#after pumpkin picking: darcy

[imsparky2002]

Rescendants - The Crew

Uma: The captain of the Lost Revenge pirate crew, Uma is a fiercely determined leader who doesn’t take anyone’s shit, though with a soft spot for those that are close to her, like her girlfriend, Freddie, and her best friends, Darcy, Harry and Gil. She has a difficult history with Mal, including heartbreak and betrayal, and an equal, if not more, hostile relationship with her mother. She’s determined to show she can be the best without needing help from her mother’s magic.

Harry: The bastard child of Captain Hook, and Uma's first mate. An aggressive and violent young man with psychopathic tendencies, he's the one who gladly does most of the dirty work when pirating. Physical and verbal abuse from his father and older sister caused him to begin lashing out, even to this day he prefers a punch up instead of peaceful resolutions. He does show a softer and more vunerable side with his shipmates, especially his boyfriend Gil. He has an obsession with hooking things, and is terrified of being alone.

Gil: A big, buff golden retriever of a himbo, Gil is quite possibly one of the sweetest people you will ever meet, affectionate and kind to everyone around him. He uses his strength to assist his crew, but he’s a very gentle boy, especially with his boyfriend Harry and his little sister Gabi. He may be far from the sharpest tool in the shed, often lacking common sense, but he has a high level of emotional intelligence, able to help people work through their feelings surprisingly well, like the good boy he is.

Darcy: Uma’s right-hand woman, and sharing her bone to pick with the daughter of Maleficent, Darcy is unquestionably one of the toughest and most terrifying girls on the island, never afraid to put someone in their place, be that with sharp words or her fists. Darcy is one of the few lucky kids in the Isle to have a good, loving relationship with their villainous parent, and she inherited Oogie’s love of scaring. Though she cares deeply for and will do anything to protect those she cares about, she’s not one to be open about her feelings, though a certain Pumpkin prince may help change that.

Freddie: A smooth and sassy con artist, Freddie has the ability to talk just about anyone into just about anything. But with one the sharpest tongues on the Isle, she can also verbally destroy you if the mood hits her right. Despite this, she has a caring side that comes out especially with her girlfriend Uma, her little sister Celia and her father, Dr. Facilier, who taught her all her voodoo tricks. She may be slick, but she’ll never lie to the people she really cares about.

Evie: The Isle's best cat burglar, and the magical daughter of the Evil Queen. Due to her mother's constant reminders of beauty being an importance, the girl is very self conscious about her looks. Evie used to roll with Uma and her crew. After years of Mal manipulating and abusing the lot of them, she grew jealous of Uma, despite her being mistreated by their leader as well. Mal left her gang for dead, and in her grief, both Evie and Uma blamed each other for the abuse, and went their separate ways. Now she reluctantly works with the group in order to get revenge on Mal and to destroy the barrier.

Jay: The smooth-talking and sticky-fingered son of Jafar, Jay has a real knack for getting himself out of trouble with a few good lies. His theft skills made him a useful asset to anyone on the Isle, but here in Auradon, he’s starting to find his place in more honest pursuits, like Tourney. He has a soft spot for his friends, especially his lifelong best buddy, Carlos, though he rarely lets it show. He also has a knack for charming the ladies, though he finds the tables getting turned on him when he meets the daughter of Mulan.

Carlos: The fast-talking, dog-loving techie who just so happens to be the son of Cruella de Vil. The poor boy is more like an abandoned scruffy pup, berated and abused by his mother. He resorted to stealing to eat, since his mother wouldn't provide care for him. He's a petty thief who's got a motor mouth and a knack for making gadgets based off of junk he finds in the Isle. He's always willing to serve as a distraction, or help Jay with a scheme.

AAAAH PART 1 IS FINISHED! This was such a treat to work on with Weeby, and Artzy's been excited for it! Thank you so much to Weebs for helping make the summaries and for her letting me use her OC, Darcy. Make sure to reblog, reply, post and ask for more. @artzychic27 and @msweebyness

[janeykath318]

TaserBones

Fall Words: caramel, Pumpkin spice

Meet Ugly

Taserbones

It was the ugliest of meet uglies: Darcy was carrying a full drink carrier, traipsing down the street when she was sent sprawling by a big dude who brushed past her with only a muttered, insincere, “Sorry.”  Despite the pain of the hot liquid that had spilled on her, she made sure to get a good look at him, and added him to her shit list. 

“This is not how caramel and pumpkin spice were meant to be consumed!” she muttered furiously, picking herself up off the ground carefully. Jane was going to be so disappointed, but Darcy didn’t have time to go back and get replacements. It would be Grumpy Science day for them all.

When she got to the lab, Jane wasn’t at her desk. She was staring at the tv monitor, watching the news.

“Bad news, Janey!” she declared. “My coffee run was obliterated by some jackass running me down. We’ll have to settle for the keurig today.” 

Jane turned from the screen and noticed Darcy’s dripping, disheveled appearance.

“Oh my gosh, Darcy! Are you okay?”

“Other than some potential first degree burns, I’m fine,” Darcy shrugged, allowing herself to be fussed over. “I’m just mad. Who does he think he is to be running like that on a public sidewalk?”

Jane gestured toward the screen.

“The jack booted thugs have a man hunt going on right now for some escaped Hydra supporters. You might have accidentally got in the middle of that.”

Darcy paled as she watched the news update on the situation. “Yikes. I’m lucky he didn’t take me hostage or something.”

“You should really have those burns looked at,” Jane told her. “That looks worse than first degree.”

After an hour of trying to tough it out, Darcy let Jane take her to an Urgent Care. As she settled down in the waiting room, she took a quick glance around at the only other occupant—the mean looking, but hot dude who’d run her down. 

She immediately fixed what she thought was a hostile glare on her face and felt for her taser in case he was the escaped Hydra creep. Seeing the glint of a Shield badge at his waist, she relaxed her grip on it, but not her glare.

He looked at her curiously, as if trying to remember where he’d seen her, then she saw the panic hit when he recognized her.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m the innocent woman you knocked over this morning. Spilled hot coffee on myself and now I’m here.” 

She held up her burned arm. He blanched.

“Aw, hell,” he swore. “You gonna sue?”

“I might,” she said haughtily. “Shield and I have never been on the best of terms ever since they stole my friend’s work and confiscated my Ipod. I’m still bitter about that. And you wrecked my pumpkin spice latte. That’s very hard to forgive.”

“Ooh. Yeah.” 

He ran his hand through his jet black hair and squirmed in his chair. Darcy felt a twinge of satisfaction.

“Listen, I really am sorry about this morning. We’ve been chasing this guy for three years and he’s given us the slip multiple times. I was petrified I was going to lose him again.”

“Hmmph.” she grunted, unmoved. 

Before she could go off on him, the door opened and another agent limped through on crutches. She watched Shieldthug leap to his feet and gallantly assist his companion, showing an extraordinary amount of care. 

Darcy was called back to be seen and she expected that he would vanish conveniently and never be seen again, but when she’d been bandaged and instructed and went to settle up the bill, the receptionist shook her head.

“It’s all taken care of,” she smiled. “Have a nice day, Dr. Lewis.”

Confused, Darcy went back to work, mulling over the contradictions she’d seen in Mr. Careless Shieldthug. 

The next morning, Darcy and Jane received a surprising delivery: their favorite coffee orders, correct down to the last pump. A large bouquet of flowers sat on Darcy’s desk, and a thick envelope rested beside it. 

“Well, at least he’s suitably apologetic,” Jane commented, sipping on her coffee. 

Darcy didn’t register anything else while she read the note in the envelope. 

Dr. Lewis,

This is my apology for being a grade a jackass to you. At the very least I should have helped you up. My mama would be ashamed of me. I’ve seen the error of my ways and I hope you can forgive me. 

                                                             Sincerely, 

                                                                Brock 

She wondered if he’d written it with help, but it did sound sincere. Darcy looked back in the envelope and gasped when she saw a familiar item that she hadn’t laid eyes on in a decade.

“My iPod!” she gasped. “Jane, he gave me my iPod back! Also, who’s Brock?”

A couple days later, she was still trying to find out information on the mysterious Brock Rumlow. A lot of his info was redacted, and though she probably could have done some hacking, she decided it wasn’t worth getting in Federal trouble. 

“Visitor for you, Darcy!” Jane called. 

Darcy emerged from her cozy spot in the corner to find Mr. Careless Shieldthug, aka Brock Rumlow, standing in front of her. He didn’t look mean this time, rather obviously nervous. It was almost cute.

“Agent Rumlow, I presume?” she asked, trying not to notice his incredible physique. Damn, the man was ripped.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I wanted to see how you’re doing. That arm looked pretty painful.”

“It’s still sore, but it’s healing,” she told him. “But the iPod return did go a long way in winning my forgiveness, so good move. I guess I won’t sue Shield after all.”

She smirked at him, then let her eyes wander a bit. It wasn’t often such eye candy walked into their lab. Maybe she could take advantage of the opportunity. 

“That’s good to know.” Brock said. “Hill heard about it and roasted my ass like never before.”

“Good for her. Maria is awesome!” Darcy agreed. 

“You know her?”

“I had dealings with the Avengers when I was interning with Jane,” she explained. “And I got to meet a few Shield bigwigs as well. I don’t remember you, though.”

Brock looked away, an uncomfortable look crossing his face. 

“I was deeply undercover back then,” he told her. “I worked with the Avengers some, but it was pretty limited.”

“Ah,” she acknowledged. “Fury probably made you crazy.” 

“That’s the understatement of the century,” he snorted. “Funny enough, when I asked him about you, he rolled his eyes and said, “Don’t even get me started.” I knew then that I’d probably like you.”

Darcy burst out laughing. 

“Hee-Hee! I love pissing off Fury. I think maybe we can be friends, after all, Brock. Let’s start over.”

“I like the sound of that,” Brock agreed, allowing a tiny, relieved smile to appear. 

[themculibrary]

Cabin Fic Masterlist

As Good a Place as Any (ao3) - Taste_is_Sweet steve/bucky T, 6k

Summary: "It was a retreat," Steve goes on more calmly, then has to swallow against something a little too close to nausea lodged in his throat. "They put—they brought me there to help me get my head on straight. Their psychiatrists were sure it'd help me to get away from everyone. And, and they showed me how to set up video calls. If I wanted. It wasn't a prison."

"Video calls," Bucky says flatly. He stares at Steve so long that Steve has to force himself not to avert his gaze. Bucky's eyes are huge and horrified, and he pushes his fingers through his hair again, then leaves them linked on the back of his head. "Stevie," he says, and his voice cracks. "Stevie, don't you even know what they did to you?"

Baby, It’s Cold Outside (ao3) - haveufoundwhaturlookingfor clint/sam G, 1k

Summary: Clint, Sam, Natasha and Bucky are staying in a cabin for a few days during the winter holidays. Unfortunately, Clint and Sam get trapped inside due to the blizzard outside. This wouldn’t be a problem if Sam didn’t have a crush on Clint.

Cat Person (ao3) - The_She_Devil steve/bucky E, 72k

Summary: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Bucky Barnes is tasked with acclimating Steve Rogers to the 21st century. Together with Alpine, they are stuck at the Retreat for four weeks catching up on history, technology, and pop culture.

Bucky is aware he might be playing with fire by wearing those leggings around Captain America. Steve is aware he should not try to take off said leggings, as much as that pretty Agent Barnes might want him to.

Takes place during those few weeks when Steve was at the Retreat right after coming out of the ice.

don't threaten me with a good time (ao3) - canistakahari steve/bucky T, 10k

Summary: Steve's taken him on vacation to a cabin in Canada in the middle of winter, so it's obviously the perfect time for his body to go haywire. Bucky is determined to stick it out, though, partly because he's a stubborn bastard, but mostly because he feels some kinda way about Steve.

Like Real People Do (ao3) - 2bestfriends E, 67k

Summary: Seven years into an isolated retirement after the Battle of New York, Steve has carved out a place for himself in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. He has a best friend (his dog, Lady), a frenemy (a local black bear named Rufus), and a cabin in the middle of the woods, an hour's drive from the nearest town. As November comes to a close, he heads into town to pick up supplies and ends up with a stowaway.

Bucky hasn't had much luck over the past seven years. Disaster caused his family to move from New York to Indiana, and his life has steadily fallen apart ever since. After one too many heartbreaks, he decides to hitch his way back to the last place he remembers being happy: Brooklyn. He's in the homestretch when he finds himself stranded in a half-empty tourist town in the Catskills and decides to take a chance crawling into the back of someone's truck.

--

AKA the "Lumberjack Steve/Twink Bucky" fic of our hearts. Bucky spends so much time thirsty as hell.

Of Books and Memories and Snow (ao3) - vorkosigan steve/tony T, 21k

Summary: Even if Steve and Tony are sort of talking again, the unease between them is still palpable. Steve wants to talk things over again. The last thing Tony wants right now is to ruminate over the past. He finally has a weekend off (or as near as), and he decides to go skiing in his old family cabin he hasn't visited in many years. Inviting Steve along seems like a good idea at the tim... No. No, it doesn't, it really doesn't, but it's beginning to look like the only option. Also, catching a cold really wasn't a plan at all...

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater (ao3) - frostysunflowers G, 4k

Summary: A weekend visit to the cabin doesn’t go according to plan.

Ride of the Valkyries (ao3) - archwrites (Arch) darcy/steve E, 7k

Summary: “This is the best-slash-worst mission ever,” Darcy says. “On the one hand, we’re stranded in the wilderness; on the other hand, I get to spend days in bed with Captain America.”

Or, How Darcy and Steve Learn to Stop Worrying and Have Lots of Filthy Sex.

should be a dream but I'm not sleepy (ao3) - seventymilestobabylon steve/tony M, 4k

Summary: Steve and Tony get hit with a telepathy spell and a magical blizzard, and they have to take shelter in a cabin with fresh milk but no working electricity. Even when they can sort of read each other's minds, they are still terrible at communicating.

Someone To Watch Over Me (ao3) - obsessivereader steve/bucky E, 24k

Summary: One cold, winter's night, Steve Rogers, retired Special Forces operative, finds an unconscious young man in the woods surrounding his property. In the morning, the stranger wakes up and Steve is left with plenty of questions about the beautiful young man with guileless eyes and a sheepish smile, who speaks with self-deprecating humor as though there isn't a bruise on his face and restraint marks on his wrist.

Stuck With Me (ao3) - ShibayamaG rocket/thor E, 59k

Summary: Five years should be more than enough time to get over somebody you shouldn't have feelings for in the first place. Unfortunately for Rocket, he's about to get caught up in more than one unexpected storm when he goes to visit Thor in New Asgard.

The Day the World Went Away (ao3) - 74days steve/bucky T, 21k

Summary: Bucky Barnes has survived the Virus that devastated the world, leaving him road-tripping over America dodging violent gangs and trying to get through another year. When he manages to find a radio station still broadcasting, he's not aware that the voice on the other side of the country will soon become the driving force behind his actions.

Time for Home (ao3) - GoodbyeBlues steve/bucky M, 63k

Summary: When Steve rescues Bucky from a car wreck in the middle of a snow storm, he isn't looking for a reward, but he certainly isn't expecting to be berated about his lack of wifi and his “unjustifiable” use of emergency scissors either. He also isn't expecting to find his infuriating new housemate so goddamn attractive.

Saving Bucky Barnes’ life was easy. Living with him? Not so much.

When You Move, I Move (ao3) - 2bestfriends steve/bucky E, 20k

Summary: As September ushers in cooler nights, Bucky asks for a little more heat.

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - October 30

PHASE 2

2015: Rogue and Garrison work on repairing their friendship now that her brain has been repaired. Hope emails Tandy about going on a shopping trip. Monica and Sharon meet and bond over their military backgrounds. Amadeus posts asking if people would be interested in adopting three gerbils after he finished experimenting on them. Jubilee posts suggesting the adults go to a midnight showing of Rocky Horror to celebrate Jennie’s birthday. Tandy takes Julian to the countryside to pick up two German Shepherd puppies for his birthday. Now both back in their right minds, Rogue and Logan decide to attempt a relationship again.

2016: Bobbi posts a picture of her new favorite shirt. Marie-Ange makes a journal entry asking wtf is up with these pumpkins? Laurie emails Wade about a pumpkin trebuchet.

2017: Darcy posts about having ordered several strings of planetary lights and asks for help to hang them.

2018: Darcy makes a journal post about her low effort Hallowe’en costume.

2019:

2020:

2021: Kyle posts a literature joke. Clarice posts about getting enough sleep.

2022: Topaz posts to let everyone know she's leaving for the week. Fourteen posts about her various woes. Kurt and Alani arrive early to set up for the community Halloween event.

[dontcare77ghj]

All-New Halloween Spooktacular

Wanda x reader x Vision

"Halloween's a magical holiday," Billy told someone unseen as he walked into the kitchen dressed in a cape. "All about family, friends, and the thrill of getting to be someone else for the day."

"Wrong! Halloween's all about candy!" Tommy informed his brother.

"You're both wrong." Luna piped up from where she sat, eating toast. "It's about scaring people."

"That too." Tommy agreed. "But mostly about candy." He added.

"Where's your costume, Tommy?" Billy questioned, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

"This is my costume. I'm the cool twin." Tommy told him in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Lame." Luna shook her head.

"What does that make me?" Billy asked, tilting his head to the side. 

"A dorkasurus rex," Tommy said, smirking as he remembered the time Billy caused himself to fall playing Dance Dance Revolution.

"Not a real dinosaur." Billy rolled his eyes. "What's your costume, Luna?" He asked, glancing over his sister's grey jacket and pink dress.

"I'm a spy," Luna said, pulling on a pair of sunglasses. "Duh." She added, picking up her plate as the three kids moved into the living room. 

Quickly the three ten-year-olds noticed their usual seats on the couch were occupied by their uncle, who was fast asleep and snoring loudly.

"Man, he even snores cool." Tommy quietly exclaimed, Pietro on the couch. "I'm gonna wake him up."

"Don't!" Billy snapped, grabbing Tommy's arm.

"You scared?"

"Why would he be scared, Tommy? He's our uncle." Luna asked, tilting her head.

"'Cause it's four o'clock in the afternoon, and Billy's secretly afraid he's a vampire." Tommy teased.

"No, I'm not!" Billy denied.

"Yes, you are!" Tommy smirked. 

"Both of you, be quiet!" Luna hissed.

What none of the kids had noticed was that while they were arguing, Pietro had woken up. Pietro watched the three for a second before he flashed in front of his nephews and niece.

"Blood is thicker than water! I show you!" Pietro roared, causing the kids to scream.

Pietro began to chase the still screaming children around the living room before a loud voice interrupted them.

"Oh! Somebody better be bleeding, broken, or on fire." Wanda said as she rushed down the stairs, all dressed for Halloween.

"Whoa, Mama. Are you old Red Riding Hood?" Billy wondered, causing Wanda to frown.

"I'm a Sokovian fortune teller." His mother told him.

"Wow, that is so," 

"Rad!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Lame," Pietro said, causing Tommy to frown.

"Lame." Tommy agreed.

"Well, think it's cool, Mama," Luna said, smiling at the woman.

"Why, thank you, favorite child," Wanda said with a teasing grin to her other children.

"That costume is worse than the ones mom made us the year we got typhus." Pietro grimaced, staring his sister up and down.

"That's not exactly how I remember it." Wanda frowned, recalling a faint memory of herself, her brother, and an old woman with a fish.

"You probably suppressed a lot of the trauma." Pietro guessed.

"Mom has been weird since uncle Pietro got here," Billy announced, once more talking to someone unseen. "I think it's because she hasn't seen him in a long time, and he's what you call 'a man child.'"

"Want to talk about trauma? Someone drank my coffee this morning." Y/N said as she descended the stairs. "I'm looking at you, Pietro."

"What are you dressed as, Mom?" Tommy asked, looking at his mother.

"I'm Artemis," Y/N told him, pulling a fake bow off her caped back. "She's the Greek Goddess of the Hunt." 

"Whoa! Sweet costume, bro-ham-in-law!" Pietro cackled as Vision appeared behind Y/N. "Let me guess, traffic light!" He said, causing Vision to sigh. "Half shucked corn! A booger!"

"Yes." Vision sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Yes!" Pietro exclaimed with a grin before making his way over to the couch.

"Well, thank you two for humoring me," Wanda said, giving her partners an apologetic smile.

"I love Halloween. No-one had to ask me to dress up twice." Y/N shrugged, throwing her bow back onto her back.

"At least you got to choose your costume. I simply had no other clothes in my closet." Vision said before grinning at his wives. "You are incorrigible, darling. I know you have a secret thing for Mexican wrestlers." He told Wanda.

"Mi gusta mucho."

"Ellos son bastante buenos."

"Chili con carne." Vision said, causing his wives to laugh. "What do you say, kiddos? Who's ready for that first hit of high fructose corn syrup?" Vision asked, turning to the kids who were playing a video game with Pietro.

"Yes! Headlock!"

"Get out of here! Get out of here!"

"You never really told us anything about your brother," Y/N said, watching the three with a smile. "He's not what I expected."

"Yes. I had no idea that he'd be so,"

"Go!"

"Great with kids." Vision summarised, throwing his thumb up.

"Yeah, he's just full of surprises." Wanda shook her head.

"Well, I hope the two of you have fun tonight, darlings." Vision said, moving towards the door.

"What? What do you mean? You're all dressed and ready to go." Wanda asked, staring at Vision with wide eyes.

"I'm undercover," Vision told her. "Halloween is a bacchanal for adolescent trouble-makers, and the neighborhood watch is the only thing that stands between the trees and toilet paper." He explained.

"Ah yes, the age-old enemy. Children with toilet paper." Y/N teased her husband with a smirk.

"No. That's not what you're supposed to,"

"What?" Vision cut her off, causing Wanda to cross her arms and sigh.

"Well, you didn't tell me you had plans."

"Vis told me last night, Wand," Y/N announced, causing Wanda to narrow her eyes.

"And you're okay with this?"

"Mama, Mom, and Dad have been, well, not fighting, just different," Billy announced to the unseen person.

"Okay with it? Vis is going out with the neighborhood watch. What's there to be okay about?" Y/N wondered.

"It's the kid's first Halloween. We all have to be there with them." Wanda demanded.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the big dealio?" Pietro whispered as he came to stand with the three. "The big guy has conflict. The kids need a father figure for the night. Don't sweat it, guys. I got the old XY chromosome. Uncle P to the rescue! Huh?" He suggested.

"There you go. Problem solved." Vision agreed, lightly punching Pietro in the shoulder. "You have a spooky time tonight, kids."

"Goodnight, Dad!" 

"Bye, Dad!"

"Love you, Dad!"

"Sweethearts, be good." He said (mostly to Wanda) as he kissed both women's cheeks. "I smell crime."

"Oh, hang on, I need to put the pumpkin out," Y/N said before Vision left the house. 

She grabbed the jack-o-lantern from beside the door and followed Vision outside, shutting the door behind her.

"You understand your part of the plan?" Vision whispered.

"I'll keep Wanda distracted and keep my eyes open," Y/N whispered to her husband. "Be careful?" She asked.

"Always, darling," Vision promised, quickly pulling Y/N into an embrace before taking his leave.

"Where do you keep your water balloons?" Y/N heard as she re-entered the house. 

"What? We don't have water balloons." Wanda said as Y/N locked the front door.

"Not anymore. Wanda won't let me keep them in the house." Y/N teased, coming to stand beside her wife.

"Then where are we gonna put all this shaving cream?" Pietro asked, holding up two cans. Cans Y/N had no idea as to where they'd come from. "It was Luna's idea!" Pietro defended himself.

"I'm Tommy," Tommy said, holding a shopping bag in his hands.

"And don't you forget it!"

"You two don't even have costumes," Wanda said, looking between her brother and son. 

Pietro let out a scoff as he held a hand out towards Tommy. When the boy took it, Pietro sped the two out of the house, and when they reappeared, they were in matching costumes.

"Okay, but just remember that this is a respectable family." Wanda sighed. "If I see any funny business, I am going to magic you into a pickled herring." She said, causing Pietro to cringe. 

"C'mon Billy, Luna, let's get your pillowcases," Y/N said, causing the kids to jump to their feet. "It's T-minus ten to our Halloween spooktacular!" She grinned.

Back at SWORD headquarters, agents were in a flurry after Wanda's appearance.

"I wanna see a full work-up inside the hour," Hayward demanded of the agents examining the missile that was still glowing with Wanda's power.

"Yes, sir."

"Hayward. Hayward! You cut us off at the knees sending in that missile." Monica snapped, rushing after the director.

"Now we know who we're dealing with." He shrugged.

"There he is! The man who almost got murdered by his own team." Clint clapped, causing Hayward to snap around.

"Why are you still here?" He demanded.

"Because that's my family in there," Clint told the man. 

"And he's with us," Darcy said, standing beside Clint with Monica on her other side.

"I see, so if he's the struggling father, which of you is the sassy best friend?"

"There is no time for you to diminish your colleagues when you're about to start a war you can't win." Jimmy admonished, standing on Clint's other side. 

"Maximoff was never going to negotiate with us." Hayward waved him off. "We take her out, and this whole nightmare ends."

"We don't know that," Monica told him.

"And we're never going to now." Clint scoffed. 

"We have no idea what will happen in there or out here if Wanda dies." Monica reasoned.

"So what? We just surrender to that?" Hayward exclaimed, glaring at the red energy field behind him. "Not happening."

"We can't outgun her, and clearly antagonizing her is only making things worse. If Wanda is the problem, then she has to be our solution!"

"Captain Rambeau, Agent Barton, the two of you have become an impediment to this mission," Hayward told the two, causing Monica to sigh heavily.

"Technically, I was never assigned to anything." Clint shrugged.

"Constantly advocating on behalf of super-power-based individuals. Yes, I know your history with Carol Danvers. You know, you people who left still have the luxury of optimism. You have no idea what it was like what it took to keep the lights." Hayward shook his head.

"Monica might not have been around, but I was," Clint spoke up. "I remember what it took, and I can never forget. Wanda dusted. Y/N dusted. The two came back to a world where nothing was the same, and Vision was dead. Vision who had to die by Wanda's own hand."

"That's not an excuse for what Maximoff's doing. And the snap wasn't an excuse for what you did during those five years either." The director said, causing Clint to flinch.

"Don't use the last five years to be a coward, Tyler." Monica snapped, causing Hayward to direct his attention back to her.

"Maybe it's a good thing you weren't here when your mother died. Because clearly, you don't have the stomach for this job." Hayward said, causing the air to knock right out of Monica's lungs. "Get her off my base. Get them all out." He demanded the agents, who immediately surrounded the four.

"Yes, sir. All right, come on. Let's go." One of the agents said, pulling Monica out of the room, the other three not far behind. 

"Hayward is way overstepping his provisional authority," Jimmy complained.

"He was looking for a reason to sideline us," Clint commented from his side.

"He's up to something." Monica agreed as they came to a stop at a van.

"Let's go, everybody in." An agent demanded. 

With a second's hesitation, Jimmy punched the agent holding him. Monica and Clint quickly followed Jimmy's lead and attacked the guards holding them. Slamming the men into the truck and the ground, the three made quick work of the agents while Darcy watched in shock.

"Why didn't anyone tell me the plan?" Darcy demanded once all the agents were dispatched.

"You okay?" Jimmy asked Clint and Monica.

"Always am," Clint grunted, rolling his shoulder.

"Yeah, let's move." Monica sighed. Quickly the four found themselves SWORD ponchos and dragged the agents into a storage shed, far out of the way. 

"This is it. Game time." Tommy told the same unseen person Billy had spoken to.

"It's not a competition, Tommy." Billy sighed.

"Everything can be a competition, Billy," Luna said with a grin.

"Luna's right. It's even better when you're the winner." Tommy said before running off.

"Tommy!" Billy groaned before running after his older brother, with Luna in tow.

"Unleash hell, demon spawn!" Pietro cheered.

"Someone's got to follow after them," Y/N said, pressing a kiss to her wife's cheek. "God knows how many bones they'd break without someone watching." She added, following after the kids.

When Wanda and Pietro were alone, Wanda gave her brother a smile before taking a step towards him.

"Do you remember when we were at the orphanage after Mom and Dad died? What was the name of the kid who was always trying to steal your boots?" Wanda asked him. "You know, he was the one with the. He had the, he had the skin thing."

"You're testing me," Pietro said, pointing at his younger sister.

"No, I'm not." She immediately denied it.

"Hey, it's cool. I know I look different." Pietro said, gesturing to his hair.

"Why do you look different?" Wanda wondered.

"You tell me." Pietro shrugged. "I mean, if I found Shangri-La, I wouldn't wanna be reminded of the past either." He said, causing Wanda to freeze.

"Next house, Mama!" Tommy said as he and his siblings rushed over to the Maximoff siblings with Y/N right behind.

"Junior entrepreneur, over here!" Pietro grinned. "How about you let Uncle P help you maximize your candy acquisition, huh?"

"That'd be so cool!" Luna grinned.

"Yeah! Kick-ass!" Tommy agreed. 

"I feel the need," Pietro stated, holding his hand out to Tommy.

"For speed!" Tommy cheered, taking Pietro and Billy's hand. Billy grabbed onto Luna's hand, and with that, the four were off.

Speeding around the neighborhood for candy.

"Kick-ass," Wanda murmured as Y/N chuckled.

"I certainly didn't teach them that word," Y/N said as they began to walk down the street.

"Sweetheart, you swear more than anyone else I've ever met," Wanda told the woman. 

"Lies and blasphemy!" Y/N gasped, causing Wanda to giggle. 

"Oh! Hey, Herb!" Wanda said upon spotted their neighbor dressed as Frankenstein. 

"Hey, guys!" Herb smiled as the two approached.

"How's patrol going?" Wanda asked politely.

"Any trees meet the dreaded toilet paper yet?" Y/N smirked.

"No, not yet." Herb chuckled. "It's been quiet so far." He said before his com began to chatter. "Hold up, will you? Say again?" He asked his com. "All the candy has disappeared?" He asked, causing the two women to freeze.

Behind the man, Wanda and Y/N could vaguely make out the blue blur of Pietro speeding the kids around and causing hijinks.

"And now all the jack-o-lanterns have been smashed?" Herb asked as the kids let out a loud cheer. "And now everyone's covered in silly string?"

"Whoo!" Pietro cheered loudly.

"Sorry, girls, but I gotta bounce." Herb apologized.

"Well, maybe Vision can help you out," Wanda suggested.

"Vision? He's not on duty."

"Oh, isn't he?" Y/N asked, playing along with Wanda's confusion.

"We just thought,"

"Is there something I can do for you, Wanda?" Herb asked, sensing Wanda's confusion. "Do you want something changed?" He questioned, causing Y/N to frown.

"No, it's fine." Wanda shook her head, grabbing Y/N's hand and squeezing it comfortingly. "Never mind."

"All right. Peace." Herb smiled before walking away.

"That was good, sweetheart." Y/N complimented her wife. 

"I'm always good." Wanda shrugged, giving Y/N a smile.

Vision was on the other side of town while his family trick-or-treated. 

The further away Vision got away from his home and family, the stranger Vision noticed the town's people were.

He had noticed people robotically repeating their actions with blank expressions.

Vision stared at a woman and her husband for several seconds before he had to tear his gaze away when the woman shed a single tear.

Meanwhile, the group of six had made their way to the town's center, where the committee had set up a festival of sorts. 

"This is so lame. I can't believe you're making the kids return all the candy." Pietro groaned as Y/N led the kids away.

"I can't believe what a bad influence you are," Wanda said, turning to Pietro with crossed arms.

"Who beefed in your borscht?" Pietro asked, causing Wanda to tilt her head. "I'm just doing my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the in-laws, stir up trouble with the rugrats and ultimately give you grief. I mean, that's what you wanted, isn't it?" He asked her.

"What happened to your accent?" Wanda questioned, pointing a gloved finger at her brother.

"What happened to yours?" He fired back. "Details are fuzzy, man. I got shot like a chump on the street for no reason at all, and the next thing I know, I heard you calling me. I knew you needed me." Pietro admitted as Y/N came back over.

"Alright, candy is returned, the kids are still being sourballs about it, but it's done." She clapped, standing beside her wife.

"Thank goodness for that." Wanda smiled.

"Uncle P, guess what?" Tommy exclaimed as he and his siblings ran over.

"They've got full-size candy bars a few blocks up! Mama, Mom, can we go?" Billy begged before his brother rushed away.

Tommy rushed away in a blur of blue.

"Next stop, Cavity Town!" Tommy cheered, reappearing with three candy bars in hand.

Everyone turned to stare at Tommy in surprise before Pietro let out a cheer.

"Right on, little dude! Chip off the old Maximoff block! You've got super speed!"

"I do?"

"Yeah!" Pietro grinned, holding a hand out to his nephew, who eagerly jumped to high-five him.

"It's okay, baby. You can take it slow, and you can," Wanda started to tell the boy but was cut off when he sped away.

"That's my boy." Y/N grinned as Tommy cheered loudly.

Wanda allowed Tommy to speed around the five for a few minutes before she threw her hand out and pulled the boy to a stop. 

"If you're going to break the sound barrier, please take your siblings with you," Wanda begged.

"Really?" Billy asked excitedly.

"Really?" Tommy asked sadly.

"Really, yeah. And please just remember to-"

"Don't go past Ellis Avenue." The twins chorused in unison.

"And?" Y/N wondered.

"Always stick together." They added.

"We know. We know." Tommy said as Billy took his hand.

"Luna, are you coming?" Billy asked his sister, who shook her head.

"I think I want to look at the stalls," Luna told him, glancing behind her at the stalls that were lined up.

"Oh, good idea. I'll come with you." Y/N said, taking her daughter's hand.

"Hey! be careful!" Wanda called as her family all went their separate ways.

Leaving her with Pietro.

Outside the Hex, Monica, Clint, Jimmy, and Darcy were sneaking their way to an empty tent.

"I'm just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the in-laws,"

"Who is that?" Monica asked, staring at the man on the screen.

"Wanda's brother came to town," Jimmy told the woman.

"That's not the punk I remember," Clint said, staring at the screen in confusion.

"Yeah, he's got a new face." Darcy scoffed.

"Over here." Jimmy quietly called. Monica and Darcy quickly rushed over to Jimmy while Clint continued to stare at the screen.

"What happened to your accent?"

"What happened to yours?"

"We shouldn't stick around here much longer." Clint coughed, pulling his eyes away once his daughter appeared on the screen.

"Give me two seconds. I just need to hack into the secure network on the base." Darcy told everyone as she typed away frantically at the computer. "Donezo! Now, should be able to access the data on Hayward's devices." She said, connecting the USB to her laptop. "Oh, that's interesting. Guys, Hayward figured out a way to look into the boundary."

"And he didn't share with the group." Monica scoffed.

"Is this Wanda, right here?" Jimmy asked, pointing to a glowing dot on Darcy's screen.

"No, the program is tracking the decay signature of vibranium," Darcy told him.

"Vision." 

"Why is Hayward tracking Vision?" Clint asked.

"I don't know. This is all I can access so far." Darcy told him.

"These other dots, those are Westview residents?" Jimmy wondered.

"The ones in Vision's immediate vicinity, yeah." Darcy nodded.

"So Hayward must have an accurate headcount by now." Jimmy summarised.

"Hayward's got to have some sense of their well-being. Where would that be?" Clint asked, playing around with the screen.

"Not sure."

"These people near the edge of town, they're bearly moving. Are they even alive?" Jimmy asked, looking over the dulled blue dots.

But Darcy didn't have an answer for that. In fact, she didn't have time to give him one before the laptop dinged, and the map began to move.

This was stranger than strange. Vision noted as he got closer towards the edge of town. 

It seemed the closer he got to the edge of town, the less Wanda cared about the people. 

The people were not moving about robotically anymore. They were simply still. 

There was a blanket of silence covering the street as Vision walked past the countless people on the street.

No-one made even the faintest of sounds, not even when he spoke to them.

"Excuse me, ma'am? Are those your children? Are you waiting for something?" Vision asked, but when no-one responded, he forced himself to move on.

Vision made his way to the end of the street before he decided walking was fruitless.

He dropped his disguise before he took to the skies.

He could hear the sounds of children laughing, people wishing each happy Halloween's and other pleasantries before noticed a car stopped at a stop sign.

Vision flew towards the car and lightly landed before the stopped vehicle.

There, in the driver's seat, Vision found Agnes to be behind the wheel.

"Agnes?" He asked aloud. "What are you doing here?"

"Town Square Scare," Agnes said blankly. "Where is it?"

"Oh, well, the Town Square, I expect." Vision joked, causing Agnes to laugh emotionlessly.

"Took a wrong turn," Agnes admitted, still staring out the front window. "Got lost." She shrugged as her eyes welled with tears.

"In the town, you grew up in?" Vision wondered, staring at his neighbor in confusion.

Agnes didn't respond, causing Vision's worry to grow so that he reached a hand out to her temple.

When Vision broke the wall in her mind, Agnes jolted violently and let out a loud gasp.

"It's all right." Vision soothed.

"You!" Agnes gasped, staring at her neighbor in shock. "You're one of the Avengers. You're Vision. Are you here to help us?" She asked with wide eyes.

"I am Vision, and I do want to help." Vision nodded, gently placing his hand on hers. "But what's an Avenger?" He wondered, causing Agnes to gasp.

"What? Why don't you know?" She demanded, snatching her hand away. "Am I dead?" Agnes asked, pressing her hands to her chest.

"No. No." Vision promised. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you are." 

"'Cause I'm what?"

"Dead," Agnes said, causing Vision to freeze. "Dead. Dead! Dead!" She yelled.

"Agnes, it is my intention to reach those outside of Westview and make sense of our situation." Vision explained, gesturing towards the town's end.

"How? No-one leaves." Agnes shook her head. "Wanda won't even let us think about it." She laughed. "All is lost," Agnes added as her laughter began to grow wilder.

"Agnes. Agnes, please calm down." Vision asked but was drowned out by the woman's loud cackling. "Agnes! Please."

Vision knew Agnes was too far gone to hear this conversation, so with a sigh, he pressed his hand to her temple once more.

Agnes snapped upright in her seat as her laughter died in her throat.

"I will fix this, Agnes. I promise."

"Okey-dokey, neighbor." Agnes chirped, smiling widely, as she did a U-turn. "Happy Halloweenie!" She cheered, driving away.

Leaving Vision to stare into the distance, just past Ellis Avenue.

"That's it. My way back into the Hex will be here in an hour. Just got to meet my guy over the ridge. Let's roll." Monica told the group.

"You can't do that," Darcy spoke up.

"Sure we can." Jimmy shrugged. "I'm a wiz at hot-wiring cars."

"No. You can't go back into the Hex." Darcy told Monica.

"Worst case scenario, Wanda removes my free will and puts me in ultra-low-rise jeans." Monica shrugged.

"Hayward has your blood work," Darcy announced. "You've gone through the boundary twice already, Monica. The energy inside has re-written your cells on a molecular level twice. It's changing you."

"Seen enough lab results to last me a lifetime." Monica shrugged. "I've seen cells metastasizing, cells in remission. I know what Wanda's feeling, and I won't stop until I help her."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"But I'm staying here," Darcy told the group.

"You can't stay here. It's not safe." Jimmy told her.

"Why would you want to stay here?" Clint asked.

"Darcy, what are you talkin' about?"

"I haven't made it through Hayward's last firewall. There's something big here, something that can help us. I know it." Darcy said.

"I'll stay," Clint announced. "Just in case you need me."

"Fine." Monica sighed. "I'll drop you the location. You meet us out there as soon as you can." She told the two before she and Jimmy left the tent. 

Jimmy and Monica found an abandoned truck which they quickly stole before driving away from the SWORD base.

Leaving Darcy and Clint alone.

"Seems the whole town's out tonight, huh, Luna?" Y/N wondered as she and her daughter strolled through the Town Square.

"There's a lot of people." Luna nodded, staring at the townsfolk curiously.

"Everything okay, sweetheart?" Y/N asked, kneeling in front of the blonde girl. "Are you not feeling well?" She pushed, pressing her hand to Luna's forehead.

"No, I feel fine, Mom," Luna promised, pulling her mother's hand away.

"What's wrong then? You've been acting off all night." Y/N commented, rising to a stand and pulling Luna over to a hay bale to sit.

"I can see things, Mom," Luna admitted, playing with her thumbs.

"Things like what, sweetheart?" 

"Emotions, I think," Luna told Y/N. "There are these colors all around everyone. I can see 'em change, Mom."

"That's okay, sweetheart. We can help you find out more about your powers."

"But, Mom, there's something wrong with everyone's colors," Luna said.

"What's wrong with their colors?

"They're all blue, all sad," Luna said, staring at the people who passed her. "And when they pass Mama, they're scared."

"I know, sweetheart." Y/N sighed, pulling her daughter into her side. "But me and your Dad are trying to fix this. We're gonna fix this." She promised the girl.

"Holy shmacaroni," Pietro commented, looking around the Town Square as Wanda laughed. "Wow!"

"Isn't it great?" Wanda asked with a grin.

"Damn it, if Westview, New Jersey isn't charming as hell." Pietro complimented, watching the people mill about.

"Now, I know that you think that I've gone full soccer mom,"

"You have." Pietro cut in.

"But it really is nice, right?" Wanda asked as the two sat down.

"Yeah." Pietro nodded before letting out a sigh. "I think Mom and Dad would have loved it."

"Yeah. I think Mom and Dad would have."

"Where were you hiding these kids up till now?" Pietro asked after a gaggle of children ran past them.

"What?" Wanda asked, snapping her head to face him.

"I assume they were sleeping peacefully in their beds." Pietro theorized. "No need to traumatize beyond the occasional holiday episode cameo, right?" He joked.

"No."

"You were always the empathetic twin," Pietro told her.

"I don't. I didn't."

"Don't get me wrong, you've handled the ethical considerations of this scenario as best you could." Pietro complimented. "Families and couples stay together, most personalities aren't far off from what's underneath, people got better jobs, better haircuts, for sure."

"You don't think it's wrong?" Wanda stuttered.

"What, are you kidding? I'm impressed." Pietro told her. "Seriously. It's a big leap from giving people nightmares and shooting red wiggly-woos out of your hands. How'd you even do all this?" Pietro asked, causing Wanda to fall into silence. "Hey, I'm not some stranger, and I'm not your husband or your wife. You can talk to me."

"I don't know how I did it," Wanda admitted with a sigh, looking down. "I, I only remember feeling scared. Empty." She sniffed. When Wanda finally looked up, she let out a gasp when she saw Pietro grey and full of holes.

Wanda squeezed her eyes shut tightly, and when she opened them, she out out a sigh. For Pietro was no longer grey and was hole-free.

"Are you okay?" Pietro wondered, staring at his sister in worry.

"I'm fine." Wanda smiled, waving him off.

"Sure you are."

"Hayward, you sneaky bastard," Darcy said as she continued to snoop through the director's files.

"You got that right." Clint scoffed, watching over the doctor's shoulder.

Darcy pulled up a new screen that showed Vision's blinking dot moving closer to the border.

"What's he doing?" Clint asked, staring at Vision's dot in confusion.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out," Darcy said, jumping up from her chair.

On the other side of the Hex, Vision had reached the edge of the town.

The closer he got to the town's border, the larger the foreboding feeling in his stomach grew.

But the closer he got, the clearer the energy field became. 

Blocked from the outside world. Vision mused as he stood a nose length's away.

Vision pressed his hand onto the field, and it was immediately sucked into the energy. 

Vision pushed his way through the energy field to see swarms of people, cars, and helicopters surrounding him.

But Vision could not spare them another thought as the more he tried to pull his body out of the energy field, the more pain he found himself to be in.

"He really does want out, doesn't he?" A man asked as Vision let out a loud yell.

SWORD watched as, before their eyes, Vision began to disintegrate.

"Oh no." Darcy gasped and began to rush forward with Clint right behind her. "Why aren't you helping him?" Darcy screamed, causing all the agents to turn and face the two. "He's coming apart!" She yelled when an agent grabbed her and pushed her away.

"Get your hands off her!" Clint exclaimed when he, too, was restrained.

Billy was alone when his head began to pound.

Billy was alone when he began to have images of his father in pain.

Billy was alone when he began to hear what was happening at the town's edge.

Billy could sense his brother speeding closer, and he held a hand out to stop him.

"Whoa, Billy!" Tommy cheered.

"Shh!" Billy hissed.

"Are you okay?" Tommy asked, watching his brother in concern. 

Billy ignored his brother as the screaming in his head grew louder.

"Mama!"

Billy and Tommy rushed into the Town Square to find both mothers, their sister, and their uncle sitting on hay bales.

"Mama! Mom! Mama!"

"What? What is it, Billy?" Wanda asked as she jumped to her feet.

"I hear Dad in my head. He's in trouble." Billy panted.

"What? Where is he?" Y/N asked, rushing to her wife's side.

"Let me go!" Darcy snapped as she was handcuffed to a car. "What are you doing?" She yelled when she saw Clint be smacked across the face with the butt of a gun.  

"Help!" Vision yelled, not caring that he was falling apart. "The people need help!" He exclaimed before he fell to the ground.

"I don't understand. What's happening to me?" Billy demanded.

"Where is he? Where's your Dad?" Wanda asked, staring at Billy with urgent eyes.

"Hey, don't sweat it, sis. It's not like your dead husband can die twice." Pietro joked.

"Excuse me?" Y/N asked, staring at Pietro with wide eyes. Before she could further question her brother-in-law, Wanda shot him with a blast of magic and sent him flying through the air. "Wanda!" Y/N exclaimed as the kids stared at their mother in shock.

"Billy, I need you to focus," Wanda demanded, ignoring her wife. Billy nodded at his mother and closed his eyes tightly.

"I can't tell. I see these soldiers." Billy said as the images flooded his mind. "They think he's dying!"

"Wanda, don't," Y/N said as Wanda's hands glowed red. But she couldn't say another word as time froze.

The last thing she saw was Wanda's eyes glowing red.

"Jimmy, do you see that? It's magic." Monica said as she and Jimmy drove away from Westview.

"It's moving!" Jimmy gasped. "Go, Monica! Go!" He exclaimed, causing the woman to press harder on the pedal.

"Go, go, go!" Hayward demanded, running away from the Hex. "Move, move, move!"

The agents began to scatter in a panic as the red energy drew closer to them.

"Are you serious right now?" Darcy growled as she was left alone, handcuffed to the car. "Clint, wake up!" Darcy exclaimed as the Hex swallowed everything around it. "Oh, fudge." Darcy sighed as she was hit.

The Hex swallowed the entirety of the SWORD base. Anything it touched changed to fit Wanda's script.

"Can anyone read me?" Hayward asked as he and three others sped away from Westview. "Can anyone hear my voice?" He demanded once more.

But no-one responded.

They were a part of Westview now. 

@x-uglyprincess-x @imthedoctorlove @loveinnoya @unknownalien3388 @bindythedemon @summersimmerus @buckmesidewaysandcallmesteve @natasharomanoffismywife @mcsteamy4ever @monxpeet @amywinehouseisgod-blog @milleniumloki @buckybarnesplumwhore @kennedywxlsh @drpepperobsessed @madamevirgo @superbsccissorsdeanexpert @itty-bitty-witch @essenceproxima @severusminerva @okkulta @mrscasnovak @niki-is-a-thing @sunshinepower17 @pinkninja200 @iflostreturntoflynnrider @simp4mcuwomen @blackfarrahfawcett @angelicl-y @bromieeeomieee @persie33 @ambria @1awesomemeash @montygator17 @runaway-mom-friend @gengen64 @tiny-freak @abitofeverythinggg

[mostly-marvel-musings]

Corn Maze

Request: Thor’s first time at a pumpkin patch and corn maze by @marvelgirl7​ I SO want to visit one. Thank you my dear for requesting this, hope you like it!

Fall Prompts Masterlist

Pairing: Thor Odinson x Reader

Warnings: All fluff and humour.

Word count: 1000ish

Thor Odinson Taglist – @raspberrymama​  @bitchycherryblossomlove​ @jennie22feona​ @innerpaperexpertcloud​ @thorfanficwriter​

Everything Taglist – @godofplumsandthunder​  @ladyacrasia​ @agustdowney​ @swaggysposts​ @littlegasps​ @little-baby-vixen​  @another-stark-sub​ @supraveng​ @kahlanmars​ @marvelgirl7​ @disappointmentofthefam​  @pandaxnienke​ @tom-hlover​ @just-the-hiddles​

…

Glancing up at the fiery orange sky, you watched it change colors as you walked beside the God of Thunder down a grass-filled pathway. Darcy and her new boyfriend were a few feet ahead, with Darcy yapping away excitedly about your plans.

Ian, who was from London hadn’t been to a corn maze ever, and Thor well, hadn’t heard about the concept until a few hours ago. This officially was your first date with Thor after he’d returned to Earth after a much too long absence. You had second thoughts initially about how Thor would react because this was essentially a culture-shock for the man, however the curiosity in his eyes after you pitched the idea reassured your decision.

A while later, you arrived at a pumpkin slinger stand that stood right at the entrance of an empty field, with a few pumpkins of varied sizes lying next to the sling.

“Is that a swing, Lady (Y/N)?” Thor enquired, putting his large hand inside the sling as if to check if it would take a human’s weight.

“No you sling pumpkins across the field with those. Here I’ll show you.” you giggled before picking a smaller one for a demo. As you flung it, the pumpkin launched into the air and landed several feet into the field, rolling on the grass a few times before giving up and breaking into pieces.

“See? It’s fun. You try it.” gesturing to the largest pumpkin of the lot, you stepped aside to watch the demi-god attempt this very Midgardian tradition.

Of course Thor picked the vegetable up with one hand as if it weighed nothing, placed it in the cloth sling and pulled it way back as you, Darcy and Ian watched on.

There was a definite crack you heard which came from the sling and just as Thor flung the pumpkin, it snapped, sending the slinger flying into the air along with the pumpkin, going way beyond your line of vision and disappearing somewhere into the trees lining the field. All you could do was pray there wasn’t a house or a person on the receiving end before bursting out laughing.

“I thought it would be strong enough.” Thor wondered out loud, a frown adorning his features.

“I have a feeling nothing’s gonna be strong enough for the God of Thunder here on Earth. Let’s go before the owner finds out.” you extended your hand for him to take, glancing around the deserted neighborhood before dragging him away dismissing his attempts to contact the owner to apologize.

The four of you finally made it to your desired corn maze seeing as it was twilight by the time you reached and a few stray stars littered the rapidly darkening sky. This was far from the kid-friendly, cheerful looking ones and had a definite creep factor to it.

“Ready?”

“Of course my love.”

Thor’s little term of endearment sent butterflies in your stomach into overdrive as he gave you a wink before you stepped into the maze together, Darcy and Ian following a few feet behind.

Your body wasn’t really on high alert as you were expecting predictable jump scares, probably a talking scarecrow and other typical tropes but so far it was eerily silent. Looking behind, you didn’t find Darcy or Ian assuming they’d taken another route you turned back only to shriek in horror as a man with torn clothes holding a bloodied axe stepped out of the grass right in front of you.

Thor wasted no time in knocking the poor actor unconscious in one mighty punch that made him fall on the ground like a leaf.

“Holy fuck Thor, what did you do?” you sighed, kneeling before the man to check if anything was broken.

“He was attacking you.” he fumed, fists still balled up.

“That’s his job, he’s being paid to do this to everyone who walks in here.”

“I don’t understand.” He frowned making you feel guilty for not having told what to expect.

The man regained consciousness and immediately scrambled away from you both and ran towards the exit clutching the side of his head where he’d been punched.

“Now he’s gonna get us thrown out of here.” You mumbled quietly.

“I’m sorry my love, I shouldn’t have—” Thor began but you quickly interrupted him.

“No it’s my fault really. I didn’t warn you before and I knew this wasn’t a good idea. You’re not used to all of this and I like a fool assumed everything would be fine. I’m sorry for this Thor, really I a—”

Your rambling apology got interrupted when Thor silenced you with a kiss. Initial surprise forgotten, your hands went around his neck and you stood on your tippy toes to return the kiss, the delicate, full of love, we’re-both-terrible-at-making-decisions kiss.

After it ended, foreheads still touching, you both kept grinning like idiots before being rudely interrupted by Darcy.

“You know you can celebrate after we get through this goddamn maze right?”

“You just know how to ruin a moment Darcy.” You rolled your eyes, cheeks still warm and brain still a little fuzzy from the kiss.

Once you made it to the other side with no further scares – you assumed the bloodied-axe man told the others not to mess with your group, you found a cute photo-op booth. Darcy and Ian raced inside leaving you and the God waiting outside the door.

“Should I expect anyone launching at me in there?” Thor asked seriously, though you could see humor dancing on his face illuminated by the faint yellow light emitted from the bulbs hanging above.

“No just some boring old pictures to commemorate this evening.” Laughing, you leaned your head against his massive bicep, closed your eyes and hummed.

“I had a wonderful time.” He whispered before kissing the top of your head.

“So did I. Just didn’t expect anybody to get beaten up by the God of Thunder on a date.”

[anony-mouse-writer]

well if netflix is allowed to give us a crappy washed out edgelord version of winx, then im allowed to post my weird worldbuilding takes on winx club that ive been making for the last year and a half since i rewatched the show. (also i watched the 4kids version so apologies about the names)

general worldbuilding: the three schools of magix are there to train the defenders of the realms.

red fountain trains paladins and knights to protect the kingdoms and their people.

alfea trains magic users to protect the magic of the realms with a concentration on personal transformation and growth.

cloud tower trains magic users to protect the realms themsleves with a concentration on study and magical artificery. because of the rogue witches who tried to steal the dragonfire, there has been a certain amount of tension between the witches and everyone else for a few decades.

bloom: is slightly... odd growing up. sometimes her eyes glow and her base temp is a few degrees higher than is strictly healthy and she is drawn to warm spaces like lizards or cats. her mom invests in a greenhouse extension for her flowershop and no one comments on the hammock bloom strings up to sleep in. she says she’s never picked any major or job in the future because she’s okay where she is at the flower shop, but really its because she feels like shes missing something important and can’t figure it out. it doesn’t go away completely when she gets alfea either, but when she finally gets to sparks/domino, she realizes its because she is carrying the embodiment of an entire realm’s magic in her and that kinda messes up your magic a bit.

stella: solaria has several branches of royalty, but they are mainly split into the three solar courts and the lunar and stellar courts. her father is the king of the first solar courts and her mother is the queen of the lunar court. after their divorce, stella spent far more time dealing with courtly intrigue than she did practicing magic and she ends up getting held back a year at alfea due to missing several fundamental lessons. she tends to be more concerned with official standing and presentation than power or magics, but her alfea/red fountain friends are helping to teach her how normal non-manipulative friendships work.

shes sort of friends with prince skye and squire brandon and when they were kids they came up with a half-cocked plan where she married skye and dated brandon in secret and skye could fall in love with whoever he wanted and then they would be stella’s attendent so it was all covert. it was not a great plan, but it did involve several awkward third-wheeling dates on skye’s behalf and he has so much friendly blackmail in the two of them.

tecna: tecna comes from a planet where instinctual magic is a dying art. if anything, most magic users end up at cloud tower to study artificery, but tecna is determined to learn about raw magic and its applications in magi-tech. magi-tech is different from artificery because artifacts are meant to be used by magic users usually for magical or combative purposes whereas magi-tech is mean to be used by anyone for everyday applications (ie scanners, holograms, etc)

tecna’s species dosn’t have innate genders, but instead pick their gender presentations as they grow older (if at all). tecna picks female so she can attend alfea, but eventually realizes that female feels right and starts to wear less androgynous outfits on ocassion.

musa: musa’s mom used classical instruments (chinese classical, not western) and her dad used a lot more contemporary styles and tools, but together, they produced beautiful music. when her mom died, her dad grew to resent the classical instruments that reminded him of her and musa grew up with only contemporary influences. musa meets galitea (the other fairy from harmonix) in her second year of school and they have long discussions (and eventually jam sessions about musa’s inexperience with any classical or traditional instruments. musa starts to learn the flute and a few of the instruments her mom left her in secret and only tells her dad about it during the concert where she performs with them for the first time. she goes on to make fusion classical/contemporary music.

musa still has an arc with riven, but after season 1 when they break up, she spends season 2 out of any romantic relationships and season 3 realizes she has feelings for galitea. im still not sure if i want her coming to terms with her bisexuality to be tied to her coming to terms with classical music or not.

flora: floras people can talk to plants. this makes eating plants awkward. ergo, floras people are obligate carnivores who also gain energy via photosynthesis. flora is a scientist first and foremost. she studies and wants to develop new ways for plants to thrive in foreign environments without becoming invasive species and is working with both magi-tech and pure magic to find ways for people to get the most out of plants for various medicinal and magical purposes without causing any harm to the plants.

she also works on humanoid-floral communications and spends a lot of time with pumpkin-mytra and later human-myrta learning to break curses which was not her original plan but it was Very Important and so she learned it and ten it was kinda fun so she stuck with it.

layla/aisha: her parents traditional views and ideas are important to them and to ruling tides. aisha has little choice but to accept them and has no outlet for her true self for a long time, leading to some heavy suppression and anxiety. when she gets to meet the pixies, she makes friends for the first time and they teach her a bit about being herself. she still has struggles with expressing her true feelings and swings between respecting her kingdom’s traditions and resenting them for making her be someone she’s not for so long. as she develops as a person and a fairy, she learns eventually to reconcile the two in a way that might not please her parents entirely, but allows for growth and tradition both. she gets along weirdly well with stella who helps her on this journey a lot.

aisha also spends time with fairies and red fountainers (and later possibly even some witches) coming up with better communication lines and various protections for magical creatures who don’t necessarily have specific realms (ie the pixies) since they lack any kind of protection from larger threats besides their own.

other characters:

daphne is a from the fairy school of magic so her job was to protect the magic of sparks/domino when the rogue witches attacked, so she stuffed it (aka the dragonfire) into the crown princess and hid her on a null planet so the coven couldnt find it.

myrta not only moves from the witches school of magics to the fairy school of magics, but she is trans. she gets an arc where flora and later helia help her to figure out her powers and also how to be comfortable as her own person outside of her friendships with lucy or even flora.

riven is a good fighter but a better mage. he wants to best his peers in fighting, and hates that he feels he call of magic pretty strongly. darcy takes advantage of this and encourages him to abandon his magic while draining him of his power. when he is chased from cloud tower and falls, he uses his skills in tandem with a bit of magic to survive. he remains wary of his powers, but eventually learns to accept them and learns to be a mage and a fighter which is Simply Not Done, but honestly at this point riven is done listening to everyone else so he does what he wants and becomes great at both.

the trix spend season one pretending to be regular witches. they play up the ‘mean girls’ routine and spend a lot of time stirring chaos and malcontent at cloud tower. when they finally give up the pretense and try to take the dragon fire for real, they lose a bit of the mean girls vibe and work towards the rogue witch coven’s goal of stealing the magic of various realms. their work in cloud tower does not dissapear and there is a time where a lot of witches have to unlearn a lot of toxic behavior and it sucks a lot.

[emospritelet]

Heatstroke - chapter 8

*snickers*

[AO3]

x

“Here.” Sidney Glass dropped a file on her desk, making Lacey look up. “Next assignment.”

She sat back slowly, picking up the file and raising an eyebrow.

“So what is it this time?” she asked. “Flower-arranging at the local church? First prize in the pumpkin-growing contest?”

“Pumpkins aren’t in season yet.”

“Then the story will only be slightly more boring than it otherwise would be.”

Sidney sighed.

“I have no idea why you even moved here if you find it so dull,” he said. “Wouldn’t you have more fun in the city?”

She gave him an amused look.

“Would you believe me if I said I actually wanted a quiet life?”

“Not really.”

“It’s true,” she insisted. “Or at least it’s mostly true. I grew up in a small town. Being back in one is kind of - it’s like I’m a teenager again, so I’m rebelling against it even though I know it’s a good place to live, you know?”

“Good,” said Sidney. “In that case you won’t mind writing a piece on Zelena West’s charity work.”

“Charity work,” Lacey snorted. “She’s a mean-spirited witch.”

“True enough, but she still organises the food drive every year.”

“Probably because it’s the only way she can hold any power over people,” said Lacey. “I bet she takes the best stuff for herself.”

“Get some proof of that and the piece might get interesting,” said Sidney. “In the meantime just stick to the brief.” 

“Five times Zelena West didn’t get bitch-slapped for talking shit about people and one time she did?” suggested Lacey.

Sidney chuckled as he sat back down at his desk, sending her an amused look.

“I’d read that,” he said. “But she’s going beyond the food drive this year. A charity dance. All profits to the church outreach program.”

“Wow.” Lacey pursed her lips. “She trying to bang the priest?”

“I doubt it,” said Sidney, shuddering. “She’s been trying to get her claws into Mr Gold.”

“Really?” Lacey sat up, an odd sensation going through her. It almost felt like outrage, which she couldn’t understand. “She had any success?”

“What do you think?” he said dryly, and she nodded, settling back in the chair.

“Okay, I’ll interview her,” she said. “If she’ll talk to me.”

“Good.”

There was a moment of silence. Sidney tapped at something on his keyboard, glancing at the screen in front of him. Lacey pondered the unwelcome image of Zelena West throwing herself at Gold, and shuddered just as Sidney had. Not that Zelena was unattractive. Just unstable. Lacey got the feeling she didn’t easily take a hint, and she was almost intrigued to know what Gold’s response to her would be.

It had been several days since she had come across Gold naked at the cabin. Clearly the guy was comfortable letting everything hang out. Maybe that was how he relaxed. She supposed she could understand that. It wasn’t as though it had been an unpleasant sight, anyway, just - unexpected. She still hadn’t summoned the courage to go and apologise to him, and told herself they had both been busy.

“So,” said Lacey, putting her feet up on the desk and her arms behind her head. “Mr Gold. What’s his deal?”

Sidney looked surprised at the question.

“Well, he’s landlord for most of Storybrooke,” he said. “Owns a pawnshop, richest guy in town…”

“No.” She shook her head. “I mean, what’s his history? He married? Single?”

Sidney’s surprise turned into alarm.

“Please don’t tell me you’re planning on hitting on him.”

“What? No!” Lacey was surprised at her own vehemence. “No, it’s not like that. I’m just - interested, that’s all. He seems like kind of a loner.”

“Well, he keeps to himself, that’s for sure,” said Sidney. 

“That has to get to you, after a while,” observed Lacey, tapping a pen against her lower lip. “Alone every night, only your own thoughts for company… You think he’s into anything weird?”

“Oh, I can’t begin to tell you how much I do not want to think about that,” muttered Sidney, and Lacey smirked.

“That’s not a no.”

Sidney sighed, slapping a file down on her desk.

“I don’t know a thing about Gold’s private life,” he said. “No one does. He keeps it - well, private.”

“So he could spend every Friday night dressed in leather and riding a huge butt plug and no one in town would know?”

“Oh my…” Sidney ran his hands over his face. “I’m gonna need bleach to get rid of that mental image.”

“You’re welcome.”

Lacey snickered, and Sidney shook his head.

“Look, aside from being a hardass with people who don’t pay their rent, he’s quiet and reserved and spends every hour holed up in the pawn shop,” he said. “He’s a generous donor to Storybrooke General Hospital, particularly the children’s ward. He takes a walk every morning and gets coffee at Granny’s. About as straight-laced as you can get.”

“It’s always the quiet ones.”

Sidney sighed, shaking his head.

“Okay, you want to cover something more interesting than the church fundraiser, and I want to pretend this conversation never happened,” he said. “How about we make a deal?”

Lacey perked up.

“Really?” she said. “What deal?”

“Simple,” said Sidney. “Get Gold to give you an interview.”

Lacey felt her face fall.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“You get him to agree to sit down and talk to you for half an hour, you’ll do something no one else at the Mirror ever has,” said Sidney. “Make it something personal and I’ll even give you a raise.”

“But he hates me,” she complained.

“Why would he hate you?”

Lacey shrank down in the chair a little.

“We kind of - got off on the wrong foot,” she muttered, and he shrugged.

“Guess you can’t want that raise too much.”

“Okay, not so fast,” she said, sitting up again. “I’m not saying I won’t do it, I’m just saying - well, it’s not gonna be easy, that’s all.”

“Nothing worthwhile ever is,” said Sidney. “So I’m told.”

x

Gold made his way up the path, wincing at every step. His leg had been giving him hell all day, and he suspected that it meant rain was coming. It was a night for taking a couple of painkillers, drinking whisky and losing himself in a good book while he waited for them to take effect.

He mounted the steps, pausing when he saw a cardboard box in front of the door. Probably his delivery of special ingredients from August’s in Boston. He found that Storybrooke could satisfy most of his culinary needs, by and large, but there were things he couldn’t get in town, like dried porcini, smoked paprika and loose-leaf Earl Grey tea. Smiling at the thought of the things he could make with the box contents, he opened the front door, scooped up the box and went inside.

It had been a long day, and he went straight to the kitchen, dropping the box onto the table and pouring himself a glass of wine before shrugging out of his coat. Taking a sip, he pulled a knife from the wooden block and sliced open the tape sealing the box. The contents made him frown; he was used to gleaming jars of ingredients nestled in packing noodles. This box was padded with scrunched up brown paper, wedged around boxes containing - oh.

Gold withdrew one of the boxes, a full ten inches, the cardboard thick and gleaming, silky to the touch. On the box was a picture of an anatomically-improbable plastic penis, the text on the box boasting ‘realistic feel and ten-speed vibration’. He dropped it back, picking up a smaller, square box with a bright pink wand made of curved silicone. Intense clitoral stimulation for rapid climax, announced the box. Perfect for solo play.

Gold pushed the box back in amongst the brown paper, flipping the lid closed again and eyeing the label that he hadn’t bothered to check. Miss L French. Of course.

He could feel his cheeks heating, and a vision of Lacey using the products on herself burst into full colour in his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying and failing to dispel it and cursing the telltale twitch of his cock. The image changed, and to his dismay he realised he was imagining himself using the toys on a very naked Lacey, her body undulating against his as she moaned in pleasure. His cock began to swell, and Gold shook his head, remembering the look on her face when she had seen him naked, the disparaging words she had used to describe the encounter to Miss Lucas. The images disappeared at once, and he sagged in relief. Sighing to himself, he was about to seek out some tape to seal the box again when he paused, fingers drumming against the sides. Fuck it. I’m taking it over there now. If she’s the one embarrassed by our encounter it’ll make a bloody change.

x

Lacey peered inside the fridge, chewing her lip and trying to decide which of the unappetising contents to have for dinner. She really needed to go grocery shopping, but kept forgetting that Storybrooke’s stores didn’t stay open late. One drawback of being in a small town. 

She closed the fridge door and opened the freezer section. God, not frozen pizza again! Jesus, Lacey, get your life together. The cat eats better than you.

As though he had heard her thoughts, Darcy appeared at her feet, mewing, and she sighed, pulling out a pizza box and dropping it on the counter.

“I have to learn to cook something more than omelettes,” she told him.

Darcy stood on his back legs, paws against the fridge, and Lacey grinned.

“Okay, let’s feed you first, or I’ll never hear the end of it.”

She gave him a pouch of food, and although he sniffed at it cautiously, he settled down to eat. She wasn’t sure where his recent lack of appetite had come from, but he was in good condition, so if he wasn’t eating what she put down, he was clearly eating somewhere else. A knock at the door made her glance around, and she headed for the hallway, pausing as she recognised the silhouette of her neighbour, cane held a little out to the side. Lacey took a deep breath, fists opening and closing, and nodded to herself. Well, he’s here. You may as well apologise. Suck it up, girl.

She strode towards the door before she could think about it too much, wrenching it open and nodding at Mr Gold. He was carrying a cardboard box in one arm, his gaze steady.

“Hey,” she said abruptly, and Gold showed his teeth.

“Miss French," he said. "I apologise for disturbing your evening.” 

The words weren’t said in the stiff, terse way she was used to. Instead they seemed to flow, dark and soft, like black silk. Idly, she wondered if he wore underwear that matched his silk shirts.

“Yeah, you interrupted a heavy evening of heating up frozen pizza and drinking wine,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

He glanced down at the box, then back up. There was a gleam in his eyes she hadn’t seen before, and she wasn’t sure if it was amusement. The corner of his mouth pulled up in a smirk.

“I appear to have something of yours,” he said. “I was expecting a delivery, and so I opened it without checking the address label. My apologies.”

Lacey shrugged.

“Sure. No problem. Happens to all of us, I guess…”

Her voice trailed off, a heavy weight sinking into the pit of her stomach as she recalled what she had been expecting to arrive that week. A shipment of sex toys for a freelance review piece she was doing. A blush rose in her cheeks, and Gold’s smile grew.

“I’ll leave these with you, then,” he said, handing her the box. “Do enjoy your evening, won’t you?”

He bowed his head, heading down the porch steps and swaggering back to the house. She was desperately trying to think of something clever to say, but her brain had gone blank.

"Well, I will now!" she shouted, and he glanced over his shoulder, grinning widely. The bastard.

Lacey slammed the front door, leaned back against the wall with the box in her hands, and waited for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

She still hadn’t apologised.

[janeykath318]

Wintershock

Fall Words: hayride, pumpkin spice

Fake dating

“Who’s gonna volunteer to be my fake date for the annual Science Hayride?” Darcy sang out, bursting into the training room, eyes roaming the various Avengers.

She eyed the row of men with a thirst like they were pumpkin spice lattes.

“And just why do you need a fake date?” Steve asked. “I thought you and Ian were a thing.”

“Nope,” she made a face. “He dumped me when he moved back to England. I am totally and completely single.”

She may or may not have been looking at Bucky when she said it. Steve noticed and immediately excused himself, saying he was booked up that evening. Sam grinned and followed suit.

Bucky looked betrayed, but he was soon left alone with Darcy.

“C’mon Bucky, help a girl out, won’t you? Tony keeps trying to set me up with Johnny Storm.”

Bucky grimaced sympathetically.

“I’d love to help you out, Darce, but Tony’s not gonna want me there. You know how it is.”

“I do, but he’s just gonna have to accept that you’re a good guy and one of us and if he’s gonna force me to bring a date, he doesn’t get to pick it. Trust me, I’ll protect you from Tony.”

Darcy drew her taser and adopted a post like she was one of Charlie’s Angels.

Bucky grinned, despite his misgivings. She was so darn cute, he would gladly go out on a real date with her if she asked. He would even brave Tony Stark for her.

“Yeah, if anyone can keep me safe from him, it’s you. I heard about The Incident.”

Darcy grinned proudly. After Tony had been a dick to Steve one too many times, even after the Avengers had defeated Thanos, she’d made the sound system play non stop country music (his least favorite) until he apologized.

“And I won’t hesitate to do something like that again,” she promised. “He has been going to therapy finally, so maybe that will help.”

Tony was slightly disgruntled when Darcy showed up on Bucky’s arm, but he was distracted by the amount of party host duties and left them well enough alone.

But on the hayride he was giving them a few dirty looks and Darcy decided action was required.

She whispered something in Bucky’s ear that made him grin and nod.

Everytime Tony looked askance at Bucky or rudely ignored him while talking to Darcy, they would cuddle closer or show some PDA, which made him turn green and look away quickly.

“You’re very snuggly, Bucky,” Darcy whispered. “Extra fake boyfriend points for you.”

“Don’t let word get around,” he murmured, planting a kiss on her cheek that made her whole face heat up. “Would ruin my reputation.”

[etherealwaifgoddess]

Run To You - Chpt.5

Summary: Bucky & Steve’s date has some unintended consequences forcing Bucky to make some hard decisions. Master list is HERE :)

Content Warnings: Attempted child abduction. Emphasis on ATTEMPTED. Becca will be fine ya’ll. 

Word Count: 5.5k

Author’s Note: Hello lovelies! Remember last chapter where I was like “oh hey enjoy this unusually large chapter”? Well, I went to write a normally sized chapter and my hand slipped. Whoops! Enjoy another giant beast chapter lovelies! And don’t hate me for the angst!! I promise this fic has a happy ending, it’s just a long road to get there. XOXO - Ash

Chapter Five

Bucky wakes to bright light streaming in his bedroom window and Becca sitting on top of him. “Wake up sleepy head!” she chirps, shoving his shoulder as hard as she can. 

“Whoa, calm it down little miss.” Bucky grumbles. 

“I’m gonna be late!” 

Bucky looks over at the alarm clock and realizes she’s right. “Shit.” 

“Bad word!!” 

“Becca!” Bucky snaps and instantly regrets it. “Quieter, bug. Please. Come on, let’s get moving.” 

Bucky hurries Becca through her morning routine, grabbing her tiny backpack and breakfast on their way out the door. Bucky knows he’s a mess, hair sloppily thrown up in a bun, sweatpants and a hoodie because he just can’t take the time to find real clothes. He doesn’t even bother to throw on his prosthetic. Becca nibbles at her string cheese and mini muffins as they hustle down the busy city sidewalks to her school, just finishing as they round the last corner. He gives her a quick hug and kiss before she runs into the building screeching hello to the teacher at the door. The teacher gives Bucky an odd look that he chalks up to him looking like a hot mess and he gives her a small wave and terse smile in return. 

It’s early yet and Bucky doesn’t have to worry about work for a few more hours so he decides to splurge and stop for coffee and a breakfast sandwich on his walk home. One treat won’t hurt and he’s still holding on to the warm feeling in his chest from last night’s date with Steve. Waiting in line a few other people give Bucky strange looks and he wonders how rough of shape he’s in. He prays there isn’t a giant rip on his clothes or something but after a discrete check he doesn’t think that’s the case. Just a weird morning then. 

The hoodie actually comes in handy once Bucky realizes he can’t carry both a sandwich and his coffee when he’s down an arm. Tucking the sandwich in his hoodie pouch, he sips the pumpkin spice latte slowly enjoying the sweet fall flavors on his way home. His phone starts chirping at him but with no free hand Bucky is forced to ignore it until he gets back to the apartment. It was going off earlier too and he figures who ever needs him so damn bad can just wait five more minutes. 

Bucky stretches out on the sofa to enjoy his breakfast, throwing on a random movie from his queue, when he finally looks at his phone. He wonders if the world is ending and he missed it somehow. Eight missed calls from Steve, two voicemails, and four texts. Two calls from Natasha, one voicemail, and two texts. Three texts from Clint. 

Natasha wants to know if he’s seen the news, if he’s okay, and what she can do to help. 

Clint also asks if he’s okay and tells him he’s an ass for not sharing the deets. 

Steve asks him repeatedly to call him, frantically apologizing in between. 

Still confused and becoming increasingly worried, Bucky brings up the news on his phone and finds his own face on the front page. The picture is from the night before, he and Steve walking back to his place with Becca on Steve’s shoulders. They look so happy that it tugs at Bucky’s heartstrings before the realization of what this means sinks in. He shoots a quick text to Natasha assuring her that he’s fine and he’ll catch up with her tonight. Clint gets two emojis in response: a thumbs up and the middle finger. Steve, he actually calls back. The blonde had sounded so worried in his voicemails. 

“Bucky, thank god.” Steve blurts out in lieu of hello. 

“Well good morning to you too.” Bucky jokes. 

“Are you okay? Is Becca okay?” 

“Yeah, Steve, we’re good. I just dropped Becca off a preschool. I don’t know what you’re worried about, it was a normal morning outside of a few funny looks. But honestly that was probably me going out looking like a hobo because I overslept.” 

“Buck…” Steve falters, “It won’t be long ‘til they figure out who you are. We can keep the press at bay here in the tower but you’re going to have some serious issues as soon as a reporter gets your name. You and Becca could come stay here for a bit or I can have a security team allocated to you both until the news dies down.” 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down a minute. We don’t need security and I’m not dragging Becca to Manhattan just because some dudes with cameras may or may not come pester us. We’ll be okay.” 

“I’m just worried about you guys. You didn’t sign on for the shit storm that’s blowing up right now. I’m so sorry, Buck.” 

“Actually, I did.” Bucky points out, “I’m not stupid, Steve. I knew what I was signing on for the minute we started talking. It’s gonna be okay, nothing lasts forever and Becca is a resilient kid.” 

Steve is quiet for a long moment, trying to compose himself to say what he knows he needs to say. “If you need to take some time apart until this all dies down…” he chokes up and lets the sentence lie. 

“No.” Bucky’s voice is firm. “I’m not running on you again. We’re gonna deal with this together.” 

“Okay,” Steve sighs heavily in relief, “I’m going to be tied up today doing interviews. Apparently there’s no hiding the fact that I’m bisexual now. It’s funny that I’ve never tried to hide it but the news is claiming I’ve been ‘publicly outed’ by the tabloids. I’m not going to say a whole lot about you, about us. I don’t want to speak for you or anything. But if you’re okay with it, I would like to confirm that I’m in a relationship and that I care about you very much.” 

“Aww, you big sap. Yeah, of course that’s fine.” 

“Can I call you later when I have time?” 

“I’m working tonight but I’ll have a chance for a quick break around 10pm.” 

“I’ll talk to you then. If you need anything, I mean it Buck, anything, just call me. I’ll pick up on national TV if I have to.” 

Bucky rolls his eyes and hopes Steve can feel his exasperation through the phone lines. “Get going, ya punk. You have a country full of conservatives to horrify with your secret homosexual agenda.” 

Steve laughs, the first bit of happiness he’s had since waking up to the news. “Will do.” he says quickly and hangs up before his overly dramatic heart can blurt out something terribly stupid like I love you. He pushes down the tender, fledgling emotion, knowing it’s too fast but feeling the gentle flutters nonetheless. 

Natasha arrives at Bucky’s apartment a full hour early that night so he can get her caught up while making dinner for her and Becca, while Becca watches an episode of Wonder Pets in the living room. Natasha apparently watched a few interview clips of Steve’s and teases Bucky over how completely smitten they both are. It’s nice and normal, the teasing and banter over a new relationship with his best friend. It makes him think Steve really was just being overly concerned with his fears.

It’s a blessedly slow night at the ER and no one seems to recognize Bucky as he hops from one patient to the next, getting people stabilized and ready to be seen by one of the doctors on shift. When Steve calls at ten he sounds better than he had that morning. He’s exhausted from the media circus but pleased that he was able to get the story out in his own words. He asked for privacy for all their sakes but knows it won’t last long. Bucky continues to assure him that they’ll handle things as they come and to not worry. Steve can’t help but feel like it’s the calm before the storm. 

The calm only lasts until 2am. Dr. Strange pulls Bucky out of a patient room, pushing Darcy in to take his place and dragging him down the hall to the staff break room. “What the hell?” Bucky demands once the door is shut. 

Strange’s face is grim, “There are currently fifteen reporters in the lobby all asking if you’re working and if anyone has a statement they’d like to make.” 

Bucky’s stomach drops, “Fuck.” 

“Yes, fuck indeed. I’ve already made some calls and the police are on their way to clear house. We don’t expect that to last however. HR is willing to give you the rest of this week off, paid, while we sort out protocol for this sort of thing. Amanda will call you tomorrow to talk details once the board meets and decides what we can do to protect both you and our patients. We obviously can’t have reporters milling around every time you work.” 

Bucky doesn’t even know what to say. 

“If you want to go gather your things, Paul in security will escort you out the back away from the reporters.” 

“Okay,” Bucky agrees, because really what else can he do?

Darcy catches up with him as he’s packing up his locker, “They’re sending you home?” she cries, pulling him into a hug. 

Bucky nods numbly, “Rest of the week, yeah. They have to, there’s too much going on right now. It’s paid at least.”  

“Well that’s something.” Darcy concedes. “How are you getting home? It’s a madhouse out there.” 

“Paul’s gonna have me go out the back. I’ll be okay.” 

“Call me if you need me.” she insists, giving him another tight hug. 

Bucky promises he will and then follows the kindly old security guard through the maze of hospital halls and outside. 

The air is bitter cold and Bucky’s thankful for his heavy jacket as he hurries down the mostly empty streets home. Natasha is tapping away on her laptop when he arrives. She does cyber security work and swears she gets most of her work done after midnight anyway. It works out well when he needs help on his overnight shift rotations. 

“What happened?” she demands and slams the lid of her laptop down. 

Bucky shucks off his jacket and joins Natasha on the sofa. “Reporters showed up at the hospital, like a lot of them. Strange was on tonight, thank god, he’s a tough son of a bitch and he wasn’t putting up with crap from anyone. They snuck me out the back while the cops got rid of the reporters.” 

“But what about tomorrow? Is this gonna affect your job?” 

Bucky shrugs, trying to ignore the low level fear humming in his veins over that exact concern. “I honestly don’t know. HR is gonna call me tomorrow once they figure out ‘protocol’ for this. Somehow Strange got them to give me the rest of the week off with pay. I don’t even know what I’m going to do with myself for the next six days.” 

Natasha raises an eyebrow, surprised and happy for him. “I vote catching up on your Netflix queue and being a lazy ass. You never take a break, Bucky. And you of all people deserve one. Maybe go spend some more time with that gorgeous boyfriend of yours. Some kid-free time, if you know what I mean.” She wiggles her eyebrows until Bucky throws a pillow at her. She ducks easily, laughing. “I’m just saying! It’s been a long time since he-who-shall-not-be-named.” 

Bucky bristles at the mention of his ex. He should have seen Brock for the piece of shit he was, but he’d missed it at first, too wrapped up in the bliss of a new relationship. In the end, Brock’s true colors had come out and Bucky had ended things before it could become even more toxic than they already become. He sighs, pushing the ugly memories away. “It hasn’t been that long. And you’re forgetting Micah from the hospital cafe.” 

“It’s been four years since him. And Micah doesn’t count. That was a year ago and it didn’t go past a lunch date where he, and I quote, kissed you like a St. Bernard.” 

Bucky shudders at the memory. “Okay, so it’s been a while. Maybe I will go see Steve one day while Becca’s at school.” 

“That’s more like it!” Natasha cheers quietly, cautious to not disturb Becca. “So, do you want company or should I scoot and let you get some rest?” 

“I love you for offering but I just wanna crash. If I can get a few hours now I’ll be able to get back on daytime hours easier.” 

“Love you too.” Natasha leans over to hug him before packing up her stuff and heading out. 

It was a crazy day but as Bucky climbs into bed, he’s still resolved that it’s going to be okay again soon. 

Bucky is groggy when his alarm goes off at 7am but it’s better than he would have been if he hadn’t gotten any sleep. Becca is thrilled that he’s home and even more so when he tells her that he’ll be home the rest of the week. They make plans over breakfast for things they can do after she gets out of school since they have all the time in the world now. Bucky compromises with one quick park trip, which he cringes thinking about but he’ll just have to pack her inhaler and make sure she takes breaks, two trips to the library, and one night they’ll grab dinner at the neighborhood diner for their kids eat free night. 

The week flies by and Bucky gets the all clear on Thursday to return the following Sunday once the hospital is able to put additional security in place. He’s thankful they’re not just letting him go to avoid all the hassle but several nurses and doctors apparently made their opinions loud and clear that he was worth the additional security measures. Bucky is eternally grateful for his coworkers and makes plans to take in a tray of thank you brownies on his first shift back. 

A second round of good news comes in a few hours later; Steve is back early from his latest mission. They make plans for the following day, unwilling to wait any longer to see one another again. Steve will be, in theory, just hanging around the tower wrapping up some post-mission paperwork from earlier in the week so he’ll be able to take most of the day to show Bucky around the tower and spend time with him. He also offered to take them all to The Met after Becca gets out of school and Bucky said he’ll consider it. It’s a little extravagant, but something about picking her up together and going on an outing tugs at his heartstrings. It’s so perfectly domestic, like a real family would do. Bucky tries to ignore the longing he feels for something he’s never let himself consider before. 

There’s a lone reporter lingering outside his apartment when Bucky heads out to pick up Becca from school. There were a lot the first two days but their numbers dropped off drastically when they realized he really wasn’t all that interesting. “Hey man.” Bucky gives the reporter a little wave. He has to give the guy credit for determination. “Still not going to do anything interesting, sorry.” 

The reporter huffs a laugh, “Ya never know!” 

Bucky laughs in return and heads off, trying to ignore the fact that the man is following him a few steps back. He gives the guy a few more days before he gives up too. Bucky is a single parent with a full time job, he doesn’t have the time to do anything interesting. 

Rounding the corner to Becca’s school he spies the little girl talking to a man in a long beige wool coat. The man is tall and thin with greying hair and wire framed glasses. His appearance screams of wealth in a way that would make him fit right in as a parent of someone at the school, but something is off and Bucky steps up his pace. Becca hasn’t spotted him yet but he hears the man ask “Your daddy is friends with Captain America isn’t he?” 

Becca, all proud smiles, informs him, “He’s my brother, not my daddy. And Captain America is his boyfriend.” 

“Isn’t that nice. Hey, I have something you can give your brother for me, okay? Can you be a big helper? It’s right over here.” Becca looks unsure so the man smiles brightly and takes her hand, leading her down the sidewalk away from the school. A black van pulls up at the end of the block, a door swinging open and the man hurries her along. 

Bucky screams Becca’s name and breaks out into a full run. Icy fear consumes him, driving him to move faster than he ever has before. Please God no, please, don’t let them take my baby girl. 

The reporter realizes what’s going on and sprints right along with Bucky. They collide with the man and Becca at the same time. The reporter tackles the man, pinning him to the ground, leaving Bucky to grab Becca and roll to the ground shielding her in his arms. A teacher runs over with her phone out yelling “The police are on their way!” to them. 

The man writhes underneath the reporter, trying to free himself while looking panickedly at the van. The van door slides shut and then the vehicle flies off with screeching tires. Once it’s out of sight the man lays his head back on the pavement in defeat.

“Just stay put buddy.” the reporter grumbles. 

Now that Becca is safe Bucky is filled with a depth of rage he didn’t even realize he was capable of. Somebody tried to snatch his baby girl right in broad daylight. Bucky checks her over one more time before passing her off to the teacher who’s still holding on the line for 911. 

Bucky stalks over to where the reporter still has the man pinned. His movements are predatory, his voice low, practically a grow, when he demands, “Who the fuck do you think you are?” 

The reporter just stares at the man, also waiting for an answer. 

“I am one of many.”

Bucky shakes his head. God, he just wants to punch this guy in his smug face. “Fine. Who do you work for?” 

“Cut off one head and two more take its place.” 

“I’m getting real sick of riddles and I still got at least two minutes before the cops show. Last time, asshole. Who the fuck do you work for and why do you want my kid?”

“The child, or you, it matters not. Either will get us the captain. We are everywhere. We will come again, and we will succeed. Hail Hydra.” The man crunches down on something and within seconds he’s foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolling lifeless back in his head.

Bucky looks to Becca, thankful the teacher is shielding her away from what took place. Ice cold fear runs in his veins. He knew there could potentially be a risk dating Steve, but it was an abstract sort of knowledge. Up until minutes ago he’d thought the only real concern was pesky reporters. Most of which, he has to admit, are actually good people just trying to make a living. A real threat, a fucking terrorist threat, is something he’d never really put much thought into. That name too: Hydra. Everyone knows of the Nazi group who Captain America has been trying to destroy since the 40s. A threat from them is very, very real. 

The cops arrive and start dispersing the crowd that’s formed. It seems like forever until they’ve taken statements from everyone and the body is removed. Becca holds up as well as a four year old can trying to answer the police man’s questions, and Bucky fills in gaps as he can. They take his statement too and let him know they can provide a security detail if he wants. The officer looks sheepish but also recommends he call Steve because Shield and the Avengers can likely provide better security than the NYPD can. Bucky thanks the officer and agrees to call Steve as soon as possible. 

Becca is shaking so hard by the time they head home that Bucky scoops the little girl up to carry her the whole way. Two uniformed officers follow them back and do a full sweep of the apartment just to err on the side of caution. Buck appreciates the security but as he stands in his too quiet apartment he realizes he can’t do this every day. He adopted Becca to give her a better life and now he’s put her in more danger than she ever would have been in being raised by their parents. All because some small part of him still held on to the hope that there was someone out there that he could love and would love him back wholeheartedly and forever. That despite his upbringing, he could have a perfect family of his own one day. Bucky feels painfully childish that his pathetic longing for a partner had almost cost him his sister. 

Ever the responsible parent, Bucky stifles the emotions whirling in his chest and puts on a good front for Becca’s sake. She falls asleep halfway through Frozen II and Bucky doesn’t even bother trying to wake her. He knows there’s no fighting the adrenaline crash she’s feeling. His own crash will be equally brutal when it comes, but for now it’s still nowhere in sight. Bucky is too keyed up, restless and desperately trying to find a solution that keeps all of them safe and happy. He drags a cup of coffee and a blanket out onto the fire escape where he sits to watch the sun drop lower and lower among the roof tops. He’s almost finished his drink when a knock sounds on the door. 

The security detail is supposed to be vetting anyone going near his apartment so the odds are good it’s someone he knows, but it doesn’t stop him from slipping a kitchen knife into his hand on the way to the door. Peering through the peephole Bucky sees red hair, black leather, and a very pissed off Natasha. “Let me in.” she says, it sounds like a warning. 

Bucky opens the door and stands out of the way. It’s not worth arguing with Natasha when she gets like this. 

“You turned off your phone.” She comments without emotion. 

Bucky nods. “I don’t want to deal with it right now.” 

Natasha follows him as he heads to the kitchen to return the knife, seemingly pleased by his caution. “By it, you mean Steve.” 

“Amongst other things.” 

“You know I’m here for you. Whatever you need, just name it.” 

“That’s just it, I don’t know. I keep coming to the same answer and I hate it, Nat. I just… I can’t do this to Becs.” Bucky’s voice cracks on the little girl’s name and Natasha wraps her best friend into a tight hug. 

“You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.” 

“I don’t even know how to do what I want to do. I’m sure it’s not nearly as easy as movies make it out to be.”

“Let me help. You and Becca mean the world to me. Whatever it is we’ll figure it out together.” 

Bucky sighs heavily, still leaning on Natasha. “We need to disappear.” 

Natasha goes still, “Are you sure?” 

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I can’t think of any other way to keep her safe. Even if I break up with Steve, Hydra can still use us as leverage. Feelings don’t just disappear... But people can.” 

“Okay. Give me four hours.” Natasha pulls back and starts texting rapidly on a small cell phone Bucky has never seen before. 

“What the fuck, Nat.” 

“Working in cyber security has some perks.” She shrugs. 

“I don’t think it’s normally supposed to have those kinds of perks.” 

“Well, it depends on who you’re keeping secure.” Nastaha’s smile is cheshire. 

“Damn. Okay, then. What do you need me to do?” 

“Stay put. I’d say try to get some sleep but I know you won’t. Pack a duffel bag for each of you. No more than that, I mean it. Think in terms of what you absolutely can’t leave behind, this is not packing for vacation. You can buy basic stupid shit when you get where you’re going. Two outfits and whatever else you can’t leave that fits in two duffels. Got it?” 

“Okay, got it.” 

“Oh, and your phone. You won’t be needing that anymore.” 

Bucky holds the phone out but doesn’t let go. “I have all of Becs’ baby pictures on there.” 

Natasha gives him an understanding smile. “I’ll move them all to an online cloud storage site. You won’t lose a single one.” 

Bucky releases the phone. “Thanks, Nat.” 

Natasha hugs him tightly again. “Four hours. Be ready.” 

And with that Bucky is left alone in his living room in shock. He supposes he shouldn’t be all that surprised. Natasha has always been a badass. He used to joke she was really a Russian spy and their friendship was just a cover for her real identity. Bucky now wonders now how close to the truth he might have been. 

Four hours later, down to the minute, Natasha is striding through his door once again, a large envelope tucked under her arm. There’s no warm welcome or pleasantries, Natasha has her game face on and Bucky is still too rattled to try for levity. Spreading the papers out on the coffee table Natasha organizes everything quickly. “Birth certificates, immigration paperwork, social security cards, school records, medical records, a resume with work history and references, and a quick life history fact sheet for both of you.” She places a wallet from her pocket onto the table as well, flipping it open quickly to show him it’s fully filled with cards, cash, and an ID card.

Bucky scans over the documents, unable to believe she had pulled this off so quickly and how real everything looked. “Sebastian Stan?” he asks, nose wrinkling. 

Natasha nods, “Yep, you’re Romanian. You moved here with your daughter Elena when she was two months old. Your wife died in childbirth and so you brought her here to start over.” 

He spies the address on the drivers license. “Rochester? Is that where we’re actually going?” 

“No, of course not. You and your daughter have recently moved to Cape Elizabeth, Maine. That’s where you’re headed. You’ll be happy to know their local urgent care center is looking for a new triage nurse. The pay is pretty good and it’ll be enough to cover rent for the cute little apartment that you just put a down payment on.” Natasha pulls something from her pocket, it’s flesh colored and rolled up tightly. She hands it over with a simple, “Here, you’ll need this too. Don’t want that guy drawing too much attention to you.” 

Bucky stares at the silicone sleeve, realizing it’s a perfect fit for his prosthetic. The details are down to an art, from light arm hairs and tiny freckles. It’s soft enough too that as long as you don’t grasp it very hard, it’ll feel shockingly similar to his right arm. “Damn. You don’t miss a thing, do you?”

“Of course not. Who do you think you’re dealing with?” Natasha glares at him affectionately.

Bucky chuckles, of course she’s the best at this. She’s been the best at everything since the day they met. “What happens to Bucky and Becca Barnes then?” he’s afraid to ask but he needs to know.

“They got on a flight to Moscow two hours ago. There’s a few nice security officers and cab drivers who will all verify they were sighted leaving the airport about eight hours from now.” 

“That works for the rest of the world, but what happens if Steve goes looking? He has an awful lot of friends in high places.” 

“Steve isn’t going to go looking right now. And even if he did, the alibi will hold up. Trust me.” 

A tiny piece of Bucky’s heart shatters that Steve would just let him go so easily. 

Natasha recognizes the look on his face and quickly adds, “He called you non stop after the news broke. Sent you dozens of texts too. You very nearly had the full force of SHIELD and the Avengers on your doorstep if it wasn’t for Tony Stark.” 

“What happened?” 

“Tony convinced Steve that if you weren’t calling or responding that he was as good as dumped. The rumor mill always hinted their relationship was strained but Tony really is good at kicking Steve when he’s down and Tony played his cards right on this one. Steve has been holed up in his apartment all night, he’s not doing too great.” 

It kills Bucky to know he’s putting Steve through this pain, but he’s firm in his decision. He’d be more disappointed in himself but he’s too tired. Things got tough and he’s doing exactly what he’s been doing since he was a kid to protect himself: he’s running. “How do you even know all this?” Bucky asks, realizing Natasha shouldn’t have this level of detail on the goings on at the tower. 

“I hacked into the security feed at Avengers Tower. Jarivs was a handful but not more than I could handle. Tony Stark is brilliant but he’s also arrogant, and that’s his downfall.” 

“You are, without a doubt, the scariest person I’ve ever met. I’m gonna miss you.” Bucky can’t hold back the tears at the thought of leaving Natasha behind. 

“What do you mean, miss me? You went to college with Natalie Rushman, you’re even Instagram friends. You haven’t seen me in a few years but we still keep in touch regularly.” Natasha brings out yet another little black phone he’s never seen and shows him Natalie’s Instagram account. 

“How many of those little phones do you have tucked up your sleeve?” he teases.

“The world will never know.” she quips in return. “I do need to go though.” she adds in a more serious tone.

Bucky nods, he knew this was coming. He can’t get words past the lump in his throat.

“You have a train to catch in about forty minutes. That one will take you as far as Boston and there’s more tickets from there. Try and get some rest, you’ll be getting into town in Maine around eight in the morning.” 

“I’ve gone longer without sleep pulling doubles at the hospital, this won’t be nearly as bad.” 

Natasha gives him a half hearted smile, “You’re all set then.” 

Bucky pulls her in for one last hug. “I’ll message Natalie when we arrive.” 

“Mmm, yes. Sebastian would definitely snap a pic of his new hometown when he arrives. I’ve heard it’s very Insta-worthy.” Tears shine in Natasha’s eyes but they don’t fall. She swallows thickly. “Be safe.” 

“You too.” Bucky manages to croak out through the overwhelming tide of emotions. He holds her for one last heartbeat before she slips out the door like a ghost. 

Bucky goes through all the documents Natasha left behind and finds a thin red iPhone in the stack. There’s a post-it note stuck on top warning “do not activate until after you are on the second train”. So much for keeping himself occupied while he waits. In the end he spends most of the time pacing around the apartment and double checking his bags. He checks the time again, making sure he’s down to the final few minutes when he finally goes to get a sleeping Becca from her bed. She barely stirs as he carefully slides her into her warm purple jacket and slips socks and shoes on her feet. He slings her over his shoulder and collects the two duffels with his free hand. It’s a little jarring to see tan skin where he’s used to seeing shiny steel but he appreciates that Natasha thought of everything. 

He worries momentarily about the security detail outside his apartment but quickly realizes they’re distracted helping an elderly woman catch her escaped pomeranian who’s barking up a storm. It’s a good diversion, one clearly planned out. Bucky holds on tightly to Becca and all but runs down the hall to the stairwell. He doesn’t slow down until he’s two blocks away and he realizes he really did escape without being sighted. Slowing his pace to a normal New York hustle, he heads towards the train station and to their new lives.

[sunshinejs]

Not on You, Not on Us

A/N: I’m back and I wrote a little angst piece so I hope you enjoy this one!

these times are hard, they’re making us crazy, don’t give up on me baby - For The First Time by The Script

————————————————————

Word count: 3.4k -ish

“Day and night, you’re out all the time!” You yelled back “Where the hell do you even go, Connor?!”

“I tell you I’m at work all the time! Why is that so hard to believe?!” Connor snapped “Where the fuck do you think I’d be at?”

You narrowed your eyes at him, letting out a scoff “Last week you told me you were working late but then Brian calls me at 2am asking me to pick up your drunk ass from the bar. So, do you see why I have trouble believing your whereabouts?”

“One night!” He exclaimed “I needed to relax and have fun with my friends for one night and you can’t even let me enjoy that? God, why the hell are you so uptight?!”

“Connor, it’s literally fucking common sense!” You snarled “The least you can do is truthfully tell me where you really are so I’m not panicking like a crazy woman over here, imagining the worst thing! You’re not a 20-year-old guy anymore for God’s sake! You have a wife and kid now!”

You turn away from him, heading to your side of the bed when something he mumbled made you froze in your position.

“Well, maybe 20-year-old me was living a better life”

You felt like your heart stopped beating at that second. The tears found its way to your eyes as you felt your lip start to tremble “Yeah, well no one is asking you to stay”

You slide into bed, laid on your side and zoned out at the wall. Connor didn’t say anything else as he went over to his side of the bed and did the same thing you were doing. The fight has gone too far this time around and he knew that.

You couldn’t believe those words came out of his mouth.

He didn’t mean it. You kept repeating to yourself. That’s just the anger talking.

xxx

It has been a solid week since that argument blew up. You knew it was just another rough patch in your marriage because there were a few other arguments prior to that heated one. Whatever you or Connor said easily ticked off the other person and you didn’t know how to explain why.

But that one? That was the last straw.

You and Connor have been giving each other the silent treatment and neither refusing to apologize or to even bring it up. Separate dinners, putting up a barrier of pillows between each other when you were sleeping and leaving the house unannounced in the morning was considered to be normal after days pass by.

Connor continued to work till late, burying his nose underneath the ton of paperwork on his desk and only came home after you and Darcy were fast asleep.

Truth be told, he didn’t know how he could face you. As soon as those words left his mouth, he instantly regretted it. He hasn’t even properly looked you in the eyes because he couldn’t stand to see the sadness in your eyes, knowing that he was the cause of it. He felt like a fucking jackass for saying all those shit he didn’t mean during the fights you had. And even more because he hasn’t seen or spent time with his daughter for the past few days.

xxx

It was finally a Friday night, which meant it was movie night in the Brashier household. After dinner with Darcy, the both of you were curled up on the couch while watching her favourite, Coco. Darcy was cuddled up by your side while holding her favourite stuffed turtle close to her chest and a bowl of popcorn was resting on your lap.

Connor pulled up his car in the driveway next to yours. By the amount of lights switched on in the ground floor of the house, he could tell that you and Darcy were still awake. He switched off the engine and got out of the car.

As he walks into the house, he took off his favourite pair of shoes and placed it on the shoe rack that was nearby the front door of the house. He could already hear the sound of the movie coming from the living room as he walked deeper into the house.

Darcy was the first one to notice his presence in the living room. Her eyes lit up as she sees his person standing by the entrance of the room. She jumped off the couch, which startled you a bit, abandoned her turtle on the couch and ran towards him “Daddy!”

“Lovebug!” Connor cheered as he picks her up and places a kiss on her cheek “Hi there, baby. Got a kiss for daddy?”

As angry as you were at him, you couldn’t help but smile at the scene in front of you. Darcy is such a daddy’s girl and she has Connor wrapped around her pretty little finger.

Darcy giggles and procced to press a kiss on each of his cheek “There you go, daddy!”

“Thank you, sweat pea” He smiled at her as he ran his fingers through her hair “How was school today? Did you have a good day?”

“Uh huh!” She nodded with excitement in her voice “Ms. Jane said I had the best painting in class! And Ben brought cookies to school today and only shared them with me!”

“Really? That’s great, baby!” Connor exclaims as he sets her down on her feet again. He then caught onto her last sentence and narrowed his eyes at her “And who might this Ben be, lovebug?”

He doesn’t miss the way his daughter’s cheeks turn red as she shook her head “He’s just my friend, daddy!”

“He better be, pumpkin”

“Mummy and I are watching Coco” Darcy said, motioning to you on the couch as she held onto his larger hand and tried to tug him towards the couch “Come watch with us, daddy!”

“Actually baby, daddy’s feeling a little tired right now” Connor tries to reason with her “Is it okay if daddy sits this one out?”

Darcy frowns, “But we haven’t spent time together as a family in a while, daddy. Please?”

“I’m sorry, lovebug but next time, okay?” He smiles sadly at her “I promise”

She pouts at him and held out her pinkie to him “Pinkie promise?”

Connor intertwines his pinkie with hers “Pinkie promise, angel” He promised, leaning down to press a soft kiss to her hair “I love you, baby. Good night”

And that was it. He bid goodnight to Darcy and immediately left the room, not even taking a glance at you.

You were lying to yourself if you said that didn’t hurt. Your own husband acted like you weren’t in the room and that sting a bit. You tried your best to not break down right there; you couldn’t let Darcy see you in that state.

Darcy returned to her spot next to you and the frown never left her face. She was only 6 years old but she knew when something didn’t feel right between her parents and this, was one of those times.

A few minutes later, Darcy spoke up “Mummy?”

You turn your attention away from the screen and towards your little girl “Mhm?”

“Are you and daddy okay?”

You tried to not look surprise by her question, faking a smile as you lied “Yeah, baby”

“He didn’t kiss you like he always does” She bite her lower lip as the sadness took over her tone “That means things aren’t good, right?”

Yeah, she was clever for a little girl.

You sigh, knowing there was no point to continue to lie to her.

“Daddy and mummy just had an argument, lovebug” You explained, running your fingers through her hair “And daddy has a lot of work to do right now so he’s extra tired right now but things are okay. Don’t worry about it, okay baby?

Darcy nodded and snuggled into your side “Okay”

She was fast asleep as the credits rolled. You turned off the TV and picked her up. After making sure are the lights were off, you made your way up the stairs and towards Darcy’s room.

You tucked her into bed, pulling the sheets over her chest and made sure to leave her night light on. You smile at her sleeping form and pressed a kiss to her forehead “I love you the most, lovebug”

Shutting the door quietly behind you, you stared at the master bedroom opposite from Darcy’s room. The room was left slightly ajar but it was dark, which meant Connor was already fast asleep.

You couldn’t stand another night being in the same bed with him if it meant that it was going to feel cold and lack of love. You shook your head and decided to head downstairs towards your library.

After shutting the door, you let your body fell against the couch and pulled the blanket, that was neatly folded at the arm of the couch, over your body. Work was getting stressful, the fights with Connor was driving you crazy and the silent treatment wasn’t helping at all. Tears were forming in your eyes as you thought of all the words that were yelled out during your arguments, one of which has been haunting you for the past few days.

Well, maybe 20-year-old me was living a better life.

Did he really mean that? Was that his way of telling you that he was miserable now and wanted to get a divorce?

You let out a sob as you stared at the ceiling. Every time when Connor is comforting you after a fight, he’s always saying “no problem is too big for us to solve as a couple”.

But was that still true? Were you going to patch things up this time?

xxx

Connor was woken up by someone lightly shaking his shoulder. The first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is his daughter’s frame standing next to his side of the bed. His side of the lamp was switched on and he could see the tears streaming down her face.

“Lovebug?” Connor asks softly as he quickly sits up and scoops Darcy into his arms while she sobbed into his shoulder “Hey, hey, baby, what’s wrong?”

“Where’s mummy?” Darcy asks in between sobs and he could hear the fear linger in her voice “I had a dream she left us so I came here and she’s not here! Why is she not here, daddy?”

Connor turns slightly, looking over his shoulder to look at your side of the bed, which remained untouched; just like how he remembered before he went to sleep. He looked towards the walk-in closet connected to the bedroom; in hoping to see some sort of light indicating you were in the bathroom but it was pitch black.

He begins to panic now as Darcy continued to cry against his shoulder. No matter how bad the fights were, no matter what insult came out in the spite of anger, you two always went to sleep in the same bed. To find that you weren’t there right now was making him assume the worst.

“Baby, I’m sure mummy couldn’t sleep so she’s watching TV or something” Connor tried to convince her, but he wasn’t sure about that himself. He got out of bed, Darcy still in his arms as he stood up “We’ll go find her, okay?”

“Okay” She sniffled against his neck and at this point, her sobs were getting softer and softer.

There were only 4 rooms on the second floor; the master bed room, Darcy’s room and the 2 guest rooms, all which were empty. He then made his way downstairs in hoping you were catching up with a show in the living room or were making a late-night snack in the kitchen but everything was pitch black.

Conor felt his heart beating faster and faster. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He felt the tears forming in his eyes. Was this it? Was his worst nightmare actually happening to him right now?

And then an idea popped in his mind. The one place in this house he should’ve checked first because this was the only place you would go when you were stressed up.

Your library.

If he couldn’t find you here, then he knows he managed to ruin the best thing that’s ever happen to him.

As he pushed the door open and sees your person curled up on the couch, he lets out a sigh of relief.

 “Baby,” Connor calls out to Darcy as he lets her down on her feet “Mummy’s there, lovebug. She’s here”

In the midst of being in Connor’s arms, Darcy started to doze off to sleep at some point. But hearing what Connor said, she became alerted and wide awake again when she saw you. She ran towards you, jumping into your arms as she wailed out “Mummy!”

You were startled by her cries. Your mother instinct immediately pushed the blanket off and picked her up in your arms as you sat up “Hey, hey, princess, what’s going on? Why are you crying?”

Darcy didn’t respond as she tighten her grip around your neck and sobbed against your shoulder. You glanced over to the door and finally looked into your husband’s eyes for the first time that week and grew worried when you saw the tears in his eyes “Connor?” You called out softly “What happened?”

“I had a dream you left daddy and me!” Darcy cried out as she clings onto you for dear life like somebody was going to take you away from her “And then I went to your and daddy’s room and couldn’t find you so I really thought you left!”

“Oh, lovebug” You sigh softly, pressing a kiss to her head “It’s just a bad dream, baby. Mummy’s here, love. I’m not leaving you or daddy, Darcy”

“But you and daddy are fighting!” She sniffled against your shoulder “That means you don’t love each other, right?”

Connor pushed himself off the door frame, walked over to the couch and sat next to you “Darcy, baby, look at daddy” He ordered softly and she pulled away from your embrace just enough to face him.

He smiles softly at her, wiping away her tears “Lovebug, mummy and daddy are gonna have fights but that doesn’t mean we don’t love each other”

His eyes trailed over to yours as you took a deep breath “We just have to talk things through, baby” You assured her “But no one is leaving”

Darcy sniffed softly, looking hopeful as she held her pinkies out to you and Connor “Promise?”

You interlock your pinkie with hers and press a kiss to her knuckle while Connor mirrored your action with her other hand “We promise, princess”

“It’s late, baby” You told her as you ran your fingers through her locks “You’ve got to sleep, okay?”

The little girl nods, a soft yawn escaping from her lips as she rested her cheek against your shoulder “Love you daddy and mummy” She muttered sleepily.

“We love you too, lovebug” Connor whispers as he intertwines his fingers with her smaller ones “Very much”

Within minutes later, you could feel her steady breathing. You looked over at Connor and he nodded; confirming that the little girl was fast asleep.

“I’ll tuck her in bed” He says softly as he took Darcy out of your arms.

You followed him out of the library. As he made a turn to the stairs, you finally broke the silent treatment “I’m going to make tea, you want a cup?”

Your voice startled him a bit but he turned around and nodded with a soft smile “Yes please. Meet you outside?”

You made your way to the kitchen to make two mugs of tea. After that was done, you picked up the mugs and went to the living room, where the sliding door leading to the backyard was already left ajar.

This has always been your thing with Connor for quite some time. Late night tea together on the patio with just the both of you was one of your intimate moments with each other.

And since he asked you to meet him outside, you know he wants to talk about everything that has happened.

You stepped out of the house, immediately feeling the chill of the cold night on your arms as you made your way over to him on the porch swing. You set the mugs down on the table and took the spot next to him, leaving a small gap between you both.

After a few minutes, Connor finally broke the silence “Can I hold your hand, please?”

You didn’t reply him but reached over to his side, finding his hand and letting your fingers intertwined; like matching puzzles. He tugs you closer to him, closing any gaps there was between you.

“I’m sorry, baby” He said softly “I’m so fucking sorry”

“Did you mean what you said?” You asked; voice starting to crack and tears already forming in your eyes as you stared ahead into the darkness “When you said you were living a better life when you were 20?”

Without even letting him speak, you continued “Because, I know that your life back then was great, Con. You were traveling around the world, partying with celebrities, meeting so many amazing girls-,”

“No!” Connor answered with no hesitation, cutting you off “No, baby!”

He grabs a hold of your shoulders and turns you to face him. His watery eyes mirrored yours and it kills him every time to see you cry, especially now that he’s the reason for it “I didn’t mean any of those shit I said. You have to believe me, baby” Connor pleaded “I’m sorry that we’ve been fighting a lot, I’m sorry that I’ve been such a shitty husband to you and a shitty dad to Darcy. I’m sorry I messed up badly this time”

“Then why, Connor?” You questioned defeatedly “Why have we been fighting so much? Why does it feel like I’m losing you? Why does it feel like you don’t love me anymore?”

He shakes his head, letting the tears fall down his cheeks “No, no, don’t say that!” Connor says shakily as his lips start to tremble “Baby, I love you so much and you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me”

“Then what is it, Connor?” You asked sadly “What’s happening to us? You’ve got to tell me what’s going on, bubs”

“There’s a restructuring going on in the company right now” He admitted “And they’re going to lay off a lot of people this time around…”

“I might lose my job” Connor went on “And that has been stressing me out for weeks and I know I shouldn’t have taken it out on you but I did and I feel so fucking awful about it”

“Oh, bubs,” You said softly “You’ve known about this for weeks but why haven’t you said anything?”

“Because it’s embarrassing!” Connor said frustratedly “I’m supposed to be the man of the house; the one who’s supposed to support his wife and daughter! How am I going to do that if I’m going to be unemployed?”

And you finally see it. You saw the wall your husband has built around himself for the past few weeks.

You looked into his eyes; seeing how broken he really felt about all this “Connor, I’m your wife” You told him “We promised that we wouldn’t keep any secrets from each other and you shouldn’t have to feel embarrassed by this, especially when it’s me”

Connor shakes his head “I promised you when we got married that I’d give you the best…. How am I gonna do that if I don’t have the job?”

“Hey,” You call softly, bringing your intertwined hands up to your lip and pressed a kiss on the back of his hand. Smiling warmly at him “You have given me the best thing I could ever ask for in this life, baby, and that’s our family”

“We will figure everything out together when the time comes, okay?” You said “We always do”

“Now come here,” You tugged him closer and pulled him into your embrace. Connor buried his face in the crook of your neck as you rubbed his back comfortingly “I’ve got you, bubs”

“I know it’s a hard time with me right now and it drove us crazy” He sniffled against your shoulder “But baby please don’t give up on me. I love you so, so much and I don’t ever want to lose you”

“I love you too, baby and I’m in this just as much as you are” You tighten your grip around him, pressing a kiss to his head “There is no way I’m giving up on you or us”

————————————————————

Reblog, like or leave a comment; always appreciated!  ❤️

x rina

TAG LIST:

@marshmallowgayinthewinter @connordavidscamera @r3ader @tinycertain @green-lxght @queenmxndes @turtoix @zigzagsandzebras @btsbyconnor @heart-struck @enchantingbrowneyedgirl @shawns-swallow @imaginashawnns

*lmk if you want to be removed/tagged!

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - October 29

Alani Ryan and Julian Keller's birthdays

PHASE 2

2015: Rogue meets with Adrienne to let her know that Emma helped repair her brain. Tandy texts Julian to tell him she’s coming to pick him up at 6:00 p.m. and that he’d better be ready. Warren posts suggesting that he go as himself for Hallowe’en. Lorna sends a picture to Alex lamenting that she forgot to dye her hair for a month and has green roots. Gabriel texts Jean-Paul telling him Jean-Paul’s skipping the mansion Hallowe’en party. Jean and Rogue go grocery shopping for various goodies before the Halloween party.

2016: Darcy, Kyle, Quentin, and Angel also make journal entries about mysterious pumpkins that appeared out of nowhere. Laurie posts a picture of what she’s going to do to all those pumpkins.

2017: Laurie posts a video that’s been playing in the break room at her hospital. Tandy takes Julian to Bora Bora for his birthday and to get away from the city after recent events.

2018:

2019:

2020:

2021: Sue texts Hope asking about whether she passed. Quentin finds Gabriel trying to beat a demon in the Danger Room and they talk. Angelo and Molly look for Halloween costumes, mainly the unfortunate sexy factor. Monster Mash: Darcy picks up a mysterious package from an X-Force dead drop, and then hands it off to Topaz.

2022: The Battle Royale happens, and things are crazy. Nica emails Fourteen to make sure Celeste is okay.

[themculibrary]

Road Trip Fics Masterlist

Links Last Checked: August 23rd, 2024

part two

A Good Man (ao3) - Lasenby_Heathcote steve/sam, clint/natasha, rhodey/tony T, 40k

Summary: Sam Wilson suffers a car breakdown in the middle of nowhere, his life ready to fall apart. But he's rescued by a man with a heart of gold and the butt of a god. While this good Samaritan sets to mending Sam's car, can he also mend his heart?

Forced to stay in a small town while his car is being repaired, Sam learns more about life, love (and pumpkins) than he bargains for.

And With Every Mile (ao3) - hyperstorms (starchase) steve/thor T, 17k

Summary: Steve and Thor decide to go on a road trip together, a journey across the country to see what the world, and life, have to offer them.

Counterfeit and Counterpart (ao3) - Frea_O maria/steve T, 28k

Summary: Five times Maria Hill doesn’t understand Natasha Romanoff, and why she might be better off that way.

Disclosures (ao3) - gqgqqt clint/phil T, 67k

Summary: Phil Coulson is miserable, distrusted by most of SHIELD, and still doesn't remember why.

It's only going to get worse before it gets better.

half awake in a fake empire (ao3) - andibeth82 T, 28k

Summary: Picking up the pieces, Avengers road trip style: in which Natasha and Clint work out their feelings, Natasha and Wanda discover they have a lot of things in common, Clint and Wanda talk about Sokovia and sacrifices, and Steve and Sam help Bucky Barnes return to the land of the living.

I Could Walk Out, But I Won't (ao3) - napricot minor steve/bucky T, 26k

Summary: "Bucky started the car, and that was it: the Sam and Bucky Road Trip of Sadness and Maybe Bonding was officially happening. Sam hoped they could get through it without killing each other, or anyone else." In which Sam is not as okay as he'd like to think, and Bucky's more well-adjusted than expected.

if you wanna fill your bottle up with lightning (ao3) - twistedingenue clint/darcy T, 14k

Summary: In the wake of poor life choices involving redheads and red cars, Clint's responsible decision making skills take another header after learning that Dr Foster and Darcy have missed their last few check-ins and winds up driving out to New Mexico with Kate.

It Will Probably Accelerate (ao3) - northatlantic (breakthecitysky) steve/tony, clint/phil, pepper/tony, steve/bucky, jane/thor, bucky/natasha E, 20k

Summary: So the working title of this was variously 'mixtape,' 'how steve rogers got his groove back' and 'oh my god quit thinking of things to add.' Steve's perspective of the assembly of the Avengers after the dust has settled and the rebuilding begins.

Title from Bob Mould's Circles, which is, was and ever shall be The Steve Song in my head.

Looking For Answers (From The Great Beyond) (ao3) - nerdwegian minor steve/bucky T, 12k

Summary: After the Battle of New York is over, and Loki and the tesseract are returned to Asgard, Steve takes a road trip across the country, and tries to figure out what he wants to do next.

Marry Our Fortunes Together (ao3) - misslucyjane steve/tony, jane/thor, clint/phil T, 9k

Summary: Tony takes Steve (along with Phil, Clint and Thor) to look for America.

Mileage (ao3) - Misaya steve/tony, peggy/steve, pepper/tony M, 41k

Summary: Tony Stark, a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, decides he wants to sightsee the States, only he needs a driver who can put up with him for that long. Hoping to pick up some extra cash for his mum before his deployment and eager to drive across the country as well, naive Steve Rogers replies to the job advertisement and the unlikely pair pile into Tony's Mercedes for an adventure.

As the miles tick away beneath their tires, Tony finds himself counting the days until Steve's deployment, and, to his surprise, realises he hopes the road will never end.

Steve/Tony Road Trip AU, tags will be updated as I continue.

Robot Trip (ao3) - copperbadge pepper/tony T, 8k

Summary: Tony is driving from Malibu to Manhattan with a robot in the back seat and Captain America riding escort at Pepper's behest. What could possibly go wrong?

Take a Deep Breath (ao3) - enjambament steve/bucky M, 12k

Summary: Steve and Sam chase the Winter Soldier's trail of cold cases across Europe. Meanwhile, Bucky keeps an eye on their progress. As his memories return, he begins to find it harder and harder to sleep and there's only one person he can think to turn to. A lot of emotionally repressed bed-sharing ensues.

The Sky and Everything Beneath It (ao3) - jibrailis G, 7k

Summary: Steve goes on a road trip to clear his head, but the other Avengers won't leave him alone.

third wheels (ao3) - storiesfortravellers bucky/steve/sam M, 3k

Summary: Bucky, Steve, and Sam are on a road trip post-CA:Civil War, and Bucky and Sam are really trying hard to get along.

The problem is, Bucky and Sam are both in love with Steve, Bucky assumes Sam and Steve are a couple, Sam assumes Bucky and Steve are a couple, and Steve doesn't have a clue about any of it.

Three Weeks, Ten States, and One Million Reasons to Fall for You (ao3) - leftennant bucky/darcy, steve/natasha, remy/rogue E, 73k

Summary: When Darcy considers all the things she never planned to do, going on a ten state road trip with the Winter Soldier ranks right up there with jumping off the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier sans parachute. Falling for said Winter Soldier somewhere between New York and New Orleans? Never. Gonna. Happen. Probably, at least. I mean, he is pretty damn sexy when he's not glaring at her. Whatever. She's only in it for the taser batons.

wide eyed wanderers (ao3) - orphan_account sam/bucky E, 13k

Summary: In which Bucky and Sam travel across the country to see Steve, and maybe find themselves closer than ever before.

winter wheat, sunflower peat (ao3) - newsbypostcard steve/bucky M, 25k

Summary: In the dead of the night, a man pulls over for a hitchhiker.

You're My Best Friend (ao3) - pherryt bucky/clint G, 9k

Summary: Clint and Bucky need to go on a road trip to get to their next mission which Clint figures is the best way to get to know Bucky even better. It goes better than planned!

[drops-of-moonlights]

WINX REDUX AU SUMMARIZED: SEASON 1 (The Dragon Aura)

Or, in which I give the basics of what I’ve changed about the story for the AU. It was originally way more descriptive but if I kept it in that style I would have finished in 2039 and I ain’t got time for that. Here we cover S1, as the title suggests!

WINX REDUX AU SUMMARIZED: SEASON 1

Stella accidentally teleports to Earth when escaping Knut, meeting Bloom.

They fight Knut again later that day aided by the Specialists - Sky, Brandon, Riven, Timmy and Nex.

After a month on Earth to recover, she brings her to Alfea to enroll fully.

Eldora visits Bloom’s house after they leave, noting the strange events happening near them and leaves a cryptic message to her parents.

She meets Flora, Musa, Tecna and “Layla” after settling down, and decide to go eat out to get to know each other better.

They battle three Believix witches calling themselves the Trix, composed of Polaris, Obscuris and Tempestis. Bloom transforms into her Charmix for the first time.

Stella slips up and reveals Layla’s actually Aisha, who came to Alfea to escape her parents.

The First Dance happens, and as they dance, Bloom asks “Brandon” out. Flora meets Mirta and Lucy, and start a friendship. Same goes for Aisha and Nex.

The trip to Melmamora occurs, and Bloom spontaneously gets Kiko as a pet, who is a talking winged rabbit. The blue troll doesn’t exist here - the guys simply lose some important cargo. Bloom notices how Riven and Stella are trying to not look at each other and wonders if there’s something there.

The Winx team is officially formed.

The Day of the Rose arrives, and while Flora and Tecna go visit family, the rest remain on Magix and go visit the fair.

Riven meets Darcy on the race, and quickly become friends. Musa senses something weird about her, but also strikes an unlikely friendship with her.

Musa gets into a small fight with two witches after losing track of her friends, but thanks to Aisha appearing they scare them off. Musa starts to develop a crush on her.

Darcy hangs out with them for most of the day, and picks up Stella and “Sky”’s plans to go downtown on a few days to search for a present - Brandon’s birthday is coming up.

Bloom starts having dreams with Daphne.

A few days pass and Stella goes to shop for a bit with Sky, leaving Bloom her ring since she wasn’t gonna need it - Sky has a bike after all.

Stella comes back at midnight, worrying everyone but she dismisses them by simply saying she’s tired and she’ll explain in the morning.

She doesn’t go to her classes and Bloom finds her having torn most of her room apart searching for the ring. Bloom dips for a bit telling her she’s gonna get more people to help, but brings Griselda along when she comes back. She immediately picks up on the illusion and Stella disappears into darkness. She calls the police, but Bloom and the Winx have other ideas.

They go over to Red Fountain to ask Sky if they went separate ways after getting the stuff, but Sky is also missing - no one has seen him since yesterday. The girls then go to Magica City, and thanks to a small location spell they go to the warehouses near the edges, where they believe Sky and Stella are.

They fight the Trix again but lose, and in exchange for the royals’s safety she gives them the ring.

The girls immediately go to Cloud Tower (since they suspect the Trix go there) but don’t manage to enter, instead finding the ring in the area seemingly dropped off.

The Trix got rid of the ring after realizing it’s not what they needed for their plan, and since keeping it in their room would prove counterproductive they just dropped it near the entrance to they don’t cast suspicion on them.

The girls get back stupid late from that adventure, and as a punishment they’re forced to clean their area of the dorms without the use of magic. To enforce the rule, they put a magic dampener on them, leaving them relatively powerless.

Faragonda gets a magic reading from all of them as she does this, and realizes Bloom has a Dragon Aura.

The cleaning goes without a hitch thanks to inviting the guys for extra help. Musa talks with Riven about Darcy, and Tecna and Timmy seem to be getting along super well.

Brandon and Riven don’t seem to get along all that well, but Brandon keeps trying to actually be Riven’s friend.

Bloom tries to make research on Daphne but fails, but does learn of Domino in the process.

On a random outing to Magix with the girls, the witches from the Day of the Rose attack them allied with their friends, forcing the girls to escape until they’re cornered by an entire gang of witches and some other fairies.

In desperation, Bloom accidentally tapes into her Dragon Aura, melting the floor and knocking everyone out, including herself. Stormy was near the place and catches this insane display of magic, gets convinced Bloom can be the solution to her problems.

The midterms arrive, and Bloom gets harassed by the Trix in the middle of via hacking the Chamber, convincing themselves she has a Dragon Aura and start researching ways of draining her power.

Bloom and Brandon are still dating, but feel their relationship is getting cold.

Bloom goes back to Earth for the holidays, connects a bit with Mitzi and Selina again and stops her mother’s shop from being destroyed by some asshole entrepreneurs. She discovers Aura reading is a thing and freaks out, as well as how she got adopted.

Eldora appears again, Selina recognizes her as her grandma, and sensing something in her, she takes her away for a bit as Bloom goes back to Alfea.

The girls help Flora with searching for a plant in Melmamora, and end up helping the Limnads in their trouble.

Miss Magix occurs, and Mirta reluctantly helps Lucy enter with her magic. They have a fight after Lucy loses.

Bloom starts researching her past, believes the Trix’s lie that she’s just a ticking time bomb, and leaves Alfea to save everyone, but Mirta (who knew of what happened thanks to Flora) intercepts her and tells her the info was fake.

The Trix arrive and after a battle, Obscuris and Polaris turn Mirta into a pumpkin.

They take Pumpkin Mirta back to Alfea and Flora starts to look for ways to get her back with Palladium’s help.

The Winx start to have reoccuring, horrible nightmares, but with Daphne and Mirta’s Aura’s help, they manage to intercept the spell causing them and fight a monster made out of their nightmares.

Faragonda arrives to the battle and immediately destroys the monster, and also unveils the Trix’s identities who were there in the fight as Icy, Darcy and Stormy.

The Trix don’t come back to Cloud Tower and instead escape to the woods, their cover blown.

The Roccaluce Paladins start looking for them, and Knut quits right then and there, starts to help them with what he knows.

The Red Fountain Academic Exhibition happens, and Bloom meets/attacks Diaspro, believing her to be the Trix in disguise.

The reveal happens - Sky is Brandon and Brandon is Sky. Diaspro also calls out that Stella knew all this time.

Bloom passes out, and when she comes back to her senses, immediately breaks up with Sky and refuses to talk to Stella, accusing her of being a bad friend.

Riven disappears as well, but calls Stella up for some explanations.

Stella and Riven talk about what’s been happening and reveal they’re childhood best friends - but thanks to the cover up they were forced to stop talking to each other. Riven was forced to join the others after a fallout with his former team, which he doesn’t want to talk about.

Bloom goes back to Earth for a week to try and get her mind off all that’s been happening.

Incredibly vulnerable on Earth both physically and emotionally, the Trix arrive and manage to drain her of her Dragon Aura, revealing that she’s also the lost princess of Domino.

Bloom believes herself powerless, and the Trix start their attack, claiming Cloud Tower and summoning the Army of Decay.

Riven goes to Cloud Tower to get some answers, but falls prey to the Trix’s traps.

The war starts in full, and the Winx go to Domino’s remains to see if there’s a way to fully restore Bloom’s Aura and her powers.

Red Fountain falls and is forced to retreat to Alfea. Many lives are lost.

Bloom finally meets Daphne and what became of her - she was trapped in her own weapon by Myraria when she attacked Domino, and has been resting at the bottom of Lake Roccaluce for the last 18 years.

She shows Bloom that while they did drain her Aura, she still has magic, and manages to transform into Charmix again.

The Specialists go fetch them and Bloom and Sky finally talk about what happened. Tecna asks Timmy out.

Diaspro goes to Alfea to try and talk to Bloom but gets caught up in the war, stays to help and finally talk with both Sky and Bloom.

They do have a small talk but they’re cut short by a mission to Cloud Tower, with the guys, Knut, Stella and Bloom volunteering to rescue the trapped Witches.

They find Riven after escaping some traps, and Stella hugs him as she calls him out on his recklessness. Sky does the same but doesn’t quite understand why.

After a small battle with the Trix, with Bloom suddenly losing the ability to transform again, they’re saved by Griffin and the Witches, and manage to escape Cloud Tower with extra help from the shadows thanks to Discorda.

Bloom and Sky take a detour to distract the Army of Decay and land near Lake Roccaluce, and after a short talk, Sky leaves for Magica City while Bloom goes to see if she can talk to Daphne.

She reaches the lake and delves into it, and after a short chat with Daphne and realizing the Trix only drained part of her Aura - and her power will always be hers and hers alone, Bloom gets renewed confidence and manages to obtain her Glamourix, proclaiming herself the Fairy of the Dragon’s Flame.

At around the same time, Flora manages to finally break the spell on Mirta, returning her to her human form and earning Glamourix for her efforts.

As they prepare for the final battle, Stella and Brandon talk for a bit, and decide that once this is all over, they’ll start dating again.

Now with new powers, she picks up Sky and go back to Alfea, at the same time the Trix plan their final move.

A full-on battle ensues, the Winx vs Darcy and Stormy while Bloom faces off with Icy.

After a long elemental battle, the stolen Dragon Aura starts to diminish until there’s nothing left, and without it, the Army falls apart and the Trix are defeated.

Mirta and Lucy are reunited, and finally manage to make up after so long.

They’re sent to Roccaluce Rehabilitation Center to see if they can be redeemed, and with a final party, the Winx end their first year at Alfea.

Under the earth, deep into a dark castle, a seal is broken thanks to the amount of magic used during the war, and a dark being seems to start forming...

[styles-is-the-name]

Just Before You Go - Part One

this is my first shot at a harry-y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. Harry is a single father of two that hasn’t even looked at another woman in years. For the first time in five years, he finally feels like he’s returning to himself all because he met someone unexpectedly at a grocery store. Even though his kids are determined to help him find love again, will it be possible? (There eventually will be smut, but will mostly be fluff.)

TW: suicide, self harm, and others will occur

Word Count: 1,735

“Dad, Darcy won’t get out of the bathroom! I still need to brush my teeth.”

Harry groans. Raising a nine and six year old on his own was not easy. But he was doing it because he loves his kids. After Caroline had taken her own life four years ago, he vowed to never let his kids feel alone or unloved. Although he and Caroline were going through a divorce, he still cared for her.

She was the mother of his kids after all! And she was his first love. They were high school sweethearts. He proposed at their high school graduation party and they were married shy of a year later. He was head over heels for her and it devastated him when he found out that she was cheating.

“Darcy, let Carter brush his teeth!” He smirks slightly hearing her groan.

“Fine!” She walks into the kitchen sulking.

“What’s wrong, pumpkin?” He sits down in front of her sipping on his coffee. Black and steaming - just the way he liked it.

Caroline always loved cream and sugar in her coffee.

“I don’t want to go to school, daddy.” Harry frowns seeing the tears well in her eyes.

“Hey hey hey. Baby, talk to me. What’s going on? It’s a new school year!” She nods sniffling and looks down at her hands.

“I just...can I stay home today?”

“Is this your mental health day?” She looks up at him smiling lightly and nods. “Alright, pumpkin. But we have to talk, okay? You remember the rules.

“To get a mental health day, we have to have lunch and talk. Even if I don’t completely tell you what’s wrong, I have to tell you how I’m feeling.”

“Exactly. Now go change into something comfy. After I drop Carter off at school, we’re going grocery shopping then by the studio. I have a client coming in today.”

“Can I bring my iPod to play my music?”

“Of course. Go on!”

“Thanks daddy.” She giggles quietly kissing his cheek and runs up to her room.

Harry realizes that not every parent is so relaxed with their kids missing school, but he believes that academics come second. Mental health is the first thing that matters no matter what the situation is. He will be damned before he repeats his past mistakes. He’s not losing his kids like he lost Caroline.

A few minutes later the three of them are buckling up in the car. Harry turns on the kids’ favorite playlist that they created on his phone while looking back at them. Sometimes he wonders how he got so incredibly lucky to have two amazing kids. He truly doesn’t deserve them.

“Daddy, is Darcy taking her day?”

“She is, Bubba. But we’ll be here to pick you up after school and we’ll go get ice cream and talk about your day.”

“Can I get my purple monster?”

“Well of course! It’s not really ice cream without the purple monster now is it?!” He snickers while his two children giggle in the back.

He pulls up to the school and parks the car. He and his two kids get out and they both grab at his hands. They always hold hands while walking in a parking lot. It’s the safe thing to do. Harry walks Carter to his classroom squeezing his hand when he senses his nervousness.

“Go have fun, Bubba.”

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, Bubba?”

“I-I’m scared.” Harry smiles lightly kneeling in front of him. He’s always loved how honest his kids are with him.

“I know, Carter. I know. But today will be a great day. It’s only what you make it to be! Go in there and find someone to color with. And learn something today too! If you do, you get another sticker.” Carter gasps.

“Then I’ll only need one more sticker to get the prize on top of the fridge!” Harry smiles and nods. “Yes! In your face, Darcy!” Darcy sticks her tongue out at him making Harry shake his head sighing.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough. Now give daddy a hug and go have an amazing day.” Carter hugs Harry’s legs then runs into his classroom.

Harry stands outside the door for a few minutes watching anxiously. His nerves are calmed when he sees a young girl walk over to Carter and the two begin drawing together. His heart warms at the sight.

Darcy intertwines her fingers with his and pulls him out to the car. He gives her a look telling her that she can sit in the front seat, but only if she doesn’t tell Carter. He would throw a fit if he found out his sister got to sit next to their father. It wouldn’t be pretty.

“Daddy, when we’re at the store, can we get more cherries? Oh, and watermelon!”

“Of course, pumpkin. But remember we don’t have much time. My client is supposed to be at the shop in an hour and a half.” She nods buckling her seat belt.

Harry manages to snag a parking spot towards the front of the grocery store which never happens. He always ends up having to park far out. He lets Darcy go and look at all the flowers as well as toys telling her she can get one thing while he does all the grocery shopping.

Harry goes to the produce section crossing things off of his list. He needs lemons, limes, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, watermelon, and cherries. He grabs the lemons and limes first then makes his way over to the lettuce and cucumbers. He isn’t sure why there are so many people in the store right now, but it’s aggravating him.

There’s never this many people in here. Everywhere you turn, you almost bump into someone. It sucks, but he has to keep his cool for his daughter’s sake. He manages to make his way over to the watermelon and cherries. All he needs now are the tomatoes for taco Tuesday tomorrow.

Taco Tuesday is the kids’ favorite meal. Even if they’re on vacation, they always have taco Tuesday. It’s a family tradition. He reaches for the perfect, plump looking tomato when his hand brushes a woman’s.

“S-sorry!” You say nervously. You look up to Harry quickly and feel like you can’t breathe. You have never seen someone so beautiful before. He smiles lightly at you and hands you the tomato.

“It’s alright, love.” And he’s British too?! Sounds like the perfect man. You sneakily look down at his hand and see that there’s no ring. How is this man not taken? Or maybe he is - he's just not married. Whatever the reason, you’re kinda glad. “Are you new around here?”

“Oh! Yeah I am. I’m from New York.”

“Interesting. What’s a New Yorker like yourself doing here in North Carolina?” You feel herself beginning to smile. You couldn’t help it. You’ve never met a man so attractive yet interested in what you have to say.

“I got a job transfer actually.”

“Yeah? What do you do?”

“I’m a struggling teacher. I taught kindergarten back in New York, but I moved here for a high school English position. I found out a few days ago that my acceptance was wrong. They meant to accept someone else named Y/N.”

“I’m sure you’re an amazing teacher. I know that you will figure something out.”

“Thank you. And what do you do?”

“I have my own tattoo shop.”

“That’s so cool! My mom has her own tattoo shop up in New York.”

“Really? Wow! I’ve never heard of a female tattoo artist if I’m being honest.”

“I know. She started out as an artist, but then found her way into tattoos. She’s been doing it for twenty-seven years.”

“That’s incredible! My shop has only been open for a few years, but I love i-“

“Daddy! I wanna get this coloring book!” Darcy runs over with a JoJo Siwa coloring book.

Y/N’s heart aches hearing her call him daddy. So he is taken. That’s just lovely.

“Okay, pumpkin. Put it in the basket.” He looks up to you smiling nervously. “I’m Harry by the way.”

“I-I’m Y/N.”

“Wow. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” He smiles at you making you feel lightheaded again.

“I’m Darcy!” She sticks her hand up smiling widely. You lean down giggling and shake her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Darcy.”

“Are you going to be my new mummy?” You feel your eyes bugging out of your head while Harry chokes on his own air. I mean how do you even respond to that?! But wait! She said new mummy. So maybe that means he isn’t taken?

“Darcy! You don’t just go around asking people that!” She sighs looking up to him.

“I just want you to be happy, daddy.” You smile lightly hearing just how much she cares for her father and kneel in front of her holding both of her hands.

“Your daddy and I just met and he’s a wonderful man! But I won’t be your new mommy. No one could replace your mommy! I never met her, but I know she’s an amazing person.” Darcy’s eyes fill with tears.

“If she was an amazing person, she wouldn’t have hurt daddy and killed herself!” Darcy runs to the women’s bathroom leaving Harry there in tears.

“I’m so so sorry, Y/N.” You smile lightly feeling your heart break for this man you just met.

“It’s okay. Do you mind if I try to talk to her a bit?” He hesitates looking around you. Maybe having a woman talk to Darcy would help.

“She didn’t want to go to school today. I don’t know why, but she was crying at the kitchen table this morning.” You nod squeezing his hand.

“Go get the rest of your groceries and check out. I’ll take her to Starbucks and we’ll sit down. Take your time because I have a feeling this might take a while.”

“Thank you...I don’t know what to say or do. I mean we just met and you’re already going through so much trouble for me.”

“Everyone has their past, Harry. Not everything is all rainbows and unicorns. I understand that more than anyone.” You smile at him and he nods nervously.

Well...let’s see if your psychology major will be of any use.

[the-ss-horniest-book-club]

HBC Time to Fall Challenge

Autumn’s not far off my darlings and in the spirit of the season The HBC is running an Autumn or Fall challenge.  After all, what better time to fall in love than when the leaves turn red, the breeze turns chilly and change is in the air.

The Theme for the challenge is of course Falling in Love.  But, to make it a little more interesting we’ve selected a favorite trope.  “Locked in a Room” .

The link provided will explain the idea if you are unfamiliar and we will accept any variation of the trope so long as it meets HBC Guidelines.

For an idea of how it works….

Belle:

I could see Darcy trapped in an elevator with a pumpkin spiced latte and a tray of pumpkin cinnamon cupcakes with Bucky…… *sighs dreamily*.

bookdragon13:

Getting stuck in a barn with Hal would be fun

Belle:

Right?  Sudden storm hits, a tornado or something and you’re trapped there with him and shenanigans or confessions ensue.

bookdragon13:

Oooh, rainstorm in a barn with Hal? So many shenanigans!

Belle:

Lol, yes, both of you soaked to the skin, huddling for warmth

bookdragon13:

Hal knowing that it’s better to warm up with skin to skin

Belle:

Bales of freshly cut hay to lie and snuggle on, one old blanket between you…

The Rules

And there you have it.  Pick a Sebastian Stan Character ship, pick a place and let nature take it’s course.  We’d love it if you include something in the fic that is related to this lovely time of year, from corn mazes and haunted houses to pumpkin pie and falling leafs, there is lots to choose from.   Fluff?  Smut?  Something between?  We’ll take it all, we’re easy!

To help you along we have selected twenty Dialogue Prompts to choose from.  You can ask for one and we’ll strike it off the list, so be quick, they might not be around for long.  However, if we get enough requests, we’ll add more prompts as we go.  Fic’s must be a minimum of 500 words and there is no limit on length after that.

You can of course, join in the fun without signing up for a prompt so long as you keep to the “Time to Fall”, “Locked in a Room Theme”,  Just tag @the-ss-horniest-book-club and stick to HBC rules.

Any questions?  Contact @cchellacat or @book-dragon-13

The Challenge will run until November 5th, so remember, remember!

A Masterlist of the completed fic will be posted the following week.  If you want to ensure your story is included on the master-list, send a link to @cchellacat, otherwise we will do our best to collect the links as we go, but Tumblr being the hellsite it is doesn’t always notify us of every tag.  If you think you’ve been missed on the list don’t hesitate to let us know!

Now for the prompts:

1.“Do you want to kiss as bad as I do right now”

2. “Im too sober for this”

3. “Don’t underestimate me.”

4. “No one can know about this.”

5. “Can I freak out now?”

6. “It’s too cold! Come back!”

7. “Could you hold my hand?”

8. “oh, you’ve started stealing my socks now?”

9. “you’re not very intimidating.”

10. “we started this together and we should end it together.”

11.  “So… I might’ve been a little drunk.” “Only a little?” 

12.   “What’s my problem? You’re my fucking problem!”

13.  “Oh, thank God you’re awake.” 

14.  “Can I freak out now?” 

15.  “I could think of worse ways to die.” 

16.  “Shh, you’re safe. I won’t let you go.” 

17.  “I think I’m in love with you and I’m terrified.” 

18.  “Mmm.. you’re warm.” 

19.  “I don’t remember a fight or a reason, so what happened? Why did we break up?” 

20.  “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” “I’m not jealous.” 

Have fun my loves, stay warm and kick up your feet by the fire, there’s a nip in the air!

Love the HBC xxx

@buckmesideways22  @book-dragon-13 @eurynome827  @cchellacat

#hbc time to fall challenge#hbc time to fall#hbc challenge#fall challenge#ladies of the hbc#ladies and gentlemen of the hbc#hbc