon discharge, your real name would be attached to the records but under HIPAA you’ll be protected.”

Yet, HIPAA could not protect you from someone who desperately needed money really.

“But… won’t someone turn me in to Steve?” You could not keep the worry out of your voice.

“We don’t know that for sure,” Yua said gently. “And I don’t think it’s something you should worry about.”

Squeezing your hands together, you focused on your breathing, trying to remain calm and push the thought from your mind. Your birth was still far enough off that hopefully it would die down a little.

“Have you thought more about adoption?” Natalie asked you gently.

You nodded, “Yeah. Can I though if I am not a resident of the state?”

“You can surrender a child – or children, in your case – up to the hospital within 72 hours in most states. I checked,” Yua said.

“Good,” you said, nodding. It hit you suddenly and you asked panicked, “You turned your phone on?”

Yua shook her head and said, “I asked the guy at the station to check it out for me. Slid him an extra five dollars while I went to call my mum on the pay phone, let her know I’m okay. He was confused but he did it.” You relaxed hearing that, as did Natalie. Yua ventured, “Are you sure that’s what you want to do? Adoption?”

You swallowed thickly, avoiding eye contact. The two of them were quiet, waiting for you to figure out how to answer. “I’m not sure,” you whispered, breaking the silence.

~~~

Tags: @imsonick , @alexakeyloveloki, @kvzctam, @ironlady1993​, @taintedgenre, @inlovewiththefictionalcharacters @roxyfan14-blog

[selfilluminatingkyu]

Dancing with the Devil(s): Chapter IV

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F!Reader x Adult Trio; this takes place during the same timeline as Season 3 of HxH but the events with Kuropika and the crew are just shifted a little. Things will align back up within the next couple of chapters.

Warnings: Subtle Mentions of Torture and Abuse.

Word Count: 3.1K (She a lil short) 

As the name rattles off of Hisoka’s lips, you furrow your eyebrows. Is he someone you know? Is he someone you should know? A thousand thoughts run through you head in the span of a second and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that there is a reason behind why Hisoka would ask you whether or not you knew someone. 

You also weren’t completely insufferable in your lack of underworld knowledge. You knew who the Zoldycks were. Had heard many of the wealthy families mention the name before. Wealthy families got to where they were not because they didn’t deal in shady things…they just happened to have enough money to pay someone else to do it for them…and keep it from ever tracing back to them. 

You remember being at a gala not to terribly long ago. The patriarch on the family hosting the event had left midway through to speak to an older man with grey/white hair. You’d gone to the bathroom when he’d walked out of the office with the other man—who’d looked extremely pale and weathered as compared to when they’d left. You’d smiled and apologized, telling them you’d gotten turned around on your way back to the party, and the man with the grey/white hair, Zeno Zoldyck you’d come to learn, had simply smiled at you before nodding to the host. The other man had disappeared out of view and the two of you were left alone.  

“My, my you have grown into a beautiful young woman since the last time I saw you y/n.” He’d said and you could only blink, registering quickly the sheer power rolling off this man. There was no malice behind it, nor intimidation effect, it was simply him. 

“I’m sorry sir, and forgive me for being rude, but do we know each other? I don’t recall ever having met you before.” You said, smiling softly but anxiously, wracking your brain for anything to give you a clue as to not incur your mother’s wrath for forgetting a powerful man’s name and presence. 

He chuckled, walking closer to you, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder. “No need to worry dear, we’ve never met before per se, but I do know who you are. I’m well aware of your parents’…pursuits. Your name has come up in conversation before and the last time I saw you or a photo of you, you were quite small. Maybe no older than 10 or 11. I was merely making an observation.” 

You smiled again and nodded you head, understanding and yet feeling embarrassed and ashamed that you probably looked no better than a filly up for auction, because truthfully…you weren’t. 

“Oh! Well it’s nice to meet you—” 

“Zeno, Zeno Zoldyck. And it’s nice to finally meet you as well y/n y/l/n. And I’m sure this won’t be the last time we see each other.” 

Thinking back on that situation now, back on the first time you ever met Zeno, you wondered how exactly it was your name had ever befallen the ears of the Zoldyck patriarch. Regardless, to be asked about a Zoldyck was odd, even coming from Hisoka. 

“I know of the Zoldycks, I’ve met Zeno a couple of times. But I’m not well versed in the members of the family. Is there any particular reason why you ask Hisoka?” You ask, thinking it over more as you answered, wondering where the missing link was in your knowledge. But when you looked up, in that moment, when the words had only just left you mouth, the look in Hisoka’s eyes made you think that not knowing may have been a small grace than a hinderance. And in that moment, you were somewhat grateful the water was already growing cold, because the shock of chill that ran through the air wasn’t nearly as potent. 

The small seep of bloodlust in the air made you take in a breath and try to sink into the furthest side of the tub away from him. The hairs on your body stood up and gooseflesh peppered across your skin. You bit back the whimper that wanted to escape and instead looked at the imposing man before you with wide eyes. The shift in demeanor, you realized, was not direct at you but something else entirely. 

“Did you ever see the man you were initially going to be engaged to?” Hisoka asked and this made you pause because you had told Chrollo of your past but not the rest of the Troupe and you were certain that it was not information passed along to them as they’d been dismissed when the discussion had happened. 

Was this slip up intentional, to make you put the pieces together or had Hisoka’s apparently bloodlust caused his tongue to run away from him? If you were a wagering girl, and you really weren’t, you would’ve bet on the former instead of the latter. Hisoka was calculating and manipulative. You knew his interest in you had made you into a new toy to play with and this seemed like a twist in his play with you. Keeping this in mind, you responded accordingly. 

“Yes, once, late one night when I snuck into my father’s office. I wanted to see what he looked like. This elusive person who was supposedly going to be my husband. He was attractive, but I never was told his name because, for whatever reason, my parents ended up forgoing the engagement. I was never told why exactly, and it never dawned on me to ask honestly.” You chose your words carefully, watching him the entire time to gage the way he reacted. 

That wasn’t entirely a lie, it wasn’t also entirely the truth. You knew why you parents had never gone through with the engagement; the family, while incredibly powerful and wealthy, was part of the seedy underground and that didn’t bode well with their agenda. A family like the Zoldycks fit perfectly within that description you realized. Although, it was an inclining you’d had after the second time you’d met the Zoldyck patriarch and his son, Silva, the current head of the family and business. They’d been nice, familiar even, and they’d been assessing you. At the time, you hadn’t exactly been sure as to why, but you’d wondered if they’d been the family who’d been very adamant about marrying you to their eldest son. 

However, they thought had derailed when Zeno had made an offhanded comment about wondering if you’d be into younger men and you’d been utterly confused. Were they not them? Were you mistaken and they too were now interested after meeting you? You’d never truly gotten your answer though because the next time you saw them, it had been a strained meeting as you’d been their target. Why Zeno had come and told your parents that information instead of just doing his job, and risking his reputation in the process, had puzzled you even more. 

“HISOKA! Enough!” The roar from Phinks had startled you as had the slamming of your bedroom door. Curling in on yourself, you’d just managed to cover yourself before Phinks and Shalnark had busted through.  “Keep your bloodlust in check, it’s giving me a headache. And what are you even doing in here you pervy bastard? Leave the poor girl alone. You’re needed downstairs anyway, something’s come up.” 

Both blonde men gave you a quick once over, probably making sure that you weren’t harmed by the magician but nodding their heads towards the door. Shalnark gave you a smile and a wave before trailing behind Phinks. “Come on Hisoka, don’t want to keep the boss waiting.” 

Hisoka turned, beginning to move towards the door again before stopping. “Don’t think too hard on it little dove. We wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.” 

And with that he’d walked out, slamming the bedroom door behind him, leaving you utterly confused and feeling chilled to the bone. 

Was this Illumi Zoldyck guy your previous potential fiancé? 

Was there another member of the Zoldyck’s who had almost taken that roll instead? 

Or was Hisoka just trying to find out some sort of other information that you just weren’t able to see yet? 

You didn’t know the answer to those questions right now…but you were certain you were going to get them, whether you wanted to know or not. 

That night, you’d gone to bed shortly after you’d forced yourself to climb out of the bathtub. The water had grown cold, and your skin was pruning uncomfortably. The peace in which you had hope to find, even a sliver of, had never come to you, so you hoped maybe sleep would just be a void. 

And while you hadn’t been completely wrong, you also hadn’t been completely right. 

At first, you’d fallen asleep easily, not even the noises of what was taking place downstairs had deterred you from finding solace in the black abyss. However, that had apparently been short lived as a few hours later, you’d slipped into a nightmare.  

You were surrounded by people you didn’t know, and they were talking about you, looking down on you. It was then you realized that you were strapped to a table and that you had wires running from your body to machines. They didn’t appear to be normal medical equipment though, but you couldn’t say for certain that they were made out of nen either. Regardless, seeing the wiring connecting to your body and then to unknown machines left your blood running cold and your mind running a mile a minute as to how to get yourself out of this situation. 

“She’s extraordinary. Just extraordinary! With powers like hers…you could rule the world…could rule worlds. There is an unlimited number of things you could do and accomplish with this kind of power. Who knows where it stops!” The excited voice from beside you startled you. 

The small man in a lab coat and mask was standing closest too you, scribbling things on a clipboard as he looked at you in awe. You tried to ask what was going on, how you had gotten here, what he was talking about, but nothing came out. Not even a whimper and whisper of breath. You frantically looked around, trying to find a face, a friend, anyone you recognized and kept coming up empty. The faces were blurred, and your eyes began to strain. The sound of voices chattering and a machine clicking barely registered to you…

…but the pain certainly did.

Excruciating was putting it mildly and you quickly understood why you were bound, outside of not allowing you to flee your captors. The pain seared through even molecule in your body and those that it hadn’t even created yet. Your back arched off the table and your mouth dropped open in a silent scream. Your throat felt raw, like you’d done it before…possibly even several times before. The only thing that actually seemed to escape you were the tears from the corner of your eyes as the pain stopped and deftly you registered that the machines had stopped but the voices had picked up. 

What they were saying, you couldn’t tell. But as the noise kicked up tenfold, the pain did as well, and this time when you screamed…a noise came with it. 

“Y/n wake up! It’s just a dream! You’re fine. Wake up!” You bolted up right, screaming yourself hoarse as the pain creeped its way from fantasy into reality. It jarred you to the bone and without thinking you struck out at the closest thing, sending it hurling away from you in an effort to end whatever was causing you pain. 

What you hadn’t realized was that that “thing” in which you had sent flying had been Chrollo. Didn’t realize it was him till he was nearly striking the wall on the other side of the room, caught off guard by your sudden attack and the power behind it. It was also then that you realized there was an aura radiating around you and there was immense power coming from it. 

You looked to Chrollo wondering if he had always been this strong and had somehow been masking it. But looking at him, seeing the wild, almost gleeful look in his eyes, made you realize that the power was not coming from him…but yourself. 

“I need you to breathe for me y/n and focus on controlling the aura that’s around you. If you don’t get a control over it, it’ll continue to seep out of you, and you’ll pass out from the loss.” He spoke softly, walking up to you slowly like you would a terrified animal, afraid that in its fear, will lash out at you and go for your jugular. 

However, his tactics were a bit sabotaged when Franklin and Feitan came flying into the room, nen activated and ready to take on anyone who posed a threat. The hostile energy pouring out of them had your fear peaking again, the faces from your dream flashing before your eyes and the power in which you’d thrown at Chrollo was surging again, zeroing in on the new threats and detonating without so much as a blink from you. 

Both of their boys went flying as well, Chrollo, seemingly reading your nanosecond of a shift in body language, braced in anticipation, activating his own aura, and deflecting easily. As he seemed to watch two of his strongest members go soaring across the room as if it was no big deal, the look in his eyes seemed to increase tenfold and suddenly he was behind you, wrapping himself around you and smothering you face into his chest. 

“Shhh, you’re okay. They aren’t going to hurt you. No one here is going to hurt you little one. I promise.” He stroked your hair and while you realize the sentiment that he was going for, the affection left you feeling even more displaced. 

You could feel your body seemingly gearing up for another act and, despite still being unsure as to where these people lie on the spectrum between friend and foe, you did not want to hurt them anymore than you already had. With that in mind, you tried to even your breathing out; tried to think of a dam stopping the free flow of water, and all thing similar to keep yourself from exploding with aura again. And that, coupled with Chrollo’s continued words of assurance, seemed to do the trick, and stop up the free flow of energy. 

As the bubble around you seemed to smooth and flow but not run, you realized you’d started to sob at some point, the tears streaming down your face and a near continual stream of whimpers and apologies pouring from your mouth. Apologies to Chrollo for the initial attack, apologies to Franklin and Feitan who’d only come to make sure everything was okay. You didn’t know what was going on or how things had escalated so quickly but you were sorry and you hadn’t meant to hurt them. 

You weren’t entirely certain the message hadn’t gotten out clearly, if the pissed off look on Feitan’s face was anything to go by, but you weren’t entirely certain that hadn’t been there prior as the man seemed to wear a scowl frequently. 

“What…happened…?” Feitain asked and you could feel Chrollo shift, looking at them while maintaining the comforting stroking on your hair. 

“I’m not sure. I came up here to check on her when I felt a spike in aura and heard her crying out. I couldn’t sense another presence outside of her own, but we’ve met nen users capable of cloaking themselves before. However, when I came in, she was thrashing about, when I woke up her…the same thing that happened to you happened to me.” 

“Clearly not as hard though. You seem fine. I feel like I’m going to be sore for days after that power she just threw at us.” Franklin muttered rubbing at his arm and stomach. 

“Such…a…. baby…” Feitan muttered, earning a side-eyed glare from Franklin. 

“I wouldn’t say it was any less powerful, it was more like she registered who was in the room with her right as she threw the power out. I’m almost certain she did the same with you, and my presence so close by also muted her attack, afraid she’d hurt me in an effort to harm you two.” 

Franklin and Feitan looked from Chrollo to you and then back to Chrollo before looking at each other in disbelief. “You’re saying that wasn’t her full power?” Franklin asked, the shock and awe clearly evident in his voice. 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I can’t even begin to feel the depths of her power, let alone where it ends.” 

The words seemed to hang in the air, all three men seemingly having a silent conversation that you were not perve to, nor did you think you ever would be. You had known from the start, regardless of what degree of comradery you obtained with these people you would always be an outsider, never allowed to fully know the scope of everything. You’d never be told all of the details, never know the full extent of all of their abilities, never know the ins and outs of it all. And you did not mind that, not at the moment at least, because for what you did not know, you had come to understand that these were dangerous people, people that were probably on several hit lists and wanted by many…and you did not know if you ever wanted to truly be associated with them. 

While sitting in the tub, you’d come to the conclusion that you would use them to obtain the skills necessary to save your younger siblings…and that would be the extent of it. You were not a killer, did not fancy yourself someone who killed for sport or out of the desire to prove you were stronger or better than others. No, you did not believe your wants in life to align at all with those of the people in this group nor did you think they ever would. So you’d do what was necessary to be able to get your siblings back, to be able to protect them and keep them safe till they were capable of doing as such on their own. But once you’d achieved that goal…you were as good as gone.