#but he said that Fury ordered him to be there which apparently means that they all just have to put up with that

[daydreamerdrew]

Iron Man (1968) #7

[my-castles-crumbling]

Angel

Based on @royalthorned's post

TW: drugged drinks, but nobody is hurt. This is a lighthearted fic but remember to watch your drinks bc drugged drinks are NOT a joke, and end in horrible scenarios on most cases.

Evan was tired. Not only had it been a long night, but it had been a long goddamn year. He wasn't paid nearly enough, and he hated the hours of his current job. The only upside was that it wasn't hard.

Being a bouncer meant checking IDs and dealing with drunken losers who had nothing better to do than cause problems at their local dive. And though Evan wasn't one for violence, he was tall and knew a bit of karate, meaning he could easily deal with any idiot who tried to cause trouble. He was also gay, which was a bonus in the owner's eyes, because apparently the last bouncer liked hitting on the girls who frequented the bar.

So he donned his black shirt with the giant bar logo and headed off every Wednesday to Saturday for his 8pm-2am shift, rethinking his life choices.

But that particular Saturday, he was in a foul mood. His friend, Dorcas, was having a birthday celebration that he was missing because the backup bouncer had 'plans' and now some stupid arsehole was stumbling toward him like he'd been hit in the head.

"S'a...y'ra.." the drunk murmured, again tripping and grasping Evan's shoulder to stand up.

For a moment, Evan looked him over. He must have arrived during his break, or before his shift start, because he would have remembered this man. He was tall and thin, but still had muscles on his frame, and was covered head to toe with piercings and tattoos. His dark hair fell in his eyes as he swayed and his black clothing was a bit too big for him, but he pulled off the look. His pupils were also huge, and he was clearly not just drunk.

"Fuck," Evan murmured, realizing. He was drugged.

"S'an angel," the man murmured gleefully, petting Evan's face lightly, and his stomach flip-flopped. He had to do something.

"Oi, Riddle!" he called to the owner, waving him over.

"What?" Riddle snapped, turning away from the girl he was chatting up and heading to Evan with a scowl. "This better be good."

"Listen," Evan said in a low voice. "This bloke's clearly drugged. He needs an ambulance, or-"

"No!" Riddle sneered, eyes full of contempt. "We don't want another issue in the news!"

"What are we supposed to do, throw him in a cab?" Evan asked, fury burning in his veins.

"Drive him to the hospital if you must," Riddle said, waving his hand in the air. "But no cops."

So Evan loaded the tripping man in his car, only stopping to offer Riddle a few choice words when the other man told him to make sure to clock out before he went.

-

"Fuck," Barty moaned the next morning, hospital lights making his head pulse. "What happened?"

But the man in the chair next to his bed was the man from his dreams. The angel. "You got drugged at the shittiest bar in town," he said, tilting his head to the side. "And then when I drove you to the hospital, you spent the entire ride telling me how pretty I was."

Barty wasn't one for embarrassment, so he just looked the man up and down appraisingly. "I guess drugged me still has good taste."

The man broke into a grin. "I was hoping you'd say that. How about I take you to dinner? You can order all your own drinks, promise."

Barty chuckled. "Sounds good. Just give me a few minutes to get ready."

And the man laughed, eyes sparkling.

[plzu]

crushed croissant - (Adrian Chase x Reader)

part seven← ☕️ series masterlist ☕️ ao3

a/n: getting to explore the difference in headspace of both adrian and reader in one chapter is soooo much fun summary: Vigilante is too busy with the Task Force to visit you at work. But when he finally does, he tells you everything he's been up to. You're not sure you like his stories very much. warnings: mentions of canon-accurate violence, the word "rapey" is used once, cheating in a broad/general sense (as in it might not be considered cheating to some, but would be to others), no y/n wordcount: 5.2k

Something in the air at home has definitely shifted. You've been waiting for your mother to snap. To blow up. Surely the fuse of her anger is due to erupt, explode in a fury where she hurls insults at you. It's long overdue, anyway.

But when you see your father sitting in the living room, or at the kitchen table, head hung in despair over a glass of whiskey, you get the sense your mother hasn't been home much.

Your dad has barely spared you a second glance since the day he yelled at you. Like all the fight has left his body, like he can't bring himself to care after your mother's own blasé comments that morning.

Maybe this -- plus your mother's seemingly sudden absence from home -- should be concerning. But there's this tentative fluttering hope in your chest over the tiniest taste of this newfound freedom that you haven't had since moving back to Evergreen. Like you can finally roam around your parent's house without trying to avoid them.

You still err on the side of caution, of course. But still. Being able to venture into the kitchen for a cup of coffee in the mornings without the heart rate of someone being hunted for sport has been a nice, welcome change of pace.

Maybe actual licensed therapists would disagree, but Adrian found blowing shit up in the woods with his BFF pretty therapeutic. Especially after said BFF has been in prison for several years with zero means of communication from the outside world.

Something about the morass underfoot, wet dead leaves sticking to the soles of his boots. That same soft earth cushioning his fall as he flung himself away from exploding dynamites (chucked by Peacemaker, aimed directly at him! Classic). Shooting various holes into appliances and shattering the glass of old blenders and coffee carafes, a riot and a comfort, the raucous laughter of two grown men being drowned out by explosions and swallowed up by the canopy of the tall trees.

It gave Adrian an adrenaline rush, the kind he can only feel as Vigilante. It reassured him that his place in Peacemaker's life was not being threatened. There's still space for him, this easy camaraderie. They still make a badass team.  

A badass team that still brings chicks back to Chris’ trailer that they can share, apparently. 

Adrian has never taken issue with bedding babes with Chris. 

He's always careful to keep the Vigilante mask on, makes sure everyone involved knows not to even think about trying to touch his face. Getting his dick touched now and then offered a sweet relief, even if the main reason he was even hard to begin with was because Christopher Smith was involved.

Mostly, though, Adrian just appreciated whatever bonding time he could get in with Peacemaker. It was one of those things that, in the beginning, was something he agreed to in order to grow closer with the man he’s looked up to since he was a kid, and show him that  Vigilante is a real bro’s bro deserving of his respect. Earn his spot as the cool, kickass partner Peacemaker deserved. Well, besides Eagly, of course.  

(And getting to show off how far he's come since his 'Thimble' days, even if Chris doesn't know it's Adrian under the mask, was a nice bonus, too.)

And so while Vigilante should have no qualms with sharing some brunette that Chris invited back to his trailer (which, like, totally understandable after being locked up for so long), it is Adrian that hesitates.

“I don't know if I can do this, man.”

Chris snorts as the uncertainty in his voice. “What, did you get a girlfriend or something while I was gone?” He smirks as if such a suggestion could only be a joke. 

Vigilante looks at him. Hasn’t Chris read his texts since being back? Or listened during their special bonding time blowing shit up in the woods? “Dude, I told you! There’s the barista I've been seeing.”

“What? So? Did you guys have the talk?”

“Dude,” he giggles. “We both know where babies come from.”

Chris rolls his eyes. “Not that talk, dipshit. Did you two establish a relationship? A monogamous one?”

Adrian thinks about the quiet way you called him your best friend. He also thinks about the way you've only ever touched each other with clothes on.

The way none of this establishes any sort of relationship beyond friends with benefits. Even if those benefits just leave him stiff in his jeans.

“I... guess not,” he answers Chris, a little unsure.

“Then you can still bone whoever you want, dude,” says Chris, the near-constant impatience clear in his tone. 

“I'm not gonna force you, obviously, because that would be fucked up and rapey,” he continues, straight-faced, throwing his hands up defensively. “But there is a hot, underappreciated woman waiting for us to show her the best railing she's probably had in months. Honestly, maybe even years. That Evan guy doesn’t seem to realize how good he has it. So I'm heading inside to deliver multiple, mind-blowing orgasms, and you're free to join. Or not!”

Chris disappears inside his trailer, and Adrian is left outside with Eagly, who just stares up at him with its round, yellow eyes.

“What do you think I should do, Eagly?”

The large bird says nothing. Just cocks its white feathered head before tottering off the porch and flying away.

Adrian sighs. 

There was this slightly turbulent, uncomfortable feeling at the idea that sleeping with someone would somehow be a betrayal to you. But Chris' words eases some of that worry, once again enlightening Adrian in only the way Christopher Smith can. You and Adrian have not  established any sort of relationship beyond the PG-13 makeout sessions and hanging out at bars and fast food joints. And Adrian is no stranger to hooking up with people in a no-strings attached kind of way. Moreso as Vigilante with Peacemaker, sure, but Adrian has had his fair share of one-night stands purely for the occasional sexual relief.

As special as spending time with you is, way more special than any past random hook-ups Adrian’s had, he has to remember that you two are just friends.

And so, with a clear conscience, he steps into Chris’ trailer.

Going days without seeing Adrian's bare, open face is making you feel... withdrawal symptoms. Dramatic? Maybe. But the firecracker pops of color he usually brings with him has been scant, making the dreary monochrome of Evergreen bleed back into the cafe. It turns you slump-shouldered and sullen.

“Hey.”

Emerging from the bitter clouds of your thoughts and into the mundane early evening of the cafe, you blink back to reality and watch Ashe's concerned face come into focus.

“Is everything okay?” Their tone carries the worried weight of someone approaching a wild, wounded animal.

Are you wounded?

Well.

It feels like there hasn’t been anytime for you anymore, now that this Peacemaker guy is back. And it hurts, admittedly. Which is stupid, and you feel bad about it because of course Adrian is going to want to catch up with an old friend that he hasn’t seen in years. So the pain of your guilt over your selfish feelings hurts, too. 

But you haven't had the chance to feel the warmth of his touch since the night that changed everything, and it’s startling to realize how much you’ve come to rely on it for your sanity. The longer you go without the feel of his heat pressed against you, the colder the days seem to leave you.

Realizing you haven't responded to Ashe yet, you force out a non-commital grunt and continue stocking and reorganizing the pastries for tomorrow.

This, for whatever reason, does not convince Ashe that everything is, in fact, okay. Their voice lowers into that of delicate understanding.

“Did you and Adrian... break up?” They grimace, seemingly afraid of the answer. “He hasn't stopped by lately.”

True. Adrian hasn’t been by to visit during the day. No more quick hellos before his shift at Fennel Fields starts. Just late night visits from Vigilante instead, before he runs off to his other best friend.

Your head snaps to face Ashe again. “We're not-” you start, but then clamp your jaw shut. An insecure clack of your teeth. You look away, avoiding their gaze. “It’s not like that with Adrian.”

“Sure,” they say, but in a tone that very clearly implies they're just entertaining you.

“Why do you even ask?” There’s more bite to the question than you intended, but Adrian as a topic right now is extracting some venom you didn't think Ashe would ever be on the receiving end of.

But Ashe doesn't seem perturbed in the slightest. Probably because they were the most patient and understanding person you've ever met, something you constantly marvel at considering their young age.

“Well,” they delicately--but persistently--tug at the corner of the packaged pastry currently suffocating in your fist. Your fingers unfurl to reveal crinkled plastic encasing a crushed croissant. “It just seems like you're back to the way you were before Adrian started coming around.”

You frown as Ashe tears open the plastic. The baked, buttery scent of bread infiltrates your nostrils. “How was I?” you mumble, voice notably softer. “Before Adrian, I mean.”

“Mm,” Ashe tears off a piece of the flaky croissant and pops it into their mouth. “Miserable. Grumpy.”

“You’re not supposed to eat that.”

“Not like we can sell it to a customer after your death grip.” They pull another piece into their mouth. Their dark eyes shine with kindness and curiosity, unphased by your halfhearted attempt at playing the stern manager.

Ashe is right, though. You were miserable and grumpy. Honestly, it's hard to remember anything about who you were as a person before Adrian reappeared in your life. When you try to seriously think back, it's nothing but bleak, mundane memories.

Truthfully, you had just been a shell of a person.

The excitement of successfully landing a manager position at the cafe had worn off fairly quickly once the stress of customers wore you down. Sure, it wasn't as bad here as it was when you'd worked at a drive-thru Starbucks location back in college. But the cafe was still fairly new enough to garner the attention of coffee aficionados and people that were just bored with all the things in town that they already knew about.

And there was nothing to alleviate the stress of customer service, not when the home you'd go back to every night was another huge source of anxiety.

You tried to numb yourself to it all, you realize. A defense mechanism. It can't hurt if you didn't let it, so you hollowed yourself out.

But then Adrian recognized you. He could have just come in that one day, gotten that large iced Americano and left forever (no way he would have come back to the less-than-stellar customer service you were doling out). But he said your name and remembered who you were and as terrifying as that should have been, you entertained his recognition.

Because it was him. Adrian Chase. No one of consequence, at the time. Who could the weirdo from high school possibly blab to about your being back in town? And, also, he was kind of silly in a weird, delightful way that you couldn’t help but want to play around with.

Besides, there was a certain way he looked at you that was intriguing, and would very quickly become chest-achingly addicting.

After handling a few customers, Ashe pipes up again. “Y'know, if Matty hears you aren't together, he's gonna try shooting his shot with Adrian.”

This only makes you snort. “Please. Matty wouldn't stand a chance.”

You catch the raised eyebrows on Ashe's face and immediately clarify, “he wouldn't stand a chance against Adrian's best friend that's back in town.”

Ashe pauses before their expression alights in understanding. “So that's why you've been so moody.”

“What?”

“You're jealous!”

“What? No. Me? Jealous of who?”

“The best friend you just mentioned,” they laugh. “C'mon, admit it.”

Admit to being jealous of the guy Adrian all but gushed to you about? Enthusiasm punctuating each giddy sentence. The way he practically bounced on the balls of his feet the other night, excited to meet up with him.

Pfft. Naw.

“You're worried he's replacing you.”

Oh. Right. Maybe you are jealous.

Because Ashe's words made you realize that Peacemaker isn't replacing you. You were the one replacing Peacemaker. You've just been a stand-in this entire time, keeping Adrian distracted and entertained while his buddy was locked up or whatever. You see that now.

That hollow feeling returns in the pit of your gut.

Adrian gets half his fucking pinky toe sawed off and his testicles electrocuted in one spectacularly fucked up night. And as if that wasn't bad enough, his secret identity gets revealed to both Peacemaker, and the ENEMY. Which turns out to be some kind of weird, fucked up space pigeon? Whatever.

At this point, he's pissed off at Chris for allowing him to get tortured in the first place. He could have at least tried to stall Adrian getting his balls burnt to a crisp by giving just a little info, maybe? Just a tidbit of information to potentially delay Adrian getting his most important toe being severed, probably?

Whatever valuable lesson was meant to be taught by this doesn't really go appreciated, not when the pain is still fresh in his junk and right foot. Not when his ego is bruised both from getting his butt fully kicked by the tiny green karate man, AND his identity revealed.

TWICE.

In a single month.

He's irritated. Cranky. No one is taking his concerns over his pinky toe seriously, which is frustrating.

To distract himself from the pain and anger, he thinks about you.

It's not even really intentional. Your smile just kind of emerges amidst the muddled annoyance of his thoughts, and it suddenly dulls all the aches. He remembers the sound of your laughter and something warm glows in his chest.

Adrian would very much like to see you. It's been days since the both of you have properly talked, let alone spend real solid time with each other.

But he cannot. He has a duty to Peacemaker that he has to prioritize, and it seems like this new team Chris is with needs him. And, well, it feels nice to be needed.

He cannot see you. So he spends half the car ride to Chris’ dad’s house telling him everything about you instead.

He can almost forget that half his pinky toe is falling off.

Adrian hasn’t responded to any of your texts. You just want to talk to someone about how weird it’s been at home. Well, not someone. Adrian. Just Adrian.

You hope he’s safe.

He could at least call you.

Why hasn’t he called you?

Adrian sits in a prison cell accompanied by nothing but the ugly feeling of shame. He thinks he may have messed up. Potentially made things worse for Chris by failing in killing his terrible, racist father.

And to top it all off, he's agitated his injured foot doing a (pretty sick) spin kick. Instinct had beat self-preservation in that moment.

Once again, the only thing that eases some of the pain are thoughts of you. Out of habit, he glances to the right, looking for the plastic cup filled on his nightstand with all the physical proof that he'd spent time with you. But all that's there are the bleak and dirty yellow walls of his cell.

The frown that's been sitting on his face since being brought back to his cell deepens.

Whatever, it's fine. He doesn't need it to remember what your kisses feel like. The warm press of your mouth against his is definitely embedded into the grooves and ridges of his brain. The taste of you -- bitter coffee, sweetened at the edges. The little sounds you make when he squeezes your waist, or buries his face into the warm space of your neck.

Time in the cell passes by quickly after that. He's rocking a semi by the time they let him out.

You stop by Fennel Fields one day during your lunch break, hoping to surprise Adrian. But he isn’t there. You ask the young hostess at the front if he’s working at all today. She just kind of shrugs impassively, boredly twirling a strand of hair on her finger as she tells you that he was a ‘no call, no show,’ which means he was definitely supposed to work tonight.

Her indifference pisses you off. Doesn’t she know that Adrian could be dead in a ditch somewhere? Doesn’t she care? 

You leave before you can blow up at this Chloe chick (per the name on her apron). Adrian is, of course, just some guy to her. Only you have the pleasure (and the burden) of knowing that he’s so much more. 

Vigilante gets bodily thrown around by a gorilla. And while it's cool that he gets to add 'fought a gorilla and lived' to his list of badassery, it would have been even cooler if he was the one that got to land the finishing blow with a chainsaw.

The chainsaw was his idea, too! So it just kind of feels like Economos stole his thunder, which wasn't very fair.

Venting to Chris doesn't provide as much comfort as he'd like. And while this new team seemed cool, there's no way any of them were capable of making him feel better. Not the way you can.

Thinking about you wasn't going to cut it after this one. Texting wasn't an  option if it meant he couldn't hear your voice, and a phone call wouldn't give him the satisfaction of your smile. So Adrian will go and physically see you.

The burst of excitement in his rib cage is nearly suffocating. But, like, in a good way.

Really good.

Your thumbnail endures the worried gnawing of your teeth as you stare at Adrian’s contact information in your phone, wondering if you should call him. You want to see him. You had made the very resolute decision to keep him around, and now you’re realizing you may have to work a little harder in order to do so. 

You’re alone in the cafe, after hours. Ashe has been spending the rest of their shifts trying to cheer you up, but to no avail. They felt a little guilty, thinking that they had some part in bringing you down after they made the whole ‘jealousy’ comment. There was an extra layer of glumness in your distant expression for the rest of that night and several nights to come that they felt responsible for. So they would insist on staying even after the shop closed, stick around as you finish up your managerial duties.

As nice as the company would have been, Ashe's presence would potentially stop Adrian-slash-Vigilante from popping in, so you did your best every night to reassure the barista that you're fine. It was only the slightly desperate tone in your voice that would convince them to leave each time. 

So, like every other night, Ashe leaves. You lock the doors. You mechanically carry out your closing tasks until all that is left to do is turn off the lights and go. But Adrian, like every other night, still hasn’t shown. 

Before the Vigilante reveal, you two would just text each other when you were planning on stopping by the other's place of work. But now, not only has he been unable to confirm whether or not he’ll be able to stop by, knowing that he spends his nights doing dangerous things makes you think twice about contacting him. What if he’s trying to be stealthy and you call him out of the blue, the ringtone alerting armed gunmen to his presence? And then he gets hurt, or caught, or worse, because of you?

“Ugh, this is ridiculous!” you bemoan into the empty cafe. “How much crime could there even be in Evergreen-”

You cut yourself off, remembering the night after the club and shudder, the hands that make your skin crawl when you think about them, the ugly scab on your knee. 

A sudden, very specific knock from the front of the store has you yelping, phone flying out of your hand. It clatters somewhere behind you, but you’re not paying any attention to that when Vigilante is standing outside. 

Before you know it, you're unlocking the door to the cafe. Vigilante walks in, careful to close and lock the glass door behind him, muttering something about the cold and you getting sick. You don't really pay the comments much mind —  once he turns back around, you use both hands to tug him towards you by the straps (harness?) on his chest.

The action nearly unsteadies you both, him lurching from the unexpected suddenness of the movement, a soft 'whoa-'as his gloved hands instinctively land on your waist to brace himself.

“What was that for?”

The slight whine in his voice makes you grin. It's comforting. It's Adrian. Feeling him pressed up against you subdues some of the worry of losing him, of not seeing him the past several days, even with the hard discomfort of his chest piece against your breast. Even though it's rough, even though it smells like gunmetal and recklessness, the closeness is a momentary salve for your insecurities.

Instead of telling him this, or even something as simple and true as 'I miss you,' you search his eyes behind the red visor (incredibly glad you can see them at all). “Can you see me okay?”

“Huh? Of course I can.”

“But you're not wearing your glasses.”

“Oh! The visor is prescription.” You can tell that he's smiling, can hear the pride in his voice.

“Really? That's pretty cool.”

“Right? I think so, too.” His eyes squint, smile growing wider, and it makes a flurry of butterflies erupt in your gut.

“I want to kiss you,” you murmur, and you’re impressed that you manage to keep the desperation from your voice despite the way your heart hammers in your chest. You don’t want Adrian to know how bad you want him, you don’t want to scare him away. 

He stiffens at your admission, however, and starts stammering. “I- we can’t- cameras, remember? My mask-”

“No cameras in the restroom.” You nod your head in the general direction of the cafe’s restroom, somewhere behind you and to the left. 

Adrian glances towards where you gesture, not just with his eyes - his whole helmet tilts with the action, and you’re realizing there's something kind of endearing about the mask. It’s not as intimidating as the first time, or your nightmares. It accentuates his movements in a way you’re coming to find kind of… well, cute. 

But he starts to extricate himself from your grasp, shaking his head. “I really- we shouldn’t.”

Before the rejection could register as painful, you press on, body following his as he pulls away from you. “Well, I’m done for the night. Slow day today.” (You say this like you didn’t take your sweet time counting the tills). “We can just go, get in one of our cars-”

Adrian groans. He gathers your wrists in his hands, the texture of his gloves rough and scratchy as he pulls your hands off of his chest. 

“Dude,” you giggle, “am I bothering you, or something?”

“Yes!”

You blink, startled, at his outburst. The way his head swivels back to look you in the face, enunciating his exclamation. The smile slips from your face as the rejection finally sets in, and you yank your hands away from Adrian like his touch suddenly scalds.

This is it. He's finally sick of you. Or bored of you. The way you've latched onto him is finally wearing him down, and maybe he had some kind of guy talk with Peacemaker that's making him dump your ass, made him realize how pathetic you actually are-

“Are those tears? Why are you crying!?”

“Because you just called me annoying!” You hadn't even realized that tears had welled up.

“What!? No, I didn't!”

“Yes you did! You said I'm bothering you! That means I'm annoying!” You angrily wipe at your eyes. Your hurt morphed into anger due to embarrassment over your own stupid tears.

You're sick of crying in front of Adrian, he shouldn't get to see how weak and broken you really are.

“You're not annoying!” Adrian says, body taking on an exasperated, pleading stance as his arms stretch slightly out to his sides, palms facing out, as if to make up for the fact that you can't see his face. “I just meant that in the moment, you were a little overwhelming.”

You pout. It doesn't exactly make you feel any better.

“I don't know why,” he continues, “but you're really hard to say no to. And I just, I don't know, was looking forward to talking with you tonight. And if you kiss me, I’ll kiss you back and won’t have time to catch you up on everything.”

Your eyes widen and your heart skips a few funny beats. You're hard to say no to? Oh, that flusters you, makes you feel more special than you deserve and you smile, slow and shy and delicate as your cheeks warm, and Adrian's shoulders noticeably relax at the change in expression.

“Why can't we do both?” you ask, coyness laced in your voice.

“I don't think you realize how big of a distraction you are.”

This makes you full on grin. “Is that why you've been avoiding me?”

“Avoiding you?” he repeats, like it hasn't even crossed his mind. “I haven't been avoiding you, I've just been really busy with this new team-”

“New team?” you interrupt, eyebrows furrowing. He only ever mentioned Peacemaker.

“Yeah! See, Peacemaker didn't actually complete his full prison sentence- oh, yeah,” he chuckles, “by the way, I was actually locked up the other day, too. But not because I got caught! It was a deliberate choice. Anyway-”

Your mouth hangs open as Adrian continues to regale you of how his past week has been, and the group of people he's been helping out that call themselves 'Task Force X' or something. You barely notice the way he gently ushers you to a nearby table, carefully pulling out a chair for you to sit as he recounts the details of each mission (and a side quest? If you can call getting yourself purposefully arrested a side quest.)

He fought a gorilla. But it wasn't a normal gorilla, it was a super gorilla. You thought the 'super' part was a bit excessive. A regular gorilla could have easily wrecked everyone's shit, given that this group is all human.

(“Everyone on this team is human, right? No superpowers?”)

(“I think so, yeah.”)

He whines to you a bit about how some guy named Economos took down the gorilla with a chainsaw.

(“It was cool, but it just would have been cooler had I been the one to do it.”)

(You nod, very serious. “Oh, for sure.”)

He tells you about how he tried to kill Auggie Smith, the racist, retired villain that just so happens to be Peacemaker's father. This information gives you whiplash, but Adrian hardly gives you any time to process it as he moves onto the next thing.

The next thing being the torture he went through in a US Senetor's secret dungeon (what the fuck), where he endured getting his junk electrocuted and a pinky toe severed almost entirely off by said senator.

The senator also happened to be an alien? And he's dead now?

The senator. Not the alien. Peacemaker kept the alien (but don't tell anyone).

By the time he's done, you understand why there was no time for making out. This was a lot to unpack.

“So... how've you been?”

You stare at him. “What do you mean how have I been? Who even cares? Whatever I've been going through pales in comparison to the shit you've been through.”

Adrian tries to interrupt, but you don't let him. “No! Nuh-uh, my life is peachy. I still have all my toes. I haven't had any part of my body electrocuted. I didn't tussle with a fucking. Gorilla.”

There's a second where you just stare at each other before Adrian breaks eye contact first, helmeted head falling forward. “Yeah, true.”

“Adr- Vigilante,” you catch yourself. “Are you sure you should be doing this? It kind of sounds like Peacemaker came with baggage.” You think about your own baggage, grimace, then correct yourself. “Dangerous baggage, I mean. I don't like that you're getting hurt because of him.”

Adrian's head whips up at your words, eyes wide. “No no no, it's fine, it's cool! They need me!”

He says this all too chipper.

“Besides, it's not all bad! There's fun stuff, too! We blew some stuff up in the woods-”

You roll your eyes. “That's still dangerous.”

“And there was the threesome-”

Threesome? He's still talking, probably, you can't really tell. It just gets muted out by the wretched feeling that's suddenly tearing apart your heart and making it difficult to breathe.

“Wh- what threesome..?” The question rattles out of you, shaken and quiet.

“Huh?”

You look at him, unblinking, and ask again. “What threesome? When did- when did you have...?”

“Oh, with Chris and this 'underappreciated' chick he brought back to his trailer. It was just like old times,“ he cheerily proceeds, completely unaware of the mood shift.

How could you have been so stupid? Of course no grown man with an active libido was going to remain perfectly content with just making out in his car. Adrian probably got sick of you stringing him along (which, you weren't, not really but where else were you gonna have sex? Your parent's house was out of the question, and he wouldn't offer his place.)

Wait, why didn't he bring you back to his place? He lied about having a roommate, you know this now though he still hasn't admitted it.

You abruptly stand up. The chair scrapes harshly against the tiles before keeling over.

Adrian flinches at the sound, and immediately stands up with you. “Whoa, hey, are you-”

“Get out.”

“Are you mad? Is it- is it the threesome? Because we aren't even together, technically, so you shouldn't-”

This fractures your heart even further.

“I said get out,” you sob, no longer able to look at him.

“W-wait,” he falters, very visibly out of his element. “You aren't supposed to be mad. Chris said-”

“Please,” you whisper, and it is such a small, pathetic sound, full of hurt despite its quietness. You hide your face behind shaky hands, feeling untethered and lost and indescribable pain.

A long moment of silence expands the distance between you both, until, finally (because you are very hard to say no to) you hear Adrian's footsteps walk away, and out the front door of the cafe.

taglist: @whatevermonkey @hiddlebatchedloki @nobodys-baby-now @navs-bhat @afraidofshrimp @training4theapocalypse @abbaenthusiast @jediviolet @t0byisher3 @madhyanas

[ if you would like to be removed from the taglist, pls let me know! it wouldn't hurt my feelings, i 100% understand if you come to find it annoying or just not currently interested in the fandom. likewise, if you want to be added, i'd appreciate a reblog and/or comment/feedback ]

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

Request thing: Steve Roger + "you're so cute" "what did you just say?" "I said you look like a boot"

(Omif there are others feel free to ignore mines cause I am just being greedy now)

There aren't others. Pretty sure there's only 4 of you out there reading me anymore :D

word count: 1951

@bolontiku @rampant-salamander @castiels-sunflowers @feelmyroarrrr __________

Steve Rogers irritated the shit out of you. From the moment Nick Fury thought you should babysit him, he’d just been annoying in all his ‘Gee Golly Ma’am’ goodness and earnest honesty and, well, and he just annoyed you. Sure, he was handsome, and his physique left not a single area needing improvement. And yes, his dry sense of humour and quick way with words made most people just fall into the Captain America fan club without questioning the price of admission. But you couldn’t. You’d been stung before. There was no way someone who looked like the whole package wasn’t hiding something.

You were parked at your desk, cursing a major snarl in traffic that had caused you to skip picking up a coffee. There was a cute barista at the coffee shop by your apartment and you’d been working your way up to asking his name, but missing a single day had made your courage evaporate. You dug through your drawer, but had apparently run out of pods for the office keurig. Digging into your purse, you pulled out a few bills and made your way to the coffee shop on the main floor. 

Smothering a yawn, you made your order and tried to pay. The young woman behind the counter shook her head and tilted it to where the drinks were coming up. “He paid for you, ma’am.” You followed her gaze over and cringed. Of course, it was goddamn Steve. 

“Thanks,” you grumbled as you approached him. He smiled.

“My pleasure, Agent,” he nodded. After a brief pause, he continued, “You’re a tough nut to crack, you know. I’m never quite sure what you think of all this.” He gestured around vaguely.

“I’m really into coffee. So this is okay,” you replied, deliberately being difficult. He frowned, and then sighed.

“I kind of meant what you think about this.” Again, the gesture was vague, but he included himself, and pointed obviously above you both, where the offices were. 

“Does it matter? It pays well, I have great health insurance and a not-shitty 401K. It’s not exactly what I went to university for, but every day is different, and I’ve met some pretty interesting people,” you shrugged.

“Interesting way to look at it.” There was a soft, humble chuckle that escaped him and just made you even more irritated. You closed your eyes to avoid rolling them. Your name was called, and you opened your eyes, took your coffee and smiled blandly at him.

“Thanks for the joe, Steve,” you nodded again, and made your way back to your office.

__________

“I don’t want to go,” you protested to your handler. He sighed and glared at you.

“Look, your specialized knowledge of the era and the subject means that -”

“No, I get it. Really, I do. But what you’re asking me to do is straight-up psychological manipulation, which is not what I’m here for. I’m here because I have extensive specialized knowledge about the era and -”

“Your PhD is on the impact of the loss of Sgt. Barnes on the Howling Commandos and Steve. You have immense knowledge about Barnes, and about his friendship with Steve. If anyone is going to be able to work with Captain Rogers on the deprogramming of Barnes, it’s you. Whether or not you want to go, you are going.” Nick Fury had entered the room and interrupted you.

“But -” you started. Fury silenced you with a glare. You sighed and pursed your lips.

“You’re the only agent I’ve ever had complain about being assigned to work with Rogers,” he started. “Care to explain?”

“It has nothing to do with him, sir,” you lied. Fury raised his eyebrow, clearly not believing you.

“Figure it out. You two are wheels-up in an hour.”

__________

You leaned back in the quinjet hold and closed your eyes, trying to imagine Steve Rogers was not sitting across from you, staring daggers at you. 

“I have to ask, Agent. What did I do that was so offensive? Was it the coffee? I know a lot of dames, er, women, don’t like it when men do that anymore,” he broke the silence.

“Not at all, I very much appreciated the coffee,” you replied, keeping your tone light. You were very well aware that your issue was with you, and not actually with him. You’d been mulling it over since he’d bought the damn coffee. All you could come up with was that you were behaving like a child with a crush. You couldn’t accept that you liked him, so you chose to dislike him instead.

“Did I say or do something at some other time?”

“Not at all,” you shook your head.

“Captain Rogers, we’re about to land,” the pilot interrupted. “Based on scans you have approximately three minutes once off the jet to find cover. There’s frequent patrols of the area by Hydra agents, and no real way to keep this bird off the radar.”

“We’ll finish this chat later,” Steve promised.

Once off the jet, you followed him into the forest to find cover. Just as the pilot had warned, it was not long after you deplaned that a patrol came by, and Steve tackled you into the underbrush. You pushed at him feebly, opening your mouth to protest, and he slapped his hand across your mouth, nodding to the west, where the crunch of leaves betrayed the patrol’s presence. Your eyes widened and you quit moving. When you were clear of danger, he rolled off you.

“Some warning would have been nice,” you whispered as you picked pine needles and moss out of your hair.

“Yeah, that sounds like a great plan,” he hissed back. “Hey goons, we’re over here!”

“I’m sure your super-soldiery brain could have figured out a way to give me a heads up before you tackled me,” you snapped back. 

“Ingrate,” he muttered, loudly enough that you could hear him.

“Jackass,” you retorted. His eyebrow raised.

“Watch your language,” he warned.

“Because it might offend the hydra goon squad?” You asked.

“You know, dames didn’t used to talk like that.” His tone was tight. You rolled your eyes.

“I’d like to remind you, I’m an agent first, an expert in history second and a dame third, you fucking cro-magnon,” you spat. “Also, this isn’t my first rodeo, Cap. I’ve been on surveillance missions before. I also saw the patrol.”

Steve glared at you and shook his head. “Instead of arguing about the finer points of your genetic composition, do you think you can drop your hate for the rest of the mission? If Bucky’s here, I’d like to find him. And Fury assured me, you’re the agent for the job if we do.”

“Is that an order, Cap?” You asked. He looked away, and drew in a deep, steadying breath.

“Yes, agent, I believe it is,” he snapped.

__________

You’d been unsuccessful. You’d managed to infiltrate the base, but the cells were all empty. The base had just recently been cleared out, and there was enough equipment left behind that you felt confident it was where Sgt. Barnes had been held, at some point. On your way to the extraction point, you saw muzzle-flash and moved faster than you thought possible to knock Steve out of the way. A blinding pain struck you in the midsection and Steve turned around to watch you fall to the ground, a silent scream on your lips. The look of combined annoyance and fear on his face was the last thing you remembered seeing before blackness took you.

When you came to, it was so bright you blinked and lifted your hand to cover your eyes, pressing them shut again. There was an overpowering smell of antiseptic and an IV tethered to your right hand. A monitor beeped systematically and you realized it was a heart monitor when it matched pace with the thumping in your head. You were parched, and when you tried to push yourself to sit, a gentle hand landed on your chest, pressing you back into the mattress.

“Stay put. There’s a remote here, I’ll lift your head,” a gentle male voice rumbled. Your head slowly lifted and you tried opening your eyes again, just a little. Through your lashes, you saw Steve pouring you a glass of water. He held it out to you. “Just sips.”

It was cool against your lips, and you sucked in a couple of little chips of ice to suck on. 

“Thanks,” you breathed. “What happened?”

“We didn’t find Bucky,” he started. “We were headed to the quinjet and you decided to play hero and jumped in front of a bullet.”

“You’re welcome,” you coughed. He raised the bed a little higher. Your eyes finally adapted to the bright light of the infirmary and you looked at him. He was still in his uniform, was wearing a fair amount of your blood and looked angry.

“What kind of idiotic idea was that, anyhow?” He demanded. Your ears rang at the heightened volume of his voice. You flinched in pain.

“I saw the muzzle flash and just moved,” you replied. 

“A bullet wound to the shoulder would barely slow me down,” he snapped. “Instead you took one to the lung and required a few hours of surgery.”

“Sorry that I was such a huge inconvenience to you,” you managed. “Maybe you should make it clear to Fury that you don’t want to partner with me again.”

“Maybe if you didn’t have such a huge goddamn chip on your shoulder, we would have worked better together,” he retorted. You gestured to yourself, in your blue hospital gown, and IV tubing.

“I’m pretty sure the wound is right here,” you gestured to the dressing on your side, “if you’re like to really get a few good kicks in while I’m down.”

He stood up and flipped his chair over before walking to the far wall and slamming his fist against it. “What the hell did I do? Why do you hate me?” You flinched away from his angry tone.

“I don’t, I don’t hate you, Cap, I just -”

“Bullshit,” he interrupted.

“Now who has a foul mouth?” You snapped. “I don’t hate you, Cap. I don’t. I just don’t know how to act around you and it makes me guarded and defensive, I guess.” You took another small sip of water.

“Because I’m somehow your enemy?” He asked. You could feel your cheeks heating in embarrassment and glanced up at the IV bag. It was pain medication. Go for it, you thought, at least you had plausible deniability due to the intoxicating effects of the medication.

“It’s just that you’re so cute, and you’re kind, and you’re so genuine, and you smell good and -”

“What did you just say?” He interrupted, pulling the chair back to the beside and sitting in it. He took your hand between his and looked at you intently. You’d said too much and felt the panic of admitting all of that hit you as he stared at you.

“Uh, I said you look like a boot and I’m pretty sure you’re out of your mind, and you smell like swine and -”

“That’s not what you said,” he laughed and squeezed your hand.

“I’m pretty sure I did,” you averted your gaze from his. He cupped your cheek in one of his hands and turned you back to face him. “I like you too.”

“Oh.”

“Get some rest. I’m going to get a shower so I stop smelling like swine, and I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” you nodded. He tucked your hand under the cover, smoothed your hair away and dropped a kiss on your forehead.

[tgrailwar-zero]

… We’re sorry. It was an impulse decision at first that we didn’t know would lead to anything but when virtual caster’s attack started hitting afterwards and we realised what was on things became. Tense, and we had to choose quick between pushing on which would’ve taken more resources than we had on hand and definitely hurt you and Kuku Hard and set us on negative mana to boot, and backing out- but a solid chunk of us thought that we needed the firepower, and so should summon Draco despite it and while some of us didn’t, we. Ended up summoning Draco, which. We should have put more thought into before and discussed had we more time, and I’m not sure if the others agree with me, but I’m sorry it came so quickly to this.

… This is Draco, our new team member. I understand that there’s going to be a lot of friction and for that I apologise, but I hope we’ll be able to work something out. I’m sorry that we had to spring all this on you guys so quickly.

Draco, thank you for being here. I understand that you might want to burn things down as we go about our quest and we respect that urge but. Please redirect that rage to our battles, please. We want to give this Solar Cell not so much a rage-filled end as a softer one, but we’ll definitely be meeting tough enemies along the way while we’re at it, so please help us and channel your fury towards them instead when needed as compromise, and thank you for being here. I hope that we’ll be able to see this through together. You’re our servant now too.

… Constantine, Kuku, if you have things to say, please feel free anytime, be it now or down the road when we have more private time, I know this was a major decision to make just like that.. We owe it to you guys to hear you two out.

CONSTANTINE: "So, you abandoned Lucius within the confines of her mind, and tampered with it. I can forgive you for not fully understanding the meaning of your actions there, perhaps. But summoning this... thing! This Beast! With this Servant, damned be 'negotiations', damned be Caster, damned be the Solar Cell! Every Servant now has ample reason to want to see us dead and buried- even more-so than before! Especially a man as pious as Saber!"

He sounded mad, and that's because he was.

KUKULKAN: "So… as a bit of a 'newbie Heroic Spirit', even I'm picking up the gist here. Servants are supposed to protect humanity from things like this, so summoning one and saying 'okay, now deal with it', is kind of tough?"

You could tell that KUKULKAN was taking things a bit calmer, though even she seemed on guard based on her stance. It seemed as if the moment DRACO made a wrong move, her fist would head straight for the Beast's skull. Calling her a 'neutral party' would be a stretch, but she did seem the 'least pressed' out of the two. Though if her presence was causing tensions among teammates, then it painted a poor picture of how she'd be received by enemies.

CONSTANTINE's teeth were gritted.

CONSTANTINE: "Outside of the fact that she's an Evil of Humanity, she's also the Whore of Babylon, prophesied by Saint John in the Book of Revelation!"

...Right.

CONSTANTINE was Catholic.

The Marble Emperor, said to have been saved by an angel in his final moments in order to be resurrected by God when his land was in dire need of protection.

It seemed like as a Servant, he was more open to dealing with certain things despite his faith- like teaming up with a divinity from another continent, but 'aiding one of the Beasts of the Apocalypse, set forth by the Enemy of God to drive the world into sin and destruction' didn't seem like a such a simple solution to him. There was open-minded, and then there was… this.

Though it seemed like being connected as 'Invaders' made their True Names apparent, at least to a certain extent. It was hard to tell just how much information was being shared, though in this case- the answer was 'enough'.

DRACO: "This is a rather natural reaction."

Her voice was dry- bored, even.

DRACO: "Any Servant that ascribes to the teachings of the New Testament knows to fear Sodom's Beast. Now, take an orthodox emperor from Constantinople, and this little tantrum was inevitable. In addition, every Heroic Spirit should have a natural inclination to go against a Beast. Such is fate, I suppose."

...Maybe AVENGER killing LANCER was a bit of a lucky break for you?

It didn't seem like DRACO's casual attitude was helping, as CONSTANTINE reeled his blade back, readying himself for a swing with the intent to fully remove her head from her shoulders.

CONSTANTINE: "Whatever tales of 'helping' that she's fed you are nothing but lies from a silver tongue. Taking the form of a child won't grant you the innocence of one!"

His voice reached a mighty roar, his own presence magnifying greatly. As reserved as he tended to be in most situations, in this moment you were looking at the proud, immovable will of an 'Emperor'.

CONSTANTINE: "Hear me, Mother Harlot! My True Name is Emperor Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos! In the name of the Lord, your head shall be mine, dragon!"

DRACO: "What a feisty one. Very well, you'll make a fine offering for this cup, despite being a failure of an Emperor. Come, Masters. Aren't you leaders? Insubordination should be squashed, thoroughly. He'll only learn through ample humiliation."

They were moments away from actually trying to kill one another.

[whump-me]

Conquest, Chapter 7: A Taste of Courage

Chapter 7 of Conquest, a novel-length fantasy whump story about a timid royal clerk captured by the disgraced prince who needs their help to rule their newly conquered country. This series is best read in order. Masterpost here.

Contains: fantasy setting, nonbinary whumpee, male whumper, fearful whumpee, defiant whumpee, royal whumper, whumper POV, whumpee on display for a crowd, degradation

---

Kezul

The assembled Wolves crowed and slapped their thighs. Their disappointment at being denied their chance to play bloody games with Mir vanished in an instant as they watched the drama playing out in the front of them. Kezul had intended the question to be for Mir alone, but of course it was impossible not to have an audience in a room with acoustics like this one. The concerts must have been incredible, but apparently the people of Danelor hadn’t cared overly much about keeping secrets.

From the look of the Wolves, and the sound of their laughter, Kezul’s plans for making Mir serve as their entertainment no longer mattered. This was all the entertainment they needed. And Kezul would have been fooling himself if he didn’t admit that most of their laughter was at his expense.

They would never have dared to laugh at Vorhullin the Unmaker like this. Then again, they would never have gotten the chance. Mir’s head would have been rolling across the floor before they had a chance to finish voicing their refusal. That would have served as entertainment of a different sort. Kezul could give them that, of course. He could make them cheer in delight at a bloody spectacle, instead of letting them look at him like he was the entertainment here. But that would mean depriving himself of a resource he still had no idea how to replace.

“I haven’t shown you a fraction of what I can do to you,” Kezul hissed in Mir’s ear—but of course he knew every whisper traveled at least halfway across the room. “I’ve shown you far more mercy than you deserve. I brought you out of the courtyard. I gave you a job scrubbing the floors, and asked you to play music. How many prisoners do you think would kill for work as easy as that, lives as easy as that? I can easily show you what you’re missing. Reconsider your answer.”

Mir trembled harder. Kezul didn’t know how they kept their footing while shaking like that. But they shook their head again—and stared into Kezul’s eyes while they did, which made a burning seed of rage grow in Kezul’s knotted guts.

“I won’t give you my people’s souls when you’ve already taken everything else,” Mir said. Although their voice was quiet, Kezul had no doubt that it reached his Wolves’ ears as well as his own. Especially once they let out cheers of voyeuristic delight.

“I won’t help you mock the people you… you slaughtered,” Mir continued. “It’s bad enough that I cleaned their blood off the floors for you.” They swallowed. “I may be your prisoner, but I do not belong to you. And neither does Danelor.”

Laughter echoed off the walls until the air was thick with it. One Wolf jokingly suggested that the two of them should get out weapons and fight for the evening’s entertainment. A few more offered to place their bets on Mir.

Kezul’s pulse throbbed in the sides of his head. He forced himself to look away from the sea of Wolves and focus only on Mir. The sight of the prisoner clarified his tangled feelings into a single sharp pinpoint of fury.

“You know I could kill you right now,” he said. “I could do it so quickly you wouldn’t know what had happened. Or I could do it slowly enough to make you wish I had left you in the courtyard with my Wolves. And everyone in this room would cheer to see it.”

“I know.” Mir’s voice was barely above a whisper, but their eyes met Kezul’s in what had to be a challenge.

Kezul grabbed Mir’s braid and yanked it sharply upward until Mir let out a strangled whimper of pain and finally lowered their head. He held Mir’s head there as he spoke. “Do you expect me to believe that doesn’t scare you?”

Mir didn’t answer. They didn’t have to. Their trembling was answer enough.

“Our exalted ruler,” came a mocking voice from the back of the room. “After his reputation on the battlefield, should we be surprised that he can’t win a fight against a single defeated prisoner? His father should name him Kezul the Defeated.”

Kezul could stop himself from looking at the Wolves, but there was nothing he could do to block out their voices. He couldn’t even see who had spoken, so he couldn’t make an example of the speaker. Not that it would do anything but prove himself to be fragile and easily wounded by mocking words.

Fury and shame mingled in his blood until he could no longer tell which was which. They burned in his veins and prickled at the underside of his skin. He thought he might catch fire here and now, and send the whole place up like a blazing torch.

Truth be told, the world would probably be better for it. Only a few days in this place, and already it had proved to be nothing but one headache after another. If he burned the place down, his father would owe him a debt of gratitude. He probably would be grateful, at least if Kezul went up in flames along with all the rest.

“Get on your knees,” he ordered Mir, his voice a low and furious rumble.

Mir’s braid twitched in Kezul’s hand as Mir trembled harder against his grip. But they pulled their shoulders back in a gesture of quiet but unmistakable defiance. And then—the final insult—they looked up through their eyelashes, with their head still forcibly lowered, and met Kezul’s eyes again.

Kezul let go of Mir’s braid. He slammed his fist into Mir’s jaw, and kicked viciously at the side of their knee at the same moment. Mir sprawled across the floor. They stared up at Kezul, their eyes wide with sudden animal terror.

Kezul grabbed hold of Mir’s upper arms and pulled them to their knees. Before they could think about getting back on their feet and demonstrating their defiance one more time, Kezul drew the sword at his side and rested the edge under Mir’s throat. The blade forced Mir’s head up so their eyes met again, but Kezul didn’t mind, because this time, Mir’s eyes were wet with terror.

As they should be.

“You don’t want to die,” said Kezul. “You would rather run and hide than face death on your own terms. You would do anything to hold on to your miserable life for a few more seconds. Otherwise, you would have defended your queen when it mattered.”

A shudder ran through Mir. They didn’t say a word.

“You debased yourself once already to save your own skin,” said Kezul. “So do it again. Beg me for your life, prisoner. And make it amusing. If you won’t entertain us by playing us a song, you’ll do it this way.”

Mir kept on shivering, but they didn’t speak. Had Kezul terrified them so badly they couldn’t remember how to form words?

Or were they still holding on to this futile defiance, this stubborn spite? Had they found their courage too late to die like a human instead of a panicked animal, but just in time to ensure the Wolves in the room got their fill of laughter at Kezul’s expense?

Kezul the Defeated. If Mir handed him his second defeat here, he would never live the title down. And this time, it wasn’t him against an enemy army five times the size of his, but him against one coward of a prisoner.

He pressed the blade harder into Mir’s skin, hard enough to draw a thin line of blood. Mir let out a noise that started as a hiss and ended as a whimper. Red dripped down their neck to stain their collar.

“You can start with please,” said Kezul, baring his teeth.

When Mir paused to draw in a breath, Kezul knew he was in trouble. His gut churned as if he were standing on a high ledge and staring down into the abyss below.

“If you want to kill me, then do it.” Mir’s eyes were still animal-wild. Their voice nothing like the one they had used to deliver their calm, quiet speech in the throne room about their role in the palace. Their words had, if anything, grown more scholarly and archaic. “Take my blood, if you want it so badly, because you won’t get anything else from me. Not my music. Not my pen. Not my hands to scrub away the blood you spilled—not anymore.” They burst into high, thin laughter that didn’t sound the least bit saying. “Take the life you went to all this trouble to save, if it’s so worthless to you. Go on! Do it!”

Laughter shook their quivering frame as they pushed themselves up from their knees. Their neck pressed against the blade. Kezul didn’t know whether they intended to slit their own throat on it, or if their mind was so badly scrambled that they had forgotten about the blade entirely in their haste to stand. Either way, a fresh line of blood dribbled across the metal before Kezul could yank it back.

Mir swayed on unsteady legs, like a drunk walking the steep mountain paths home in the moonlight. Their eyes held no trace of rational thought. The coward had gotten a taste of courage, and they had found it intoxicating. They had the look of a tame animal escaping for the first time and going mad with freedom. It would have been the kindest thing for all concerned to put an arrow between their eyes. Like his father’s guards had done to the royal pet wolf that had gotten its first taste of blood and stalked the palace searching for more.

The Wolves, of course, found this endlessly entertaining. Kezul hadn’t heard these kinds of cheers since Szorrol’s coming of age. If only he could tell himself they were cheering for him.

“So there’s a warrior in the mouse after all!” one Wolf called.

“More of a warrior in him than in the Unmaker’s son.”

“Give the prisoner the crown,” a loud and sneering voice suggested. “He’s more the Unmaker’s son than the other one is.”

Kezul was going to lose them. He felt it in his bones, like the floor had tilted under him, tipping him precariously toward the void. His hold on them had been precarious to begin with. Yes, they had prostrated themselves that his feet, but underneath, they all knew his reputation. They had all been waiting to see what kind of ruler he would be.

If they thought he couldn’t keep control of a single prisoner—this prisoner, no less—they would never take orders from him again. And then, whether he managed to learn how to rule this place or not, he stood no chance of passing his father’s test. If his Wolves were kind, one of them would slit his throat while he slept. If not, he would remain alive to watch his last chance to prove himself crumble out from under his feet. He would witness his second defeat, and it would be as slow as it was cruel. And there would be no coming back from this one.

In that moment, the thing that made the fury rise up his neck and into his head until his vision turned red wasn’t Mir’s useless, spiteful defiance. Nor was it the impossible task his father had set him. No, it was the food. Those foul-smelling bowls of beans that sat on the floor as his Wolves waited for his permission to eat. After this, there would only be a few unappetizing scraps of food left in the palace, aside from the dwindling rations they had brought with them. Possibly the last scraps of food for miles.

At Gyoras’s urging, he had allowed them to waste it like this. They wanted their victory feast, even though they themselves had won no victory. They wanted the display of power and wealth, even though they didn’t have the latter and Kezul wasn’t so sure about the former. They were wondering why he was denying them their celebration, Gyoras had said. They were wondering if it signaled a doubt in his ability to maintain their rule.

So he had given it to them. He had chosen future starvation over the risk that they would slip from his grasp, because he suspected food would be easier to replace than respect. And it had been for nothing. The food was lost, and so was the respect.

This would never have happened if he hadn’t wasted his time with the prisoner in the first place. He should have just sent them back to the Wolves who wanted to play with them. Then they would never have had the chance to defy him like this, to undermine him like this. And it would have been a chance to throw his Wolves a bone. How was he to have expected such a weak, sniveling creature to discover a reservoir of strength at such an inopportune moment?

Perhaps it was his own temper that had done it. Mir wasn’t the only one who had acted out of spite. It was Kezul’s anger at Mir’s initial refusal that had made him set them to scrubbing the floors, and drag them in front of the Wolves to perform. Maybe he had cost himself his chance to keep control of his Wolves. Maybe his father was right, and he didn’t deserve to rule.

No. His hands tightened into fists. No, this wasn’t his doing. He had offered Mir a good deal, far better than they had any right to expect. They had been about to die, slowly and without dignity, for the entertainment of his Wolves. Mir should have fallen at his feet in gratitude. But no, they had stared into Kezul’s eyes as they had explained why exactly they owed him nothing and would give him nothing. As if Kezul didn’t hold their very life in his hands.

Mir had snatched away his chance to pass this test. He had done it twice over now—first when they had refused to put their knowledge to work for him, and second when they had set Kezul’s wolves against him. Such a tiny thing, that single word of refusal—and one with such massive consequences.

But Kezul would not be the only one to bear those consequences. He would make sure of it.

---

Tagged: @suspicious-whumping-egg @halloiambored @whump-in-the-closet @whump-cravings @gala1981 @sunshiline-writes @annablogsposts @whither-wander-whump @seaweed-is-cool @bloodinkandashes @sonder35

[goldensmilingbird]

Cool cartoons I'm excited about

So while I was on my search, I went through some animation magazines and trailer compilations and stuff and found a bunch of interesting projects that I just want to infodump about.

The first one is the one I'm most excited about, Voro.

Synopsis: "Lily is a talented young novice who dreams of becoming a master thief. Unfortunately, because she is young and puny (and a girl), the guildmaster assigns her only most trivial missions. However, during one of these quests, Lily finds herself at the centre of a battle between several ancient cults, worshipping entities who have been long forgotten… In order to prevent the world from sinking into chaos, the teenager will have to find a series of occult artefacts during quests that will make her question her own ethics. She will have to make crucial choices of allegiance – even going against her old mentor Seamus!"

It's a show aimed at young adults, based on a finnish comic of the same name (though in translation it's called Lily the Thief) and it's gonna have 16 episodes of 26 minutes. Btw, the comic looks like this

The director says they're making the show for slightly more mature audience than the comic and so they wanted to make the style more cinematic and realistic and also age up the characters a bit. Also they're planning to make a videogame, so that's fun.

I found out that the author of the comic, Janne Kukkonen, is on tumblr (he is @/kukez) though he doesn't post often. Idk what he is up to rn but he previously said that, while writing Voro, he accidentally spiraled into making a whole other story ("Raivotar" which means Fury) that's more gritty in comparison to Voro being pretty lighthearted, so I'm interested in what comes out of that too. Also I'm trying to buy a used copy of Lily the Thief rn because it looks cute and I want to know more about this girl already.

The second one is Shepherdess Warriors.

Synopsis: "The sto­ry takes place in a small medieval vil­lage, nest­ed at the heart of a green val­ley by the sea. Only women, chil­dren and elder­ly peo­ple live in this village, as all men were recruit­ed to join the Great War in a dis­tant land. They left ten years ago and nev­er came back. Nobody knows what hap­pened to them. To protect and defend the village, women had to step up and decided to cre­ate the Order called “The Shep­herdess War­riors”. Mol­ly, our lead char­ac­ter, is a young girl, who nev­er knew her father. At 10-years-old, she is now old enough to start her train­ing as a shep­herdess war­rior, an apprenticeship she's been waiting to start for a long time…"

Also based on a comic, but this time French one. Sadly, looks like it wasn't translated into my language. But the animation looks amazing and the concept's fun. It's gonna have 13 half-hour episodes. Also Molly strongly reminded me of Kelsey from Craig of the Creek (who is 9 and daydreams about being a fantasy hero) and I love that for her.

Third one is The Monsters Valley.

Synopsis: "Ellis is a common teenager who, apparently in an accidental way, touches a magic orb and acquires a power that allows him to control fire. At that moment, he starts being chased by strange creatures who want to take advantage of his power. Ellis, overwhelmed by the situation, asks Blanchet, his childhood friend, for help. Together they will enter into this dreadful and wicked world to try to find a way for Ellis to get rid of his power without knowing that fate has another plan for both of them".

This is gonna be an original Spanish series, not based on anything, aimed at teens and young adults. The creator is already planning five seasons (13 episodes of 25 minutes) and wants to expand to other stuff, like videogames, films or novels. (Damn, that's ambitious) He also says the show "proposes a journey of the hero from an adult point of view, with gray characters, battles, magic and blood".

Beyond the teaser and this interview, I found a link to a now privated video called "The Monsters Valley developing footage" from 8 years ago, twitter and facebook accounts made for the show that were only active in 2019, a link to a site that my browser says is fake and probably dangerous and a studio website that's just a logo and a contact link. So I just kept hitting dead ends with this thing. Then I suddenly found show's creator twitch? Good luck to this guy, honestly, he seems passionate.

There are more interesting projects, like The Tern, for example, but for now these are the top three I wanted to highlight.

[ironpatriot2099]

Bad to the bone

story inspired by the chapter of the same name of power ranger jungle fury.

Today has been a horrible day, first I had to take care of everything in the pizzeria because I don't know how to say no, I faced an attack by a greasy pig monster, then my friends laugh at my good girl attitude and to top it off there was an attack by a porcupine monster that pierced me with many painful thorns, what else can go wrong today.

time later at the base

well lily I think that was the last thorn, do you feel any more they are poisonous you have to remove them all

-I still feel one that RJ didn't remove, but the sensation it causes in my body feels incredible- no that's all I'm fine

relax lily it's only for your health

Don't meddle in what you don't care about little blue balls

wow relax lily that was really rude, I think you owe Theo an apology

you are also with me

giving orders today, I'm tired of your pathetic complaints, well I'm out of here.

It feels good to no longer listen to the moans of those assholes for not behaving like a good idiot, two shoes for a change, what's more, I don't want to be that kind of girl anymore. I like to be bad and I won't change for any bastard, but not seeing me I look like a bad girl in these stupid martial arts pajamas I'm wearing, need to make some style changes.

a theft of a motorcycle and new clothes, later

Lily with her new style went to have fun like a bad girl at a biker bar, after the fifth beer she felt that she was missing something, which she would soon satisfy

This is life, without anyone telling me what to do.

hello baby I saw you here alone drinking and she asked me if you want to join me to have fun.

Lily was going to fuck the subject but when she realized how sexy he was  and the big bundle that she kept in her pants she decided to accept his offer

It will be a pleasure, stud

in less than 5 minutes lily and the biker were fucking loud and rude in the bathroom

ah ah ah, that she feels good, come on, stick it harder, she destroys my pussy with your cock

I had never met a virgin as whore as you

Ah, ah, well I'm not a stupid virgin anymore thanks to you.

They continued like this for a couple of hours, without realizing that her morpher was ringing constantly, after they finished Lily kissed her new fuck friend goodbye and added him to her contacts, only to see all the missed calls from his morpher

apparently the pair of useless can't do anything without me, I think I have to go help them... after buying weed and getting some tattoos and piercings

When Lily arrived at the battlefield, she only found the porcupine monster badly wounded and her two friends dead.

pathetic, well it's time to finish the job these two couldn't, well thorny it's time to have fun pulling out your thorns.

After doing her job and removing their morphers from the corpses of the dis ex-ragers, Lily returned to the base.

Lily, where have you been, I'm very worried, I can't contact the boys, because they're not with you and what happened to you because you look like that, you look like a criminal, answer me

Already fed up with Fran's moans, in one quick movement I nailed one of the monster's thorns.

Don't worry, Fran, it hurts at first, but soon you'll see life like me.

and as lily said, soon fran became a mean biker like her.

After breaking her kiss between them, Lily gave the red morpher to Fran.

ok cutie now you're the red ranger my red ranger it's time to take this world for ourselves and mold it in my image we just have to find whoever is blue and i have the perfect stud for that.

While Lily called the cell phone of the guy who fucked her to recruit him and have a night of wild sex for the three of them, humanity could not imagine the dark fate that lies ahead at the hands of these three.

End

[madamebaggio]

Notes: Previously...

So… Yeah.

I had two new WIPs (this one and “Lady of All She Touches”) and I’d promised myself I’d only post them once I finished something before. I posted “Lady” after I finished “If I close my eyes” (my other Lothíriel x Éomer fanfic) and now that I’ve finished “Good girls to Heaven”, I’ve decided to post this… hahahaha

I am weak, don’t judge me.

So, this is probably not the most healthy marriage out there, but I’m just here for shenanigans as usual.

Warning: this will get nasty. Sexually speaking, just so you know. I’m still reflecting about the breeding kink portion of it, but the sex will be explicit.

Anyway… I’m just posting the first chapter as a reward to myself, but all the WIPs are on hiatus until I finish the other two WIPs on my list. Next one is “Every Piece of My Heart”, then “Those Stark Boys”. After those two are finished, I’ll see about the other stuff.

Have fun!

***

Queen Lothíriel of Rohan had quite settled in her position in the last two years. She had been educated to take care of an estate, and these lessons had been helpful in a way. Obviously a country was not like a house, but some of the same principles applied.

There were many other things to take in consideration, such as the customs of the Mark, the needs of its people and the political aspects. However, Lothíriel felt as if she’d handled those well, especially after she learned the language.

She considered her life in the Mark quite satisfactory. The court was less exuberant than the one in Gondor, but this was by no means a bad thing. The people from the Mark were more direct, less given to fanciful speech and much more clear on what they liked or not. 

At first that hadn’t been exactly a good thing -since many of them hadn’t liked her -but Lothíriel had learned the value of this honesty. They weren’t plotting to stab her in the back, or pretending to be her friends; they were plainly against having a Gondorian Queen.

She couldn’t really blame them, since the last time they had a queen who hailed from Gondor, she’d left the country as soon as her husband died, leaving her children behind. When her husband had been crowned King of Rohan, many had wished for a queen from Rohan.

Instead they got her.

Lothíriel tried not to take it too personally, which would’ve been easier if her husband had helped her. Apparently, the people of the Mark weren’t the only ones disappointed about this marriage.

Quite rich, considering Éomer King had chosen her.

But it was fine. She was settled, she had plans and her husband would have to deal with it.

She heard yelling and crashing and wondered if that was him.

She should get up and receive him, but… Well, this embroidery wouldn’t finish itself.

Lothíriel remained seated, her maid throwing concerned looks at the door as the alarming sounds grew louder and louder, getting closer by the minute.

Finally the door banged open, and there was her lord husband, looking furious.

She loved the sight.

“Oh, husband.” She told him pleasantly. “I had not expected you so soon.”

He seemed about to have a conniption. “OUT!” He barked at the maid, who was fast in attending the order.

“You seem tired, my lord. Have you ridden the whole night to get here?” She asked, the picture of a solicitous wife.

He tried to take a deep breath in, but it didn’t seem to help much. “Do not play games with me, my lady.” He said through gritted teeth. “You knew I would come after such a letter.” Only then she noticed he had a letter on his fist, probably hers.

She frowned. “How could I? Letters had never been enough to bring you back before.”

He was clearly shocked by how bluntly she’d thrown that information at him, but he recovered fast. “You do not think the content of said letter contributed to it?”

She gasped, hand going to her chest. “Oh, so you came back to help with it? Was it to participate in the making of the child or to help select your replacement?”

Wrong thing to say… His eyes flashed in fury.

It was fine, Lothíriel was kind of counting on it. She knew her husband had quite the temper, but she wasn’t that concerned about it. Éomer might be a poor husband, but he wasn’t a violent one.

So she didn’t even flinch when he put his hands on the arms of her chair and leaned towards her, his nose almost touching hers. “There is no replacement for a husband.” He hissed. “Much less for me.”

She almost laughed at his arrogance. “Well, I am ready to do my duty, you are the one who is not.” She pointed out. “I was just trying to ease your burden.”

Éomer growled, then pushed himself away. He paced for a while, and Lothíriel watched in fascination until he finally stormed out.

Her sister-in-law had been right: this was a good idea.

[thevibraniumveterans]

SECRET INVASION

S1E4 — Beloved

.

.

SPOILERS!

SECRET INVASION

S1E4 — BELOVED

Starts off with G’iah’s body where she was left. Mysterious. Oh but that’s curious; the original human G’iah is in the lab, but the Skrull G’iah is outdoors, and as the human version does what she’s doing, Skrull G’iah’s wound heals. It’s Extremis, and Skrull G’iah wakes in her human form. Wow.

The intro credits roll.

Place card, Paris, 2012. Presumably this is after the whole Avengers fiasco. Fury sits at a table, a newspaper reading: “The Avengers: The Battle of New York” in French. The woman Fury is talking to, I feel she’s speaking and saying one thing but meaning another.

We then cut to a scene in a chapel, where the woman is sitting at the back of said chapel, and is joined by Rhodey. He asks how Fury was fired. But Rhodey telling the woman that Fury needs to be killed, is a curious statement. I still don’t know if it is indeed Rhodey, or a Skrull in his place.

A scene or two later, Talos apologizes to G’iah, but she isn’t having it.

Fury is back at home, and so is Priscilla. That’s her name. She’s taken her gun, I think, from her bag. Fury serves drinks. He knows she plans to kill him. But this is not Priscilla. Fury knows she’s a Skrull, and she reveals how she chose to take over the real Priscilla’s body and mind. Fury and the Skrull fire at each other, but they do not harm each other.

Cut to another scene, and it is revealed that a female Skrull has taken over the body of Rhodey. Which means, the “Rhodey” we saw earlier in the episode, was (is?) a Skrull. Which begs the question; where actually is the real Rhodey?

This “Rhodey” speaks with Fury, who has no idea about him being a Skrull. Feels like when the “oh there’s Skrulls, how close? “As close as you and I are right now”” convo takes place, the “Rhodey” is pulling a Lamb to the Slaughter over Fury’s eyes. This “Rhodey” is gaslighting Fury

(The “Stagecoach” is apparently the name of the US President’s Cadillac. And apparently, the Cuban Missile Crisis and Lenin both exist in the MCU now. Feels terrifying.)

“Rhodey” sends a message up to Gravik, who orders that the President’s car be fired upon. Maybe, just maybe, this is the incident that kills the Prez, since we know there will be a new President in the Cap 4 movie.

Stagecoach carries Prez Ritson; Gravik is nicknamed Citadel.

There’s a massive shootout; Talos is shot. Gravik disguises himself as an ally soldier, and stabs Talos, mortally wounding him.

Fury makes the decision to protect the President, and drives off, leaving Talos behind.

Thoughts: pretty intense episode, drives home even more the point that we’re not always 100% sure who’s who. Which ups the paranoia, I think. Fury had to now watch his own back, there’s nobody to do it for him now.

[notyour-valentine]

Welcome to Downton, Mr Shelby 2 ~ Tommy Shelby x Crawley!OC (Series)

[Masterlist] [Series Masterlist] [Taglists]

Chapter Summary: The weekend continues and Tommy asks Charlotte to dance

Notes:  Thank you so much for the great reception and kind words! Sorry if this feels a little crammed, I REALLY wanted to get to the next part because it is my absolute favourite thing I've written for these two so far hehe. I do not consent to my work being translated, copied or posted elsewhere on this platform or any other.

Warning: Canon conforming tone. (18/21+). Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Expect spoilers for Peaky Blinders and Downton Abbey Season 1-2

Wordcount: 5994

Part 2

Previously

Just how the dinner got to this point was beyond him, but apparently they had ended up with the debate of how difficult it was to find good servants these days - the greatest tragedy mankind had to face, at least according to these people. 

"I'm just getting tired of it,", one confessed, "at this point we are so desperate we would take nearly anyone who came knocking."

That caused some amused chuckles. 

"But then again, you never know what you are taking on, even with good references and records. You let these people into your homes, trust them but you can never be sure. Isn't that right Lady Mary?", One of the Mallister girls asked pointedly. 

Everyone fell silent at once, as all other conversation subsided. Even the clattering of fine silver cutlery on expensive porcelain plates stopped completely.

One could have heard a pin drop.

"Goodness,", Lady Mary Crawley said, one of her eyebrows raised as she lowered her knife, "I’m not entirely sure I know what you are insinuating."

Her gaze was so cold and heartless that it made little Mallister girl crumble in her seat, melting under the icy gaze of the other woman.

Tommy could understand why May had warned him about her beforehand. 

It couldn’t be more obvious why one should stay clear of Lady Mary Crawley. The same couldn’t be said of everyone, but he doubted they were different in sentiment, only better at hiding their spite and snobbery than she was. 

Or maybe she just didn’t care to try. People like her rarely had to. 

But where her sister’s fury was icy cold, Charlotte’s burned, driving the blood to her cheeks and the fire to her eyes. 

For a few seconds there was pained silence, but then the only male Hastings spoke up, swirling his wine in his glass with a devilish look in his eyes. 

"It is well known the Crawleys' are exceptionally fond of their servants."

Everyone stared at him, some in shock, some in amusement but Tommy watched the Crawleys. They exchanged a quick look which made the elder drink and the younger glance down at her plate, one hand finding that spot on her chest and playing with the fabric. 

An order had been given, one Charlotte was quick to obey.  

In the end, one of the more older ladies, jumped in to diffuse the situation with almost surgical precision and the banality only their class could afford. 

"Speaking of exceptional -  I was wondering, is anyone planning to go and see the opening of the new exhibition next month? They say the works were a huge success in France."

“If we let the French be the judges of taste, what would it come to?”, a gruff old man remarked under a mustache that reminded Tommy more of Kaiser Bill than anything else. 

And of course there was little these people did better than meaningless conversation. 

"What was all that about?", He asked May, when they had all moved on to the large drawing room. 

She huffed, tilting her head from side to side as she held a whisky of her own in her hand, weighing her words before she chose to answer. 

“Do you remember what I told you about the third one? The one who came out with my sister?”

Tommy nodded - she had been described as a darling, and coming from the mouth of someone who painted her elder sister as nothing short of a witch, that had to mean something. 

“Well, she was there for Lady Charlotte’s coming out and for her ball and all that.”

Tommy tried not to let his reaction to the fact that apparently it was normal for them to have their own balls show on his face. 

“But as soon as she was properly out, Lady Sybil disappeared.”

May moved closer still and he leaned down slightly. 

“They say she ran off with the chauffeur.”

That made him choke on his whisky as he stared at her wide-eyed. 

“That’s the scandal?”

May nodded. 

“But it is just rumours, although it is suspicious that she’s not seen about anymore, so she must’ve run off somewhere. God, I hope it’s true.”

“Why?”, he wanted to know. It wasn't like May had any stake in it.

A devilish smirk appeared on her face. 

“A little scandal would suit Mary just fine.”, she sneered. “Remind her that she is not as high and mighty as she thinks she is.”

~

There was always chaos before the parties set out, so much so, he was surprised that no horse had bolted yet. 

Overworked and hectic grooms rushed to bring out the animals, while people fussed around about the group orders. Or at least most of them. 

It took half an eternity for the horses to be sorted to the people and the people to the groups and the groups to the guides. In that time, Tommy could have crossed half the estate already.

Since he took great care to get his own horse and saddle up, he was far removed from their irritating conversation and the pestering. 

When May had suggested some of the unmarried ladies would throw themselves at him, she had not lied. 

But they all wanted marriage, while he, well, him and May were in agreement over what they wanted. 

Seeing the sight unfold before his eyes, he bit back a scoff. 

Of course, it would be far too much to ask the high and mighty aristocrats to go and fetch their own horses, let alone saddle them. The most ridiculous thing of all, however, where these little stools which were rushed around to ease their way onto a horses back. 

A man who couldn’t get into his saddle should hardly consider himself a rider. And with the women and their side saddles- well that was a whole other story. 

From the saddle of his own horse, Tommy had an excellent view of the chaos, and once more he put the names and the identifiers to the people. 

Evelyn Napier from the Foreign Office. The Mallister girls who all had the same shaped brows and were very keen on prospective husbands, the Grimwades and their shipping company, Lord Hastings and Lord Newtonmore, and his sister Annabelle. Her husband was also in government, but at a minor role. 

They were chatting to the Crawleys and if he remembered what May had told him, they were somewhat related. But then again, these people all were. 

“Ah!”, he heard Charlotte say in a rather bright tone when a groom approached with her horse, reins in one hand and a stool in the other. 

She looked as ridiculous as the rest of them, in her riding dress and coat and that hat with the net in front. It was nothing short of dressing up, but for these people it was real life. 

Before she greeted her horse properly, she pulled off her white glove, tucking it away carelessly as she was clearly not shy to touch the animal. 

And he could see her smile, and not the one she smiled at dinner. 

Her smile there was soft and gentle, the epitome of humble grace and class. This was almost a grin, making her eyes shine as it rounded her cheeks. 

It was a sweet smile, but above that it was a real one. 

Nevertheless, she walked around the horse and, skirts in hand, climbed up on the stool.

The groom was ready to hoist her up, but when she held onto the saddle for stability, it slipped and came towards her, saddle cloth and all. 

Charlotte lost her balance as her feet slid from the stool and very nearly would have fallen if the groom hadn’t caught her under the arms, steadying her. 

Irritated, the horse moved away. 

“Pardon me, M’lady!”, the groom pleaded as he pulled her up again. “We must have forgotten to tighten the straps.”

The boy had grown as pale as winter mist and his voice trembled, but she only waved it off. 

“No need to fuss, I’m still under the living.”

That almost made Tommy smile. 

After she had reassured the quivering groom, she quickly turned her attention to the side of the saddle to inspect the leatherwork. 

She pulled off her gloves once again and stuffed them under her arm rather unceremoniously as she fixed the straps herself. 

It was only a fleeting movement, but Tommy saw how the palm of her hand slipped in between the front leg of the horse and the girth. 

All in all, it was a split of a second and if one didn’t know horses, didn’t truly know horses, one would have mistaken her confirmation for a soothing touch or a slip of hand. 

He wasn’t too fond of the idea of saddles, although he could see their necessity at times. But he hadn’t expected Lady Charlotte Crawley to know enough about horsemanship to be able to properly judge a saddle’s positioning. 

Yet despite her evident knowledge she still needed to be helped into the saddle like a child, even if she sat there confidently and without fear or doubt. 

Without paying it all much mind, her eyes focussed on the gloves she was slipping back on, Charlotte urged her horse out of the chaos, her riding crop tucked in under her arm. 

Tommy followed almost on his own accord. 

When he joined her, he hadn't come up from the side where her legs were and so he could see her back- straight as a ruler- and her excellent posture. 

Like a proper little lady. 

He couldn’t imagine an existence like that, always proper, always on parade, obeying more rules than any sensible person would ever care to remember.  

But then again, of all the people he had encountered here, apart from May, she was the only one who seemed halfway decent, at least in a way that didn’t involve business. 

She hadn’t snapped at the groom and she knew her way around horses, which was more than he could say for the most of them. 

"You left early after dinner.", he remarked, running his hand down the neck of his horse. 

Her sister had stayed and weathered the storm, but Charlotte had left after merely ten minutes, which she spent in a huddle with her elder sister. 

Perhaps the older had given the younger her marching orders. Given what he had already seen of them, it wouldn’t have surprised him. 

"I was very tired.", She said, looking straight ahead as she rode, with a voice as sweet as summer honey. "I apologise if it was an inconvenience."

Do these people ever speak normally?

"Nothing to do with you being upset?", he asked, curious what her reaction might be. 

Her head snapped around and for a split second she looked shocked, but then the mask was there again. 

"I wasn't upset.", She said with a smile that was even less believable than her words.. "Why would I be?”

Her hands fidgeted slightly in her lap, but then the powers of polite conversation took over and removed any element of uncertainty. 

“It seems rather good weather for riding, don’t you agree, Mr. Shelby?”, she asked, glancing up at the sky with her black hat and black veil covering her face. 

Tommy nodded. 

As his eyes glanced downward, he noticed how she held the reins, her hands covered by the gloves she wore. She didn’t clutch them in anxiety but rather held them with ease. For someone who had no control over the animal with her legs, it was a rather lax approach. 

She knows what she is doing.

And then he remembered what she had done earlier. 

She knows horses. 

But she was still riding side saddle like the rest of them. 

"Can you also ride properly?", He asked. "Or just like that?"

"I don't understand,", she said, one hand finding the buttons on her jacket and pressing down between them, "how else would I ride?"

Her jacket and skirt were fitted and tailored perfectly, the brass buttons shining. Her blouse was made from white silk and the white cloth around her neck was fastened with a real gold pin that caught the light. The pearls on her ears were real too and the white gloves were made from leather. 

She looked as if one of those expensive dolls in the toy shops Ada had always glanced at longingly had come to life, those which cost more money than they had to feed the family for two months. 

And he meant more than just her clothes. 

"Never mind.", Tommy mumbled and looked away. Perhaps he had overestimated her horsemanship after all. 

When the parties set out, their paths diverted once more, but Tommy looked over his shoulder to watch her leave. It was unlike his movement, but it matched the way she was sitting, and somehow, in a different way than he was, she seemed to be moving with the horse. 

Still, he would never get used to seeing a person ride sideways on a horse. What an utterly ridiculous idea. 

~

May's family had hired a string quartet to accompany them for the final evening. 

They were set up in a small stage in front of the back of the long hall which had been polished from top to bottom, with large floral displays placed across the sides of the room. 

The middle was reserved for dancing. 

May looked beyond lovely in a deep green evening dress, whose fabric ghosted around her legs with every move. It was embroidered with gold thread that glittered differently depending on how and where they moved. The colouring brought out the brightness in her brown eyes. 

Like all women she wore dinner gloves and above that glittering bracelets that matched the diamonds in her hair. 

They were all dressed like they were about to go on parade. The older women wore longer dresses and seemed to prefer diamond and pearl chokers or what looked like chokers and could have been layers and layers of necklaces on top of each other, with the jewels cascading down their chests like waterfalls. 

If he nicked one of them, he could feed all of Watery Lane for a month. 

The younger women prefered the straighter cuts of the current fashion, and kept their necklaces to a minimum, with nothing more than a long necklace at most, and not nearly as flashy as the older women, however they did have long earrings and headpieces and fucking tiaras, although none was more ridiculous than the one who had real feathers in her hair as well. 

But it was a splendid display of colours and textures, even he had to admit that. 

The Mallister girls had clearly coordinated their dresses, wearing the same cloth of yellow, only cut slightly differently. 

And Mary Crawley had chosen a dress the colour of deep crimson, matching it with black evening gloves and a black necklace, making her appear even paler than she was. The only shine came from the diamond tiara in her hair. She looked fierce and strangely regal, like she could have just stepped out of a fashion magazine and an age old castle at the same time. 

But she looked cold too. 

Compared to her, Charlotte seemed like a schoolgirl, in a pale pink dress with gold embroidery at the hem that was far more flowy than her sister’s straight lined cut. She wore no tiara of her own, but rather a gold headpiece in the shape of spring flowers that had been placed at the back of her head. 

At first, she stuck to her sister and her fiancé and a few companions before James Newtonmoore took her to the dancefloor, which Tommy had already claimed as his own. 

May proved an even better dancer than he could have hoped for and he had already seen himself spending the whole night twirling her in his arms, but apparently that would be unseemly as she, being the hostess, had duties to attend to the other guests. 

That didn't mean he faced a lack of partners, on the contrary. 

First he danced with the Grimwade girl, then with one whose name he had forgotten, but whose perfume stench would haunt him for the rest of his days. The next, a Lady Helena, was rather plump but proved to be an excellent dancer, better even than May had been, but the following woman who looked like she belonged in the pictures, trodded on his toes as if they were foot pedals on a piano. 

Some were polite, some were pushy, demanding answers in regards to his family and his possible fortune in more or less discreet fashion. 

But he wasn’t here to find a wife. 

He was here to find business partners and it wasn’t likely he would find them on the dancefloor. 

One of the Mallister girls, Evangeline, was rather persistent, and when she realised, he wasn’t giving the answers she wanted, she moved on with the next song. 

He had half a mind to go out for a cigarette as he watched her go off and try her luck with Patrick Melbourne, snatching him from Charlotte Crawley, who seemed not the least bit sad to see him go, but it did leave her stranded. 

Almost silently, he moved up beside her. 

“Do you need rescuing?”, he asked. 

She jumped slightly as she turned, before smiling in recognition. 

“Well,”, she said, folding her hands behind her back, “if you really wanted to rescue someone, you should try your luck with Gregory Grimwade. He looks rather miserable.”

Tommy’s eyes searched the hall for the red-headed fellow only to see him looking as pale as snow while his ear was being chewed off by a woman who looked as if she could be his mother. 

Or grandmother. 

Charlotte leaned a little closer. 

“She is very keen for him to marry one of her granddaughters and is singing their praises in turn. As there are eleven of them, I don’t think Gregory is going to hear the end of it any time soon.”

Tommy couldn’t help but pity the man, although he wasn’t the least interested in the marriage politics of these people. 

“Nevertheless,”, he said, holding out his hand. “Shall we?”

He was curious to see what she would do. One never knew with girls like her. 

She looked him up and down slowly and he could feel the wheels turning in her head. Then she placed her gloved hand into his. It was made from the smoothest silk, and felt like water running between his fingers as he took her hand. 

“Although I must warn you,”, she began as he led her further into the middle of the floor where there was a little more room, “I fear I might overdone it with my riding and no one knows when the soreness will strike.”

“We’ll be fine.”, he assured her, before finding the tact on nothing but instinct. 

She was smaller than he was, although not by much thanks to her heels, and so she was a good height for a possible partner. 

While her hand felt small in his, she was far from a meek dancer. It was as if she could anticipate his movement and could double his momentum when it came to the turns. 

“Did you enjoy today’s ride, Mr. Shelby?”, she asked, finding the appropriate words as her feet found the appropriate steps with the ease of her class. 

“Yes.”

When she realised he wasn’t going to give her more, she huffed slightly and tried a different approach. 

"Might I ask where you are from?", She asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

Always indirect. Why go straight ahead if you can run around in circles a few times, eh? 

But even if she wanted to play the games of her people with him, he could still play by his own rules. 

"You may.", He offered, wondering how she would react if provoked. One could almost consider it an experiment.  

Charlotte Crawley smiled softly, but the glint in her eyes proved that she had caught on. And a little colour came to her cheeks. 

"So where are you from, Mr. Shelby?", She asked. "I asked my sister but she doesn't know you either, I'm afraid. No one seems to know much about you, which is as intriguing as it is unnerving, wouldn’t you agree?"

Tommy weighed his answer carefully. 

May had warned him that there would be people just waiting to call him out, and his voice and haircut already marked him as an outsider. 

Then again, this one seemed too soft to be a threat. 

"I am a man who does not like being known.”

He could feel her eyes running over him, and he wondered what she was seeing. 

Was it the borrowed clothes? The uncommon haircut? The lack of sigil on his signet ring? Or the absence of slight scratches on his cufflinks, marking them out as anything but an heirloom. 

It was as if she was trying to capture him, like she was taking a photograph in her mind and comparing it against everything she had been taught to know. 

"If you really didn't want to be known, Mr. Shelby,”, she finally remarked dryly, “a riding weekend in Berkshire during the social season would be the last thing I’d suggest.”

That made him scoff in amusement. 

She wasn’t wrong, but she couldn’t know he was here for business, not pleasure. He wondered if she even knew what business was. 

Well, there was still pleasure of course, but they had to be careful with all the other people around. 

"Will I be the topic of gossip now?", He wondered. 

"We all will be the topic of gossip.", She said, entirely ambivalent to the implications of her words, "Every single one of these people, and their servants, will go home and will tell stories of what happened. And those stories will pass to their families and their households and before long they will develop lives of their own."

When her eyes met his again, they were wide and almost giddy with excitement. 

“In the end, they can create the most outrageous tales.”

To avoid a collision between them and Lord Hastings and his partner, Tommy moved to the side, pulling her closer so that he wouldn’t crash in her back. 

She came almost flush against him, and even if it was only for the split second, he could feel her startled gasp against his neck as the scent of her perfume filled his nose - jasmine, he realised. 

But just as quickly as he had to react, they stepped apart again, never stumbling in their dance. 

"Why did you come, Mr. Shelby, if you so dislike to be known?", she wanted to know. 

To make some money and to do May a favour. 

It was a weighted question, with a dangerous answer, or at least it could be, but somehow he didn’t think that Lady Charlotte Crawley was as sharp as her sister, in more ways than one. 

She was too young to have seen much of the world, especially given her birth. Polite yes, but Tommy doubted she would be reinventing the wheel anytime soon. 

He had seen her be kind to the people around her, even when she didn’t have to,  and polite to the servants. He had also seen her be good to her horse.  

And despite the fact that her cousin was robbing her of her inheritance and home, she talked sweetly about his dead fiancee. 

If anyone threatened his family’s existence, deserved or not, Tommy would have selected some more choice words. 

Kindness, softness, naivité - all things that were the opposite of dangerous. 

And so he decided to tell her. 

"May invited me."

"May Carleton?", She asked, her tone rising with the surprise she felt. 

He nodded. 

"How lovely. How are you two acquainted?", she asked as the second song began to play. 

"She trains my racehorses ", he said. 

A frown flashed over her face for a split second, but then realisation smoothed the lines of doubt. 

"Oh I had forgotten Mrs. Carleton was involved in all that. I thought that was Sir Ian’s business, and his father or course."

She huffed and shook her head, offering him an apologetic smile. . “How silly of me.”

"Ian? Her husband?"

Until now he hadn't known what his name had been. 

She confirmed that, and neither one pressed the issue further, instead opting to lose themselves in the music for a while.

After all, what was there to say? Too many lives had been lost in the war and while he despised her sort for the orders they gave, they weren’t given by girls in pink dresses and he wasn’t as foolish to think that the death he had faced in Flanders hadn’t reached all the way into their palatial homes the way it had reached into the houses in Small Heath. 

The air became thicker from than the heat inside the ballroom and for a second, Tommy took a deep, shaky breath and gathered himself. 

"Birmingham.", He finally said, just to banish the noise in his thought. 

“Pardon?”, she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. 

"You asked where I am from.”, Tommy said,  “I’m from Birmingham."

"Goodness,”, she said with a smile, “I've never met someone from Birmingham before."

That did not surprise him. 

You won't find many of your kind in Birmingham. 

"And I’ve never been either, unfortunately.”

Tommy battled for control of his face once more. 

Of course someone like her wouldn’t go to Birmingham- there was nothing there for her kind. 

And if she ever dared to step foot within ten miles of Small Heath, she’d be eaten alive.

Once more his lack of response tested her obedience to societies rules.  

"I suppose it is quite…pleasant?"

At that, he nearly laughed. 

But then again, she didn't do it on purpose. 

No one had taught her any better and she was merely trying to cling to the rules of polite conversation. 

"It's not Yorkshire.", He told her, remembering the soft hills, blue skies and green pastures from the time he had spent on the road. 

Now, in the golden light of the chandeliers, he took his time to study her the way she had studied him earlier.

The similarities between her and her sister was undeniable, but where her sister's features were sharper and more distinct, hers were softer. 

He made note of them, each and every one, as he let his eyes wander.  

The arch of her nose, the shape of her lips, their colouring, which was also slightly different to her sister’s. She wasn’t as pale, and so the slight flush of her cheeks from the temperature inside the room made her look lively and not overheated. 

Charlotte's hair was also brown, like her sisters, but where Mary's was close to black, hers had little elements of red if the light hit it just right. 

When he didn't try to restart a conversation, it was up to her once again. 

"Will you be joining the hunt next weekend? The ones Lord and Lady Hastings are hosting? Evelyn Napier was talking about it.."

"I don't hunt.", he told her. 

"You don't hunt?", She asked surprised. 

Tommy shook his head. 

"Not for sport."

He didn’t shoot unless he had to and he didn’t hunt unless he wanted to eat what he had hunted. So there was no point for him. 

"A gentleman who does not hunt. How unusual.", she remarked. 

A gentleman, eh?

Thomas Shelby was many things but he was not a gentleman and yet there he was in a manor house, surrounded by Lords and Ladies, dancing with the daughter of an Earl. 

It was almost laughable that she saw him as such, but he was pretending to be one this weekend, wasn’t he? And just maybe it wouldn’t hurt to keep up the illusion. At least it would spare him some form of embarrassment. 

Her voice was as bright as a summer day, and quite cheerful, with no judgement in it, and no spite in her eyes. 

Whatever her sister is, this one is not a snob. 

“A lady who knows how to saddle a horse. Not any more common.”

Her eyes darted towards him and for a split second her mouth dropped open ever so slightly. 

“W-why would you say that?”, she asked, her voice suddenly faint. 

“I watched you earlier.”, he admitted.

 “O-oh.”, she whispered, and her cheeks flushed again. 

She swallowed hard and avoided his gaze. 

While she pursed her lips, she blinked in rather rapid succession.

And Tommy realised she felt caught out, embarrassed even. 

To his surprise, he felt a pang of gilt. He hadn’t wanted to make her feel bad, not for the one thing he could actually credit her with.

"I think it’s a good thing.”, he assured her, running his thumb over her fingers. 

When her head snapped up again, he saw uncertainty in them, and a hint of suspicion. 

“Do you truly?”, she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper, as if she didn’t dare to speak up. 

Tommy nodded. 

“Just like I said, only uncommon.”

She blushed again, but it was a softer sort. 

“Well, I suppose so.”, she admitted, reaching down to rub the neck of the animal with a hint of a smile. “I got very lucky that I was allowed to learn to take better care of the horses. They are wonderful creatures.”

On that, they could agree. 

 “It’s not what people expect. Not from people like you."

What people like us expect. 

She tilted her head, and pursed her lips, considering his words.

Then slowly, she smiled. 

It was a proper smile, not like the one she had shown him at dinner. It showed her teeth and made little wrinkles appear around her eyes.  

"Goodness, what did you expect of me?", She asked curiously, that glint in her eyes. 

Tommy couldn’t help but take some satisfaction from it, shifting in his saddle. 

"Well, you look like your sister.”

"You mean Mary?", she asked, leaning over slightly. “Don’t say she lied to me- do you know her!”

At the mention of her family, her face changed. She looked even younger now, shaking that timeless appearance of her status and class, making her less reserved and not at all guarded. 

More open, Tommy realised, more vulnerable. 

But that was what family did, didn’t it?

To him and the high and mighty alike. 

“I’ll take any comparison to Mary as a compliment.”, she said with a beaming smile. 

“Really?”, he asked surprised, remembering the icy glare Mary had shot her at dinner and how she had been sent to bed like a child only shortly after.

“Why wouldn’t I?”, she asked, her eyes narrowing in confusion. 

“Well, I’ve heard things.”

“Have you?”

Her voice cracked like a whip, a mile from the soft and gentle tone he only now realised he had grown used to hearing from her lips. 

To his surprise, her jaw tightened and her eyes turned hard.  

“Pray tell, what exactly did you hear about my sister that would make a comparison with her the opposite of a compliment?”

When Tommy met her gaze, he spotted another similarity to her older sister for her eyes burned just as cold, so cold, they made the hair on the back of his neck stand. 

It also made his stomach coil. 

May had even warned him about the Crawleys, how they'd enjoy seeing them slip up and now he had. 

She had made it all too easy for him, with her naivete, and her softness, and in a moment of negligence, when he was reaching out to comfort her even, he had forgotten the tightrope he was walking on in her presence, in all of their presence.  

"Look, I-"

When she interrupted him her voice was calm, calculated and hard, as if she had suddenly turned into a marble statue, incapable of any remnant of emotion except spite. 

"Mr. Shelby, I think it quite cruel that you talk so casually about my sister in such a manner. Especially since you clearly cannot lay any claim to know her."

As if conspiring against him, the music grew softer once more to signal a changing of the song. She removed herself from his hands with ease politely, but her words were nothing but spiteful. 

“How very disappointing!”

~

Even from up here, he could still watch them, the corridor to the bedrooms at his back. 

Some had retired, but some were still dancing. 

And Tommy couldn’t stop watching her. 

He had found her riding style interesting, then he had talked to her because he appreciated her jumping and found her little ways amusing, the way she spoke, the way she preferred to be indirect, always asking for permission, always trying to find a way to not take responsibility for anything she said or did. Too sweet. Too soft. 

So perfect, like a dressed up doll which one had crossed with a songbird taught to sing all the right tunes, kept away from all the darkness and pain of the world, untouched by the dirt and grime. 

Her lack of life experience had made her almost pliable to him, turning all this into a game, until she turned to icy marble in his hands. 

But he had seen her for a split second, off guard, careless and happy at the mention of her family and then he had seen her silent rage, waves of the fiery inferno that burned inside her at the insult to her sister.

Then she turned cold once more, that perfect doll again, with perfect words and perfect smiles that weren't real and never reached her eyes. 

Maybe he didn’t have a right to judge her sister, fine.

But what right did she have to judge him? 

How very disappointing. 

It wasn’t his job to live up to her standards, her wishes, her ideals, her fucking expectations of proper decorum and polite conversation. So why did it annoy him so very much?

Perhaps it was that glimpse. A glimpse of what was real, what was true under all her politeness and common courtesy. 

And that glimpse didn’t let him go. 

He had peeked behind the curtain, opened the hidden box even if just for a moment and seen something he shouldn’t have. 

And like the first time doing something he shouldn’t - smoking at eleven, drinking at 12, sneaking about with girls. It made him itch for another, another glimpse, another slip of the mask, another dropping of the veil, especially since she was such an expert at keeping it up. 

"Yes, the Crawleys have a way of getting under one's skin, don't they?", May said, coming up beside him on the balcony, following his gaze. 

"Mary especially but I wouldn't have thought it of little Charlotte. She seemed so sweet.”

She tilted her head. 

“But she is Mary’s sister, so what do I know?”

Fuck her, he finally thought, as he saw her dancing with her sister’s fiancé.  

It wasn’t like it mattered. He had been here for business contacts and he had gotten them in form of Melbourne and Grimwade. And when it came to pleasure, he had May. 

So he hadn’t lost anything when it came to the Crawley girl, apart from a little pride. 

He clasped her face in his hands and pushed her back, away from the balcony, from the lights and from prying eyes. 

“Fuck them, eh?”, he mused, before leaning in to capture her lips with his before she even had a chance to respond. 

But even if he fell asleep in May’s bed, surrounded by her scent and the softness of her arms, his dreams were laced with jasmine and haunted by the fleeting feeling of her breath on his neck.

End of Part 2

~

Part 3

Thank you for reading and commenting! I hope you had fun and would love to hear from you

Taglist

@lilyrachelcassidy @jyessaminereads @watercolorskyy @books-livre @chlorrox @quarterpastmidnight @lilyevanswhore @polishcrazyone @zablife @just-a-harmless-patato @stevie75 @flyingjosephine-blog

Tommy

@knowledgefulbutterfly @babayaga67 @signorellisantichrist @lespendy @geeksareunique

Welcome to Downton, Mr Shelby

@budugu @runnning-outof-time @cillmequick @rainybabe25 @theshelbyclan @babayaga67 @theshelbyslimited @missscarletta7

[shades-of-stony]

ABO Stony AUs!

Celestial Navigation by  sabrecmc

Summary:  18 year old Omega!Tony finds himself Bonded to Captain Steve Rogers. He isn't happy about it until he is.

Note: Does it need any explanation? This fic is an all time classic and favorite in the Stony fandom!

Object: Matrimony by BladeoftheNebula

Summary: Omega Tony Stark craves adventure and an escape from the life his parents have planned for him in New York. He places a listing in a marriage catalogue to seek a match with an alpha out West, and Sheriff Steve Rogers answers his advertisement. But finding a nice alpha doesn't mean it's all smooth sailing from there..

- A Mail Order Bride AU -

Note: A 10/10! This has all the splendid elements of ABO with an added twist of a West setting and time! 

 The Team Omega by AngeNoir for PhenomenalAsterisk

Summary:  Steve Rogers is thawed, stressed, and not quite sure what Director Fury wants with him. Giving him a unit of all alphas, even if most of them Steve had fought alongside when the alien menace had nearly wiped out the entire city of New York... The thing is, more than four alphas wouldn't work in a unit with one another, not for long. Everyone knew that. Steve knew that, intimately, with the Howling Commandos.

Which was why Director Fury had, apparently, assigned them an omega.

Frustrated at the inability to even choose his team, let alone choose the omega that was supposed to keep the peace between everyone, Steve storms back to his unit's assigned quarters. There, he meets Tony Stark, grandchild of Howard Stark, clearly unhappy with his position and just as clearly unwilling to break contract with the U.S. military complex. So why was someone like Anthony Stark here, in Steve's charge?

And how could Steve even act upon his genuine attraction, with the power imbalance clearly in place?

Note: I admit, this has one of the best takes on ABO I read in a while! It’s a good read!

 If You Love Me I'll Love You Too by Carsonian

Summary: Starrk hands Steven a knife, leatherbound and strong, to fulfill the rite. The Alpha must go first. Steven takes Anthony’s hand, slices a clean line across the palm.

“And in the sharing of blood, I am become yours.” Steven recites.

Anthony takes the knife and returns the favour.

“And in the sharing of blood,” He looks up, eyes dark and unfathomable, “I am become yours.”

Note: A well-written ABO Stony fanfic with a dash of arranged marriage and Middle Ages (though the time period wasn’t exactly specified). It takes on how Steve and Tony navigates through their forced marriage and how they learn to care for each other!

Tribute Given, Treasure Gained by sphagnum

Summary: “Steve,” the Captain said, hand over his chest.

Tony licked his lips. Was he supposed to give his name, or remain silent until he was asked a direct question? The Captain--Steve, apparently--already knew his name, he had to, it had been included on the settlement he and Stane had signed. Was this a test? Time was passing and Steve was still waiting with his hand on his chest but Tony had to figure out the right answer fast or when Steve moved he might--“

Tony,” he blurted.

“Tony,” Steve repeated. He hadn’t come any closer. He said something short that might have been pleased to meet you or you look good on your knees. Tony had no way of knowing and he wasn’t going to risk echoing it. He kept quiet. See, Howard? I do know how to shut up when my life depends on it.

Note: A nice ABO with Warlord!Steve! This is a great read, with the steamy smut on the end being a nice cherry on top!

While We Pretend to Sleep by Typo66

Summary:  Tony pretends to be an alpha. Then he forgets he had been pretending. One thing he remembers is Steve. Steve tries to help out in his old fashioned, ethically strict way. Tony likes making big gestures. He has never been subtle.

Note: Another Stony classic! This is a great take on ‘Tony denying his nature’! A deifinite 10/10 read!

Rockabye by BladeoftheNebula

Summary: Cute alphas didn’t appear out of nowhere to help ruined omegas. That was a widely accepted fact.Tony Stark had always known his life wouldn’t be easy as a genius omega in an alpha’s world. But not even he predicted getting knocked up and forced to move to a small town in the middle of nowhere.

Note: A fun read where Firefighter!Steve lend a hand to pregnant Tony! It also takes place in a Small Town kind of setting, which is an added bonus!

In the middle of the night by defenceless_stark

Summary:  In the past, alphas used to only mate with other alphas and maybe the occasional beta or delta. Omegas were seen as useless and scum to alphas. Omegas would only stay in a pack if they could keep up and they were only protected if they were the head alpha’s offspring. Over time, alphas soon discovered that omegas were useful for producing offspring, due to their high fertility rates and weaker genes, so, in most cases, only the alpha’s genes will pass on. Alphas soon evolved to an omega’s scent, making them possessive and dominant over omegas which led to an increase in abuse and mistreatment. Steven Rogers was expected to be an omega, but much to everyone’s to surprise, he was an alpha.

Anthony Stark was expected to be an alpha, but much to his father’s disappointment, he was an omega.

Like any omega, Tony had his fair share of omega abuse and harassment. But unlike any other omega, he wasn’t one to sit around and take it.

Note: If you are avid ABO fan, this is a Stony fanfic that you wouldn’t want to miss! 

In A Rut by rougewinter

“You don’t have to do this, Tony.” Pepper said as she tightened her white knuckled grip on the clipboard in her arms. “I’m sure we can find someone else.”

“Yes. I do.” Tony said, surprised that his voice came out steadier than he expected.

Or the one where Steve goes into an Alpha Rut and Tony is the only one who can help.

Note: A short but sweet-well, not sweet since it has that dose of great smut! make sure to check it’s sequel where Tony is in heat! (Heat Up by rougewinter for avengemehamlet)

Please don’t (give me what I want) by masterlokisev159

Summary: After the events in Siberia, a new law is declared and Steve and Tony's newly reformed relationship is torn to pieces.

Then Tony goes into heat. And Steve is adamant to save it.

A post-civil war story where Tony is put in a position where he cannot consent to anything at all. Steve, the strongest alpha of all time, is furious.

Note: For those Stony shippers that wants a bit of angst! 

Perfect Man for the Job by Ilearnedtoreadforthis

Summary: After his ordeal in Afghanistan, omega Tony creates the Stark Housing Initiative: Executive Level Development (or S.H.I.E.L.D., for short) to provide housing to returning veterans. When alpha Steve Rogers applies to manage S.H.I.E.L.D., it turns Tony's life upside down.

Note: This is a cute employee/boss story with a dash of ABO! 

World Acclimation by Del_Rion

Summary:  When an unexplained phenomenon washes over the entire planet, the Avengers are left to struggle along with the rest of the population. Chains of command, relationships and friendships alike are put to the test as new biological imperatives take hold, and only one thing is certain: the world will never be the same.

Note: This is one of my favorites! It has a unique take on ABO that I don’t see often. And well, Am still hoping for the next installment. Though, read the tags carefully!

You Are Not Broken, Just Bent. by NazakiSama166

Summary: He won't break!

No matter how much he was tortured, no matter how much he was beaten, starved, threatened... He won't, he won't, he won't!

Until he did...

--- When Shield uncovers a hidden sub-basement in the house of Obadiah Stane, they find a tortured omega and his pup. Everything went down the drain when that Omega turned out to be Tony Stark, Howard Stark's son that went missing six years ago.

Note: Anyone in the mood for angst?

WIP: 

Finding Pack by Naferty

Summary: In a world where pack means everything from status to fame to survival and to family, newly pack-less Tony Stark is trying to survive after those he once trusted betrayed him, and starting over by searching for a new pack to take him in, but with his age and status weighing heavily on his shoulders finding someone to take a chance on him might be easier said than done.

What pack wanted an old infertile omega in their ranks? Certainly not the famous Avengers pack led by the equally famous Captain.

Note: This is a bit of a slow burn Stony fanfic that ticks all ABO boxes! It’s an all-time-favorite and classic! 

Secrets Don't Make Friends by sayah1112

Summary: Tony Stark has a secret. Several, in fact. Outed to the world as an Omega, he finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. His only hope at salvation rests upon the strong shoulders of a certain Captain Steven Rogers. The problem? Rogers hates his guts.

Note: Another favorite of mine! This is a great hurt/comfort fanfic centered on stony!

This is just part 1 guys! I’m kind of a big fan of ABO so I have a few more to recommend!

[daiseukiis]

: ̗̀➛ 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐓 𝐔𝐏 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐒

𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 ; 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙬𝙤

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

─꒱ in which we peak into how life is as the in-law of the fushiguro family after marrying megumi。

─꒱ feat. fushiguro megumi, fushiguro toji & fushiguro tsumiki

─꒱ warnings ; profanity, chaotic hot shit

─꒱ notes ; OMG SHOULD I MAKE A SPECIAL WHERE YOU GUYS SEND IN ASKS ABOUT HOW THE NEIGHBOURS REACT TO THE FUSHIGUROS EYVBIJX HAHAHA

─꒱ episode one | 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐓 𝐔𝐏 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐒 | episode three

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

꒰꒰ you love your father-in-law, like you really do love toji, but that worm of his needs to be in a fucking cage.

a loud scream comes from the top of your lungs early in the morning, eyelashes blinking to shoo the drowsiness away after it's been awakened by the warm sun rays that lay atop your eyelids. as much as you love waking up in the morning in bed with your husband, you don't get that luxury sometimes.

"y/n?!" hearing the loud footsteps of your husband rushing towards with another scream from your sister-in-law, the both of them slam the door wide open. "what happened?!" toji is the last to appear to the scene, his expression more on the sight of confusion compared to the worried and panicked facials on megumi and tsumiki's face. "what the fuck?"

"get this fucking worm off me!"

꒰꒰ if that worm wasn't adopted by toji it would've been on fucking sight. that shit uglier then sukuna's stock of human girls for his bitch soup.

꒰꒰ after you told megumi what toji had told you when you were left alone with him ( the sex question ), you are no longer allowed to be alone at home with him. megumi made sure that the dogs are around.

꒰꒰ you found out the hard way that toji has some lameass dad jokes.

you and tsumiki decided to order sushi for dinner due to the fact the both of you were too lazy to cook, seeing how you and megumi came back tired from a mission and toji from one as well, you all felt bad having tsumiki cook all on her own so you bought food instead.

"i'd avoid sushi if i were you, it seems fishy." toji says just as you all prepared the table to eat. you and megumi freeze on the spot, the trio of you all turning your heads towards toji who sports a serious face. megumi groans, "don't ever do that again."

"i thought it was pretty good." tsumiki lets out a small giggle, you smiling that toji was now comfortable to even make jokes after everything. megumi turns to counter his sister's opnion, through you all swore you heard a stifled chuckle come from toji.

'he's laughing at his own jokes!'

꒰꒰ the effort is appreciated though.

꒰꒰ sometimes you and tsumiki buy too many stuff at the groceries, you call megumi to summon nue and get his shikigami to carry it for you two.

꒰꒰ toji offered ( jokingly ) to let you guys use his worm as a storage while you went shopping for groceries once, let's just say he got smacked in the face with a pan.

꒰꒰ it's his fault for joking while you were cooking.

꒰꒰ you were used to waking up three in the morning for anything and seeing your husband and father-in-law tying some burglar or assassin up, but no way were the rest of the family used to you doing the work.

"y/n?" megumi comes walking down the stairs with his father, turning on the lights in the dark hour to gain a shred of shine. the two males see in full picture that you had just finished punching someone in the face, the other hand holding them up by the collar as it physically shows that whoever this guy dressed in black had just failed in whatever mission he had in mind.

"who's that?" toji raises a brow, more so on the fact that he is impressed you beat up the intruder without a single sound in the dead of night. the look of displeasure shows you were in no mood, wanting nothing more than what you had walked downstairs for before this piece of shit decided to ruin your night. you throw the man in black on to the floor, scowling.

"all i wanted was a glass of fucking water, not an assassin who can't even use the front door."

꒰꒰ when you and tsumiki make food in the kitchen, expect a knife to go flying at least once.

꒰꒰ you don't know if you should be thankful to have tsumiki as your sister or not, she's unintentionally scary and she's not even trying.

꒰꒰ somehow you always end up walking into an argument between megumi and toji ( usually after leaving the kitchen to get a snack ) but you instantly walk out because the last time you didn't, shit was ugly.

"hey... can we all just calm down?" tsumiki is in between toji and megumi who are constantly throwing insults and such at each other, whatever argument they were having she tries to settle it down without anyone getting injured.

"i can't when this pathetic excuse of a father can't grow the fuck up!" megumi bellows, glaring at the older man who lets out a tsk and a frown. "watch what you're saying, i'll hand down an ass whoopin' on ya."

'this seems interesting.' you sip on your boba after walking out from the kitchen, the bowl of popcorn just beside you as you ate and speculated. it was normal for the father-son duo to have their fights, usually it was fun to watch because it ended up as good entertainment for you. so in result: you have no intention in stopping them.

"no, guys, seriously..." tsumiki pleads, her hands slightly apart to try and force space between them. though her efforts were thrown out the window when in complete sync did they yell right back at tsumiki. "just mind your own business!"

'they punched her!' the boba fell from your hands and the popcorn flew, much like how tsumiki started to fall back towards the couch. it took less than a millisecond for the two to realize what the did, and they knew they were fucked.

꒰꒰ sometimes you still have nightmares about it.

꒰꒰ there are times that toji would be coming home with a woman tailing behind him, and it's somehow always when megumi and tsumiki are out.

"tadamasu." toji greets as he walks in, talking his footwear off and leaving it in front of the door. you pop your head out from the living room into the hallway of the entrance as you greet him on his return, "hokairi."

"who's the bitch?" you notice a woman who had too much make up to show her curstyass in front of you, a click of your tongue echoes through the two meter distance between you and her as you cross your arms. "who's the slut?"

"youー!" her face twists in fury, heels about to click and clack each step to get to you but is instantly stopped by the sound of toji's deep voice. "get out." the girl looks baffled by his words, face contouring into a smile full on uneasiness. "but tojiー"

"i said get out." his voice is much more prominent and demanding, sending chills down her spine as she steps back in caution. you stand here watching as the woman still refused to leave your home, in seconds did toji grab hold of her wrist and threw her out of the house ( much to the woman's displeasure ). you grin from ear to ear, running out to see her limping her way back to her rented car right beside toji. you call her out, the glare she sends your way is priceless as you stand beside your father-in-law with all the glory in the world.

"by the way, i'm his amazing daughter-in-law! and we have decided that a clown lookin' ass like you doesn't deserve the right to fuck a fushiguro!" you wink.

"yeah, yeah. get back inside, y/n. megumi 'n tsumiki 'ill be back home, don't want them nagging that our y/n got into some cat fight again." you hear toji from inside the house, walking away from your figure. you pout your cheeks out, "it's not a cat fight, it's my bad bitch moves!"

"i'll lock you out."

"this is my house!"

꒰꒰ you stopped questioning megumi and toji's cooking skills because the last time you and tsumiki let them cook dinner, they didn't just burn the eggs they were making but also trashed half the kitchen.

꒰꒰ they made an oil fire that time, and no one knows how but toji was able to get the zenin clan to pay for repairs???

꒰꒰ and apparently for the past five months the zenin clan have been paying for repairs and they didn't even know toji was using their money, well until naobito found out and busted your front door on a weekend.

"toji!" you heard the current head of the zenin's clan voice boom through your house, you also watched the white front door fly through the hallway right before your eyes after you have just watered your little cactuses. in seconds you hear the lazy voice of your father-in-law, emerging from the kitchen with a confused tsumiki. "what do you want."

"how dare you use the zenin clan's money on your mistakes!" naobito starts striding towards toji in anger, your eyes glancing over at your now open door to see naoya waving to you. you lift your waterer up in acknowledgment of his existence before snapping at naobito.

"how about your mistake?" you watch naobito grip on to the collar of toji's shirt, the look of fury engraved on his old face as he glares your way. "what?" he says, dropping toji as he complains about

"you broke my fucking door, you wrinkly ass, dusty, decaying ancient artifact. we just installed that three days ago! the zenin clan better keep paying."

꒰꒰ that door never seems to get a break

꒰꒰ the real reason why you and megumi never moved out of the house is because when you two tried, tsumiki and toji invited themselves into your house and said they were living there.

꒰꒰ your father-in-law makes hundreds of millions of yen, you'd think he'd live on his own but instead he lives with his kids.

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[jewishbarbies]

apparently this isn’t common knowledge so let’s get into it.

hydra took bucky to a secret facility and gave him his metal arm, performed experiments, and brainwashed him. he was in and out of a freezer throughout history and only pulled out to be “activated” and sent to kill people/retrieve something/etc. before being put back in. bucky clearly has some form of clarity during this time because he’s able to remember all these things, but he was not directly in control of his own body and mind as long as he was “activated”. hydra took him out of a freezer and sent him to get the super soldier serum from howard stark. being activated, bucky complied and caused howard and maria’s car to crash on december 16th 1991. he got the serum and killed both starks, before returning to hydra.

in 2012, when asked to help stop loki from invading the planet, tony stark begrudgingly accepts but hacks into shield’s database and unlocks top secret files, including but not limited to the “phase 2″ plans.

in 2014, hydra has taken over shield. they use the winter soldier to assassinate nick fury, but steve rogers gets involved and he finds out it’s actually bucky - but he has no memory of being bucky while activated. hydra is forced to rebrainwash him before sending him back out. to stop hydra, steve, nat, and sam wilson all team up to take down the helicarriers and nat dumps all of shield’s files onto the internet. the government would have acted quickly to cover things up, but as nat said in the movie, “It’s already trending.”, meaning the files got around rather quickly and the public got a good look at them. the winter soldier and all files both hydra AND shield (thanks, zola) had on him are now public knowledge. shield is disbanded.

in 2016, the sokovia accords are introduced because 177 countries blame all powered people for tony stark’s mistakes and steve, sam, clint, wanda, scott, and bucky all refuse to sign (rightfully so). zemo frames bucky as the killer of the (now former) king of wakanda, and steve offers to bring him in to spare the lives of other non-super officers. his offer is ignored. the authorities, with black panther, arrest bucky, steve, and sam and hold them while bucky is forced to undergo an “evaluation”. no one is allowed legal representation even when being pushed to sign something as important as the accords. wanda is confined to the avengers compound under tony’s order. zemo “activates” bucky and steve, sam, nat, and sharon all try to help him (tony gets in the way, tries to use his hand repulsor ie lethal force). team cap escapes and regroups before going to the airport to escape. tony convinces ross that he and his “team” can bring in team cap and confronts steve with rhodey at the airport. tony refuses to listen, they have no choice but to fight to save an innocent man, airport battle. rhodey is shot out of the sky because of team ironman and tony shoots sam in the chest because he’s angwy. steve and bucky get away, but wanda is put in a straight jacket and jailed with sam, clint, and scott on the raft. tony visits them and outs clint’s family to ross and the government for no apparent reason, which forces clint to make a deal with the government in order to protect them later. tony follows steve and bucky and claims he wants to help. zemo then details his plan, why he did it, etc. and shows them footage of the winter soldier killing the starks. tony is angwy and attacks steve because steve didn’t tell tony (as if that would have done anything good anyway) and bucky jumps in to defend steve from the assault. a fight breaks out. tony pretends he was friends with steve, steve stops tony from killing bucky multiple times, tony blasts off bucky’s metal arm, steve has no choice but to break the arc reactor to disarm tony, steve has a headshot but refuses to take it and instead goes to help bucky. tony falsely claims that steve shouldn’t have the shield because howard made it, even though he made it for steve, and steve leaves it behind to shut him up before escaping with bucky. during the fight tony knows bucky was brainwashed as the winter soldier, he’s seen it firsthand and the hydra files are public knowledge (he has no excuse), and asks bucky if he “even remembers them”, to whick bucky answers “I remember all of them.” but that isn’t enough for tony, and he continues to attack both bucky and steve, even with all that knowledge on top of knowing that zemo just said his plan was to get them to fight each other, over a father he’s done nothing but bash and hate his whole life. he’d never spoken about his mother in any capacity until this movie (I see you, russets).

regardless, attacking steve - an innocent man - physically because of something beyond his control is immoral and should be treated as such. being a common trope in the movies does not excuse or justify this kind of behavior. no one has the right to physically assault another person unless they’re directly under attack and need to defend themselves. in this movie alone, tony shot an innocent black veteran in the chest point blank after he tried to help while they were at war, punched steve to start a fight, blew off the prosthetic limb of a pow veteran, and attempted to kill the pow AND captain fucking america.

in conclusion, no, tony is not justified in civil war about the accords (which are proven unconstitutional by irl lawyers) or “avenging” his parents, and it’s not only disgusting but alarming that so many people believe he was right about both.

[shyficwriter]

Temporary Home: Chapter 16

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)

Summary: Peter takes the ride into town as an opportunity to be extra annoying, but you also finally find out just how he got into space. The prank war continues. Will you finally declare Peter "The Prank Master," or has he finally met his match?

Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here Or click here to: Start From Beginning

Author’s Note: This is a long one! Also, for my records this chapter ends on day 29 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!

Word Count: 7,661

Peter's face was still red by the time you finished pulling your boots on. He had just come out of the bathroom and stood near you as you got up from the bench. He had a strange look about his face and when you went to ask, "What?" he grabbed your wrist with a wet hand and said, "Don't ya hate when you pee on your hands?"

This, of course, was revenge for you embarrassing him just a few minutes prior.

Your expression turned murderous and you ripped your arm away. Was he serious? How dare he! What the hell was wrong with him!? Just as you were angrily saying, "I'm going to fucking kill you!" and absolutely looking like you'd actually follow through, Peter held up his hands and said through laughter, "It's a joke! It's just a joke! It's just water! I promise!"

You backed down slightly, anger still burning in your eyes. "You know I don't have to take you, right? Fury said I could take anyone who passes for human." Just then Kraglin walked by and you gestured to him. "I could just take him instead if you want to start out being a little shit."

Kraglin grinned at the two of you and, clearly seeing that Peter had managed to push your buttons already, said, "Nah. I can catch the next one," and continued on his way up the stairs.

You huffed in his direction before turning to Peter in frustration. "Just get in the car. And don't piss me off."

Peter gave a little mock-salute and followed you out.

You could have killed him on the ride into town. The annoyance was constant.

He started by turning up the radio and singly badly along with the songs, made worse due to the fact that most of which he didn't know the words to. Eventually you couldn't take it anymore and you shut the radio off.

He tried to turn it back on a bit later and you smacked his hand away, only able to do so now that your braced arm wasn't in a sling and you could now grip the wheel with both hands.

He then started asking, "Are we there yet?" about every minute. He knew you weren't close.

This was coupled with the classic, "I'm not touching you!" game. You almost didn't notice for the first five minutes, intent on ignoring him and keeping your eyes on the road. When you finally did notice and tell him to knock it off, well, you know what he responded with.

You were fuming when you finally pulled into the post office. You threw the car into park and angrily ordered him to sit quietly and promptly left him.

He was actually starting to wonder if maybe he should cool it for a bit. You did look pretty mad... probably still weren't over the whole fake pee on hands prank. Maybe he shouldn't go through with what he was considering next?

When you finished your business in the mail office and returned to the car you were actually surprised to find that he had behaved. You don't know what you had actually expected him to do- maybe get out and crouch beside the car to make you think he'd run off?- but no. He was still sitting right where you left him.

You get back behind the wheel and toss your mail on the dash, prepared to head to the grocery shop. Peter doesn't say anything.

The short ride over you were a little leery of just how quiet he was being. He was too quiet. When you pulled in park at the grocery lot you turned to give him a suspicious look.

"What?" he asked innocently, returning your gaze.

"You. What are you up to?"

"What ever do you mean?" He wore a face of innocence, but you knew better.

"The whole ride into town you didn't let up with all your annoying shit, now on the ride from the post office to here you act like a perfect angel. I don't trust it."

"Thought you could use a break is all, you seemed really cranky." A grin was starting to crack Peter's innocent façade. "You know... I think I know what might cheer you up..."

Your eyes narrowed. "Peter-" Whatever he intended, judging by his tone you knew it couldn't be good.

Before you could say more his hand darted out to connect with that spot above your knee, which of course made you spasm in your seat and cackle loudly. Whatever you had been expecting, for some reason you foolishly didn't consider that. You really should have though, considering how often you would now get teased with little pokes and squeezes. Unfortunately for you, a good portion of your guests were apparently an affectionate bunch... Or maybe they just liked to annoy you. You weren't sure which.

You smacked and pushed at his hand but he didn't let up. "Peter! Peter stop that this instant!" you scolded through your laughter.

"Come on, cheer up sour-puss!" he teased in a high voice, still squeezing rapidly into the muscle. "Being stuck with me isn't that bad."

"You little shit!" you cried, smacking at him again, your eyes closed tightly as you laughed and kicked to the best of your ability, trying your best not to accidentally lash out and hit the horn. You were effectively trapped by having a car as your surroundings. So unfair. "Stop it! Cut it out!"

Peter finally stopped and grinned at you as you caught your breath, chuckling when you punched him in the shoulder.

"You're such a brat!" you said, residual giggles still slipping out. However, you didn't seem quite as angry as you had been, so Peter counted it as a win. Maybe now you wouldn't be quite as cranky with him when you discovered the prank he had pulled on you. Honestly he was surprised you hadn't noticed before you sat down...

After a moment you spoke again. "Come on, let's get this over- aw shit."

"What?" Peter asked, confused by your sudden change of tone.

"You didn't bring those sunglasses with you this time, did you?"

"Oh..." Peter's eyes widened in realization. Not wanting to have to wait out in the car he thought to reason. "I think it'll be ok. I mean, It's been what- like 26 years since I went missing? And I wasn't even from this area of Earth so I really doubt anyone would recognize me-"

Your eyes widen as big as saucers. "Excuse me?"

"What?"

"Went missing??" Had you seriously heard him right? Did Fury know?Who were you kidding? Of course Fury knew. Fury knew everything.

"Oh... so you didn't know about that... Ha- well it's fine! Honest! I was just trying to let you know it'll be fine if I don't wear some lame disguise like sunglasses-"

"That's not why I had insisted on the sunglasses! It was for any possible undercover aliens looking for you! I didn't know you'd be on the missing persons bulletin!"

Peter could see you were stressed. That wasn't good in his opinion. You'd be no fun to pick on if you were worried, so he tried to smooth it over. After all, it really was fine. "Look, everything's fine. Ok? I was on that list for missing people, Fury told me that shortly after we arrived, but we talked about it and he made sure I was wiped from it just in case."

You relaxed a little, sitting back in your seat. You turn to look at him again. "Twenty-six years... that means you were, what? Ten?"

"Eight," he corrected.

"That's not better." you reply, and then a realization hit you. "Wait- is that how you got into space? Were you literally abducted by aliens?" Yes, you might have been aware of aliens due to your employment by SHIELD, but from the little you had seen of and about them you had come to assume that the whole "alien abduction" thing was a myth crazy people talked about. They just barely came here, let alone had use for random Earth people.

"Like I said, it's a long story." Peter answered, "We should probably get going." he cracked his door open and gestured with his head towards the store.

Remembering yourself, you give a half nod and exit your vehicle so you could complete the shop visit.

As the two of you walked towards the shop you speak up. "Is it alright if I ask what happened? You don't have to answer if it's a bad memory or anything. I'm just curious about... you know..."

"What?"

"Like, you must have had a family? Now that you're here, why haven't you tried to find them?"

Peter looked like he was searching for the right words. "It's kinda complicated."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"No, it's fine." he said as the two of you entered the shop.

You grabbed a trolley and looked at him to see if he would continue, but hoping that he wouldn't feel you were pressuring him.

After a moment he did continue. "My mom died right before it happened. Literally minutes before." Seeing the look on your face and realizing what you might be assuming he clarified. "It was cancer. She'd been sick a long time."

"I'm so sorry." You say, leading him towards the haircare section of the store to start knocking things off your list.

He shook his head, trying to vanish the memory of her lying in that hospital bed. "Yeah... me too." He sighed and went on to say how when it happened he was upset, and angry. She was gone just like that and he didn't know what to do. So he just ran. He ran outside the hospital and then just collapsed on the lawn. Next thing he knew there was the bright light of a spaceship right above him, and it took him.

"It just randomly came by took you? For no reason?" You ask, approaching the hair wash section and deciding on a conditioner that you thought Gamora might like the scent of. You turned to Peter for his opinion and he pointed out a lavender scented one before answering about the motives of his abductors.

"No, they had a reason" he said, "Turned out my father was this celestial being and sent them to fetch me. But of course I didn't know that at the time. Like I said, mom had cancer. In her brain. So when she said my dad was this 'angel' composed of 'pure light', of course no one believed her. They just thought it was the tumor."

"Oh. Wow." You didn't know what to say to that as the two of you were now walking over to the moisturizers. Eventually you settled on, "So you've been with your dad then?" Just as you finished that sentence something clicked in your brain, but you thought for sure it couldn't be right, could it? "Wait, do you mean Yondu? He's your father?"

Peter laughed. "Are you serious? Drax thought the same thing. "

You frowned slightly, picking out a decent smelling lotion and dropping it into the basket. "Well, I have heard him refer to you as "my boy" at least a couple times, and you just said your dad was alien. I think you could see why I might now make that connection there."

Peter smiled softly, seeming lost in thought. "Yeah, yeah I guess. But not exactly. You see, Yondu was the guy my father hired to fetch me. He was supposed to take me to him, but he didn't. He kept me."

You gave Peter a confused look as you led the way towards the razors. You knew from Peter's last story that Yondu had been the captain of a faction of space-pirates called Ravagers before joining the Guardians, but this bit was news to you. Apparently Peter was with the Ravagers before the Guardians of the Galaxy, but why had Yondu kept him? Why not just give him to his father?

Peter continues. "I know what you're thinking, but like I said, it's complicated. He kept me to protect me. 'Course, for the longest time he never told me that. Always said he kept me 'cause I was skinny and good for thieving."

"Protect you from... your father?" You asked. How bad must his father have been for a space pirate captain to decide the kid was better off joining the crew? You raised an eyebrow at him as you grabbed some decent disposable razors off the shelf. Upon second thought, you grabbed some refill-heads as well.

"Yeah. Remember how I told you about that time we saved the galaxy from Ronan, and I was able to touch the Infinity stone without immediately dying?"

"Yeah?" You now led the way towards the DIY section. You knew it was unlikely, but hopped that maybe the shop carried some filler so you might finally repair that chip in the wall above the back door from where Yondu killed that spider for you. You would have already fixed it by now, but the tub of filler you did have was long dried up. Kraglin asked about it the other day, stating he didn't remember that being there when they arrived, and you passed it off as the house being old, unwilling to admit what had actually happened.

"Well, word spread about that pretty fast because I shouldn't have been able to do that." Peter continued, following beside you. "My father caught word of a man who was able to hold an infinity stone and live, and knew it had to be me, so he tracked me down."

"And that was... bad?" You asked, turning into your desired aisle.

"Not at first. At first it was cool. He took us back to his planet- that's where we met Mantis- and this next part is really gonna blow your mind, the whole planet was him."

"What? How does that even work?"

"Honestly, I don't even fully get it, but like I said, he was a celestial. He just was the planet. The guy who we met was just like this... avatar version he made of himself to travel and stuff. He had like these magic powers, and he taught me how to use them... kinda."

"Wait, so you have special powers?" you ask, "I had no idea." You were so surprised by these revelations that you almost missed the small tubs of repair filler the shop did carry, but recovered and placed one in the basket.

Peter rubbed the back of his head. "Well, not exactly. Not anymore. You see, they came from his celestial genes- it's the only reason I was able to hold onto that infinity stone and live- but anyway, I don't have them anymore. I um, I kinda had to... kill him. And when he died so did the light, so I'm just a regular Terran now."

"What?!" you gave him a very confused look. "Did you just say you killed your own dad?" You tried to keep your voice low. You had been lucky to avoid too many other shoppers during this conversation, but just then a couple of boys walked by. You eyed them, but they were lost in their own conversation and didn't seem to have heard or cared about what you had said. You continued towards the cleaning supplies, remembering you were dangerously low on various cleaners for the bathrooms.

"Again, complicated," Peter replied. "He turned out to be not such a good dude. Long story short, He had this plan to expand and make the entire universe him, like he would literally be the only thing left, but he needed another celestial to help him- that's where I came in. Apparently he had a butt-load of other kids, but I was the only one that actually inherited the celestial gene. Well, obviously I had doubts about his whole plan. I mean, all my friends would be gone, for one." He chuckled. "But he was... quite convincing. I don't even think I could describe the things he showed me..." He trailed off, and then seemed to remember himself a moment later. "Anyway, eventually he told me he was the one who put the tumor in my mom's head and that finally snapped me out of it."

You were taken aback. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. That's awful!"

He shrugged. "Nah. Don't be. That guy was a jackass. I mean, who names themself "Ego" anyways?"

"Probably the type of person who wants to literally be the center of the universe," you quipped.

Peter chuckled and nudged you in the shoulder, apparently appreciative of the joke. "Yeah. I suppose it probably was fitting for him..." he stared off for a moment. "Anyway, it's funny that you thought that Yondu was my father, because all that happening made me realize that Yondu had actually kinda been my dad all along."

You give him a quizzical look as the two of you reach the aisle you were looking for, and he just grins knowingly in return. "Complicated?" you say, sure that that would be his answer.

"Yes and no." Peter answered, and then just let the silence linger.

After a bit you asked him. "You said Ego had other children? Do you know what ever happened to them?"

Peter frowned. "He killed them. They didn't have what he needed, so he just killed them. There was a whole cavern on the planet filled with their bones."

You only managed a soft, "Oh." You felt your stomach twist. What kind of bastard would kill their own- You shook that thought away, telling yourself to compose yourself. Not now.

"Yeah. I know. Pretty dark." Peter said, his tone obvious he was trying his best to keep it light. He didn't say anything, but he saw something in you change a little when he revealed Ego just murdered his own kids like it was nothing, and he remembered a previous conversation he had with you about that job you had in Romania and part of him wished he had lied just then. He tried to steer the conversation in a happier direction for both of your sakes. He didn't like to think about it either. "Apparently at some point Yondu had found out what Ego had been doing with all those kids he had him fetch, and that's why he kept me. I think I turned out alright, all things considered." He nudged you and gave you a wide cheeky grin.

You couldn't help but grin as you responded, "I dunno... depends if any of that contributed to how annoying you are." You located the toilet cleaners and plunked a couple bottles in the trolley.

"Hey!" Peter mock-pouted, but he was glad that the mood had been lifted again.

The two of you walked in silence towards the tub cleaners when Peter suddenly says, "Oh hey, you dropped something."

You stop and look around for whatever might have fallen out of the trolley, asking him what you had dropped.

Peter grinned and said, "Your speed."

You roll your eyes at him. You weren't sure if you were more annoyed at the lameness of the joke, or the fact that you fell for it. "Really? You're gonna start that again?"

"Yup." Peter grinned.

You just shook your head and continued down the aisle to grab some disinfectant wipes, but little did he know you had a trick up your sleeve.

The wipes were just before the air fresheners and after you grabbed the wipes and were walking past you picked up a refill at random and said, "Oh hey, you should smell this."

"Nice try, I'm not falling for that." Peter said.

"Falling for what?" you ask innocently.

"I bet it smells like crap, you're just trying to get me back for the other day."

You roll your eyes dramatically. "It says on the package it's 'Blossom and Breeze.' Here," you smell it yourself to prove to him it wasn't nasty. "See? You're so paranoid. They wouldn't sell these if they smelled bad." You offer the item back to him with an unimpressed look.

Seeming mostly convinced he hesitantly takes the item from you and slowly brings it up to sniff it. Then he looks confused. "I don't smell anything?"

You knew he wouldn't, it was encased in plastic, but that wasn't the prank. "Oh, you might need to breathe deeper, they put the scent in the cardboard bit so people can test it before they buy it, it can be a little faint." This was a blatant lie. Sure, this could have made a decent prank on it's own, but it still wasn't the prank you were going for. It was more of a distraction until that group of pretty young women you clocked entering the aisle earlier when grabbing the wipes had made their way close enough, which they would in 3... 2... 1...

You snatched the item away from a now very confused Peter.

"These don't go in your mouth! How many times do I gotta tell you!?" you ask, acting exasperated.

Peter opened his mouth but seemed at a loss for words. Then he noticed the handful of pretty women walking by who were now staring at him and giggling to each other behind their hands as you said, "They're not gonna taste like how they smell, we've been over this!"

His cheeks started to redden and he turned his attention from the departing group of young ladies to you, his expression switching from wide-eyed and embarrassed to unamused, having now understood what you did.

You were giggling now and he narrowed his eyes at you. "Not cool, dude!"

You tossed the item back on the shelf and, still giggling, said, "But it sure was funny."

Peter just grumbled and followed you to the grocery section.

You spotted some brownie mix and asked him if he thought his friends might like to try brownies.

"Probably. And if they don't like them, more for us." He punctuated the sentence by taking the box from your hand and plopping it in the trolley, making you shake your head and giggle at him.

You then grabbed the couple snacks that had been requested as well as a few things you'd enjoy, including some ice-cream since you found the guys had eaten all of it when you returned from your last trip into town.

Just as you were dropping the ice cream in the trolley Peter decided that would be time for his revenge. There were several people about doing their shopping in that particular aisle when he suddenly said out loud, "Hey, is that rash still contagious?"

You looked at him, mortified, and you noticed the people start to quietly but quickly clear out of the aisle. You give him a glare, but just sigh and say, "Well played."

"I thought so." Peter replied, looking proud of himself.

"Still not 'The Master.'"

"We'll see," he chuckled.

You finished up the trip, and headed home. Gratefully, Peter wasn't nearly as annoying on the return trip.

You supposed the whole trip could have gone worse. It really was too bad you didn't get a chance to go alone though. You might have been able to grab some glitter for... nefarious purposes. Though, you supposed you could always order it online. Oh well, at least you managed to pick up some jelly. He wouldn't be suspicious of jelly... until you used it against him, that is.

***

It wouldn't be until you had been home for a little bit that you would discover what prank Peter had pulled on you in the car. Or rather, Kraglin discovered it.

You were getting a glass of water when Kraglin cleared his throat and awkwardly asked you why there was blue tape on your bottom.

You raised and eyebrow and reached back while Rocket snickered and teased Kraglin, asking him why he had been looking at your ass.

Kraglin began to stutter. "I-I wasn't! It's just- The tape is bright blue! Her pants are black! How was I not supposed to see it!?" He was blushing now and decided to just leave the room. Why did the rat have to be such a dick?

You peeled the strip of blue tape off your butt and looked at it with a half frown before looking up at Peter who was standing with Rocket and grinning. "You have anything to do with this?" you ask accusingly. Who were you kidding? It's not like you just happened to sit on blue tape. Of course he had something to do with it, but how?

Peter grinned wider then pulled the rest of the roll out of one of his pockets. "I put a piece of this sticky side up in your car seat before you got out of the Post Office." He then tossed the roll to you. "Found it in one of those drawers," he said, pointing to the drawers behind you.

"I see you fancy yourself the Artful Dodger," you say in annoyance to his confession that he had knicked the tape with the sole purpose of annoying you. You also realized this meant you had walked around the whole shop with blue tape on your bottom. Well, you supposed there were worse things... like what you were sure to do with that blue dye tonight.

"I have no idea what that means." Peter replied.

You roll your eyes at him, but not altogether surprised he didn't get the reference. "Nevermind." you say, tossing the tape back in the drawer. "Childish..."

Peter just chuckled and left the kitchen.

***

If you hadn't been set on using that food dye to prank Peter the past few days, you definitely were now.

Sometime after discovering the blue tape, you went upstairs and thought you might put one of your sticky notes to use. You stuck with the classic, 'kick me', sign, and thought it'd be a good idea to sneak up behind and jump-scare him and use that as a diversion to stick it to his back. It worked as expected.

It took him less than half an hour to find it. Or rather, Mantis found it, and asked him why he had a sign telling people to kick him on his back. She plucked the sign from his shirt and he turned to see what she was talking about. Taking the sticky note from her, he frowned in annoyance for becoming victim to one of the oldest tricks in the book, and then shouted your name.

You, of course, didn't answer. Just smiled behind your book in your room, of course not realizing that your prank had technically failed.

In revenge, Peter decided to bring up a video on YouTube he came across the previous day titled, "Broken TV screen 1 hour" and set it to play on full screen. Then he went to fetch you.

***

You were in the kitchen when Rocket startled you by jumping up to climb up your back without warning. He had managed to climb all the way up to your head when you let out a startled yelp and asked, "What are you doing??" as you jerked from the unexpected sensation of being climbed on.

"Hold still, will ya? Just needed a boost up to reach up to this cabinet, don't get your panties in a bunch," he said with half a chuckle, balancing himself on your head as he opened the cupboard.

"You never needed one before now!" you said, irritated. That was the cupboard you kept the glasses in, and you'd seen him get up there just fine plenty of times without needing a human ladder.

"Eh. You were there," he said, amusement in his voice. It was seemingly clear he had only done this to annoy you.

"Will you hurry up and get down!" you said, trying to keep the giggles out of your voice as his tail was flitting over your ear.

"What, ya got somewhere to be?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yes! Anywhere without a rac- a furry little beast sitting on my head!" you replied through gritted teeth. You were still trying- and mostly failing- to hide your giggles. Yes, maybe you could have told him to cut it out with the tail twitching, but you didn't want to admit that it tickled. Last thing you needed was to reveal a weakness for the raccoon to exploit.

Rocket heard how you almost called him a raccoon, but let it slide because you stopped yourself. Mostly. He'd allow you to live, however, he stayed up there a couple moments more, pretending to take his time deciding on a cup and grinning as he continued flitting his tail over your ear. He knew exactly what he was doing. The little shit.

He finally grabbed a cup and closed the cupboard, teasingly scolding, "Hey, hold still!" when his tail "accidentally" brushed your neck on the way down and you jerked your head to the side from the sensation, and then twitched when he hit a particularly sensitive area of your shoulder blade on his descent. That one actually had been an accident, but he still logged it away for later. Knowing Peter's tickle spots had proved useful as a payback method, he was sure yours would too if needed.

Rocket had just touched down on the floor when Peter sheepishly came in to tell you to come into the sitting room because he needed to show you something. Having a feeling it wasn't going to be good, you sighed and followed him, leaving the raccoon behind.

He was dismayed, however, when your only response to seeing the "broken" TV was to just sigh and say flatly, "Well, I hope you enjoy reading then. Like I told you before, I'm not replacing it."

He blinked. "Wait- you're not mad??" This was not the reaction he expected. He was sure you'd yell at him. You yelled at Rocket when he spilled tomato sauce all over the kitchen, surely you would have had a similar reaction now?

You just stare at him. "While I'm frustrated that you can't respect other people's property enough not to break it, I barely use it anymore since I'm always- well, I was almost always gone for work. Soon as you guys leave it'll be the same. No sense in rewarding bad behavior by getting another for you guys to use when I doubt I'll be using it much once you leave."

Peter rolled his eyes and picked up the controller. "Ugh, you're no fun!" he complained, turning off the video and revealing the TV wasn't actually broken.

"Wait, so that was a prank?" You say in realization.

"Well, yeah!" Peter said in frustration. "It was supposed to be!" Honestly, he was hoping you world have been mad. It would have been funny to reveal the lack after you lost it. But no, of course you would have just hit him with some version of "I'm not mad, just disappointed."

"You know, for someone who keeps claiming to be 'the prank master,' your pranks are kinda lame." You grinned at him. Sure, maybe not all his pranks were lame- the broken screen on might have been a good one had he done it to anyone else, but you'd still say they were to annoy him.

"Oh yeah?" Peter said with a mischievous grin before lunging forward to aim a squeeze-y tickle attack on your sides, making you let out a squeak as you jumped back and smacked him out of reflex.

Giggling, you scold him for being a child and turn to head out of the room, only to bump into Kraglin who just said, "Hi there," before tweaking your ribs.

You laugh and push him away, telling them that they played too much before heading upstairs.

The two men watch you leave and then share a grin. Little did you know, the TV had only been Peter's diversion prank. Not the one that finally made you fully resolve to use the food dye on him.

***

To get him back for both the TV prank and the tickle attack you decided to take a thumbtack from your desk and use it to poke a hole in a can of fizzy drink that you knew only you and he really ever drank. You placed the hole near the top so that when he took a drink it would dribble down onto his shirt and then positioned the can in the fridge towards the front so that he'd grab that one first. It was a clear drink, so you were sure it wouldn't stain. You weren't a complete asshole.

This consideration could be considered ironic, considering what you'd do to him that night.

You grinned from your room when you heard him loudly cursing your name sometime later.

To get you back for that he made use of a few pieces of macaroni pasta he found in the pantry. He went upstairs and placed them under the toilet rim so that when you sat down the sound of them crunching would startle you. It wasn't a foolproof plan, but he knew you were reading upstairs, and most everyone else was downstairs, so he rolled the dice that you'd be the next person to use that toilet.

Awhile later he heard you shout his name in frustration from upstairs and he chuckled in victory. And no, this still wasn't the prank that sealed his fate, although that one was currently in progress...

Sometime later you were in your room on your laptop doing some research and contemplating what a suitable prank might be to get Peter back for the macaroni thing when Mantis came into the room to retrieve something. You switch away from the tab you were in researching tunnel maintenance to one you had open of tumblr and offer her a short greeting.

She returned the greeting and went about her business behind you for a couple minutes.

Then, out of the blue, you felt her fingers skitter up your side. You nearly jump out of your skin from both the startle and the ticklish sensation and a startled laugh escaped your throat as you jerked away in your seat and squeaked out a giggly, "Mantis! What are you doing?!"

She stopped tickling and just giggled in response before jogging out of the room.

You stared after her before returning to your work with a shake of your head. 'Awfully playful bunch tonight,' you thought.

***

A bit later you decided to go out back for some fresh air. When you do, you notice Yondu already out there, leant against the stone of the house and just looking at the clouds pass by.

Not wanting to disturb him you just nod in his direction and say, "Hey," before walking by towards the garden. He returns your greeting and leaves you to it. Or so it seemed.

You reach the garden and stand there in the peace and quiet, glancing over the plants for any sign of insect damage. It's not too long, however, before Yondu walks up behind you and shouts, "Boo!"

You jump right out of your skin and turn to face him. You frown, but before you can ask him what the hell that was for, he starts to tickle your stomach. You laugh out a protest, but he only switches to tickling your ribs instead. You laugh some more and latch onto his wrists to push him away and he relents. Residual giggles still coating your words you scold him. "Jeeze! What was that for?!"

Yondu just grins at you like he was privy to some joke you weren't in on, shrugs, and turns to head back inside without explanation.

You watched him go, beginning to wonder what had gotten into everyone.

***

Turned out it would be Drax who would spill the beans on Peter's prank.

You were minding your own business, washing the dish you had just used for your supper, when you are rudely interrupted by Drax spidering his fingers over your ribs, causing you to laugh out loud and drop the dish in the sink. Luckily it didn't break, but you quickly turn off the tap and spun around to scold him and ask what the big deal was.

You knew something was up now. Rocket might have done it on accident. Peter and Kraglin- well, they just routinely did stuff like that to mess with you. Yondu could also fall in the category of "just did it to mess with you." Mantis- she was playful and it wasn't out of the realm of normal for her to randomly decide to do that just to make you laugh.

Drax, however, though friendly, hadn't shown himself to be the type to just randomly up and decide to tickle someone, namely you, without reason, or ever.

And all of them deciding to do it in one afternoon? No. Something was up.

Drax looked almost confused by your annoyance. "Well the note-"

Your eyes narrowed. "What note?"

"The one on your back."

You quickly reach behind you and feel a piece of paper. Peter. You rip it off and look at it, but find you can't read it. It was written in some alien text. "What's this?" you ask Drax.

"It's the note you taped on your back?" He answers, confused.

"I didn't put this there! I can't even read this! What does it say?" You hand it out towards him, but he doesn't take it.

Instead a look of realization comes over his face and he says. "Oh! This must be one of Peter's practical jokes! Haha! That's a good one. No wonder you looked so surprised!"

"Drax-" you say, your tone frustrated.

"What's going on here?" Gamora asked, having just moments prior walked in on the scene. She walked up to the two of you, concerned she might need to stop a fight before it began. You'd never be able to take on Drax, but she could almost see you trying if he made you angry enough.

You thought that maybe she'd be more help. "Could you tell me what this says? Apparently Peter taped it to my back."

Gamora took the paper and read it. Then she rolled her eyes and huffed a short laugh. "This note reads, 'tickle me.'" It was indeed written in Peter's handwriting, but of all the things he could have written, at least this was innocent enough.

You look up to the ceiling, unamused. You meet her gaze again and say, "Thank you, though respectfully, your boyfriend is a brat."

Gamora smiled. "I'm aware."

You then start towards the frontmost doorway of the kitchen, dish forgotten in the sink, and yell, "PETER! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

This was then followed by the sound of Peter laughing, the sound of running footsteps, and then the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut.

You stop in your pursuit. "Coward." you mutter.

You knew you might be able to catch him, but decided there was better things you could do with your time. Like refine your plan of counter-attack. You change course and head upstairs to lie in wait.

Unfortunately for Peter, his running away ended up giving you the perfect opportunity to strike.

***

Peter spent his time outside walking about the property and listening to his Zune, which he luckily had in his pocket when he fled from the house. He was almost surprised you didn't try to track him down, but he brushed it off, satisfied with his prank and how well it had apparently worked/ how long it took you to realize what he'd done.

He knew it was bold to try and get you back with basically the same prank you had just attempted to pull on him, and so that's why he paid Rocket to pretend like he was climbing on you to reach something so he could be the one to plant it on you. You would have absolutely suspected Peter if he came patting a sign on your back right after you had just pulled that prank on him. The other pranks he pulled were mostly just to cover his tracks. And because it was too fun not to pull them.

It was getting dark by the time he came back in and was late enough that everyone else had apparently already gone to bed as no one was downstairs. He was getting pretty tired himself and almost considered skipping showering that night, but decided against it. Big mistake for him.

Once he got upstairs and gathered his things to go shower he headed for the bathroom. Upon getting closer to the door you emerged from the room and seemed to jump back, startled to see him.

Peter snickered. "Did I scare you?"

You roll your eyes and turn towards your room. "No," you answer.

"Uh huh, sure." He grinned smugly.

"Oh, just go wash your stinky ass, already." you call back as you walk towards your room.

Peter gasped in mock-offense. "I'll let you know my 'stinky ass' smells like a pretty flower!" he joked.

You turn back at your doorway and retort with, "A corpse flower, maybe."

Peter scrunches up his face. "That's not a thing. You just made that up!"

"No, it's totally a thing. Look it up," you respond, laughing. You shut your door before he can respond further.

He shakes his head and enters the bathroom, muttering, "That's so not a thing."

***

You stayed up to hear the aftermath, and it didn't take too long.

Maybe ten minutes later you hear Peter curse your name, followed by, "What did you do?!"

You couldn't help yourself. You stand up to go peak out your door, biting your lip to hold back giggles. When you look out you see that Peter is now standing outside the bathroom, and that his outburst had also prompted the others to look out their doors as well. Kraglin was the first to start laughing.

The prank went better than you might have hoped. Peter only had a towel around his waist, allowing you to see that he was stained in an uneven coat of blue. Most of it was around his head, chest, and shoulders. It seemed to get lighter the further down his body it went, but it was more than enough to satisfy you. You hadn't been fully certain it would work.

When Peter didn't come back until after most everyone had gone to bed, you realized you had the perfect opportunity to carry out the prank. You did still have to wait until everyone else had finished showering though. You didn't want anyone get caught in the crossfire.

You waited for the second you heard him come back inside, just in case, and then you made your way into the bathroom with the vial of food gel. You unscrewed the shower head from its hose, squirted the whole vial in the head portion, then carefully screwed it back on. You were sure he'd take his shower before bed like always and felt safe to boobie-trap the shower head now since everyone else had already washed up for bed.

You did see his bottle of shower gel in the bath as you set up the prank and realized in hindsight that you could have just put the food dye in there instead so you wouldn't have needed to time everything so perfectly. On the other hand, you also didn't quite want to ruin his whole bottle of soap, so it was probably best you went for the shower head method instead.

Either way, it didn't disappoint.

You bit back laughter as you said, "Feeling a little... blue, there, Peter?"

He shot a look at you and responded with, "You massive turd! What did you do?!"

You feel Mantis come to look over your shoulder and she starts giggling at the sight of Peter. "Did you play a practical joke?" Mantis asks you. "That's so funny!"

Peter looks like he's about to storm over to you when Drax can be heard saying, "See! I knew Yondu was his father! Quill's finally starting to grow into his color!"

You couldn't tell if Drax was joking or not, but his comment started off a new round of giggles from Mantis, Kraglin, Rocket, and little Groot.

Peter just glared at him.

Yondu was standing next to Kraglin in the doorway of their room looking both contemplative and sleepy.

"Hey, Quill," Yondu said, getting Peter's attention. "Remember how ya rigged those dye packs up in my dresser drawers as a boy? Looks like ya finally got someone to give ya a taste of your own medicine." With that he made a sleepy retreat back to bed. His comment earned a laugh from Gamora, which made Peter pout.

A slight blush over Peter's cheeks appeared violet through the blue dye. He looked at you again and said, "You're so gonna get it!"

This of course prompted you to quickly usher Mantis back so you could shut the door and flick the lock, laughing as you did so.

It was totally worth it.

[widow-maximov]

It’s You

Pairing: Wanda x Fem Reader

Warning: Language, some fluff and angst, sexual suggestion.

Summary: Y/n thinks she has met the one until she joins the Avengers..

Word Count: 6.8K

Part 1, Part 2

Before being an Avenger, you were practically nothing but some part time vigilante whilst working full time to earn enough that would last you a whole week, you saved a few people from robbers and muggings which made you feel a little bit better about yourself, I mean not that you ever doubted yourself but knowing that you could help others whilst never having that protection during your youth times was rewarding in a way.

That’s how you have met your girlfriend, you saved her from couple of guys trying to rob her when she was working, it was also the time you discovered you had powers, you are able to control peoples minds and rewind time just enough to avoid any injuries.

It feels like it happened yesterday, you went to buy yourself a coffee from a new café that just opened up recently when suddenly there was a gun shot and a lot of screams along with some shouting telling people to get on the ground, you did that and watched the whole event unfold before your eyes.

At first it was them waving their weapons to scare people around them and demand money but as soon as they got what they wanted, they planned to at least kill someone and that was the girl behind the counter, who was scared shitless, she tried not to show it but when he pointed his gun at her and had the most disturbing smirk across his face, how could she not be, he pulled the trigger and you jumped out reaching out to the girl when everything stopped and time went back that’s when you ended up in the same place couple minutes before the men arrive.

You looked around to see if you were dreaming but before you could practically be amazed at your new ability, you jumped into action, running to the front door as the girl behind the counter looked at you funny, trying to stop you but you didn’t listen. You held the door and told her to call the police, you saw those men standing outside looking at you as they pointed a gun at you, you knew they would shoot so you ducked but held the door like your life depended on it.

For your luck the girl called the police and just when you were about to let go of the door and have them shoot you right there and then, the police surrounded all of the men with guns in their hands and with a huge sigh you let go of the door and fell back onto the floor to rest.

They were arrested and after giving your statement to the police, of course you had to lie mostly about how you knew it was going to happen, you said you had a bad feeling and figured something would happen, they were just happy they didn’t have any runners to extend their time on a case that would end up being forgotten.

The girl approached you with a small smile across her face “Hey.. I just wanted to thank you for doing that.. You saved not only me but a lot of people inside too.”

You smiled at her “It’s really not a problem, I’m just glad no one was hurt”

You reached your hand towards her “I’m Y/n” she shook your hand and replied “Olivia”

And that’s how it all started, you came by the café more often just to see her and she was happy to see you either way, she knew your order by heart and always had it ready for you. She liked your company so you stayed until you finished your coffee and was on your way, you gathered the courage and finally asked her out which she eagerly agree to. The first date wasn’t fancy but it was perfect, it was short which wasn’t a big deal and following that you had a few more dates before starting dating, eventually couple years in things started to be more than good, that’s when you decided you wanted to move in with her.

It was all perfect, you felt like nothing could go wrong but that was until you was caught trying to do your part time vigilante work by Iron Man, he dragged you to the Avenger tower to Nick Fury and he offered you a place within the team as he saw potential within you. You was taken back but agreed to join, you rushed back home as you weren’t needed until the team was back since they went off on a mission, and waited for your girlfriend to get back from work, she was an assistant for some big company so she was mostly busy but she always loved listening to your day to take the stress off her mind.

Even though you wanted to tell her everything, she didn’t know you was the vigilante, she knew you helped people out with your powers but you knew her opinion on hero'svigilantes, she hated it but was grateful for them as she felt safer within the city. You knew her intentions were pure but you had a different opinion.

You waited anxiously for her on the couch, bouncing your leg up and down from the nerves, you know her reaction will be something you wont like but this is huge for you. You will finally be able to help without hiding behind the whole vigilante ‘Time Breaker’ nickname the public made for you.

As soon as she walked in, she noticed your anxiousness “What’s wrong” She looked worried but you jumped up with a smile.

“I have news” Joy was practically dripping from you.

“I’m going to be on the team with the Avengers” You exclaimed with so much joy in your tone that you thought this somehow will make her be happy for you.

She dropped her bags and her face wasn’t like yours but with shock “What?”

“Well I helped someone out and Tony Stark caught me and dragged me to the Avenger tower and then I was offered a place in the team and I just took it”

“What?” She repeated herself as if you wasn’t talking in a language she would understand.

You looked at her confused and she finally spoke up from her shock state “You didn’t even think about considering this? You just took it without even consulting with me?”

You wanted to look confuse at her but you knew this would be her reaction “Olivia, come on you know how huge this will be-”

She interrupted you “You should’ve spoke to me about it as well.. We are a couple after all”

She took her bag and walked off towards your room as she closed the door behind her, usually when you have arguments you try to just listen each other out but when she shut the door you knew she didn’t want to listen to you so you just took your keys and walked out to give her some time to think about it and you made your way towards the tower again to meet the whole team.

The whole team was actually very welcoming when they heard about you joining, they all said that they have been watching you do your vigilante work and they were all pretty impressed. They gave me a room which you said you wont need but apparently its for long missions where you would have to be here for.

Everyone was excited to have a new member on their team and they all tried to show off their skills and abilities except this one redhead. You spoke with everyone and they all were chatting amongst each other so you took the opportunity to walk up to the redhead that was not far from yous.

She was sat at the bar, just paying attention to her drink, not really expecting anyone to approach her “Hello” you spoke up which made her jump a little.

She faced you and looked at the group of people who were just having usual banter “Shouldn’t you be over there with them?”

You leaned on the bar as you observed her “Probably but they are too busy with each other to even notice I am here”

She had a small smile across her lips as she traced the edge of the glass with her finger “Why are you here?”

“Well you are the only one who didn’t show what you can do”

She laughed “If I did that, I’m pretty sure the whole room would be upside down”

Something about this girl made you want to stick around, she was interesting and closed off a little which you didn’t mind. She was insanely beautiful and she was around your age which made you feel a little bit at ease to know that you aren’t the only young person there.

The only reason you didn’t know her was because she was new as well, she recently joined as well and felt a little bit left out as everyone in here already knew each other well enough to feel comfortable around them.

An idea popped in your head as you smiled “Pick a person and I will show you something”

She narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out what you are trying to do “Okay? Steve Rogers”

You looked at him and called out “Steve!” His attention was now on you and you spoke up again “Do a chicken dance”

He looked confused and refused to do that, which you just shrugged your shoulders at and closed your eyes when you opened them they turned white and his too and suddenly he was dancing just like you wanted. The redhead had a smile across her face as she was amazed to what you could do, and so was everyone else in the room. You broke the trance and Steve stood there completely clueless as everyone around him laughed.

You looked at her “Okay now it’s your turn”

She just smirked as she blurted out couple seconds in “Bruce is disappointed as he wanted someone to join them with the same level of knowledge as him so he can have a partner”

You narrowed your eyes at her “How do I know you’re not making that up?”

She turned towards the group and spoke up “Bruce I can’t believe you are disappointed in our recent recruitment”

He looked so shocked “How did you- Get out of my head!” and you both just laughed.

“I’m Y/n Y/l/n” You reached your hand towards her so she could shake it.

“Wanda Maximoff” She shook your hand with a small smile.

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Couple hours later

You came back home, it was late and you expected Olivia to be fast asleep but your unresolved argument kept her up. You walked through the door and that’s when Olivia came out from the bedroom worried about you.

“Y/n?” She called out as you walked further into the house and saw her with something in hand.

“Olivia? What are you doing?” You eyed the weapon she had in hand and she sighed with relief.

She shook her head “I didn’t think you would come back today so I thought someone was breaking in”

You knew she still had some PTSD from that café incident so you didn’t think much of it “Of course I was going to come back home.. Why are you up?”

You placed your keys down in your usual spot and walked over to her after she placed the object down near her “I couldn’t sleep”

You reached for her hand and held it tight “It’s okay, I’m here, just let me go toilet and we can just lay in bed until you fall asleep”

Even if you were upset with how she reacted, you loved her and wanted her to feel safe.

She nodded and you did just that, you went toilet and then you both laid in bed after you changed into something more comfortable to sleep in, she was laying on your chest cuddled tightly into your body as if you was going to disappear.

She looked up at you, you could see in her eyes something was eating her inside out “What’s wrong?”

She sighed and sat up, you mimicked her actions and turned on the little night lamp you had so you could see better “I wanted to talk about the disagreement we had earlier”

You nodded and she continued “I know my reaction to what you told me was upsetting but you know how worried I am already when you put your life at risk helping people out a little, I just don’t want to lose you”

She cupped your face with both of her hands “I love you and I don’t want you to think I won’t support you but I’m just worried”

“I know and I’m sorry I didn’t ask for time and told you about it before taking the place. I was just so excited I just don’t want to hide” You played with your ring on your thumb to calm your nerves down.

“I know and now, you can finally be more than just the ‘Time Breaker’ vigilante”

You looked up at her from your hands and she had a small smirk across her face “You knew?”

She nodded “Of course, I knew you would never pass the chance to do anything that could save peoples lives and just so you know I am proud of you”

You hugged her as she giggled from the sudden attack, she hugged you back and you both fell back to your original position and fell asleep couple minutes after.

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3 months later

During this time, you and your girlfriend were on good terms but with missions getting in the way you never had time for each other, even if she said she was proud of you for doing what you always wanted, you knew she is still upset about it which caused some arguments and you would usually just spend your days in your room at the Avenger tower watching anything to take your mind off Olivia.

Today was one of those days, you wanted to spend your 4 year anniversary with her before you had to travel to the compound for the mission but she had other plans for that day with her friends so you ended up walking out whilst she was getting dressed and ended up here.

Did she bother to call you? No, were you waiting for her to? Yes, you wanted her to say she’s sorry and that she actually had something planned for you but she was actually at a party because you saw her friends posting stuff on their social media.

You held the phone in your hand, staring at it waiting for it to light up and display an apologetic message from her but there was no luck, even though you was watching something, it just didn’t take your mind of her.

“Are you just going to stare at your phone all day?” A voice appeared from the door way which made you look.

You saw Wanda standing with her arms crossed and she gave you a smile as she walked over to you when you didn’t say anything “What’s wrong?”

You shrugged, you placed the phone on the night stand and sat up, not saying anything which Wanda took as an invitation to sit down near you.

Over the course of 2 months, you two were close friends but were still learning a lot about each other. For example during the team movie night, they all wanted to watch horror movies but you hated them. Of course you were teased for that but Wanda made sure they would choose something else. She wasn’t the only one who stuck by your side.

Natasha Romanoff did as well, she was quick to become your favourite person here, she was hilarious and could easily beat anyone here except Hulk because.. Well that dude is just not her size, though you could argue if it did come down to it. She loved playing pranks on the team and you soon become her partner in crime when it came to that, with your ability to control people’s minds you helped her do a lot of things like make people spill things or add too much spices to their food and watch them choke.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it but I can’t let you look this depressing. Come join me in the kitchen, I’m cooking dinner this time”

You raised your eyebrows at her to tease her “You cook?”

She chuckled and rolled her eyes “Of course I do. Now come on” She grabbed your hand, you took your phone with you and you two walked hand in hand towards the kitchen.

You help the Sokovian out a lot actually, even if you didn’t really had time to cook before but you always knew how to. When you would finish your part, you would just lean and watch her with admiration at how concentrate she was but you would snap out of it, reminding yourself that you were in a relationship.

She brought the spoon up to your face so your attention isn’t turned towards your phone “Here, taste it” which you did and your face lit up at the different taste.

“Good? Am I missing something?” She asked a little worried but you shook your head still trying to process how good her food is.

“No! Its perfect, not only you’re dead ass gorgeous but also an amazing cook” You were too memorized by the food to even think twice what you were saying.

She blushed and before you had time to even correct yourself she quickly changed the subject “So will you tell me what’s wrong?” She looked up from what she was doing at you.

You sighed and looked down at your phone to see nothing and decided to open up “Today is mine and Olivia’s 4 year anniversary but she decided to spend it with her friends instead”

“At least you’re not alone today..” She said with a small smile on her face, trying to light up the mood.

You nodded and she questioned “So what are you going to do?”

You shrugged “I’m not sure but I know one thing”

She looked confused to why you stopped and suddenly, your eyes turned white when Tony barged in with his eyes white, she looked at both of you and within seconds Tony got ahold of flour as he dumped it over the Sokovian witch.

You broke the trance and looked at Wanda who was covered in white from head to toe and Tony who was lost at how he even got here as he held an empty bag of flour in his hand.

You laughed as she used her powers to throw some of the flour on you but you went back in time and avoided the attack which made her chase you around the kitchen “I teach you how to cook a good meal and that’s how you repay me Y/n. You wait”

You knew she was going to do something and you were right, she made you freeze in place and had an egg held in her hand, you knew what she was going to do, she walked towards you with a smirk across her face.

“You have no way out, you can’t rewind or control anyone. The only fate here is the egg to be cracked on your head” The red mist entangled with her fingers controlling your captivity.

Tony was going to just walk out without protesting but she held him as well which made him speak up “What did I do?” He basically whined but Wanda didn’t care.

“For all I know you could get someone to help Y/n, so you’re staying here” She stated which made Tony shake his head “Actually I don’t care-”

She used her powers to stick a cloth inside his mouth so he would shut up, you was laughing at the whole thing but suddenly the egg turned into 10 which were floating in the air and were ready to be thrown at you but she was waiting.

“Come on Wands.. You don’t want to do this..” You tried your luck but she shook her head “Oh but I really do” and with that all those eggs aimed at you, covering you with the egg goo, she walked up closer as she held the last egg

“That’s for the flour” and she just cracked the egg on your head making it slowly run down your head which made her laugh and she let you go.

That was a mistake

What she didn’t notice was that you were planning to give it back to her, and suddenly your body collide with hers, holding her tight making sure she has some of that egg too. That’s when her eyes widen at how close yous are, making yous both blush and you let go off her, that’s when the rest of the team walks into the kitchen that’s covered in flour and egg shells.

“What in the world happened here” Someone exclaimed from the team, whilst Natasha laughed.

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The next day

You ended up in Wanda’s room after the dinner, Nat did join yous for a while to watch some sitcoms but she wasn’t really into that, so she left later on when Wanda was drifting to sleep.

Somehow you ended up falling asleep along with Wanda, yous must’ve shifted in your sleep as now Wanda is cuddled into you with her head resting on your chest.

She has been awake for some time but she didn’t want to move, risking waking you up and parting away from her. She enjoyed your company a little too much, she always wanted to be around you, you made her days better, especially when she is having a rough day, she always knows she can count on you and that’s what caused her to fall for you.

When you joined the Avengers, that night you met them all, she was a little sceptic rather than welcoming, she sat away to avoid any interaction with anyone from the team, she was still a lot more closed off than she is now and when you approached her she knew she could trust you, it was a gut feeling.

Finding out you were in a relationship kind of bothered Wanda but she brushed it off, especially since there was nothing she could do about it. The more she got to know you the more she liked you, you were like a golden retriever; Happy, beautiful, smart but if someone pissed you off you was like Natasha which was why Natasha found herself hanging out more with you than the rest of the team.

Wanda looked up from where she was, staring at your relaxed featured, just taking in how calm you looked, her heart melting at the sight of you.

“Watching me sleep creepy lady?” You asked still with your eyes closed.

She tensed when you suddenly spoke up but relaxed within seconds when she rolled her eyes at you “No?” She had a blush across her cheeks for being caught.

You smiled as your hand reached to your face to rub your eyes and stretch out “Mhm sure”

Your raspy voice in the morning will be Wanda’s favourite thing from now on. The only girl you ever had in bed (besides your ex girlfriends), was Olivia and now that Wanda is here with you is.. different. You would be lying if you said that you didn’t like it but you did, her embrace was comforting.

Yous decided it was best to get up and cook breakfast before the whole team wakes up. Well Wanda cooked breakfast whilst you quietly stare at her, drinking your coffee at the same time.

Natasha was the first one up from the rest of the team and ate Wanda’s breakfast, she wanted to spar with you so you agreed, it was a good idea to just get fired up before the mission. She was good and you needed some hand to hand combat skills in case your powers refuse you.

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Couple hours later

Travelling to a Hydra base wasn’t something everyone was thrilled about, the whole team was needed for no reason, you and Wanda could just take the whole place down with your powers but this mission was tricky, yous didn’t need to just beat them up but you needed their data and blow their base up, S.H.E.I.L.D. intel wasn’t the best, they barely gathered anything apart that this base had some dangerous weapons that’s why you were needed.

As soon as the whole team along with you jumped out of the Quinjet, you expected agents to be flooding the field but there was nothing. You was instructed to go near the base just in case they flooded out since you could rewind time, so just like that you started to approach the base.

You walked inside and there was no one there, you expected it to be heavily guarded but no one was seen, so you went further inside as you reached to your ear to inform the team, that’s when the guards made their way out and spotted you.

You pressed your ear so the team can hear you whilst you talk down the guards, just in case your powers failed so the team would be informed to help you “Look fellas, I’m here.. you are here. Can we not be buddies?”

You tried but they launched at you and you simply went back in time, just enough before they spotted you. You reached to your ear and spoke quietly “This must be a set up, the guards know we are here they are waiting for us to approach the base, I can sneak inside and just do the work quickly. Just wait for my signal”

The team agreed that you should do it but Wanda protested “No Y/n! Come back and let’s do this together”

“Maximoff, Everything will be fine besides I can rewind if anything goes wrong. It’s okay.” You spoke and started to make your way towards the guards, you hid behind them and controlled one of their minds as you made them fight each other, knocking them out, you pulled their bodies to where you were so other were not alerted. You took their weapons and attached it near the bomb that you was suppose to plant.

You made your way to the core of the base and there was no one but you knew better, you closed your eyes and searched for any soul near you which you did find, you forced them to the centre and pushed them as their body was shot multiple times.

You reached to your ear to let know the team that you made it “Okay, I’m at the core of the base, I have the pen drive, I’ll plant the bomb as soon as the data starts to transfer.”

The team sighed in relief that you were still alive but they were pretty much surprised that the amount of guards. Wanda and Natasha knew something was wrong but they couldn’t go against orders, even if they were your orders they were approved by everyone.

You plugged the pen drive inside the slot and placed the bomb near the weapons, the timer will start as soon as you let Tony know to start it, you started at the huge screen as the percentage increased. You knew it was too good to be true to just leave without being detected.

A sharp sting in your shoulder and thigh occurred that muted the gunshots from behind you as you turned around to see the guard with a gun in his hand and little smoke coming from it, making you aware that you have been shot twice, you looked back you at the screen which was closer to finishing, as you controlled his mind and made him shoot his leg himself and knock himself out.

The focus for the mission was keeping you busy from the pain but as soon as you moved your leg, the pain was stronger which made you groan and limp towards the computer, as soon as it hit 100%, you snatched the drive and slowly made your way towards the exit where you saw about 5-10 guards standing with their guns pointing at you.

You laughed a little and took the weapon attached to your belt as you started to shoot at them, they were shooting at you but they missed as you went back in time but each time you did the less energy you had, it was mainly because you was losing blood and was hit couple more times, you didn’t even notice until you moved from your place to hide behind something.

You reached to your ear, taking a deep breath and speaking “Tony start the timer.”

“On it” He spoke to your ear and soon enough his voice spoke up again “Okay, you have 3 minutes before the whole place blows up, can you make it?” He asked the question he didn’t want to, which he earned a shocking glare from Wanda and Natasha, they weren’t expecting that.

“Yeah, I’m on my way out” As you spoke, gunshots slipped through which made the team be more worried.

“Y/n do you need back up?” Natasha asked and there was no reply, they were about to run inside from the Quinjet but Tony started to fly above. You and him had a plan which the team wasn’t inform off, this way you wouldn’t be stopped, they thought they will be joining you but you was suppose to go alone.

“Tony what the fuck are you doing?” Natasha harshly spoke as she stared at him from behind but he didn’t answer.

Wanda worried stood up “We need to help Y/n!” But she was ignored as well.

You knew you didn’t have time but you hoped this will work out, the reason to why the team wasn’t needed was because that could cause a lot of problems like compromising the mission but they were there in case things went south.

You took a deep breath and with everything you had, started to run towards the exit, with the pain becoming more stronger, which had some guards there but you manged to knock them out with your mind control, you failed to notice that one of them pretended to be knocked out so when you approached the exit, you was shot again, this time nearer to your heart which punctured your lung, you knew this is bad but you went on.. At least tried to, right as you reached the end, you were close to dropping to the ground but that’s when the bomb went off, sending you flying into the air, several feet away from the base and where the Quinjet was.

You was barely breathing and barely conscious to what was happening around you, but one redhead made it towards you. You smiled at whoever was there and started to close your eyelids since they become so heavy.

“Oh my god, Y/n” A shaky voice spoke up, you could tell it was Wanda.

You tried to wave your hand to dismiss it but the pain was too much so you spoke up “It’s fine..”

She covered your mouth with her hand “Shut up and save your energy! You can’t die now”

You was trying hard to stay awake but it wasn’t working and the darkness was much closer than you really wanted, you passed out the second the Sokovian redhead lifted you with her powers.

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Long couple hours later

The medical wing wasn’t keen on giving anyone any information about your condition which only worried everyone. Wanda barely left the waiting room in hopes that they will crack and tell her about you but nothing.

She wanted to barge in there and demand answers but she knew better than to delay your way to recovery. Wanda was more than worried, she was terrified, at the thought of your body going limb when she picked you up really scared her.

At the loss of her parents and her brother, she thought she would never open up to anyone but when you waltzed into her life, you instantly melted her walls with just one look, you made it easier to breath when she was around you, that’s why she can’t lose you.

Tony along with Natasha and Steve made their way towards Wanda, they knew she was upset.

she looked up, her blood boiling at the sight of Tony, she stood up with her eyes turning red “What do you think you’re doing here?” the question was laced with venom.

“Are there any news?” Natasha asked knowing that anything could trigger Wanda.

She shook her head but her glare didn’t leave Tony which angered her more, she wanted him out of this hallway, she wanted to see you smile and laugh.. Just be alive but you are in there with no updates.

“Look Witch, me and her had a plan before we went on the mission, she was suppose get out there before the bomb went off but obviously the plan didn’t work out exactly like we wanted, she was suppose to be on the Quinjet before it exploded, she knew it was a set up but she went anyways, we needed that data and now we are able to create better weapons because of it.” He tried to explain the best he could to Wanda, he felt guilty he didn’t let someone else come with you but they both knew it would be dangerous.

“Why didn’t you just let me or Natasha come with her!” She screamed, it made some lights flicker as her powers slowly emitted from her.

Tony took a deep breath “She didn’t want anyone, I tried to convince her to take someone but she said that would rather die than let anyone else suffer”

With his words, Wanda’s eyes turned back to normal as it filled with tears, she was so mad at you for doing such a reckless thing without even talking to her about it. Natasha approached her and gently wrapped her arms around Wanda, she was trying her best to keep her tears in but that was slightly impossible.

Doctor Helen Cho walked out to the scene, she made herself known by clearing her throat, immediately Wanda turned and stared at her, she was dreading this moment but put a brave face.

“This might be hard to hear but Y/n flatlined three times before going into a stable condition. Some of the bullets made their way towards further into her body, especially into her lung, it was difficult to even take it out but we did it and she should be okay, she lost a lot of blood so we put her into a medically induced coma to record quicker but she can easily slip into her own coma from so much trauma so we will be monitoring her for now” She spoke, explaining everything that went on inside that small room.

The only two things that stuck with Wanda was that you flatlined three times but you’re alright. She closed her eyes, trying her best to keep calm, as she sat back down in the chair, they all looked at the Sokovian, it was kind of scary to see her like this.

Natasha took it as an opportunity to ask if anyone can go in and visit you “Is visiting possible?”

Helen nodded “Yes but one at a time, too much people might disturb her”

Wanda stood up with the most dull face you could witness “How many times?”

Helen took a deep breath “She was shot 7 times”

Wanda nodded and just walked inside the room leaving the 3 behind, she needed to be there when you wake up, she knew how much you hated bright white rooms, she never knew the exact reason but she never asked, she wanted you to tell her.

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Two weeks later

The air in the compound was thick with tense, especially since Wanda never wanted to leave your side but she was needed in some small missions, now that you was gone she was needed twice as much, you and her made missions seem so much easier but now that you are still in the coma, she was forced to leave you.

Wanda was currently after her mission, she was exhausted but she rushed to your side to be there when you wake up, she had a feeling you would wake up. She was there for hours but still no luck, that’s when there was a knock on the door which her head followed, she saw Vision.

She relaxed and walked outside to see him, he tried to convince her to go shower and rest but she didn’t want any of that, she just wanted to be here, you woke up during that time, your eyes scanned the room that’s when it landed outside the window to Vision and Wanda, you were so high on painkillers that you didn’t even notice any pain.

He was extremely close to her, his hand on her cheek and looked at her so lovingly, she looked sad and his other hand was on her hip holding her close. You wasn’t sure how long you have been out but it must’ve been long since Vision and Wanda are now together (Obviously they weren’t), at the sight of them that close, your heart broke. You had feelings for Wanda for sometime now but Olivia was your girlfriend and you knew you had to bury those feelings, especially now that Wanda is with someone else.

You hated bright rooms so your breathing increased, slowly having a little panic attack when you came to your senses, the heart monitor started to beep faster which caught Wanda’s attention.

She ran inside leaving Vision, to which he just walked away a little disappointed, she held your hand “It’s okay Y/n, I’m here sweetie”

You relaxed at her touch but your breathing didn’t steady “Y/n look at me and follow my breathing”

She started to breathe slowly in and out which you mimicked, you was relaxing, she always had that effect on you, tears started to run down your face which Wanda carefully wiped with her thumb.

You leaned into her touch as you blurted out “Take me home please..”

Your pleading broke Wanda’s heart, she knows how much you hate these rooms “Y/n..”

“Please Wan.. I can’t stay here, its too cold and lonely” You begged her and her grip tighten around your other hand.

“I’m here Детка (baby), and I’m not going anywhere” She spoke as she stared into your eyes.

“I can’t stay here” Another tear slipped down your face, Wanda nodded with a sad smile “Okay.. I will talk to the doctor but for now rest, I will be here моя любовь (My love)”

You didn’t understand what she was saying, for all you know she could call you an idiot but the way she said it, just made you want to listen to her talk all the time.

You nodded and a thought struck you “Wanda…” She hummed as an answer to which you continued “Could you lay with me here until I fall asleep?”

Wanda wanted to just stay in your arms forever but to be asked to cuddle you till you fall asleep because you are terrified of this hospital room, made her even happier, she nodded and climbed next to you as you carefully hugged into her, with her scent filling your nose and her heartbeat you felt safe.

“Do you want to know why I don’t like bright white rooms?” you asked and she nodded.

You wasn’t sure if you should look at her because if you broke down it would be harder to stop but taking a deep breath you looked up and stared into her green eyes, they held this reassurance, she didn’t need to use her words, her eyes said it all

“When I was young, my mother and father decided they didn’t want me so they gave me up for some experiments..” You paused as a flashback of the white room appeared before your eyes, you exhaled shakenly “ All I really remember is the multiple white rooms and the cold empty feeling whilst they did whatever they did”

“So please.. Get me home, I don’t want to be here” Another tear escaped your eyes.

Her free hand cupped your cheek as she wiped the tear and nodded with a smile “You’ll go home, just rest”

It pained her listening to your past, as a little girl to be put through something like that, it must’ve been really scary. Wanda’s hand traced circles on your back, relaxing you, making you fall asleep with her. The red power coursing through her hand near your head as she gave you pleasant dreams.

“Sweet dreams Солнечный свет (Sunshine)”