#Like loops aren't just fancy if statements

[random-random-things]

I think I'm going to try and take my snake game to it's logical conclusion, x86_64 assembly. Honestly, I haven't done much in assembly. I've done what is effectively "hello world" level system level programming in it, embedding some assembly in a C program for a security course (both ~10+ years ago), and some very basic Gameboy Color programming (which is a Z80 clone not x86).

But I think it's all doable by me.

I need, what, system calls for the time to seed a pseudorandom number generator (and a pseudorandom number generator but that should be simple), system calls for read/writes for standard input and output, and system calls for memory mapping and unmapping. Rest of it is basically loops and if statements (like every program isn't basically loops and if statements).

[nexxen24]

One Last Job---Chapter Eleven

A link to Chapter Ten: https://www.tumblr.com/nexxen24/784883545579618304/one-last-job-chapter-ten?source=share

11: Cross

Brooklyn, New York, August 2025

A few months after my brain had settled and I had finally gotten over the fact that Anton was my dad and also dead, John decided to surprise me. I had assumed we weren’t doing anything that special since he had been quite busy once he finally started accepting jobs from Valentina again. She had him working almost nonsense work, like security and moving things between facilities, nothing like what he was used to. I could tell that it was weighing on him, the fact that he felt set aside by Val when she was so insistent about him resuming his duties as her US Agent. But for now, it seemed that the job just entailed security work and the odd late evening standing in place outside one of her many OXE facilities. 

John had slept in late so I woke up before I usually did and made us both breakfast, some pancakes and some fruit on the side, a favourite of his before going out of my way to dig out the fancy coffee maker from the spare room on the second floor. We had moved since the Anton incident into a three bedroom townhouse, one of the classic Brownstones that you saw on like every movie that featured New York. It even had a basement that we rented to a very eager college student for not that much, just enough to cover half the mortgage payments since while Val was boring, she paid well. John pretty much had to work a job a week and be set so we spent a lot of time just hanging out, enjoying the city but we had yet to really be tourists. Sure I’d seen things from afar but nothing deliberately and my eyes widened when John walked in, dressed in khaki shorts and a very surprising t-shirt. 

“You love New York today?” I asked and he glanced down at the shirt with a smile.

“Maybe I do.”

“You never wear it.”

“Yeah…but I thought that today we could embrace it,” he said and my eyes widened. 

“Really?” 

“Val said that I had a few days off before something big goes down at one of her facilities in Malaysia so I want to embrace this time we have together, see the city.”

“So…you’re going to walk around New York in that shirt with me in mine and see all the tourist destinations and act like you haven’t been here.” 

“Pretty much.”

I stood, leaving my plate and coffee as is before running over and wrapping him in a very tight hug, nearly knocking the two of us over as John let out an oof of surprise. “God…I love you so much.” 

“I love you too.” 

“Come on, eat, we need to get out there, there’s so much New York to see!!”

“I have a feeling that I'm going to regret this.”

“You won't!” I assured and he eyed me. “Come on, John, I just said I loved you, what more do you want?”

“Well…you aren't dressed yet, I could pull off this shirt.”

“Hey…we have to go, there's a whole city out there.”

“Yeah, and my whole world is in here,” he argued and I stared at him for a long moment, not really comprehending the absurdity of that statement. 

It wasn't bad, it made me blush, but it was shocking and my brain was trying very hard to catch up to the rest of me and shoot back some perfectly time retort. But I was at a loss and John grinned, thrilled that he'd gotten to me and I sighed, reaching up and looping my arms around his neck before pulling him into a kiss. I made it last and in seconds he had backed us up against the wall, deepening the embrace and moving from my lips to my neck. I smiled at the gesture, pulling him back for another on the lips, really going for it, tongue and all before giving him a grin, so cheeky it even matched his. 

“So…”

“Yeah, we got time,” I agreed and he grinned, picking me up and carrying me all the way to the master on the third floor as I chuckled, shocked this was my life. 

It all felt so mundane, just two people enjoying their little existence and sure he still worked for someone like Val but that was a small hiccup, a small problem. John was still here, in this house with me and he never wanted to leave, never wanted to let me go again and I loved him for it. I wanted to remind him of that for as long as I possibly could and guarantee that he'd never forget he was loved for as long as I kept breathing. 

***

We spent the better part of the day just wandering around New York, looking at landmarks that made the city famous such as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building which had an amazing view. I could’ve stood on top of that tower for hours but John wanted lunch in Chinatown so we headed over and while walking back ended up at a memorial for something I didn’t recognize. I stopped in front of a plaque that overlooked two very large square holes in a park that people seemed to be taking photos of or crying at, it was a bit of both. I glanced at John and even his eyes had glazed over a bit as he ran a hand along the plague that detailed something called 9/11. 

“What is this?” 

“It’s a memorial for 9/11.”

“What’s that?” 

“Happened in 2001, a plane hit the World Trade Centre, these huge skyscrapers, they went down a couple hours afterwards after a second hit the other tower.”

“Alien?”

“No…human,” he muttered and my eyes widened. 

2001 was years after the World War that I had thought of back with Val, the one with all the bombs and the people dying that nearly ended everything. The same one that Steve Rogers was a part of, that he was created for the purpose of being a model American soldier. That war was nowhere near New York and not even close to 2001 like the plaque was suggesting. 

“Why?” 

“No reason but terrorism.” 

“God…Humans are sure assholes…even to each other.”

“The world is full of human problems.”

“I have to assume you saw it first hand?” I asked and he nodded. 

“I did yeah…won two medals having to deal with it all when I didn’t want to, I didn’t even want to be there, I was following Mike and my dad…following ghosts.”

“I’ve run into my fair share of human problems,” I muttered and thought back to all the men and women I’d dealt with long before running into Mel and the others.

Most people were eager to meet someone willing enough to entertain their plans of talking over the world, one arms deal at a time. I had been that person, assuming that making a quick buck selling some illegal weapons was the best course of action for my life. It worked for Anton at one point, why not me. But the people I spoke to got a bit too curious, they liked to know why I was interested and their demeanour changed a heck of a lot when they discovered what I actually was. Being a mutant never made me less human, it just gave me some extras, some added bonuses but no one had seen it that way. My eyes drifted to a scar on my right arm, the one not covered by the mark and I stared at it, eyes locked as my mind wandered back to the moment I got it. 

Seven years back I was working for a group in Romania part time, selling weapons and helping them plan out their auctions, ones a heck of a lot similar to what we had to deal with in Munich. I was good at my job, no one was using a Block so the clients were more than eager to pay double or agree to whatever deal my supposed partner was after. He was this big Romanian man named Ervin that had worked for the worst of the worst, even HYDRA at one point but he paid well and didn’t ask too many questions. One of our auctions got raided by a group of mutants under the assumption they needed to be heroes and fair…they did but Ervin was pissed, he took it out on me since he knew my secret and at one point even promised to keep it. I got beaten senselessly by the man and when I was already down, begging him to stop, he kicked the arm so hard it broke, the bone splitting the skin and leaving the scar. 

He left me alone after that, basically left me to die but I managed to drag myself to a hospital, get fixed and use my powers to keep away any suspicious people. The scar stayed tho, a reminder and when I was better I made sure that Ervin couldn’t hurt another person ever again. He was my first real kill since the guards back at Dark Force and was one of the memories I kept since I liked the look on his face when he stopped breathing, it was one of silent regret. Not for what he did, but that he didn’t finish the job and let me do it instead. 

“Alex?”

“Sorry,” I muttered and turned to John who had put a hand on my shoulder since I had stopped talking. “I was just thinking of my own human problems.”

“The world is full of them.”

“Thank God we had the Avengers to deal with the non-human ones.”

“Yeah…I couldn't imagine having humans deal with that,” I said and chuckled as he eyed me.

“I mean…I’m human.”

“Not anymore,” I muttered and his eyes widened a bit. “It’s true, you took that serum and are now…not as human and you’d like to suggest, there’s something more.”

“I never thought of it like that,” he said and sighed.

“Hey, it’s fine, being human is boring anyways,” I said and John chuckled, standing and wrapping an arm around my shoulder before we walked away from the monument. 

“I mean…if I was still human I probably would’ve never met you.”

“Exactly, so by default, human John sucks, weird super serum mutant John is so much better.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he assured and fixed the little headband I had grabbed at the statue of Liberty that resembled her crown. “So…what do you think of New York despite all its problems?”

“I still love it.”

“Because I’m here?”

“Always,” I said and smiled. “And because in a city full of human problems and alien problems and non-humans and humans, I’m glad that I have you here to make it all better.” 

“Well…that’s a damn good reason to keep wearing this stupid shirt,” he muttered and I chuckled, pressing closer to him as we made our way to Battery Park to see more of the city and enjoy ourselves. 

New York was clear of problems for the moment, clear of alien invasions or villains trying to ruin everything and we were free to see it with a sense of calm, not of worry. The city sure was big and full of people but I felt safe, safer than I had in years and it was all because of the person pressed up against me. Sure he had made mistakes, done some stupid things and was living a life full of regrets but he was still mine and I loved him for it. And I intended to embrace this new life and this new city and make everything worth it. 

4 Months Later 

John was away on a mission that Val claimed was important and needed to be done right away so I was sitting there wondering what I should do before he got home. I had decided upon making dinner even though John was the designated cook in the household and I survived on mainly microwaveable meals and cereal but I could be bold, I could be different. I knew how to make something….

“Is this the right pasta for spaghetti?” I asked and the lady working at the store eyed me. 

“Ummm…that’s rice,” she muttered and took the bag before switching it out for something called fettuccine and mentioned it tasted good with pesto. 

I took her advice and googled what sounded like a simple pesto and cream sauce recipe with some frozen chicken and collected everything, praying it would all at least taste somewhat decent when shoved into the same pot. It sounded good and I had always been a pasta fan so I felt confident and hoped that John would appreciate the gesture even though I’d never cooked for him before. I was thinking of all the stuff I had learned from the cooking shows he loved to watch when something caught my ear…well…sort of. 

Food.

My eyes widened and I turned to find a small box on the side of the road near a dumpster and something had called out but my mind was the thing that heard it. I got a bit closer to the box and kneeled, placing my bag of groceries on the ground and looking over the lip of the box to find a small cat sitting inside. She was surrounded by trash and empty bottles and cans and soaking wet with the sweetest looking face despite the very obvious missing eye. 

“Are you alone?” 

Food….

“No…just some frozen chicken.”

No food…

“No…but I’m Alex, do you have a name?” 

No…just hungry. Can speak?

“I can, I can read minds,” I said and the cat perked up, actually rubbing her head against my outstretched hand and looking like she loved it. “Why don’t you come with me, my townhouse isn’t far and I’ll even give you some of that frozen chicken…I’ll cook it first of course.” 

No anger.

“None, you’re safe,” I assured and the cat meowed in agreement before jumping up and out of the box, following me with a little bit extra perk in her step as she followed me. 

I had been bugging John for months about getting a cat, sending him photos of cats at shelters and articles about why purring can be beneficial for the mental health of the owner. He kept muttering about not wanting to leave it alone if we both needed to go on a mission or having the cat destroy the place but this one didn’t seem that bad. She was a sweetheart and waited very patiently for me to finish cooking her unseasoned chicken in the oven. 

I like you. You’re nice.

“I like you too,” I said and shredded the chicken before plating it and handing it over to the cat who hungrily dug in, eating almost half in less than a minute as I finished off the rest of the meal, sans chicken. 

Good.

“There’s more,” I said and plated the rest of the chicken, grabbing my own portion of pasta since John had messaged and let me know that he was going to be late because of traffic. “So…do you have a name?” 

No…But I have one I like.

“Really?” 

Stella. A human was called that, she threw an apple at me. 

“Why do you like her name then?” 

It sounded pretty. Food good…lap better.

“I’m glad,” I said and watched as the cat, now named Stella, snuggled against me as I watched one of John’s cooking shows on the TV. 

She was pretty sweet, a nice looking cat too and a tabby colour with stripes and brown fur, not to mention that one white foot that was placed on my thigh. It felt almost serendipitous to find a cat on the street, a stray like myself and to have her sit with me and claim that she felt safe for the first time in the short 14 months she’d been alive. I had to hope that John would love her and heard my phone buzz to signal that John was close and I told Stella to head to another room so I could break it to him slowly. 

Who?

“John.”

Bad man?

“No, definitely not a bad man, he just will be surprised by you and I don’t want him to freak out when he sees you, so I’m going to tell him and then you can meet him.” 

Trust him?

“With my entire life, he helped me when I was lost like you.”

I trust him too.

“I'm glad,” I said and she got off me, taking one last longing look at my lap before hopping off and heading into the spare room. 

I sighed and John opened the door, letting out a loud sigh himself and dropping his mission duffle by the front door, still dressed in the black uniform Val had picked out for him. It wasn’t like the old one with the shield, moreso a security guard uniform with just some black cargo pants and a skintight tech wear shirt with a tactical vest overtop. John shrugged off the vest and dri-fit shirt as I admired his body, not to mention the muscles in his shoulders and that chest…not overly toned like you’d expect, but healthy looking and very huggable, I knew from experience. John always criticized the overly toned bodies he saw out there, complaining they had been starving themselves and that wasn’t the marker of someone who was healthy. John caught my eye since I had been staring and he chuckled before grabbing a grey t-shirt mentioning some Georgia based university and pulling it over his head as I frowned at him. 

“Why are you frowning?” 

“I like the no shirt,” I muttered and he chuckled before noticing the meal prep in the kitchen. 

“Did you cook?”

“I made pasta.”

“Ohhhh…interesting,” he muttered and returned a few minutes later with a bowl full and covered in cheese. “It looks good.”

“It tastes good,” I shot back and he chuckled, taking a big bite as I waited for his reaction. 

“Wow…it does taste good, good job,” he said and leaned over, giving me a kiss and smearing sauce on my lips as I frowned. “Sorry.” 

“Very classy,” I said and he rolled his eyes, noticing the small plate of chicken and the pieces that Stella had left. 

“Was there chicken?” 

“Oh…there was supposed to be.”

“Oh…I mean I like pesto but it really could use some extra protein.” 

“Uh…well…someone else ate the chicken,” I said and John eyed me. 

“They did…”

“Yep…”

“Are they still here?”

“They are.”

“Really….you invite a guy over for chicken and he stays to meet me.”

“You’re not funny,” I muttered and he chuckled as I called out to Stella in my mind and she wandered in. 

John?

“Oh my god…is that?” 

“John…this is Stella.”

“It’s a cat,” he said as the said cat jumped onto the couch and stepped over him to sit on my lap as his eyes widened when he saw the missing eye. “Does it not have an eye?” 

“It is a she, her name is Stella.”

“Sure…Stella,” he muttered and shoved the bowl on the table to really get to know the cat who was slowly becoming a bit more curious. She sniffed his hand before wandering over a bit closer and actually going as far as to sit on John’s lap with what looked like a smile on her face. “Hi…wow…she’s not that scared.”

“Stella…are you okay?” 

I like this man…he smells nice.

“So…”

“She thinks you smell nice.”

“You can read her mind.” 

“I can.”  

John is good…I like him a lot. He feels comfy. Warm.

Stella stretched out a bit further and placed a paw on his chest, snuggling closer to him and shoving her face deeper into his chest as John just sat there, almost paralysed. 

“So…”

“Yeah…we have a cat now,” he muttered and reached up, petting her back and chest as Stella began to purr, falling asleep soon after she had sat down. “Where’d you find her?” 

“She was sitting in a box in an alley near here surrounded by garbage and bottles. She was hungry and asking for food so I asked if she wanted to come and get some food.”

“Strays attract strays,” he muttered and I nodded in agreement. “Figured as much, this is I think the perfect way for you to get a cat, find her in a box on the side of the road. Accept another stray into the house like I chose to accept you.” 

“Hey…I at least didn’t just ask for food.”

“No…you asked for more,” he said and I chuckled, grabbing him his bowl so he wouldn’t have to move and disturb her. 

“Now…Val asked me for some work of my own, checking over some documents she got form a facility in Europe. I have been avoiding it because you weren’t home but now that you are…”

“You’re gonna leave me with the cat?” 

“She’ll be fine,” I said and grabbed a Coke in a glass bottle from the fridge before heading up the third floor where my office was across from our master bedroom. 

I looked through all of Val’s files and information on some boring bust she had done in Serbia to see what the fuss was about only to get bombarded with a bunch of useless information and things I didn’t care about. She seemed to be concerned about an uptick of armed robberies with Chitauri weapons and I had to assume she’d get John to check it out at one point, probably soon based on the amount of stuff she had on the drive. I wandered back down for some ice cream and another Coke and spotted Stella and John still on the couch, the TV playing some random cooking show and wondered why his dinner was still left half eaten. 

“John?” 

I moved into the living room and smiled at the fact that he had laid down and the cat had followed, snuggled into his chest and looked like the happiest animal in the entire world. I chuckled and patted her on the head before going back upstairs and knowing that my family was complete. I had asked John about kids before and whether he’d be into them and he admitted that while they had seemed interesting at one point, he was probably too old for them and much preferred to live life as just the two of us. But now we were a group of three.

Two strays and one reject Captain America. 

7 Months Later, 2026

Over half a year after we got the cat and John was called out to a mission that he knew would take a couple days and I was worried to say the least. I had been on a few missions for Val myself, mainly recon or something simple, the odd security detail but John sounded worried when he got her call, he sounded like this might take a while. It had been five days since he’d been in contact and for a guy that never went a few hours without telling me what was happening I was trying to keep myself from going insane. 

Where is John? 

I glanced at Stella as she hopped up on the couch and sat next to me, looking annoyed that her human pillow was missing and she was forced to hang out with me instead. Stella had grown attached to John and had started sitting on his shoulder while he was working on files or even cooking, seemingly never a few feet from him at all times. With him gone she was stuck with me and while she still loved me, I could feel the annoyance and even hear it since she didn’t tend to stop talking. 

“John’s working,” I said and eyed the report that Val had sent about the mission. 

Too busy, Stella said and sat right on top of the iPad where I was reading the file. 

“Well…people are busy.”

You’re not.

“Hey, I’m the one that still feeds you chicken,” I shot back and she glared at me as best as a cat could before wandering off my lap and letting me look at the files in peace. “Yeah…I love you too.” 

I chuckled and went to pet her when my phone rang and I let out a sigh before shoving the iPad on the table and grabbing it, eyeing it when the caller id came up as “Monster” which was Val’s name in my contacts. 

“Alex?”

“Val, why the call?” 

“Have you heard from Walker?” 

“I haven’t, not since Tuesday.”

“God…I was afraid of that,” she said and I sat up a bit, not liking that statement. “Walker also hasn’t contacted the guy from OXE in Romania.”

“Romania?” 

“That’s where he went. We had an entire operation planned, it was supposed to be an easy bust but we think that something went wrong somewhere down the line.”

“Send me over there, I can find him.”

“That’s why I called, we have a contact in Bucharest already, he was supposed to be the second on Walker’s mission but I can transfer him to you.”

“I have contacts in the city.”

“You do?” 

“I ran with people in Romania back in the day,” I said and eyed the phone. “Wait…why Romania, what was John doing?”

“He was supposed to be busting an arms deal.”

“Chitauri weapons?” I asked but already knew the answer. 

“Yes.”

“Hmmm…Should’ve asked me since I’m assuming his target is a guy named Dmitri.” 

“How did you know that?” 

“I used to run with his father, Ervin, quite a few years ago now since I assumed that arms dealing was a good way to make money, call it Anton’s influence. Anyways…I met Ervin, we worked together for about three years and then he got mad after finding out I was a mutant.”

“Did you leave?” 

“He tried to kill me so I returned the favour, I always thought that his son would take over, he was 20 back in 2017 when it all went down. I had always meant to go back and deal with him but I never got the chance. Frankly the encounter with Ervin had left enough scars,” I said and eyed the one on my arm.  

“Do you think Dmitri would hold a grudge?” Val asked and I chuckled. 

“Oh…I’m pretty sure my picture is taped to a dart board in his office,” I said and she went quiet. 

“Okay…well…I guess this is better than nothing. Use our contact, not your own and bring John back before this can get any worse. Also…if you come across Dmitri we need information first so don’t shoot before you’ve talked to him.”

“I want something from you first,” I said and Val sighed. 

“Again?”

“600,000, this house is expensive and I don’t want to fly commercial, I need a private jet and I’m pretty sure you grabbed some of SHIELD’s old quinjets.”

“We did.”

“Good, have one waiting for me at the New York OXE headquarters, I’ll be there by six.”

“Anything else?”

“When I get back, John and I are doing missions together, none of these single person death trap missions like we’ve been doing, I want to be there if something goes wrong.”

“Anything else.”

“One more thing,” I said and Val sighed. “If I get there and he’s dead…Start running.” 

Val went quiet and after a minute the line went dead and I let out a sigh before tossing the pillow in my lap across the room with an annoyed scream. I hated her, I hated her for sending him on the mission and waiting this long to contact me, to tell me that something had gone wrong and John could already be dead. If Dmitri knew we were connected he’d kill him, I just knew it, he wanted me dead and he’d use John to make me suffer. 

John okay?

It turned to find that I had started Stella with the pillow and stood, grabbing the cat and sitting back down with her on the couch. 

“No…but he will be.”

John needs you.

“And I need him,” I agreed and I sighed, knowing that I was going to get him back.

No matter what. 

Bucharest, Romania, July 2026

The contact that OXE set up was a guy in a uniform that refused to believe me when I said I had been there before and knew that Dmitri was the guy behind all of this. He also refused that I was the reason Ervin was dead and why Dmitri was as mad as he was and had started all of this mess in the first place. Apparently, a lack of Ervin had made him desperate and he had been dipping his toe into more dangerous clients, ex-HYDRA among them. 

“I just can’t see how you think HYDRA is involved.”

I tried not to punch the guy, who was named Paul, as he insisted on following me through the streets towards a bar that my own contact was waiting in. My guy was a British man named Anders who had moved to the city a couple years before I got there and got all wrapped up in Ervin when he was short on cash and stole from the wrong guy. Ervin almost killed him and only stopped when I managed to mind control him and get him to stop, putting an end to a reign of terror before it could start. I became an ally of Anders and assumed he was dead before I left but looking him up using the database at OXE let me know he wasn’t and had been stuck in the city since he escaped Ervin. 

“Are you sure this guy will be here?” 

“Yes…he said,” I muttered and pushed open the door, spotting Anders in the corner. “He’s right there.” 

Paul grumbled something about not wanting to be involved and sat by the door as I made my way over to Anders and smiled at him, hoping that he’d recognize me. 

“Alex?” 

“In the flesh,” I said and he stepped out to wrap me in a hug and I could feel the grateful thoughts inside his head that I was okay. 

“God…how long has it been?” 

“About nine years,” I said since it was 2026. 

“Too long and you never call me.”

“I wanted to keep you off Dmitri’s radar, he hates me and I’m sure he’d transfer that hate to you as well. 

“Oh for sure. He’s also why you're here, right?” 

“My…um…My John…his name is John, he works for OXE, they sent him here to deal with Dmitri a week ago and he hasn’t checked in, I fear the worst has happened. Do you know anything?” 

“I haven’t been around him since you saved me but I have heard rumours of what’s been happening in the darker parts of the city. I’d start there.” 

“Are they planning an auction?”

“No…something bigger I feel, the air here is different. Check out this road in the city, I know they frequent it a lot.”

He handed over a small sheet of paper with the address on it and I wished him luck, promised him that I’d check in more and headed back to Paul who looked even more anxious. I rolled my eyes and journeyed with him to the said street that was a bit outside of town and didn’t look as shady as Anders had suggested. We were closing in on the end of it, a small bakery on the corner when something in me felt a need to look closer at one of the apartment buildings. I stopped dead and stared at the one closest to me, number 127, a building with three floors and closed windows that looked normal but something felt off. 

“Cross?” 

“There’s something off about this place.”

“It’s just an apartment.”

“No…it’s more than that, there’s something wrong,” I said and glanced across the street where there was a small cafe before taking a seat at one of the outside tables. “I’m going to sit here and see this through.” 

“Whatever…call OXE if anything exciting happens,” Paul muttered and tossed me a bag of supplies before wandering off as I ordered a coffee off a waitress. 

***

I sat there for close to six hours, just staring at the building across from me and ordering about eight coffees by the time something interesting finally happened. A guy that looked a bit shady and one I thought I had recognized was unlocking the door and I stood, making sure that there was no one around the dark street before moving closer and reaching out with my mind. He wasn’t blocked, his mind was clear and I managed to latch onto it, the guy going stiff since I had gained control. 

“Where are you going?” 

“Bottom floor.”

“To who?” 

“Our guest,” he muttered and I nodded for him to continue as he unlocked the door and made his way inside, turning to unlock the door to a bottom floor apartment. “He’s in here.”

I followed the guy as he opened a door off to the side and my eyes widened when I spotted John sitting inside, attached to the wall with what looked like chains and slumped over, bloody and bruised. 

“Go and sit in a corner,” I ordered and he nodded, doing as told and I watched him sit in a chair in the corner of the room as I locked the door, bracing a chair against the door in case anyone else decided to show up. 

Once everything was secure and the guy was under my control and not going to mess with us, I ran over and knelt next to John, placing a hand on his face and seeing if he’d wake up. But it looked like whoever had beaten him had done a good job and he was knocked out, bleeding out from a stab wound in his stomach as I blinked away some tears, wanting to deal with this with a clear head. I could feel my powers pulsate in my fingertips and I reached out, willing John to get better, to feel better and watched as a small bit of smoke spilled out, curling around his chest and torso. I felt pain in my stomach and glanced down, watching as a small bit of blood bloomed across my chest as John’s stab wound got better, almost like it had healed a small bit. 

“John?” I asked and tapped his shoulder as he muttered something before opening one eye and staring at me. “John! Oh my god.” 

“Alex…”

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m….where am I?” 

“Romania…you’re on that mission from Val. Remember?” 

“Oh yeah…that didn’t go that well.” 

“What happened to you?” 

“I met your old colleague, Dmitri…he drugged me at a bar, I woke up here. They beat me for information.”

“Did they find anything out?” 

“No…nothing. I made sure, he stabbed me last night in retaliation.” 

“I’m proud,” I said and placed a hand on his cheek as he chuckled before giving me a nod and a kiss. 

“How did you do that?” he asked and nodded to the stab wound on my chest. 

“I don’t know…same reason I knew you were in here,” I said and could feel more bruises appearing on my arms that matched his. “I think I did this…I think we’re connected.” 

“Well that’s not weird…”

“No…what’s weird is that they gave you a sedative right?” I asked and he nodded. 

“Didn’t work that well, super soldier.”

“Yeah well…it’s working on me,” I muttered and could feel the remnants of the serum they put in him in me. 

I had no clue how it worked, how this new connection made any sense but I wasn’t about to question it since it allowed me to find him, to keep him safe and to get to the bottom of what Dmitri was up to. And as the serum finally kicked in and I dropped, landing in a heap next to John I also was worried this was exactly what he wanted. So what if I found John…I had also walked myself right into a trap. 

[dreadsuitsamus]

Jubilee | Renji Abarai x Reader |

author's note: this is an au where renji is a mechanic and reader is his secretary/bookkeeper. i plan to do an overall larger story with this au, and will likely consider this fic 'canon' to that one when it's released lol. but i love this idea and had to write something quick for it, and it's lightly inspired by an outing with my friends the other night 🩷

pairing: renji abarai x fem!reader

warnings: fluff, modern au

The sound of the door between the garage and the office area alerts you to your mechanic's presence, eyes quickly flitting to check the time— around his usual time for a snack, so you expect to soon see him with a bag of popcorn as he sits in his usual seat at the edge of your desk. But when you hear the jingling of his keys instead of the microwave popcorn popping, all sense of time and the world as you know it shatters. This man, while not strict about routine at all, has always naturally followed the same way day in and day out.

Renji appears before your desk, the keys to the building and his car swinging around the ring looped on his index finger. "C'mon, we're closing early today."

Blinking and quickly pinching your thigh to ensure this is real and that you haven't nodded off at the desk again, you perk a brow at your friend and technical boss. "Huh?"

"Gotta clean your ears out." He teases with that handsome smile. "I know everything I tell you goes in one ear and out the other, but clearly some stuff sticks since you apparently didn't hear me. I said, c'mon. Shop's closed the rest of the day."

"But you've still got-" Your hands search for the daily schedule Renji wrote out for himself, and on it it shows he's only got but four of the six oil changes done, not to mention the—

"Hey!" He knocks his knuckles against your wooden desk. "It's fine. Trust me, the work'll still be there tomorrow. Now can you please come on?"

Irritation twinges at your lips, pulling them into a bit of a pout, not that you'd admit that to him and take the chance of him wanting to stay late another day to make up for the short workday. He slips into one of his nice button-up shirts he keeps on standby— his favorite Hawaiian shirt, actually. It's black and the flowers are a mix of white and warm colors, and you've always thought it looks stunning on him.

"What's the occasion?" The question is a hum on your lips while you tidy up the desk and shut down your computer.

"It's the last night of that lil carnival that's in town. I wanna go check it out." Renji says boredly, swinging his keys as he waits for you to finish getting ready to go. "I want you to go with me. My treat."

"Aren't you generous, paying for a lady's three dollar entrance ticket?" You tease and pick up your purse, following him out of the door and waiting as he locks up.

"Turns out 'm not the worst boss after all, eh? I remember birthdays too, punk, so consider this part of your birthday present." He pokes at your forehead with a sly grin, and damn him to hell— you were quite hoping he'd forgotten your upcoming, dreaded thirty-third birthday.

Your lips pull into a pout. "So you're admitting you're the boss here, hm?" Renji always tells customers you're the one in charge and sticks with that mindset even when you're alone, so such a statement from him is odd.

"Just for today. Had to give ya a break." Renji winks, the light from the sun that's just barely starting to set casting a nice glow on him.

Your scoff is light and followed by a warm laugh, and soon you're ducking into one of Renji's many cars. It's his daily driver, nothing fancy or classic or particularly stunning, but it's the only automatic he owns and thus the only one you can actually drive, so it's your favorite by default. "This jubilee happens every year, y'know, and this is the only time you've ever mentioned it outside of complaining about all the traffic it causes."

Renji shrugs, looking far too relaxed as he drives. "I wanna go."

Good enough for me.

The city park is full of people and madness as Renji drives in, swooping into the last miraculously-empty parking spot. And bless his foolishness as he smiles cheekily at the father of five that's fuming in the minivan as he has to make another rotation for an empty spot. You hide a snicker in your hand and walk with Renji to the entrance, watching as he charms the old lady selling the tickets and making her day.

"What?? Six dollars?! You're cleaning me out, missy." He teases, opening his wallet and pulling out the cash for the entry fee. Bless the old woman's heart as she laughs and blushes at Renji's innocent flirting and slaps the two tickets into his hand.

"I think you'd make more money as a stripper for old ladies." You snort and walk with your friend into the carnival, the bright lights from the rides and the smell of greasy food attacking your senses.

"I don't have the rhythm for stripping." Renji laments with a dramatic sigh.

Your giggle is music to Renji's ears as you survey the carnival. The lines are all long and he's not quite sure how he feels about some of these rides— this was put together in a matter of days?? Hell no.

The ferris wheel still looks kind of fun, however…

Renji leads the way to the ride, and after a quick glance back to make sure you're still there, he takes your hand. "Don't go missing on me now!"

The warmth of his hand is just barely hotter than the burn of your cheeks; it's been five years since you met and subsequently started working with Renji at his dingy little auto shop, and you loathe to think about the truth of why you've been single all this time— if that sort of love with your friend was in the cards, it would've happened by now.

Renji, oblivious to your mental plight, finally finds the end of the line to the ferris wheel and staunchly takes his place and quietly dares anyone to try and cut in line. His hand is still firmly holding yours and it's like a switch flicks in his mind with how suddenly he drops it.

"Your hand is oddly soft." You murmur as you begin people watching.

"I keep telling you, WD-40 is the best moisturizer you can use!" Renji insists with a laugh, and you shove him playfully— he knows how much you hate the smell of the degreaser.

The line moves slowly, as expected for a ferris wheel, and it's dark by the time you're loading into your carriage. The breeze is cooler than it has been all day long, and Renji notices your shiver as the ride gets going. "I didn't bring a jacket." He murmurs. "You can use my shirt, if you want."

You shake your head and rub your arms as they litter with goosebumps. "No, it's okay. It's just a little chilly."

"Mm. Well, come here." His leanly muscled, tattooed arm slips around your shoulders and already you feel a certain warmth enveloping you. "Been told I run like a furnace."

"You do."

"Guess that makes me pretty hot, huh?" Renji's smile is full and you just can't help yourself but laugh at his cheesy little joke.

"With all the swearing I hear from that garage and that red hair of yours, you're definitely at least a hothead."

"Ooooh, deserved." The redhead hisses. "I don't try to be, y'know."

"I know. I also know all that effort goes out the window the second you hit your head on a hood."

"Hey, you give it a try and tell me you wouldn't let out a swear or two!" Renji pouts, brow furrowed and he looks so stupid but still so damn cute.

"I don't have any reason to be under a hood— that's what I have you for."

"Damn right." He's smug now, the bozo. He squeezes you tighter to his side, running his hand up and down your arm a few times. "You feel okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." He's so warm, and damn that fancy cologne of his, the one that cost him more than one of his tattoo sessions. It's essentially been designed to set every nerve of yours alight and fill your chest with a pounding urge to pounce on the poor mechanic that just wanted to smell nice.

"Good." He mutters lowly, his thumb swiping across your chilly skin.

The ferris wheel is filled up eventually, and you get maybe five rotations before a sudden stop, the LED lighting on the sides of each carriage going out as well. Renji groans, louder than the other voices in the midst of the outage, and looks down at the ground and tilts the carriage enough to make your heart skip a terrifying beat. Before you can even think twice you're grabbing the back of his shirt and tugging him closer to you.

"We are all the way at the top! Do not tilt this fucking thing!"

"Scaredy-cat." Is all Renji responds with, the bastard.

"Shut up!" You hiss, and Renji finally settles in as someone down below alerts you through a megaphone that the fireworks show is about to begin, and that they've had to pause the ride.

"Well look at that. We got the best seat in the house." Your mechanic settles in, pulling you close to his warm side as the show begins.

And truly, it's worth being stuck at the top of the ride. The lights are fantastically bright, the shapes and pops and booms all backed by a playlist full of some of your personal favorite bops and classics. Renji smiles as you sing along, and finds himself looking at you more than the show, not that you notice his watchful eyes.

Renji carefully slips his phone from his pocket and snaps a few photos, and by the time he takes the last picture you've caught on long enough to smile for the camera. And that's as long as your interest lasts as the finale starts up, but Renji's too busy setting the perfect picture as his phone's wallpaper to witness it.

His heart warms when you meet his eyes just as the last few fireworks go off, and his cheeks flush red at the gentle, brief touch of your lips to his cheek. "Thank you for the birthday present, Renji."

He makes sure to bring you to the local event and do the same thing each and every year after, if for nothing other than your sweet kiss.

[ishipgenfics]

You and Your Human: Part 5

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

You walk out of the shop with a bag full of books and perky ears. You haven't been this excited in a long time. You briefly consider telling your human what you bought, but quickly discard the idea. You have the opportunity to really surprise your human here-- you aren't going to waste it.

You hop up into the air, chirping in excitement, imagining the look on your human's face when it realizes you can finally speak its language.

Your human rumbles questioningly. Its rumble is a bit... flaky, the unpracticed sounds on a child, but it is understandable.

Well, if your human wants to practice Pyricese, who are you to argue? "Nothing," you say in your own tongue. "Just happy."

Your human nods, and smiles. You smile back. The gesture had felt odd at first, but you are beginning to grow more and more used to it.

Together, you head to the docks, where your soon-to-be employees are waiting. The pilot and the engineer appear to be mingling, while the scientist stands a little ways away.

You clap your paws to get attention. "Alright!" you say in Pyricese. "I have some papers here. Please sign them with your full name. Also, since most of us speak Pyricese it would be very helpful if you could tell me your pronouns." You repeat the statement in both Sirvilein and Universal Standard while passing out the forms.

"They/them, as you you know," says your pilot. They sign their name with fancy loops and flourishes.

"She/her," the Sirviles says. Her signature is written with a bright blue pen, like poison.

Your scientist hesitates. "Er... I don't know the words."

You jump up to gently tap them on the shoulder. To your relief, it works this time, and you fall back to the ground elegantly. "Just use it/its pronouns if you aren't sure."

The sentient shifts slowly, from bright lamp-light to low burning candle. "It/its," it says, pronouncing the words slowly and deliberately.

You collect up all the papers. "Excellent. Your employment is now legal." Or at least, you think to yourself, as legal as anything can be in a galaxy where laws change from one section of space to another.

Your human makes a soft sound, vaguely melodic in nature, and you remember the other thing you need to do. "Before we enter the ship..." you say. "There is something I need to tell you about my... business partner here."

Six pairs of eyes and one glowing shape turn to you. You shiver, fur puffed up. You'll be using it/its pronouns, since you are talking to a crowd. Your human will be able to understand you.

"My partner here," you say, taking a deep breath. "Is human."

There is an immediate reaction from the pilot and engineer, but none from the scientist, not even after you repeat it in Universal Standard. Odd.

Your human is tense. You step in front of it, rumbling reassuringly, hind legs prepared to jump onto its shoulder in case you need to get out fast.

"Well?" you say. "What do you think?" Being human isn't technically illegal in this part of the galaxy, so if they have a problem with it all they can do is leave. You hope.

The scientist shrugs. "I don't know what a 'human' is."

Oh. Well. That's helpful. "Just a species," you reply.

The scientist seems confused. "Okay? Of course I want to stay!"

You nod, realize that it won't understand that, and say, "Got it," before going back to the rest.

The Sirviles steps forward, facing your human. You try to move to block her, but your human pushes you gently to the side. It looks the Sirviles in the eyes.

"Do you want to hurt me?" the Sirviles finally says, in stuttered, heavily accented Pyricese.

Your human shakes its head back and forth, making its hair fly in the wind. "No."

"Promise?" the engineer says. You knows promises and deals are a big thing for Sirviles. Hopefully they carry the same weight for humans.

Your human does not break its stare. "I promise."

The Sirviles studies its face for a moment, then limps away. "Alright," she says to you, now speaking in Sirvilein. "I will join. Asssss long ass that human keepsss the deal."

You breathe a heavy sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Just one more to go. You turn to your hopefully-pilot. They are glancing back and forth between you and your human, wings twitching nervously.

"Are you sure its safe?" they say.

You think about it. Your human, who bares its teeth at everyone it meets, who survived a ship crash and days without food, who has accidently gave you bruises while playing.

Your human, who cries when it sees you hurt, who is as gentle with you as it can manage, who laughs at your jokes, who tries to be helpful even though it must be baffled by everything, who gets a determined look in its eyes when it is learning. Your human, who loves you.

"Yes," you say. "It is."

"Alright," your pilot says hesitantly. "I trust you."

It worked it. It actually worked. You can hardly believe it.

Reaching upwards, you grab onto your humans hand and head into the ship.

You had not really considered the personalities of your crew when hiring them, but as you start to work with them you begin to learn more and more about them, simply due to close proximity.

Your pilot is nervous. They need positive reinforcement when working, and do not handle uncertainty well. They are competent, and eager to please, and when push comes to shove they are able to improvise, which is good, since improvisation is a rather important trait for a pilot.

Your engineer you have spent the least time with. She is fairly self sufficient, needing only a few hours of explanation before being up and running. However, even though she doesn't need supervision in her work(and you hardly know a thing about engineering anyway), you still talk to her.

She collects coins, all kinds. You try to give them to her, if you are ever given a particularly rare coin as payment for a job. She never asks, but she hisses under her breath whenever she sees one she wants.

Hand in hand with the coins is her extensive knowledge of finances, which is extremely useful. She always knows if something is accepted by the wider galactic community, if it can be easily exchanged, or if the locals are trying to trick you by giving you something that they don't even consider valuable.

You spend the most time with the scientist. You have to, so you can explain things. And Saints there is a lot to explain. It doesn't know very much about the galaxy. In fact, it is so in awe of everything that you were worried at first you'd accidently hired a child. You don't think so though. After all, you were an adult when you first went to space and you were still in awe of everything. And your scientist is from an extremely closed off planet! It thought Universal Standard was the actual standard, for Saints sake. No wonder it's so shocked by everything.

It hasn't spent much time hanging out with the other crew members, as none of them speak either Universal Standard or the staticky buzzing language your scientist occasionally lapses into. If it wants to talk to them, it has to get you to translate.

You are working on teaching it Pyricese. It isn't very good yet, but it hasn't been too long, and not everyone has the same knack for languages as you.

Your human has been a little sad. At first you had worried that maybe it wasn't getting along with the rest of the crew. They might have accepted the fact that your human is... well, a human, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll like it for itself.

But you've seen it chatting with your engineer and your pilot, and they seem to get along well enough. Sometimes it even swaps new words it's learned with your scientist. So that can't be it.

One day, you can't stand it anymore. You make sure that everyone is working productively on something, and is unlikely to bother you, and then you, and then you corner your human.

"What is going on?" you say, straight to the point. You use full sentences instead of snippets, your human is progressing well enough that it should be able to understand you. It actually knows quite a lot of words by now; grammar structure is what it has the most trouble with. Still, it'll never learn if it doesn't practice.

"None!" your human protests. "I am fine!"

You raise an eyebrow, a human gesture you saw in the books you've been studying. You were worried about whether it would be properly visible under all the fur, but your human seems to get the gist of it. It slumps.

"You-speak no English, now"

You try to process the sentence. "Does that... upset you?"

Your human tenses up further. "Sorry! I know it is sense, all-speak Pyricese, I and you-speak English. I just miss it."

"Makes sense," you correct, before the reality of what your human says sinks it. You tilt your neck up to look into its eyes. "That isn't stupid at all. You have a right to want to hear your own language, and anyway you are very far from home. If you want me to speak... English, I will. I promise. I want you to be happy." That was right, English. That was what the book had said. You remembered the bookstore owner apologizing, saying that most of his information only came from one part of the planet. Luckily, it seemed that your human came from that part.

Your human almost certainly does not understand all the words. But it gets enough.

After that, you spent all your time working on learning more English. Or, not all your time, you still have work to do, but every free moment you can spare you are pouring over the books, trying to learn enough English to be able to make your human happy.

You cannot make yourself fully fluent, not yet, but one day you finish your imaginary conversation with yourself in English and decide that you have enough.

"Hello?" you call, and your human turns its head. You are in the cafeteria, after everyone else has already eaten. You wanted to have privacy for this.

"Hello?" your human parrots back, in English, and you are suddenly reminded of that very first week, of the first day you had worked up the courage to speak to your human.

How things have changed.

"I am learning," you say. "English, for you. I am not perfect yet, but I am pretty good. Having some trouble with tenses but--"

You don't get to finish your sentence, as before you can your human kneels down, tears in its eyes, and wraps itself around you fiercely. It is hard to breathe, but you don't try to get your human to unravel itself from you. You wouldn't dare.

"Thank you," it is mumbling over and over. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

You let yourself lean into the hug, now almost certain the tears are a sign of happiness and not grief. Your tail is wrapped around your humans ankle, your humans head leaning lightly on your shoulder.

You would have been happy to stay there forever and ever, just you and your human, a bundle of love and gratitude. But just then, your pilot entered the room.

You clear your throat, but quickly realize there is no way to look professional with a crying human clinging to you. "Is this important?"

Your pilot clicks their tongue. Their feathers are ruffled. "I'm afraid so, Captain. We're being hailed."