#already going to the saturday show and she should’ve gotten friday…………

[onlywantlove]

I had such a wonderful time but I’m ngl I’m pretty disappointed that I didn’t get any photos of my whole outfit that I feel confident about and happy with

[charlie-boio]

I’m Here For You

Summary: Stiles has been avoiding you for a few weeks and you aren’t sure what’s wrong. Is this the end of your friendship?

Word Count: 3200

A/N: I enjoyed this little idea. Hope you do too. It’s pretty cute in my humble opinion. Also I based their high school schedule (like how long their classes last) off of where I graduated high school so I know it’s probs different but idc. Also I’m not super comfortable with how well written this is but I like it 😊

WARNINGS: angsty, but with some well deserved fluff

You took in a short breath, and then another. Your knees were starting to burn, the back of your throat felt like it had been scorched, and your head was pounding. The pain and nausea in your stomach wasn’t going away, but you thought that you didn’t have much left to throw back up. At this point, you were merely dry heaving.

These past few weeks have already been pretty much hell for you. For the past three weeks, Stiles had been bailing on your Friday movie nights, and last Friday was no exception. You didn’t even bother to text him and ask if he was coming, and apparently, he hadn’t cared.

Feeling the lowest you had ever felt in your life, you had just decided to melt into your bedding and binge watch cooking shows. What had started as a dull ache on Friday had taken a dramatic turn for the worse on Monday, and you simply could not catch a break with the pile on of essays, projects, and tests that your teachers handed you.

In all honestly, you could not catch a break. Never mind the slow burn of feelings that were building inside of you for Stiles, but now it appears you were also losing him as a friend. Which hurt…more than anything.

You shook your head, feeling yourself shudder. Standing on shaky legs, you flushed and went to rinse out your mouth.

“Just get through school,” you muttered. “Then you can go home and sleep this off.”

You finally left the bathroom and walked slowly towards your class, hand clutching desperately at your right side. Grimacing with each step, you opened the door and shuffled inside.

“About damn time! Get back in your seat y/l/n!” Coach Finstock barked at you, causing everyone’s eyes to snap up and pierce right through you. You shrunk into yourself more than you already were.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, walking carefully over to your seat without disturbing your side too much, which was a fruitless task. Sitting down, you looked over a Scott, whose eyebrows were furrowed together. Stiles didn’t bother looking up, his face buried in his notebook. You felt your heart break just a little more at the sight, so you forced a smile and whispered that you were okay, knowing that he could hear you. Scott’s eyebrows stayed knit together, but he turned away from and put his attention back on Coach’s lecture, letting the matters drop for now.

Coach’s class went by in a foggy haze, the occasional stabbing pain in your side brought you back to reality until the bell rang. Stiles jumped out of his seat and rushed out the door, not sparing you a glanced. Scott was close behind him, but not before sending you another worried look, to which you gave him a forced smile. His eyebrows furrowed, but he left anyways.

You moved slowly, face grimacing with each step. You couldn’t help your mind wandering to Stiles, imaging him helping you through the hallways to your next class. You two always used to walk together…

Shaking your head, you continued forth, barely managing to make it to your next class on time. Thankfully, you didn’t have another class with Stiles until after lunch, but you had this class with Lydia.

“y/n are you feeling okay?” Lydia asked, her face etched with concern.

“I’m fine, just a little nauseous, nothing to be worried about,” you said, but your wavering voice betrayed you. Lydia quirked up an eyebrow and pressed the back of her hand to your forehead.

“You’re awfully warm sweetie. I know you said, ‘You’re fine,’ but maybe you should go home. Just in case,” she said sweetly.

“I can’t. My parents are out of town for their anniversary.”

“What about Stiles? He usually gives you a ride to school anyways right?” Not for two weeks, Not for two weeks, you thought sadly.

“Um-I-“

“Girls, pay attention please!” your teacher snapped at you two. You and Lydia mumbled your apologies. Thankfully, class went by without another opportunity for you to talk to Lydia, and when the bell rang, you two parted ways since her class was across the school.

You managed to get through your next two classes, trying to pay attention to your teachers and zone out the stabbing pain in your side, the pounding in your head, and the heavy weight in your heart. You were hoping and praying with all of your might that you could get through the rest of the day. You weren’t sure how the fuck you would get home, but you decided you’d cross that bridge when you got there.

If you get there, you thought miserably, but you quickly shook that thought from your head. You were overreacting, obviously. How could you be so stupid? You got your period on Saturday, and occasionally they could be a little extreme. 

*

“Stiles, you really didn’t have to do any of this…” you said sweetly, a small smile stamped on your face.

“Come on, kid. You’re my best friend, of course I’m gonna take care of you!” Stiles said, flashing you a toothy grin.

He had surprised you out of the blue, hearing that you had gotten your period and that it was kicking your ass this month. Stiles brought chocolate, popcorn, movies (Star Wars, obviously), blankets, one of his sweatshirts, sour patch kids, and a heating pad after you had complained that yours broke. He spent the next hour setting everything up and not allowing you to lift a finger despite your protests.

After settling down, you had tried to cuddle with him like you two usually do, but your cramps weren’t having it so you settled for having your head in his lap, the heating pad laid across your lower abdomen, blankets curled around both of you while Stiles continuously ran his fingers through your hair, soothing you.

“Any better?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,”

“Come on, kid. You don’t have to lie to me. Not ever…”

“It is better, since you came and helped me,” you turned your head slightly to look up at him, and you saw his swirling amber eyes looking down at you with adoration. You felt your heart skip a beat while you smiled at him.

Stiles leaned down quickly and placed a lingering kiss to your head. “You know I’m always gonna be here for you kid. Always,” he mumbled into your head.

You closed your eyes and sighed happily, his fingers resuming running through your hair. You could’ve died happily in his arms.

*

Bitter tears that burned your eyes welled up, threatening to fall at the memory. What did I do…? You thought miserably to yourself.

Closing your eyes, you shook your head, ridding yourself of both the tears and the memory. If you cried right now, the pounding in your head would only get even worse, and you weren’t sure how much longer you could last like this.

Unfortunately, the bell rang for the end of fourth period, and fifth was lunch with the rest of the pack, including Stiles. You felt a pool of dread hit the bottom of your stomach. Stiles used to sit next you at lunch, cracking jokes back and forth with his sarcastic comments. Now, he sat as far away from as he could, and you had a feeling that today would be no exception.

Sure enough, walking into the cafeteria you saw all of your friends sitting together, happily chatting away. There was a seat saved for you on the far right while Stiles sat at the far left across the table from you, right next to Lydia. For once, it didn’t look like Stiles was drooling over her; instead they were quietly arguing about something, but you were too far away to hear what it was.

Still, you sat down and did your best to smile through the physical and mental pain of everything. However, your stomach had decided to dial up the pain a notch, making sure it was something you no longer could ignore. With each beat of your heart your head pounded louder and louder, the voices around you starting to fade.

Uh oh. This isn’t good I need to get out of here!

You tried to stand, legs wobbly, but the second you stood up your vision began to tunnel, your pain double by the second. You could vaguely hear Scott, and you felt the pack’s eyes on you.

“I need to…to…” you stuttered, and you felt your knees buckle as you sank to the floor. Before you could hit the ground hard, a pair of strong arms snaked around you, breaking your fall. You could vaguely hear someone scream for help.

Your breath hitched, ears ringing as you fell into darkness.

 *

“HELP! PLEASE SHE NEEDS HELP!” Stiles shouted through the hospital, nurses and doctors rushing over. You were in his arms bridal style after you had passed out in the cafeteria. He had managed to catch you before you could hit your head, and he had sprinted as fast as he could to his jeep to drive you to the hospital.

That was two hours ago, and there hadn’t been any word on y/n’s condition. Not even Melissa could tell them anything, and Stiles was getting tired of hearing ‘We are doing everything we can right now,’

“Stiles?” Scott asked gently.

For the first time in his life, he was still. Absolutely still. He didn’t fidget with his hands, bounce his knee, or even pace. He merely sat there; hands clasped together. He didn’t even have the energy to cry anymore; all he did was stare at the floor and just let every single one of his negative thoughts rush through his head.

“Stiles,” Scott said a little more forcefully. Stiles barely turned his head, his drawn low.

“Look I already know what you’re gonna say-“

“The ‘I’m Gonna Avoid Her So My Crush Can Go Away’ plan? The one that everyone thought was the stupidest idea ever?” Lydia interjected, having found about this plan at lunch.

“Stop it, okay? I get it!” Stiles snapped, then he sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, it’s just…I should’ve seen it. I should’ve known something was wrong. We’re best friends…she’s never gonna forgive me,” Tears lined Stiles’ eyes. Turns out he did have more to spare.

“Stiles, you and y/n are idiots,” Stiles’ head snapped up, his eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. “You two have edging around a relationship for at least three years at this point, and each time you’ve both been like ‘Oh there’s no way they like me back!’ Seriously! I’m tired of hearing it,”

“Scott, what if it’s too late? We don’t know what’s going on-“

“Why am I not surprised that you’re all here?” Melissa’s voice came out with a carefree tone. She had a clipboard with her, and she looked relatively at ease. Immediately Stiles shot up and made his way over, his hands fidgeting with each other, not taking note of Melissa’s relaxed stance.

“What happened? Is she okay?” Stiles asked, his eyes pleading. Melissa gave him a reassuring smile.

“Stiles, relax. She’s totally fine. She just had appendicitis, nothing super major I promise,”

Stiles took a deep breath, feeling the tension from waiting around slip away from him. He couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face.  “She’s…she’s gonna be okay?” he asked tentatively.

Melissa smiled at him. “She’s going to be just fine,” she looked over her shoulder, then lowered her voice. “Now, usually it’s family only, but for you I’ll make an exception. ONLY Stiles,” she finishes when everyone else tried to rush past her. Melissa gave him a knowing look, telling him the room number.

Suddenly standing behind the closed door of your room, he felt his anxiety come crashing down again. He had acted like a complete idiot these past few weeks, not being to stand the fact that you would probably never feel the same way about he as he felt about you. He thought he was doing what was best for both of you. Now he wasn’t sure if you’d even want him around as a friend anymore.

I wouldn’t he thought to himself miserably. It took a few more deep breaths before he was ready to open the door.

Thankfully, you were asleep, but he hated how pale you still looked. The hand with the IV laid across your stomach, your chest rising slowly as you took in deep breaths. Stiles crossed over to your left side and pulled up a chair, taking your left hand and placing a gentle kiss to the top of it. With his free hand, he slowly pushed a stand of hair from your face and tucked it behind your ear.

He had almost lost you today. Appendicitis was a simple procedure, sure, but what if something worse had happened? What if it was something worse, and he missed it because he was too cowardly to tell you how you felt?

“No more hiding,” Stiles whispered to you. He settled his head against the bed on your side. His hand that wasn’t laced with yours was gently stroking your arm while his eyes dropped lower and lower until complete exhaustion finally took over and he fell into a fitful sleep.

 *

Your body felt light and heavy at the same time. This didn’t feel like your bed, or the cafeteria where you were last. You could vaguely remember being carried, but it was all a pain filled blur. You scrunched your face before peeling your eyes open, your heart skipping a beat. There you saw Stiles, one arm resting on your leg while the other clutched yours. You couldn’t help the small smile that spread across your face. Was he really here?

You moved your hand to run through his hair, causing him to stir. Stiles looked up at you, eyebrows furrowed together before shooting up into his hairline.

”You’re awake!” he jumped out of his seat, his hand never leaving yours. A huge grin broke out across his face which contradicted the tears that fell from his eyes. He leaned over and pressed a long kiss to your forehead, your eyes closing at the feeling. “How are you feeling? Do you feel alright? Is there any pain? Because I can go get a nurse for some pain medicine. Or are you hungry? Because you didn’t eat at all at lunch and I doubt you ate this morning since you left class to throw up or maybe you did since-“

“Stiles shhh its okay, I feel okay I promise,” you said, voice a little hoarse. Stiles sighed happily before sitting back down, both of his hands coming up to play with your fingers. You wanted to relish in the moment, but you couldn’t help the nagging feeling that took place in your mind. He doesn’t really care, once you’re better he’ll go back to ignoring you.

“Stiles-“

“I like you,” he blurted out, his face beet red. “And I’m sorry. Really fucking sorry okay? I’ve had this giant crush on you for the longest time, and I had no idea how to address because you’re just absolutely everything to me. I thought that if I put some distance between us that it would be easier, but it wasn’t. I could tell that you were upset, only this time it was my fault. Look, if you don’t feel the same way, or even if you hate me after what I did, I get it I fucking deserve it, it’s fine. But after today, seeing you collapse like that, I don’t think I can’t not have you in my life. I really, really like you y/n, and if you can forgive me one day, can we at least stay friends?” his eyes were pleading with you, tears lining his eyes.

Your eyebrows furrowed. “So…you don’t want to be with me like that…” you whispered.

“No-I mean yes, of course I would love more than anything to be more than friends, but you-“

“Stiles,” you said with a small smile. “I feel the same way. I have for awhile now…”

His eyes lit up, the tears falling now. “Really?” he asked softly.

“Really.”

“But,” he looked away from you, swallowing thickly. “I-I’m not like, super strong or a good lacrosse player. I’m not a werewolf. I’m only human, I’m just…me.”

“I don’t want any of those things, I want you. I want the boy who can always figure out the cases, the boy who would come over and take care of me whenever I’m upset, who came over every Friday to watch movies with me, and the boy who never ever fails to make me laugh, even when it’s the last thing I want to do.”

You continued to run your fingers through his hair, trying to soothe him. His smile grew with your words, his eyes flicking down to your lips for a brief moment.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Please.”

Stiles stood once again, leaning over you while trying not to crush or hurt you in any way. He cupped your face with one hand before gently placing his lips on yours. The kiss was soft, your lips moving slowly against his. It didn’t become any more heated then simply kissing, but your heart still exploded. You two kissed until your lungs burned, Stiles pulling away for just a moment to take a quick breath before diving back in, tilting his head a little, the kiss picking up its pace slightly.

After a few more moments, Stiles pulled back for good, smiling down at you while he pulled his chair even closer you as he sat down, and you were positive that your grin was just a big as his. You leaned over and wiped the remaining tears off of his face, him leaning into your touch.

“Can I take you on date?” he asked.

You quirked an eyebrow at him, “Just a date?” you joked.

“Well, I feel like I should take you out on a proper date before I ask you to be my girlfriend,” he laughed, and you smiled at him.

“Okay, then in that case, I’d love to go on a date you,” you said, affection laced in your tone.

He smiled dopily at you, resting his hand back on the bed next you, your arm coming around him comfortably.

“Get some rest, kid. I’ll be right here, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for you, always,”

You sighed, closing your eyes, and for the first time in a few weeks, you were able to sleep peacefully with Stiles by your side.

[marvelsbetch]

Peter Parker’s betrayal

Warning: Depressed Peter, Betrayed Peter, Dick head Stark.

-Peter POV-

I was so excited for this weekend, I had finally convinced Aunt May to let me stay the night at Stark towers. Mr. Stark and had been begging for weeks for me to stay the weekend so we could geek-out about nuclear physics and new suit upgrades to our heats content. After quite a bad Friday, Ned and MJ has been acting weird and Flash seems to have gotten more violent and cocky. Plus, when Happy drove me back to my apartment he never spoke to me, not even his dry hello, he just gave me sympathetic glances as if he knew something I didn't. Saturday was the day, the day I had been waiting for since I first heard of Mr. Stark and his work. Since I read the first news article on Iron Man. Since I was 6 years old.

It started great, the sun was shining unusually bright for a March morning, Aunt May had made me her world famous pancakes worthy of Mr. Stark himself. My bag was already packed and ready, all I had to do was wait. Wait for Happy to come and pick me up and take me to what would've been the best weekend of my life.

How I wish I could go back. I wish I could go back to being this happy and content with my life. I wish.

"Peter! Happy's here!" Aunt May yelled at me from the living room, I was waiting on my bed.

"Okay, I'm coming." I told her grabbing my bag and walking to the door to meet Happy.

All he did was give me a sympathetic look and lead me outside to the car. The last time I'll ever see this car. The drive to Stark Tower was similar to the drive home last night. Awkward and eerily silent. The thirty minute drive felt like two hours as a sense of impending doom washed over me. I should've listened to my senses and asked Happy to turn back.

Soon we pulled into the Stark tower garage and started walking towards the elevator, Happy following close behind. We rode up to the penthouse again, in silence and walked into the living room.

My heart shattered.

Mr. Stark was sat on the couch watching a movie with popcorn and Ice cream while talking to someone. A teenage boy I recognised. The teenage boy who tormented me since freshman year. The teenage boy names Eugene 'Flash' Thompson. Sat on Mr. Starks couch, watching a movie. What is going on.

"Hey Mr Stark." I spoke waving at him and walking further into the living room.

"Oh Peter. What're you doing here?" He asked.

"Come on. It's the sleepover we've been planning for months. The one we begged my Aunt to let us have, you've got to be joking right?" I asked scared of the answer.

"Oh, no I don't. I was busy with Flash, he's such a cool guy you know." Mr. Stark told me. "Why don't you go work on something in the lab while I finish this movie with Flash. Then we can all do something together." He suggested.

"Sounds great." I mumbled as I slowly moved back to the elevator to go to my lab.

Hours passed in the lab and there was no sign of Mr. Stark anywhere. It's as if he forgot me. I had finished upgrading my suit, multiple times, tested it and managed to build new web shooters from scratch. He never came.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y show me Mr. Stark." I requested.

"Of course Peter." She responded, even she sounded like she had sympathy for me.

The image she showed me broke my heart. Mr. Stark and Flash were sat on the couch, likely not even left since I last saw them, laughing with each other. Laughing at me.

"And then he just fell, like out of no where. Didn't trip over anything, just fell. The whole cafeteria laughed at him while I got up and ran away crying like a little baby." Flash told the traitor. Lies. He had tripped me while I was getting my lunch and it split all over my clothes and the floor.

"Oh my God, how pathetic." Mr. Stark said through tears of laughter.

Speaking of tears, I felt my own eyes welling up. How could he? After all we had been through with the Thanos snap, how hard he tried to get me back. How could he do this to me? He even called me son a few times, I sometimes called him Dad by accident but he never let me live it down.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y stop." I requested through sobs.

"I'm sorry Peter. Should I inform Mr. Stark of your distress?" F.R.I.D.A.Y asked with as much sympathy as a robot could as the image disappeared.

"No, he probably wouldn't care anyway." I told her as I heard footsteps coming towards the lab.

"What's up Penis? Upset that I'm closer to Tony?" Flash taunted as he entered my lab, something only Mr. Stark is allowed to do without my permission.

"No. Just overwhelmed." I told him wiping my tears away and getting angry.

"Well, Tony told me to come down and let you know that we may have to reschedule the whole sleepover thing." He told me smirking.

“Why?" I asked.

"We've just made plans, more important than any of yours." He told me leaving the room.

I broke down crying, what's happening. Just a few days ago everything was normal, what changed? Soon heavy crying turned into a full blown panic attack. Great.

"Mr. Parker Mr. Stark has been notified of your current state. He said he'll be here when he can." F.R.I.D.A.Y informed me making it worse.

There was a time when he would drop everything to make sure I was okay. He walked out of numerous meetings, one was with the president, because I was the slightest bit panicky. Now, having a panic attack on the floor below him he's all of a sudden too busy. Too busy with Flash.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y call Nat please." I requested through sobs.

"Peter? What's going on are you okay?" Nat's voice rung out immediately, she picks up fast.

"No. Can you come to my lab please?" I requested calming down slightly.

"Of course. Where's Stark?" She asked as I heard her moving around and a door slam.

“He's, uh, with someone. Too busy to come down and help me." I told her making it worse again at the thought of it. He's basically abandoned me for Flash.

"Okay I'm 5 minutes away. Stay calm." She instructed.

Less than five minutes later Nat came bursting through the doors Mr. Stark in tow. He was holding his ear making me feel like she'd dragged him down here aggressively.

"What's this for?! Me and Flash just got the crucial plot point of the movie!" Mr. Stark yelled at Nat.

"This is more important! You left him down here to have a panic attack on his own! He had to call me to come and help! What's wrong with you?!" Nat yelled back and she walked over to comfort me.

"I told him I would be there when I could, a.k.a, not at the crucial plot point of the movie!" Mr. Stark responded making Nat send daggers at him.

"That's not as important as the welfare of your intern, the person you call your son. What's going on and who's that person in the living room anyway?" Nat growled at him.

"My names Eugene 'Flash' Thompson. I'm Tony's new intern." Flash introduced himself sticking his hand out for Nat to shake it. Strange, I didn't even know he was here.

"Leave. Peter's Tony's intern." Nat growled at him pushing his hand away.

"Not anymore. I decided to hire Flash instead, sorry Peter." Mr. Stark informed me with very little sympathy in his voice. "You can still intern, just not for me."

"Stop talking before I throw you out of this window." Nat warned. "Why all of a sudden do you think Peter's not good enough? You were calling him your son not even two days ago!" Nat yelled.

"Realisation I guess. I realised that the future of my company should be left with someone strong and willing. Not someone who trips over noting in the middle of his school cafeteria." Mr. Stark told her, her eyes went red.

"I didn't trip over nothing, Eugene shook his foot out for me trip over. He's been tormenting me for years." I explained hoping to make Mr. Stark see his fault.

"Now you're lying to me?" He accused glaring at me. "If that's true then why didn't you tell me before hand? Convenient it only comes up now."

"I never told you because I could handle it. Didn't know it would lead to you being the ultimate back stabbing traitor." I growled at him finally standing my ground.

"Don't call me a traitor when you've just lied to my face. I want you out of my building and out of my life." Mr. Stark told me making Nat, once again, glare daggers at him.

"You're utterly delusional. You kick him out you loose me, no more black widow." Nat threatened standing right infront of Mr. Stark, challenging him.

"Fine, I've got everyone else on my side. Wish I could say you'll be missed." He told her smirking.

Next thing I know Nat grabbed my arm and bags before leading me out of the building. We walked passed Happy and Pepper who both stopped us to say sorry and promise that they'll speak to Tony. Nat told them not to bother as he won't change. Happy offered to drive us home but Mr. Stark called him to say that if he did he'd be fired. He still offered but I couldn't let him loose his job over me.

"I'm so sorry for this Peter. I tried to tell but he won't listen, I'll try and fix this I promise. You have my word and my number should you need it. He won't realise what he had until he lost it. You'll both be missed." Pepper sobbed as she hugged me tight, my surrogate mother.

"The offer of a ride still stands, he'll die without me and he knows it. If he fires me it's his loss." Happy told me placing a hand on my shoulder.

"No it's fine, you shouldn't be getting roped into this, this is my mess." I told me making everyone sigh.

"This is not your mess, it's Tony's and soon enough I'll make him clean it up. You have my word." Pepper promised before Mr. Stark walked up to us all.

"If you don't leave now I'll have security kick you out." He growled at me only making me want to cry in a corner somewhere. I've truly been abandoned by my only father figure.

"Fine, we're leaving." Happy said grabbing my shoulder and leading me and Nat out of the building. Did he just quit?

"Did you just quit?" I asked him.

"Yep." Was his short response. Dear God, what has this turned into?

"You'll never be hired again if you walk out those doors." Mr. Stark threatened.

"I'd rather live on the streets than work for you and that brat upstairs." Happy told him before we all walked out of the building.

"This is real. I've been abandoned." I spoke finally admitting it before breaking down into tears.

Nat quickly comforted me and we started to make our way back to my apartment. This is going to be fun to explain to Aunt May.

-2 months later-

It's been two months since Mr. Stark abandoned me and my life has taken an interesting turn. After a day or two everyone had found out about what had happened and boycotted anything to do with Mr. Stark. They never went to meetings, either towers, training sessions and even missions. Pepper left him the night he abandoned me. Mr Stark was truly alone except for Flash, many employees quit and his sales took a hard hit once word got out to the media. My name wasn't mentioned but Flash's was, this made my school life so much harder as Flash now believed he was some sort of celebrity.

Happy drove me to and from school everyday in his own car. He and my aunt had become really close over the past two months and I've started to have the suspicion that they may be dating. Probably. Nat barley left my side if it was necessary, she even sneaks around school sometimes just to make sure I'm okay, I'm far from it. School has become even more of a nightmare than it already was. Flash's taunting became worse and physical, most teachers turned a blind eye in fear of Mr. Stark. Ned and MJ left me after claiming that I was just pathetic, hard to disagree if I'm honest, and everyone of my teachers has become so much harder on me. Life just isn't good right now.

-Two years later-

Two years. Two years since the faithful night and life has become good. I graduated with great grades, despite me not having the best time in school in the past few years and teachers becoming extra tough on me. I passed with mostly As and A+s. after graduation I got a scholarship to Cal tech and started my courses. I plan to open my own business, not to spite Stark, as fun as that would be, but to help those in need. I want to start a company that focuses on helping to poor and improving their living conditions.

-Ten years later-

My company was a massive success. I make cheap but reliable electronics that not only help the poor improve their lives but most of the profits go to improving their lives in other ways. Just last month I traveled to Cambodia to a town full of people so poor they had to buy their houses on rivers because they couldn't afford land. It was eye opening and we helped so much, buying land for them, helping them build stable homes and facilities, building toilets and other necessities. I feel great with myself if I'm being honest.

I've also recently come out at Bisexual with the announcement of me and my boyfriends engagement, Wade Wilson also known as Deadpool. Life's good.

Also, Flash took over Stark industries but it's not been going well. He can't run a business or build a piece of tech to save his life, the sales have plummeted and they've had to lay of hundreds of people in the past month. Most of which, came to me. Now, let me make this clear, I did not start my company to spite Stark and try and beat him. I started it because people like him and Flash don't care about the people who have less of a say, I look out for the little guy. Always have and always will.

I still continue with my spider man work and have received countless awards for my work helping the little guy. Weather that be a common mugging or helping people escape war torn countries. I found a way to build more houses and have more land while also expanding the rain forest and saving the environment. I have dedicated my life to helping others, I made the decision when I was fifteen and ten years later I still stand my it.

-Five years later-

Stark Industries went bankrupt. Flash had run it into the ground with failed experiments and an attempt to bring back the weapons department but with my work, it wasn't necessary. There were no more wars to fight and weapons were seen as a thing of the past.

"Peter please I'm sorry. Flash manipulated me to believe that you were less of a person. Please, I've lost everything because of him." Stark begged, tears brimming his eyes as he as me for a job in my offices.

First he asked for CEO but me and Pepper handles those duties. Then it was Public Relations but Steve and Clint have those conceded. He went through all jobs only to find them to be taken by those he once called his friends. Currently he's begging for a low-level position but I was willing to give him a second chance. He's suffered enough over the past fifteen years.

"Okay, here's a deal. I'll invest back into Stark Industries but you have to promise to help people. No more Eugene or decisions made by yourself. I'll try and convince Pepper to work with you again but I can't promise anything. It's not completely your fault Eugene ran your company into the ground and I'm willing to help but you have to work with me. You have to promise to help people and the environment, look at what I've achieved." I said gesturing to the office building on the 40th floor of our main headquarters.

Over the past five years Pepper and I had made some excellent business decisions and our profits sky rocketed, we have buildings all over the world and I became one of the richest men in the world. I still give back and if anything, I've given more back in the past few years.

More money. More resources. More output. More help to those who need it. World poverty has dropped to less than 10%, an immaculate improvement to the 80% of fifteen years ago.

"I promise. I don't think I can tell you how happy I am Peter." Stark told him smiling like an idiot.

-Another ten years later-

We did it. The rainforests were saved. No animals were near extinction. Both my company and Stark Industries were on the map helping those who need it, not many now though. World Poverty was less than 0.5% of the population and soon to be eradicated. We saved the planet and the people on it but most importantly, we made a flying car. Life was good.

[angelicyoongie]

desolate (2)

— summary: you just wanted a cute little normal cat to keep you company. so, you're not really sure how you ended up with the grumpiest hybrid on earth that seems hellbent on making your life difficult.

— pairing: cat hybrid yoongi x  reader

— genre: angst, fluff, eventual smut

— word count: 2.9k

— tag list: @mrcleanheichou​ , @ladymidnightt​ Part one Part three Part four Part five Part six Part seven Part eight Part nine Part ten (M) Part eleven Part twelve Part thirteen Part fourteen (M)

A sharp tone rips you out of your dreams, your alarm screeching at the top of its lungs to make you get up. You groan, fumbling around before you find your phone to turn it off. You look at your screen through bleary eyes, annoyed that you forgot to turn off your alarm considering it’s a Saturday and you absolutely do not have to wake up at 6.30 am today.

You huff, throwing your phone further down your bed and turning over to go back to sleep. The noise startled you enough that you can still feel your heart racing, and even though you doubt you’ll be able to slip back into the dream you had, you can still take a few minutes more to just rest.

You stare at the sunlight that has started peeking through the gaps in your curtains, everything still a little hazy from the vivid dream you had. But the more you look out in your room, the more the golden eyes and black soft fur you thought was only a dream starts melting away and the day before comes rushing back.

You actually adopted a cat! Your stomach does a funny flip, excitement rushing through your veins as you quickly sit up in bed. The floor is cold as you plant your feet on the ground, and you hurry over to your closet with a grimace.

In a few weeks it’ll become too cold to have the heater off, and you already dread how high your electricity bills are going to become in the following months. But it’s either that or freezing to death, and frankly with your busy schedule, you don’t have time for that. You throw on a hoodie and some sweatpants, happy that the only thing on your agenda today is just lazing around the apartment.

You hurry to your bedroom door after tugging on some thick socks to ward off the cold, only pausing for a short second to take a deep breath before opening it. You didn’t know what you were expecting, but finding your kitty lying directly outside of your door definitely wasn’t it.

You freeze, foot caught mid-air as you stare down at the black ball of fur curled up on the floor. You carefully set your foot down again, clutching the doorframe as you slowly slide down to a crouch. He's so fluffy and cute that your legs wobble, and you have to put a hand down on the floor to keep from toppling over your cat.

You wince as the cold seeps into your fingertips, and you don’t like the thought of your kitty sleeping on it. What if he gets sick? Can cats get sick? You’re not sure, but you don’t want to find out either.

“Kitty?” You murmur, watching as one ear twitches in your direction. You reach out slowly, hand hovering over the furry body hesitantly. You want to touch him, but the band-aids along your forearm serves as a reminder of how much he didn’t like that last night.

“Kitty?” You try again, and this time, golden eyes slide open at your voice. You let out a small coo as it blinks slowly, obviously still sleepy. You figure it might be safe to touch it now that it’s awake, but the moment you fingers inch closer it hisses, golden eyes suddenly wide and alarmed before it quickly scampers under the couch again.

You sigh, pushing yourself up to get some breakfast. You desperately want to cuddle and coddle your new cat, but it’s obvious that it needs space and time, and you need to respect that. Owning pets isn’t always sunshine and butterflies and you figure it probably had a rough life on the streets before you picked it up. It was alone in a shelter, after all.

You change out the water in the bowl you put out for your cat the night before, a frown settling on your face as you realize the dry food you got from Yeonjun hasn’t been touched. You sprinkle some more kibble on just in case, hoping that the fresh bits might smell good and entice your cat to eat something.

It’s still early and you’re feeling a little too lazy to make anything, so you decide that today’s breakfast will be yesterday's leftovers. You bring your meal to the couch, placing the plate with rice and chicken on the coffee table in front of it. You hear a low grumble from underneath the couch as you take a step closer, and you decide that maybe delaying getting your feet mauled for another minute is okay as you run back to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

You don’t like the thought of being scared of your own cat, but you figure he’s probably way more scared than you are, and so you just need to suck it up for a while. You gasp as you round the corner, shocked to find your cat eating away at a chicken breast on your plate.

“Kitty!” You rush forward, scared that he’s eating something he isn’t supposed to and hoping to stop him, but your cat is back under the couch before you even reach the table. There’s an obvious gap on your plate from the missing chicken your cat brought with it under the couch, but from the sounds of it, it seems like your cat was starving.

You can hear the hurried bites from where you’re standing, and your heart aches a little at the thought of it being so hungry. Despite your better judgement, you quickly grab another breast from your plate before you can second-guess yourself. Placing it close to the edge of the couch on the floor, you snatch your fingers back just as a black paw comes out and swipes the food in.

You tentatively sit down on the couch, perching on the edge so that your legs are as far away as they can be. Your cat seems to be too busy eating to notice your presence, or maybe it just doesn’t care as long as you bring it food, but you’re nearly all the way done with your meal before you hear a soft hiss from underneath you again.

“I’m done soon kitty,” You mutter, shoving the rest of the food into your mouth before you hurry off into the kitchen with your plate. You know you still have a long way to go before your cat starts to like you, but it still feels like a small victory.  

.

“He hates me,” You groan as you slump down in your chair, Jihyo’s bright eyes staring at your over her computer screen.

“Who? Your cat?” She tilts her head, a small frown on her face as she takes in your tired appearance. You didn’t sleep well all weekend.

You felt terrible for making your cat scared, and so you tried to steer clear of the couch as much as possible. But you also realized you needed to make your presence known if he was ever going to get used to you - so you spent the weekend feeling guilty for both staying away and staying close.

“Yeah,” You mutter as you blow a stubborn piece of hair away from your face.

“It probably just needs some time to adjust ..” She trails off, but you can see the words on the tip of her tongue forming already.

“Don’t–” You start, but Jihyo interrupts you.

“This is why you should’ve gotten a hybrid! It would never be so mean to you,” She pouts. You take a deep breath, trying to push down the annoyance that wants to bubble up and explode.

You love Jihyo and she’s one of your closest friends, but she doesn’t really share the same reality as you. She has money, and you don’t. And while it sounds trivial, it’s enough to create a rift in situations like these where she just doesn’t get it. You don’t have money for a hybrid. Period.

“Jihyo. Let it rest,” You grumble, tone serious and eyes narrowed as you stare her down. She opens her mouth, but seems to think twice and clamps it shut instead.

“Fine,” She huffs. She lets you work in peace until lunch, but you can tell she’s practically bursting with the need to say something as she tugs you inside the lunchroom. It’s empty, you two usually taking your break a little earlier than everybody else just to get some privacy when you eat and talk.

You’ve barely taken a bite of your sandwich when Jihyo sighs dramatically, eyes wide as she throws her arms out across the table.

“I know I’ve only had Sana for three days, but if something happens to her I’m going to kill everybody and then myself,” You roll your eyes, but can’t help but smile at how fond Jihyo seems to be already.

“Stop being so dramatic,” You snort. A man quietly makes his way inside the break room; you think you vaguely recognize him as being one of the IT guys in your department.

His eyes grow wide as your eyes meet, and he hurries off to the little kitchen in the corner of the room with his head hung low when you give him a small nod as a greeting. Jihyo seems obvious, too busy dreamily staring out of the window behind you as she continues.

“Sana is so cute. She’s so happy and cuddly,” She gushes, quickly bringing out her phone to show you some of the pictures she took over the weekend. You two have been texting of course, but you knew she wanted to talk about it in more detail over lunch.

“She even picked out her own collar! Look!” You see the IT guy slip out the kitchen as you take Jihyo’s phone, paying him no mind as you smile at the picture of her Pomeranian hybrid.

“Aww, how adorable,” You can’t help but grin, happy that your friend found someone she enjoys spending her time with.

“Y/N!” Jihyo suddenly exclaims, “Maybe I can bring Sana over on Friday? She’s been dying to see you again,” You mull it over for a second.

You do really want to see Sana and Jihyo, and since your cat pretty much lives under the couch you’re sure an hour or two will be fine. Sana seems to sweet and quiet that you don’t think it’ll be much of a problem even if she is a dog hybrid.

“Sure!” You agree, happy to spend some more time with your friend.  

.

The moment you step inside your apartment after work, you’re sure you see a black tail hurry around the corner.

“I’m home!” You call out, but the silence that greets you feels heavy and uninviting, and you suddenly feel more alone than what you did before when you were actually by yourself. You quickly shed your shoes and your coat, briefly slipping into your bedroom to pull on some more comfortable clothes.

You’re hungry; the lunch you brought today definitely wasn’t enough to keep you sated until work was over. You quickly fry up some vegetables and meat, mindful to keep away from any seasoning. Your cat has made it clear it’s not eating the cat food Yeonjun gave you, and so you’ve been letting it eat some of your own food until you can get him something else.

Once you’re sure the meat has cooled down enough, you slip some on to a plate, bringing it into the living room. You’re about to place it down under the couch when you hesitate. If you keep doing this you’re sure it’s only going to get harder to get to know your cat, and that’s not what you want to happen.

So you carefully place it a little further away, so that your cat needs to take a few steps out to eat it. You hurry out to the kitchen to grab your own plate, and when you return, you find your cat halfway out from under the couch, golden eyes trained on you as he eats.

“I’ll stay over here kitty. Take your time,” You make sure to sit on the other side of the couch, giving you cat some space while still being close. You turn on the TV, getting more and more absorbed in the show as your dinner grows colder.

You eat absentmindedly, the plot too interesting to tear your eyes away from. So it comes as a surprise when you move your hand to pick up your fork, but your fingers come into contact with soft fluffy fur instead.

You eyes snap down in panic as you find your cat looking up at you with wide eyes, a piece of meat caught between its teeth. Your fingers twitch involuntarily at the feel of fur against them, and the motion seems to remind your cat suddenly as to why it doesn’t like you.

Its ears flatten against its skull, and you can practically see the murder written in his eyes before he jumps down and crawls under the couch again. You don’t realize you were even holding your breath until your lungs start burning, and you drop your outstretched hand into your lap as you gulp down air.

You stay in the living room for a little while more, ignoring the disgruntled noises coming from the floor as you finish your show.

“Night kitty,” You say as you turn off the lights, hurrying down the hallway to your room and closing the door behind you. You can still feel the brush of fur against your fingers even after you’ve gone to bed, a small smile tugging at your lips.

Even if touching him was an accident, he has still started to feel comfortable enough around you to take the risk to steal your food, and that has to count for something.

.

Nothing really changes between you and your black menace until Thursday evening. You have been tiptoeing around your apartment all week, apparently the cat’s mood has only soured after you accidentally touched it, and you have no idea how to make it better.

It’s grown colder outside as well, and you can only hope that your cat at least sleeps on top of the couch when you’re not there. You’ve taken to laying out some blankets on the floor, just in case. Work today was particularly exhausting, and curling up on the couch with a blanket and some mindless television watching sounds like dream come true. So that’s exactly what you do as soon as you get home and finish dinner.

You’re skipping through channels until you find something mildly interesting - a documentary on hybrids. The narrators voice is soothing, and it doesn’t take long before you start drifting off, feeling comfortable and full after your dinner. You vaguely listen as the soft-spoken voice tells you about hybrids habits, almost lulled completely to sleep before you feel the slight dip in the cushion near your feet.

You’re so far gone that you barely pay it any notice, not even when you feel the presence getting closer and closer. You’re on your back, head tilted to the side as you watch the TV through half-lidded eyes as something steps on your stomach.

The blanket you have over you is so thick you can barely feel it, but you catch a dark mass out of the corner of your eye. He thinks I’m asleep, you realize, just as you suddenly feel a weight drop down on your body.

You don’t move, afraid that you’ll scare him now that he finally seems to have gained some confidence and trust in you. Your neck is starting to cramp from the awkward position, but you refuse to move, opting to just watch him get comfortable out of the corner of your eye.

You count to two hundred in your head after the moving stops, and turn your head the slightest bit just to make some of the pain go away. Golden eyes blink open immediately, staring you down as you look back at your cat.

“Comfy?” You ask, slowly reaching your hand to see if he'll let you pet him. You feel claws digging into the fabric despite the thickness when he notices your hand, a hiss rumbling in his chest until you drop it back down.

“No touching. Got it,” You mumble, somehow feeling a little chastised. You almost feel shy having him so close, especially when your cat won’t stop looking at your face, almost as if he’s scrutinizing it. But that’s ridiculous, you decide, he’s just a cat.

Any trace of sleep is long gone by now, but you cat however, seems to be growing tired of his staring game, eyes slowly slipping closed with each breath you take. You can still see that he’s a little tense, but just the fact that he’s here, on top of you, warms your heart.

You watch him rest until you feel your own eyelids become heavy again. You know your back will kill you tomorrow if you sleep here, but you don’t want to wake up your kitty, not when you can provide him with some warmth. So, you fall asleep with a lighter heart than you have had in days, hopeful that maybe this will turn out better than you first thought.

Oh, if only you knew what you really had gotten yourself into.  

- - - - Hello! Hope you enjoyed the second chapter of desolate! Next chapter will be Jihyo and Sana coming over to visit you and your kitty, which said black fluffball might not be so happy about .. Not when he’s just starting to warm up to you.

OT7 version is coming soon as well, so keep your eyes peeled for that :) Thank you all for the lovely feedback on the first chapter, it made me really excited to continue working on this! My inbox is always open if you want to chat about the story or just fics or life in general! See you all soon!

[unmaskedagain]

Ladybug: A Young Avenger

Hey Everyone, I got prompt for a civil war ML crossover fic but I was really into Team Iron Man on Ao3 for longest of times and, after endgame, I kind of need some team fluff. So I tweaked the prompt. It’s still team Iron man; just… not the way you’d expect. (Also did anyone know else know that Penny’s last name was Rolling?)

It took Tony Stark all of five minutes to figure out Ladybug’s identity.

“Jarvis, buddy?” Tony called out.

“Yes, sir?”

“What’s up with teenagers and being bug-themed heroes wearing inappropriate costumes?”

           The A.I took a moment before answering, “…I, for one, blame Vine.”

           Tony sighed. First fifteen-year-old Peter Parker aka Spiderman. He took the kid on an as an intern the second he learned about Spiderman. Now fifteen-year-old Marinette Dupain-Cheng aka Ladybug.

           He groaned.

What could he do? He needed help.

           Captain America needed to be stopped. The Winter Solider needed to be taken down. Team Cap had gone too far.

           It was war.

           Getting Harley Keener, a mechanical mastermind to agree to be his intern was a bit like chewing nails but Tony always knew the kit would agree. Getting Peter Parker, a child genius with a bright future as a scientist, to agree to be his intern was a piece of cake. Honestly Tony could’ve asked for the kid’s soul in repayment and Peter would’ve asked if he wanted on a silver plate or if plastic was okay? Getting Riri Williams, an engineering prodigy to be his intern, was easy. Too easy; her mom practically threw her at him, all while making him swear into a recorder that he wouldn’t sue. No matter what. Introducing the kids to his labs made him feel like Willie Wonka hand-delivering the golden tickets.

           They were all future scientists and engineers like Tony. They grew up worshiping at the altar of Stark Industries like ever future MIT graduate did.

           Marinette Dupain-Cheng, on the other hand, was an entirely different beast who played an entirely different game. She was a fashion prodigy who had designed for stars like Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale. She had interned for Style Queen Audrey Bourgeois, had her clothes walk the runway during Paris fashion week, and had a summer job that somehow lasted over a year, working for Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-Chief for Runway Magazine when the scary woman took over Paris: Runaway. Said job ended when Miranda when back to New York. Marinette only prayed to the fashion gods. So when Tony Stark, god of the nerds, showed up at her door, she only blinked once.

           Said girl sat between her parents, with cool blue eyes glaring at him suspiciously. Luckily Tony was smart enough to bring Pepper with him.

           Pepper Potts smiled at the family in front of her; two bakers and the daughter, who made the most delicious macarons that she ever tasted. “So you see, after Tony came across Marinette’s wonderful re-design sketch of his suit on her website, he was very impressed with her talent.”

“But to take Marinette on as an intern?” Sabine asked. “Excuse me, but Marinette has always leaned towards the arts than science.”

           Tony gave the woman his best charming smile, “What is science if not another form of art. We both create, strive to better our talents, work to make names for ourselves; experiment and test out hypothesizes. Granted no one in my field ever created the disaster that was crocs.”

           Marinette narrowed her eyes, “Didn’t your father help on the Manhattan Project?”

           Silence.

           Pepper cleared on her throat. “Tom, Sabine, before anyone agrees to anything I’d like to go over safety procedures in place. Would you mind stepping outside with me, I could use a bit of fresh air.”

           Tony and Marinette just stared at each other as the three left the room. When the front door closed behind them, Marinette leaned forward, “What do you want?” Her patience had reached its end.

“Aren’t you being a little rude?” Tony smirked.

“Aren’t you a little old?” Marinette snapped back. “What do you want?”

“I want Ladybug’s help.”

           Marinette flinched back in shock. Her heart raced in her chest. “How do you know?”

“I’m Tony Stark,” He shrugged easily, picking up a mint chocolate Macron. “I know everything.”

           Marinette fought the fear racing through her, and steeled herself like Miranda and Audrey had taught her, “So Iron Man’s wanted Ladybug as an intern? So what does Iron Man get? What does Ladybug get? What does Tony get? And what does Marinette get?”

“You made clear distinctions,” Tony said approvingly, his business-side gearing up. “But I am Iron Man.” He said. “You come to New York for this spring break and for the summer. I get Ladybug’s help in handling a personal issue that has developed within the Avengers. Ladybug gets training from the Avengers. Marinette gets to add Stark Industries and a personal letter of recommendation from Tony Stark to her resume.”

“On the condition, that identities stay secret from the media,” Marinette crossed her arms. “I don’t suppose I can hide it from the rest Avengers for very long. And I get an additional letter of recommendation from Pepper Potts. Pepper takes my friend Chloe on as an intern; she’s the hero, Queen Bee. And only one who knows my identity, besides you. Also, I actually do get to help design your next suit. My expenses?”

           Tony smirk widened. The girl knew how to cover her bases. She even wanted to have an Ally with her should things take a turn. “All paid for by me. First-class all the way. You and Chloe will stay in the Stark Tower on the same floor as the other interns.”

“Other young superheroes, you mean?” Marinette guessed, causing Tony’s eyes to twinkle in joy. “Spiderman, Iron Heart, and WarIron. Based on their sizes, I had guessed they were young; teenagers probably. Why didn’t you ask Chat Noir too? Or why aren’t you? Because you’re not, you would’ve mentioned it by now?”

“You mean the Agreste kid?” Tony said, not noticing Marinette’s eyes widen in surprise. “He’s not serious enough for me. I play games but he goes too far. Surprised you haven’t dumped him yet. Get a better partner.”

           Marinette took a bit of a macron to get a moment to think. Adrien was Chat Noir. In retrospect, it made a lot of sense. Both were socially immature, and a bit naïve. Each had an idealistic view of things and didn’t let the real world break them of it. For example Adrien and his dealing with Lila’s lies. Chat Noir and Ladybug turning down his advances.

“Very well,” The bluenette finally agreed. “I agree to be your intern. Shall we discuss my salary now or later? Well, need to before I or my parents sign any contracts.”

           It was Tony’s turn to narrow his eyes. Not one; not a single one of his interns: Harley, Peter, or Riri ever asked about how much they’d get paid. They’d all assumed it was an unpaid internship and was surprised when their contracts included a salary. “You’re a shark.”

           Marinette hummed, “You should see me when there’s blood in the water.”

           That was something Tony was looking forward to seeing.

           The official paperwork was signed three days later; Marinette was officially a Stark intern. Due to go to Orientation for spring break in New York in a few weeks.

           Those weeks flew by. She let Fu know she’d have to go back and forth for a few weeks. She didn’t bother telling anyone else. Her friendships in the class had dwindled dramatically. While most weren’t her outright enemies, her classmates tended to avoid her. If they couldn’t do that, they were beyond cold to her. It was Lila’s doing. She got her hooks into the class, who all wanted to tie themselves to the golden goose, and when it was clear that Lila and Marinette didn’t like each other, they picked sides. They chose their meal ticket over their lifelong friend.

           Honestly, it made Marinette almost wish that Lila had lied about her instead; accused her of being a bully or something. Anything. Because at least then her ex-friends would have somewhat of a reason to be ex-friends. Even if it wasn’t a very good one. Instead, they were just bad friends all on their own.

           Still, Marinette didn’t mourn their loss as she sat in the back of the class with Chloe on a Sunny Tuesday morning, and they were living for New York that Friday. She had a steadily rising career in Fashion. She had worked under Miranda Priestly and Audrey. From them, she learned it was best to drop fair-weather friends and how to spot wannabes, fame-seekers, and gold-diggers from three miles away.

           She was happy with Chloe as her bestie. The girl had turned a new leaf and proven her loyalty to the point where Fu made her a permanent hero. And the Blond had been ecstatic when Pepper Potts had shown up at their door. She had hugged Marinette a full five minutes for getting her the internship. All while screaming with joy.

           Both girls were excited to go. Though Marinette did encounter one downside. The night before, Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling; or as Marinette deemed them #RollingStone, called her. Or rather Penny did the talking. Jagged was trying to wrestle his newest jacket away from Fang’s teeth. Penny offered Marinette a chance to spend her spring break traveling around on tour with Jagged, as his personal stylist. Marinette had no choice but to turn the job down. She loved her honorary Uncle Jagged but she already signed the contract.

           That morning Lila had spun another set of lies. The first was about helping Tony Stark fix his Iron man suit when she was traveling in America. The second was about the newest song Jagged Stone wrote about her. It was exhausting to listen to but the class hung on every word.

           Bustier had just finished her first lesson of the day when she invited Alya to stand up.

           The glasses-wearing girl grinned at the class, “So as everyone’s aware; there’s a class pool party is this Saturday; first day of spring break, baby!” The class cheered. “Everyone who’s invited should’ve gotten their invitation. Don’t want any drama,” She cast a cold look to the two girls at the back of the class. “Invite only. So no party crashers. Marinette, Chloe what are you doing this Saturday?” Alya smirked at her call out that the two girls weren’t invited; that they were the only ones who weren’t.

           As if on cue, the classroom’s door burst opened and in walked Tony Stark, followed by a very apologetic looking Pepper, “Marinette; it’s time to go! Grab Pepper’s minion and let’s go.”

           There were gasps from the class. Max sat up straight. Iron Man was in front of him, in his class, this was the best day of his life.

           Marinette just sighed, “Did you kick the door open, Tony?” Disapproval clear in her voice.

“…No?”

“I can’t go now!” Marinette explained. “I have class. We weren’t supposed to leave until Friday, remember.”

           Tony waved her off, “Details. Spring Break starts now. Queenie, Mari; chop-chop! New York is waiting!”

           Bustier decided to step in. She may not always be the best teacher but she refused to allow a strange man, even if that man was Tony Stark, to take away any of her students. “Mr. Stark, can I ask what you want Marinette and Chloe for?”

           Thankfully, it was Pepper that answered as she closed back the classroom door, “They have been employed as interns for Stark Industries. They’ll be attending orientation during their spring break at Stark Tower.”

Max actually fell out of his seat. Because this couldn’t be happening. Stark industries rarely ever took high schoolers’ as interns. Tony Stark only chose the best of the best. How could Marinette land the job?

“Marinette’s my intern,” Tony grinned. “Blondie’s Pepper’s. Who else is gonna teach her how to rule the world.”

           A slow smile spread across Chloe’s face, “With an iron fist.”

           Tony pointed at her, “You scare me. Pepper get your intern!”

           The other students were amazed. Marinette was Tony Stark’s intern. Chloe somehow got Pepper Pott's attention. What had they missed? Why didn’t Marinette tell them? How?

“That’s what we’ll be doing this Saturday, Alya,” Chloe drawled. “In New York, hanging with the Avengers.” Causing Alya to flush with anger. “We couldn’t come to your pool party even if we wanted to. Which we don’t.”

“He found my sketch of a potential Iron man suit design,” Marinette explained, continuing the story Tony had told her parents. “He loved it and offered me the job a few weeks ago.”

“Weeks?” Nino asked. “And you didn’t tell us? Dudette, not cool.”

           Alix nodded, her arms crossed, “Yeah I thought we were friends!”

           Marinette and Chloe just looked at them like they were stupid.

           Alya put her hands on her hips, “Mr. Stark, why didn’t you ask Lila Rossi to be your intern? She helped you with your suit before. She’d be much better than Marinette!”

           The girl in question face turned bright red, “This can’t be happening.” Lila muttered.

           Tony looked honestly confused, “Lila? Who’s Lila? No one ever helped me with my suit except the kids I already got as interns.” He looked at Pepper. “Do I know a Lila Rossi?”

           Pepper shook her head, and turned fierce eyes towards Lila, “Miss Rossi, please refrain from lying about Tony Stark and or Stark Industries. Or we will sue you on the grounds of defamation.”

           Lila squeaked. Sue? She couldn’t be sued. Her mother would kill her if she got a lawsuit from Tony Stark.

           It was the rest of the class’s turn to look confused.

           However, before anyone could ask any follow-up questions, the classroom door burst opened again. Jagged Stone strutted in, followed by a very apologetic look Penny and happy Fang with, what looked to be, the arm of a leather jacket.

“Marinette!” Jagged yelled. “What’s this about you not coming on tour? I need my favorite stylist, love.

Marinette just sighed, “Did you kick the door open, Jagged?” Disapproval clear in her voice.

“…No?”

           The bluenette just shook her head, “I have plans this Spring break. I’m sorry.”

“Plans?” Jagged whined. “What could be better spending your Spring Break with a Rock Star? You can even bring your Blonde. Penny could use an assistant!” He paused, finally noticing it wasn’t just kids. “The bloody hell is Tony Stark doing here?”

           The two famous men eyed each other. The women they came with just looked so done with the world.

           Tony crossed his arms, “I got custody of Marinette for Spring Break; you snooze, you lose.”

“What?!” Jagged hissed. “She’s my designer.”

“She’s my intern!”

           Jagged glared, “I knew her first. By rights, I get custody.”

“I have a contract that says otherwise!” Tony taunted the Rock Star. “Her future is Stark Industries.”

“Her future is Rock and Roll!” Jagged yelled back.

           Both men glared at each other.

“Pepper!”

“Penny!”

           Both women groaned. How was this their lives? Why what was this their lives? What bus full of nuns and orphans did they rob in a past life?

           Penny smiled, “Marinette means the world to us. I’m her honorary Aunt Penny,” She held out her hand for Pepper. “Jagged’s her honorary Uncle. We’ve known her for years. Contracts were already signed?”

           Pepper nodded, “Tony doesn’t play when it comes to his interns. He won’t budge. Trust me; we’ve done this three other times. Marinette’s his kid now, all but legally.” For now, Pepper didn’t bother to add. Every now and then she found discovered a new set of adoption papers with one of the interns’ names on it; one time she found three sets for all three. Plus if Tony kept hinting any harder, May was going to gut him.  “She’ll be in New York for Spring break and all of the summer.”

“Summer!” Jagged whined. “He gets custody for summer too! No!” he shook his head. “Not happening. Call our lawyers, Penny. We’re going to family court!”

           Tony blew him a raspberry. Tony Stark blew Jagged Stone a raspberry. The class could only blink, trying to process what was happening.

           Marinette just wanted the earth to open up and swallow her.

“Marinette already designed your clothes for the tour,” Penny tried to placate. “They’re amazing. We can call and skype if we need any additional tips. We have a concert in New York over spring break so we can go and see.” They didn’t. But Penny would be damned if she could have one booked within the hour. Anything to stop jagged from mention family court again. “Most of our summer is free too, we can visit Marinette whenever we want.”

           Jagged huffed but didn’t say anything.

“Well not whenever you want,” Tony teased.

“Family court!” Jagged hissed.

“Tony!” Pepper said warningly. She was not going to let this going to court. No matter how lovely Marinette was. “Be nice.”

           Tony pouted.

           Marinette raised her hand, “You guys know that legally my parents still have custody of me, right?” There was no answer. “Right?!” Nothing.

           The bluenette just sighed.

           Alya took that moment to break in, “Jagged, don’t you want to say hi to Lila? She’s right here,” Alya pointed to her bestie. “Oh, can we listen to the songs you wrote for her? Can you tell us how she saved your cat from getting hit by a plane?”

           The look Lila gave Alya could’ve killed a thousand men.

           Jagged looked affronted, “Lila? Who’s Lila?” He looked at his fiancé. “Penny, do I know a Lila?”

“No!” Penny glared fiercely at Lila. “Jagged Stone has never written a song about an underage girl before. He has never owned a cat. What parents and airline would careless enough to allow a child to rush onto a runway for a pet? Refrain from spreading any further slander. Or we’ll hit you with a lawsuit so fast you’ll get whiplash.”

“I’m allergic to cats by the way,” Jagged told the class. “All fur actually. That’s why I got Fang here.” He pointed the crocodile who had made its way to Marinette for cuddles. “I’ve had him for twenty years. He’s the only pet I’ve had all that time.”

           Marinette rolled her eyes and took the crocodile in her lap.

“Twenty years?” Kim’s eyebrows furrowed. “Whoa, that’s long that we’ve been alive.”

           Nino glared at Lila, “Yeah it is.” He finally realized the girl was lying. Most of the class had in fact.

“Enough of this,” Tony waved. “Marinette, Chloe, time to go. Leave the dinosaur.”

           Bustier took a deep breath, “No one is taking Marinette or Chloe anywhere. Until I get a note from their parents verifying that is. I’m going to have to ask you all to leave.”

           Penny and Pepper nodded understandingly. Jagged and Tony just looked shocked.

“But I’m Tony Stark!”

“I’m Jagged Stone, love!”

           Bustier just rolled her eyes and shooed them out of her class. It took some handling, and eventually, the women had to drag the guys out. The teacher shut the door with a sigh of relief. She brushed off the imaginary dirt on her clothes. “Marinette,” She called. “If you could tell any future visitors to wait until after school to pick you up, with a note from your parents that would be most helpful.”

“Sorry,” Marinette blushed, a deep dark red.

           Bustier walked back to her desk before pausing. “Is that Crocodile still in my class, Marinette?”

“…Yes.”

“I think he’s here for the rest of the day,” Chloe shrugged. “Unless you want to invite Jagged back?”

           Bustier paused. No. Never again. “No. No. Fang can stay for the day.”

           When the lunch bell rang, Marinette found that it was easier to avoid her classmates' questions, as they were too busy yelling at Lila. It wasn’t long after that Ladybug had to take down Lila’s seventh akuma form.

           Marinette and Chloe left that night to New York. Somehow he managed to convince their parents that missing three days of school to study in the most advanced building in the world was a good thing.

           When they got to Stark Tower, they were given a quick tour. Then Pepper took Chloe to show her where she would be working. And Tony took Marinette the workshop where three other kids were already working.

           The oldest one glanced at her and snorted, “God he kidnapped another one.” He was the tallest in the room with dark brown hair and a smirk on his face.

           The other two snickered.

           Tony looked affronted, “Oh please; your parental units practically threw you at me.

The younger looking boy smirked, “Aunt May threatened to shank you next time you took me out of school early.” He had light brown hair and big brown eyes

           The genius pointed, “You tell Aunt Hottie to leave me alone.”

“HI, I’m Marinette!” She waved happily. “He keeps mentioning he has custody. And I’ve become moderately concerned.”

“And you should be,” The other girl in the room laughed. She was a pretty brown-skinned girl with black wild curls. “Name’s Riri.”

“Harley,” Said the first boy who spoke.

“Peter,” The other boy introduced.

           Marinette nodded and eyes them, “WarIron,” The pointed at Harley. “Iron Heart,” Then at Riri. “Spiderman, right?” She pointed at Peter.

           The three looked at Tony with questions in their eyes. Tony raised in hands in surrender, “Hey, I told her nothing.”

           Harley eyed the new girl, “You’re from Paris, right?” She nodded. “Ladybug, I’m guessing.”  Marinette blushed. “Welcome to the Young Avengers, I guess. Why’d he bring you in?”

           Marinette shrugged, “He said to there was a personal problem happening with the Avengers. He wanted my help.”

           The teen froze. Peter just shook his head, “You didn’t, Tony!”

Tony looked sheepish.

“What?” Marinette asked.

           Riri rolled her eyes, “That personal problem? It’s called ManHunt.”

“I’m sorry?” Marinette asked. She was going to have to hunt a man?

“It’s a game,” Harley explained. “Team Iron Man versus team Cap. One team hunts the other in a sort of hide and seek type of thing and tries to capture as many members as they can. Last time we played it, Team Cap crushed Team Iron man. It’s why Tony brought us all in. Revenge.”

           Said Man didn’t look one bit ashamed, “Rules were since Thor and the Big guy are gone I can bring in whoever I want to replace them.”

           Marinette tossed up her hands, “You brought me here to play a game?” Unbelievable.

“No,” Tony said. “I brought you here to take out the Winter Soldier.”

“Say what now?”

“Welcome to orientation,” Was All Tony said to her question.

           The kids trained together for a week; Chloe, a girl named MJ who was Pepper’s other interns, and a boy named Ned who was a tech intern, were brought in as well. When it turned out that Kagami was in New York City for a fencing tournament. Tony was happy to bring in the scary girl as well. (And somehow get her mother to agree to let her stay for Spring Break) He made practice stealth and learn hand signals. Tony drilled them on the Team Cap’s strengths and weaknesses. They reviewed videos of previous missions until they had everyone’s fighting style memorized. Tony went over body anatomy aka where the best place to hit them was. They memorized plans and scenarios to take out each specific member of Team Cap.

           The teens spent a lot of time in the lab creating gadgets to use against the Avengers. Each one straight out of a spy movie.

           As far as Tony was concerned this was War. And there would be no prisoners.

Team Cap consisted of Captain America, The Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, The Falcon, Antman, along with several Shield employees which included Fury, Melinda May, and Coulson.

           Team Iron man consisted of Ironman, War Machine, Vision, Maria Hill, The Wasp, Quicksilver, Daisy Johnson, and a bunch of names Stark employees: I.E the interns. (Black Panther refused to participate. Though he and sister would watch from Wakanda.)

           Each team had a total of thirty players; no more, no less.

           The game would take place at the compound. Anything area within the compound legal territory was free to use. The living room would be home base and were all ‘out’ people had to stay. Until they were freed. Or until every member of the hiding team was captured and then it was Game Over. Everyone could communicate with their own team using special mics; normally only taken out for missions. However, those imprisoned in the home base couldn’t communicate with their team.

           On Saturday, just before sunset; the main superheroes of the avengers met up. Tony facing Steve. Rhodey glaring at Bucky. Vision versus Wanda. Hawkeye to QuickSilver. The wasp against Ant-Man and the Falcon.

           Steve smiled, “Tony.”

“You ready for war, Cap?” Tony asked.

“Training exercise,” Steve corrected his husband. “I trust your team is ready.”

           Tony smirked, “Oh you have no idea. Your little spies are already hiding in the shadows.”

“Like your team isn’t?”

           The alarm went off.

           Tony suited up, “You have 1000 seconds, Steve.” His helmet shut. “I’d get running.”

           Steve rolled his eyes. His team split up, running into the growing shadows.

           The game had started.

           Marinette waited, hiding in the shadows on the roof. Her ladybug costume was all back with little red polka dots; mostly easy to move around body armor. This wasn’t her actually Ladybug suit; Tikki, while willing to create a new suit design, decided it wasn’t a good idea to involve magic. So Marinette designed herself a new suit, and Tony help her trick it out.

Tony had pointed out the all-good hiding spots located in the Compound. She was the overly large landing pad. She forced herself to stay completely still. Even when she saw the Falcon take flight with WarIron right on his tail.

           The smallest of moments caught on the corner of her eye, the glint of metal. An arrow, she realized. She smiled. Hawkeye.

           She watched the man take stock of the room, looking in every possible place a person could hide. Unfortunately for him, Marinette had a bit of luck on her side.

“All clear on the roof, Cap,” Clint said into his mic. “I’ll keep a lookout from up here.” There was silence as he listened to Cap’s orders. “Okay. Will do. Stay invisible, got it. Over and out.”

           The second the conversation had ended, Marinette through a smoke bomb at his feet. Before Clint could even finish saying, “What the he-” Marinette was on the attack. Using the smoke to her advantage, she swung her yo-yo at Hawkeye’s feet. The String wrapped around his legs, tripping him. Five seconds later, Hawkeye was hogtied on the ground.

Marinette touched her mic, “Tweety Bird down. Bringing him to home base now!”

“Copy that, Ladybug,” Tony said. “Be careful.”

           Clint looked up at his assailant; expecting to see Tony or the Wasp, any avenger. Instead what he saw, was a teen girl with a scary blue-eyed glare on his face, “Who are you?”

           Marinette leaned down, “Your reckoning.” She hissed.

“What the fuck!” He said as he was thrown over the girl’s shoulder and carried to home base.

           When Marinette got to home base, she saw Harley putting a rather put out Falcon on the ground, Spiderman with five webbed up shield agents, Chloe had brought in two, Kagami and Riri brought in six. MJ and Ned both brought in one random shield agent. Marinette tossed Hawkeye on the couch.

           It had been twenty minutes, Clint knew by the clock on the wall. Twenty minutes since sunset and the game had started. And they had already lost just over half their team to a bunch of teenagers.

Clint couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had Tony unleashed on them.

“Foghorn Leghorn secure,” Harley said into his mic. “Tweety in his cage. The shadows are all accounted for.”

“I’m Tweety,” Clint told Sam.

           Sam paused. “…Am I Foghorn Leghorn?”

“Wasp and Vision on their way with The Blue Fairy,” Tony’s voice rang their ears. “They’ll play guard dog. QuickSilver is down; Miss Tuffit got him. Seven minions gone; Captain Hook and his jolly crew got them. Over and out.”

“Queen Bee, MJ, guard the Home base until they get here,” Harley ordered. “Guy in the chair, Mj, back on monitor duty. Fulfill mission Top hat ASAP.” They nodded and left the room.

           Top hat was important. The two were trying to hack into Team Cap’s communications, once they did; it was game over.

“The rest of you complete the assignment,” He told them.

           Then all split up again. Vision and Wasp arrived with Scarlet witch just as they were leaving. All three avengers gave the kids confused looks as they left.

           It would take Marinette another hour before she came across another member of Team Cap. And she didn’t so much as come across, as she did respond to Peter’s cry for help.

“Captain Sparkles!” Peter yelled in their earpiece. “Training yard. I’m trying to hold hi-No I won’t give you back your shield! Hurry! Over!”

“I’m around the corner,” Marinette hissed into the mic as she ran for the yard. When she arrived it was just in time to catch the shield that was flying at her face.

           She held the shield tightly in her hand, feeling like Wonder Woman, as she stared down Captain America.

           Steve looked at the young girl who had joined the fight, “My shield, miss?” He was aware that Spiderman had landed behind him.

           Marinette smiled sweet. Then she launched the shield at him with such brute force, he was lifted off his feet. “The Name’s Ladybug.”

Steve didn’t catch the shield in time and it bounced back to Spiderman.

           Captain America glared at the two teenagers.

           Then the fight was on.

           Spiderman hits Steve with his shield, distracting him. The shield falling to the ground. Ladybug barges Captain America backwards. Steve shoulders her to the floor. Marinette lands on the ground; pain flaring across her shoulder. Spiderman punches Steve who just lifts him and slams him against the ground. Spiderman raises a fist but Steve twists it. A web shoots out of his hand, the sound of a small explosion fills the training yard.

           Marinette takes the distraction to trip Captain America and jump up. As Steve falls to the ground, Marinette uses the electro-shooters that Riri made and shocks the dear life out of him. It wasn’t enough to bring him down but then Peter added in his own shocking web-shooters.

           Yet Steve still looked ready for another round of their fight. Marinette quickly picked up the shield and slammed it across his head. Steve Rogers fell forward in a slump.

           Spiderman webbed up with quick-drying cement.

           Both teens breathed heavily; struggling to catch their breath, tense from the fight. Marinette could even find it in herself to unclench the shield.

“Captain Sparkles is down, over,” Marinette said into the Mic.

“We’re bringing him in, over,” Spiderman added.

           There was a moment of silence.

“…What the fuck?” They heard War Machine say.

           When Marinette walked in with the shield in one hand and helping Spiderman carry Cap with the other, the avengers present quietly lost their shit. Kagami nodded, where she stood over Fury who looked more pissed than ever before in his entire life. Chloe stood over Coulson, who just looked put out. MJ and Ned looked overly pleased. Their mission had been a success but it only lasted long enough to get Fury and Coulson. After that, Team Cap was smart enough to ditch the communications, figuring something was up.

“Who’s left?” Spiderman asked in the Mic. “Over.”

“Stoneheart,” Kagami answered bitterly, referring to Melinda May, into the Mic so the team could hear them. “She took out Daisy and got away. Hill is after her now.”

“Jon Snow and Miss Tuffit,” Chloe said referring to the Winter Soldier and Black Widow. “Iron Man and WarIron are after Small fry. War Machine has eyes on Miss Tuffet.”

“I’m closing in on Miss Tuffit, over.” War Machine said.

           Marinette looked at her team, pressing on her mic, “Guy in Chair, Mj, I want you on Stoneheart’s tail. Spiderman go be back up for the War Machine. Iron Heart, meet me on the Location 12. Over.”

“What are you going to do, over?” Harley asked.

           Marinette clenched the shield in her hands, “I’m going to go tell Jon Snow that Winter Is Over. Queen and Dragon with me. Over.”

           The battle with the Winter Soldier was epic. The showdown happened in the gym. It turned out they weren’t hunting for the Winter Soldier, the Winter soldier was hunting for them. The second they walked into the gym, the doors closed behind them.

           Bucky jumped down from the rafters. He stared at the girls. He had seen them fight. None of them fought with any ounce mercy but plenty of skill. But they were clearly just kids. Just Dames in over their heads. He’d go easy on them. “Shall we, Ladies?”

           Ladybug, Queen Bee, Iron Heart, and Dragon shared a look before giggling.

           The Winter Soldier only just barely stood a chance.

           The girls laid Bucky gently on the floor on home base. He grunted and glared at them.

           A few minutes later, Tony and Rhodey walked in with the Black Widow. The last of Team Cap.

           Tony smirked, “Game over.”

           Rhodey shook his head, “Record time; two hours and four-two minutes. Beats the last one by about seven hours and sixteen minutes.”

           Then they debriefed. Video of the fights and footage was seemed was shown so everyone could see where they could improve. The image of tiny Ladybug clocking Captain America in their head with his own shield was rewinded and watched seven times.

           Tony fell over laughing, “I’m putting on Youtube!”

“I will divorce you!” Steve snapped but couldn’t fight the smile on his face.

           Once The random agents of shield and Stark industries left, Steve glared at Tony. His team had gotten demolished. In record time. “You brought in outside heroes, that’s not fair.”

“No,” Tony laughed. “I brought employees of Stark Industries as agreed upon. Everyone meet WarIron,” Harley lowered his helmet. “Iron Heart,” Riri lowered his, “You know Spiderman already,” Peter took of his mask and waved. “MJ, and Ned” Both teens nodded. “Ladybug,” Marinette took off her mask. “Queen Bee,” Chloe glared as she removed hers. “Dragon!” Kagami took off her black mask. “The interns. Otherwise known as the Young Avengers.”

“Oh, fuck you too Stark,” Clint complained. “Did you see what they did to poor Bucky. He’s the deadliest assassin in history, and I felt they went a little rough.”

           Bucky nodded with a wince, “Can I have my arm back.”

           Steve looked at the bluenette still holding his shield, with a charming smile.

Kagami glared. She held the metal arm like trophy. “Spoils of War.”

           Marinette giggled.

           Being a intern was going to be fun.    

[slyttherins]

Remus' secret crush | Wolfstar (part 1)

Summary: Remus had a secret crush on Sirius. Lily figures it out during a quidditch match

Pairing: Sirius x Remus

Word count: 1037

-

Lily's cheers next to him pulled Remus out of his staring bubble. ''Did you see that?! It was an amazing goal.''

He whipped his head around, tearing his eyes away from his target on the other end of the quidditch field, and paused before shaking his head sheepishly. ''Erm, no. I didn't see that. Sorry...''

The redhead frowned. ''Where were you looking at? I thought you were here to cheer for your friends.''

''I am,'' Remus insisted. ''It's just early, I guess my brain hasn't fully woken up yet.'' He covered his lie with a chuckle. It was a bad excuse, but he didn't dwell on it and Lily seemed to have bought it.

She followed the players with her eyes, smiling as James flew close to their seats. ''Practices are always early on Sundays. You should've gone to bed earlier last night instead of reading.''

''I wasn't reading late,'' Remus tried to defend, but Lily was back to bragging about James' quidditch skills.

''James has gotten so good over the summer. I mean, he was already good, but now he's...faster and sharper in his movements. If he keep this up, Gryffindor's gonna win the championship this year.''

''If you say so.''

Although he had been watching quidditch matches since first year, Remus still didn't know much about the sport. He knew the bases and that was it. Lily had tried to explain everything to him during practices - more than once -, but Remus couldn't be bothered. The sight before him was much more interesting than learning the rules of quidditch. Sorry, Lily.

''The first match is on Friday.''

''Against Hufflepuff, if it?'' Remus added, trying to show interest.

Lily nodded. She then went on to say something else, but Remus shut her out as he watched Sirius high in the air, running a hand through his thick hair and gathering it together to wrap it with some hair tie he had on his wrist for this exact purpose. He bit his lip but released it almost immediately, remembering that wasn't alone.

Watching those practices was getting more difficult.

''Have you finished the homework Professor Binns gave us?'' Lily asked, tearing him from his staring - once again. Remus needed to pay more attention to her or else he'll get caught.

''No. I worked on the two parchemin rolls for Defense Against the Dark Arts and fell asleep before I could get to it,'' Remus explained. ''We could do it together at the library?''

Lily nodded. ''I'm kinda struggling with the Goblin Rebellion... Could you help me?''

''Sure. We could go after practice? It shouldn't be too full on a Saturday morning.''

.

The autumn weather was chilly in the stands. Soon, Remus won't be able to get away with layering sweaters and will have to wear his bulky - and ugly - coat to quidditch matches. Beside him, Lily was better bundled up and had on her full Gryffindor supportive attire.

So far, Ravenclaw was winning - but not by much. There was still a possibility to turn the tables.

Lily was watching avidely the action in the air while also keeping up with James, on the edge of her seat each time the chaser had the quaffle in his hands. He would've scored a goal if one of the Ravenclaw hadn't blocked his view and caused him to hit the edge of the ring.

''James has the quaffle!'' Lily said, taking Remus' arm and squeezing it like you'd do to a stress ball.

Remus' head snapped in his friend's direction, watching as James threw the quaffle into the hoop and scored. Lily - along with the rest of the Gryffindors supporters - cheered loudly. She jumped up and clapped excitedly. Only ten points separating them from Ravenclaw, now.

Through their cheers, everyone seemed to have forgot about the bludgers because one was coming in Sirius' way and Remus wanted to scream at him to turn around, but there was no way he'd hear him from the stands. Remus' heart was beating fast in his chest, afraid Sirius was going to get hit by the bludger. Luckily, the raven haired beater seen it coming in his peripheral vision and swung it away with his bat far in the air.

Thank Merlin.

Something fluttered in Remus' gut and he bit his bottom lip. That was the hottest thing he'd ever seen during a quidditch match. Who knew you could get turned on from someone hitting a bloody bludger?

Beside him, Lily stopped her cheering, jaw dropping. ''Oh my god. It's Sirius. That's why you're never paying attention to matches or practices. You fancy him!''

Panic flashed through Remus, no longer turned on. Oh no.

''What?! I do not,'' he denied, not wanting to have this conversation in the stands. If they had been somewhere quiet, maybe he would've come clean to her about Sirius, but not when they were surrounded by hundreds of students.''Did someone spike your pumpkin juice this morning, Evans? You're seeing odd things today.''

Lily gave her friend a stern look as she sat down, the match continuing before them. ''Quit trying to deny it, Remus Lupin. I saw you staring at him. Or, should I say: I saw you ogling him across the quidditch field.''

Remus turned away, trying to hide the blush on his face. ''I wasn't ogling him...''

''You know, it makes sense now that I know. I should've seen it coming.''

''You say it like we're a...thing. We're not. Sirius is straighter than ruler. Have you seen him making out with Marlene at parties? I sure did.''

Remus tried to hide his disgust - more like jealousy -, but he was doing a poor job.

''They might be kissing during parties, but she isn't at his quidditch match,'' Lily pointed out.

Remus looked around and Lily was right, she was in fact not there. ''Maybe she had something else to do. It doesn't mean anything.''

''Something more important than support her boyfriend?'' Lily said, raising an eyebrow. ''Even you, who don't care about quidditch, still comes to all his matches and practices. I love Marlene, but she would never wake up early on Saturday to watch a quidditch practice.''

[crownjimin]

✰ 099 | no takesies backsies

la vie en rose ━ in which lee aera, a girl who has been crushing on choi soobin for a long, long time, is starting her junior year and her friends decide that its time for her to make her move.

( masterlist | prev | next )

A/N: whoop! one more update + the epilogue and we’re donezo!!

“I can’t believe it’s really red—,” He flipped and shuffled his hands through her hair as he said this.

“So bright, so pretty,” Soobin muttered to himself, going as far as to bend down and push his nose into her scalp, taking a long, dramatic sniff. “Oh, it doesn’t smell like strawberries.”

Aera laughed at this, shoving her not-boyfriend away from her softly. “Of course not. That’s like me saying your hair should smell like chocolates.”

Soobin had recently dyed his hair back to brown--well, dark brown, and as much as it made Aera sad to see the purple gone from his hair, it was well past due. His roots had grown out terribly, meaning that he was either going to have to redo his roots or retreat back to his natural brown. Also, the purple was less purple and more of a faded ash gray, from all the washing Soobin did to his hair.

For a while, he was set on just letting his hair grow out, then cutting it at the brown once the ash gray was to the tips of his hair but Aera told him he would look crazy. They debated about it for a few days, but one day Aera showed up at his house with a kit with brown hair dye and a few hours later his chocolate brown locks were back. 

“Well, if you used strawberry shampoo it would smell like strawberries.”

“I will when you use chocolate shampoo.”

Soobin pouted. “I bet Ariel’s hair smells like strawberries.”

“Go sniff her head then,” the red-head quipped. “And I actually highly doubt that is true. She lives in the ocean, you know. The place where fish pee--that ocean.”

“Is there another ocean that I should be thinking of?”

“Yeah,” There was a teasing lilt in Aera’s voice. “The one I’m going to toss you in if you keep sassing me.”

The two were currently sitting in Soobin’s living room on Saturday morning, Soobin having asked Aera on Friday night if she wanted to spend the next day with him. Of course, without hesitation, Aera agreed, telling him that she would be there by ten, and now they were there.

Soobin had suggested watching YouTube in his living room until his mom got home from the gym, and Aera found no issue with the idea. During the past hour and a half, they had watched way too many Girls’ Generation music videos, and even attempted to learn the choreography to Catch Me If You Can. After forty minutes of them attempting to get past the first verse, they called it quits. Soobin claimed that he was too talented in girl group choreography to continue and further embarrass Aera with her lackluster movements.

But if you asked Aera, Soobin just didn’t want to have a dance battle, because he knew he was going to lose.

At noon, Ruha walked through the front door, her arms loaded with three market bags, filled to the brim with groceries.

“Soobin-ah,” Ruha yelled, a little too loud since she hadn’t realized he was right there in the living room. “Come help me with my bags!”

Both Soobin and Aera rushed to help Ruha, the older woman being slightly startled by Aera being there but she quickly perked up and said, “Oh good, Ae Ae is here. More hands to help!”

Everything felt so natural with Soobin and his family. Aera had spent a lot of time at his house since the picnic, and his parents seemed to love her. Soobin’s dad was obsessed when he saw how small Aera was, often leaning his elbow on her head whenever he stood beside her as a way to ridicule and tease her about her height. Then when she turned up with red hair, he almost had a better reaction than Soobin, dubbing her Strawberry Shortcake and hasn’t stopped calling her that since.

Aera had also gotten Soobin’s parents’ phone numbers, Ruha often texting Aera at random times throughout the day whenever Soobin talked about her.

ruha-ssi

he said you brought him lunch to school today. says that he loves how much you care about him

i’m sure he cares about me way more than i do him

ruha-ssi 

does he show it well?

that he cares for you.

wouldnt ask for him to treat me any better than he already

does ruha-ssi.

Or the time Ruha told her that Soobin was sleep talking and had muttered her name.

ruha-ssi

he’s napping.

[picture attached]

ruha-ssi

he just grumbled your name and had the biggest smile

aw that’s so cute

ruha-ssi

i know :)))

Soobin was aware that Aera had his mother’s number, but he didn’t know that his mother was revealing just how lovestruck he was. Aera didn’t plan on mentioning it to him either, thinking that Ruha is godsent for giving her so much dirt and content to tease Soobin with whenever he decided to get too sassy with her.

Plus, Soobin has had Dongmin’s phone number much longer than Aera has had Ruha’s, and she is one-thousand percent positive that her mother lived to embarrass her, so Soobin for sure had some dirt on her.

 It’s a win-win situation, all is fair in love and war.

“So, Soobin-ah,” Ruha spoke as she walked into the kitchen. “What time do you want to head out?”

Aera was busy placing things where they belonged from the market bags (yes, she knows where their groceries belonged—she’s been over there that much), but she raised an eyebrow at Ruha’s question.

“Head out where?” she asked.

“Soobin wanted to take you to an early dinner today,” Ruha paused, with a nervous expression on her face. “I-I don’t know if it was supposed to be a surprise or not-”

“No, mom, it’s fine,” Soobin waved it off. “It wasn’t really a surprise, I was gonna mention it to you later, Pouts.”

Aera walked out of the pantry, an excited glint in her eyes. “Will there be steak at this dinner?”

“Do you want there to be steak?”

“Yes.”

“Then there will be steak.”

━━━━━━━

The restaurant Soobin had chosen was very dark, Aera noted. The only light that was supplied was from a single candle lit in the center of the table, which left everything as shadows and tinted orange.

It seemed super expensive, and once Aera picked up the menu, her suspicions were confirmed.

“Soobi,” her voice seemed hesitant. “How are you affording any of this?”

She should’ve realized that the meal was going to be an expensive one when Ruha had offered Aera one of her old dresses, seeing as Aera had came over to their house in a pair of ripped jeans and a tattered t-shirt. The dress Ruha lent her was a dark blue, high-necked dress, where the waist tapered in and then flowed out to mid-thigh. Luckily, Aera had worn black flats that day, those being the shoes closest to her front door when she left for Soobin’s house.

Soobin was dressed in a simple button up and black slacks. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and the top button of his shirt was undone—if Aera hadn’t known better, she would’ve thought Soobin was a young adult that worked a nine-to-five office job and not a sixteen year old boy taking his not-girlfriend out for an early dinner.

Everything was fancy, and the two of them were tucked into a corner booth where once they sat down the hostess had wished ‘Mister and Missus Choi’ a nice evening. 

“Months of allowance that I��ve saved up,” Soobin lifted his gaze from the menu and once he saw how worried Aera was, he rushed to reassure her. “Plus, I work a summer job! Don’t worry, Pouts, I promise it’s not too much.”

“You don’t have to spend your allowance on me, Soobi,” she spoke softly. “You should spend it on something you really want-something to make you happy.”

“Seeing you happy makes me happy.”

Aera blushed. “Don’t try to flatter me into running your pockets dry.”

“Ae Ae, seriously,” Soobin put down his menu and reached his hands across the table to touch her hands, which laid on the table. He tugged her index fingers once, attempting to soothe her and get her to not worry. “It’s fine. If it makes you feel better we can just split something, so that way I won’t have to spend much.”

The crease in her eyebrows gradually faded and she nodded in agreement. “Are you okay with splitting a steak?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded. “Just order whatever, I’ll eat anything.”

Aera looked over the menu, her eyes skipping over the more expensive items but honestly the cheapest things were the hor d'oeuvres and even those weren’t cheaper than 74,000 won. 

“How about I choose one, you choose one, then we pick something together?” she suggested. “That way we can both enjoy something.”

By the time the waiter came to the table, they had decided on their personal picks and their combined choice, and once the food came to the table, Aera knew it was more than enough. The steak she had chosen ended up being as big as her face and had the both of them gasping in surprise once it was set on the table. Soobin decided on a rose pasta, in a dish large enough that it could feed a family of five. And their combined choice was a large platter of American-style french fries, but the way the menu phrased it made it seem like they were ordering a fancy potato.

Soobin offered to have the kitchen take it back, but Aera refused to give back french fries--she’d be crazy to ever turn down french fries (plus it came with a gravy boat filled with a white sauce that Aera could literally guzzle down in one go, so she was more than happy to keep it).

The moment the waiter told them to enjoy, Aera was shoving her fork into the steak, which was thankfully pre-cut, and the second she bit into it, juice ran down her chin and she had to squeeze every muscle in her throat to not let out a moan.

Soobin noticed her expression, the way her eyes fell close and she paused mid-bite. “Is it good, Pouts?”

“Tho goof,” she attempted to speak around her bite but she just gave up and nodded enthusiastically. 

“It’s so juicy,” she said once she swallowed. 

When they were ordering, she wanted to get the steak cooked well-done, but Soobin had told her to get it medium preaching something about it being more tender and juicer as if he knew everything and anything about steak. Aera argued and said she didn’t want to cut into her steak and hear it mooing back at her, and Soobin chuckled but promised if it was too raw for her when it came out, they could just send it back and she obliged.

She most definitely was not sending back this beautiful piece of heaven, and shoved another piece into her mouth. The scene from Ratatouille when the rat fused together strawberry and cheese and had color swirling around his head played inside Aera’s head the second she took another bite of the steak. Her eyes were closed, her head lolled from side to side as she swayed euphorically to the warmth of the steak and the flavor on her tongue.

Once she noticed what she was doing, she sat up stark straight and opened her eyes, watching as Soobin recorded her and laughed silently at her actions.

“You seemed to be enjoying yourself alot there,” Soobin ended the recording and set his phone on the table.

“Delete that.”

“I won’t. Here,” Soobin held out his fork where some of his pasta was twirled on the end. “Try it.”

Aera opened her mouth, letting him guide the fork inside and once she closed her mouth around the fork, the Ratatouille scene played again. She pulled away from the fork, her hand shooting over her mouth as she chewed and her eyes shot wide.

“Good?” Soobin asked, stabbing his fork in a piece of steak and eating it, much less dramatically than Aera had. 

“Is amayshin,” Aera muttered. “Why ish ev-wee-shing hwere sho amayshin?”

Soobin swallowed and laughed. “It better be with these ridiculous prices.”

“Oh, yeah,” she nodded and swallowed her bite. “It’s so worth it.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I’m glad I like you,” Aera giggled, shoving some fries into her mouth. “You buy me expensive steak.”

“Only because of the steak?”

She nonchalantly shrugged. “Pretty much.”

Soobin faked a scoff, halfway knowing she was joking, but once he watched her pick up another piece of steak, and then kiss it before she ate it, he wasn’t so sure if she was joking anymore.

━━━━━━━━━

Thirty-five minutes and an entire steak later, Aera and Soobin were slouched over, bellies full, with their plates cleared.

“I am going to sleep so well tonight,” Aera grumbled as she rubbed her stomach. “This was so amazing.”

The waiter came to give the receipt and return Soobin’s card, wishing ‘Mister and Missus Choi’ a good night, and left them to their vices. Aera chuckled at being called Missus Choi, because did she look old enough to be married?

Did married people dye their hair red? She didn’t know but did she look married? Did her and Soobin resemble a married couple? Oh god, that just fueled her fantasy of marrying Soobin and she knew that she would never let this go.

“Alright,” Soobin groaned, shoving the receipt and card into his pocket as he stood and rounded the table, reaching his hand out to help Aera up from her chair. “You okay?”

Aera blew out a breath. “I’m stuffed.”

They both stood in place, Aera swaying a bit from standing up too quickly and Soobin attempted to stabilize her by setting a hand on her waist. “Careful.”

“I’m fine,” she tapped his hand on her waist. “I’m okay, just stood up a little too fast. Let’s go.”

They walked out of the restaurant hand-in-hand, Soobin somewhat leading Aera as she momentarily closed her eyes as a way to wheeze out air around her full belly. This was the best meal she has had in entire life, one that she never imagined having unless she was filthy rich and drank gold for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but here Soobin was taking her on a date just because he wanted to see her happy.

When they made it outside, Aera tugged his hand, causing him to stop and turn to her. She eased her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder as she softly hugged him. He returned the gesture immediately, cuddling his head on top of hers and they just existed in the moment, in each other’s arms.

“Thank you for this, Soobin,” Aera squeezed him tightly, nuzzling her head further into his shoulder. “You made me really happy by doing this—you make me happy always.”

“I’m happy to make you happy,” Soobin chuckled, pulling away from the hug. “But the night isn’t over, we have one more stop!”

“Is  it far?”

Soobin nodded. “My mom is going to take us there. She’s on her way here now.”

“Where is it?”

“The beach.”

“The beach?”

Soobin nodded again. “The beach.”

“The beach,” Aera said flatly. “I like the beach.”

“That’s why we’re going.”

“Hm,” Aera sighed happily. “The beach.”

━━━━━━━━━━

Upon their arrival, Aera realized that when Soobin said the beach, he actually meant the boat dock by the beach. Well more like the yacht dock by the beach, because as they made their way to the end of the dock, they passed massive yachts, the type that only rich people could afford. Ones with balconies and two-stories that have some corny name etched onto the side that were either named after an important woman in their life or something like Old Betsy.

“What are we doing on a dock,” Aera giggled, swinging her and Soobin’s hands where they were connected. “I’m almost positive we aren’t supposed to be here.”

Soobin laughed as they came to stop in front of one of the smaller yachts, which wasn’t exactly small (but in comparison to the other yachts it was more compact), where a man was waiting for them.

“Choi Soobin?”

“Yes sir,” Soobin nodded, then gestured behind him. “And this is my mother, Ruha.”

The man extended his hand to Ruha, giving it a firm shake. “Yes, we spoke on the phone. Everything is set, if you guys want to climb on in, we’ll head out in about ten minutes.”

“Thank you,” Ruha said as the man helped her onto the yacht by her hand. 

The man then lent his hand to Aera, but instead of grabbing it, she took a step back, a conflicted look on her face.

“Wait,” Soobin placed his free hand on Aera’s wasit, causing her to look up at him. “You aren’t afraid of water, right? Boats or anything? Because I was just trying to surprise you, that’s why I didn’t as-”

“No, no,” Aera shook her head. “That’s not it, but Soobin how much was this?”

Soobin raised an eyebrow at the question, confused as to why she was asking this. “What?”

“It’s just—” she sighed. “You’re spending a lot of money today, and I don’t want you to think you have to blow a bunch of money just to make me happy. You could’ve just given me a bottle of water and I’d be happy that it came from you, so I don’t get why you are taking me to all these expensive places and things.”

“I just want to spoil you,” he softly replied. “Even if it’s just for a day. I want you to have some of the best experiences with me, so I don’t mind spending a lot of money on you.”

“But, Soob-”

“And plus,” Soobin smiled wide. “My friends chipped in to help, they wanted to make us both happy so they offered to help. You don’t have to pay them back, I don’t have to pay them back, they were just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Me as well.”

Aera stood there frozen.

“I just want you to be happy.”

“But I’m already happy with you.”

Soobin leaned down to rest his forehead on Aera’s. “Yes, but you’d be even more happy on the boat, so let’s go!”

Aera laughed as she reached out for the man’s hand, him having stood there and watched that whole sappy ordeal, and he pulled her into the boat. Soobin followed and guided Aera to the very front of the yacht, where Ruha sat with a blanket over her legs.

“Choi Soobin, this will be the last time you spend a shit ton of money on me, do you understand?” Aera scolded, her finger pointed at Soobin but a smile was on her face.

“Yes, ma’am, never again,” Soobin spoke jokingly, totally not meaning a word of what he just said. 

“You’re not going to listen to me are you?”

“Nope.”

The yacht got moving a few moments later, things feeling a bit shaky for a few minutes, but Aera acclimated to it quite fast. She and Soobin had taken to roleplaying the scene from Titanic that nearly everyone does when they are at the frontmost point on a boat.

Soobin held her waist as Aera held her arms out to her side, feeling the wind whip on her face and the smell of salt infiltrate her nose.

“The ocean is kind of stinky,” her nose scrunched up as she said this. “Smells like raw fish and high cholesterol.”

Soobin cackled, tightly wrapping his arms around Aera’s waist as he pulled her into his chest, her back to her front. “You ruined such a good moment.”

She giggled, placing her hands over his arms and squeezed. “I was just telling the truth.”

“Kids!” Ruha called out. “Come sit down for a few minutes, you’re making me nervous by the ledge.”

They obliged, walking to sit across from Ruha and they talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, playing a few rounds of rock paper scissors to pass the time.

“So are we just going to cruise around the ocean for a few hours or what?” Aera asked, peering over the side of the boat to look down into the water. “Because no offense to the ocean or anything, but this is a bit boring.”

Soobin pulled out his phone, checking the time before he answered, “Actually, no. Just seven minutes until what we came here for happens.”

Aera looked intrigued now, “Oh, is it fireworks? Are we looking at fireworks?”

“I don’t think lighting explosives on a yacht would be smart.”

“A yacht,” Aera chuckled. “Never thought I’d see one of these in my entire lifetime.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

“I’m glad my first time was with you,” she softly spoke, her voice almost a whisper.

“Me too,” Soobin smiled. “We’ll have many firsts together, hopefully.”

“Hopefully.”

At the moment, they were sitting side-by-side with their waist turned to face one another, but Soobin pointed behind Aera as he muttered, “Look.”

Aera turned her body around, to face the ocean, a gasp leaving her mouth as she absorbed the breathtaking scene in front of her. She watched as the sun burned a hypnotizing orange and pink hue, reflecting on the ocean’s surface. Slowly, the orb lowered to meet the horizon line, kissing it softly as the glares glittered across the rippling water.

She had seen nothing like this, ever. Mother nature and the Earth’s natural occurrences never appealed to Aera, they were never something she found interesting or attention-catching, but this—this was so worth it.

Her awestruck trance was broken when Soobin rested his chin on her shoulder, whispering, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It’s-I-” Aera searched for the right words but there were none that could accurately describe exactly what she was witnessing. It made her speechless, her jaw going slack as she once again watched the sun move lower and lower.

They sat in silence, taking in the scenic view before them. Ruha sat opposite of them, snapping pictures of the sunset as she oh’ed and aw’ed at the scene.

“Pouts,” Soobin muttered into her ear, keeping his voice low so as to not ruin the moment. “I, uh-”

“Hm, Soobi?”

“Please, be my girlfriend.”

All of Aera’s breath left her body, all of her blood seemed to run cold. Was she hallucinating? Was she hearing things?

“Huh-” Oh god, she sounded so stupid. Who responds to the boy of their dreams asking them to be their girlfriend with ‘huh’.

“I-” Soobin sat up straighter, Aera being able to feel so behind her. “I really like you-no, love you, and I want to be with you. Officially. For a very long time.”

Aera eased her way around, turning to face Soobin who looked like he was going to pass out any second if she didn’t give him an answer within the next millisecond. So she carefully raised her hands to his cheeks, cupping his face softly.

“I’d love to be your girlfriend, Choi Soobin,” she breathed. “I’d kind of be an asshole if I said no after all of this, am I right?”

Soobin held onto her wrists. “I hope that isn’t the sole reason you are saying yes.”

“Lucky for you, it is not. It’s probably one of the lower list reasons.”

“There’s a list?”

She giggled. “There has always been a list.”

The sound of her giggle seemed to have him smitten, his eyes zoning in on her lips which caused her heart to skip a beat. She wasn’t dumb, she knew what he was thinking of, what his eyes were asking for, and for some reason, she had no qualms about complying.

Her first kiss was always something Aera fretted about, thinking about how awful it was going to be, how she was going to mess everything up. But for some reason, right here, right now, with Soobin, she knew for a fact it was going to be amazing. This is maybe the first and only decision Aera didn’t hesitate to make, and so she leaned in.

The touch of their lips was soft. Simple. A measly, quick peck.

When they pulled back, both of their cheeks were colored rose, a look of fondness between the two of them and Aera leaned in to kiss the the corner of Soobin’s mouth before pulling away and dropping her hands from his face.

“No takesies backsies, Choi Soobin.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Lee Aera.”

[enbyprentiss]

Photography

Y/N meets Spencer in a park and asks to take his photo for a project:) Spencer x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff 1.3k words                                                                                                                             ——————————————————————

Every weekend I like to go out to the park by my apartment to people watch. That sounds creepier than it is- - I'm a photographer. Anyway, this Saturday morning was no different. I had already gotten some good photos, but as I continued to wander there was a man who caught my eye. He was sitting at one of the chess tables with a book open, he was tall and slender (with horrible posture), his hair was light brown and curly, he just seemed...approachable.

"Hi- -", he looked up at me and as soon as his eyes met mine a huge blush spread across my face, "Sorry, I- - didn't mean to um- - uh bother you, I just- -", my embarrassment grew the longer I fumbled my words, although he had a small smile on his face. I took a deep breath and shook my head lightly with a smile, "Let me start over. Hi, I'm Y/N. I'm a photographer and on the weekends I take photos of people in the park who peak my interest. So, I was wondering if I could take yours- - and you can totally say 'no', no pressure."

"Oh- - uh...yeah, ok."

"Ok- -", I paused as if asking for his name.

"Oh! Sorry, uh- - Spencer."

"Spencer, that's cute. I like that.", I giggled. He seemed to be at a loss for words because after a few seconds of opening and closing his mouth to no avail, he just flashed a tight lipped smile and nodded. Something about him was oddly charming.

The boy ran a hand over his face as if to cover the blush, "So, how do want me to um...pose?", he chuckled.

"Just act natural. Pretend I'm not here.", I shrugged and smiled.

I spent a few minutes taking photos of him, critiquing and guiding his positioning every now and then. His phone rang a couple of times but he chose to ignore it, until he couldn't anymore. He whipped it out of his pocket and checked the messages.

"Sorry, I have to go but um- -"

"That's ok, don't worry about it", I reached into my pocket and handed him a card, "If you or anyone you know, needs photos, I'd be more than happy to take them.", I smiled.

"Yeah- - yeah, ok. Bye, Y/N."

"Bye, Spencer."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reid rushed into the office, not knowing that he still had a rather big smile on his face.

"Hey, Spence.", JJ waltzed toward him and although it was a simple greeting, she said it in a more curious tone.

"Hi.", he began to pour an ungodly amount of sugar into his cup of coffee.

"What's uh- - going on with you?", she nudged him playfully.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You just seem...extra...happy, today."

"Oh, uh--I don't know. Today's just a...good day, I guess.", he shrugged. Spencer headed towards Garcia's lair.

"Dearest, boy wonder, what can I do for you?", Penelope asked in her usual chipper tone.

"I have an idea, but I have a feeling it's going to take the two of us to convince the rest of the team--"

"I am intrigued, do continue."

"We should do a Christmas card.", Reid smiled.

"Oooh! Yes! I love the way you think 187!", she giggled, "Although I have to wonder what brought this on...?"

"Nothing, I just uh--I met a photographer in the park this morning and--"

"Would this photographer happen to be...oh, I don't know, of the--women variety?", PG question with a raise of an eyebrow and a smirk.

Spencer shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged, "Let's just go try to convince Hotch, please."

"Don't ignore the question, Reid. I am the oracle, I know all."

Despite the woman's several protests Spencer ignored her and led the both of them into Hotch's office. After a few minutes of desperately trying to convince the boss, it seemed the finally got somewhere.

"You two aren't going to let this go until I say yes, are you?"

"Nope."

"Uh-uh."

"Fine."

Penelope squealed and went to go inform the rest of the team.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got a call the following Friday from him. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited. He sounded nervous over the phone, like somehow I'd forgotten who he was. But how could I ever forget a face like Spencer's. So, when he asked me to take photos of him and his team, there was no hesitation. Although, maybe there should've been, because showing up to his work was...scary to say the least. He had never mentioned that he was FBI. And while he, himself, was not intimidating, most people in the lobby of that building were.

"Hey, Y/N--are you ok?", Spencer's concern sounded genuine, he must've seen the nervousness written all over my face.

"Yeah, sorry.", I smiled to try and disguise it, "You just um, never mentioned over the phone that you were 'FBI', so coming here is uh--a lil scary.", I giggled.

"Oh! I'm sorry. Well, there's nothing to be scared of, I promise.", he smiled back and led me through a set of glass doors, "Ok, guys, this is Y/N."

I gave a small wave as I looked at the people before me. Two blonde women, one brunette, a younger dark skin man, and two older gentlemen. The three women exchanged knowing glances, as if this wasn't the first time I'd come up. I mean, of course it wasn't, they had to have talked about my work before to pick me to take their photos. Right?

They ushered me towards a conference room and we spit-balled some ideas before agreeing on a few. Every time Spencer looked at me, I couldn't help but smile and it seemed that everyone else noticed too. I would've been embarrassed if he hadn't returned each smile with his own, but he did. He was just...adorable?...handsome?...pretty?...sweet?...all of the above?. Definitely all of the above.

I finished up taking the photos, and I tried to look back over them, but every time, my eyes landed on him. It took me a few minutes to notice that the group of younger agents were gathered around the desk area, and that I was...well--alone at this round table. I swiveled in my chair and saw that a few agents were standing on either side of Spencer. If I had to guess, he was often the butt of the joke, because as the other agents seemed to be caught up in light-hearted laughter, he seemed horribly embarrassed.

"Ok! Well, once I finish up looking over these, I will email them to Ms. Penelope--just to make sure you guys like them. Um--with that, I will get out of your guys' way.", I laughed a little. They replied with various little 'thank you'’s and 'goodbye's and I did the same.

I had made it partially down the hall towards the elevators, "Y/N?".

I turned to see Spencer, jogging a little to catch up with me, "Yeah, what's up?", seeing his face turn bright pink made mine do the same.

"I-I-I was um--wondering if uh--sorry", he closed his eyes and huffed out a small laugh, "I wanted to know if...you would--maybe want to um--go out some time?", he shrugged with an adorably awkward smile.

"Yeah, sure.", I smiled for the millionth time that day. Seeing just how nervous he was, was just too cute.

"Really?", he seemed shocked but--in a good way.

"Mhm", I nodded.

"Ok, how does next Saturday sound?"

"It's a date.", I leaned up to kiss his cheek lightly, before stepping into the elevator.

Spencer went back into the bullpen, only to be swarmed by his younger colleagues.

"I knew this was about a girl!", Garcia squealed.

"Awww, look at you go Spence.", JJ cooed.

"We knew you could do it, Reid.", Emily encouraged.

"Yeah, and looks like you might get lucky too.", Morgan teased.

"Gross, Morgan.", Spencer replied before walking away in a desperate attempt to hide the bright red shade that had overtaken his face.

[annies-marvel-imagines]

Dusk Till Dawn - Part 3

Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: An argument between you and Peter leads to others getting involved in your business and Ellie gives you some unexpected news.

Warnings: Swearing, angst, Hurt!reader, Hurt!Peter, jealous!Peter, and maybe some fluff.

A/N: Collaboration with my good friend,  @rosaliestark01​. I don’t own any GIFs.

“Y/N!” Peter yells from across the hall. You stop putting your things in your locker as you see Peter running towards you. You don’t know what’s gotten into him. He seemed perfectly fine after doping you back home after paroling. 

He seemed too caught up in getting to you as soon as possible that he ended tripping over his own feet, causing Flash and a few of his “friends” to laugh at him.

“Peter?”  You run to him and quickly help him up. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I-” He begins but Flash, being the dumbass that he is, cuts him off. You honestly don’t understand why Flash keeps trying to make Peter’s school life a living pain.

“Nice one, Parker,” he snorts. For some reason, his “friends” laugh as though bullying someone who is clearly better than them is suddenly the most hilarious thing in the world. “Did your parents forget to teach you how to walk?”

“At least he doesn’t walk like he has a silver spoon up his-” you try to retort, but Peter hurriedly interrupts you.

“Y/N, I have to tell you something.” Peter looks at you pleadingly and you are suddenly worried about what happened.

“What is it?” Peter grabs you loosely by your arm to lead you away from Flash and his band of laughing brainless idiots.

“I can’t tell you here,” he whispers as he drags you away from all the people watching the two of you curiously. Peter is starting to worry you even more. What is he so afraid to tell you that he has to drag you into a janitor’s closet to tell you? “I don’t think that Eloise is who she says she is.”

“Who is she, then?” You ask. 

“Well... I don’t know, but I saw her talking to a man in a black ambulance and they traded stuff.” You knew that Peter didn’t trust Ellie one bit, but this had to have been him just assuming things.

“Okay. I’ll agree that that’s suspicious, but you can’t just say that she’s not who she says she is because she talked to some random dude. You’re mind is probably just blowing out of proportion,” you tell him, but the look he gives you says that you really need to listen to him. “When was this?”

“Around midnight,” he whispers. “Y/N, I don’t trust her.”

“She’s never given me a reason not to trust her. Can you please just drop it?” you beg. You didn’t want to fight with Peter about whether Ellie was trustworthy or not. Peter didn’t really know her and you did. “Are we still on for this Friday?”

“Yeah,” he nods his head. “I’ll see you there.”

You really were excited about going to the movies with Peter. He never outwardly said that it was a date, so you didn’t want to assume but this was the first time the two of you were watching a movie without your friends tagging along. 

You and Peter casually walked out of the janitor’s closet, hoping that you two were casual enough to not attract attention. However, you were quickly met with Ned, MJ, and Harry’s questioning stares.

“What were you two doing?” Harry asks. You look to Peter to come up with a good excuse.

“N-Nothing,” he spits out awkwardly. You mentally facepalm because although he has no problem making up excuses on a regular basis, the one time you get caught walking out of a janitor’s closet is when he can’t come up with a proper excuse.

“Okay, well... I’m going to go back to my locker,” you say in order to escape the awkward tension that filled the air.

“I’ll come with you,” MJ said. Harry followed suit. Ever since he and Gwen broke up, he’s become a lot closer to MJ. You had a feeling that they were starting to really like each other, but it was too soon to tell.

“So how come you never told me that you were taking Gwen to homecoming?” Ned asked Peter once you, MJ, and Harry walked off.

“What? Where did you hear that?” Peter had definitely not planned on taking Gwen to homecoming and he certainly never told anyone that he planned to. If anything, he wanted to ask you.

“Ellie has been saying that you were going to ask Gwen to homecoming,” Ned said and Peter lightly winced at hearing one of his best friends call her Ellie.

“Well, Eloise is a conniving liar who doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about,” Peter says bitterly. Had you heard any of those rumors? You probably have. You and Eloise have gotten way too close for Peter’s liking. 

Peter knew he shouldn’t feel jealous over you making friends, but Eloise was obviously up to no good and you were to blind see it. Plus, you felt comfortable telling Eloise what has been bothering you ever since that stupid mission you went on. It hurt that you didn’t feel comfortable talking to him, but it hurt more that you were comfortable talking to conniving Eloise Day.

“So who are you taking?” Ned asks. Peter knows who he wants to take, but he;s not sure what you would say.

“I don’t know yet,” Peter says (sort of) truthfully.

“I think you should take Y/N,” Ned suggests. He doesn’t know about Peter feels about you, but you seem like an obvious option. “or MJ. You like her, don’t you.”

“Only as a friend,” Peter says. Once upon a time, he had feeling for MJ, but they never went as deep as his feeling for you. Besides, he was sure that Harry and MJ (although neither one probably knew it) liked each other.

“Then you should totally take Y/N,” Ned suggested happily. Peter knew that if he were to ask you, it would have to be soon.

Needless to say, once Saturday came around, you were pissed. Peter hadn’t shown up to the movie and instead, you ended up sitting next to some random person who wouldn’t put his phone away, kept flirting with you during the movie, and laughed at the stupidest stuff. You ended up getting kicked out once the two of you started fighting (even though he started it). Out of all the people in the theater you had to get into a fight with, it was the owner’s stupid cousin.

On the bright side, you got a call from Ellie telling you that the DNA test result would come back on Monday. She asked about how the movie went and although you were majorly pissed at Peter, you didn’t want to give her another reason to dislike him. You told her about the movie without telling her that you were kicked out of the theater.

On Monday, you woke up to something falling on your floor. After turning on the lights, you found that instead of a something, it was a someone.

“Hey, Y/N-” Peter says quietly.

“Peter, it’s four in the morning,” you hiss. “Get out.” Peter looked taken aback by this. He always came here when he couldn’t sleep and you’ve never kicked him out before.

“But-” He suddenly looked like he had just noticed the look on your face. “You’re angry.”

“Yeah, I’m angry,’ you say, stomping over to him. “You didn’t show up.”

Peter looks at you with confusion written all over his face, which only angers you more. He stares back at you for a few seconds before he finally realizes what your talking about. Soon, his realization turn into worry.

“Oh! Y/N, I am so sorry,”he says quickly. “Something came up and I had to deal with it.”

“Right. Something always comes up.” You weren’t sure if you were being petty or not. For six, almost seven, months, you allowed everyone to forget about you and treat you like shit.

“Y/N, I can’t just stop being Spider-Man just because you wanted to see a movie,” Peter fights back. This wasn’t your first fight, but this was by far the most serious.

“First of all, I never told you to stop being Spider-Man and secondly, you were the one to ask me to the movies,” you try not to raise your voice because of how late (or early) it was. 

“You could’ve asked someone else to go with you,” Peter argues. If anything, his argument only angers you more. 

“You literally said that you wanted it to be just the two of us!” you yell. “Instead, I had to deal with some creep that didn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘no’!”

Hearing that you had to deal with some creep and he wasn’t there to protect you made his blood boil. He knew that he should’ve at least told you a head of time that he wouldn’t be able to make it, but he also didn’t want to admit to you that he had completely forgotten about your date. Wait. Was it a date?

“What the hell is going on in here?” Nat said, storming into the room looking grumpy and tired

“Nothing. Peter was just leaving,” you say, not wanting to fight with Peter anymore. You hated fighting with Peter, but you still felt hurt by his actions.

“Y/N-”Peter began softly.

“Both of you. Kitchen. Now” Nat demanded. The tree of you made your way to the Kitchen where Nat sat the two of you down and glared at you.

 “What the hell happened to the two of you?” She asked harshly. “Since the day you two met, you’ve been a team. Best partners in the field I have ever seen. Something must have happened to make you turn on each other and I’m here to tell you to get the fuck over it. I don’t care what it is. Put it in the past. You’re best friends. You’re partners. Now start acting like it.”

She stomped back to her room, leaving you and Peter sitting quietly in the dark. You were going to say something, but he beat you to it.

“Wow,” he says, referring to Natasha’s passionate lecture. “So, um... since it’s late...?”

“Yes,” you say, offering your hand. He takes it gingerly, and you both quietly make your way back to your room. You’re already in your pajamas, but Peter is still wearing his Spider-Man suit.

“Here,” you say as you hand him a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that he left here once. After he got dressed, you both crawled into bed. “I’m sorry I got mad. Whatever it was, I’m sure it was important.”

“I’m sorry I left you alone to sit next to some creep,” he whispered. You could tell that he was being sincere and you began to wonder why you were so mad at him in the first place. Saving people was a priority and you felt bad at yelling at him over something that probably wasn’t even a date to begin with.

“At least I got a few swings in before I got kicked out,” you say, trying to lighten the mood but Peter just looked at you sadly.“Either way, the world is lucky to have Spider-Man in it.”

“And I’m lucky to have Y/N Stark as my best friend”. Peter scoots closer so that the two of you were practically holding each other.  “I’m still sorry for ditching you. Maybe we can still see that movie tonight?”

“I’d love that,” you say. You close your eyes, ready for sleep to take over again.

“Y/N?” Peter whispers. He knows it’s late, but he feels as though this were the right time to ask.

“Hmm?”

“Will you go to homecoming with me?” After a few seconds, and there’s no response, Peter looks at you. “Y/N?”

You had already fallen asleep. Peter curses himself for not asking earlier. He’s not sure when he’ll get the chance to as again or if he ever will.

“Y/N Stark!” Brad Davis yells as he struts towards you. You look for an escape, but you don’t see a very good one. You look at Peter for help, but he doesn’t know what to do either.

“What do you want?” you ask. Everybody, except for Brad, knew that he was a total jerk. He was one of the brainless idiot who laughed at Peter after he tripped last Friday.

“I’m taking you to homecoming,” he said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. You scoffed at the nerve this guy had. You noticed the way Peter tensed up, but you didn’t say anything.

“No you’re not,” You tell him. He just smirks at you. “I already have a date.”

“Who?” He and Peter both asks. 

“Peter.” Peter looks confused, so you decide to elaborate. “He asked me this morning.”

“Whatever, nerds,” Brad scoffs before walking off to join his friends.

“You heard that?” Peter looks at you nervously and you couldn’t help but think it was cute.

“Yeah,” you say.  “I wanted to answer, but I kinda fell asleep.”

Peter smiles at you before you both go your separate ways. You go to art class and Peter has History. You hope that Peter doesn’t forget about the movie this time. You knew he had his reasons for missing it the first time, and you were going to try to be more understandable if he misses this time too, but you really hope he doesn’t.

After school ends, you see Ellie jogging to you with an annoyed look on her face.

 “You’re going to homecoming with Parker?” She asks. 

“Yeah. He asked me.” You knew that she didn’t like Peter but you still hoped that she would’ve been happy for you. She had to have know that you really liked him from all the times you gushed about how amazing he was to her.

“I though he stood you up.” She said. You both begin walking to the parking lot.

“He did but-” you stop suddenly after hearing that. You didn’t tell Ellie that Peter stood you up. In fact, you clearly remember trying to make her think that didn’t. “How do you know about that?” 

“Spider-Man saving those hostages was all over the news,” she casually says.

“Right.” You think back to the argument that you and Peter had and you instantly feel ten times worse. Peter was a hero.

“I honestly thought he would have asked Gwen to homecoming,” She tells you. “They seem pretty close.”

“I thought so too.” Ever since you started hanging out with Ellie, Gwen had obviously tried to make a move on Peter. You felt lucky that Peter was pretty oblivious to those kinds of things. You were also pretty lucky that Peter had chosen to ask you.

“Do you want to come over to my house to study today?” Ellie asks hopefully. 

“I would love to, but I already made plans with Peter.” You started to feel bad when her hopeful face turn into a scowl at the mention of Peter’s name. You had really hoped that they would get along. They were both nice people. They were among the smartest students at this school and Ellie knows that Peter is Spider-Man.

“Oh. That’s okay.”

You were glad to finally be able to enjoy the movie without some creep ruining it. Peter looked like he was enjoying the movie, and you loved the way he gasped when the main character was manipulated into teaming up with the bad guy. It had a good ending, but that part was hard to concentrate on when Peter grabbed your hand during the big climax.

Afterwards, Peter swung you back to your room before he left to go on patrol. You would have gone with him, but you really needed to finish your Art project.

A few hours later, you felt pretty good about it. You made miniature figures of all the avengers. It took longer than it should have, since you had to remake the Iron Man figure after “accidentally” breaking it.

“Y/N, you have a visitor,” your AI, Cas, said. The only person who would has ever visited you at the late hour of 1:53 am was Peter. Instead, you were met by another familiar face.

“Ellie?” 

She was texting someone on her phone by the time you finally made it down to meet her. She looked up at you with excitement as she held up a small stack of papers.

“Y/N, I got the results back for the DNA test,” she whispered. You had completely forgotten that Monday was the day that the DNA results would come back.

“Really? What does it say?”

“Your dad’s name is Ezekiel Stane and he only lives a few miles from here.” You scrunch up your nose upon hearing his name. She had to be kidding right? There was no way that this could be right.

“Stane?” Ellie frowned at your disdain for the name. “Like Obadiah Stane?”

“It’s what the papers say,” Ellie says, shoving the papers into your hands. Looking at them, you had no choice but to believe her. According to the papers, Ezekiel Stane was, without a doubt, your dad. “You trust me, right?”

“Yeah.” As much as you wanted this to be a joke, you really did trust Ellie. You just didn’t want to possibly be related to the same guy who kidnapped you and tried to kill you and your dad Tony. 

A/N: Would you trust Ellie?

Tag List:

@eridanuswave​ @drishtisikarwar​ @spideygirl2003​ @ilovespideyyy​

[ruthoakenshield]

The Lady in the Black Leather (Ch 25)

Previous chapter catch up: [Chapter 24]

Scarlett and you dig through the clothes she brought for you. The nurse shows her how you can bathe in the bathroom area by sitting on the shower bench, and she helps you to the bench so you can get freshened up. She wraps your injured thigh with cellophane wrap tight enough to keep water out of the bullet wound, but not so tight it is uncomfortable or cuts off circulation.

You end up having a sponge bath since you can’t really stand to shower, and Scarlett washes your hair and helps you rinse it out. You hand her the hair oil and she applies it to your hair and combs it out while you sit on the shower bench.

“I never realized how much a bullet through the leg hurts. It’s SO uncomfortable to sit on anything with this damn hole in my leg!” you complain.

She just chuckles. “Well at least it’s in a place that didn’t have any major organs! Rich said Ben had the gun pointed at your chest!” she said.

You nod.

“I hope this doesn’t affect how I’m going to walk.” You reply. “I don’t get how he was able to shoot my thigh, though without hitting Rich!” you say, puzzled.

“Just chalk it up to a lucky shot, Sweetheart. Rich is incredibly lucky it didn’t hit him! Especially since your ex had the gun pointed at your chest. It would have really caused problems for Rich and the movie producers, since he is going to be so busy for the next few months with the movie promos and red carpets!” She reminds you. “Just thank your lucky stars it was ‘just a minor flesh wound!” and that you’re ‘not dead yet!” she teases, knowing how you both like Monty Python.

You giggle. Then say, “I know, Scarlett, but I hate just sitting around here! You know me! I’ve spent the last three months just sitting around doing nothing! And Rich and I were finally getting closer physically and emotionally! I finally felt comfortable letting him cuddle me and kiss me, and touch me more! Now we can’t cuz of the stupid monitors!!!!” you grumble.

Scarlett chuckles, “Hon, another week isn’t gonna kill ya nor your relationship!” she smirks. “So have ya gotten laid by him yet?” she asks with an evil grin.

You smack her. “None of your business!” you say and stick out your tongue.

Scarlett giggles… “Well?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss my relationship with anyone but my Dr. and my Boyfriend.” You reply with a knowing smirk. “My boyfriend is a very private person and doesn’t like it when people get nosey about his love life.” You say with a satisfied grin.

“What?!?!” Scarlett teases. “We ALWAYS talk about our love lives and compare and swap notes!” she pouts. “Can you at least tell me if he’s a good kisser?” she asks.

You grin & nod.

She smirks. “So, what’s this ‘ice hockey’ I keep hearing Martin and Amanda talking about?” She asks.

You spend the next few minutes explaining it to her and how you and Rich came up with it. You laugh and tell her he wanted to call it, ‘pass the ice’ but you thought ‘ice hockey’ sounded better.

Scarlett laughed. “OOOOoooohhh now I’m gonna have to try that with Aiden! You should’ve seen how horny he was after we got home from the club the night we did the Pretty Woman and Abba dances! Oh my gosh!!! He fucked me all night long! I could hardly walk straight the next day!!!” she exclaimed. “He’s got the stamina of a stallion!” she giggles. “And his kisses are to die for!” she squeals with glee.

“Soooo, a much better lover than Sam was???” you tease.

“Uhhh, Duhhhh!” she replies smacking your head teasingly.

You just smile and smirk, thinking to yourself, “If you only knew what Richard’s kisses are like and how he not only has the stamina of a stallion, but is hung like one too!”

You are snapped back into reality when Scarlett pokes you, “Are you even listening to me?” she asks.

“Hmmm?” you say, “Sorry, was lost in thought dreaming about my handsome man’s kisses.” You reply, grinning.

Scarlett rolls her eyes. “I said, we need to get you back up and dressed. Shall I go get the nurse and see if she can find you a clean pair of shorts?” Scarlett asks.

You nod. “And see if they have a size smaller than what she gave me, those were WAY too big and baggy for me!” you tell her.

Scarlett nods and hands you a bath towel to wrap up in.

She goes to get the nurse, who comes back in with a pair of hospital shorts for you. She helps you into them and you stand on your good leg and hike them up the rest of the way. Happy they fit you better. You sit back down on the bench once Scarlett dries it off with the towel and the nurse helps you get a top on that Scarlett chose for you. The nurse helps you back to your bed, and you sit on the edge as the nurse hooks up your ports to the IV machines again. Then unwraps the cellophane from your leg and re-bandages your wounds. Then she helps you sit back down on the bed and leaves you to do what you like.

You scoot back onto the bed and decide to just braid your hair in two braids and let them hang down over your shoulders.

You had just texted Graham when you hear a knock at the door. You pull out your ylang ylang perfume bottle and put a dab on by your ears and on your wrists and one on your collar bone junction. You rub it into your skin and then nod at Scarlett to let the person in. You set your bag down on the floor by the bed out of the way.

You grin when you see your Honey come walking in with a bouquet of brightly colored red carnations, yellow daisies as well as purple monte casino and green button poms in a vase with colored ribbons around it and a “get well soon” mini balloon on a sick poking out the top of the bouquet, and a stuffed black dog parked in his arm.

Giggling, you say, “You already got me flowers!” and he chuckles as he sets them down on your table and gives you a kiss, and groans at how good you smell. He hands you the black stuffed dog and you grin seeing it has an “I love you” shirt on it.

“These are from the director of my movie. When he heard what had happened, we decided to film as much as we could on Friday and Saturday, so I can have tomorrow and Monday off. He felt bad not being able to give me more time off and so he sent the flowers with me to give to you.” Rich explained.

“And the stuffed dog?” you ask.

He grins. “I saw it in the gift shop on my way in and couldn’t resist. It reminded me of the pic you sent me with me and Phantom giving you the same look.” He grinned.

You chuckled as he sat down next to you on the bed. You scooted over more so he could have enough room to sit and be comfortable. He snuggled next to you and Scarlett giggled and rolled her eyes. “Someone missed you today!” she teased you.

Richard just grinned and peppered you with kisses. “You smell divine, my Love.” He whispered in your ear as he nibbled it. Ignoring the beeping heart monitor as your pulse increased.

“Romeo, you better reign it in or the nurses will be in here scolding you if you don’t.” Scarlett warned. Rich just smirked and stuck his tongue out at her.

She just chuckled, “Oh, that’s real mature, there big guy!” she giggled. Rich just looks at her and raises an eyebrow and gives her just a hint of a smirk.

“I know that look! You did it enough on Robin Hood! And No, they won’t let you get away with it.” She replies giggling.

Richard gives her a grin and goes back to peppering your face with kisses, making you giggle. He doesn’t stop till he hears Graham and Aiden coming up the hallway talking. Then he finally calms himself down and cuddles you in his arms and you enjoy leaning against his chest and having his arms around you.

“I missed you today too.” You whisper as you give him a peck on his cheek. He grins and looks down at you just as Graham and Aiden come in with Phantom.

Graham looks up and sees him sitting on the bed with you and says, “Hey! Where’s supper?”

Rich chuckles. “It’ll be here soon. I ordered it on my way here and told them to deliver it here.”

All of a sudden there’s a knock at the door and Phantom “wuffs” and goes to the door sniffing.

“I bet that’s supper. Phantom, come here.” Aiden says as he makes the hand motion for ‘come’.

Scarlett goes and opens the door and a young man gives her the food and a hand full of fortune cookies. She thanks him and hands him some cash for a tip.

She brings the food in and sets it all out on the table. Everyone’s mouths are watering seeing all the Chinese food Rich ordered. The scent of sweet and sour chicken, beef and broccoli, and other such goodness fills the room.

Aiden goes to the Cafeteria and grabs paper plates and plastic silverware and napkins and stuff for everyone to drink.

He comes in and they have the food all open and ready to go. (The nurses provided them with plastic serving utensils from the break room.) He hands out the plates and napkins and plastic silverware so they can dish up what they want.

You giggle and happily scoop up the beef and broccoli and Richard cringes when you dig for the big pieces of broccoli. “You like broccoli?” he asks.

You nod, and pop a big piece in your mouth with the chopsticks, then grin. He shakes his head and says, “Well, more for you then.”

You and Scarlett grin and dig into the beef and Broccoli, making everyone else chuckle. “Why did you buy it if no one else likes it?” you ask him after realizing no one else wanted any.

He chuckled. “Aiden said you and Scarlett liked it, so I got it for you two.”

Scarlett looks at Aiden and then at Rich and then at you. “Awwwww, I love our men!” she says and gives Aiden a big kiss. Making everyone laugh.

“I’ll let Harley give you your kiss.” She tells Rich. Making him laugh.

You giggle and go to kiss him, and he grins. “You can kiss me later, Love, when you don’t taste like broccoli!” he teases. You give him a mocking glare and punch his shoulder. Making Graham laugh.

He tosses you a fortune cookie and then tosses Richard his. Graham grabs one and so does Aiden and Scarlett. Leaving two extras on the table.

They all laugh when they open and read them.

Aiden’s says, “The fortune you seek is in another cookie.” He grabs another cookie and opens it, it’s fortune says, “Ignore previous cookie.” Which makes everyone crack up laughing and Aiden pouts. “I didn’t get a fortune!”

Scarlett just pats his shoulder. “You got me, sweetie, that’s all the good fortune you need!”

He grins and nods.

Graham cracks his open and it says, “Marriage lets you annoy one special person for the rest of your life.” He laughs and nods, “Well they got that one right!” and everyone laughs.

Scarlett cracks hers open and says, “Hey! I got TWO fortunes!!!!” one says ‘Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you.’ And the other says, ‘Good clothes open many doors. Go shopping!’

Of course, everyone looks at you and Scarlett and they all crack up laughing. Knowing that your shopping excursion with her lead to all them meeting you two!

Richard’s says, “You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.” He grins and looks at you and kisses the top of your head. “See, even fortune cookies get it right occasionally!” you giggle & roll your eyes.

And Graham tosses you a second cookie. “You get the extra one since Scarlett got two fortunes in hers.”

You open yours and laugh cuz your first cookie has two fortunes in it. They say, “Someone truly loves you out there.” And “You or a close friend will be married within the year.” Which makes you blush a bright red. Of course, everyone wants to see what fortunes you got. They all laugh and tease you and Richard, but you point out it could be Aiden & Scarlett too!

Richard just grins a huge grin and hugs you. “Open up the other one, Sweetheart.” He says to you.

You look up and say, “I don’t know if I want to now.” he chuckles and hands it to you.

You crack it open and read the fortune. It says, “Don’t be afraid to take the next big step.” You groan, face palm and hand it to Richard, who cracks up laughing and hands it to Scarlett, who reads it, laughs and passes it to Aiden, who giggles and then passes it to Graham. Graham cracks up too and pats your shoulder. “I seem to detect a theme here, Sweetheart!”

You just groan. And bury your face in Rich’s chest. Making him chuckle. “You never know….” He teases, making you groan even more.

He pats your side and kisses your head again.

We’re just teasin’ ya lass.” Grahan tells you.

You nod and peek out from Rich’s side. Then you remember something your Mom once told you, which you remind him of when you say teasingly, “You do know that the Father of the bride gets to pay for the entire wedding, right… and now ya got THREE girls!” you remind him with a smug grin.

“Oh good Lord, I’m gonna be working till I die!” he replies teasingly and rolls his eyes, flopping back into the chair pretending to die.

Aiden laughs, “You asked for it Pops, teasin’ her like that!” he says with a huge grin. Graham chuckles and sits up.

“Are we all done eating?” he asks. Everyone nods. “I’m full.” You hear from everyone.

Graham gets up and picks up the untouched leftovers. “What do ya say if we go see if the nurses want some of this?” he asks Richard.

Rich nods and he grabs some of the leftovers and Aiden grabs the rest. They head out to the nurse’s station with the paper plates and napkins and ask them if they’d like the leftovers. The nurses are almost speechless that the three movie stars would share their food with them. They nod and thank them, putting it in the fridge for their breaks.

While the guys are off giving leftovers to the nurses, you and Scarlett are cracking up at the fortunes you got. “You better keep those, and I’ll keep mine. We’ll get a good laugh out of them if they actually come true! Here, write the date on the back of them so we know when we got them!” she tells you and hands you a pen from the counter.

You write the dates on the back of them and she hands you your messenger bag. You put them in your wallet, and she puts her fortunes in her wallet.

You both are giggling about them still when the guys come back in.

“Are you two still giggling about the fortunes?” Graham asks.

Scarlett nods. Giggling again.

Graham chuckles. “How about we play that new game ye brought?” he says to Aiden.

Aiden grabs it off the counter and he starts to hand out the cards for the game.

You five spend the evening laughing yourselves silly and playing the game. You stopped after a while though so that someone could take Phantom out to go do his business when he started whining and dancing around by the door. Aiden decided to take him outside with Scarlett for a break.

Rich took the opportunity to ask the two of you how the meeting went with the lawyer. You told him it went fine and that she got what she needed and said you could do the meeting tomorrow with the judge via Skype (He’s old school). She said she would be at the actual hearing in case the judge needed to discuss anything with her.

Graham nodded.

Rich could tell there was more Graham wanted to say, but didn’t. Rich figured that Graham didn’t want to say it in front of you for some reason. He looked at the time and saw it was close to 10pm. He tells you, “Honey, do you know if the hospital has specific times for visiting?”

You shake your head, no.

He stands, “I’d better go check to see if they have specific times. I don’t want to upset anyone if we are here too long.” He tells you. “I’ll be right back.” He says and heads for the door.

“You want some more water, Sweetheart?” Graham asks when you go to drink your water and find your cup empty. You shake it and feel a few ice cubes in it. You pop open the lid and grab one out, then nod and hand it to Graham.

“Could you see if they can put more ice in it too?” you ask.

He grins and nods. “Be right back, Sweetheart.” He tells you and heads out.

 Stay tuned, more chapters to follow!!!

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[shannonparis29]

Haven't written on here in a while.

Hello everyone, I haven't been writing on my blog in a while but things have changed. I ended up having my own apartment and working for Alorica. But I got to a point where I felt like I was not progressing nor feeling like that was what i needed to do. So, as everyone knows, I want to go to school. However, I don't have a lot of money and it was going to come down between me working a full time job and paying for an apartment or paying for school. Based on my income, I cannot afford both. I decided to quit Alorica and work part time elsewhere. I felt it was best for me and myself. My original plan was to move with my dad soon, but I am trying to obtain rent money so I can stay here. I used my last check (along with my small income tax due to not working very much last year), I used to pay towards school and buy a few things I needed for my new job. This new job is also a call center, but part time and required me to get a chromebook. I sold some of my cosplay stuff to get my laptop. An investment for work as well as school. But just before that decision was made, on February 12, 2021, I injured myself. That was the weekend just before the "Winter Storm 2021" hit all of Texas, including South Texas. We actually got REALLY COLD. Like record-breaking, never happens, ever cold. And trust me, a lot of people were out of power, out of everything. People did what they did when COVID started. People were panic buying everything. It took a good week or two for the stores to finally keep up, even after five days of cold weather. Power was out for many, wifi was out for my apartment for bit-even my phone when out of service for a little bit at some point. If COVID couldn't keep people home, this nasty weather forced everyone to bunker down. We had some snow (very little where I was at) and I tried to take Elsa pictures but they sucked due to it being outside in the dark and no real snow. So, on Feb 12, I had gotten paid and also had to go food shopping, so i had already bought my food for the "month" or sooner. I try to stock up the best i can but I also don't overbuy either. (I still have food now and generally I do have 'more food than I need'" which is good. Rather have more than less, and most meats get frozen anyways. Sometimes I use the crockpot (like tonight with taco meat-ground beef) or i'll bake it. Once in a while, food will get fried up but I normally used the above. Sure, I've got microwavable meals too, but it varies. I try to have quick fixes too when I don't feel like cooking anything. Just something you can pop in the microwave or even the oven-like my chicken tenders. Or maybe a frozen pizza.

So anyhow, I am going to talk about my injured foot. So, when I arrived back home, and was unloading the groceries, I went back to get the last bit of groceries. My apartment/city are going under some construction on our street-it's either for sidewalks (maybe) or to open up the street since our street is narrow. Anyhow, the dirt there was uneven-very uneven-it's not as uneven, but I never thought I'd trip and fall like i did. Next thing, I know, BOOM! I tripped and fell over the curb. I was in a lot of pain when it happened. My intial thought was my ankle because it was the ankle I broke back in middle school. Walking was so much pain. Like majorly painful. I couldn't walk without screaming bloody murder. I told my friends that were visiting-including my drag sister, Jackie and her friend, Isabelle, to grab my office chair. I sat down and tried to elevate my foot the best I could. But at a closer look, it was more my foot and it was swollen. My Mom and Mark thought it was a hairline fracture. I had a long bruise develop on the side of foot and some brusing on the top of my foot and on the edge of my toes. I couldn't bear weight on it without hurting. The first thing I did was call a teledoc, which she advised me to get an xray and get it looked at. I refused to go to the ER for lots of reasons-partly COVID, partly due to it being expensive. I was told to go see a doctor OR visit an urgent care. I found an urgent care in Network (When I had insurance) and they looked at my foot. I did an xray and turns out, it was indeed, fractured. I had fracuted a bone on the side of my foot called the "metetarsal" but it was not the focus of my injury. It was called an avulsion fracture, where a nerve causes a fracture of a small bone on my foot. Crazy, that causes that much pain, right? The Urgent Care staff gave me a boot and crutches-and told me take tylenol plus and sent me on my way. Trust me, that is not pleasant to hear. Then, I found a doctor to do a "follow up" with. And once again, I arrive and they refer me to a orthopedic doctor-which I haven't gotten any calls YET. That doctor all she did was prescribe me ibuprofen 800mg and sent me on my way. My friend TJ says they should've done more-at both places, but it is what it is. I hope this injury isn't something that is going to mess with me forever. I healed fine from my ankle all those years ago. I do try to do things, but I am limited. I can't go anywhere without a car-and sometimes I need help carrying stuff so I can focus on manuerving with my crutches. It sucks, and I still don't know how long i'm going to be recovering. Some say it's 4-6 weeks some say longer, from what I read online. When I broke my ankle, it took me three months to recover. So, until I am cleared by a doctor, I will not perform. Do I want to? Yes! Do I love performing? Yes! But my safety/health comes first. Yes, I still go out and support my organization and go to meetings if needed. That's all I can do, for now. Once I have an update about my injury I will let all of you know. So, there is some big events coming up soon. One of them, is our Prince, Princess and Princex Ball happening the weekend of April 30-May 2nd. So April 30th is the out of town show at the bar. It will feature all the in and out of town prince/princess from all over the International Court System that make it down to our event. It is essentially a mini-coronation. I've been asked to run Friday night, and that seems a lot to ask of me, however, it's an opportunity to prove I'm good enough to be part of this organization. I've had my ups and downs in the court, but I'm still here. So, I have to send out a list closer to day for the finger foods, how I want the lineup once the event gets posted. Also, I'll be doing the lineup. There was talk of having a DJ so one of us won't have to do that. But we shall see. It will depend on what we can get done. I've been asked to be a command for Saturday night and I've got what I'm going to do, hopefully. Once I have the outfits in my hand (don't worry they already paid for months ago)

[slothgiirl]

shadowplay part 16

The clock reads five in the morning and Alex is barely putting his notebook down. He’d sent a couple samples to Miles, once it had become clear that nothing he was writing particularly screamed Arctic Monkeys . None of it felt right for their next album.

So he thought Miles might use it on his next album. It would be a shame to throw it all away, never let the beginnings of some songs see the light of day. Especially since he’d spent the better part of a month writing his days away.

And Miles. . .Miles planned to fly into London and see what they could come up with together. There was nothing like writing with Miles.

Alex empties out his ash tray and washes his now cold cup of coffee, he’d only ended up having a sip, cleaning up after himself in your apartment: already anticipating curling up next to you in bed for a bit before you left for work.

He never understood how you got up before your alarm went off in the morning. It had been years since Alex had gotten up before eleven in the morning. And right now, with all the work he’d been doing, it was a miracle if he was up before 2.

He scrolls through his email like a proper adult, just in case anything important’s come up. Abandons his guitar on the coffee table and wonders when exactly he started living here with you. He couldn’t pinpoint a date if his life depended on it. But it just felt natural.

It’s a change for him. Alex is used to being the one to ask his girlfriends to move in. He’s glad you decided not to. He’s so fucking happy to be here, with you, feeling at home in your flat. He’s so ridiculously happy that you’ve made room for him in your home.

Alex is surprised he isn’t shitting rainbows and unicorns with how in love he is with you. It’s a fact he never fails to mention. The words making their way out of his lips with ease. Love you babe, when you get up in the morning, nothing more than a mumble, Alex still half asleep.

He makes the effort to not get lost in his music when you get home, How was work? I love you. Come over here, let me show you what I’ve been working on. Tell me if I’m a total knob?

Alex learns the brand of oat milk you love in your coffee. Knows that you like having the windows open all day to let the air in. His clothes gradually take over the left two drawers of your dresser. Pomade and hair gel besides your cleanser and moisturizer.

I love you. Lets go to the park, you can bitch about what utter twats your customers are there.

You drag him to the fabric store, already hunting for curtains for the house you’re buying, and he watches you geek out as you run your fingers over the different materials, not even having to check the fabric composition to guess what’s 60 percent cotton and polyester and which tweed is 100% wool.

Alex drags you out to the pub friday night. Sam sometimes tags along with her roommate or latest boyfriend. He spends most of saturday morning in bed with you, making love to you all afternoon, his name the only thing on your lips.

He’s brushed his teeth, about to head into the bedroom, when his phone rings. The screen flashing. Caller ID is the mermaid emoji.

When he and Arielle had been dating, she’d always be changing the photo that came up when she called. The first time she’d flown out for one of his shows. A picture of him kissing her cheek as they drove out to palm springs for a few days. Arielle’s goofy bathroom selfies.

Then one day, the day she’d sat him down and he’d abruptly realized her things had been packed up from his house. Her kitchen mixer gone from his kitchen. The selfhelp and cookbooks gone from the bookcase. All the little traces that had made his house her home cleaned up. Arielle had sat him down and said, “we need to talk,” in the serious tone that he knew was code for I’m breaking up with you.

She’d beaten him to the punch line.

Alex had thought it would be rude of him to break up with her during tour. And then he’d gotten home and imagined. . .he doesn’t know why he’d dragged it out. Was it because he’d loved her? Had still been more than a little in love with her but not oblivious to the fact that their relationship had run its course. Was winding down a slow death because she wanted things he wasn’t prepared to give her. Marriage, kids, a white picket fence house.

She’d even asked, “ are you planning on ever marrying me Alex, because I need to know right now if it’ll happen for us.”

He’d sat there, looking through the window instead of at her.

“I know what I want,” she’d told him frankly, with tears in her eyes. “ Do you?”

Alex had shaken his head, “ I dunno if I’m the marrying sort.” And then she’d gotten up and left without a glance back.

Alex waits to feel that familiar lump of emotion form in his throat. He’d lost more than a girlfriend in that breakup. Arielle had been his friend before that. And now she was neither.

When it doesn form, when he realizes he doesn’t feel anything other than a hint of nostalgia and sleepiness, Alex answers his phone. “ ‘ello?”

“Alex,” Arielle asks, sounding surprised. “I wasn’t sure you’d be up right now?” Or that you’d even answer, she doesn’t say.

“Yeah, about to turn in.”

She laughs instead of being all apologetic. “Of course. Still a total night owl I see.”

“Arielle,” he sighs, “why are you calling me?”

It’s her turn to sigh. “I was just going over my rsvp list and. . .you haven’t replied. I just. . .I was just wondering if you’d be coming next month.” To her wedding.

Alex doesn’t particularly care anymore. No that’s not true. When he’d first heard she was getting married, not even a year after they’d split, he’d been hurt. Alex had wondered if he’d made a mistake. If he should've married her after all.

The fact that he didn’t want to was nothing compared to the loneliness he felt at not having found. . .at being alone. Arielle had moved on. Matt was married. Jaime and Nick had settled down as well. What was wrong with Alex that no one wanted him like that? Or was there something wrong with him for not wanting that with anyone?

Now he just felt weird at the thought of going to her wedding. They hadn’t talked in ages.

“No,” he manages, his tone sounding harsh to his own ears. Alex rushes to add, “I’m going to be busy but congratulations in advanced Arielle, ya deserve it.”

Arielle snorts. “Thanks. I just. . .I was really hoping you’d come. Actually. . .I was hoping we could try to be friends again. I know if I leave the ball in your court you’ll never . . .Alex you were one of my closest friends. I don’t want to lose you completely. And it’s been some time. . .I was just hoping we could try to be friends again. Now that I-we’ve moved on.”

Alex swallows thickly. He remembers all the times he’d texted Arielle over the years: good luck on her auditions, she’ll get them next time, asking her to hang out when he was in LA. The nights they’d all ended up eating mcdonalds at four in the morning, Arielle making him laugh so hard he’d shed tears.

It seems like a lifetime ago.

Alex has moved on. He’s itching to go to bed. Yearning for the warmth of your body against him. Already thinking of what to make for dinner later, breakfast for him. Alex suspects he’s going to have to go on a grocery run. There’s only some stale toast and a couple beers in the fridge.

And next month you’ll start moving.

And he’ll be moving in with you.

Bloody hell, he’s such a goner. Alex had fallen in love with you without meaning too. Without even realizing it.

“You’re right Arielle,” Alex tells her. “We have moved on and we should. . .I’d like to try and be friends with you again.”

“So you’ll come?”

“No. I really am busy. My girlfriend’s moving next month and I’m moving in with her.”

“Wow,” Arielle laughs, “such a modern man.”

Alex chuckles.

“I’m glad to hear you’re doing well,” she adds.

He glances over at the closed bedroom door where he knows you’re asleep. How could he not be well, he’s in love. Alex doesn’t care for a piece of paper uniting two people. And you haven’t brought up marriage, if you’ve planned out your perfect wedding. . .if you dream of it at all. But if you do, Alex thinks he’d be down on one knee in a second.

“Right back at you,” he tells Arielle. “Now if ya don’t mind, I think I’ll turn in for the night.”

Arielle laughs, “Al it’s morning in London.”

“Let me know when you’re in London.”

“Only if you tell me when you’re in LA.”

She hangs up, and Alex makes a note to send her a wedding gift. And start texting her again.

He’s careful not to make too much noise as he slips into the bedroom, not wanting to wake you up. Alex lays down on his side of the bed, unsurprised to find you asleep in the middle of the bed. He wraps his arms around your sleeping form, and goes to sleep.

[nifflersfancy]

Runaway Groom - Chapter 5 (Consider It Done, You Wanton Sex Goddess)

Read it here on AO3!

Here’s Part 4 (Chapter 4 - Like I Would Grace Your Brothel With My Presence),  Part 3 (Chapter 3 - Speaking of Bastards), Part 2 (Chapter 2 - Listening To Pink Floyd Alone) and Part 1 (Chapter 1 - And I Just Want A Million Pounds)!

"I can't believe you're moving out, Pete." James said with an amused smile and an arm wrapped around Lily's shoulders. They were all helping out in Remus and Peter's flat, helping Peter pack his stuff. He had only announced to them about an hour ago that he was moving and had apparently already found a new flat. thankfully, it was literally across the street. His flat would be visible from James and Lily's front room. "Well, you know... with Remus about to have a kid... I want him to be able to have as much room as possible." Peter explained as he got sheets, blankets and towels from their airing cupboard, folding them neatly in a box. "The baby will only be with me for half the week. I'll have him for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then Fleur and Tonks will have him for the rest of the week." Remus explained for what seemed like the billionth time. "Besides, if anyone should be moving, it should be me. I'm the one that's changing things." "No, this was your flat to begin with. I'll be fine. This is what's best for everyone." Peter said, sending Remus a gentle smile. But Sirius wasn't having any of it. "Cut the shit, Pete. You hate kids and we all know it." He scoffed, although there was no bite behind his words and he was smirking fondly at the shorter man. "Alright, fine. Look, I love you, Remus. Really, I do. But I cannot handle that." He sighed, which only caused Remus to chuckle more. 

"I understand, mate. Don't worry about it." He comforted, placing a hand on his shoulder. Peter grinned sheepishly back and patted Remus' hand before they all resumed their packing.

"When do you get the keys to your new place?" James questioned, writing "KITCHEN SHIT" on a box in sharpie. It was a small box and mainly contained a bunch of novelty mugs and fridge magnets. 

"Well, the landlord's just repainting everything and he said that he should be done by Friday, maybe a bit sooner." Peter explained with a shrug. "You guys better not shut me out when I move out." Peter warned, "Why would we shut you out, Petey?" Lily asked with a frown, able to see that this was actually a concern for Peter. "Well, James won't get cut out, he's the glue that holds us all together. It won't be Lily, she and James are together. It won't be Sirius, he went to school with you two and lives with you and it won't be Remus because he lives across the hall. I'm left right out." Peter huffed with a laugh, although they could all see that it was forced. "Okay, that is ridiculous. If anyone's going to be shut out, it's James. Everyone knows that Lily and I are soulmates. We've just got to wait for James to die under suspicious circumstances, leaving all of his money to Lily and then Lily and I will run off into the sunset leaving the both of you behind. If anything, James is the problem." It was ridiculous but had the desired effect of making Peter laugh. "You won't be cut out, Pete." Remus comforted, knowing that whilst it was great to make him laugh, it was only a temporary fix and he would need the reassurance that he was important to them. "We all need each other. It wouldn't be the same without one of us. Apart from James." Remus teased, grinning at James, who had been pouting.

"Right, if we're done hating on James..." James began, voice daring anyone to make another dig at him. There was no real bite behind it though. "Why don't we take a break? I can whip us up some lunch." He offered.

"You're such a mother hen." Sirius scoffed, although he stood up from where he had been lounging on the sofa. He had been at the bar until 4am the night before and was exhausted but had insisted on helping. He had packed half of a box and then given up and laid down on the sofa, occasionally taking part in conversation.

"So Sirius doesn't want any food, does anyone else?" James questioned, laughing as Sirius threw a cushion at him. "Stop it, you two!" Lily yelled sternly before a pillow war could break out. "Yes, mother." Sirius scoffed, although he did as he was told. A smile came to his lips as Remus stood and reached a hand out to him. Sirius took it and allowed himself to be pulled up, giving Remus' hand a squeeze to say thank you.

The five of them then headed over to James, Lily and Sirius’ flat for some lunch and a short break.

---

“I can’t believe he’s really gone.” Remus sighed, not turning around from he was sat on the sofa. It was this ugly worn out yellow sofa with turquoise pillows on it that he and Peter had gotten when they had first moved in together. They had both been short of money and someone a few streets away had advertised it as free so they had gotten it. They had another sofa now and an armchair but they hadn’t had it in them to throw the old one away. “It just… I feel guilty, you know? I should’ve been the one to go.” He didn’t need to turn around to know that Sirius was there.

The other lad took a seat next to him, sitting much closer than was usual for two friends. “Don’t be like that. He wouldn’t have moved if he didn’t want to. But hey, you can do what you want now! You could get a dog or turn Pete’s room into whatever you want until the baby’s here. Maybe a guest room… Or a game room.” Sirius suggested, hoping to cheer him up.

It didn’t work.

“Hey, come on, let’s not dwell on it. Peter will be over later. We’re all going out for drinks, remember?” Sirius attempted to try and cheer him up again. “Come on, let’s put a film on.” He prompted, pulling his phone from his pocket and connecting it to the television, getting Netflix up. “Why don’t we watch Bridget Jones?” Sirius suggested, knowing that it was Remus’ favourite film. He frowned when Remus only shrugged.

Not willing to admit defeat yet, Sirius put them film on and cuddled up into Remus’ side, draping a blanket over them. Remus usually would have cuddled Sirius back, wrapping an arm around him and getting more comfortable, he stayed completely still. Tense. Lost in thought.

“That’s going to be me soon, isn’t it?” Remus sighed, a while later. He still hadn’t relaxed but had been watching the film. Sirius frowned and looked up at him, silently questioning what he meant.

“That. I’m going to be old single and surrounded by smug married couples. In a job that’s boring, my life falling apart. Except I’ll have a kid that I hardly get to see.” He sighed. Sirius wasn’t entirely sure where this was coming from. He guessed that Remus was just feeling lonely and sorry for himself now that Peter was gone. Sirius sat up properly, wanting to give this conversation his full attention.

“Remus, you know that that isn’t the case at all.” Sirius began but Remus soon cut him off.

“It is though! James and Lily are going to get engaged soon, guaranteed! And you know that soon Pete’s gonna find a girl and settle down. He can do a lot more now that he isn’t here. And then you’ll find someone so it will just be me…”

“Remus-” Sirius began but was cut off again by Remus standing up abruptly, walking towards his bedroom before Sirius could do anything.

“Look, I think I’m gonna go and just… I don’t know… Lie down or… Or get some marking and planning done. I… Feel free to finish watching the film. Tell the others that I won’t be going for drinks tonight.” The bedroom door was shut and locked before Sirius could say anymore. Sirius stood up with a deep frown on his face but a box on the floor caught his eye.

Still frowning, Sirius approached it, wondering what Peter had left behind. But he didn’t even bother to check it when the first thing he pulled out was a bundle of blue string. His eyes lit up and he placed it on the counter and pulled out his phone, beginning to text Lily.

Lils! I need your help. Urgent! Are you still stopping at asda on your way home?

In asda now, why? What have you and James done now?

Nothing! I’m not even with James! Can you grab some stuff for me whilst you’re there? It’s to cheer Remus up.

Depends on what it is… I don’t think I want to know…

Get your head out of the damn gutter, Evans. Look, all I need are leeks, veal stock, potatoes, garlic and marmalade.

Are you trying to kill Remus? What the fuck are you even trying to make?

Omg

I just realised

I don’t know what’s sadder - the fact that you’re making that for Remus or the fact that I can guess what you’re making

Consider it done, you wanton sex goddess.

I hate you

Thanks, Lils

Don’t mention it

---

Almost three hours later, Sirius knocked on Remus’ door. “Remus? Can you come out here?”

“You’re still here?!”

Sirius couldn’t help chuckling at Remus answer, although he was surprised that Remus hadn’t heard him crashing around in the kitchen. As he suspected, Remus’ curiosity got the better of him and he soon left his room, still frowning.

“Sirius, I’m sorry but I’m really not in the mood. Just go out without me.” Remus said, sounding genuinely apologetic and guilty but Sirius merely grinned at him.

“That’s alright, the others left about twenty minutes ago. But I have been busy.” Sirius announced dramatically, taking Remus’ hand and pulling him out of his bedroom entirely and into the kitchen, ignoring his protests.

“Really, I was in the middle of-” He was saying but froze as he noticed the meal that had been laid out on the table. “Christ, is that blue soup?” He breathed, causing Sirius’ grin to widen. He was practically bouncing on the spot.

“Yep. Blue soup to start, omelette for a main and then marmalade for dessert.”

“Sirius, this is... “

“Delicious? I know, Now come on, eat.” Sirius encouraged, pulling Remus’ chair out for him and then pushing him in as he sat. Remus laughed but did as he was told and found that the soup actually wasn’t bad.

“Sirius?” Sirius hummed as he ate his blue soup to show that he was listening. “Why did you do all of this?”

“Well, you know me. I’m a terrible disaster with a posh voice and a bad character.” Sirius quoted, winking at Remus before he went back to his food but Remus wasn’t having any of it and he stood, moving to kneel beside Sirius. “I need you, Remus. You’re the only one that can save me.” He continued to quote, now turning his attention to Remus, putting his spoon down. “I… Remus…”

Remus cut him off yet again. Under any other circumstances, Sirius would have protested and made a whole show and dance of it, telling Remus to stop. It really was rude. But how could he possibly do anything when Remus’ lips were finally pressed against his?

He kissed back eagerly but couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed, turning in his chair to thread his fingers through Remus’ hair.

[To anyone that hasn’t seen Bridget Jones and doesn’t get those references, I’m sorry. Well, sorry for you. You should go and watch it. Like right now. Watch it and you won’t regret it! But yay, they finally kissed! I very nearly just gave up on this and just did like one more chapter and left it at that but my wonderful wonderful friend @holy-shit-its-wolfstar convinced me otherwise so here is another chapter. I have a few more things planned for this fic but if people aren’t interested in it and aren’t reading and commenting and stuff then I may not continue it. So if you are enjoying it and want to see more, please reblog and like and stuff because it’s super discouraging when you post a new chapter or fic and no one interacts/cares! This has not been checked as usual so please, if you see any mistakes, please nicely let me know about them! Requests are still open on my tumblr!

Tagging: @rosielupin @nagemeikenu @grey-mae @blitheringmcgonagall

Let me know if you want to be tagged in future updates!

[trashcanmarvelfan]

Best. Job. Ever 4/12

So oops, I updated this like a week ago on AO3 but forgot to update here, so you’re getting 2 chapters again, lovelies! 

Btw, this IS completely written, I’m just editing and posting as time allows.

Summary: Reader gets a job on the set of Spider-Man: Far from Home for the 3 weeks they are shooting in New York City as what she thinks is a production assistant, but a twist of fate has her reassigned as Tom Holland’s personal assistant. As she & Tom grow close during filming, will their budding friendship turn to more or will they go their separate ways after filming concludes?

Warnings: Language, but that’s pretty much it? This is basically a PG-13 rom-com.

Word Count: 2571 for chapter 4.

Author’s Note: As this was written WAY before Spider-Man: Far from Home was released (actually before Avengers: Endgame was as well) I’ve kept plot details and which scene was being shot on what day extremely vague. Also, I’m American but tried to write Tom as British as possible, although I do think he’d try to stay(ish) in character and use as much American slang as he could while he’s still playing Peter.

Chapter-Specific Author’s Note: Ik Rent went off Broadway in like 2008 or something but I do what I want, lol.

Requests are always open!

Cross-posted at AO3.

The rest of the week continued much like the first day: Y/N would show up at Tom’s hotel room at 7:15 with coffee (fortunately-- or unfortunately, Y/N honestly wasn’t sure which-- the rest of the week Tom had always been dressed by the time Y/N knocked on his door), they would ride to set, Tom would film a few scenes, they would eat lunch, Tom would get back to filming, and then they would head back to their hotel, eating dinner together in one of their rooms (usually something Y/N would run out and pick up or have delivered to her room) and hanging out for a while before parting for the night.

Saturday night had Y/N and Tom hanging out in Y/N’s hotel room eating Chinese takeout while watching Infinity War on the hotel TV’s cable.

“DAMN IT, QUILL!” Y/N yelled at the TV as he started beating Thanos in the head with his gun, causing Mantis to lose her balance and let go of her control of Thanos’ mind. “Ugh, every freaking time.”

Tom laughed. “Yeah, that’s basically everyone’s reaction.”

Y/N blushed. “Sorry about that. I just always want to punch Quill in the face right there. They had Thanos, and he comes traipsing along and ruins their chances of getting the Gauntlet off. I mean, I get that he was upset about Gamora, and rightly so, but dang, he just single handedly caused the destruction of half the universe!”

Y/N’s and Tom’s phones chimed simultaneously.

“Looks like the shooting schedule for next week is here,” Y/N said, pulling it up on her phone. “Your call times are different for each day, and it also looks like Friday will be a long one, but hey, you at least have Saturday and Sunday off before the final week of shooting.”

They worked out times to meet up to head to the set the next week and when Y/N turned her attention back to the TV Thanos had snapped his fingers and people were already starting to turn to ash. Y/N brought her hand to her chest as Peter clung to Tony. I don’t want to go. “I can’t believe you improvised that scene, but I should’ve figured that you’d quote The Doctor.”

Tom glanced over at her. “You watch Doctor Who?”

Y/N nodded. “Just New Who, starting with Eccleston, but yeah.”

“Who’s your favorite Doctor?”

“Ten, hands down,” Y/N said with zero hesitation.

“No wonder you recognized that line.”

YN nodded. “It just kills me every time, whether it’s you or David Tennant that says it.”

They talked about Doctor Who until it started to get late. “So, what are you planning to do with your day of freedom?” Tom asked as they cleaned up from dinner.

“Oh, I’m just planning on taking it easy tomorrow,” Y/N replied. “What about you?”

“I need to study my lines for next week.”

Y/N bit her lip. “Maybe I could help you run your lines? I mean, if you want, no big deal.”

Tom grinned. “I’d like that a lot, actually.”

“Great. I’ll text you when I get up?”

“Sounds good.”

“Ok, well, I’m gonna head out. It’s getting pretty late.”

Tom walked Y/N over to the door. “‘Night, Y/N.”

“‘Night, Tom.”

The next morning Y/N texted Tom as soon as she woke up and got dressed.

Hey, I’m up and can help you go over your lines whenever you’re ready.

Tom texted back almost immediately. Give me like 5 minutes, yeah?

Ok, sure. I’ll run downstairs to pick you up something from the coffee shop then.

The three bubbles that indicated that Tom was typing popped up. Actually I’m downstairs right now getting something, so no need!

Oh! Lol Ok then.

A few minutes later Tom texted back. Ok, I’m back upstairs. Come on over.

Y/N grabbed her stuff and walked down to Tom’s room.

Tom answered the door with a grin. “Morning, Y/N,” he said, ushering her in. Y/N paused mid-way into the room when she saw coffee and pastries set out for both of them.

“I figured since you’ve been fetching breakfast for me all week and since I was getting myself something anyway the least I could do is return the favor,” Tom said.

“Aww, that’s so sweet,” Y/N replied. “Thank you.”

They sat and ate then Y/N helped Tom run his lines until he was comfortable with them.  “Wow, it’s four already. I’m sure you want to relax the rest of the afternoon,” Y/N said, getting up from the couch where they had been sitting, “so I guess I’m gonna get out of your hair so you can chill.”  She turned toward the door. “Wait!” Tom exclaimed.

Y/N turned back to Tom.

Tom rubbed the back of his neck. “I, err, I have a surprise for you.”

He walked over to his dresser and pulled an envelope out of the top drawer, handing it to Y/N.

Y/N looked at him curiously as she opened it, finally pulling out the contents. Her jaw dropped. “Front row seats to Rent!?”

“You can’t come to New York and not see a Broadway play. I was hoping you’d accompany me tonight,” Tom said.

Y/N was still staring at the tickets. “How did you even know I liked Rent?”

“I, err… I overheard you singing ‘Out Tonight’ on Wednesday while you were waiting for me after the set was cleared,” Tom explained.

Y/N was still shocked. “But how did you even get these? It’s been sold out for months!”

Tom winked. “You’re not the only Rent-head around here, you know.”

“And are you sure you want me to come with you? You wouldn’t rather Z or someone else from the cast go with you?”

Tom shook his head. “I figured you’d appreciate the show as much as I do. So is that a yes?”

“Oh my gosh, YES!”  Y/N threw her arms around Tom in a massive hug. “This is so amazing! I’ve been wanting to see that play for years but never thought I’d have the chance to see it live!”

“Brilliant.” Tom beamed. “I’ll be ‘round in, say, a hour so we can have dinner beforehand? I know a great sushi restaurant in Times Square.”

“Sounds great.” Y/N turned to Tom again and gave him another hug. “You are just the absolute best, you know that? I can’t believe this -- I have to go get ready!”

Y/N ran back to her room and flew through getting ready.  She put on the nicest outfit she had brought (thank goodness she was a packrat and thought to bring a decent dress!) and hurried to do her hair and makeup.

She was applying her eyeliner in the bathroom mirror when there was a knock on her door. “Come in!” she called.  She and Tom had each gotten an extra room key and had swapped them in case of emergency, so she didn’t have to go answer the door.

Tom stuck his head in the door. “Y/N?”

“Almost ready!”

Y/N finished her makeup and stepped out of the bathroom. Tom was standing in front of Y/N’s full-length mirror and caught her reflection. A broad grin spread over his face and he turned toward her. “Y/N, you look stunning,” he breathed.

Y/N blushed. “Thank you. You look great too.”

Tom had worn a similar outfit to the one he had worn the night they went to dinner after the first day of filming, except this time he had paired an open-collar button-down shirt with his sports coat, jeans, and sneaker combo. He extended his arm. “Shall we?”

Y/N linked her arm with his. “Lead the way, Mr. Holland.”

“Viva, la vie, Bohemme!”

Y/N and Tom laughed as they stepped off the elevator.

“Oh my gosh, that was so much fun. Never in a million years did I ever think I’d be able to see Rent live and in person.” Y/N couldn’t keep the grin off of her face.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

They stopped in front of Tom’s door.  “You want to come in and watch the film version on Netflix?” he asked.

“Sure! I love the movie version. Gimmie like 5 minutes though to go change into something more comfortable?”

Tom nodded. “Ok. I’ve got snacks, so I’ll get everything set up while you change.”

“See you in a few.”

Y/N ran to her room and changed into some comfortable pants and a t-shirt, and pulled on a pair of fuzzy socks to walk down the hall in instead of putting her sneakers on.

She grabbed her keycard and headed back to Tom’s. The door had been held open by the privacy lock, so she just knocked gently and went in, disengaging the lock so the door could shut.

Tom was sitting on his bed, scrolling through Netflix. A bowl of popcorn and various movie theater-type candy was spread out next to him. His hair was wet-- he had obviously grabbed a quick shower while Y/N had been gone-- and he had changed into flannel pajamas pants and a plain white t-shirt. He looked up and grinned.

Y/N walked past him to the other side of the bed and climbed in, careful not to disturb the snacks in between them. “I see you got comfortable as well.”

Tom grinned. “Ready?”

“Let’s do it.”

As the opening credits rolled, Y/N said, “I think it's so great that most of the original Broadway cast reprised their roles for the movie.”

“Me too,” Tom agreed, grabbing a handful of popcorn.  

They watched the movie mostly in silence, occasionally grabbing some popcorn or a handful of candy, until the opening notes to Light My Candle came on. Tom turned to Y/N. What you’d forget? he mouthed.

Y/N grinned. Got a light? she responded.

Tom reached for her. I know you, you’re… you’re shivering.

It’s nothing, they turned off my heat, and I’m just a little weak on my feet… Y/N pretended to swoon towards Tom and winked.

They kept going, both really getting into character. When they arrived at the line, They say I have the best ass below 14th Street, is it true? You’re staring again! Tom blushed and was flustered when he lip-synched Roger’s line, Oh no… I mean, you do… have a nice-- Y/N thought his flustered reaction seemed actually kind of genuine but quickly chalked it up to the darkness of the room and Tom’s really good acting skills and pushed it out of her mind as she kept going.

They continued their back & forth throughout the song. They call me, they call me Mimi...Y/N lip-synched, dangling a gummy worm in front of Tom before taking a bite with a grin as the song ended.

They both burst into laughter. “Oh my gosh, that was so fun,” Tom said in between fits of laughter, leaning back against the headboard.

Y/N fell over on Tom’s shoulder, she was laughing so hard. “That. Was. AWESOME.” She wiped a few stray tears of laughter away as she straightened.

Today 4 U was just starting. Y/N nodded toward the TV. “Think you’d be able to do that?”

“Definitely not in heels, at least not without loads of practice.” Tom answered. “I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

The rest of the movie was spent lip-syncing along to a majority of the soundtrack -- during “Out Tonight” Y/N grabbed the remote and used it as a makeshift microphone while she danced around the room, much to Tom’s amusement -- and watching in somber silence during “Without You”.

Y/N did a fist pump when the opening notes of “What You Own” started playing. “This is one of my favorite songs on the entire soundtrack,” she said. “It’s so powerful, and the bro-hug at the end just melts my heart.”

Tom nodded. “It’s definitely a turning point in the film.”

As the movie wound down, the popcorn and snacks dwindled as well. Tom placed the empty popcorn bowl on the nightstand next to him as the finale started.

“My one complaint is that I really wish the alternate ending would’ve been used in the film.”

“Me too!” Y/N exclaimed. “I mean I get why it wasn’t used, but I like the play’s version of the ending where it ends just like it begins. And speaking of… I’m so embarrassed I cried when Angel came running on stage during the finale.”

Tom chuckled. “I think it’s cute-- err, I mean nice. It’s nice that you’re reactive like that. Makes an actor feel like they’re giving a believable performance.”  

“Speaking of acting…” Y/N checked her phone for the time. “It’s getting late. You better get some rest since your call time for tomorrow is early and you’re doing a lot of stunts.”

They stood and Tom walked Y/N to the door.

Y/N gave Tom a hug, and without thinking, also gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Oh, shit, I'm so sorry about that--” she stammered, taking a step back.

“What?” Tom looked confused.

“Just now-- I really didn’t mean to kiss you. I wasn’t thinking, and I understand if you’d be upset about it--”

Tom shook his head. “Why on earth would I be upset with you?” he tried to interrupt.

“--and it was completely unprofessional, so I’d also get it if you’d want to request a different assistant--”

“Wait, wait, Y/N!” Tom cried. He took Y/N's arms in a firm but gentle grip, steadying her. “I'm sorry to keep interrupting you, but I’m not upset at all.” He let go & studied her. “Have I given you the impression at any point this week that I've been anything less than pleased with you?”

Y/N blushed. “Well, no, not really…” she mumbled. “But I thought maybe you’d think I was hitting on you or something…”

“First off, it was just a kiss on the cheek, it’s not like you threw yourself at me.  And secondly…” Tom paused. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I kind of already consider you a friend. You’re incredibly easy to talk to, we have loads in common, and at the risk of sounding completely pompous you don’t seem to just be friendly to me because of my celebrity status or because Sony is paying you to be. I mean come on, you’ve insisted on rotating who was paying for dinner all week. You’re a genuinely nice person and I like being around you. There’s absolutely no reason to fret, okay?”

Y/N nodded. “Ok.”

Tom stood. “Now that’s settled then, yeah?”

Y/N nodded. “Yeah.”

Tom reached out and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, then pulled her in for a hug. “Goodnight, Y/N.” He kissed her on the cheek, then gave her a wink.

Y/N laughed. “Goodnight, Tom. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She went in and got ready for bed. As she lay there in the darkness replaying the night in her head she suddenly realized that her feelings for Tom definitely weren’t going anywhere-- in fact they had blossomed into a full-scale crush. I am so screwed.

Tagging: @thoughstofaredhead & @greenarrowhead

[pikapeppa]

Fenris/f!Hawke modern AU: Lyrium

Chapter 4 of Damned Spot is up! Read on AO3, or read the previous chapters here on Tumblr: [1] [2] [3] 

Also, @schoute is making a gorgeous comic of the fic! See the first two pages on her Tumblr!

In which there are text messages, and also a party WITH FRIENDS. And also some angst. A longer chapter (~7700 words), but what the heck, I’ll post it all. 

****************

Piper solicitously wrapped a blanket around Rynne’s shoulders. “So let me get this straight,” she said. “He saves you from a butthurt asshole in the alley. You patch him up. He walks you home. And not even a goodnight kiss?”

She jumped up from the couch and moved toward the kitchen, and Rynne let out a quick laugh. “Trust me, Pipes, it wasn’t… The mood was not right for a kiss.”

It was Monday afternoon, and Piper had gotten home late last night from her weekend getaway. Rynne had just finished an abridged telling of the Friday night debacle - leaving out all the information about Fenris’s past, of course.

Rynne wasn’t being entirely truthful when she said the mood hadn’t been right for a kiss. During the whole walk home, she’d been forced to suppress the urge to take shelter in the steady strength of Fenris’s arms. She was a big fan of physical comfort, hugs and hand-holding and the like, and Fenris’s timely rescue - combined with the fact that she was already infatuated with him - made her want to cling to him like a baby lemur.

But she was trying to respect his aversion to touch. Besides, the walk home had been… oddly intense. Fenris had seemed deep in thought, and Rynne had nervously blathered about all kinds of stupid things to make up for his silence, and by the time they reached the door of Isabela’s condo building, it had almost been a relief when he’d dropped her off with nothing more than a polite nod of the head and a wish for a good night.

Rynne knew she should probably be more freaked out about Fenris’s past. Being an enforcer for the Tevinter mob was not a minor revelation. But for some reason, she just couldn’t bring herself to be scared of him. Maybe she was in denial, or maybe she’d seen so many action movies that she was desensitized to the idea, but she just… didn’t mind.

Fenris’s past didn’t change anything. He was still the same quiet, broody, private, smooth-voiced, handsome and helpful elf he’d always been. The only difference was that Rynne now knew why he was so quiet and broody and private.

How basic was it that the reveal of his dark past just made her want to kiss him all the more?

Piper grunted and poured a cup of hot tea. “What about Saturday and Sunday night, then? He walked you home all weekend and no kiss?”

Rynne slumped on the couch as Piper flitted back to her side and placed the tea on the coffee table. “No, okay? No kiss. He’s probably not interested. He probably thinks I’m just some dumb girl who needs to be looked after.” She couldn’t help but kind of feel that way herself. What the hell was the point of self-defence training if it just melted out of her brain the second she was attacked? She’d tried to headbutt the guy in the face, but that had failed, and if Fenris hadn’t shown up -

She shivered and wrapped her arms around her knees. She could still remember the disgusting feeling of that asshole’s bulging crotch pressing against her back as he shoved her against the wall.

Fucking horrible, she thought. She reached out and grabbed the mug of tea on the coffee table, then took a gulp and scalded her tongue.

Piper watched her worriedly, then carefully tucked the blanket around her neck and her feet. “Should’ve let Fenris cut that guy’s dick off. That would have served him right.”

“Yeah,” Rynne sighed. “But we would have been there all night. His dick was probably microscopic and impossible to find.”

Piper snorted. “Probably. But once Fenris cut it off, we could stick it into the garnish tray with the cornichons. It would be right at home.”

Rynne grinned at the gross image, and they both burst into raucous laughter. Then Piper wrapped her arms around Rynne’s neck in a tight hug. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” she said. “If I’d been there to watch out for you -”

Rynne hugged her back. “Oh balls, don’t be fucking stupid,” she said. “You were off having a sexy holiday! How was your weekend, by the way? You didn’t tell me. How’s Ostwick at this time of year?”

Piper pulled away and shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”

Her tone of voice was exceedingly innocent. Rynne hid her smirk and played along. “Oh? What do you mean?” she asked.

Piper coyly tugged her silvery braid over one shoulder. “We spent the whole weekend in the hotel room. Except for meals. That is, when I wasn’t devouring Cullen’s-”

Rynne snickered and shoved Piper away. “Thank you, too much information. I don’t want to hear all the details of my best friend feasting on my lawyer’s cock, thanks very much.”

Piper cackled and shoved her in return. “Hey, you said it, not me. You’re the nasty one.”

“Ooh, who’s nasty? Do tell.” Isabela floated into the living room wearing nothing but a silken dressing gown and a grin. She flopped down on the couch beside Rynne, and one half of her gown fell open to reveal a pierced nipple.

As always, Piper and Rynne ignored her nudity. “Piper spent the whole weekend sucking Cullen’s cock,” Rynne reported.

“And Rynne spent the whole weekend wishing she was sucking Fenris’s cock,” Piper retaliated.

Rynne gasped in mock offense. “How dare you get so far into my brain? You pervert.”

Isabela straightened up. “That’s it. I need to meet this Fenris.” She pulled her phone out of her dressing gown pocket and tapped the screen, then held the phone to her ear.

Rynne raised an eyebrow. “Who are you calling?”

Isabela blew her a kiss, then rose gracefully from the couch. “Josie? It’s me. I’m throwing a party this Saturday. Let’s say… seventy-five people. A smaller little thing, yes. Can you-” She paused and listened, then threw her head back and laughed. “Thanks, sweets. You know me too well.” She listened for a moment longer, then grinned and ended the call.

She shifted her weight to one hip and planted a hand on her waist. “Bring your handsome bouncer, Hawke. I won’t take no for an answer.”

A flutter of anticipation lit Rynne’s belly, and she and Piper grinned at each other. Then another cheerful voice joined the conversation. “Oh, are we having a party? How nice! Can I make a cake?”

Rynne grinned as Merrill flitted through the kitchen into the living room. “Is it going to be a cake like last time? Because if so, then that’s a hard no.”

Merrill waved her hands. “No, no, that was just a mistake! Silly me, putting in a tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon-”

Isabela draped her arm around Merrill’s slender shoulders. “Of course you can make a cake, kitten. I’ll eat the first piece myself.”

Merrill happily clapped her hands. “Oh good! Mihris sent me a pin with a new recipe and I’ve been hoping for a good reason to try it. It’s kind of an odd one, mind you, it’s got dragonthorn in it, but most of the reviews say the aftertaste is supposed to be lovely…”

Piper, Merrill, and Isabela continued to chat about cakes and cocks and who to invite to the party, and Rynne pulled out her phone and flicked through to her contacts. Finally, at long last, she had a good reason to text him.

She bit her lip as she looked at Fenris’s number. Then, with a happy little flutter of nerves, she tapped his name and started a new message thread.

1:27pm  - hey! party at Isabela’s place this Saturday! 1:27pm  - you can come anytime after 8pm but the earlier the better 1:27pm - dont be fashionably late. i like punctuality in a man 1:28pm - i’ll dance with you if you’re very good ;)

She sent the messages rapid-fire, then listened to her friends’ conversation with half an ear while she waited.

She waited and tapped her toes impatiently for a minute or so, then rose to her feet and went to the kitchen to refresh her tea. Fenris’s phone was so archaic that Rynne probably wouldn’t get the little animated-ellipsis-thingy showing that he was typing, so she would just have to suffer the wait.

While the kettle was boiling, she heard the ding of a new text in her pocket. She hurriedly pulled out her phone.

1:35pm - Who is this 1:35pm - How did you get this number

She laughed. She could almost hear his suspicion through the letters on her screen. She started to type a response, but his next message appeared before she could finish.

1:36pm - Hawke?

She grinned giddily, feeling somehow flattered that he knew it was her. She quickly finished her replies.

1:36pm - 10 points to the broody elf! yes, it’s Hawke 1:36pm - keep your schedule clear for saturday night! 1:36pm - Isabela relaly wants to meet you 1:36pm - really**

She placed the phone on the counter and stared unseeingly at the kettle while she waited. Once the kettle had boiled, she poured her tea over the teabag in her mug and picked up her phone, despite not having heard the text tone.

Indeed, no new replies from Fenris. Rynne nibbled the inside of her cheek, then flicked around on Pinterest and saved a few fanart posts, but she was having trouble pretending to be interested in anything except the burning silence of her messaging app.

She eventually returned to the living room and forced herself to join in with the others’ conversation. An eon later, when her phone dinged again, she shamelessly whipped it out and looked at the screen.

1:52pm - It is not a good idea.

She frowned. She understood that he wanted to keep his head down, but he would just be one more face in the crowd at this party.

She swiftly tapped out her replies.

1:52pm - please come 1:52pm - i promise my friends are not as bad as me 1:52pm - well that might be a lie 1:53pm - but i promise youll have a good time 1:53pm - if you hate it, you can leave. i’ll pack you a doggie bag of snacks and everything

Did she sound desperate? Probably. Did she care? Apparently not. She really was willing to make an idiot of herself for him, it seemed.

“So?” Isabela asked. “What’s he saying?”

Rynne didn’t bother to ask how Isabela knew who she was texting. She gave Isabela a rueful smile. “It’s touch and go. He’s not really a ‘people person’.”

Isabela shrugged, and her silken gown slipped off of one shoulder. “Tell him we’ll all show him our tits if he comes.”

Merrill gasped and folded her arms across her chest, and Piper cackled. “Only if we all want Cullen’s face to burst into flame.”

Isabela laughed and Rynne grinned wickedly, but before she could reply, her phone dinged once more.

1:55pm - I will think about it.

Rynne breathed a small sigh of relief. An opening was all she needed.

1:55pm - yay! i’ll make sure Bels stocks up on the best red wine just for you

She had the entire week to bring him around. Surely she could convince him to come in the space of a week.

***********************

Fenris shouldn’t have come.

He stood stock-still outside of the entrance to Isabela’s condo. It was a mistake to come here. Parties involved being introduced to people, and having them stare at him and wanting to shake hands, and remembering his face and his name in order to tell other people about him later.

All of it boded poorly. Fenris was trying to stay incognito. He didn’t want to be looked at. He didn’t want to be remembered, so coming here was a mistake. The entire time he was walking here from Lowtown, he’d told himself that coming to this party was a mistake, and yet here he was.

He scowled at the big glass double doors for a long minute while he considered turning around and going home. Then his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He flipped it open to find a new message from Hawke.

9:42pm - i hope your on your way! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 9:42pm - you’re*** 9:43pm - for the first you’re i mean 9:43pm - fuck it you understand what i mena 9:43pm - fuck’s sake

Despite his buzzing discomfort, he couldn’t help but smile. Her texts were just like her: over the top, overly flirtatious, and impossible to ignore. And also oddly charming.

He traced his thumb across the texts, then flipped his phone shut. He pushed open the heavy glass doors and buzzed the intercom for Isabela’s condo.

A loud voice and an indistinct buzz of noise greeted him. “Welcome to the animal house. Who dares to enter this den of debauchery?”

Fenris frowned apprehensively. The voice on the line sultry and smooth, and definitely not Hawke’s. “Is Hawke there?” he asked.

The sultry voice chuckled. “I don’t know your voice, but I bet I know who you are. Come on in, handsome.” She disconnected the call, and Fenris heard the click of the inner doors unlocking.

He cast the intercom a suspicious look, then slunk through the lobby toward the elevators and hit the PH button. He held himself perfectly still as the elevator slid smoothly up to the penthouse floor, then stepped out of the elevator into a short corridor.

He immediately heard the faint thump of bass and the noise of conversation. He swallowed hard, then cautiously approached the door at the end of the hall and rang the doorbell. Moments later, a beautiful woman in a scandalously short white dress answered the door.

She grinned at him and slid a salacious look across his body. “Wow. You must be Fenris.”

He raised one eyebrow and hid his hands in his pockets. “And you must be Isabela.”

She laughed and raised her mostly-empty crystal tumbler. “Guilty as charged. Come on in and make yourself comfortable.”

Fenris followed her into the apartment and immediately began assessing the situation. The condo was less crowded than he’d anticipated, but that was likely more because of how enormous it was rather than the number of people per se. Two storeys, two generous sitting areas, and an enormous open-plan kitchen were the first features he absorbed, as well as the exceedingly tasteful white-and chrome decor… or at least it would be exceedingly tasteful, but it was broken up by a multitude of personal touches - knick-knacks, cushions and blankets, and wall art and plants that were variably colourful, chaotic, and cozy, and all of which clearly indicated the tastes of a number of different residents.

“I’ll get you a drink,” Isabela said. “Red wine, right?”

Fenris turned his attention to her and narrowed his eyes. “What else have Piper and Hawke told you?” he drawled.

Isabela smirked. “Honestly? Nothing much. Which is why I was hoping you would come. I hate missing out. What’s the point of being a famous actress if your friends are flirting with handsome boys and having all the fun at home?”

“Hm,” Fenris said as Isabela ushered him further into the house and further into the cheerfully chattering crowd. “Is that why you have roommates? You certainly don’t seem to need them.”

“Exactly,” Isabela purred. “Why else would I own an extravagantly large penthouse if it’s not to fill it with beautiful women and party all the time?”

Fenris huffed in amusement, then followed Isabela into the kitchen. Myriad people were laughing and drinking therein, and as he waited for Isabela to pour his wine, he caught sight of a familiar face - or rather, a familiar silvery fall of hair.

He slowly drifted away from Isabela to join Piper, who was talking animatedly to an attractive blond man. “...and this asshole clips me on my bike. So naturally, I go after him.”

“Maker preserve me, Piper,” the man groaned. Piper chuckled, then glanced over in Fenris’s direction.

She straightened and smiled. “Fenris! You’re finally here! Hawke was - we weren’t sure if you were going to show!”

He tilted his head in a polite nod. “My apologies. I wasn’t sure if I would come, either.”

Piper’s blond companion gave him a half-smile. “Not a fan of parties, I take it?”

Fenris raised an eyebrow. “Not particularly.”

The man folded his arms. “Neither am I. The, um, unwanted attention usually makes such events more annoying than they’re worth.”

“Oh, Cullen. Are you complaining again about being too handsome?” Isabela wafted over and handed Fenris a glass of wine. “It’s such a hard life, isn’t it?”

Cullen shot Isabela a chiding look. “We don’t all make careers off of our looks, Isabela.”

“More’s the pity,” she replied, then winked at him.

Fenris raised his eyebrows in recognition. “So you are Piper’s boyfriend,” he said to Cullen. “She and Hawke have spoken highly of you.”

Piper smacked herself in the forehead. “Right! You haven’t met! I’m so sorry - Fenris, this is Cullen. Cullen, Fenris.”   

Cullen smiled and held out his hand to shake. With a small internal sigh - and so the handshaking begins - Fenris briefly grasped Cullen’s proffered hand. “I hear your law practice is very successful. And very busy.”

“Too busy, at times,” Cullen said ruefully. “I haven’t had a chance to take a case like Hawke’s in a very long time.”

Fenris frowned. “...Hawke’s?”

“Oh,” Piper said brightly. “I forgot to tell you. Cullen sometimes takes pro bono cases for us little people who can’t afford a big fancy lawyer. He’s very generous with his time that way.” She looped her hand through Cullen’s elbow and gave him an adoring look.

Isabela made a mock-vomiting noise, and Piper snickered and punched her in the shoulder. Meanwhile, Cullen cleared his throat awkwardly. His cheeks were turning pink. “It is not - she exaggerates, it’s simply my duty to help -”

“Don’t dismiss yourself,” Fenris interjected. “That is a very noble undertaking. It sickens me that the trappings of power and wealth also ensnare the justice system. The world could use more lawyers such as yourself, who care more about righting wrongs than collecting wealth.”

Piper and Isabela stared at him, and Cullen lifted his eyebrows appreciatively. “Well. I… thank you, Fenris, that’s very kind of you to say.”

Fenris nodded and sipped his wine, feeling increasingly awkward. The dance beats and the sounds of conversation and laughter were loud, but the stunned silence from Isabela and Piper somehow felt louder.

He returned his gaze to Cullen. “So. You… you worked with Hawke?”

He nodded. “Yes, with the whole situation with her father and the lyrium. I was happy to help. It wasn’t -”

Fenris’s belly jolted. “Lyrium?” he said sharply.

Cullen frowned slightly. “Yes, in his final days. She… she didn’t tell you?”

Fenris stared at him with growing discomfiture. Then Piper cut in. “Shit. Maybe she didn’t tell him,” she said to Cullen. She grimaced at Fenris. “Sorry, Fenris, she’s an open book about it, I just assumed -”

“Fenris!” Hawke’s bright and cheerful voice cut through the noise. She bounced over and beamed at him. “You’re here, finally! Took you long enough. Did you take the scenic route through the docks to get here? If so, I hope you brought us some seafood. The shrimp cocktail leaves something to be desired.”

Isabela scoffed. “Ungrateful tart. I’ll make sure to let Josephine know.”

“Please do,” Hawke snickered. “I mean, you know I prefer my shrimp breaded and fried, but I’m also a pleb with simple tastes.” She tilted her head at Fenris. “Is the wine okay?”

How are you involved with lyrium? The question burned through his mind. Had she been on the receiving end of it? Had someone forced her to deal it? What had Cullen been talking about?

He tried to push his agitation aside as he scrambled for an appropriate response to her question. “I - yes, it’s fine,” he said.

“Only ‘fine’?” Isabela said indignantly. “That’s a shame. This was supposed to be the best stock from Nevarra.” She plucked the glass from his hand and sipped it, then pouted slightly. “You’re right. It’s not great. Let me get you another.”

“Oh. No, that’s not - that glass is fine-” he started to say, but Isabela had already turned away.

Hawke shrugged and smiled at him. “I’m sure she knew your wine was fine. She just needed an excuse to walk away so we could all stare at her fine ass.”

At her words, Fenris instinctively looked at Isabela’s departing backside. It was admittedly a very fine one.

He returned his gaze to Hawke, and she smiled more broadly. “Made you look,” she teased.

He studied her playful expression. Isabela’s curves were undeniably ripe, but if Fenris was completely honest, he was more interested in the slender physique of the cheeky, pixie-haired woman in front of him.

He stuck his hands into his pockets, wishing that he had a wine glass to hold onto. “Your dress is interesting,” he said to Hawke. Indeed, the fabric of her grey-and-white dress was the oddest print he had ever seen: a chaotic pattern of skulls and pineapples, of all the strange things.

She beamed at him. “Thank you! It is, isn’t it?” She snickered. “Don’t think I didn’t notice your wording, though. ‘Interesting’ is not exactly a compliment.”

“Then I misspoke,” Fenris replied. “I like it very much.�� And he did. The pattern was odd, but the cut of the fitted dress was… extremely flattering.

Hawke’s smile softened, and Fenris felt an undeniable - and treacherous - jolt of satisfaction when her cheeks started to flush. “You smooth talker,” she said happily. “Keep up the compliments, and you’re definitely invited to the next party.”

“Hmm. A dubious honour at best,” he replied.

Hawke laughed brightly at his comment. Fenris smirked, then tore his eyes away from her lovely laughing face, incidentally making eye contact with Piper.

Piper, who was watching him with a very satisfied grin.

Fenris dropped his gaze and cleared his throat uncomfortably - why was Isabela taking so long with that wine? - and was very relieved when another familiar face joined their group.

“Well well, the broody elf has come out of his hole,” Varric said. He gave Fenris an appraising look. “Our girls finally managed to drag you out, did they?”

“You could say that,” Fenris said. “They’re very… persistent.” He shot Hawke a quick glance, and she winked at him.

Varric chuckled. “Good. The more the merrier at these things, I say.”

Cullen harrumphed. “I have to say, I’m glad Isabela kept this one small. I haven’t forgotten what happened the last time.” He shot Piper a resentful look.

Piper scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I left you alone for two minutes. It’s not my fault that your resting bitch face is just as cute as your happy face.”

“I - but - they started unbuttoning my shirt!” Cullen protested, and Piper giggled and kissed his cheek.

Fenris looked around at the crowded penthouse. “Wait. This is a small party?” The house wasn’t uncomfortably crowded, but it was getting there. There were so many people that Fenris wasn’t even worrying anymore about being recognized or remembered.

“Oh yeah,” Varric drawled. “You’ve got room to move? Then it’s a small party. This place can get worse than a nightclub on a good night.”

“Why are we even still standing in the kitchen?” Hawke demanded. “We should go upstairs. The upstairs living room is usually less busy.”

Then Isabela reappeared behind Varric. “Sorry for the hold-up,” she said as she handed Fenris his wine. “Now, whose cock size were you gossiping about? Don’t be shy. Fill me in. I mean, I’m fairly sure Varric’s is the biggest, but let’s just say -”

“We were discussing going upstairs,” Cullen interrupted loudly. “A fine idea, I think, if it means fewer people around.”

Isabela rolled her eyes. “I thought Piper brought you along to loosen up, not so your asshole gets even tighter.”

Cullen pursed his lips in annoyance, and Piper laughed and pinched his bum. “Come on, babe, let’s go. Everyone upstairs. Last one there has to dance on the pole for us.”

Fenris frowned. “Pole?”

Hawke blurted a tiny laugh, and Fenris glanced over to find her cheeks turning pink. She shot him an oddly coy look, then jerked her head to the right. “This way,” she said. Then she waved to a couple of other people in the main foyer. “Anders! Merrill! Come join us!”

Feeling increasingly nonplussed, Fenris followed Hawke and her friends up the stairs to yet another seating area that was indeed centered around a pole that spanned from the ceiling to a circular platform on the floor.

His eyebrows jumped high on his forehead. “Why…?”

Hawke sat on the couch and patted the cushion beside her, and Fenris took a seat. “It’s good exercise,” she told him.

“And we look gorgeous doing it,” Isabela added. She leaned her elbows on the back of the couch and gave him a sly grin. “Maybe we’ll let you watch sometime.” She elbowed Hawke, and the two of them laughed dirtily, but Fenris noted that Hawke’s cheeks were still pink.

Isabela drifted away to join Varric, Cullen and Piper on the other couch, and Fenris met Hawke’s eyes. She was still smiling, but there was something else about her expression that made him feel oddly jittery. Something almost… deep, or weighted, but not in a bad way - in a nice, warm way, in fact.

He nervously gnawed the inside of his cheek as he cast around for something to say, but Hawke spoke first. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said.

Her tone was warm and serious. Fenris stared at her, feeling strangely at a loss for words. “I-”

Another handsome blond stranger suddenly swooped in and hugged her. “Hawke! There you are. I was just catching up with Merrill. She was going on about that blood lotus treatment of hers and the talk she gave at the Arlathvhen, it doesn’t sound like it went over too well -”

“Anders, I told you, it wasn’t the blood lotus part they didn’t like,” a small Dalish girl interjected. She folded her arms and frowned at the new blond man. “I just didn’t explain it well. Hawke, can I practice my presentation with you next time, you know I’m not a very good public speaker…”

The blond man shook his head. “There’s not enough evidence to support the use of blood lotus in medicine, Merrill.”

Fenris watched with growing puzzlement as the Dalish girl’s ears began turning red. “Healing isn’t all about Fereldan medicine!” she snapped. “Traditional elvhen healing isn’t worthless just because there’s insufficient research. But try telling that to your research funding bodies!”

“You two do know this is a party, right?” Hawke drawled. “It’s not a medical conference.”

Anders opened his mouth, then released a little chuckle and sat on the platform that the dancing pole was affixed to. “Right. Sorry, Hawke, sometimes I get overexcited -”

“This is Fenris, by the way,” Hawke interrupted. “He works with me and Pipes. Fenris, this is Anders and Merrill. Anders is a doctor. Merrill is a Dalish healer.”

Anders nodded politely, and Merrill smiled at Fenris. “Aneth ara. I’ve never seen vallaslin like yours before.” Her eyes fell on his hands, which were resting on his knees.

He frowned and tucked his hands back into his pockets. “It is not vallaslin. I am not Dalish.”

Merrill’s eyes widened. “Oh. I’m sorry, I thought -”

“Sorry, Hawke, I just have to tell you this one thing,” Anders interrupted excitedly. “I finally got that funding I was telling you about! We’ll be able to start the project in about a month, as soon as we’ve finalized the contract with the lyrium supplier.”

Fenris whipped around and narrowed his eyes at Anders. “You work with lyrium?”

“Yes, of course,” Anders said in surprise. “All physicians in Kirkwall do. It’s the only city in the Free Marches where the use of lyrium is legal across the board.”

“It shouldn’t be,” Fenris said brusquely.

Beside him, Hawke went still. Anders recoiled slightly. “You can’t be serious,” he said slowly. “Lyrium saves lives. It’s both a painkiller and a stimulant for the immune system if it’s used safely-”

“There is no safe way to use lyrium,” Fenris retorted. “It’s a dangerous psychoactive drug. There is an enormous market for it in Tevinter. Where I am from, lyrium sales are the backbone of at least seventy percent of organized crime activities.”

Anders relaxed. “Ah. Well, that’s the problem. The Imperium is a specific case. The distribution is much more regulated and controlled here-”

“There is no controlling it,” Fenris said firmly. “Lyrium might be a painkiller and an immune system stimulant, but it is also extremely addictive. It is a weapon used against the poor and unknowing. Tell me, Doctor, how much does a single lyrium capsule cost?”

Anders frowned, then pursed his lips. “It costs approximately $16 per capsule,” he admitted. “More, depending on the brand.”

Fenris leaned back and stretched his arms along the back of the couch. “And you think that your colleagues in this city aren’t taking advantage of that cost? I have read the local news. There have been multiple cases of physicians putting their most vulnerable patients on a higher dose than they require in order to keep them coming back for more.”

Anders glared at him. “The doctors that do that are the exception. They are not the rule.”

“When money is at play, no one is exempt from such corruption,” Fenris announced. “You are a fool if you think yourself immune.”

Anders shot him a filthy look. “And just who are you to lecture about these matters? You work at a pub. What do you know of it?”

“Hey,” Hawke interjected. “Nothing wrong with working at a pub.”

Fenris scowled at Anders’s dismissive tone. “I know more about the dangers of lyrium than you ever will,” he snapped. “You are protected by your physician’s licence and your research funding. You know nothing of how the illicit sale and misuse of lyrium can devastate a family or a town. Or an entire country, in the case of Tevinter.” His mother’s and Varania’s faces flashed across his mind - dead because of Danarius and his lyrium business.

Fenris had never even gotten to say goodbye. Danarius’s people had already dealt with their bodies by the time Fenris had woken up in the hospital. And then Fenris had sullied their memories by becoming addicted to the very substance that had indirectly claimed their lives.

He inhaled deeply through his nose. It is done, he thought. He couldn’t change his past. He wasn’t addicted to lyrium anymore, and that had to be good enough. “Lyrium is a filthy substance, and it is the lifeblood of Tevinter,” he announced. “The Imperium is a corrupt and foul place, and it would not be so if it was not for the lax attitudes toward lyrium.”

Hawke laughed nervously and tugged at one of her many earrings. “I don’t know, Fenris. I don’t think they’d make lyrium legal in Kirkwall if the doctors and policy-making people hadn’t done their due diligence and all that.”

Fenris shot her a hard look. “Don’t be naive. Just because something is legal does not mean it is right. The legalization of lyrium makes it that much easier to abuse.”

Anders leaned forward. “How can you talk about lyrium like this to Hawke?” he demanded.

Fenris frowned at him. “What are you talking about?” He turned his gaze back to Hawke, who was looking increasingly uncomfortable. “What is he talking about?”

Hawke slowly met his gaze, and Fenris’s stomach jolted uncomfortably at the apologetic look on her face. But Anders piped in before she could speak. “Her father died of a lyrium overdose,” he said. “And it was the best thing for him. He would have been in agony otherwise.”

Fenris stared at her. Bewilderment and anger were churning together in his chest. “What… why…?”

“Cancer,” Hawke said. She picked up her tumbler of brandy and idly swirled it. “It was everywhere. His bones, his brain, his organs, everywhere. We moved to Kirkwall specifically so he could be treated with lyrium. Palliative, of course, since the cancer was incurable.” She took a sip of her drink. “He killed himself with lyrium. But they thought I was the one who gave him the dose that killed him.”

Fenris’s eyes widened. “What?” he blurted. Then the pieces clicked into place. “This is how you know Cullen?”

She nodded. “He got the charges against me dropped. He’s pretty amazing, actually. There’s a good reason Pipes is head-over-heels for him.” She took another gulp of brandy and gave him a crooked little smile. “Anders didn’t even tell you the best part,” she said pleasantly. “Do you know who called the police on me?”

Fenris watched with a growing sense of dread as she finished off the last of her drink, then placed the tumbler on the table and looked at him once more. “My mother,” she said. “My mother called the police and told them I killed my dad.” Her smile widened, and then she started to laugh.

Fenris couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t swallow. He stared at her as she laughed, then rose to her feet. “I’m going to get another drink,” she said cheerfully. “Anyone else want one?”

Merrill and Anders quietly declined, and Fenris dumbly shook his head. Hawke winked and slipped past him, then headed down the stairs without looking back.

As soon as she was gone, Anders glared at him. “Nicely done. You really don’t know her at all, do you?”

Fenris returned his glare, but he couldn’t deny the discomfort roiling in his stomach. Most of the lyrium victims he’d encountered had been young and healthy people looking for an escape. Young elves, primarily, who thought they’d found that escape in Danarius’s dealers as they peddled lyrium as a party drug. The only physicians he’d known were the corrupt ones that Danarius worked with, who misused their prescription privileges and kept their patients addicted to lyrium for years on end. Patients like Fenris himself.

He hadn’t encountered anyone like Hawke’s father: riddled with disease and looking to lyrium for relief.  

He rose from the couch, and Anders grabbed his arm. “Leave her alone-”

Fenris wrenched his arm away and pinned Anders with a glare. “Touch me again, and it will be the last thing you ever do.”

Merrill’s eyes grew impossibly large, and Anders glared back at him in silence, and Fenris made his way to the stairs to find Hawke.

*********************

Rynne leaned her elbows on the balcony railing and took another deep breath, then another gulp of her drink. When she’d imagined getting to know Fenris a little better, this was not really what she’d had in mind.

He hates lyrium. The unpleasant truth raced through her mind. Not only that, but he really seemed to hate the people who thought using it was okay. Fenris wasn’t exactly the warm and cuddly type, but she’d never seen him react so negatively toward anyone as he had toward Anders.

But there was nothing Rynne could do about it. She couldn’t change what had happened with her father. Furthermore, she wouldn’t change it even if she had a choice. He’d been suffering, suffering for months and months with no respite even with the strongest doses of lyrium that the doctor was willing to prescribe, and with the fucking law in this city, there had been no choice. The overdose had been a mercy.

She’d had no choice.

Rynne took another gulp of her brandy, and her phone buzzed against her thigh.

She surreptitiously looked around, then reached between her legs and pulled her phone out of the clever little thigh strap that Piper had found during an idle afternoon of browsing around on Amazon.

Her heart did a funny little jump as she checked the screen. The message was from Fenris.

10:17pm - Where are you?

She nibbled her lip, then put her tumbler down and slowly typed out a response.

10:17pm - why? miss me already? ^^

His reply came quickly.

10:18pm - I want to talk to you.

She tugged nervously at her earrings. Why did he want to talk? Was he mad at her? Maybe he just wanted to compliment her dress again? A girl could hope.

She hesitated for a moment, then scoffed at herself. Oh, who am I kidding, she thought. Of course she was going to tell him where she was.

10:18pm - i’m on the balcony. first floor, the door is close to the piano. 10:18pm - and no, before you ask, none of us can play the piano 10:18pm - it’s just there for Isabela to lounge on and look sexy LOL

He didn’t reply, and Rynne eventually tucked her phone back into her thigh sheath and waited with increasing nerves to see if he would show up.

A minute later, the noise of the party spilled out onto the balcony, and Rynne turned to see Fenris stepping outside to join her. He closed the door behind him, shutting out the noise, and then it was just the two of them in the peaceful night air.

Rynne warily watched his face as he slowly approached. He looked… the same as usual. Inscrutable and serious as ever.

She swallowed and rested her elbows on the railing again. “Come to check out the view?” she said breezily. “Kirkwall looks way better at night. It all just looks like fireflies. The darkness really hides the rampant graffiti well.”

He leaned back against the balcony railing and continued to study her in silence, and Rynne turned her gaze back to the city lights, unable to tolerate the intensity of his gaze.

A long, awkward moment later, Fenris finally spoke. “Why did your mother accuse you of killing your father?”

Rynne nervously licked her lips. “Did you know that physician-assisted suicide is illegal in Kirkwall?” she asked.

He didn’t reply, and Rynne finally shot him a very quick glance. He was frowning slightly, but he didn’t look outright angry, so she continued. “My family is from Lothering. They have physician-assisted suicide there, but lyrium is illegal. Here in Kirkwall, lyrium is legal, but physician-assisted suicide isn’t. It’s a stupid catch-22.” She sighed and leaned more heavily on her elbows. “We came here for the pain control. Lyrium is very good for that, especially for terminal cancer patients. But… Maker’s balls, Fenris, my dad’s cancer was everywhere. Even the lyrium wasn’t taking the edge off. And he was too weak for us to take him back to Lothering for physician-assisted suicide. Not that my mother would have agreed to it anyway, she… well, whatever.” Rynne shrugged dismissively. “So one day, when I was alone at home with him, he asked me to help him end it.”

“He asked you...?” Fenris said quietly.

“Not to actually kill him,” she said hurriedly. “But to help him get enough lyrium to… to finish himself off.” She swallowed hard, then shot him a tiny smile. “Did you know you can take lyrium in a bunch of different ways? Pills, shots, ointments, under the tongue, all kinds of ways. My dad was getting it in a number of different ways. So for about a month, he just… cut back on how much he was taking and pretended he wasn’t in agonizing pain. And I helped him keep track of the extra stock.”

She took a deep breath and ruffled her hair. “My mother didn’t know what we were up to. I couldn’t tell her, she… she and Carver were in denial about his prognosis. They thought… Andraste’s tits, I don’t know what they thought. That he wasn’t dying, I suppose. But they didn’t know he was planning this, or they would have tried to stop him. So once he’d stored up enough lyrium to end it all, we chose a day when they were both out running errands, and he just… started taking all of it. The pills, the sublingual tabs, everything.” She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. “By the time Mother and Carver came back, he was gone.”

“So they thought you had done it,” Fenris said quietly.

Rynne nodded. “I was there. The empty blister packs and everything were there. My mother…” She laughed and shook her head. Maker’s balls, her mother had completely lost her shit. Screaming that Rynne had murdered Malcolm, that she would never forgive her, that she hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye…

It didn’t bear thinking about. Rynne shoved the memory away. “She called the police. Carver was too upset to stop her. I mean, I don’t know if he would have stopped her anyway. He’s still pretty mad at me.” She shrugged. “Cullen eventually got wind of the situation and offered to help me out like the obnoxiously good person he is. And that’s my tragic little backstory.” She chuckled weakly.

Fenris was silent for a long time, and Rynne twisted her fingers together as she waited for him to respond. There was one last piece to the story, one that gnawed at the inside of her stomach to this day - not because of the truth of it, but because nobody else knew, not even Piper. No one else knew except for Cullen, who had counselled her not to tell anyone.

Finally Fenris sighed. “Hawke, I… don’t know what to say.”

She shrugged and gave him a wry little half-smile. “It’s all right. It’s pretty heavy shit to share at a party.”

He frowned slightly at her. “No,” he said. “It’s not all right. It… it is as you said. It sucks.”

Rynne smiled more broadly, then laughed. “Are you reusing my words?”

He ran a hand through his snowy hair. “I… Yes, I am. I’m sorry. I am ill-equipped for this kind of… comforting.”

He did look rather discomfited, and for some reason, it made Rynne feel more comfortable. She relaxed against the balcony railing and gently bumped his shoulder with hers. “Don’t worry about it. It sucks, sure, but it was years ago. And Anders had it right - it was the best way for him to go without suffering.”

Fenris nodded and didn’t reply, and they stood in silence for a while.

Then Rynne spoke, very quietly. “Your former gang in Tevinter dealt in lyrium, didn’t they?”

Fenris nodded again. “Yes,” he said. “From mining to street dealing. We - they were involved in every part of it.” He clenched his jaw, and Rynne waited with bated breath until he spoke again.

“They tried to bring my sister into the business,” he said. “She - the others on Danarius’s staff - our house was used sometimes. My sister was naive, and they acted kind to her…” He trailed off and scrubbed an agitated hand through his hair.

“It’s okay,” Rynne said quickly. “You don’t have to talk about it.” He looked so angry and so sad, and her heart felt like it was swelling inside her rib cage, and this was not how she’d expected this party to go.

He shook his head roughly. “It was my fault,” he snapped. “I exposed her and my mother to the lyrium trade. It came into the house because of me. I was meant to protect them, and they’re both dead.”

Rynne’s eyes widened. His mother and his sister were dead? “Oh fuck,” she said. Without thinking about it, she grabbed his hand. “Fenris, I’m so fucking sorry.”

He squeezed her fingers hard. “Lyrium is a sickness,” he told her. His voice was rough and deep and strained. “It’s a sickness, and I brought it into the house.”

She stared into his eyes. His deep, brilliant, angry, self-recriminating green eyes.

She desperately wanted to comfort him. To convince him that he wasn't a bad person. She opened her mouth. “I administered the last shot of lyrium to my dad,” she blurted. “He was too weak to do it himself, and I couldn’t… I couldn’t watch him suffer. So I did it. I… I killed him.”

Fenris’s eyes widened. She smiled weakly. “Cullen is the only one who knows,” she whispered. “All the evidence was circumstantial, so he got me off the hook. But… I know the truth, you know? There was no choice. If I hadn’t, my dad would have lingered on for months longer. I had no choice.”  

Fenris was still tightly holding her hand. His eyes were fixed on her face. She squeezed his fingers. “Do you think I’m a monster?” she asked.

He frowned. He released her fingers, then slowly lifted his hand toward her face.

Rynne held her breath as he hesitated. Then, carefully, so very carefully, he wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

“You are not a monster,” he said. He lowered his hand. “You don’t know what a true monster looks like.”

Rynne swallowed hard. Her cheek was tingling from the warmth of his thumb. “You’re not a monster, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she told him. “You’re perfect.”

Fenris’s eyebrows leapt high on his forehead, and Rynne flushed. Damn it, she thought. The word had slipped out before she could stop it. She dropped her eyes and laughed nervously, but before she could speak, Fenris chuckled as well.

“If that is what you think, then you must be quite drunk,” he said.

She glanced up at him. He still looked rather serious, but the corner of his lips was lifted in a hint of a smirk.

A wash of relief loosened her shoulders, and she laughed more genuinely. “Not nearly drunk enough for this conversation,” she joked. She jerked her head at the thumping party inside. “Want to head back in?”

He studied her for a moment, but his gaze was warmer somehow, warmer and more intense than before, and now Rynne found that she couldn’t look away.

Her heart was pounding in her throat. His fucking forest-green eyes were so beautiful. Finally he nodded. “Yes. Let’s go,” he said.

Rynne smiled and followed Fenris back towards the door. Perhaps this party wasn’t a total loss after all.

[sunsetinmyvein]

Just Off the Key of Reason - Chapter Twelve - Me and My Plus One

Saturday, 28th of April, 2007 – Chicago, Illinois

This time around, Patrick at least knew why he was being ignored. He couldn’t say he was overly comfortable with the situation but this time he knew what the cause behind it was. At least he was pretty sure he knew what it was; his memory was kind of hazy up until when Joe had interrupted them.  As his head hung over his toilet bowl the following morning, he tried to recall everything to the best of his ability through his pounding headache. It felt like a freight train had pushed its way through his ear canal and left a train of destruction as it pushed from one side of his head to the other, but he could make out some details through the debris. He had sent her a few half-drunken texts shortly after Pete had interrogated him about his opinion on their party planning, and unsurprisingly, they went unanswered. The night had ended not long after that, partially due to Patrick kicking people out one by one in his attempts to find her, and partially due to people actually having to go home. Once everyone had left Patrick found himself moping in his bedroom until the sun started creeping through his curtains the following morning. In the cold light of day, being forced to throw up the contents of his stomach, he was beginning to feel like maybe last night wasn’t his best decision. He should’ve known better. He should have known that it would only leave him feeling worse and wanting even more answers than he had been given. She had told him to forget it, so maybe that’s exactly what he should, would do.

 Thursday, 14th of June, 2007 – Chicago, Illinois

The time gradually ticked by in their time off. Andy had a low key family get-together for his 27th birthday in late May; meanwhile Pete had another raging party in a privately hired club for his 28th in early June to celebrate getting through his 27th year on this Earth that he never felt he’d make it to. Eventually they had to start getting ready to go back on tour. The bus was hired for the month that they would need it and was scheduled to meet them in Washington after their flight. Guitars were packed, drums were neatly slipped into their boxes, and merch was chosen. Mostly that had all been sent earlier so that it could take the longer, and cheaper, way around. Interviews were had, signings were attended, promos were released – anything to make sure that people knew Fall Out Boy were coming. If the first of their two months off had been a break, the second had been intentionally made as busy as possible just to make touring seem easy in comparison. In the process of all this commotion, Patrick had found himself meeting many new people. One of whom took a shine to him, and he took a shine to her. All of a sudden he found himself with a girlfriend. A girlfriend who wanted to come on tour with him. This was unfamiliar territory for him; he’d never properly dated anyone since they started touring regularly. She was one of the people who worked in the studio, so she wouldn’t be coming on the road normally, but he had assured her that she could come along to the first two shows with him. From there she was going to meet a friend in Oregon and they’d drive home together. He was more than happy to let the excitement of the new experience keep his mind occupied.

 The band and immediate crew members had crammed themselves into a row of seats at the airport, waiting patiently – or impatiently in Andy’s case – for their red eye flight to Washington. He sat there bouncing his knee as he watched the clock in the corner of the electronic poster in front of them. The time gradually counted up and up as he anxiously glanced around the waiting area for their missing bassist.

“Where the fuck is he?” He grumbled under his breath.

“He’ll be here, man. He was in that group chat with the flight times, just like the rest of us.” Joe reasoned from under his eye mask. He had decided as soon as they sat down that it was far too late to still be functioning and had opted to take a nap in the waiting room seat. But their drummer’s constant worrying had mostly prevented that from happening.

“It’s five minutes until we board. You’ve not heard anything from him?” His question fell upon deaf ears. Joe was either ignoring him or half asleep already and Patrick was too engrossed in his conversation with his girlfriend to care. He kicked Patrick’s shin across the aisle, earning an ‘ow’ in response as he attempted to rub the pain out of his leg. “Pete? Have you heard from him?” He asked again.

“No, I haven’t spoken to him since the day after my party.” Patrick glared back.

“Well, I’m going to call-” Before he could even punch the numbers into his phone, a familiar, overly loud, laugh filled the mostly empty gates.

“I told you he’d be here.” Joe mumbled.

 “Are you not meant to be my babysitter?” Pete laughed as he dropped his backpack from his shoulder. Patrick felt himself tense at those words, trying to remain interested in his conversation but suddenly finding it very hard to remain focused. “I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be giving me tips about how to get as drunk as I can on the plane.”

“You said you don’t like flying. If you’re totally wasted, you won’t even remember you did it.” She shrugged as the two of them walked up to join the group. Patrick felt the hairs prickle on the back of his neck. They hadn’t spoken in over two weeks. He had assumed that she wasn’t coming back for the second leg of the tour. The label had never mentioned her staying on for another month.

“I might also try and join the mile high club though.” He chuckled as he nudged her in the ribs.

Joe snorted loudly with a laugh, “Don’t pretend like you haven’t already.”

 Eventually Patrick caved to the nagging feeling in the back of his mind and looked up at her from the waiting room chair. She was rifling through her bag, he assumed for her boarding pass. The conversation he had been having was still droning on in the background of his thoughts. He felt like maybe he should say something about where they left off, but if she hadn’t wanted to talk then, why would she now? He stared at her in a stupefied silence until eventually she looked up from her bag and met his gaze. Her eyes flicked from his to above his head.

“New hat?” She asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Uh, yeah.” He absentmindedly touched the fedora atop his head. “The other one…” He swallowed hard as he tried to force the words out, “it kept getting in the way.” He could’ve sworn he saw a blush creep onto her cheeks, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it because soon enough his girlfriend was grabbing his arm and dragging him to the gate to board their flight.

 Friday, 15th of June, 2007 – Seattle, Washington

The flight was mostly uneventful. To avoid his crippling anxiety of impending doom on a metal death trap, Pete doped himself up on some sleeping pills and in-flight vodka. When he came to he was draped across a couch somewhere. He felt vaguely like he was moving, but he himself wasn’t. Was he in a car? His eyes slowly came into focus and he realised he was facing a small living area. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up, figuring he must have been relocated to the tour bus. A little part of him wondered who had the pleasure of hauling his unconscious ass here, but given the fact that a blanket was draped around his waist and a water bottle sat at his feet, he assumed it was probably Andy. Also he wasn’t entirely sure if anyone else would be able to carry him without assistance. He glanced around the small area at the back of the bus, spying the kitchen through the aisle of bunks and feeling his stomach growl. How long had he been out? Apparently long enough that he felt that familiar sleep induced unsteady feeling settling in his legs.  The bus seemed dark; it must still be early morning. All of the bunks had their curtains pulled shut so he assumed they had left him here while they all went to bed. He ambled through to the kitchen, examining what was in the well-stocked cupboards. This was a hell of a lot fancier than what they had in the past. The appliances were all chrome and shiny, there was a proper benchtop and even an oven cooktop combo. They must have either hired or purchased this bus from new. He absentmindedly wondered how fancy a tour bus kitchen would have to be before he decided they had made it as he refiled through the food supplies. He couldn’t help but snicker with the knowledge that the label had intended for this to last the whole tour. It would last a week at best.

 After much consideration he settled on a packet of pancake mix, it seemed the most practical option and he was excited to use appliances that he’d never had the thrill of using on a moving vehicle before. Would it be easier to flip pancakes with the momentum of the bus? But before his hand could even come into contact with the gas dial, it was rudely slapped away.

“Fucking hell,” He squeaked in surprise as he pulled his hand up to his chest, “don’t sneak up on people like that.”

“You are banned from the gas appliances.” She ordered as she moved in between him and the stove.

“What? Why?” He tried to reach around her to at least retrieve the pancake mix but she wouldn’t budge.

“Because you have a tendency to explode things.” She explained, narrowing her eyes at him. He vaguely remembered fireworks in hotels.

“No, I don’t.” He lied. “But even if I did, how am I going to cook pancakes without a stove?”

“I guess you’ll have fun working that out.” She grinned up at him. They stood there in silence for a few moments, waiting for the other to stand down, until he admitted defeat. He groaned loudly, instead grabbing a bag of chips from the counter and moving to sink back into the couch.

 The two of them decided to watch whatever terrible show was on at five in the morning in the middle of nowhere, killing time until everyone else woke up. She had gotten up early to make sure everything on the bus was working before everyone attempted to use it, at least that way they would be able to accurately tell if Pete did break anything, or if it just came like that. They’d grown a lot closer in the month or so since Patrick’s party. Anyone who was willing to assist with Pete’s antics was someone he considered a friend. He was also beginning to find her company considerably more tolerable than what it had been at the start of their tour. Even despite that every second conversation was her reprimanding him for something. After a few minutes of static silence Pete threw a chip in her vague direction. She looked over at him in confusion.

“How’s things with you and lover boy?” He asked with an eyebrow raised. She rolled her eyes.

“How’s things with you and your girlfriend?” She shot back, voice laced with sarcasm.

“Good, actually.” He nodded. The confused stare he got in response urged him to continue. “We, uh… we didn’t break up this time, we’re going to try the long distance thing.” It was still a concept that didn’t sit well with him, but he figured if Patrick could work it out, then so could he.

“Oh. Well, good for you guys. I hope it goes well.” She smiled back at him, reaching across the table to grab a handful of chips. He pulled the bag away from her as he clicked his tongue.

“Nuh-uh. Answer my question.”

 She let out a heavy sigh. “That should be pretty self-explanatory, Pete. He’s on tour with his girlfriend.” Since coming back onto the tour she was trying her best to ignore the changes that had occurred in their month off. Patrick’s hair had grown out quite a bit, nearly coming down to his shoulders. He also seemed very attached to his new hat, she was yet to see him without it. In addition, and probably the most hard-hitting change, they hadn’t spoken except for their brief exchange in the airport. It was odd going from being attached at the hip to suddenly having a minimum ten metre gap between you at all times.

“That doesn’t mean shit. She goes home after two shows and you’re still here.” He finally offered the bag over to her and allowed her to take a handful.

“They won’t break up just because she goes home. Patrick’s not like you.” She laughed dryly, trying to avoid the slightest amount of hope sitting in the back of her mind that maybe Patrick was like Pete.

“I take offense to that.” He gasped. “But you never know. Crazier things have happened.” He shrugged, stuffing a wad of chips into his mouth.

“Yeah, like you being a bass player in a band when you’re terrible at it.” She grinned.

“You’re sho mean ooday.”  He garbled, spraying chips over the living room table.