#I just gotta at least say it like this here and now before being swept away

[mzminola]

A headcanon might not be supported by the text, but it does not contradict it.

If what you've got contradicts the text, that is an Alternate Universe version. It may be your preferred AU, but it's not a headcanon.

If it is either of those and accepted/used by a lot of other fans, it's a fanon.

[izurou]

“remember when you proposed to me?”

of course atsumu remembers, it’s a moment he’ll never forget—no matter how hard he tries.

sometimes, he’ll lay in bed at night filing through the memories from that night—everything was so right. the pink and orange hues that lit up the evening sky, the flawless sear on that steak he cooked you, and that awesome batman movie you watched after said steak—it was all perfect. so why was your answer still no?

“i thought we agreed to forget about that?” he replies, glancing up from the soap covered dish in his hands.

he knows—you’ve told him over and over that it just wasn’t the right time. marriage is a big step, especially for a young couple, and you weren’t sure if your relationship was ready to take that step just yet. that doesn’t mean you loved him any less, and you were very adamant about him understanding that.

“we did, but i was thinking,” you pause, grabbing the plate from him and rinsing it off. “what if we even it out? i’ll propose to you, and you can reject me.”

he side eyes you as he plunges his hands back into the water, feeling around for the next victim. he pulls a spoon out, and you can see a little smile tugging at his lips.

“alright,” he turns to you, removing his hands from the sink and reaching for the towel hanging off the oven handle. “i’ve gotta see this.”

“will you marry me?” you say it like it’s the most casual sentence to ever leave your mouth—rookie mistake.

“at least get down on one knee! c’mon, get serious, i wanna be swept off my feet!” he throws the towel over his shoulder and crosses his arms over his chest, waiting.

you sigh, but a little smile of your own creeps up as you kneel before him. he truly is beautiful from this angle—each and every muscle highlighted perfectly despite the dim lighting. god, has he always looked this good? you’ve been here many times before, but never with such pure intent.

“atsumu, will you marry me?”

“hm, good question,” he mumbles, tapping a finger on his chin as he stares off into the void.

“seriously?” you scoff, placing a hand on the edge of the counter as you attempt to stand up.

“ah ah ah,” he hums, pressing a palm against your chest and making you stay down. “where’re your manners? i’m still thinkin’!”

“since when do you do that?” you mutter, and immediately—you know you shouldn’t have.

“since when do you do that?” he raises the pitch of his voice to match yours, mocking you as he throws his hands in the air. “really? is that any way to speak to your future husband?”

“uh, it depends?” you respond, and you’re not sure why it comes out as a question, but it does. you can never tell with this guy, is he actually upset, or is it all part of his circus act?

“y’know what, no. ’m never marrying you.” he turns on his heels, and just like that he’s back to doing the dishes—how odd.

apart from the rain pattering against the glass, and the subtle but frequent splish splash of water from atsumu, it’s quiet.

he’s joking, right? of course he is, you know he is. but, he’s never going to marry you. never. is this what you get for saying no? the promise of being single forever? has that bitch karma finally caught up to you?

“never?” you whisper as you rise to your feet. he stares straight ahead, either lost in thought, or just super interested in watching the water droplets fall from the gutters outside.

but he knows—he’s been told over and over that it just wasn’t the right time. still, that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

he finally turns his head, and shit, you have that pout on your face—the one that makes his heart feel like it’s been put in a chokehold.

“hey, tuck that back in!” he exclaims, pressing his index finger against your bottom lip. “c’mon don’t be makin’ that face.”

“you don’t want to marry me anymore?” you ask, silently cursing yourself for sounding so needy. you said no—and now look at you, all wide eyed and nervous. pathetic.

“course i do,” he huffs, grabbing onto your wrist and pulling you closer. “only an idiot who wants to get married would propose after five months.”

he must’ve been an actor in a past life.

“you’re not an idiot,” you reassure, and you’re positive that a certain atsumu lookalike and his brunette boyfriend would put you to shame for saying that—but it’s true. “i think i’m the idiot.”

you are, and quite a big one at that. five months ago, that night felt so right. atsumu dragged the dining room table a little to the left so you could see the pretty sunset as you ate—there’s a scuff mark on the floor to prove it. atsumu had steak for a week straight as he tried to perfect it—he was already sick of it by the fourth day. atsumu pirated the new batman movie after he heard you say you wanted to go see it—now his computer has a virus. it was perfect, all of it. so why was your answer still no?

“yeah, who the hell rinses in cold water?” he points to your side of the sink as he laughs, and you think you fall in love a little more—if that’s even in the realm of possibility anymore.

you were scared. of commitment? of divorce? of love? probably a mix of all three. but now, you’re certain, and you’d never make the same mistake twice.

“i meant for saying no to you, atsumu. i’ll never turn you down again.” you wrap your arms around his torso, and he stiffens up. jeez, what now?

“well,” he grabs your shoulders and peels you off, breathing out a puff of air. he smiles, and it’s suspiciously sweet, but then—he gets on one knee.

“whaddya say then, angel? will you marry me?”

[redux-iterum]

Charred Legacy: Chapter One

(AO3 counterpart here.)

All things considered, it was a nice night.

Fireheart was half-rolled onto his back, front paws tucked into his upturned chest while his rear end remained on its side. His tail tapped absentmindedly on the still-warm sand as he gazed up at the stars. The weather had loosened up, mercifully keeping the sky clear and even warming the air a little. It was still somewhat chilled, but the ground had softened from muddy slop to dense soil—still retaining a bit of moisture, but not enough to stick to a traveling cat’s paws—and the frost had barely made an appearance before shying away and melting again into dew.

Thank the Three for small miracles, Fireheart thought as his eyes lazily drifted from star to star. They know we needed it.

Caught up in the beauty of the sky and the grainy comfort of the sand, he was only somewhat registering cats talking around him. Faint squeals drifted out of the nursery’s entrance and his ear twitched at what he thought (hoped, really) was Goldenflower gently chiding the kits inside. Frostfur’s litter was already out, but in the past month they had calmed down considerably and come to prefer talking with the one cat in the apprentice’s den who would soon be a warrior, Swiftpaw, as he regaled them with stories of the territory and all the strange creatures they would see there.

Fireheart twisted his head back and to the side a bit—yes, there they were, listening to the black tom recounting his experience going to the Mother on the far side of the territories.

“And I know she looks scary,” he was saying, “but that’s kind of the point, I think. It makes you respect her even more. You just have to be brave and go into her mouth, trusting her. And Yellowfang will be there to guide you, so you’ll find your way.”

The sole molly of the litter, fluffy ginger-patched Brightkit, spoke up now. “I won’t be scared. The Mother wouldn’t hurt us—we’re her favorites.”

Thornkit, dark and golden-brown, frowned at her. “Still gotta be ‘spectful.”

Fireheart’s mouth twitched into a brief grimace in sympathy as the tom’s ears went back in embarrassment at the end of his sentence. Thornkit still slurred and stumbled over his words, even with as much as Frostfur had worked with him on speaking clearly, and he had been speaking shorter and shorter sentences recently, and at a much lower volume. His siblings understood him just fine, save one.

That one, the deaf little white tom directly in front of Swiftpaw, was Snowkit. His bright blue eyes, wide and vibrant, were fixed on Swiftpaw’s mouth as the apprentice said, “Yeah, it’s important to be quiet on the walk in and during the ceremony. Just wait until Yellowfang speaks to you.”

Brackenkit, a thinner and lighter version of Thornkit, tilted his head. “Will Cinderpaw be there?”

“She was when I went.” Swiftpaw’s eyes lifted upwards as he squinted a bit. “I mean, we did ours together, so that’s why, but I think she’d have to go anyway.” He turned to look at his dark grey sister as she limped out from the ferns by the meeting stump. “Hey, Cinderpaw! Are you going to be with these kits when they do their pilgrimage?”

Cinderpaw beamed with a hacking scoff very similar to her mentor’s. “Obviously! I have to learn how to do it myself, and there’s no way I’m missing out on Brighty getting blessed.” She swept her tail, crooked at the tip, in the direction of the toms. “And you guys, of course.”

Brackenkit seemed to take no offense. “I bet my blessing will be from Rokhar.”

Fireheart purred, rolling slowly onto his side. Of all the three gods, the Tiger was the one he understood the least. Then again, it seemed like everyone outside of the seer role had some trouble grasping exactly what Rokhar was all about. The first seer of Fireheart’s life in ThunderClan, Spottedleaf, had described him as being “in-between” and “all-encompassing”. Even after more than a year of being a Clan cat, Fireheart still had no idea what that meant.

“Why Rokhar?” Swiftpaw asked, sounding amused. “Because he’s the cool—?“

“Because he’s the cool one!” Brackenkit said, exactly in tandem with the apprentice. At another frown from Thornkit, he added, “I mean, they’re all cool, but Rokhar’s the coolest.”

Cinderpaw limped up to the little gathering of the young, her bad leg crumpled up towards her belly. “Knowing your dad, he’s probably telling Horoa right now to bless all of you with a Lion’s touch.”

While the kits all started babbling to each other about whether that was true or not, Fireheart’s heart clenched at the mention of Lionface. He had been the deputy of ThunderClan after Redtail, another first for Fireheart when he had joined the Clan from life as a house cat. Both of them had been great toms, Redtail kind and friendly and Lionface majestic and confident (even if he and Fireheart had clashed here and there). Both of them were gone, and both of them had been…

Fireheart’s claws sank into the sand. He eyed Cinderpaw’s crippled leg.

It had been around a month since the trial that shattered the Clan’s collective heart. No one had spoken of it after it happened, and even the mere implication of something that would link back to that night was hushed or ignored. Fireheart couldn’t stand this thing Clan cats had with refusing to acknowledge bad cats or the things they’d done; it didn’t help anyone feel better, it just made things awkward and sad. Supposedly, the spirits of these bad cats could come back if spoken about or named and haunt the territories, but as far as Fireheart had seen, the only thing they haunted was his dreams.

What he’d give to talk about this with Goldenflower.

But she was in the nursery now, and she needed peace and quiet to raise his adoptive siblings until they were big enough to come out and explore camp. Being forbidden from visiting, Fireheart just had to rely on news shared by Brindleface or Frostfur—mostly Brindleface, as Frostfur had left the nursery early to give the crowded den some room and now only came to check on her nearly-grown kits. Brindleface had been incredibly nervous and sensitive when she was stuck in the den, but now that she had been able to leave her kits for walks here and there…

“Fireheart! There you are!”

The ginger tom blinked and got to his feet, shaking off what sand had clung to his fur. The beautiful grey tortoiseshell in question had just climbed up and out of the nursery, her pale green eyes shining as Fireheart approached her.

“I have a surprise for you,” she said when he was close enough. “Well, two surprises.”

Fireheart perked up. “Really? Are they about Cloudkit?”

“They are.” Brindleface’s fluffy tail curled at the delight that must have immediately brightened up Fireheart’s face. “I’m sorry you couldn’t have come seen him before, but that makes this a little more interesting.”

Cloudkit had been adopted into the Clan, the same as his uncle. Fireheart had been given the kit by his frantic sister, Rosy, and ThunderClan took him in with only a bit of reluctance. The two of them did not look similar—Fireheart was skinny and shorthaired and Cloudkit was a ball of white fluff—and with the automatic distance of Fireheart not being able to visit to see his nephew and bond with him, he could only hope that they wouldn’t be so different that they could not find common ground besides being outsiders at birth, especially since Fireheart had promised to mentor Cloudkit once he became an apprentice.

“What is it, then?” he asked, trying not to sound overly-eager.

“Well, for one…” Brindleface turned and poked her head into the nursery. “Babies, do you want to come out now?”

Indistinct squeaks of excitement immediately followed this, and Brindleface purred before turning back to Fireheart, saying, “That’s the first surprise. They’re ready to meet you.”

Fireheart’s fur flared out and he beamed. “I can see him now!”

Brindleface nodded, her whiskers twitching. “And the second…”

She gestured with her paw just in time for the first kits to scramble out of the den: both grey with broken tabby markings, similar in every way except for the molly being both more delicate in the face and fluffier than her brother. They completely ignored Fireheart and bumbled out into the center of camp. Who followed them was—

Not the kit Fireheart had brought in.

This kit was fluffy and round, sure, but ginger covered his ears and nose and was steadily claiming his tail. His fur was quite long and puffed out, even if he was a bit small; if it weren’t for the unusual color, he would fit perfectly in with the rest of ThunderClan. By the way his deep blue eyes blinked owlishly at Fireheart, he was just as surprised at the reunion.

“Cloudkit,” Brindleface said with another paw-gesture, “this is your uncle, Fireheart. Remember how we talked about him?”

“Ohhh,” Cloudkit said loudly. He looked Fireheart up and down before announcing, “You’re short.”

“Cloudkit!” Brindleface scolded. “That’s rude.”

Fireheart chuffed and bent his head to meet his nephew’s eye-level. “And you’re pudgy.”

Cloudkit squinted at Fireheart. “What’s ‘pudgy’?”

“Fat!” Cinderpaw called from across the clearing.

Cloudkit squawked and slowly and clumsily swatted a paw in the direction of Fireheart’s nose. “’Mnot pudgy! You’re pudgy!”

Brindleface stared at the little tom in baffled embarrassment, but Fireheart pretended to be struck and rubbed his nose like it’d been scratched.

“Don’t beat me up, please,” he said, poorly hiding his amusement. “I’m sorry, you’re not.”

Cloudkit nodded in satisfaction—then, to Fireheart’s surprise, he toddled right up to his uncle and bumped their noses together. Him being so small, it didn’t hurt, but it was more of a punch than usual.

“Hi, uncle,” Cloudkit said, pulling back.

Fireheart’s whiskers twitched. “Hi, nephew.”

“That’s better.” Brindleface stepped forward to lick Cloudkit’s ear. “Are you ready to meet your Clanmates now?”

The little puffball nearly jumped in place and waddled off after his siblings, who were currently interrupting the discussion between Frostfur’s litter and Swiftpaw. Fireheart watched him go, amazed at the strength of the flame of affection in his chest, even when he hadn’t seen the kit since he’d come to the Clan.

“How did his fur get like that?” He turned to Brindleface now. “He was white when I brought him in.”

Brindleface rolled a shoulder. “Kittypet blood, I’m guessing. I’ve never seen anything like that in the territories. I thought he was sick at first, but he’s been perfectly happy and healthy this whole time.” She gave Fireheart a cheeky squint. “Both of you stick out now.”

Fireheart sighed a chuff. “At least he’ll be warm this winter.”

Brindleface nodded. Then her eyes flicked to the side and narrowed a fraction before she walked off after her litter. Fireheart’s gaze followed where she’d looked.

Darkstripe. Of course. He was glaring at the now-wandering Cloudkit.

Fireheart contained another, much heavier sigh. Since the trial, the dark tabby had hardly said more than one word to anyone, and they had to speak to him first. Fireheart hadn’t dared start a conversation with him—Darkstripe had never liked him to begin with, but since the end result of the trial was largely on Fireheart’s shoulders, the hatred in Darkstripe’s eyes burned Fireheart’s back whenever the two had to cross paths. He’d done his best to give the older warrior space, which was difficult when they shared a den.

Anticipating the glare to turn on him, Fireheart prepared to look away and find something else to engage with. He was saved by the camp entrance rustling to reveal the pale brown tortoiseshell Speckletail leading a patrol in. As her followers trotted to the prey-pile, she approached Darkstripe and said something to him Fireheart didn’t catch. Darkstripe didn’t respond beyond a twitch of his lip, getting to his feet and stalking out of camp. Speckletail watched him go, huffed and shook her head before joining the rest of the patrol.

After the loss of the prior deputy—the one that trial had been all about—Speckletail had been selected to replace him. She hadn’t been the expected choice, but she had accepted the role and immediately went about keeping the Clan busy and organized for the first month of her tenure. Fireheart suspected that this was a tactical decision; giving everyone something to do kept them from stewing in their own thoughts over the events of the past fall. Things had finally slowed down, with the warmer weather gifting the Clan with more prey than Fireheart had been told showed up in the end seasons. This was one of the first nights in quite a while that Fireheart had gotten to stay home and just enjoy the peace of camp.

“Good evening,” he said to Speckletail as she walked past him with a woodrat.

She nodded to him, putting down her prey for a moment. “Any word while I was gone?”

Fireheart shook his head, ears going back sadly. “I haven’t spoken to her since a few days ago.”

Speckletail sighed through her nose. Her eyes were tired. “I’ll talk with her once I’ve eaten.” She picked up her prey again and continued on her way, sitting down with Willowpelt on the far side of camp.

Fireheart’s eyes drifted to the wall of briar that surrounded the sandy clearing. Though he couldn’t see it, his gaze landed on the area where the leader’s den was situated on the outside.

Where Bluestar was undoubtedly sleeping.

The trial and the near-murder preceding it had hurt everyone, but it had broken something in the Clan’s leader. Only a few days after the deputy’s execution, Bluestar had become a rare sight. She now walked alone in the forest or holed up in her den, only coming out to order patrols or respond to something Speckletail asked her about. It had been part of the quiet conversation for some time now, but no one dared to broach the topic to Bluestar—even Fireheart, her former apprentice, or Whitecloud, her nephew.

It wasn’t fair, Fireheart wanted to shout to the stars. Of all the cats suffering, why did their leader have to struggle the hardest? The pain and suspicion and fear clouded her eyes and silenced her voice. It had been her throat the deputy’s teeth nearly crushed, her friends and Clanmates he crippled and murdered to get to her. Now, whenever she looked at her charges, it seemed like she was gauging their intentions, how well they could be trusted. Even Fireheart had been under scrutiny more than once.

She really would benefit from being able to talk about this whole thing…

“Cloudkit, please!”

Fireheart blinked and was back in camp. He turned his head to see his nephew marching for the fallen log that was the elder’s den. The elders were already out—lanky and grey One-eye, dark brown Halftail, and black-and-white Patchpelt—but they were talking among themselves, completely unaware of the kit making his way towards them, his siblings trailing behind with curious looks on their faces. Brindleface was padding after them, calling for Cloudkit.

“Let them be—” she started, but Cloudkit broke into a clumsy imitation of a run and continued on. Just as he reached Patchpelt, he tried to slow down, only succeeding in crashing right into the elder and stumbling backwards, plopping into a sitting position.

Patchpelt coughed (as he had been lately) in surprise and looked round to see the kit. His faded eyes brightened. “Well, now! I don’t remember this one.”

“I’m Cloudkit.” The furball blinked up at him. “My sister is Aspenkit and my brother is Ashkit.”

Halftail tilted his head, eyes narrowed analytically.

“You’ve got some ginger on your face, little ant,” croaked One-eye, peering with her single eye at the kit. “Or you’ve been playing in the sand.”

“No, he’s supposed to look like that.” Brindleface hurried up to them. “I’m sorry he disturbed you.”

“You know we love being disturbed,” Patchpelt said fondly, looking at the grey kits as they approached. “Ah, and this must be Ashkit and Aspenkit.”

The tom kit nodded firmly, standing as tall as he could, while the molly lowered her nose and shyly regarded the ground. Cloudkit, meanwhile, was meeting One-eye’s gaze, looking completely unbothered by the marred face that every kit and new apprentice was a little taken aback by. Fireheart noted with pride that he didn’t broach the topic of One-eye’s accident, only chirping, “You’re tall.”

One-eye chortled. “And old, on top of that. Do you know what my name is?”

Cloudkit shook his head.

“I’m One-eye, unsurprisingly.” The pale molly nodded to her denmates. “That’s Halftail and Patchpelt. Can you guess which is which?”

“Um…” Cloudkit scrunched up his little face before answering slowly. “Patchpelt’s got patches, and Halftail’s brown, right?”

“Very good.” Patchpelt purred. “We have easy names to remember.”

Cloudkit brightened up and wagged his short little tail. “I did it!”

“Yes, you did it,” Brindleface said, touching her nose to her adopted son’s head, adding to the elders, “I can distract him if he starts to bother you.”

“Oh, he’s not a bother at all.” One-eye tilted her head comically at Cloudkit, who trilled in response. “I haven’t had a kit not flinch at my face since I became an elder.”

Fireheart watched on as Cloudkit made his way around to Halftail, who eyed him suspiciously but said nothing. An anxiety he didn’t know was in his stomach settled at the warm looks on the elders’ faces when Cloudkit loudly announced, “Fireheart’s my uncle!” and puffed out his little chest.

He’s bold, Fireheart thought affectionately, watching his nephew respond to Patchpelt’s kindly questions about life in the nursery. Rosy, whether or not you get to see him again, I know you’ll be proud.

[corporatefrog]

꒦‧₊ ꒷ headcannons: team stan with a careless friend✧.*

✧.* tags: college au

✧.* Characters: kenny mccormick, kyle broflovski, stan marsh, eric cartman, butters stotch

a/n: I usually don't add cartman to these things bc he stinks+loser+annoying+suckmydick but I know he'd take advantage of someone who hod so sense of mortality so he gets a pass this time ig.

masterlist

Kenny

He mistakes the carelessness for spontaneity and immediately assigns you as his go to “lets do something stupid I just thought of” partner

He’s a “try everything once” kind of guy so it’s perfect that you have no sense of self preservation

“Kenny stand on the other side of the field, I wanna see how far I can throw my phone.”

“Okay.”

You both infuriate stan to no end

#annoyingduo in the best way possible 

Do NOT put the two of you in the same room at a party

All of a sudden there’s a 15 person game of just dance happening but there’s no screen?? You’re all just doing moves you saw on just dance

Everyday is a new adventure

Kenny probably has an eye out for you though

He can die doing something stupid and be back the next day but you on the other hand are not 

Gotta keep his partner in crime alive! There’s a bunch of other things on his “before I die (for real)” bucket list that you still need to mark off

Kyle

You just get caught up in the moment! You have such a wonder for life!

Kyle doesn’t get it sometimes seeing as he tries to view everything logically. 

He’s more like a babysitter when you both go somewhere

“You did not just spend $300 on knock off jordans from a random man on the street corner.”

“I did and they’re the comfiest shoes I’ve ever worn. He told me they’ll cure my posture problems.”

“Do you just believe anything someone tells you?”

“Coming from someone who almost cried when I didn’t use his Candy Crush referral code so he could get more lives, that’s really rich.”

Okay so he gets swept up in trends sometimes. At least he understands his own mortality!

After the third time you try to learn how to do a backflip and fail miserably, he has to leave the room to keep from screaming 

keeps a mental count of the things you do every day that should kill you

the current record is 14

Stan

He doesn’t understand how you can just go through your day without a care

Are you not afraid of dying? That’s like 32% of his thoughts during the day

“Fuck I dropped my credit card down the drain. Stan, hold my ankles while I reach down to grab it.”

“I can literally see the used heroin needles down there.”

“Okay and??? Not my fault the city doesn’t have a safe use zone, I need that card!” 

One time you guys were leaving a store and the alarm went off 

Stan turned to ask you if you got the security tags removed but you we’re already sprinting halfway across the mall

Not because you stole anything, but because you saw jimmy, clyde, and tolkien walking out of a store and wanted to say hi

And then you spent the rest of the day being lectured by an underpaid paul blart wannabe

Stan was freaking out because he thought you would get arrested for causing a scene or something (they find any reason to arrest someone in south park) 

But all you did was laugh in that light hearted, careless way you always do

Cartman

Bro will manipulate your carelessness for all its worth

You are now the second person he calls when he has some stupid plot that needs someone who doesn’t understand the concept of death

If kenny’s busy, you’re on speed dial

Honestly, you’re probably the first call because you’ll do something stupid without needing to be paid! 

Free labor!

Wanna work at dicknbaus hot dogs for 14 hours with no pay? It’s free hotdogs! You’re in! 

Hes an exploitative motherfucker 

Thats all im here to say about it

butters 

You’re going to give him a heart attack

One time you purposely kicked a medicine ball to see how far it would go and broke your foot

And he was more worried about your foot than you were!

“Oh jesus, can you move it?”

“Um… no I don’t think so. Lemme take off my sock”

“AH ITS PURPLE!”

“Oh damn, you’re right. That’s a nice shade though, I was thinking of painting my room that color!”

“NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE TALKING ABOUT THIS”

Unlike kyle, he can’t force himself to ignore your careless nature

He’s always worrying about you 

He’ll suggest you both go to first aid classes or cpr training whenever you hang out “just for fun!”

but really he needs to know that you at least have some first aid knowledge if you're going to keep running around like death is a social construct

[tommykiinard]

Rules: Pick any 10 of your fics, scroll somewhere to the midpoint, pick a line (or a few), and share it! Then tag 10 people.

tagged by @oneawkwardcookie - thank you !

1. love finds a way

He feels a soft touch against his hand then, and he blinks, turning to find Eddie smiling at him. His hand is on his hand, and Buck gulps, before he’s moving his hand under, and he watches as Eddie’s eyes flicker for a moment, unsure.

Until he realizes that Buck’s not pulling away, but opening his palm up, intertwining their fingers together. Eddie’s breath hitches then, and he smiles.

2. to watch someone you love (come home)

“Yeah? Well, it was your girlfriend that didn’t want to eat my food,” Eddie returns with a shit-eating grin, putting the food on the coffee table, as Buck lays his head back with a sigh.

“Ex-girlfriend,” he mutters uselessly and Eddie snorts, sitting beside him finally, his thigh pressed against his.

“Thank God for small blessings.”

3. what we deserve

“You okay for us to stay here? I gotta work on the deck, while these two have fun without us,” he says, side-eying Chris then, and making him giggle. His dad blinks only once, before nodding.

“Of course,” he says, and there’s a smile on his face that Eddie is still not used to seeing. At least, not directed at him in his adult life. He can’t help but wonder if they’ll continue to be good the way they are when they’re alone. What if it’s just the momentum of seeing each other for the first time since El Paso? What if it’s just this first day and then it’s back to how it was before? Did his dad mean any of it so far, or is he just placating Eddie? But before he can get too deep into it, he feels a nudge on his knee and comes back to Chris is calling his name.

4. this heart of mine

Joe knows he’ll be stuck on that for a while, so fundamentally entrenched in the pain the betrayal caused. Because there is always a choice. There is always a choice for people, to do good. To do the right thing. To do what is kind, and generous. If he digs into his very own memories as a child, he can feel the teachings of his mother and father: that in our hearts light and kindness we can give to the world, it is up to us how we choose to share it.

5. to forget is to remember, to cherish

Andy takes him by the arm then, and with promises to be back within a month’s time, they go away together, and Joe lets himself be swept away in his sister’s presence. Let’s himself drown in it, because he knows one day, she’ll be a memory. And if their life were to continue beyond more than what they have already been blessed with, then one day, he’ll forget her face, her laughter, her joy.

6. let’s right, these wrongs, together

“You made me believe you were gone. My whole family. Our friends. They all—Fuck, Nicolo, how could you?” he whimpers, and Nicky deserves it. He deserves it all.

7. in parts, i fall, in love

“Here, let me hold that for you.”

Joe hands over his glasses with his only free hand, the other clutching the ever-melting ice bag over his face as he walks.

“’Dank you.” Great, now he sounds like Kermit the frog. He glances at Nicolo who gives him a weak smile, walking beside him, one hand on Joe’s elbow, the other holding the rest of their things.

8. hand-shaped bruise

They are afraid of anything they cannot understand, even if benefits them. So they stay away and leave the Prince alone in his castle.

9. beautiful, i see you

“I’d be staring at myself too if I had your face,” he says, smoothly, and Joe’s mouth drops open and he swears his face is going to fall off it feels so warm. Then the man’s own face flushes red then, but instead of being frozen like him, he steps forward and tilts his head at him.

10. baby immortal research

"I could survive this drop."

tagging: @queen-shuri @nilefreemans @catdadeddie @polarcell @rafael-silva

[epickiya722]

I am very new to the anime and manga, so I'm playing catch up, at least with the anime because I caught up to the manga, so I'm familiar with upcoming storylines. I just finished season 4 and Endeavour's big hero moment. I gotta say I really like how he's written, well enough that it makes me want to see him succeed in making amends, but I do feel a big, self sacrifice moment is coming. What are your thoughts on him and his path?

Hm, off bat, Endeavor isn't one of my favorite characters but as I think with a lot of the characters, he is entertaining and an important piece of the story.

Yes, he was a terrible father, but at least he acknowledges that. He could have easily been a character that never saw what he did is wrong, he could have said "Dabi lied about being my son, he faked those results", but he admitted to it.

Overall, the Todoroki Family storyline isn't a storyline I think much about. So Endeavor isn't a character I think about too much.

Although, I'll admit when watching season 2 way back when, before I picked up the manga, I just had a feeling he was gonna get hit with the character development stick. Do I like it or hate it? Personally, I like it on the sense of it is interesting watch Endeavor develop. I have to know what may happen to him at the end.

I think it's well written so far because truth be told, it would have been worse. Like once he started to acknowledge his faults, his family would have been "Oh, We forgive you" right then and there, but they didn’t. After this all over, I doubt the rest of the Todoroki's will make it easy for him. Natsuo definitely won't, I know he won't.

His career won't be the same, that's another thing. Already people are putting all, or at least most of the blame on him because of Dabi. The public is divided on the situation which is to be accepted. There's a lot of "what if's" there.

An alternative worse situation if Endeavor never acknowledges his faults and it gets swept under the rug.

Do you know how many anime dads there is that suck? Some don't even get their karma! And when they do, when it's the end for them, the guy is still an asshole.

So I do like this pace for Endeavor. He's a bad dad, but for one of the few times, he knows that he sucks and tries to make it better. So I am like "Ooh, I gotta see how this plays out for the guy 👀".

I have a feeling that Endeavor may just have a self sacrificing moment, too.

Now, I'm banking on it's going to be his career. However, him dying is possible! Never know with this story!

What makes me think it's his career because that was what important to him.

He wanted to be the best, he wanted to be better than All Might. And he wanted that so bad that he formed a dysfunctional family from it. He hated that All Might retired.

Which now that I'm thinking about it, brings up a question.

You know how he wanted Touya to be better than him, better than All Might and then wanted the same for Shoto?

Okay, what if All Might was still active by the time Shoto was a Pro and All Might retired then? Would he been upset that Shoto didn't get a chance to take the #1 from All Might or...?

You know what, we're gonna ignore my question.

Anyways, yeah, I do feel like Endeavor is going to make a sacrifice. Could be his career, could be his life. Who really knows? I just know whatever happens, the fandom will blow up.

Kinda funny that most of the fandom wants him dead and hates him, all that jazz, but let's be honest here. Without him, there would not be Shoto or Dabi and no one would be invested in the Todoroki's as much. The fandom loves them to bits. Don't blame them, I don't. I like both characters (But Natsuo is my favorite brother) and I do like the family, too.

But I digress... again...

I hope that answers your question, Anon, and that you're having a lovely day!

[sinful-huntress]

Zapp’s been away from his love for a while, he just cant contain his excitement

....he has the mindset of a wild dog at the best of times...

.

You had to wonder if Zapp was just forgetting to tell you about finding other people for one night stands. Sure he could respect your boundaries sometimes, and you were kinda okay with him pursuing other people every once in a while. But after nearly a month of 'radio silence', you couldn't help but worry a bit.

That lead to you being blindsided in the kitchen as Zapp swept in like a hurricane. Immediately all over you, hands almost phasing through your clothes to grab whatever Zapp could reach in that moment. Including one hand sliding straight down the front of your pants to work you over.

It was slightly uncomfortable, being pinned against the counter like this. Zapp's arm really the only thing between your waist and the hard edge. Made worse by him grinding hard against your ass, and feeling how 'ready' he was to strip you down right then and there.

He was kissing, more sucking at your neck. Groping your chest in a somewhat gentle way. And you couldn't tell if it was the time he spend away, or whatever happened today, or both. But Zapp wasn't going to ease up anytime soon.

Zapp groaned in your ear, "Aww f*ck yeah sexy. Christ I've missed you. I gotta have you. Right here, right now."

His husky tone sent shivers down your spine. Barely able to manage to speak.

"Zapp, babe, somewhere more comfortable." You squeaked, "The counter is cutting into me."

In one slick move, Zapp was off you, "Whatever you say gorgeous." Twirling you around to face him as he pinned you against the wall.

He was pressed tightly against you, one hand slid between your legs to resume its fevered motions. Back and forth, back and forth, helped along by his knee carefully lifting you just off the ground.

Zapp's messy kisses attacking your neck and collar bone with tongue and teeth almost ravenously. His method for instant hickeys. You were his and everyone needed to know it. His other hand sliding under your shirt, he would get you naked before you could get his jacket off.

At least in his mind that's what he wanted. But he didn't hesitate to ease off just enough to have his shirt and jacket hanging off his wrist, the one buried against your crotch.

But before you could reach for his belt, he had your arms tied up over your head. You had no clue what this was that he was doing. It felt like some kind of silk rope, but with a weird pulse. You didn't know how he controlled them, or what they even were. But it felt somewhat good. Never too hot or too cold to the touch and very smooth... and sturdy.

Zapp looked slightly up at you from around your chest bone, "Damn you look f&cking sexy like this."

"Z-Z-Zapp." You whimpered, "Please..."

The grin on his face was almost too much. The hand that had been wandering all over your body, lifting you higher on the wall, suddenly undid his belt at near lightening speed. He was teasing you, pushing his pants down and rubbing his hard member against your inner thigh. It was still covered by his boxers, only making you moan and whimper louder.

"You want all this doll?" He purred at your earlobe. That deep, raspy sound that would never fail to have you ready in a heartbeat, "You sure?"

"ZAPP!" You cried, "Please!"

He pressed a hard kiss just behind your earlobe, body firmly against yours and still teasing you with his dick curving towards your ass. He was slow, deliberate in his movements to exasperate you further. Zapp loved the sound of you whimpering and practically begging for him to take you.

Zapp let out a low, slow growl against your neck, both hands around your thighs as he pushed his dick deep into your ass. You tensed, immediately arcing with hitched breath. Zapp was not subtle, taking the opportunity to plaster your chest in sloppy kisses. Tormenting you a little as he waited for you to relax.

At first, Zapp was slow in his thrusts. Taking his time and relishing in every tiny noise you made. His hands wandering your hips and thighs with a slight grip, pulling you into himself. Your nethers rubbing against his lower abdomen, spurring him on just as much as your voice.

As he sped up, you both started making louder, wilder noises between calling each other's names. Zapp being a little too rough in leaving hickeys all across your chest and half down your ribcage, but you couldn't muster the words to tell him off. You really didn't care either. This felt far too good to stop right now.

Even thrust felt deeper than the last as Zapp clutched your hips, angling your lower body to give him easier access. You were certain you would have little bruises by morning. But it felt too good to care. You clung to the rope-like thing keeping your arms over your head and called Zapp's name loudly. Cumming all across him where your bodies were flushed.

It wasn't much longer before Zapp stood stiff, cocked shoved deep up your ass as it emptied his built up pressure.

There was a few seconds of heavy panting, both of you shuddering in pleasure and trying to catch your breath. Then the ropes let go, where they disappeared to, you didn't know. But your arms fell around Zapp's shoulders as he eased your feet to the ground. Zapp kept you against the wall, hands wandering much slower and gentler than before. His lips pressed against yours, exchanging soft kisses.

"Christ." Zapp panted across your lips, "I needed that. You specifically."

Your heart fluttered a little, sure it wasn't Shakespeare, but from Zapp it might as well be.

"We should shower, after all that at least."

Zapp smirked, "More excuses to have my hands all over you? Yes please sexy."

[twst-trash]

Traitor

Prompt: After being teleported to NRC against your will, you’re unsure of if you’ll ever return home, and falling in love with Leona was easy. It’s harmless, you think. There’s no guarantee I’ll ever go back home. But then there is. 

Content: Angst, messy breakup, reader is in a relationship before coming to NRC. Gender Neutral reader, but the reader’s former s/o is male. 

Header by firefly-graphics

When Crowley tells you that- in all of his greatness and generosity- he has found you a way back to your home, your whole body goes cold. After a whole year at NRC, you had almost resigned yourself to this new life. You were a much different person now than when you had arrived (dealing with temperamental magic users and going through several life-threatening incidents will do that to you.) When you look at yourself in the mirror, your tattered NRC uniform covered in an almost perpetual blanket of Grim’s hair, you can barely recognize yourself from the person you were in your homeworld. You think about your family. Your friends. Your old job, your old school. It seems like a lifetime ago. The people you’ve met here hold almost the same amount of room in your heart as the people you have waiting for you.

Almost. 

You know you need to tell Leona first. What first started as an innocent rivalry slowly became a hesitant friendship. Before you even knew it, you were sneaking kisses in the botanical garden and skipping class to sleep in Leona's bed. The second-born prince had unexpectedly swept you off of your feet in a way that you could have never been prepared for. You weren’t holding very high expectations for this newfound hodgepodge relationship. You thought, if anything, Leona would get bored of you long before you had found a way home.

But he didn’t.

“If I gotta hear any more of Farena’s yappin’ about me settlin’ down, I’d almost rather just stay here and repeat another year.” He had yawned in your ear almost a week ago. As summer approached, everyone in NRC began talking about their plans for the upcoming vacation. “And don’t get me started on that anklebitin’ nephew of mine. Whenever I come home I’m somehow always stuck on babysitting duty.”

You laughed to yourself, threading your fingers through his coarse hair. “Oh come on, it doesn’t sound that bad. At least you have a place to go home.”

He stayed silent for a moment, nuzzling his nose into your neck. “… You could come with me.” 

Leona grumbled the suggestion just short of a whisper. You could see his tail flick expectantly under the covers. It’s sweet to see him nervous- it’s a sight reserved only for you. 

“I’d love to.” 

You’re pacing outside of the portal to Savanaclaw, thoughts crashing together at a speed which could fuse atoms, as you try to find the right words to say to Leona. You’re so distracted that you fail to notice when he approaches from behind you.

“Oi, herbivore.” Leona says, turning you around and bending down to look you in the eyes. “You tryna go into the dorm or are you lost? Thought you’d be able to find it yourself by now. ” 

There’s a glint of concern in his eyes even as he taunts you. Your mouth is dry and your tongue falls numb. Before he gets the chance to say anything else, your voice travels out of your throat on its own. 

“Crowley found a way to send me home.” 

Leona blinks at you. He tilts his head to the side and simply says: “So?” 

So!? You think to yourself, feeling your heart plummet to your stomach. “I- is that all-“

“You’re not going, right?“ He shrugs, as if he had already heard the decision from you yourself. 

Once again you find yourself speechless. This certainly wasn’t how you were imagining this conversation to go.

“I am.” You say, not being able to look him in the eyes. You can feel him begin to grow frustrated as he folds his arms in front of his chest. 

“Why?” He says, the first trace of irritation slipping into his voice. “When are you coming back? I ain’t gonna be happy being home by myself with Cheka jumpin’ at me the whole time-“

“I’m… not coming back.” You admit, feeling the gravity of the situation tenfold now that you’re saying it aloud. 

Your eyes begin to sting and your voice goes hoarse. “It’s a one-way trip. I’m- I’ve decided to go.”

Leona’s face contorts with an emotion that you aren’t sure you’ve seen him wear before. 

“You’re serious?” He says slowly, dangerously. 

You can’t say anything else. You nod, choking back tears as you stare at your feet. You’re too cowardly to look at the beastman in front of you. 

“Why?” He growls once again, searching your face and posture for answers.

“Leona, because it’s my home!” You shout incredulously. “I have friends there! My family! I have a cat- I have-“ 

You’re trembling. You can tell that Leona’s patience is wearing thin. If you were anyone else, he would’ve pummeled you into the ground or at the very least walked away by now. 

But you aren’t just anyone else, he thinks.

“I have a boyfriend.” You’re finally able to confess. “I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to see him again, but now that Crowley’s found a way to go home I… I need to see him again.”

There’s a long stretch of silence. You can’t get a good read of Leona’s emotions as he stares at you, unblinking, waiting for you to say something, anything else. 

“I never meant to hurt you.” You begin in shame, hanging your head low as your tears fall to the tile below you. The words slick down your throat like oil.  “I didn’t know that we would’ve gotten so close. How could I? You’re still so important to me-“

That line snaps whatever semblance of composure Leona had left. “Important to you? Hah, that’s rich.”

His words are venomous, leaking with a bitterness you had often heard him use, but never toward you.

“You’re expectin’ me to believe, for even one second, that you ever actually cared about me?” He spits, “You’ve been stringin’ me along this whole time when you knew you’d leave me for someone else?” 

He scoffs at you as you continue to cry. “You’re just like everyone else. I was fucking stupid to think that you’d be any different.”

“Leona, please-“

“Shut the fuck up. Leave. Never return.” Leona scowls, turning from you and walking away. You try to run after him, but before you realize it, the tiles beneath you turn to sand, causing you to trip over. Even after your loud collision with the floor, Leona doesn’t look back at you. “And if you do find a way back, I want nothin’ to do with you.” 

When Leona finds a quiet place alone in the botanical garden, he breaks down. He yells, he growls, he punches trees, he curses everything and everyone he’s ever known. 

And then, only then, does he cry. His tears roll down his face in fat globs, a feeling unfamiliar to Leona. 

Resigned to be second place once again. Not being able to change the fact he hadn’t met you first. Not being able to forget your laugh, your face, the way you would kiss his eyes awake and force him to go to class with the promise of holding his hand under the desk the entire time. He was foolish to let you into his heart. He was foolish to think that he could ever mean more to anyone than a simple consolation prize.

He grips his magic pen, unable to notice the inky stains bleeding onto the gem, as he vows to never let himself be fooled again.

--------

Alexa play Traitor by Olivia Rodrigo

[phantomrose96]

Buds After the Frost

This was supposed to be a short warm-up writing exercise yesterday and then it got... longer. Enjoy!!

...

The doors opened for Maddie Fenton with a pneumatic hiss. Pressurized nitrogen released, splitting open the vacuum seal on the door as its twin halves slid apart, slotting into the wall-mounted sleeves. The nitrogen misted out, cold and dry, air currents catching in swirls around Maddie Fenton’s lab coat. Her feet thocked against hollow metal, amplified by the coldness and the vastness of the containment room beyond.

She paused short of the specimen’s cell, mindful attention drawn to the panel of controls nested rightmost against the wall. The monitor read out stats, tracked metrics of the specimen’s heartrate and blood oxygenation and blood pressure. Dials beneath the screens offered her means of interaction, manipulating the cage’s environment without needing to tamper with it by hand. She ignored these, as she had been ignoring them the entire time, and paid mind only to the single switch which would seal shut the doors behind her.

She pressed it. Another pneumatic hiss followed, locking out the world behind her. Her breath curled, cold. She and the specimen were alone.

“No coffee this morning?” he asked.

Maddie sat down at the control panel, elbow leaning against the dashboard for support. She turned to the cage. “No. One of the interns broke the pot last night. New one should be delivered today.”

Phantom let out a huff of air. “You mean in this whole gigantic mega-hyper-futuristic government lab, there’s nothing that can stand in as a coffee pot?”

“I wouldn’t stay employed long if I tried using equipment to brew coffee.”

“Use one of the big ectoplasm beakers. Ectoplasm washes out with soap and water. Just suds it up and throw it in the coffee maker. I’m an expert about these things.”

“It’s more about protocol.”

Phantom waved her off. “’Protocol.’ Bureaucracy is standing between you and a delicious cup of ectoplasmic coffee, Dr. Fenton.”

Maddie looked forward now, taking him in. He’d hovered to the front of the cell, translucent reinforced glass separating him from the rest of the lab. Green eyes shined above a cheeky smile, a dusting of loose white hairs falling over his eyes, the rest of his bangs swept slightly to the side. His tailed flickered, his aura pulsed, his vital readings blipped out steady, normal, healthy.

“Phantom?”

“Yeah?”

Maddie paused.

“Why are you still here?”

The ghost boy let out a small guffaw. He motioned his arms around him, hands waving. “I dunno. Maybe the big ghost-proof box I’m in has something to do with it?”

“The shield is down, Phantom,” Maddie answered quietly. She set her eyes to Phantom, investigating. “…I put it down last night. It’s down now. You knew this.”

Phantom took just a moment too long to react, eyebrows arching up. “Oh, huh! Nope I didn’t notice. I mean it’s not like I’m constantly throwing myself at the barrier to electrocute myself so no I just didn’t try getting past it last night so I didn’t notice.”

“Phantom,” Maddie said again, voice measured, words stern. “You saw me crank down the dial that controls the shield.”

“Well I don’t know what all those buttons and dials do.”

“Yes you do. You’ve been observing me since day 1. You knew.”

Phantom kicked back in the air, floating a fraction back and higher. “Well maybe I thought it was a trap, I dunno. Or maybe I just like to get in your head, you know? What unpredictable thing will Phantom do next! Gotta write another 200 equations about ghost theory to figure that one out, Dr. Fenton.”

“Phantom.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you not want to leave?”

“Oh I wanna leave.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

“We’re having a conversation. That’d be rude.”

“Will you leave as soon as I exit the room?”

“Who knows?”

“Phantom.”

“Yeah?”

Maddie stood. She left her chair and the control panel behind. She walked up to the specimen cage instead. It was cubic, a skeleton of metal bar ribbings with a metal mesh that plastered the glass sides like a membrane. The top anchored to the ceiling, the bottom—raised by about a foot—anchored to a pedestal on the floor. Maddie stared through the mesh into Phantom’s eyes.

“Is there anyone who realizes you’re missing?” she asked.

Phantom chewed on the question. “Nah. Well um, trick question, actually. Probably not. Assuming I do this right, then no one has even realized I’m gone.”

“Do what ‘right’?”

“You know that thing about Clockwork I explained?”

“You said he’s the ghost that controls time and reality.”

“Yeah. SUPER powerful.”

“And you said you …were from one of those other realities.”

Phantom nodded. “Maybe I touched some things in Clockwork’s lair I wasn’t actually allowed to touch. Jury’s still out on whether I’m in trouble for that or not. I’ve been a little too ‘stuck in this reality’ to know if Clockwork is pissed. But yeah, I got um, bopped into your reality instead of mine. So technically my reality is lacking me right now, and yeah there’s people there who’d know I’m missing.”

Phantom flipped upside-down, as though laying on his back. He rested his palms beneath his head, elbows out, suspended in an invisible hammock, head tilted far back so that he still stared at Maddie. “Especially since it’s been, what, a month that I’ve been gone?”

“2 weeks.”

“What? No way. I’ve been here absolutely forever it has to have been at least a month.”

“This is day 14 of your observation, Phantom.”

Phantom blew a strand of hair out of his face. “Anyway. Two weeks is still long enough to have a search party out on my butt. But whether or not that’s happened is up to – it’s kind of a Schrodinger thing. Because here’s my strategy. Assuming Clockwork hasn’t banned me from reality-hopping forever, I can just get him to send me back to my own reality at the precise moment in time I vanished. And then bam, no one ever knows I was gone. And it makes no difference whether I do that today, or next week, or next month. So assuming you eventually let me go, then I’m all set there.”

“You say that almost like you don’t care when it happens.”

“I dunno, more like I’m just not losing sleep over it. It’s not like I have a say in the matter. You do. I don’t.”

“Is the time you spend here just meaningless, to you?”

“I wouldn’t say meaningless. I’m still aging goddammit.”

“You’re a ghost.”

“I’m complex.” Phantom flipped right-side-up again. “If I start growing facial hair, send me back. I’m gonna have some awkward questions to answer if I show up again with a ghost beard suddenly.”

“…And what if I never send you back?” Maddie asked, careful with her words. “How does your plan work if you stay here forever? If I destroy you first?”

“Um. …It doesn’t, I guess.” Phantom set a hand to his chin, thinking. “Yeah um, please don’t do that. I don’t wanna worry my whole family like that.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“What part?”

“That you have a family.”

“I mean. I think that came up in Interrogation Session #3. Consult your notes.”

“I just have a hard time believing you.”

“Because I’m a ghost?”

“Yes.”

“I’m a complex ghost.”

“I know. You keep saying that.”

“It’s true.”

Silence filtered in between them.

“…What is your family like, Phantom?”

Phantom stiffened a fraction, his eyes finding Maddie’s and shifting away. “Oh, you know, family.”

“Do they exist here too?”

“Huh?”

“You’re from another reality, at least you’re claiming you are.”

“I gotta be. The me from this reality died 6 months ago, didn’t he?”

“The you from most realities is dead, Phantom. You’re a ghost.”

“A complex ghost.”

“The you from this reality was destroyed 6 months ago.”

“Which you validated with your own sciencey equipment, right? You said so! So you know I’m not lying. Unless you think I recombobulated myself from being a protoplasmic smear on the sidewalk.” Phantom caught himself, registering the flinch in Maddie’s body. He deflated a bit, eyes averted. “S-sorry. Inconsiderate phrasing.”

“Why?” Maddie asked, tone flat, blunt.

Phantom’s eyes shifted back. “Um. Just. You know. That accident was. There were um, you know—”

“Human causalities.”

Phantom squirmed. “We don’t have to talk about that, you know? No one wants to talk about that. Okay as a ghost I guess ‘talking about how I died’ is sort of a bit more normal, but this is weird yeah, ‘talking about how an alternate-me died permanently’? That’s morbid. No one wants to talk about that.”

“Okay then. You can go back to answering my previous question.”

“Um. I forget.”

“Does your family exist in this reality?”

“Um, well who really knows, you know? I had like a grand total of 20 minutes of freedom in this reality before you captured me, so, don’t ask me like I’m any kind of expert about your reality. What’s it matter?”

“I want to know if there’s anyone in this reality who’s mourning you.”

Phantom’s face schismed with surprise. His front dropped, and the first look of genuine emotion sank into his glowing eyes. “Woah… That’s um, weirdly nice, of you, I guess. Why do you… want to know?”

Maddie said nothing.

“I. Um. I think the answer is no? So don’t um. Worry about that. If you were worried? Which is weird. I’m the enemy, aren’t I? Evil spooky ghost to be studied?”

“I’m not so sure what you are…” Maddie answered. “I heard you got destroyed trying to save them.”

“The um… the human casualties?”

“Yes.”

“I said we don’t have to talk about that.”

“Phantom.”

“What?”

“Do you know who they were?”

“The… casualties?”

“Yes.”

“Come on we’re on a different topic now.”

“Do you know who they were?”

“I don’t—how’m I supposed to know? I don’t know how I died here, you know? You think I’ve got some kind of like… parallel-universe death vision?”

“So you don’t know?”

“N-no.”

“I have a different question, then.”

“Okay, good, because I haven’t been liking these previous ones.”

“Are you staying just to keep me company?”

Phantom faltered. He looked left, then right, hand scratching at his chin. “I’m staying because I’m in a ghost-proof box.”

“It’s not ghost-proof anymore. The shields are down.”

“I feel like you’re circling around some accusation I’m not smart enough to follow. This feels like entrapment.”

“Then I’ll be more direct.”

“Oh no there is an accusation.”

“I think you do know how you were destroyed in this universe, Phantom.” Maddie took a step forward, and she let her left hand touch the glass, eyes focused on her fingers. “I think you know what happened at the Nasty Burger.”

“That’s—um—the human food… consumption… location… that the local human adolescents meet at, yes?”

Maddie looked up, and she locked Phantom with her stare. He squirmed, and he relented.

“I um…” he continued. “I—yeah—yeah, okay? I know about the Nasty Burger accident. It was supposed to happen to me too in my reality but I—Clockwork—stopped it from happening in my reality.” Phantom glanced left, right, as if staring beyond the confines of his cage. “When I first got knocked into this reality, I went to go find the Fenton portal so I could try to refind Clockwork and fix this and… Well it wasn’t there. And I tried to find some people I know and… I checked out the library in case the Fentons just lived somewhere else and. I um. I found the articles.” His eyes focused on hers again. “They all say you were the only survivor, yeah…?”

“I was sick, that day. It was just a cold. My husband Jack went without me.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It took my daughter and my son too.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“And it destroyed you.”

Phantom opened his mouth, but no words followed.

Maddie looked up.

“You knew this. You’ve known this ever since I captured you.” Maddie let her hand slide away from the glass. “Did you let me capture you?”

“Why would I let you capture me?”

“Because you feel sorry for me.”

Phantom’s eyes flickered about, unwilling to meet hers. “…Nah. Nah. I don’t—come on ‘sorry’? I’m a ghost you know? Bane of humanity! We’re enemies. You were just too skilled a hunter and you captured me.”

“And yet you won’t leave.”

Phantom lapsed silent.

“I um… I wasn’t happy to read about—to know the, the thing at the Nasty Burger happened here, okay? That’s something that I kinda didn’t want to believe existed in any reality anymore, but I guess… And if you were still alive. I was… maybe just kind of happy to see you? That you were okay. And still hunting. That was kind of, like a small relief.” Phantom glanced away, back again. “I wasn’t evil, you know. In my reality or this one. I care about what happened to the Fentons…”

“You let me capture you. …And you did it because you thought it would be a nice thing for you to do for me.”

“I Just—I thought maybe, um… I mean when you phrase it like that. I mean what else could cheer up renowned ghost hunter Maddie Fenton quite like a ghost subject to study? Me, especially? The ghost boy or public enemy #1 or whatever. I’m fun, aren’t I?”

Silently, Maddie pushed away from Phantom’s cage. She moved to the control panel, stiff movements and numb fingers. She entered the release code into the console, and unslung the key from her neck to twist into the override, and she threw down each successive lever in the row of four lining the top of the mechanisms.

The scrape of glass sliding away sounded behind her. All four walls of Phantom’s enclosure dropped away, metal mesh sliding away piece-meal. Phantom stared at her, blinking, floating in place.

“You’re free to go, Phantom.”

“I—uh—well hang on, I don’t think the Guys In White would be too happy about that. You can’t just let me—”

“Go, Phantom.”

“They could like, fire you.”

“I don’t care about this job.”

“I—come on, you still wanna study me, don’t you? Chat with me? If you feel bad maybe just get me a couch and some video games for my cage then I’ll be—”

“Phantom.”

“What?”

“Go home to your family.”

The half-hearted smile dropped from Phantom’s face.

“Come on. You can’t just evict me on such short notice. I’m not ready for Clockwork to kick my ass so soon.”

“Go home.”

“I’m not in any rush! I like talking to you. Don’t you—don’t you like talking to me too? In like a scientific way?”

Maddie lowered herself into the chair by the control panel. She leaned forward, arms pooled in her lap, eyes to the floor. “You have a family to get back to, Phantom.”

“It’s—there’s time travel shenanigans! Like I said they don’t even know I’m gone.”

“Every single day, Phantom,” Maddie looked up, eyes stern, “…I wish every single day that my own family would just come back home. I won’t do the same to you. I won’t do the same to your family.”

Phantom said nothing. A somber acceptance sunk into his eyes.

“They’re… alive, you know. In my dimension.”

Maddie dropped her head, and she blinked away the wetness in her eyes.

“I actually… in my dimension I’m kind of closer to the Fentons than I think the, the Phantom in this dimension was. It’s… complex.”

Maddie said nothing. Silence built between them.

“Jazz is um… Jazz is applying for colleges, y-you know. She got in early-acceptance to Yale but um, we all—they all—visited Columbia last month and I think that’s what she wants the most. I can see Jazz in New York City. I think she’d rock it.”

Maddie blinked again. Tears plicked into her lap.

“…Should I stop?”

“Jack… Tell me about Jack.”

“Oh. Yeah he um… big and goofy as ever. He’s got some kind of eight-armed-octogun he’s working on. I know because I was his target practice, involuntarily by the way. He keeps trying to merge “Fenton” and “octopus” together with mixed results. We—Mo-addie—you… are still trying to talk him out of ‘Fentoctopus’.”

Maddie’s ribcage shuddered, a repressed sob, a repressed laugh.

“And Danny?”

“Danny… um… Danny is...” Phantom’s shoulders fell a little bit. He looked away, and then back at Maddie. “He loves you. I know that.”

Maddie blinked, and blinked again, and her eyes wouldn’t clear.

“And are they happy?”

“They’re happy.”

“Am I happy…?”

“You’re…” Phantom’s tail bounced. “You’re happy, I think. I like to think so. I think you’re very happy. You have a great family.”

Maddie nodded.

“Now go.”

“But I still—”

Maddie reached forward, and she grabbed the ecto-gun propped against the control panel. She lifted it into her shoulder, and flicked the safety, and the charge built along the rising whine.

“Go.”

Phantom balked. He blinked. He kicked away from his wall-less cage. “Not forever. I’ll be back. You won’t be alone here forever.”

He was gone.

And Maddie was alone again.

…

Clockwork surveyed the boy in front of him whose head was bowed nearly to the floor, white bangs trailing along cobblestone, hands clasped, apologies repeated, begging case made.

Clockwork ran a hand along his beard, which unfurled, drew back, undid itself with the shifting of his form to a simple child.

“So let’s see. You have the audacity to break my rules andbeg me to meddle on your behalf in the time stream, all in the same breath? Apologies don’t usually come with additional requests for favors.”

“I know,” Danny’s head dipped lower. “You can punish me however you want for touching the restricted timelines but you have to help it, or let me help this one timeline. Please, please just send me back to the Nasty Burger incident so I can save it.”

“It’s already been saved.”

Danny faltered. He looked up.

“You died at the Nasty Burger incident that night,” Clockwork elaborated, form shifting older. “There is no you to ruin that future. That timeline is safe. It’s a very lucky timeline.”

Danny blinked. “N-no. No that’s not what I mean. Save it like you saved my timeline.”

“That did happen. You’re describing your own timeline.”

“I mean do it to THAT one.”

“You are misunderstanding timelines.”

Danny lapsed silent. Worry bled into his eyes, and Clockwork sighed.

“There is no undoing timelines, Danny. There is only forking them by meddling in the stream. All futures and pasts you witness exist, and do exist, and continue to exist,” Clockwork paused, “with the exception of realities I needed to cull, to prevent utter catastrophe.” His gaze fixed on Danny. “The futures that your evil self destroyed, I did have to cull. And culling a reality is not to be done lightly.”

Clockwork motioned with his staff. “There were a handful of surviving realities that I was able to save. That room you meddled in without my permission—they contain the realities off the main track where, for one reason or another, something else succeeded at destroying your future self. …Your own deaths, in fact. In every one of those realities, Danny, you are dead.”

“I don’t…” Danny shook his head. “So then just tell me how to save that one I was in, okay?”

“Oh, that’s easy.”

“How?”

“You don’t.”

Danny said nothing. Clockwork shifted young.

“You can let it live on in that room, or you could ask me to cull it, Danny. You could ask me to cull every reality in that room, so that the main branch, the one you’re from, is the only reality in existence. So you never have to worry about any existence where your family is unhappy. And it will be that way until you, or I, or someone else, meddles with the timestreams again, and more splits occur.”

Still, Danny said nothing. Clockwork continued.

“Sometimes, a mass culling of realities is healthy for the tree of time, like pruning a plant down to its stalk to survive an unforgiving winter, or a terrible disease. But I did that, just recently, to save all of time from the blight of your future self. It would feel cruel to snip off the first buds that have come after the frost.”

Danny lowered himself to the floor.

“Okay…”

“Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay. Just. I have a different question then.” He looked up, a young devastation wet in his eyes. “Can I still go back and visit that reality, sometimes?”

“No. I cannot give you permission to do that.”

“Please!”

Clockwork spun his staff. A portal swirled into being in the space between him and Danny. Washes of color formed patterns, shapes, objects, images. Like a mirror, it reflected Clockwork’s lair beyond its shimmering surface.

“This is a portal back into your own reality. It is set to the location and the time that you vanished. Go there, and leave through the Fenton portal, and nothing will be amiss.”

“No. No no I won’t. Clockwork you have to let me—”

“I am doing you a favor, Danny, getting you home after you caused more trouble. Do not make further demands of me.” Clockwork curled forward, old, sallow skin sagging, and he turned his back to Danny.

“You have to give me permission—”

“I am the only one who has permission to meddle in realities, Danny. This is an absolute.” Clockwork glanced over his shoulder. “And because this is an absolute, I have no reason to have a lock on the room housing those budding other realities.”

Danny blinked.

“I wonder if anyone might break my rules anyway. I wonder if anyone might be nosy, and enter that room anyway, and water the plants in that greenhouse without my permission.” Clockwork stared forward again.

“Clockwork…”

“Luckily I am the master of all time. I would be able to see this coming. And maybe plan for it. If ever such a person would come into my lair, and meddle in my timelines, and try to spread a bit of his own kindness to the realities he couldn’t quite save, I would be fully prepared to stop him.” Clockwork spoke into the green abyss beyond him. “Unless, maybe, I were to accidentally have my back turned.”

Silence trailed after Clockwork’s words. He kept his back to Danny, staring into the abyss of swirling green ether beyond.

“…Thank you,” Danny answered, quietly. “I’ll be back.”

“I imagine you will. Those realities may get lonely without you.”

When Clockwork glanced back over his shoulder, both Danny and the portal were gone.

[bluebellhairpin]

Not Jealous

Bruce Wayne X Batmom!Reader

A/N: So I worked on this instead of like, five other things that people want but hey - gal’s gotta have her vices. - Nemo

Summary: Even after years of fancy gatherings, Bruce wants nothing more than to give in to his introvert nature and run away from them. You however, have taught him that after sticking it out, they might not be so bad. 

Warnings: Flirting. Bruce get’s jealous but not really ‘cause Batman doesn’t get jealous. Reader has she/her pronouns and is referred to as uh ‘wife’ multiple times. 

Listening to: ‘Can’t Take My Eye’s Off You’ by Frankie Valli - ‘Pardon the way that I stare, there's nothin' else to compare... You're just too good to be true.’ 

Series Masterlist

Masterlist  

Gala’s were something that Bruce never really liked. 

As Bruce Wayne - the billionaire, playboy, golden child, Prince of Gotham - he couldn’t get to enough of them. 

As Batman - the brooding, ‘I work alone but not really’, Protector of Gotham - he avoided them at all costs. 

But as himself - the friend, father, husband, Bruce - his thoughts on such events could only be described as apathetic. 

Over the years he grew a very nice façade to hide how he truly felt. After the entrance of his wife, and then each child that followed, it became easier to fake, and he did have to admit they became a little more enjoyable with proper company anyway. 

Of course, the first time he saw she who would be his wife at one of these events, she was hanging off the arm of some blond, tanned, rich member of high society. From his knowledge and meetings with her on the streets she wasn’t exactly supposed to be enjoying it as much as she looked like she was. 

Turns out she was one great faker too. 

Over the course of the past seventeen-ish years, Bruce got to know the various ways you dealt with these gala’s. 

While he was tempted with the recluse lifestyle everyday, you managed to get him out of the house when it was needed. Even if it was a big house, he still needed to get out of it sometimes. 

With the outings you used to force him on, he was able to learn a thing or two from you. You weren’t born into wealth like he was, and you never had it until you married him, but you took to it like a fish to water. Well, the avoiding attention part anyway. In fact, when it came to going to gala’s with you, he was surprised at how little attention you drew when you didn’t want it. 

The first time you went as a couple, and then again as a married couple, were the worst as far as being left alone went, and he did expect it. Newspapers craved that sort of thing. 

After that, when it was just him and you, the most you were asked of was the journey between the car and the front door thanks to the press and media - once inside you could sulk away to a corner or table, get up for a dance or two, loiter at the bar and then go home without anymore than a half dozen people approaching. Those were very good nights for Bruce, mainly because on those nights he’d rather be anywhere else. 

As if he didn’t feel that way about them anyway. 

But lately your trick of not gaining attention at the gala’s wasn’t working anymore. It wasn’t that people were noticing him again, no it was because they were noticing you. 

Namely someone kept noticing you. 

“You both have never looked more alike.” 

Tim slid into a set opposite Bruce and Damian. Bruce had a crystal tumbler filled with ginger ale pressed to his lips, unmoving as his eyes locked onto where you stood across the room. Damian was in the exact same position, whether knowingly or not, and was sending a glare towards the man who was looking far too happy about talking to you. 

“We are kind of literally related, Tim.” Bruce mumbled, sipping his drink before setting it down and leaning back in his seat.

“He’s too close.” Damian whispered.

“I know.” 

“She could get uncomfortable soon.”

“I know.”

“If it bothers you so much then either of you could go over there and whisk her away.” Tim said, shaking his head a little. “Bruce could pull out his charisma, or the gremlin could pretend to ask for a dance with his mother all cute and mother-son-like.”

Damian switched his glare over to Tim.

“Why don’t you go and fix it since you’re so smart?”

“‘Cause it’s not bothering me as much as it is you.” Tim laughed. Bruce looked between his two sons, then up to where you and the man were talking. “She can handle herself. Plus he’s way below her league anyway, if she doesn’t know that then something’s wrong.” 

“You don’t think Ummi’s being mind controlled right now, do you?” Damian asked, sitting straighter and squinting a little. “We should go home and -”

Bruce stood, patting Damian’s shoulder as he pushed his chair back in, and then strode over to your side. 

As usual, you noticed his approach with barely having to look, and reached out an arm as he pressed his side to yours. His arm wound it’s way around your waist, and he offered his free hand to the man whose conversation he probably just ruined. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Bruce Wayne.” he said, lips tight in one of the best and believable fake smiles he’s put on in his entire life. 

“Henry Syrus.” The man said, stepping to match Bruce’s fake pleasantries with his own, “I was just having the most wonderful conversation with your darling wife about the art pieces here. 

“Next time you should compare novelty keychains.” Bruce’s voice was light, but you could tell there was a little something underneath. “I’m afraid I’ll have to take her away for a dance before the night dies down too much.” 

So without another word, Bruce swept you away and onto the dancefloor with the hoard of other swaying couples. 

“You need to practice that.” 

“Practice what?” he asked, looking down at you as his fingers intertwined with yours. 

“The ‘I’m taking my wife away from someone who makes me feel like they’re making her feel weird’ thing you just pulled.” you said, a small smile twitching onto your features from your lips up to your eyes - your first genuine smile of the night - and Bruce was proud to think it was because of him. 

“I did that?” he mused, feigning thought for a moment, “I don’t think I did.” 

“Well you weren’t jealous. Everyone - including you! - says Bruce Wayne does not get jealous.” Bruce spun you away, and then back closer to him again. Closer than before. 

“I don’t need to get jealous, I know you can’t resist me.” he mumbled against your ear, then pressed a kiss to your cheekbone before leaning back some again. “That’s why you keep sticking around.”

“I thought I stuck around because you’re filthy rich and never at home, so that I have the place to do as I please.” 

“Okay, okay,” he said, chuckling, “Now you’re really teasing me.” 

“I’m just getting started.” you said, a sly glint in your eye that made his arm around you tighten. 

“Oh? Dare I ask what else you have in store?” he replied, preparing to meet whatever you came up with. You hummed at him, surveying the room and fellow dancers before looking back up at him again.

“I’m gonna take you home, pull you into our bedroom, and take you out of this monkey suit -”

“- it’s a tux, not a suit -”

“- I’m going to take you out of this tuxedo,” you corrected, tugging on his tie as he smiled down at you, “And then we’re gonna sleep for twelve. Whole. Hours.” He groaned. 

“You love me so much. You know exactly what to say. You treat me so well.” 

“I know.” you said, smiling up at him. He couldn’t help but press his lips to yours in something a little longer than a peck, and you hummed again. “Now you’re making Henry jealous with all the faces you’re making.” 

“How can you tell, you can’t see him?” he asked. Looking over, he was able to see that, yes, the man you were with before wasn’t looking incredibly happy at the moment. 

“I’m a mother of at least five children, Bruce. And I have to deal with you. I can tell when someone’s glaring at my back.” 

“I do glare a lot.” He grimaced. “I should’ve known better.” 

“Underestimate me again and you’ll pay for it.”

“And if I do then you can name your price, my dear.”

[storiesofsvu]

The Nanny With Benefits Ch 14

Poly!Barhoun x reader Warnings: language A/N: so this was originally going to have two more chapters but one I just couldn't figure out how to make it work and the other didn't have enough meat to fill out an entire ch, ya know? so, I kinda sandwiched a few things into this ch in summary form. Also just because this series is wrapped doesn't mean I won't write for this "universe" again, I'm totally open to ideas/req's for poly!barhoun w/nanny and kids! and believe me there will be a couple of little one shots, especially now that the kids are older and as they grow up! Thanks for reading friends! sorry there wasn't more smut, i hope you enjoyed!!

The passing of time was always such a strange thing. How something that happened mere weeks ago could be nothing but a distant memory while years could flash by before you even realized what was happening. The old saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’? was more than just a saying.

It happened on play dates, Isabella and Damian pouting for five more minutes at the park before having to go home.

It happened on the rare days when Lucia would have the kids, leaving you time to catch lunch with Rita and Rafael, the date always cut short when one of their phones interrupted the meal.

But mostly it happened as the three of you watched the kids grow up.

The days of toddler babbling and stumbling like a tiny drunk human through the apartment were over. So were the days of high chairs, being fed, and super long naptimes during the afternoons.

Now you were deep into the thick of it. Damian choosing a week that Rafael was away at a conference to refuse to speak anything but pretty fluent Spanish, causing Rita to nearly rip her hair out, having absolutely no clue what he wanted. It didn’t help that he was young enough his pronunciation wasn’t great, so as you and Rita tried to translate to Lucia, there was no saving grace. Each day that went Isabella wanted to be more and more like her mother, and you often heard her clunking through the apartment attempting to wear Rita’s heels.

Last year, the naptimes no longer became your concern at all. And suddenly, your days were very freed up as both kids were now in school full time. Half the time you were completely unsure of what to do with your time, simply keeping the apartment cleaned and meals prepped for the week. By the time Damian reached grade three, Is, a year behind in in grade two, you were barely a nanny anymore, simply another member of their functioning family. And just like you’d discussed all those years ago, the kids saw nothing weird about it, though you still did keep most of the PDA private.

The apartment was a little hectic this morning, it was finally summer break from grades two/three and everyone was a little antsy to get out of the house and up to the Hampton’s. Naturally, you’d had bags packed for at least a week prior with everything you’d needed, lists of all the last minute things for everyone. Breakfast was hot and ready when people came into the kitchen, and the coffee pot was constantly brewing.

Damian was currently sitting on the floor in front of the tv trying to figure out which of his video games he wanted to bring with him, humming and hawing through his choices, tossing the discarded ones anywhere he wanted. Rita let out a scoff of a sigh as she glanced from the kitchen over to him, pouring herself another cup of coffee,

“Damian sweetheart, please put those away. You know they don’t belong on the floor.”

“I gotta go through them first.”

“Well you need to hurry up and choose alright? The driver’s going to be here any minute.”

“I cancelled the driver.” You swept in, pecking at her cheek softly, smiling happily as she instantly relaxed at the intimate action, “why bother paying someone for an hour drive and then be stuck without a car out there?”

“’Sides…” Damian called from the living room, “ninny’s a better driver than him anyways.”

“You’re just saying that because she lets you choose the music.” Rafael laughed from his spot on the couch.

“You sayin’ you don’t vibe with Encanto?” You teased from the kitchen and he scoffed. In front of him on a cushion on the floor was Isabella, who had demanded her hair be put into French braids. She knew that there was a high chance of swimming as soon as they got out to the beach and wanted to have wavy hair for the next week.

“When it’s on repeat for three days? No. not at all.” Raf laughed, distracted from his task.

“Ow! Papi!” Is winced, her hand shooting up to swat at her dad’s hand as he tugged too hard.

“Sorry chica.” He leant down, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head, “I’m still learning…”

“You need to go back to practicing on barbies…” you deadpanned as you had crossed through the space, handing off the cup of coffee in your hand and nudging him out of the way.

“I knew I should’ve asked Mom.” Isabella grumbled, rubbing at the sore spot on her head while you shifted behind her on the couch.

“I got’chu pierogi.” You kissed her head gently before swiftly making two braids with ease, wrapping the hair elastics around the ends, “there ya go.” You nudged at her to get up, “go grab your bags and we can put them in the car.” Standing from the couch you redirected to Damian, “okay bud, pick five games tops! We’ve got lots of other stuff to do out there, and make sure the rest are put back so you know where they are when we come home.”

“Okay.” He mumbled, scurrying to shift through the piles.

“Don’t forget your bags.” You warned and he scrambled off down the hallway leaving you to turn back to Rita and Rafael. “What?”

“Why do they listen to you better than they listen to us?” Rafael asked and you chuckled.

“For the same reason the two of you are galivanting around courtrooms with belts around your necks and fake knife demonstrations.”

“I—” Rita attempted to defend it but simply let out a huff, shooting you a playful glare before the kids came tearing back into the room ready for the car.

**

It was easy settling into the Hampton’s house, you all had specific roles to fill within the first few hours of being out there, and everyone knew exactly where they belonged. Once the kids were in swimsuits and beach appropriate attire, they were bolting off through the sand to the ocean with you at their heels. Rita set about the house, unpacking bags, making sure sheets were fresh and freshening the place up a bit while settling in and starting to unwind from work. Rafael did a quick inventory of the kitchen before darting off to the grocery store and a few specialty stores to make sure that the fridge and pantry were fully stocked.

 By late afternoon the kids were thankfully, starting to get tuckered out and would easily be coaxed back to the house for some lounging around and snacks. After a quick shower, you’d help Rafael start on dinner, shooing Rita away from the kitchen, urging her to get as many kiddo snuggles as she could before they were too cool for that kinda stuff.

The evenings were spent with family games, video, board or card variety it didn’t matter. Sometimes it would be out on the back porch around the firepit, occasionally other families from the street would join in. There were nights that lead to smores and roasted marshmallows over the fire, glasses of wine and beer for the big kids.

It was exactly what everyone needed. And a very well deserved break from the city that you took each and every year. Throughout the summer, there was always ample time for the grown ups to sneak off on a group date, or for little one on ones. Rita let her soft side show when she would take you out on the yacht for dinner, docking and sending the staff away as the sun set. Curling you into her side on one of the loungers you’d simply lie together sharing stories and watching the stars until it really was too chilly and you return home for more snuggles.

It was halfway through August, when the feeling of returning back to Manhattan began to sink in. Not that it really mattered, the kids were still stoked to spend time with their city friends and check out the summer fun activities New York had. It was more on the grown up side of things that the three of you had to make sure everything was set up for school, start to make plans of back-to-school shopping while Rita and Rafael slipped back into attorney work mode. Instead of fully living out of the Hampton’s house, clean laundry would now find its way folded into suitcases, rather than buying fresh groceries every week, you tried to make do with what was already in the kitchen.

After a very well received taco night, the kitchen got cleaned, nighttime baths were had, pyjamas were put on and everyone was gathered into the living room for movie night. The snacks were being passed around as the movie played, and everyone had their own little commentary to put in. As the night wore on, and only after lots of puppy dog eyes, Mom and Dad agreed to a second movie, the snuggly phase began to set in and everyone was thankful for the lavishly large sectional.

“We can’t go to bed yet…” Isabella murmured through a very heavy yawn at the end of the second movie, practically burying herself into your arms and you chuckled.

“I dunno pierogi, seems like you’re already asleep.”

“No…” Rafael mused with a soft smile, “I think she’s right.” He nudged at the girl gently from her other side, beginning to tickle at her ribs, pulling a squeal of a giggle that morphed into a fit of laughter as she shot up from the couch to escape it, “why don’t you go find that present for ninny?”

“A present for me?” You raised a brow as Is jumped back to the couch, grabbing Damian’s hand and they bolted off down the hallway. Before you could even ask a question to either of your partners, the kids were back, a small gift bag between them. “And what’s this?”

“I told Momma you should get a ri”—Isabella started only to get shoved in the side from Damian, earning him a scolding from Rita.

“This is from all of us!” Damian proudly held the bag up, extending it to you and you took it with a gentle hand.

“Alright.” Your hand delved into the bag, pulling out a small box, glancing around at your audience before you creaked it open. Inside lay a relatively dainty gold band, a tiny portion of it was made up of a little chain, a mini charm of some sort that you couldn’t quite make out yet. Shifting it between your fingers you picked it up, examining it.

“This is gorgeous…”

“There’s an I for Isabella!” The girl shrieked, then promptly clasped her hands over her mouth since she had been unable to hold it in.

You let out a little chuckle at her antics, examining the band. There indeed was an ‘I’ inscribed on the band, along with a ‘D’ and two ‘R’s complete with your initial. Upon further inspection, you noticed the little charm was an infinity symbol, complete with a few small diamonds.

“Infinity?” This time you raised a brow between Rafael and Rita, who shared an affectionate glance, squeezing at the other before Rafael spoke.

“Well, the two of us were talking, well, we had been for a while now. You’re part of this family, and you’re kind of stuck with us. You’ve made things so incredibly easy and wonderful over the past five years and we wanted to make sure that you knew just how much you’re appreciated and loved.”

“What he’s trying to get at.” Rita smirked, “is that we want to be with you forever, and this is the closet thing to a legal partnership we can get. Then we talked to the kids, and they agree…”

“We wanna keep you f’ever!” Is interjected and Rafael laughed.

“I dunno if keep is the right word chica.”

“Well we want you to stay forever.” Damian corrected, rolling his eyes at his sister in the most Rafael way he could, “we love you.”

“Guys…” you glanced between them a misting of tears in your eyes at just how much this meant. That not only had they opened their home to you as a caretaker, but Rita and Rafael had opened up their marriage to you down the road. Now, the entire family loved you as much as you loved them and they actually wanted you to stick around forever.

“You’re gon’ say yes, right?” Isabella prodded and you laughed.

“How could I even think of saying no?”

There was a chorus of cheers from the kids who instantly leapt up on top of you on the couch, attempting to out bear hug the other, Rita barely managing to grab the bracelet before it ended up lost in the couch cushions. Once the little ones had settled down, Is started to whine for you to put it on, knowing that that finalized everything and Rita was quick to clasp it around your wrist, leaving a gentle kiss on the back of your hand.

Small I love you’s and tender kisses were shared, eyes full of adoration and hearts full of every single ounce of love that you could ever imagine. It wasn’t a surprise at all when the kids dragged everyone up to standing, and despite being exhausted earlier, it was time for a celebration now. Damian managed to turn on the google home, skipping through songs until he deemed the right one was playing, making sure that everyone had someone to dance with. Isabella clung to her mother’s hip, arms flailing in time to the music with a wide grin on her face while everyone swapped partners every couple of verses, laughter bouncing off the walls, smiles wide on their faces.

Eventually, the excitement of the celebration was wearing thing, Isabella stifling a yawn into Rita’s shoulder and Damian insisting on being picked up into your arms as you swayed against Rafael. Bedtime soon followed, stories read, kids tucked in, kisses and goodnights exchanged as they smiled sleepily, knowing that you were here to stay.

Back in the living room, Rafael had poured out fresh glasses of wine for the adults, and a small, quiet cheers was exchanged before another set of more tender, loving kisses were shared. You’d had a feeling that you weren’t going to be let go when they continued to keep you on as the kids had gotten older, to the age that they really only need supervision from three to five pm. Not to mention, the whole other aspect of your relationship, but you hadn’t realized just how long they’d wanted you to stick around.

That night out in the Hampton’s solidified your relationship, you talked over a number of things questioning the openness of their marriage when you’d met them and everyone agreed that it was now closed. You were all they needed, all your kids needed, and certainly all the family needed. You more than happily snuggled in between Rita and Rafael as a new movie started to scroll on the tv, your new bracelet sparkling in the candlelight. Never in a million years did you think that accepting a job would land you with such an incredible life, yet here you were, two incredible partners and two adorable kids, all who loved you more than you could imagine.

It was safe to say you’d won the jackpot.  

_______________ @thatesqcrush @alexusonfire @swimmingstudentchaos891 @holycrapraewth @1-lindsay83 @lannister-slings-and-arrows @witches-unruly-heart @melk917 @stone-hearted-seymour @ms-calhoun @drduckthief @jamiethetrans @bumblebear30 @natasha-danvers @bookpillows @lawandorderuswnt @whimsicallymad @poisonedcrowns

[itsapeterthing]

Milestone || Bucky Barnes

pairing: bucky barnes x avenger!reader

summary: a journey through some of the biggest milestones in yours and bucky’s relationship from the day you first met to sharing a home of your own

a/n: in this we’re gonna pretend that bucky didn’t get dusted! also reader has powers similar to those of wanda’s. reblogs and replies are super appreciated!!

word count: 3.4k

warnings: none, fluff

masterlist || request || taglist

The First Time You Met

Running down the hallway of the airport, you watched as Peter was swept off of his feet and into the air by none other than Falcon, leaving the man you recognized as the Winter Soldier in your midst. Your shoes squeaking against the floor as you stopped short, you threw your arms into the air, stopping the man from moving.

Snapping his attention towards you, he furrowed his eyebrows and you could feel him fighting against your magic. Squeezing your eyes shut you tried your hardest to keep him contained but with only so much experience, he broke through it in a minute, coming for you straight after.

“Shit.” You cursed to yourself, watching as he strode over to you.

Clasping your hands together before pulling them apart, you created a baton of sorts in just enough time to hold it in front of yourself as Bucky cornered you into a wall. Pushing him back with the beam, you grunted, trying your hardest to keep the magic from dying out.

“You’re not very good at this.” He commented, attempting to pull the magical beam from your hands.

“I’m...” You grunted. “.... new.”

Using all of your force, you shoved him back. Taking the first opportunity you saw, you began shooting blasts of magic at him while he stumbled backwards. Attempting to dodge the blasts, he moved forward, putting his hands in the air.

“Look,” He said. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Watching as he stumbled backwards, closer to a ledge, you halted the blasts, tilting your head sideways.

“Lucky me.”

As soon as the words fell from your mouth, you used the rest of your force, swinging your arms backwards and then pushing forward to shove him through the railing and over the edge, his eyes wide as he fell backwards. When he fell, he took the Falcon with him. 

Glancing up above, you saw Peter, shooting a web to hold the two men to the ground. Feeling the energy in your palms, you floated down to the floor they were held to, standing above them.

“Look guys, I would love to keep this up but I’ve only got one job here today and I’ve gotta impress Mr. Stark, so I’m really sorry-” You watched as the drone took Peter’s web and pulled him through the window cutting him short, Peter screaming as it did.

Turning back to the men, you pulled the hood of your cloak over your head.

“Don’t worry about the drone thing,” You said. “I know when to see myself out.”

Turning to make your way towards the exit of the airport, you heard Bucky call from behind you.

“Hey!” He shouted. “Who are you?”

Bucky didn’t know why he was asking. He could barely even remember facts about himself, never mind keep track of every super human person he came across, but there was something nagging in his mind, begging him to learn more.

Glancing over your shoulder, looking at the Winter Soldier one last time, you smirked.

“Y/n.”

And with that you left the airport.

First Touch

The hatch to the ship opening, you stumbled down the steps, gripping Nebula’s arm to keep your balance. As Steve took hold of Tony, Pepper rushing to his side, you looked up to find the familiar face of Rhodey making his way towards you.

“I chose the wrong day to go see who Dr. Strange was.” You chuckled somberly, trying to make light of the situation.

Grabbing your arm to steady you as you slowly walked down the steps, Rhodey shook his head.

“The fight wasn't much better back here.” He said. “At least we had oxygen though. You’re not looking so good, kid.”

Too afraid to have looked at your deteriorating reflection the past three weeks, you knew he was being too kind.

It had been nearly three weeks since Thanos snapped away a half of the universe’s population, leaving you, Tony and Nebula stranded in space. You had run out of fuel weeks ago and had nearly lost hope of ever returning home as the oxygen supply began dwindling until Captain Marvel had found your ship and brought you all safely back to the Avengers Compound.

Despite being back, three weeks in space had left you exhausted, starving and dehydrated- just to name a few.

Biting back the dizziness you felt, you sighed.

“I’m- I’m fine, Rhodes.” You said, beginning to feel lightheaded. “It’s nothing-”

Missing your footing on the step, you tripped, losing your balance from Rhodey, about to hit the ground until you felt an arm wrap around your torso and the cool touch of metal grasp your hand. Looking up, you were met with the familiar face of the man you had fought two years ago at the airport in Germany, his hair cut shorter since the last time you had seen him, but recognizable nonetheless.

“Bucky Barnes?” You asked, standing up straighter with his assistance.

“Y/n.” He replied, shooting you a gentle smile.

Although you had what many would consider super-human abilities with your magic, due to being discovered after the civil war between the Avengers that had effectively split up the group- you weren't used to being recognized. Hearing your name fall from his lips felt somewhat gratifying.

“You remember my name?” You asked in disbelief

“Hard to forget the name of the woman who kicked my ass.” Bucky chuckled, helping you walk towards the doors of the Compound. “Doesn't happen often.”

For the first time in weeks you allowed yourself to smile as you gazed up at the man holding you steady, making sure you didn’t fall. When his blue eyes met yours, you adverted your gaze, turning your attention towards Natasha who wheeled a wheelchair through the doors of the Compound and towards the two of you.

Moving his flesh hand to rest on your lower back, his vibranium one still in yours, he helped you slowly ease into the chair. When you sat back in the chair, resting your feet on the footrests, you looked up at the super soldier and smiled.

“Not looking for a rematch are you?” You asked, slipping your hand out of his and resting it on your abdomen. “‘Cause I think I’m gonna need a raincheck.”

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he laughed shaking his head.

“No, I think I’m done with fighting.” He said.

Feeling Natasha pulling back on the wheelchair, about to spin your chair around and towards the doors, you threw him one last smile.

“That makes two of us.”

Just when Bucky was about to turn around and walk away as Nat wheeled you through the doors, the chair stopped and he watched as you glanced over your shoulder.

“And Sarge?” You called.

“Yeah?”

“I like the new arm.”

For the first time in decades, Bucky felt heat rise to his cheeks as he watched you tiredly speak to Natasha until you left his line of sight.

First Kiss

It had taken you nearly a month to recover from your time in space since returning back to Earth. Although you understood that there wasn’t much to be done since Thanos had wiped out half of the universe, you still felt guilty taking up space in the Compound when all you would do was lay in bed, attached to an IV. 

The one thing that made your time on bedrest a little more bearable was none other than Bucky Barnes.

Throughout your stay in bed he had consistently visited you. Though at first he was a bit shy, you had proven to be someone he could trust- assuring him that he could never be a bother to you and that you genuinely enjoyed having his company- maybe a bit too much, but you would never tell him that.

Bucky himself was surprised that he had put himself so out there with you after living such a solitary life for nearly the past 80 years, but there was just something about you that drew him to you time and time again. He couldn’t pinpoint it- whether it was your kindness, humor or intelligence- he found both joy and peace in your presence- something he had almost forgotten what it felt like to be in.

So, despite the voice in the back of his head telling him that you didn’t want to see him, he had visited you while you got better in bed, taking care of you in the littlest of ways until he watched the dark circles under your eyes fade away and your ability to walk without his assistance return.

Finally feeling somewhat better, you had insisted to bucky that you were ready to train again and no matter how many times he tried to convince you that you weren’t, he could never say no once you squeezed his hand and pouted up at him.

He was regretting not saying no to you as he now stood across from you in the training room.

“Y/n, I really don’t think this is a good idea.” He said, watching you sway in your spot despite your feet being planted to the mat.

“C’mon Barnes,” You taunted, raising your hands. “You scared?”

Just as he was about to open his mouth again, you shot a blast of magic towards him, Bucky dodging it just as it whooshed past his head.

“I wasn’t even ready!” Bucky exclaimed.

Shrugging your shoulders you formed another beam made of magic, holding either ends of it with your hands as Bucky came towards you.

Trying to plant your feet to the ground, feeling another hit of dizziness wash over you, you pushed him back with the beam, but before you could do anything more, his leg swept under yours, making you lose your balance. 

Before you fell to the ground, however, the magic in your hands diminished as you gripped your hands into Bucky’s shirt bringing him down with you.

Flipping over before you fell, you landed on top of the super soldier, your hands planted firmly on his chest. With his hands above his head that was inches away from yours, you both stared at each other- you finally noticing just how much you liked the scruff that coated his jawline and him admiring the color of your eyes and how he swore he could lose himself in them if only he had the chance.

Opening your mouth, you felt the thumping of Bucky’s heart against your fingertips that were resting on his chest as he gazed up at you.

“Your heart is beating really fast.” You whispered, out of breath despite you barely having trained.

“Yeah, it does that when I see you.”

You could barely believe what you were hearing until you felt Bucky’s hands come up and cup your face, glancing down at your lips before back to your eyes, asking wordlessly for your approval. 

Unable to form a coherent sentence, you eagerly nodded back at him.

Before you could even process it, you felt Bucky’s lips meeting yours as he pulled you into a kiss, his hands moving from cupping your face to wrapping around your body, pulling you tight against him. All you could remember thinking was that despite his tough exterior, his lips were soft and you could lose yourself in the comfort of having his arms around you all day if he let you.

Pulling away first, a beaming smile spread across Bucky’s face as he rubbed circles against your back.

“If you wanted to kiss me so bad,” He teased. “You could’ve just asked.”

First “I Love You”

Sitting on the edge of the rooftop, your legs swinging in the air, you offered the bag of popcorn in your hand to your boyfriend who was sat beside you. Taking his eyes off of the view in front of him, he grabbed a fistful of the salty treat from the bag, popping it in his mouth.

“Did you have stuff like this back in the olden times?” You asked, laying your head on his shoulder.

“What?” He asked despite his mouth being full. “You mean fireworks? How old do you think I am?”

Laughing at how he mocked offense over your question, you sat up straight, pecking his cheek.

“One hundred doesn’t sound much better, babe.”

Rolling his eyes, knowing that you loved him anyway, he brushed off the remaining salt from his fingertips, wrapping his vibranium arm around your shoulders to pull you closer to him.

Just as he pressed a gentle kiss against your temple, he jumped in his spot as he heard the loud sound of the first firework shooting up into the air over the water before “popping” and bursting into an array of color.

“Look!” You exclaimed, pointing towards the display. “It’s starting!”

Although he took a quick glance at the firework display, his attention was purely focused on you. He couldn’t help but admire the way the colorful lights reflected on your skin or how you had a hint of an open smile on your face watching as the fireworks burst midair. No show could compare to looking at you.

He couldn't help but feel his heart race in his chest, breath caught in his throat as he admired your beauty- even when you were still in your suit from watching over the parade with him earlier that evening. He was convinced there wasn’t a single thing about you that he wasn’t completely enamored with and you only gave him more reasons to love you every single day.

Before he even realized what he was saying, admiring you in complete bliss and utter awe, the words slipped out of his mouth.

“I love you.”

He thought you wouldn’t be able to hear, the sound of another firework popping ringing in his ear, but when you turned towards him, your eyes wide and mouth agape, he knew you had.

“Did you just say that you love me?” You asked, fireworks continuing to burst behind you.

Not one to lie- especially not to you- he nodded his head.

“Yeah.”

A smile beginning to form on your face, you grabbed the strap on his jacket, pulling him closer to you.

“I love you too.”

Leaning in, you pressed your lips against his, the sound of the finale of the display ringing behind you as the fireworks burst one after another in air, every color imaginable washing over your joined figures sitting on the edge of the rooftop on that cool summer night, almost as if it were taking the feeling shared between the two of you and bringing it to life for the world to see.

First Home

“Okay!” You nodded, pointing to the corner of your living room. “That one can go over there. Thank you so much for your help, Steve.”

“I helped Buck move into his first apartment, Y/n.” Steve said wiping his hands on his pants. “I wouldn’t miss stuff like this for anything.”

Smiling at Steve’s comment, you felt Bucky’s vibranium hand land on your lower back, pulling you closer. Leaning into his touch, you wrapped your arm around him in return, staring up at your boyfriend.

“Yeah and the first time he was about a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter.” Bucky chuckled. “This is easy for him.”

Watching Natasha set down the last box on top of a pile of the others in the kitchen, you excused yourself from your boyfriend and his best friend, making your way into the other room.

When you had left the two of them’s earshot, Bucky watching as you left, Steve rested his hand on Bucky's shoulder, squeezing it gently.

“You know,” Steve said. “I’m happy for you, Buck. I think this is gonna be good for you.”

Bucky couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s comment- despite how cheesy it was- because he knew it was true.

When Bucky’s memory had finally been cleared, a part of him had always feared that even though he had been given a new chance at life, he would never have a normal one. Although he knew “normal” was a strong term for the life you two shared together given that he was a century old super soldier and you had magical abilities- you had given him a chance at a peaceful life full of love and contentment which was all he could ever dream of asking for. 

The idea of finding love and having a family was something that he worried was left eighty years in the past, but you proved to him that life didn’t end for him when he fell from that train- if anything it brought him the beginning he had always hoped for.

“Sure you won’t miss me too bad, pal?” Bucky asked.

Taking his hand back from Bucky’s shoulder, Steve laughed shoving his hand in his pockets.

“No, I think I’m used to it by now.” Steve chuckled. “It’s just like you to be able to find a woman with shared life experience even when half the world disappears.”

Shaking his head at his friend’s joke, he shoved him playfully.

“C’mon, ya’know this is different.” Bucky said. “I think this is the last one for me.”

Without missing a beat, Steve smiled.

“I know.”

Hearing the sound of you and Natasha’s footsteps stepping back into the room, Bucky kept his mouth shut, feeling your hand run over his shoulder as you stood beside him.

“Don’t forget about me now that you have your own place, okay Y/n?” Nat said crossing her arms.

“Don’t worry.” You told her. “I’ll come visit every day.”

“Well, not every day-” Bucky interjected.

“No. I meant what I said. Every day, Nat. You’ll wish you never said anything.”

Once the laughter that had erupted in the room settled, Steve and Nat said their goodbyes to you and your boyfriend, you both waving them off as you shut the door behind them. When the door was shut and you and Bucky were left in your new apartment alone together, you rushed over to your bag by the door, pulling a neatly wrapped gift out of it.

“What’s this?” Bucky asked as you handed him the present.

“Just a little housewarming gift.” You smiled.

Gazing at your smiling face, a smile finding its way onto his, he looked down at the present in his hands, carefully tearing the paper off of the gift to reveal a framed photo of the two of you.

A framed photo of the two of you fighting in an airport three years ago on the day you first met.

“So, Tony had put a camera in Peter’s suit back before we went and fought you guys.” You explained. “And I thought it had to be gone since Peter was... you know... but it turned out that Tony still had the footage so I was able to find some from that day at the airport and in it there was this quick little shot of us fighting and I just had to have it, Buck.”

Flipping the frame around at you, he raised his eyebrows.

“A photo of us fighting?”

“Yes!” You told him. “Do you like it?”

Despite the fact that it was a photo of the two of you fighting- a fight that he had gotten his ass kicked in no less- he loved it more than anything else you could have possibly given him because it was the day he met you. It was the day his life changed and he didn’t even know it in the moment.

Although your story was far from “normal” it was your story and that’s what mattered the most to him.

“I love it, doll.” He said, pulling you into his embrace. “This is a crazy story to tell our kids though, huh?”

“All of them are.” You laughed into his chest. “But I wouldn't have it any other way, Buck. I love you.”

Pressing a kiss to the top of your head, a photograph of the day your story first began in his hand, he smiled.

“I love you too.”

[viltrumitesuperboy]

Treat Them Right (Peter Parker x Male Reader)

Last second decision cause it’s Valentine’s Day. Also it’s short but that’s not my problem lmao

Requested by: @iliumheightnights​ Can you please write a peter parker x male reader where peter keeps getting distracted thinking of a date and the avengers think it's a girl so they give him all of these tips on how to "treat a lady right" but then his boyfriend shows up. 

Word count: 1195

CW: mentions of reader as female

Any day Peter went to the tower, he was prepared for everything that could possibly go wrong. His table would explode, a supervillain would crash through the window, everything he worked on was deleted from his computer.

The worst one was when anyone he knew came to embarrass him in front of other people.

It was rarely a problem because he had little contact with other people when he was working. If he was going into another lab, he didn't worry so much that anything would go wrong because talking to other people kept him distracted from that worry. But someone embarrassing him in front of an Avenger? He might as well just die on the spot.

A week ago, his boyfriend had mentioned that it was going to be their one year anniversary since their first date. He was zoning out for parts of the day, both stressing over how he ever found someone so amazing and what he'd have to do to avoid disaster.

"Peter! Come here. I want you to meet someone."

He turned away from the scientists currently working on a project to see his mentor.

"Mr. Stark! Uh, I'm just finishing up here," he said.

"No worries. Come in, Bruce. No one's bite is worse than yours, I promise."

There was a quiet muttered complaint, and Peter turned back to the table to work on the hologram.

"Radiation is still dangerous, even as a source of energy. It might give the Hulk his powers, and probably Spider-Man — not that I would know, I've never met him. I mean, I could! Anyway, it doesn't mean it's not still dangerous. So keep that in mind when you're working with this stuff."

He made a vague hand gesture waving at the hologram that he definitely did not learn from Tony. Just as he started to head for the door, he was stopped by a voice.

"Hey, these are my papers! That's great. There's a section over here you might want to take a look at."

Peter then saw Bruce Banner swiping through a pdf that was on one of the holograms. He smiled up at Peter.

"Peter! I can't believe we haven't met yet. You're doing great work here," Dr. Bruce Banner, world-renowned scientist and former refugee, said to Peter Parker, skinny nerd still in school.

"Uh. Thank... you..." Peter responded, a little starstruck.

Even after meeting Avengers personally, it was still a surprise to see them. The world made them seem untouchable, but Peter knew they weren't. Seeing any of them in person was like a fever dream.

"Kid, this is Bruce. Bruce, Pete. We have somewhere to go," Tony said suddenly.

"Oh, okay. Bye!" Peter managed to say before he was swept out of the room.

When they got in the elevator, Tony finally spoke.

"So, Peter! I heard something very important came up and you are gonna need to have a talking to."

"I'm gonna what?!" Peter squeaked.

Then he was in the sitting room. It was usually the most comfortable place on the tower's "Avengers" floors. Now it was the most terrifying situation he'd ever been in.

Every single Avenger (minus Tony) and friends were sitting in a semicircle around Peter. They all stared at him in silence. His eyes were wide open as he stared right back.

"Am I being inducted into a cult?" he whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You have an anniversary coming up," Natasha said from her standing position as she crossed her arms. "A year is very important, Peter."

"You need to plan this properly," Rhodes said.

"And if she's not happy with what you plan, expect us to be ten times as unhappy," Clint added.

Peter opened his mouth to correct him, but Steve cut him off.

"You know, I might have been born a while ago, but most important things you need to know are going to be from us. If you don't treat her right, she'd be the least of your worries," he said.

He glanced at Bucky, who was cracking his neck. His face said "murder." Peter shrunk in on himself.

"Where's Mr. Stark?" he asked.

"He's in a meeting," Natasha said.

"Okay," he meekly responded.

Thor shuffled in his comfortable seat on the sofa.

"My people treat their romantic partners as their equals. If one is too slow in courting a partner, their relatives will find it suspicious and will seek blood. But I'm sure that's not the case," the god said with a reassuring smile.

It was not reassuring.

"I don't want to inconvenience you or anything, but I don't know why I'm here. I thought I was just supposed to work on something with Tony," Bruce said.

"Banner," Natasha snapped. "Give him some advice and then you can leave."

"Uh, I don't know, flowers? Girls like that, right? Look, I'm busy. It was nice to meet you, Peter. I hope we get to work on something together."

He walked away. Dr. Bruce Banner, world-renowned scientist, just told Peter that he wanted to work with him. For science stuff.

This was the best and worst day of his life.

"Okay, if you're going to a restaurant or anywhere that requires sitting at a table, you pull the chair out for her. And you make sure you check in, make sure she's comfortable," Sam said from his spot.

"You gotta make her feel like she's the only girl for you. And there's nothing better than personally bringing her somewhere that would mean a lot to the both of you," Bucky said.

"If your partner slaps you in the face, you think hard about what you did wrong," Thor absentmindedly mumbled, playing with some gadget he found on the coffee table.

"From what I've seen with Pepper and Tony, just don't be stupid. Be on time and make sure you do nice things for her," Rhodes said.

"I'd like to inform you that someone is coming up," FRIDAY chirped from the ceiling.

"Who?" Natasha snapped.

They all turned to see the private elevator open to reveal a boy. They readied their weapons, though Thor didn't seem too bothered. He swung the hammer around lazily.

"Uh... am I interrupting something?" you asked.

"Who are you? How did you get up here?" Rhodes demanded.

"I'm... here for Peter. Hey, you aren't, like, inducting him into a cult or anything, right?" you said.

"That's what I said!" Peter exclaimed.

He rushed away from the group into your arms, nearly toppling the both of you over. You held out a single flower, which he huffed and blushed at.

"Avengers, this is my boyfriend," Peter announced.

"That's unexpected," Steve said.

"I was saying 'partner' the whole time," Thor said. "None of you caught on."

"Are you ready, Peter? We've got somewhere to be," you said.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Peter automatically responded.

"Dude, if you do Spongebob in front of me one more time, I will take the flower."

"No!"

The elevator doors closed behind the both of you, leaving the Avengers to discuss the events themselves.

"I'm here," Tony said, entering the room with Pepper and Bruce. "Did I miss anything?"

[redheadsinmybed]

Broken

Wanda x Natasha x Reader

Reader is little, part of Loving a little series

Summary: Reader is on a mission. What happens when she gets hurt???

Notes: Hiiii guys, don’t forget to leave a comment :)

You were on a mission. Since you’ve got your new powers you’ve been going on missions more often. You are on a mission with Natasha and Wanda, although you were the only one who was out on the field. There was no one in the base and all you needed was to get some information. You are running through the woods towards the Hydra base.

Your lungs burn and your legs ache, but you keep running. The training didn’t seem to be helping you run for longer. You wish you had powers like Wanda. If you had powers like Wanda then you could just fly. Wait. You have fire powers, and possibly more. Suddenly you stop running to find yourself floating. Just like Wanda. What the?

“Guys, Wanda!!”

“What?!? What’s wrong, did you get hurt??”

“I’m floating, like you when you use your powers, but the magic isn’t red, it’s green. It looks like your guy’s eyes,” You say with adoration. Wanda and Natasha smile at each other at how cute you are.

“What did you do?” Natasha asks.

“Well I was thinking of how I wish I had powers like Wanda so I could fly to the Hydra base instead of running.” You say through your coms.

“And the next thing I know, I’m floating!” You exclaim.

“That’s great baby, you'll have to show me when we get home,” Wanda says.

“Now you can teach me!!” You squeal happily.

“Yes baby, now I can teach you. But you have to finish the mission first,” Wanda says.

“Oh right,” You say.

“Hey, so now how do I get down?” You ask, still just hovering above the ground.

“I don’t really know, maybe just think of the ground?” Natasha says after a while. You stare at the ground. Nothing happens so you close your eyes and let the overwhelming thought of the ground fill your mind. One moment you are floating ten feet above the ground and the next you are free falling down towards the ground.

When you hit the ground your right ankle takes the brunt of the fall, you land on it awkwardly and scream out in pain. Tear prick in your eyes and little you wants to come out so bad. But you fight it, you have to finish the mission first. You slowly pick yourself up putting all the weight on your left foot. You think that it’s not that bad, you just feel a lot of throbbing pain in your right ankle, nothing a good walk wouldn’t fix. You take a deep breath and take a step with your right foot, and you groan out in agony when you shift your weight.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” You say taking a shuddering breath.

“Are you back on the ground?” Wanda says through coms.

“Uh y-yeah, I’m back on the groun-ah,” You say as you take another step.

“Baby? What happened?” Natasha says worried over the coms.

“Nothing I-I just fell on my ankle weird, I’m fi-ah-ne,” You say sniffing as you take another step. You don’t hear anything back on the other end, believing that you convinced them that you were fine. You take step after step, breathing heavily as tears fall from your eyes every step. You hear something behind you and you set yourself aflame.

“Hey, it’s just me baby,” Wanda says to you, as you turn around unlighting yourself.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking up on you, come on you need to go back to the jet.” She says walking towards you.

“No, I'm fine, I've got to finish the mission,” You say as you start walking again. You groan out in pain every time you shift your weight to your right foot. Wanda watches you for a little while, but it breaks her heart to see you in pain.

“Y/N stop,”

“No, gotta fin-ah-ish t-the mission,” you say, taking another step.

“Please don’t make me do this,” Wanda says, as you keep walking.

“Do what?” Taking another step. You stop and look back at her, she walks towards you, her eyes glinting a red.

“Wanda, don’t do it,” You warn her.

“Hey, look there’s Tasha,” You say pointing behind her. She looks behind her to find nothing. You hobble away as fast as you can letting out sounds of pain. You didn’t make it very far before you are swept up by Wanda and flying through the air. Surrounded by her arms, you relax and grumble about not being able to finish the mission. Eventually you rest your head in the crook of the neck and kiss her.

“Thank you,” You say to her.

“You’re welcome baby,” She says back. When you get back to the jet Natasha is already waiting for you. Wanda sets you down and you take off your shoes sitting down next to you and holding your hand. Careful, not to touch your purple swollen ankle. Natasha carefully grabbed your right foot.

“Ahhh, Tasha,” You hiss out in pain and squeeze Wanda’s hand. She gives you a sympathetic look and grabs some pain pills, you take them.

“You’re gonna have you get that checked by Bruce baby, it might be broken.” Natasha says. You whine, if it’s broken then you won’t be able to do anything. At least not with Wanda and Natasha being mother hens.

“No it’s fine, I promise.” You lie to them.

“Oh yeah? Stand up and put all your weight on your right foot.” Natasha says back. You look up at her.

“Baby, we don’t like seeing you hurt, we just want to make sure you’re okay,” Wanda says squeezing your hand.

“I know,” You say back, setting your head on her shoulder. Wanda strokes your hair while Natasha pilots the plane. You move so you're laying down, head in Wanda’s lap. You eventually fall asleep when the pain medicine pills kick in holding Wanda’s hand still.

When you wake up it’s to someone carrying you. You snuggle in closer to the person holding you.

“Hi baby, how are you feeling?” Wanda asks as she feels you move against her.

“Mmmm good,” You say sleepy.

“I see the pain pills are working,” Wanda says.

“Mhmm, stop talking lemme sleep,” You say to her.

“Baby you have to get checked by Bruce first,” Wanda says to you. You whine and snuggle further into Wanda.

“You have until we get there, then I’m gonna have to put you down baby,” Wanda says, that means you have at least 3 more minutes, depending on how long the elevator will take. In reality it only takes 30 seconds.

“We’re here baby,” Wanda says as she tries to set you down. You wrap your arms around her tightly and wrap your legs around her too. Going into full koala mode.

“Baby, don’t make me do it,” Wanda says.

“Do what?” Suddenly feel Wand’s hands at you sides.

“Wand’s don’t you dare.” You say looking at her seriously.

“Then get down and get your ankle checked.” Wanda says as her fingers move a little.

“Fine,” You say with a whine, untangling your arms and legs from her, hitting your ankle on her leg.

“Ahhh,” You gasp out in pain.

“Hello Y/N, I see that your ankle is a bit swollen and a nice shade of purple.” Bruce says with a smile.

“Is Natasha coming, or can I start.” Bruce asks.

“No she’s bringing everything to our room, she said she’d meet us after,” Wanda says. Bruce checks your ankle and deems it’s broken after an x-ray. He says you’ll need a shot that will heal it instantly. Tony and him just made it and need a test subject other than a bunny, so what better test subject than you?

“Can I go get Bunny and the love blanket please?” You ask Wanda with big puppy dog eyes.

“Yes baby, let’s go.”

“Wait, I can get it myself, please I promise ill be careful, I'll even fly if it makes you feel better,” You say to Wanda with pleading eyes.

“Okay fine, but no flying, that’s how you got this broken ankle anyways. I’m only letting you do this because I have to talk to Bruce about your new power.”

“Okay no flying, promise,” You swear on your life. You walk out the room and make your way to your room. You walk up the stairs and quickly look around. You don’t see anybody around so you quickly get into the vents. Clint had taught you how to get around in the vents whenever there was an emergency. And this is an emergency. You hate shots with every fiber in your body. Absolutely hate them. So you’re hiding out in the vents for as long as it takes for your ankle to heal.

Wanda was getting worried, your room isn’t far away and you have been gone for ten minutes.

“Hey Bruce, I’ll be back. I'm going to check where Y/N is.” Wanda says while she walks out. She makes her way up to your room. When she enters she finds Natasha sitting on the bed.

“Hey, where’s Y/N?” Natasha asks.

“Wait? Did she not come here?”

“No why would she come here?”

“She said that she wanted to get Bunny and the love blanket before her shot.”

“Ohhh! She’s probably hiding, you know she doesn’t like shots.” Natasha says holding Wanda’s hand.

“Great, now we have to look for her.” Wanda says with a groan.

“I have an idea where she is,” Natasha says.

“Clint told me he showed Y/N the vents in case of an emergency.”

“He what?!? Why would he do that, doesn’t he know that she’s a three year old little, she could get lost in there,” Wanda says with her head in her hands.

“Hey, baby it’s okay. We'll find her and set some rules for her, okay? Everything will be fine,” Natasha says hugging Wanda. Wanda and Natasha get up and go downstairs. You can hear them walking down.

“Y/N? Hey I know you’re scared but I need you to come out now,” Natasha says out loud not really knowing which vent you are in.

“Wait let me try,” Wanda says to Natasha.

“Baby girl? I need you to come out from wherever you are okay baby girl? Mama needs you to come out.” Wanda says.

“Mama!” You say happily, coming out and waddling twordas her. You make grabby hands at her and she smiles and picks you up. You rest your head on her shoulder.

“Mama, hurts,” You say.

“I know baby girl, you are gonna have to get a shot and it will make it all better” Wanda says.

“Nooo,” You whine and try to get out of Wanda’s arms.

“Yes baby girl, you have to get it,” Natasha says. Wanda and Natasha walk you all the way back to the medbay where Bruce is already waiting with the shot.

You start to cry as she sets you down and Bruce takes your ankle gently.

“You’re gonna feel a little pinch and then it will be over, okay Y/N?” Bruce asks. It really didn’t hurt that bad but you still balled your eyes out, the pain in your ankle instantly went away.

“Do you want Mama to carry you back to the room baby girl?” She asks. You shake your head no because you’re mad at both of them for making you get the shot. You rub your arm across your face angrily and get off the bed you were on. You walk with a pout and anger on your face back to your room. Wanda and Natasha follow behind you.

When you get back to your room Natasha had made your favorite and it is waiting on the table next to your bed for you. You get up on the bed and look straight ahead with your pout.

“Do you want something to eat baby?” Natasha asks. You make a noise of no.

“Are you sure baby girl, I made your favorite,” Natasha says, a little hurt that you don’t want the food she made special for you.

“No!” You say loudly.

“Do you want Bunny?” Wanda asks you.

“No!” You say again. Wanda and Natasha look at each other.

“Okay, well we have to go baby, we’ll be back in a bit okay?” Wanda says. You don’t look at them even as they get up and leave. When they shut the door you stare at it. You wait for them to come back, but they don't, so the door stays closed. You wait and wait, until all the anger goes away along with your pout. You look over at the food Natasha made you. Now all you want is Mama and Mommy. You get up from the bed and open the door.

“Mama, Mommy?” You say looking to the left.

“Yes baby girl?” Natasha says startling you. You jump a little but when you see them smile at you, you run into their arms.

“M’sorry,” You say while hugging them.

“It’s okay baby girl, do you want to eat now?” Natasha asks. You shake your head pulling them back into the room.

After you eat you snuggle up with Wanda and Natasha in bed, Bunny in your arms and the love blanket wrapped around all three of you.

“We love you baby girl.” Wanda says as she sees you start to drift off.

“Mmm love you too,” You say sleepily. They watch as you fall asleep in their arms, and slowly drift off with you.

[aetheternity]

Adventures in the Kawata twins

Disclaimer: This takes place during the present when they're all adults. This isn't an x reader persay but reader is mentioned.

Synopsis: Takemichi & Chifuyu are stuck taking care of the drunk Kawata twins. It can't be that hard they'd assumed. Though they fail to understand that the twins are dumped on them for good reason.

☆☆

"Takemichi, you plan on being a designated driver?" Draken asks as Takemichi plops into the seat next to him at their shared table.

"Yeah, I don't feel like drinking tonight." He explained with a shrug.

"Great!" Mikey exclaimed allowing his straw to slip back into the something red he'd been sucking down. "Then you can take care of the Kawata brothers." He pointed to the end of the bar where both brothers sat. Smiley swiveling back in forth in his chair while Angry just glared at all the people. Their eyes lazily hovering over the thick crowd of people.

"They're barely sipping their drinks." Takemichi scoffed

Draken snorted with a deep laugh, "For now." Though he stopped talking when Mikey elbowed him.

"Yeah ok I'll take them home later." Takemichi replied.

"Not just take them home." Mikey grunted, poking his finger out at Takemichi. "You gotta watch them!" He gestured first to Takemichi then back to the two boys at the bar.

"Ok ok sure."

How bad could they possibly get after all? They were never apart as far as Takemichi could see. Even now they were calmly sipping their drinks, Angry's feet swaying back and forth against the side of the bar stool, his face full of frustration as he played with the straw between his lips. Meanwhile Smiley began talking about something random that barely caught his brother's attention his warm smile stretched tightly against his face.

They were calm. This was gonna be fine....

An hour later~

"Where'd they go!!" Takemichi clung to Chifuyu's shoulders like they were his life support shaking the poor man like a doll.

"Well where's the last place you had them?!" Chifuyu screamed back, head darting up over the crowd trying to locate at least one of the missing twins.

"They're not lost remotes!!" Takemichi grunted

A sudden burst of clapping across the bar made Takemichi and Chifuyu whip around. A rhythm slowly forming as drunk onlookers turned to face the same direction. Suddenly a big blue tuff peaked its way over the crowd followed by a fist raising in the air and Angry's full face coming into view.

"Shit." Chifuyu cursed

Takemichi lead the rush through the crowd, Chifuyu right behind him as the two of them made their way closer to one of the rickety tables near the back corner of the bar where Angry was now pointing out into the crowd. A smile almost as big as his brother's plastered onto his face. But it had a much gentler feel to it, almost as if he did it everyday.

"You! You got what I need! Everybody!" Angry belted as he sung into an invisible mic. "But you say he's just a friend!! Now the ladies!"

"And you say he's just a friend!" Reciprocated the crowd.

"Oh God who's he singing about? Name?" Chifuyu scoffed as he held onto Takemichi's hoodie for fear of getting swept away in the crowd.

"Wait? Angry likes, Name?!"

"You must be the most oblivious person in the world to not have noticed. Even I noticed!" Chifuyu yelled over the crowd.

Takemichi sighed reaching out for the wobbly table working to keep it steady as Chifuyu went around the other side tugging at Angry's pant leg.

"And you say he's just a friend, oh baby, you-" Angry continued until Chifuyu finally managed to catch his attention. "Takemichi! Chifuyu! Hi!" He bounced on the table almost causing it to tip.

"Angry come on, let's go find your brother!"

"Ooo yeah!" He giggled like a child.

"Holy shit I didn't even know he was capable of laughing, let alone smiling." Chifuyu blinked shaking his head.

"Catch me ok!" Angry beamed

"Wait Angry!-"

Takemichi's legs folded beneath him as Angry laid on top of him. Surprisingly he wasn't that heavy, though his body weight came out of nowhere and all at once. It left Takemichi with zero breath in his lungs as an uncharacteristic Angry laid on top of him, Chifuyu's smug grin just above him.

"Thanks for the support!" Takemichi groaned in pain. With both hands Chifuyu pulled Takemichi up, helping him support Angry's weight as he wrapped the younger twins legs around his waist.

"Why-" Chifuyu gestured to the current display.

"It'll just be easier."

Angry clung to Takemichi's hoodie like a curious toddler, sticking his fingers beneath the back to play with the tag.

"Come on, we're gonna go find your brother." Takemichi soothingly rubbed Angry's back before turning to Chifuyu.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Chifuyu asked

The sound of glass shattering a short distance away and the sounds of loud screams and grunts called the attention of almost everyone in the bar. Aside from those too busy making out or puking to see.

"I'd say follow the screaming."

They'd barely arrived on the scene but the crunches of glass underneath their shoes spoke volumes. Smiley's fists repeatedly slamming into a now completely shattered glass mirror. Blood seeping through his damaged knuckles like a punctured water bottle.

Chifuyu immediately slipped his arms under Smiley's armpits. Shaken a bit by the stoned face that stared down at the shattered mirror beneath them.

"Come on Angry we gotta go!"

"That's Smiley! This is Angry!" Takemichi yelped, shifting a distracted Angry around to look at Chifuyu.

"At this point can you blame me?! It's like we fell into an alternate dimension." Chifuyu groaned "Wait is that possible right now?"

"I don't think so!"

"Get off! This cunt is asking for it!" Smiley reached for the only part of the mirror still even slightly assembled. But before he could punch it in Chifuyu slipped an arm around his waist.

"Let's just get out of here before the cops show up!"

Even in disarray Takemichi was pleased at how much easier it had been getting the twins out of the bar then it had been finding them.

"You can still drive a bike right?" Takemichi asked as he reached into Angry's pocket for his keys. He placed a disoriented Angry on the back, trying to push his leg over the side.

"God, your knuckles are wrecked!" Chifuyu gasped astonished. Some of the glass had chipped off while some stayed wedged inside his closed fist.

"It's fine we can remove it when we get them home."

"Hey do you think Name likes that song?" Angry nodded his head, snapping his fingers to an imaginary beat. "I like the bartender, yeah if you're looking for me I'm at the bar with her!" He sung

"I'm sure it'd be just as uncomfortable for Name as it currently is for us." Chifuyu sighed "Come on get on back." He explained to Smiley.

"Fuck you."

Angry fidgeted around behind Takemichi only holding onto his waist when Takemichi physically slid his hands there. His smile deepening as he grinned along to the music he hadn't stopped singing.

After a bit more pleading Smiley plopped onto the back with his arms crossed over his chest. "Ok, now all we need to do is get them home right?" Chifuyu called over the roar of the engine and the sound of Angry still harmonizing with inaudible music.

"Actually.. I told Mikey I'd look after them for the night.."

"I hate you."

"Chifuyu, please! I can't do this without you! Once we put them to bed the rest should be easy right?"

They pulled up to a red light and for the first time tonight Takemichi could hear himself think. Yeah ok, the rest of the night really shouldn't be too difficult. The hard part was getting them out of the bar right?

"Fuck are you looking at shit stain?!" Smiley screamed to a man casually minding his business across the street.

"Angry!" Takemichi screeched

"See you did it too!" Chifuyu pointed

"Shit, I mean-"

"Huh?!" The man called turning to make eye contact with the four people in front of him.

"Can't this light change any fucking faster?!" Chifuyu yelled

"You wanna go bitch!" Smiley called

~~~~

"Smiley, please shut up!" Chifuyu was practically withering. Smiley nearly left off the bike when the man came charging forward.

In that split second the light turned green and Chifuyu sped off with Takemichi trailing just behind. A flood of nervous tears beginning to stain his face.

"You know Mikey set you up right?" Chifuyu grunted as he hauled an agitated Smiley into his and his brother's shared flat.

"I figured after looking up to see them both gone." Takemichi gasped and heaved, shutting the door behind him and Angry.

"I'm making ramen." Smiley announced, staggering off to the living room.

"No no no what you need to do is lay down. This night has been a nightmare." Chifuyu said

"You wanna go fucker." Smiley spat

"Smiley please-" Takemichi tried

"Takemichi, Michi! Look look at my Tiktok dance! You gotta watch!" Angry tugged on Takemichi's jacket sleeve with kid like hops trying to get his attention.

"Just.. I can't right now please we-"

"Why?!" Angry's outburst immediately brought quiet to the flat, the beginnings of tears brimming in the corners of his eyes.

"Shit, don't let him cry!" Chifuyu exclaimed

"Ok! Ok do the dance!"

Angry straightened, smile reappearing fully. He patted the tops of his chest, shaking his hips to nonexistent music. "You need a woman's touch in your place, just protect her and keep her safe." His arm juts out to the words he's singing, "Baby, worship my hips in ways, so feminine with grace."

Takemichi and Chifuyu blink, mouths hung in a small 'O' as they watched the awkward drunk assembly of movements matching terribly with the surprisingly on key singing. Without warning Angry clutched his knees, bile spilling from his body like a sprinkler system.

"You're in charge of Angry then." Chifuyu patted Takemichi's back as Angry continued to unleash on the once clean living room floor. Coughs escaping his drunken body. "I'll take care of.. ah shit! Where'd he go now?!"

"Maybe that's enough dancing for one night." Tiptoeing around the undigested waste Takemichi reached for Angry's arm. "Want some water?" He asked pulling a staggering Angry into the kitchen.

"There's-" Takemichi managed to get him there just in time. Angry's fingers clutching the edges of the kitchen sink as he leaned forward emptying everything in his stomach down the drain with a loud heave.

"Take your time it'll be-"

"Smiley no!" Chifuyu's voice rang across the flat. As well as the sound of multiple fragile items breaking.

What would soon follow in the next minute and a half were, a hard thud, harsh obscenities spewed one after another, and more things breaking only a couple doors away from where Takemichi was massaging Angry's head.

"Chifuyu, what's going on?!"

Chifuyu clattered out of the bathroom stumbling back and forth between both feet. "He punched me in the jaw." His thumb grazed over his jaw inspecting his hands for any sign of blood. "Do the twins have duct tape in here?"

Takemichi grabbed a paper towel dampening it before patting the sides of Angry's lips and the base of his chin where a small amount of his puke was currently leaking down.

"What do you need duct tape for?"

"Don't worry about that."

Chifuyu disappeared with the tape too quickly for further questions to be asked. Angry's smile was barely visible at this point the alcohol potentially flooding out of his system.

"Will you wash my hair Michi?" Angry pleaded with a tiny whimper.

"You should probably rest." Takemichi replied, he turned to fill a glass of water in the sink before handing it to Angry.

"Can I rest in the bathtub?"

"Why're you so violent when you drink?!" Chifuyu yelled

"Here just go to the couch!" Takemichi gestured, pushing a confused Angry back into the living room before bolting down the hall.

"What the- omg!"

"Get me some rope or some shit!" Chifuyu grunted, pulling both of Smiley's hands together.

Smiley laid beneath Chifuyu on his stomach duct tape wrapped around his mouth. His legs kicking around aimlessly as muffled noises slipped from his mouth. The shower curtain covered in blood and laid in a ball on the floor and the pole now bent in the bathtub. The window in the corner smashed in from the inside, pieces of glass littering the white tile.

I'm pretty sure this isn't what Mikey meant when he said take care of the Kawata twins!"

"Well he won't stop struggling! What else am I supposed to do?" Chifuyu gripped the duct tape, pulling it around Smiley's balled fists before ripping it with his teeth.

The sound of glass shattering in the living room brought Takemichi back down to reality. "Ok fine, just don't hurt him and clean his wounds!"

Takemichi rushed back into the living room tripping over his own two feet. His thoughts immediately scattering as he looked over the new situation. Angry's once full cup of water mixed with his vomit on the floor as the glass was now shattered in the growing mess.

"I want water.." Angry said, reaching out to Takemichi.

"Lay still on the couch and I'll bring you a new cup." He sighed

Takemichi dug around for a few seconds in the cupboard grabbing a new glass from the middle shelf. He hadn't noticed before but the Kawata twins had a gorgeous flat. That was slightly more wrecked right now. But it was clean and gorgeous almost to the point where it looked brand new.

He reached for the faucet, positioning it to fill the glass with hot water before turning it upside down to empty the glass. The water splashed against his disheveled black hoodie dampening it a little more than the sweat of this night already had. When he refilled the glass it was with cold water turning the sink top off and walking back over to Angry's kid like wonder stare on the edge of the couch.

"This house has big ceilings." Angry pointed, mouth agape.

"Yup, here." Takemichi transferred the water to Angry's open hands. He got down on one knee untying Angry's shoelaces, slipping his shoes off his feet before placing them next to the head of the couch.

"Wish I lived here." Angry nodded softly, kicking his socked feet as he sipped the cool water in the glass that had been placed in his hands.

"Lay back ok."

A deep "oof" caught Takemichi's attention as he looked to a staggering Chifuyu, pulling Smiley along like a police officer arresting a perp.

"Ok, from this point on I need to be paid." He grunted

"What happened to your face?" Takemichi gestured to the gushing bruise on Chifuyu's forehead. Blood beginning to leak down the sides of his face.

"What do you think happened? He fucking headbutted me." Chifuyu rubbed the blemish with one hand.

For the first time all night Smiley finally tapped out. Collapsing onto the floor in a small ball. One shoe kicked off God knows when. Hair a disorganized tumbleweed atop his head.

"What do you think Name would think of this song?" Angry bounced in his seat spilling water into his lap.

"Oh God please no more singing!" Chifuyu huffed in exasperation.

Takemichi can already see the crease of Angry's eyebrows and the quiver of his bottom lip. "What he means is we'll hear it tomorrow because you need sleep."

A folded blanket laid on the top of the couch and Takemichi reached for it. He shook it out before placing it over Angry's descending shoulders. Slowly the comfort of falling asleep began to rise on Angry's face. Eyelids heavy and face falling into warm ease.

"You promise?" He questioned as he laid his head on the arm rest.

"Yes bright and early tomorrow."

"Night." He whispered and less than a minute later he was fast asleep just like his brother.

For the next couple minutes Takemichi worked to clean the blood off Chifuyu's face, arms and a couple other places.

"Geez he did a number on you."

"On me, on the bathroom, on that mirror in the bar." Chifuyu listed off as Takemichi walked back to the living room leaving him to pat his bruise.

"But you did do a great job bandaging his hands."

"Uh huh."

Takemichi reached up to his face squeezing the bridge of his nose and the lids of his eyes. Chifuyu came up to his side as the blonde gestured to Smiley. "You're not gonna leave him like that are you?"

"You're right we should put a blanket on him." Chifuyu nodded, shaking his finger in front of Takemichi.

"I meant untie him!" Takemichi followed as Chifuyu went into the first available bedroom.

"Fine, once we get them both pills and clean up we can leave."

"Are you insane! Did you forget my bruises? If he wakes up at anytime before the sun and attacks it's your problem." Chifuyu snagged a blanket off the top of the bed slinging it over his shoulder.

"Why didn't we just put them in their beds?" Takemichi groaned

"It's too late they're already asleep just let it go." Chifuyu huffed

Takemichi followed Chifuyu back into the living room. With both hands he opened the blanket fully before letting it lay flat over Smiley's now relaxed figure.

"One you're insane if you think I'm going home. It's almost three am and watching these two for one night has given me nice horror stories to tell Mitsuya next time he talks about his sisters. Two I was dead serious about needing payment especially now if I'm gonna be spending hours cleaning."

~~~~

Morning came sooner than Takemichi would've liked. The sun blared through the window like the worst alarm. He squinted covering his eyes with one hand before shifting on the floor with the blanket he'd pulled from Souya's closet.

Before he could reexperience restful slumber a couple faint knocks had him tossing aside the blanket entirely. Yanking the door open with a low 'what' from the depths of his fatigue.

"Morning to you too." Draken's voice brought him back.

"Heyo Takemichy." Mikey grinned proudly

"How was last night?" Draken asked as Mikey entered the flat ahead of him.

Though the question really didn't need to be verbally answered as the image of Smiley laying on the ground with duct tape over his mouth and a half kicked away blanket revealing his taped up arms. The smell of puke still slightly thick in the hot apartment and the blood all over Chifuyu's jacket spoke louder than words.

Even with sleep still in the midst of Chifuyu's eyes he turned to Mikey and Draken standing behind him.

"Never a fucking gain." He pointed aimlessly, eyelids dashing over his eyes to properly bring the beauty of sight back to him.

Smiley rolled over, or half way over immediately awakening when he realized he was tied up. His head jerked towards Chifuyu with mumbled questions.

"Hold on."

"FUCK!" Smiley's grin was back full force. The edges of his eyebrows twitching, voice echoing through the flat. The unnecessary roughness at which Chifuyu had ripped away the tape showed off some prominent reddening just below his nose.

"Ah!" Angry nearly flew off the couch with the way he sat up immediately falling back into the pillow behind him. Clutching his head with both arms. "Who's being loud." He groaned

"We figured we owed you guys breakfast for taking care of the twins last night." Draken remarked amusement creeping onto his face.

"And this is way less than I was expecting. No cops or anything." Mikey nodded

"What happened to my fists!" Smiley grinned crazily

"Everyone stop talking!" Angry grit

"Take the twins out." Chifuyu said "I'm going home to sleep."

"Ditto to that." Takemichi yawned

[belphies-pillow]

Reactions to MC saying “Not today Satan!”

For the lovely @sirenserene ♥️ if you want me to change anything just let me know!

Warnings: some minor curse words.

You were all sat down for movie night, leaning against Beel, Belphie cuddled on your lap sleeping. The rest of bros scattered about the room, it was a rare moment of peace. Then your phone rang..... looking down, you see it’s the number of a demon you briefly dated but things went by the wayside pretty quick. Their contact name in your phone appropriately changed to “prick.” You let out a noise of disgust and without thinking yelled....

“NOT TODAY SATAN!!”

After smashing the decline button like it insulted your granny, you looked up, startled by seven sets of eyes on you.

Lucifer-

Wasn’t actually watching the movie but reading a newspaper, which he was now using to cover the fact he finds the look of shock and indignation on Satan’s face hilarious *dickish older brother powers activate!* you of course, had no idea how much Satan was tormented teased when that meme became popular.

Thanks to Mammon and Levi it became a never ending joke at RAD as well. Only stopping when Lucifer finally banned anyone from saying it after Satan snapped and threw Mephistopheles out of a window.

At least he excused himself and made it too the hallway before he started wheeze laughing. Good thing he was hunched over with his hands on his knees because Satan turned a book into a ninja star. (It’s currently still stuck in the wall)

Mammon-

Immediately started laughing so hard his sides ached. Abruptly stopped when he felt the room grow colder looking up to see Satan in his demon form glaring at him and Levi. Getting ready to run, he began planning out his escape. “Ok...just gotta outrun Levi...” May or may not have intentionally tripped Levi when he got close enough.

“Take one for the team bro!”

Leviathan-

Also laughed like a loon when he heard it. Failing to notice his impending doom at first, he started posting to social media. “OMG!! MC JUST SAID THE SATAN MEME!!! TO HIS FACE!!! ROTFL!! Aaannddd sent!” What finally caught his attention was seeing Mammon jump to his feet, running like Goldie was on fire. Glancing over, he saw death and booked it. Started to catch up to mammon but suddenly.......his legs were swept out from underneath him.

“Take one for the team?! Mammon you asshole!!”

Then felt a clawed hand wrap around his ankle and begin to drag him away.

“AHHH!!! LUCIFER!!! STOP LAUGHING AND HELP ME!!!”

Satan-

He was just trying to read his book and enjoy being in his brothers presence. (It’ll be a cold day in hell before he admits that) Then you! Sweet, precious MC! Let that verbal travesty come out of your mouth!

Had a real internal dilemma. He practically felt his blood boiling, rage slowly consuming rational thought. You had no idea how much that forsaken meme has haunted him, but Asmo was right! You’re his kitten!!! He could never stay mad at you! Those braying hyenas he calls brothers however, they’re fair game.

Especially the fossil, the dumbass and the weeb...

Asmodeus-

Knew without a doubt Satan was going to lose his shit so he used his powers as a professional pot stirrer to shift the focus from you. He had been sitting next Satan on one of the couches when the meme of doom spilled from your pretty mouth.

“Dear brother! Our sweet kitten isn’t at fault here!” “Mammon and Levi though....don’t you remember how out of control things got because of them??” *gasp* “I think....yes I do! I hear Lucifer laughing in the hallway! The audacity!”

Then sat back and watched chaos ensue. Kitten was safe that’s all that mattered.

Beelzebub-

Bless 👏 this 👏 cinnamon 👏 roll 👏

Instantly exchanged a glance with Belphie and through their twin vibe had a plan. He stood between you and Satan, while Belphie threw you over his shoulder and hauled ass out of the room.

Sweet, protective boyo was ready to throw down if need be. Was surprised though when Satan growled, running out of the room in the opposite direction of the attic. Asmo winked and gave him a thumbs up.

Didn’t waste anymore time. He needs to know his cookie and Belphie are safe!

Belphegor-

It’s actually canon he’s a quick little shit. Used that to his advantage to throw you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and run. Worried for Beel but figured he’d use that magical door to the attic to barricade you inside then head back.

“GGAAHHHH!!”

“Hmm.. he must of caught up to Mammon.”

Went into protective cow mode when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs but was relieved when he saw Beel unscathed, snacks in hand.

You all hid in the attic, with Belphie placing so many hexes and curses on the door it glowed.

——————————————————————————

**Bonus!**

Diavolo-

Diavolo rushed to the HOL after getting a call from Asmo about utter mayhem unfolding.

The first thing he and Barbatos saw was a smoldering, giant hole where the front door used to be and what appeared to be Levi’s headphones but the rest of him was no where to be found. He could also faintly hear Mammon screaming but the one thing that disturbed him was coming from the roof in the form of a mass of black feathers rolling around hysterically laughing.

Thanks again so much for the request!!! ♥️♥️♥️