#and Sam did the red canary case tell you nothing?

[multifanbrainrot]

pray tell, sam, what was that email you received from that mysterious john? and pray tell, colin, what indeed is "the real stuff"?

[sp4c3-0ddity]

I wrote 1500 words of smol Matt and even smoller Pidge and i have zero regrets

You can read it on Ao3 here

Or below:

Matt Holt played peekaboo with his baby sister.

He covered his eyes with his hands. “Where’s Matt?” he said. Then, without waiting for Katie to make any sound, he spread his hands and grinned at her. “There he is!”

Katie stared at him blankly, looking as unimpressed as any one-year-old could. She blinked, slowly like a cat, and reached up to scratch her nose.

Matt scowled; it was the third time in a row she hadn’t reacted to his peekaboo. “You used to think it was funny,” he whined. “What changed?”

“She’s old enough for object permanence, sweetheart,” his mother called from the office. “She knows you’re there.”

Matt glanced past his sister to the doorway of the office, where their mother probably worked on taxes or some other adult task. “What’s object permanence?” he asked.

She emerged from the office, her cell phone to her ear. “I’ll tell you when I’m done talking to Dad, Matt,” she promised.

Matt grinned and returned his attention to Katie. He started offering her scattered toys, which she grabbed and inspected with enthusiasm, everything from Matt’s plastic stethoscope to the blocks that they could use to spell out words.

She giggled and stacked the blocks one by one, and Matt counted each individual with her as she stacked, even though he knew she probably wouldn’t be able to count for herself just yet.

“One,” he said, pointing to the blue ‘L’ at the base, “two”—the yellow block with an ‘H’—“three”—the green ‘P’—“four”—the red ‘K’—“and five.” He gave her one with a purple ‘S’, and she set it carefully on top. Then she turned towards him expectantly, holding out her hand.

Matt reached for another block to give to her, but frowned when he didn’t touch one. “Huh,” he said, surprised. He thought he had more… He crawled over to the coffee table and peered underneath, gasping triumphantly when he spotted another two. He grabbed them both in one hand and gave them to Katie.

“Six,” he said when he pressed the pink ‘A’ and orange ‘C’ into her tiny hands, “and seven.”

Katie stacked them onto the tower diligently. “No mo’?” she asked, looking at him with a worried little pout.

Matt shrugged and admitted, “No more. Sorry, Katie.”

She stared at him disbelievingly, arms crossed.

“Do you want to play something else?” he wondered, hoping to distract her from this plight.

Before she could answer, their mother came out of the office, her hair now bound in a loose bun at the nape of her neck with flyaway bits of dark blonde. “Matt,” she said, “I need you to do a very big favor.”

Matt stood up and went to his mother, making note of how serious and concerned she sounded. “Did something happen to Dad?”

“Oh, no, he’s fine, sweetheart,” she reassured him quickly, “but I have a late meeting at work today, and Dad is late coming home. He should be leaving very soon, so he should be home in time to heat leftovers for dinner, but…” She smiled, but Matt could tell it was strained. “I need you to watch Katie until Dad gets home, okay?”

Matt’s eyes widened in surprise, but then he grinned in delight because this was his first chance to babysit, like he’d been wanting to for as long as Katie had been alive. And now he finally could! “Really?” he said, clasping his hands together. “Really, Mom?”

“Yes,” said his mother. She clutched a leather-bound binder to her chest, her purse hanging from her shoulder. “I promise it won’t be long, and if anything goes wrong you call me immediately, okay?” She pointed a finger directly at him. “Even if I’m in the middle of the meeting, I’ll come home if I need to, got it, Matt?” She stared at him levelly, face and tone serious.

Matt nodded, but he knew there wouldn’t be any problems. He and Katie could watch TV – even something that she liked and he didn’t – without one of their parents hogging the remote, or he could read to her now that he was finally getting the hang of it! It would be fine.

“But just in case,” his mother continued, “I’m telling the neighbors to check on you if Dad isn’t back in twenty minutes.”

Matt frowned. “That’s hardly any time!”

“Oh, Matt, sweetheart, aren’t you a little young to be throwing parties while we’re gone?”

Right, like his best friend’s older brother threw a party while their parents were away for the evening and got into huge trouble, grounded for the entire year, with no allowance and no video games. So Matt reassured his mother, “It’ll be a tiny party, with only me and Katie.”

“Good,” his mother said. “I’m proud of you, sweetheart.” She slipped her binder under her arm and hugged him with the other arm. “Just keep an eye on your sister, and nothing will go wrong.”

“Okay,” Matt said cheerfully.

After kissing Katie goodbye, she left through the garage door, and before long he heard it grinding closed, the sound of her car’s engine fading as she drove away.

And Matt was alone with his sister.

He turned to tell her, for her to share in his excitement, only to see she was gone.

Matt’s jaw dropped. “Oh, so you want to play hide-and-seek?” he asked with a smirk. “We can do that.” He sauntered into the living room and peeked under the coffee table. When, as he expected, he found nothing there, he stood up straight and called, “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

He ducked around the sofa, smiling when he didn’t find Katie. “Ha, you’re a pretty good hider for a baby, Katie,” he said.

He looked in a few other likely places downstairs, from the laundry basket full of clean clothes at the base of the stairs, to the space under the kitchen table. He stuck his head over the corner between the wall and his father’s armchair, and he peeked into the office.

“Where are you?” A prickle of worry traveled down his spine, and Matt frowned at Katie’s tower of blocks, which still stood seven-high.

Matt walked back towards the kitchen, checking under the table again, but when he didn’t find her he grabbed the landline phone off the wall. His fingers hovered over the buttons, already recalling his mother’s cell phone number in preparation to dial it, but…

But what if he never had the chance to babysit Katie ever again?

Matt returned the phone to the wall. “Dad will get home soon,” he said out loud. “And he’ll help me find Katie.”

Something fell over, the clatter of something round and plastic against wood, and Matt spun towards the sound in the corner of the kitchen cabinets. “What?” he said, staring at that spot in confusion. He didn’t see anything there, except the only cabinet doors that weren’t baby-proofed.

“No way,” he muttered, approaching while his heart pounded in fear. He bit back a yelp at the sound of something else falling, but he resisted the urge to flee and call his mother, instead plowing on.

He knelt in front of the cabinet and opened it.

Inside sat Katie stacking Tupperware containers and prying off their lids. Her curly brown hair brushed the ceiling of the cabinet, and as Matt watched she knocked over her tower of Tupperware, pushing them out of the cabinet and scattering over the kitchen floor.

“Unbelievable,” Matt said with a sigh of relief.

Katie smiled in delight, until she noticed that every Tupperware in the house was now outside her little hiding spot. “Mo’?” she asked, her eyes focusing on Matt.

“Look at the mess you made, Katie,” he said without any bite. “Let’s clean it up, okay?”

She nodded in agreement and climbed out of the cabinet. He showed her how to attach container to lid, and helped her stack them neatly back inside.

“I guess you really like stacking things, huh?” he said once they finished. He ruffled her hair, and when she grabbed his hand, he led her back into the living room. “Let’s do something boring until Dad gets home, okay? Like watch TV?”

“What?” she said.

Matt grabbed the remote and sat on the sofa, then reached to pull Katie up with him. Instead of sitting beside him, she climbed into his lap. “Let’s see what’s on,” he said, pressing the power button.

He flipped to the familiar channels and smiled when he found Sesame Street. “You want to watch Elmo?” he asked, tilting his head down so he could look her in the eye.

“And Big Buwd,” she informed him with a sage nod.

“Yes,” Matt agreed as the bright yellow puppet in question entered the screen, “and Big Bird.”

Katie watched attentively, her small fingers clutching tightly to the hem of his shirt. Matt leaned his head back, not quite as entertained with the program as she was.

“What kind of bird is Big Bird, do you think?” he wondered.

“A pidge,” she said immediately.

“A what?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at her.

Katie tilted her head to stare up at him. “A pidge,” she insisted.

“What color are they?” Matt said.

“Dunno,” she replied with a frown.

“Where are they?”

“The pond.”

Geese? Matt thought, and then it clicked and he laughed. “You mean pigeons?”

When Katie nodded, he said, “Big Bird isn’t a pigeon. He’s the wrong color.”

She stared at him, lips pressed together, and shook her head in disagreement.

“Aw, no, he’s a canary, Katie,” Matt told her. “Those are yellow.”

“And big?” she wondered attentively.

“No,” he said, but then he added, “Pigeons aren’t big either. They’re small…like you.” He ruffled her hair.

“Okay,” she said.

“So Big Bird is a canary?”

“Yes.”

“Great,” Matt said, and they quieted, intent on watching the rest of this episode.

When Sam finally came home, he found his children focused on the TV – even his son, who insisted months ago that he’d outgrown Sesame Street.

[thecitylightshow]

Here's a prompt. Modern AU where tony is a college student and steve's friend. When steve introduces him to bucky, bucky is a goner. Steve is not amused since bucky is a flirt and flirts with every good looking guy. Steve thinks of tony as his little brother. He doesn't want him to be hurt. Tony likes bucky a lot but is a little wary. So bucky proves that he is serious about tony and loves him very much. Steve gives his approval. Loki is steve's boyfriend. Happy ending.

A/N: I’m going to apologise here and now, I’ve never considered Steve/Loki before in my life; but you asked, so I tried. 

This can be found on Ao3 here. 

Prove It

“No, Bucky!” Steve protested, and Bucky couldn’thelp but be a little hurt by it.

“Why not, Stevie?” He asked, and Steve looked alittle flustered behind his indignation.

“Because- because you’re you, and Tony is Tony!” He gesturedas he spoke – and god, the way Loki watched him move was just weird – and Bucky glared up at him fromhis place on the couch: this wasn’t the reaction he’d expected to the words ‘I’mgonna ask Tony on a date’.

“You think it wouldn’t work out?” Bucky was pouting,but he didn’t think that was the case. Loki went back to his book.

“That’s not it.” Case-in-point.

“Then what?”Bucky demanded.

“I think what he’s trying to say is that you do havea tendency to flirt with any good-looking guy who happens to glance in yourdirection… not that I understand why they do…” Loki spoke without looking back upfrom his book, and Steve shot him a glare.

“Thank you,Loki. Please shut up now?”

“You think I’m playing Tony? No way!” Bucky protested – he was offended now. Did Steve really think that he-?

“I- Buck, you know what you’re like, can you blameme? And with Tony being Tony… I don’t want to see him hurt.” Steve spokesoftly, and Bucky took a breath before one of them said something they’dregret.

“Steve, c’mon, you’ve got to see I’m serious thistime.” Bucky implored, and Steve just raised an eyebrow at him, but Bucky didn’tback down.

“We’ve never heard that before…” Loki muttered.

“Loki, please.”Steve whispered and yep- that was his god-give-me-strength face. Bucky hadn’tseen that since he’d got in a fight defending Sam from some racist fuckers thelast time they went out.

“Sorry, my dear.” Loki flashed him a smile, but Stevejust rolled his eyes and went back to glaring at Bucky.

“Let me prove it?” Bucky asked weakly.  “I likehim, Stevie, I’ve got to try.”

“Fine.  Amonth.  After that, I’m going back tocock-blocking you.”

Bucky could’ve collapsed in relief.

(Beware the read more!!)

Ever since Steve had introduced Bucky to Tony, he’dbeen a goner, 100%. Tony held Bucky’s heart in his hands – not that the geniusknew it. He was Steve’s friend, yes – Bucky suspected that Steve felt aboutTony the same way Bucky felt about him – but that didn’t deter Bucky in theslightest from trying. Steve and Tony’d met because Tony had jumped into afight he had no hope of finishing, and Steve had jumped him after him withoutthought. Bucky had almost been sad to miss it.

Tony was a robotics engineer at MIT, studying hardand excelling in his classes – he was in his final year at 18, graduating fartoo early and far too easily, and Bucky loved it. Tony was as much of a flirtas he was, though never serious, and often shy if people actually flirted back– and why everybody didn’t Bucky would never understand but perhaps be eternallygrateful for, because Tony was cute ashell, and, hopefully, his. He waspassionate about his inventions, smarter than most of the professors and eagerto learn in the areas he wasn’t, he cared about Steve’s art even when he didn’tget it, and oh, his smile made Bucky feel all warminside.

So he started with flowers.

He’d chosen not to over think it, getting a bouqueton the smaller side, of red and yellow flowers, with the odd sprig offorget-me-nots here and there because the blue reminded Bucky of Tony, somehow.He’d messed up what he’d wanted to say when he handed them to the genius though,because his hair was particularly awry that day, when he dropped by the lab,streaked through with grease, and Bucky had stuttered out “I like your face”before shoving the flowers at a very confused Tony and almost running away.

Smooth Barnes, he’d thoughtto himself – but that was another thing that didn’t help him. Bucky was smooth, had proven it time and timeagain, much to his flatmate’s displeasure (but Sam was the asshole who got upat 6am to go running with Steve, so who was the real monster here?), and yetwhen it came to Tony, he just wasn’t.Like he was already bored of the game,Loki had told him, curse the bastard, but Bucky could see how that might be howit appeared. (Why Steve put up with his room-mate, Bucky had no idea.)

Steve had rolled his eyes and stifled his laughter whenBucky had relayed it – he’d apparently got a text from a confused Tony thatonly made it more entertaining – and Bucky had thrown a cushion at him. Lokihad smirked and said nothing.

Next, he’d tried lunch.

Tried was the key-word, there. Bucky had dropped bythe lab again, on a day he knew Tonywould be coming off an all-nighter, and invited Tony to take a break and grabsome lunch. Tony had only heard the lunch part of the equation, however, andBucky had left, a little dejected, with an order for a sub from the place downthe road. He’d gotten himself a sub, too, but Tony had never resurfaced fromhis bot except for a hurried ‘thanks’ and Bucky sat down, and tried to contenthimself with just watching Tony work for a bit.

It wasn’t a total loss, at least. He came back thenext day, too, curious about the project – and this time he was treated toTony’s radiant smile, his passionate rant as he explained the mechanisms of thebot (Tony called him DummyDum-E) and Tony accompanying him to the coffeeshop two blocks over for coffee and cake – Bucky even managed to get Tony not to pay.

The lunch became a routine, and Bucky felt like hewas getting back into it with the compliments – Tony blushed enough that he must being say thing right thing. WhenBucky met Tony at his apartment later that week (he’d not been at the lab foronce), and seen the flowers still there, in a vase on the window sill and anote expressly telling Bruce (Tony’s roommate) not to touch them, Bucky madesure to buy Tony flowers at least once every few days. Tony hid his grin inthem every time, but never said a word – and the confusion never faded.

Film nights went down well, too, with Buckysuggesting they catch a film one Friday – again refusing to let Tony pay – andTony ranted the entire way back to his apartment about the scientificinaccuracies, hilariously offended by it. Half of it went over Bucky’s head,but he kept up where he could, eager for Tony to carry on. The second time theycaught a film, Bucky took a chance and kissed Tony on the cheek, before biddinghim the usual goodnight and heading back home.

The fourth week of his allowed month, Bucky didn’tget. He was squashed on the couch at Steve’s, playing Mario Kart with Steve,while Loki watched them (Steve) over the top of his book. Bucky was almost infirst place at Rainbow Road, when Tony threw the door open, and demanded‘alright, Barnes, what the fuck are you playing at?’

Bucky lost the race, turning to face the red-facedgenius – had he run up the stairs? – while Steve determinedly carried on withthe game. “Tony?” he asked, hesitating only for a moment.

“You persuaded Clint to deliver a sandwich- mygoddamn favourite, no less- to the lab? What the hell?” Steve was quietly laughing, andBucky was annoyed that Loki was in his line of sight, smirk all too clear onhis face.

“You forget to eat.” He replied simply. “And Icouldn’t make it today.”

“You bribed Clint, the fifty bucks you should nothave spent on me, just so that I wouldn’tforget to eat lunch today?” Bucky nodded. “Why?”

“Cuz someone should care for ya, if you won’t, andI’d like it to be me.” Bucky replied softly, and Steve’s laughing stopped. Had-was that the wrong thing to say? It was true, but Tony’s face was unreadable, and Bucky dare notdrop his gaze in case he had justmessed up and this was his last chance to look- oh.

Tony half-vaulted the back of the couch, landedawkwardly on the couch arm, and pressed his lips firmly to Bucky’s in a warm,pleasant and wholly unexpected kiss. “You better be fucking serious, Barnes.”Tony growled when he pulled back, and Bucky was too struck dumb to do anythingbut nod. Steve clipped him on the back of his head as he stood up, but Buckydidn’t even think to glare at him.

“I’m serious, deadly serious, I promise.” Bucky toldhim, and Tony’s face lit up. Bucky wanted to lean up and kiss him again, but hewas interrupted by Steve calling to Loki.

“Get your coat dear, we’re leaving!” Buckyspluttered, and even Tony whipped round to stare at Loki – who was grinning withthe slightly-startled look of the cat who’d got the canary. “And I swear to GodBarnes, if you have sex on our couch-“ Steve began,  and Tony was laughing into Bucky’s shoulder.

“What the hell, Stevie?!” Bucky demanded, but thereply was lost under Tony’s call of ‘enjoy your date’, to which neither manobjected. “When did that happen?” Bucky asked faintly, and Tony kissed hischeek.

“A couple of weeks ago? Steve’s been waiting for youto notice.” Tony was on the verge of laughing again, so Bucky kissed him toshut him up. Tony shifted forward until he knocked the controller to the floorand was sat in Bucky’s lap, kissing him back with a happy little hum, his armsaround Bucky’s neck, and Bucky could get used to- he whined a little when Tonypulled back, but the genius didn’t go far. He observed Bucky for a moment,before smiling. “I was wary, you know.” Tony told him, and Bucky grimaced.

“I’m sorry-“ he began, but Tony cut him off with afinger on his lips.

“It’s not you. I’ll explain sometime but just… youhave no idea how strange it is to me that you’re serious.”

“I am,” Bucky swore, “An’ I’ll buy you flowers everyweek to prove it.” Tony hmmed a laugh.

“I’d tell you it’s too much, but I like having them inthe apartment.” Tony admitted. “You’ve got to let me pay for our datessometime, though.”

“Maybe once in a while.” Bucky told him, kissing himagain, and this time, Tony didn’t pull back.

They didn’t have sex on Steve and Loki’s couch, not even once.They did, however, have sex in his shower four weeks later after they’d all gottogether for a paintball game. Revenge came in the form of tinsel, glue and asevere lack of eyebrows, but that’s a different story of the Tony VS Loki prankwar that they’ll all be telling their grandkids about.