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scary-grace · 8 days ago

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if my heart was a house (chapter 4) - a shigaraki x f!reader fic

It's been nineteen years since Tomura was sentenced to death, and you've built a life in the space he left behind, braced each day for the worst. You're prepared for everything - the questions your daughter asks, the memories that sting a little more in the winter, the specter of the news you've been afraid of for years. But of all the things life's thrown your way, it's the one you haven't dared to hope for might be the one thing you can't handle. (cross-posted to Ao3) The prequel can be found here: what I can't remember now Written for @pixelcafe-network's Challenge Friday event! Banner/divider by @cafekitsune

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 4

The text tone startles you awake a good fifteen minutes before your alarm is supposed to go off, just like it’s been doing for the last week. You only have text tones set for two people, and one of them is fast asleep in her bedroom right now. You open Tomura’s text, your hands shaking and read two words: good morning

Tomura never used to text good morning. Tomura was pretty inconsistent at texting in general. But Midoriya got him a phone, just like he promised you, and ever since, Tomura’s texted you good morning every day. You haven’t gotten used to it. Your heart skips a beat every time you wake up and find a message from him waiting for you.

good morning, you text back. did they wake you up for rounds?

He’s still in the hospital. They keep saying he’ll get released soon, but every time they do, something else crops up that they have to fix before he can come home. Your phone pings in your hands as Tomura responds. every damn day. better than getting a flashlight in my face to make sure I didn’t die overnight.

Your heart clenches tight and twists in a way that’s not good for you this early in the morning. Another text from Tomura pings to life on your screen. did I wake you up

my alarm was about to go off anyway. You hesitate for a moment before sending the next message. not to be weird but I’d rather wake up early than miss out on talking to you.

Your phone starts ringing. You silence it in a hurry, then lift it to your ear. “Hello?”

“It’s not weird.” Tomura’s voice is raspy and exhausted. “If you think I don’t want to talk to you all the time, you’re out of your mind.”

You find yourself curling in, pressing your phone hard against your ear so you don’t miss even the sound of his breathing. “I missed you.”

“Missed you more.” There’s a slight catch in Tomura’s voice. “When can I see you? Why haven’t you come to see me yet?”

They’re fair questions. Questions you don’t blame Tomura for asking. Questions he probably wouldn’t need to ask if he knew about Chihiro – who you can’t tell him about unless you’re face to face. “I was going to wait until you were out of the hospital. I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”

“Fuck that. I need to see you.” There’s a sharp edge in Tomura’s voice at first, but it dulls almost instantly. “Do you even want to?”

“Of course I do.” The need to see him is overpowering. You remind yourself that you can’t just drop everything and drive to Tokyo out of nowhere at least a few times a day. “I really want to, Tomura. I just have to get stuff settled a bit. And it’s a long trip. I don’t want to have to leave again as soon as I get to you.”

That’s not the only reason. You wish it was, but it isn’t. You’ve been holding off on visiting him because you don’t know how to tell him about Chihiro. And because Chihiro can’t decide if she wants to come, too.

You don’t think it’s a good idea. You don’t thinking breaking the news that Tomura’s got a daughter while his daughter is in the room is a winning strategy, especially since you and Tomura never talked about having kids. Seeing his initial reaction could be bad for Chihiro. Bad for Tomura, too. And part of it is selfish, plain and simple. It’s been so long. You want to see him alone. You want one moment where it’s just the two of you, like it was before, before you tell him something that will change everything for good.

“I want you to stay,” Tomura says. “You might not want to. Once you see what I look like now.”

Spinner’s seen him. You asked Spinner for details over FaceTime a few nights ago, and you saw the stricken look that flashed across his face. He’s been through hell and he looks it. It’s still him, but it’s – bad. “I mean, you’ve always been too pretty to handle.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Tomura used to blush when you said that to him. You wonder if he’s blushing now. “Just come see me. Soon.”

“I will.” Your alarm goes off in your ear and scares the hell out of you, at the same moment as Chihiro knocks on your bedroom door. “I’m sorry. I have to go. I’ll text – and maybe we can talk later if you’re up for it –”

“I’ll be up for it.” Tomura’s voice softens in a way that makes your eyes sting. “I love you.”

He only says it over the phone, never by text. You’re tired of angsting over whether to say it back. “I love you, too,” you say. You hang up the phone, hit snooze on your alarm, and sit up in bed. “Chihiro, are you still there?”

“Yeah.” Chihiro pushes open the door, crosses the room in quick steps, and sprawls out on your bed. “Was that him?”

You nod. “They wake him up early for rounds. Usually we just text.”

“Is he getting better?”

“I think so,” you say. “He keeps asking when I’ll visit.”

Chihiro nods. She turns her head and buries her face in the pillows, speaking facedown just like Tomura used to. “I think you should go see him first. Alone.”

“Really?” You try and fail to hide your shock. “I thought – you didn’t want me to hide stuff anymore –”

“I think you should see him first,” Chihiro says again. Her voice wavers slightly. “I don’t want to be there when you tell him about me. In case –”

She takes a deep breath, lets it go. “In case he doesn’t want me.”

“If he doesn’t want you, he doesn’t want us,” you say. She turns to look at you, her red eyes bright with tears. “I’m serious. You’re the most important person in the world to me, since the day I found out about you. We’re a package deal.”

“But you love him,” Chihiro says. “I heard you say it. I don’t want you to lose him because of me.”

“That’s not what it would be,” you say. You reach out for her, praying she won’t shrug you off, and when she doesn’t, you pull her close. “It’s my decision. My choice to put you first. Chihiro, I – I lived without him for nineteen years. I can do it again.” “I don’t want you to,” Chihiro says. She blinks, and tears flow down her face. “I want everything to be okay. And if it isn’t – because of me – I don’t want to be there to see it.”

“Okay,” you say. You’ve been walking around with a lump in your throat since you got the first phone call from Tomura. Now it’s a little bigger. “I’ll find a time to go see him.”

“This weekend. Satomi’s family is going skiing, and they said me and Kaori could come too.” Chihiro pulls down the sleeve of her pajama shirt and roughly wipes her eyes. “I won’t be home alone and you won’t have to worry about me.”

“I’ll be worried that you’ll break your leg skiing.”

Chihiro snorts. “Maybe I should. Me and him can meet when we share a hospital room.”

“That’s one way to get to know each other,” you say, and she laughs. Her laughter and Tomura’s are your favorite sounds in the world. “You can change your mind any time this week. I won’t let him know I’m coming until the day of.”

“I’m not gonna change my mind.” Chihiro huddles a little closer to you, and you hold her tight. “I just want to know what happens next.”

“Yeah,” you agree. You kiss her forehead. “Me too.”

“Do you have everything?”

“All my stuff,” Chihiro says. She’s death-gripping the strap of her backpack, and her knuckles are white on the handle of her suitcase. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to go?”

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to go?” you counter. “It’s okay to change your mind.”

“I’m not changing my mind,” Chihiro says. “You need to go see him.”

“I know.” There’s been an anxious knot in the pit of your stomach since your alarm went off this morning, since you responded to Tomura’s good morning text with a heart and nothing else. “I’m going to. I just have to pack.”

“You’re bringing him his games,” Chihiro says, “and the quilt you made. And his clothes?”

“I’m holding off on those. Spinner said he lost a lot of weight.” Your chest tightens at the thought of seeing him again, seeing him soon, seeing him to day. Seeing what nineteen years on death row really did to him. “Thanks for helping me finish the quilt. Now it’s from both of us.”

She doesn’t help you with quilting a lot. This time she offered, and the two of you spent an afternoon together pinning the quilt top to the backing and batting so you could finish it off on your machine. It was nice to spend time together. To talk about Tomura and not talk about him, without the tension that’s been heavy in the air since she found out he was still alive. Chihiro checks her phone. “Satomi is on her way. Kaori had better get here soon. Unless her mom freaked out and said she couldn’t go.”

“I think that’s them.” You can see puffs of snow coming up along the road. Kaori’s mom is kind of a crazy driver. “Okay. I’m guessing you probably don’t want to hug and kiss goodbye in front of everyone – or at all –”

“I want to say goodbye,” Chihiro says. She hugs you tight, like always, and your eyes burn. “Mom, I just – it’s going to be okay, right?”

“No matter what,” you promise. At least for her.

Kaori’s mom skids into the parking lot, spraying you and Chihiro with snow as she careens past to a parking space. You kiss Chihiro’s forehead, then draw back as Kaori and her mom join the two of you. “Hey. How’s it going?”

“Fine,” Kaori says. She glances back at her mom. “I’m not going away forever. Stop crying.”

“I’m not crying,” Rika insists. “The wind is in my eyes!”

“It’s not even that windy!” Kaori rolls her eyes. “Come on, Chihiro. Let’s wait over there. If we pretend we’re leaving now, she can’t embarrass me anymore.”

Chihiro lets Kaori pull her away, glancing once over her shoulder at you. “Go have fun,” you say. “I love you.”

It doesn’t matter if she says it back. The important thing is that she knows. But you’re not going to pretend it isn’t an enormous relief to hear her say she loves you, too.

Satomi’s parents pull up in a ridiculously fancy car, and they aren’t driving themselves. Their driver is the one who hops out to help Kaori and Chihiro load their bags, and Satomi’s mom rolls down the back window to talk to you and Rika specifically. “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of them! And take lots of pictures to send!”

“Thank you,” you say. Rika is choking up again. She just nods. “Have a really good trip.”

The Noda family’s driver is a much better driver than you or Rika. Their luxury car doesn’t kick up even a hint of snow or ice as they pull out onto the road. You watch them go, your throat tightening the way it does any time you say goodbye to Chihiro for longer than a school day. You know she’s coming back. You know your house is still her home, and probably will be for a while. And at the same time, you know there will come a day when she leaves and doesn’t come back. A day when home is somewhere else, and you’ll have to find a way to be at home with yourself again, alone. Maybe.

Rika is thinking along the same lines, but she’s a lot less calm about it. “They’re leaving us,” she almost wails. “They’re never going to come back. We’re going to be old and alone forever.”

“No we aren’t,” you say firmly. “They’re going on a weekend trip and they’ll be back soon. Don’t you have a whole wild weekend planned?”

“I’m going to be worried the whole time,” Rika says. She glances sideways at you, then gives you a suspicious look. “Why are you so calm about this?”

“I’m crying on the inside.”

“No you aren’t,” she says. “Why?”

You and Rika have gotten coffee once before, because Chihiro made you. You’re not close enough friends for you to even start to explain this. “I don’t want her to worry about leaving me at home,” you say. “I need her to know that I’ll be fine. And I’ve got some stuff to do this weekend.”

“Staying busy. I like that.” Rika sighs. “I was going to invite you out for girls’ night.”

“That’s really nice of you,” you say, “but I can’t. I’m driving down to Tokyo.”

“Driving?” The look Rika’s giving you makes sense. It’s a thirteen-hour trip by car. “Why?”

You turn up the collar of your coat against the wind, squaring your shoulders as you turn back to your car. “I’m meeting an old friend.”

Once you’re home, there’s not much left to do. You already have Tomura’s things packed. You pack an overnight bag for yourself, along with a change of clothes, then hit the road, your nerves humming worse with every kilometer that passes.

You remember the last time you made this drive. You were four months pregnant with Chihiro, barely able to see the road through your tears, everything you owned jammed into the back of this same car. It felt like the only thing you could do, and it still feels like the worst thing you’ve ever done. Running from your friends, from your past, from your memories. This is when you decided, right? That you would never tell your baby – your son or your daughter, because you didn’t know yet – what happened to their father. It was impossible for you to live with. You weren’t going to put that on your child.

Now you’re going the opposite way, and everything is different. You haven’t gotten used to it, and now you’re out of time, even though the drive is a long one, even though you left bright and early and don’t get there until night is already falling. You park in the hospital parking lot and rest your head against the steering wheel, struggling to breathe. Your phone buzzes. Chihiro, asking if you’re there yet. You tell her yes, tell her you love her. She asked you to come here and tell Tomura the truth, and you promised you would, which means you need to get your shit together. You force yourself to suck down a few breaths, mimicking the pattern your midwife taught you while you were in labor, then get out of the car.

Tomura started out in the hospital nearest to the prison, but then they transferred him to the University of Tokyo Hospital for better care. The receptionist makes you confirm your ID before she’ll give you Tomura’s room number, and once she’s given it to you, she asks if she should call up and let him know you’re coming. You shake your head. This needs to be on your terms.

It feels like the longest walk of your life – first to the elevator, then along the Internal Medicine ward, looking for Room 517. For some reason, you thought it would be quiet, but instead it’s loud, the air full of the sound of machines, announcements, nurses talking, patients’ families chattering in their rooms. Most of the doors are open. Room 517 is closed. You touch the door, wondering if you should knock, and it swings open at the slightest pressure of your fingers.

The first thing you register is how bright Tomura’s room is – not just the light, but the decorations, too. You can tell who’s been here by what they brought. A stack of books, some of which are clearly from Twice; Twice is the only one who’d think to bring comic books. There’s a Switch balanced on Tomura’s nightstand, and games, probably from Spinner. There’s his phone, charging on a fancy charging pad, courtesy of Midoriya. Toga brought Tomura flowers. It takes you a second to find Dabi’s gift, but once you do, you find yourself struggling not to laugh. It’s a voodoo doll, in the shape of Tomura’s adoptive dad, and it looks like it’s been attacked by a porcupine.

The room looks lived-in. Tomura’s been here for a while. But he’s not in the bed like you thought he’d be. Instead he’s sitting on the edge of it, bare feet flat on the floor, his head in his hands.

His hair is so long, but even with it shrouding his shoulders and back, you can tell how thin he is. You’ve never seen him sit that way, his shoulders hunched in a way that looks agonizing, and even in the courtroom when the verdict was handed down, he never looked this defeated. Before you can think better of it, you’re in motion towards him.

Tomura looks up. His face is hollow, his red eyes enormous and shadowed. They widen when he sees you, and he rockets to his feet, stumbling towards you. Everything you’re carrying falls from your hands, your fingers going nerveless and shaky – and that turns out to be a good thing, because Tomura loses his balance two steps away from you. Or maybe he’s falling into your arms. It doesn’t matter what it is, or why. He’s here. He’s alive. He’s free.

Tomura slumps against you, holding on painfully tight. You’d hug him back the same way, but he’s so thin, almost brittle. It’s an effort to keep your grip loose as your hands roam across his shoulders, his back, finding their way to the places you always used to hold. It’s muscle memory to cover the back of his neck, to splay your fingers at the small of his back. This is how it was before. Everything is different, but holding him still feels the same.

Tomura’s face is buried in the side of your neck, his breath huffing out unsteadily against your skin. “You still smell like you.”

“You smell like the hospital,” you say without thinking, and Tomura scoffs. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you get up –”

“I’ve been waiting. I don’t want to wait anymore. Tomura claws at your back with shaking hands, keeping you close even though you’ve got no intention of pulling away. “You didn’t say you were coming today.”

A stab of guilt drives through you. “It was a really busy morning. And a long drive. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t. You’re here.” Tomura’s response is fast and sure. “Fuck, I missed you so much –”

“I missed you too.” Four words doesn’t feel like enough to describe how it’s felt since they dragged him away from you in the courtroom. You don’t think there are enough words anywhere in the world for that, and your eyes are starting to burn. If you start crying, you won’t be able to hide it holding Tomura like this. “Let’s get you back to bed.”

“You’re coming too. And don’t say it’s too small. We used to sleep in a twin.”

“And then we got a bigger bed.”

“I liked the small one better.” Tomura sags against you. “Come on. Please.”

You help Tomura back to the bed, then go to pick up everything you dropped on the floor. Once you’ve set it down next to his bed, you’re back in range, and he pulls you awkwardly onto the bed with him. It’s a tight fit, a lot tighter than the bed in your old apartment, but the way Tomura maneuvers you to get you into the perfect position for him to sleep on is exactly the same. You remember how surprised you were the first time he climbed all over you. How quickly it became your favorite part of falling asleep at night.

“Spinner said you were in Hokkaido,” Tomura says, once he’s gotten mostly settled. “Why’d you go that far?”

“It was quiet,” you say. “Things were hard here, afterward. I thought it would be easier there.”

“Toga thought you’d died or something. Tomura’s grip on you tightens. “You stopped talking to everybody. Nobody heard from you again until the verdict. Why?”

“It’s –” You wonder if Spinner or Midoriya put him onto this, set him up to ask the questions that would lead to this answer. “I needed space. For a lot of reasons. A lot of things changed.”

“Spinner said you weren’t married,” Tomura says, and you nod. “He said you aren’t seeing anyone.”

“You and me never broke up,” you say, and Tomura scoffs again. You can feel tension building in his shoulders. “I was never seeing anybody. I never wanted to.”

Tomura takes a deep breath that rattles and rasps. “Then why weren’t you here already?”

Maybe it’s better this way. You can rip the band-aid off, see how he reacts, figure it out from there. And if it’s a disaster, if everything goes wrong, you still had these few minutes. A little piece of time where you and Tomura belonged to each other again. You’ve lived on less for nineteen years. Maybe it’ll be enough.

There’s no good way to say it. “I found out I was pregnant two weeks after your sentencing.”

Tomura freezes in your arms, but only for a second. Then his grip tightens almost convulsively, tight enough to make your ribcage creak. “You kept it.”

“Yes.”

“What – is it?” Tomura stumbles on the phrasing, his voice shaky in a way that makes you sick to your stomach. “What kind?”

“A girl,” you say. “Her name is Chihiro. She’s eighteen.”

“Eighteen,” Tomura repeats. He’s not pulling away from you, but that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he’s steeling himself to draw back and tell you to get lost. “Why isn’t she here?”

You’ve spent the last month spinning off in a hundred different directions, catching on a thousand different responses Tomura could have to the news that he has a daughter. All of them were terrible, and none of them were what he just said. “What?”

“Why isn’t she here?” Tomura repeats, and while you’re struggling to find your footing, he’s gotten way ahead of you. “You didn’t come down here right away because you couldn’t leave her. Does anybody else know? Midoriya – Spinner – how fucking many –”

He breaks off, incoherent with some emotion you don’t recognize. “How many people knew about my kid before me?”

“Just Midoriya and Spinner,” you say. “I was on a conference call with them the night your verdict came back, and they heard her call me Mom in the background. And then –”

There’s nothing funny about this situation, but you’re still struck by a miserable urge to laugh. “Spinner accused me of marrying somebody else and forgetting about you, so Chihiro took my phone and switched it to a video call. He was so shocked he dropped his phone.”

“Why?” Tomura’s voice is hoarse. “Tell me.”

“She, um – she looks like you. A lot like you.” You remember looking down into her face after the doctors handed her to you, seeing those red eyes blink open for the first time. “Anyone who knows you and sees her –”

“Do you have a picture?”

“Yeah.” You swallow hard as you fumble your phone out of your pocket. “Here.”

It’s a good picture of her, one of thousands you’ve got saved on your phone. In your opinion, she’s never taken a bad photo in her life, and this one is from her birthday last year, as she smiles over a messily frosted cake studded with eighteen candles. Her smile is lopsided, like Tomura’s is. Her red eyes are crinkled at the corners, and you remember how your heart twisted as you snapped the picture, how you wished Tomura could see her, too. That he could meet her. That all three of you could celebrate together, like a family’s supposed to. Chihiro takes after Tomura, but you see your own shadow in her features. If someone saw the three of you, they’d know you belong together.

Tomura’s breathing hitches as he studies the photo. He reaches out left-handed to zoom in and it’s your turn to stop breathing for a second – the index and middle fingers on his hand are gone. “Tomura –”

“She looks happy,” Tomura says quietly. “Why isn’t she here?”

You don’t know what to say, and half your mind is still stuck on what happened to Tomura’s hand – and just like before, he gets ahead of you. “She doesn’t want to meet me.”

“That’s not true.”

“I get it. Why would she? I’m a convicted murderer –”

“You aren’t a murderer! You were never a murderer.” You can feel your temper starting to rise, even though you aren’t angry at Tomura – just this situation, everything that happened to put you both here. You didn’t realize just how angry you were until now. “She wants to meet you, Tomura. She wanted me to tell you first, because she’s worried you don’t want to meet her.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to meet her?” Tomura asks. “She’s my kid.”

You were prepared for your heart to break today. You weren’t expecting it to break like this. “You and me never talked about kids. We barely even talked about getting married. She asked if she was planned and I didn’t want to lie –”

“So what if we didn’t plan her? That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t have – you told her I didn’t want her? What is wrong with you?”

“That’s not what I said!” Tears spring to your eyes, and your voice shakes with them, even though you’re the person in this situation with the least to cry about. “I said I didn’t know. I tried to tell you. I wrote you so many letters, and you never wrote back – what was I supposed to think? I didn’t want to get her hopes up if it turned out you didn’t –”

Your voice breaks. Tears slip down your cheeks, and when an impulse you’ve been following for two decades wells up within you, you give in and look away, trying to hide before Tomura realizes that you’re crying. It’s not about you. It’s never been about you since you had Chihiro, so why is this so hard for you to learn? But Tomura won’t let you look away. His hand comes up to the side of your face and turns you back towards him. You can see tear tracks on his face. “I’m sorry,” you whisper. “Tomura, I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” He’s braver than you are. He’s not trying to look away, and in spite of the tear tracks, his eyes are clear. “I love you. Do you love me?”

“I always have,” you say. “Tomura, if you aren’t okay with –”

“Then it’s fine,” Tomura interrupts. “I was in prison for nineteen years. Nothing makes sense anymore except my friends and you. I love you. And I want to meet our kid.”

“She wants to meet you, too,” you say. Tomura manages half a smile. “Can I tell her?”

Tomura nods. You dig up your phone from wherever you dropped it on the bed and open up Chihiro’s contact. Tomura curls himself around you, chin notched over your shoulder even though you should be the one holding him. “Do you have more pictures of her?” he asks. “Are there any of both of you?”

“I can send some to you. Or you can look through my photos and pick.” In the meantime, you’re hesitating over what to say to Chihiro, just like you would have hesitated over what to say to Tomura if he hadn’t cornered you. Finally you just tell the truth. I told your dad. He wants to meet you.

Tomura nods. “Where is she? Did you leave her alone?”

“No, she’s with her friend’s family. They invited her to go skiing. I think she wanted to have something to distract herself with.”

“She shouldn’t distract herself too much. Not if she took after me.” It feels like Tomura’s trying to crawl into your skin, with how hard he’s got his face pressed into your neck. “I’m clumsy as shit.”

“Only when you’re tired. Nobody’s all that dexterous on four hours of sleep.” You find one of Tomura’s hands and lift it to your mouth, loving the way his fingers curl and flex as your lips brush his skin. His fingers. “Tomura, what happened to your hand?”

“It’s fine.”

“The other one,” you say. “Tell me –”

“Tomura?” The voice is unfamiliar, and it’s coming from the door, which you didn’t quite close when you came in. You try to sit up, but Tomura won’t let go of you, and while he doesn’t let you go far, you’re still able to get a look at the newcomer. He’s really tall, with lavender hair trending silver, and he’s covered in dark purple tattoos – on his arms, his neck, on his face around his eyes. “Who’s this?”

“My girlfriend,” Tomura says. “I told you about her.”

The tattooed man’s eyes widen. “I thought you hadn’t heard from her. You asked me to come back again today because she wasn’t answering your texts.”

“I surprised him,” you say. “Sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry. You’re here.” Tomura lets you sit up, but as soon as you do, he’s all over you again. “That’s Kurogiri. He was in the cell next to mine.”

Kurogiri. You look at him, puzzled, and he explains. “My proper name is Shirakumo Oboro. The people I knew while I was in prison call me whichever name they feel comfortable with.”

He rests one hand against the doorframe, tapping his first knuckle against it in a way that strikes you as too precise to be a nervous gesture. He’s giving Tomura a meaningful look as he does it, and Tomura dismisses it with a wave of his hand. “It’s good you’re here. Now you can meet each other.”

Shirakumo keeps tapping away at the doorframe, and suddenly it occurs to you. “Is that Morse code?”

“It’s how we talked in there.” Tomura’s arm wraps tightly around your waist, which is probably a good thing – he’s all over you to the point that you’re in danger of falling off the bed. “Safer than talking out loud.”

“Tomura, we’ve discussed being honest about your experiences,” Shirakumo says. “The people who – love you – should know what really happened.”

Tomura makes a dissatisfied sound. “Fine. We weren’t allowed to talk to each other out loud. We could only talk to the guards if they talked to us first. We had to talk in Morse code so we wouldn’t get punished.”

Your stomach lurches. “You got punished for talking?”

“Not if we were talking in Morse code.” Tomura shrugs. “I practically broke my knuckles telling the guy in the cell next to me to shut up.”

You don’t know what to say. Shirakumo can tell. “Tomura, how much have you told her?”

“There’s more important stuff to talk about,” Tomura says. “I have a kid.”

Shirakumo coughs. “What?” he says blankly, and starts tapping the arm of his chair, only for Tomura to double-tap the bedrail, cutting him off. “Let me finish. I’m not saying –”

“She’s mine,” Tomura snaps. “I’ll show you.”

He grabs for your phone, but it slips through his fingers, and you barely catch it in time. Tomura unlocks it – how does he still know your passcode after all this time? – and pulls up the photo you showed him. “Here. Look.”

Shirakumo reacts the same way to Chihiro’s picture as Spinner did to seeing her on the video call. “I’m sorry,” he says at once. He’s talking to you. “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. It’s just – usually if somebody gets out of prison and finds out their partner had kids, those kids aren’t, uh –”

“Theirs,” you say. Shirakumo nods, vaguely embarrassed. “She’s Tomura’s. I haven’t had sex in nineteen years.”

Shirakumo chokes on thin air, but you weren’t saying it for him. Tomura is grinning into your shoulder. “Nice. Me neither.”

“To be fair, nobody was getting laid in there.” Shirakumo’s voice feels almost artificially bright. “I’m glad I’m here, Tomura. Like we talked about before – it might be easier to explain about what happened with some backup.”

“No.” Tomura’s voice goes flat, and you can imagine his expression closing off. “We don’t need to right now.”

“We’ve talked about this, Tomura. The people who love you want to help you, but they can’t help you if you lie to them.”

“I’m not lying. I’m just not talking.” Tomura sends himself the photo of Chihiro, then picks up his own phone, absorbing himself in it. “You can tell her, if it’s so fucking important.”

“Tomura –”

“You should know,” Tomura says. He glances up at you, and you can see that his red eyes have gone tight with pain at the corners. “He can tell you. His memory’s better than mine.”

Shirakumo’s shoulders are tense, too. “It’s your experience, Tomura. I shouldn’t be the one who tells her.”

“She should know. And I can’t.” Tomura fumbles for the call button and presses it, and a few moments later, a nurse comes in. “I want to sleep now.”

The nurse takes a glance at you and Shirakumo – mainly you, since you’re still sort of on Tomura’s bed. “They can stay,” Tomura says. “They need to talk.”

The nurse shoos you off the bed to get Tomura settled, and as you watch, she sets up an IV drip. It doesn’t go into Tomura’s arm, though – it goes into a tube taped to his chest, one that vanishes beneath his hospital clothes. Your stomach lurches. “Is that a central line?”

Tomura shrugs, his eyelids already fluttering. The nurse tugs down the neckline of his shirt to inspect the site. “I told you not to be so rough on this,” she scolds Tomura gently. “The doctors will take it out soon.”

Tomura mumbles agreement, and the nurse leaves. Once she’s gone, Tomura grabs your hand and yanks you closer. “Stay,” he says. “So I know it wasn’t a dream.”

“It’s not a dream.” You raise his hand to your mouth and kiss his fingers, not pulling away until he’s relaxed into sleep.

You lower his hand to the bed, keeping your fingers laced with his, and turn to look at Shirakumo. Shirakumo still looks a little guilty. “Sorry,” he says again. “I’ve come to care a lot for Shigaraki Tomura. I don’t want to see him get hurt.”

“Why does everyone think I want to hurt him?” You feel your temper yanking on you, and worse, your eyes are starting to burn. “I didn’t leave town to hurt him. I tried to tell him about Chihiro. He’s the one who didn’t read my letters. He didn’t even bother to write back and tell me to leave him alone.”

“He couldn’t,” Shirakumo says. “Once someone is sentenced to death, all contact with the outside world is cut off. I don’t doubt that you wrote him letters, or that you tried to call or visit. The prison wouldn’t allow it. They don’t allow it for anybody on death row.”

He couldn’t write back. Not only could he not write back, he probably didn’t even know you were trying to reach him. You spent so much time hurt, so much time angry, so much time cursing him for leaving things the way he did in the courtroom, for refusing to let you see him or even let you hear his voice. You would have settled for any acknowledgment that he remembered you. All the things you thought to yourself when you didn’t want to live, when Chihiro was the only thing keeping you alive – “Did he know?”

“Not at first.” Shirakumo drags one tattooed hand down his face. “That wasn’t a good day. There were a lot of not-good days.”

Some part of you wants to cover your ears. Some part of you wants to refuse to ask, to demand that Tomura tell you himself. But then you look at him, fast asleep, an IV line attached to a port in his chest. His face is too thin. So is the rest of him. His lips are cracked and his eyes are sunken and two of his fingers are gone, and even if there wasn’t physical evidence of what’s happened to him, you know there’s even more damage you can’t see. You won’t make him relive it just to tell you. But you need to know.

You raise his hand to kiss it again, reminding yourself that he’s here. Alive. Safe. Free. Then you look back to Shirakumo, steeling yourself. “Okay,” you say. “Tell me everything.”

<- Chapter 3

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#shigaraki tomura x reader #tomura shigaraki x reader #shigaraki x reader #shigaraki tomura x you #tomura shigaraki x you #shigaraki x you #x reader #reader insert #man door hand hook car door #needle compass north

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thiccpersonality · 5 months ago

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5 Times Bruce Was Protective of His Pups (+2 Times They Were Protective of Him)

3: The Search

Not many people recall their childhoods (for the most part), let alone what happens in it, nor would anyone expect a child to so easily remember things from their lives as they are in the process of living it...but, Timothy Jackson Drake isn't just any person or child. That's what his mother says at least, or...that was something she said to him in the days that her and father paid him any mind. Nowadays Tim finds it difficult to get their attention if he isn't being useful to them in some way, and even then...

Anyway! Tim just wishes he knew what exactly he did wrong and where he messed their relationship up.

He wants to go back to the days where his mom held him in her arms and cooed to him about how precious he is to her. He desires to receive fond looks from his dad in the way he used to when he was three and running around their home.

Now.

Now Tim is stuck on his own and spiraling on what to do.

Things the neglect started to happen slowly: his mom or dad sending him off whenever he tried to get their attention while working, their personal time together slowly being replaced by toys and trinkets that he was excited to get at the time because they were a symbol of his parents love for him, his parents hiring more babysitters for him instead of finding time to just simply...be with him. Which is why Tim has started to chase off every and any caretaker that comes to his parents million dollar home. Every expensive toy and gadget spent on him is now thrown violently against the walls or floors in a desperate plea for attention, it's all he wants, it's all he's asking for...and that's not much, is it?

"Timothy, please just-"

The nanny grunts in pain as she's hit harshly in the nose by a six year old Tim, the boy disregarding any guilt or shame he has for taking his anger out on the caregivers, most of them are good people...he just needs to use them to get his parents attention again. The woman steps back in shock, raising a hand to feel her nose and wincing at the blood she feels dripping from it, that's it! She can't take this anymore; taking care of such an unruly pup. She's tried her best for a couple months now to be patient with him, the boy obviously has issues with his parents, but she can't put her health on the line anymore.

Tim screeches loudly while watching the beta leave, calming down enough to listen in on his parents as they realize another babysitter is being chased off. "Dana, where are you going? We need you to watch him for the week, we have a business trip, remember?" The pup clenches his small hands into his shirt as he pokes his head around the corner with a sniffle, blue eyes watching as his dad attempts to chase the beta down, one hundred dollar bills clasped within his hand as he waves them in Dana's face. "We'll raise your pay! It's not an issue for us, you know-"

Dana keeps her hand pressed to her nose, her eyes narrowing accusingly at Jack and Janet Drake as she turns to stare at them.

"I know you can't keep an eye on your own kid for two fucking seconds! Your kid has problems, okay? And I've tried to be patient, but I can't anymore! Just spend some time with him, that's all he wants." Dana hisses at her ex-employers while tugging on her jacket angrily, the glare softening up a bit as she catches a peek of Tim curiously looking over the corner towards his parents, "Goodbye Tim."

Janet reaches for the woman in a last ditch attempt to keep her in place, her mouth opening wide in shock as the beta slams the door in her face loudly. "Jack, what are we supposed to do!? We have a business meeting to go to! We can't watch after our mutt." Tim perks up as he's gestured at, wiping the tears from his eyes as he steps out from the corner and skips towards his parents almost giddily, tugging at his dad's suit pants. "Daddy-"

"I'm sure we can find someone last minute? Or he can stay home by himself...he seems like a capable young man."

Tim pouts as his dad speaks over him, but the fact his mom and dad are even talking about him is...everything and more to him. The boy stands a little taller as his mom looks at him, it's not the looks he remembers receiving from her, but at least it's something. "Capable? He...looks like he's a bit chubby, doesn't he? Have our nanny's been over feeding him? I don't think I remember him ever being this fat, they must have let him get into the snacks."

Janet pinches at her son's face experimentally, her eyebrows furrowing in worry. "Will him being over fed have an effect on his presentation?"

Jack Drake rolls his eyes at his wife's worrying, looking at his watch hurriedly. "If he's an omega, shouldn't we want him to be plump? Alphas enjoy breeding one's with meat on their bones...I think." Janet curls her lips in disgust, "Don't even say that about Timothy! We don't want him to be an omega, they are weak and useless, I've seen it with my own mother how good-for-nothing omegas are. He'll be an alpha."

Tim has no idea what his parents are talking about, but the way his mom tugs him protectively to her side causes him to trill happily.

"But if he were an omega, imagine how useful he could be to us and our business-" Jack pauses to give his wife time to process what he said, smiling victoriously at her curious look-"If he looks good enough and smells pleasing enough, he could help to sway any potential business partners into making deals with us. Imagine the cards we hold by letting them think they'll get a hold of our son." Janet looks away in thought before glancing down at Tim, "What good would that be to us? The one business partner we want to work with us not only is an omega himself, but takes his job seriously...now that he has a pup of his own at least. It's not like he'd be willing to sleep around anymore, and we don't even know if he's ever slept around with other omegas anyway."

Tim smiles up at his mom and pushes into the hand in his hair almost desperately, purring softly at the attention.

"It could all be lies, Janet. Bruce Wayne is easy, gives it up for just about anyone from what I've heard, I bet when Tim reaches a certain age, he'll at least think about it. And with Bruce's kind of influence and sway on people, do you not think he covers up his sex-capades." Jack looks out the window at the honking outside, checking his watch one last time with a sigh, "Our ride is here. It seems like we have to take Timothy with us this time...there's no time for a babysitter."

Janet frowns displeased, pushing her pup ahead of her with a groan. "It seems you'll be traveling with mother and father, Timothy."

————°————

Tim practically vibrates excitedly in his seat as he peers down his window at the earth below, things look so small from up here, but it's also very pretty. The pup chirps happily and turns towards his parents excitedly, ready to tell them how amazing flying is and how he's just happy they're paying attention to him again, but his shoulders slump pitifully when seeing his mom talking on the phone with someone, papers strewn about her table as she fuses with whoever is on the other line. His eyes look over hopefully towards his dad instead, only to cloud over with disappointment as the man clacks away on his computer. "Mommy-"

The beta shushes him harshly, narrowing her eyes disapprovingly at him for interrupting her phone call while making frantic gestures towards her husband, a motion that tells Tim to: 'go bother your father instead and leave me to my work.' Those are words that the boy is used to hearing on a daily basis, so, with a huff he turns toward his dad. "Daddy?"

The male beta doesn't respond, too engrossed in his work to hear his pup or pay attention to the boy hopping out of his chair and making his way slowly over to him. "Daddy?"

Tim blinks optimistically up at his dad, hoping that now because he's closer to the man, the other will finally notice his presence and at least glance his way. But, the older only continues to type away on his device, causing the boy to feel jealous over the keyboard and how it gets his father's touch, his stomach churning at the reminder that his mother's phone gets to hear her voice constantly, how she always seems to hold it in her hands as if it's her most treasured thing.

Tim sniffles and tries to hold back his tears, he remembers his mom telling him she dislikes children that act as babies and his dad reminding him that young men don't cry.

But...it's just so hard not to. All Tim wants is to be his dad's son again, desires to be his mom's little boy-he glares at the devices his parents are using enviously, is that the issue? He isn't being useful enough to his parents in the way that the devices are? Has he become too lazy and comfortable with his parents affection that he's started slacking off on his duties? He doesn't know what caused him to have this reaction-no, this outburst-but Tim snatches his father's computer from under his quick fingers, throwing it violently against the wall of the jet with an outraged cry, ignoring his father's surprised shout in favor of targeting his mother's phone next, his gaze fixed on the metal with hate as he charges towards her with a scream.

Janet's eyes widen, her hands fumbling for the mute button before lifting it away from her child, trying to push the boy away while making sure she hasn't hung up.

"Gimme...the...phone!"

Tim crawls over his mom, tears dripping down his face as his distressed scent escapes him, too focused on his present task to bother covering up his feelings as his parents have instructed him to. He grunts as he's held back and even pushed slightly by the beta, her tone clipped, "Tim Drake! Cut it out, now! You better not make me hang up-" Janet gasps in shock as a small hand slaps her cheek, her and the pup freezing in place as if they both are trying to process what just happened.

After a few seconds of silence, Tim whines loudly while tugging his mom forward by her suit jacket and snatching the phone from her hands in her state of shock, tossing it behind him and pressing closely to her chest in apology for putting his hands on her.

Janet seems to snap out of it when her phone is taken away from her, still too stunned in the moment to bother doing anything about it and just watching as it smacks loudly against one of the other tables. Her pup's souring scent causes her nose to sting in displeasure from the stench, her lips curling in disgust. "Timothy Jackson Drake." The pup tenses at the woman's eerily calm voice, a small cry escaping him as her hands tighten painfully on the nape of his neck while tugging him away from the warmth and comfort of her breasts, the tears falling harder as his only source of affection and love is taken away from him.

"You are a bad pup. Very bad."

Janet's tone takes on a rough timbre, a sound that's only used on pups when they particularly misbehave and won't listen to their parents, usually used as a last resort to command the pup into doing whatever it is you are asking them to do or not do...usually for their benefit when the child doesn't listen to any regular scolding.

But Tim doesn't understand it.

He can see her being upset over being hit and wanting to correct him on it...but doesn't she see the reason why he did it? It wasn't meant to hurt her or anything, he just...wants his mom and dad. And the only time they seem to pay attention to him is if he lashes out this way, he thought this is how he was supposed to get time with them. "M-Mommy-" he gets cut off by his own whining at the painful sting to his neck glands, his mother's nails digging into the sensitive flesh meanly. "M-Mommy-" Janet mocks-"Don't whine! You know I don't like the whining and the sniffling, Timothy. You know you don't put your hands on others, especially your parents."

Does he know that?

It's not as if Janet and Jack are around to teach him those things. If anything, it was his nanny that always told him that.

Tim opens up his mouth, planning on defending and explaining himself to his mother as to why he felt the need to do what he did. It's not that he meant to interrupt their business, but that they only seem to look his way when he acts out and chases off a nanny or gets in-between their work, that any other way proves useless if it's not him being disruptive to the company. It seems though that he won't be able to plead his case, because he can't even get a word out his throat, noises seem to be getting harder to make now as he's held in place by his mother.

Is he even breathing?

Janet shakes Tim out of his thoughts with a deep frown on her face, "You better hope that my phone isn't broken or else you are in even more trouble." She stands up abruptly, not concerned about her pup's body twitching in pain as he's dangling midair by his neck, his face growing pink as his airways are slowly cutoff. "You need to be put in time out. You can't continue to act like this, do you hear me? Time is money and money is time, yet you seem to not understand that yet, Timothy."

Tim looks to his dad for help, a bone chilling coldness spreading from the inside out at seeing the man is over near his computer, brows furrowed in genuine concern as he looks over the device, his hands brushing the screen carefully as he makes sure it still works.

The pup slumps in defeat as the realization of his circumstance sets in, feeling numb as his mom leads him to one of the smaller bathrooms on their private jet and harshly dumps him on the floor, not bothering to apologize for treating her own child so meanly as she says...something else to him, he can't really hear her over the blood rushing in his ears and the sound of his desperate gasps for air. Tim flinches as the door is slammed harshly in his face and something heavy pushed in front of it to keep him trapped inside, his eyes carefully observing the restroom before landing on the sinks lower cabinet and feeling the urge to crawl inside of it.

And crawl he does.

Tim whimpers quietly to himself as he pushes the items in the cabinet out to make space for himself, curling into a small ball as he hugs himself tightly, ignoring the lingering scent of his angry mother that clings to his clothes as he closes his eyes to rest.

————°————

Blue eyes open in panic, glazed over in confusion at the plush feeling underneath him. Tim sits up in bed confused, his nose twitching as he scents the unfamiliar room, hope poking at his mind with the thought that everything that happened was actually just a bad dream, but the slight sting to his neck stamps on that hope and tells it otherwise. "Daddy? Mommy?" His voice is soft and scratchy as he calls out for them, allowing some anxiety to creep into his tone in the hopes that maybe their minds have changed, that maybe they will rush to his bedside with an apology on their tongues and regret in their gazes as they scoop him into their arms and promise that things will change from here on out.

Tim gives up on calling them after a couple of minutes, hot tears pricking at his eyes as he realizes that they left him, for the meeting they've been going on about most likely, but it still doesn't make the acceptance any easier to come to terms with. The pup sniffles and crawls out of bed, looking down at his clothes and feeling a sharp stab of pain in his chest at seeing himself still in his daywear. I guess he wasn't important enough to change clothes? He looks down at his feet and feels an odd sense of contentment seeing that his shows are gone at least...at least they care enough to take them off for him, right?

His stomach growling loudly interrupts the spiraling thoughts, the six year old biting his lip as he scrubs at his wet eyes.

Tim slowly steps closer to the door, indecisive on whether to find food himself or not, making his decision to leave the room as his stomach growls again. The child exits the room and looks left and right carefully, perking up at seeing a small group of people heading left towards the elevators and following them, ignoring their curious looks as he pushes his way on with them. "Where's the cafeteria?"

The adults have already ignored him in favor of talking their business or vacation plans with each other, the pup sighing sadly at how he can't even get other grown-ups to pay attention.

A light tap to his shoulder startles Tim, the small boy turning around and looking up into the friendly eyes of a teenager, the alpha smiling kindly down at him. "You said you were looking for the cafeteria, right?" Tim nods shyly and shifts from foot to foot. "Funny thing is that I was just heading down there! I can take you there if you want? Though, uhhh-" the young alpha glances at the distracted adults inquisitively-"are one of these folks your parents?" Tim doesn't know how to feel at the larger hand carefully wrapping around his own, his small fingers instinctively clenching down at the feeling of warmth as he shakes his head. "No. My parents said that they would...meet me in the cafeteria, that's what they said." The look the teen gives him causes the pup to look away in fear that he'll find out his lie, luckily enough, the older boy ends up smiling instead and guiding him out the elevator with a soft tug to his hand.

"That's alright! Do you mind if you eat with me and my family for today? We can keep an eye on ya while waiting for your parents to come get you."

Tim knows that he should say no...there are a million things wrong with this plan, one of them being that this young alpha and his family will realize his parents are never coming to get him because they already left. But, the way the older looks excitedly-even hopefully-down at him, causes Tim to slowly nod in agreement. "O-Okay? Are you sure they won't mind me intruding? Breakfast is a special occasion, isn't it?"

The alpha raises a brow and chuckles, something in his eyes sparkling in amusement as he says: "Trust me. My mom won't mind you at all, and neither will my grandpa. It's actually been awhile since either of them has had the company of a pup, so I think it will make their day." The older grows silent before slapping his head animatedly, "How could I be so rude? I forgot to introduce myself-" he leads Tim to the back of the line and looks down at the boy openly once they are in place-"The name's Richard Grayson, but everyone who's my friend calls me Dick, nice to meet ya." Tim messes with his shirt nervously and nods politely, "Timothy Drake. But you can call me Tim for short."

Richard smiles brightly when the younger gives him a cute, lopsided smile, handing the boy a plate when they get closer to the food. "Drake? Do you mean you're the son of Jack and Janet Drake? That's pretty cool, Tim, I bet you guys have lots of fun together? They seem to take their work very seriously, so I can only imagine how they take family life. What do you want?"

Tim doesn't know what to focus on first, all the questions were asked extremely quickly and in quick succession, barely giving the pup time to think of a response. But it's fine...he doesn't even know how he would respond to them, he doesn't exactly have fun with his parents, and he knows that he can't just outright tell the older boy that his parents ignore him. "Uh...w-whatever they have up there is fine with me." And he means that too, it's been awhile since he's tasted anything really delicious, the only time he eats properly is if a nanny of his actually cooked-and to be honest-it was usually a hit or miss situation with the caretakers, especially since not all of them were properly looked into.

Sometimes Tim got caretakers that forgot about him just liked his parents do.

Richard hums thoughtfully before dumping a pile of bacon, eggs and fruit on the child's dish, the pup's protests being ignored with the loud exclamation of, "growing pups need to eat!"

Tim pouts and allows the alpha to do as he pleases, looking over the cafeteria and perking up at seeing a coffee machine, his small hands tugging at Richard's sweatpants hurriedly. "I wanna drink some of that! It tastes good." At the pup's insistence, the teen looks to where the boy is pointing, scrunching his nose in displeasure at the drink he's pointing at. "Decaf coffee? You must not have tasted any real coffee before, you need to drink it caffeinated in order to enjoy it properly."

Tim tilts his head in confusion, frowning as the older waves his free hand frantically. "Not that you should be drinking coffee yet! I'm a mature almost adult, thank you, so please don't let my mom know that I was supportive of you drinking it."

His...mom?

"Your mommy? Where is your mommy?" The pup turns his head in search of the teens parent, grunting softly as he's finally handed his overfilled plate.

"He's somewhere at one of those tables, or maybe not? He might have gotten a private area depending on it-people always trying to speak to him during resting hours, you know?" Richard dumps a healthy amount of food into his plate, snagging a small box of cheap breakfast cereal the hotel surprisingly has in his hand, salivating at the thought of the heavily processed food on his tongue. "Come on, little guy, right this way." A gentle hand sets itself on Tim's head as it guides him around the tables, the walk seeming not to stop until they reach a set of French doors, the alpha sticking his tongue out in concentration as he lifts his foot to the door handle and presses it down to open it.

Tim looks up at the older one more time, his eyes apprehensive and curious as to if him being here is actually okay, reassured as the teen just chuckles and nudges him forward with a small tap to his calf.

The pup shuffles forward with his plate held in both hands, his nose twitching at the sweet-but not overly sweet-scent that fills the room. This isn't from any of the food, that much Tim knows, nothing in the cafeteria smelled this delicious, this...right, no, this is the smell of an omega. "Whoever is out there...please, go away and at least wait until I'm done eating to ask me questions or make business deals. I-" Tim freezes in place as the prettiest pair of blue eyes turn to look at him, the stern look immediately being replaced with a soft look of pleasant surprise. "Oh!? I'm sorry, pup. Are you okay? Are you lost?"

Tim opens and closes his mouth, unsure of what to say as he flounders for a proper response.

"He's not lost, B!" Richard chirrups excitedly, pushing Tim forward a little more as if he's a cat that caught a gift for its owner and is eager to present it. "I found him in the elevator! He was heading my way-which was to the cafeteria-and I decided he could eat with us since he said he's waiting for his parents."

The omega knows he should ask his son what 'finding him' means, and if the pup's parents even know that he's here with them, but the sight of this small boy holding a plate that looks too big and heavy for his hands causes him to soften. His eyes glistening fondly at the physical signs of the boy's nervousness as he shifts from foot to foot, his gaze being drawn to the socked feet as the small appendage pushes down his rising pant leg. "Pup, where are your shoes? You came down here without any shoes on? Did no one dress you up before bringing you to eat?"

The omega's voice is probing, but not void of any kindness, the man gesturing him forward with an outstretched palm as he finally takes notice of the mountain of food sitting on the boy's plate.

"Richard, why did you give him so much food? Poor thing can barely carry it."

Tim blinks in shock as the omega stands up and helps him carry his plate, pulling out the chair next to him and helping the small boy climb into it, a pleased noise escaping him as he looks at the contents of the plate. "You have fruit? You gave him fruit, Dickybird?"

The teen chuckles and sits next to Alfred, nodding his head and puffing out his chest in pride. "Yup! You always told me growing up that growing pups need food and lots of rest, and I knew if you didn't see any fruits or veggies on his plate that you'd be mad at me for not thinking of his health." Bruce gives a small smile at his son before turning his attention back onto the pup, "I'm glad you could join us for breakfast today, don't worry about not eating everything on your plate, okay? I'm Bruce Wayne, can I ask your name?"

Tim blinks in shock at the name, why does it sound so familiar? The pup continues to stare up at the omega, his little brows scrunching in thought before lifting in surprise, no wonder the name sounds so familiar, Bruce Wayne is the omega his parents were talking about back at home.

Tim shakes himself out of his thoughts, licking his lips nervously before stretching out his hand to shake. "Timothy Drake...but y-you can call me Tim." Maybe it's the neglect skewing his perception of Bruce? Maybe it's the affectionate look the omega is giving to him? Heck, maybe it's the soft and gentle hands carefully shaking his own that make Tim think that maybe he's not so bad. Whatever the reason is, the pup feels something warm nudging at his heart, slowly replacing that lonely feeling with something...familiar? Yes, familiar. The more he looks at those icy eyes sparkling with care and love for a pup that's not even his, it reminds Tim of the way his mommy used to stare at him once upon a time.

Bruce's humored-but gentle-voice wraps around Tim's ears like a warm hug, gently pushing through the insecurities and doubts that have built up within him with the confidence of a man who knows his power, who knows that he doesn't need to use much force to get his way but just needs to simply speak and others listen.

That's how Tim feels as those doubtful inner voices bow out to let Bruce through.

"Oh? And you're a little gentleman too?" Bruce tries not to look too amused at the stupefied look the pup gives him, he can tell that the boy is being serious. "And did you say Drake? You mean like Drake Industries? Your parents have been really persistent in trying to get me to work with them."

A sudden thought pops into Tim's mind; what if he introduces his parents to Bruce for them? So far the omega seems to like him...so what if he's more open to making a deal with his mom and dad? What if...what if him doing this for them makes them notice him again? Things will go back to the way they used to be: his mom cuddling with him in bed as she plays with his hair and tells him stories, his dad chasing him around the house and ruffling his hair fondly whenever he does something good, both his parents tucking him in goodnight and tickling him when he keeps trying to get out of bed and follow them.

Maybe if he proves to them that he's useful to the business, they'll realize that he's also good enough to be their son.

With a renewed determination, Tim chirps happily and finally releases Bruce's hand while leaning forward eagerly. "But my mommy and daddy are reeeeeally good people! They talk about you lots and all the things your companies could do together if you ever gave them a chance-" maybe that's not exactly true? He's heard his parents say some not so nice things about the omega before out of anger, but he doesn't need to know that-"They are just determined and ready to expand the growth of their business to help others!"

Bruce's eyes widen at Tim's sudden enthusiasm, his lips twitching up at the boy's determination. "I know that, Tim...but I am very careful on who exactly I conduct my business with. That and my secretary schedule's meetings based off the most important to the-" he pauses at the look of defeat on the boy's face, purring softly to comfort the pup-"Look, Tim, it isn't that your family or their business isn't important. That's not what I'm trying to convey to you, but, your mother and father's business-let alone-their names are fairly new to the world of business. I admit that they have done a lot of work recently to put their names out there, and I have been looking into the work they do." At Tim's disbelieving stare, Bruce smiles reassuringly and nods his head at the boy. "It's true, I have. I just haven't contacted them yet because I was still looking into them to make sure they are worth meeting with, but I have to say pup, you make a convincing argument on your parents behalf. You'll be a businessman in no time."

The genuine praise does something to Tim, the pup squeaking happily as he looks at the omega in awe, quickly turning back to his food when the older man reminds him it's getting cold.

He doesn't know how long he spent time with Bruce...but somewhere deep inside of the pup, he doesn't want it to end.

Despite all of his desires to gain his parents love and attention, there's a little voice somewhere in Tim's brain that anxiously whispers about them never noticing him again for the stunt he pulled on the jet, about how there's nothing that he can do to ever be enough for his mom and dad. It's a voice that the pup has been fighting against ever since he's noticed this weird shift in his dynamic with the adults, I mean, he's not stupid and he has eyes that work just fine.

It's just...

He doesn't want to believe that part of him that knows the reality of his situation, that knows exactly how things have changed and even how there's no returning to old times

It's a truth that would be too hard for anyone to handle--but a six year old? Yeah, that would be even harder for a child to grasp that their parents don't love as they used to before...that maybe their parents never actually loved them that way, that it was all an act for cameras and company; that maybe they did love him that way, but only once and never again.

"I have to get going, Tim. Are your parents coming?"

Tim breathes in sharply at the question, schooling his features as much as he can before replying: "Hm? Oh, yeah! U-Umm...I...lied."

Bruce shares a quick look with his dad and son before turning back to the pup, "You lied? How? Are you-" Richard cuts the omega off, leaning in towards Tim eagerly, his eyes glistening with an intense delight that the boy has never seen before despite his voice sounding calm. "Do you not have parents? Did you sneak in?"

A harsh nudge from Alfred seems to sober the young alpha back down from his excitement.

"I mean, that's not what I meant to make it sound like, I'm sorry. I hope your parents are still alive, having dead parents really sucks-I'll stop putting my foot in my mouth and shut up now."

Tim tilts his head curiously and turns back to Bruce, "My parents are still alive-" did someone just sigh-"I just meant that they aren't waiting for me...because...because I left the room without them knowing. They said that they were really tired after the flight here and-and fell to sleep as soon as they got to the room." The look the omega gives Tim is similar to the one Richard gave him in the elevator, something about it makes the boy feel as though they can see right through him, that they know he's lying. But, Bruce just nods with a small smile on his face, the look just as disarming as his alpha son's. "Alright, we'll take you back to your room then. I don't want you alone."

Tim bites his lip and-in a moment of desperation-rushes out of his seat to hug onto the omega tightly, burying his face into the soft material of his pants while fisting the man's sweatshirt in his fists.

The pup stiffens up in surprise at the feeling of arms wrapping around him before he melts against the omega's legs, unconsciously letting his scent release, too caught up in the moment to be concerned on the intense scent of desperation, want and relief mixed into his milky aroma. Tim sinks further into the warmth, scenting Bruce's neck when the omega kneels down to his level and nuzzles at him carefully, the scent of the other is soothing in a way that his mom's scent used to be...maybe even still is, but the too quick change in their relationship has made the pup recoil at the scent, the relief of the beta's smell being replaced with trepidation as it always turns sour whenever he's around.

But Bruce...

Bruce's scent is pleasantly soft and sweet with a hint of spice: vanilla, a hint of rose, cinnamon and cardamom. It makes Tim want to stay wrapped up in his arms forever, he is giving the pup everything that he's been looking for in his parents back to him with one embrace. "Shh...it's okay, Tim." Soft hands wipe at the pup's face tenderly, the boy confused as to when he even started to cry, but the soothing rumble of Bruce's omegan call eases Tim's mind and only causes him to press closer to enjoy the gentle back rubbing the other is giving him.

Bruce gives a look to Alfred over the child's shoulder before returning to comforting the pup.

"Timothy, what-" Jack Drake bursts through the French doors, his annoyed scent turning to one of surprise as he sees that the phone call he received wasn't a joke...Bruce Wayne actually called him and Janet. "Mr. Wayne! Is everything alright?" The beta swallows nervously under the omega's stern look, slowly stepping forward until he's close enough to bend down and grab his pup, shushing the boy as he whines and squirms. "We weren't even aware that Timothy left the room."

Bruce purses his lips and nods, "I'm well aware. I understand jet lag is rough on the body, but please, try to keep an eye on your pup."

Before Jack can even ask what he means, Tim's voice croaks in his ear. "I told Mr. Bruce that you and mommy fell to sleep after we landed, you two were tired after the flight and didn't notice me leave." Jack raises his brow but gives a small, almost imperceptible, smirk at the cover-up, the pup must have not wanted them to be in trouble for leaving him unattended in the hotel room. "O-Of course, Mr. Wayne, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. Are you alright, pup? You aren't hurt, are you?" Tim pauses at the question, his little nose twitching in interest at the scent of concern his dad releases, a small feeling of hope rising within him as he slowly-cautiously-leans his head down to scent his dad, giggling softly when the man nuzzles him back. "D-Daddy!"

Jack smiles softly, his hands gently ruffling his pup's hair to comfort him while releasing his pleasantly mild scent.

"It's alright, son, I'm sorry for not paying more attention to you today, alright? Mr. Wayne...I apologize for any trouble-" Jack immediately closes his mouth at the omega lifting up his hand in a-stop-gesture, the beta's eyes widening at the business card the other slips out of his wallet and extends to him.

"Your son has made a very convincing argument on you and Mrs. Drake's behalves today-" he smiles kindly at the pup-"He told me that you both work so hard to make the world a better place with your inventions and plans. You both always call my office at least twice a month to see if I've changed my mind, so I at least know you aren't quitters, expect a call from my secretary so she can book a date for us to talk. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Drake." Bruce nods politely at the beta and gestures for his family to follow him out, taking a second to look at Tim warmly with a small nod, "And it was a pleasure to talk to you, Tim. Goodbye."

Tim grips his dad's suit jacket at the sight of Bruce leaving, his inner pup calling out softly to the omega in goodbye, trying to ignore the sad feeling churning in his gut as the man disappears around the corner with his family.

Why is he even sad?

Isn't his dad's affection what he wished for?

Tim shakes his head and nuzzles his nose back into Jack's neck, humming contentedly as he isn't put down or pushed away, but hugged closer as his dad rushes out the room and towards the elevators, his foot tapping impatiently as he waits for the elevator to reach the main floor.

The next thing Tim knows is that he's back in the hotel room, the irritated scent of his mother causing him to bury his face further into his dad's neck. "Why are you babying him, Jack? Why were we even called-what? Why are you smiling at me like that?" The boy takes a chance to peak out from his hiding spot in his dad's neck, staring up at the pleased look his dad wears as he holds up Bruce Wayne's business card triumphantly. "I knew having a pup would come in handy! Look what Tim got for us!"

Janet narrows her eyes suspiciously at the card, growling softly at her husband's shaky hands and snatching the card from him so she can read it properly, her scent confused before bursting forth with excitement and shock. "Are you serious!? He-Bruce Wayne? He really ran into Bruce Wayne of all people?!"

Jack smiles wide; victoriously, lowering Tim down to the floor and shaking him off when the boy tries to cling to him. "I know right! I was right when saying that he'd take a liking to our pup, and can you believe that Timothy put in a good word for us? Bruce said that we should be expecting a call from his secretary sometime." Janet stares at the business card incredulously before chuckling and hugging her husband, catching Tim off guard as affection isn't something he really sees from his parents towards each other anymore, but...it feels good seeing his mom and dad jump up and down like two kids in a candy store, he is the cause of that.

Tim looks between his embracing parents in relief at seeing something familiar again, chirping excitedly as he squeezes between the two and grips onto their clothes, stamping down that small voice that tells him this moment won't last forever.

————°————

Tim doesn't know why he ever listened to that voice in his head? He doesn't know why he insisted on convincing himself that things between him and his parents would get better from there.

He was wrong.

He was so very wrong, that much he can admit. The doting and praise lasted the rest of that very day, but as soon as the next day hit, they went back to business-if anything, their obsession over meeting with Bruce Wayne became even worse after actually getting a phone number, everyday was spent looking at their phones twice as much and keeping their email open just in case Wayne Enterprises messaged them.

Now Tim is so much older and wiser. Even though he's only nine, he is sharp in a way he wasn't when he was six, or maybe it's that he's finally allowed himself to not be held back by his own obsession with his parents love?

The point is: he's finally allowed himself to grow beyond them.

Now he's focused on Batman, this enigmatic character that has risen above Gotham as its defender in the night, as the watchman in the shadows against the filth this city holds.

Following Batman has been his favorite past time...that and following Bruce Wayne. He knows it's not...ideal to keep tabs on the omega so closely, but ever since that day at the hotel when the man wrapped him in his arms, it's been an experience on his mind everyday and every night since then. Tim has always desired to get close to the omega again...his parents definitely had enough meetings with the man for him to see him again, but every time he thought about it, he got scared of Bruce's opinion on him changing.

The unwanted thoughts always held him back: 'what if I'm not enough?' 'what if I'm not what he needs?' 'what if it was all an act? Your parents did it before, so why would he not with you?' But...Bruce has been his light at the end of the dark tunnel known as his life, the memory and phantom feelings of a warm hug being one of the only things to keep him from being crushed under the overwhelming weight of the loneliness clinging to his heart everyday, keeping him sane from the thoughts that poke and prod at his restless mind.

Now Batman is another new obsession.

It's not everyday that you see a vigilante with a kid for a sidekick/partner. And the way that he's seen the man treat Robin makes Tim envious of the boy, why is it that a crime fighter gets a better caretaker in his life rather than Tim? Is he living his life in a way that is causing him to not be noticed or wanted by anyone?

Tim doesn't know what it is, but either way, he has been trying to get near Batman for awhile now.

Trying to get the man to notice him and take him in-he can be useful to him! If only he could just prove that to the Bat, surely the other would see what he's capable of and take him in without a doubt. I mean, the other hasn't had a problem doing that with two other pups, so why would it suddenly be an issue for him? Tim licks his lips anxiously, shifting from foot to foot in an old tell of how nervous he actually feels. The pup peeks over the corner, analyzing the rooftop he climbed onto in search of Batman and Robin, they should be arriving soon...he made sure he got the location right tonight, because tonight will be the night that he meets the supposed alpha, he won't settle for anything less any longer.

From his years of careful research and learning Batman's patterns, he knows that this rooftop is a place he and Robin usually visit after every patrol-and unless there's another crime to rush to-there's no conceivable reason for the vigilante to skip coming here tonight.

Tim jumps awake at a, 'whoosh', sound coming from behind his hiding spot. The boy shaking himself awake and taking a deep breath before looking over to where he heard the noise, his lips lowering to a confused frown as he searches the rooftop for Batman.

"I don't think you should be up this high."

Tim squeaks in panic and turns around too quickly, tripping over his feet and falling onto his butt as he stares up at...Clark Kent? Blue eyes blink up in shock at the sight of the reporter in a Superman cosplay, looking the man up and down carefully, his eyes only widening as the mild mannered reporter floats above the ground.

Oh. My. Freaking. Gosh!

Clark Kent is Superman and Superman is Clark Kent.

Tim gets lost in his thoughts, completely unaware of the alpha's growing concern the longer he keeps silent. It makes sense as to why he always thought the man looked familiar, at the time, he didn't really pay the familiar feeling any mind due to being obsessed focused on Bruce Wayne...but it turns out the feeling was because the "beta" is actually an alpha named Superman.

Metropolises most beloved hero is actually a bumbling reporter with a crush on Bruce Wayne. He wonders if Lois Lane knows yet.

Superman softly lands on the ground, extending his hand towards the pup slowly, as if he's trying not to scare a wild animal. "Hey, pup, are you alright? What are you doing up here? This building is really high, so I'd imagine you are pretty cold." It seems as if those words cause Tim to shiver, hm...I guess he was so distracted in his wait for Batman that he didn't process his own coldness. "Can I give you my cape? It'll keep you warm no matter what temperature." Those words bring out the little detective in Tim, he wants to ask so many questions about the material and even if Superman needs the cape himself because he can feel the cold, or if it's more so for any civilians he saves and needs to fly to somewhere safe.

But he can't...not now.

Tim only wants to be wrapped up in Batman's cape, in the exact same way that Robin is whenever he's around the man. "I don't need your cape, Superman. I'm just fine on my own, thanks."

The Kryptonian sighs at the horribly familiar words, his deep blue eyes looking Tim up and down curiously. "Don't tell me you are one of Batman's too? I...wouldn't imagine he'd leave you here alone and without warm clothes." Tim wipes the dirt off his clothes and hands, his interest only growing at the defeated look in the alpha's eyes, does-does he think that Tim isn't fit to be Batman's partner?

The boy growls as fiercely as he can, a small squeak escaping him in his attempts to be intimidating. "I'll have you know that while I'm not his partner yet, I have plenty of skills that will be beneficial to Batman!"

Superman steps back in shock, raising his hands in defeat and crooning at the distressed pup apologetically, the noise embarrassing Tim from how quickly he feels like nuzzling into the man. "Woah there, buddy? That's not what I meant, okay? And what do you mean by skills? You...you don't need to do anything to get the man to want you-" he looks away pitifully and murmurs-"not unless you're an alien from Krypton that is." Those words cause Tim to stop his growling, his look skeptical as he tilts his head, he thought that Superman was in love with Bruce not Batman?

"Wait...but I thought you liked B-"

A deep voice interrupts Tim's question, "Superman. I thought I told you to stop showing up here?" Both the alpha and pup startle at the vigilante's sudden appearance, the former smiling bashfully at the other while the latter gasps softly in awe.

"I know you did...but I like seeing you, is that so bad?"

Robin steps out from underneath Batman's cape, his face displeased at the sight of the alpha. "I thought B also said he didn't want to see your ugly mug? Stay away from him, Superman." The pup is called back to the man's side, the boy humming contentedly at the gloved hands gently raking through his hair, "I didn't call him ugly, Robin. Though I did-" the alpha stops to scent the air, his gaze suddenly turning towards Tim and keeping him in place, a sharp inhale taken in as he notices the other pup's presence-"Oh!? I'm sorry, pup. I didn't see you there. Are you okay? Are you lost?"

That tone...it's oddly soothing-silky-in a way that only one other person's was before. But that person was Bruce Wayne...surely Batman actually isn't-

"Are you alright? Do you need medical attention?" Batman takes a cautious step forward with his hands raised, freezing in surprise at the pup's laughter. "It's you, it's you, it's you! It's really you! I've been searching night and day for you and you're here." Tim shakes with excitement, scrambling forward until he gets close enough to the Bat, he would've gotten closer, but Robin steps in-between the omega protectively.

"Are you high or something?" Robin-Jason-whimpers softly at the gentle slap he receives to his head. "What!? This kid's not makin' any sense."

Tim manages to stand tall despite the slightly aggressive smell the other pup is giving off, he's obviously in the process of developing his own scent as a much more mature one is mixing in with the milky smell of a pup. "I'm here to be Batman's partner! I promise that I can provide a lot of aid to your mission! I won't get in the way!" Robin releases himself from his defensive stance, snorting in disbelief while glancing up at his mom. "He's gotta be joking? What kind of freak show is this?"

Tim balls up his fists and shakes his head furiously, afraid that if he doesn't say something now, Batman will ignore him or turn him away.

"I'm not a freak! I'm being serious! D-Do you know how much time I've put into this?! Every night for three years I have been studying you all's patterns, learning your schedules and keeping tabs on where your next fight will be in the hopes of catching you guys."

Robin takes a step back from the outburst, his sharp look-that Tim can't see-being replaced with one of concern for the younger boy in front of him. "I-...you stalked us? Don't you have a family to go back to or something? Why waste your time doing this? And if you have been following us this whole time, why haven't you ever introduced yourself before?" The younger pup fists at his clothes, once again shifting from foot to foot nervously as he responds, "B-Because I wasn't ready yet. I had to make sure that when I met Batman that everything about me was...prepared."

Tim is unbothered by Robin cringing at the information, all he's focused on is Batman and what he thinks of him. So far so good, he thinks. The omega hasn't pulled away in disgust, neither has he yelled at him to go away, so that must count for something?

Batman gently moves Robin aside, kneeling to Tim's level and grabbing the small hands within his own, rubbing the knuckles repeatedly with his thumbs. "Puppy, I...appreciate your eagerness to help me on this mission, but it's a very hard mission, and-" Tim shuffles forward a little, moving his hand to Batman's cape and gripping it tightly in his hands. "B-But what about your two Robins? They got to fight crime from a young age despite everything, t-they got to help you, why can't I? I-please? I promise that I can do a lot of work. I won't complain or anything-please? I just want to be with you."

Batman does his very best to beat down his instincts to take Tim home, he would in a heartbeat...really, he would, but...

"Your parents, pup. I'm sure they'd be worried about you. So, I think you should head home-" Tim feels his heart stop as that familiar warmth departs from him, frozen in place as Batman pulls away and stands up, pushing the boy closer to the Kryptonian gently-"Superman, can you take him home?"

Tim has no words as he's carefully wrapped up in Superman's red cape, that bone chilling coldness he's adapted to over the years consuming him as he's slowly lifted into the alpha's arms, hot tears pouring down his face unwillingly as the distance between him and Bruce grow further and further apart. "No-" his voice is but a cracked whisper-"No! G-Get off me-Batman, please! I don't w-wanna go home!" Superman shouts as the pup starts squirming mid-air, the alpha trying to calm the pup down and only receiving small fangs to his arm for his efforts. "Get off! Batman! P-Please!"

Superman touches down onto the ground again, lowering himself to the floor gently with the trembling pup in his firm hold, gently shushing the boy as he falls limp.

"W-Why?"

Tim whimpers and digs the palm of his hands into his wet eyes, "W-Why don't y-you remember m-me?" The boy sniffles and chokes on his spit, his breathing picking up as he panics. "W-Why doesn't anyone remember m-me? I can be a g-good pup-" he looks up at Bruce, seeing beyond the mask, because that's who he first admired the most-"M-Mama."

Batman whimpers at the broken noise and rushes to Tim, knees slamming into the rooftop floor as he snatches the troubled pup to his chest, cooing to the boy in reassurance while sending a warning growl Superman's way.

How dare he try to separate him from his pup.

"Timothy Jackson Drake-my little Tim-I...I never forgot you, pup. I always thought about you since the day we met-you-I-" he takes a deep breath in to calm himself-"You reeked of sadness and I did my best to help, even in that short amount of time we knew each other. I had always hoped that your mother and father would bring you to our meetings...but I never saw you, and I know things in Gotham kept me busy, but I never forgot you once."

That icy feeling in his bones is replaced by a warmth at his full name being said by Bruce. He...really did remember him? It wasn't just an experience that Tim let get into his head too much?

"T-Then why?"

Tim sniffles, rubbing his dripping nose on the dark cape, "Why can't I join you? M-My parents won't care, I-I promise they won't!" Batman frowns at that information, tucking the boy under his chin and wrapping his cape around the small frame protectively. "Tim...where are your parents? Did they..."

It's easy to fill in the blanks.

Tim shakes his head and murmurs, "Business trip. Couple weeks now. T-They never remember me."

The angry growl released from Bruce warms Tim to his core, just to know the omega thinks of him as one of his in some way is a relief. He knows that they'll need to talk about boundaries later, and there's still a part of him that hurts horribly at knowing his biological parents don't want him...but at least Bruce does, he imprinted on the man when they met.

The soft click of Superman's cape attaching back onto his suit causes both Tim and Bruce to look up at the worried alpha. "Is...everything okay? You two...uh, met before?"

Tim squints suspiciously at the jealous glint in the man's eyes...is he...jealous of a pup, really? Wait! Maybe he's thinking about it all wrong? If Clark Kent has a crush on Bruce Wayne, and Superman constantly visits this rooftop in hopes of seeing Batman, that could mean that A: Superman has a crush on both and it's a coincidence that he's flirting with the same man, or 2: Superman knows Batman's identity and is beating around the bush by following both personas instead of being an alpha about it and confessing.

Batman stands up with Tim held securely in his arms, the pup's theory being confirmed simply at the way the alpha looks lovingly at the omega for cradling a pup to his side.

And that's a look Tim has seen Clark Kent make many times towards Bruce Wayne at galas and no one else.

"We did." Batman finally answers the alpha's question.

Superman nods slowly, scratching his head restlessly, his lips pursing slightly in thought before speaking: "How? Was...uh...did you meet Tim's father? Do you two know each other or something?" Tim takes a glance towards Batman when his grip tightens on him, the omega's posture radiating bashfulness from the questions. Hm? So Batman does know Superman's identity too. The omega has only ever reacted this shyly towards one humble, Midwestern reporter.

"My father and B are great friends! Batman here even gave my dad a way to contact him, you know?" Blue eyes take notice of the alpha's clenched fists, his eyes sparkling mischievously as they are only confirming his theories.

"Oh? And is your father a hero too?"

Tim opens his mouth to respond, being stopped by a gloved hand covering his mouth, imagining the glare the omega is directing towards the alpha for his prodding. "And why is that of any concern to you? It's my business who I hand my personal information out to." The silence between the two heroes is tense, the alpha conceding with an apologetic smile and an awkward chuckle. "You are...absolutely right, Batman. I don't know what came over me." The Kryptonian trails off, eyeing the shorter man closely as he nuzzles into Tim, his night blue eyes longingly looking at the two and causing the pup to sigh tiredly.

It hasn't even been that long and he's already tired of seeing their willful ignorance of each other's identities.

"You know, I just don't see why I haven't gotten a way to contact you."

Tim grows confused at the groan coming from Batman and Robin, this must be a topic that comes up often, each time being met with the denial of any personal information or way of contact. "We've been over this, Superman, if I need your help-which I don't-then I can call for you. You have super hearing, so you don't need a way to contact me."

The alpha and omega startle at Tim speaking up, "One rule of thumb for any businessman is don't mix pleasure with your biz."

Superman's gaze is quizzical, his deep blue's shifting from Batman to Tim for answers, the pup sighing and gesturing from Clark to Bruce. "I've heard that Mr. Wayne has been looking into buying the Daily Planet-" he tries to hold in his smirk at the omega's breath hitching in surprise-"Do you know what that means, Superman?" The alpha visibly deflates, "He's not looking for a relationship?" The pup facepalms, "I've heard the Daily Planet has a humble reporter named Clark Kent. He's someone I've seen at galas always making goo goo eyes at Bruce Wayne." At those words, Superman clears his throat with a nervous laugh, trying to ignore the sound of blood rushing to Batman's face from underneath the mask.

"Why would I be interested in knowing t-that?"

Tim smirks, "Because...I know you know Lois Lane, Clark Kent's best friend. Maybe you'd be willing to tell her so she can tell Clark, that Bruce Wayne is just as goo goo eyed at Clark Kent than he is with him. Though, I think if either of them had working eyeballs, they'd see what's in front of them already." The emphasis on the last few words cause Superman and Batman to pause, the two standing as still as statues before the alpha laughs loudly while the omega uses the pup in his arms as a barrier between him and Clark when the taller steps closer to him. "I...wasn't sure if you figured it out yet. I knew the day I lead you and Jason up to your room-" Bruce's voice is soft as he finishes the sentence, "The interaction was familiar. You...you found out at the same time?"

Tim nuzzles into Bruce's suit before hopping out of his arms, giving the adults time to speak to each other properly, yelping as Robin slings his arm around his neck and pulls him in close, nuzzling his hair fondly with an excited smile on his face.

"Welcome to the family, Tim!"

The pup chirps in pleasant surprise, nuzzling into his new older brother as he lets the taller scent him, his eyes watering with happiness as he whispers in disbelief, "Yeah...my family."

(Beginning of notes from AO3–I know this chapter wasn't as...full blown protective for a specific reason, but him defending Tim from his self-deprecation and sadness counts, right? 😂 I just really wanted to focus on a neglect-ish kind of aspect here and not anything necessarily big or grand like traumatic flashbacks (necessarily) or mean socialites, instead, it's mean parents.

To explain Clark's defeated look when seeing Tim, he's just afraid that all these pups means Bruce is taken and in a relationship lol. Oh! And excuse Jason's brashness here, he was speaking harshly cause he was protective of his mom is all, but he recognized the loneliness in Tim's voice quite quickly and softened up.

I am a firm believer that Bruce's children adopted him just as much as he chose to do to them 😂. In this story, they all kind of quickly imprint on him. Also, Tim's attachment to Bruce's is obviously implied at him recognizing a familiarity in the way the omega interacted with him...so, he kind of saw him as his "new" mother when they first met, all because Bruce treated him kindly.

Tim will obviously get help for that over the years, and he does genuinely see Bruce as his mom, it's not just a desperation there. I just wanted to focus on his frantic thoughts more.

Please remember to stay safe, happy, healthy and of course lovely as always. You are are truly loved and greatly appreciated! 💛–End of notes from AO3.)

Links to: Part 1: The Interview, Part 2: The Gala and Part 4: The Girls.

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jayrrow · 1 month ago

Text

Call me anytime pt. 2 (implied Kate/Yelena)

find part one here

word count: 673

warnings: none

relationships: Kate/Yelena (implied or pre-relationship, however you interpret it!)

summary: The phone call

A/N: i was inspired so here you go with the POV from behind the door 😗

no thunderbolts spoilers (i think) but beware anyway!

Yelena barely manages to close the door after her question when Kate is already reassuring her that she's completely fine and unaffected.

"Oh no! Nate asked me to watch his first football game so I was staying at the farm. Kinda lucky timing, right? Wait no, not you Lucky, lucky as in the opposite of unlucky." There's a small laugh, and then a dog breathing heavily near the speaker.

Yelena smiles to herself, breathing a small sigh of relief. That's all she's been thinking about for the few days she's been actually capable of forming coherent thoughts—Kate being safe.

"So- wait, why are you asking if I'm okay? Are you okay, Yelena?" Kate asks with a hint of concern etched into her voice.

"I am fine. Just... processing, is all," Yelena affirms, leaning on the wall next to the door. Slowly, she lets herself slide down against it until she's on the floor.

"Well, that's good. Um, what about the others? You know, Bucky and the rest. How are they? I mean, how do you like them?"

The rambling and tripping over words feels so familiar that Yelena almost cries at how overwhelmingly home it is.

"They are okay, I guess. Ava is nice, Bob is okay, Walker not so much. He's a dick," Yelena scoffs and picks at the hem of the shirt she'd stolen from the surviving belongings of Natasha when they had reconstructed the Avengers compound, "Bucky is still Bucky, I would say he understands my situation the best. Alexei is... he is trying to be better and more involved."

Kate hums, encouraging Yelena to continue. When she doesn't, Kate keeps talking without missing a beat. Not shutting up is definitely the one thing she knows how to do.

"That's great! Oh, the kids say hi by the way. They've missed their auntie Lena. I think Clint and Laura would also be happy to see you soon," Kate muses, and Yelena can hear the sound of a hand running over fur.

There's a moment of silence before Yelena says: "I could actually come visit. I have nothing to do here, and there will be no peace until all the press shit passes."

Kate practically gasps in excitement. "Oh my god, yes! I'll be here for at least another week or two, if you do drop by. Wait let me go tell Clint right away, hold on." There's rustling and then the creak of the third stair down from the second floor that Yelena figured out how to avoid the first day she was there.

Yelena waits patiently, the small smile still present on her face. She really can't hate Kate or the Bartons even if she tried. The Thunderbolts may be a found family team like her sister once had, but they now share the Barton family too.

There's a loud crash that makes Yelena wince and pull the phone away from her ear.

Kate rushes to explain barely a second later: "Oops, sorry. Clint didn't have his aids on and I scared him so he dropped a plate."

There's a faint "Hey, Yelena!" in the background and Yelena laughs. "Tell him I'm leaving as soon as I can, so in a few minutes."

"Uh-huh," there's a pause when Yelena can assume Kate signs the information to Clint, "he says he's happy you're coming."

Yelena hums and stands up from her spot on the floor. She briefly dusts off her clothes and stretches her legs.

"I'll be on my way then. Bye, Kate Bishop. Do not get yourself killed before I make it," she says, already moving the phone away from her ear.

She can still hear Kate clearly when she replies: "Bye-bye! I'll stay safe if you do too, see you soon." and hangs up the call.

Yelena stares at the door, holding her phone firmly. Right, the group of nosy people right outside. She takes a preparing breath and places her hand on the doorknob, twisting it and holding it for a second before pushing the door open.

#bishova #katelena #kate bishop x yelena belova #kate x yelena #yelena x kate #yelena belova #kate bishop #thunderbolts #bishova fanfic #marvel fanfiction #jay’s sapphic scandalism

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catnipaddictt · 1 year ago

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jailbreak

scott barringer x gn!reader

synopsis: You and Scott decide to escape New Horizons, a camp for at risk teens.

wc: 1.3k

tw: none

comment: there is a lack of Scott content on tumblr so I decided I wanted to write something. Also I fell in love with higher ground, i didn't think it was going to be that good, but i binged it in under a week.

You kick at the ground with your beat-up old sneakers, watching as moisture falls from the blades of grass. Grumbling could be heard from in front of you as the ground of teens treked behind their leader. Ever since you had arrived at New Horizons, it was basically walk after walker. You swear once you are out of this place you would never hike again. But alas you had now been here for almost 2 months, and Peter sure wasn't letting you out anytime soon.

Picking up your feet, you begin to follow your group as they walk uphill through the forest that surrounds the school. You make up the back of the pack, mostly just because you prefer to walk at a more leisurely pace.

“Hey” you glance to your side to be met with blue eyes. Scott. He had been here for around the same time you had meaning that you were both ‘fresh meat’. If you could even call yourself that anymore. You reply back with a “hi” focusing on not tripping on any tree roots. Scott was at New Horizons for a drug related problem, something a lot of the students had issues with. He was normally standoffish and refused to participate but you two got along just fine. Which led to the little problem of your not so little crush on the tall boy.

“I hate walking” he states plainly and you agree, nodding your head. “I mean, how is this supposed to help, walking up hills isn't going to fix a bunch of messed up kids” Scott continues. “It sucks, I just want to get out of here” you reply. “Hey, what if we-” Scott seems to want to say something but changes his mind, shaking his head. “Nevermind.” You glance at him confused. “C'mon, you have got to say it now” you laugh. “It was stupid anyways” he grumbles at the ground.

“Oh boo-hoo, just tell me” you practically beg. Scott sees this and ultimately starts to speak, “we could get out of here you know? It's only the forest holding us back I mean. And we have pretty much walked all of it twice over.” You turn your head to look at him, “you mean run away?” you ask. He has caught your full attention now. “See, told you it was dumb” Scott answers.

“Let's do it.”

“Sorry?” He states, “you can't be serious.” He raises an eyebrow. “Oh I'm serious. I have had enough of this place. Worst case scenario we get caught, that's like a few days of confinement to the cabins.” You reply smoothly. It was definitely a horrible idea but it's not like life was too exciting for you at the moment.”I mean, I'm down if you are” Scott shrugs. You think for a moment before replying. “Okay two days from now there is the school bonfire thing. We pack bags beforehand, I'll sneak into the kitchens and get us some food and stuff, and we can meet up by the docks. They won't notice we have gone for a few hours at least.”

Scott looks at you “a few hours head start is probably as good as we are going to get.” He makes up his mind, “okay I'm in.”

The next two days passed rather slowly, with not much really happening apart from lectures about personal wellness. What a waste of your time. You were counting down the minutes until your and Scott's escape out of here.

The final hours of your time at New Horizons were spent packing a bag, light enough to not slow you down, but enough to keep you going until you could get more supplies. Your next job was the kitchen.

The sun had almost disappeared by the time you reached the space, quietly opening and shutting the door behind you. You grabbed two large plastic bottles of water, placing them in your bag, as well as a few cans of food and lots of snacks. This was definitely enough to last you a few days. Getting through the forest should only take a few hours, the tricky part was not being seen around town.

Zipping up your bag you sneak out of the kitchen, making your way to the docks. You could see Scott's shadow cast on the wooden planks, giving his location away. You walk almost silently up to him and he jumps a little at you appearing. “Don't sneak up on me like that” he says playfully.

You nod your head in the direction of the path leading to the forest “time to go?” The light from the bonfire flickers over the landscape, making it feel like something out of a 80’s horror film. “Yeah, let's do it”

You both make your way out of the school and into the dense forest. There is nearly no light apart from the occasional bit of moon peeking through the canopy. Scott pulls two flashlights out of his bag, passing one to you “borrowed Auggie’s, hope he doesn't mind” he shrugs and you laugh. Poor Auggie had been robbed of his only torch.

After about an hour of walking Scott starts telling you clearly made up stories about people getting lost in the woods never to be seen again. Typical teenager boy behavior. You roll your eyes in response - not that he could see. “That's so not real” you speak, only to be met with a yelp as he trips over a tree root. You cannot contain your laughter at the action. “Not funny” he grumbles.

The next few hours pass in a blur. The clear night makes your walk nicer than you thought it was going to be. Scott being there helped a lot. You both exchange tales of your lives before New Horizons, Scott tells you about his football games and school. Up ahead of you, you can see where the ground drops about 6 feet or so, meaning you will have to climb down. Scott goes first, passing you his bag so you can throw it down to him once he is on solid ground. Once he reaches the earth again you throw down his bag followed by yours. He catches them and puts them down on the ground. Now it's your turn to make the descent.

You make it most of the way down without fail, but the place where you put your left foot collapses and you are forced to jump back and onto the dirt covered ground. Luckily you don’t hurt yourself but in the process you manage to basically slam into your companion. He lets out a sound at the impact, “woah there.” “Sorry Scott.”

After another hour you finally reach the edge of civilization and you exchange grins with the blonde boy. You had made it with close to little hiccups. Making it onto town, you and Scott begin to brainstorm what to do now. “We need to get further away before first light, then people might see the two of us. And when Peter comes asking they will know we were here” You think out loud. “We could hitchhike?” Scott suggests “It's risky but if we walk further out of town we have a better chance of someone who is passing through and not a local?”

You agree to the plan and after a quick break from walking you both set out again. Now that you are out of the dense forest you can see the night sky. It's clear tonight and you can see all the stars, you will miss it in a way. But you made your decision. As you walk, your hand brushes against Scott’s prompting you to snap your arm close to your side, embarrassed. You can sense his head turning to look at you briefly before he looks straight ahead again. Then, if on second thought, he grabs your hand in his, interlocking your pinkies. You look down at your and Scott's hand and smile. Maybe, just maybe it would all work out fine.

I'm not sure about the ending of this one as I kinda didn't know how to finish it but oh well. Im also finishing writing a whole heap of requests, so expect those soon!

#hayden christensen #hayden christensen imagine #hayden christensen x reader #higher ground #higherground #higher ground tv show #scott barringer #scott higher ground #scott barringer x reader #scott barringer x you #hayden christensen x you

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chlorinecake · 2 years ago

Text

⋆｡˚ ✈︎ love at first flight | N.RK

ft riki x fem!reader, nwjns hanni, enha jake | genre fluff, airport crush, strangers to lovers | cw language, flirting, kissing, dirty jokes, petty "arguments," possibly geographically incorrect | pt. 1, 2, and 3 here | wc 4894

synopsis. 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳…🗼

It was around 11:00pm as you struggled to find your passport.

"I could've sworn it was on my desk yesterday," you thought to yourself, searching through your messy bedroom.

After your morning cafe date with Riki, he dropped you off at your apartment so you could get started with packing as soon as possible, given that your flight was booked for take off the next day.

You're still not sure why you said yes to Riki's impulsive offer, though, part of you wanted to believe that saying "no" would've been an even riskier call.

Riki, in all of his handsome glory, had been a menace to your soul. You just couldn't put a finger on what is was about him that kept luring you in almost magnetically.

Ding, dong.

Your breath hitched at the sound of someone knocking outside your apartment door. Grabbing the purple ink pen from your dresser, conveniently sitting next to your diary, you gripped it like a weapon as you approached the door cautiously.

Knock, knock, knock.

Unlocking the latch and twisting the handle, you slung the door open to reveal none other than Riki, standing calmly with grocery bags in each hand.

"Good night! And yes, that can be a greeting… What's the pen for?" He shrugged, walking past you and straight into your apartment as if owning the place.

You flashed him an annoyed look before closing the door behind him, suddenly feeling embarrassed while dressed in your pjs.

"It's for self defense, night stalker. And how'd you even know where I live?" You asked accusingly.

"I drove you here earlier after the cafe, remember?" He said while placing the grocery bags on your study desk to unload the items.

Damn, you thought to yourself, It must be wayyy past my bedtime...

"Anyways, I brought you this neck pillow-thingy for the plane," Riki smiled, walking up to you and fastening the pillow around your neck, "Pretty cool, right?"

"Uhhh, sure," you mumbled, standing awkwardly as he welcomed himself to explore your bedroom.

"So...," he began with a grin, "this is where you keep your pretty little panties, huh?" Running a finger over the surface of your dresser, he stopped once he met your oh-so familiar diary.

"Hmm. I remember this little guy. How many pages have you written about me so far? My guess is at least 3."

"Jokes on you, Riki. I don't reminisce about people I haven't even known for a week," you said with a sigh, plopping on your bed, too tired to retaliate physically.

He parts his lips as if wanting to say something, but nothing came out. He only walked over to your bed, taking a seat beside you.

"Look, ____. If you wanna back out of this trip, it's not too late. I understand that this is a pretty big thing I'm asking of you."

"No, Riki, I really do wanna go. It's just that I lost my passport somewhere in this stupid apartment and now I can't find it," you pouted before suddenly feeling his weight escape your side.

He paced around your room as if an internal GPS was guiding him in the right direction.

"What're you doing?" You giggled, watching as he picked up a random toilet paper tube to use as a searching tool.

"Shh, I think I see it!" He whispered, reaching for a navy blue and gold envelope from under one of your shoe boxes, "Voici!"

You gazed in shock, not only at his use of French, but also at how he actually managed to find it, let alone that quickly.

"Holy shit, Riki! You're a lifesaver!" You beamed, running to give him a bear hug.

"I bet you've been dying to do that since I came in," he teased, trying to conceal his own blushing.

You were losing track of how many times he flirted with you in the past five minutes, but you were just glad that he found your passport in time.

All there was left to do now after packing was explain to your best friend Hanni where you'd be for the next 2-3 days.

The following morning came by quicker than you already expected it to.

Fortunately, y'all arrived at the airport just in time for boarding, going to your respectful seats on the aircraft according to your ticket numbers.

And finally, it was time for takeoff.

You and Riki hadn't even been on the plane for thirty minutes before you started bumping heads with each other.

“How come you get to sit by the window? You’re not even taking pictures,” You scolded him, crossing your arms in frustration.

“You see? That’s the problem with this generation. Always seeking technology to bring them happiness," He said, shaking his head.

“Riki, we’re literally depending on technology to carry us cross country. Welcome to our advanced society.”

“That’s not even a fair comparison, but go off.”

You scoffed, “Don’t ‘but go off’ me!”

“Or what?” He challenged, flashing you a smirk that made you internally curse him for being so effortlessly attractive.

“I said, or what?” He continued, putting an arm around the head of your seat and pulling your face towards his by your chin.

The way he peered into your eyes made you feel like kissing h—

OH GOD, NO! NOT AT ALL! NEVER, you thought to yourself.

He licked his lower lip, making you stutter as you answered, “O-or I’ll… I’ll tell your mom on you!”

He snorted at your empty threat, “Yeah, good luck with that. She doesn’t speak English for shit.”

“Well, whatever, I’ll just use google translate,” you snapped back.

“Oh, so you think fast?”

“Only when I-“

He interrupted your words with a kiss to your forehead, “Not fast enough, apparently,” he winked, sitting back in his seat.

Oh boy. This trip is already kicking off to an interesting start.

You sat frozen as if he’d just snatched your soul away, focusing on the moisture his lips left on your skin.

“And don’t even think about wiping that off,” he smirked, searching through his carrier bag before pulling out a pair of wired headphones.

You weren't gonna let him win that easily.

Exhaling your nerves, you thought of something catty to say back to him/

“Now look who’s a product of our e-generation, Mr. iPad Kid. Let me guess, is it time for Cocomelon?” You pouted facetiously, trying to conceal your nervousness from whatever the hell possessed him to kiss you.

“I’m just tired of hearing the air conditioner," he shrugged, "Sue me.”

Riki plugged the headphones into his phone port, opening the Spotify app (not sponsored lol) on his phone and selecting a random playlist. “Wanna listen?” He asked softly, meeting you with his dark brown eyes.

You took the left earbud from his hand, positioning it into your own ear as the sounds of lofi rhythms met your ears. After a few minutes, you drifted off to sleep, not even realizing that you were laying on his shoulder.

Riki eventually followed after you, leaning his head atop yours as he snored softly. Though, he’d likely never tell you that part of the story once you woke up.

A couple more hours in the plane passed, and you were officially landing at your final destination: Paris, France.

“I'm sorry, you’re WHERE? With WHO?!?!” Hanni yelled over the phone.

You didn’t mean to make it seem like you'd been keeping this big secret from her, but you simply never got around to telling her... that you were impulsivey traveling across country with a guy you met at the airport last week.

“Look, it’s only for a few days, I’ll be fine,” you replied, unpacking your luggage on the hotel room bed.

Riki was busy getting you an extra key card for the room, so you didn’t have to worry about him barging in on your conversation for a while.

“Tell me. Why did you think this was a good idea, ____. Honestly? Hell, did you even think before saying yes?”

“Of course I did, Hanni… but if you’re just gonna keep scolding me, I’d rather we talk about something else,” you whined, hating the way she started to make you feel.

"Ugh, I’m sorry, bestie! Please don’t misinterpret my concern for cruelty.”

“It’s okay, Hanni, I know you're just looking out for me... but, maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Omg, naur!! Forget I said anything! I want you to enjoy yourself in Paris! Just call me if you need anything, alright?…unless it’s love advice or—”

“Money, I know. Talk to you later, pigtails!”

“Later,” she giggled, ending the call with a ‘mwah’ from her end. You placed your phone down on the mattress, flinching at the sight of Riki walking out of the bathroom, tossing the extra key card on the bed.

“What the- I thought you were in the lobby?”

“Yeah, but I came back up not too long ago. Don’t worry, I didn’t eavesdrop… the entire time,” he teased, running a hand through his hair as he observed your luggage. “I hope you have a pretty outfit in there.”

“Mhm, and why’s that?”

“Because, we’re going out to dinner, silly,” he said, pulling out an ironing board from the closet to press his wrinkled pants.

You didn't expect for Riki to wanna go out so soon after just arriving.

Either way, you tried on a few outfits before finally choosing the beret and plaid pink skirt-suit you usually wore during business meetings, which ironically fit the chic Parisian aesthetic.

“Bonjour, and welcome to Le Goût! Do you need help navigating the menu or are you familiar with French dishes?” The waitress asked in a friendly accent.

“We actually already spoke to one of your waiters. He’s putting in our order right now,” Riki replied, handing her one of the extra menus from your table.

“Very well, then. I’ll pop back around once you’re ready to order dessert. Call for Ines if you need anything else,” she smiled, walking away.

You swirled the ice cubes in your glass, just as your previous waiter came out with your food.

“Velvety Escargots Bourguignonne for the gentleman, and Chicken Fricassee for the lady,” he said, placing down your plates and walking away.

Riki stared at his plate with disgust in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, folding a napkin over your lap to catch any spills or crumbs as you ate.

“Uhmmm, I didn’t order snails…,” he cringed, poking at the shelled creatures on his plate with a fork.

“You literally looked at the menu and told the waiter that’s what you wanted. I thought you spoke French!”

“I do, but that doesn’t mean I can read it,” he replied.

“What did you think ‘escargot bourguignonne’ meant anyways?”

“Dunno, sounds like a pasta dish to me.”

“Well… do you wanna trade plates?” You offered, not wanting to come off as silly foreigners for misreading the menu.

“Pfft, of course not, I’m getting my money back! Ines! Excusez-moi, madame Ines?!”

You reached for Riki’s hand, trying to redirect his attention, “Riki, please, let’s just enjoy our food. Paris is a culinary landmark, I’m sure we’ll run into some better places after this,” you pleaded, swapping the plates on the table.

He let out a sigh, unrolling his napkin and placing it on his lap as well, “Fine. Bon appétit and what not.”

After finishing up in Le Goût, you and Riki took a walk from the restaurant, exploring the streets of France.

You weren’t too worried about getting lost, because Riki hired a personal chauffeur to guide you two through the city if needed..

He hadn’t realized how much farther ahead of you he was walking until you grabbed onto his hand.

“Oh, so we’re making it a public thing, I see?” He winked, pulling you closer to him.

“No, you just walk fast as hell and I can’t keep up with your legs,” you corrected, giving him a look.

“Mhm, whatever you say, ____.”

That’s when you two stumbled upon a group of people, waiting at the edge of a dock to be boarded on for a boat ride.

“Please don’t say you’re afraid of water,” Riki looked at you with hopeful eyes.

You weren’t too fond of potentially getting your cute outfit soiled, but with the way Riki peered into your eyes, it was hard to say no... again.

“Okay, let’s go,” you smiled, following behind him as he led you by the hand.

It didn’t take long for the officials to load you and Riki on the raft, as he opted for the cheaper version that gave him control to row the boat.

You watched as he paddled across the Seine River with childlike glee, observing the antique buildings surrounding the Eiffel Tower.

If it wasn’t for the cool breeze pulling you back to reality, you would’ve believed you were dreaming at how beautiful the scenery was.

How beautiful this moment with Riki was—

Ugh, never mind, it’s probably the snails affecting the chemicals in your brain.

“This is incredible,” Riki exclaimed, his arms rotating at a constant circle as he maneuvered the boat paddles, soaking up the Parisian sun.

“Like how incredible it is that despite your amateurish being, you can somehow pull everything off,” you smirked, nudging his knee with your shoe.

“Amateurish being? I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve that you haven’t even seen yet, ____. Trust, biologically, I was BUILT to pull everything off.”

“Right, so what happened with those snails earlier?”

“Gosh, are you seriously bringing that up right now?”

“Yes, I am seriously, deadass, on God, for real am bringing this up.”

He tried to hide the smile that dared to show on his face at the way you mocked his previous use of slang.

“Don’t get shy now, Riki. I can see you blushing.”

He quirked an eyebrow at you, clicking his teeth with his tongue before throwing the paddles into the river.

“RIKI!”

“Whoops! Looks like my bashful little fingers slipped,” he giggled, not being able to contain his laughter from the shocked expression on your face.

“Guess we’re gonna have to swim back. Come on,” he beamed, talking off his turtleneck before diving into the lake, water splashing all over your lap.

“Oh my God, Riki, you’re such an imbecile!”

“And you’re such a baby! Now come on, the water feels great, I promise!”

You watched as the water rippled around his movements.

You couldn't see anything below the dark blue river, making you feel anxious about actually jumping in.

“W-w-what if there are alligators hiding in there?”

“Pfft,” he scoffed, “French alligators? I mean, if I’m still swimming, they must have a pretty low appetite… unless… they prefer breast meat,” he winked, treading in the water.

“Gosh, you’re such a weirdo,” you whined, watching as he made his way over to the other side of the lake, marching up the rocky land.

He shook his head like a puppy, trying to get rid of the access water in his hair.

You looked away from him shyly, trying not to peek at how the white t-shirt he wore clung to his toned abs.

“Are you coming over here today, or what?” He teased, putting his hands on his hips.

You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, leveling your nerves before jumping in the water, leaving your favorite beret behind in the now abandoned boat.

So much for being peaceable foreigners.

After making it to Riki, which wasn’t nearly as daunting as you expected, he applauded your performance. “Brava, ____! Brava!! You successfully swam across a 30ft deep river!”

“30?!” you shivered in disbelief, thankful that he shared the rivers depth with you after you already got across.

“Relax, ____, that’s like a kiddy pool. Anyways, let’s get back to the hotel before we get sick,” he said as the chilly winds hit both your wet bodies.

Under any other ordinary circumstances, you probably would’ve beaten the hell out of Riki for being so careless.

But it was something about the Parisian air that made you care less.

Riki phoned the chauffeur to bring you back to the resort, where he arranged a spa evening for you to be professionally pampered by French beauticians.

Meanwhile, he went to shower in the hotel room, saying that he’d meet you back at the spa when you were finished.

One of the hairdressers gave you a blow out and quick trim just to clean up your ends.

Then, conveniently after your finger nail polish finished drying, your phone beeped with a message from Hanni.

Riki tapped you on the shoulder, the scent of his sweet citrus cologne hitting your senses.

“You ready?” He asked, picking up one of the matcha macarons the spa staff gave you.

“Ready for what?”

“To eat. I know you’ve gotten all pretty, but I think it’s best we stay in since it’s dark out now.”

Did he just call you pretty?!?!

“Okay, we can hit up the French market and maybe make something for dinner," you suggested.

“Oh my gosh, great idea! We could make my mom’s gyoza recipe!”

“Oh, did she make the ones you let me try at the airport that day, too?”

“I can’t believe you still remember that," he said in shock.

“Well yeah, that was only a few days ago…”

“Hmm. I guess you just don’t seem like a stranger to me anymore,” He smiled, grabbing your hand and leading you from the resort spa.

After shopping at the market, where the prices were surprisingly affordable, you and Riki headed back to your hotel room to unpack the groceries.

“I hope you’re good at cooking,” Riki chimed, grabbing a large bowl to fill with all the French snacks you brought from the store.

“Why, exactly?”

“Because, I’m mostly gonna watch while you keep me entertained, Chef ____.”

You rolled your eyes at his words, grabbing a knife and chopping board as you started prepping the ingredients you’d need.

“Does ‘tsp’ mean tablespoon or teaspoon?” You asked, struggling to interpret his Mom’s recipe instructions.

“All I know is big spoon and little spoon,” he smirked, leaning closer over the counter.

You brushed off his flirting as you kept trying to figure out the recipe. That’s when Riki grabbed a handful of fondue flavored chips from the snack bowl, crunching them between his teeth.

“Gosh, would you stop chewing so freaking loud? I can’t think!”

“It’s not my fault you’re a babo,” he teased, poking you on the nose.

“Bet you can’t say that in French.”

“Pfft, why would I need to?”

“Because you said you speak French?”

“For the last time, I do! I’m just not a dictionary.”

“Sounds like another lame excuse, but whatever. Pass me the sesame oil… Oh, and one of those chips!”

Making the gyoza wasn’t nearly as hard as you anticipated. Though, your main struggle came with capturing the authentic flavors.

After steaming the doughy purses and tossing them in a dark chili sauce, you plated a few for Riki to try, even though you both were already stuffed from the snacks alone.

“Ugh, can you at least try them while they’re fresh?” You whined, bringing one of the saucy gyozas to Riki’s mouth with a pair of chopsticks.

He complied with a sigh, parting his lips as he hummed.

“What do you think?”

“Well, they don’t taste like my mom’s, but they’re not horrible. I’ll give it a 4/10.”

“Huh?!”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to do better than her, or even come close, so don’t feel too bad about it.”

You pouted, wrapping the remaining dumplings in plastic wrap before placing them in the hotel fridge.

“Alright, let’s freshen up and head to bed,” he suggested, wiping the kitchen counter and heading to the bathroom to wash up.

You went in after he finished, changing into your pajamas and meeting him on the kingsized bed.

“Ahh... I love Paris,” he smiled, adjusting his head on the pillow.

“Yeah. Me too, but why?”

“Because, the next time I visit, I’ll be reminded of you.”

“Aww, how cheesy,” you smiled, returning a poke to his nose.

“No, I’m serious. I’ve never had this much fun with someone before.”

“But we’ve been arguing the entire time.”

“I know, but… that’s just our way of…”

“Flirting?”

He blushed at your words, “Yea. Our way of flirting.”

You felt your own face heat up in the moment, fighting the urge to scoot closer to him on the mattress.

“So,” you began timidly, “what comes after this stage?”

“Depends,” he replied, resting his hands behind his head, “Where do you want it to go?”

“Riki…”

“What?”

“We just met—“

“That doesn’t answer my question, ____.”

You let out a breath, thinking on his words, “Hmm. I think we would make great fr-enemies.”

He giggled, “That’s it?”

“That's it. But maybe with time… we could—”

Buzz, buzz.

A notification from Riki’s phone lit up the dim hotel room. He reached for his phone, only to see a text from his friend Jake, who said he just arrived in Paris and wanted to meet up tomorrow.

“Was this planned?” You asked confused.

“No?… I don’t know why he’s here... or how he even knows I’m here.”

“Well. Looks like we better get some rest for tomorrow.”

“Ughh, but I wanted to spend our last day here together,” he pouted, rubbing his eyebrows.

“And we still can, Riki. It’ll probably be fun having your friend around, anyway.”

A moment of silence filled the air before he spoke.

“Fine. As long as you don’t mind, neither do I,” he smiled, turning off the night light before trying to get some sleep.

“Hanni. Pham. You sneaky salamander!”

"Bonjour, bestie! Turns out, Riki does have a cute and single friend. Meet Jake, my favorite Aussie boy!" She beamed, clinging onto him as if they've known each other for life.

You wondered if that's how you and Riki looked together.

"Nice to meet you, Jake," you forced a smile, shaking his hand.

"You too, Miss ____," he returned with an Australian accent that caught you off guard.

No wonder Hanni and him were already getting along so well.

"Jake-hyung, when you said you wanted to hang out at the amusement park, I didn't think you meant for a double-date," Riki said with an awkward smile, searching your face for an 'okay' sign.

"Aww, c'mon Nishi, it's not every day that you're granted with such convenient chances (😉) to hang out with friends," Jake began.

"Exactly. Let's make the most of this beautiful day, shall we?" Hanni encouraged, taking your hand in hers as you, Riki, and Jake went on to explore the park.

The four of you went on more rides than you could keep track of, ranging from ferris wheels, spinning teacups, and rollercoasters.

It was also fun watching Riki and Jake battle it out on an amusement park mini game to win a stuffed animal prize: Of course, Riki won, but you gave the plush to Hanni because you didn't feel like carrying it around.

You all planned to end the night with ice cream, but that was until Riki caught sight of a jewelry making station.

"____, we have to," Riki said in a serious tone.

You giggled, "Have to what? Make matching friendship bracelets?"

"Uh, YES!"

Hanni and Jake sat at a different table than you and Riki, hooking different charms to the silver bracelet chains provided by the staff.

You and Riki decided to make one for each other and then swap them once you finished.

"Are you guys almost done?" Jake asked, looking at the time which was running close to 7:30pm.

"Almost, I just need to make a few finishing touches," Riki smiled, adding on some beads.

Finally, you all payed for the bracelets and put them in velvet baby blue goody bags, bidding your farewells before heading back to your respective hotel rooms to pack.

"Today was so much fun," Riki exclaimed, sorting the clothes in his suitcase.

"I know, I'm already sad just thinking about how we go back to reality tomorrow."

"Yeah...but in the meantime, let's enjoy our last few hours in Paris," he smiled, closing his suitcase before putting on a French film for you both to fall asleep to.

The next morning came by faster than desired. On the flight back home, you reminisced about your fun weekend in Paris as though you might forget the moment you stopped thinking.

It was the simple things that started to effect you the most.

Riki's random Spotify playlist knitted memories with songs, faces to feelings.

You were falling hard for Riki, and the truth was, you had been since day one. It was obvious that he felt the same way about you, too.

The only thing holding you back was the fear of letting go.

The fear of letting love.

"All flight passengers, we have started our descent and will be landing shortly. Please remain seated after making sure your tray tables are in their upright positions and any other personal belongings are within your vicinity. Thank you," the pilot spoke from the head of the plane.

You and Riki were sharing a box of cream filled French cookies as you finished the last few minutes of the movie "Your Name" on his laptop.

"So you're telling me that this ends with Taki and Mitsuha not remembering each other?" You asked sadly, wishing the two characters could've had a happier ending.

"Not in this film, no. But the director mentioned something in an interview about them eventually reuniting and even getting married," Riki clarified, taking a sip from his carton of chocolate milk.

You sighed, looking out the window as the ending credits played silently in the background.

Riki tapped your shoulder, causing you to whip your head to face him.

"Here," he said, handing you the baby blue velvet sack he kept from Paris.

After making your bracelet, he said he wouldn't let you see it until y'all were in the plane. Turns out, that moment was now.

"Open it," he nearly whispered, his usual piercing eyes becoming more soft.

You took the bag in your hand, untying the string as you slid the silver bracelet in your palm. Riki didn't hesitate to fasten the hook around your wrist, a hue of pink rising to his cheeks at the sight.

You observed the rainbow heart beads and other cute charms that ran across the length of the bracelet.

One charm that stood out to you most was the shimmery blue airplane, dangling next to a cursive letter R.

The bracelet was so nice that it made you feel insecure about the one you made for him. He payed attention to so many little details, all apart of every moment that you shared together so far.

Even though the gesture was simple, you were left speechless.

"Riki, it's beautiful," you beamed, fighting the urge to hug him.

"Alright, alright, now where's mine," he teased, shaking with anticipation.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot," you giggled, reaching in your purse to hand him the velvet sack containing the bracelet you made him.

That's when a robotic voice emitted a series of beeps and tones from the ceiling speakers: a familiar chime that let you know the airplane had officially landed.

Riki was quick to grab your luggage and his, making his way to the airport base as you trailed behind him.

You knew after landing, the peaceful nature of your weekend would be bombarded with the busy world you knew best.

You still couldn't believe that you had just traveled cross-country with a complete stranger, and if given the opportunity, you wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

Riki took your hands in his just as your Uber ride pulled up outside the airport, since your usual chauffeur, Hanni, was still in Paris with her 'favorite Aussie boy.'

"I don't really know what to say, but... Paris was cool...with you, I mean," Riki admitted shyly, his usually dominant aura faltering before you.

"Yeah. Paris was cool with you, too, Riki," you smiled, stepping on your tip-toes and kissing him on the cheek.

You turned on your heel, walking towards the shiny glass doors with your polkadot suitcase clicking behind you.

Of course you looked back, and of course he was still there waiting for you to leave with a smile.

You made your way to the vehicle, loaded your things in the trunk before hopping in the backseat.

The quiet Uber driver made his way out of the parking lot while a certain thought meddled in the back of your mind: Riki and I will probably never see each other again.

Still, unlike Taki and Mitsuha, you could never forget the flirty TSA agent who stole your heart.

You looked at the bracelet on your wrist again, smiling at the recent memories that were already started to feel distant.

That's when you felt butterflies erupt in your stomach.

Buzz, buzz.

You pulled your phone from your purse, revealing a text on your screen from a number you hadn't made a contact for yet:

"Hey, it's Riki. I know you just left, but I might die if we don't hang out tomorrow. Coffee at Café Royale's? Again? Maybe?"

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰

⋆｡˚ ✈︎ Thank you all so much for reading this ff! This concludes the finale for my long awaited "Flirty TSA Agent" Series. With that being said, feel free to check out my enhypen bookshelf for more fun reads!

⋆｡˚ ✈︎ Taglist: @fanficfactoryfoxxx @rickysblkgf @bambangan

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