#and is also still sick actually! just gotten really good at hiding it and denies it which. just puts more stress on him

[perenlop]

maybe this is just me but to me grumpy dickhead characters that are intended to be endearing only really land if they have one character that actually grounds them whether that be through them being very nice to balance it out with cute banter or them also being snarky so they can have fun banter. if a grumpy character is just an asshole to characters we dont know as well, are literally children or people who otherwise cant fight back, then like. they dont vibe with me

[elizabethemerald]

A Shade Darker than Red: Part 5

Previous Part

Danny and Jason trained frequently in the Ghost Zone. Of course their “training” was more accurately called “playing.” Tag, catch, hide and seek. They were games, mostly for kids, yet they still taught the new ghost about his powers. Jason learned how to fly, how to turn invisible and intangible, and how to create ecto blasts. Danny also taught him a lot about both the lore of the Infinite Realms and Astronomy. 

He talked several times a week with Jasmine about his life in between training sessions and lectures. He talked about his father being a criminal and his mother being an addict. He talked about losing her and having to live on the streets. He talked about becoming Robin and how magical it was for him. He eventually was able to talk more about his first death, about being betrayed and abandoned, then coming back, feeling like he came back wrong. He still couldn’t remember any details about his second death and Jazz insisted that it wasn’t unusual and that it was just his brain and his core trying to protect him.

It felt… strange. Comfortable. He felt loved and cared for in a way he hadn’t realized he missed and needed. He wondered why he hadn’t gotten any therapy when he first became Robin. Did the others need therapy too? It frustrated him that this was the first time he felt someone was really putting in the effort for him. Almost like he was actually worth that level of effort. 

More and more Jason was finding that the strange siblings that were Danny and Jazz actually cared for him. Loved him. Welcomed him into their little family of two and while he missed his other family and wanted to see them again, he felt good. 

He had no way of knowing exactly what was happening in Gotham after his death. 

.

A sick kind of tension hung in the air. Each of them set in their own thoughts. They were, first of all, Bats and thus detectives. Each had investigated in their own way, using their own skills and contacts. Then they had come together and compared notes, which all pointed to one horrible conclusion. 

It was Killer Croc, strangely enough, contacting Red Robin that was the final stroke. He had found a body, disposed of in the Gotham Sewers where he was known to roam. Croc was a known cannibal and had eaten more than a few corpses that had fallen into the sewers, making work easier for the city’s mafias and harder for the Bats. But he proved that he wasn’t as much of a monster as others assumed when he recognized the body and brought it to the surface. 

Dick was filled with fury as he once again stood before the dead body of his brother. He wanted to run off in a rage, he wanted to beat Bruce to a pulp like he had done with Joker. It was Damian who stopped him. Damian, who knew he had even more blood on his hands than Jason had, feared that if Bruce beat Dick in a fight that he would be the next one to disappear. 

Instead they stepped back and they planned. Batman had his paranoia, and he had trained it into all of his wards. They could be just as paranoid as him, and combined they were the best tactical fighters and strategists in the world. There was a reason one of the Bats ended up as the de facto leader of most teams they were on. Combined they could match Bruce wit for wit. 

Their planning reached its peak when they were all sent a communication from Bruce. Each of them were expected for a meeting in the Batcave. Team meetings weren’t rare in of themselves, but all of them at once was out of the ordinary and had them all tensing up. Clearly, Bruce knew they were on to him. 

Emergency plans and contingencies were made. Superman was called and asked to keep an ear on Gotham. Flash was on speed dial with instructions to extract them before the first ring had completed. Each of their contacts were instructed on where they would be and how long they expected the meeting to go. 

They each took turns denying the meeting request and submitting an alternate meeting location and time. They argued back and forth about who had responsibilities they couldn’t postpone or who hated which location, just like they usually did, however this had an additional reason. They couldn’t allow Bruce the chance to set up a location to his advantage, or some place with limited escape routes. 

Finally, after much arguing back and forth, which Stephanie especially excelled at, Damian cut them all off angrily with a demand that they just meet in the game room of the manor. Barbara planned on calling in from the clock tower, as much as she hated not being able to be there, so that Bruce couldn’t put up another signal Jammer. 

The others entered the game room a few minutes before the meeting started. Bruce was already there, but Cass had been there even earlier to make sure he didn’t tamper with the room. Alfred came in and served them all tea, then after a signal from Damian stayed, with his back to one of the walls, watching over the family and enjoying some tea himself. 

“You all have been avoiding the cave, we still need to patrol the city and-”

“Shut the fuck up Bruce.” Dick snapped, causing Alfred to raise an eyebrow. “We know about Jason.” 

“Yes, Jason has been missing for several days now and-”

“We know you killed him.” The sharp words silenced Bruce and Alfred leaned forward in surprise. 

Tim threw a packet of papers down on the table. 

“You had Fox create a jammer, specifically designed to work against the trackers we use.” 

“You forgot, Father, that I was raised by the same assassins that trained you. I recognized the signs of you attempting to hide the scent of blood on you.” Damian snapped. 

Cass signed her observation next. “You: not worried about Jason. Knew where he was.” 

Barbara spoke up from her spot over the video call. “You did a good job hiding your digital footprint, but you couldn’t hide everything. And when you and Jason disappeared at the exact same time? We connected the dots.” 

“Croc found Jason’s body in the sewers. Said he owed Red Hood enough not to dispose of the evidence.” Dick growled the words out, fury still written in every line of his body. 

For the first time an emotion crossed Bruce’s face, just a hint of annoyance before he wiped it away. He always treated Killer Croc like a mindless beast, and now he was realizing he had miscalculated. Alfred looked stunned. 

“Master Bruce I-, Bruce-, Mr. Wayne-, How could you?”

“Red Hood had taken numerous lives, and his criminal enterprises were only growing.” Bruce finally said as if he were reporting on the Riddler or the Falconies, not his own son. “I had given him enough leniency, enough chance to step away from the path of crime he was one. When he refused, it was high time that Red Hood was brought to Arkham, where he couldn’t hurt anyone else.” 

“And then you beat him to death! Jason, Robin! Stop acting like he’s some common criminal!” Dick shouted. 

“I determined that it was highly likely he would respond to my attempt to bring him into custody would result in violence. So I came prepared.” Bruce’s voice was monotone. Controlled. 

“And you specifically attempted to hide all signs of your murder?” Damian asked, pain clear on his voice even though he tried to hide it.

“I was simply planning for contingencies.” Bruce said. “Red Hood would escalate to violence. I planned accordingly and met him in kind. I of course knew that I would not be able to completely hide Hood’s transgressions, so I ensured I had the proper time to present the evidence here. Which is what this meeting had been about, if you would like to get to it-”

“Are you shitting me Bruce?” Dick was on his feet. “You harp all the time about your precious line, about how you can’t ever kill, and then you murder Jason? Your own son?” 

“Red Hood was never my son.” Bruce finally showed real emotion, rage painting his face. “My son died at the hands of the Joker. And a twisted monster came back in my son’s body. Now that monster is gone.” 

Dick was shaking in fury, and looked half a second from diving across the coffee table to try and strangle Bruce. It was Damian standing that stopped him. Damian was shaking as well, though for a different reason. 

“I have killed more people than Todd even tried to.” Damian said, his voice thick with emotion. “It is clear if you have taken to extrajudicially executing whoever you feel that I am no longer safe in the Manor. Richard, would I be able to stay at your apartment in Bloodhaven? I will be sure to pay my share of the rent on time.” 

Dick swallowed thickly, but nodded. 

“Of course, Baby Bird. That’s what family is for, taking care of each other. No matter what.” 

Damian gave Dick a stiff bow before turning to a clearly thunderstruck Alfred. “I hope the care of my animals will not be too much of a burden until I can arrange for their transport to a new domicile?” 

Alfred gave him a nod, fury and grief carved into his face in even measure. 

“Of course, Master Damian. I will do my utmost to ensure they have the best care. Do you need any assistance packing?” 

Damian shook his head and Dick followed him out of the room, taking a moment to shoot one last glare at Bruce before he left. Tim stood next and gestured to Duke. 

“Do you want to bunk with me? It would cut down on your commute to GU.” Tim said. 

Duke shook himself and nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.” He turned to Bruce. “There was a time I used to look up to you. You can say that your son died at the Joker’s hands and never came back all you want, but I need you to know, today is the day you pushed the rest of your sons too far.” 

Both boys left, Tim wiping tears from his face as he wrapped an arm around Duke’s shoulders. Barbara out to the two girls who remained in the room. 

“Team Batgirl sleep over here at the Clock Tower?” She asked and Cass and Steph both rose together. Cass stared down at Bruce. 

“I killed once. Never Again. You’re lucky.” Her mouth worked as she signed, as she tried to contain her emotions. Steph immediately wrapped her arms around Cass. She spit on the ground at Bruce’s feet. 

“I became Spoiler because my father was a murderer. I didn’t expect I would end up working under another murderer.” 

The two girls left arm in arm. Cass silently sobbed as her family broke apart, the man she had looked up to so much had betrayed her and crossed the one line she considered sacred. 

“Mr. Wayne, I think it is high time I tender my resignation.” Alfred said, his emotions once again hidden by his British Precision. “Consider this my two weeks notice. Since the manor will be without proper staffing, I would suggest you find somewhere else to stay until trusted staff can fill the open positions, perhaps the Watchtower would be best for you.” 

He turned away, then hesitated for a moment, before he turned back to gaze at Bruce, his grief now fully visible on his face. 

“You’ve been as good as a son to me, ever since you came under my care. I’ve treated each of your wards as if they were my own blood, as if they were my own grandchildren. I have loved each of them in my own way, just as I loved you. I never agreed with your strict adherence to your Rule. I’ve long thought that Master Jason was right and you should have put the Joker down like the rabid dog he is.” 

Alfred took a deep shaky breath and walked away to the door. 

“Even with my willingness to take a life to protect my family, or to avenge them, I still would never kill one of them, no matter what they had done. That is the love I have for my family. You are fortunate you once enjoyed that love too. Goodby Mr. Wayne.” 

Alfred turned off the lights to the room as he departed. Barbara signed off soon after and immediately sent the video copies both digitally and physically across the world as a form of insurance in case Bruce ever decided to target any of the rest of them. 

Bruce Wayne, the Dark Knight, Batman, was left… alone… in the dark of his empty house, staring at nothing as fruitless plans and empty contingencies spun uselessly in his head. 

.

Far away, and in a dimension that was just next door, the Ghost King sat on his throne as he listened to the supplications of two of his citizens. He was alone in his throne room with the two ghosts, any other supplicants or citizens of the Realms were elsewhere. 

“Please,” They begged. “Please. Our son has lost his way. We know you can’t reach him, but please, watch over our grandchildren. He’s already sent one on his way to you. Please, they still have so much life to live, and if he continues on this path it will throw our city into chaos.”

King Phantom, High King of All Ghosts, King of the Infinite Realms, nodded his head. His crown flared brightly as he swore to watch over the grandchildren, both blood and adopted of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Their words confirmed his ideas and Jazz’s theories about their newest charge and for the wishes of the Waynes and the protection of Jason Todd, Danny Phantom would watch over the city of Gotham and its heroes. At least those that were still on the path.

[inkyquince]

Patreon Post: Daddy Dearest (Bailey the Caretaker)

content warning. mentioned rape of the reader, slut shaming, Incest, Somnophilia, Dubcon. 

Your father was a very particular man. Selective. An asshole in layman’s terms. That’s also true in your terms. He was always distant, treated you like any of the others in the orphanage, as if he hadn’t fucking sired you himself. You did know for a fact that he made sure to get a vasectomy afterwards, so no surprise children would land on his doorstep, claiming to be his. But you, sadly, were too obviously his, so he couldn’t even deny it.

You never got preferential treatment growing up. You weren’t one but you were treated as an orphan. You had slightly better clothes, you actually went to the doctor when you were sick instead of being told to tough it out, but there was no bond between you two of any significance. Bailey was doing his parental duties of keeping you alive but nothing more. It wasn’t a good upbringing. Not with the people that your father had around him that wouldn’t even hide their admiration of their… Friend’s child, even in front of him. He didn’t care.

You were an accident and he never let you forget it.

This man was meticulous, counting his notes and checking his calendar and always busy. Accidents weren’t permissible. Yet there you were, his biggest damn mistake.

Yet, despite you being his mistake, you were also his in your entirety. Bailey didn’t own much, so he wouldn’t lose much. So, fuck.

Worst of all, Bailey himself didn’t know how he ended up like this. No, not stuck as a single father with a kid who now was paying rent like every other orphan. No, how the fuck did he end up as fucked up at this? You never felt like his kid, not in the way he saw how others interacted with their children. He knew in his gut that you were his, and it brought some feelings, but it all changed when you started… Going out to work.

He raised a fucking whore. Not really, he barely kept a roof over your head, but he still knew it, deep in his bones, he did this to you. His “friends” would snidely ask about his kid, while both of them knew that they had seen more of you lately, than he had. On your knees, on your back, fucked open and whored out. A father should never know about any of this, not about their child, but you are barely his fucking kid. He had to put up with disgusting stories from people he fucking grew up with, photos shared around, even the odd video being sent to him. He was surrounded by disgusting people, but deep down he knew he was one of them. A disgusting pervert who needed a release when the long evenings just wouldn’t end, and felt like they’d only release him from the hell if he finally clicked on his deleted emails bin on his computer.

He didn’t get lube, no foreplay, nothing. This wasn’t pleasure, this was a need. Watching you awkwardly bob on a cock was the first video. Came in seconds. Then the second eternal evening, he watched you struggle to take a fat cock up your ass. Third, Fourth, Fifth, a pussy on your face, zoom in shot of your hole being fingered, a fat dog bot knot pressing deeper into you as you moaned. Fuck, everything from your first time onwards was documented, no doubt because the town wanted to watch Bailey’s kid be ruined. They couldn’t touch him but fuck, they could touch you all over.

It stopped being a nagging thought, for him to watch you. It was a routine now. He had a lot of videos left over when he got them out of the bin, and before too long, he was desperately jerking his cock to anything he could of you. Gangbangs, rape, even a brief period of you with little cow ears, being mounted by multiple dog boys. He did wonder where you had gotten in that time.

But, no matter how many hundreds of videos of you he had, they were always going to run thin before dissipating altogether. Now where the fuck would he get his fix?

By being the most disgusting man in town.

As bad as Morgan, no, the new Morgan.

It took a lot of liquid courage. A lot. Finished a whole bottle of something strong smelling before he started making his way upstairs, feet instinctively finding the spots in the stairs that made no creaking noises. You had his old room. He didn’t know if he did it on purpose, not anymore. Keeping what was his in all the same place. The door didn’t even make a noise as it swung open and he saw… You.

Sprawled out on your bed, sleep shorts riding up, blind to the danger slowly making his way inside, breath reeking of booze. He didn’t know when exactly he started getting this pavlovian response to you, but as per usual, his cock immediately stood to attention at the sight of his child’s face.

Sitting down on the bed, he only hesitates a moment before greedily dragging his coarse hands over your back, his usual gloves left downstairs.

His hand greedily played with your ass, squeezing the soft mounds before roughly parting them, pulling the fabric taut against your hole, spitting against the garment to make it cling against your hole. Drags his thumb against your rim, before turning you on your back properly, his breath coming quickly.

He was terrible. Bailey was a bad fucking dad anyway, but… But now his hands were slipping under your sleep shirt, squeezing at your chest, pinching those cute little nipples. He was molesting you. Molesting his kid. Dabbing his index and middle finger against his tongue, he rubbed them against your sleep shirt, right where your nipples had started to pebble underneath all the attention.

This is all he needs. Just to play with you a bit. This would be enough…

Maybe something more. Like taking your hand and cupping your smaller fingers to take his dripping cock in hand, making you jerk him as you sighed softly. Bailey didn’t care if you woke up. In fact, if you did, he’d enjoy it. He’d throw his long term plan out the window, of taking his time to touch and experiment with you, and would force you down on his cock.

But what he didn’t expect was the little whine you gave, before your fingers tightened a bit around his cock.

“... Daddy…. “ You sighed.

He knows you don’t mean him. You mean Eden, who likes splitting his childhood best friend’s hole open on his cock, demanding you call him uncle. You mean Avery, who picks you up to fuck you in the car after a date. Leighton, who takes out all of his pent up anger at Bailey from their school days, on you. It’s Harper, it’s Briar, it’s Remy.

But fuck.

Yes, jerk your daddy’s fat cock. Bailey’s pace kicked up, enjoying the feeling of your softer hand against his erection. Call out for your daddy, the one man whose supposed to love you unconditionally, and earn that fucking love. Become his whore, his flesh and blood forced to take his cock. He’ll cut your rent in half for a rough fuck with that cute body, to tear that ass roughly.

Bailey ends up grunting and standing up to cum all over your face. White fluid leaking down your face, sinking into the lining of your mouth. Your father’s love all over you.

With a grunt, he tucks his cock away, before pausing. He leans down and presses a lingering, low, hungry kiss to your tainted lips before straightening up. Next time, he was going to fuck your thighs. Then your mouth. Then your hole. Doesn’t matter if you’re awake or not.

[slasherhaven]

hi um can i make a Request?? how would the slasher reacts when they're being taken care of by their female s/o while their sick

Taking Care of the Slashers when they’re Sick:

Thomas Hewitt 

Can be stubborn. Thomas is a hard worker and doesn’t need the lecture from Hoyt for not getting his chores done, so it takes some convincing to get him to just rest. He tries to convince you that he isn’t that sick, he doesn’t even feel that bad, but you and Luda May eventually convince him to rest. 

Loves when you take care of him. At first he doesn’t want to be a burden but you quickly convince him that he’s not and you want to take care of him, so he allows you. He quickly realises that he likes the feeling of you taking care of him, making sure he is alright and fussing over him. He never actually asks you for anything but he doesn't have too, you’re already doing it with a smile.

Luda May loves that you take care of him so well. Luda May thinks your perfect for Thomas and is glad that he found somebody he loves and who loves him, but seeing you take care of him so lovingly when he is sick just makes her heart melt. That’s how she knows that you’re definitely the right one for him.

Michael Myers 

Very stubborn. Michael Myers doesn’t get sick. Evil personified can’t get sick...yeah, he’s definitely sick considering all the coughing and sneezing he’s doing. Even when you roll your eyes and point out that he is very clearly sick, he brushes it off. Okay, well it’s not that bad and he can deal with it.

Reluctantly lets you take care of him when it gets really bad. Eventually the common cold just gets worse and he tries to fight it with stubbornness, and he reluctantly lets you take care of him. He will glare at you the whole time but it’s not quiet as intimidating as it normally is since he’s sniffling as he does so. You have to try not to smile as you drape a blanket over his shoulders before handing him a bowl of his favourite soup.

Jason Voorhees 

Tries to pretend he is fine. He’s not stubborn or trying to act like he’s not sick, but he doesn’t want to be a burden or anything, so he tries to act like it’s not as bad as it really his.

Doesn’t fight you when you want to take care of him. Once you realise that he really is sick, you insist on him getting some rest and letting you take care of him. And he allows it without a fight.

It makes him feel very loved. The fact that you’re fussing over him so much and taking such good care of him simply because you want to, because you love him, just warms his heart. 

Brahms Heelshire

Still a brat. Brahms is needy for your attention on a good day, so when he is sick it is ten times worse. Don’t expect to be doing much other than directly fussing over him. Whines your name if you’re gone for two minutes, he needs you to take care of him!

Loves being cared for. This is pretty obvious but Brahms really enjoys being looked after, being fussed over and doted on. It makes him feel loved and cared for.

Is way too dramatic and plays on it a lot. It’s a simple cold and it’s probably not even that bad but Brahms will act like he is dying so that you give him more of your attention. He’ll probably just lay in bed until he feels better, having you wait on him and insisting on cuddles. You suppose not much changes...

Bo Sinclair

Stubborn. At first he denies that he’s sick at all but once he can’t hide it any longer, he confesses that he’s got a bit of a cold but insists that he’s fine. He definitely doesn’t need to you fussing over him like he’s a child.

Eventually doesn’t have the energy to fight you. He just gets more sick until fighting you is just hard work, so he gruffly gives in and allows you to dote on him. You make him something to eat and makes sure he stays comfortable, scolding him whenever he complains or insists on doing something.

Okay...maybe this isn’t so bad. After so long, he begins to enjoy being cared for like this. He has to admit that it is making him feel better and he appreciates the effort your putting in just to make him feel better. Still, don’t expect a proper ‘thank you’, he’ll still insist that you were being dramatic and he was fine the whole time.

Vincent Sinclair 

A little stubborn. He knows he is sick and doesn’t deny it but he also knows that there is work that needs to get done, so he’s going to need a little convincing to just get him to rest. But you manage to get him to do it eventually, promising that the chores will get done and telling him that he needs to focus on getting better.

He likes having you dote on him, and he’s very grateful. It’s been a long time since somebody had taken care of him like this, fussed about him when he was sick and made sure he got better. He really appreciates it and lets you know that. He doesn’t ask you to do anything, feeling guilty if he did, but you kept reassuring him that you wanted to help and bringing him what he needed anyway without him asking. It’s just another thing you do that makes him fall even more in love with you.

Lester Sinclair

Very quick to convince to rest. He hesitates a little, not wanting to receive a lecture from Bo when he doesn’t get some of his duties done but you pretty easily convince him that it will all be fine. He knows that he needs to rest and he doubts that Bo is going to drive out to the house just to scold him, so he gives in and goes back to bed.

A very good patient. He does everything you say. Takes his medication, eats the soup you make, and thanks you for everything you do for him. He finds that he really does like when you take care of him, making him feel loved and cared for. He just loves you and appreciates everything you do for him.

Bubba Sawyer

Does get a little whiney. At first he tries to fight off the illness with pure willpower but soon gives in to the illness. Bubba hates being sick and he can be a little whiney about it but not in an annoying way, you just feel sympathetic for him. He doesn’t fight you trying to help him either, he doesn’t feel well and he needs you to look after him! 

A pretty good patient. Bubba doesn’t fight you, and though he can be a little whiney, he will do whatever you say. He’s happy just to be cuddled up with blankets in bed while you lovingly fuss over him, shushing him and telling him that you will take care of him.

Billy Lenz 

Pretty dramatic. It starts of with a few sneezes and sniffles, and him feeling a little sorry for himself. You’re sympathetic, already beginning to fuss over him a little, with he enjoys. But he starts feeling more ill and eventually gets pretty whiney about it. He can be very dramatic, he absolutely hates being sick and will complain to you the whole time.

Loves being cared for. Being properly cared for and looked after is pretty new to Billy, and he absolutely loves it. He loves being fussed over and he loves having so much of your attention. He will be a little dramatic, acting more sick than he his just so that you will fuss over him more. Some cuddling should get him to stop complaining and just get some sleep.

Asa Emory (The Collector)

Very stubborn. Asa isn’t going to just accept that he is sick, insisting that he’s fine, that it’s not so bad and it will be over in a couple of days. You shrug and give in, letting him get on with it. Slowly you start to see his energy draining as he hits the peak of his illness, that’s when you start to insist that he focuses on recovering. 

He doesn't know the meaning of ‘rest’. While being sick he might take a break from his Collector work, since he can’t really be doing that with his drained energy but he will be carrying on with his more legitimate work. You will have to just take his work away from him while insisting he gets some rest. You’re not going to get him to just lay in bed for the next few days but you might get him to just rest and take a break from his work.

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull) 

Pretty stubborn. He is quick to admit that he is getting sick but that doesn’t mean he’s just going to be sitting around feeling sorry for himself. When you advise him to get some rest, he just reassures you that he is fine and it is unnecessary.

Lets you do what you need to do. You’re fussing over him and he lets you but he still assures you that he is fine, really. Still, he just lets you do what you gotta do, whether that's making him some soup or just checking in on him, and he is sincerely grateful for it. He appreciates all your effort and makes sure to tell you that. 

Need to force him to stop working. Eventually you decide that you can’t go on watching him filling out paperwork when you can physically see how ill he is, so you pull the papers away from him and insist that he comes to get some proper rest with you. It takes a little convincing but soon gives in and lets you take him to the living room, sitting him down and insisting he just do nothing for a while and focus on getting better. He isn’t very dramatic and he knows he will be fine in a few days but he thinks it’s sweet how much you fuss over him, and so he allows you to do so.

Otis Driftwood

Insists that he doesn’t get sick. No matter what, Otis will insist that he isn’t sick, but he is very clearly sick. No matter what you say, he will deny it. He is stubborn and certainly won’t let you take care of him.

Finally listens but will complain the whole time. Eventually Otis can no longer deny that he is sick and simply doesn’t have the energy that he usually has. And so he finally gives in and listens to your advice to get some rest. However, he will complain about how you’re fussing over him...even if he will get even more grumpy when you stop. When Otis is sick, it’s just a bad time for everyone because he’s in an even worse mood than usual. Mama Firefly is just glad that you’re here to take care of him and to deal with him.

Baby Firefly

Refuses to admit she is sick at first. She’s not as stubborn as her brother and isn’t ashamed to admit that she’s gotten sick, she just doesn’t want to slow down. She’s fine! Of course the two of you can still go out tonight! You just have to assure her that’s it’s fine and the two of you will just celebrate extra hard when she’s feeling better.

Finally gives in and lets you take care of her. Okay, she can’t deny it anymore, she is sick and feels terrible. Once she stops trying to fight it, she is happy to let you take care of her. She thinks you’re sweet for caring so much and kinda likes having you wait on her just a little bit. She quickly figures out that she can get away with being a little cheeky and definitely takes advantage of that.

Yautja (Predator)

He’s not sick, he doesn’t get sick. Honestly you were surprised when he got sick, you didn’t even realise that was possible. You soon learnt that he had the Yautja equivalent of the common cold. It did seem rare for your mate to get sick, the species having a pretty high immune system, and maybe that was why he was so insistent that he wasn’t sick at first.

You make sure he takes his medication or the medic’s advice. At first he might be a little stubborn, insisting he is too strong to be sick but he slowly gets over himself. Listening to you when you insist on any medication that the medic had prescribed or just when it came to following the medic’s advice.

Finds that he likes letting you take care of him. Your mate quickly learns that he likes when you take care of him. You aren’t sure how to help with his alien illness so you just do what you would do for a human partner, wrapping him up in fluffy blankets and making him soup (or whatever else he wants to eat). It doesn’t really help the same way it might help a human but you just want to make him comfortable while he gets better and that is definitely working. Your mate loves it and appreciates it, he is quickly becoming fond of your human quirks and behaviours, he is definitely getting used to them.

[captains-simp]

hello i love your work!! can you do a part 2 to worth our time? :”) maybe wherein carol is actually getting soft for the reader and wants to be together but the reader is hesitant bc of carol being known as a player? maybe some jealous carol as well? 😳😳

Soft!jock!Carol is a god tier idea and I really hope I did it justice

Shout out to @wlwmarvelenthusiast for helping me with my technical difficulties

Part 1

7.5k words

Warnings: oral, praise and double ended dildo use

[ masterlist ]

Buy me a coffee ☕

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Why are you ignoring Carol?" Wanda asked with a frown as you sped out of the school car park a little too hastily. She narrowed her eyes at you, ready to read into every expression that flickered across your face.

"I'm not ignoring her, I'm avoiding her. It's different." You insisted as you kept your eyes on the road in front of you, determined to leave the school grounds before a certain blonde left the building and got into her own car.

"It's exactly the same thing just in a different font." Wanda stated as she continued to watch you.

"It's not. And anyway, I'm not obligated to talk to her." You said quieter, not finding enough confidence in your words. Of course you weren't obligated to talk to Carol, but you missed it - more than you would admit to yourself.

"I know, I thought you liked her though. You said your date went well with her but since then you run out of every room she enters."

"It wasn't really a date." You muttered as took a left and eyed your mirror.

"Y/n." Wanda laughed. "I think I know a date when it's described to me."

"But it's Carol, Wanda. Carol doesn't do dates." You insisted as you tried your hardest to avoid your friend's gaze again. You didn't want her to see the pain in your eyes.

"She did with you."

"She went down on me-"

"Yes, I remember that catch up conversation." Wanda chuckled and you threw an empty sweet packet you had left in the car at her.

"And I'm not complaining about that. It's just... you know I'm not one to judge people by rumors, but Carol seems like a pretty strict 'hookups only' type of gal. Every time me and Carol are alone together we end up fucking and again, I'm not complaining about that, but it's enough to tell me she doesn't want anything more from me. Not even fuck buddies, because she doesn't commit to girls." You breathed out deeply as you parked up outside yours and Wanda's favourite coffee shop, suddenly not able to tell if you weren't in the mood for your hot chocolate or in desperate need of one.

"I think there might be a little more to it than that." Wanda said after a moment. She knew where you were coming from but she also couldn't deny the fidgety nature and anxious look in the blonde's eyes a few days prior.

"She called it a date last time you were together, she hasn't done that before. She was worried when you were sick and she's only ever worried when her teammates are sick."

"She wasn't worried." You rolled your eyes lightly and managed a small smile at Wanda.

"Oh she definitely was."

You groaned when you heard your phone vibrate on your bedside table. You rolled over begrudgingly, only bothering to check it because you knew it was lunch break at school and it might have been Wanda sending you the class notes you had asked for.

Unknown number: when I saw you weren't in class I assumed you were dead

You frowned as you took a double take of the message and the number you didn't recognize. The fuck? You decided to respond anyway, if they were in your class and texted you maybe they would send you their notes too.

You: sorry, who is this??

Unknown number: your favourite jock ;)

They replied, pretty much instantly. You put two and two together, but really the smirking face would have been enough.

You: Carol? How did you get this number??

You rubbed your eyes and pulled you sick bowl closer to you, frowning at the discomfort you felt.

Unknown number: so I am your favourite jock?? Good to know

You rolled your eyes and groaned more, knowing Carol wouldn't be forgetting that in a hurry. You didn't respond to that, instead shutting off your phone in hopes of getting more sleep but a minute later another text came through. You knew it would be Carol, but you still reached over to check it.

Unknown number: and Wanda gave it to me

"Dammit, Wanda." You grumbled, going to write her an angry message but Carol had something else to say.

Unknown number: I asked very nicely

You fought off a smile weakly and decided to change her contact, telling yourself it might be useful to keep it.

Jackass: You home alone?

She didn't seem to want to stop talking. Although you couldn't deny that it made you smile more when you wondered if she meant was anyone there to look after you.

You: I am, parents have to work

Jackass: want me to come over and make you feel better? ;)

Suddenly you didn't feel like talking to Carol anymore. You were sick and feeling crappy and all Carol wanted to do was fuck, she was hardly subtle about it either. If you hadn't already been thinking long and hard about what the jock could possible think of you, that would have been the moment you started to ponder it.

With your mood somehow lowered even more, you turned your phone off to go back to sleep, accidentally swiping the notification that read Jackass: * :)

"I still can't believe you gave her my number." You grumbled as you swirled the chocolaty drink in front of you.

"She did ask very nicely." Wanda grinned.

"Enough about her." You said, leaning forward on your elbows to grin back at your friend. "How's your girlfriend?"

*

You were on your phone when you saw a donut being pushed across the table towards you out of the corner of your eye. It was your favourite type that also happened to be the one the cafeteria rarely sold, so when it landed in front of you you looked up with a smile, expecting to see Wanda smiling knowingly back at you.

Carol grinned as she pulled out the chair opposite you and sat herself down. Your eyes flickered over to Wanda who was trying to hide her smile and look away.

"It's for you." Carol said after a second.

"What do I have to do for it?" You asked, only half joking as you eyed the treat suspiciously.

"Come on another date with me." She winked. You leaned back and looked away from Carol and the donut, displeased but not surprised. "Nothing." Carol said quickly. "You don't have to do anything, I just know that one's your favourite." The blonde said. You had never told her that. You eyed Wanda again who quickly looked away like she hadn't been watching the interaction and leaned into Natasha.

"Thank you, Danvers." You said quietly, moving the napkin that the donut was on closer to you.

"I thought we were passed that." Carol chuckled, you wanted to smile at the sound. Carol leaned down to grab something out of her rucksack as you started on the donut, not entirely sure if you should try make conversation or just run away.

"I took notes yesterday, while you were gone." The jock said as she put her notebook on the table and flicked through her badly organised pages to find the one she was looking for. You raised your eyebrows slightly in response.

You had never once seen Carol take actual notes in class, but when she spun the book around to face you you were even more surprised to see the detailed notes she had been taking, even with a couple of small diagrams at the bottom she had probably copied from the board.

"Are they okay? Wilson's pretty good at this shit I'm sure I could get him to-"

"They're great!" You interrupted. "They're...fuck, I'm sorry but since when did you take notes?" You didn't want to seem rude but it felt like you were witnessing a never before seen event or the discovery of a new species.

"Just figured you would want them." Carol shrugged and took a sandwich out her bag.

"Yeah I... thank you." You muttered and smiled when you saw a small doodle of a star. "Can I?" You asked as you motioned to your phone's camera. Carol nodded with a smile and watched as you took photos of her notes.

Wanda coughed from across the table and you shot daggers at her, knowing what she so desperately wanted to say. She hasn't done that for anyone else.

*

"It was sweet of her though." Wanda pointed out as her eyes stayed fixed on Natasha's form.

"It was, but you've gotten me donuts before and you don't want to date me." You said as you tried to stop your eyes trailing to Carol again as they seemed to keep doing.

"Well if Natasha wasn't here..." Wanda teased with a smile. You rolled your eyes at your friend and chuckled.

"Are Carol's abs as hard as they look?" Wanda asked randomly. You couldn't help but look up at the blonde at the mention of her name and perhaps one of your favourite things about her.

It was a hot day and her team was training hard on the field, so most of the athletes had their shirts off. Carol's abs were on full display and given the amount of core stretches she had been doing they were as prominent as ever.

"They are." You muttered, remembering the first time you ran your hands across her chest.

You heard giggling in the row behind you and turned around to see a group of girls also watching Carol and her team train. It was obvious their gazes fell on the same area yours had and suddenly you remembered the long list of names that Carol used to show off proudly.

The girl's whispers became louder as did the giggling and without realizing what you were doing you found yourself comparing you to them. They were popular, effortlessly beautiful and probably had much more experience than you ever had. You couldn't compete with that. Especially when you didn't even know why Carol wanted you. You rested your head on your knees and tried to zone out the world around you as your insecurities ate at you more.

"Come on." Wanda nudged you gently as she stood up from the bleachers. You grabbed your bag and followed after her, noticing that practice was apparently over.

Natasha was standing at the bottom of the bleachers and pulled Wanda into a tight hug. You smiled at the motion, wishing you had what they did.

"Hey." Carol said to you, her eyes shining lightly in the sun.

"Hey yourself." You nodded as you began to walk behind Wanda and Nat. Carol fell into place beside you and made you think about the height difference between you. You were convinced she could give the best piggy back rides.

"You make it look easy." You blurted out. Carol arched a perfect brow at you as she pulled her shirt over her head. "Sport." You generalized, waving your hands.

"Y/n is allergic to sport." Wanda called back.

"Is that right?" Carol smirked as she looked at you.

"It is not, it's just not my thing." You defended.

"Then what is your thing?" Carol asked curiously.

"Wouldn't you like to know." You replied as you searched your brain, not really knowing if you had a thing. Nothing serious at least.

"I would." Carol fired back.

"That's too bad." The jock smiled and decided not to push.

"I'm sure there's a sport you can do." Carol pondered.

"If there is if it could be added to the curriculum that would be really helpful." You sighed.

"Y/n L/n, are you failing a class?" Carol gasped dramatically. You groaned when Wanda laughed, confirming the blonde's assumption.

"Could be worse, I fail loads of classes and everything seems to work out okay." Carol said calmly, seemingly completely unfazed.

You reached the car park and slowed down when you saw Natasha follow Wanda to her car. Wanda was your lift to school and therefore your ride home too. You had stayed behind to study in the library and joined your friend on the bleachers when it shut to see the last of the teams training, not thinking about the fact Wanda was staying behind so she could hang out with Natasha after.

"I can give you a ride home." Carol offered as she threw her car keys up in the air and caught them easily. You pondered that for a second, you really didn't want to be a third wheel to your friend, even if it was a short drive home.

"Yeah, thanks, Danvers." Wanda gave you a knowing smile as she waved goodbye and practically ran to her car with Natasha.Yeah, definitely the best call to leave them alone.

You got into Carol's car and tried to ignore all the memories you had of being in the backseat, instead resting your arm against the window to try and keep your focus on that. Carol didn't say much as you drove which surprised you. She seemed deep in thought about something and you couldn't help but wonder what.

"You want to come to mine?" She said suddenly. You froze in your seat before answering.

"Just my place will do. For me only! I mean I... I have homework." You rambled and felt your whole face heat up. You wondered if being in a car with Wanda and Natasha jumping each other could possibly be more uncomfortable than being sat with Carol and trying to decline her advances.

"I could help." She offered, seemingly genuinely.

"I can handle it." You forced a laugh. Carol nodded and didn't say anything else until she pulled up to your house.

"Thanks again, Danvers." You smiled at the blonde as you hauled you bag up and opened the door.

"I'm always happy to help you out, y/n." Carol smiled back your way genuinely and your stomach did a little flip.

*

You hummed to yourself quietly as you made your way through the school corridors and opened the double doors to the library. You smiled to the librarian as always and got a limited response but your smile faltered when you saw your usual table was taken... by Carol.

She was in her training attire and scrolling mindlessly through her phone until she glanced up and saw you. "Hey." She smiled.

"Are you lost?" You asked as you walked towards her slowly.

"No and go get changed." Was all she said as she pushed a bag of school gym clothes towards you.

"And why would I do that?" You sighed as you peered into the bag.

"Y/n," Carol started as she tilted her chair back and rested her hands behind her head with her feet on the table, her usual confident smile playing on her lips. "Does it or does it not absolutely kill you that you're failing a class?" You paused before flicking yours eyes up to her. Yes, it absolutely did.

"And am I or am I not the best athlete in the school?" Also hard to argue with. You shifted on your feet.

"Come on, y/n. I promise I'll help you at least pass the class." Carol said with certainty. You chewed your gum as you thought about it.

"What do you get out of it?" You asked as you narrowed your eyes at the blonde.

"I can go to sleep at night knowing I've helped an underling." She grinned. You rolled your eyes but couldn't help but smile at her, Carol continued to smile back at you.

"That A* you got us on that project made me pass the class." Carol shrugged.

"Alright, Danvers." You nodded and picked up the bag. "But no funny business."

"Great!" She exclaimed and took her feet off the table to stand up.

"I'll see you in the main hall in 10."

*

Barely ten minutes into Carol's 'warm ups' you were already out of breath and in need of a break. You glared at her every time she barked orders at you with a grin, clearly enjoying bossing you around.

"Catch!" Carol exclaimed as she hauled a basketball at you. You ducked out the way and watched it fly past your head.

"You trying to kill me?!" Carol was bent over laughing at your exasperation and inability to catch a simple ball.

"Shut the fuck up, Danvers." You huffed but managed to hit the second ball that came your way.

"You really are allergic to sports huh?" She teased as you scowled at her. "Okay, let's start with the basics."

Surprisingly, from that point onward Carol wasn't that bad. She gave you a lot of pointers that honestly proved helpful because you slowly started to improve. Granted, you were still bad, but you were better.

"Arms like this." She instructed and watched as you mimicked her shooting position. "Elbows a little higher." You did as she said but she smiled at the attempt and stepped behind you. You froze up a little when she put her hands over yours and lifted them up too to a position that felt more natural.

"You got it." She assured, speaking right next to your ear so you could feel her breath against your skin. Then she withdrew her soft hands from yours and backed away. You missed the contact immediately.

"Now shoot." She instructed. You missed.

*

Carol trained you after school pretty much every day after that. Your limbs always ached after those sessions, so much so you were tempted to cave and take Carol up on her offer of a back rub.

You found that some sports were actually kind of fun to play with Carol, whether it was the absence of the pressure you got in a full class of teenagers or just because you enjoyed the blonde's company, it wasn't all that bad.

You still couldn't find a sport you were good at, but you didn't really care. You wondered what would happen when you did. Would Carol coach you at it for a bit then abandon your sessions? They couldn't keep going forever. The pang you got in your chest was the reason you had been ignoring Carol weeks prior, you didn't want to feel that for her. You just couldn't help it.

"Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night." You recalled as Valkyrie wrote it down.

"I knew it was something like that." She waved off.

"Yeah you were really close with..." You glanced at her notes. "She gives me a boner." You laughed and put your face in your hand.

"That's the modern day translation!" Valkyrie exclaimed defensively.

"Please don't put that in your exam." You sighed as you flicked through your copy of Romeo and Juliet to find the next act.

"One sec." Valkyrie said as she looked down at her phone that was vibrating on the desk with a caller ID that you couldn't read.

"Hey, Captain." Valkyrie answered. You looked her way and back at your book quickly. There was more than one Captain in the school.

"I'm in the library studying." She continued and paused for the other voice to speak. "It's not that bad, a pretty girl's teaching me Romeo and Juliet." Valkyrie winked at you and you smiled weakly back, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Fucking jocks and their shameless flirtation.

"Yeah I'll be done soon, see you then." She said and hung up the phone before turning back to you.

"Are there any quotes about boners?" The minutes after that went by painstakingly slowly. It was only a one off tutoring session that you would get an extra credit for, but you could think of a million things you would rather be doing with your lunch break.

Valkyrie nodded past you at someone at the library entrance. You turned around out of instinct and saw Carol strolling towards your table, eyes focused on you.

"Thanks for this." Valkyrie said as she packed away her things. "If I pass the exam I'm gonna have to find some way to make it up to you." She smirked as her eyes trailed over your legs.

You glanced at Carol who looked far from pleased at Valkyrie's comment and couldn't help but smile because that is exactly what she sounded like to you sometimes.

"That's okay." You muttered as you tried to avoid her gaze and put your books back in your bag.

"Alright, but I'm having a party this weekend. You should come."

"I'm not really a party person." You laughed awkwardly, wanting the encounter to be over.

"You don't have to spend long at the party itself." Valkyrie shrugged as she took a bold step towards you. "You could always stay in my room-"

"She said no." Carol cut in. Her eyes bore into Valkyrie's with a look that said the conversation was over. Her stance was firm and her jaw was tightly locked as she glared at her team mate. Valkyrie frowned and looked back at you as you fiddled with your bag zip and avoided her eye, silently thanking Carol even if she had been a tad aggressive.

"Right, sorry." Valkyrie muttered before making her way past you. Carol gave you a small smile before turning to leave with her team mate. You were sure Wanda would have something to say about that.

*

It was a few days until you saw Carol again. She had texted you to briefly say she had practice after school and you didn't see her at lunch breaks either. It annoyed you to admit you missed her company.

With every second you spent with the jock your crush on her grew. You knew that any longer and you may just end up head over heals for her which would only end in heart break for you. But every time you saw the wisp of blonde hair, shine of brown eyes with her confident smile or even just that god damn varsity jacket, you didn't care about how it could end.

It was a Thursday when she texted you during lunch to ask if you wanted to practice after school. You replied a little too eagerly with a yes and continued listening to Wanda rant about something dumb Pietro had done.

A few hours later you held a bat in your hands and prepared for Carol to throw the ball your way. She wasn't very talkative that day, a rarity for the blonde. You wanted to ask if something was up with her but the concentrated look on her face made you not want to disrupt her train of thought.

"I'm sorry." She said suddenly.

"That's alright." You sighed as you watched the ball roll across the field. That was a particularly fast throw.

"About snapping in the library." Carol corrected. "I didn't mean to make it awkward." She said as she scratched the back or her neck then stretched her arm to throw again.

"You didn't." You assured honestly. "I was already uncomfortable." You huffed as you missed another throw from Carol even after trying to apply all her tips.

"Val can be quite persistent." Carol said, still not showing her smile.

"Just like someone else I know." You shrugged. Carol faltered at the obvious call out.

"Lets switch." She said quietly and handed you her glove as she took the bat from you. She explained to you the basics of her own throwing techniques and had a few recommendations on what she thought might work best for you.

"If you ever told me no, I'd back off." Carol said as put the bat up. You were thrown off by the sudden shift in conversation.

"I know you would have." You hoped Carol noticed your use of past tense. You had already decided that sex with her again would be too dangerous for you. God only knows what you would end up blurting out. You cringed at the thought of confessing your love for Carol as she fucked you.

Your eyes shifted to the track team that were doing their laps around another part of the field. They made it look as easy as always.

"You got eyes for one of them, y/n?" Carol asked in a voice that seemed more curious than teasing.

"Not my type." You muttered as you threw the ball weakly again.

"What is your type?" Carol asked, unable to mask her curiosity that time.

"I don't know." You huffed. The blonde looked at you expectantly, clearly hoping for something more. "And what's your type, Danvers?" You asked, successfully shifting the conversation when you saw a glint in Carol's eyes. Her smile returned.

"Eh, about (your height), (your eye colour) eyes, terrible at sport but really cute so it's dorky." Carol shrugged. Damn, that could almost be me. You glanced up at the blonde to throw again and saw her smirking at you.

"Someone should warn her." You joked in a feeble attempt to hide your disappointment that we swelling in the pit of your stomach.

"I just did." Wait... Carol's smirk grew as she watched the realization spread across your face. You blushed deeply and tried to fight off a smile.

"I don't think baseball's working either." You muttered.

*

"You know it's strange, I always thought you were going to become a jock." Pietro said thoughtfully before taking a bite of his apple.

"First of all how dare you and secondly what the hell gave you that idea?" You exclaimed. Wanda was giggling besides you while Carol gave you a look of faux offence.

"That's the highest compliment!" She argued.

"I second that." Natasha nodded.

"Do you remember Wanda's 14th birthday party?" Pietro asked.

"It's a treasured memory." You grinned at Wanda. "I kicked your ass at bowling." You recalled proudly.

"You kicked everyone's ass at it. Bowling's a sport isn't it?" Apparently word had spread about Carol's private lessons. You and the blonde had spent weeks going back and forth between different sports. Overall, you were still pretty crap but you had been lifted to a passing grade in the class. You kept meaning to tell Carol that, but you didn't want the lessons to end. You concluded that as long as she didn't ask, you wouldn't tell.

"I'd say so." Wanda shrugged but Carol and Natasha clearly had different opinions.

"Fuck no!"

"Please do not align that with us!" They erupted. You and Wanda started to laugh at their outraged expression, never knowing something to piss a jock off more.

The sound of the bell overhead was followed by a few groans from those around the table as you all packed up and left the table. At least it was a Friday. You wandered across the field on your usual route of going round the main buildings to avoid the crowded corridors, lost in your thoughts until someone jogged up besides you.

"Bowling, huh?" She inquired as she slowed down to a walk.

"It's been years." You said offhandedly.

"You got plans tomorrow?"

"Nope."

"We should go bowling, if you want to. Obviously just as part of your lessons." Carol offered as she looked ahead.

"I thought you said it isn't a sport." You eyed the blonde suspiciously with a smile.

"It isn't, but this I have to see."

"Okay." You nodded without much thought. Bowling with the jock did sound fun.

"I'll pick you up at 2."

*

"These shoes are ridiculous." Carol grumbled.

"American football shoulder pads are ridiculous but you don't hear me calling that out." You fired back.

"Oh, so that was meant at someone else?"

"Sure." You shrugged as you smiled at Carol's brightly coloured shoes. You went onto your lane and gleamed at the nostalgic sound of pins being knocked over and the bright spot lights across the lanes.

Carol put your names into the scoreboard tablet as you ran your hands over the bowling balls and frowned slightly as you realized you still had to use one of the smaller ones.

"Experts first." Carol motioned to the beginning of the lane with a small smirk and you smiled back at her excitedly and grabbed a ball.

"Just remember it's been a while!" You called back to the eagerly watching blonde. She hummed back. You brought the ball up to your chest to have a feel of the weight and glared at the pins, there had to be something you could impress Carol with. With a deep breath, you swung your arm back and forward to let the ball go, center down the lane and colliding with the painted targets. All but one knocked over and you couldn't help but throw tour hands up in the air in triumph.

"That was pretty good!" You declared as you turned back to Carol happily. She beamed back at you, giving you a smile that made her eyes squint and look absolutely adorable.

You grabbed the second ball and rolled it smoothly across the polished floor, successfully hitting the last pin. Carol strolled up after you, her hands hovering over the range in front of her and landing on one for someone with a bigger hand. You scoffed quietly, not believing the jock could hold it but she picked it up with ease.

You stood, wide eyed, watched as she sauntered over to the lane and swung her arm. The ball veered off to the side and took down a couple of pins that Carol glared at.

"Unlucky is all." She grumbled as she went to get another ball. This time when she threw it it fell into the dip along the side, it was hard to hide your amusement.

"That's just bullshit." Carol grumbled.

"Do you want me to put the sides up for you, Danvers? Or maybe I could ask someone for that ramp." You teased. She flipped you off and went to sit on the small sofa and watched you carefully.

You knocked most of the pins over on your next few goes while Carol got very little. You tried to give her a few tips but apparently her ego was too big to accept them, which meant you were winning marginally.

You spun around to face the blonde after knocking the last of your pins over but she wasn't on her spot on the sofa. You were about to get your phone out to text her but you spotted her sauntering back towards your area with a bowl of nachos. Your mouth watered at the sight.

Carol gave a dramatic huff as she spotted the scoreboard and beckoned you over to the small table by the sofas. "We'll start a new round after these." She said as she put them on the table. "I didn't poison them." She quipped when you didn't move.

"Sometimes I think you'd do anything to win." You replied as you sat down opposite her and took one of the nachos. In all honesty you weren't expecting Carol to get the snack, never mind to want to share it.

Carol flexed her right hand absent mindedly as she glanced around at over areas of the alley. "Your hand hurting?" You asked as you took another nacho with a lot of cheese on it.

"A little." She shrugged and lifted it up to look at the back of her mind. Without thinking, you put your hand and pressed it gently flat against hers. Not only were her fingers longer than yours but her palm was bigger too, even her wrist was thicker. It was only when you caught Carol's eye that you went to bring your hand away but she laced her fingers through yours and put them down on the table.

"Sorry, I was just curious." You blushed even though it was clear Carol didn't mind.

"Okay." She chuckled as she continued on the nachos. You finished the rest of the snack in silence with your hands still together until you leaned back and glanced at the lane again.

"Ready to have your ass kicked again?" You quipped.

"Don't get cocky, kid." Carol mused as she rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Since when did you know Star Wars?" You asked in complete disbelief.

"I love Star Wars." Carol said casually. "And since always."

"I didn't take you for the type." You smiled as you tried to study the jock for any signs of a lie.

"That's just because you never asked." She shrugged and stood up, letting your hands slide apart. You missed the contact instantly but that didn't distract you enough from her words.

Of course you had never asked her something like that, Star Wars was the last thing you'd guess she would like. You knew there was always more to people than what they showered publicly, but Carol had always seemed like such an open book in every way. So hearing that she wasn't quite what you thought she was, even after the few months of knowing her better, simply made you impossibly more interested in the blonde. You stared at Carol in nothing short of awe, she was really something else.

"I've had enough of these shoes." She declared.

"You quitting on me Danvers?" You quipped but really your heart dropped at the thought she wanted to cut your outing short.

"I'm just thinking we could try our hand at a few other things, seeing as we're not doing sport anymore." She said as she nodded towards the arcade.

Your eyes lit up at all the games in the entrance as you found your competitiveness returning. You both returned your shoes and practically ran over to the arcade area with all its choices. You decided to head towards the air hockey first as you argued over whether or not it was a sport. Carol, of course, took the opposition.

Your reflexes weren't as good as hers but you liked to think you put up a good fight, even if you did curse under your breath every time the blonde scored. The screen above you both lit up to declare Carol's victory that she was very happy to celebrate, you watched as she danced around the table towards you in what could have been the dorkiest thing you had ever seen.

"You having fun there?" You laughed.

"So much fun." Carol grinned back and eyed her next target.

"Absolutely not!" You cried out when her eyes landed on the basketball. You took her by the hand and tried your best to ignore the electricity running up your arms at how perfectly her hand fit in yours and led her through the arcade. You came to a halt by a racing game and before you could even suggest the idea to Carol she was clambering into the seat and shoving the coins into the machine. You sat down next to her and did the same. You were both terrible. The controls were slightly broken and far too sensitive, making the cars on screen spin around when you tried to turn and never going straight.

"Piece of garbage!" Carol shouted at the screen as you passed the finish line by some miracle.

"Wanna go again?" You asked with a grin but the blonde was already jumping off the seat.

"Now this I have to win." Carol declared as she spotted the nearest shooting game. It was some kind of zombies in space crossover but you didn't much question that when you picked up the plastic gun.

"We work together on this, Danvers." You laughed.

"Count yourself lucky then." Carol said as she aimed her gun at the screen as the game started.

"The fact that you didn't know how it works doesn't make me all that confident in you." You pointed out as you started firing at the horde of zombies. You didn't see one that was charging at you from the left but Carol shot it down before it reached you.

"You're welcome." She smirked then shot some more on your right. "Come on, y/n I'm doing all the work here."

"Fuck yourself, Danvers." You fired back as you tried to reload your gun.

"Fuck me yourself you coward." She challenged. Your mouth went dry but you started to laugh. She didn't make the comment with her usual smirk and suggestive tone, instead it seemed like a genuine joke that you didn't get anxious about.

"That would be a first." You quipped with a smile. You managed to take the last few zombies.

"It really would be, I am a virgin after all." She said casually and you dropped your gun. "Oh shit, here we go!" Carol laughed as the zombie boss made its dramatic entrance.

"Wait what?" You stammered as you looked between Carol and the screen while trying to get a grip on the plastic gun.

"What? No one's ever fucked me. I fuck girls, they don't fuck me back." She shrugged simply and started rapid firing at the boss.

"Maybe you should stop being exclusive to pillow princesses." You joked in a feeble attempt to mask your surprise.

"Maybe, it's not just that." She started. It confused you that she could say something so out of character while keeping most of her attention on the screen. "I don't trust any of them. I don't know, it's just, when it comes down to it, I freak out." Carol tried to explain but seemed to struggle.

"Damn." She sighed when the screen presented 'Game Over' in an overtly bloody text. You wandered away from the booth as you thought about what Carol said. She had a content smile on her face as she looked around and you figured the conversation was over.

"I love these." You told the blonde when you came across a Wac A Mole machine. You put the coins in and lifted up the rubber mallet as you kept your eyes on the board. The first one sprung up in front of you and Carol announced its presence with a cry.

"Thank you, Danvers." You smiled after hitting the figure.

"There!" She pointed to the next one, and the next one until you shouldered her out the way, not expecting her to actual wander off. When the game was over you grinned in triumph and looked to Carol for her praise but she wasn't near by. With a frown, you ventured around the arcade and found the jock hunched over a claw machine.

"These things eat you money, you know?" You half joked but to your surprise Carol dropped a small teddy bear into the box.

"And how long did that take you?" You teased as she picked it up.

"Its for you." You ran your thumb over the left paw that had a heart over it and smiled back at the jock who kept surprising you.

"Thank you, Carol." She nodded and the pair of you started to walk out the arcade and main building. Much to your surprise it was starting to get dark and there were few cars in the car park. You guessed the place would be closing soon but you hadn't realized you had been there so long. Time always seemed to fly by with Carol.

"How long were we even..." You started to laugh lightly until you turned to Carol and realized how close together you were. Your breath hitched when your eyes locked with her own that seemed to be looking back at you with something you couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Can I kiss you?" You whispered gently. You licked your lips and nodded slowly.

Her other hand rested on your cheek as her thumb caressed the smooth skin slightly and finally closed the distance entirely.

You had kissed Carol before, but never like that. It was slow and longing and gentle and you reciprocated in an instant, matching the rhythm she set. You brought you hands up to Carol's neck and cherished the moment of feeling connected to her in the way you had been craving before you pulled apart.

"It's only our second date, Danvers." You couldn't help but quip, not knowing what to say in such an unfamiliar scenario.

"Well this second date has taken a lot of work to get." Carol pointed out and you laughed as you continued to hold her close.

"I was scared." You admitted.

"You don't have to be scared with me." Carol assured gently.

"You mean it? You really..."

"I really love you." She confirmed.

"That's lucky for me, because I love you too." You smiled and brought Carol in for another kiss that she happily encouraged.

"So... more dates?" Carol asked with a laugh, clearly not all that familiar with the procedure either. You would work it out quickly.

"Yeah Carol." You chuckled.

"That I still have to work hard for?" She half joked.

"Not if we're girlfriends." The blonde laughed more at that.

"I'm glad to hear I've upgraded from just your favourite jock.

"You're always going to be my favourite jock too." You assured and kissed Carol once more.

*

Carol kissed a path down your stomach and smiled against your skin as she felt you shiver. Even after weeks of dating you still weren't used to her kisses, especially not across your more sensitive areas of skin.

"I got you." She whispered as she hooked her fingers over your pajama bottoms and panties and pulled them down together, kissing the newly found skin. You shivered more as her breath ghosted over your clit making you whine and buck your hips up. Carol smiled at your reaction and leaned down not before whispering "God, you're beautiful.

She wrapped her full lips around your clit and reveled in the moan that spilled from your lips. Her tongue dipped between your folds and she moaned at the sweet taste that invaded her taste buds.

You wrapped your hands in Carol's long blonde hair to bring her closer but she pulled away with a smirk. Before you could whine in protest she pulled her own trousers down to reveal a strap you hadn't seen before. It was different in shape and colour but the most noticeable different was the absence of the harness. You moaned softly at the realization it was anchored inside her.

"I want to feel it with you." Carol said as she lowered herself back towards you and placed her hands either side of your head and kissed your neck.

"Are you sure?" You asked tentatively. It would be the first time Carol had been on the receiving end to such a level. The most you had done was go down on her a few times.

"Yes, I trust you. I love you." She grinned and lined the strap up with your entrance.

"I love you too." You had really started to enjoy saying that to her.

You moaned breathlessly as Carol inched the strap into you carefully and kissed along your jaw more. She moaned with you when she bottomed out and felt the strap dig deeper into her. Her hips twitched as she took a moment to gather her own composure and held your hands above your head, your fingers intertwined.

"I got you." You assured back to her as she started to pull out and push back in. Carol moaned loudly in response and held you closer to her as she started to build up a rhythm, your thigh slapping together.

You moaned in sync as the strap pleasured you both more and more. You wrapped your legs tightly around your girlfriend's waist to push the strap deeper inside you both.

You shuddered every time Carol's skin met yours. Carol started thrusting the toy faster and harder as she chased her own release.

"It's so good!" You cried out. You both struggled to form words, only managing breathless moans as the strap pressed firmly against your g-spots in sync.

"Me too, fuck, please Carol. Cum with me." You pleaded and gave a strangled moan. Carol shuddered and moaned louder than you had ever heard as she came undone at the same time as you.

"Y/n." Your girlfriend shuddered and started to grind her hips against yours as she rode out her high with you.

"It's okay, I got you." You said as you held onto Carol's bare back. You held her close to you as she breathed heavily against your neck, the irregular patterns starting to even out. She was still shaking so you planted soft kissed across the patches of her face that weren't hidden in your neck as you stroked her hair, a content smile on your lips.

She adjusted herself slightly and the pair of you moaned softly when she eased the toy out and put it on the floor. "I'll clean it later." She whispered, eyes closed, before you could say anything.

"Okay." You chuckled and brought her closer to you. You wrapped your arms around one another as your legs tangled together under the sheets.

Carol's soft breath caressed your skin as you stroked her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. A faint smile played across her lips at the action, confirming that she was just as happy as you were.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Taglist: @caroldanvers2 @marvelwomenslut @marvelwomen-simp @likefirenrain @grxvitye @emilyprentisslittlewhore @lostandsearching @firenrain13 @horcruxhunter90 @wndrcarol

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[just-another-blog-of-fluff]

Don't Lie to the God of Lies - Part 2

Word count: 5100

Warnings: ruthless Loki, ruthless Bucky… yeah just ruthless. Mmhmm.

This is a three-prompt-inspired fic - incorporating requests for Don't Lie to the God of Lies part 2, a Loki/Bucky tagteam, and a Prompt by an anon requesting reader pranking Bucky until he finally decides to get back at them.

Today is also exactly 6 months since posting my first fic, which just so happens to be part 1 of this new fic! It’s crazy to think how much I’ve written and how many kind people have interacted with my posts since then 💚💚

Read Part 1

The damned god wasn’t ticklish. Not one bit. If he was, then he was damn good at hiding it.

You tried every ticklish spot you could think of, and he simply allowed you to do it, even raising his arms to allow free access to his entire torso. He didn’t even flinch. And the smile on his face? That was a haughty smirk, one that simply oozed ‘I-told-you-so.’

You had to literally beg him on your knees not to tell anyone your secret. He finally agreed, only because he was getting sick of your groveling. But making deals with the devil was never free. He had conditions, and you had to abide by them, or he wouldn’t be holding up his end of the bargain.

He and Bucky had been in some kind of unspoken feud for about a week now. Bucky had apparently drunk an entire bottle of Loki’s Asgardian mead, having discovered that he could actually feel a little bit tipsy from the liquor despite his super soldier serum. Loki had been plotting revenge ever since he’d confronted the metal-armed soldier and gotten no more than a shrug in response. He had a few pranks planned out, of course. But why get his hands dirty when he could make you do it for him?

“You want me to prank Bucky. Repeatedly.” You stared at Loki incredulously, wondering if he was pulling your leg. His face remained completely serious as he nodded, brows raised in confusion.

“Yes, that… is what I said, is it not?”

You began to laugh humorlessly. “Loki – I can’t! If Bucky found out it was me, I’d be in so much trouble!”

“Then it’s best you avoid giving yourself away,” he suggested facetiously, his lips curling up into a smirk. “Wouldn’t want to be on the Winter Soldier’s bad side, would you?”

“Ughh, Loki!” you groaned in frustration, running your hands through your hair, beginning to pace anxiously. “Is this really my only way out? You can’t come up with anything else?”

“Darling – need I remind you that you’ve been strutting about, touting the fact that you’re not ticklish to anyone who dare even try to prove otherwise. This is a considerable secret you want me to keep. And that comes at a price.”

You paused, taking a deep breath before turning to face Loki again. “Fine. What do I have to do?”

Loki briefed you on the revenge he had plotted for the super soldier. Admittedly, you couldn't deny that his ideas were pretty funny and, surprisingly, didn't involve all that much magic. You tried to look at the bright side - at least if you were going to have to put yourself at risk of Bucky catching you, you were going to have a little fun doing it.

The next morning, you awoke to a knocking at your door. It was still dark outside, the sun only just barely peeking up over the horizon. Groggily, you staggered to your bedroom door and opened it to find Loki standing on the other side. You gasped a little, running your hands through your hair to smooth the knots that had formed in your sleep as your face began to burn, knowing Loki was seeing you in such a state.

"Wh-what are you doing here so early, Loki?" you whispered, trying to suppress a yawn.

"As you may recall, Barnes awakens quite early to go for his morning run before the sun rises," he reminded you, his eyes skimming over your oversized sleep shirt and cotton shorts. You wrapped your arms self-consciously around yourself.

“Ok - which prank are you asking me to pull, then?”

Bucky had a rather specific routine in the morning. He went for a run, he returned to the compound, he showered, and he sat down to have his morning coffee. He took his coffee the same way every morning - a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of cream. Your job? Replace the sugar with salt before he returned.

"Isn't this kind of a juvenile prank?" you asked as you opened the sugar bowl, pouring the sugar out into a separate bowl to empty it.

"That is the point, darling. Would you suspect that I, the God of Mischief, performed such a 'juvenile' prank, as you call it?"

"... Fair enough." You poured salt into the dish and replaced the cover, hiding the bowl with the sugar in the back of a cabinet. "There. Happy now? Can I go back to sleep?"

"Oh, I don't think so. We've got more work to do."

You groaned, rubbing your eyes groggily. "Fine, but you're going to wait until I have my own cup of coffee."

"Be my guest." He turned to exit the kitchen, pausing in the doorway. "Don't use the sugar dish - you'll be sorry." You rolled your eyes, hiding an amused smirk as you turned on the coffee maker.

As you left the kitchen with your coffee mug, Bucky passed by you with a gruff 'good morning' on his way to the coffee maker. You kept a straight face as you said good morning, taking a sip of your coffee as you continued on to meet Loki and prepare the next prank. A sudden shout of disgust from down the hall told you Bucky had encountered your trick. You only hoped he didn't suspect you because you'd been the last in the kitchen.

Next up was probably your favorite of Loki's ideas. You waited patiently in the common room, watching television with Steve until Bucky came in to join the two of you. He eyed you warily when he entered the room, but didn't say anything as you looked back at him with pure innocence written on your face. Taking a seat beside Steve on the sofa, he placed his phone on the armrest and began to make casual conversation.

You had a sense he was already beginning to suspect you, and so you knew you had to tread carefully. You participated in conversation with the two super soldiers, interjecting occasionally where it made sense and otherwise pretending to watch the television. After you'd sat there long enough for Bucky to let his guard down a bit more, you stood and exited the room under the ruse of having to use the restroom. As you passed the sofa, you took mental note of where Bucky's cell phone was sitting. Your best shot at appearing innocent was to wait until you returned to take his phone - he wouldn't suspect you took it right from under his nose and then sat right back down in the living room.

Sure enough, when you returned you casually swiped the phone from the arm of the sofa, stuffing it in your back pocket before taking your seat on the arm chair. You waited casually, wanting Bucky to notice the phone was missing while you were still sitting there in the room so you could lead him to believe your innocence. It took a surprisingly long time for him to reach for his phone, having been caught up in a lively conversation with his best friend. You watched as he blindly patted his palm around the sofa arm without looking, turning his head only when he realized he couldn't find it.

"Where's my phone?" His eyes darted immediately to you, narrowing suspiciously. "Alright, where'd you put it?"

"Huh? What do you mean, where'd I put it? Why would I take your phone?" you asked, feigning ignorance.

"Don't lie to me. I know you're guilty." He rose to his feet, approaching the chair to stand over you threateningly. You held your hands up in surrender.

"Search me if you'd like. I didn't take your phone, Buck."

"Maybe I will." He pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, studying you as though trying to discern whether you were being honest. You held your arms out, palms up flat.

"Seriously, Buck. I don't have it."

"We'll see about that." He patted his hands along your long sleeves, running them down along your sides. You knew what he was trying to do when he dug his fingertips into your ribs and sides on the way down. Luckily, you'd prepared for it and maintained your straight face despite how badly it tickled.

"Buck, I've told you I'm not ticklish already - why do you bother trying?" you asked teasingly as his hands left your sides, a scowl etched across his face. "Do you believe me now? I don't have your phone."

"You must have hidden it somewhere," he scoffed, folding his arms across his chest.

"Seriously? Why do you think I'm out to get you today??"

"Oh, come on! Like I don't know you were the one who put salt in the sugar dish this morning. Why are you pranking me?"

You snorted. "Someone put salt in the sugar dish?? Is that why you yelled this morning?"

His face melted from irritated suspicion to confusion, his heavy brow furrowing. "Yeah, they did. You didn't know? You were walking out with a coffee when I went in the kitchen this morning."

You shrugged. "Don't take sugar in my coffee."

Bucky seemed to buy it finally, his arms relaxing by his sides. "Well somebody took it. It was right here next to me." He turned and walked out of the room, grumbling about how he was going to catch the culprit in the act. You looked up at Steve, who was eyeing you thoughtfully.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" you asked.

"No reason. You just seem pretty defensive for someone who didn't pull these pranks."

"I'm not -"

"Look, I don't want to get in the middle of... whatever is going on. But let me tell you from experience - Bucky doesn't take pranks sitting down. He will seek revenge."

"Well, I'll keep that in mind if I ever decide to prank him," you insisted, standing up and adjusting your sweater to cover the part of Bucky's phone that stuck out of your back pocket. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find someone to hang out with who doesn't look at me like I've committed some sort of crime."

Steve chuckled, waving you off dismissively as you left the room. "I'd avoid Bucky if I were you."

You headed up to your bedroom, shutting the door behind you before taking a seat in the middle of your bed and pulling Bucky's phone out of your pocket. Opening his settings, you began changing his autocorrect feature to replace common words like 'and' and 'the' with the word 'dork' - a harmless prank, but god was it going to be funny when he couldn't figure out how to fix it.

"I see you've succeeded in getting Barnes' phone without detection."

You leapt a mile into the air, turning to find Loki leaning against your desk. "Loki! God, I'm gonna put a bell on you or something. Could you announce yourself next time??"

"Now, darling, there's no fun in that." He paced over to where you sat, leaning over your shoulder to look at the screen as you worked.

"To respond to your statement - no, I didn't completely evade detection. He's beginning to suspect me."

"How unfortunate."

"Loki!" You looked up from the phone screen, glaring at the nonplussed god. "I'm serious! He gave me a pat-down because he thought I took his phone!"

"You did."

"Not the point. He's suspicious, and if I keep pulling pranks he's gonna figure it out. And according to Steve, he doesn't let people get away with making a fool of him without consequences. If Steve is afraid to prank him, what's he gonna do to me?"

Loki shrugged. "I suppose you'll just need to be more careful."

"You're seriously gonna make me go through with the last prank?"

"Unless you want me to announce your little secret."

You groaned, pressing your fingers to the bridge of your nose. "Loki, if I ever find any dirt on you, you'd better believe I'm gonna blackmail you just as hard as you're blackmailing me."

Loki chuckled, rumbling deep in his throat. "Good luck with that, darling." Without another word, he strode out of your room, leaving you to finish your task.

A thought occurred to you just then. You knew exactly how you could get the blame off of you, and implicate Loki in all of this, without him ever being the wiser. Smirking, you returned to Bucky's phone settings and got to work enacting your plan.

The final prank was going to be the most challenging to pull off without getting caught. Somehow, you had to attach a small circular device to his metal arm somewhere, which would disengage the appendage when activated. It would be pretty funny to see his face when his arm just randomly pops off. But he already suspected you, and so you knew he couldn't see you when you attached the device or he'd immediately know you'd done it. You hoped Bucky's suspicion of Loki was growing after he discovered your last prank.

You hadn't expected the perfect opportunity to just drop into your lap, but here you were. As you wandered down the hallway toward the kitchen, you overheard a heated debate in the common room between the metal-armed soldier and the dark-haired prince of Asgard. Silently, you crept toward the door, keeping out of sight while you listened to find out what was going on.

"I don't know why I didn't realize this was you from the very beginning! It's so obvious!" Bucky exclaimed with irritation.

"Barnes - I am telling you the truth, believe it or not. I did not perform these pranks," Loki insisted, calmly and coolly.

"Then why does my phone suddenly autocorrect everything to say 'Loki rules'?" Bucky demanded. You threw your hand over your mouth to prevent a laugh from escaping. So he had discovered what you did.

"Think about it for a moment. Why would I implicate myself in such an obvious manner if I were the one who pulled this on you?" Loki reasoned. Bucky was silent for a beat. You poked your head cautiously around the doorway to get an idea of where the men were positioned. They were seated on the sofa facing away from the door, with Bucky on the left side facing toward Loki on the right. Perfect.

You ducked down low and hurried silently to crouch behind the back of the couch. Sliding the device from your pocket, you hobbled silently around the side of the couch, swiftly pressing the device onto the outer side of his upper arm, the vibranium cool against your warm palm. Wasting no time, you hurried out of the room before they finished their argument, returning to hide in your bedroom and avoid Bucky for a bit. For good measure, you pulled out the remote to the device you'd planted on Bucky's arm and activated it. It was a shame you wouldn't get to witness his reaction, but it would certainly help to put the suspicion on Loki, seeing as he was the only person in the room with Bucky.

You spent most of the afternoon hiding out in your room, waiting what felt like a long enough duration of time that the last prank would have either blown over, or Bucky would have already hashed it out with Loki. Eventually, though, you needed to show your face again in the public areas of the compound. It would be just as suspicious for you to hide for the entire night.

It was in your routine to hit the gym in the late afternoon before dinner, so you put on a pair of leggings and a tank top and headed down as you normally would to try to adhere to a sense of normalcy. It'd be in your best interest to let Bucky see you following your usual schedule.

The rest of the gym was empty at this time. This was typically the case - exactly the reason why you preferred working out this time of day. Placing your water bottle in the corner, you headed over to the sparring area where there were cushioned mats so you could stretch out before beginning your workout. You sat on the floor, bending one knee and straightening out the other leg so you could stretch your hamstring.

"I thought I might find you in here."

Your heart leapt into your throat when you heard Bucky's voice from the doorway, but you hid it well. Tilting your head up at a non-startled speed, you offered Bucky a smile in greeting.

"Hey, Buck. Did you figure out who took your phone yet?"

"I did, yeah." He meandered into the room, approaching the side of the sparring arena. You turned your attention back to your stretches and waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't say any more, merely standing by the edge where the mats began.

"So... who was it?"

"I think you know who it was."

You turned to look at him again, shifting to sit cross-legged on the floor. "Bucky - we've been over this -"

"You can drop the act. He told me everything."

Damn.

"Who told you everything?" you asked, trying to sound confused.

"I did."

You looked up to find Loki striding into the room, coming to a halt at Bucky's side. His expression was smug, positively dripping with mischievous glee. You rose to your feet, deciding it would be best if you were prepared to flee on a moment's notice.

"Oh, he did, did he?" you asked sarcastically, meeting Loki's eye with a confident stare. Your eyes shifted to look at Bucky, jutting your chin toward Loki as you spoke. "Did he also tell you he was the one who made me pull all those pranks?"

"He did." Bucky didn't appear annoyed, or at least, not at Loki. Confused, you tilted your head in a silent request for an explanation. "We decided that the two of us are even now, since I did drink his mead, after all."

"Oh. Well, great. Glad you made amends then." Not liking where this seemed to be heading, you headed to the corner to grab your water bottle and get the hell out of there while you still could.

"Don't you want to know what else he told me?" Bucky asked. Despite the fact you were facing away from him, you could hear the smirk in his tone. Against your better instincts, you froze on the spot, whipping around to shoot Loki a panicked look.

"You didn't."

"Oh, I did."

You bolted.

The only problem was the mischievous duo was standing between you and your exit. In a desperate attempt to get past them, you tried to catch them off guard, sprinting straight toward them and diving into a somersault to duck under their reach. You popped right back up to your feet and kept running, a skill you were thankful to have learned as an agent.

You turned your head to look over your shoulder and see where they were, startled to find they weren't there. It dawned on you, as you ran directly into a solid form, that Loki had played a trick on you.

"NO! Loki! You ALWAYS do that!!" you cried in frustration as he wrapped his arms around you, preventing you from escaping in his tight grasp.

"And yet you always fall for it. Why is that, darling?" You groaned into his chest in frustration, deciding to save your energy rather than fighting his hold. "Barnes - you recall what I told you?"

"Oh I remember." You gasped as you felt his hands rest on your back, just below your shoulder blades - the trigger point that had given you away in the first place.

It wasn't as though you didn't want this to happen. After yesterday, when Loki had discovered your lie and did his damnedest to make you regret it, you'd anticipated it would only be a matter of time before he told the others. In a way, you'd actually found it fun - and, not to mention, you didn't mind having the trickster's full and undivided attention. But you had an innate sense of self-preservation that you couldn't ignore. You couldn't just stand there complacently and allow the two to tickle you to tears.

"Wow, you're already so tense! Loki, you weren't kidding."

"I'd never jest about this," he responded, leaning back a bit to look down at your face while still holding your arms tight to your sides. You looked up at him with your most pleading face, silently begging him to release you. He chuckled, his smirk only broadening. "You crossed both Barnes and myself today, and you think giving me an adorable pouting look will make me change my mind?"

"You think I'm adorable?" you asked, smirking. His eyes narrowed as his cheeks began to turn red, looking up over your shoulder to Bucky.

"Do your worst."

And gods, he did.

It was worse than you remembered from the evening before - perhaps because last night you didn't have someone trapping you in a bear hug to hold you still at the same time. Especially since that someone was now Loki. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Bucky had one human hand and one solid metal one - two very different sensations, but equally as ticklish.

There was no hiding it; you were already far too flustered by the whole situation to try to pretend like he wasn't tickling you. You exploded into immediate hysterics, writhing in Loki's arms to try to break his hold on you.

"Wohohow! This is gold!" Bucky exclaimed in awe, kneading his thumbs in tight circles into the backs of your ribs. Your knees buckled, the entirety of your weight leaning heavily into Loki's front.

"Now that you've got her laughing, you'll find she's actually ticklish everywhere. Watch." Loki began to scratch at your sides where his hands rested. Bucky didn't ease up in his torment either - in fact, if anything, he made it worse by digging his fingers into the sides of your upper ribs while continuing to toggle his thumbs into that awful trigger point. You buried your face into Loki's chest and let out a shrill, muffled scream. It seemed to surprise even the mischievous trickster, as he paused his torment for a moment and nodded at Bucky to pause as well.

"You... you guys... are such jerks..." you panted, face still buried in Loki's shoulder.

"Perhaps if you'd simply pranked Barnes as requested without trying to sell me out, you'd be spared from my vengeance," Loki goaded.

"OR if you'd told Loki you WOULDN'T do it, maybe I wouldn't have had to get revenge," Bucky added.

"Oh, bull shit, Bucky," you argued, looking over your shoulder at the super soldier. "You and I both know that as soon as Loki told you the truth, you'd have been testing it out as soon as you could get your hands on me."

"You're probably right," he agreed, grinning. "Loki, you want a go?"

"What?! No, he does NOT 'want a go' Bucky!" you demanded.

"Quite the contrary, actually. Barnes, if you would."

You shrieked in protest as you felt Bucky's hands close around your arms just above your elbows, pulling you from Loki's grasp and pinning your arms behind your back. You felt your face burning hot as Loki eyed you predatorily, shrinking into Bucky under his gaze.

"Hello, darling," he said with a teasing grin.

"Still think I'm adorable?" you retorted cheekily. He stepped a bit closer, looking you in the eye as he wiggled his fingers in the air just inches from your belly. Your abdominal muscles contracted to avoid his fingers, an anticipatory smile already tugging at your lips.

"It's adorable, yes - watching you squirm despite the fact I'm not even tickling you yet."

"L-Loki! Dohon't!"

"You think that's going to stop me?" His fingertips made contact with your belly, barely grazing along the skin. "You think I don't know that you don't mind this as much as you pretend to?"

"Wh-whahat??"

"You heard me." He applied slightly more pressure with his fingers, scratching lightly at the sides of your belly. Drawing your bottom lip up between your teeth, you tried desperately to hold back the giggles threatening to spill from your mouth as Loki played at your resolve. "Tell me I'm wrong, and I'll stop."

"I...Ihi-HEHEY!!" Not waiting for your response, given it was taking you so long to provide it, Loki began to claw into your belly with both hands. You doubled over, bursting into giggles. Bucky held fast to your arms despite your thrashing, chuckling behind you at your predicament.

"Damn, you are ticklish everywhere. How the hell do you hide it so well?" Bucky asked curiously.

"I'm... traiHAHA… trained to withstand TOHORTURE!" you explained through sporadic laughter.

"Torture? That's an awfully strong word, seeing as you're enjoying this so much."

"BUCKY!" Your face burned impossibly hotter, and Loki removed his tickling fingers from your belly. Gasping for breath, you made a show of it by looking down at the floor with your hair tousled over your face, hiding your colored cheeks.

"I think we're flustering the young agent," Loki snickered, lifting your chin with two fingers.

"Where else is she ticklish?"

"Nope! Nowhere else! Uh-uh!" you protested, shaking your head frantically.

"Oh, I know just the spot! Hold her there for a moment." Loki stepped around behind you to take Bucky's place, circling his arms around your waist before suddenly dragging you down to sit on the ground. Bucky cocked his head in confusion. "Her feet are quite ticklish."

You yelped in protest. "What?! No! Bucky, I swear, don't you even THINK about it!"

"It's too late for that - I already thought about it," he teased, kneeling by your feet and reaching for your ankles. You jerked your feet away from his reach, planting them firmly on the floor right in front of you.

"I don't think so, darling." Loki held your waist with one arm and reached for your knee, pinching above your kneecap. With a spluttering giggle, you kicked your leg out, right into Bucky's reach to grab your ankle. Once Bucky had hold of both ankles, Loki threw one leg over your shins to hold your legs out straight while Bucky removed your sneakers.

"Wait, WAHAHAIT! Guhuhuys!!" You knew you were beginning to sound whiny, but you didn't much care. As the cool air of the room chilled your socked feet, you gave Bucky the same pleading look you'd offered Loki earlier. He was equally as impervious to your pouting.

"This is for putting the salt in my coffee AND making me believe you hadn't done it!" Bucky began scratching along the soles of your feet with both hands, grinning when you threw your head back into Loki's shoulder and let out a rapid stream of giggles. "Aww, now that's adorable!"

"Buhuhucky!! Stohohop teasing mehehe! You're such a jeheherk!"

"Now that's no way to speak to the soldier!" Loki scolded playfully, digging his fingers into your ribcage. You batted at Loki's hands weakly as your giggling intensified to belly laughter.

"No-no-NOHOHO LOKI! GUHUYS!!" You were finding very little success in fighting either of them off, practically melting into Loki with desperate laughter. Giving up on tugging at Loki's hands, you let them rest on his knees on either side of you, squeezing into the muscle above his kneecap as he discovered a particularly sensitive spot at the bottom of your ribs.

You didn't expect the god to yelp in surprise, his fingers suddenly stilling against your ribcage. Bucky halted his attack as well, startled by the sudden jolt by the trickster god.

"Loki?" You turned your head to look at the red-faced trickster, a wide smirk painted across your face. "Something you want to tell me?"

"Not a word," he growled.

"Oh, don't try to hide it! You ARE ticklish!" You squeezed rapidly at his knees for emphasis, giggling as he began to laugh and squirm to evade your fingers. "I am SO getting revenge!"

"I think not, darling."

"Bucky? Do you think you'd be willing to help me out here?"

"Help you pick on Loki? Absolutely." Before Loki could react, Bucky shifted his hands to pin down Loki's ankles, holding fast. You continued to pinch ruthlessly at his knees, pleased with yourself for stumbling upon the one spot that drew laughter from the God of Mischief.

"BARNES! RELEHEHEASE ME!" Loki demanded loudly.

"That's no way to talk to the soldier, Loki," you mimicked, sliding your fingers underneath his knees to scratch at the delicate skin through the material of his pants. This seemed to be even more effective, as his laughter actually pitched up in volume and his arms constricted around you more tightly in a desperate attempt to pull your hands away from his knees.

He began to weakly tickle your ribs again in a last-ditch effort to get you to falter in your efforts to torment him. It worked, surprising you enough to make you drag your arms back to block your ribs and begin to giggle ticklishly again.

"OK, OK TRUHUHUCE!" you pleaded. Loki relented, and Bucky released him, chuckling at the pair of you.

"Wow. I gotta say - it's not every day that you witness a tickle fight between an Avenger and a god," he snickered, rising to his feet and offering you a hand up. You accepted it, turning to help Loki to his feet as well.

"You'd be wise not to breathe a word of this to anyone else," Loki growled at him.

"Uh, yeah, I agree, you need to swear secrecy here, Buck," you added, folding your arms and glowering at him.

"Oh, hell no! I'm telling everyone about this, it's too good not to!" he refused, smirking. "Between you having lied to everyone that you aren't ticklish, and him just being Loki and ALSO being ticklish, there's no way I can keep this to myself."

You turned to look at Loki, a panicked look in your eyes. He met your gaze, a smirk slowly spreading across his face as a thought crossed his mind. You realized exactly what he was thinking, the pair of you turning on a disgruntled-looking Bucky.

"Alright, Buck - I think it's time to find out if super soldiers are ticklish too."

Part 3

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

Secret’s Out

Father of Mine – Part 1 and Part 2

Bruce was looking at his emails when Y/N arrived at the table.

She was breathing heavily and her hair was a bit messy, just further proving she had rushed to get there.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she huffed embarrassingly. “My shoot ran over and every one was moving so slowly.”

Bruce smiled. “Y/N. Relax.”

Then he stood up to greet her with a kiss on the cheek.

The two of them hadn’t seen each other in over a month. Y/N had been traveling for work constantly. And between the vigilante life and Wayne Enterprises, Bruce was running on 2 hours of sleep on the daily.

“I need a drink,” Y/N finally sighed after she got situated.

As if on cue, their waitress dropped Y/N’s favorite drink in front of her.

Y/N eyed Bruce with surprise.

He just shrugged.

Sometimes Y/N forgot how much her father noticed literally everything.

“Thank you,” she told the waitress.

“You’re overworking yourself,” Bruce said with a disapproving look.

She rolled her eyes. “Really? You’re not one to talk, Bruce.”

“You deserve a vacation. I’ll pay for it. Pick wherever you want. Bring Jason. Or some friends.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Bruce…”

It was a warning.

From the very start of their unconventional father-daughter relationship, Y/N had made it clear that she could not be bought. And Bruce spoiling her made her extremely uncomfortable. Even now, she still tried to at least split restaurant checks with him. Bruce always won those battles though.

“I’ll take a vacation when you do,” she finally countered.

That sure shut him up.

“Hey, I actually brought you something,” Y/N changed the subject as she reached for her bag.

A moment later, she lightly placed a manila folder onto the table.

Bruce’s brow furrowed as he reached for it.

As soon as he opened it, he froze.

“I had to clean out some stuff and put things into storage,” Y/N explained. “I found all my mom’s photos. I figured I could make copies of some childhood photos for you.”

Bruce’s silence made Y/N nervous.

“If you don’t want them, that’s totally fine.” She started to reach for the folder out of Bruce’s grip with awkward embarrassment. “It was stupid–”

But Bruce quickly pulled the folder closer to him and stopped her from taking the photos from him.

“Thank you,” he announced.

It made Y/N quickly sit back in her chair, caught off guard by his sincere reaction and how he’d immediately become protective of the photos.

Bruce awkwardly cleared his throat. “Thank you, Y/N.”

He repeated to make sure she understood how thankful he truly was. And Y/N suspected the throat clearing was to hide his emotions.

Now she watched as Bruce slowly went through every picture. He took in every detail with a soft smile.

These weren’t just photos. These were all of Y/N’s memories that Bruce missed, that he could never get back. And he was savoring all of them.

Then Bruce paused and was fully smiling now.

“What?” Y/N asked.

She didn’t know why all of this made her so nervous.

Bruce didn’t say anything as he lifted a photo and flipped it to show her.

It wasn’t from her childhood.

It was a black and white photo of Jason. A candid from when he had escorted her around the slums of Gotham for her most recent gallery show.

After months of thinking about it, Y/N finally had decided she wanted to frame it and hang it somewhere in her apartment. 

Y/N’s jaw dropped with embarrassment and she ripped it from his hands.

“I was developing some photos at the same time as I was making the copies. Must’ve gotten mixed up in those,” Y/N explained too quickly, unable to meet Bruce’s gaze.

It made Bruce happy to know that Y/N didn’t have the same inability to love someone and let people in like he did. It was a relief that she didn’t isolate herself from it like he had. If her mother was still alive, Bruce would thank her for it. But if Y/N’s mother were alive, he would’ve never known about Y/N in the first place.

Their entire dinner was spent with Bruce looking at the old photos. He had at least two questions for each one. Some of them Y/N didn’t remember being taken. But most of them came with stories or a loving memory.

Y/N talked for most of the meal. But that’s exactly what Bruce wanted.

Furthermore, Bruce had nothing of value to update her on. Batman business had consumed his life as of lately, and he had made a promise to never involve Y/N in any of it. And Jason seemed to be on the same page when it came to his other life as Red Hood. 

Both men seemed determined to keep her safe and away from it all. 

Two hours later, Bruce was paying the check and helping Y/N into her coat.

“I’ll give you a ride home,” he muttered as they started walking out.

Y/N had learned by now to give up on those small battles. Jason was the same way when it came to making sure she got home safely.

As they made their way to the exit, Y/N caught a few stares from other patrons who were still eating.

“Do you ever get used to it?” She asked her father in a low voice.

“Get used to what?” He asked, genuinely unaware of what she was getting at.

“People gawking at you.”

Bruce glanced around and unintentionally glared at anyone who was staring at Y/N.

“It’s good that I’m seen in public…for obvious reason,” he hinted in a quiet voice, obviously talking about needing the cover to continue his life as a masked vigilante.

Once they were outside, Alfred was already waiting at the curb with the Rolls-Royce. He greeted Y/N with a hug and a kiss to her cheek before opening the door for her and Bruce.

When they got to Y/N’s apartment building, she said her goodbyes to Alfred. And Bruce walked Y/N all the way up to her door.

Even though Y/N insisted it was overkill and she could get up the stairs on her own just fine, Bruce had seen too many terrible things in this forsaken city. He could think of thousands of things that could happen to Y/N between the car and her front door.

Once Y/N realized that Bruce’s paranoia came from experience, she stopped trying to stop his chivalry and overprotective ways. She finally understood that Bruce had seen things that would prevent her from ever sleeping again. So if walking Y/N to her door gave him a little peace of mind, she wasn’t going to take that away from him.

Y/N turned to Bruce when they reached her door. “Thanks again for dinner.”

“Of course. I’m glad we could spend some time together. Thank you again for the photos.”

Y/N didn’t realize that Bruce was about to hang every single one around Wayne Manor. 

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug. “Get home safe.”

——————

Y/N woke up wrapped strong arms, her body overheating slightly.

When she had come home from dinner last night, Jason had already left for patrol.

He hadn’t woken her up when he got back home, just proving how exhausted Y/N had been these past few weeks.

But it was the continuous buzzing vibrations of her phone that woke her up. When she brightened the screen, she saw that she had dozens of text messages and three missed called from Bruce.

“What the fuck,” Y/N whispered as she started opening them.

But they were all about the same thing.

Everyone had sent her similar articles from various gossip websites or news outlets.

BRUCE WAYNE’S NEW GIRLFRIEND IS FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER Y/F/N Y/L/N

BRUCE WAYNE’S FLAVOR OF THE WEEK

IS Y/F/N Y/L/N USING THE PRINCE OF GOTHAM TO FURTHER HER CAREER?

All of the headlines were joined with photos of Bruce and Y/N having dinner last night. Apparently other customers at the restaurant had snuck photos of Bruce greeting her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Y/N could see how it would be misinterpreted as romantic and not familial or platonic. But it still made her sick to see the photos twisted in such a way.

Then there were paparazzi photos of them getting in a car together. Of course there were none of Bruce dropping her off and them going their separate ways. That would be just too convenient for the two of them. 

Y/N’s stomach dropped with panic.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” she gasped without realizing it.

Jason immediately woke up. “What is it?”

Y/N ignored him and called Bruce.

“I’m handling it,” was how Bruce answered her call.

“Handling it? How exactly?” She challenged. “We can deny the rumors all we want. But everyone is going to keep tabs on us now, and they’re going to see us together again.”

Jason grabbed his own phone.

One of his brothers must’ve sent him a similar article because he rubbed his face in annoyance, finally understanding the situation. 

Nothing like your girlfriend being rumored to have a relationship with her father, who was also your mentor and adoptive father. 

“Y/N, it will blow over. It always does,” Bruce tried to calm her down.

“So what happens when I get photographed with Jason? Huh? They’re going to just say I’m cheating on both of you with each other or some fucked up shit like that.”

Bruce was silent, because they both knew she was right.

Y/N glanced at Jason, who was already waiting for her gaze.

She took in a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Maybe we should…Maybe we should just tell the truth.”

“You’ve never wanted that, Y/N.” Bruce tried to argue.

And he was right.

Y/N was terrified of being associated with the Wayne family. People would start believing she secretly built her career off of nepotism that no one was aware of. She also didn’t want that type of attention from the media and the upperclass of Gotham.

“I don’t think we have any other choice,” Y/N finally answered.

Jason reached for thigh and gripped it, trying to offer her some sort of comfort.

“Y/N, are you sure about this?” Bruce asked slowly.

“No. Not at all. But I’d rather not have the public think I’m dating my biological father.”

“OK,” Bruce sighed. “I’ll talk to my publicist today.”

“OK.” She bit her lip before adding. “Just…tell them the whole story.”

“Y/N, if you’re worried how it will make me look, don’t.”

“But I am worried about it, Bruce. They’re going to drag you for being an absent father. And none of that is true. They’re not gonna understand.”

“I’ll call you later with an update,” he told her softly before hanging up.

Y/N tossed her phone to the foot of the bed in frustration.

Jason watched as she buried her face in her hands.

“You OK?” He asked as he rubbed her back.

“No,” she answered honestly.

“Come here.” Jason pulled her into his chest.

There was no fight from her as he cuddled her tightly.

“This is a fucking nightmare,” she groaned into his shoulder.

“I know. But maybe it’s for the best,” he tried to reason with her.

“And what happens when they catch wind that I’m dating my father’s adoptive son? Huh?”

“We’re not actually related, Y/N.”

She pulled her face back so she could glare at him. “Yeah! We know that! But you do understand that people are going to see it that way, right? Like we’re gonna look like some fucked up incestual couple to them.”

“I don’t really care,” Jason finally told her.

“You don’t care?” She scoffed.

“No,” his answer and confidence didn’t waver. “I don’t give a fuck what people say about us, Y/N. If exposing the truth means we don’t have to think twice about going to events or even just going out to dinner, then I’m all for it. I’m sick of hiding our relationship.”

Y/N blinked. She never considered that their subtle relationship bothered him in any way. She was always a strangely private person, so it felt normal to her. But clearly Jason had been wanting to be a bit more public with their relationship.

“What if this changes everything?” Y/N whispered, not meeting his eyes.

Jason smirked at that and gripped her chin, lifting it up so she would look at him. “Some paparazzi and trash tabloids aren’t going to change how I feel about you, Y/N.”

Y/N laughed lightly at that.

“Maybe we should leave Gotham for a bit,” she offered. “Bruce won’t shut up about paying for a vacation for us.”

Jason nodded. “I think that sounds like a good idea. You’ve needed a break for awhile now.”

“Well…where do you wanna go?” Y/N asked.

“Doesn’t matter to me. As long as you’re there.”

She rolled her eyes and hit Jason in the face with a pillow. “God, you really are a sap.”

Y/N appreciated Jason always being able to make her feel better and feel supported. 

But even he couldn’t stop her from wondering...

What would life be like as a Wayne?

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

Father of Mine – Bonus Content

[literaila]

in which loki eats candy. begrudgingly.

*

convincing loki to try a gummy worm was turning out to be a surprisingly difficult task.

if the glare he was sending your way, and the frown that— always —seemed to be glued to his face, meant anything. he refused to meet your eyes, instead only looking your way when he thought you weren’t looking back.

you might have been playing it up a bit much. delighting in the small, wonderful pieces of sugar that tore between your teeth. the sounds of ecstasy every time you took a bite. the purposeful chewing sounds— mostly just to annoy him, you’ll admit. you wouldn’t deny that it was all a bit much.

but still, he was a bitter, sour-faced god, and he needed to try some candy.

you were certain it didn’t look bad. it was colorful, soft, perfectly sweet and not intimidating in the slightest.

…in hindsight, that probably should’ve been the first indicator that loki would hate it.

“c’mon,” you teased when you’d first noticed loki looking your way, peering eyes staring at the candy on the desk in front of you, confusion written between his brows. “i’ll give you one if you want”

he looked away quickly, disturbed at the thought of sharing maybe, or maybe the colorful look of the plastic bag you’d now opened. “that looks dreadful,” he drawled, turning away.

you laughed, never finding him serious, even when he was very. “you don’t like gummy worms?”

he scoffed. “i don’t need to try gummy worms to know that they’re miserable creatures, unworthy of my attention”

you’d tried your very hardest not to laugh, chortle, at that very clear statement, but, to be honest, it wasn’t an easy task. though, you did almost regret it after you noticed the scowl on loki’s face.

“they’re not actual worms, junior, it’s candy”

the glare only intensifies, loki has heard that word before, many times actually, but until now he’s never actually been in the proximity of the so-called-treat.

it’s really a shame.

“why would it be named after a living creature?”

you snort, pulling one out and holding it as close to him as you can as he’s sitting across the room from you, slightly leaned back in his overly dramatic swindle chair, watching you flaunt the small food in front of him. he looks far too comfortable for a god.

“it’s-“ you sigh and spin around in your chair— far smaller, definitely less comfortable than his, of course —“normally, people don’t take it quite so literally” you say, teasing him again, despite the ‘terrifying’ looks he’s giving you.

he doesn’t answer then, looking back to the papers in front of you, effectively ignoring you.

it would almost be infuriating, but you’re eating candy, so not much can change the pleasant mood you’re currently wearing.

“you can still have one, glorious god of the office, if you’d like,” you smile at him again, sweetly. “i’m not too opposed to sharing.”

loki stays silent for a moment before looking back at you, irritation— wonderful —the clearest emotion on his pale face.

and then

“i would never eat something so…” he pauses, smile as sweet as yours making its way onto its face (you might’ve appreciated it if it wasn’t accompanied by the glint in his eyes). “..vulgar”

and you know, you are absolutely aware that he’s trying to irritate you now, it’s the most obvious thing in the world and still, he’s undeniably good at getting under your skin.

you huff, shove a handful of gummy worms in your mouth, sending a nod his way and returning to your work.

loki would never win this game that you’d started. you wouldn’t allow it.

it’s minutes later when you have the idea, possibly the best one you’ve had all day.

and that is how you end up here, chewing loudly, trying to irritate the only god in the room with your insistent delight, hoping to break him before it’s time to go home.

and really, he could seriously use a bit of candy.

he’s been looking your way, you can feel it despite the papers you’re filling out, his terrible gaze on your face, the furrowed brows you know are awaiting your eyes for when you look up. he’s terribly inconspicuous.

you moan once more before he’s leaning back in his chair once again.

“would you quit it?” he hisses.

but, of course, you don’t know what he’s talking about.

“what?” innocently, pulling another worm out of the bag and stuffing your face with it before you laugh.

“your-“ he groans. “those noises! they’re very distracting, not to mention annoying and loud.”

“i don’t know what you’re talking about,”

there’s another smile, another groan. and you’re almost sure that loki is about to storm out of the office, crowded with only the two of you now, and leave for the night.

but wait, you haven’t gotten him to try one yet.

“would you maybe.. be jealous of my candy, loki?” the way you say it makes it seem like the most scandalous thing in the world, and the roll of loki’s eyes doesn’t escape your notice.

“of course not,” he answers, arms crossed over his chest as he stares at you openly now, shooting glares to the bag of candy every few seconds.

“hmm” is all you say, disbelief clear in your voice.

loki scowls again, watching your calm face. and you can see the composure slip from him as he finally, with the tension of several men, puts a hand out in front of you.

you almost cackle, terribly excited to watch him try his first bit of candy.

as soon as the gummy worm is in his hand, he’s picking it up with only two fingers as if it holds some disease, inspecting it.

“i swear, i didn’t poison it.”

loki doesn’t find that very funny, you suppose, but even with the frown on his face, he places the candy in his mouth. the calm expression remains for only seconds longer.

as soon as you see him swallow he’s coughing, gagging across from you, never failing to be as overdramatic as possible.

“that is terrible!” he says, acting as if you had poisoned him.

“you’re mad. gummy worms are delightful,” you say, still excited after having tricked him into trying it in the first place. you take another worm, placing it on your tongue and giggling at the way he flinches while he watches. “would you like another?” you ponder, finger to your chin.

“absolutely not.” he shutters. “mortals are sick creatures, insane with the poison they put into their bodies”

“and you,” you say, moving back to the papers in front of you, satisfied with this small interaction. “are very dramatic.”

*

it’s only a couple of days later when you try again.

loki hasn’t yet forgot the torture you enforced upon his tastebuds, which means he also refuses to let you forget.

mostly, it’s entertaining. incredibly amusing how insistent loki is that you’ve poisoned him, cursed him with “mortal things” and ruined him for everything else that he could possibly encounter.

so of course, you’re trying again.

late last night, after a long day of loki whining about work (and you), it was decided that candy was exactly what the prince needed. something to brighten those terribly blue eyes of his.

and really, you had no other option since he didn’t enjoy the gummy worms that you had so kindly shared with him.

a quick trip to the closest candy store was easy, brief, and you’d obtained exactly what you needed in within ten seconds of entering the shop.

now it was just time to wait.

you smiled at loki when he walked in, called a quick ‘good morning’ surprising him with how early you were, as usually he came in before you even thought of opening your eyes.

you placed the packets of candy on the corner of your desk, setting the trap and waiting for him to notice.

it didn’t take long.

“another treat?” he inquired, saying ‘treat’ as if it was anything but.

you really didn’t know why he found the gummy worms so bad.

“of course,” you answered, not bothering to look up or hide your smile. “none for you this time, unfortunately”

loki laughed, scribbling something down on the paper in front of him (what god needs eyes to watch what he’s doing?) as he stared at the bags on your desk, not uttering a word.

also unfortunately, you knew how high loki’s curiosity level always was, and you knew that eventually, he would want to know more. even if he really despised candy as he said he did.

you continued working, sneaking glances at his desk, watching him do the same thing as you were, eyes on you. you wondered for a moment if he would try and figure out what was on your desk himself. you didn’t quite doubt that he would’ve been able to turn himself invisible, if he wanted.

still though, you said nothing. he didn’t.

“what is it?” he asked, not bothering to indicate what he was talking about. he knew that you knew.

“just a thing i picked up. terribly mortal. definitely poisonous.”

he didn’t appreciate the teasing any more than he’d appreciated the gummy worms. after several, too many, seconds of him glaring at you, you complied.

“they’re called pop rocks,”

loki’s eyes widened, only slightly, before his expression relaxed again. “why are all these things named such unappealing names?”

you laughed, continuing to pretend to write. you were almost sure that the plan was working. “especially unappealing to a god, such as yourself, right?”

“right.”

…and then he sighed. you weren’t sure if it was because he was frustrated, or if he’d finally realized what you were trying to get him to do, but either way, you heard the wheels of his obnoxious chair push back.

and then he mumbled something.

“what, your highness? i didn’t catch that,” you looked up at him, enjoying his scowl this time.

“canihaveone?” he asked again, too quick to catch unless you already knew what he was asking.

“oh?” you mock exclaimed. “one of my mortal treats? the very mockery to your being?”

“they have peaked my interest,” he admitted, now staring at the black packages still on the corner of your desk. “and i’m very masochistic. i enjoy a bit of poison with my work,”

you finally laughed, his truth tied in with the lie breaking the game you were playing. it was simple enough to win, anyway.

“here, loki” you said. still chuckling as you tossed him a packet. you took one yourself, demonstrating how to eat the candy you were more sure he would enjoy.

possibly, your enjoyment in the gummy worms had been the downfall of his. you were a quick learner, luckily enough.

with the popping rocks in his mouth, head thrown back as he tried not to spill them off of his tongue—following your influence —the truth was revealed to both of you as you shared your laughs.

loki, god of mischief, office devil, absolutely adored the pop rocks.

despite the shouts of “these are torturous!” and the declaration that you were the most devious mortal he’d ever met, a far worse villain than he’d ever be, you still knew the truth.

his smile couldn’t just be erased, and the joy you’d felt radiating off of him from across the room was as true as the color of his eyes.

…and if a couple of days later, you noticed a stash-full of his own pop-rocks in one of the drawers of his desk, well. that was just a trick of the eye.

[everkait]

about nick clark and troy otto

just to get this clear, i love troy and i love nick. i love them both individually but i also love them together and i love this really weird thing that they have going on between them. be it a friendship or whatever, i love it. they had so much potential together and i still can't believe they killed troy just like that.

in the beginning they disliked each other. nick may have even hated troy because of what he did to luciana and that's okay, he had every right to. i think troy disliked nick because he wasn't with his family and for troy the ranch and his family were everything for him. so the thought that nick had left his family on his own volition was very alien to troy. it's not something he would've ever done so he judged and disliked nick because of it and didn't want him on the ranch.

but even though nick heavily disliked troy, he didn't kill him. he had two chances to do so and in the second situation he could've actually gotten away with it but he still didn't kill troy. and troy wasn't even mad at nick for threatening him. he just took it in stride like it was a normal tuesday, he even encouraged nick to do it and later on said that they now could be friends after nick destroyed his notebook. i think that was some kind of turning point for both of them but more so for troy. he didn't necessarily start to like nick after that but his opinion about him wasn't as negative as it was before. nick on the other hand started to tolerate troy a little more after that. he still probably disliked him and thought he was rather dangerous but he wasn't as averse to him as before.

then luciana left and nick stayed. shortly afterwards nick and troy have this little talk down in the pantry and troy tells nick "it's just good you didn't take off after her", and i really loved it when he said that. i think he was being genuine and it shows that he has come to accept nick as part of the community. he doesn't necessarily like him but he accepts him. nick on the other hand is still a little defensive and wary of troy. it shows at the end of the episode when madison tells everyone that walker killed the trimbols and nick confronts her afterwards and tells her not to forget what troy is.

in the next episode while alicia is with walker, nick joins the militia. troy asks nick if he's got permission from madison which shows that he still doesn't really like nick. he accepts him but doesn't seem to want to be around him more than he has to. nick later tells madison that part of the reason he joined the militia is to keep troy, an enemy, close, although madison doesn't completely believe him. later in the episode comes one of my favourite scenes when troy asks nick "you feeling blue, nicky?", he then tells nick to "go kamikaze another day", which to me shows that he genuinely doesn't want nick dead. i don't particularly know why he didn't want nick to die at that moment but i don't think it was for madison's sake as he couldn't have cared less for nick at the beginning even though he is madison's son, whom he seemed to like almost instantly.

nick and troy are now in the militia together and do some bonding, like the poet talk or when they share their experiences and feelings about their father's deaths. around that time somewhere was a turning point for nick when he realized that he didn't actually want troy to die or maybe started caring for him in some capacity. he actually contemplated telling troy that he was the one that killed jeremiah even though madison thinks that troy would kill him for that but nick's not so sure. then comes the highlight of the episode when troy refuses to give up his weapons and nick actually stays back with him. he could've gone out with the others but he stays inside with troy because he wants to. he chooses to do so. because he knows troy, he knows that this will end bloody but he doesn't want that, he doesn't want troy to die. he himself even almost dies because of it when crazy dog gets the drop on him but troy is there and saves him although he gets hurt in the process. he doesn't want nick to die either which we already saw as he didn't want to shoot nick when he was standing between him and the rest and asked him to get out of the way. although troy doesn't want nick dead he still doesn't seem to have realized that nick cares about him as he asks nick why he would care what happens to him. furthermore it comes as a surprise to troy that nick stays with him and he tells him as much but also thanks him for keeping him company. nick then tries everything to get troy to back off, he even tells troy that he doesn't want him to die but troy doesn't listen. only when he confesses that jeremiah didn't commit suicide but that he actually killed him troy finally backs off. and he doesn't seem to be angry at nick.

i think that for troy the thought that his dad would commit suicide and leave them all behind was unbearable. he just couldn't accept it and that's why hearing nick's confession was such a relief for him and made him stop. doesn't matter that nick killed him because he at least didn't kill himself as that's not something that jeremiah would ever do and it's also not something that troy can live with.

now that troy knows that nick killed jeremiah i think he starts to see him in a new light. he later accuses madison for not being the one to kill his father but to let her son do the job and feels like she wronged him somehow by not killing his father. he thought she was like him but now he's not so sure about her anymore and seems to divert his attention even more towards nick. also something worth mentioning is that other than at the beginning troy never tried to kill nick again while he did contemplate killing madison after her cruel words about his mother.

up next comes something that i really can't wrap my head around, which is nick's hallucination of troy. how did his subconscious come up with troy of all people? why did he hallucinate that troy saved him? why? i don't understand. i love the hallucination and i love the fact that he hallucinated troy but i still don't really get why. maybe it's supposed to show us that nick feels safe around troy or that he trusts that troy would save him if he had the chance?

troy's now gone from the ranch but nick still seems to worry about him and alicia calls him out on it. she tells him that he doesn't owe troy anything but likes him and nick never refutes that. alicia also says that they "share the same self-destruction", to which nick replies "maybe i'm as sick as he is", and i love that. he admits that he thinks they might be similar and for me this whole talk just again proves that nick really does care about troy. what makes the whole talk even better is that not even five minutes later troy shows up at nick's to warn him from the horde. he was exiled but he sneaks back in just to warn nick of something that he himself is responsible for. he still doesn't seem to believe that nick cares about him though because when nick says, "it's good you're alive", he answers with "i don't think you believe that". and that's just sad. that after everything nick's done for him troy still can't believe that nick cares about him. what i also love is when troy says, "but you saved me in your own way", and that he'd like to return the favour. i'm not entirely sure what troy means here though. does he mean that nick stopped him from going kamikaze and saved his life or does he mean something different? if he'd simply told nick that nick saved him then i'd have an easier time believing it but he also says "in your own way", and i can't wrap my head around that. it just feels like he means something else with that than just nick saving his life.

another thing about their nightly talk that i love is that nick doesn't even think to rat troy out, not for a second. he says he can hide him or he has to sneak out, these are the only options.

the next day nick and jake then go out together to search for troy and find out what he meant with his warning. on the road jake's intentions regarding his brother are made clear when he takes out his gun and tells nick the story about the rabbit. when they finally reach troy nick again tries to talk him down but to no avail. troy doesn't plan on surviving this one and nothing nick could say can change that. jake then finally attacks troy and nearly kills him but is stopped by nick which results in jake's death. again, nick stands by troy and doesn't want him to die. even though troy just led the horde towards the ranch and literally destroyed everything that they had built there and nick knows it. but he still can't give up on troy and jake has to pay for it.

almost everything troy does from now on in my opinion he does for nick. nick wants him to help save the ranch so troy helps him. not because he wants to or cares about anyone there but because nick wants him to help. so he does. and those couple scenes really are everything. troy has fun doing what he does and nick has fun too. they're both being crazy together and they are loving it. when they are saved by madison, strand and walker nick covers for troy and lies about the horde. he knows that if he'd tell what had really happened someone would snap and troy would most likely end up dead and nick can't have that so he lies. even though a couple episodes back he wasn't happy with madison when she did the exact same thing when lying about the trimbols.

i also couldn't miss the fact that when alicia says everyone deserves to carve something out for themselves in this life troy and nick exchange a very quick glance. it could mean nothing but you can't deny that they looked at each other when she said that. and then when they have their talk in the car comes troy's most famous line: "all right, you stayed at the ranch because you love me." i think it's meant as a joke but again, nick doesn't refute troy's statement and they both just chuckle. like nick admitted to alicia that he and troy may be similar, troy says the same to nick now. and like before, nick doesn't say anything against it. it's not just troy who thinks like that, nick himself already came to the same conclusion.

at the bazaar we then come to some of the most bizarre scenes ever when nick and troy get high together. this is another thing that troy does just for nick. he doesn't really want to get high and seems to be rather uncomfortable at the beginning but he still does it because of nick. nick does have to remind him though that he saved troy's life but in the end troy does it for nick. again. surrounded by the infected nick then confesses to troy that he doesn't want to go back with madison and troy comforts him and hugs him. he hugs him! this scene as well as the couple ones before when they were staggering around together, arms slung around each other's shoulder, are everything. they are definitely friends by now, rather close ones actually, genuinely care for each other, and i really love the place that their relationship is at in that moment.

the next day nick then informs madison that he and troy plan to stay at the bazaar. we don't know troy's opinion on this but i think he only stayed there because of nick but i'll talk about this later on.

when troy hears that the proctors plan to attack the dam he is the one to yank nick out of his stupor. i'm not entirely sure if he wants to help madison for nick's sake or because he still kinda likes her. but it is worth mentioning that back when nick joined the militia troy asked nick: "is madison okay with this?", while now he tells nick "your mother's in trouble". back then he says 'madison' while he now says 'your mother' which kinda strikes me as odd. to say 'your mother' is more personal and it feels like troy acknowledges the fact that madison is nick's mother and that's why they should go and save her. so he might be doing this for nick's sake because even though nick doesn't want to stay with madison she's still his mother and he still loves her so troy might wanna save her for nick. still, i'm not entirely sure.

while nick is questioned by daniel troy tries to reconnect with madison, at least it seems to me like that's what he's doing. like i said before i think that troy only stayed at the bazaar because of nick. and here's the reason why: he tells madison that the bazaar wasn't a good place for him and nick. he probably already realized that after the first night because how could he not but he still decided to stay there, all because of nick. so again, he did that for nick. he then confirms to madison that he and nick are indeed friends and to troy they are actually closer than friends, like brothers, and that he genuinely likes nick. when troy asks madison if they're good she says they are but i didn't believe her, not for a second. she needed too long for her answer and was too quick in changing the topic. at the same time daniel questions nick and again, nick lies for troy and covers him. but this is a different situation, this is daniel. nick knows what daniel can do but he still lies to protect troy.

in the end it's all for nothing though because madison is the one that finally kills him after finding out that he was the one who led the horde to the ranch. nick did everything he could to protect troy and then madison, nick's mother, is the one to actually take troy's life. nick does look horrified when she does it but i feel like he could've been a little more shocked. he just looks horrified, turns around and walks out of the room, and after that i was a little disappointed in him for not showing more emotions. later when nick and madison are hiding he then starts arguing with her about it but the argument was more about the fact that madison can just callously kill someone and not necessarily about her having killed troy. although when madison says she killed him for her kids, she made that call for them, nick tells her "not for me!", and i really liked hearing him say that because he seemed angry but also sad and hurt so he's obviously not okay with what she did. later when john asks him about troy and he says that troy's dead and his mom killed him he also sounds a bit accusing which i also loved to hear. the way john asked, "is your friend here, nick?", i loved that as well. it again solidifies that nick and troy were friends because nick answers the question without refuting the statement and saying that they weren't friends or something like that. so at least troy and nick both acknowledged that they were friends.

but of course we also cannot forget nick's suicide note. i really love the fact that he called it his 'suicide note' because that was a reference all the way back to his talk with troy and the rest of the militia when troy didn't want him to go all kamikaze on them. i see it as nick kinda honouring his friendship with troy when he calls it his 'suicide note' because nobody knows the story behind it but it's obvious what it means. i've heard people say that now that troy's gone nick's all suicidal and troy's not there to stop him like he did before. but i'm not sure. you can certainly interpret it as that because nick does seem to be rather disillusioned and he's definitely still grieving troy. there is however no other option at the moment if he wants his mom and sister as well as strand to survive so i don't think he's just suicidal because troy's gone. to me it seems like he's accepted his fate and made his peace with the fact that he would die and i think it would've been a great end for nick if they'd actually let him die there.

i will definitely miss them though because their dynamic was great and i really do think that nick could've helped troy become a better person. he'd never be a good person but he could've gotten better, if they had just given him a chance. as i said before, i really think that most of the things troy did after the horde he did for nick so i genuinely believe nick could've helped him be a better person.

[katzkinder]

London Bridge Is Falling Down

Envy Pair version of my Counting Sheep series! Himiko is my headcanon for the name of Mikuni's mother. Since Mikuni's name contains the character for "kingdom," I thought this name belonging to an ancient queen suited his mother well.

Mikuni is annoying.

That’s something Jeje has always known, ever since Mikuni was a child, ever since the first time he saw him, bounding around his mother’s skirts and throwing himself into Lily’s arms to be held and cuddled and fawned over while Jeje had slunk back to the cellars. Himiko had been so bright, back then, the rot of Envy not yet showing in a visible way, that tiny baby that would grow into his brother’s Eve gurgling happily in her arms.

Jeje was the one who had found him. Himiko had wept when she saw him, all the anger and hate leaving her at once, vanishing as if it never existed when she laid her eyes on the fragile little bundle, swaddled in soft fabrics with little gloves on his impossibly tiny hands. She had sobbed all the harder when she took the crying child from him, her hands shaking while she cradled him close, useless apologies spilling from her pretty lips. The body of the babe’s mother had rapidly been growing cold on the carpet, and little Misono… Would remember none of it.

(Jeje remembered all of it, though. He doesn’t think a single moment will ever fade from his mind, no matter how many eons pass)

As Mikuni had grown, with Jeje watching over him as a silent, imposing, guardian angel, always behind the boy’s mother while she had read bedtime stories to him, always so aware of those bright, bright, too bright eyes, Jeje had also become aware of a number of other things, and those things remained true into adulthood. Mikuni has all of his mother’s gorgeous looks (and some from his father, but admitting as such is just asking to be choked), her stubborn brightness, her sharp tongue and wit, but more than any of that...

Mikuni is annoying.

...Because he never listens to what’s good for him. Just like his mother before him, he had taken Jeje despite his warnings, and some bitter, sick part of Jeje had wanted him to. The same part of him that had given in to Himiko herself.

But, well, he’d always known Mikuni never listened, too.

He wonders if Lily knows, though he doubts that he’s aware, of those golden afternoons when Mikuni would sneak down to his hiding place and find him lurking near the boilers, the excited, terrified whispers of Lily’s children, his human children, chasing after the young heir as he confidently hopped down, step by step, into the “monster’s” lair.

They had talked. About nothing. About everything. Well, actually, Mikuni had talked, seemingly not caring that Jeje never said much back, incredible and beautiful and… Well, there was a reason everyone called Mikuni brilliant.

Jeje knew better, though.

***

The most annoying thing about Mikuni, in his opinion, is not how loud he is. It’s not his contrariness, or his capriciousness, or his constant, gnawing curiosity causing him to make mischief.

The most annoying thing about Mikuni was how badly he wanted people to think he was naturally good at everything.

See, Mikuni was smart. Jeje would give him that. But he was also very stupid. It wasn’t as if he lacked common sense, though sometimes Jeje wondered, but it was like Mikuni wanted people to resent him.

More than anyone Jeje had ever met, his Eve was a hard worker. Someone who hated owing others a single damn thing. It was that useless pride and sense of responsibility for things that couldn’t possibly be Mikuni’s fault, things Jeje suspected, no matter how much he denied it, Mikuni had learned, had internalized, from his father and from Lily, that was why Jeje refused to call Mikuni brilliant like everyone else.

...But he did shine. Like a candle in a darkened room. Like a beacon. Warm, and inviting, someone to warm himself beside, even knowing that that flame would burn him up, just like a moth.

The question was... Who would that flame melt into nothing first?

Jeje would be damned twice over if he let it be his Eve.

Turning away from way he had been watching the other man work late hours, hunched over Nod’s ledgers and planners and Mikuni’s own personal notebooks, where his pen scratched across the surfaces of each calculating profits, expenses, bills, new products and designs and promotions and planning trips, Jeje silently makes his way to their kitchen.

Burning the midnight oil just means you won’t have any left when you truly need it.

A snort, reaching for their cabinets. Of course, that’s what Mikuni had him for.

***

He’s gotten very good at brewing tea. Jeje isn’t much of a chef at all, but living with Mikuni for so long, it was practically guaranteed he’d learn to at least make a semi-decent cup, and thank god he had. He would have truly killed Mikuni by now if he hadn’t, he swears, the man is just as persnickety about his tea as Lily is with his coffee.

...He’s also gained a new appreciation for the stuff, but maybe that comes with the territory of spending hours upon hours listening to Mikuni’s one sided argument about the best ways to drink it. It’s hard not to be impressed with all the little details that goes into brewing what’s considered a perfect cup (by Mikuni’s standards, anyway), and even harder still to not feel a fondness for something that draws such genuine passion out of his once charge, now equal.

...It’s such an odd thought. He knows what people think. That Mikuni has always had a stranglehold on him. That Mikuni has always been in charge. That Mikuni has always been someone… Grown up.

Again. Jeje knows better.

He sets the temperature on their electric kettle, one purchased on one of their many visits to the British Isles, sits at their kitchen table, and waits. Thinks.

Mikuni has been grown up for a long time now. And he will continue to grow, and people will continue to think, no matter Jeje’s efforts, that he is a no good, conniving schemer who would sacrifice them all on a wish and a prayer and something like a maybe.

And, well, perhaps they aren’t wrong. Perhaps Jeje is a fool. But if he’s a fool, he’s a court jester, and as court jester he will make absolutely certain this time that the king does not make his mistakes without someone there to make fun of him for it, even if only behind closed doors, even if only between the two of them.

To everyone else, he is a dictator’s executioner, and that’s fine with him. Everyone else doesn’t matter.

His eyes drift to Mikuni’s favorite cup, one made of glass and painted with delicate, swooping strokes of gold, with lilies and a taupe lacquer surrounding all but a window through which one could admire the lovely colors of their favored drink. He takes it into his hands, so much larger than this tiny cup, and finds himself smiling as he turns the joint birthday gift from the Lust pair over and around, admires those intricate, fancy details that speak of quality and knowing down to the letter exactly what Mikuni’s tastes are.

Well.

Almost everyone.

***

The teapot has been warmed, the kettle filled with mineral water and piping hot, and by the time Jeje finishes steeping the loose leaf tea, their little kitchen clock, kitschy and cute and shaped like a cartoon chicken hatching from an egg, reads 2:17 in the morning.

Jeje picks up the cup, the container of melatonin supplements Mikuni has taken since he was twenty at his Servamp’s behest, and carefully carries both back to where he knows the other man will still be completely absorbed in his work.

True to form, Mikuni is still at it. The predictability of his late night, sleepless habits, of his need to do something with his time, makes Jeje’s frown deepen, ever so slightly.

He wishes Mikuni would just rest. Close his eyes, not do anything, just lie there and let Jeje guard him, just be still, be quiet, like did when he was a child.

… He knows better than to think a mind as stubborn and that moves as fast as his Eve’s could ever achieve that, but he can dream. He can also just sicc the Lust pair on him.

That’ll put him to bed real fast.

“What’re you grinning about over there?”

He startles, not having expected Mikuni to acknowledge his presence, and nearly sloshes hot chamomile with lavender onto the pretty little matching saucer that accompanied the cup. It’s a miracle it didn’t fall over completely. Jeje lets out a breath, so quiet it’s inaudible, and curses himself for forgetting that Mikuni can see him right now.

Then again, even if he was wearing his mask, Mikuni would have seen right through him.

He always does.

His Eve is watching him still, waiting for him to move, and then his eyes flick down to what Jeje has in his hands. His lips twist.

Jeje ignores it and continues to make his way over to where Mikuni had been peacefully working. They don’t speak a word to one another, and no sooner than Jeje sets his cargo down, he’s going back the way he came, knowing it’s useless to try and ply Mikuni with words or favors.

The man is annoying in his stubbornness, too.

He hears a sniff behind him, the scratch of pen on paper once more, but it isn’t long before that little noise stops again. A sigh. Jeje chances peering around the doorframe, smiling, just a tad, as a clearly frustrated Mikuni slaps his pen down onto the counter and picks up his cup, no doubt tempted by the smell of his favorite night time blend.

A swallow. Two.

Mikuni unscrews the lid on the melatonin gummies. Pops a couple into his mouth. Chews, and swallows. The tension leaves his shoulders. He allows himself to savor the warmth in his hands.

Jeje leaves him be and heads upstairs to their room, knowing Mikuni now won’t be far behind.

“Jeje,” Mikuni calls after him, voice soft in that way it sometimes, ever so rarely gets, so quiet Jeje almost misses it. “... You still really suck at this.”

Mikuni is annoying.

[goddessjynx]

Any parent please answer?

Idk if anyone will see this, but right now I need just anyone to tell me I'm not crazy.

Am I a bad friend for wanting to hang out with my ex-bestie (eb for short) while she has her kids or she's busy and can't hang, so I offer to come over, to help watch, to help clean? Anything just to be there for her, why? Oh because she was on her third child, at this time I literally went over to her house to play dnd with her husband and brother and her sometimes. So I would try and say "hi" or talk, but instead we stayed doing something else or barely said hi. Ok, fine, hormones, got it. It got to the point of she wouldn't want to hang out with me for reasons she stopped telling me decent sounding excuses. Fine, That's fine, I have other friends who I can hang with or find other things to stay inside and not get out of the house to do. I don't need to leave the house, to get away from the suffocating inside the house with a mentally and verbally abusive, controlling husband. That's. Just. Fine.

So you know, time goes on. we find out that the reason she won't hang out with me, but will hang out with the other girl who she hates (Mind you the other chick literally broke into their house, tried to start drama all the time, and be hazardous to her already two children But who am I to judge about the person you rant to me about how you hate them so much?) But the other chick was also pregnant after divorcing her wife. It's honestly such a mess. So "anyways, I get excluded now because I "Don't understand what she's going through" or "I won't have the same experience" or I'm "not a good source of help" Lol, Okay? I still can't help? Be happy for you? Cool. So things go on, and just things have gotten worse on my end. I'm over here with such a mind debilitating baby fever, that I'm having to pull my car over watching children get off the school bus because I'm in such a crying fit that I can't breathe or see straight. So who the hell would I go to about what do I do? My Bestie right? (There's a reason we are eb rn) I tell her, well try, Idk how much she actually listened. But I tell her how I just can't think about anything else right now. I did everything right, and the world keeps slapping me back.

I own a 4 bedroom house. we have two cars, we even have decently everything working out in our favor, But all of a sudden, I'm not good enough for anyone. My own husband two months after getting married said he hasn't found me attractive for the last two years. THAnks. That's a real boost. This didn't start the fights, but that's a whole other set of rants. about a year before my eb got pregnant, around or right before July 4th, I strictly remember, I was in the walmart fucking bathroom. I had felt so sick the weeks beforehand. Like, My menstrual cycle hates me. She's savage af. Not to mention she likes to disappear randomly and appear with just cramps or a whole flood. I never know. But I remember calling my husband in a panic because I don't know what to do while I had to go to the bathroom so bad it hurt, and all I have is half dollar sized clots. Just something my medical brain, and senior year of AP biology says, "Fuck!" I have him figure something out because I'm really needing someone to just hold me in the bathroom I feel so sick to my stomach. I'm dizzy and all these symptoms I tell him to tell the doctor or whoever he calls.. So he calls, they say whatever to him. I don't either remember or he never told me what they said, (this is a normal of hiding information from me, A LOT) They said (What he told me) to just wipe things up and clean up then if it persists in the next 24 hours to go into the hospital. But I will have to see an ob-gyn.

So, Okay. Nothing bad. but they are in charge of everything along those lines. But those were including two words, that I now know were the two words this man didn't want to hear despite, DESPITE all the teasing and jokes about having kids with me when I was younger with him and literally just dating. That was because I had to see a family planning doctor. I was told by HIM that it was nothing, and we will be fine. I just blamed it on my cramps that are horrible and never put thought to it because I had believed that's what he was told. So that's a trauma my brain locked away until recently as I'm going through my divorce right now. But, I was thinking about how shortly after that, I got a call from my eb about how they were all waiting on me because I'm making us late for bringing stuff to the grill out and bonfire later. Fine, mask all the pain and keep fucking going. right?

She seemed genuinely not worried, saying it was probably just a bad cycle. She gets them all the time too. Its whatever. My now bestie's sister has gone through the same thing I described multiple times, enough that she looked at me and was like, "No, You possibly miscarried." even her mom went on about, "they should've never NEVER brushed that off like they did. If they cared then they would've made sure you were ok. My husband denied me from going to the doctor to see anything about it. Even after when I knew my hormones and emotions were just soooo off. But that's in my mind now, when before maybe around the same time my eb came out saying to all of us even her own husband one time saying she's been feeling crummy because she went in and she found out she had miscarried. It was so short after my stuff that she disregarded then took and made attention for herself that upset her own husband because she never told him until she told a bunch of us at a bar. I mean I felt bad for her, but Now thinking back, my gut says it was a ploy to make her husband to feel bad for her and to try for another one. Where as I'm over here waiting patiently because I jumped through Hoops to get where I'm at now.

My husband promised me children. Lots, its a fucking dream to be a mum. I care for everyone else, and their kids, why not have some kind of mini me to show of what I did. That I did good. That I can be useful to this world too. That I'm not just a lump of no good nothing to this world. But first, he needed a better paying job than a gas station.

Did that, he worked at a metal parts production place. But we then gave the fact that we still live in the apartment I got after moving out from high school. We rented a house. It worked, and it was nice. But now he needs a car, but he cant do that until he learns how to drive. 3 years older than me and I taught him how to drive. AND I helped him buy his first car, a truck. Oh but now, we still can't start a family. We are only renting. I have enough good credit that I could get a house alone, but I needed a higher pay. Bam with his income together we got a house.

Bam, I'm hit with baby fever and what not. NOW I get told, we aren't ready for anything like that yet, so wait two years. Alright, I'll wait. I can do that. We were going to go on trips together and do many things together and all of a sudden, the walmart thing happened, and it just got worse from there. It got to a point I got a job paying BETTER than him and I was the laughing stock to him and his buddies. THANKS. But I'm fine, everything is fine. The walmart thing was about two years after, so I mean, it was actually in the time frame and whatnot. Things just kept going on getting worse at home, I just kept listening. For reasons, I had to quit my high paying job, and then everything got absolutely horrible at home. Had to put everything I had control over money wise into his account for he worried it would take too long to find an new job and make money to suffice for bills. It was argument after argument, but I went to my eb explaining things, asking what the hell do I do? Her advice? To just do what he wants. The thing I had to quit about? She basically never cared about it. Everything just went on being a mess. I went on just letting people walk over me because that was the advice I was given.

I voiced my feelings that I have been following lies and how I feel hurt that I'm told dreams and having them be taken away. We never went on trips much. Instead we would buy a crap ton of ammo or new guns that I'm not allowed to use, yet I'm helping fund so you can get them, but when it was my own that I BOUGHT, all of a sudden, my things went missing and he would be out using and letting his buddies use my new guns and using up the ammo I had purchased on my own. I mean, fine, but let me at LEAST take yours out if you're going to use mine without asking. It got to be so annoying that we would be asked when we would get married or when we would have kids. He would be hugging me and smiling all cocky saying "Oh well we haven't stopped trying." every time. He would start that tell people this and I finally had enough. I stopped him and told him to put his money where his mouth was. He always said shit but never actually did it or acted on what he said. He would just lie to everyone. Tell people lies because it sounded nice. Best part? I had bought a ring for him. I proposed to him because he would joke about things like that. So I basically said, "bet" and did it. I have never received a damn ring! He wouldn't even want to look at them with me. Because they were expensive. Not all of them are. I don't care what price it is, but something to say, "Hey, I love you and Don't want the odd peeps at the bar to keep hitting on you so take this with you, its dangerous out there." (Shut up. I'm a nerd) But like.... I just would make notions about, I wanted a ring. He would beg me to pool together money and buy new guns, I mean I"m not against, but I would bring up that I will want a ring. Or even something else would be you know, amazing right now because I'm in a lost place wanting kids still and my eb just announced they were having their third. (which her own family was so upset about it that they ranted to me and my mom, her own brother said that its just another kid that they will end up taking care of instead of her so she can go to the bars again. Yep) So next we talked about getting a gun safe because, before we can have kids, we need to be SAFE. Ight, we bought it. Nice matte black 33 capacity, fire and water proof, best part the front had a reallly pretty engraved waving American flag imprinted on it. It was just so smooth. (Guess who has that right now btw) So oddly enough in the middle of me not being enough for my eb, My cycle kind of returned to being semi regular, and all of a sudden disappeared. Well that whole month beforehand we went from never wanting to touch me unless it was my birthday to every night he was angry after work and took it out on me instead. I mean, whatever. But when it came to me not feeling well, I told him.

Instantly it wasn't mine. I was fooling with other guys. Like instant psycho. His childhood friend came and moved up with us, she saw this for a good few months and had to move out because he was trying to control her as if she were a child. She told me that it was not right for him to be that way and that she will never talk to him for how he treated her. (which was exactly how he was always with me too) I'm not sure if he was trying to get my jealous because his bff was a girl? Idk we worked out like literally sisters. Sooo much in common and she told me, She believes he's never wanted kids. And she watched how I broke down after he told me he wanted nothing to do with me until I took a test. He DEMANDED that I took a test right away. If it was positive, it wasn't his until proven so. And if it was negative he would be fine. this was ridiculous. He wasn't at all happy or excited. Purely upset. I felt so shitty that after the test was negative I told him and he threatened about it happening again he was leaving back to Kansas. He threatened this every damn fight, it got to the point that I gave up, I said leave then. And instantly he shut up. I got him out of gangs, crime, jail, living on the street or with his mum, and being a maaajor drug addict. Yet I'M THE BAD PERSON.

Back to recently when my eb is getting closer to having her kid, I just go through finding out I'm not and my husband is freaking out at me, nonstop yelling at me that I'm not good enough and all this shit. Yes, lil ol me trying to keep the peace in the house is a cunt and a whore. Wow. Name calling, but hitting where it hurts? I told him before, how my mother in an argument said I would be a horrible mother. And that shit sticks. IT STICKS. So what does the smart ass pull out? He repeats it. He says he's glad I'm not pregnant because I'd be a horrible mother in the end.

That. That just kills a person. That kills dreams and the feeling of wanting to keep living. Who the FUCK says that to their partner? Am I wrong for thinking that's not right? Well my eb thought I was. I told her my feelings. How I don't want to be jealous of her, but I am. That she's more beautiful, she's always had guys hitting on her in school inviting her to do things and hang out, I was the nerd in whatever class that got invited only if it was mandatory. She will be having three kids and a loving husband that can never take his hands or eyes from her, where as I have to act like a clown to get my husband to look up from his damn phone. To say something nice. To

be acknowledged while in the house. I've left and came back the next morning because I hung out at my now besties house. He didn't say a word until I came home the next morning and he looked at me like "when the fuck did you leave" No care, no love. I was stuck being a burden. Anything I ever did around the house was in vain. Everything I helped with I got shoved away because I didn't do it right. EVERYTHING I did was not good enough. I would tell him this that is how I felt and he would deny it. One day, I caught him yelling at me saying that what I did wasn't ever good enough. Calle him out right away. Bitch... He tried to change the wording to go around what he said. I HEARD IT. it was so bad I had to have my bestie on the phone to listen to how he talked to me behind closed doors. Away from public view. HER MOM HEARD IT. Thought she was watching some kind of dramatic show, until she realized it was me on the phone. She's listened to so many calls its unheard of. There was a day, I had enough of it. (Ok A lot actually) but I grabbed my laptop and my charger and left the house. I sat in the park drawing on my laptop. Texted every person I could think of that I cared so deeply for that they would care for me back. I was in a dark ass place asking for Advice. My eb shrugged off what my husband was doing and scolded me for leaving. For sitting in a park drawing out my feelings instead of being with him because he's being dramatic to her husband upset that I started an argument. I didn't understand what I started when it was over me telling him not to throw the controller when he loses a COD game because that's how it breaks. Why he threw it? Because I distracted him by playing with my cat while he was playing the damn game and made him lose! yep. Exactly that. So I was yelled at to quit. So I did. I went back to my drawing and then with my headphones on I was humming to my music. It distracted him and he lost. So I flipped out because I can't do anything in my own house without being scolded for it. So I stormed off to the bedroom to draw some more. I'm upstairs and away from him. Didn't want to eat now I'm stressed and upset. So I didn't cook anything and now he's hungry and upset at me for not making food yet. YES. That's how it started and I again was the bad person in the story for safely removing myself from an environment where all my mind was telling me to do was dark things that hurt to say. To give up on everything I have worked for and all my dreams.

That was the last time I spoke to her for a while because everything started to be only about baby and about doing this for baby. Doing that for baby. But then she would never answer me back. I was done trying to fit time to hang out. To do something, I made new friends who didn't have kids and hung out more with them. It got horrible. the sound of a child crying made my stomach hurt. I had non stop dreams of the same thing happening. It was just awful. I looked it up and it was just meaning I had something and lost it. Whatever is missing in the dream what what I had lost.

In this dream I was dressed in all black, lace and long dress covering every inch of skin on my body. I had a hat with a veil and I was rocking a bundle in my arms in an old decrepit room with peeling paint and broken toys. It was a nursery. An old ruined nursery. I was rocking just a black blanket swaddled with a hole that emptied to the void. It gives me chills, I get this dream so much that me explaining just makes my skin crawl and my body ache. It hurts to think of but I just cannot understand it. Makes sense now that I looked into it.

But me going through all of this, I can't talk to my husband about my feelings because I'm too needy and being selfish for not taking his feelings into an account. That he's not ready that we are not ready and that I'm not ready because I'm going to be a horrible mom. Cool.

I have tried so much. I couldn't be around kids. It made me so sick and I jus would have to find somewhere to hide and cry for hours. I would cry myself to sleep. Never getting comfort by him because I'm throwing a pity party. I was so hurt. Still am. I'm broken hearted. Thinking that if I had a kid, at least I would have something that needed me and would love the care I gave and would love me back. I wanted to feel loved for how much I put out in the world. I wanted to have something to ground me to this world before I did something stupid. I was in such a dark place that I drove an hour to go see my bestie because I was scared that I was going to do it. That I was going to be the big disappointment he told me I would always be. Three months later, baby is here and I go back to playing dnd with my friends and its at their house. My husband is rubbing it in my face. He's holding baby and talking to baby and doing all these things making my mind break. He asks if I want to hold her. If i if iififififi NO.

I can't I cannot. I'm trying to be respectful. I missed out on other games because I had to hype myself up. I procrastinated because I didn't know how I would be or if I could handle it. I got to the point that my eb's husband told me that he doesn't want me playing anymore because I sent a text trying to apologize to my now eb that I feel so bad but I can't see her right now since seeing her kids just sends me into a panic attack and I can't stop thinking horrible things. So she takes that as I have a problem with HER kids and not just the KIDS situation. Doesn't hear me out. blames me for everything and has me banned from coming over. in which her husband says he doesn't want me over anymore. Which my rebuttal is because she's telling him only. But he said it was his choice. I don't know don't care. It just hurt that THATS the reason I got kicked out. Not because I was good, but that I couldn't handle their kids. And I would not pay attention by drawing the whole time. I was distracting myself because I'm trying to drown out the noises of cooing making my gut rot and my mouth dry. So by all means I'm selfish for wanting a dream that I was being promised for the last 6 years of physically being with my soon to be ex. I've know for actually 12 years. And that I drove 15 hours to bring you to me since you couldn't drive.

So I need to know from real parents, was I out of line for telling my eb that I had feelings and that them not being heard or just cast to the side hurt? Am I crazy for feeling that I've been robbed? For being upset when my husband comes home drunk and abuses me? For being hurt when I'm called all sorts of names and told I'm worthless by the man I should trust the most? Please. I need to know.

I know I'm ranting, but I need to get it out. I need to find some sort of something to figure out why I'm feeling this way, or why I don't know what to do with myself anymore. I'm fighting for the divorce since i haven't been to my owned house in the last 5 months since he changed the locks on me. I moved an hour away from my home and my family and still to this day, I hurt to hear or watch children around me. I'm happy, but inside something aches and just feels empty. Not to mention that I got told by people that know me that he's been caught buying condoms. We are still technically married, and he can't be doing those things right now. Am I jealous? Upset? Hurt? All of the above? It just sucks and I'm drowning in debt a bit trying to work my ass off to get where I want in life again since all of everything has been ripped from me. I'm trying. Please let me know if I'm crazy or out of line? I want to be heard. I'm going to start to save up. I have a plan for my 27th birthday. If it doesn't work in time for my 28th birthday, I'm not sure what else I can do but join the 27 club.

[nagisa-shiota-worthy-shit]

Colours of Summer

Karmagisa Week 2021 day 7 prompt: colours wordcount: 2418

basically: a collection of short scenes occuring on one hot summer day with Karmagisa, based on colours and summer objects. (might be extended some time after Karmagisa week, on AO3)

---------------------------------------- --Pink Swimming Trunks--

“What. is. that?” Karma uttered. 

Nagisa sighed in response, turning a little red in the face, but hiding most of his embarrassment by avoiding eye contact. The object of embarrassment? the soft pink swimming trunks he was now wearing. Karma had never seen his boyfriend wearing them, and he didn’t think Nagisa ever would. Nagisa had a bad relationship with the colour pink. 

“T-they’re supposed to be white,” Nagisa explained, “My mom washed them but accidentally mixed some laundry and-” 

“You’re kidding me,” Karma started laughing, “What kind of cliched tv trope shit is this?” 

Nagisa didn’t respond to that, instead walked past his boyfriend to put on the white shirt he’d brought for himself. Karma did the same, not wishing to travel all the way to the beach shirtless, but he was still laughing as he did so. At least he tried to do it quietly. 

Eventually, he had enough of their silence. He turned to his boyfriend again, who was now putting food into their bag, and walked up to him. He threw his arms around him, hugging him from the back, and rested his chin on his head. The height difference made this a very simple gesture for him. Although, he was sure Nagisa wasn’t that big of a fan of the reminder that he was small. 

“Pink still looks good on you,” Karma said, as a form of apology. 

At first, Nagisa didn’t say anything. He just stood there accepting the embrace. Eventually there was a sigh, a shuffling of shoulders, and a soft humm. Karma knew that pretty much meant forgiveness. Still, he kept the other boy in his embrace. Well, with Karma’s superior power it was also a bit like a form of restraining the smaller boy. 

“Come on,” Karma finally said, “We have a hot summer’s day to waste.” 

--Blue Water--

Nagisa had been standing on the edge of the water for a while now, hesitating going in. Every once in a while, he stuck his leg out when the high tide came close enough to him, carefully trying out the water’s temperature. Every single time, he shrunk together slightly, and moved back a few small steps. Karma was getting a little sick of waiting. 

“Can you come in already?” He complained, “the water is really nice once you actually get used to it.” 

A difficult look appeared on Nagisa’s face. It appeared he was considering his options. Really, there wasn’t much to consider. They’d traveled all this way to have a fun beach day, at some point Nagisa would have to get in the water. Stalling it would only make it worse. For someone who complained so much about the hot weather, Nagisa sure was being petty about a little cold water. He should just get in and feel refreshed. 

Karma looked over his shoulder, taking in the view of the sea stretching all the way to the horizon. The blue sea was shimmering, reflecting the sun’s light, and shining in Karma’s eyes. When he turned around there was no sun irritatingly blinding him. Instead, he saw Nagisa once again jumping away from the water. 

“If you don’t get in now, I’m going to drag you in here myself,” Karma threatened. 

Nagisa pursed his lips, looked down at the water, and took a moment to consider the threat. Of course, Karma knew he was serious, but he figured Nagisa knew it too. This was the kind of action Karma was very prone to: annoying and physical. Still, Nagisa was one of the few people capable of escaping these situations. Basically, he could ‘cute’ his way out of it. Karma was always a little weak to his boyfriend’s charms. So, Nagisa just stood there. He didn’t make any move indicating he was going to get in the water. 

Karma looked him in the eye, trying to send him a warning glare. Nagisa, in response, just put a slight smile on his face. There was no denying for Karma that Nagisa looked pretty and soft right there, however, there was also no denying Nagisa just had to get in the damn water. 

“Do I need to count down?” Karma asked, as if he was talking to a toddler. 

Nagisa rolled his eyes. “I’m not eight.” 

For a second, Karma considered his next comment. He decided to not go for the comeback, trying to somewhat stay on his boyfriend’s good side. Then again, if he did really drag Nagisa into the water, that would be ruined anyways. To be fair, that would be laughed off. A comment about Nagisa perhaps looking like an eight year old was something Nagisa was a little more sensitive about. 

“3” Karma started counting. 

Nagisa squinted for a second, but then crossed his arms, standing by his decision to annoy Karma, apparently. That wasn’t going to stop Karma just yet. 

“2” 

Nagisa looked away for less than a second, before looking back at Karma. Most likely, he was considering whether Karma was being serious. 

“1” 

Nagisa still stood there. It appeared he was not getting into the water of his own accord. 

“zero, okay here we go.” 

Karma moved forwards, quickly running towards his boyfriend with water splashing at his side. Nagisa barely had any time to react, making an attempt to turn around and run away, but he was just a little too slow to escape Karma. Karma held his arms open wide and embraced his boyfriend, entangling his arms in there as well, but instead of making it some kind of hug, just picked him up. 

At first Nagisa just yelped, confused about what had just happened. Then, he started kicking, trying to wiggle himself free from his boyfriend’s grip. There were some noises of complaint, but Karma ignored those. The grip he had was tight and just a tad too powerful for Nagisa to escape. 

He walked back into the water until it came up to his knees. With the struggling Nagisa still in his grip, he took a ready stance. His lips were curled into a mischievous smirk. He was excited for this part. 

All of a sudden, he dropped Nagisa. Well.. dropped… It was more like he threw the other boy into the water. Nagisa yelled and, with a big splash, landed in the water. After struggling for just a short moment, he sat up, shoulders and up above the water. The look on his face spoke of dissatisfaction. 

Karma, on the other hand, just laughed. 

“And now you’re in!” He announced. 

Before he knew it, Nagisa had gotten up. With inhuman speed, he moved around Karma, hooking his leg around his, and used his hands to push him over. Karma was being tackled. He made an attempt to save himself but, sadly, Nagisa’s tackle was pretty waterproof. Karma, on the other hand, wasn’t waterproof, and landed in the water with a splash. 

When he came up again, he had a challenging smile on his face. One look at Nagisa confirmed he was feeling the same. His boyfriend looked proud, but not entirely done with their insignificant battle. It also, to Karma at least, looked a little hot. 

“That's how we’re going to play this, huh?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“Depends,” Nagisa shrugged, “Are you ready to fight a battle you can’t win.” 

There was no malicious intent in either of their words. Both of them had meant it in a playful manner, and both thrived on the friendly competition between the two of them. So, yes, Karma was more than intrigued by Nagisa’s sudden cockiness. He had to make sure he got rid of that arrogant smile on Nagisa’s face. 

“Game on.” 

--Red Burnt Skin--

When they’d gotten back to Karma’s place late in the afternoon, nothing but complaints left Karma’s mouth. His skin was burning red, slight patches of white skin visible on places that had been covered during the day. The contrast was great, and so was the pain. 

“My skin is going to burn off,” Karma grumbled. 

“No it’s not,” Nagisa spoke matter of factly, “and I feel like this is the perfect time for an ‘I told you so.’” 

Karma just grumbled, really not up for that discussion. As he fell down on his couch, his skin rubbed slightly against a pillow with a more rough fabric, and he felt himself cringe all throughout. He pouted, trying to gain pity attention from his boyfriend. 

That attention didn’t appear to be happening. Nagisa was just unpacking some empty food containers from their bag, focused as he stacked them up in an attempt to bring all of them to the kitchen in one go. From the look on his face, one would say he wasn’t too bothered about his boyfriend’s pain. Karma, being said pained boyfriend, wasn’t a fan of that. 

“Nagisa~” His voice came out in a singsong manner, “Don’t be mean, I’m suffering.” 

When Nagisa turned around to look at him, the look in his eyes spoke of book volumes. On a surface level, he looked unimpressed, eyebrows raised as he looked down at Karma laid down on the couch. In his eyes was also a hint of disappointment. Karma had grown rather familiar with that particular look, so he was one of the few people who could read past the bigger emotions Nagisa portrayed on his face. Yes, he knew Nagisa very well, and he knew Nagisa thought that Karma was overreacting. 

“I got a little burnt too,” Nagisa argued. 

“You didn’t get sunburned,” Karma complained, “You got sun kissed.” 

Karma couldn’t help but be a little grumpy about it all. Although there was some truth to Nagisa’s words, a little sunscreen like his boyfriend had used would have been wise, it still felt unfair how easily Karma burnt in the sun compared to Nagisa. Even without the sunscreen, Nagisa barely tanned. Meanwhile Karma had to live like a lobster. 

“I have some aloe vera,” Nagisa offered with an annoyingly caring tone, “Do you want me to put some on your shoulders?” 

“... yes please.” 

--Orange Sunset--

Nagisa poked Karma’s bright red arm, earning a groaned response from him. He was still a little grumpy over the whole sunburn ordeal, but at the very least he had now somewhat cooled down due to the aloe vera Nagisa had been so gracious to share with him. So, the complaining had stopped, and Nagisa suggested going on a walk to end their long day. To Karma, ending a long day with another physical activity was a little weird, considering it just made the day longer, but Nagisa seemed really eager to go outside again, so he opted to not complain about it. 

It was a rather enjoyable walk. Nagisa talked throughout most of it, Karma only interjecting a few times with a funny side comment or fact Nagisa wasn’t aware of yet, and that was just fine. Karma liked hearing Nagisa’s rambling. The enthusiasm in Nagisa’s voice as he described a particularly spectacular scene in an action movie he’d recently seen was cute. Why would Karma ever complain about seeing Nagisa happy? 

“Oh woah,” Nagisa suddenly interrupted himself mid-story, “The sky looks so cool right now.” 

The sky they were looking at was in fact very pretty, Karma had to agree. Above them, an orange colour had started to spread out, becoming a deeper version of its own colour as their eyes were directed towards the horizon. The sun, another shade of orange, was about halfway down by now, yet still illuminated the world very well. Just like the rest of the day, there were no clouds to interrupt the bright colours of the sky. 

When Karma looked back at Nagisa, he noted that the orange lighting of the sunset was more than a little flattering on the boy. His skin was touched by the light, changing its tone and making him appear like he was gold. If Karma didn’t know better, he would say Nagisa looked like a god. 

Except, he knew better, and Nagisa would respond awkwardly to that statement. He wouldn’t know what to say and just stammer his way through. On any other occasion, Karma would have made the comment, considering he enjoyed teasing his boyfriend. At that moment, however, he didn’t feel like ruining the moment. 

“It’s pretty,” was all Karma said. 

Nagisa seemed a little taken back by the comment. “That’s all? Just pretty?” 

“Well, it is.”

“Not even a ‘like you’ comment?” 

“Are we fishing for compliments now, Nagisa?” 

Nagisa turned red, although his cheeks had already been the crimson colour because of the day’s worth of sun. He looked away from Karma, a slight pout on his face and a loss for words. It was a common, yet still amusing, sight. So, Karma just laughed at him. That was his usual response. 

“I didn’t mean it that way!” Nagisa defended himself, “I-I meant it like-” 

Karma just held up his hand, interrupting the other boy’s explanation. He didn’t need a stuttering explanation of something Karma fully understood. He’d been joking, obviously. There had been so many occasions where Karma had made the exact joke Nagisa had been referring to, so he couldn’t exactly blame Nagisa for almost expecting it. It had been the perfect set up, actually. 

Instead, he turned to look at the sunset again, admiring its beauty and the moment it was creating for him. As cheesy as it all was, he really did feel the need to share that moment with Nagisa. Sunsets were, perhaps, a little overdone as a romantic setting, however, it still worked so well. Why fix what wasn’t broken? Why not use this moment for his own cheesy gains? 

Nagisa seemed to share that sentiment, because the moment Karma held his hand closer to his boyfriend, he immediately grabbed hold of it. They swung their entangled hands about for a bit in silence, watching the sun slowly disappear down into something unknown. Behind them, the sky had already started turning a darker shade of blue, but that didn’t matter to them. The approaching darkness wasn’t the thing they were focused on in that moment. 

With the last rays of sunshine still hitting their face, Karma turned to Nagisa, pulling his boyfriend closer to him. One hand went to hold Nagisa’s cheek as he moved forwards and connected their lips. Their kiss went on until the sun was completely down, darkness slowly falling over the world, and the summer’s day had finally ended. 

[poptod]

hello! i'd like to make an ahkmenrah x reader request! maybe present-day reader gets teleported back in time to when ahkmenrah was alive and they eventually get to the palace and stuff happens? maybe they tell him about modern life? and maybe reader is unnaturally beautiful to the ancient egyptians because humans evolve to be more attractive as time goes on so a person from our time would be hot shit 4,000 years ago? this is long lmao. thanks!

Notes: god ive always wanted to do this kind of storyline but i was worried about like,, logic and stuff getting in the way of the storyline. anyway! i was so fucking elated to receive this request. i got a bit carried away so apologies! WC: 3.2k

+

Okay. It isn't that bad.

Would you ever see your family again? Probably not, but you weren't ruling the possibility out.

Would you ever get to have sour patch kids again? Probably not. But even during the time you lived in 2020, you had eaten more concentrated sour patch kids flavor than all of the people around you combined.

This little village on the outskirts of ancient Thebes is hardly L.A.––though that's probably a good thing––and is small enough for you to know every inhabitant. Your shop there is small to suit the town, and well known ever since your arrival in this time.

They found you beside the river, thought you to be a gift from the Gods. You were hazy, though––whatever had so forcefully pushed you back in time had made your head spin, making you sick and unbalanced. So, when they asked if you did in fact come from the Gods, you had no way of defending yourself either way. Generally you've been denying it––they think you are a god, and the only way you've convinced them you're not a god is by saying you're a gift from them. It explains the way you look, unnaturally beautiful and alien amongst the more pure genetics of earlier humans.

Your shop is pretty simple. You make portraits from paint, more realistic than anything else that exists, and it only affirms their belief in your god-like status. Fortunately word seems to not have gotten out––the village has remained small, and no one from Thebes has run into you. Every now and then you get unreasonably anxious that a noble will find you and turn you into a slave. It's a worry most people around you have, so you find comfort in the fact that you're not the only one. Still, you're not quite accustomed to such an atmosphere––the thought of nobles and Kings noticing you still sends terrified aches into your stomach.

It's about two weeks in that it gets bad. People start to pass by the village, more than you would've thought, and they're all looking to trade goods, food, and information. The people of the village talk about you––you're something interesting, you can't deny that, but they don't know just how worried you are. Whenever you see someone you don't recognize outside your home, you refuse to come out.

Five days later and there's soldiers in your home, looking over your paintings on their way back to Memphis from conquering the realm of Kush. You hold a deep contempt for them––you don't know all that much about history, but you know how Egyptian soldiers and Pharaohs reigned power over the people of Kush.

The soldiers aren't all that worrying. What really gets your heart pounding is the final man to enter your hut; a man bearing a crown and a long sword, with golden braces around his wrists and a chest plated in green scales. Your fingers dig into the wood of your counter when he notices you. The crown on his head––it's the crown of both upper and lower Egypt.

This is a Royal.

"Where did you learn this skill?" He asks you, eyes trained on one of your bigger drawings. It's just on papyrus––not for sale––and hung on the wall as a display of your talent.

"I spent a little while travelling the world," you answer. Technically, growing up in the modern world was a bit like travelling the world; you got to see the cultures and practices of many, many people. "The rest of it's practice."

"The peasants here, they... they claim you came from the Nile. Is that true?"

"Well... that is where I was found," you say carefully, but you can already tell you've fucked up. The look on his face is indescribable beyond the fact that he's pleased.

"How would you feel coming back to the capital with me?" He offers to you, setting his hands on the counter and leaning forward. "I think my father would much like to meet you."

"I – I don't think I'm really cut out for -"

"Nonsense," he dismisses with a smile, taking your hand from its' spot on the wood. "We shall teach you proper writing skills, give you a beautiful home, and the salary isn't horrid either."

You can't just say no. If you do, he's going to ask questions––he's going to get confused, and he's going to get suspicious. No one would turn down an opportunity like this; free schooling, free housing, and much more money for something you already do.

"Well... alright," you say quietly, looking to the home around you that you built with the help of the other villagers.

"Wonderful. My name is Kamun."

He's not a very nice person, you come to find. Or perhaps he's just not your tastes––the soldiers seem to like him well enough, at least the ones who aren't completely subordinate to him, but his attitude towards women and poor people is scathing to say the least. Otherwise he's very amusing, with a good sense of humor and quite generous with his food and wine as long as he gets his fill of it first.

The boat back to Memphis, where the royal family currently stays, is a long ride filled with various entertainments. It's clear these are not soldiers accustomed to rough conditions––the dancing women and flowing beer is enough to tell you that. Instead, you surmise these are faux war-heroes; people adored in their hometown for doing nothing but intimidating others in a foreign country. They try to get cushy with you, soften you up to their words and touches. It doesn't work.

He keeps you close to him. You let him do it, sort of––it's better than telling him no. Better than starting a ruckus. Then again, avoiding a ruckus is what got you here in the first place, standing before the doors of the courtroom where a false God on earth rules the Nile.

"Father, I bring you a gift from Thebes," says Kamun, pushing you forward by the small of your back. You can't bring yourself to meet the Pharoah's eye, so you fall to your knees and bow.

Everyone is staring at you. You don't look normal, and they all know it, and you know it. You could cry from the heat of their eyes on your back.

One of Kamun's soldiers steps forwards, handing the Pharaoh and his wife several of the drawings they'd taken from you. Silence passes as the two scan your work.

"How did you achieve such a mirror of the human face?" The Pharaoh asks in a slow, deep voice that sounds as he looks––old, weathered, wise.

"They came from the Nile," Kamun answers for you, and murmurs take the crowd by storm. You, on the other hand, feel your heartbeat increase in massive increments, speeding your already uneven breath. "A gift from the Gods, the locals said."

"I can't – I am not magic," you rush out, hoping your clarification clears you of any responsibility to the Pharaoh. You know he rules everything––if he says you are to stay here, you have no choice, and you don't like it here. Too many people. "I cannot give you anything, my King."

"I think you're lying," says a voice, its' tone soft and a velvet low. It catches you off guard, brings you to raise your head and meet the eyes of someone you don't know; a young man dressed in gold beside the Pharaoh's throne.

You almost lose your breakfast as your eyes bulge, your mind instantly recognizing him and connecting the dots. You were, by far, not a historian, but you knew a fair amount of Egyptian history––namely a family in the Old Kingdom who was headed by the Pharaoh Merenkahre. The remaining statues and busts of the King and his son are astonishingly accurate, and there can be no doubt in your head.

That being said, there also can't be any reaction on your face. You try your best to reign your expression in.

"I..."

Actually, you do have something to offer now. You know the names––memorized the history, committed each event to memory, and now you can pull their lifestory off from the top of your head. Wouldn't that be valuable to a King; a seer of the future, to predict the rise and fall of the economy and the coming armies. Besides, you can't just say he's wrong. That'd be treasonous to them. So you have to agree you're hiding something, come up with an excuse as to why you hid it, and it proves harder than you thought. You're quickwitted, though––it got you away from the villager's wrath, and it will promote you to noble living now.

You hide a smirk beneath a calm expression as you address the younger prince.

"They gifted me foresight," you say quietly, pretending as though it hurts you to tell the truth, "but told me to never inform others."

"You are in the presence of Ra once more," the Pharaoh reminds you.

"And others," you point out. "I would... it would be better to discuss such matters.. in private."

Detailed information about already-past events is enough to sway him to believe you. The Pharaoh is surprisingly easy to convince, and with a few, meaningless predictions of the future, he gives you housing in his own palace. Kamun looks proud of himself––puffs his chest out in front of his father and earns no compliment. Ire laces his glare as it falls upon his brother, Ahkmen, praised for his ability to see through your obvious lie.

The Pharaoh asks his younger son to guide you to your room. Apparently it's closer to his room than it is to Kamun's, and evening is approaching fast. The walk there, while short, is marked by a conversation composed mainly of Ahkmen's questions and your answers. When the two of you reach your room, he doesn't leave––actually, he follows you in and locks the door.

There's nothing more terrifying than a man with unchecked power, and there is no one watching you.

No fail safe.

You gulp.

"I know you're still not telling the truth," he says, and though it dismisses several of your worries it still begs the question; how did he notice? "Just thought I'd spare you the embarrassment in front of my father, but my generosity ends there. Now I won't hurt you, and I won't tell anyone––I'm just curious."

Oh thank fuck. He's not going to rape you.

"I'm not Egyptian," you blurt out.

"Obviously," he interrupts, but you glare him into raising his hands defensively.

"I'm from the future."

He stares at you. For a minute. You know this because you count it––he just pauses right in his stance, doesn't move, and stares at you for a whole minute like you just told him you're made of gold.

"I'm sorry, what?" He says, laughter suddenly wracking his body.

"It's how I know what's going to happen to your family," you say, hoping he'll believe you. Otherwise this handsome, seemingly-nice man is going to think you're insane for the rest of time. "I studied your family for years as a side-hobby, I don't know how to predict the future for anything but you and your father."

His laughing pauses, or lightens at least; enough for him to say, "actually?"

"Yes," you say, completely serious. This seems to gain his interest once more. "You have to help me. I know at some point people are going to ask me questions about other things and I'm not going to have an answer."

"Just do what all our priests do," he says with a chuckle.

"What do they do?"

"Lie," he says. You can't stop the grin that spreads across your face from the stupid joke, and when he sees that a shit-eating grin spreads across his own face, delighted he could make you laugh.

"Yes, well... I guess I could do that," you mumble in a laugh.

"There's no need for you to worry. Now that I know the truth, I can help you," he says, offering you something that takes nearly all the anxiety out of your brain. After two days travel with a prince, it feels like it took 50 pounds off your shoulders.

"Thank you, so much," you chuckle in relief.

"Of course. I do have questions though, and I want you to answer them."

"Anything."

These questions of his, they come at all times––almost at a constant rate when he takes you on long walks, which he does often. He passes it off to his father as an interest in your beauty, and it apparently works. This little lie also helps you enormously in avoiding the romantic advances of many of the people you come into contact with. You're still not quite sure how it works, since Egyptians supposedly had a strong sense of patriotism, but you look rare and they idolize it. Every eye that falls upon you sees something beautiful, and you can't understand it.

At least Ahkmen is normal. He doesn't talk about you being beautiful. Ever.

And it kind of makes you sad.

"Would you say people on the whole are happier in the future or in the past?" He asks you, his words surrounded by the warmth of a summer day in Egypt.

Birds chatter loudly in the trees around you, singing in the humid air that marks the mating season for many of them. The flowers that surround you are already familiar––you thought it would take longer for you to commit the shapes and colors to memory, but here you are. Dressed in gold-laced silk and turquoise necklaces.

"I think the happiness of a population is dependent entirely on the circumstances surrounding it," you say. Sometimes your answers relate more to the human condition than the progress of time on the human race; he likes these answers, too, so you tell him exactly what you think. "Six thousand years from now, there are times of great misery. One is even called the Great Depression, but five years before that were some of the most prosperous times my country had ever seen. The same cycle is evident here."

"So.. great misery and great happiness come in waves?" He asks, pace slowing as he tries to understand what you're saying. You pause along the pathway, allowing him space to think.

"It's a pattern, actually. When the economy goes up, it will always come down. Recessions happen right after economical booms. And yes," you say before he can ask, "a time of unease will follow the prosperity of the current years. But it won't be for a time yet."

"Will it happen in my lifetime?"

He's murdered about three years from now. You think you might be able to stop it, but if you do, it'll alter history quite a lot. Either way, he wouldn't live long enough to see the recession the building of the great pyramids caused.

"No," you say. "But I'd prepare for it anyway, if only to keep your citizens safe."

"Of course. You... you are a great scholar," he tells you, resuming the slow walk down the shore of the Nile.

"Oh. Uh, thank you," you mumble as a blush fills your cheeks.

"What did you do in your time?"

"I was an artist, but I spent a lot of time giving lectures on the role of autistic people in ancient Egypt. Autistic people are often timekeepers," you say, and you know he'll figure out what you mean. Autistic isn't a term here, but many timekeepers of these ancient times were autistic, and considered highly by their societies.

"You might be able to give lectures again, if you'd like," he suggests. "People would come from far and wide to hear you speak. And you've got things to say that I know many scholars will find interesting."

"Mmm," you wince, "I kind of want to stay away from altering history too much."

"Oh, yes. My apologies," he says in a softer voice.

"It's alright," you say. "I'm glad you think I would be a good choice for that kind of thing, though."

He chuckles bashfully as he turns to the ground, scuffing his sandals as he walks.

Ahkmen is sweet––much sweeter than any of his family members, and you find yourself appreciating that every time you pass by his room. You pass his door often, always stopping a second to contemplate the tall, wooden doors. He's on the pathway between your room and the library.

Most of the time he's not in his room. Actually, you can usually find him in the library––there or outside in the markets or near the stalls. Today is different; he's been missing all day, and only when you walk the path back to your room do you hear his voice, talking to himself in his bedroom.

"They're bombarded with just such compliments, though. I can't – I can't stand out!"

"Or maybe you should, because you still haven't said a single thing yet and they probably think you're completely uninterested and that's why they aren't noticing you?"

"You and your... logic," Ahkmen spits.

"Come complaining when you kiss them under my advice."

As you attempt to peek through the crack in the door you stumble, knocking your hand against the wood. You barely hesitate before knocking again––cool and collected, smooth to slip into another lie.

"Oh! Hello, um – hi," he says awkwardly, slipping out of the room when he sees you. He quickly closes the door behind him, careful to keep you from seeing the other person in his room, but you can't bring yourself to care about the stranger.

Think of an excuse, why am I here?

"Oh, that's... I like your flower," he comments softly, eyes flickering between your eyes and the flower tucked into your hair. You'd forgotten about it, but raised your hand to touch the petals as you smiled. The perfect excuse

"Thank you. I thought you might like it, so I," you take it out of your hair and grab his hand, holding his palm upwards, "wanted to show you.. um, here."

Setting the flower in his hand, you curl his fingers around its' stem and push his hands back into his chest. He stares at you for a moment, confused by your strange behavior, but accepting of your gift anyway. You know him well enough now––he'd never decline a gift from you.

"A white iris," he tells you in a lofty tone. "A symbol of the dead. Funny it looks so lively on you."

You need to get out of here before your chest combusts.

"I need to go now, but I'll see you this evening, yes?" You ask, stepping instinctively closer. He doesn't back away.

"Of course. And, um," he takes your hands, keeps you where you stand as he slips the flower back behind your ear, "keep it. I want to see it on you at dinner."

He's close to you––close enough that it gets hard to distinguish his breath from your own, when you started holding his hand. When his other came up to your face. When he leans in and kisses your forehead. It's barely there, just barely, but there's no mistaking the soft plush, the affection clear behind gentle, precise movements.

You rush away the second he lets your hands go.

[lunar-wandering]

Peach Slices

the Sick!Wukong fanfic is finally done! this is the longest one shot i’ve ever written lol.

tagging @winterpower98 and @ninja-knox-ur-sox-off since you two seemed interested

read on ao3

Word Count: 5.4k

-----

When MK arrived at the temple to train, he could immediately tell that something was wrong. For one, Wukong wasn't hidden anywhere in an attempt to surprise him, which he had been doing lately to help him "hone his instincts". (Usually all that got him was a smack in the face with his own staff. MK would apologize each time, but Wukong would just wave it off.) Instead of hiding, Wukong was sitting in the middle of the courtyard, a few of the monkeys hanging out around him and hanging off of him. The second thing that was off was how the monkeys were looking at him, concerned. Upon noticing MK, they had immediately started to point him at Wukong, as though saying "something's up with him, please help him out.". The third thing that was off, was Wukong fur. It looked absolutely horrible, like he'd just rolled out of bed and hadn't brushed it, and had also been through like 5 fights.

That was concerning enough, but what really worried MK was the 4th thing.

Wukong hadn't noticed him yet.

Nevermind the other things being weird, Wukong not noticing him was just plain wrong. Wukong always noticed when MK arrived, even if he'd been distracted before.

Something was clearly up, and MK was going to find out what.

Deciding to use the fact that Wukong hadn't noticed him to his advantage, MK started slowly sneaking up behind him, making a shushing motion to the monkeys to let them know to be quiet. He had a suspicion about what was up, and honestly he kinda hoped that he was wrong.

Finally managing to make it to Wukong's side, MK slowly reached up-

And lightly pressed the back of his hand to Wukong's forehead.

Wukong yelped and jumped away in surprise at MK's "sudden" appearance, but the few seconds that MK's hand had been on Wukong's forehead was all he needed.

"Kid! I uh, didn't hear you come in-"

"You're sick." MK stated the facts, as Wukong looked at him in surprise. "Why didn't you call me to cancel training if you're sick? I could've just gone to spar with Red Son or Mei instead."

"I, wh-" Wukong sputtered for a moment, before he seemed to collect himself a little. "I'm not sick."

"Uh, your fever says other wise." MK replied, not certain what his mentor thought he would get out of denying his incredibly obvious condition.

"What fever? I'm perfectly fine." Wukong clearly lied, leaning against a nearby tree in an attempt to look cool. MK rolled his eyes and was about to respond when Wukong let out a sudden yelp, as the tree he was leaning against snapped and fell to the ground, causing him to stumble. There was a moment of silence as the two of them stared at the fallen tree.

"I totally meant to do that."

"Alright, that's it." MK said, setting his bag on the ground and walking over to Wukong. "Come on Monkey King, I'm taking you back to my apartment to keep an eye on you."

"That's really not necessary- hey! Put me down!" Wukong yelled as MK scooped him up, carrying him like a sack of potatoes. "Seriously, Kid, I'm fine!"

"If you were fine you'd have jumped away before I grabbed you." MK said. Wukong didn't seem to have a reasonable response for that, so MK started the long trek back to the noodle shop with only a few more complaints from the Monkey King.

---

At some point during the walk to the noodle shop, Wukong had fallen asleep. MK was kinda grateful for that actually, it meant he didn't have to deal with his mentor continuing to complain, and it meant that he was resting, which he honestly probably needed, based on how he looked.

MK avoided going in through the front door of the noodle shop, from what he could see, there were quite a few customers in there. If he went in with a passed out Monkey King on his back, it was sure to cause a commotion, and he.... really didn't want that, especially if all the noise would wake Wukong up. So, MK snuck around to the back of the shop, and used the fire escape to climb up to his apartment on the second floor.

Once inside, MK carefully set Wukong down on his bed, shaking some of the ache out of his arms as he did so. Wukong was heavy, and carrying him for over an hour had done MK's arms no favors.

Wukong curled up in the bed, and MK sighed, before going off in search of more blankets and pillows, and hopefully some medicine to bring Wukong's fever down. MK... wasn't actually sure when he last bought medicine. He might have to ask Mei to run out and buy him some, because there was no way he was going to leave-

Almost as soon as he thought that, MK's phone dinged, telling him he'd received a message from Pigsy.

'I know you're here.' It read, 'Heard you on the fire escape. If you aren't training, can you come back down and work for the next hour?'

'Cant.' MK sent back, 'Busy rn'.

'What on Earth could you be busy with?'

MK thought for a moment on how best to explain the situation, before figuring that a visual example was probably the best, and snapped a quick picture of Wukong and sent it to Pigsy.

The yelled "What the fuck!" was loud enough for MK to hear, and apparently Wukong heard it too, as he started to stir.

"Kid?" He asked, slowly sitting up, "W'as goin' on?"

"It's nothing Monkey King, go back to sleep-" MK was proven wrong however, as the two of them could hear a series of loud footsteps running up the stairs. Within seconds, Pigsy had burst into the room.

"MK." He said, "Would you please explain to me why Sun Wukong is in your bed."

"He's sick." MK said, glancing back at the monkey in question. Despite the rest he'd gotten on the way over, he was actually starting to look worse than before, as well as very confused. He hoped that his fever wasn't getting worse.

"Oh well that's plainly obvious." Pigsy said, "What I want to know, is why you brought him here instead of back to his mountain."

"I figured it'd be easier to look after him here? I kinda.... doubt that he has the materials needed to look after someone who's sick back at his house." MK explained. Pigsy sighed at the answer, suddenly looking incredibly resigned to the fact that he was going to have to deal with there being a sick monkey king directly above his noodle shop. Gods, this was going to be a pain....

"Zhu Bajie?" Wukong suddenly asked, drawing Pigsy and MK's attention back to him. "What....what are you doing here? You're... Dead."

MK and Pigsy stared at him in confusion.

"What on Earth is he going on about now?" Pigsy asked, and that was all it took for Wukong to start suddenly crying hysterically. MK panicked, rushing forwards and trying to calm him down, but not really knowing how. Pigsy stood back, shocked and confused at the sudden emotional outburst from the monkey.

Pigsy would've tried to help MK calm Wukong down, but there was a sudden yell from down in the noodle shop and, remembering that he had practically left said shop unattended, he was forced to turn and start back down the stairs. He gave MK a look of apology as he went, and mentally noted that he would have to make some kind of soup for the sick monkey.

...Did Wukong even eat soup?

As far as Pigsy remembered, the answer to that was no.

.....He'd have to ask Tang and Sandy to pick up a basket of peaches at the store.

---

Later, after Wukong had cried himself out and fallen back asleep, and Pigsy closed the shop for lunch, MK pulled Pigsy aside for a moment.

"So." Pigsy started, "What was all that stuff earlier about?"

"He. He kept saying things like 'he's supposed to be dead' and 'he doesn't remember me' while he was crying." MK said, "His fever's pretty high. I think it's made him delirious. And I think that. He thinks you're Zhu Bajie, one of the people who was with him during the Journey to the West."

Pigsy was silent for a brief moment.

"Kid....I'm about to tell you something that might.....upset you." He said. MK tilted his head, confused.

"What do you me-, oh my gods." Realization struck. "Are you kidding me?"

Pigsy gave no signs that he was kidding. MK stared in shock.

"You're Zhu Bajie??"

"Yes. Sandy and Tang are Wujing and Tripitaka too."

MK's shock quickly turned to anger.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell him?" He asked.

"I... I didn't tell you because I didn't think you needed to know." Pigsy said, "As for Wukong.... he was never there when we tried to go visit him over the years. We knew he was still alive, Heaven would've lost it's shit had he actually died, but we...figured that he was avoiding us. That he didn't want to interact with us, for some reason."

"Well clearly that is not the case, considering he apparently thinks you're dead!" MK shouted, ignoring Pigsy's hurried shushing. "Can you imagine how upsetting that must be for him?? Thinking that all the people he considers friends, maybe even family, are dead, or that they don't remember him? I want to cry just thinking of it!"

MK would have continued yelling, but a sudden thump and crash upstairs drew his attention. He paused for a moment, during which he and Pigsy both heard the quiet, slightly scared, "Kid?" from Wukong. MK sighed, moving to head back up the stairs, but not before giving Pigsy a glare.

"This isn't over. We will be talking about this later." He said, before disappearing up the stairs. Pigsy slumped against the counter.

"Jeez....." He muttered, "We really fucked up didn't we."

---

When he walked back into his apartment, MK was only slightly surprised to find it a mess, and Wukong missing from the bed. Clearly, Wukong had woken up while MK was downstairs, and, upon not seeing the kid anywhere in the general area, had panicked, probably assuming the worst. Worried for a brief moment, MK glanced at the window, breathing a sigh of relief to see that it was still locked the way it had been before. Good, so Wukong was still somewhere in the apartment.

Now where did he-

There was a sudden crash from the kitchen.

MK rushed to the kitchen, to find Wukong standing in front of the sink, bits and pieces of what used to be a cup on the floor. Wukong still looked dreadful, but he did look  slightly better than before.

Slightly.

"Oh, Kid, there you are." Wukong said upon noticing him, "I was worried about you."

"Yeah, I uh, could tell." MK said, thinking back to the mess he'd caught a glance of in the living room. "What are you doing in the kitchen?"

"I wanted to get a drink?" Wukong said, "I'm sorry about your cup though... I can replace it-"

"After you go back to bed." MK said, "Monkey King, you still look awful."

"Do I?" Wukong asked, sighing when MK nodded his head yes. "Fine. But if I'm in your bed, where are you going to sleep?"

"On the couch." MK answered, and, upon seeing the look on Wukong's face, added, "Don't worry about it. I've slept on the couch multiple times before."

"If you say so kid..."

"I do say so. Now c'mon, back to bed."

It was definitely a good thing MK made Wukong get back in the bed, as Wukong was just slightly wobbly the entire walk back from the kitchen to the bedroom.

"Weren't you going to play games with Mei tonight?" Wukong asked, as MK dropped another blanket on top of him. "You can go play with her if you want. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, forgive me for not trusting you on that one." MK said, "Unless you don't remember your emotional outburst from earlier."

"I had an emotional outburst?"

"You- actually you know what, it's probably better that you don't know." MK replied, before quickly changing the subject. "I already messaged Mei by the way, told her what was up. She's going to pick up some medicine."

"Bold of you to assume that human medicine will work on me."

".....Will it?"

"I don't know. Haven't tried."

---

Red Son was peacefully walking down the street, rather quite enjoying his day, when suddenly, Mei ran by in a green rush, almost knocking him off his feet.

"Hey Dragon Girl!" He shouted, grabbing her attention, "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Monkey King's sick!" She said, "MK's asked me to get medicine-"

"Hold up. Sun Wukong is sick?" Red Son asked, looking straight up shocked when Mei nodded in response. "I... I must tell Mother and Father about this."

"You're not gonna like. Spring an attack on us while he's sick are you?" Mei asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. Red Son gasped, offended.

"Of course not! We are nothing if not honorable villains." He said, "I just think that... Mother and Father would want to know about this is all."

"Hm....Okay." Mei said, "But if I see even one hint of an attack, I will not hesitate to beat you up."

"...Duly noted."

---

Over the past few hours, Wukong had tried multiple times to get up and do things. The Monkey King, apparently, didn't know how to rest. MK had to keep practically dragging him back into the bed before he broke things on accident, which, unfortunately, was happening a lot. 3 glasses, 2 plates, one vase, and one coffee table had been destroyed before MK got the bright idea to set up his laptop and stream the Monkey King Animated Series for Wukong to watch. That, at least, managed to get him to stay in bed while MK started trying to clean things up.

He had just finished sweeping up the last few pieces of the plates when the doorbell rang.

MK set down the broom and opened the door to see Mei, with one arm carrying two bowls of noodles, and her other arm holding two small baskets of peaches and a box of medicine.

"Hey MK." She said, giving him a smile.

"Come right on in Mei, here, let me take that for you." MK said, taking the peach baskets and the medicine box out of Mei's hand so that she could use both of them to carry the noodle bowls. He set the peaches and medicine down on the kitchen counter as Mei set the bowls down on the table. The two of them sat down to eat.

"So uh, what with the peaches and the noodles?" MK asked.

"Well, I remembered you said that Monkey King liked peaches, so I figured I'd pick some up for him while I was at the store." She said, "Turns out, Tang and Sandy had the same idea. Pigsy sent the peaches and the noodles up. Said something about you probably not wanting to see him right now."

"I wouldn't say that I wouldn't want to see him." MK said, "Just that me and him are...going to have a conversation later. It's nothing you need to worry about, I promise."

The look Mei gave him was skeptical, but when MK didn't retract his statement, she sighed and decided to move on.

"Sooo....How's Monkey King doing?" She asked.

"He's doing.... better than he was this morning I guess." MK said, fiddling with his chopsticks. "He still isn't near what I'd deem healthy, but I'm pretty sure his fever has gone down a bit. I set things up so he could watch the Monkey King Animated Series on my laptop so that he'd stop trying to get up and do things. I should probably give him the medicine before I go to bed."

"So, basically, what I'm taking away from this, is that you're Mother Henning the Monkey King." Mei said, laughter in her voice. MK was about to respond, argue that he was not being a Mother Hen, he was just concerned, when there was a thump outside, and then a knock on the balcony door. MK gave Mei a questioning glance, wondering if she knew anything about who could possibly be on his balcony, but she just shrugged, clearly as confused as he was. Sighing, MK stood up and walked over to the balcony door. On his way, a quick glance into his bedroom showed that Wukong had fallen asleep again, the laptop still running. He'd have to turn it off to save the battery, as well as wake Wukong later to give him some food and medicine, but another knock on the door meant he was going to have to see who had decided to come visit him first.

He opened up the door, only to come face to face with Red Son, who was holding a basket of peaches and looked like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"...What are you doing here?" MK asked, briefly wondering if he should summon his staff, just in case. But then again, Red Son didn't seem like he wanted to attack at the moment, so...

"Dragon Girl happened to inform me that Wukong is sick." Red Son said, "I told my parents, as I figured they should know, and they practically demanded that I bring this here. So.... take it."

With that said, Red Son practically shoved the peach basket into MK's hands. MK sighed as he looked at its contents.

"At this rate, my apartment is going to be both destroyed and full of peaches." He said. Red Son quirked an eyebrow.

"Okay, I was going to just leave, but now I'm curious. Why would your little apartment be both destroyed and filled with peaches Noodle Boy?" He asked.

"For one, Monkey King keeps getting up and trying to do things, but keeps accidentally destroying stuff." MK explained, "Secondly, everyone seems to be bringing peaches, though I'm not entirely sure why-"

"It's because literally the only thing we know that he likes to eat is peaches." Mei interrupted, appearing beside MK after having grown tired of waiting in the kitchen. "That doesn't leave us with many food options."

"I mean, I think he enjoys other fruits too?" MK said, sounding uncertain. "But yeah, either way, I think I'm going to be overrun with peaches."

"Well, at least not everything in the basket is a peach." Red Son commented, "There's a box of tea in there too."

MK took out the tea box and after a few seconds of inspecting it, snorted out a little laugh.

"The tea is peach flavored too." He said.

"Of course it is." Red Son sighed. "Well...whatever. See you around later Noodle Boy, Dragon Girl."

And with that, Red Son disappeared in a flash of flames. MK closed the balcony door, bringing the peach basket into the kitchen to set it beside the others.

"You think we can trust that they didn't poison those?" Mei asked. MK gave the peaches a glance.

"They......probably didn't. Just to be safe though, I think I'll give Monkey King the ones you and Pigsy gave me first."

----

By the time Mei left, it was 10:30 PM. MK walked back into his bedroom carrying a small plate of sliced up peaches, as well as a dose of medicine and a glass of water. He set them down on top of his bedside table, and then reached over and paused the episode of Monkey King the Animated Series that was playing on his laptop. He carefully picked up said laptop and brought it over to the wall to plug it in. With that done, he went back to the bed and gently shook his mentor awake.

"Mmmn....Kid?" Wukong slurred, clearly not 100% awake.

"Yeah, it's me." MK said, "I"ve got some peach slices for you to eat, and some medicine to take."

Wukong accepted the peach slices and medicine surprisingly easily, taking the medicine before starting to eat.

"Y'know..." MK said, "Earlier, you mentioned that you'd never tried medicine before. So like, what do you normally do when you're sick?"

"Go to sleep for 3 days and don't wake up until it's all over." Wukong mumbled around a piece of peach. MK gave him a deadpan look.

"Monkey King that's a coma." He said. Wukong snorted in response.

"It's only a coma if I can't wake up."

"No, I'm pretty sure sleeping for 3 days straight is genuinely considered a coma."

"Whatever." Wukong mumbled, yawning. He'd finished the peaches. MK sighed as Wukong flopped back down onto the bed, rolling over so that his back was facing him. MK silently pulled the blankets over top of the Monkey King, quietly amused at how Wukong's tail didn't quite fit in under them, and was left dangling off the side of the bed, swinging back and forth.

"Goodnight Monkey King." MK said.

" 'Night, kid." Wukong responded, and with that, MK turned off the light and left the room, leaving Wukong under what was at this point a practical mountain of blankets, alone.

---

MK woke up.

It was dark out, no sign of the sun at all. One quick glance at the clock in the living room revealed the time to be 3 AM. MK usually didn't have any problems sleeping, so what could've woken-

He saw something move in the corner of his eye.

Still half asleep, MK jumped off the couch, summoning the staff into his hand as he whirled around-

Only to be confronted with nothing but shadows.

....Huh.

Must've just been his eyes playing tricks on him.

Leaning his staff up against the wall, MK leaned down to pick up his stuffed monkey, (which had fallen off the couch when he'd jumped up), when he heard it.

A small whimper, from his bedroom.

Oh.

So that's what had woken him up.

Holding his stuffie in his arms, MK walked over to his bedroom, activating his golden vision in order to see better in the dark.

What he saw was pretty much what he should've expected.

Wukong had kicked off most of his blankets, and was partially curled up, shaking, with his tail thrashing wildly.

He was having a nightmare. Or, well, it was probably a fever dream in this case, but still. MK had to wake him up. He knelt down by the bed and gently shook Wukong's shoulder.

"Monkey King?" He said, "Monkey King, wake up."

No response.

".....C'mon, Wukong wake up."

Hearing his actual name seemed to rouse him.

".....Kid?" He asked. There were leftover tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Yeah it's me." MK said, softly, "You okay?"

"M'fine."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" MK asked. Wukong curled up a little more.

"It's nothing you'd understand, kid." He mumbled. MK supposed that made sense. Wukong had been alive for a long time after all, there was sure to be no end to things he had seen, or knows, that MK could never hope to comprehend.

"...Okay." MK said. "Do you just wanna go back to sleep."

All he got in response in a nod.

Now, as stated, MK knew that Wukong didn't want to talk about... whatever his nightmare had been about. But MK couldn't just leave without doing something to help.

...He looked at his stuffie.

"...Monkey King?" A hum, Wukong was listening. MK held up his stuffed monkey. "I think I'm gonna leave this little guy here with you."

Now that got Wukong to sit up a little, tail fluffing up a bit in surprise.

"...Don't you always sleep with him though?" Wukong asked, as MK placed the stuffie into his arms. "Kid, you don't have to-"

"It's fine." MK said, giving his mentor a smile. "I've slept without him before, I'll be fine. Besides, I think you need his services more than I do tonight."

Wukong couldn't seem to come up with any sort of argument for that, so he simply laid back down in the bed, pulling the blankets up over his head and curling up around the little stuffed monkey. Job done, MK left the room, going into the kitchen to get a glass of water before heading back to bed.

....Huh. That was weird.

Was there one more peach basket than there'd been before?

MK narrowed his eyes at it for a moment, before shrugging it off, figuring he must've just miscounted the amount of peach baskets Mei had brought, and went back to the couch to sleep, leaving the peach basket with the purple bow undisturbed.

---

The next day was mostly uneventful. True to his statement of typically just sleeping the sickness off, Wukong slept for most of the day, only waking up when MK woke him to get him to eat, drink, or have a dose of medicine. MK would be concerned about this, but it did seem that the sleep was actively doing Wukong some good, he was starting to look much better, so MK let it be.

There was other matters he had to take care of.

When Pigsy closed the shop for lunch, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he turned to see MK standing behind him, glaring.

"Uh, MK, what's up?" He asked, awkwardly. MK just kept glaring.

"Call over Tang and Sandy, now." MK said, before sitting down at one of the tables to wait. "It's about time we had that talk."

It took an unsurprisingly short amount of time for Tang and Sandy to arrive. MK waited until they were all seated.

"So." He started, but he was interrupted by Pigsy.

"Look, MK, I know we should've told you about who we were-"

"Oh! Oh you definitely should have." MK said, "I can't believe you guys just didn't tell me that you were on the Journey to the West. But that's not important right now. What's important, is that there is a sick Monkey King in my apartment who thinks you guys are dead, and I would like an explanation as to why."

"Well," Tang started, "We haven't seen him in over 300 years-"

"I told you two we should've left a note that one time." Sandy mumbled, calmly petting Mo. Pigsy sighed.

"Look kid, we tried to interact with him, believe me we did!" He said, "But every time we tried he either wasn't around or had just left. It is ridiculously hard to catch the damn monkey when he doesn't want to be caught."

MK nodded slowly.

"....Okay." He said, "I... suppose that makes sense."

He stood up.

"Tomorrow, if Monkey King is feeling better, which I'm guessing he will, you guys will be having a talk with him." MK said, walking away from the table to go back up the stairs to his apartment. He paused on the first step, turning slightly to say over his shoulder, "Just to be clear by the way. I'm still mad at you. Expect a 1 week business period before I forgive you."

"....Yeah that's fair." Tang said.

And with that, MK went back up the stairs, leaving the three immortals to anxiously contemplate how the next day's conversation would go.

---

As MK had guessed, Wukong was feeling a lot better the next day. He was actually awake, and the fever had definitely gone down, at least as far as MK could tell. Overall, he seemed to be doing a lot better.

...Which meant it was time for a conversation MK wasn't entirely sure would end well.

"Monkey King, I need you to stay right here, okay?" MK said, gesturing at the couch Wukong was currently sitting on. Wukong let out a confused laugh.

"Might I ask as to why?" He said.

"You'll see."

"...Okay then?"

MK turned to go down the stairs, to get the other three members of this conversation, before pausing, suddenly thinking of something he remembered hearing in one of the stories about the Journey to the West. Turning, he grabbed a paint brush from his desk, dipped it in some white paint, and proceeded to draw a circle around the couch where Wukong sat. Wukong watched him do this in barely contained amusement.

"You will stay here." MK said, just for emphasis, as he finished the circle.

"I heard you the first time, kid." Wukong said, laughter in his voice. MK gave him an 'I'm watching you' look, before finally going down the stairs. Wukong, true to his word, stayed inside the circle.

...When MK came back up the stairs with his friends Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy though, Wukong kinda wished he'd just left after he woke up like he'd planned. Those three just reminded him too much.... of them.

MK, seeing the look on Wukong's face, sighed.

"Okay, let's just get this over with, because I doubt there's any way to do this gently." He said, "Monkey King, these three are Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy, and they are also the ones who were with you on the Journey to the West. And before you ask, yes, they do remember you."

Wukong's mind stopped as those words registered in his brain.

The Monkey King went a whole minute without speaking, during which Tang shifted from foot to foot nervously, Pigsy pointedly didn't look him in the eyes, Sandy patiently continued to pet his cat, and MK just looked entirely done with the whole situation.

"Uh, MK?" Tang eventually said, "I think you might've broken him."

That one sentence was enough to break Wukong's stupor.

".....Is it really them?" He asked, sounding like he was on the verge of breaking down into tears. Pigsy gave a gruff sigh, but didn't respond, so MK rolled his eyes, and casually shoved Pigsy next to the couch.

"....Yes, it's us you dumb monkey." Pigsy said, and that was all it took for Wukong to break down crying jumping off the couch and tackle hugging Pigsy to the ground, tail swinging. Tang immediately went to Pigsy's rescue, trying to pry Wukong off of him before Wukong could accidentally suffocate him, but ended up also getting dragged into the hug by the monkey. Sandy didn't hesitate to join the hug himself, squeezing the other three as tight as possible, before setting them down gently onto the couch. MK figured he'd better leave the four of them alone for a moment, and went into the kitchen to make them some tea.

"Where have you guys been?" Wukong finally asked, laying on top of Pigsy and Tang's laps, his tail curled around Sandy's arm. "I thought you all were dead."

"So we've heard." Pigsy mumbled, before speaking louder. "Truthfully, Wukong, we did try to interact with you these past 300 years, but we just never could seem to find you. So we stopped trying."

"Why?" Wukong asked.

"We kinda... thought you might be upset with us?" Tang said, "We figured you were avoiding us on purpose, and that you'd come and interact with us again once you'd calmed down a bit."

"Why wouldn't you try harder to find me, to ask what was wrong?"

"Would you want to deal with you while you're mad?" Pigsy asked.

"....Touché." Wukong said, and there was a moment of silence between the four of them, in which Sandy's cat crawled unto Wukong's chest, and Wukong started petting it.

"..You know." He said, "I'm really glad you guys are alive. Being alone... wasn't really all that fun."

"We're glad you're doing okay too, you damn monkey." Pigsy said.

It was at this point that MK came out of the kitchen, carrying a tray with five cups of peach tea, and a plate of peach slices.

"You guys done with the emotional experience?" He asked, setting the tray down on the coffee table. "Because I've got a ton of peaches that aren't going to eat themselves."

"Ooh! Don't mind if I do!" Wukong said, quickly picking up the plate of peach slices to hoard them all to himself, which got him a light smack on the head from Pigsy, telling him to share his food, or he'd get out the rake.

Wukong just laughed in response.

He didn't care.

He had his family back.

[outerbankswriting]

Could it be? Chapter 3 (JJ x Reader)

JJ x Reader

CH.1 - CH.2

Description: She has a crush on JJ, but he has always seen her as another one of the “dudes”, or  at least that’s what she thinks so she just doesn’t even try anymore, until things start to shift between the two of them. (A/N: I’M NOT GOOD AT DESCRIPTIONS BUT THESE IS JUST WHAT I WOULD LOVE TO HAPPEN IN OUTER BANKS WITH JJ)

CHAPTER 3

The sound of the birds chirping outside your window woke you up. A classic sound that never failed to make you fall more in love with your mornings.

As you opened your eyes, you saw a pair of of tanned and strong arms wrapped around you, which belonged to the boy with the golden hair you loved so much. He was peacefully asleep, his chest slowly rising up and down while his eyelashes fluttered every now and then. You carefully examined his face and felt a wave of anger fill you up as you stared at the cuts and bruises all over his cheeks.

The bruise on his left eye was turning purple and you don’t know what instinct got into you that made you softly trace your fingers across his face, careful to not hurt him or wake him up, but you failed at it.

His eyes slowly opened up and yours widened up, and you felt yourself starting to blush.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to wake you up,” you covered your mouth, “did I hurt you?”

He smiled lazily and to your surprise, pulled you even closer to him.

“Not really,” his voice was raspy and he closed his eyes again, “it actually feels nice, can you keep doing it?”

You bit your lip to contain the smile that wanted to get out and instead poked his side, making his eyes snap wide open.

“Hey! What was that for?!”

“Get your lazy ass up.”

As much as you wanted to stay in bed with JJ, the two of you were supposed to meet with the Pogues in less than an hour for breakfast and you knew they would get suspicious if neither of you showed up. Even though, no one knew about your feelings for JJ and probably would never even imagine the two of you being something.

“I can skip breakfast,” he groaned, “your bed is too comfy, I want to stay here.”

“No you won’t skip breakfast.”

You got out of bed, pulled your hair into a quick ponytail and headed into your bathroom to brush your teeth and wash your face. JJ was still laying down in bed with his eyes closed and you took the time to admire the sight in front of you. The sunlight making his blonde hair look golden and him looking angelic even with his face all bruised up.

“Come on JJ, get up!”

He groaned again but finally got out of bed after you threatened to poke his sides again. He went to the bathroom to get ready while you were deciding on which swimsuit to wear.

“Why do you have so many lotions here?” He said while brushing his teeth and clearly making a mess all over your sink.

“They’re not only lotions,” you grabbed the expensive cream he was holding and placed it back on the counter, “they’re also creams, toners and liquid soaps all part of my skincare routine.”

“Do you even need all of this?” He dried his face with your pink towel, making you giggle.

“Of course I do,” you grabbed the tiny cream container and tapped some eye cream on your under-eyes, “I’m practically out in the sun all day, I need to take care of my skin alright?”

“I just put sunscreen on and call it a day.” He curiously stared at you as you finished prepping your face.

“At least you put sunscreen on.”

“What happens if you don’t wear all that?” He was still staring at you, the crease between his eyebrows showing up.

“I would get wrinkles pretty fast and the sun could damage my skin a lot,” you put some lip balm on and felt JJ’s eyes staring at your lips, “my face would be an ugly mess.”

“I doubt you could ever look ugly.” He said carelessly and you felt your cheeks turn red.

JJ was never one to compliment your looks directly to you and if he ever did, it would be as a compliment from a nice friend but nothing more.

“Right,” you cleared your throat, “well talking about skincare, how are your bruises doing?”

He sat on your bed as if he were a child waiting for his mother to sit down next to him to check on him while you went to grab your soothing cream.

“They’re alright, I don’t even feel them.”

“Well show me.”

He slowly took his shirt off and you could tell he was still in pain, especially from the bruises on his stomach near his ribcage. The bruises were a deeper red and purple than last night, looking way worse.

“Oh JJ,” you shook your head and were careful to not hurt him as you rubbed the soothing cream over the bruises, “they look so bad.”

“They’re okay, nothing I can’t handle.”

“You know the others are going to ask about this right? It’s going to be impossible to hide them.”

“I’ll just tell them I ran into some Kooks.”

He put his shirt back on after you were done with the soothing cream and raised an eyebrow at you as you were still standing in front of him, looking at him with a worried look on your face.

“Y/N I’m alright, let’s go.”

He stood up from sitting on the bed and stopped right in front of you since you weren’t moving. You noticed how tall he was next to you and cleared your throat after also noticing how close you were again.

“You can’t go back home.” You looked straight into his eyes which went softer.

“Maybe not tonight but eventually I’ll have to,” he placed his hand comfortably on your shoulder, “he is my father and I can’t stay with John B forever.”

“Then stay with me.”

You were quick to say that. You were scared his father would hit him again, you didn’t want him to go back and be unsafe at a place that wasn’t supposed to feel that way.

“Y/N you kn-“

“At least for this week,” you grabbed his hand, “while my parents are away, come on.”

He paused and hesitated for a minute, not breaking eye contact with you.

“Alright then.”

Once he agreed you couldn’t help the smile taking over your face which made JJ smile back at you. He was secretly way too excited to stay with you for a whole week.

You hugged him, careful to not hurt his bruises but he pulled you closer, tightening the hug without caring about the pain coming from his bruised abdomen.

“Well I’ll go get changed.”

You broke the hug and went inside the bathroom to change into a dark blue bikini and some light denim shorts since you were spending the day at the beach with your friends.

Once the two of you were ready, you headed to the beach to meet your friends and while you were walking you argued whether to tell them about JJ staying with you or coming up with a lie.

“I think they’ll eventually find out.” You desperately ran your fingers through your hair.

“It’s only for a week,” JJ grabbed a beer from your beach bag ignoring the slap you gave him on the hand for wanting alcohol so early in the morning, “we can cover it up.”

“Why should we lie about you staying with me? It just makes the whole thing look suspicious when it isn’t.”

“Because if I had to stay somewhere it would be with John B since you know,” he paused and bit his lip awkwardly, “it’s not like I sleep at girls’ houses if I’m not banging them.”

“Excuse me, what are you trying to say?” You felt insulted for some reason.

“That they would assume we are sleeping together and you know about the no Pogue on Pogue mack-“

“Why would they assume that?!” You playfully punched him on the shoulder, “We’re friends JJ, no one’s going to think that.”

“I’m just saying that’s what I’m assuming they would think.” He jokingly raised his arms as if he were a victim.

“No they wouldn’t.”

“Why are you so closed off at the idea of them thinking that we’re banging?”

“First of all, stop saying banging and uh I don’t know it’s just crazy JJ, they would never believe it.”

“So you wouldn’t do it?”

“What are you talking about?” Your voice trembled and you cursed yourself for it.

“You wouldn’t sleep with me?”

His words almost made you choke and stop walking. Your heart was beating faster than ever and you tried your best to not let the nerves get the best of you and the fact that JJ was eagerly waiting for you to respond just made you even more nervous.

“JJ what even are y-“

“I’m just messing with you Y/N,” he chuckled as you were stuttering with your words, “I think we both know it could never happen, you know.. it’s a crazy thing as you said.”

“Okay that hurt.” You thought.

“Right,” you cleared your throat and faked a laugh, “it’s crazy.”

“I just don’t want them to know about my dad you know?” He gulped down his beer, “So I think it’s best if they just think I’m still staying at home.”

“Alright then, it’ll be our secret.”

He smiled at you and wrapped an arm around your shoulder pulling you closer to him.

“It was about time you showed up!” Kie waved at the two of you while Pope finished drinking an orange juice.

“Literally cannot believe you’re drinking beer so early in the morning.” Pope pointed at JJ’s finished beer.

“Tried to stop him but he’s stubborn.” You said as you sat down next to Kie.

“Oh look the queen of stubbornness is calling me stubborn,” JJ mocked you, “I just had to start the party earlier.”

“Right, at 11 in the morning.” Kie rolled her eyes at him.

“Was the tourist girl you slept with last night into BDSM or why is your face all bruised man?” John B raised an eyebrow at JJ, knowing he had clearly gotten into a fight.

You grabbed an orange juice from Sarah’s bag and tried your best to avoid eye contact with JJ and faked your best “what’s going on?” look.

“Unfortunately I ran into some Kooks and wasn’t even able to bang any girl,” JJ smiled and you felt sick to the stomach realising how good of a liar he was and wondering if he had lied to you before about his fights with the Kooks when it had probably been his father, “but I handled them like a champion.”

“Please tell me it wasn’t my stupid brother.” Sarah sighed.

“I won’t deny anything.” JJ shrugged and Sarah grunted.

“You know ever since you broke up with him, he’s been getting into more fights with us.” Pope shook his head at you.

“It’s not her fault man.” JJ was quick to snap at Pope.

“It’s because he’s still in love with you,” Sarah said to you as she finished her sandwich, “and he can’t stand the fact that you’d rather hang with Pogues.”

“Well I can imagine,” Kie added, “both his sister and his ex-girlfriend being part of this group, which not only consists of Pogues but also Pogues who hate him.”

“Talking about annoying Kooks,” John B joined the conversation again, “I’m afraid they’re coming to the beach party tonight.”

“For hating the Pogues they sure love the parties we throw.” Pope shook his head.

After finishing your breakfast and preparing everything for tonight’s party at the beach, all of you decided to head to your own places to get ready for the party.

“Are we getting ready together Y/N?” Kie asked as she helped you clean the mess everyone had made on the beach.

“Um I don’t know Kie,” you tried to catch JJ’s attention to know if he was heading to your place but he was too busy trying to jump into Pope’s back, “I have to organise some stuff at home.”

“Well if you change your mind you can go to my place, my dad made some delicious lasagna.” She winked at you and made her way home.

You walked towards JJ and Pope to try and figure out JJ’s plan for the night.

“So,” you smiled at your friends, “are y’all hanging out before the party?”

JJ was quick to realise what you were trying to find out.

“Yeah I’m heading over to Pope’s.”

“Wanna come?” Pope asked you.

“No thanks, I have some stuff to do at home before the party.” You smiled at your friend’s offer and he nodded.

“Hey Y/N,” JJ grabbed your arm and pulled you further from Pope so he couldn’t hear, “before heading to the party I’ll quickly go to your place to drop my bag with all my clothes and stuff for the week okay?”

You nodded at him and waved goodbye to your friends.

You took a shower as soon as you got home and decided to clean up your room, not because of JJ or anything right? 

You played some music as you did your makeup and waited for JJ to let you know he was outside so you could let him in and the two of you could make your way to the party, but time went by and he still hadn’t shown up.

Kiara texted you telling you to get earlier to the beach so you could help her organise the recycling bins to accumulate the plastic the party would leave so you figured JJ wouldn’t come any time soon and decided to just leave to the party on your own.

As you were closing the front door of your house, you heard someone moving behind you and figured it would be JJ, but as soon as you turned around, you were met with the one person you wanted to see the least.

Rafe Cameron.

---------

CH.4

A/N: this one was a pretty long one! sorry for any grammar mistakes, I’ll make sure to fix them tomorrow. thank u so much for everyone letting me know you’re liking the story so far! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! sending love.

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taglist: @babygirlizz​ - @atabigail - @poguesrforlife​ - @behappyitsemmalie​ - @jane-dough - @yeeedolan - @dontjinx-it - @sofiaconlaz - @fangirlwithme​ 

[nastyburger]

yall ready for some danny b lore?

first of all, yes, jazz in danny b’s universe has black hair! maddie and jack on the other hand are otherwise the same. jasmine also goes by “jazzy” here instead, canon jazz kinda hates it when DB calls her this out of habit (he apologizes)

moving on, danny in this universe actually has a sort of strained relationship with his family, even beyond the usual secret identity shenanigans. having a fire core and exhaling smoke as his ghost sense led to a lot more problems than a simple puff of frozen air. smoke is harder to hide and explain, not to mention DB’s sense is actually more sensitive than canon danny’s, he even releases more smoke in relation to how strong the ghost he detects is.

a LOT of misunderstanding comes from this ability. teachers, his parents, and other adults frequently caught 14 year old danny with smoke coming out of his mouth and took every action they could to stop that kid. his parents begged him to show them where on earth he was hiding his cigarettes, where and how did he get them, and just everything else under the god damn sun to open up about this nonexistent smoking problem that he doesnt have. but danny couldnt possibly explain why smoke would be coming out of his mouth without revealing his ghost half. in the beginning, he denied the accusations very strongly, but after so long he eventually accepts the narrative since he really couldnt come up with any other explanation.

the fentons decide to send danny to rehab after he “admits” to smoking after outpatient programs didnt seem to work (even jazzy supported it since it was before she learned his secret). he spends about 6 months in rehab, mostly because the staff kept thinking danny was somehow still sneaking in cigarettes (they ban sam and tucker from visiting after the first few weeks). he is finally let out after three months of both suppressing his sense and sam and tucker working overtime to make sure the rehab center was ghost free during the day. with no smoke and no withdrawal symptoms after a period of time, the doctors deem him recovered.

While in rehab, danny was easily able to sneak out at night as phantom. he still fought ghosts (both for his own smoke sense sake and for the general safety of the town) and built up his image as a town hero. fenton on the other hand became more distant than ever after he was finally let out. interacting with his parents was tense as both human and ghost, his peers regard him as an addict, and even jazzy watched over him with distrust instead of the usual helicopter concern. danny started to avoid everyone like the plague for a very very long time.

because of this newfound divide, jazzy actually discovers danny’s secret sometime when he’s 18 (it was during his high school graduation and jazzy was visiting from college to see it). much like canon, she waits for danny to tell her himself and pretends she doesnt know about it otherwise, but this time around it takes danny a whole 5 years to come clean about it. he’s gotten so used to being distant from his family, even with jazzy suddenly trying so hard to reconcile with him, its tough to break those avoidance habits. the siblings take their time reconnecting after this. soon, jazzy becomes the closest family member danny has.

over the years, danny has successfully learned how to completely suppress his ghost sense, feeling it as a hum in his core at best and a light cough in his throat at worst. he does carry around cigarettes now that hes legal age, but never lights them. its just a good excuse for him to let the smoke out, especially when no one questions the ever present beat up box that seems to never get replaced.

danny b is not on speaking terms with his parents anymore, especially not with this “smoking habit” he has apparently kept well into adulthood. he doesnt hold it against them, quite the opposite really, but he’s made peace with keeping his distance and feeling no need to tell them about his ghost half. in a way, he believes theyre just safer this way.

danny spent a good portion of his early life using phantom as an escape, but now in his 30s, he’s starting to grow tired. hes only 32, not as burnt out like movie peter b (who is 38), but eighteen years of ghost hunting will still wear you down. danny has sort of exhausted the thrill of it at this point, and actually finds more enjoyment out of his human half for the first time in his life. even if others assume he’s already sick of his job (with how laid back and lazy he is about it), danny really does take pride in teaching his students. mr lancer left a really lasting impression on him as a kid.

in a way, danny’s kinda finally getting his human life on track. his ghost after life, however, is starting to become lost.