#Without Roque’s help

[sportbarcelona]

BARCELONA OPTIMISTIC ABOUT SIGNING BRAZILIAN GEM

[gotham--fc]

Locker Room Fun - A Hilary Knight Imagine

Me?? Two fics in one week?? Mindboggling

This is a request from ages ago for a Hilary and reader getting walked in on in the sailing again verse, which you can read part 1 part 2 and part 2.5 tbh this part can honestly be read without reading the other parts, so you know, you do you

this is really short and I hope it's not too choppy, I've been stuck for literally so long that I just said fuck it and finished it without trying to make it perfect so I hope you like it

“Hey,” Hilary comes up behind Y/N just as Y/N tugs her shirt over her head. Hilary’s hands on her bare waist makes her jump.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Y/N can hear the smirk in Hilary’s voice and she knows it’s not nothing. She barely restrained herself from jumping again when she felt Hilary’s lips on her neck.

“Hilary!” Y/N turns in Hilary’s arms and pushed her away, “We’re in the locker room!”

“So? No one else is here yet, it’s fine.”

“It is so not fine, anyone could walk in at any time!”

“Y/N, baby,” Hilary says, an adoring look in her eyes, “We’re two hours early for practice. Trust me when I say that no one is coming any time soon. It’ll be fine.”

Y/N knows they shouldn’t. She knows they shouldn’t do this at work or at least not right in the middle of the locker room. But… she has to admit Hilary has a point. They’re always the only ones to get here this early, most don’t show up for another hour.

And Hilary does look really pretty today.

Who is she kidding? Hilary looks really pretty every day.

Hilary is a really good kisser. Y/N knows this, Hilary knows this, everyone knows this. It’s no secret that Hilary can make Y/N forget every thought in her head just by kissing her. Y/N can’t help but get lost in Hilary and Hilary’s lips and Hilary’s hands and – really it’s not her fault. How was she supposed to hear the footsteps down the hallway and the door opening? If anything, Hilary should have been paying more attention. After all, this was her idea.

“Is this seriously what the two of you do every time you’re early for practice?”

Hilary jumps back. They both look sheepishly over at Abby Roque who’s standing unimpressed in the doorway. Y/N can feel her entire face and chest turning red.

“You have your own apartment for this shit, leave the locker room clean for the rest of us.”

Hilary clears her throat.

“We just felt like giving you a show.”

“Well don’t,” Abby says, “I enjoy not knowing what you two do when you’re alone.”

“We just came to get a skate in before practice,” Y/N says quietly, “That… we don’t… we don’t do that here every time. We just… got distracted.”

“Riiight, sure,” Abby says sarcastically.

“Oh come off it,” Hilary says, tossing a puck at Abby, “You’re just jealous ‘cause you’re not getting any.”

“Who’s not getting any?” Brianne Jenner says as she enters the locker room.

“Not Y/N and Hilary,” Abby smirks, “Y/N and Hilary sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Abby sings.

“I hate all of you,” Y/N glares at Hilary, “Especially you.” Hilary sputters in protest.

Y/N gets her gear on quickly and leaves the locker room, ignoring the teasing comments. She has a permanent blush on her face throughout the entire practice and she can’t look Abby or Jenner in the eye. But still, Y/N knows this won’t be the last time and the smirk Hilary gives her means she knows it’s not the last time either.

[dualdeixis]

[Image description: Digital drawings. First shows Captain Kaldena and Rai Mei in simple standing poses, drawn in outline. Second shows Kaldena and Temenos sitting beside each other at night, with firelight partially illuminating them. Kaldena is dressed casually in a red waistcoat and white shirt. She eats steamed rice from a small porcelain bowl, while Temenos only looks down at his own bowl without eating, as if lost in thought.

Third is a doodle of Ori gleefully holding up a newspaper and saying, "After 50 years,* Parti & Roque finally makes the correct decision to stop using a medieval-ass font in their logo. Why it took that long is still anyone's guess.**" Next to her is the old logo written in the blackletter-like Orsterran font and the new logo written in the modernized Solistian font. Beneath her is written, "*It has not been 50 years. **Partitio hired her to handle press releases despite her continual refusal to phrase things like a normal person." Temenos, sitting on a chair with crossed legs, steepled fingers, a shadow cast over his eyes, and a wide grin, says, "When they burned the library of U, the crowd cheered in horrible joy. They understood that there was something older than wisdom, and it was fire, and something truer than words, and it was ashes." Someone off-screen says, "Who let that guy in here." The last image is the Tweet that the doodle is based off of. Theo Fanning @TheoFanning Tweets: "After 50 years, Guitar Center finally makes the correct decision to stop using a guitar as a 'G' in their logo. Why it took that long is still anyone's guess." frog "Kid Omelas" kosaric @yurirando Quote Tweets: "when they burned the library of Alexandria the crowd cheered in horrible joy. They understood that there was something older than wisdom, and it was fire, and something truer than words, and it was ashes." End image description.]

their designs are so complicated help me + a night in ryu yields a rare moment of silent understanding and contentment + yeah

[gascon-en-exil]

As I wrap up my replay of Octopath Traveler II, I can't help but get ideas for Osvald/Partitio fics, because it's such a small ship (even within OT2's already small fandom) but one with such entertaining potential. So have some fic prompts based on my headcanons and assorted other thoughts; I'm not a fic writer so nothing will ever come of any of those, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to share them with the few other shippers out there.

Osvald returns to Frigit Isle in the postgame for (insert practical reason here) with Partitio in tow. He's confronted with the weight of his five years in prison coming back to him, and Partitio has to reckon with getting a firsthand look at the hell his lover went through. Angsty, of course.

(Based on my headcanon that Oresrush, like the US Wild West it's loosely based on, is an environment where men will have sex with each other but never discuss it publicly.) Papp and Partitio both have loving partnerships with other men, and even though their relationships are basically open secrets to everyone else father and son have never talked about it with each other. Osvald, more worldly but not very tactful, points this out when all four are at dinner or something; hilarity and awkwardness ensue. I imagine Roque's reaction to be disbelief that Partitio never even suspected despite having essentially grown up with two fathers.

Partitio realizes he has a daddy kink. Osvald finds this intellectually fascinating, and is happy to indulge. Extra points if this happens the first time that Partitio sees Osvald all cleaned up for the first time.

Some kind of divine intervention thing that runs with their respective connections to Alephan and Bifelgan, and the final story pairing those two.

Based on my headcanon about them living in New Delsta for a while in the postgame. Partitio goes on several dates with Agnea that are much covered by the press, but fail to start anything. Agnea has to help him figure himself out, and Osvald has to eventually realize that he'll have to be at least a bit expressive if he wants to be more than friends with benefits with Partitio.

La Belle et la Bête crossover/AU thing, similar to my Wicked Ferdibert (from Fire Emblem: Three Houses) concept only without any singing. Not necessarily taking anything from the Disney adaptations, hence the distinction. One could easily fold in Osvald's main story with Harvey and Elena and the One True Magic, while also letting Partitio keep his mercantile sensibilities and close relationship with his father. Basically, adapting Osvald's canon plot to fit into the AU rather than contorting the characters to fit any specific version of the AU's story.

[crazyunsexycool]

Is it a crime?

Chapter 5

Pairing: Mob Boss!Bucky Barnes x Mob Boss!Reader

word count: 5.0k

warnings:Bucky being a bit of a simp, teeth pulling (just one), knife use, heavy petting (If I forgot something please let me know)

series masterlist

Ch. 4

7 years ago There have been too many close calls recently. Pierce’s men were coming out of the woodwork trying to track you down and take you back. This time one of them had found you as you finished a job. There were enough people that hated Pierce and would either look the other way when they saw you or gave you odd jobs. It was enough to keep money in your pocket and allow you to keep moving. You couldn’t settle in one place for too long like you had in the sleepy town you were currently leaving.  It’s how you ended up in the bathroom at a truck stop at 3:00 am cleaning up some wounds. The last guy Pierce sent out almost managed to knock you out but at the last second you got the upper hand. You were throwing away the used supplies when you heard footsteps behind you.

“Are you ok?” 

You looked up at the owner of the voice. “I’m fine.” You said, hoping the woman would leave you alone.

“You’re bleeding. Did someone hurt you? Do you need help?” 

“I said I’m fine.” 

“I can stitch up that wound.” She insisted.

You turn to look at her. She was tall with tanned skin and dark hair and she looked genuinely concerned for you. “Back off.” 

You threw everything in the trash can and walked out. She followed.

“Listen if that doesn’t get treated properly you can get an infection.”

You looked over your shoulder as you turned the corner to walk out of the bathroom. “I said back off. If you don’t then uff-“ you walked right into someone as you stepped out. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t see you there… Y/N?”

You looked up and you couldn’t believe your eyes. “Jake?” You reached out to touch him. Maybe you were dying and you were hallucinating or something. 

Jake pulls you in for a hug, a bone crushing hug that has you cry out in pain. He pulls back holding you at arms length as his eyes look you over. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“Jensen, you know her?” The woman that had followed you out asked. 

“Yeah, she’s my best friend.” 

“Are you two done? We’ve got to head out.” Someone else spoke but you were too wrapped up in finally having someone you knew close that you didn’t pay attention to them. 

“Hey are you with me?” 

“Yeah, it’s just- it’s been so long since I’ve seen a friendly face. I’m so fucking tired JJ.” 

He hugged you again, softly this time and you returned the hug. Silently Jake leads you to a canary yellow hummer limousine and at some other time you would have found it hilarious but you weren’t sure what was happening. Jake introduced you to his team.

“And you are?” 

“Clay this is Y/N Y/L/N.”

“The mob princess?” Roque asked

“I’m not a princess.” You snapped.

“Sorry, we’ve heard a lot about you.” He held his hands up defensively. “Mostly from this one.”

“She’s my best friend, we grew up together and we need to help her.”

“Jensen, we can’t. We’re going after Max. We have enough on our plate.” 

“I don’t need help.”

“Are you joking? Look at you.”

“It was just a job. I’m doing just fine on my own.” you scoff.

“Nothing to do with Pierce’s men going after you?” 

You averted your eyes. Jake had a way of reading you that rivaled Bucky. 

“How much longer can you stay alone on the road? They’re going to catch up to you sooner or later. Join us.” Jake offered without even asking the others.

“No way, we don’t know her.” Clay spoke up.

“If she can’t come with us then I’m out.” 

You sat on a chair across from who everyone has nicknamed fake Jake. The resemblance was uncanny and if you didn’t know Jake as well as you did you would have thought this was him. He had been there since the early hours of the morning but you had still been dealing with Tommy at the club. Now you were here on two hours of sleep and not enough coffee. It was the perfect mix to have you feeling irritated at the idiot in front of you. 

“So fake Jake, what is your boss up to?” you ask. 

“My name isn’t Jake.” 

“You’re tied to a chair in a warehouse and your main concern is us getting your name right.” Roque smacks him across the back of his head. “Answer her question.”

“I don’t know.” 

“Wrong answer.” 

“Were you going to do any other jobs for him?” you sigh. “Was Rumlow going to have you impersonate Jake again?” 

He doesn’t answer, instead you see his jaw move around. You narrow your eyes, it’s an odd movement and then you remember.

“Open his mouth right now!” Roque moves and grabs his face, forcing him to open his mouth. You grab a pair of pliers and a flashlight and turn it on to look into his mouth. 

He tried to move around to keep you away from what you inevitably found, a molar replaced with a single dose of cyanide. With the pliers you pulled until it was out. You inspected it and scoffed before setting it down on the table. Roque lets your guest’s face go as he inspects what you pulled from his mouth.

“What the hell is this princess?” Roque asked with a disgusted look on his face.

“Hydra’s insurance policy. It’s a cyanide capsule hidden under a fake tooth. All members are required to get one and if they’re caught by police or their enemies with no way out they’re expected to use them. It’s the same trick Pierce has had in his playbook for years.”

“You don’t have one of these do you.”

“Of course not. But it does let us know something important, isn’t that right fake Jake?” You look back at the man in front of you. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anything and if I did I wouldn’t tell you anyways. Pierce scares me but you’re just some little bitch playing pretend.” 

You smile as you get up and walk over to the table and grab some brass knuckles and a knife. Slipping them on your fingers and admiring them the same way you would a ring before walking back to the imposter. You connect your fist with his jaw, a grunt flying from his mouth. With a quick movement you drive the knife into his thigh and twist it. He yells a string of curses before looking up at you before you do it again. 

“You should be scared of me, who do you think taught me how to do this? And I’m so much worse than he is. Pierce is set in his ways and doesn't like change. With him you’d be dead by now, but we’re just getting started.” You smirk and punch him in the ribs. “Tell me what you know.” 

“I don’t know a lot.” 

You raised an eyebrow as you twirled your knife around. His chin trembled as his eye followed the movement. As you move to stab him again he fights against his restraints, so much so that he falls over.

“No, wait! Wait please. I’ll tell you.” 

You lower your hand and sit down.

“I want to know everything you do.”

“You can’t go in there without an appointment.” A petite blonde stood in front of you, her arms crossed. You thought it was cute that she believed that was enough to stop you from walking in. 

“Well, if you would have scheduled me in I wouldn’t have to barge into Stark’s office now would I?” 

You step around her, Jake following close behind looking a bit apologetic at Stark’s secretary. It might possibly cost her the job but you have more important things to worry about. You don’t knock instead just turning the doorknob and pushing it open. Inside you find Tony and Nat pressed up against each other. You smirked as they scramble to put some space in between them.

“Sorry, was I interrupting something?” 

“No.” Nat scoffs as she straightens herself up. 

“Well then you should let Tony’s dick know.” 

Tony does his best to hide the bulge in his pants before sitting down. He glares at you as he grabs his office phone and calls his secretary a quick you’re fired is all he says before hanging up. Nat excuses herself and closes the door on her way out. 

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, I’ve tried to set up a meeting with you but you’ve been busy. So I decided to just show up to see if you could squeeze me in.” 

“Why?” 

“We’ve got very interesting information and as a courtesy I thought that I would come to let you know that you have a few hydra members working for you.” 

“There’s no fucking way that there are any hydra members here. I do thorough background checks on all of my employees before I hire them.”  He glares at you as he leans forward resting his arms on top of his desk.

“Have you ever checked on any of your employees after you’ve hired them?”

He doesn’t respond.

“Didn’t think so.” You smile. “I happen to have proof if you don’t believe me. Your employee, Garrett Warren who looks a lot like Jake, was working for you for six months when Rumlow approached him. Rumlow had him dress up like Jake recently and sneak into Barnes’ warehouse to try and set us up. He gave me a lot more information this morning after our one-on-one.”

“Ok so you took care of Warren, what do you want?”

“Warren started recruiting others that work here. I suggest you clean house.” You pull a piece of paper out of your purse and place it on the desk. 

“What is this going to cost me?” 

“Oh Tony, why would you think I’m going to charge you?” You smile sweetly.

“Because you are your mother’s daughter.” 

You look at him curiously. What did your mom have to do with any of it? 

“Let’s just say you’ll owe me one.” 

He rolls his eyes before grabbing the list you gave him. You see his eyes scanning the names, his jaw clenching more the further down he went. 

“I want to talk to Warren first.” 

“You can drop by whenever you want. Meanwhile Jake here has the information on the program Warren installed within your company.”

“Now you’re saying I don’t know what software is running in my systems?” 

“I was able to get into your servers in about a minute, Warren left a back door open when he tried to delete footage from the security cameras at Barnes’ warehouse.” Jake supplies. 

“Like I said, I want to talk to Warren first. Then we can talk about that favor.” 

“Deal.” You get up from your seat and start heading out with Jake following you. “Make sure the door is locked next time, Stark.” 

“Get the fuck out, Y/L/N.” He says with slight amusement. 

Bucky had been in his office all day, as expected. If he wasn’t giving his own men orders and keeping his territory free of any hydra men, Bucky was handling his father’s men. Everyday more responsibility fell on Bucky, still his father refused to give up control completely. If he wasn’t in some type of fight with people that wanted to do harm to him or his family, he was cleaning up his father’s fuck ups. Like at this very moment where he was moving money around because his father spent thousands on who knows what. He had been smart enough to separate his own money from his father’s early on and invested it in his own business deals both legal and not. With it, Bucky had been branching out and financially supporting his mother and sister. It was one responsibility he would gladly take from George's hand. Still his moves needed to be cautious and calculated, Bucky had plans to completely remove himself from under his father’s thumb and have the freedom he so desperately wanted. 

“What are you looking at?” Steve’s voice interrupted the solitude Bucky liked so much. He glared at his right hand man for just a moment before accepting the glass of scotch Steve had placed on the desk in front of him. 

“The contract.” 

“Again?”

“There has to be a way out of it.” Bucky said as he grabbed his drink and drank it in one big gulp. 

He hadn’t looked at the contract in months. It’s what he had signed when he agreed to marry Dot. There had been a lot of back and forth between himself, George and Dot’s father as to what the contract should include. After months of arguing everyone agreed and Bucky signed his life away. Back then he thought he would never see you again and if he had to get married at the insistence of his father he might as well get something out of it. It’s why he had made his own demands. But now that you’re back and he has a chance to be with you again he couldn’t care less about the contract and his requests, he would find another way for his requests to be fulfilled. Bucky knew if he asked you to back him up you would but he wanted to get out of this himself. He was tired of needing someone to bail him out of his own problems and he wanted to do this on his own to prove he could do it. 

“Why don’t you call her and ask to see her?” 

“No, I can’t be distracted. I want to figure this out first.” 

“It’s already late, give it a rest Buck. Call Y/N I bet she’ll want to see you too. I’ll send this to Murdock to look over it. If anyone can find anything it’ll be him and Foggy.” 

“Fine, I’ll go. Worry about this tomorrow though.” Bucky said as he grabbed his phone with the intention of messaging you.

You had just finished showering and getting dressed with the intention of getting some actual sleep when your phone buzzed.

Bucky: busy? 

Y/N: not for you.

Bucky: I want to see you

Y/N: where?

Bucky: the hideout.

You smiled as you replied that you’d be there in 20 minutes.

15 years old

It had been one month since Bucky had asked you out on a date and that same night had asked you to be his girlfriend officially. Your father found out a few days later and although he assured you it was ok you suddenly found that you had more bodyguards than before. It was a precaution he said, but really it was to make sure you and Bucky spent as little time alone as possible. But what your father wasn’t aware of was both of your abilities to sneak around. It was how you found yourself standing in front of an abandoned building in the Barnes territory on a Saturday at 11:00 pm. You had checked the note that Bucky had given you earlier to make sure you had the correct address as you eyed the chain link fence that surrounded the property. A large no trespassing sign hung in front of you and for a moment you thought this was some kind of prank before you heard your name being called. 

“You made it.” Bucky said with a smile. He placed a kiss on your cheek  and his arm around your shoulder once he stopped next to you. 

“I thought you were pranking me. This building is off limits, why are we here?” 

“It’s a surprise. And it’s not off limits, it belongs to my dad,” He grabbed your hand and pulled you toward the alley and then to the fire escape. “Here, can you hold this?” He handed you a rather heavy backpack before pulling down on the ladder. He grabbed the bag again and hung it over his shoulder before motioning for you to go first.

It was quick work for both of you to get up the first ladder before Bucky stopped you. He made quick work of opening a window so that you could use the regular stairs. With his hand intertwined with yours he led you up to the final floor. Bucky covered your eyes and led you through a door at the end of the hall. 

“Surprise.” He said quietly as his hands fell from your eyes revealing what he had brought you for. 

The space seemed like it was meant to be an office but it lay empty. Well almost empty. There were bean bag chairs and lanterns everywhere casting a soft glow as well as a small coffee table with a radio sitting on top. The building was tall enough that you could see a good part of Brooklyn from the huge windows opposite the door. There was a broom in the corner along with some big black trash bags. It’s obvious he had cleaned up.

“What is this place?” 

“My dad bought this building a while back and plans for it fell through. He can’t seem to sell it to anyone. I thought we could use it. It can be our hideout, you know, for when our dads get annoying.” he said with a grin as he walked further into the room. He took off the backpack he brought with him and looked back up as he pulled something out. “I brought you a blanket, I know you always get cold and snacks.” 

Bucky held out the blanket and you moved towards him, snatching the blanket and taking a seat in one of the bean bag chairs. He sat next to you and offered you a small pink box. A cupcake from your favorite bakery. You thanked Bucky as you grabbed one and he took the other. He kept his eyes on you as you continued to look around.

“I thought we could make it nicer, you know. Bring in some more stuff to decorate it however you want.” 

“We’ll make it the perfect place.” you said with a smile.

The smile that appeared on your face made your cheeks hurt as you stepped out of your car. It was obvious the building had been renovated but that couldn’t take away all the memories made there. The parties Bucky would have there when your parents wouldn’t allow you to have one at home, the many, many times you would sneak out and meet him there after not being able to see each other for days or weeks at a time. You stepped onto the sidewalk as you admired the building. The chain link fence was long gone but you wondered if Bucky would have you climb the fire escape for old times sake. The front door of the building opens to reveal Bucky. He waves you over and you realize for the first time you hadn’t seen him dressed so casually since you came back. You were glad to have come dressed comfortably after seeing him. He had on a black t-shirt under a leather jacket and dark wash jeans. His eyes were bright, his smile mirrored yours and he looked good. So good it should be illegal. 

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Come on in.” He opens the door wider to let you in. 

“Wow.” Was all you managed to get out. The lobby was completely renovated. There was tile on the floor, the walls were painted and everything looked new. There was some furniture covered with plastic sitting around. “Are you actually using this building?” 

“Not yet, but I’m making it my new office.”

“I thought George was going to sell it.” you said as you walked further in.

“He did, to me. I just couldn’t let this place go.” 

You looked at him over your shoulder, his eyes were on you but somehow it was like he wasn’t really looking at you. It was more like he was reliving memories of your time spent here. He smiled sweetly at you when he realized you were looking at him and extended his hand, which you happily took.

“Come on, I’ve got a surprise.” 

“I’ve heard that before.” you chuckled as he pulled you towards the new elevators. 

Bucky lifted your hand to his lips and placed a quick kiss on it as you waited for the elevator to stop at the last floor. When the doors opened you let Bucky pull you along the newly renovated but still familiar hallway. At the end was the room you spent a lot of your time in. The door was closed and a small private sign was screwed on to it. Bucky pulled a key out of his pocket and gave it to you to unlock the door. 

A small gasp escapes you as you take in the room. The windows still gave you that view you had missed. Long gone are the bean bag chairs, they’re now replaced with some couches. A small bar was on one side of the room, shelves sitting high above it filled with pictures and memories from when you were younger. The room was dimly lit and inviting. Opposite the bar there were a few bookshelves and a music system. It had everything you and Bucky had talked about adding to liven up the place. 

Bucky’s arm’s wrap around you from behind as he rests his chin on your shoulder. You fall back into him as you bring your hands to cover his. 

“Do you like it?” 

“It’s perfect.” You didn’t have to look at him to know he was smiling. He lets go of you and moves his hand to your lower back, guiding you into the room. 

“Want a drink?” 

“Sure, do you have wine?” 

“Absolutely.” He says as you take a seat and he moves behind the bar. A few minutes later he’s handing you a glass of your favorite wine as he sits down next to you.

You take a sip and savor it. “How did you know this was my favorite?”

“That’s top secret.” 

“You asked Sarah?” 

“I asked Sarah.” He sighed as you giggled. Bucky sat back, getting comfortable and as he rested his arm against the back of the couch you moved to lean against him. You rest your head on his shoulder as you get comfortable yourself. 

You both sat in comfortable silence for a while. Every once in a while you felt Bucky place a chaste kiss on your forehead, or you would hold his free hand. But the longer you sat there, the more the one question you wanted to ask him kept nagging at you. You sit up and you drink the last of your wine before placing the glass on the coffee table in front of you. 

“I need to ask you something.”

“Anything.” 

“Do you love her?” You ask cautiously. It scared you more than any situation you’ve ever been in. If he said yes you weren’t sure what you would do with yourself. But you saw the way his face twisted in anger.

“No, absolutely not. I can’t even stand being in the same room as her,” Bucky sat up straighter and turned to look at you. “The only reason I’m even engaged to her is because of a deal my father made with her’s.”

“What kind of deal?”

“If it’s ok I’d really prefer not to talk about it right now. I’ve spent all day trying to find a way out of it.” 

“Ok, why are you trying to get out of it?” 

“Well, you see there is this woman I know. She’s beautiful, sexy, intelligent, a total badass. Don’t even get me started with how hot she is when she handles a weapon.” Bucky wiggles his eyebrows and you smile. “Anyways she just so happens to come back into my life recently and I really want her back. I can’t really have her back fully if I’m engaged to someone else.” 

“She sounds like a lucky woman to have your heart like that.”

“I like to think I’m the lucky one. Hopefully I have her heart too.” He said as he moved closer to you. 

“I’m pretty sure you do. She’s be kind of dumb to not love someone like you. Especially if you’re doing something like that for her.”

“Well, I’d do anything for her.” Bucky added before his lips barely touched yours.

“Really?” 

“Mhm.” 

“Dance with me?” You whispered against him. Bucky let out a small annoyed groan but it stopped quickly when you pressed your lips to his. It was too fast to even be considered a kiss but it was still there. You got up and went to the shelf where there was a new radio and turned it on, searching until you found a random slow song. It was a well known fact that Bucky doesn’t dance but that didn’t mean that you wouldn’t ask him to once in a while. You thought you would have to ask him again but you were pleasantly surprised that he was up and moving the coffee table. 

You walked over to him, wrapping your arms around each other and began to sway to the music.

“You know this means I get to feel you up now right?” 

“You can feel up whatever you want, baby.”

“Is that right?” you nod in response before you feel his hands move from your waist to the small of your back until he slid them over your ass, giving you a quick squeeze. “That can get you in trouble.” 

“What kind of trouble?”

“Only the best kind.” 

You give a little hum of acknowledgement as you press your body against his. Resting your head against his shoulder and hiding your face in the crook of his neck, Bucky takes the opportunity to hum along with the song that filled the air. He swayed side to side while enjoying having you in his arms. That was until he felt your lips on his neck. Little nips and kisses left behind in a trail up his cheek. 

“What are you doing?” he whispers.

“Making up for lost time.” 

The words had barely escaped your lips when you felt Bucky lift you. Your legs wrapped around him as he walked back to the couch and gently placed you down before settling between your legs. That was one thing you loved about him. No matter what was going on, he was always so gentle with you. His touch, his love. No matter the things he’d done or seen, not even the abuse he’d survived at the hands of his father could break him. There was no doubt that Bucky could be cruel and vicious if needed, you had seen it on a number of occasions and heard about it in the years after you had been driven out of New York. 

But right now, in this moment where it was just you and him wrapped up in each other he was the man you knew. His eyes were bright and his smile soft. It was what you remembered from before this mess. Bucky hovered above you, just like he had so many times before in the same exact room. Your hands had moved from around his neck to cup his cheek, you couldn’t help but study his face. You’d notice how much he’s changed. The little scars here and there most likely from fights that made his face their permanent home. The stubble that he had started to let grow out some. His lips, pink and inviting. Before you could make the move he lowered his head. His lips crashing against yours. They were just as you remembered, maybe even better. There was no fight for dominance when his tongue slipped between your parted lips because your trust in him ran so deep you would give him control whenever he asked for it. 

His hands were another story, somehow calculated and determined as they followed the path along your body as they did so many times before but also eager to relearn what made you putty in his hands. It was now his turn to move to your neck, kissing his way down until he found that spot that had you weak and moaning for him. You were a mess under him, your hands were in his hair or gripping his biceps. Bucky’s hands slide under your shirt and you shudder at the cool sensation of his left hand as it inches up to your chest. He groans as you roll your hips against his hardening length. Cursing under his breath he pulls away, sitting up and looking down at you. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t want it to be like this.”

You sit up and place a hand on his chest and moving up to his neck, you pull him down for one more kiss. Bucky rests his forehead against yours while keeping his eyes closed. 

“You have no idea how bad I want you, bug. But I’m not going to make you feel like the other woman.” 

“I know.” You smile up at him. “Just know that I want you too.” 

“You’re going to make me change my mind if you say things like that.” 

“A girl can try. Come on, we can at least cuddle right?” 

“Yeah, we can do that.” He answers as he sits back down. Bucky gets comfortable against the arm rest before you move to lay against him. 

The radio fills the comfortable silence, Bucky plays with your hair and you feel safe enough to want to drift off into sleep. It’s the first time in a long time where you don’t feel like you have to carry the weight of everything on your shoulders alone. Bucky’s here with you, keeping you safe and warm. He mumbles sweet nothings in your ear and promises of a new future together once everything is over. Your eyes close, there is a smile on your lips as you savor the small moment of peace you have with the man you love.

Completely unaware of the rushed footsteps heading your way.

Ch. 6

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[grapefruit-personified]

I'd be interested in hearing about the racial and socioeconomic disparities in hockey.

Ohhh buddy okay, now I want to state the info I have is mainly based on the US hockey system however a lot can be applied to Canada hockey.

So firstly it’s important to acknowledge that hockey is white it just is. Let’s focus on the women’s national teams to give examples A. Cause that’s what I’m most familiar with and B. It’s a small pool so easier to explain. Please any of my lovely hockey friends please correct me on any demographic info I may have incorrect. On the USWNT there is zero black players there have been no black players on a USWNT Hockey roster ever and a soul indigenous player our lovely Abby Roque sadly Abby has only really gotten her footing in the team in the past two or so years meaning up until then the team had been solely white. Now this isn’t shocking really. Hockey is an extremely expensive sport making it inaccessible to many, it also has little outreach. I’ll use my local team for example they do inline street hockey clinics in the community the community is predominantly black young boys. Now they host these clinics which is great they however do nothing to expand these kids interest or desire to learn more so many of these kids are left with the want to learn more without the financial stability to do so leaving many of them without a way to grow meaning they leave the sport all together. USA hockey will host clinics these however are for kids already invested in the sport which does little to help kids interested but without the means.

Up until 2021 there had never been an all black line in an NHL game (thank you Tampa for being the first and hopefully helping young black kids see that this is a sport for them to) the NHL itself is riddled with homophobia,sexism, ableism and racism making it an unwelcoming space for many and sadly a lot of this behavior comes from the fan base making it not the just teams that feel unwelcoming but the fan groups as well. Would you want to be in an environment where a lot of the fans feel unwelcoming?

Canada hockey is in a similar boat having Sarah Nurse be the only player of color on the team. Now I’m not a hundred percent sure what Canada hockey is doing to improve diversity I have seen and heard that they are definitely working on inclusion.

And probably the biggest issue when it comes especially to women playing hockey, there is no sustainable professional league within North America, there is the PWHPA which we support in this household it’s making major moves towards a proper league. There is also the PHF which is just a no they have teams playing in literal shopping malls, players and management have to work full time jobs on top of playing hockey “professionally” this is just unsustainable. The women in that league deserve much better.

So basically Hockey especially Women’s hockey is very much in a place that Women’s soccer was back in the 1990’s - 2010’s that’s why it is something me and many others such as @footygirl114 @usahockeybutmakeitgay @good-f0r-her and @gotham--fc are trying to expand and spread across this platform. The more people engage with particularly the PWHPA and women’s hockey as a whole the more opportunities they will have. Also the more this community engages with hockey as a whole the closer it gets to being even just a little more diversified.

[startrekprodigyfan]

Vice Admiral's Log, Stardate

61368.6. Today was a difficult day. With the Protostar in the Neutral Zone, we could not continue pursuit without violating our treaty with the Romulans.

But it became clear the situation was not so simple...

Roque factions within the Romulan Tal Shiar were willing to do anything to steal the dangerous technology supposedly aboard the Protostar. Admiral Jellico has ordered me to disable Chakotay's ship, should it threaten to fall into their hands.

Commander Tysess and Ensign Asencia both proved bold in their counsel - but ultimately, Starfleet's orders superseded.

Enabling a war with the Protostar's destructive potential is not an option.

It was a miracle the outlaws aboard the Protostar managed to escape. I take no pleasure in violence, and am glad it did not come to that. Our last hope of finding Chakotay lies with that ship.

Still, I can't help but wonder what the Tal Shiar's interest in such weaponry could lead to... and what intel they gained from this.

[whumpdoyoumean]

Whumptober #23

xxx hold him down

Clay can’t help but enjoy his surroundings as he gets a fire started. They’d completed their assignment early, and now it’s just a matter of waiting. Ordinarily, waiting is one of the worst things to be doing in this line of work. But as far as exfil points go, he really can’t complain. The tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific is lush and green, surrounded by crystal blue water and, best of all, it’s uninhabited. They’d found a small clearing a little ways into the trees to set up camp, and now it’s just thirty-eight hours of peace and quiet. After the week they’ve had, he thinks the team has earned it. 

The fire is just beginning to crackle to life when he hears a commotion from the beach. He doesn’t think anything of it at first; the guys had gone down to the water to wash off the grime, and he wouldn’t be surprised if they’d descended into rough housing. As the noise moves closer, though, it’s obvious that it’s not the fun kind of ruckus, and Clay stands. 

Pooch is the first to stumble into the clearing, eyes wide. “Jensen’s hurt. Cougar says we need to get hot water.”

“What the hell happened?” Clay asks, already moving toward their bags to pull out the mess kit while Pooch gathers their hydration packs.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

That’s when the other three break through the trees, Cougar and Roque supporting Jensen between them. The young man’s not putting any weight on his right leg. From the way Pooch was acting, Clay was half expecting to see Jensen with a limb dangling, or a chunk out of him from a shark bite. He can’t stop a small relieved smile from creeping onto his face. 

“What, you twist an ankle soldier?”

“I wish.” Jensen’s voice is low and tight, and there’s no trace of his usual sarcasm or humor. Now that they’re closer, Clay can see how pinched his expression is, the sweat beading his brow. 

And then he looks over at Cougar, and his blood runs cold. The sniper’s face is deadly serious. 

“Stonefish,” he says. 

Clay doesn’t know much about marine wildlife, but he knows about those. “Oh, shit.” Suddenly the hot water makes sense. And the urgency.

“Where are we with that hot water?” he calls over to Pooch as Roque and Cougar lower Jensen to the ground.

“I’ve got a pot on the fire,” Pooch responds, while Cougar grabs his pack from the pile.

Jensen lets out a low groan, and Roque sits on the ground next to him. “How we doin’, J?”

“Hurts,” Jensen grinds out.

Clay sees Cougar’s shoulders stiffen slightly and he moves quicker, pulling out his IFAK. Clay moves to his side, keeping an eye on Jensen. 

“What can I do?” he asks. 

Cougar pulls three more items from his pack--his multitool, canteen, and a knife, and then stands, looking Clay in the eye. “Your flask.”

Clay nods, pulling his flask out of the front pocket of his pack before following the sniper over to where Roque and Jensen are. Both look up at Cougar’s approach, Jensen’s eyes widening as they land on the knife in Cougar’s left hand. 

“What-what’s that for?”

“I have to remove the spine.”

Jensen’s face goes pale. “You sure?”

Cougar busies himself opening his IFAK, and Clay can tell he’s deliberately ignoring the question. He and Jensen are close, and Clay knows this isn’t easy for him. Cougar pulls out his pill pack and tears it open, putting several in Jensen’s hand. Jensen swallows them without question.

“Lay him down.” Roque helps Jensen into a lying position while Cougar opens his flask and pours alcohol over his knife blade. He doesn’t look up when he says, “Keep his foot still.”

Roque positions himself near Jensen’s leg, putting weight on his hip and thigh. Clay props Jensen’s foot in his lap, then puts one hand on his heels and one one his toes, holding him firmly. Cougar uncaps his canteen and pours water over Jensen’s foot. The man hisses in pain. 

“Cougs--” he begins, but Cougar is already moving, putting his knife point in the middle of Jensen’s foot. Jensen jerks with a cry, and Clay does his best to keep his foot steady. 

“Easy, Jensen,” Roque says. “Try not to move.”

Clay looks at Cougar. “We got him.”

Cougar nods, then continues his work, making an inch-long incision in the bottom of Jensen’s foot. Jensen is staring straight up, his jaw clenched, breath coming in short bursts through flared nostrils, and Clay can feel him trembling, but he manages to stay still. Cougar sets the knife to the side and pulls out his multi-tool, opening it up and grabbing the flask again. Clay’s stomach turns as he watches Cougar pour alcohol over the needle-nose pliers.

“Now the hard part,” Cougar says. Clay tightens his grip and sees Roque do the same as Jensen lets out a thin, desperate, “What?”

Jensen only screams once before he faints from the pain, and that buys Cougar enough time to get the spine out of his foot. It amazes Clay how much agony can come from such a tiny thing. Now that Cougar’s finished, Roque shifts so he’s sitting behind Jensen, then pulls the man up into a sitting position in front of him. Jensen groans, his head moving against Roque’s chest, and his eyes flutter open. He grimaces immediately but doesn’t say anything, clearly exhausted. Clay turns to Cougar.

“What now?”

Cougar nods toward where Pooch is sitting, heating the water over the fire. 

“How’s that water looking, soldier?” Clay asks.

Pooch dips a finger into the pot and pulls it out quickly. “Hot.”

“Good.” He grabs a shirt from the pile of clothes the men had made before thundering down to the beach and uses it to grab the hot edge of the pot (glorified pan, really) and carries it over to Jensen and Cougar, setting it down next to Jensen.

“What’s that for?” Roque asks. 

“Hot water helps weaken the venom,” Clay answers. Roque looks at him questioningly, one eyebrow quirked up. “What? I did an op with some Australians once.” He turns his attention to Jensen’s foot, noting with concern how rapidly it’s begun to swell, and lifts it carefully into the hot water. 

Jensen’s leg twitches and he makes a sound in the back of his throat. “Fuuuck.”

“Sorry,” Clay says sincerely. “Hang in there.” He straightens and turns to Cougar, who’s staring at the ground, his jaw working. “Hey, Cougs.”

The sniper startles slightly and looks up. Clay nods toward the edge of the clearing, then walks that direction Cougar following him. 

“You okay?” he asks quietly once they’re a little ways away from the group. Cougar doesn’t look at him, just nods once. Without his usual cowboy hat, his damp, wavy hair falls down over his face, hiding his eyes. Clay turns his head to the side, leaning forward a little. “Hey, look at me.”

Cougar raises his head reluctantly and Clay locks eyes with him. 

“Are you okay?” he repeats. 

Cougar nods again. “Si.”

“Good. Because you and I both know that he’s in for a long couple of days. It’s gonna be rough. If at any point the answer to that question changes, you step away and you take five, understood, soldier?”

Cougar stares at him for a second, just breathing, and then he says, “Si, boss.”

Clay holds his gaze for one more second before giving him a clap on the shoulder. “Good.”

Just then, Jensen lets out a loud cry. Cougar is running before Clay can react, and then he’s running, too. 

“Hey! Hey, easy, J!” Roque is saying, and Pooch is standing to one side, hands on the back of his head as he watches, helpless, as Jensen writhes in pain. 

“We’ll need more hot water, Pooch,” Clay says, and then kneels in front of Jensen, putting a hand on his good leg. “What’s happening? Talk to me, Jensen.”

“It’s--it’s bad, boss. Really bad.”

His whole right leg from the knee down is swollen, now, and he’s sweating bullets, his face ashen, eyes glassy.

“I can feel him shaking,” Roque says. There’s a fear in his eyes that Clay rarely sees. “And he’s clammy.”

“Caffeine,” Cougar says suddenly. 

“Caffeine.” Clay is already moving to his pack. “Okay.” He doesn’t know why caffeine, but he trusts Cougar. It takes him a second, but he finds his small packet of caffeine pills, and he jogs them over to the others, handing them to Cougar. 

“Wha-will that help with pain?” Roque asks. 

Cougar shakes his head. “Blood pressure.”

He pours the two pills out of the packet and grabs his canteen, then kneels in front of Jensen, murmuring quietly in Spanish as he puts the pills in the man’s mouth and then holds the canteen up to his lips, carefully helping him to drink. Clay’s surprised that Jensen is able to get them down; it’s obvious that he’s in agony, and he’s looking pretty out of it, eyes half-lidded and wandering. Small groans escape his lips every few seconds, and he squirms uncomfortably against Roque. Roque, whose tough-guy facade is currently full of cracks. 

“Roque. Let’s trade places,” Clay says. “You need to get dressed, anyway; it’ll be dark soon and the last thing we need is you freezing.”

“Let me,” Cougar says quickly, already backing toward the pile of clothes and throwing on his shirt and vest.

Roque seems grateful for the change, and he slips his hands under Jensen’s armpits and stands, holding the man while Cougar sits down behind him. 

“Hey, Pooch,” Clay calls, turning to the man crouched at the fire. “Go get dressed.”

“But the water--” 

“I’ve got the water, go get dressed.” Pooch nods and joins Roque by the sandy clothes pile. 

Clay takes off his coat, grateful that he’d dressed in layers for once, and drapes it over Jensen, tucking it around his shoulders. 

“How we feelin’, soldier?”

At first he’s afraid that Jensen hadn’t heard, but then the young man’s lips part and he says, voice strained, “Like…like my leg’s on fire…” He blinks heavily, and his eyes roll up to meet Clay’s. “‘m I dyin’?”

“No!” Clay says, too quickly. He tries to cover with a smile. “Don’t be so damn dramatic. Just gotta change the water out. You’ll be fine.”

He moves to the water that’s on the fire, relieved when it turns out to be hot. He dumps the cooled water out of the pot, then brings the freshly heated water and pours it over Jensen’s foot. He barely responds this time, his jaw clenching and unclenching while his lashes flutter. He’s still sweating like crazy, and his breathing is noticeably labored. 

“Hey.” Clay reaches forward and grips Jensen’s shoulder. “I said you’ll be fine. You hear me?”

The young man doesn’t answer, his barely-open eyes moving aimlessly. 

“Jensen!” Clay barks, using his best colonel voice, heart sinking when  it doesn’t get the desired response (or any response).

“We’ve got flares.” Clay turns at the sound of Pooch’s voice. “We could send one up. That’s gotta be faster than waiting for ex-fil.”

“Yeah, great idea Pooch. What Jensen could really use right now is a-a bunch of pirates. Or fuckin’ shark poachers. Or maybe we’ll get lucky, and it’ll be the guy Jensen just stole classified intel from!”

“What, you have any better ideas?” Pooch steps forward, closing the space between himself and Roque, staring up at the man who’s easily got three inches on him.

“Guys,” Clay says. Roque is right, but now’s not the time to be taking sides. “There’s probably not even anyone close enough to--”

“Yeah, but if there is--” Pooch begins, and Roque groans loudly. 

“If there is, it could be anyone. You could get all of us killed, man, get your head out of your ass!”

Pooch glares, shoulders squaring. “This is Jensen we’re talking about, or do you not care?”

Roque’s face darkens, and Clay knows that look all too well.

“Guys!” 

They both ignore him, and Clay’s getting ready to break up a fight when Jensen lets out a sharp cry, his arms curling around his stomach as he leans forward and vomits.

“Fuck,” Roque breathes, turning away with a grimace, and Pooch just stares as Jensen is sick again.

“There’s gotta be something I can do besides boiling water,” he says. 

“You think fighting Roque is gonna help?”

Pooch’s shoulders sink a little. “No.”

“The fire needs fuel. Roque, you go with him.” 

The man looks like he wants to argue, but he finally nods, and he and Pooch stomp off into the woods. Either they’ll talk and figure it out, or they’ll beat the shit out of each other but at least it’ll be far enough away that Clay doesn’t have to deal with it. He waits until they’re out of sight before he turns to Cougar. Jensen is leaning against him again, eyes closed, and Clay can see the tremors running through his body. 

“Cougar, what’s the prognosis here?”

Cougar looks up at him. “Probably it will get worse before it gets better.”

Clay lets out a long exhale. “Jesus.” He doesn’t know what worse looks like, and he doesn’t want to know. Even unconscious, Jensen is letting out pained sounds, his right leg twitching. 

Clay remembers the day Jensen showed up, all spiky hair and dorky glasses and stupid jokes and technobabble to hide his nerves. He’d thought then that the kid would definitely die out here, and was promptly proven wrong. The techie’s strength and fast thinking under pressure have continued to surprise him since. He’s had no trouble keeping up with the rest of them. And he’s survived his fair share of terrifying shit.

And now this. Stepping on a poisonous fish while waiting on extraction. 

What a stupid fucking way for it to happen.

“He better not die.” He says it mostly to himself, but Cougar answers anyway, his steady fingers running idly through Jensen’s sweaty hair.

“Ya lo sé.”

Clay lets out a long, exhausted sigh. It’s gonna be a long day and a half, and there’s nothing to do but hope and wait. 

Waiting is one of the worst things to be doing in this line of work.

xxx 

[beantothemax]

What was supposed to be an innocent prank escalated to... This.

He screamed and pounded on the door till his lungs and hands hurt. Normally, he could tolerate getting locked outside. But it was the rainy season. What would have otherwise been a perfectly sunny day was cold, wet and dark.

“Dad! Let me in!” Partitio cried.

His father pretended not to hear him and didn’t open the door. Finally, Partitio gave up. He fell to the doorstep. No sound left his mouth as he cried. He had already torn his throat to shreds, shrieking to be let inside, just breathing hurt.

Why was his father like this? A disagreement over a joke turned to an argument, which turned to a beating and ended with Partitio sitting outside in the rain. Ever since his mother passed, his father had been acting strange. First he impulse bought several acres of land, then he took out every negative emotion on him. He was all Partitio had, there was no one he could go to for help, no mother to defend him during arguments.

At the thought, he got an idea and made his way down the hill to town. No one else was out at this hour or in this weather. All the houses had shut curtains with a faint yellow glow behind them. How wonderful it must be to sit in a warm house.

Partitio was interrupted mid thought. He yelped before looking down, seeing a sharp rock under his foot. It was too blunt to draw blood, but sharp enough that it ached. Great. Just what he needed. More tears trickled down his face as he walked the final few steps to the house. He knocked on the door several times and waited patiently.

Roque answered the door. His confusion at having a visitor now was quickly replaced by concern.

“My goodness Partitio, what’re you doing in the rain without shoes or a jacket?” he asked as he ushered the boy inside.

Partitio wiped his feet on the welcome mat while Roque left. He returned with a towel and started drying him. But the towel quickly got soaked as Partitio’s clothes were still dripping.

He mumbled some kind of response that Roque couldn’t hear.

“Louder, my boy. My hearing isn’t quite what it used to be.”

“My pops locked me outside.”

Papp did… what? Roque hardly believed what he heard, and even asked him to repeat it again.

“My pops locked me outside,” Partitio repeated.

He sat him down on the couch and fetched a blanket and a mug.

“I was just having some tea myself, so it’s still hot,” he said.

Partitio blew on it and took a sip as Roque spoke.

“Do you know why your dad locked you outside? Was he upset?” Roque questioned.

He wanted to believe Partitio exaggerated or misspoke.

“I poured water on him as a prank, and he yelled at me,” Partitio started, his voice barely louder than a whisper, “I kept sayin’ he was overreactin’ so he hit me. After a bit then he got angrier and said I wasn’t allowed inside.”

Right. His friend really had locked his own kid outside. Perhaps he needed to reevaluate the people he considered friends.

“I see,” Roque said.

He stood and paced around the room while trying to figure out what to do. But to Partitio’s scared child mind, Roque was upset. Maybe he said something wrong or he got too much water and mud all over Roque’s floor. All he knew was that there was a problem he needed to fix, unless he wanted Roque to hurt him the same way his father had.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Roque looked at him, “what for?”

“I dunno, you seemed angry.”

“I’m not angry, just thinking,” Roque replied.

Gods, what had Papp done to that kid?

“You wait here Partitio, I’ll speak with your father,” he said.

“Please don’t say anything that’ll get me in more trouble,” Partitio replied.

“Of course not.”

As Roque left the house, his mind raced with a million furious thoughts of what to tell Papp. Honestly, he was tempted to kill the man. Surely Papp was not human if he had it in him to hurt such a young and helpless child. But he pushed the thought aside, as the logical part of his brain reminded him that homicide was worse than child abuse. Not by a lot though.

Partitio stared thoughtlessly at the crackling fire in the hearth. Roque’s home was pleasant. It was warm. The blanket he borrowed was soft. The searing pain in his throat lingered, but had started to fade after nearly half a cup of tea. He put it on the coffee table and lay his head on the armrest. The fire was good, it kept him warm. He dozed off as he stared at it.

The man that held him wore a damp shirt. He weakly opened his eyes to see mister Roque.

“Oh, you’re awake. I was just carrying you to the guest room. You’re staying with me tonight,” he smiled.

“What about my pops?” Partitio yawned.

“I think he’ll be better tomorrow. We can talk to him together,” Roque said as he placed the boy on the bed.

With the same gentleness one would expect from a parent, he tucked him in and stroked his hair.

“Your father was just in a bad mood, you didn’t do anything to deserve the things he did,” Roque said softly.

“But I poured water on him,” Partitio argued.

“You’re just a kid. He should never hit you. If he does, then you come straight to me, and I’ll take care of it,” Roque smiled.

“Ok, goodnight mister Roque.”

“Goodnight Partitio.”

He shut the door behind him, leaving the boy alone in the dark room. Roque sat in his armchair as he poured himself a cup of tea. He furrowed his brows as he stared at the fire. It was strange finding out such a dear friend had been a monster all this time. He needed to save Partitio from that damned man, no matter what it took.

ok yeah I understand why you said this would make me mad! what the fuck papp!!!! the hell!!!!!!

I always like seeing roque not being a piece of garbage. he may be a cutthroat capitalist but he’s a good dad

also. is this part of that ‘partitio goes with roque and becomes an asshole capitalist’ au you sent an ask about a while back?

this is good! good as in it makes me angry to read it (in a good way!)

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

The puzzle of the galaxy with no dark matter

A team of scientists, led by the researcher at the IAC and the University of La Laguna (ULL) Sebastién Comerón, has found that the galaxy NGC 1277 does not contain dark matter.This is the first time that a massive galaxy (it has a mass several times that of the Milky Way) does not show evidence for this invisible component of the universe. “This result does not fit in with the currently accepted cosmological models, which include dark matter” explains Comerón.

In the current standard model cosmology massive galaxies contain substantial quantities of dark matter, a type of matter which does not interact in the same way as normal matter; the only evidence for its existence is the strong gravitational pull which it exerts on the stars and the gas nearby, and this interacton is observable.

NGC 1277 is considered a prototype “relic galaxy” which means a galaxy which has had no interactions with its neighbours. Galaxies of this type are very rare, and they are considered the remnants of giant galaxies which formed in the early days of the universe.

“The importance of relic galaxies in helping us to understand how the first galaxies formed was the reason we decided to observe NGC 1277 with an integral field spectrograph” explains Comerón. “From the spectra we made kinematic maps which enabled us to work out the distribution of mass within the galaxy out to a radius of some 20,000 light years” he adds.

The team discovered that the mass distribution in NGC 1277 was just the distribution of the stars, and from this they inferred that within the radius observed there cannot be more than 5% of dark matter, although the observations are consistent with the complete absence of this component.

However, present cosmological models predict that a galaxy with the mass of NGC 1277 should have at least 10 % of their mass in the form of dark matter, with a maximum of 70 % in this form. "This discrepancy between the observations and what we would expect is a puzzle, and maybe even a challenge for the standard model” notes Ignacio Trujillo, a researcher at the IAC and the ULL, who participated in the study. 

The article suggests two possible explanations for the lack of dark matter in NGC 1277. “One is that the gravitational interaction with the surrounding medium within the galaxy cluster in which this galaxy is situated has stripped out the dark matter” comments Anna Ferré-Mateu, a researcher at the IAC and the ULL who also participated in the study. “The other is that the dark matter was driven out of the system when the galaxy formed by the merging of protogalactic fragments, which gave rise to the relic galaxy”.

For the authors of the study neither of these explanations is fully satisfactory “so the puzzle of how a massive galaxy can form without dark matter remains a puzzle” insists Comerón. In order to continue researching the mystery the team plans to make new observations with the WEAVE instrument on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, in the Canary Island of La Palma

If this the result, that NGC 1277 does not have dark matter, is confirmed, it would cast strong doubt on alternative models for dark matter, namely theories in which gravity is modified and the major part of the gravitational attraction within galaxies is due to a slight change in the law of gravity on large scales. “Although the dark matter in a specific galaxy can be lost, a modified law of gravity must be universal, it cannot have exceptions, so that a galaxy without dark matter is a refutation of this type of alternatives to dark matter” notes Trujillo.

IMAGE....Comparison between a conventional galaxy (ESO 325-G004) enveloped in a halo of dark matter, occupying the heaviest plate on the weight scale, and the galaxy NGC 1277 (on the left), in which the study of the mass distribution reveals the absence of dark matter. CREDIT Design: Gabriel Pérez Díaz (IAC). Image of NGC 1277: NASA, ESA, and M. Beasley (IAC). Image of ESO 325-G004: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); J. Blakeslee (Washington State University)

[broomballkraken]

Title: As in Coffee, As in Life Chapter 2: A Bit o' Sweetness

Fandom: Octopath Traveler 2

Pairing: Osvald/Partitio

Word count: 2292

Warnings: None

Fic Summary: “A bit o’ sweetness helps everythin’ along. As in coffee, as in life.” That was the mantra of Partitio and Roque Coffee Company. Partitio’s first customer on the opening day of the café, however, very much disagreed with this philosophy…well, the coffee part of it anyway. After learning more about Osvald, Partitio is determined to bring a little sweetness into the crestfallen professor’s life, whether he is ready for it or not.

Chapter Summary: It’s a slow Saturday at the café, and Partitio is happy to see Osvald when he stops in, just like had every day since the grand opening. However, Osvald is visibly distressed this time, and Partitio wasn’t going to let his favorite regular suffer without doing something to help him.

It had been two weeks since the grand opening of the café, and business was booming for Partitio. He had picked a location close to the university, so most of his customers consisted of students and professors in need of a caffeine boost or a quick lunch to fuel them as they engaged in their various academic pursuits.

True to his word, Osvald had stopped in every day since Partitio had ambushed him on the sidewalk and made him his very first customer. He always ordered the same thing: a large black coffee, and Partitio came to realize that it suited the prim-and-proper professor of chemistry. He was always dressed rather nicely, in sweaters or a vest under his fancy long coat. He had even stopped in on the weekend briefly while running errands, and Partitio jokingly liked to think that Osvald was really taking his title as a regular seriously.

A smile crossed Partitio’s face as he wiped down the counter and gazed around the café, the only two customers occupying a table by the window. It was mid-afternoon on a Saturday, and a slow one at that. He attributed that to it being a warm, sunny day, and he figured that most people were enjoying some outdoor activities. His mind wandered, and Partitio wondered if he would see Osvald today...

“I’ve got a large americano for Primrose, and a large pumpkin spice latte for Alfyn!” Partitio called out as he set the drinks on the counter. The man sitting at the table by the window got up and approached Partitio with a bright smile on his face.

“Great, thanks!” the man said, taking the drinks, but not before placing a few dollars into the tip jar.

“Thankee kindly, sir! Have a great day!” Partitio waved as the man went back to his table and gave the americano to the woman, who giggled and placed a kiss on his cheek, which brought a smile to Partitio’s face. Perking up when the bell over the door chimed as someone entered the café, Partitio beamed when Osvald stepped inside.

“ Howdy Mr. Osvald! How’re you today-” Partitio started, but he cut himself off when he saw the look on Osvald’s face. He looked sadder than a dog without a bone, to put it very lightly, with the way his shoulders slumped and his lips were set in a deep frown. Partitio’s face fell when Osvald said nothing as he approached the counter.

“The usual...please.” Osvald’s voice was quiet when he finally did speak, and Partitio just nodded in response as he prepared his order, taking note of the dark bags that sat under Osvald’s eyes; did he not sleep at all last night? Osvald paid and when Partitio set his drink on the counter, he said nothing when he took it and went to sit at a table in the back of the café.

“Hoo-boy, what in tarnation happened?” Partitio muttered to himself. He drummed his fingers on the counter for a moment, before he turned his head and called out towards the back room.

“Hey, Ochette? I’m gonna take my break, can you man the front?”

Ochette, another of Partitio’s employees who also happened to be his roommate, bounced her way into the room and nodded vigorously, the fox ears on the hood of her sweatshirt bobbing with the movement.

“Sure thing, Parti! I just finished making the soup, and boy is it tasty!” Partitio laughed when Ochette licked her lips, and he hung up his apron as he moved out from behind the counter.

“Thankee kindly! I’ll be back in 30. I’ll try some o’ that soup when I get back.”

“Got it!”

Partitio smiled as she took care of the customer that had just walked in, but that smile quickly faded into a worried frown when he looked at the table where Osvald sat, not with a book in his hand as usual, but he was instead staring down at his coffee with such intensity that Partitio thought he might burn a hole through it.

“Hey, Osvald?” Partitio said when he took the empty seat across from him. Osvald’s eyes narrowed as he looked at him over his glasses, but he said nothing, so Partitio continued: “Are you...okay? You seem mighty distressed today.”

Osvald grunted and tightened his grip on his mug. Partitio felt sweat bead on the back of his neck; maybe this wasn’t a good idea. He hadn’t known Osvald for very long, so he was probably overstepping, but Partitio wasn’t one to sit idly by when someone was in need of help.

“...It’s my daughter,” Osvald finally said after a long pause. Partitio cocked his head to one side; he had never mentioned his daughter before.

“Is she okay? Ah, sorry, you don’t have to answer if it’s too personal...” Partitio said quickly, and he was starting to regret coming over here in the first place.

“...’s fine.” Osvald let out a long sigh, averting his gaze as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “It...might help if I talk through it with someone.” Partitio nodded as Osvald looked back at him, and the sadness that Partitio saw in his eyes made his heart hurt.

“Five years ago, I was living in Conning Creek with my wife, Rita, and daughter, Elena,” Osvald said, “I was leading a research team studying water samples there. One of the members of my team had an...unhealthy obsession with surpassing me, to put it lightly.”

From the way that Osvald’s face darkened as he bit his bottom lip, Partitio had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be a happy story, and that was confirmed when Osvald continued with watery eyes:

“I guess this jealousy of his peaked one night, and he set fire to my house while I was away on a business trip...My wife did not survive.”

Partitio was glad that he hadn’t gotten himself a drink, because he would have choked on it, as horrified as he was at Osvald’s words. His throat tightened up when a single tear fell down Osvald’s face, and Partitio barely resisted the urge to reach out and wipe it away.

“Elena was caught in the fire as well, but the firefighters were able to save her with minimal physical damage. The emotional and mental toll, however...” Osvald’s hands had started shaking against the table, and Partitio couldn’t stop himself this time, and he reached out to take them in his own.

“T-The trauma caused her to lose much of her memory, and she suffers from night terrors. She has shown improvement in the years since, but she still has a long way to go.”

“Osvald...” Partitio sniffed as he shed a few tears of his own, and he rubbed his arm over his face to wipe them away as he gave Osvald’s hand a squeeze. “I’m...so sorry that happened to you. I hope the bastard that did such a horrific thing got what he deserved.”

“ He...almost didn’t...” Osvald said, his voice soft, and Partitio’s eyes went wide, “Harvey...he framed me for everything, and I had to fight an uphill battle to prove my innocence.”

“I was fortunate when a private investigator, Temenos Mistral, took an interest in my case and managed to find evidence to convict Harvey.”

Partitio recognized the name of that private investigator; he had seen it on a few billboards advertising his services on the road between New Delsta and Oresrush, and he recalled passing by the location of his practice somewhere in the city. 

“Even though he had proved my innocence and Harvey was convicted, the damage to my reputation had been done. I was forced to move with Elena, and we spent some time in Montwise, my hometown. It did not help.”

“My parents were the ones to suggest that I move here to New Delsta. They also live here, and have been helping me take care of Elena. I was lucky that the university was in need of another chemistry professor. My parents also happened to know of a doctor that specializes in memory loss, so I was able to get Elena in to see her, and that has helped considerably.”

“Even so...” Osvald’s hand slipped from Partitio’s and he took a long drink of his coffee. “Some nights are harder than others. Last night, for example. Elena started screaming in her sleep, and when I tried waking her up she almost took my eye out. I spent the rest of the night comforting her.”

Partitio examined Osvald’s face more closely, and he realized that the bags under his right eye were darker than his left; that must be where Elena had hit him.

“Shoot...” Partitio said, rubbing awkwardly at his arm, “You...You didn’t have to tell me all that, you know. It must be painful to recall those memories.”

“Yes, however...” Osvald studied Partitio over his glasses with narrowed eyes, and Partitio felt his face heat up, “I find you very...easy to talk to, Partitio. You are a good listener.”

“Ah, well, thanks,” Partitio said, and his heart started to race when Osvald offered him a small smile; had it always been this...beautiful?

Partitio cleared his throat and decided to not ponder the implications of this train of thought at this time. He instead quickly stood up and rushed to the counter, beckoning Ochette over and whispering into her ear. She grinned and scurried into the back, and Partitio stole a glance back at Osvald, who was looking at him curiously with an eyebrow raised. Partitio shot him a wink, and Ochette returned with two steaming bowls of soup.

“Thanks Ochette, put them on my tab.”

“Hehe, you got it!”

Partitio chuckled and he went back to Osvald, placing both bowls onto the table as he sat back down. “Here! Ochette just finished making it, so it’s as fresh as it can get!”

Osvald blinked slowly as he stared down at his bowl. “This is...chicken noodle soup?” He turned his gaze back to Partitio, who nodded eagerly.

“Sure is! Whenever I’m down in the dumps, a nice hot bowl of soup always seems to help cheer me up.”

“...I see.”

Partitio smiled, maybe a bit too fondly, as he watched Osvald take his first taste of soup. His heart skipped a beat when Osvald’s eyes went wide and a smile slowly spread across his face.

“It’s...good. Really good.”

“Glad you think so!” Partitio said, confirming it for himself when he took a bite; he was glad that he had taken Ochette’s suggestion of expanding the café’s menu to include soup to heart.

They sat in comfortable silence, enjoying their soup and each other’s company. Partitio was happy to see that Osvald’s mood had improved considerably, but his heart sank as his thoughts wandered to what Osvald had told him about his past. He couldn’t imagine losing a loved one in such a horrific way, and Partitio really wanted to do all that he could to bring a little sweetness into Osvald’s life.

“Hey, Osvald?” Partitio said when they had finished their meal, “I just want you to know, if you’re ever feeling down again, you can always come by and I’ll try my damnedest to put a smile on your face!”

Osvald chuckled as he adjusted his glasses. “That is very kind of you to offer.”

Partitio grinned and flicked up the brim of his hat. “Hehe, well, as our motto says: A bit o’ sweetness helps everythin’ along. As in coffee, as in life!”

“I can’t say that I agree with the coffee part, but...” Osvald said as they both stood up. He hummed and rubbed his chin, giving Partitio a once-over before continuing: “You seem to have an abundance of sweetness that I have not seen contained in one person before.”

“Er, r-really?”

“Yes. You truly are one of a kind, Partitio.”

Partitio’s jaw dropped as his face flushed a bright red, and he stood frozen in place as Osvald took their dishes up to the counter, taking the time to put some money into the tip jar before returning to him. “I need to get going. Thank you again, for everything.”

Partitio could only nod slightly as Osvald left the shop, and when he finally managed to move his arm, he plucked his hat from his head so that he could wipe the sweat from his hairline. Hoo-eey, Osvald really had him feeling some type of way...

“Yoo-hoo! Parti, your face is gonna get stuck like that!”

Ochette’s voice pulled Partitio out of his stupor, and he snapped his jaw shut as he turned to see her leaning over the counter, grinning while wagging her eyebrows at him. “Hehe, also your break ended, like, a half hour ago, silly!”

“Shit!” Partitio cursed as his head jerked towards the clock, and he rushed back behind the counter, plucking his apron off the hook, “Why didn’t you tell me, Ochette?!”

Ochette shrugged before stretching her arms over her head and swaying back and forth. “Oh, I didn’t want to interrupt your serious conversation with Pops.”

“Pops?”

“Oh, he’s one of my professors! He loves it when I call him that!”

Partitio raised an eyebrow at her as she giggled; he did not believe that for one second. Their conversation ground to a halt when a large group of people entered the café, and Partitio got lost in the rhythm of his work. However busy he was, Osvald still managed to linger at the back of his mind, and Partitio might have just figured out exactly why.

Uh-oh...

[entreldolorylanada]

“  i know you’re having nightmares again.  ” dark Andy w/ assassin Roque(?)

Roque shrugged. He wondered how exactly did she know. Were the dark circles under his eyes darker than usual? Maybe he unknowingly stimmed more than usual or chain-smoked harder than any other day? Most of the time drugs helped him to sleep without any kind of dreams worth remembering, but sometimes even they were powerless against things that lurked in the deep corners of his mind.

"Maybe it's the time of year," he finally and reluctantly answered. First warm days in Gijon, the start of the bathing season. Morena had loved to swim, she'd been like a fish in the sea... until... Something had happened. Something. He squeezed his already tight-closed eyelids in an attempt to push the thoughts back and make them quiet. "It doesn't matter. I'm present, and you don't have to worry."

[bestomato]

i’ve been trying to place my finger on why the stories in octopath 2 feel so different from octopath 1 despite the structure of chapters not being that different (entering town, cutscenes, follow green dot on the radar, use path actions, go to dungeon, fight boss). and i think i finally got it. it all changes a lot at an emotional level because the new stories are told at a way bigger scale with higher logical stakes compared to the stories in octopath 1 which had most protagonists not be known by a lot of people in the end, actually, because they were following a more contained tale with characters who didn’t get involved in a grander scheme of the continent’s society or something like that. meanwhile octopath 2 has the opposite LMAO.

in octopath 1 we had much smaller characters. a thief stealing heirlooms in the shadows to get his own freedom from a rich noble house, an apothecary ailing whoever’s in need without charging for his services, a hunter from a small village in a journey to find and save her master, a scholar researching a mysterious book, a merchant discovering the world for the first time. i’d say probably the most well-known characters in their world are a cleric on a pilgrimage to recover the strength of the god’s flame, a lady from a fallen noble house believed dead on a journey to get her revenge and who’d spent years working as a dancer in a tavern, and an ex-knight from a great fallen kingdom looking for a purpose to live again, but even still they didn’t really do anything as grand as the characters in octopath 2 did. and i think that’s what gives them all their charm: the fact that they left an incredible impact on the people they met and helped on their journeys, and yet once they are gone they will be forgotten. that’s the magical aspect to me: to be important for a brief moment and then be gone, leaving other people space to do their own things and contributions to the people they meet etc etc it’s a cycle of love and care that doesn’t end when they are gone

spoilers for the octopath 2 stories ahead, for comparison:

like for example. partitio ended up becoming a business magnate all over the news due to his involvement with roque. hikari started as a prince and then became a king in the end by winning ku’s civil war. agnea became a star just like she wanted, getting to dolcinaea’s level of recognition all thanks to her hard work and desire to see other people happy, going out of her way to protect them when in need too. castti saved a literal kingdom from a lethal poison that had destroyed an entire town before. and some non-famous characters in their world who stopped some fatal crisis of happening were ochette (whose story i haven’t finished yet LMAO but i’m almost there), temenos and osvald. throné is probably the one whose whole existence pretty much faded, leaving her room to begin again. but then again she did stop something very important and very very disgusting LOL

and both work really well in their games btw, according to what they set out to do. but they do have that crazy difference (to me, at least)

[crazyk-imagine]

Chapter VI: House Drop

Characters: Sulane “Sullie” Celeste, Jasner ""Jas" Verbane, James Diamond, Kendall Knight, Carlos Garcia, Hortense "Logan" Mitchell, Gustavo Roque, Kelly Wainwright, Katie Knight, Mama Knight Freight Train, Camille Roberts (Briefly mentioned) 

Warnings: Shenanigans, Sulane not feeling well, mansion sitting gone wrong, Monty the hairless cat being called a chicken, Sulane and Monty are not friends :(, Sulane showing her future potential as a producer, Jasner being both helpful and unhelpful, Kelly is a godsend

Word Count: 5,627

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jasner decides to take a break from auditions for the next few hours, debating on if he should work on some homework, he hadn’t been able to do yesterday or put it off until later and find Sullie. 

He shakes his head at the feeling of those damn butterflies moving around in his stomach whenever he thinks of her. He's happy to see her become the person he imagines she was before arriving in the Palm Woods, happy. 

But he’s also kind of scared because the pretty boy of the band seems to hate him. Which is kind of weird for him to think about when everyone else here seems to like him and yet, he thinks he knows why. 

Yesterday when he left Camille for a second to grab the smoothies, he may or may not have taken a minor detour and may have used his favorite form of travel in any building (he can find a blueprint to) the vents. 

He couldn’t tell what he was feeling when Gustavo asked them if they had experienced the kind of love, they needed to in order to “perfect” the song and James turned around to look at the only person who’s around them most of the time, that’s their age. 

He left without popping in to say hi, needing to figure out what he was feeling before talking to Sulane again. 

-

“How are you feeling?” 

“Huh?” She turns her head, staring at him. 

‘Oh… no.’ He smiles at her, has she always been this pretty? 

Is he slow to realize that she’s really cool and interesting and- he’s not just crushing he’s on the verge of falling for her, and hard. 

He sits on the couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs. ‘Act normal. She doesn’t need to know.’ “Whatcha doin’?” 

“Reading more letters. I found some hidden behind pasta in the cabinets.” 

“Oh, really. Do you,” his voice cracks. Jasner winces and shakes his head. “Do you want me to look around and see if I can find anymore?” 

“Not right now. I’m still reading through the first two weeks I was here. Apparently, Carlos got his first A which turned out to be a mistake because there were two Carlos’ in his math class.” Sulane huffs, throwing her head back against the cushions of the couch. 

They turn to look at one another, staring into each other’s eyes before she sighs. 

“Do you want to take a nap?” 

She shakes her head, stretches her arms above her head, stifling a yawn. 

“You’re lying. Come on, up you go,” he pats the cushion beside him. 

“Fine.” She sets the letter on top of the pile she’s made. 

He moves out of the way, smiling. “Lay down, I’ll watch something on TV and wait till you fall asleep before leaving.” 

She nods, already half asleep. 

He purses his lips, wondering what he can do to help make things easier for her. 

She’s been working so much more than he's ever seen and it’s taking a toll on her. 

He shakes his head, grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch, carefully laying it across her before squatting, resting on the balls of his feet. 

He brushes a few fallen strands off her cheek, pushing them behind her ear. “If I ever get a big role and have to shoot out of town or something, I’d really miss you,” he mutters, watching over her until he realizes he needs to go to his apartment and make an audition tape. He doesn’t know why he said it, but he doesn’t regret it because he would.

S01 EP 06

She opens her eyes at the sound of Gustavo’s ring tone for when he calls, Darth Vader’s iconic music. 

She chuckles at the sound because she doesn’t like Star Wars (but watched all the movies because of Jasner and knew when she heard the sound, she had to find it). “What?” 

“Don’t you what me? I’m the one who signs that thing you call a paycheck.” 

“And I’m the one keeping your assistant sane because I’m amazing, want to try that again without so much attitude.” 

He grumbles. 

A heavy sigh comes through along with some rustling. “Sulane. I need you to get down to the studio, Gustavo needs help finishing the boy’s song. He can’t figure out this one line and he’s starting to get on my nerves,” Kelly tells her daughter. 

“On my way.”

-

She hangs up and changes before grabbing a piece of licorice and opening her door. “Freight Train, just the guy I wanted to see.” 

“You heading off to work?” 

“You know it.” 

“Piggyback?” 

“Please.” 

They pass by as the boys are doing something moronic but don’t stop. 

Sulane needs to keep her stupid meter on low today. 

-

Jasner walks out into the pool area, wandering over towards the guys listening to Logan explain fartology to Kendall and James. “It's basic fartology.” 

“He’s not wrong.” 

“Hey, Jas,” Kendall and Logan greet him.

“So how do we know when it's coming?” James asks. 

The three band mates leaned down. 

“I'm not sure,” Kendall responds. 

“Oh, guys. I wouldn’t-” 

It’s too late. They’re drenched. 

“Whoo! Did you get that on video?” Carlos shouts, excited about the results. 

“Should it be smoking like this?” Kendall asks, watching as his camera short circuits and smoke comes from it. 

“Man!” “Oh, man.” The boys exclaim, disappointed in their work.

- Ah, ah, ah-ah, ooh -

“I wanna be famous,” the band sings waving Kendall to sing his line. “You want to be the one who's living the life.” 

The producer pushes his mic button. “And cut!” 

“It sounded great, right?” Kendall asks, still feeling the adrenaline of singing with his best friends. He glances over to see the blonde doing a “stop” gesture and tilts his head in confusion… until Gustavo continues. 

“No,” he starts off, which confuses the boys. “Green day sounds great. You guys didn't make me want to vomit.” 

“Oh, Gustavo!” They all angrily rip their headphones off their head. “Come on!” 

Until the producer pushes a button and mutes them and he mouths to them, “I can’t hear you.” 

“Why can't you tell them they sound good? Or thank them for all their hard work?” Kelly asks, after smacking his arm. 

“Showing thanks is a sign of weakness.” 

“What about you know who?” She gestures to Sulane, who stands in front of the glass window, writing something in her notebook. 

“I stand by my previous statement. And besides, you don't hear them thanking me.” 

The teen girl lifts her notebook for the boys to see. “Say thank you or I end you all. You haven’t thanked him once and I think he’s hurt by it.” 

Carlos gives her a thumbs up. 

“Gustavo,” Kendall says earning the adult’s attention. “We just wanted to thank you.” 

The others chime in. “Yeah, thank you.” 

“Thank you so much,” Logan clarifies. 

“So much fun,” James adds. 

“It's been a blast,” Carlos tells him.  

Kelly nudges her boss’s shoulder. 

“I just wanted to say you guys,” the producer pauses for dramatic effect.

“Are done for the day. Kelly and I are off to North Carolina.” 

“Ooh, can you bring us back a tar heel?” The corndog lover asks, with a clearly excited tone. 

“Ooh, I'm thinking about bringing back a hot new band, that I can replace you with when you inevitably fail me.” 

Sulane pursed her lips, she knew this was going to happen, but she hoped he wasn’t going to do it to them. She pinches the bridge of her nose because she cares. 

Kelly gives the boys a sorry look and her frown deepens at the sight of her daughter. 

“Replace us?” 

They glance over at her. 

“Did you know?” Logan asks. 

She scoffs, rolling her eyes, placing her headphones on her head, needing to tune the stupidity out before exiting the room. 

The band follows their producer. “Gustavo!” 

“Stop!” 

“You can't be serious.” 

“You can't. You're not gonna replace us, not after you see my new head shots.” James lifts his headshots after seemingly pulling them out of his pocket. “One hot young doctor, one hot greasy mechanic.” 

“Ooh, ooh.” Gustavo says, removing them from the pretty boy’s grasp, flinging them to the side. “Ooh, I'll put these with the others.” 

James yelps and reaches for his headshots. 

Sulane glances at the boy from the corner of her eye. 

James feels her stare and quickly hides it behind his back. 

“Kelly,” Gustavo walks to his office backwards, “who'd you get to house-sit my mansion?” 

“Oh, you said that you would take care of that,” Kelly points out.  

“There is no way I would have ever said-” 

The more experienced assistant pulls out a tape recorder and hits play. “Kelly, I'll find someone to house-sit my mansion.” 

The producer groans. 

She glances over shoulder at the boy band. “I record everything now.” 

James gives her an impressed expression with an okay hand signal. 

Logan clicks his tongue and points to her. 

Kendall is impressed (and hopes Sulane takes notes). 

Carlos is a little scared but proud of her. 

Sulane wraps her arm around her mom’s shoulders, “I’ve taught you well.” 

“See! This is why I didn’t want you two working together. You’re both mean.” 

They scoff, rolling their eyes. 

Jasner walks down the hallway, turning right so he's standing behind the boys; he sips his smoothie. “What’s up?” 

The band jumps back, not expecting him. 

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” The blonde asks. 

“Shouldn’t you?” 

“Touche.” 

The producer rolls his eyes. “You can play your blame game later. Meanwhile, who's gonna dust my 100-inch plasma.” 

The boys step forward. 

“Feed my exotic pets.” 

They take another step. 

“And make sure my $1 million media room stays set at 68 degrees?” 

Carlos holds onto Kelly shoulder, slightly shaking while James does the same thing with Sulane as they answer. “We'll mansion-sit for you.” 

“Oh, you want me to let the monkey’s mansion-sit?”  

“Yeah, I thought we were dogs,” the brainiac points out. 

“You're monkey dogs. And the answer is no.” 

“Can I see you in your office, please? Mm.” The more experienced assistant shoves her boss into his office as Gustavo glances back at them, feeling very confused. 

-

The teen girl throws her head back and laughs. “Oh, you guys are desperate.” She pushes James and Jasner off her. “And I’m done. Bye.”  

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Carlos asks. 

“I have plans.” 

“But, watching Gustavo’s mansion is probably better than your plans,” James tells her, not wanting her to depart from them just yet. 

She sighs and he smiles and pulls her closer to the door so they can listen in. 

The group falls onto the floor and quickly pushes themselves off the ground… except for Jasner. 

The boy notices the raised brow he’s getting from Kelly. “I’m not going to waste a drop of this smoothie; I can’t find a raspberry one anywhere.” 

“What’s up?” Carlos says after pushing himself up. 

“Hey man,” Logan starts. “We were- we were just hanging out.” 

“I didn’t plan on this happening,” Sulane quickly adds. 

“Quiet and follow weird name.”

-

“There are five mansion-sitting rules at Casa Gustavo. One, stay out of my media room.” 

James gives him a thumbs up. 

“Two, do not open my living room fridge.” 

Carlos does an okay gesture with a reassuring head shake. 

“Three, keep the butts off my $40,000 Federico Benini couch.” 

Kendall gives him finger guns and then looks away, glancing over at the blonde, silently asking if he’s serious to which she nods. 

“Four, do not touch my Peruvian hairless cat, Monty.” 

“Ooh, I love cats,” Logan replies, with a smile. 

“Don't touch him!” 

The brainiac shrugs. “I don't even like cats.” 

The teen girl slaps her chest. “Oh my god.” She snatches Jasner’s smoothie from him and takes a sip. “That thing is still alive?! You haven’t accidentally cooked it.” 

Everyone glances over at her. 

“What? It was sitting in a bowl, and I thought he was defrosting some chicken.” 

“And five, if anything- anything is broken in my mansion, you are all fired! Are we clear?” 

Sulane shakes her head, “morons.” She walks out of the room as they continue to cheer. 

-

As Kendall tries to persuade his mom into letting them mansion sit, with the not so helpful assistance of Logan; he has to chuck a dinosaur chicken nugget at the other two to make his point. 

“You-” Sulane takes a deep breath, swallowing her food. “You are not old enough? You can be an adult and have a childish side, nothing too like major though you know… not like Molly.” 

Mama Knight glances in her direction. 

“Sorry, anyway, they’ll be fine.” 

“Fine, as long as she goes with you, and I want hourly updates.” 

“No,” Sulane groans, holding her head in her hands. 

The boys cheer until Carlos knocks over James’s chocolate milk. 

“You knocked over my chocolate milk.”

The helmet lover chews louder which angers his friend. 

“Whoa!” Carlos shouts as the pretty boy tackles him. 

Katie and Logan each take a nugget from the boys’ plates. 

“I'll be in charge along with the assistance of everyone’s favorite person.” 

She shrugs him off her. “Get off me.” 

-

Sulane opens the door to hear, “Katie, you're not staying. Get out of the duffel bag.” 

“Fine.” 

She shakes her head at the young girl’s behavior. “Sorry, Katie,” she and Kendall apologize. 

“See you.” Jasner turns around and thanks Mama Knight. 

The older woman smiles, “you’re welcome. I’m happy they have someone else to hang out with.” 

He turns around with a big smile on his face. 

“Why do you look so excited?” Logan asks. 

“This is the only time I get to see the inside of Gustavo’s mansion.” 

“So, you’ve never been here before?” 

“Only to the front door but that’s about it.” 

“Why?” Kendall chimes in. 

“Something about him not trusting me or thinking I’m going to destroy his mansion.”

The boys nod before running inside. 

-

The teen girl escapes to her room, not at all in the mood to even try and deal with the boys and their excitement. 

She rolls her eyes when she hears them having fun come from the media room. 

-

They decide to go on a journey to the kitchen. 

They stare at the fridge with their heads tilted. 

“Why do you think Gustavo locks his fridge?” Kendall throws out there. 

“I bet he keeps his heart in there,” James replies. 

“Or his victims,” Logan adds. 

“Or food,” Carlos and Jasner say. They turn to one another and high five. 

“Well, only one way to find out.” 

The brainiac turns to stop his blond friend from taking a step further. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you crazy? Don't you remember mansion-sitting rule number two?” 

They turn to a flashback of Gustavo telling them, “rule number two, help yourselves to anything you want in my living room fridge.” 

“That was not it,” Logan tells them. 

“Yes, it was,” the other four say. 

Carlos spreads his arm open, forcing Logan, Jasner, and James to take a step back. “Step aside, boys. My uncle was a locksmith. You just place your hands between the cylinder and the central housing, and then hit it with the sledgehammer!” The corn dog lover raises the item (he seemingly pulled out of nowhere) and screams. 

The found Gustavo’s holy grail… his pudding fridge. 

“Pudding!” They all shouted. 

-

Sulane walks downstairs, in need of an aspirin or something to get rid of her migraine, something that always happens whenever she thinks about visiting her mom’s grave. 

Once she gets what she needs and begins to slowly feel some relief, she decides to check on the boys and passes by the broken fridge. 

“What. Did. You. Guys. Do?” She sees Kendall reaching over to grab a spoonful of James’ pudding (and is successful). “Don’t you dare.” 

The leader turns to her, looking like a deer in headlights… and then the pudding falls from his spoon. 

The boys start screaming. 

“You idiot. Why would you do that?” 

“Gustavo's $40,000 couch!” Carlos freaks out. 

“Get your butts off his couch was rule number three,” Logan adds. 

“No, it wasn't,” Kendall shakes his head. 

They see another flashback. “Rule number three, keep your butts off my $40,000 Federico Benini couch.” 

“Okay, maybe it was,” the leader stresses the last word. 

“Gustavo's gonna kill us. And we're only 64 years old,” James adds. 

“Minus us two, right?” Jasner whispers to Sulane. 

She shrugs him away; this whole thing just turned her sour mood into an even worse sour mood. 

The leader pulls her out of her thoughts. “Which means we are more than capable of removing a pudding stain from a couch. Logan brain now.” 

“Right, okay, um- Gustavo has a cat, right? And cat litter's main ingredient is bentonite, which as we all know, is a natural absorbent.” 

“Why the hell do you know that? Do you study cat litter in your spare time?” 

The brainiac frowns. “Why are you so upset?” 

As these three talk, Kendall has Carlos and James getting started on their pudding mishap. 

“I’m not.” 

“You are though,” Jasner tells her. 

“Okay, well you two need to shut up because I’m fine.” 

“You don’t sound fine.” 

“Logan.” 

“Yeah.” He sees the look she’s giving him. “Shut up, right, got it.” 

-

“There, now we just relax and wait.” Logan sets the box of cat litter off to the side. 

“Did anyone think that maybe that Monty is going to see cat litter and think it’s in his litter box?” 

No one answers her as they scream when they see said cat hop onto the couch. 

“Whoa, what is that thing?” Logan points to the hairless cat. 

“Oh, it must be his cat,” Jasner and Kendall adds. 

“That's a cat?” Carlos asks. 

“No, it’s a chicken in disguise.” 

“I totally see it now. That’s freaky. I never saw Gustavo to be the kind of guy who would buy a naked cat. Did anyone else see that coming?” Jasner chimes in. 

The boys shake their heads. “J- just get him off before he-” 

“Marks his territory,” they answer together. 

Sulane throws her head back and claps her hands. “I told you guys.” 

“Get him off the couch,” Kendall screams. 

“Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.” Carlos lifts the cat, but it tries to fight back, and he chucks the cat to the other side of the room and out the door. “Uh-oh.” 

“There goes rule number four.” Logan sits down at the nearest table, feeling a little defeated with all their mishaps so far and accidentally sits on Gustavo’s party remote. 

A disco ball pops out of the ceiling and Carlos is scared. 

“Rule number five! If we break anything, we're fired!” James shouts over the music, freaking out. 

“Everybody, just calm down. All we got to do is get the stain off the couch, Find the cat, and raise the disco ball. We can do this together,” Kendall puts his hand out, wanting everyone to do it. 

“Uh- hi,” Jasner interrupts, putting his hand in too. “What about the pudding? You guys-” He clears his throat when he sees Sulane glaring at him. “We ate like, all of it. How are we going to restock his fridge?” 

Kendall purses his lips. 

Logan runs up to Kendall and Jasner who use the fire extinguishers to put out a fire they made. “I can't find the cat at all.” 

“I think I broke the statue,” James says, holding two of the statues’ pieces. 

Kendall accidentally sets off his fire extinguisher. 

“Okay, kid,” Jasner lowers the blond’s hands. “Don’t set it off again.” 

“Well, the good news is, this can't get any worse, right?” 

Carlos pops into the hallway and starts screaming. “The alligator's loose! The alligator's loose!” 

“Wait, is there a- Why is there an alligator?” Logan passes out. 

“Get him! Get him!” Kendall tells the others. 

“Leave him. He’ll be the bait. If we feed it, we can lock it back up.” 

They turn to look at her as she leans against the stair railing. 

“Sulane!” Kendall yells at her. 

“What?” She rolls her eyes. “Hurry up and grab him before you all become alligator food.” 

-

“How did an alligator get in here?” The leader whines as he holds a piece of meat on a makeshift “fishing pole”, standing on a ladder with Carlos next to him. 

“I opened the back door to let the smoke out, and it crawled in from Gustavo's moat.” 

Jasner’s head snaps in Carlos’ direction. 

“His moat?” James and Logan repeat from their section. 

“Oh, yeah.” Sulane’s voice echoes from the top of the stairs. “I could have told you guys that a while ago. They usually don’t leave the moat though.” She chuckles. “Maybe they like boy bands.” 

James and Logan frown at her. 

“What? It’s a joke.” 

“Nice alligator. Follow the meat.” 

The alligator yanks the meat and broom out of his hands. 

They slam the door shut behind it and cheer. 

Sulane walks down and watches them celebrate. “You guys’ better hope that alligator can’t open a door.” 

Jasner grimaces at the thought. 

“Now just to find Gustavo's freaky bald cat so Gustavo doesn't kill us,” Kendall reminds them. 

The pretty boy turns to Logan. “Call the FBI.” 

“For a missing cat? The FBI only works with serious crimes.” 

“Oh, that explains a lot.” James has a flashback of when he called. “FBI, help! My hair is limp and lifeless.” The call ends. “Hello? Hello?” 

“I know one of you used all my cuda massive hold.” 

“Focus,” Kendall regains everyone’s attention. “Now, there's only three possible places the cat could be hiding. One, he's roaming the neighborhood. Two, he's hiding up a tree.” 

They hear the alligator burp. “And that would be three.” 

“So, it might like a chicken in disguise.” 

“Stop joking about the cat being a chicken,” Carlos says, sounding all serious until he starts chuckling. 

“You can’t tell me it doesn’t look like one. If we find it, put it in a bowl and tell me it doesn’t.” 

-

The group stares at the orange cat sitting on the table. 

“You can't shave a cat,” the brainiac tells them. 

“Don’t you dare touch this cat.” Sulane grabs the cat, petting it in her arms. 

“Oh? Would you rather tell Gustavo we lost his and you know, have him replace us and destroy my dreams?” James screeches. 

“Where did you get the cat?” 

“I've got a guy,” Carlos answers Logan. 

Sulane and Jasner take a step back, glancing at the corn dog lover with concern. 

“Quiet. Hold him down steady.” 

James passes the clippers to Kendall. 

Carlos takes a step forward. 

“Don’t you dare,” Sulane tells him. “I will fight you and you will not win, corn dog.” 

“Licorice, please. Come on. You don’t want to destroy our dreams, do you?” 

She can see the look James is giving her from the corner of her eye. 

“Oh, I can't look,” the brainiac covers his eyes when Carlos takes the cat from her. 

“Would you chill? How hard can it be to shave a cat?” 

The leader turns the clippers on. 

-

They sit on the couch, whining when they see more of the house being ruined and torn into a million pieces. 

“Where did it learn to spray paint?” Carlos mumbles, watching the cat spray paint an exclamation point onto its “cats rule”.  

“We're doomed,” Kendall whines. 

“No kidding.” She says, holding an ice pack for him. 

“What’s this for?” 

“Your lip.” 

-

Meanwhile in North Carolina, Gustavo realizes he’s missing a certain group. “What's the problem?” 

“I'll tell you what the problem is. They do everything I say when I say it, and I can't stand it,” the producer pouts. 

Kelly smiles. “You know what I think. I think you miss your boys or your monkey dogs or your boy monkeys.” 

“Miss them? Me miss them? Ha! Ha-ha!” 

“You thrive on the chaos. They argue with you. They get in your face. They raise your blood pressure. And you like it. You need it. And that’s why you haven’t fired Sulane because she does the same thing but, better since she actually keeps you on track.” 

“Wrong! Okay, not wrong. But I can't abandon the windmills. I'm their hero. And it's not like there's record producers waiting outside the door ready to sign them.” 

Kelly gets up and opens the door, proving her boss wrong. 

He sighs, “okay, they're all yours.” 

-

“Oh, we are horrible mansion-sitters,” Kendall comments, taking a look around the place. 

Jasner pats his shoulder. “No.” 

Sulane snorts as she takes a bite out of her secret mansion stash of licorice. “Yes, you are.” 

James rolls his eyes at her comment. “You’re not helping.” 

“I’m not trying to,” she tells him. 

The blond’s phone rings, and he pulls it out of his pocket, “oh. Oh, good news. Gustavo and Kelly are coming back early.” 

“Oh! Okay, don't worry. I can fix this,” Logan runs to them with a laptop. 

“Yes! I knew the smart one would come through. What do you got?” James asks. 

“There's a 4:00 A.M. flight to Bolivia. We get there, change our names, raise alpacas.” 

The teen girl takes a deep breath before she chokes on her snack. “That is actually one of the best plans I have heard from anyone today.” 

“Yeah, I have a better idea.” 

“You're gonna call a cleaning service,” Carlos throws out there. 

“A statue repairman,” James adds. 

“And one of those places that gets the cats out of the alligators,” Logan says, with hope in his voice. 

“Ooh. All of the above.” 

“I’m going back upstairs. You all have fun.” 

“Oh no, no,” Kendall wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her off the stairs. 

“Noooo!” 

-

“Hey, mom, here's the sitch,” Kendall starts to say. 

“Zip it. I'm gonna need three liters of club soda, a sewing Kit, a bucket of vinegar, bleach, and get on the phone and find a place that delivers super-turbo bonding glue and semigloss white paint.” 

“Got it.” 

The gang nods. 

Carlos puts his helmet on. “Wait, what about Gustavo's cat?” 

Mama Knight pulls a box of cat food out of her cleaning supplies and shakes it. The boys cheer. 

“That's a cat?” Katie points to Monty. 

“No, it’s a chicken in disguise.” 

“That I believe. There’s no way this is a cat.” 

“Right.” 

“What are you all staring at? We're gonna be here all night. Go! Go, go, go!” Mama Knight sends them on their way. 

“That's right. Move it,” Katie adds. 

“You too! Go!” 

-

“Guys, it’s almost time!” Sulane shouts. 

“Okay!” 

“All right. Looking good, guys. And that glue will be dry in ten, nine-” 

“Bigfoot's on the campground. Repeat, bigfoots on the campground,” Logan repeats. 

“Mom,” Kendall says, extending the word with worry in his voice. 

“Five seconds and the bond will hold.” 

“He's coming up the steps!” Logan screams, freaking out. 

“Three, two, one, let's roll,” Katie drags her mom out of the mansion. 

“Mom,” Kendall screams, causing her to turn around. “Thanks.” 

She smiles and blows a kiss in his direction, until Katie grabs onto her again. “Come on.” 

“Oh, look who's here,” the leader says, with a fake yawn. 

“It's Gustavo and Kelly,” the pretty boy adds. 

“We slept here 'cause we didn't want to touch anything,” Logan clarifies. 

“Yeah. We're not just pretending,” Carlos says, basically giving them away. 

The boys pinch him. “Ow!” 

“Silence! Monty?” 

The cat comes prancing into the room. 

“The chicken has returned.” 

“I told you it’s not a chicken. Why are you down here with the dogs?” 

“I woke up too early and was bored.” 

“We'd love to stay and chat, but we got to get out of here,” Kendall starts walking past them, along with the others trailing behind him. “Thank you so much.” 

“Stop. There's something I need to say.” 

“Well, you can say something tomorrow, so-” The leader’s eyes don’t focus on the producer, and he turns away. 

The others add, “Yeah!” 

“See you at the studio!” 

“Guys? This is important,” Kelly tells them, getting them to stop. 

“We've been working together for a month now. And I just wanted to say, although we've had our ups and downs, the truth is, I luh- I luh- I like you.” 

The statue shatters and breaks again. 

“And we like you too,” Kendall says, calmly before shouting, “Run!” 

Gustavo groans, staring at the statue. 

Carlos walks back towards Kelly, placing the cat they almost shaved earlier into her arms. “Here. Have a cat.” 

“Thanks for the break. See you,” James runs back into tell them. 

“Sulane!” 

“Thank you so much, Gustavo! You’re the best!” She screams and runs away, never having felt this way before. 

“Aspirin. Aspirin. I need aspirin.” The producer goes into the one bathroom he shouldn’t have and locks the door. 

Kendall holds onto the door and informs the older assistant of the situation. 

Sulane stands behind him. 

“Oh, and by the way, you might not want to go in the bathroom.” 

“Alligator! Alligator!”

They glance at one another with wide eyes. 

“Run?” He asks. 

“Run.” 

They push each other closer to Mama Knight’s car, not caring about anything else other than getting away from the mansion. 

“Alligator!” Gustavo tries to get out without making things worse. 

-

Once Gustavo successfully escapes from the bathroom and gets the animal back into his moat, he finds the boys and yells at them for a solid… hour and a half. 

“Can I suggest we get smoothies and then we make a song?” Jasner chimes in, needing to fill the silence. 

“That’s not a bad idea after I ALMOST DIED!” 

Sulane nudges her friend in the ribs. 

“Ow!” Jasner whines, holding his side. “What was that for?” 

“Quite reminding him.” 

“I barely told him.” 

She narrows her eyes at him and looks away. “Why don’t you go out while I finish the song?” 

“Uh- no.” 

“Why not?” She puts her hands on her hips, “you know I’d do a good job.” 

“Maybe that’s a good idea,” Kelly adds. “I think it’d be a good idea to let them do their own thing while we stay away from the mansion for a bit longer?” 

“Fine.” 

The two exit the studio and go off onto their own thing. “Okay, guys you know what to do.” 

“Time to get in that booth.” 

She raises a brow at her friend. 

“What?” Jasner shrugs. “It was right there; how could I not take the opportunity to make a rhyme.” 

“Easily.” 

“Whatever just go on and do your pushing of buttons and sliding slash turning the nobs.” 

“Why don’t you shut up?” 

The raspberry lover rolls his eyes and decides to sit down. 

She puts her headphones on and gives them a thumbs up.

-

When the chips are down

Back against the wall 

Got no more to give

'Cause we gave it all

Seems like going the distance is unrealistic

But we are too far from the start

So we take what comes, And we keep on going

Leaning on each others shoulders

Then we turn around

And see we've come so far somehow

We're halfway there 

We're looking good now

And nothing's gonna get in the way

We're halfway there

And looking back now

I never thought that I'd ever say 

We're halfway there 

We're halfway there 

We're halfway there 

We're halfway there

-

She bobs her head and turns a nob here and there. “Atta boys,” she greets the boys after clicking the mic button. “You guys did great.” 

They cheer, all smiling widely at her. 

“We’re done for right now. I want Gustavo to hear it before I make my suggestions.” 

“Alright,” Carlos says. 

“Let’s celebrate,” Logan finishes for him. 

“Smoothies?” Kendall suggests. 

“Are you in my mind? I was thinking that,” Jasner says with a smile. 

“You really are weird, aren’t you?” 

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” He grabs Sulane’s bag and wraps an arm around her shoulder. 

“Get off me you weirdo,” she chuckles. 

He smiles and pulls her into his grasp again; she doesn’t pull away and lets it happen. “Smoothies!” 

“You’re so weird.” 

Logan’s about to take a step forward when he realizes no one from the band is moving. 

“You okay?” Carlos asks James. 

“No.” 

“Is it because-” 

“Yes! Why else would I be upset? I mean, I’m watching the girl I’ve had- she’s hanging out with him. She invited him to help watch Gustavo’s mansion… if she likes me the way you guys say she does, why is she hanging out with him?” 

“Because he’s her friend,” Kendall answers him. 

“Friends don’t look at each other like that.” 

“You do,” Carlos points out, not really thinking about it or realizing that the pretty boy never officially confessed to his feelings for her. 

Logan nods with his lips curving to one side of his mouth. “True, but he also wants to be more than that with her.” 

The three boys stared at James with concerned expressions before leading him out the door to follow them. 

“What are we gonna do?” Carlos asks before they exit the building. 

“I don’t know,” the other two confess.  

The three let him walk out first when Sulane opens the door. 

“I think that’s the first time he’s been honest with himself about his feelings for her since we got here,” Logan whispers to the other two. 

“I know. What should we do?” Kendall asks. 

“I don’t think we’re the ones who are supposed to do anything. I think it’s up to them,” the brainiac adds.

Previously: Chapter V // Continue: Chapter VII

[captainsyswhore]

The Cougar and His Sparrow

Masterlist

Summary: After faking your deaths you and the rest of the losers have to get used to civilian life...sort of?

Part. 2

Do not copy my work or repost anywhere else without giving me credit.

Carlos “Cougar” Alvarez x Reader

Cougar x (Fem)Reader

Warning: Lewd themes and Mature language. Minors DNI.

After the explosion you all set out to find jobs so you could pay to eat and live whilst Clay found out his information on Max. You and Pooch were working as mechanics. Jensen and Cougar were working in the “I Love You Mommy” Doll factory. Clay and Roque spent their time doing god knows what. 

When you all came back after a long days work Clay told us to meet tomorrow at the cemetery, he looked a bit roughed up. He met someone who was gonna get us information on Max and possibly back into the states. You all went to sleep in your respective rooms. You all had to pick bunk buddies. Jensen and Pooch share, Clay and Roque shared, You and Cougar shared.

You and cougar had grown close since the explosion. You didn’t exactly pick to bunk with Cougar you were more told that because you both were so quiet, Jensen told you it only made sense because you two would get along cause you don’t speak enough to start fights. 

But as the night went on it became less strange to wake up cuddling with the man. You spent your nights talking about life, sharing secrets, and talking about plans for the future. You couldn’t help but start to harbor feelings for Cougar.

You and Pooch show up to the cemetery together after work finding Clay and Roque already there. After a few minutes you her the faint sound of motor scooters. You see Cougar and Jensen riding on them behind the girls driving them.

“Sorry we were late. There was a party at the doll factory. It was Pepito’s birthday.” Jensen says 

“Yeah?” Pooch questions

Cougar gets off his bike and thanks his girl with a peck then moving to the girl on Jensen’s bike. Pooch and Clay snicker at Jensen standing awkwardly next to the girl he was gonna try to kiss. A small pit of jealousy blooms in your stomach only to fall away as the girls take off.

“So she wanted to meet in a cemetery.” Jensen starts, “That’s not  like foreboding at all.”  

“Am I the only one who sees this shirt?” Roque asks looking at Jensen’s beautiful pink shirt with the words “Go Petunias!” splayed across the front. “No” Pooch answers Roque also disgustedly looking at Jensen’s shirt.

“Oh.” Jensen finally realizes were talking about his shirt, “it’s my nieces soccer team. Eight and under. I checked their scores online and I---” He stops looking up when he’s met with all of our unimpressed stares

“What?” he defends, “They’re in the playoffs.” we all walk away at his explanation

We all walk through the cemetery as Jensen looks up background info on Aisha the girl Clay met with supposed intel on Max, “What do you have on her?” Clay asks

“Besides a Pant-busting crush? Her company file is blank. CIA has a standing kill order on her.  As does Hamas, Sinn Fein. Pretty much everyone with the exception of PETA wants this chick amscrayed.” Jensen informs

“You think you’re thinking clear on this?” Roque asked, “cause every time you mess up its cause of a woman.” 

“Name one time I--” Clay challenges

“Amber.” Roque cuts clay off

“Amber wasn’t the problem. Amber’s husband was the problem.” Clay defends

“Amber’s husband wasn’t the one who shot you.” Pooch says

“It was only in the leg.” Clay says

“What about Emma?” Jensen asks

“Emma doesn’t count. I didn’t sleep with Emma.” Clay defends again

“No. ‘cause she put a bomb in your car.” You chuckle out

“All right. I admit. That did take a little romance out of the relationship.” Clay finally concedes 

“Yeah. And now this chick shows up and, uh--- What’s her name? Aisha? And well, burns down our hotel.” Roque reasons

“I’m clear Roque.” Clay assure

“Well, you better be, ‘cause I ain’t getting killed by no girl.” Roque finishes

“It’s been a long time since anyone called me a girl.” Aisha says appearing then walks toward us, “She put a bomb in your car?” She asks

“She was volatile.” Clay says before introducing us, “Aisha, this is Jensen, Pooch, Roque, Cougar and Sparrow.” he motions as he explains

“Really?” She giggles at our names and continues after noticing our lack of amusement, “Gentlemen, and lady, in 97 hours, Max will be in Miami. He travels in an armored column with at least 30 private security armed to the teeth. You have a better shot at kidnapping the president. Good news for you is I have the power to  get you guys back into the U.S. and fund the entire op as you see fit. You get Max and were square.” 

“And why should we believe you?” Roque asks with his knife in hand

“because I’m the first person you met who even admits he exists.” Aisha plainly states, “Listen, you guys can all stay here in Bolivia and rot. Or you can go home and get revenge on the man who framed you. It’s your choice.”

“Colonel?” Jensen asks

“Don’t call me that. Were not soldiers anymore.” Clay says

“Okay, you know that if we do this we are waging a war on the Central Intelligence Agency.” Pooch reasons

“They started it.” Cougar says throwing the folder with the information in front of everyone

To Be Continued 

[peyton-warren]

Cookies- Blinded by The Fog Drabble

Characters: Reader, Jake Jensen, Franklin Clay, William Roque. (Good bet Cougar and Pooch are near by) Pairings: Jake Jensen x Reader Word count: 420 Type: Pining. Idiots in love. Commanding Officer butting in. Warning: 18+. Minors DNI. mention of smut and cookies. Likely blood shed after the scene ends.

Summary: takes place a little while after the Baking Drabble. Likely you could understand what's going on without reading it but it might help. Clay has some words of advice for best friends.

Author's Note: As I've been struggling with Chapter 6 of BBtF, I saw this post of December prompts from @creativepromptsforwriting and am attempting to make them mostly Jake & Reader based so I get more of a feel for them to help Reader with her grief. And thank you to @adulting-sucks for her continued support, none of these would be done with out you.

Ask Box: Open

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

“So you are the woman behind those wonderful cookies we had to pry out of Jensen’s hands over in the desert, ” Clay teased after Jake introduced you to the team for the first time.  “Man was not up for sharing, and I mean I can understand why, they were lovely, sweetheart.  Just perfect.”

You glanced over at your best friend who’s cheeks and ear tips were reddening more with each passing second.  You were unsure how to take the teasing from his CO, nor what to make of Jake’s aww-shucks-staring-at-his-boots response.  

“Do us all a favor, sweetheart?”  

Your eyes reverted from Jake back to the man in the disheveled shirt and dress jacket that somehow suited him, even though you had only heard stories up until this moment.  “Yes sir?” you ask.  

“Marry this fool, wouldya?”

“What-” Both you and Jake echo, glancing at each other briefly before your eyes snapped back to Clay.  

“C’mon, this best friends game has gotten old, don’t you think?” he insisted, taking a sip from his beer.  

“LIke you are one to be handing out relationship advice?” Roque chimed in, his voice full of humor.  “How many women have you gone through in the last, I don't know, month?”

Clay waved his hand through the air and you relaxed a hair as the focus turned away from you and Jake as the two older men debated Clay’s merit in such a department.  You snuck a glance at your best friend out of the corner of your eye, watching him rub his hand across the back of his neck, still staring at his feet.  There is no way Jake felt the same way about you that you felt about him right?  This was just his commanding officer giving him a raft of shit because he was lacking in finding female companionship right?

But fuck look at him.  What woman wouldn’t be falling over themselves to get to him?  You couldn’t be the only woman who found him adorably attractive, surely he had found other women.  He just wasn’t comfortable talking to you about it because of your shared history.  And you were like a sister to him, even though....

“Y’all already slept together, and from what Jensen said....” Clay let out a soft whistle.  You turned to look at your supposed best friend with your arms crossed, anger all but blowing out of your ears.  “Really?  Did he now?”  the words dripped from your tongue with irritation and disbelief.  You were going to kill him.  

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