#college!Shield

[let-me-love-you-loki]

Welcome to Oblivion--Ch. 41

Chapter 41

            “I still hate this,” I said as I walked down the stairs toward the cage in the center of the gym. “Why do I keep doing this?”

            Roman tugged me a little closer to his side and kissed the top of my head. “Because you love him,” he replied. He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “And you secretly like the blood.”

            “Don’t you dare,” I hissed, punching him in the ribs lightly. “You know I freak out every time he gets out of that cage.”

            “When was the last time he lost?” Seth asked from just behind us. It had been a week or so since we’d kissed and were still figuring out how we would manage our relationship. In public and in private. It seemed that we were going to take our time to find our groove and our place in this.

            Roman chuckled and looked over his shoulder. “He hasn’t lost since baby girl here started coming.”

            Heat rushed into my face. I reached up to tuck my hair behind my ear as my heart skipped a beat. “There was that one against… what’s his face…”

            “He didn’t lose that one, Addy,” he teased. “Almost, but he beat the count. Knocked Jones’ teeth down his throat afterward. Literally.”

            Seth led the way down the line of chairs toward our usual seats. We’d been to so many fights that they were practically reserved. “You’re his good luck charm.”

            “I wish I wasn’t,” I murmured. “I hate seeing him bloodied and bruised.”

            Before any of us could say another word, music blared through the room. My chest constricted as my heart pounded against my ribs. I knew that Dean’s fight would be later in the evening, but I still couldn’t get my anxiety under control. I bounced my leg and rubbed my palms back and forth on my jeans. My palms were sweaty. For a moment, I thought I was going to be sick.

            “Why didn’t you let me bring my bag?” I grumbled at Seth after the third fight. I’d wanted to bring my backpack to get some reading done before Dean was up. Anything to distract myself from the worry that something would happen.

            Seth reached out and curled his fingers around mine. He squeezed my hand and brought it up to his lips. His lips were soft against my knuckles. “Because you’re going to be fine.”

            Looking up into his chocolate eyes, I thought for a moment that he was right. For that brief second, my heart settled into a normal rhythm and my agitated movements slowed.

            Then they called Dean’s fight.

            I gulped hard against the bile threatening to climb up my throat. This was the moment that I dreaded the most. Watching him come into that cage with his fists taped up, his face clear of scrapes, scratches, bruises, and blood. Knowing exactly what was going to happen in the next few minutes was enough to send adrenaline rushing through my veins. I wanted to run, to get as far away as possible. I wanted to slap him with the hope of knocking some sense into him because talking just didn’t seem to work.

            Dean appeared from the locker room in his jeans and boots. I couldn’t understand how he could fight in them, or why they allowed him to, but he insisted. At the door to the cage, he toed off his boots and pushed them aside. Barefoot, he walked forward as he rocked his shoulders back and forth. The muscles in his arms and shoulders flexed beneath his skin. He looked toward us, cornflower eyes landing on me. A faint smile curled the corners of his mouth.

            Then his gaze drifted, and his smile faded. His lips twisted into a snarl as he slammed the cage door behind him.

            “Something’s pissed him off,” Seth said, leaning toward me. “Was he like that earlier?”

            I looked toward Dean and then back at Seth. “No. He was… grumpy. Not this.”

            “Fuck.” Roman’s voice drew my attention. I turned to him, a question on my lips as I followed the line of his gaze.

            Dean stood on the far side of the cage, brows drawn together and jaw set. My stomach turned upside down at the rage in his eyes.

            The bell rang and he launched himself at his opponent, right arm already cocked back. The moment he was within reach, Dean threw his body into the punch. It landed square on the other guy’s jaw, knocking his head sideways. He stumbled backward, and Dean followed, pressing him back toward the wall of the cage. Dean beat into his opponent, throwing a series of elbows against the side of his head and jabs into his kidneys.

            He backed up, putting space between them. He pivoted on his back foot and let go a kick against the other guy’s ribs. His opponent blocked the kick and swept his other leg out from under him. Dean landed hard on his back, his head bouncing against the mat. I screamed and nearly jumped out of my seat. The sound must have gotten Dean’s attention as he turned his head toward me. His blue eyes were unfocused for a moment before the rage returned to his face and he rolled back onto his shoulders. In the blink of an eye, he had pushed off with his shoulders and hands to kip up to his feet again.

            Dean took a deep breath, cracked his neck on each side, and then curled his fingers in a bring it on gesture. I felt sick watching his opponent run at him, throwing elbows against Dean’s jaw. He followed up with a series of body shots that looked like they knocked the wind out of him. A deep red mark started to bloom over Dean’s left kidney and another along his ribs.

            My stomach clenched. I gagged. I wanted to run.

            Blood oozed from a split in Dean’s lip from one of the elbow shots. He wiped his mouth with his hand, crimson streaking against the white tape. I saw him glance down at it, almost as if he were fascinated at the sight. The distraction was enough for his opponent to throw a cross that rocked Dean’s head up and to the side.

            “Dean!” I screamed and lunged toward the cage. My fingers laced through the steel wiring. I couldn’t stop myself, even though I knew that he didn’t need any other distractions. A pair of arms wrapped around my waist and dragged me backward, practically ripping my fingers from their hold on the cage. I kicked and fought. “Let me go!”

            The arms tightened and tried to turn me around. “Addy. Addy, calm down.” Seth’s voice whispered firmly in my ear. “Relax.”

            “He’s hurt. Dean’s hurt,” I whimpered, clawing at Seth’s hoodie covered forearms. “Let me go. He’s hurt!”

            “If you don’t calm down, we’re taking you out of here,” he threatened softly. “You’re going to get him knocked out running at the cage like that. Relax, sweets.”

            Adrenaline rushed through every cell in my body. I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to run. I wanted to break into the cage to get him out. Even though the rational part of my brain knew that Seth was right, I couldn’t get past the sight of Dean so bloodied and beat up. It hadn’t ever been like this before.

            The sound of the bell reverberated through my bones. It sucked the air out of my lungs and the fight from my limbs. I sank back against Seth, grey edging the sides of my vision. I gasped for breath as tears rushed down my cheeks. There was no looking away from Dean as he stood on the other side of the cage. Red marks were already darkening into deep purple bruises. There was a gash on his jaw and another on his cheekbone, both oozing blood as his chest rose and fell as he panted.

            Our eyes met. For a moment, I thought I saw Dean’s blue eyes soften behind the obvious pain that clearly ran through his body. He looked back at me. Yearning lanced along my nerves. I just wanted to be where he was. He blinked and glanced away. My heart fell into my stomach as he squared up for the next round. Rage colored his features as the bell rang once again, launching him toward his opponent.

            I turned in Seth’s arms and hid my face against his shoulder. “I can’t watch anymore.”

            “Come on,” he said soothingly. “We’ll go out to the truck for a minute. Get some fresh air. It might help, sweets.”

            It was so hard to turn my back on the cage with Dean still inside. Since that very first time, I hadn’t missed one of Dean’s fights. I’d done everything it took to get there, to see him before he walked up those steps and after he ripped off the tape in the locker room. But now I couldn’t bear to watch. I couldn’t bear to listen, even though the sound of fists on flesh echoed against the rafters. My mind’s eye conjured up the worst possible images as Seth led me toward the exits.

            The moment we got outside, I doubled over retching and gagging. Seth rubbed the middle of my back even as he held my hair back with the other. The world spun around me. I couldn’t explain why I felt this way. Why, after all the fights I’d been to and how I’d actually started to enjoy them, I couldn’t bear to watch this time.

            “Deep breaths, Addy,” Seth murmured. “You’re good. Deep breaths.”

            I reached up and wrapped my fingers around his wrist. “I can’t—”

            He shushed me gently. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Deep breaths, sweets.”

            Muffled noise erupted from the gym. I could just make out the sound of cheering and the loud dinging of the bell that indicated a fight was over. I practically collapsed onto the sidewalk when I realized what it meant.

            “Stay here, just a second. I’m gonna go see what happened.” Seth squeezed my fingers before he went back inside. A few minutes later, he reemerged with Roman in tow. “He won.”

            Momentary relief flooded my veins. But Seth’s next words opened the floodgates of worry once again. “He looks like he got run over by a Mack truck. But he won.”

            Roman sank into a crouch next to me. “He’s okay, Addy. Dean’s good.”

            “Comparatively,” Seth interjected. “Phil’s gonna need six weeks in the hospital and some massive rehab. Dean just broke at least twelve bones in that guy’s body.”

            “Seth?”

            “Yeah?”

            “Shut up. You’re not helping.” Roman gripped me by the elbows and pulled me gently to my feet. Everything went grey and hazy as the blood rushed from my head to my feet. If it weren’t for Roman, I would have fallen right back down onto the concrete. “Dean’s fine. He’s a big boy and can take care of himself.”

            “I… I-I need to see him,” I whimpered. Before either of them could say a word, I ran toward the doors. My feet carried me away from the gym and down the hallway to the locker rooms. I pounded on the door with the flat of my hand, screaming his name at the top of my lungs.

            After a few moments, the door yanked inward. “What?!”

            My eyes lifted, taking in each inch of Dean and cataloguing his injuries. There was a rip in the front of his jeans that revealed a raised red welt along his thigh. His torso was crisscrossed with bruises that were already turning purple. The one over his right kidney ran from the base of his ribs all the way down to his hipbone. Another spread down his breastbone, and I swore that it was the size and shape of someone’s foot. His knuckles were busted and bloody. He had a split chin, busted lip, a gash on his jaw and cheekbone, what looked like a black eye, and another cut through his left eyebrow.

            Tears filled my eyes, spilling down over my cheeks and dripping onto my shirt. His face blurred, but not before I saw the angry disconnection in his gaze. I reached my fingertips toward his chest. He took a step back.

            “Are you okay?” I brushed at the tears and tried to take a deep breath. My clearing vision brought his injuries back into sharp focus.

            Dean crossed his arms over his chest, showing off a few other welts on his forearms and biceps. “I’m fine. You can go now. I’m sure they’re waiting.”

            I felt myself recoil just as if he’d shoved me. “What…?”

            He leaned his shoulder against the door, wincing as it put pressure on the bruise along his side. “Go back to the apartment or the dorm. I’m good. It’s about time you and Seth had a little alone time, isn’t it? That’s your timeline, right? Don’t let me get in the way.”

            Before I could say a word, Dean backed away and slammed the door in my face.

__________________

Tag List

@vebner37

@lilred91

@not-that-kinda-gurl08

@maelleoute

@missjenniferb

@librathepheonix13

@unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin

@rollynchwhore

@spaghetti-hoop

[skyefeys]

the long awaited collection of my reactions to aai2!

other games here!

[drawballa]

Grade "A" Love - Finally Official

FULL COMIC: HERE

[cephalotyrant]

First Offense.

you know what NO I'm cringe and I'm free I LOVE ALODY BY @oya-oya-okay PLEASE PLEAAAASEEE ALODY OVERBLOT ❤️ sorry headmage Dire Crowley I had to do this to you

[em1e]

itadori "#1 victory royale" yuuji + gf who gets downed from walking off a cliff

[fluffypotatey]

y’all help i’ve got two hangster x twister aus haunting my brain and one is mostly silly and fun while the other is angsty Bradley character study

[am-ace-ing-grace]

We should talk about special interests like we talk about college majors.

I have majors in Percy Jackson/Riordanverse history, Agents of SHIELD lore, and poetry, with minors in neurodirgent shit and the Netflix Carmen Sandiego show

I am working on a major in Leverage

I am working on a major in Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I have an honorary doctorate in going underwater when it’s hard to see through and grabbing people’s ankles or tickling the back of their knees to scare the living hell out of them

[hilacopter]

I think the victim complex so many leftists have comes from the villification of privilege. If you are not oppressed then you are inherently the oppressor, and no matter how much you help and support you'll never be as justified as the people suffering more than you. If you have not been wronged that makes you the one in the wrong. And you must atone.

[isolus-girl]

Change Everything

Characters: Daisy Johnson, Carol Danvers, Maria Rambeau, Bobbi Morse, Lance Hunter, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons

Relationships: Carol x Daisy

Summary: When Carol starts pilot training school, she moves in with Maria Rambeau. Little does she know how this will change her life, especially when Maria decides to host a barbeque and invite some friends from the nearby college.

[ask-missparker]

WHAT IF…Our OCs Were In An College AU? 🏫📚

Amelia “Mia” Parker 📖

Start out coming into college late winter because she didn’t know what she wanted to study exactly, until she figured it out

So now, she’s studying Design and Digital Marketing with Analytics

She’s also working as a Bartender alongside her friend Jeremy

Friends with her crew and fellow students at the school

Loves eating homemade pasta, cupcakes and fried chicken nuggets while at Collage

A bit of a quiet mess during those years, having found her strength and roots later on across the months of being there

Fun Fact! It’s canon that she gets signs of her powers in College and eventually gets them too (so keep an eye out for that lol)

Keep the chain going: @gcthvile @mallowbee4 @rickb-chaos @luna-d-marsh @gaminggirlsstuff @purpleprincessonfyre @meiramel @missstrawbs2001 @halesfavoriteharlot @rooster-84 and etc

[madmanwonder]

(Ask Crossover History Teacher) Is it true Melissa that Ms. White is spending the class on top of Jaune, making out with the student that she is holding down on the floor instead of teaching class after the dare that he did?

“Yes.” Melissa said blushing hotly as she stared at the taboo scene between teacher and student, wondering why Ms.White wasn’t fired for illicit sexual activity with Arc-San.

[joshdiaz]

Gabrielle Union as Angela Harvey in Scream (1996)

Angela's plan for high school was simple—get in, get out, get gone. Woodsboro was where she was born, but the guys were dipshits and the girls were straight; it was never meant to be her home. She'd come back to visit her parents, sure, but that was the beginning and end of her attachments. The nature of growing up was that making friends had always been a game of catch and release. She wouldn't miss anyone else enough to stay after graduation.

Then she met Sidney Prescott, kind and wide-eyed and committed to totally acing their lab project. It was hard not to care about her. Then, through Sidney, she met Tatum Riley, and, well—it was impossible to not care about her. Angie had always known she didn't like boys, but she hadn't realized she could like girls until then. Unfortunately, the boys Sidney and Tatum kept around were patently unlikable, but she could deal.

And she was, until their sleepy little town was woken up by the murder of Sidney's mom. She and Tatum were barely holding Sidney together before the killer returned to try to tear her apart for real this time. Surviving high school had never been so literal.

[rosesinbloom7love]

College Au: How a seemingly normal group project led to Motoyasu & Naofumi confessing to each other.

(I know, I know, I don't usually do ship prompts that aren't TheRuFumi/RaruFumi,but, I wanted to do something different this time and I randomly remember this meme from a tv show that instantly made me think of this ship XD. Plus, it should be known that I am a massive multi-shipper. I always got a few ships for every fandom i'm in & after reading "The Reprise of The Spear Hero", the inner shipper just went brrr. Feel free to ignore this post. this is mostly for me :) )

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

Naofumi: So if you take a look here, you'll see i've drawn up a complete work schedule, which lays out exactly when we'll be working together on that report.

Motoyasu: A work schedule?

Naofumi: Yes. It's color-coded so even you can understand it!

Motoyasu: Wait a second, what's this here? We're working 3 hours a night for the next four weeks!?

Naofumi: Well, I thought four hours a night might be too much for your smallish brain to handle.

Motoyasu: My smallish brain can handle plenty! It's my smallish eyes that are gonna have trouble cause they gotta look at you! Yeah! I said it!

Naofumi: Well actually, the human eyes are technically just receptors that pick up visual images which make no sense until deciphered by the brain. Which in your case happens to be smallish. :)

Motoyasu: Why do you have to one-up me all the time!? What? Do you just get your jollies by making me look dumb!?

Naofumi: Who said I think your dumb!? Maybe, I happen to think you're very smart! Maybe I just-!

Motoyasu: Well maybe, you just what!?

Naofumi: Maybe, I just like you!

Motoyasu: Well ma-!...*Processing* *Realization* *Blushing*...Well, maybe I just like you too!

Naofumi: Oh really?

Motoyasu: Yeah! Maybe i've liked you for a really long time, but didn't realize it, cause, I hated you so much!

Naofumi: Are you saying you like me or not?

Motoyasu: Are YOU saying you like me or not?

Naofumi: I'm saying I like you!

Motoyasu: Well then, i'm saying I like you!

Naofumi: FINE!

Motoyasu: FINE!

Naofumi: Then I guess we're boyfriends!

Motoyasu: One condition!

Naofumi: WHAT!?

Motoyasu: I GET TO BE THE BOYFRIEND!

(Meanwhile, Ren & Itsuki, who have been sitting there watching the entire exchange, stare at their two friends very confused)

Ren: What the f*ck, just happened?

Itsuki: I'm not entirely sure...

[all-that-jazz-93]

Man this show really hit the ground running

[captainsophiestark]

Undefeated

Jane Foster x Reader

Masterlist - Tag List

Written for my Year of Olympians and part of a bigger challenge being run by @yearofcreation2023 which features a ton of awesome creators and runs all year! Go check it out! And yay, after like two months of now writing I’m caught up just in time for June! 😅

Fandom: Marvel

Prompt: Ares; War

Summary: Darcy and her best friend, Y/N, are taking a night to party in between all the stressors that come with grad school, and doing so by absolutely DOMINATING at Beer Pong. When Darcy needs a substitute, however, it might lead to something more than a temporary team up between Y/N and Jane Foster.

Word Count: 2,520

Category: Fluff, Chaos

A/N: Listen, I don't know if anybody but me cares, but the rules of Pong simply do not work narratively for this fic, so for the sake of the story, there's no such thing as redemption or overtime.

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, fixating on my target and blocking out the noise and chaos around me. I took another deliberate breath in, then on the exhale, I took my shot.

Splash! My ping pong ball sailed through the air and landed smack dab in the middle of my opponent's cup.

"YES!" I screamed, punching my arm in the air jumping a few times to release the energy. My voice was almost gone from screaming all night, but I absolutely didn't care.

"LET'S FUCKING GO!" yelled my partner and best friend, Darcy Lewis, in my ear. My ears had been ringing for about an hour thanks to that combined with the music and talking of the party, but I didn't care about that either.

Darcy and I were in the middle of our last semester of grad school, and in the unique, rare period of the semester where we'd just finished a bunch of exams and papers for our midterms and didn't have to start studying or worrying about our finals quite yet. We had about a week of semi-peace for the whole semester, and like the rest of our classmates, we were using it to celebrate the fact that we were still in college to the extreme.

There was a lot more stress in grad school, so we deserved to overcompensate every once in a while with our parties.

I'd come into the night proudly boasting my undefeated undergraduate and graduate record in beer pong. With Darcy as my partner, I'd extended that streak to include winning against every single team that tried to challenge me tonight.

The competition had gotten seriously heated, with people rotating through either side of the table and people regularly challenging us like they were going to be the ones to finally take us down. We'd picked up a few people to act as refs, mostly for judging elbow distance and having the final decision on specific rules, and another few people had wandered over to start acting as commentators. Despite the fierce competition, it was all in good fun. We'd been laughing and cheering right along with everyone else all night.

And now, we were about to add another pair to our list of defeats. I'd just knocked out their second to last cup, and it was Darcy's turn. If she made it–which I knew she could–it would be game over.

I watched her take a deep breath and raise her arm, lining up her shot and getting in the zone the same way I had a second ago. She drew back, but before she could release the ball, a commotion from behind us distracted her.

"Darcy!"

She started to turn, looking confused as someone in the crowd called her name, and at the same time someone grabbed her wrist. She yelped, dropping the pong ball to the floor and glaring at the brunette who'd just come running up to her in a frenzy.

"Darcy!" cried the woman. "We have to go, right now! You're never going to believe what I just found-"

"Jane, I'm in the middle of something!" she yelled back, gesturing to the table before us. I just watched on, trying to process this new complication in maintaining our pong supremacy. Slowly, the pieces from various stories Darcy had told me came together. This must be Jane Foster, the scientist Darcy had been an assistant for and the reason she'd made a 180 from polisci to astrophysics.

"I'm sorry, Darcy, but I promise this is worth it. Come on-"

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere," I said, stepping in front of the two of them. Darcy grinned at me as I squared up against Jane, like she couldn't wait to see which of the two of us would prevail. I didn't know who she was betting on, but I knew for a fact it was going to be me.

"Who are you?" asked Jane, looking genuinely confused as she surveyed me. I straightened a little, suddenly uncomfortably aware that Jane was very, very pretty. I put it out of my mind, however, with a little help from our pong opponents across the table throwing their hands up at the unexpected interruption.

"Y/N Y/L/N," I said, going back to business as I squared my shoulders and stared down at Jane. "Darcy's best friend, and undefeated beer pong champion. And I need Darcy to take the last shot of the game so we can win and my streak can stay unbroken before you leave."

Jane looked like she was about to respond, but Darcy beat her to it.

"Actually, when Doctor Overenthusiasm here grabbed my arm, she tweaked my wrist," announced my championship-winning partner, not sounding half as distressed as she should've for the news she was giving me. "I don't think I can take the shot."

"What?" I cried. Darcy shrugged, I stared at her in horror, and Jane looked between the two of us, completely baffled.

"Why can't you just take the shot yourself?" Jane asked, at last settling on addressing me. I looked at her like she was crazy.

"I already took my shot!" I explained, gesturing to the table. "I got their second-to-last cup, and now, it's my partner's responsibility to get the last cup and win us the game."

"Hm," mused Jane, a slight frown creeping onto her face as she looked at the situation before us. "Well... can't you just postpone the game? Or call it off?"

"At this point? No way! We'd have to forfeit, which would mean losing my undefeated record."

Jane opened her mouth to reply, but on cue, the guys at the other end of the table beat her to it.

"Hey, what's the hold up? Take your shot and miss, Lewis, so we can finish this game once and for all!"

I looked grimly to Darcy. These guys had come the closest to beating us out of everyone tonight, and we only had one cup left standing on our side, too. If they made it to their turn again, the odds were more than likely that they'd win.

Suddenly, a brainstorm hit me like a bolt of lightning as I caught sight of Jane again. Maybe, just maybe, Darcy and I still had a hope after all.

I whirled back to the table, leaning forward (while being very careful not to upset our lone cup) and called across to our opponents.

"My partner just got injured! I want to use a celeb shot for her turn!"

The guys looked between each other, then back at me. A celeb shot meant bringing in someone else–a ''celeb'–to take a turn for us, even though they weren't technically on the team. Our various opponents had done it a few times throughout the night, but not the team we were playing now, and not in a game-winning scenario.

"Who?" demanded Chris, one of our current enemies, from across the table. I gestured to Jane, whose eyebrows immediately shot up into her hairline, but Chris' teammate Andrew jumped in before she could say anything.

"She's not a ringer, is she?"

I made a face, then looked from Jane back to Andrew.

"Honestly, man, I have no idea. I just met her ten seconds ago."

"Does Darcy know?"

We all turned to look at my best friend, and she just shrugged.

"As far as I know, Jane's never played pong in her life!"

"Hey!" All our attention shifted to Jane, and she suddenly seemed a lot less confident. Her cheeks picked up a cute red tinge. "Okay, I might not have... really played before. But still!"

Chris and Andrew shared a smile, then looked back at me. I frowned.

"It's alright with us!" Andrew called cheerfully. I scowled, then retrieved the ball Darcy had dropped when Jane grabbed her. I held it out to Jane, who very reluctantly took it.

"Do I really have to do this?" she sighed, staring at me with a raised eyebrow as we stood together at our end of the pong table. Darcy stood a few feet away, and I could see her familiar manic grin over Jane's shoulder.

"Yes," I decided.

"Why me?" she asked, sounding completely exasperated. "There are tons of other people here who could do it, and Darcy and I have to go-"

I waved off her suggestions. "I love most of these people dearly. They're friends and classmates who I enjoy going through life with, Chris and Andrew included. But right now, in this moment? I don't trust a single one of these motherfuckers not to miss on purpose and sabotage my perfect record. This is war, Jane."

She shook her head and scoffed, but I could see the undercurrent of nerves that had her holding the pong ball in a death grip as she surveyed the table before us. I hesitated for half a second, then stepped closer to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders.

"Listen, Jane - you can do this. I know we don't really know each other, but Darcy talks about you all the time. If you can go toe to toe with SHIELD, you can channel a little beginner's luck and sink that ball in that cup."

She turned her head to look at me, giving me the barest hint of a smile.

"Darcy talks about you all the time, too. So far, everything's been very on-brand."

I laughed. "Thanks, I think. Here, let me give you a couple pointers, and then you can knock this out for me and Darcy."

I tried to ignore the way my heart sped up in my chest as I laid my arm over Jane's, holding the back of her hand and walking her through the motions of a good arc shot. I also DID NOT look at Darcy, because I knew she'd see through me in a second and then the teasing would be endless.

"Alright, that looks good," I finally said, stepping away and looking at Jane with a smile that hopefully conveyed my faith in her, and not any of the stress boiling in my stomach. "Just aim, release, don't let your elbow go over the table... and we're golden."

Jane took a deep breath and nodded, then turned her attention to her target. The lone cup on the far end of the table sat waiting, Chris and Andrew both hovering over it as the rest of the party-goers looked on. I held my breath as I watched Jane draw her arm back, then fling forward and throw.

Her elbow was clear, so my eyes snapped to the red plastic solo cup. I swear the whole room went absolutely silent as the ball flew through the air, then finally, landed in the cup with a splash.

"YES!" I screamed, jumping up and punching the air at the same time Chris and Andrew cried "NO!" and stared at the cup in disbelief. I laughed, delirious and disbelieving, and then without taking a second to think I turned to Jane, wrapped my arms around her, lifted her into the air, and kissed her straight on the lips.

A second later, my brain finally caught up, and I jumped away from her. I stared at Jane in wide-eyed shock and panic, all the rest of the noise from the party completely blocked out. She looked as surprised as I felt, her eyes staring at a point just past my shoulder and her hand trailing up to trace her lips.

"Oh my God, I am SO sorry!" I cried, shaking my head as I finally processed what I'd just done. What had I been thinking? "I got so excited about the win, I just- I have no idea what came over me. I'm so, so sorry-"

To my surprise, Jane actually began to smile. Her face and neck were bright red, but she broke out into a beaming grin and actually took a step towards me. I stared back at her, still in shock but for a much happier reason, and she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and looked at me.

"Jane..." I started to say, butterflies absolutely exploding in my chest. She closed the distance between us a little further, then tilted her head like she was about to kiss me again. Before we could get any further, however, we were interrupted.

"So, the two of you, huh?" asked Darcy, popping up between us with a grin on her face. I loved her dearly, but right now, I wanted to kill her.

"Darcy-" Jane and I started at the same time, our faces matching looks of 'I love her but I'm going to kill her'. We cut off when we realized we were speaking in sync, made shocked eye contact, then looked away in mutual embarrassment.

"Okay, as much as I'm loving this," said Darcy, taking Jane's arm and pulling her a few steps towards the door, "you came in here screaming about urgent science, so we should probably get to that now."

Jane nodded, slowly coming out of her haze, pausing to smile at me again nonetheless as she and Darcy made their way across the room.

"Don't worry!" Darcy called back over her shoulder to me. "I'll send you her number so you can ask her on a date when we're done!"

I laughed out loud in pure joy at the ridiculousness of the moment as I waved at Jane and Darcy and they at last made their way out the door. Jane gave me one last beaming smile before she disappeared, and Darcy shot me a wink. I stared after them for a few moments, then got shaken out of my stupor as Chris and Andrew came over to congratulate me, both for my win and my possible new girlfriend.

I smiled and laughed the night away with them and the rest of my friends, but I couldn't keep my thoughts from regularly drifting back to Jane. It felt like Darcy had planned this, somehow, and if that was the case, I'd need to do something nice for her as a thank you.

I spent the rest of my night celebrating the preservation of my undefeated Pong streak while simultaneously mentally planning the perfect first date with Jane Foster. I'd been to a fair number of parties in my many years of collegiate education, but this had by far been the best.

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Marvel Taglist: @valkyriepirate

[raspberrybluejeans]

insane thing to say but sometimes i feel like i missed out by having no religious trauma 💀 Almost everyone seems to have some to some degree. and I always feel a little distant or cut off because I haven't experienced what they're talking about