#I wasn’t going to tag the whole story with v*re because of one sentence

[cyncerity]

Finding Family

Chapter 2

1 2 3

notes: Next chapter! I was very excited for this one cause I finally get to write for everyone I like to write for in this chapter. Also, first chapter is also under the “Finding Family” tag if you haven’t read it <3

And oh boy we may be starting to get into plot here >:)

tw: none

The next morning was seemingly as normal as always as Schlatt woke up, stretching and reaching to take his phone off the charger. He groggily checked to see if there were any missed messages and was a bit more than surprised to see over 50 missed FaceTime calls from…Charlie of all people? Huh. That was…odd. Schlatt was about to call him back when the phone started to vibrate in his hands, showing Charlie’s profile picture.

He accepted the call to see Charlie looking more tired than he’d ever seen him, along with Minx just slightly farther from the phone, petting a giant guinea pig. Well, not giant, but on calls it was easy to forget just how small Charlie and Minx really were, so the sight off-put him a bit. “Jesus Christ, dude, finally! We’ve been trying to call you for like 40 fucking minutes!” Charlie shouted, interrupting Schlatt’s thoughts. “Yeah, I noticed. What the fuck is this urgent?” “There’s more borrowers coming to your apartment.”

Schlatt raised an eyebrow as he sat up and turned his lights on. “So? There’s a lot of you coming here already, what’s a few more?” “You don’t get it. My captain’s coming here. He ran the colony when the extermination happened. Y’know, in that apartment.” Schlatt winced at that, especially when he saw Minx’s eyes fall to the ground in the background. He knew that she had been in the colony longer than Charlie, and he expected that she had been there when it happened, but he never clarified it with her. If she didn’t want to talk about it, he wouldn’t force her to.

“I get that there’s been some bad shit that happened here, alright? But I didn’t have anything to do with that, and you know it. Just tell your captain that and-“ “He doesn’t get it.” Charlie interrupted. “He doesn’t think humans can be like us. He thinks you’re all soulless sociopathic monsters, he’s not willing to give human-borrower relations a chance.” “Then what do you want me to do?”

“Hide anything that could let the captain know that Tubbo is there. Ladders, ropes, anything you made to fit Tubbo’s size, hide it. Lock up his room and make sure he’s out of the apartment for the day.” Minx said, lifting her head in the background and joining the conversation. She stood up from Mochi’s side and walked closer to the screen. “I don’t think the captain would hurt him, but I don’t think he’d be to happy to know that a borrower as young as Tubbo has lived with humans for so long. I wouldn’t hold it past him to…take measures into his own hands.”

Schlatt sighed, swinging his legs off the bed and getting ready to start his day which was apparently going to consist of hiding all the small ropes and ladders he had set up for the borrowers’ convenience. “Alright, I get it, it’s urgent or something.” He said, running a hand down his face as he tried to make sense of the (apparently very non-specific) threat that this random borrower posed to his son. “When is this happening?” “Tomorrow before dawn.” Charlie answered. “Make sure Tubbo knows to stay away.” “Got it. Now if you’ll excuse me-“ “Go tell him now before you forget.” Minx interjected, crossing her arms. “I know how you are, Schlatt, your gonna put off tellin him and I’m gonna have to go and yell at you in person.” “How about you don’t tell me what to do you little bi-“ “Don’t fucking start with this it’s too early...” Charlie sighed.

“Jesus Christ fine, I get it, I’ll go wake him and tell him what you told me. He can stay in Quackity’s apartment tonight into tomorrow, is that what you want to hear?” Tension that Schlatt hadn’t even noticed before drained out of Charlie and Minx, their shoulders dropping and both of them seeming just a bit less stressed. “Yeah, that’s what we wanna hear.” Charlie answered, Minx nodding right next to him. “Sorry to bug you this early, dude, I wouldn’t if this weren’t important.” Charlie sighed. “Don’t worry about it, you ever need anything just call. But I have a kid to go wake up, so…” Charlie laughed slightly. “Yeah, man, go do that. I’ll see you later!” Charlie smiled back, him, Schlatt, and Minx waving as he hung up the call. Schlatt set his phone down fully got out of bed, stretching and letting his joints pop into place. He needed to go warn Tubbo about whatever was going on tomorrow. And, as much as he liked to pretend Minx didn’t know anything, she was probably right about him forgetting if he waited too long to tell Tubbo.

~~~

Tubbo sat up, stretching as he yawned. He leaned over a pressed a small black button just to his right. The large duck nightlight (a gift from Quackity when he was very young that he had promptly named “Benson”) glowed brightly, illuminating the small corner of the cupboard he called a room. As he stood up and opened the little chest full of his clothes he flicked a few more switched stuck to the walls, turning on bee shaped fairy lights that had been stapled to his ceiling, fully lighting up the rest of the room.

He wasn’t sure what a normal room looked like for other borrowers, but he liked his room. Back when he was younger, on his 10th birthday if his memory served him right, his dad had cleaned out and fully re-purposed a cupboard in the kitchen for Tubbo to turn into a bedroom, and had given him full say over what went in it. He and his dads had spent hours online looking for decorations to make it feel like a normal human room. And that it did.

There were a weird number of things perfectly his size that humans used for things like school lockers and dollhouses, and he had found him-sized normal appliances like shelves, vanities, beds, and other things. Did he choose to use these things? Admittedly…no. Not most of them, anyway. He took advantage of having a few chests, chairs, and a nice little bee carpet that he found on Etsy, but there were still plenty of things in his room that were fashioned from bigger things than him. And while some borrowers might have jumped at the chance to have a room that didn’t remind them of their small stature, Tubbo couldn’t bring himself to care. After all, apparently beanbags make great beds! And Schlatt had the great idea to install an outlet in his room and glue a phone case to the wall, so it was like having a giant tv screen right across from his bed! He didn’t know many humans who had that. Well, he didn’t know many humans, period, but it made him feel good anyway. And it certainly beat the drawer in Schlatt’s room that he slept in for the majority of his life.

His morning routine was interrupted by a short knock on his “door” (and by door he meant the entire wall that faced away from the kitchen). “One second!” He yelled as he finished changing from his pajamas into regular clothes. He ran to a small lever to the right of his bed and pulled, releasing the wall and lowering it down till it was an extension of his floor.

That was another thing he liked about his room: both walls did that. It reminded him of the mystical castles in fairy tales he was told as a child, where a door would be lowered over a dangerous moat and allow entry to a some magical kingdom, which he thought was cool as shit. One wall could fall down towards his kitchen and give him a view of the window, where he could see the whole city. The other would fall down towards the living room, and he could interact with his family from the comfort of his own room. And that wall specifically was lined with a fluffy carpet! How cool was that?

The wall fell and Tubbo made his way onto the extension where Schlatt was standing, plopping down onto the carpet and idly fiddling with the course fabric. “What’s up?” “I got a…weird call from Charlie and Minx earlier. They said some other borrowers are coming over tomorrow and-“ Tubbo’s eyes widened as he cut of his father. “New borrowers?” He couldn’t help the excitement that rose up on his chest. New borrowers. More people like him. As much as he loved his human family, he knew so few borrowers, and the idea of conversing with someone new and his size was more than intriguing. “Hold on,” Schlatt interrupted his train of thought. “Charlie said it was really important that you absolutely don’t make contact with them. He and Minx were being really cryptic and shit, but they seemed serious. Said their captain and some others were coming by and Minx said she didn’t know what would happen to you if you were spotted.” Tubbo tried to process that. Why couldn’t he meet them? Would they hurt him? Were they cruel? Would they not want a borrower that wasn’t in their colony intruding in their territory or something? But Schlatt said Uncle Charlie and Aunt Minx referred to the new borrower as their “captain.” Uncle Charlie and Aunt Minx wouldn’t live with cruel borrowers, they were too nice for that. Schlatt apparently saw how much Tubbo was thinking about it, and began to lightly trail his fingers down Tubbo’s back, causing the borrower to snap out of his spiral of thoughts. “Look, I don’t know what the fucks going on either, but you should probably spend the night at Q’s place while I hide your ladders and shit, how about that?” Schlatt said, concern obvious in his tone. And though Tubbo would absolutely love to know what’s going on, he realized that whatever was happening was happening for his own good. He trusted Uncle Charlie and Aunt Minx and he definitely trusted his Dad.

“…Ok,” Tubbo nodded. “Sounds good. I can bug them about this in a few days.” Schlatt laughed lightly. “Me too, bud. Now what do you say we go get some breakfast, huh?” Tubbo grinned, nodding his head and stepping off the wall extension back into his room. He jokingly saluted as he pulled the lever once again and the wall began to rise. Schlatt smiled and saluted back. Tubbo laughed as the wall clicked back into place and he turned around to the lever on the left of his bed, pulling it and lowering the wall adjacent to the kitchen. The moment the wall was lowered enough, Tubbo jumped out. He knew Schlatt wouldn’t let him fall. And sure enough, he fell for approximately two seconds before he was caught, his father mumbling something about “lack of self preservation instincts,” but Tubbo was too busy laughing to care. Schlatt set him on the windowsill and began to get ingredients for breakfast out. Tubbo leaned against the cool glass of the window and watched the sunrise over the silhouette of the city, the colors blending together mesmerizing him.

He sat and stared until the sky was fully blue and the sun hurt his eyes. He turned to his dad, who was putting a very small amount of yogurt and very crushed up granola into a tiny bowl (that had been probably been made to go in a dollhouse set) with the ease that only someone who had done this everyday for twelve years would be able to do. “Hey Dad?” Tubbo asked. “Yeah?” “Can me, Ranboo, and Tommy have a sleepover?” Schlatt finished filling the little bowl and gave it to Tubbo, scruffing his hair with one finger. “Sure thing, kiddo, just don’t get into too much trouble.”

~~~

“…So apparently I’m just not allowed to meet them! What kind of bullshit is that?!” Tubbo ranted, pacing back and forth across the floor of Ranboo and Tommy’s “house.” In reality, it was a few small interconnected rooms in the walls with little light and more dust than he would ever consider ok if he lived here, but neither other borrower seemed to mind it. That, and the one time Tubbo had brought it up, both of his friends had mocked him for being “extremely wealthy” and “too upperclass to be in the dwelling space of peasants like them” for a month. And don’t even get him started on the “eat the rich” comments, he still gets those. So yeah. Tubbo would deal with the shoddy living space that his best friends apparently preferred, all of them sitting in the one room that was just slightly larger than the other three, apparently making it the living room.

“That’s…weird.” Tommy said from where he sat on the floor. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? They don’t like you, so what? They’re not gonna murder you if they’re friends of Charlie’s.” “That’s what I was thinking!!” Tubbo shouted in frustration, flopping backwards onto a stolen cornhole beanbag that Ranboo was sitting on, laying directly on top of him. Ranboo didn’t seem to mind. That, or he had just gotten used to this. Tubbo assumed it was the latter, but like hell was he getting up. Ranboo was comfy.

“Are they a threat to you specifically or to any borrowers in this area? Cause if they were dangerous, Charlie would have told us, too, since we’re pretty close to your apartment.” Ranboo added, completely ignoring the fact the Tubbo was on top of him. “That’s a good point. But what would they want with me?” Tubbo thought aloud. The three of them sat thinking for a minute before Tommy turned to the other two with a mischievous grin on his face, his cat like eyes narrowing the way they did every time he got a bad idea. “Why don’t we find out?” He said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “No…” Ranboo started, turning to Tubbo who, to his horror, seemed to be actually thinking over the idea. “No! Absolutely not! We don’t know who these people are, and even if they’re not a threat to me and Tommy, are we really willing to risk you like that?” Ranboo finished, pulling Tubbo off of him to look him in the eyes. Tubbo sighed.

He didn’t like disobeying people he cared about, since he knew that they did everything for his well-being. He shouldnt want to spy on random borrowers. But…his dad was confused, too, wasn’t he? He knew what was going on about as well as Tubbo did, and Tubbo was confused as hell. So, maybe he was spying for the both of them? A flimsy excuse, but an excuse nonetheless. Besides, when had Tubbo ever just denied a chance for adventure? “…as long as we aren’t seen it should be fine.” Tubbo finally answered. Ranboo groaned and put his face in his hands as Tommy whooped in excitement. “But we absolutely can’t be seen!” Tubbo rushed to clarify. “Even if we figure out those borrowers aren’t an actual threat, I’d get an earful from Uncle Charlie and Dad. We have to be sneaky about this.” “Don’t even worry about it, Tubs, sneaky is my middle name.” Tommy said, moving to the shorter borrower to sling an arm around his shoulder. “Uh huh. Because trying to steal an entire can of coke out of a fridge and then cussing out Sapnap when you got caught is the definition of sneaky.” Ranboo deadpanned at his roommate. “Tell me, is ‘Sneaky’ before or after ‘Careful Danger Kraken’?” “Why don’t you shut up, boob boy? My many middle names are just too cool for you.” Tommy shot back, sticking his tongue out at Ranboo. Tubbo laughed at their antics, the lighthearted banter helping ease some of the weight off his chest. This was gonna go well. It had to. So why was he so nervous on just spying on a few borrowers? Maybe it was just the lack of specified risk. His dad said Charlie wasn’t specific about why Tubbo had to stay away. That had to be it. But he didn’t have anything to be afraid of, it wasn’t like he was doing this alone, he had his two best friends coming along. And he didn’t think they were dangerous borrowers. So, there wasn’t anything that could go wrong…

Right?

[winchesterandpie]

Son of a Patriotic Biscuit (Part 1)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader (Not a ton yet - there will be more, I promise!)

Word Count: 1760

Warnings: None

A/N: Alright y’all, my friend and I finally had time to go through and edit the story enough for me to put this piece up. Credits to her for putting up with my writing as well as my bemoaning of my inability to write this as quickly as I wanted (I’d tag her, but she doesn’t have a tumblr). Anyways, it’s my first series guys!! Hopefully you like it! If anyone wants to be tagged in the next parts or other fics as they come, just let me know - I swear I don’t bite. Reader is an Avenger who has wings - if you’ve read Maximum Ride, that’s where I got it from (and I claim no credit for the idea). Gif is not mine.

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Every. Single. Time. Why?! He just couldn’t seem to stop. Yet again, he had denied me going on a mission. He had said that I wasn’t ready to be out in the field like he didn’t even realize that I had already gone out a few times with Nat and Clint! I tried to explain this as calmly as possible, but he hadn’t heard a word of it. Naturally, I stormed down to the training room to take out my anger where it was more acceptable, rather than on a fellow Avenger. In the others’ defense, they had tried to talk Steve down, but he was completely in charge of the mission and who went on it.

“Fricken fracken, mother truckin’, son of a biscuit eater, chivalrous little overprotective man-baby!” Each word was punctuated with either a jab or kick to the punching bag in front of me. With the final words, I threw myself into a spinning kick that sent the already splitting bag flying across the room, sand trailing in its wake. After half an hour, my frustration had finally come to a head.

“What’d the bag ever do to you?” I tore my eyes away from the carnage with a huff and saw Nat in the doorway

“It’s not the bag I’m mad at,” I muttered, but I knew she heard me. She gave a miniscule nod of acknowledgement, both of my statement and my obvious desire to change topics.

“That’s quite the insult I heard. Where’d you come up with it, Feathers?” The ex-assassin moved to stand in front of me, putting my back to the door.

“Honestly? I dunno. The best ones are those that just come out in the moment, y’know?” Shrugging, I sheepishly turned back to the wreckage. “I’m gonna have to clean that up, aren’t I?”

“Nah. Not right this minute, at least.” She closed her mouth abruptly after the sentence, staring at something over my shoulder. I turned, freezing in my tracks when I saw who stood in the doorway. “I’m just going to give the two of you a minute.”

Thanks for that, I thought, glaring a little at her retreating form. Switching my focus to the hulking captain (pun intended), I allowed my face to settle into stiff lines. We stood there for a long moment, sizing each other up as though any second we were going to lunge at each other. Quirking my eyebrow up and crossing my arms, I resolved not to be the first of us to speak. As it turned out, I didn’t have long to wait before he uncomfortably broke the silence.

“This is for your own good,” he finally said. I threw my hands up indignantly before turning and looking for something to hit, though I desperately wanted to sock him in the jaw right then. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t help me get out in the field. “No, don’t you start giving me that look.” His blue eyes hardened, and I could tell he had no intention of being swayed on this when his forehead creased. “You may not realize that you aren’t ready, but I’m just keeping you from being killed out there. There aren’t any practice fights, no one out there is going to go easy on you.”

“You seem to have somehow gotten it into your head that I don’t realize that!” I burst out, utterly exasperated with him. “Steve, I’ve already gone on missions with Clint and Natasha, and I’ve even gone out with just Thor! I’m not the damsel in distress that you seem to think I am!”

“You’re not going and that’s final.” “Fricken fracken, mother truckin’, son of a biscuit eating... Little patriotic old fart with a hero complex!”

“Lang--” He stopped in his tracks, confusion marring his features. “Wait, what? Did you actually say what I think you said?”

“Ooh, stepping into dangerous territory there, Captain. Thinking on your own? Don’t you need supervision for that?” I shoved past him, holding myself stiffly upright until I reached the elevator that took me to the floor with my room on it.

Finally in the safety of solitude, I made sure the door was locked before sliding down the wall until I was sitting, knees pulled up to my chest. I was upset enough that I unfurled my wings and wrapped them around myself, providing an extra shield between me and the outside world as a choked sob rose in my throat. Funny, how the feathers that used to be (and still sometimes were) a reminder of a nightmarish warehouse - full of needles, electric shocks, white lab coats, and pain above all else - while they were now the very things protecting me from more pain.

I stayed there for a long time, wallowing in the feelings of self-doubt that had sprung up once I was left alone in my thoughts. You see, despite being a kickbutt, flying, ninja-assassin-Avenger, I actually cared a lot what Steve thought of me. Having a crush on the star-spangled captain will do that to a person. As an unfortunate side effect, his apparent lack of confidence in my abilities in the field was doing wonders for knocking my self-esteem into the dust. To top it all off, I was almost positive that he only saw me as a younger sister, due to the overprotective big brother act.

Steve’s POV

After she pushed past me with a final jab about my thinking, I pushed a hand through my hair in frustration. Why couldn’t she see that I was so afraid of losing someone close to me again, that my fear was the reason I tried to protect her. Bucky was gone, and Peggy had grown up and left me behind. I couldn’t stand it if this brave, stubborn, kind woman died after somehow managing to worm her way into my heart no matter how desperately I had tried to keep her out. If she got hurt or killed when I could have kept her safe, I wasn’t sure if I could forgive myself.

I didn’t even realize that my feet were moving, tracing her light-footed path, until I was standing in front of her door. My hand was poised to knock, though it stopped when a small sound caught my attention. I wasn’t even completely sure I had heard anything until it came again. The muffled sob barely came through the door, sounding more like an agonized gasp of air that tore my heart out to know I was its cause.

To my knowledge, she hadn’t cried the whole time she lived at the Tower with us. What she had been like before Nick Fury brought her to us, I could only imagine. Strength and an iron will like hers were rarely forged through any but the most painful of fires. Still, she never said anything about her past, whether how she had gotten her wings or otherwise.

It had taken a lot of time, and a fair amount of prodding from the team, before I realized that I was in love with this spunky woman. Once I knew, however, no other beautiful woman in the room could turn my head from Y/N’s radiance. The only problem was that I still was no good with women and I knew it. I didn’t want my inability to put words to the feelings (thanks to my lack of experience) to drive her away, so I tried to protect her instead. Sinking down by her door with a disheartened sigh, I realized that to her it must seem like I didn’t believe in her abilities.

“You’ll have to tell her, Steve.” Natasha’s voice was quiet in my ear. Turning my head toward her, I saw her gaze soften even more as she opened her mouth to continue. “She thinks you have no confidence in her.” “I do, I swear,” I protested vehemently under my breath, knowing the spy would hear me where the woman on the other side of the door would not. “I just… I don’t want to see her get hurt.”

“You’re going to have to get over that. This world leaves scars on people like us. Even her. Especially her. You can’t keep her from being hurt, but you could be there to help her heal.” This was the longest string of heartfelt advice I had heard from her, and I took it to heart.

“I’ll tell her after this mission, then.” I nodded, satisfied in my resolve.

“You’d better. Now come on. We’ve got a briefing to get through.”

Reader’s POV

It wasn’t until several hours later that I was bold enough to leave my room. Mostly because it was two in the morning and everyone going on the mission (read as: everyone but me - Thor was up in Asgard until after the team got back) would be asleep. Also because I was hungry, but y’know. Of course, I still stuck to the shadows and treaded silently through the halls and rooms. Entering the main room was when inspiration hit - likely a mix of exhaustion, desperation, and hunger, but it was too good a chance to pass up.

Steve had apparently been the last person awake, and had made the mistake of leaving the mission’s file on the table in plain sight. Performing a quick scan of the room, I crept up to the table, holding my wings up and out a little to ensure that they didn’t drag on the floor and make noise. A wolfish grin spread over my face as I read the details of the two week long mission. It was in an area I knew well - the place where I’d grown up as an experiment, constantly pushed to my limits and tormented for the scientists who wanted to see what a girl with wings could do. Coincidentally, it was that same group that the team was now going after.

Now knowing that I could get to the spot easily, the only thing left was to figure out when the whole thing was going to go down. The file really only had the details of the surveillance they would have to undertake to find the base. Fortunately for me, I was quite the hacker, so I made sure that the comms that were sitting out were synced to my laptop so that I would be able to hear everything that was going on out there. Satisfied with my little recon mission, I went my way into the kitchen and made a quick sandwich before returning to my room.

Part Two HERE

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